Marshall and the Movies

I’m pretty easily amused.  I’ve probably used that line to start a factoid several times, but it’s the truth.  I am.

And it’s funny how I’ll see one thing and get a train of thought going that leads me to a factoid.  Today’s came from reading a post from 24 Frames, the movie blog for the Los Angeles Times.  Yesterday, the MPAA reversed its rating on “Eat Pray Love” from an R to PG-13.  Sony wanted this for obvious reasons: making sure they could keep the younger teen demographic.  It was R for “brief strong language;” now, it is PG-13 for “brief strong language, some sexual references and male rear nudity.”  I like how those last two things weren’t mentioned at all in the R-rated descriptor.

But some of the descriptors that the MPAA uses are kind of … odd.  Take for instance, the ones for the 2010 remake of “The Karate Kid.”

I’m sorry, but “bullying?”  I understand that parents may not want their kids to see that, but there are sites now for parents to get more in-depth looks at a movie’s content.  I don’t see why they couldn’t just leave it at “violence” and call it a day.

Or what’s even worse: “a brief instance of smoking.”  I honestly wonder if the MPAA use that for some movies just to make me laugh.  Although smoking kills and I’m glad that the smoking crack-down is occurring as long as it doesn’t disrupt the art.