Independence Day: Resurgence, Suicide Squad and Kubo and the Two Strings in the Week's MPAA Bulletin

By Chris Kavan - 06/08/16 at 11:52 AM CT

It's time for another round of your favorite ratings game! This week we have some hot, new contenders including a super-villain party, the return of everyone's favorite holiday alien invaders, a superb-looking stop-motion animated film, a sequel to a horror movie based on a fake board game and the best reason to stay out of the water since Jaws. Alright - a great update this week for once, let's make the best of this situation, shall we?

MPAA Official Logo

Up first is a film featuring more nuts than a Planter's factory, more disorders than your local Wal-Mart and could just be the ace-in-the-hole DC needs to counter their depressing Batman v Superman disappoinement (to me, not necessarily at the box office). Anyway, I'm excited about Suicide Squad. For one, the cast looks pretty impressive including Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress and the always-interesting Jared Leto as The Joker. While there have been some grumblings here and there - reshoots, Leto's strange behavior to "get into character" and Robbie's getup perhaps they saved the best for last. It turns out that despite what looks to a pretty dark film (maybe with some dark comedy thrown in) with plenty of violence (we are talking about a supervillain group here), Suicide Squad skated by with a PG-13 Rating for sequences of violence and action throughout, disturbing behavior, suggestive content and language. By many accounts, the film will push the boundaries of what is allowed in the PG-13 Rating. I'm guessing they pushed pretty hard not to lose a good chunk of their target audience with this one and I'm interested to see just how this turns out and whether it brings about any kind of change in the ratings system. Still, this is one of my more anticipated films of the summer and I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

If bigger is really better, than everyone is in for a treat when the mother (ship) of all aliens returns in Independence Day: Resurgence. Look, I know this is yet more destruction porn from the master of destruction himself, director Roland Emmerich, but I also admit I kind of want to see this one, too. I'm pretty much going to be a lot of explosions, shouting and quips and little in the way of plot or character development. But, hey, they got most of the original cast back including former president Bill Pullman, former stripper Vivica A. Fox and, uh, still scientist, I guess Jeff Goldblum. But we're adding new faces too - Maika Monroe, Joey King, Liam Hemsworth, Jessie T. Usher, Sela Ward, Angelababy and Charlotte Gainsbourg all join the fun. And by fun I mean dropping an entire city on another city, massive tidal waves, walking aliens and one humongous ship. The plot pretty much revolves around our guys taking the alien technology to beef up our own defenses only to face yet another seemingly superior threat -which I'm sure we'll defeat thanks to another drunk crop duster (or the equivalent since Randy Quaid heroically sacrificed himself - and also, the real Quaid has officially gone off the deep end). I don't think this film is going to be "good" necessarily, but hopefully it will be entertaining. Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and destruction, and for some language.

While Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks may have a pretty good grip on the animation industry, that doesn't mean smaller studios can't find success. Laika Entertainment has found much success in bringing back a classic animation technique and making it pop for modern audiences. Their stop-motion films include Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls. This year, they're back again with Kubo and the Two Strings. The film looks like a grand adventure as a kind and clever Kubo lives a quiet existence spinning big tales in his small village. That is until he unleashed a spirit, one that ignites an age-old vendetta and Kubo must recruit the help of Monkey and Beetle to learn the fate of his fallen Samurai father and gather his magic armor if his is to take down the Moon King and his minions. The film has a lot of talent behind it: Art Parkinson as Kubo, Charlize Theron as Monkey, Matthew McConaughey as Beetle, Ralph Fiennes as the Moon King, Rooney Mara as a pair of evil twin sisters and George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Brenda Vaccaro as some of the villagers. The film also looks amazing - Laika's films always do, even if they often don't get as much attention as they deserve. While Finding Dory will probably get much of the attention, Kubo really does look like the better film and I'll stand by that. Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, action and peril.

We'll end on a two-for-one horror offering. First up, we have Blake Lively vs. the sea's greatest predator when she finds a secluded beach to go surfing only to find out it happens to be the hunting ground for a very upset great white shark. Stranded a mere 200 feet away from shore, it may as well be 200 miles as it pits her in a battle of wills and survival against the doll-eyed killer. Thrilling and tense, perhaps, but streaming at best for me for The Shallows. Rated PG-13 for bloody images, intense sequences of peril, and brief strong language. For those who like board games, we get a sequel to the 2014 film, Ouija, the sequel is now called Ouija: Origin of Evil. I love the fact that this supposed ancient evil "Witchboard" is actually a parlor game that was commercially introduced in 1890 and even "Ouija" itself is trademarked by Hasbro. It gained popularity with the occult only during WWI and has been a source for paranormal and psychics ever since. There's your history lesson, kids. Anyway, there isn't much to go on this sequel and since I have yet to see the original, I doubt I'll be catching this one, either. Rated PG-13 for disturbing images,terror and thematic elements.

Check out the full release schedule below:

ANTHROPOID

Rated R for violence and some disturbing images.


THE BAD BATCH

Rated R for violence, language, some drug content and brief nudity.


INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and destruction, and for some language.


INDIGNATION

Rated R for sexual content and some language.


JULIETA

Rated R for some sexuality/nudity.


KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, action and peril.


MAN IN RED BANDANA

Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving disaster-related images and descriptions.


OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL

Rated PG-13 for disturbing images, terror and thematic elements.


THE SHALLOWS

Rated PG-13 for bloody images, intense sequences of peril, and brief strong language.


SUICIDE SQUAD

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout, disturbing behavior, suggestive content and language.


TALE OF TALES

Rated R for sexuality, nudity, some violence and bloody images.


VIGILANTE DIARIES

Rated R for strong violence, language throughout, and some sexuality/nudity.

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