Issue 106
News: Capalert: The most insane movie Review site I've ever seen.
With MPAA Finally ******, and the last fantastic ratings criterion flung out of the tenament window, I decided to see if there was a more sane alternative to its rating system. One of the first ones I found was the site ChildCare Action Project (hereinafter referred to as CAPalert), and what I found on it shocked me. First gaining mainstream notoriety after Roger Ebert trashed it in a 2001 column, CAPalert is a fundamentalist Christian review site which reviews movies based on moral criteria and assigns it a rating based on the MPAA's ratings systems (excepting NC-17). The criteria upon which they judge the movies include (My words, not theirs): Violence (non-lethal and lethal in two separate categories), Sex (any remote sugestion of sexuality or homosexuality qualifies), Sacreliege (encompasses everything from atheism to acknowledging the idea of other non-Christian spiritual systems existing), Hate, and Drug use (encompassing everything from Tobacco to Smack). Some things on the site I agree with, for instance, that the MPAA system is flawed (for me it's that the MPAA seems to be more lenient with violence than with sex, although for them it means that it's too liberal) , and that the MPAA is rating movies which would have years ago been rated "R" are now rated "PG-13". Of course, I differ from them because I think it's a sign of change of cultural mores, which Fundamentalists see as a threat to them (indeed one Fundamentalist church has a slogan that says "An unchanging church for a changing world"), while I see it as perfectly normal. Back to CAPalert, one particular review which is in my head is that of the movie Matilda. Curiously, despite the fact that it is a children's movie, they took extreme issue with Trunchbull's and The Wormwoods' behavior towards other people (and at one point, when Matilda points out that her father is breaking the law, takes her father's side in the matter), Matilda's antagonism towards them, and her supernatural powers. Of Course, they didn't give it a score, but would most likely have given it an "R" rating, despite the fact that it is obviously a typical "Lite/Kid's PG" rating with some incidental things added to not recieve the "too kid-friendly" stigma of a "G" rating.
Band Name of the Day: Beware of the Bladder. Don't ask where this came from.
Film Idea of the Day: A childhood prodigy Pianist/Surgeon grows up and finds he has a desire to murder innocent people and tries to fight the urge to no avail. This is based on what may most likely be a true story.
Film Review of the Day: The Golden Compass. I originally was ambivalent about seeing it, since, after watching the first Lord of the Rings movie, I grew disillusioned with fantasy movies, but after reading an interview in the Trib with the author, I decided I had to see it. As it turns out, it's pretty good, enough so that I decided to get the entire trilogy, which I am currently reading. Watch it. You Will not be disappointed.
Quote: "Wanton Violence and Crime:
*Gothic Cartoon Scene of Evil"
_________Capalert, Natural Born Killers Review.
Link of the Day: The Aforementioned Capalert.
With MPAA Finally ******, and the last fantastic ratings criterion flung out of the tenament window, I decided to see if there was a more sane alternative to its rating system. One of the first ones I found was the site ChildCare Action Project (hereinafter referred to as CAPalert), and what I found on it shocked me. First gaining mainstream notoriety after Roger Ebert trashed it in a 2001 column, CAPalert is a fundamentalist Christian review site which reviews movies based on moral criteria and assigns it a rating based on the MPAA's ratings systems (excepting NC-17). The criteria upon which they judge the movies include (My words, not theirs): Violence (non-lethal and lethal in two separate categories), Sex (any remote sugestion of sexuality or homosexuality qualifies), Sacreliege (encompasses everything from atheism to acknowledging the idea of other non-Christian spiritual systems existing), Hate, and Drug use (encompassing everything from Tobacco to Smack). Some things on the site I agree with, for instance, that the MPAA system is flawed (for me it's that the MPAA seems to be more lenient with violence than with sex, although for them it means that it's too liberal) , and that the MPAA is rating movies which would have years ago been rated "R" are now rated "PG-13". Of course, I differ from them because I think it's a sign of change of cultural mores, which Fundamentalists see as a threat to them (indeed one Fundamentalist church has a slogan that says "An unchanging church for a changing world"), while I see it as perfectly normal. Back to CAPalert, one particular review which is in my head is that of the movie Matilda. Curiously, despite the fact that it is a children's movie, they took extreme issue with Trunchbull's and The Wormwoods' behavior towards other people (and at one point, when Matilda points out that her father is breaking the law, takes her father's side in the matter), Matilda's antagonism towards them, and her supernatural powers. Of Course, they didn't give it a score, but would most likely have given it an "R" rating, despite the fact that it is obviously a typical "Lite/Kid's PG" rating with some incidental things added to not recieve the "too kid-friendly" stigma of a "G" rating.
Band Name of the Day: Beware of the Bladder. Don't ask where this came from.
Film Idea of the Day: A childhood prodigy Pianist/Surgeon grows up and finds he has a desire to murder innocent people and tries to fight the urge to no avail. This is based on what may most likely be a true story.
Film Review of the Day: The Golden Compass. I originally was ambivalent about seeing it, since, after watching the first Lord of the Rings movie, I grew disillusioned with fantasy movies, but after reading an interview in the Trib with the author, I decided I had to see it. As it turns out, it's pretty good, enough so that I decided to get the entire trilogy, which I am currently reading. Watch it. You Will not be disappointed.
Quote: "Wanton Violence and Crime:
*Gothic Cartoon Scene of Evil"
_________Capalert, Natural Born Killers Review.
Link of the Day: The Aforementioned Capalert.
Labels: Movies, Religious Right
posted by DerekAxe at 11:11 AM
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