Am I Wrong About R.I.P.D.?

by Joe

We went and saw R.I.P.D. the other night and loved it. The movie was strange, but not over the top. It was hilarious, but all the jokes had a point. The plot was fairly simple, and I think that worked to its benefit. I'm sick of big budget blockbusters using convoluted plots to try and make the movies sophisticated (see: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3, Oceans 12). From my perspective R.I.P.D. did not do that. Like Pacific Rim they knew what kind of movie they wanted to make. They knew the kind of audience they wanted to see it and they catered it to them. Yet, it is getting destroyed from the critics. As of now, it has a 10% on Rottentomatoes.com.

Am I wrong about this movie? Was Jeff Bridges not downright hilarious? I've read some of the tidbit reviews on the RT website, and not once was I bored or annoyed. The sentimental scenes between Ryan Reynolds (as a Chinese man) and his wife were touching and effective. Or so I thought. I mean, I feel like one of the Americans who loves all of Adam Sandler's new movies. Is this who I am, or are all the critics looking too far into a movie that is in the same category as Men in Black?

Can someone help me out here?

Adult Movies for Children

by Joe

I watched a lot of things I shouldn't have watched when I was little. It wasn't that I went around my parents rules and found movies that were forbidden, but I had a fairly free reign on the types of entertainment and art I could ingest. When I was in elementary school I watched Kids, American History X, A Perfect World, Boogie Nights, Sleepers, and the list goes on.

It's not so much that I saw horrific images--because it seems like a lot of kids will stumble upon images and stories that are too gruesome for their age--but rather, I was expected as a viewer to understand the themes and motivations of the characters. And like acclimating to language, I eventually started to pick up on what things meant. The directors and actors don't think about an eight-year-old sitting cross legged in front of the TV screen. Their main concern (as it should be) is putting an authentic story on the screen. The concern is to make something that matters. A true portrait of the human condition.

This could ruin some young minds. When you're young you're supposed to have complete faith in humanity. Supposed to. I can't condone showing these movies to children, but I like to think this over indulgence in mature-themed movies helped shape the person I am today. I learned empathy from being able to watch these movies with all of myself invested in the characters. Kids are easy targets to follow the good and avoid the bad, and that allowed me to fully envelop my feelings into the protagonists.

Now, there is a slight disconnect. I still watch a plethora of movies, and this has unintentionally created a hunt for a movie that will make me learn more about being a human who cares about others, regardless of the walk they find themselves in life. I've read and seen enough to know that I have a lot to learn. Because of the content I watched when I was young it makes me want to seek it out.

So I continue watching the new and the old because I think watching everything I did when I was young helped mold me into I am today.