unforgivable...

Seriously, why do I always hear about films that have "nothing but killing and language"? I can't even remember how many times I've heard people say that about a movie. Do you all not realize how stupid that sounds? Firstly, there's never been such a film made. If it was ever made it was probably made in the very early days of cinema when being "creative" was less of a challenge since there were so many things undone at that time...2ndly, ALL films have conflict of some kind. Even the black & white picket-fence TV shows of the '50's surely had some conflict. I haven't even seen one of those, as I was raised in the '80's with color TV, but I saw a SNIPPET of one - once, and not even the entire thing - and the only little piece of a B&W picket-fence TV show I have ever seen was on a news show that was - for some reason I don't remember - talking about the differences between families of today and families of the '50's...it was a scene where the mother was defending her husband to her son, justifying his hypocricy over "foul" language. Actually, there's another little snippet of a TV show from BEFORE that era that I remember too. Does "one of these days _, one of these days; STRAIGHT TO THE MOON!" sound familiar? Not a very "positive" quote is it? Funny, maybe, if you have fond memories of that show, but I don't think threats are all that funny, regardless if they have any weight to them.

Any # of things can be deemed offensive. What's absurd is how people's interpretations of "offensive" vary from one family to the next and hardly anybody seems to comprehend how true that is. This one dude was "describing" that Mel Gibson film, APOCALYPTO or whatever it was called, and said "yeah, it's a good film if you like seeing blood and guts" (not an exact quote). I tried telling him how likely it was that the film was more or less about HOW those "blood and guts" appeared on the screen and not so much that they were there...of course, for those morbid people - like myself, who am not the only one - blood and/or guts can be an interesting sight, something to send a jolt of - shall we say - LIFE through me...but for those who care more about plot and story and/or whatever, there was more than just a big pile of blood and guts to stare at for 90++ minutes (I think the film is actually over 2 hours...which I think would bore just about everyone except maybe a biology student, but you'd have to have some sort of narration guiding the student along so that the student isn't missing anything...either that or the film would have to come with a checklist or study pamphlet...).

I don't even see how a film about human sacrifice can NOT be gory, unless it's a cartoon in some made up land where people don't bleed. Anyone who isn't too much of a wimp to shy away from the subject matter alone, however, will not tolerate that kind of compromise of truth. People, more often that not, either want to live in a fantasy land where there's no horror, or they want to look at it in the eye and not turn away. APOCALYPTO (sp??) is of the latter. There's no way you can take a film with subject matter that deals with such irrational behavior and turn it into a philisophical story. That would be "bate and switch" as they say...of course, nobody would get sued for it, but a lot of $ would be wasted on the production of the film...

And I just read a review on Amazon and it had some dude saying he was "sorry" for "giving away the plot" for PLATOON, of all films. Here's his ADHD-infused recap: "a bunch of people cuss and get killed x 10 (apprx.)". I'm paraphrasing, since Amazon's reviews are copyrighted, but is it really just the "evil" non-Bible-thumpers that see how stupid that sounds? PLATOON! I repeat: PLATOON! Did he think the film was BALLOON 'cause he misread the title on the box? That really would explain it, I give that some cred, but I really don't think that's it. I think the harrowing image on the box-art would be a dead giveaway even if he didn't read the back cover where the description of the film usually is...

I was also reading about this book called LIES OF SILENCE by Brian Moore, I think the name was...it was about this dude who is faced with the decision of helping hiw wife not die at the hands of the IRA or helping multiple people - many likely in the same position he's in - not die at the hands of the IRA...the book makes it sound like a tough decision, from what I hear, but it really shouldn't be that hard. Painful, yes, but what the heck is up with people? I hear the same lack of care for one's fellow man/woman in child molestation cases; the victim(s) don't wanna testify 'cause "it's so hard to relive those moments"...yeah, so you're the only person that matters, right? Nevermind hope for a better world for the future children of this world or whatever, just screw your neighbor's grandkids and just *TRY* to pretend like you never had anything bad happen...

The word of the day, for those who don't get the connection, is EMPATHY. Is that such a hard idea for people to grasp?