Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Steve Jobs and More in Today's MPAA Ratings Bulletin

By Chris Kavan - 08/26/15 at 01:02 PM CT

Starting this week, I will be supplementing the weekly New DVD Release, New Movies in Theaters and Box Office Report blogs with a new Ratings Blog. For the past many years I have relied on Rope of Silicone (run by Brad Brevet) to supply me with the many movie ratings. The site has been very useful for supplementing both ratings and new release information. But Mr. Brevet has decided to move on - his final message can be found here, and thus I will endeavor to fill in what I see as a missing piece as finding reliable ratings information is neither easy and, when you do, very exciting. Hopefully adding my own voice brings a bit of humor and passion (along with the information) now and in the days to come.

MPAA Official Logo

First up is one of the most anticipated films of the upcoming winter season, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, which received a PG-13 rating for intense sequences of violence and action, and for some thematic material. This is the same rating as the previous thre films have received, so it comes as little surprise. I have been a fan of both the books and the films thus far, and I'm interested to see how director Francis Lawrence, along with Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland wrap things up. Joining the already-robust cast will be Gwendoline Christie and Robert Knepper. A lot of people complained the last film was mostly filler - I have a feeling this one is going to go out with a bang (and probably mountains of cash).

Next up we have not one, but two, Steve Jobs-related films, both getting R ratings. Up first is Danny Boyle's biopic, Steve Jobs, which received its R for language. Starring Michael Fassbender (as Jobs), Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen (as the Woz), Jeff Daniels, Sarah Snook and Michael Stuhlbarg, based on Boyle's previous work (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) I'm expecting this to go a lot better than the one starring Ashton Kutcher. Will it be awards worthy? That's to be seen, but based on his previous work, I wouldn't count this one out.

The other film is Alex Gibney's documentary, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, which also received an R, also for language. Gibney is a prolific documentarian, responsible most recently for the searing Scientiology expose Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, but also the likes of The Armstrong Lie, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks and Taxi to the Dark Side, among others. With that kind of pedigree, I'm expecting Man in the Machine to go a bit deeper than some of the other documentaries based on Jobs.

Finally, we have the latest release from the great Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer, Gozu), a Yakuza/vampire over-the-top action romp, Yakuza Apocalypse, coming to limited release theaters on October 9th. Unsurprisingly the man who has brought us some of the weirdest, wildest films received an R rating for strong bloody violence, a rape and language. I have been out of the Miike loop for a long time - maybe this will be the perfect time to catch up on things.

The complete bulletin can be found below:


BASTARD

Rated R for strong horror violence and gore, sexual content/nudity, language and some drug use.


THE BOY

Rated PG-13 for violence and terror, and for some thematic material.


CHLOE AND THEO

Rated PG-13 for brief violence.


THE CONDEMNED 2

Rated R for violence throughout and language.


THE GUARDSMAN

Rated R for bloody violence.


THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 2

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and for some thematic material.


THE IRON GIANT

Re-Rated PG for fantasy action violence, language, some thematic material and smoking. (Retains PG Rating - Reasons Updated)


THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS

Rated PG-13 for thematic material and some sexual content.


MI-5

Rated R for violence and some language.


NASTY BABY

Rated R for sexual content, some disturbing violence, language, drug use and graphic nude images.


NORTHERN SOUL

Rated R for drug use, language throughout and brief sexuality.


OPERATION AVALANCHE

Rated R for language including a brief sexual reference.


ROGER WATERS THE WALL

Rated R for some language, nudity and violent images.


STEVE JOBS

Rated R for language.


STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE

Rated R for some language.


SUSPENSION

Rated R for bloody horror violence, language and drug use - all involving teens.


YAKUZA APOCALYPSE

Rated R for strong bloody violence, a rape and language.

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