Movie Reviews: A Public Service Announcement (and some other stuff)

Oh, look, folks, it's me again, popping in here after three weeks of silence with a measly excuse for a post!  Yay!

Seriously, though, life has been crazy busy and when I do get on the computer, I've been catching up with emails and staying in touch with friends and not actually writing blog posts, and I do apologize for that, but y'all know the drill by now.  I shall be here when I can be, and neither more nor less, and since you're all so splendid, you understand.

Anyways.  However.  I do have a movie review in draft at the moment, one that's amusing me immensely as I write it, and as I'm writing, it occurred to me that there's something I need to make known to the followers of my blog.  I've gotten quite a few comments and emails in recent months from blog readers asking for rundowns on objectionable content in various films and TV shows.

And, though I am generally rather bad at saying this to people, after giving it some thought, I've come to the conclusion that my answer is no.  (But I'm really really sorry to have to say that and I hope you're not offended and please don't hate me.)

Ahem.

The point I'm trying to make is this: Yet Another Period Drama Blog, contrary to what appearances may imply, is not a movie review blog.  It's a personal blog.  A blog for rambling about the movies and books and television shows and fictional characters that I like, with a dash of Lots of Other Things thrown in.  When I "review" a movie, I'm really just sharing my thoughts about the movie and opening up a discussion where others can share their opinions and thoughts. (And sometimes I actually get around to replying to comments!  Woot!)  I'm not trying to provide an objective rundown of the film; I'm just taking any excuse I can to sound off about something I enjoyed. (Or didn't enjoy, as the case may be.)  I am not a professional film critic, nor even an aspiring one.  (That would be a boring job because you DO have to be at least somewhat objective, and I prefer airing my snarky personal opinions.)

In addition, I also don't feel comfortable trying to provide an all-encompassing content advisory for my blog readers.  Very few people share the exact same views on What's Okay and What's Not when they're consuming media (that phrase sounds strangely food-ish), and my opinions as to what makes a movie "passable" and what makes it "objectionable" may be very different from yours.  We're not all cookie cutters, after all.

However, this doesn't mean I won't issue a warning here and there if I feel it would be helpful to my readers-- if a movie has a scene that I usually fast-forward, I'll probably give you a heads-up about that.  Or if my own younger siblings didn't watch a movie with me because it was too intense or adult, I may mention that as a caution if I feel it's appropriate.  But I won't write up a detailed list of every instance in which John Watson says a bad word, or exactly how far down the neckline of Marguerite Blakeney's dress falls.  Deciding whether a movie is worth watching is your own business, not mine, and I'm not going to try to tell you what you can and can't see.  Does that make sense?

Here's the too-long-didn't-read version: YAPDB does not offer content reviews, though I do try to keep the content on this blog as clean and family-friendly as possible.  If you want the lowdown on objectionable stuff, try the IMDb Parents' Guides or any of the multitude of movie-review web sites out there.  (PluggedIn, Common Sense Media and Charity's Place, for example.)

Thanks for bearing with me.  :D

Alsoooooo... don't forget about I'd Like to Share for October!  Please add your nominations in the comments section on the I'd Like to Share page.

Again, sorry for the severe lack of posts on here lately.  I've had a really busy month, not least because of Julius Caesar-- which was incredibly amazing and it ended last night and I'm really really sad it's over because I loved every moment of it.  (Well, I didn't love the times when I got lost driving in the city trying to get to rehearsal with my sisters... but I love my amazing director who stayed on the phone with me and talked me through some confusing one-way streets because he's awesome like that.  Silver linings.)  I really learned a lot-- for instance, Shakespeare is the best, theatre is amazing, actors are hilarious and great and fun to be around, military banners are much heavier and unwieldier than they look, it IS actually possible to do a complete costume change in under 90 seconds, and literally every line in Julius Caesar can be improved if you do it in a muppet voice.  Fact.

(It's a quote from Marc Antony, in case you were wondering, who in our production was played by an incredibly talented actress who doubled as Portia-- yes, we had gender-blind casting, how else do you think I ended up as a snooty butler and a soldier?) 

And on that impassioned note I will end this extremely random post.  :)

P.S. Hail Caesar. *falls to her knees enraptured*

P.P.S. He will eat only the finest Turkish caviar.

P.P.P.S.  Major points if you got that last reference.