Disappointing Trends in Movies

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

My problem is with sub snobs.

But not everyone who prefers subs is a snob.

 

[Dark Jezter]

But not everyone who prefers subs is a snob.

Indeed. If a person prefers subs, that's okay. I was specifically referring to people who act like subtitles are the only way to watch foreign language films, and anybody who watches the dubbed version of something is watching it incorrectly.

 

[Joker]

Although I prefer the subs over dubs, the one thing I hate about subtitles is that they sometimes come before the spoken words of the movie.

 

[Rackhir]

Although I prefer the subs over dubs, the one thing I hate about subtitles is that they sometimes come before the spoken words of the movie.

This is a problem inherent to doing subtitles, especially when you are dealing with languages that have a different sentence order like Japanese where it is often backwards to how it would be worded in English. Then you have the problem of dealing with text that can't be translated literally and you have to get creative with the target language to get the meaning across.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

As a parent of younger children, I have issues with other parents who take their children to rated R, etc. movies -- the ratings standards are loose enough as it is without just disregarding them.

However, my bigger issue is with Movie Makers making what should be children's movies and turning up the profanity, volience, etc. in order to make it PG-13 for the $$-factor... ie. Spiderman I & II, Fantastic Four -- all great comic book heroes that I would love my son to embrace -- Dukes of Hazard (should be a fun family flick, but isn't), Bad New Bears, etc.

Cest la vie.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

However, my bigger issue is with Movie Makers making what should be children's movies and turning up the profanity, volience, etc. in order to make it PG-13 for the $$-factor... ie. Spiderman I & II, Fantastic Four -- all great comic book heroes that I would love my son to embrace -- Dukes of Hazard (should be a fun family flick, but isn't), Bad New Bears, etc.

Then again, there are moviegoers such as myself who would be upset if Spiderman I & II had been made as children's movies. I don't care for most children's movies, and would prefer to see something a bit more robust. I imagine that PG-13 is the closest we are going to get to a compromise between your stance and mine.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Then again, there are moviegoers such as myself who would be upset if Spiderman I & II had been made as children's movies. I don't care for most children's movies, and would prefer to see something a bit more robust. I imagine that PG-13 is the closest we are going to get to a compromise between your stance and mine.

Heh, and not only that, but most comic book movies can be found in more child friendly cartoon series these days.

 

[Rackhir]

However, my bigger issue is with Movie Makers making what should be children's movies and turning up the profanity, volience, etc. in order to make it PG-13 for the $$-factor... ie. Spiderman I & II, Fantastic Four -- all great comic book heroes that I would love my son to embrace -- Dukes of Hazard (should be a fun family flick, but isn't), Bad New Bears, etc.

Cest la vie.

Have you actually seen the original Bad News Bears? From what I recall of it, it was a pretty rude and crude movie, at least for the time. I've not seen the new film, but it sounds like its pretty much in the vein of the original film. Something designed to appeal to near-teen to early teen boys.

What profanity was there in Spiderman and FF? As for violence, well they were comic book movies. Fighting is what comic book characters do. Spiderman does get a bit beat up/cut up in the movies, but it's nothing terribly graphic. However, I've always been kinda fuzzy on the dividing line between pg-13 and pg. PG-13 was not a rating that ever made much sense to me.

Dukes, well. I have a dim view of anything involving southern "Good O'Boys" especially when they make a point of waving the confederate flag around. Also when you have a character for whom really-really short cut jeans have been named for, I'd be expecting a pretty extensive amount of sexual innuendo.

What do you consider to be good family friendly movies?

 

[MulhorandSage]

Let's see... here's my list.

- Shaky cameras. Show me you can do a coherent action scene without tricks, then get fancy.
- Mood lighting that produces incredibly underlit movies.
- Historical protagonists fighting for modern values in inappropriate venues.
- Movies about badasses or underdogs who fight "the system" and yet somehow manage to be as formulaic as anything that Hollywood produces.
- Excessive potty and dick jokes. There's a point where funny ends and lazy writing begins.

 

[Merlion]

However, my bigger issue is with Movie Makers making what should be children's movies and turning up the profanity, volience, etc. in order to make it PG-13 for the $$-factor... ie. Spiderman I & II, Fantastic Four

I also have to take exception with this. Especially the Spider Man movies featured very minimal profanity, and basically no adult themes. There was, of course, fightning since as has been mentioned thats what comic book heroes do...but it was in no way excessive or terribly graphic. In the Spiderman movies, toward the end of each Spiderman got beat up a little bit, and slightly bloodied but that was about it.


Most of the Marvel movies have been similar. Very limited profanity (usualy pretty much limited to the occasional "hell" or "damn") and the usual comic book violence. Fantastic Four had one or two stronger "adult" innuendos, and the violence in say Daredevil was a trifle more intense. But overall I think they've done a very nice job of making the Marvel hero movies family friendly.


However, on the other hand, I do agree with the principle of what your saying...profanity, adult content etc thrown in for no real reason. However, I also truly feel that this seems to be becoming a bit less common. I think many directors are starting to understand that they dont have to overuse those things in order to make movies appeal to people of certain demographics. Especially in terms of fantasy/sci fi/comic book type movies...those of us who go to see those movies are going for the stories, the magic/superpowers/spaceships whatever, the monsters, the characters all that stuff. If they concentrate on that, they will do well.