Armageddon Time | 2022 | R | – 1.5.5

Why is “Armageddon Time” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “language and some drug use involving minors.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of scenes of a man yelling and threatening and striking his son with a belt, several scenes of people yelling at two boys and disciplining them in school, racist remarks and discussions of anti-Semitism, the death of a man from an illness, and over 5 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Set in the 1980s in Queens, New York, about a young boy (Banks Repeta) that dreams of becoming an artist and struggles against his family’s conflicting aspirations for his future. Also with Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Strong, Jaylin Webb, Ryan Sell, Andrew Polk, Tovah Feldshuh, Marcia Haufrecht, Teddy Coluca, Richard Bekins and Dane West. Directed by James Gray. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in Ukrainian without translation. [Running Time: 1:54]

Armageddon Time SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A boy tells another boy that if he cries in a class, the teacher might hold him to her chest (using crude terms).

Armageddon Time VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A boy locks himself in a bathroom and stands in the tub behind the shower curtain as his father pounds on the door, yelling at him; the man breaks the door open and beats the boy with a belt while yelling, the boy pleads with him to stop, and then says, “I hate this family,” causing his father to grab him by the ears and yell; we then hear thuds off-screen (presumably the boy is being slammed against the shower wall). A woman yells at her son after he gets in trouble in school, and she shoves him and grabs him by the face while yelling at him.
► A boy talks back to his parents and is disrespectful; another boy dances while holding a plate of food and drops it on the floor causing his father to fly into a rage, pound on the table and yell at both boys, saying, “I’m gonna rap you.” A man yells at his son, “You’re gonna get it.” A man yells at his wife in several scenes. A boy draws an insulting picture of a teacher and other children laugh when they see it; the boy is scolded by the teacher and made to stand in the front of the class. A boy talks back to a teacher and curses at him; the teacher makes the boy sit in the front of the class and then sends him to the principal’s office.
► Two boys break into a school at night to steal a computer; we see them climb in through a window and later going to a pawn shop to sell the computer, and the police arrive to arrest one of the boys after the pawn shop owner calls them and the other boy runs away but is cut off by a police car in an alley. Two boys are shown in a police station being questioned by officers and one boy is wearing handcuffs.
► A boy lives on the streets after his grandmother is sent to a care home and we see him hiding in a boy’s playhouse; the boy has only one shoe and we see that he has a bloody wound on his foot. After being picked up from the police station by his father, a boy says, “You don’t have to hit me this time.” A boy walks out of a school dance alone and it is implied that he does not return as the scene ends. A boy takes a subway alone and gets home very late when he accidentally took an express train.
► A teacher disciplines a boy in a classroom and tells him, “You’ve got nothing up here,” pointing to his head. We hear that a boy is repeating the 6th grade. Two boys argue and shove each other in several scenes; one boy tells his mother, “He pinged my ear.” Two boys separate from their school group on a trip to the city. A woman tells her son that his father will deal with his punishment and that she is tired of sticking up for him. A boy says that people from child welfare are after him and he hides on the streets. A boy protests being sent to a private school. A woman tells a student to straighten his collar out of respect for the school. A boy is cold to a friend of his when he comes to see him at his new school; two other boys quiz the first boy about who he was and if he ever came to his house (we hear the boys joking about the other boy “having them in his house”). A man corrects his grandson about not standing up for people when others call them names or insult them. A boy asks his grandfather why the man’s mother left Ukraine and the man tells the boy “They wanted to kill her,” and that they stabbed her parents to death in front of her because they were Jewish. A man tells his grandson, “The game is rigged.” A woman talks about people coming from “those neighborhoods” to a public school and talks in a derogatory manner about Black people. A woman talks about finding cups that had been stolen from Jews in the concentration camps. A boy imagines people chanting his name. A boy is reprimanded by a school principal and the man tells the boy’s mother that he should be in remedial classes, and says, “He may be a little slow.” A woman says that a boy “is not very bright.” A woman says of her son, “He’s in a mood.” A boy says that he is “cutting out for good.” A boy says that he is worried about fitting in and that he doesn’t belong in a private school. A boy says that his grandmother is going to be put in a home soon (he is living with her). A man says of his son, “He’s not living in reality,” and, “There’s something wrong with him.” A man says that a woman is “sitting Shiva,” after the death of her father. A man tells a boy that he let his friend down. A man describes spaghetti as “bloody worms.” A teacher tells children to spread apart and says, “Lice are not your friend.”
► We hear that a man had surgery and see him in a hospital bed; we then see a graveside service and understand that he died (bone cancer is mentioned). A man complains of pain in his leg and says it’s arthritis. A boy steals money from a jewelry box in his mother’s room a couple of times. Two boys smoke a marijuana cigarette in a bathroom in school and giggle uncontrollably until they are discovered by a teacher and sent to the principal’s office. A woman yells and flinches when a boy holds a hamster close to her, and she declares, “It’s a rat.”

Armageddon Time LANGUAGE 5

 – About 6 F-words, 16 scatological terms, 6 anatomical terms, 10 mild obscenities, 3 derogatory terms for African-American people, 1 derogatory term for a Jewish woman, 1 derogatory term for Chinese people, name-calling (Mr. Popularity, Mr. Disruptor, Turkey, idiot, rude, lug nut, crazy, retards, morons from sea to shining sea, little angel, big shot, dude, space cadet, bastards, crock, jelly bean, menace, disgusting, schmuck, nuts, stupid, not cool, ooga-booga music, total idiot), exclamations (nonsense, cut it out, wow, no way, shut your mouth, okeydokey, how dare you, what the heck, oh, oh man, stop fussing, oh my, shut-up, stop it, behave yourself), 8 religious profanities (GD), 17 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus Christ, Holy cow, oh my god, my God, God, Holy smoke). | profanity glossary |

Armageddon Time SUBSTANCE USE

 – Two boys smoke a marijuana cigarette in a bathroom in school and giggle uncontrollably until they are discovered by a teacher and sent to the principal’s office.

Armageddon Time DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Death of a loved one, racism, anti-Semitism, homeless children, child abuse, standing up for what’s right, obligation, responsibility, potential, success, wealth, sponsored mobility, growing up, abstract art, Kandinsky, Ronald Reagan, Fred Trump, Maryanne Trump, education.

Armageddon Time MESSAGE

 – Make the most of opportunities when they are presented and be thankful.