[jonottawa]

Saw the newest Rambo movie on DVD last night. Holy crap that's violent. Anybody else seen it? It's set in Burma/Myanmar, where apparently the regime is pretty brutal.

[kenberg]

I saw (the first) Rocky with my older daughter when she was fifteen or so. New Year's eve, as I ecall. We both liked it a lot. It was the last Sylvester Stallone movie I could sit through. Well, I have tried only a couple more but I think I get the idea.

[jonottawa]

You didn't like First Blood? It wasn't world-rocking or anything, but much better than most of what Hollywood turns out.

I didn't have high expectations for the geriatric Rambo movie, but it exceeded what expectations I had. The dialogue and acting is stilted at times, but the story is okay. The violence is the most brutal and graphic I've ever seen.

[blackshoe]

I haven't seen the movie, but I wouldn't be surprised if what's actually going on in that part of the world is even more brutal than what's in the movie.

[gwnn]

Nice stats:

http://nilsmaier.com/weblog/wp-content/upl..._statistics.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/2eg64gy.jpg

[helene_t]

When I was 4 my parents took me to "aristocats" and I had nightmares for several nights after. Have tried to avoid violent films ever since, but someone forced me to see "Star Wars I" when I was 10 and "The fellowship of the ring" when I was 39. Probably the two worst films I have ever seen. If I want to see random people getting killed I can just watch the news, so why go to the cinema?

According to Csaba's statistics this film also seems boring (no sex, Rambo needs to have his shirt on when killing someone).

So thanks for the warning. I am not going to watch it.

Btw sounds like Stalone will be running for office shortly.

[kenberg]

I cannot recall exactly what parts of what i have seen. Sometimes I think there are movies that are very enjoyable, after which the star should retire or die or something. I liked Rocky a lot, I thought Stallone and Talia Shire were great together, and everything since has just been a great turn off.

I do not always object to violent movies. I have not really figured out my guiding principles. Taxi Driver got a lot of criticism for its violence, I thought it was a great movie. Gangs of New York, like Taxi Driver a Scorcese movie, I found boring. The Wild Bunch often is listed as one of the best movies ever, I find it unwatchable. Kill Bill was dumb, dumb, dumb. The Unforgiven was great. i have a pattern? Beats me.

My younger daughter, from an early age, liked some of the most godawful things. She, now in her forties, is a gentle person but if you looked at her movie preferences as a young person you would expect a serial killer. I would take her to some that she could not get into w/o an adult but then I would sneak out and watch something else. We would meet afterward.

At the risk of sounding elitst (shudder) I think that I need some sort of content. Whether it is violence, sex, or technological gee wizz, there has to be some sort of story with some sort of human interest. It's ok to kill people, but first you have to talk with them a bit. Something like that.

[jonottawa]

I think watching this movie would forever rid you of the notion that Star Wars, The Fellowship of the Ring, or the Aristocats are violent movies. Unfortunately, it would probably make your head explode. If watching Saving Private Ryan made you uncomfortable, this isn't the movie for you.

The editor said that they sent what they thought would be the NC-17 (x-rated) version 'director's cut' to the censors and the censors gave it an R rating. Maybe the Bush administration was pushing a move to (further) desensitize Americans to violence, who knows. America's censors have always had a far more liberal attitude toward glorifying violence and a far more puritanical attitude toward showing sex than the rest of the world.

[helene_t]

That's what I never understood, why showing sex is controversial. OK, one could argue that actors should be good examples and always use condoms, but other than that .... weird norms.

[gwnn]

I really liked this review of the movie BTW. http://www.reelviews...es/r/rambo.html

"If what you want from a movie is a lot of Stallone looking morose and pensive before suddenly going apeshit and slaughtering a bunch of people, then Rambo is your kind of experience. And if you're looking for something else… why the hell would you be considering going to see a Rambo movie in the first place?"

[onoway]

I also was given nightmares after seeing a couple of movies as a 5 year old; for me it was GungaDin (the scene of the guy falling off the top of the minaret probably is the reason I am still weird about heights).

Going to see a movie to watch the violence is as alien to me (and as uncomfortable!) as eating live spiders would be...theoretically possible, but why?

[1eyedjack]

Guess y'all weren't impressed with the Bad Taste/Brain Dead prequals to the Lord of the Rings saga, then.

[blackshoe]

jonottawa, on May 18 2009, 10:02 AM, said:

Maybe the Bush administration was pushing a move to (further) desensitize Americans to violence, who knows.

From the Motion Picture Association of America website:

Quote

The movie ratings system is a voluntary system operated by the MPAA and the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO). The ratings are given by a board of parents who comprise the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA). CARA?s Board members view each film and, after a group discussion, vote on its rating. The ratings are intended to provide parents with advance information so they can decide for themselves which films are appropriate for viewing by their own children. The Board uses the same criteria as any parent making a judgment ? theme, language, violence, nudity, sex and drug use are among content areas considered in the decision-making process.

I very much doubt the Bush administration (or any other) has anything to do with movie ratings in this country.

[gwnn]

The only movie that gave me nightmares was some sort of B movie from the 80's where a woman was thrown out of a train window. I was about 8 then. It wasn't a graphic scene at all. It's weird how the horror of a scene is not directly proportional (at all) to the amount of blood.

[jdonn]

gwnn, on May 18 2009, 04:42 PM, said:

The only movie that gave me nightmares was some sort of B movie from the 80's where a woman was thrown out of a train window. I was about 8 then. It wasn't a graphic scene at all. It's weird how the horror of a scene is not directly proportional (at all) to the amount of blood.

Yeah it depends on the context. When I was very young, I thought the very beginning of the movie Ghostbusters was so scary that I couldn't even look. It was just a ghost spooking people in a library. Now in pretty much anything I watch I am definitely rooting for blood and gore.

[hrothgar]

Anyone ever seen the old animated "Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

Scared me shitless when I was a kid

Walking home from school across a frosty golf course on a cold October night = traumatic

[kenberg]

I recall a headless horseman from some cartoon in the 40s and yes, it got to me. And I may have been a bit older than 8.

I agree very much that it is hard to predict in advance what the effect will be. I saw a Tarzan movie when I was a kid that had a man-eating plant. Huh? A man eating what? I kept my distance from shrubbery for quite a while after that.

I saw Salome with my father when I was an early adolescent. Rita Hayworth's dance definitely caught my attention. I was wondering how to deal with this when, as I recall it, John the Baptist's head was brought in on a platter. Yes, and let that be a lesson to all you horny boys out there!

I do not believe any of this had a lasting effect but I think it is worth noting that it wasn't day in and day out as so much stuff is now.

[blackshoe]

Heh. Movies that scared me: "Invaders from Mars" (about 1956, as I recall). Some movie whose name I don't recall from roughly the same period, about passing pieces of paper with runes on them to people so that the demon summoned by the runes would kill them. Don't recall any others. I did have nightmares after hearing that George "Superman" Reeves had committed suicide (or was murdered) in 1959. I was 9 in '56.

[Winstonm]

I think I was in my forties and still couldn't tolerate water in my eyes in the shower (temporarily binding me) after seeing Psycho as a teen.

[Lobowolf]

Winstonm, on May 18 2009, 07:20 PM, said:

I think I was in my forties and still couldn't tolerate water in my eyes in the shower (temporarily binding me) after seeing Psycho as a teen.

Ever since she saw Psycho, my mom won't shower at night if she's home alone.