Miramax may break from Disney

Robobob, when I show Jill what YOU said about the Silver Surfer, you're gonna have ANOTHER stalker...;)

Regarding the Coen Bros., I don't think anything can beat The Big Lebowski, and not just because I've dreamed of shagging Julianne Moore since Assassins came out.

"She's my ****ing lady friend!"

A while ago, it was discussed that Kevin Smith would be directing new "Fletch" movies... I wonder what happened to that? I know that Smith is/was a big fan of Chevy Chase (although he complained about him being an *ss when he finally got to meet him), but the movie studio told him that they "weren't in the business of making Chevy Chase movies anymore). Perhaps Smith refused to do a Fletch movie without Chase?

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Robocoaster said:

At any given R-rated bloodbath, there are numerous parents who want to drop their kids off with permission to see the film, without accompanying their kids. they say "Oh they've seen all the Nightmares and Friday the 13ths..." and go on about how they shouldn't be required to go in with their kids. And I'm not talking about teenagers; these kids are like 9, 10 & 11 year-olds. But should the movie have even a flash of nudity, or portray any tenderness of sexuality, they won't let their kids see it at all, period. Makes you wonder...

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If there is one issue in cinema that pisses me off more than anything, this is it. It's absolutely ridiculous to me that a movie like Hannibal, which (creepy though it may be) plays half of itself out so that it can shock people with its graphic and disturbing violence; or a film like South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, which could quite possibly be one of the most outlandishly vulgar movies of all time (though DAMN funny!) deservedly gain R ratings.

Then you get a film like Lost in Translation, which is a mature, subtly brilliant comedy that features two curse words (rapid fire...gotta pay attention if you wanna catch the two sh**s) and a single 45-second scene in a strip club that briefly shows the bared breasts of a couple topless dancers -- and it too is rated R. And why? "For some sexual content," according to the MPAA.

The American ratings system sucks, bottom line. You can show a guy eating a piece of his own dissected brain, or briefly show a naked female breast, and you get the same rating? There's no reason LiT should've been rated R. Of course, if you want to play the nudity argument, go see the PG-13 rated Titanic again and try to convince me politics have nothing to do with it. There's more "sexual content" in the boudoir scene and the car scene than there is anywhere in LiT.

[/end of rant] Whew! Now I feel better! :)

--Dave, who would like to conclude by mentioning that you're all right, and Dogma is, in fact, an amazing film, and that Kevin Smith is my personal favorite movie director working now

*** Edited 2/18/2004 7:54:03 PM UTC by Nitro Dave***

I love the Coens too and can't wait for The Ladykillers with Tom Hanks to come out. I don't think they Coens have released a movie that would get less than 3/4 stars from me including The Hudsucker Proxy, The Man Who Wasn't There, and Intolerable Cruelty. Clooney is a great actor and won the Comedy Acting Golden Globe for O Brother, one of my favorites. He wasn't that bad of a director either for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

Congrats to Kevin on Green Hornet.

NitroDave, I agree with pretty much everything you said.

-Danny, "We shall all have waffles forthwith!"

Here are some more reasons to hate the MPAA:

-The touching "Whale Rider" gets the same PG-13 rating as gross-out comedies. The official reason is "a brief drug reference." What that is, is a *very* quick shot of a man sleeping on a lounge chair with a bong on his stomach. He doesn't act high and there's no further reference to it. Yet, because of that PG-13 rating, the movie is forced to remove Roger Ebert's quote ("The year's best family film") from its ads, because the MPAA doesn't allow the advertising of PG-13-rated movies to kids.

-"Shakespeare in Love" - rated R. The reason is two very modest shots of Gwyneth Paltrow's breasts, a 5-second sex scene played for laughs, and a couple of mild swear words. Meanwhile, "As Good As It Gets" scores a PG-13, despite a shot of Helen Hunt's breast and much swearing, including two F-words. And "Forrest Gump" gets a PG-13, despite the F-word, a couple of nude scenes, violence, etc. etc.

-"Eyes Wide Shut" - was set for the NC-17 rating, until some genitals were blurred to earn the R. However, that scene still shows a *lot* of sex, including lesbian 69, and still features women's genitals. Yet, now with the R rating, teenagers can see it! Nice work, MPAA!

Well I do have to agree with you Jeff and Red Garter Rob....I absolutely loved O'Brother. It is IMO by far and wide the best movie with George Clooney in it. I guess I hoped for more from him after a performance like that. Maybe he will continue to get better as an actor. Like I said there are some movies of his that I really like.

Note to self....get the unrated version of Eyes Wide Shut. *** Edited 2/18/2004 8:12:19 PM UTC by beast7369***

You nailed those Den and they're three of my favorite movies too. Whale Rider gave me goosebumps towards the end and the quote I had above with "f**k" are the last lines from Eyes Wide Shut.

-Danny

beast7369 - no, you don't really want the unrated version of "Eyes Wide Shut." That "orgy" scene is meant to look disturbing, creepy and even boring... it's not what you think.

It's been delayed Rob.. there have been some issues with the studio reguarding casting choices.

beast-- I gotta agree with Den on this one. Having seen the unrated orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut, I can attest to the fact that it's both pretty creepy and not really sexy at all. If you're expecting some hardcore action, you're not going to find it because they're all views that are graphic in action but not in details (i.e. you see full-on bodily movements, just not the key anatomical parts). You're not missing out on much.

I think the bottom line in America is that (despite everyone's objections with the FCC lately) curse words and violence are okay...but God forbid you show anything sexual or drug-related at all. The sad thing is that the kids these movies target are more likely to participate in sex and drugs than in wholesale violence.

Mmm hypocrisy.

The Coen's film I like best hasn't been mentioned: Barton Fink. Goodman's best performance ever, IMO, is in that film. Ditto for Turturo. But Hudsucker Proxy runs a very close second. Why that film was greeted with the poor reviews and lackluster grosses is a mystery. Is it possible people refused to accept it was as brilliant as it was?

And Jeff, I couldn't agree more. I don't want to see Chris O'Donnel in anything ever again. Clothes should be deemed illegal on that guy!;)

Nitro Dave, that's the just the beginning. many parents would rather forfeit $10 for their kids. I'm talking about the ones who begrudgingly buy a ticket to *accompany* their kids, then hit the exits as soon as they pass the doorman's post. We catch as much as this as we can. The kids always say "my parents are in the restroom", or "...getting snacks" or "...using the phone". We tell them "that's fine, but you'll have to wait outside the theatre until your parents get back". I hate being a jerk like that, but it's my job.

speaking of which, it's time for me to go to work at Evil Enemas, errr, I mean Regal Cinemas.:)

Wow, at least your theater tries. I went to all sorts of R-rated movies before I was 17, and I never got questioned once. Around here, there are so many 24- and 30-screen theaters that kids just buy a ticket to a PG-rated movie, then go to the R-rated one. There's not enough staff to stand at the doors of 30 theaters.

Den, we only catch them when the parent demands that their kids be let in to an "R", and finally relents and buys themselves a ticket as well. That's a good sign that the parent has no intention to stay. Like you said, the smarter kids just ask for the PG(13) film, and stroll into whatever; there's very little we can do about it.

And I'm a hypocrite; I did the same thing as a kid. Sometimes I got caught, and sometimes I didn't. The first "R" I snuck into was "Excalibur", which, in it's time, not just pushed the envelope, it licked it as well. Very graphic gore and nudity for a 14 yr old. Explains a lot about me...;)

Robocoaster, similarly, my first R-rated movie in the theater was "Total Recall," which remains one of the most violent movies ever. I was 14 I think. We had my friend's dad tell the ticket-taker that we had his permission, and then he left - the theater had no problem with that.

Interestingly, that used to be our policy as well. But after "Eyes Wide Shut", corporate decided to adhere to the *letter of the Law* (MPAA guidelines). Thing is, it's not law. Yet. If a theatre does sell a ticket to an underager, there's no inherent law broken. You might be able to get an *exposing minor to illicit materials...* maybe, but again, those ratings aren't Law. Congress keeps threatening to make it law, though. We'll see.