First off let me say that if you are looking for an eloquent review, go elsewhere. If you want a recommendation that a friend would give, then keep reading.

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I have had this song stuck in my head off and on for about 2 weeks. It is Duty Free by Cracker. Then I was listening to A Little Piece of Heave by Avenged Sevenfold this morning and the one thing these very different songs have in common is storytelling. They each tell a story instead of giving you just a catchy tune with a hook.

Storytelling is as old as human history. The first time one dude looked at another dude and said “Let me tell about something I saw…” story telling was born. In its birth that story was told from a singular perspective and heard in another and then probably retold and that story got to live on in many perspectives in many forms and probably several versions.

The point of that ridiculousness is this. There is no new way to tell a story, there is a good story told the right way and there is everything else. Storytelling is the heart of a film. At the heart of every story are the characters.

You can make any story prettier by wrapping it in pretty colors or big awe inspiring explosions or even by throwing in some steamy sex, but unless you have a good story to tell with decent characters you are dressing up a toothless two bit crack whore and asking for $1,000 an hour. Oh come on you love that visual and you know it.

I went to a 3D showing of AVATAR on New Year’s Eve. I really enjoyed this film. In my opinion this film is a visual and technical masterpiece that is something I have always dreamed of seeing on the big screen and will allow for films that take place in places you will never find on this planet to made easier and cheaper over time.

Mark my words this is an important film that will take the locks off doors that have been closed to filmmakers in the past and give them a way to truly look for and find an original story to tell. This film from a standpoint of James Cameron giving future filmmakers a wonderful and needed new direction to take films in the digital age, was well worth every last cent sunk into the making of this movie. It was sure as hell worth the money I paid for 4 people to see it in 3D. You people know if I am happy about spending money that is the highest compliment I can pay.

This is the kind of film that makes you wish you could have a big enough TV and wand watch it in 3D at home when you buy it on BluRay and don’t care how much it costs. It is a beautiful piece of visual storytelling art. Some of the plot points and characters may feel familiar, but trust me you have never seen a story told like this before.

Men love boobs, it’s a fact, but it is not really what I am going to talking about. I am however intrigued by something. The other day I was talking with The Queen of the Geeks and we were noticing the lack of R rated entertainment. Then I was looking at my Flickchart list as I continue to try and narrow my own personal top movies. 90% or more of what is on my list is R rated flicks.

When I was a kid we had a slew of movies that were R rated because there were naked breasts somewhere in the flick. Nothing gets a teen age boy more excited about seeing a movie than the real possibility of seeing some woman topless. Hell, depending on the actress it gets men of any age excited. Sorry ladies but it is the truth.

The American Pie flicks gave a new generation of teenage boys something to get excited about again. They were followed by more R rated entertainment that came straight from the gutter and damn it was some funny stuff.

Again I am not just talking about boobs. Most of my favorite movies are R rated. You can make a good, even a great movie that is not R rated but you begin to feel constraints. You have challenges such as speech patterns. Most of the people I know swear and do it freely when not at work. Like it or not but profanity is a part of life. It may not always be necessary but imagine The Departed with no profanity and tell me it has the same effect.

The business of Hollywood is slowly killing the art film. It has become more about marketing than it is about making movies. Sony told Len Wiseman to make a PG-13 Die Hard movie. Die Hard is an R rated franchise and works because of what they can do with the R rating. It was a huge mistake on the studios part to tie a filmmakers hands like that. It is Also a huge mistake to blame Live Free or Die Hard on Len Wiseman.

The studios are pushing harder and harder for the teenage dollar and it is a trend that has me searching the Independent film market for something to watch. Some of the most memorable and powerful movies have always carried an R rating because what they did to make an impact would have never made a PG-13 cut.

It was films such as Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that brought us this rating that was supposed to open up what you could do with PG flicks. Since then it has become the rating you use to cut short an R rated flick. Adults still go to the movies and my kids don’t need to see every movie I want to see. I prefer the filmmaker to go for the punch in the chest effect that propels a movie from good to great. Imagine American History X as a PG-13 movie. It would have nowhere near the impact.

Yes, you can make a good even great film with a PG-13 rating, but when I look at the films I love, I find that 90% or more are R rated films. They are the ones with more punch and more heart and often tell a better story. They are the films that are made to get made not made to make a buck. When you limit yourself to making a certain rated film it closes the door to the possibilities that could become your film. You eliminate where you can go with the story ad what you can do with your characters.

You lose the ultimate need for good story telling, freedom. Freedom to tell the story in a way that you know will leave an impact on the audience, an impact they will not soon forget. I am not just talking about going for the cheap blood or boob shot. I am talking about all the little detail things you can do to give your story and characters a greater sense of being real. You limit the ability to create a true illusion for the audience to lose themselves within.

Films are waking dreams that allow us to disengage from the real world and immerse ourselves in the realm of fantasy. It gives us the chance to live the lives we never would have dreamed of.

The greatest thing about dreams is that dreams know no limits.

Now and then you have a film like The Dark Knight. It is a great film in and of itself and it does carry that PG-13 rating, however Batman is a character that lends to the rating. Batman is not about the gore of the violence or naked chicks. Your two biggest hurdles are out of the way and the only one left is language. The same thing can be said for Iron Man or many other comic movies. Blade however had to be R.

Then you delve in the world of horror and there are definitely two schools of thought.

1. The less you can show makes you more creative in guiding the audience to scaring themselves with their own imaginations. A great technique that has scared me more than once in film.

2. There has to be blood and or boobs. The slasher formula = 5 scenes blood and gore + 3 topless woman scenes.

So the jury is still out. It is all about the type of horror flick you trying to make. Psychothriller films are great for the less is more. If you going more for shock factor then get out the corn syrup and red food coloring ad all the latex body parts you can get. Either way a strong story is needed for the flick to work.

As long as parents give their kids money to go to the movies then this horrible cycle we have right now where most of the movies out are PG-13 then it will not change. I will also state right now and will stand by it until the day I die that the best movies will always be predominantly R rated films. As long this cycle of making film for cash continues we will a reduction in the number of great films that get made each year.

I think am done for now but this one of those subjects I could talk hours and hours about. If you want to know more send me an email at themoviewhore@themoviewhore.com. You kids have a kick ass Monday.

I have been dealing with a rather nasty bout of sinusitis. For those who have never dealt with this, let’s just say it involves quite a bit of pain in your face. However the antibiotics to get rid of it say on the bottle “May cause dizziness” but should state “Will make you f*cktarded.” I will have new material here n a couple days, including a new Ask The Movie Whore. Kim came up with a great question that will actually require an ability to think clearly to answer. Just to show how out of it I am it took me 30 minutes just to do this. But I should be fine in a couple days.

I am not talking about a Dairy Princess, Double Penguins, Dr. Pepper or even Double Penetration. I am talking about a Director of Photography.

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