Movies and Beards

[botias]

There are some movies which have only 60 seconds of greatness and make a pretty fine trailer, but don't deliver. Step Up Revolution was not one of those movies. 9YO and 6YO said they would to go with me, and we all had a good time. I loved all the gorgeous dance sequences and there was just a dollop of story. I think it's unfortunate that the film earned a rating that was created because one dude cutting the beating heart out of another dude's chest was considered a little too hardcore for PG. Nowadays this same rating was rewarded to a movie presumably because of the sins of SEXY DANCING and HIP HOP MUSIC. Pretty soon, PG-13 will be awarded for lustful thoughts or having actors under 35. I was expecting some language, perhaps some smoking, maybe a sex scene. Nada. Zip. Whatevs! Magic Mike probably earned its R rating. I went to see that with my mom instead. It was everything the trailer promised as well.

I fell in love with the 3D trailer for The Great Gatsby. Gorgeous! I hope the movie lives up to it.

The summer activity craziness is almost over. This is 12YO's last week of science camp. He did his first camping out experience at an aquatics adventure camp. I was a little trepidatious signing him up for it as he's more bookish than athletic, but he had a blast. *whew* They did surfing, kayaking, sailing, paddle boarding and white-water rafting. He's growing up on me. 6YO adored 'pee wee sports camp'. I thought they might have them do some sort of sports, but apparently the 'sports' merely means that no finger paints are involved. 9YO did science camp for the first time this summer and was lukewarm about it, but he's gotten to spend long days playing with his BFF and having sleepovers. I am so proud of them all.

Had a family dinner last night since my brother's in town. He's been working as a long-haul truck driver for the past couple of years. Maine is now the only state he has yet to visit. And he's got a beard on him now that's quite impressive. When you combine it with his size and height, I guess it wards off trouble. Just goes to show you can't tell from appearances.

Comments

[elynne.livejournal.com]

12, 9, and 6... good spacing! ;) Is space camp still available, or is it for older kids? It sounds like you've been having fun helping them have fun, which is the best kind of fun.

wrt: movie ratings--it seems like the overall culture of America has actually been getting more conservative-prudish over time. Distressingly, it's been getting more prudish about sex, and much more tolerant about violence. As the hippies said, I'm pretty sure that letting a kid watch two people having sex is much less psychologically damaging than watching two people fighting to the death, but whatevs. I kind of gave up the right to have an opinion about kid-raising when I opted out of the whole thing.

I'm sort of looking forward to The Hobbit; I'm sure I'll enjoy it, though I found the book to be a pretty dull slog. I liked the LotR movies, after all, and I never was able to read those books. But I'm vastly disappointed that Smaug probably won't be in the first movie at all. I'm in it for the dragon! played by Benedict Cumberbatch! GIVE ME MY DRAGON PR0NZ. le sigh. Aside from that, there aren't really any upcoming movies I'm that excited about. Which is less indicative of my interest in movies, and more about my current inability to conceptualize the future for much more than a week in advance right now...

It sounds like your brother is doing pretty well, which is very cool! Especially since the last I heard of him was kind of alarming/depressing. Does he look like a Scary Big Bearded Trucker Guy now? hee. He should get some superficially scary tattoos to complete the image. ;)

[botias.livejournal.com]

I keep marveling that at one time it was newborn, 3, and 6... It's kind of hazy, but I don't think I got anything done for oh... about a year and a half. A tells me that the middle child was only out of diapers for two weeks before the youngest was born. But, yeah, I'm happy with the spacing. I forgot about space camp! I'll have to look into that... The kids get me out of the house. It's nice to have people around with boundless energy and enthusiasm.

I think it's a prudish backlash by a vocal minority, but it's definitely had an effect on mainstream media. Boo! You can't stop the signal though. People have a lot more options, and I get the idea that most young folks are better informed and more sex positive than our generation at the same age.

I'm really looking forward to The Hobbit. A sees my enthusiasm and tries to bring me down! He's still bitter about Episode I. I'm hoping Smaug will blow me away. I'm aware of the potential for dragon!fail. But BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH. The potential is there.

Yeah, Bro flailed for quite a while. Couldn't decide what he wanted to be when he grew up. But he's found his Scary Big Bearded Trucker Guy niche. Mom thinks it's made a man of him. :) Hah!

[molly_may]

This is the second positive review of the new Step Up movie that I've seen in the last few days, which kind of makes me want to see it, since I usually do enjoy a good dance movie!

I'm with you on The Great Gatsby: I don't know if the movie will be any good, but it certainly does look gorgeous.

[botias.livejournal.com]

See it! It's fun. :)

Unless it gets a horrible imdb rating and maybe even if it does, they'll probably get my money.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

one dude cutting the beating heart out of another dude's chest

Really? In PG 13 movie? Yikes! I'd be a little upset if I'd taken a kid to see that unknowing. My nephew thought Spiderman was a little too intense. That scene would have given the poor kiddo nightmares.

12YO's summer camp sounds awesome. The lack of summer camp is one of the things I miss most about adulthood!

[botias.livejournal.com]

I remember the PG13 rating being created for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Spielberg probably didn't want an R rating, and the rest of the movie perhaps didn't warrant it, but there was that whole heart-cutting-out thang. I worked at a theater in college, and I remember the Muppet's Christmas Carol routinely had the little ones in frightened hysterics. You just never know sometimes.

Doesn't it though? I wouldn't have minded going to that one myself.

[ladycat713.livejournal.com]

It amazes me what is considered too old or explicit these days. For example when they change things for television. The other day I actually saw a movie (I can't recall the title right now) where they bleeped out hole in the word a**hole yet didn't bleep a** (self censoring just in case ) . A lot of the times they'll bleep out something that isn't a curse word or the bleeping or dubbing is so obvious that the curse words would be a lot less noticeable.