Tag: Blue Valentine

The MPAA is a bully

The MPAA is being a bully. It teases us with misleading ratings and then pummels us with violence. It saps all the fun and meaning out of naughty words. It dangles interesting and important films just out of reach. And it holds a stubborn grudge when anyone thinks to complain about it.

Never have we been more irritated by the MPAA’s annoyances than recently with the upcoming documentary “Bully.”

“Bully” captures middle and high school students in their everyday social lives in an effort to point out the cruel behavior of teenage bullies that led one of its student subjects to suicide.

It was bound to be controversial, but the MPAA bestowed the film with an R-rating because it contains “some language,” effectively restricting it from the under-17 teenagers it depicts.

School field trips have been cancelled, teen advocates have generated petitions, producer Harvey Weinstein has threatened to abandon the MPAA, and critics have thrown around as many four-letter words as those used by the kids in the movie.

And after similar controversies with films like “The King’s Speech” and “Blue Valentine,” the latter of which initially received an NC-17 rating, effectively banning it from most movie theaters, it has become clear the MPAA rating scale needs rethinking. Continue reading “The MPAA is a bully”

Blue Valentine

Ryan Gosling’s character in “Blue Valentine” mentions in passing that men are more romantic than women. For a man, his bride is the most beautiful creature on Earth, way out of his league. The woman may just settle. I found myself agreeing with Gosling over Michelle Williams more often throughout this film, but who’s right and who’s wrong hardly matters in this heartbreaking romance.

Dean and Cindy are a struggling married couple in their 30s, one child, lower middle class. He’s a blue-collar high school dropout. She’s a nurse through medical school. It’s Valentine’s Day, and they debate getting a room at a cheesy, romantic motel. They’ve made a reservation at “The Future Room.”

We don’t really know why, but things are not well at home. Dean is fun, if a little immature, but he’s good with their daughter and responsible at his job. He also clearly loves Cindy, but her love is not as clear. She gets upset when he gets jealous and angry after she bumps into an old boyfriend at the liquor store. She also questions why he doesn’t do more with his life, or isn’t a little tougher in maintaining the family responsibilities.

Their relationship alone is a variance on what is normally conveyed in broken romances or marriages. He’s usually distant and irresponsible, and she’s usually nitpicky and expecting too much. “Blue Valentine” exists on the basis of Gosling’s sentiment I mentioned above about men and women and romance. Continue reading “Blue Valentine”