Films and Ratings

[Steve B]

Seems that im in a bit of a ranty mood recently, so i thought id post this one up.

Firstly, has anyone else noticed that classic films are a) being made into trashy remakes e.g. the italian job, oceans 11 (arguably the second one was better but its still trash telly) or b) being trawled along with umpteen sequels, really for no need other than to pull more money from the "brand name" Take Aliens for example. Sigourney Weaver battling monsters in deep space for 4 awesome action packed films, all full of violence and gore, rated 18. Now, we move to Predator, with arnie stalking the jungle after a giant elite robot thingymebobber, again full of violence and gore, rated 18. Put them all in a pot, boil off all the ingredients that actually made the films exciting, simmer off the rating and what have you got? Aliens vs Predator, rated 12. Oh boy, you can tell its gonna be a good one cant you! Terminator 1, rated 18. Terminator 2, rated 15. Terminator 3, rated 12. I mean come on, apart from the fact that the film was dire as an 87 hour long episode of Time Team with Tony Robinson, how can they expect it to be even semi-original, when there is no gore, no violence and no needless verbal diarrhoea. Its positively cringeworthy. ok, so ill stop bashing arnie now, and concentrate on the most important word of the previous sentence (un-hyphenated) "original" It seems that the demand for originality has been lacking somewhat, as people are willing to go and see any form of canned ass-piece. I think theres a correlation between a film with a high budget, and a film with a high percentage of un-original, mind-numming crap sprouting from its lug-holes. Does anyone else agree with this, or is it just me? (i like being a minority)

To finish, all i can say is im definitely looking forward to 2007, self-penned the year of the sequel, with such blockbusters as: Toy Story 3, Shrek 3, Rush Hour 3, The Brazilian Job (dont think they thought about that one) Hostel 2, Young Hannibal (i mean wtf?!?!), The hills have eyes 2, Oceans 13, Bean 2, Spiderman 3, 28 Weeks Later (sequel to 28 Days Later...hmmm) and you think it may be ending, but its not!!!
Die hard 4, indiana jones 4, madagascar 2, Sin City 2, and now the trump card....

....Alien Vs Predator 2
::Synopsis::
Tea party involving Sigourney and Arnold, whilst the T2000 and Predator play boule on the lawn. Rated U.

[Yohji]

28 Weeks later, and Sin City 2 I am actually looking forward to...

Somehow I don't think a Danny Boyle film will be a let down.

But I do see your point completely, it seems to be once in a blue moon now that a truely fantastic film is released.

[leeglf]

i was having this same conversation with a mate of mine a while back and i agree with you fully! Most of these sequals could of been a lot better if they just concentrated on making a great film rather than making a film to try and keep in line with being a particular rating usually 12 nowadays!

And why oh why cant they just make some new films instead of sequals i am sure there are loads of really good original books and scripts out there just waiting to be made into great films if they would just look instead of finding the easy way out by releasing "rocky 16" etc......

[Parm]

It all comes down to money in the end, a lower rating means more potential viewers. More butts on seats means more income for the movie.

That's the real downside with blockbuster movies, having spent so much on them they have to look at every angle to make a profit. Lowering the rating, product placement, it's all part of the game.

[kasavien]

If you're fed up of blockbuster movies with endless sequels then try going to see some foreign films at the cinema, i've seen some very good films that way, one that comes to mind is Un long Dimanche (a very long engagement). I'm a big fan of asian films as well so films like Ong Bak and Hero were amazing for me too.

I do agree though that the endless sequels and watering down of films is somewhat annoying.

[Steve B]

Ong Bak was a fantastic film, the fight scenes in it are just fantastic, when hes in the ring, and he puts his knee straight into the guys chest and nails him to the floor. he did all the stunts himself as well. Being fed up of all the usual crap, Ive begun watching the gold collection at blockbuster, as my mate works there, so gets free rentals. I've also started watching films that are slightly weird Koyaanisqatsi for one. Zato, Hero, Howls Moving Castles and Ghost in the shell are all on my list, so if anyones selling DVD's lmk Also wanting to see Akira, and perhaps even some bollywood movies as i like a bit of music.