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It isn’t R rated. It’s PG-13. I just checked. And I just watched the DVD. It’s definitely PG-13.*And because the MPAA gave Whale Rider a PG-13, they wouldn’t let the ads include Roger Ebert’s quote that it was a great movie for the whole family. These are the same people who gave the rereleased Amadeus an R.
I would never pirate movies, but my morality has deteriorated in another area: I’ve started sneaking in a soda. I ever used to do that, because I always heard that the concessions were where the theaters made their profit. But when they started subjecting me to eight commercials after I’d paid for the movie… something snapped inside me, leaving me a wretched shell of a man.
I’ve done the same, Baldwin. We all have. But remember: never, ever place an ice-cold bottle of Pepsi in direct contact with your loins. I speak from experience.
FWIW, I went to the cheap theater last night and saw one ad. There’s another cheap one around here that guarantees two minutes or less of advertising. Check out the cheapies! They’re great!
I remember a TV that, for a few minutes in the 90s, was being advertised. It had some kind of Smart Volume thing that brought ads down to the level of everything else. I think I’d pay quite a bit for that kind of TV.
It got a PG-13 for one scene in which the brother’s pot pipe is briefly visible. (She wakes him up in a hammock and he quickly hides a pipe). Chances are you probably didn’t even notice it but the anti-drug nazis have made it impossible for marijuana use to be shown in any context without some sort of negative “consequences.”
You can show people getting drunk all you want, though. It’s just one more reason why the people in the MPAA deserve to be slapped aound their heads and faces.
Wait, why would the bottle have any direct contact with your loins? Shouldn’t your pants protect you? Unless… you’re talking about a different type of theater than the rest of us! :eek:
Leaving aside the issues of the ads being annoying and misplaced, as usual, it amazes me the way people who wouldn’t dream of stealing from one individual will spew out one whiney justification after another for stealing from a collection of individuals.
I noticed it, but it was so quick that I completely forgot about it until you brought it up. It’s fun to check the IMDB page for movies like this to see what they were rated in other countries. As with most movies, the most restrictive rating came from the U.S. Whale Rider got a PG or equivalent rating in most countries. In some, like Germany, Finland, and Sweden, it carries the same rating as animated childrens’ movies. I think that’s fair. The drug possession scene was so quick that it would take one hell of an observant kid to notice. I mean, when I was under 13, I wouldn’t have pointed and said “Look, a pot pipe!” If I had noticed it at all, I’d have assumed it was a small tobacco pipe. It’s not like anyone in the movie made reference to the object at all. Also, the strong language in the movie was almost non-existent.
You know, if there’s a siliver lining to the commercials, it’s that they’re so damn loud that nobody can hear you opening your can of soda! I used to have to try to synch my can opening activities to explosions in the previews. Not anymore!
You know, you don’t have to sneak it in. Mr. singular and I walk in with our cheap soda bottles in plain sight and nobody cares. We even sit the bottles on the counter while paying for popcorn (if we buy any). I think that rule is no longer in effect.
First of all, I agree that there shouldn’t be any advertisements of any sort at movies; they cost enough already. But I have to take the unpopular view here, and ask exactly what “facts and figures” you want to show that piracy hurts movie-makers? If you copy a movie for free and don’t pay to go see it, the studio doesn’t make any money from you. It’s not rocket-science. How people can possibly believe that it doesn’t hurt the studios is beyond me.
I don’t doubt that the executives in the industry command fantastic salaries, but aren’t pretty much all high-level corporate execs overpaid in the US? Should I rob my local 7/11 because the president of 7/11 Corporation is making 7 figures? You think that’s gonna come out of his pocket? You think that by illegally copying movies you are going to convince them to take a pay cut? Dream on. The first people who are going to get hit are the bottom rung. “It’s o.k. because those rich bastards deserve it” - that’s the oldest and stupidest rationalization in the book.
Facts and figures are beside the point. I don’t care if piracy hurts the industry. I have no interest hearing facts and figures. I paid for a ticket to watch a movie, not to get hectored about piracy. Piracy is not my problem. The woes of the industry are of no interest to me. I just want to see the movie.
I couldn’t find a link, but I heard this morning on NPR that movie ticket sales and revenues were down last year for the first time since 1991. They did not speculate on the reasons.
Hollywood seems to have a keen grasp of irony these days, so they should have special appreciation for the fact that I would only consider buying a pirated movie in order to avoid sitting through the goddamned commercials. I stopped going to movies about the time they started running slides for local businesses, but a commercial of the type described in the OP would provoke a reaction in me that could well lead to proceedings both civil and criminal.
Too bad they can’t go back to showing cartoons. I also kind of enjoyed the “rotating blobs of colored liquid with the occasional clump of hair” they showed about 20 years ago.
Looks like 1991 was the last time there was a year-to-year decrease in box office sales–I don’t know where NPR got the idea that ticket sales were down. Given the low cost of DVD’s, and the increasing cost of a theater ticket, plus a down economy for the past few years, I’m shocked that sales were up as much as they are (24.3% over 2000).
