Posts Tagged ‘MPAA’
5 items.
Today’s strip sprang from real events in my life this weekend. Anticipating the release of The Two Towers this week, Jared and I promised to sit down and watch The Fellowship of the Ring to prime us for the next installment. Ironically, neither of us own the movie. We’re both holding out for Christmas. So off to our local Blockbuster we went.
And it’s no exaggeration about what’s written on the box. It really did say “Rated PG-13 for epic battles and some scary moments”. We joked about if the movie were just slightly less epic, they would have gotten away with a PG. This made me thinking about how the MPAA comes to these inane conclusions when they rate films.
Personally, I think the MPAA is antiquated in its practices. Their friendly “labels” end up stifling artists who are under the gun from studios to make more “family-conscious” products. And R rating these days is just as bad as an NC-17. It’s considered financial suicide. This approach is the loudest indicator that MPAA ratings are meaningless. They do nothing to indicate the content of movies when studios kowtow to the system and mold their pictures around them. The end results are films made for adults, instead replaced by dumbed down versions designed to rope in the disposable income of pubescents. Quite frankly, it’s insulting and a little sad that studios would place so much stake into such an obviously flawed system.
Now I’m not advocating sex and violence just for the sake of it, but I can’t count the number of times I walked away from a movie that was PG-13 movie disappointed that it didn’t explore more adult themes or situations. None come to mind at the moment, but I’ve had this experience too many times to recall.
:: end rant ::
I lost the battle of wills this weekend with Cami and ended up seeing Maid in Manhattan. What a steaming pile that movie is. I was going to do a strip on it, but I thought I couldn’t top how unintentionally funny this flick is and to let sleeping dogs lie.
For one thing, Ralph Finnes isn’t someone anyone would want to be with. At least, not the way he acts in this film. Chalk has more personality. I wan to unload further on the movie, but after spending most of the weekend socializing with a few different groups, I’ve exhausted my hate-tanks in my thorough dismissal of the experience. I can’t go through it again.
What really burns my gravy is that this movie beat out Nemesis by, like $200,000 dollars and came in #1 with something like $19 million. They said it’s J-Lo’s biggest opening to date. I guess we can all look forward to more watered down “You can do it, ladies!” material from the future Mrs. Affleck.
In linkable news, you may want to check out the sites of a few more friends I made. The Hardcore Empire (not as dirty as it sounds), Funny Bunny, (bunnies are cute!), and No 4th Wall To Break (classic).
Those first two have a lot of pop-up ads, but that shouldn’t dissuade you from checking them out. No 4th Wall To Break is slowly becoming one of my surrealist favorites. Play nice and tell ’em Tommy sentcha!
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[This blog post was lost when the site was transferred to WordPress in January 2009 – Tom]
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Dec03
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE CENSOR BEHIND THE CURTAIN
December 3rd, 2003 |
(14 votes, average: 8.29 out of 10)
Although the comic is steaming hot and ready to go, today’s blog is going to be a little delayed.
Jared and I went to see A Perfect Circle in concert last night and it was a great show. Preparing to be out of the house most of the evening, I prepared the comic in advance and figured that I could just pound out the blog when I got home.
What I didn’t count on was the first big snowstorm of the year. When we walked into the venue, it was sleeting only a little. When we walked out, it was a full-blown blizzard with a few inches of snow already on the ground. It turned an otherwise brisk, one hour ride home into a tension filled 40mph slog that more than doubled our commute. By the time I got home, I was shot. Imagine my glee when I had to do it all over again in the morning just to get to work. My regular 20 minute took almost an hour and a half.
So, anyway. That’s why the blog will be late. Plus, I have some stern words for MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti to go along with this comic and I want to be sure my little “essay” is firing on all cylinders when I unload it.
[The Valenti essay was lost when the site was moved to WordPress in January 2009 – Tom]
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Well, it looks like we can do more than we thought when it comes to combating the MPAA’s ridiculous policies.
Independent filmmakers in New York won a temporary restraining order from a federal judge against the MPAA’s screener ban. For the whole story, click here.
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M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie The Happening is coming out today (Friday the 13th! Ooo! Spooky!) but you wouldn’t really know it since it’s staring down the green goliath known as The Incredible Hulk.
Where as Made of Honor might have been a clever bit of counter programming when Iron Man hit theaters in early May (to the tune of a $15 million opening weekend), I don’t know anyone who is all that conflicted about making The Happening their second choice in their weekend activities.
Personally, I’ve had it out for this movie since I heard the title of it. I mean, The Happening? You might as well call it “Something Happens” or “Plot Progession – The Movie.” The Happening? Can Shyamalan not predict the torrent of terrible headlines if this movie tanks – i.e. “The Happening – Isn’t.” Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!
A league of uninventive critics thanks you, Mr. Shyamalan.
There’s been a lot of talk about Shyamalan’s career being on the line with this movie. I don’t know if The Happening is really all that make-or-break for him, but he’s certainly not the wunderkind we all thought he was when The Sixth Sense came out almost a decade ago.
Morea and more, people are looking for the infamous Shyamalan twist ending. He’s painted himself into a corner with it, to a degree. Because if there isn’t some big awe-inspiring twist, people feel cheated. If there is a twist, audiences spend the whole time trying to spot it before the big reveal.
Personally, I think Shyamalan needs to step outside of himself and try adapting someone else’s material for a change. So far, all of his movies have been written by him. And don’t forget those clever cameos he give himself in every movie! I wouldn’t find it so narcissistic is Shyamalan didn’t believe his own hype. Famously, after the success of The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan declared himself the next Hitchcock with the visual flair of Spielberg. One could probably chalk a dunderheaded statement like that to youthful inexperience. Except he seems to be immune to the progressive decline of his film’s box office success. It’s not humbled him at all. Time to shake things up.
Incidentally, have you seen the commercials touting The Happening as Shyamalan’s FIRST “R” rated movie? As I illustrated in the comic, I have no idea why this is a selling point and they’ve really been pushing it hard. The red band trailer was certainly more graphic than I expected, but I don’t anticipate the film being a series of hangings, neck punctures and old men laying down in front of riding lawn mowers. If anything, that red band trailer is probably the “greatest hits” in the movie. The rest of it will be lingering shots of Mark Wahlberg looking confused.
Time will tell if The Happening will give Shyamalan’s career a lift. Early reviews appear encouraging. But for me, it’s a pass.
By the way, I went to a midnight showing of The Incredible Hulk last night. I didn’t get into bed until 2:30 in the morning and I’m dragging now. But as for the movie – it’s pretty good! I had read some reviews that said it was as good as Iron Man. I wouldn’t go that far. Iron Man had the good fortune of a bouncy and pithy Robert Downey Jr. so the dialogue had a lot more pop and swagger. There are LONG periods of time in The Incredible Hulk where no one says nuthin’!
Of course, if you are worried the movie will suck like the Ang Lee original, we’re in safe territory there. The movie features three great action sequences with the Hulk in full play and he shows up a lot earlier in this one than he does in the first movie. Director Louis Leterrier was smart to progressively show more and more of the Hulk and what he can do as the movie goes on.
The CG is good and the climatic battle at the end was expertly staged, but it felt like a cheat to have it take place at night. It obscured some of the action. Jeffery Wells had a good line about that last sequence although he called the fight “boring.” Said Wells, “Heavy-duty fights between powerful monsters are completely boring unless one of the combatants has some kind of advantage over the other. It’s like watching a battle of bad heavy-metal bands.”
But I happen to know that some people really, really like bad heavy metal bands. And if you do, you’re going to LOVE The Incredible Hulk.
That about does it for me. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I’ll see you here on Monday!
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