'ONSLAUGHT'

Rated R for strong bloody violence, some gore, sexual material/nudity, and language.

What it’s about: A trio of scientifically engineered supersoldiers wreak havoc on a desert trailer park, whose residents fight back.

The kid attractor factor: This bloody horror/action flick does not have any appeal for kids.

Good lessons/bad ...Read more

My 5-year-old twin boys, Mikey and Charlie, started kindergarten a couple of weeks ago, marking the end of their preschool careers. They walked into class wearing backpacks full of back-to-school supplies, like markers and glue. With their summers in the rearview mirror, they stepped into a world not with circle time or naps, but with desks, ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California legislators on Monday sent two bills to Gov. Gavin Newsom that would change how chatbots are made and regulated in the state. The legislation could have ramifications across the country for the still-emerging technology.

Senate Bill 1119 would require companion chatbot operators to analyze the design of their ...Read more

Over the last five years, efforts to make social networks Facebook and Instagram safer for young people have erupted across courts, classrooms and capitals.

Now Meta Platforms, the parent company of the world’s most popular social networks, faces another big moment of reckoning.

On Wednesday, Meta agreed to pay up to $17 billion over 10 ...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- Cynthia Changyit Levin first noticed her mom’s political views shifting in 2008 when Barack Obama won the presidency.

Levin lived in Chicago at the time, while her mother, Lazette, lived in Oklahoma. The change surprised Levin. She had grown up in Minnesota, where her mom voted for Walter Mondale in 1984, the only state the ...Read more

THE DOG STARS

Rated R for strong violence and language.

What it’s about: A post-apocalyptic tale of survival and finding things to live for.

The kid attractor factor: This is an adult drama with some violence, action and heavy themes, not for kids.

Good lessons/bad lessons: There can still be life after death.

Violence: Some scenes of ...Read more

'MUTINY'

Rated R for strong/bloody violence, and language.

What it’s about: It's "Die Hard" on a container ship! Jason Statham seeks vengeance and justice on the high seas.

The kid attractor factor: This is a bloody action film — not much appeal for kids.

Good lessons/bad lessons: Never let Jason Statham stowaway on your human ...Read more

'THE END OF OAK STREET'

Rated PG-13 for some strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language and suggestive material.

What it’s about: A suburban town is time warped to the Paleolithic era and has to fight off dinosaurs to survive.

The kid attractor factor: This is a family action survival film, teens might be drawn to the genre...Read more

If you aren’t among the millions of pickleball players, the fastest growing sport in America, watch “The Dink” on Apple TV to get a glimpse of what you’re missing.

Jake Johnson plays Dusty, a former tennis prodigy whose career was thwarted early when he broke his wrist during a match with the for-real tennis star Andy Roddick. Now he ...Read more

Declining enrollment in California public schools is spawning a new and growing partnership that is helping to keep child-care centers in business — vacant classrooms are being filled with toddlers and babies.

From Los Angeles to Solano counties, nonprofit day-care operators see underused facilities already centered on children — spacious ...Read more

'ONE NIGHT ONLY'

Rated R for sexual material, language and brief nudity.

What it’s about: The government has banned premarital sex, except for one night a year. Can two crazy single kids fall in love?

The kid attractor factor: This is more for young adults.

Good lessons/bad lessons: It's not all about sex, even when it's all about sex.

...Read more

'SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY'

Rated PG-13 for sequences of action/violence and some language.

What it’s about: Tom Holland's Peter Parker is all grown up and attempting to navigate adult life and the Spider-Man life with very few friends.

The kid attractor factor: The character and superhero spectacle.

Good lessons/bad lessons: We can't do ...Read more

It began as a whimsical idea that occurred to Daniel Leigh after an idyllic trip to the United States: Sell his family's five-bedroom home in England and travel the world with his wife, Lauren Vaknine, and their two children.

So he was surprised when, a few months later, Vaknine and their children, Braxton, 10, and Viva, 7, agreed to go along ...Read more

Foster children will now have more support when they age out of the foster care system after a new law was signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that prevents the state from keeping children's full federal benefits to pay for the cost of their care.

The bill, spearheaded by state Rep. Kathy Schmaltz, R-Jackson, in 2023, was signed into law by Whitmer...Read more

'MOTOR CITY'

Rated R for strong bloody violence, some grisly images, drug content, sexuality/nudity and language.

What it’s about: Set in 1977 Detroit, a factory worker wrongly imprisoned goes on a revenge spree to win back his woman.

The kid attractor factor: This is a bloody thriller — for adults, not kids.

Good lessons/bad lessons: ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- It was after the death of her son, Laith, that Esme Saleh decided to become a folk artist.

She had always been creative, experimenting with watercolors and learning to sew and embroider at a young age.

"I had a creative inkling," she said, "but I never pursued it."

Everything changed on Aug. 17, 2013.

When Saleh was nine ...Read more

'THE ODYSSEY'

Rated R for violence and some language.

What it’s about: An adaptation of Homer’s epic poem that follows Odysseus’ 10-year journey back home after a decade in the Trojan War.

The kid attractor factor: Teens and older kids might be drawn to the spectacle and story of this epic fantasy adventure.

Good lessons/bad lessons: ...Read more

The Fourth of July has come and gone, and for many families, summer has reached its sweet spot. The pools are open. The bikes are out. Library reading logs are filling up. School feels far away.

At least, that’s the nostalgic version.

And yet, for many children in the city and suburbs, summer doesn’t look like that at all. Children of ...Read more

'MOANA'

Rated PG for action/peril, some scary images, rude humor and brief thematic elements.

What it’s about: The young princess Moana is chosen by the ocean to return the heart of Te Fiti in order to save her island and she teams up with the demigod Maui to do so (same plot as the first movie!).

The kid attractor factor: The familiarity ...Read more

'MINIONS & MONSTERS'

Rated PG for violence/action, language and rude/macabre humor.

What it’s about: In this love letter to Hollywood, we learn about a trio of filmmaking Minions who gatecrash the studio system of the 1920s, strike out on their own to make an independent monster movie and have to save the world from what they unleash.

The ...Read more