Why, Hollywood, Why?

I hate to do this so early in my blogging, and hope it does not drive people off from reading future blogs, but I am going to have to get out my soapbox.
Just two nights after watching a movie that had a PG-13 rating for violence but had no profanity that I heard, I had TiVo'd Revolutionary Road, which was supposed to be a good movie, according to all the reviews that I had read. I saw it was rated R, but assumed (which was probably my first mistake) that it was due to sexual situations or nudity (given the fact that the movie starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet of Titanic fame). Little did I know that within the first ten minutes my ears were barraged with a cacophony of swearing that may have made a drunk sailor blush. Leo DiCaprio himself took the Lord's name in vain no less than 5 times, not to mention several other questionable, if not unnecessary, profane words, in the 10 minutes of the movie that I managed to sit through before deleting it from the drive and apologizing to my wife for subjecting her to such a movie.
My questions to Hollywood is this: why does a movie have to have swearing in it? In my opinion, the only "good" (and I use that word very loosely) reason for swearing in a movie is if the movie is a biopic and the protagonist was a person that was epitomized by the occasional swear word. But, in the last four DiCaprio movies that I have caught bits and pieces of (The Beach, The Aviator, The Departed, and now Revolutionary Road) it seems like the norm rather than the exception was to have the movie littered with profanity. And for what reason? As far as I could tell it was to "advance the story."
Which actually brings me to my next point: is it necessary to swear or continuously drop the "F-bomb" just to advance the story? Chances are there is another way to say what needs to be said without using outlandish amounts of profanity to say it.
I was about to say, "Chances are that we have become so accustomed to swearing on television that it does not even effect us," but even television does not allow the type of language that was used in the first ten minutes of the movie. They would either bleep this language or not allow it in the program in the first program, depending on who the network that the program was being run on, and the time of day that the program was running.
I am most definitely not stating that we should do away with more mature programming; I am simply stating that if Hollywood can produce a movie that has a rating of R that does not have any swearing (Passion of the Christ) or a PG-13 movie that has no swearing (Sherlock Holmes), then why do they have to put out movies that do?
I had actually been looking forward to watching a movie at home with my wife, but Revolutionary Road will never find its way onto my shelf, unless someone comes out with a "clean" version of it, which may be nothing more than the title and credits, and a couple of minutes of dialog from the first five minutes of the movie, before the swear parade started. I don't think I'll have the problem with swearing tonight with Tale of Despereaux.
Okay, I am getting off my soapbox now.



I welcome your feedback on this or any of my other blogs. Please use the comments button below or shoot me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com.



Until the next time,



Thanks for your time.

Review of "Sherlock Holmes"

This past Saturday, I went to the movies with my wife to see one of the Holiday blockbusters, Sherlock Holmes. I went in not expecting much, after hearing several mediocre reviews from other reviewers. After sitting through about twenty minutes of commercials and trailers, the main attraction started, and almost immediately I was hit by an "action" sequence with a voice-over by Sherlock himself, Robert Downey, Jr. as he was describing the actions he was taking to incapacitate one of the bad guy's henchmen, with the moves being slowed down to show the impact on the other person. But, as soon as the henchmen was down, to my surprise, the whole scene played out again, this time in real time. This double the action for the same person played out three times in the movie, and that was one of the only real detractors that I could find.
The story itself was something that you would have expected from Sir Doyle himself, with a twist every time that you thought that you had the plot figured out, and also with foreshadowings of what will no doubt be a sequel given the ending of the movie.
The comedic back and forth between Downey and Law definitely had the crowd that I watched the movie with laughing, and there was only a couple of jokes that made me groan.
There was not any swearing that I heard during the entire film, which for Hollywood in general, and Guy Ritchie in particular, is almost unheard of. I am guessing the reason for the PG-13 rating was due to all the violence and the one "nudity" scene, with a double entendre by Holmes to a chambermaid about "the key to his freedom lying under the pillow" suggestively placed between his legs.
All in all, this is most definitely a movie that I would see again, and look forward to getting the DVD with the digital copy for my iPod.

Plot: 9.5/10
Humor: 9.1/10
Family Friendly Language: 10/10
"Family Friendly" Violence: 8.7/10
Nudity/Suggestive Situations: 9.7/10
Overall Movie Rating: 9.3/10

Disagree with what I have to say? Please leave your comments below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com

This is where it all begins!

Today I start on a new journey, and welcome those of you who have decided to make the trip with me.
Along the way, I will post excerpts from the book that has been in the works for the past 4 years, along with general thoughts and reviews of books and movies that I have read or watched.
Once again, welcome, and hope you enjoy the ride!

If there is anything that you want me to talk about, feel free to comment to this post or e-mail me at childofking88@aol.com!

Thanks