Protecting our Children through Entertainment

I regularly check out out the Motion Picture Association of America website aka www.MPAA.org to get the latest info on the film industry. While skimming through the webpages of very useful and important information (especially to a film buff such as myself); I found a webpage titled "Parent Resources"(http://www.mpaa.org/parentsresources). Upon reviewing this webpage, it gave me a great sense that the MPAA is well aware of the dangers that lurk in our realms of entertainment. It is full of active links and up-to-date information that will assist parents in knowing what to look for themselves and their family. It is very refreshing to see that companies are taking to the time to provide information that will protect our children.

The listed resources such as Filmratings.com, which is the official site for MPAA film ratings, provides a full database of films and film ratings searchable by parents dating back from 1968 (birth year of the rating system) up until the current year. Parents are able to view information able the history and process of the film rating system for better understanding. It is very important that parents know and understand that every film and its advertisement submitted to MPAA must be approved by the Advertising Administration before being displayed to the public. There are also resources for parents in regards to Online Entertainment and Programming through the MPAA approved list (http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/get-movies-tv-shows) of providers and tips (http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/faq) for finding others as well.

Now I did find out some very useful information and resources such as WiredSafety.org, which is the world's largest online safety and help group. It solely gets its information from volunteers and the information that they provide. After taking a spin myself on the websites, it gave me insight on how to protect my children and enhance their safety while they are online. WiredSafety.org is comprised of five websites with unlimited amounts of forums that give an infinite amount of information and tips. Here are a few more websites and how they could assist parents with protecting their children from the wrong types of programming and entertainment:

1. www.pauseparentplay.org - dedicated to helping parents choose television, movies, video games, and songs. Endorsing members include the Girl Scouts of America, YMCA, and the Film/ Cable TV, music, and Video Game industries.
2. www.thetvboss.org/ www.tvguidleines.org - Provides information for all parents to be aware of what their children are watching and to be more actively involved. The MPAA is a proud sponsor od the AD Council's TV Boss Campaign.
3. Parent File Scan (Software) - this is a software program to assist parents in identifying peer-to-peer software on your computer and know what is going on with their computer.
4. www.ESRB.org - The Entertainment Ratings Board gives a rating for video game software and provides guidelines on video game advertising. The ESRB does the same thing for video games that the MPAA does for films.
5. www.playitcybersafe.com - Created by the Business Software Alliance with interactive resources to educate children, parents, and teachers about internet safety.

Well these are a few of the sites provided by the MPAA's resources for parents webpage. I highly believe that each and every parent should check out each website and save them to their favorites as references. With all of the dangers outside of the home that await our children, we sometimes forget about the dangers in our homes that are only a touch away.

Til next time....This is KB and this is Real to Reel!!!

Captain America...The First Avenger

Captain-America-movie-picture-2.jpg

So I finally am able to catch the long-awaited new member (or should I say "First" member) of the Avengers....the man himself...Captain America! We receive a visual insight of the origins of ole' Cappy. I must say that in this season of superheroes; that it was refreshing to see some ole' school superhero butt-kicking.

The story tells of Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans), a weakling from Brooklyn, NY that undergoes a super soldier transformation to become Captain America. Funny thing about the transformation is that Chris Evans plays both "before' and "after" parts of the transformation thanks to CG special effects. Captain America was brought forth by the America Forces out of the Lost Project Rebirth to battle Red Skull (played by Hugo Weaving), Adolf Hitler's head of weaponry and leader of terrorist organization, HYDRA. Red Skull intends to use tesseract technology or "magic" to win the war and dominate the world. Sidenote: Look and listen very closely and it MAY be a link to the THOR and future Avengers movie plot!!! Anyway, after Steve Rogers is created into Captain America the project and Dr. Abraham Erskine are lost to sabotage by HYDRA agents.

Afterwards Captain America is paraded around the US as a logo and character for war bonds. When visiting troops in Italy, his good friend Buckey Barnes (played by Sebastian Stan) and his unit are captured by HYDRA. Captain America goes against the orders of Colonel Chester Phillips (played by Tommy Lee Jones) along with British agent Peggy Carter (played by Hayley Atwell) and Howard Stark (played by Dominic Cooper) and fly behind enemy lines in attempt to rescue the captured soldiers. Sidenote: Being that Howard Stark (yes...Tony Stark's, Iron Man, father) is in this movie and plot...do we see another connection?!!! Well I definitely do not want to give up too much of the movie and familiar stars that we see within the film. This is definitely a must-see film and I recommend all super-hero (especially Avenger) fans to go out and see it ASAP!!!

I give this film 4 Reels and state that I am very much happy that this film DID NOT come out before the rest, which would have caused viewers to NOT LIKE the other AVENGER movies.

Sources:
www.marvel.com
http://captainamerica.marvel.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458339/  

MY RETURN....Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2

Well I know it's been a minute since I have let you guys with a post, but after my move from NC to MD and having to get everything together; I'm BACK!!! So I went to check out the latest and final Harry Potter installment (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 or HP7-2) to get back in to my moviegoing attitude back into gear. So why did I choose a 2.5 hour movie to get me  going??? Why not?

So here I am watching a movie that I am actually excited about viewing. Here we are after a full decade of J.K. Rawling's hit Harry Potter and the (Various Titles) and the amazement and wonderment that they have brought us. I know...I sound like a big kid right about now. Anyway, this franchise has gained so much during its tenure within the literal and film industries. It's latest achievement is that this HP7 hit $495 million globally. It surpassed the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film which was the previous crown holder.

So now to the movie description.....We enter where HP7-1 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows left off) where Harry just lost his little friend Dobby, whom just recently assisted Harry in escaping being captured and killed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione search for Voldemont's horcruxes (hidden enchanted items linked to his life and powers) to destroy the dark lord and save the world. They also discover secret about Harry's past and his presence at the school. This covers secrets and occurrences over the past 8 films that uncover Harry's origin. The film ends with the final battle between Harry and Voldemont and the future of the school of Wizardly and our heroes.

THis is definitely a film that is good for the entire family and adults (or kids) of all ages. I give this film a 4.5 Reels and has definitely ended on a good note.

Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media | Video on TED.com

Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media | Video on TED.com

Today's blog will discuss Alexis Ohanian's, co-founder of Reddit.com, speech on boosting exposure with the Social Media. He keeps the audience entertained with humor throughout his four and half minute speech while exposing very important information on "not being so serious" in advertising for a "serious" cause. He uses the example of Green Peace and their mission to stop whale hunting off the coast of Japan. During their advertisement to name their logo (mascot), Green Peace used social media to obtain help from the people in naming their mascot. After a week or so of voting, they officially used the name "Mr. Splashy Pants", which they weren't so fond of at first.

After a few months, "Mr. Splashy Pants"T-Shirts and other souvenirs were created, Internet sites posted pictures of the mascot, and even e-cards were created in commemoration of the logo. After the vast amounts of publicity of the name and the movement to stop whaling in which; Japan put a halt on the hunting of whales. All of this was great because it displays that a serious mission was completed by a "not so serious" action.

The speaker definitely related with the audience from the very beginning. His fast paced speak had the audience playing catch up but once they caught up and were drawn in....the audience was hooked. His humor and well-delivered information kept the audience well-informed and made the speech seems much longer than the given time. His presentation made we understand that by not taking things so serious that I am able to pass a serious topic off to people. He used the same information within his speech to deliver his speech. I really enjoyed the timing of the verbal parts and how it coincided with the slides that the speaker had prepared. More enjoyable was his tone and how he not only related to the audience but made them feel comfortable as he spoke to them.

Take a look for yourselves......

Bad Teacher...Bad Movie???

     (Photo Courtesy of Sony Pictures)


Well I finally made myself go check out "Bad Teacher" and heeeeerrrree we go! Honestly some teachers just don't give an F. For example, we have Elizabeth Halsey(played by Cameron Diaz), a foul-mouthed, ruthless, and inappropriate middle school teacher. She drinks, she gets high, and she can't wait to marry her meal ticket and get out of her day job. When she's dumped by her opera-officiating fiancé, she sets her plan in motion to win over a rich, handsome substitute named Scott Delacorte (played by Justin Timberlake). She competes for his affections with an overly energetic colleague named Amy (played by Lucy Punch). When Elizabeth also finds herself fighting off the advances of a sarcastic, irreverent gym teacher (played by Jason Segel), the consequences of her wild and outrageous schemes give her students, her coworkers, and even herself an education like no other. 


In my opinion this is another edition of "Bad Santa" and if you loved the crude humor in that film; you will surely love it in this film. It is definitely worth watching but I will honestly say to save your money and catch it at in a month or so at your local Red Box for that dollar. It will make for an enjoyable friday night movie at the house. 


I will give this film 3.5 Reels and say "Keep it pushing"!!!


Source: [www.areyouabadteacher.com]

Summer of SuperHeroes: Bust or Not?

   (Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Movies)

Now it has been an exciting superhero summer for some while there are an analytical few that feel that it has been a major fail for the Film industry. In fact, the superhero franchise this season has not had the ability to achieve the vast success of that which Iron Man and it's even better sequel has gained. According to Movie Talk, there are 5 reasons as to why this superhero season is tanking.

1. Too Many Men In Tights


Honestly I have to agree with this myself. I do love the sight of all my childhood superheroes coming to the screen but how many times are we going to see the world get saved? Do you ever wonder why in the films we never see another hero show up out of the blue (in response) to another heroes quest of saving the world? I mean the world is only so big and we have so many superheroes out here. It's just funny to think of Wolverine showing up to Green lantern's battle. Guess that the reasons for the multitude of Fake cities (i.e. Coast City, Gotham City, etc.) and alliances such as the Justice League, Avengers, and others.

2. Not Enough Young Dudes Going To The Movies


Now this should honestly be your target audience, but one thing you have to remember is that the 25 and  up club was the main source of the comic-reading audience before the adaptation to film. 67% of the "Green Lantern's" film audience were men but only 37% of those men were under 25. "Thor's" audience consisted of only 28% of men under 25, while "X-Men: First Class" consisted 46% for the same demographic. Men under 25 are definitely the most active moviegoers and have to accommodated to make these films much more successful.

3. 3D Is Dragging The Genre Down


Just like the rest of the Film Industry at this point, viewers are have grown past the 3D Fade and continue to view films in 2D Format as we have always. What is so crazy is how we are constantly pushed into viewing interested films in the 3D Format every week and how the Film Industry is continually spending so much money to convert the films in this format when honestly people could care less. Only people that honestly care are the children because they think the classes are so cool.

For example, Green Lantern added $200 million to its production cost to convert it into the 3D Format. Now do you really think that it will recoup those costs at the box office?

4. Superhero Stars Cannot Measure Up To Robert Downey Jr.'s Comeback


We all know the turbulent history that Robert Downey Jr. has had with drugs and run-ins with the law and the audiences expectations of a successful comeback is what has given it much more appeal that other superhero films. Not to say that any of the lead characters did any less of a great job themselves, but we all know "Everyone loves Drama". Also the fact that Robert Downey Jr. had something to prove. Having the comedic touch and good direction of Jon Favreau also added that appeal to a good script.

5. They're Called Second-Tier Superheroes For a Reason


Very few superheroes outside of "Batman", "Spiderman", and "Superman" have been able to establish themselves as a worldwide hit. "Ironman" has definitely shown to be a certified exception. Most of the films have achieved good success in the box office with the adaptation of the superhero films, but lost out dramatically with their sequels. For example, the adaptation of "Fantastic Four" did exceptionally well but "Rise of the Silver Surfer" only did 65% of what the original accomplished. Others films such as "The Incredible Hulk" and its many adaptations, have failed to have a great start or even develop a sequel.


In conclusion, the film industry needs to perform much more extensive research during pre-production to ensure that the right target audience is being accommodated.

Til Next time...Continue to check out other post on Reel to Real.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Transformers 3)

        (Photo Courtesy of www.transformermovie.com)

Now here's the deal...I am only gonna give you a brief overview of this AWESOME Film because I want you to experience the excitement that I did at the premiere of the film last night without knowing exactly what you are walking into....SORRY!!!....but it's for your own benefit. All I can honestly say that this third installment to the Transformers is a very complete movie that is perfect for ALL ages and genres. I was already eager to see the film but afterwards I just walked out with a smile upon my face thinking that this was a very satisfying film.

"Transformers 3" has brought back our favorite characters (minus Megan Fox of course) as well as added some very fresh faces to the cast for both Humans and Robots.  So be on the lookout of Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LeBeouf) and Optimus Prime (voiceover by Peter Cullen).What's different within this clash of Autobots/ Humans against the Decepticons is the history of the war that we are informed of during the movie. Be sure to pay very close attention to every detail, which will be very hard while viewing the beautiful new cars that are able to transform, the visual wonderment of battle sequences, and the vivacious (Megan Fox) replacement of Victoria Secret Model, Rosie-Huntington-Whiteley. This is another exceptional addition to the Transformers Franchise and by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.

I could not help to give this film anything less than 5 Reels for it excellence!!! Hell it's honestly worth seeing more than once and I'm already on my way!!!