CNN article about R rated films (1 Viewer)

Interesting article about R-rated films and how the industry believes this summer will be a big test to "R-rated movies making a comeback"

http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/13/news...ated/index.htm

Here's a snip from the article:

Very interesting article. I hope the R- Rated movies do well if nothing else to stop having the watered down PG13 movies. I can't stand those. I was afraid that they were even going to make T3 PG13, but now I hear that it will probablly be R based on the cuts most people have seen. It's not that I want to see blood and guts for the hell of it, but If you're going to depict violence, the harshness of it should be shown on screen. I think in a way PG13 movies can be more dangerous to a childs mind then R. Just my HO.

Yes, I agree 100% -- Like everything in our society, I comes down to $$$$$

R rating means that we won't be getting anything "watered down"...for the most part. R rated movies make up the majority of the movies i see so i don't care if it's PG-13 or R. What i get annoyed by is how more and more s*** is allowed in PG-13 movies year by year. PG-13 has become to mean R without the explicit visuals and overwhelming vulgarity. i'd rather you show it rather than be completely suggestive to whats going on. and keep viewers from seeing what they shouldn't be seeing anyways.

I was very disappointed when I heard 'Reloaded' was R. I feel the original Matrix could have easily been cut to receive a PG13 rating and still retain all the qualities that made it a great and interesting film (the 'edited' DVD was great IMHO.) Obviously 'Reloaded's' box office take will be diminished and hopefully theaters will really hold to the strict R rated policies. It's obviously NOT $$$ some in Hollywood are after...

Derek are you being sarcastic? Are you not old enough to get in by yourself? I guess not as your profile shows that you have been registered here for quite a while. I don't think the first Matrix could have been rated pg-13. Even though it didn't have much bad language or anything graphic sexually it had enough violence to be rated R 10 times over. Neo kills police officers at point blank range with plenty of bloody squib effects.

Now I agree that any 14 year old could handle watching the Matrix, or any movie for that matter, without supervision but that does not mean we should adjust the movie to fit a rating system that doesn't make sense. When people talk about the rating system they say the rating system needs to be redone so that for mild R rated movies people around 15 can get in. I strongly disagree. By the time someone is 15 they should be able to get into any R film. I think its silly that a 15 year old can't see what he wants without a guardian. I understand the idea of protecting children, but we're talking about a movie. Unless its pornography I can't see entertainment having a damaging effect on a child that old.

PG-13 is my personal bane in movie going life. When a certain movie comes out with that rating, in the back of my mind I feel, no matter what, that the movie was sold out by the studio in order to appeal to a 'broader audience.' Not that everything needs to be R, but you can sense certain scenes trimmed in order to avoid it.

Agreed. Most of a teenagers conversations and/or actions with his/her friends are far worse, and more pornographic, than anything you're going to find in an R-rated movie. Heck, if you were a fly on the monkey bars on any elementary school playground in the country you're likely to see/hear more filth than in most any movie.

And I'll say it again, if you have objections to R-rated films, don't watch them. There are thousands of other films with lesser ratings you can watch.

CleanFlicks will be punished momentarily for their bootlegging and censoring ways. If you're offended by R rated films, don't watch them

Matrix was a PG-13 movie. No swearing, very little blood, no sex, no female frontal or male below the belt nudity (male back/front shots automatically earn an R, female does not. Yet another hypocrisy). According to Joel Silver if you kick people in the head it's an R. Say what? That's as stupid as the UK's headbutts thing. If a kid headbutts someone it will be the LAST time he headbutts someone because it hurts like hell.

It has been nearly 20 years since Beverly Hills Cop had and retains the distinction or being the highest grossing R-rated film.

Hard to believe. But it looks like that may be coming to and end soon.

- Matt

Jeff, the Matrix is a hard R movie. Most of the movie I agree isn't that graphic but the R is definetly because of the lobby shootout sequence. There is plenty of blood when Neo and Trinity shoot the guards in cold blood. I don't doubt this is harmless to watch but it is definetly a level above your average pg-13 summer action movie.

X2 was more violent than the Matrix, because the violence was consquenceless. Matrix illustrated the results of taking those actions. Therefore I would argue X2 deserves an R much much more

I am fascinated with America's views on what should be restricted or not. Nudity is a lock, but the violence in The Matrix should be PG-13? I understand our society has some sexual hang-ups, but nudity does NOT equal porn. Porn should be off-limits to children for the degradation of the people in it, not necessarily the physical acts. It's quite sad when a pair of breasts, a behind, or GOODNESS FORBID, a penis is far more dangerous to a child than the violence in a PG-13 film.

Long story short, in the States:
Nudity or sexual situations
Violence

Take care,
Chuck

Um, Jeff, I don't think male rear nudity is an automatic R. Solaris had the infamous showing of George Cluny's butt and that was PG-13. The awful Spy Hard also had a mail posterior, and was PG-13 (yes I saw it, my little brother rented it a few years ago). I think the main reason you don't see butts in PG-13 movies is that guys are the ones who are visually stimulated, women are tactile and verbal, and guys don't like seeing other guys naked, they much prefer women.

And for the most part, you stick a pair of breasts on screen and it's an R, the only movie I can think of otherwise is Titanic, which passed it off as "artful" nudity rather then sexual (a fine line in my book, Titanic should have been R in my mind).

Please The Matrix could easily been rated PG 13, take another look at the scenes in which they shoot people,,hardly any blood at all,as far as language it is in the Pg13 area,and no sexual situations. True there is alot of violence,but is there any more shootings than in,say Mission Impossible 2,or Indiana Jones Last Crusade,or James Bond films? NO. Ratings can be right on,and other times be SOO Completly off. For instance go watch Conspiracy Theory with Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson. This was rated R. WHY? I have no idea at all. at the end scene someone gets shot while underwater and a red cloud appears,THATS IT!!

I dont care one way or the other,but They get away with ALOT in PG13 movies,and as John Lal says they get more and more each year.

Dang it ,Ive never used a Spoiler thing before,because Ive never seen the use,but when I do try I screw it up,,figures,,hehe I say go watch it,and then tell you,,ARGH
sorry

ok Fixed,,thanks for the info,,I knew I could edit,but didnt even think about it.
thanks

You got the first part right, just put a [/spoiler] at the end of the text you want blacked out.

The codes need to enclose the text you want to affect, sort of like using quotes " ", except you're using codes.

Also, you can edit your own posts by clicking the "edit" button in the toolbar at the top of the post. So you can go back and fix it if you want.

I thought "Conspiracy Theory" got an R rating because of the interrogation scene at the beginning:

As a form of torture, a guy's eyes were taped open while he was put under bright lights. The fight/chase as he escaped was also rather brutal, including a nose being bitten off.

As for "The Matrix": I remember a few things that were a bit much for PG-13:


- When Neo was captured by the agents, his body is distorted, causing his mouth to seal up and disappear. Then the agents unleash a tracking device that crawls into his navel.
- In the final fight sequences, in which Neo takes on the agents, bones are broken (including a crunch and unnaturally bent limb)
- Neo is shot twice (exit wounds shown in close-up but with little blood) in the "bullet time" sequence atop the building
- An agent shoots Morpheus in the knee (with a big blood splatter) during the helicopter rescue
- And then there's the lobby shootout with about 20 kills (a few with bloody exit wounds)


Given the levels of violence in "X2" and "Bourne Identity," I could see how "The Matrix" would be rated "PG-13" today. I was surprised "Bourne" didn't get an R with its rather intense/brutal fight scenes. "X2" looks like it could have started out as "R" but was repeatedly edited/resubmitted until the ratings board broke down (tired of seeing "X2" again and again every week?) and awarded the PG-13.

I also do not understand at all why The Matrix was rated R. I've seen plenty of pg-13 movies that were much worse in so many different ways. And this notion on this site that pg-13 means a movie was "watered down" as a sell out is a joke. Grow the hell up. A movie is either good or it is not.

Brian