Hollywood’s War on Women?
May 17, 2013

Hollywood’s War on Women? By Dr. Tom Snyder, Editor A new study shows that it’s not the Republican Party that’s waging a war on women – it’s Hollywood! A study by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism shows that roles for women in Hollywood movies are drying up. For example, of the Top 100 movies at the U.S. box office in 2012, only 28.4 percent of the 4,475 speaking characters were female, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the 32.8 percent number three years ago. Also, only six percent of those movies had a “balanced” cast, which was defined as a percentage of 45 percent to 54.9 percent. “When they do get screen time,” the study said, “31.6 percent of w...

Movieguide® Down Under
May 17, 2013

Movieguide® Down Under: Redeeming the Media Through Australia By Tom Snyder, Editor Movieguide®’s efforts to spread media wisdom in Australia are going well, said Founder Dr. Ted Baehr, author of “The Media-Wise Family,” about the first leg of his current speaking trip to the land of kangaroos, koala bears, sunny beaches, and crocodile hunters. “Australia produces a lot of people who go to Hollywood,” Dr. Baehr said, naming Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Director Baz Luhrman of THE GREAT GATSBY, Nicole Kidman, and Hugh Jackman. “So, it’s a big influence on America. Therefore, Movieguide® and the Christian Film & Television Commission® [CFTVC] need to be an influence on Australia.” CFTVC and Moviegui...

Comic Book Writer Urges Hollywood To Make Superman PG
May 15, 2013

  Comic Book Writer Urges Hollywood To Make Superman PG By Ben Kayser, Associate Editor Are superhero movies becoming too dark? With the release of IRON MAN 3 and the upcoming Superman reboot MAN OF STEEL, some are worried about what these movies might be communicating about reality. Greg Rucka, who’s written both Superman and Batman comics, recently commented on Superman, heroism, and recent Hollywood fads with superhero movies. He urged Hollywood to tone down the movie’s apparent PG-13 and make the movie PG, saying, “I just know that if you make a Superman movie you can’t take kids to, you’ve done something wrong.” In a recent column in The Hollywood Reporter, Rucka also wrote, “For many, the diffi...

Say NO
May 14, 2013

Say NO to More ‘F’ Words and Nudity on TV! The FCC is seeking public comment on their plan to reduce their responsibility to take action against obscenity and nudity on television. The proposed new guidelines for broadcast television would require “egregious” indecency – “deliberate and receptive use in a patently offensive manner.” In their April 1 public notice asking for public comments, the FCC announced it was reducing by 70 percent a backlog of over one million consumer complaints regarding indecency on television. The proposed “egregious violation” policy will result in further reduction of consumer complaints. Under the new guidelines, the FCC can simply declare that complaints do not meet the “egregio...

When “Tolerance” Becomes Intolerant...
May 09, 2013

Writer Orson Scott Card Stands Up for His Religious Beliefs, and Meets Nothing but Hatred and Hellfire by Natalie Fertig/Staff Writer A version of this story first appeared on The Hollywood Reporter website. Orson Scott Card is a novelist, a screenwriter, and a Mormon. And, Orson Scott Card doesn’t support gay marriage. He does not hate homosexuals, is not afraid of them, and works quite well with the many homosexual people he meets in the industry. But, he doesn’t agree with homosexuality. Because of his religion. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a “religion” is “b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural; commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance and/or 2: a personal set...

Movieguide® Australian Tour
May 08, 2013

For all our Australian readers - check below to see if Dr. Baehr is coming to your city this May!   ...

Yet Another: Mission Impossible 5
May 08, 2013

Yet Another: Mission Impossible 5  By Evy Baehr, associate editor of MOVIEGUIDE® Tom Cruise says "yes" to yet another Mission Impossible movie. This makes for the fifth Mission Impossible movie in the successful movie franchise.  Overall, Movieguide has given the MI movies positive reviews. And - 3 of the 4 movies have earned a Movieguide® Award!   Check out these Movieguide® reviews: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 (M:I2)  MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL   A MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 5 makes good financial sense, seeing as this movie series has racked in $700 million worldwide. Along with Cruise, J.J. Abrams is attached as producer as well.   No ...

Say "NO" to More "F"-Words and Nudity on Television
May 08, 2013

The FCC is seeking public comment on their plan to reduce their responsibility to take action against obscenity and nudity on television. The proposed new guidelines for broadcast television would require "egregious" indecency - "deliberate and receptive use in a patently offensive manner." In their April 1 public notice asking for public comments the FCC announced it was reducing by 70 percent a backlog of over a million consumer complains regarding indecency on television.  The proposed "egregious violation" policy will result in further reduction of consumer complaints. Under the new guidelines the FCC can simply declare that complaints do not meet the "egregious" standard and not proceed further. The FCC website describes current...

IRON MAN 3 Ends Chinese Drought for Hollywood
May 03, 2013

IRON MAN 3 Ends Chinese Drought for Hollywood Ben Kayser, Associate Editor, and Tom Snyder, Editor IRON MAN 3 apparently has ended a brief drought in box office sales for Hollywood in China. High budgeted Hollywood blockbusters rely heavily on box office sales in overseas countries like China. In 2012, THE AVENGERS and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL alone brought in nearly $200 million and they held the box office lead for 23 weeks straight. This year, however, Chinese box office sales for American movies have fallen 62 percent, while domestic movies made in China have increased 128 percent. Movies like OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, THE HOBBIT, and JACK THE GIANT SLAYER have been slaughtered by low budget local Chinese movi...

Stanley Kubrick, Movieguide® and the Advance of Motion Picture Tracking
May 03, 2013

Stanley Kubrick, Movieguide® and the Advance of Motion Picture Tracking By David Outten These days the top movies of the past weekend make news on television, radio, in print, and on the Internet. You can almost track movies like stocks. Several websites give daily box office results. This was not always the case. Look for box office results going back in history, and the numbers are very sporadic. Variety magazine has long provided results from theaters in major cities, but national accounting used to be hard to obtain. Enter Stanley Kubrick, the director of DR. STRANGELOVE, PATHS OF GLORY, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, and BARRY LYNDON. Unlike most directors, Kubrick wanted to play a part in picking the best the...