Movie News

The Toxic Avenger Musical
April 22-May 21, 2016
Southwark Playhouse, London

The British premiere of super-monster mop boy rock n roll award winning musical comedy from the Tony Award-winning creative team behind Memphis , Joe DiPietro and Bon Jovi's David Bryan, and based on the 1984 cult classic film from Troma Entertainment comes to Southwark Playhouse for a five-week run,.

The musical is not only a superhero monster adventure but also a sweet love story between Toxie and a beautiful blind librarian The tale of The Toxic Avenger Musical unfolds at a time when the citizens of Tromaville are in dire straits and desperately in need of a hero. Enter Melvin, an aspiring earth scientist determined to clean up the toxic waste problem, with his trusty and ultimately iconic spaghetti mop. When a corrupt Mayor and her government goons try to stop his heroic feat, Melvin is tossed into a vat of toxic waste and transformed into The Toxic Avenger , New Jersey's first superhero!

Watership Down has a place in censorship history as one of the most complained about classification decision. It is U rated, but only just. The bunny rabbits are distinctly more violent than perhaps you would expect fictional bunny rabbits to be.

Channel 5 decided to air the 1978 animated film on Easter Sunday afternoon, when lots of chocolate-filled kids were watching.

And inevitably a few whingers took to twitter to complain, eg:

Who the hell thought it a good idea to put Watership Down on Easter Sunday? 'Hey kids let's watch dead Easter bunnies!'

Watership Down: traumatising children since 1978 #Channel5 #EasterSundayProblems

Based on Richard Adams' novel, Watership Down follows a group of rabbits as they escape the brutal destruction of their warren and attempt to begin a new life. The story has been described as an allegory of the struggle between the individual and society, tyranny and liberation and reason and emotion.

Not everyone had an angry reaction to its Easter broadcast, with many praising Channel 5 for showing the film and criticising parents for being too protective of their children, eg:

Watership Down is one of the finest of children's books & a good film. Far better for developing kids than chocolate bunnies.

Banglasia is a 2015 Malaysia comedy by Namewee

An irreverant comedy from the Malaysian director Namewee was banned by government film censors for promoting homosexual lifestyles, mocking troops and ridiculing national security issues.

Namewee's film Banglasia, which centres on a group of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds who find themselves forced to accept each other's differences, was banned from cinemas last year after 31 scenes were deemed inappropriate by local censors.

The Malay Mail reports that the Malaysian home ministry has published its official reasons for refusing the film a licence, in response to a written request from MP and human-rights activist Sivarasa Rasiah:

This film has a title, theme, storyline, scenes and double-meaning dialogue with implicit messages that were feared could raise controversy and public doubt, the response reads, adding that it mocked national security issues, specifically the Lahad Datu intrusion ... ridiculed the capacity and role of security troops in maintaining peace as well as national security ... includes allegations and negative perceptions towards government agencies related to citizenship ... and accentuates negative sociocultural lifestyles such as lesbian gay bisexual transgender (LGBT).

Horror Channel is to screen an Easter Hammer-thon with back-to-back Hammer classics.

Some of Hammer's most popular films, including The Revenge Of Frankenstein, The Devil Rides Out and The Brides Of Dracula will be broadcast across the weekend from 3pm till 10pm on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th March.

Plus, Horror Channel will be presenting Hammer Thursdays from Thursday 7th April for six weeks. This will be a Hammer movie at 9pm followed by a double-bill of Hammer House Of Horror at 10.50pm. First movie up is Countess Dracula.

Saturday 26th March

• 3.00pm. The Curse Of The Werewolf
• 4.50pm.The Brides Of Dracula
• 6.35pm. The Plague Of Zombies

Sunday 27th March

• 3.00pm. The Revenge Of Frankenstein
• 4.50pm. The Evil Of Frankenstein
• 6.35pm. The Devil Rides Out

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2016 USA action Sci-Fi fantasy by Zack Snyder.
Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Amy Adams.

A great opening line in a Cinema Blend piece on the R rated version of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:

Do you like movies? Do you like movies so much that you prefer for them to never end? If your answer is yes, then have we got good news for you. When Zack Snyder adds the footage that will turn Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice from a PG-13 popcorn movie into an R-rated violence opera (ok, it's not really that bad), it's going to turn an already long film into an absolute epic, specifically by making it a full half-hour longer.

Zack Snyder explained:

[The DVD version] is a half-hour longer, and some of that additional material is some of the stuff we took out for the rating. I was like, Cool, I can put it back in for the director's cut. There was nothing by design. This was the material I just put back in, and then when [the MPAA] looked at it again, they were like, Oh, now the movie's rated R. And, by the way, it's not a hard R. There's no nudity. There's a little bit of violence. It just tips the scale.

Grimsby is a 2016 UK action comedy by Louis Leterrier.
Starring Penélope Cruz, Rebel Wilson and Isla Fisher.

The BBFC asked for category cuts to achieve a 15 rating. The BBFC was a little secretive and just noted that the cuts were to a couple of scenes of crude humour.

It seems that according to a video interview with Sacha Baron Cohen that the film also suffered category cuts in the US to achieve an R rating. It seems that censors from the MPAA were convinced that an 'elephant scene' fell into the category of bestiality. (But surely bestiality would need to be cut at any level and wouldn't be suitable at NC-17 either).

Cohen says that he challenged the MPAA's definition of bestiality and also cut 6 minutes from a 9 minute scene. He suggested that the cuts were a ploy to obtain the scene he wanted and that the cut material had been added just to be offered as cuts in negotiations.

It will be interesting to see if both the US and UK cuts end up being the same version.

Horror Channel presents a Laugh Or Die Season this March, with a collection of extremely bloody and funny films spearheaded by the UK TV premiere of Jon Wright's Grabbers , a Father Ted Vs Aliens monster romp from Ireland and the network premiere of Jake West's gore-ridden, exuberant zom-com Doghouse , starring Danny Dyer, Noel Clarke and Horror Channel's Emily Booth.

The season also includes the network premiere of Idle Hands - Rodman Flender's stoner comedy horror starring Jessica Alba and the network premiere of Jay Lee's Zombie Strippers starring Robert Englund and Jenna Jameson.

A Devon cinema has censored the word 'ass' from posters advertising newly released superhero film Deadpool . The Reel cinema in Plymouth used black tape to censor the lines: Bad Ass, Smart Ass, Great Ass, Deadpool.

One cinema goer commented to the newspaper:

I kind of think they were right to censor it, but also think it's probably overkill. Surely it's pretty tame in this day and age, but if your kids are outside queuing for Chipmunks it's a different matter.

The article writer adds a good riposte:

But Alvin and the Chipmunks, Road Chip itself features one use of the word crap and extensively uses the song Baby Got Back by Sir Mix a lot - a track about women with large backsides.

Update: Guernsey too

6th March 2016. Thanks to wynterstwytter

Here's the view from Guernsey...

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2016 USA action Sci-Fi fantasy by Zack Snyder.
Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Amy Adams.

Indian film censors have found some 'fleeting nudie figure' that requires cuts for a U/A rating (children admitted if accompanied by adults.

DNA India quotes a source from the Board:

The CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) was very keen that the film be seen by youngsters. But some of the content isn't completely suitable for viewing by underage audiences. While the violence is done in the spirit of a comicbook adventure, the film was rated UA (suitable for underage viewers accompanied by an adult), with just one visual cut... of a fleeting nude figure.

For comparison, the submitted Theatrical Version was passed PG-13 by the MPAA for intense sequences of violence and action throughout, and some sensuality. In fact some material was removed to reduce 'intensity' for the PG-13 that will later be restored for an R rated Ultimate Edition.