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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  You Can't Say That! Stop It! Stop It! « previous next »
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Author Topic: You Can't Say That! Stop It! Stop It!  (Read 19235 times)
Squishy
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« Reply #30 on: September 30, 2002, 06:23:28 AM »

Yes, easily enough looked up. This is cut-and-paste from another site, complete with an overblown, irrelevant statement by Zappa:

-----------------------------------
"Censorship here would be like using decapitation to deal with dandruff."
- Frank Zappa, at Senate hearings

Co-founded by Tipper Gore (wife of Democrat Senator Albert Gore) and Susan Baker (wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker), the PMRC appeared before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on September 19, 1985 stressing that the group would not be satisfied until:

(1) "questionable" lyrics were printed and provided with their respective recordings,
(2) "objectionable" album covers were sold in plain brown wrappers (or sold in areas segregated from other albums),
(3) rock concerts were rated, and
(4) MTV segregated "questionable" video recordings into specific late night viewing slots.
--------------------------------------

Oh my God--printed lyrics, wrappers over pictures of genitals, ratings for rock concerts, and showing "Beavis & Butt-head" after 10pm. How DID freedom in America survive such a terrible onslaught??? I'm trying to see the "censorship" here, but it's just not working.

I'm glad Frank Zappa was a "genuine thinker," had a little TV show, and is hailed in the Eastern Bloc. I'm going to have a really hard time accepting the idea that a man who named his children "Moon Unit" and "Dweezil" was a genius of some kind.
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Chadzilla
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« Reply #31 on: September 30, 2002, 11:54:50 AM »

I remember when the movie was released, Spielberg and company trimmed one shot of the pond victim's leg laying on the sea bed to avoid an R-rating.  Just a news blurb that stuck in my head from the era.  And yes, Jaws was every bit as controversial in its day as Gremlins was in 1984.

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Chadzilla
Gosh, remember when the Internet was supposed to be a wonderful magical place where intelligent, articulate people shared information? Neighborhood went to hell real fast... - Anarquistador
Squishy
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« Reply #32 on: September 30, 2002, 05:32:52 PM »

Good lord. See, Spielberg was very lucky (in addition to getting a "free pass" on the ratings). The malfunctioning Bruce forced him to show less of the shark, and while the one shot of the severed leg falling into view--remaining in the PG version--freaked me out, an additional shot of it laying there would've been overkill.

Gah. Hate "Gremlins." I mean, the movie's marginally watchable, but my theatre experience was not pleasant. This poor little girl--drawn in by the cute-n-fuzzy campaign--went into absolute hysterics during the horrifically violent kitchen attack (during which one Evil Gremlin is decapitated and another is blown up in the microwave) and had to be taken home by her mother.

Spielberg said in an interview he wouldn't take his own child to see "Gremlins"--but made sure sweet li'l sad-eyed Gizmo brought in everyone else's.
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Chadzilla
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« Reply #33 on: September 30, 2002, 05:57:08 PM »

Yeah, Spielberg is a self-righteous prick of a gotta have his cake and eat it to kinda guy.  Still, Jaws is my favorite movie of all time.

Gremlin is an entertaining kid of sick joke movie (and was originally intended to be R-rated - but AMBLIN Entertainment bought it up and made it more 'mass market' friendly, bah) but even director Joe Dante dislikes it (for different reasons).  He made Gremlins 2 to make the Gremlins movie he would have preferred to make (and came the closest to making a live action Looney Tunes movie anyone ever has).  It's interesting to note that it was Spielberg's gotta have a PG rating no matter what mentality and his movies Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, and Gremlins that really forced the creation of the PG-13 rating.  Parents were sick and tired of taking their kids to movies with gruesome, R-rated effects scenes sprinkled throughout.

There has been talk of making a Gremlins 3, something Dante has no interest in, as he considers Small Soldiers his Gremlins 3.  Interestingly I HATED Small Soldiers.  I thought the black humor was sick and twisted (in a bad way) and the movie had no sense of childish delight, it was just violent and cruel.  That it was from Spielberg's Dreamworks factory came as no surprise.

And, of course, they sold tons of toys with no irony whatsoever.

Nice Jerry Goldsmith scores though.

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Chadzilla
Gosh, remember when the Internet was supposed to be a wonderful magical place where intelligent, articulate people shared information? Neighborhood went to hell real fast... - Anarquistador
Chris K.
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« Reply #34 on: September 30, 2002, 07:24:21 PM »

Chadzilla wrote:
>
> Gremlin is an entertaining kid of sick joke movie (and was
> originally intended to be R-rated - but AMBLIN Entertainment
> bought it up and made it more 'mass market' friendly, bah)
> but even director Joe Dante dislikes it (for different
> reasons).  He made Gremlins 2 to make the Gremlins movie he
> would have preferred to make (and came the closest to making
> a live action Looney Tunes movie anyone ever has).  It's
> interesting to note that it was Spielberg's gotta have a PG
> rating no matter what mentality and his movies Jaws, Raiders
> of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, and Gremlins that really forced
> the creation of the PG-13 rating.  

Well, one wonders how Spielberg was able to dodge some the MPAA at times. POLTERGIEST, though directed by Tobe Hooper and Spielberg was executive producer, contains a fair amount of gruesome scenes that makes one wonder just how did it not get the R! Even SAVING PRIVATE RYAN raises the question of "Should have been NC-17?", but the MPAA just kissed ass rather than stand by their policy. Of course, the MPAA was founded by the majors to keep the independents "in line" while the majors got away with pretty much everything and the majors are responsible for the paychecks of all who are involved with the MPAA (wink, wink).

I do agree with you Chadzilla, Spielberg is a self-righteous prick of a guy whose gotta have his cake and eat it. I liked JAWS, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, and E.T. so these are his good points. But he is also responsible for such crap like CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (one segment), SCHINDLER'S LIST, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, MINORITY REPORT. And today, he is just too moral. I mean, he changes the dialouge "You look like a terrorist" in E.T. during it's reissue even though the film was made in 1982 and has NOTHING to do with September 11th! Whatever happened to his "I just want to entertain" moto. Sorry, but he is a pompous ass of a man who has just losted his ability. Oh well.
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Chadzilla
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« Reply #35 on: September 30, 2002, 07:38:21 PM »

To paraphrase Stephen King's self-description "He s**ts money."

Poltergeist was really controversial in its day.  There was the face ripping sequence, the dead bodies popping out all over the place, and, horrors of horrors, the parents got stoned on pot in one scene.  In true American fashion, it was the pot smoking scene that really caused the biggest uproar.  I think it was Spielberg's double whammy of Poltergeist and Gremlins that really made the PG-13 rating come about.  Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (along with Red Dawn and Dreamscape) was one of the first movies to actually receive the rating.

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Chadzilla
Gosh, remember when the Internet was supposed to be a wonderful magical place where intelligent, articulate people shared information? Neighborhood went to hell real fast... - Anarquistador
Chadzilla
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« Reply #36 on: September 30, 2002, 07:42:04 PM »

I remember hearing about some venues (in Arizona?) actually self-rating the movie R.  They just covered over the PG with an R in newspaper ads and on theater posters.

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Chadzilla
Gosh, remember when the Internet was supposed to be a wonderful magical place where intelligent, articulate people shared information? Neighborhood went to hell real fast... - Anarquistador
Abby
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« Reply #37 on: September 30, 2002, 07:46:51 PM »

Temple of Doom was PG -- that and Gremlins formed the double-whammy that brought about the PG-13 rating.

Little Stevie lost me the day he announced that "I often feel like a Black man."  (referring to his personal oppression related to making Shindler's List.) This, coming from one of the richest, most powerful WHITE men in the country. I just thought that was, like Clinton's remarks, to be a hugely ignorant thing to say. Yeah, and what would he think if I announced I feel like a Jewish concentration camper after a bad day at the office. Sheesh.
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Chadzilla
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« Reply #38 on: September 30, 2002, 07:54:42 PM »

It's been re-rated PG-13, hasn't it?  I think Jaws has, but  I'm gonna have to check my DVD of it.  I tell you, the protests over Temple and Gremlins were fast and furious back in the day.

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Chadzilla
Gosh, remember when the Internet was supposed to be a wonderful magical place where intelligent, articulate people shared information? Neighborhood went to hell real fast... - Anarquistador
Abby
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« Reply #39 on: September 30, 2002, 08:02:51 PM »

I saw both in a theatre with my parents. My mother thought Gremlins was wildly inappropriate -- mainly because SHE would never have gone to see it. She hated horror movies. She didn't mind Temple of Doom as much. I liked Gremlins, but it was nothing like what I expected from the commercials. I remember being a bit shocked. But we had cable, and I was allowed to watch R-Rated films at that age if my parents were around. I was probably around 12 when both came out (my first PG-13 movie was The Last Dragon -- I was 12 when I got in and boy did I feel like a badass).
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Cullen
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« Reply #40 on: September 30, 2002, 10:14:00 PM »

Gremlins was the first movie my younger brother and I saw by ourselves.  To this day, I have fond memories of that film.

Can't sit through it now.  Don't know why, exactly.  Proably because when it was released on tape, I watched it OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

I haven't reallly liked any of Dante's movies since Gremlins .  Maybe The Burbs , and kind of Explorers .  Beyond that, I really can't think of anything.  

Mantinee , too.  Forgot about that for a second.  A blip in the brain pan, perchance?

Anyway, not one of Dante's biggest fans.  The guy can do good stuff, but too much of it isn't my cup of tea.
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Cullen - Super Genius, Novelist, and all in all Great Guy.
Dano
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« Reply #41 on: September 30, 2002, 10:24:35 PM »

Temple of Doom should have been protested because it was such crap.  Me and my friends left the theater, and to this day I haven't seen the ending.

Gremlins wasn't so bad although as somone pointed out, the Gizmo ad campaign brought in a lot of very little kids who probably couldn't handle it.

The "greatest" Spielberg moment was when he won the Oscar for Schindler's List and, before the Motion Picture Academy, had the courage (COURAGE, I tell you!) to rail against the Nazis for five minutes.  What a brave man to take such a bold stance!  Give me a break.

I thought Schindler's List was actually pretty good if you leave right before the scene at the end where Schindler breaks down.  Spielberg also ripped off "Rumblefish" in that movie but was hailed as an innovative genius for what he stole.

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Dano
"Today's Sermon: Homer Rocks!"
Abby
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« Reply #42 on: September 30, 2002, 10:44:00 PM »

I actually think Schindler's List is his most important movie -- and one of the best mainstream films of the 90's. I think it's a very artful, powerful film. I also think it's manipulative and gimmicky. Art can be those things, too. And Oskar, while not a saint, wasn't the jerk "who saw the light" little Stevie made him out to be. Oskar wanted to be a super hero almost as soon as he started his operation. Stevie cut out a lot of pertinent historical details to tell STEVIE'S story. But I'm not really griping -- it's the closest he'll ever get to creating a true piece of art, and I think it will shine as the height of his career as time passes.

I like Joe Dante. Small Soldiers was garbage -- horrible. I don't know what he was thinking. I didn't like Innerspace either, and for some reason I think he had something to do with that. But he also did the TV show Eerie Indiana, which I had a strange fascination with while it aired. I thought that show was delivering some rather interesting social messages disguised as horror/twilight zone stories for children.
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Cullen
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« Reply #43 on: September 30, 2002, 11:47:58 PM »

I forgot about Eerie, Indiana .  Not a bad show, as I recall (but, then again, I only saw the Tupperware People episode.)

On a different note, Shakespeare stole much of his stuff from other writers, and he's been celebrated for centuries.  Apples and oranges, maybe, (and, perhaps a bit blasphemous to compare the Bard to a mere filmmaker) but it’s something to consider.
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Cullen - Super Genius, Novelist, and all in all Great Guy.
Chris K.
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« Reply #44 on: October 01, 2002, 12:19:01 AM »

Dano wrote:
>
> The "greatest" Spielberg moment was when he won the Oscar for
> Schindler's List and, before the Motion Picture Academy, had
> the courage (COURAGE, I tell you!) to rail against the Nazis
> for five minutes.  What a brave man to take such a bold
> stance!  Give me a break.

I remember hearing about this before. As much as Spielberg made an ass out of himself of this incident you mentioned, I wouldn't be suprised if the entire audience got up and clapped for joy for his "speech". Proves that the only controversial subject he can tackle is the Holocaust. I think Steven needs to take on another issue as he REALLY drives it in the ground. But that's why I don't pay attention to the ignorant ass most of the time because he uses it as too much of an excuse to get his statements through.


Dano wrote:
>
> I thought Schindler's List was actually pretty good if you
> leave right before the scene at the end where Schindler
> breaks down.  Spielberg also ripped off "Rumblefish" in that
> movie but was hailed as an innovative genius for what he stole.

My God Dano, thanks for pointing that last scene out. Liam Neson's performance at the end was HORRID! Liam displays no emotion and no sympathy in his performace. I could actually imagine him saying in his head, "As long as I cry and make it look like I am sad, I will be well respected and get better roles." I don't think starring in the remake of THE HAUNTING will gain you respect my dear Liam.


Abby wrote:
>
> I actually think Schindler's List is his most important movie
> -- and one of the best mainstream films of the 90's. I think
> it's a very artful, powerful film. I also think it's
> manipulative and gimmicky. Art can be those things, too. And
> Oskar, while not a saint, wasn't the jerk "who saw the light"
> little Stevie made him out to be. Oskar wanted to be a super
> hero almost as soon as he started his operation. Stevie cut
> out a lot of pertinent historical details to tell STEVIE'S
> story. But I'm not really griping -- it's the closest he'll
> ever get to creating a true piece of art, and I think it will
> shine as the height of his career as time passes.

I disagree. True, it's artful and at times powerful, but then it is manipulative and gimmicky. And the deletion of Schindlers historical details shows Spielberg's version is like BRAVEHEART, THE PATRIOT and PEARL HARBOR in which true history is removed (more likely thrown out to save the sake of "boring" the audience-GIVE ME A BREAK) to make room for a low brow storyline that only stereotypes characters (i.e. All Germans are shown as psychopaths and all the Jews are portrayed as hunched-backed cowards) so we can "easily" understand them more than complain that a character is too complex. This just proves that Spielberg is not a filmmaker and not an artist, but a journeyman hack that originally just wanted to entertain but instead becomes too moral that he even has to edit down his film E.T. to the lowest comon denominator so he is not to "offend" anybody (as if he has not offended people with the PG ratings for POLTERGIEST and GREMLINS, but he didn't care then). And as much as SCHINDLER'S LIST can be viewed as a historical piece, I for one cannot relate to it due to Spielberg's re-working of history. As I said in an earlier thread, I would rather read all the interviews of Holocaust survivors (and I have) and all the hsitory books that cover the subject than re-work it for a more "sanitized" audience. I don't need Spielberg to tell me how it was. I'll leave that to the true people who actually experienced it and lived to tell about it.

Also, one word about the art in the film. The black and white photography is quite original (so I'll give Spielberg a plus on that idea), but his theme of showing a little girl in red and "the world is not in black and white" kind of goes off. Back to Spielberg's stereotypes that he expresses, isn't his attitude of the Germans and Jews he expresses in his film also "in black and white" as well. Meaning that Speilberg seems to screw up his internal message that he is trying to deliver. All and all, this is just my opinion so I guess that's all I have to say about the guy.
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