Movie News

The Eight Hundred is a 2019 China war film by Hu Guan.
Starring Yi Zhang, Chen Yao and Haoming Yu.

In 1937, eight hundred Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in the middle of the Shanghai battlefield, completely surrounded by the Japanese army.

The premiere of Chinese war epic The Eight Hundred has been cancelled after an influential group deemed it inappropriate ahead of Communist China's 70th anniversary. The Chinese Red Culture Research Association held an academic seminar on filmmaking in which the storyline of The Eight Hundred was criticised because it glorifies the heroic role of Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang). The Kuomintang eventually lost the civil war that led to the Communist Party's triumph and creation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Hailed as the Chinese Dunkirk, the film details a story of a Chinese army unit fighting against Japanese invaders in the 1937 Battle of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

After consultation between the production team and other parties, the July 5 premiere was cancelled and will not be released this summer, according to a statement posted on Tuesday on the film's Weibo account, a Twitter like platform. The new release date will be announced at a later time, the statement said, without explaining the reasons behind the decision.

The movie had already been abruptly yanked from the Shanghai International Film Festival earlier this month due to technical issues -- a term often used as a euphemism for censorship.

The Eight Hundred is the first Chinese film shot entirely on digital IMAX cameras reportedly spent more than $80 million in production costs.

A Tanzanian bill was made public on June 19, proposes several changes to the country's censorship laws.

One proposed amendment would remove the current ban on publishing information that could discredit official statistics, but would add an onerous approval process for those wishing to challenge government data or publish non-official statistics, with criminal penalties for non-compliance.

The bill also establishes a statutory film board, which would have the power to censor films exhibited in the country, and add a requirement that all foreign companies shooting films in Tanzania, including documentaries, submit raw footage of their work to the board.

The bill, formally known as the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No3) Act, 2019, is dated May 30, but was not released for public review until June 19.

Tammy and the T-Rex is a 1994 USA comedy Sci-Fi film by Stewart Raffill.
Starring Denise Richards, Theo Forsett and Paul Walker.

An evil scientist implants the brain of Michael, a murdered high school student, in an animatronic Tyrannosaurus. He escapes, wreaks vengeance on his high school tormentors and is reunited with his sweetheart Tammy. Together, the couple try to elude the mad scientist and the police and find a more appropriate vessel for Michael's brain.

The film was originally shot as an R-rated horror comedy, including a bunch of bloody violence and gore, but the producers thought better of it and cut it down to a child friendly version.

However the original R rated version, now tagged as the Gore Cut, has been resurrected and has just been screened at Cinepocalypse in the US. And according to bloody-disgusting.com , it went down well, adding:

For those who remember the movie from the 90s, the "gore cut" is very similar to the version you saw on VHS. It's got more cursing and more sexual content, but what really differentiates it, not surprisingly, the splattery violence. Heads are bitten off, people are disemboweled, skulls are crushed, bodies are flattened, all with the kind of gory excess that recalls the splatstick comedies of Peter Jackson rather than the realism of Tom Savini.

The Gore Cut will be released on home video later this year.

The Nightingale is a 2018 Australia adventure thriller by Jennifer Kent.
Starring Sam Claflin, Damon Herriman and Aisling Franciosi.

Set in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.

The director of a brutal historical drama -- containing numerous visceral rape scenes that prompted cinemagoers to walk out of a Sydney screening on Sunday -- has defended her film, saying it's historically accurate.

Aussie film The Nightingale, directed by Jennifer Kent, was screened as part of the Sydney Film Festival to a sold-out audience of more than 1000 people.

Some audience members were so distressed by the on-screen violence, that they yelled out in protest and walked out.

However, Kent responded saying that the unflinching rape-revenge story, set in 1825, contains historically accurate depictions of colonial violence and racism towards our indigenous people:

We've made this film in collaboration with Tasmanian Aboriginal elders, and they feel it's an honest and necessary depiction of their history and a story that needs to be told, she said. I remain enormously proud of the film.

However, it was clear some in Sydney on Sunday didn't feel the level of sexual violence was warranted in telling the story of Clare, tweeting:

The Nightingale made me do something I thought I would never do. I walked out. There was a point when I just needed to take myself away from that brutal space. But I recognised that this is an important film so I walked back in and watched the rest of the movie.

Viewers also walked out during later scenes in the film that showed horrific levels of violence towards babies, children and mainly indigenous people -- with close-up shots of faces being mashed up, brutal stabbings and even more drawn-out rapes.

Despite the criticism, The Nightingale received a sustained round of applause as the credits rolled at the Ritz last night.

The Iron-Fisted Monk is a 1977 Hong Kong action comedy drama by Sammo Kam-Bo Hung.
Starring Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Sing Chen and James Tien.

Cut by the BBFC for 18 rated DVD in 2001. Uncut and 18 rated since 2019 Blu-ray. Uncut and MPAA R rated in the US.

The 2001 cuts of 1:16s were for sexual violence. The BBFC commented at the time:

• Cuts were required to remove eroticising shots of the forced exposure and groping of breasts, and of volume of nudity of victim during a rape scene under the Board's guidelines and sexual violence policy.

93:01s

UK: Passed 18 uncut for sexual violence with previous BBFC cuts waived: 2019 Eureka video

Summary Review: Good Addition

Here is yet another excellent kung fu movie done by Sammo Hung. The fighting is outstanding consisting of multiple kung fu styles facing off against each other, all done with superior speed and precision. Also sword and other weapons battles round out the action. There are still a ton of fight scenes but not quite as many as some of his other films, probably short by just a couple. The story is good and has decent acting. It is done well enough to keep your interest throughout and contains some scenes not normally seen in these type of films (nude, rape, a whore house). I was quite surprised with the amount of nudity shown (female). This movie is definitely not for children.

The Iron Fisted Monk is definitely a good addition to any kung fu collection.

Rocketman is a 2019 UK / USA musical music biography by Dexter Fletcher.
Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Taron Egerton and Richard Madden.

A musical fantasy about the fantastical human story of Elton John's breakthrough years.

The Elton John biopic Rocketman was banned by Samoa's film censor last week due to its depiction of homosexuality onscreen. Film censor Leiataua Niuapu Faaui said:

We're concerned with the cultural values and also the Christian beliefs here in Samoa -- it's not appropriate for public viewing,

Samoa recently also edited scenes from a screening of the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody n the same grounds.

In Samoa, sodomy is illegal and is punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is a 2019 USA action adventure by David Leitch.
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Idris Elba and Eiza González.

Lawman Luke Hobbs and outcast Deckard Shaw form an unlikely alliance when a cyber-genetically enhanced villain threatens the future of humanity.

In this Fast and Furious spinoff, Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Jason Statham's characters find themselves having to stop Idris Elba s Brixton Lore from unleashing a deadly virus on humanity.

One of the big fights will unfold when Luke Hobbs, Deckard Shaw and Vanessa Kirby's Hattie Shaw team up with Hobbs family to clash with Brixton Lore and his goons in Samoa. Johnson shared how it was initially planned for him to bite and spit out his opponent's eye. He claimed:

Unfortunately the scene where I bite the bad guy's eye out and spit it on the dirt didn't make it. MPAA ratings board forbid us to show it because it was too violent.

PG-13 movies are granted a fair amount of leeway when it comes to action and violence, but naturally there are some things that are off limits within that rating. Luke Hobbs removing a man's eye from his socket would have been shocking, brutal and badass, but the MPAA wasn't having it, so we'll have to make due with Johnson's character simply tossing his adversary to the ground and bludgeoning him senseless.

IFCO has published its annual report covering 2018.

It notes that teh number of cinema films passed is about the same as the previous year with 448 releases in 2018. However it reports that video DVD submissions (presumably including Blu-ray) has declined by 15% to 2621 submission in 2018.

IFCO reports on 2 appeals in 2018, both appeals were rejected and the rating remained unaltered. The two films were the 18 rated The First Purge , and the 12A rated Bumblebee.

The number of complaints received by IFCO has always been minimal. IFCO writes:

During 2018, IFCO received 18 complaints from the public which related specifically to classifications awarded. The most received in respect of any one title was 6 in the case of SHOW DOGS, a comedy classified PG for Mild violence, language and rude humour. Of these, two were from people who had not seen the film.

IFCO has also just upgraded its website to make it a bit smarter. IFCO acknowledged that it needs to up its game in interacting with the public. IFCO wrote in the report:

It is to be hoped that the updated website will be more visited and perhaps encourage people to contact IFCO. All constructive input, whether positive or negative is very welcome and informs as to people's expectations of IFCO service

See the updated website at ifco.ie .

Update: Censor slump

9th June 2019. See article from thetimes.co.uk

The Irish Film Classification Office (Ifco) is suffering a rapid decline in revenue as a result of the collapse of DVD sales. The state censor has experienced a 23% drop in income over two years.

In its recently published 2018 report Ifco said the slump in DVDs being submitted for classification meant its financial situation would have to be closely monitored.

Rocketman is a 2019 UK / USA musical music biography by Dexter Fletcher.
Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Taron Egerton and Richard Madden.

A musical fantasy about the fantastical human story of Elton John's breakthrough years.

During the Russian premiere of Rocketman on 30th May in Moscow, film goers noticed the 40s gay male sex scene between Elton John (Taron Egerton) and manager, John Reid (Richard Madden) was missing.

Film critic Anton Dolin saw the original version in Cannes and remarked the Russian edit cut out scenes of kissing, sex and oral sex between men. This included a photo of Elton John and his husband David Furnish in the closing credits. It also didn't show scenes featuring drug and alcohol use. Around five minutes in total was missing from the Russian cut of Rocketman.

Maybe the 5 minutes may be an exaggeration. Not also that there are Russian laws banning the 'promotion' of gay sex so such censorship may be a legal necessity rather than a morality decision by the film censor.

Update: Russian distributors blasted by Elton John

2nd June 2019. See article from edition.cnn.com

Elton John has hit out at Russian film distributors for editing out gay sex scenes from his biopic Rocketman, adding that it was a sad reflection of the divided world we still live in.

The local film distributor, Central Partnership company told news agency TASS that it cut the scenes to comply with Russian legislation

The decision to remove the scenes was made solely by the distributor, Russia's Culture Ministry told TASS, adding that it issued no recommendations concerning the scenes.

Film critic Dolin said the grossest thing about the Russian edit was that the final caption had been removed from the closing credits. In the original, it says that Elton John found the love of his life and is raising children with the man he loves (there is a dramatic moment in the film when his mother says to him 'you are doomed to be lonely'). In the Russian version it says the musician set up a foundation to fight AIDS and is still working with a long-time co-author.

Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo is a 2019 France comedy romance by Abdellatif Kechiche.
Starring Shaïn Boumedine, Ophélie Bau and Salim Kechiouche.

It's the end of summer vacation for Amin. The young photographer spends cozy evenings with Charlotte, the ex-girlfriend of his Casanova cousin. She talks to him about literature, he photographs her.

Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo has made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival 2019  sparking 'outrage' amongst feminists. The film is directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, who had a hit with Blue Is the Warmest Color , infuriated a few viewers who claimed it was rife with objectification and voyeurism.

The film featured what Indie Wire said appeared to be an un-simulated oral sex scene and gratuitous close-ups of women's butts. Apparently the that while the sex seemed consensual, feminists warned it drips with the male gaze. Producer Patricia Hetherington tweeted:

I just walked out of Mektoub My Love: Intermezzo. The most lacivicious [sic] leery trash I've seen. Eurgh! Talk about objectification and voyeurism.

The Daily Mail adds

An almost unwatchable lech fest of a film by one of France's top directors that includes some two and a half hours of twerking and pole dancing was savaged at the Cannes film festival Friday. Critic Boyd van Hoeij from the Hollywood Reporter wrote:

Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo consists of three-hours-plus of jiggling female butts. Oral-sex intermezzo aside, this is basically 'Twerking Female Fannies: The Movie,' said Boyd van Hoeij. Sitting through it was its own kind of hell. If only one could unsee and unhear it.'

The BBFC reports on its complaints received in its annual report. And 2018 saw a bumper crop (relative to previous years. The BBFC wrote:

In 2018 we received 364 complaints covering 101 films and 67 complaints covering 24 trailers. The majority of these were from people who had attended the cinema or viewed films at home. However, we also received a number of complaints inspired by news reports, online blogs and organised campaigns.

The top films attracting complaints were:

Red Sparrow

Red Sparrow attracted 64 complaints. All correspondents felt that we should have classified the film at 18 instead of 15 because of elements of violence and sexual violence in the film.

Peter Rabbit

Fifty people contacted us about Peter Rabbit, a film featuring animated rabbits and based on the stories of Beatrix Potter. Four people complained about violence and upsetting scenes but the majority complained about a scene in which the rabbits pelt their adversary, an adult man, with fruit in order to defend themselves from his attack and provoke an allergic reaction. Complainants felt that this was unacceptable at PG because it might be emulated by children.

We received complaints about the allergic reaction before the film was released in the UK in response to press coverage that started in the US. We received no complaints about this scene after the film was released.

A Northern Soul

We classified the film 15 because of around 20 uses of strong language. While the language in the film is not used aggressively or sexually, our research suggests that a significant proportion of parents are concerned about the normalisation of such language in films. The language in A Northern Soul, is used casually in conversations, across a relatively short feature (75 minutes), with no particular justification.

Three people wrote to us complaining about the 15 rating for A Northern Soul feeling a 12A would be more appropriate. We received 45 postcards protesting the 15 rating; however, these had been created and handed out to cinema goers by the filmmakers at screenings and do not provide an accurate representation of broad public opinion.

Kaala

Kaala is a Tamil-language drama which we classified 12A. 43 people emailed us to complain about the film's release. The complaints were not about the rating of the film itself but seemed to object to the actions of the film makers. They were all worded identically and were clearly part of an organised online campaign.

Show Dogs

A police Rottweiler goes undercover at a dog show. As part of the operation he is required to let the judges inspect his genitals in a manner that is not uncommon in dog shows. The character is reluctant but is encouraged to go to his happy place to get through the experience.

Thirty-one people wrote in to us echoing claims made in blogs that the scene might lower children's resistance to predators who wish to inappropriately touch them.

However, the scene is comic, innocent and non-sexual in nature and occurs within the fantastical context of a film about anthropomorphised canines.

In a similar vein to Peter Rabbit the complaints regarding Show Dogs predominantly stopped once the film had been released in cinemas.

Love Simon trailer

We received 18 complaints about a PG-rated trailer for the film Love, Simon. The trailer covers teenage relationships and features some implied kissing and references to being in love. All complainants took issue with the discussion of sex and teenage relationships in the trailer but 11 took particular issue with the fact that the character is gay, believing the depiction of gay relationships to be inappropriate at the PG level.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One received ten complaints with correspondents focusing on infrequent strong language at 12A and some moments of horror.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom received six complaints, chiefly regarding very young children being brought to the 12A screenings.

Venom

Six people complained about Venom, which is rated 15. Complainants were disappointed they or their children would be unable to see the film.

Rocketman is a 2019 UK / USA musical music biography by Dexter Fletcher.
Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Taron Egerton and Richard Madden.

A musical fantasy about the fantastical human story of Elton John's breakthrough years.

Rocketman follows in the footsteps of the similarly gay themed Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsod y. Perhaps with an eye on repeating the successful formula of the earlier sanitised and PG-13 rated biopic, Hollywood producers Paramount seemed to have been pushing for Rocketman to get a PG-13 rating.

Paramount demanded that Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher and producer Matthew Vaughn cut a 40-second scene that depicts Elton John and one-time lover and manager John Reid, writhing on a bed. Fully exposed white derrieres are on display, but the nude escapade is tastefully done.

However it seems that the film makers won the argument as the film ended up with an R rating that confirms the sexual content.

In the UK, the film was passed 15 uncut for drug misuse, sex, very strong language.

Update: Distributors win appeal for an M rating

24th May 2019. See article [pdf] from classification.gov.au

Australia's Review Board has overturned the Classification Board's MA15+ uncut for strong coarse language in favour of M for mature themes, drug use, sex scene and frequent coarse language'.

The Review Board explained that previous confusion about a cut version was down to information being embargoed at the request of the film distributor. Two version were submitted but one of these was an unfinished version rather than a censored versions. The Review Board has now supplied a more complete account of the decision process.

Initially the Classification Board passed the film MA15+ uncut for strong coarse language.

The issues requiring an MA15+ over an M rating were related to strong language rather than the gay themes, and in particular the a single use of the word 'cunt'.

The distributors appealed the MA15+ rating and won their case as the Review Board reduced the rating to M for mature themes, drug use, sex scene and frequent coarse language'. The Review Board explained its decision:

It is the view of the Classification Review Board that the dramatic biographical context does mitigate the impact of the language, and specifically, the one instance of the use of strong coarse language.

Films classified M are considered suitable for mature audiences. It is for the above reasons, that the Review Board has decided that the contextual singular use of a strong coarse word can be accommodated at the M classification on this occasion.

The other frequently used coarse words are routinely accommodated at the M classification level.

India's Most Wanted is a 2019 India action thriller by Raj Kumar Gupta (as Rajkumar Gupta)
Starring Arjun Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma and Gaurav Mishra.

India's Most Wanted is an upcoming Bollywood action thriller film directed by Raj Kumar Gupta starring Arjun Kapoor and Amrita Puri. The film is about tracking a terrorist in a secret mission and arresting him without firing bullets. It pays tribute to unsung heroes of our society.

Film censors in UAE banned India's Most Wanted when the producers declined to delete a line of dialogue saying that most terrorists are based either in Pakistan or Dubai,

The director, Raj Kumar Gupta, explained:

Yes the film will not release in Dubai. There were some issues which could not be sorted and hence this decision. Yes the said dialogue is there in the film and it is a factual one based on the research that has been conducted. So we did not want to do away with the dialogue and decided on retaining it in the film even if it entailed a non-release in Dubai.

When Bruce Lee was handed his first pair of nunchucks in the mid-1960s, he called the weapon a piece of junk, his training partner, Dan Inosanto, recalled recently.

Lee said the nunchucks were not as effective as sticks -- too fancy and too showy. Then he goes, This might be good for the movies.

And indeed they were good for the movies. But their popularity alarmed the authorities, in what many now see as a hysteria that echoed other racist fears of Asians. The police began arresting people for carrying what some called deadly weapons. In four states, lawmakers banned them.

This month, after more than 40 years on the books, Arizona's ban, which one lawmaker called antiquated, was repealed. In December, a federal judge struck down New York's decades-long ban , saying it violated the Second Amendment, despite arguments from officials that the weapons were dangerous and unusual.

The remaining state bans are in Massachusetts and California.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum is a 2019 USA action thriller by Chad Stahelski.
Starring Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane and Asia Kate Dillon.

In this third instalment of the adrenaline-fuelled action franchise, skilled assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin's guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world's most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn.

India's Central Board of Film Certification has made significant cuts to John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, even for an adults only 'A' rating. The cuts are described as:

• the standard blurs, mutes and additions for profanity, visual gestures, all mention and presence of alcohol and the ever-present anti-smoking label
• one cut reducing revenge and escape violence by 50%, and
• cuts to another scene of graphic violence involving knives and shooting.

The cuts add up to about 3 minutes.

Memories of My Body is a 2018 Indonesia drama by Garin Nugroho.
Starring Muhammad Khan, Raditya Evandra and Rianto.

In Center Java Juno, a pre-teen abandoned by his father, joins a Lengger dance centre where men assume feminine appearances but the political and social upheaval in Indonesia forces him on the road, meeting remarkable people on his journey.

Muslim groups in Indonesia are calling for a ban on the film Memories of My Body, a drama from the country's best-known art house director, Garin Nugroho. The groups claim that the film is sexually deviant and promotes LGBT values.

The film depicts the story of a young man from a dance troupe that performs Lengger Lanang, a folk dance from central Java that is usually performed in pairs, and in which men often take both male and female roles.

Memories of My Body premiered in the Venice Film Festival's Horizon section, where it won the prize for best film. The success was repeated at several other festivals.

The film encountered problems in Indonesia following its release on April 18. After being given a 17+ rating by the censorship board (LSF), the film was given a 40-screen release.

In less than a week, the film was banned by local officials in regions including Depok and Palembang. Others called on the powerful assembly of Muslim elders known as the Indonesian Ulema Council to move against the film. Arovah Windiani, a spokeswoman for the council said that, from a moral perspective, the film should not be out there.

A backlash against the film was further fanned on social media. An online petition calling for Memories of My Body to be banned  gained 160,000 signatures.

On Monday, the Muslim elders' council demanded that the censorship board change the film's certification to 21+, and recommended that Nugroho re-edit the film to make its meaning less ambiguous.

Nugroho has refused to revise the film and told Variety that he opposes mob justice.

With screenings banned in five provinces, the film is now playing on just three screens across the country.

Update: Dancers attacked by a religious mob?

5th May 2019. See article from scmp.com

In related news a religious mob has attacked dancers at an Indonesian event.

Members of a Malay youth paramilitary organisation, justified the attack by claiming the dance was vulgar. They also said that the wearing of tight shirts by male dancers from Tanjungpura University who were dancing femininely was not compatible with Indonesian culture.

A university lecturer and three students fell victim to the mob as they were celebrating World Dance Day in the Indonesian city of Pontianak last week.

Avengers: Endgame is a 2019 USA action Sci-Fi fantasy by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo.
Starring Brie Larson, Robert Downey Jr and Karen Gillan.

The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios' grand conclusion to twenty-two films, Avengers: Endgame.

The Russian release of Avengers: Endgame features some tweaked dialogue in an early scene to straighten out Marvel's first gay character. The censorship was intended to avoid conflicts with Russia's ban on so-called gay propaganda.

[ Spoilers! hover or click text below]

Early in the movie, one of the two Russo brothers plays a gay character who attends a support group with Steve Rogers (Captain America). The scene is brief but it marks the first time an openly gay character has appeared in a Marvel film. The gay character says:

So, I went on a date the other day. First time in five years. He cried as they were serving the salad. [...] But I'm seeing him again tomorrow.

In the dubbed Russian version, Joe Russo's character says:

I was recently at dinner. First time in five years. [...] He cried over a plate of salad. [...] Tomorrow I'm meeting him again.

When Disney's streaming service Disney Plus launches in the US in November this year. It will feature a back catalogue of many years of Disney films with one exception. Namely the 1946 film Song of the South, which has long been a controversial title for Disney because of how it depicts the lives of African-American plantation workers in the southern states after the civil war.

The company has also decided to cut a scene from Dumbo that is considered racist.

Song of the South grossed $65m at the US box office but was never released on DVD in the country, partly because of criticism about its depiction of the lives of Uncle Remus and other former slaves on a plantation as idyllic.

However, erasing the film from the company's history isn't simple. The success of the song Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah -- which features in the film, won an Oscar in 1947 and is one of Disney's most well-known songs -- makes it extremely difficult to quietly forget.

Also the Jim Crow scene from Dumbo (1941) will not be available on the streaming site. In the original animated version of the film a number of cigar-smoking crows had a leader called Jim Crow referencing the Jim Crow laws which enforced racial segregation in the south. The Disney crows are largely considered to be thinly veiled racist caricatures.

Update: Fantasia too

30th April 2019.

Thanks to Gary who reminds us that Fantasia (1940) has already been censored by Disney for political correctness. From  IMDb:

For the 60th anniversary DVD, one scene on the Pastoral sequence was digitally altered to remove a black centaurette. In the scene, Bacchus is being lead to his throne, while the black centaurette rolls out a red carpet. The change now makes the carpet appear to be rolling by itself.

Gary also suggests that Sebastian from The Little Mermaid and the Siamese scene from The Aristocats will also have to go.

Brightburn is a 2019 USA Sci-Fi horror thriller by David Yarovesky.
Starring Elizabeth Banks, David Denman and Matt Jones.

		UK: Passed 15 for strong gory injury detail, violence, language after BBFC advised pre-cuts ( 90:12s ) :
2019 cinema release

The BBFC commented:

• This film was originally seen for advice at which stage the company was informed it was likely to be classified 18 uncut but that their preferred 15 classification could be achieved by making reductions to two scenes featuring both strong gory images and a dwelling on the infliction of pain and injury. When the film was submitted for formal classification these scenes had been acceptably reduced.

For comparison in the US the film was rated R uncut for horror violence/bloody images, and language.

Summary Notes

What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister?

Hellboy is a 2019 USA action Sci-Fi fantasy by Neil Marshall.
Starring Daniel Dae Kim, Milla Jovovich and David Harbour.

Based on the graphic novels by Mike Mignola, Hellboy, caught between the worlds of the supernatural and human, battles an ancient sorceress bent on revenge.

The latest remake of Hellboy hit Russian cinemas on 11 April. However, audiences in Russia discovered that in their version of the film a reference to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had been changed to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

[ Spoilers! hover or click text below]

In a line of expository dialogue, the film's titular character reveals that one of the supporting antagonists, Russian folklore character Baba Yaga, once attempted to resurrect the spirit of Stalin.

The original line, uttered by Hellboy upon confronting Baba Yaga, is: I recall you tried to raise Stalin's ghost from a necropolis.

In the film's Russian-language version, according to small independent TV channel Dozhd, the line goes: I want to remind you, you tried to raise Hitler's spirit from a necropolis.

Theatres screening the English-language version of the film complemented it with Russian subtitles. During this scene, the audio for Stalin's name was bleeped, while the subtitles said Hitler.

In addition a Russian swearword was removed (but swear words in English were allowed to remain).

In Russia, the film received an 18 rating compared with the BBFC's 15 rating and the MPAA's R rating.

Mid90s is a 2018 USA comedy drama by Jonah Hill.
Starring Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston and Lucas Hedges.

The movie follows a teenager named Stevie growing up in Los Angeles. He's struggling with his family, including his co-dependent single mom and his abusive older brother, and at school, where his richer friends seem to overlook him. When Stevie befriends a crew of skateboarders, he learns some tough lessons about class, race, and privilege.

Mid90s was originally given an 18 rated by the Irish Film Classification Office. However the film's distributors successfully appealed the decision and the rating was reduced to 16. Probably a good job as an adults only skateboard movie may have had a limited appeal.

For comparison:

• US: MPAA R rated for pervasive language, sexual content, drug and alcohol use, some violent behavior/disturbing images - all involving minors
• UK: Passed 15 uncut for strong language, drug misuse, self-harm, violence

The Beast in Heat is a 1977 Italian Naziploitation by Luigi Batzella
With Macha Magall, Gino Turini and Edilio Kim.

Banned as a video nasty in 1983. Not released in the UK since. Uncut and MPAA Unrated in the US.

Lady SS doctor tortures POWs in her charge and feeds the females to a crazed midget troll kept on a diet of mega-aphrodisiacs. The POWs finally get the upper hand and give her a taste of her own medicine.

Instagram account @dawnofthediscs noticed that Severin's new Hemisphere Box of Horror includes a 2019 Severin catalogue with a coming soon section that lists Luigi Batzella's The Beast in Heat. It will be getting its first Blu-ray release and will be released on DVD too.

Cannibal Apocalypse is a 1980 Italian/Spanish horror by Anthony M Dawson. With John Saxon, Elizabeth Turner and Giovanni Lombardo Radice.

Banned as a video nasty in 1982. Passed 18 after animal cruelty cuts for UK DVD. Uncut in the US.

Cannibalism has become a disease brought back to the US by soldiers returning from Vietnam. French kissing becomes inadvisable as the plague spreads.

Cannibal Apocalypse is also getting its first blu-ray treatment by Kino Lorber under the title of Invasion of the Flesh Hunters. It will be a new restoration from a 4k source.

Hellboy is a 2019 USA action Sci-Fi fantasy by Neil Marshall.
Starring Daniel Dae Kim, Milla Jovovich and David Harbour.

Based on the graphic novels by Mike Mignola, Hellboy, caught between the worlds of the supernatural and human, battles an ancient sorceress bent on revenge.

In the UK the BBFC have passed the 2019 remake of Hellboy as 15 uncut for strong bloody violence, gore, language.

In Ireland the cinema release is 16 rated by IFCO for very strong bloody violence.

In the US the film was MPAA R rated for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, and language.

The film censors of the Australian Classification Board rated the film as R18+ (18 in UK terms) for High impact violence, blood and gore.

The Australian distributors felt that a lower rating was a possibility, and appealed to the Classification Review Board for an MA15+ (15A in UK terms).

However the Classification Review Board disagreed with the appeal and maintained the original rating of R18+ for High impact violence, blood and gore. The Review Board wrote:

A five-member panel of the Classification Review Board has unanimously determined that the film, Hellboy, is classified R 18+ (Restricted) with the consumer advice High impact violence, blood and gore.

In the Classification Review Board's opinion Hellboy warrants an R 18+ classification because the violence has a high impact. The overall impact of the classifiable elements in the film was high. It is the view of the Classification Review Board that the fantasy context does not mitigate the cumulative impact of the violence on a more vulnerable audience.

Spy Cat is a 2018 Germany / Belgium family animation adventure by Christoph Lauenstein and Wolfgang Lauenstein.
Starring Alexandra Neldel and Axel Prahl.

Four crazy antiheroes on the run. Their leader is the unworldly innocent, naive Marnie, a house cat who is not allowed to leave the house and only knows about real life from television. Based loosely on Grimms "The Bremen Town Musicians" a modern, hilarious road movie is told.

Passed U for very mild comic violence, rude humour, language after 57s of BBFC category cuts for 2019 cinema release.

The film had earlier been passed PG uncut for mild bad language, violence, rude humour.

The BBFC commented:

• Company chose to make various cuts to receive a lower classification. Cuts were made to remove instances of mild bad language and word play on strong language, to remove mild sex references, to reduce scenes of mild rude humour, and to reduce sequences of mild violence and threat. An uncut PG classification was available.

Bird Box is a 2018 USA Sci-Fi horror thriller by Susanne Bier.
Starring Rosa Salazar, Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson.

In the wake of an unknown global terror, a mother must find the strength to flee with her children down a treacherous river in search of safety. Due to unseen deadly forces, the perilous journey must be made blindly. Directed by Academy Award winner Susanne Bier, Bird Box is a thriller starring Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Trevante Rhodes.

Netflix announced in mid March 2019 that Netflix VoD would be cut going forwards for 2019 VoD.

The cuts follows months of social media pressure claiming that stock footage of a 2013 crash in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic was exploiting the victims of the tragedy. The crash involved a train carrying crude oil coming off the tracks and exploded into a ball of fire, killing 47 people.

Netflix said that it will replace the footage with fictional scenes from a former TV series in the U.S. The company said it is sorry for any pain caused to the Lac-Megantic community.

In the UK the film was passed 15 uncut by the BBFC for strong violence, threat, language, suicide scenes for UK cinema and VoD release prior to the announcement of cuts.