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beaker
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The insanity of the MPAA
Well, the format and criteria for what gets what rating has always been baffling. Remember in the 80's, a kids adventure film like Goonies or Manhattan Project could have a billion s words and even the f word and sill maintain a PG? Then in the 90's any swear words automated a pg-13, with an f making it an R.
>>>Sometimes, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) panel, with a radar screen about the size of a pebble, just don't "get" some films and automatically rate them R. Example: Waking Life, which didn't deserve the rating at all.<<<
I saw Waking Life in theatres, and thought it was one of the best indie films of the year(Im a HUGE film buff, heh...if its obscure, indie, foreign or experimental Ive prolly seen it!) VEry odd it was R, but then again it was existential and above even most adult's heads, even for a cartoon.
More examples of the MPAA's baffling rating systems.
Why the HECK was the Matrix NOT pg-13? Out of all my year's watching movies that to me is the worst case of the MPAA with their head up their behinds.
How did Minority Report, which by all accounts is a solid R, get a pg-13???
>>>Other times, they're just plain predjudiced. Example in point: The film L.I.E., which had a pedophile as one of it's characters, was rated NC-17. There is almost no graphic sex (and when there is, it's between two consenting adults) and pretty much nothing suggested either (between the two main characters, the pedophile and a teenage boy)
I also saw L.I.E.(around the same time as Bully) and thought while they were both excellent films, are definately not for mainstream jane and joe cinema. Most complex/challenging indie films are unrated...for those who dont know, unrated is the erquivalent or harder than an NC-17. (Not Rated is usually a documentary or tv film) L.I.E. getting a NC-17 didnt matter, as it would still play in small art house cinemas. Same with Bully, or Requiem for a Dream(which switched from a NC-17 to unrated)
Y Tu Mama Tambien got an unrated, yet oddly enuff opened wide everywhere. So it just depends on the distributor. IMHO Freddy Got Fingered should have gotten an NC-17. So sometimes its studio politics. Look at Storyteller...,but because of one brief few second scene it got an NC-17. The director remedied this by putting a big red square on it to recieve an R rating. But the question of ratings and indie films is a moot point...it doesnt matter if its G or nc-17(Daivd Lynch's Disney released The Straight Story was mostly released to the small art house circuit) as it doesnt matter what rating an indie film has, as it probably wont be anything but a limited release.
I HIGHLY reccomend to everyone being adventurous in your film choices...instead of renting fast and the furious and van wilder, take a chance and rent Memento, Waking Life, Ghost World, or Swingers.
BTW...I just remembered why upon further viewing, there were whole parts of TMM and FTB I didnt like. The scene with Mel Brooks playing a evil German scientist and the Frog restuarant guy tortuing Kermit in that device didnt entertain me at all, and found them rather disturbing. Also, I didnt like to see Big Bird isolated and mistreated at some trailer park carnival in FTB, but seeing the Muppets in distressing situations is always unfun.
Well, the format and criteria for what gets what rating has always been baffling. Remember in the 80's, a kids adventure film like Goonies or Manhattan Project could have a billion s words and even the f word and sill maintain a PG? Then in the 90's any swear words automated a pg-13, with an f making it an R.
>>>Sometimes, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) panel, with a radar screen about the size of a pebble, just don't "get" some films and automatically rate them R. Example: Waking Life, which didn't deserve the rating at all.<<<
I saw Waking Life in theatres, and thought it was one of the best indie films of the year(Im a HUGE film buff, heh...if its obscure, indie, foreign or experimental Ive prolly seen it!) VEry odd it was R, but then again it was existential and above even most adult's heads, even for a cartoon.
More examples of the MPAA's baffling rating systems.
Why the HECK was the Matrix NOT pg-13? Out of all my year's watching movies that to me is the worst case of the MPAA with their head up their behinds.
How did Minority Report, which by all accounts is a solid R, get a pg-13???
>>>Other times, they're just plain predjudiced. Example in point: The film L.I.E., which had a pedophile as one of it's characters, was rated NC-17. There is almost no graphic sex (and when there is, it's between two consenting adults) and pretty much nothing suggested either (between the two main characters, the pedophile and a teenage boy)
I also saw L.I.E.(around the same time as Bully) and thought while they were both excellent films, are definately not for mainstream jane and joe cinema. Most complex/challenging indie films are unrated...for those who dont know, unrated is the erquivalent or harder than an NC-17. (Not Rated is usually a documentary or tv film) L.I.E. getting a NC-17 didnt matter, as it would still play in small art house cinemas. Same with Bully, or Requiem for a Dream(which switched from a NC-17 to unrated)
Y Tu Mama Tambien got an unrated, yet oddly enuff opened wide everywhere. So it just depends on the distributor. IMHO Freddy Got Fingered should have gotten an NC-17. So sometimes its studio politics. Look at Storyteller...,but because of one brief few second scene it got an NC-17. The director remedied this by putting a big red square on it to recieve an R rating. But the question of ratings and indie films is a moot point...it doesnt matter if its G or nc-17(Daivd Lynch's Disney released The Straight Story was mostly released to the small art house circuit) as it doesnt matter what rating an indie film has, as it probably wont be anything but a limited release.
I HIGHLY reccomend to everyone being adventurous in your film choices...instead of renting fast and the furious and van wilder, take a chance and rent Memento, Waking Life, Ghost World, or Swingers.
BTW...I just remembered why upon further viewing, there were whole parts of TMM and FTB I didnt like. The scene with Mel Brooks playing a evil German scientist and the Frog restuarant guy tortuing Kermit in that device didnt entertain me at all, and found them rather disturbing. Also, I didnt like to see Big Bird isolated and mistreated at some trailer park carnival in FTB, but seeing the Muppets in distressing situations is always unfun.