Being Slightly Critical of Profanity in Movies in One Particular Way

   It's time to talk about swearing in movies, motherf-----. No, I'm not talking about PG words like ass, bastard, hell, or damn. I'm talking about the hard R words like f---, s---, and c---. It's pretty common to hear these words in movies these days (except for maybe that last word). I'd be willing to bet that most people (unless they watch kids movies a lot) don't remember the last movie they saw that didn't have swearing in it. Moreover, most people probably don't even take note of when they see a movie that doesn't have curses – I know I don't. It's a trend that's definitely become ubiquitous since the 1960's. I remember when people made a big deal of all the swearing in The Blair Witch Project in 1999, but now there's movies like The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) that use the word f--- on an average of more than thrice per minute. It's a pretty big part of contemporary film, so just for s---s and giggles I'm going to give my two cents on it.

   What the hell is swearing for? To me it seems that there's two uses for cursing in movies. The first is to add a bit of grittiness to a scene. This could take the form of someone muttering a swear word in frustration or shouting a nasty insult as most people do in real life at one point or another (see John McClane in Die Hard). Another way to make a scene gritty with profanity is by using swear words to create an uninviting environment and a tough tone. This s--- can often be seen with child characters who are already adept at the art of profanity (Sarah Altman in Panic Room), something which most people don't learn until maturity. When used in these ways, profanity can make the film's world feel more real and s---. Imagine watching Straight Outta Compton (2015) without hearing any F-bombs. That would be a very f---ed up, surreal experience.

   On the other hand, the other main way of using cursing in movies is in a comedic role. Having swear words used by unexpected people or used in an unusual manner or in an unanticipated context can be hilarious. This technique is one of the cornerstones of raunchy comedies. I once was watching TV and the film Step Brothers (2008) came on, but since it was the TV version all the curse words were edited out and replaced with weird s--- via dubbing. I like Step Brothers, but without the profanity the movie felt toothless and impotent.

   As obscenities have gained more and more prominence, certain filmmakers have gained notoriety in the language's fluency. Directors like Martin Scorcese and Quentin Tarantino and actors like Samuel L. Jackson and Al Pacino are legendary for their ability to weave their quilts of verbal filth. Curses are part of what made Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1980's one-liners so kickass.

   Of course that means there are also ways of misusing swear words. Being able to curse convincingly is a required skill. Not being able to swear with conviction or appearing uncomfortable with saying curse words will make an actor sound like an immature 8 year-old kid who just learned the F-word and is trying it for the first time.

   The second way profanity can be f---ed up is if, just as with all other types of dialogue, it doesn't fit in with the context of the rest of the film. As always, let's look at the 007 series. As the series progressed, curse words have very slowly crept in. But if I might be just a little critical I think 2015's Spectre went a little too far with the profanity. Not that Spectre has a s---load of it; it has about as much swearing as many other action films of today. But what rubs me the wrong way about it is that this is the Bond series: the refined, sophisticated, tasteful series of films evolving from their intelligent British roots since the early 1960's. In the case of Bond films a couple obscenities are OK, but they should be used sparingly.

   Another series that I think is going just a bit too far with obscenities is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I know that as the series has progressed it has dealt with increasingly serious and personal storylines. For example, it's understandable why Tony Stark was so stressed out and agitated in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. But it still feels a little off-putting when the earlier films in the franchise didn't swear so much. Not only that – and I can't believe I'm about to say this – there are motherf---ing kids watching these movies. Like, young kids. With their parents. I don't think curse words in the Marvel films will be driving families away in droves, but Marvel studios should make every effort to make their movies enjoyable to both adult and adolescent viewers. At least, that's what it looks like they're trying to do with this series of movies. Films like Deadpool (2016), which are definitely not for kids, get a free pass.

   And so that's my take on swearing in films. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing. However, just as is the case with all elements of a film, it is something that needs to be written naturally and implemented with care. So don't f--- it up.

P.S. - Yes. I realize that this is probably the most pointless article I've ever written.

Movie Review Mistakes?

You know how sometimes you rewatch a movie and you find your opinion of it has changed? That happens to me sometimes, even to movies that I've already written reviews for. While a lot of thought goes into my reviews – and believe me I try to include my thoughts on every aspect of a film before judging it here – there are a few times where I've realized that my judgment was incorrect. There's a couple times where I was too harsh on a movie and there's also a few times where I was being too generous. So on this article I'm going to clarify my current thoughts on some movies that I've reviewed in the past. This isn't me rewriting history (the original ratings still stand and I still very much have confidence in my own writing), and these aren't mistakes. Think of these as updated opinions on films of whom I now think differently. Let's take a look.

X-Men: First Class (2011); I gave 3/5, should've given 3.5/5

In my original review for this flick – the second I ever wrote, by the way – I called the film “a mixed bag” that was full of plot holes. While I do acknowledge that there are a bunch of logical fallicies in First Class, I don't think that they are that much of a hindrance to the audience's enjoyment of it. I mean when it gets to the point where I'm criticizing the fact that First Class doesn't fit into the timeline of the other X-Men films, you know I must be nitpicking. (Because pretty much every X-Men film has that problem!) The movie still has a lot of fun moments and gripping action scenes. Don't be afraid to give this one a try.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012); I gave 4.5/5, should've given 3/5

What was I smoking? Yeah, Andrew Garfield was alright, the romance was good, the special effects were more advanced than the original trilogy, and the overall tone was less cheesy. But as a whole, Amazing Spider-Man is a mess. Instead of an awkward nerdy loser, Peter Parker is now portrayed as a skateboarding hipster. (I mentioned this in my original review, but didn't make it clear whether that was good or bad. While some might prefer this version of Peter, I wouldn't consider it ideal.) The Lizard sucks, big time. He has pretty much no motivation for being a bad guy, his plan comes out of nowhere (Peter discovers it conveniently edited into a video ready to go on Conners' laptop), and just like most of the Spider-Man movie villains he may or may not have a split personality disorder. In short, the Lizard is forgettable. Did anybody else notice that Peter just gives up the search for his uncle's killer? How about the part where Peter breaks his promise to a dying Captain Stacy to stay away from his daughter? Oh yeah, they also sequel-baited the hell out of this. And we all know how that turned out. Overall, Amazing Spider-Man isn't a horrible movie, but I'd take the original (2002) over it any day.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012); I gave 4/5, should've given 3/5

Bloated: that's what this movie is. There's so much going on, there's so many ethical issues debated, and the thing is just too dang long. Repeated viewings of Dark Knight Rises really shows how boring it can be. And I never thought a movie with Anne Hathaway in a Catwoman outfit could possibly be boring! For a movie with Batman's nickname in the title, where on earth is Batman? He – as Batman, not Bruce Wayne – has probably around 30-35 minutes of screen time in a 165 minute film. The romances come out of nowhere, the super-prison is so lax that even a child was able to escape it, and another child was able to figure out that Bruce Wayne was Batman because... reasons. And worst of all, how did Bruce Wayne make it to a military quarantined city after being stranded on the other side of the world so quickly without anyone noticing? Who cares? Trilogy over.

Iron Man 3 (2013); I gave 4/5, should've given 3.5/5

This movie was pretty good. Maybe not 4/5 good as I said four years ago, but still good. The only thing that's changed for me is that the reveal of who's really behind the Mandarin attacks is a little disappointing. Nevertheless, Iron Man 3 is remains a pretty fun movie that I still enjoy.

Monsters University (2013); I gave 4/5, should've given 3.5/5

Same as above: the film's good, just not as good as I once made it out to be. The plot lines aren't terribly original and since the movie is a prequel, you already know how it's going to end; no matter how hard Mike Wazowski tries to become a scarer you know he's going to fail. Despite this though, Monster University's still alright.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014); I gave 2.5/5, should've given 2/5

You thought the first movie was a mess? Wait until you get a load of this one. This is where the second Spider-Man series became unworkable, just as Spider-Man 3 did for the first series seven years earlier. But I would rather watch that movie than this one because you can at least tell what's going on. In Amazing Spider-Man 2 there are way too many plotlines and they make the series take a turn for the weird. For example, Peter's dad apparently had a secret hidden laboratory in an abandoned subway station for some reason. Electro is basically a cross between the Riddler from Batman Forever and a Care Bears villain. When he first becomes Electro the electricity fixes the gap in his teeth. Seriously. Also, Gwen Stacy is pretty dumb, always throwing herself into dangerous situations. Her death comes as no surprise. The events of the ending five minutes could (and should) have been stretched out and repackaged as the third movie. I mentioned a lot of these problems in my review, but it just recently hit me that they really do impede on the viewers' ability to enjoy the movie and its overall cohesiveness. I was being a little too charitable.

Project Almanac (2015); I gave 2.5/5, should've given 2/5

Speaking of being too charitable... Project what? Not only was this a forgettable movie, but even by found-footage movie standards this flick barely had any effort put into it. From what I remember, the characters were nothing special, just bratty self-centred teenagers willing to manipulate others to get what they want. And how did the chick not realize that the main character dude was manipulating past events in order to score with her? She's a time-traveller too, so how did she miss putting two and two together? If the dude time travels back to a time he was at before, then shouldn't there be two of him in that location at that point in time? How is a time travel machine able to transport people across vast distances? Why are there so many unanswered questions in Project Almanac?

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015); I gave 4.5/5, should've given 4/5

Before you start cursing my name and rioting in the streets, just hear me out. Age of Ultron is good, very good. It's just not 4.5 good. Compare this to the first Avengers movie from 2012. In retrospect, that movie was somewhat standard with a very straightforward, no frills plot, but it deserves a 4.5/5 because it was satisfying to finally see the culmination of several years worth of movies. Seeing all the Marvel characters come together, crack jokes, and kick ass was in itself kickass. Aside from adding a few new characters to the mix and slightly more nuanced plot details, Age of Ultron didn't really build upon what the last movie had established. While Age of Ultron does a lot of things very well, it feels at times like it's just going through the motions. But I still think it's good. OK?

Jurassic World (2015); I gave 3.5/5, should've given 2.5/5

How on earth did this movie become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time? Remember the first Jurassic Park movie? The suspense, the terror, the sense of wonder. This movie throws it all out the window with an extremely predictable plot, tension-free action scenes that lead right where you think they will, and bored main characters who aren't impressed with dinosaurs anymore – possibly because instead of using animatronic dinosaurs for closeups, Jurassic World settles for CG for every shot. If you think that looks bad, just wait until you get a load of the ugly colour palette; everything is graded to blue/grey, making peoples' skin appear very orange-ish. Jurassic World had four writers working on it, which in most cases results in a jumbled and convoluted end product. But in this case, the film ends up being just a dull, predictable rehash.

Straight Outta Compton (2015); I gave 3.5/5, should've given 4/5

Here's another movie I should've given more credit to. The casting, music, directing, and editing were all fantastic and full of energy. Sure, it plays it safe a lot. Sure, it's idealized and romanticized. But it still stands as a compelling entry in the musical biopic genre.

Jason Bourne (2016); I gave 2/5, should've given 1.5/5

Dang. In my original review I called Jason Bourne “a semi-competently made film”. Even that was giving this movie too much credit. Once you've seen this movie, there's no point in ever seeing it again other than to squint at it even harder just so you can fail again to make any sense of those unwatchable action scenes! I forgot to mention that Tommy Lee Jones is in this movie playing the role of... let's face it, Tommy Lee Jones. He's just there doing his same grumpy old man thing. Remember when I said that Matt Damon was “good”? I meant that he was still good at doing action. When it comes to playing the part of the titular agent, he does nothing to add to this character's personality thanks to his extremely sparse dialogue. It's the same problem as with the Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum: there is simply nothing to this character. By now, Jason Bourne isn't compelling at all. This, in combination with the copy-and-paste plot, makes for a bafflingly uncreative and underwhelming comeback movie. It offers nothing that its predecessors didn't. Like I said, there's just no point.

Suicide Squad (2016); I gave 2.5/5, should've given 2/5

My final recommendation for this film remains unchanged. What has changed is that I now see what the critics mean. Suicide Squad is a mess. From the scattershot tone to the overload of exposition, plot points that go nowhere (e.g. Katana's sword is never used to trap the souls of its victims), a jumpy, disjointed narrative, a bunch of nonsense (e.g. how is the team expected to counter Superman-level threats when most of its members don't have real superpowers?), and violence against women presented as humourous and/or sexy – it's quite clear that there were tons of rewrites and significant portions of the film left on the cutting room floor. In some cases this is a good thing; the less we see of Jared Leto's Joker, the better. And making Enchantress, a member of the team, into the main bad guy is just lame and disappointing. Though I guess it does make sense since she's easily the most uncontrollable, craziest, and least trustworthy member of the team. Dangit Amanda Waller, everything in this movie is your fault! Why didn't you get in trouble for this? I'll still commend Suicide Squad for trying something different from the rest of the DC movies, but there's no denying that the final result is faux-edgy, juvenile, and not all that great.