RECOMMENDED,WITH RESERVATIONS

”OFFICE SPACE” (R): From Mike Judge, the creator of the animated series ”Beavis and Butt-head” and ”King of the Hill,” comes a live-action comedy about life in the working world. Unless your kids are moonlighting to help pay the mortgage, this story about a ”take-this-job-and-shove-it” computer programmer (Ron Livingston) has no relevance to their lives. Still, young fans of ”Beavis” and ”King of the Hill” will appreciate the film’s irreverent humor.

Language: Use of that ”Beavis and Butt-head” term ”cornhole.” (If you don’t know what it means, ask your teen-ager.)

Sex: A photo of a topless woman, and a suggestive dream sequence played for laughs.

Violence: Livingston and his co-workers sledgehammer a fax machine.

Audience: It isn’t exactly the motivational film parents would want for their kids, but teen-agers will enjoy the humor and might even get some tips for that first office job.

RECOMMENDED

”OCTOBER SKY” (PG): Who would have thought that the 1957 launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik would change the fate of four boys from Coalwood, West Virginia? Based on a true story, the moving drama focuses on four high schoolers, led by Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal), who want to build a rocket to rival the Russkies’ and (metaphorically) ride it out of town by winning the National Science Fair. ”Sky” is a classic American story about fathers and sons, and patriotism and achievement, set during the Cold War when the world was smaller and dreams seemed larger.

Language: It’s 1957. ”Damn” is a dirty word.

Sex: Instructions on how to slyly arch one’s arm over a girl’s shoulder during a scary movie.

Violence: A drunken stepdad has a fight with his stepson.

Audience: Ages 8 and over.

NOT RECOMMENDED

”MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE” (PG-13): While vacationing in Cape Cod, a divorced journalist, portrayed by Robin Wright Penn, finds a passionate love letter in a bottle. Using her post at the Chicago Tribune, this latter-day Lois Lane tracks down the letter’s author, a widowed sailor played by Kevin Costner. Can she kindle true love in his soggy heart? Based on Nicholas Sparks’ bestseller, this bittersweet mid-life love story will undoubtedly sink with the younger set.

Language: Sea-salty

Sex: Miles of tastefully shot nude backs and a suggestion of oral sex.

Violence: One lame fistfight.

Audience: Too mushy for kids, too slow for teens.

RECOMMENDED,WITH RESERVATIONS

”MY FAVORITE MARTIAN” (PG): While the original TV show, ”My Favorite Martian,” pairing Bill Bixby as an ordinary Joe with Ray Walston as a shipwrecked Martian, wasn’t alien to me, it didn’t captivate me as much as ”Bewitched.” Still, I watched it regularly, with its decidedly low-tech special effects, ranging from silly antennas rising from the top of Walston’s head to disappearing objects. But Disney’s feature film, which includes a part for Walston and casts Jeff Daniels and Christopher Lloyd as man and Martian, is spendthrift in its special effects and cheap in its thrills.

Language: Some double-entendres, but no profanity.

Sex: Love interest Elizabeth Hurley displays a lot of cleavage and there’s a lewd tone to many of the jokes.

Violence: The Martian flings the human around in a slapstick way.

Audience: Ages 7 and over.