Movie News

Enter the Dragon is a 1973 Hong Kong/US martial arts film by Robert Clouse.
With Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly.      

More Bruce Lee news - Enter the Dragon is getting a 4K disc in September the Irish censor board IFCO confirmed both the theatrical and extended cuts:

 

uncut run: 102:23s pal: 98:17s		Ireland: - Golden Harvest Version (2023): Uncut and IFCO 15 rated for strong violence, nudity and drug references.: 2023 Blu-ray (rated 29/05/2023) titled ENTER THE DRAGON - Golden Harvest Version (2023)
uncut run: 98:52s pal: 94:55s		Ireland: - Theatrical Version (2023): Uncut and IFCO 15 rated for strong violence, nudity and drug references.: 2023 Blu-ray (Theatrical Version rated 29/05/2023) titled ENTER THE DRAGON - Theatrical Version (2023)

 

The flm was cut by the BBFC for all cinema and VHS releases. The extended version has been uncut in the UK since 2001 DVD. but this will be the first time the theatrical version has been available uncut in the UK

Pride is a 2014 UK gay comedy drama by Matthew Warchus.
Starring Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton and Dominic West.

There are no UK or US censorship issues with this release however the film has been banned from several showings in Turkey

Istanbul's Sisli District Governor's Office on June 6 banned the screening of an LGBTI+ themed documentary on the grounds that it is against the "constitutional rule." Using the same ban decision, Kadiköy District Governor's Office on June 7 banned the screening of another movie as well, and police detained those who came to the screening.

Kadiköy's District Governor's Office on June 7 banned the screening of the movie titled Pride organized by the Beksav Cinema Collective. The collective stated that they will organize the screening despite the ban. Nonetheless, the police blockaded their building and detained people who came to watch the movie screening and the BEKSAV executives.

The film has been banned before in Turkey when the Ankara authorities also banned screenings in 2018.

The French Connection is a 1971 USA action crime thriller by William Friedkin.
Starring Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider and Fernando Rey.  

Not cut by the BBFC or MPAA, but hit the news in 2023 when cut seemingly by Disney for a racial slur in a version used for streaming.

Summary Notes

William Friedkin's gritty police drama portrays two tough New York City cops trying to intercept a huge heroin shipment coming from France. An interesting contrast is established between 'Popeye' Doyle, a short-tempered alcoholic bigot who is nevertheless a hard-working and dedicated police officer, and his nemesis Alain Charnier, a suave and urbane gentleman who is nevertheless a criminal and one of the largest drug suppliers of pure heroin to North America. During the surveillance and eventual bust, Friedkin provides one of the most gripping and memorable car chase sequences ever filmed.

Versions

uncut run: 103:52s pal: 99:43s		UK: Uncut and BBFC 18 rated for strong violence and language: 2014 Twentieth Century Fox DVD 2008 Walt Disney Studios HE (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad 2008 Walt Disney Studios HE R2 DVD at UK Amazon #ad 1997 Twentieth Century Fox VHS 1992 CBS/Fox VHS 1987 CBS/Fox VHS 1971 20th Century Fox cinema release
cut 6s		US:  Cut in 2023, presumably by Disney, for streaming on DIsney+ and the Criterion Channel The cut was to remove a 6s dialogue exchange between the detectives Jimmy Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Cloudy Russo (Roy Scheider), which contains the word 'nigger': Doyle: You dumb guinea. Russo: How the hell did I know he had a knife? Doyle: Never trust a nigger. Russo: He coulda been white. Doyle: Never trust anyone.

The Big Boss is a 1971 Hong Kong martial arts film by Wei Lo.
With Bruce Lee, Maria Yi and James Tien.    

Cut by the BBFC for cinema release and VHS. The cuts were waived in 2000, but not all DVD releases have used the uncut version. A longer Mandarin Cut resurfaced in 2023 with lost scenes, for example, the infamous saw in the head or Lee's second visit to the brothel.

Summary Review: Broken Oath of Non-Violence

A young man sworn to an oath of non-violence works with his cousins in an ice factory where they mysteriously begin to disappear.

As one might expect, the whole movie is an excuse to show off Bruce Lee's moves, and they do a great job with it. There's not much in the way of an actual plot. They get straight down to the martial arts. Probably Bruce's most violent and bloody film.

Mandarin Cut

Mandarin Cut run: 110:26s pal: 106:01s		UK: The Mandarin Cut: Uncut and BBFC 15 rated for strong violence, bloody images, nudity, sexual threat: 2023 cinema release (rated 25/05/2023) UK: The Mandarin Cut: BBFC details not yet published for: 2023 Arrow R0 4K Blu-ray
Mandarin Cut run: 105:31s pal: 101:18s	banned	Australia: A longer version was banned from cinema release in Australia in 1973 Thanks to Philip Rumour is that in the early 70s a Mandarin language print was shown of a cut of the movie which was 5-10 minutes longer than the version widely distributed. How much of this is due to extra scenes or due to the fps rate of the print I couldn't find out. Legend has it that there are extra scenes not available in the theatrical version, possibly some that have already surfaced on DVD such as the second visit to brothel etc, but most excitingly the uncut version of the icehouse / saw through the head scene. Also apparently the violence in the movie was tamed prior to the general release of the film. Only one print of this version is known to exist, but the owner has so far refused to distribute or sell the reels.

Standard Version

uncut run: 99:58s pal: 95:58s		UK: Passed 18 with previous cuts waived for: 2015 Mediumrare RB Blu-ray/R2 DVD Combo at UK Amazon 2012 Cine-Asia Hong Kong Legends R2 DVD at UK Amazon 2006 Medusa/Hong Kong Legends R2 DVD 2003 Medusa/Hong Kong Legends R2 DVD 2000 Medusa/E1 R2 DVD US: Uncut and MPAA Unrated for: 2020 The Criterion Collection Bruce Lee Greatest Hits RA Blu-ray at US Amazon 2016 Shout! Factory (RA) Blu-ray at US Amazon titled Fists of Fury 2014 Shout! Factory Bruce Lee Premiere Collection RA Blu-ray via UK Amazon and at US Amazon 2013 Shout! Factory RA Blu-ray/R1 DVD Combo via UK Amazon and at US Amazon This version is described as: 1983 Golden Harvest Version. See cuts details at DVDcompare.com . Popular Version as it is widely distributed internationally. See pictorial version details at movie-censorship.com :
cut		US: Cut and MPAA R rated From IMDb: When the film was released in the United States, the death of Hsiao Mi, The Boss, was cut down to him simply being stabbed in the chest with a knife in order to receive an R rating. The original version of his death, which not only shows an explicit close-up of the knife in his chest but Cheng Chao-an's fingers piercing his rib cage and blood flowing from under his shirt, would have given the film an X rating. This scene has since been restored for the Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection DVD released by Fox, and the Shout Factory DVD/Bluray releases.
cut cut: 8s run: 98:22s pal: 94:26s		UK: Passed 18 after 8s of BBFC cuts for: 2005 Universal R2 DVD 1986 Rank VHS 1974 cinema release. From IMDb: Heavy edits to the chain fight removed shots of ice picks and knives being thrown into chests kicks and blows during fight scenes.

Australia's federal government is altering the current film censorship system to add further details explaining the reasons for movie ratings.

It follows a survey of 2,000 Australians last year on their expectations around classifications. Most people said they wanted more details about why a movie was given a specific rating, and that the reasons for those decisions should be modernised to reflect community 'sensitivities'.

The classification system will now include a wider range of explanations for Australia's censorship board to choose from when rating a movie. Those explanations include such terms as animated violence, family violence, blood and gore, mental health themes and bullying.

The new information will appear at the beginning of the movie alongside the rating.

Classification board director Fiona Jolly said the changes better reflect today's community standards:

It provides helpful information enabling Australians to make informed choices, particularly in relation to content which may be of concern to them.

The changes will be made this week, with viewers expected to notice the additional information from next week.

Beau Is Afraid is a 2023 Canada/Finland/US comedy horror drama by Ari Aster
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Parker Posey and Amy Ryan

Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.

Update: Thanks to Ben:

I saw the film at an early/preview screening in the UK with a BBFC 15 black card etc. It seems uncut to me. All the following possible cut scenes in your entry were included on-screen.

[ Spoilers! hover or click text below]

• drinking paint

• building-jump suicide (implied - it cuts straight to the aftermath of a corpse - seems a directing choice though)

• extended/strong sex scene with a decent amount of nudity

• 3 uses of cunt

The extra 50s could be distributor logos - given all the above, the UK version seems uncut.

Thanks to Scott:

The IFCO have passed the film with a running time of 178m 52s, practically the same as the NZ OFLC's 178m 50s. The BBFC have it at 178m 2s. It almost certainly is cut. The BBFC's website still doesn't list any cuts, however this could be a similar case to The Invisible Man in 2020 where cuts info was only added to the site once the film had been released.

US parental guide sites mention that the film contains several suicide scenes, including someone drinking paint and another person jumping from a building, with their head smashing open upon landing - the BBFC don't mention suicide at all in their short insight, so quite possibly this is what's been cut. The sex scene responsible for the Aussie R18+ sounds quite strong too, yet the BBFC have buried the mention of it in the middle of their short insight, so this is another candidate for cuts. Additionally, the film apparently contains several uses of the c-word, however the BBFC haven't mentioned very strong language in the short insight - it could be that they didn't have space for the phrase very strong given how much else is listed, which previously happened with Promising Young Woman, although this is very rare.

When the BBFC publishes its extended insight the situation will become clearer, but at the moment this looks to be a proper 90-style hack job, cut to bits for no reason. If it really is missing almost a minute I won't be wasting my time seeing it.

Versions

uncut run: 178:52s pal: 171:43s	Ireland	Ireland: A longer version has been passed 16 uncut for Strong violence and language throughout. Graphic injury detail portrayed. Some explicit scenes of a sexual nature. Use of illicit and legal drug and impact portrayed. 2023 cinema release
short version run: 178:02s pal: 170:55s		UK: Passed 15 for strong threat, violence, sex, drug misuse, language, nudity, injury detail: 2023 cinema release

The Kerala Story is a 2023 India historical drama by Sudipto Sen, Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Starring Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani and Sonia Balani

A converted Muslim woman Fatima Ba narrates her ordeal of how she once wanted to become a nurse but was abducted from her home and manipulated by religious vanguards, turned into an ISIS terrorist and landed in Afghanistan jail.

The Indian film Kerala Story got mysteriously pulled from UK cinema websites and all the tickets bought were refunded after it failed to get classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in time for its release. It was due to be released in Hindi and Tamil in 31 cinemas in the UK and Ireland on May 12. But out of the blue on Friday all UK cinemas stopped allowing sales of tickets from their websites and all shows were cancelled.

The BBFC said:

The Kerala Story is still going through our classification process. Once the film has received a BBFC age rating and content advice, it will be available to be screened in UK cinemas.

British Indians took to Twitter, eg:

Surely BBFC is not delaying as part of its move to appease the extremists? t

Suresh Varsani, director of the movie's UK distributor 24 SEVEN FLIX4U said:

It is very concerning. I gave them the film on Wednesday and there were three versions -- Hindi, Tamil and the Malayalam version. They watched one on Wednesday and the other two Thursday. Age classification is normally done on the day. He has been emailing the BBFC since Thursday and all they keep telling him is that compliance is reviewing it. On Friday he called them and they confirmed it won't get classified that day. I am very suspicious that they have not given a valid reason. Why do they need more time when they have had three days? I have never come across a situation like this where a film has not been classified when it is meant to be released.

USA, India, Australia and Canada and Ireland have all passed it.

Not everyone wants the movie released. OK Ki Report tweeted:

Never screen this film, it is actually made to spread mischief, its purpose is to spread hatred against Muslims for political gains.

Beau Is Afraid is a 2023 Canada/Finland/US comedy horror drama by Ari Aster
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Parker Posey and Amy Ryan

Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.

Refused-classification.com reports that on 17 March 2023, a 179-minute Australian cinema release for Ari Aster's BEAU IS AFRAID was passed with an R18+ (High impact sex) rating.

On 4 April, it was resubmitted for cinema and again was rated R18+, with the same running time and consumer advice.

Refused-classification.com speculated that maybe Roadshow Films made minor cuts to the sex in the hope of securing a more commercial MA15+. Instead, the censorship was insufficient to make a difference for the Classification Board who awarded the same rating. If this is the case, by 20 April, expect either an appeal to the Classification Review Board, more cuts in search of an MA15+ or a cut or uncut R18+ release.

On 5 April, Roadshow Films received an R16 (Violence, sexual violence, offensive language and content that may disturb) rating in New Zealand. Unlike the Australian Classification Board, their OFLC provides an exact running time of 178:50s.

Meanwhile back in the UK the film has been passed 15 without BBFC cuts for strong threat, violence, sex, drug misuse, language, nudity, injury detail. The BBFC noted a rather short sounding running time of 178:02s.

There are no suggestions of BBFC cuts, but as there is a possibly a cut version knocking round then possible this could correlate to the shorter running time. Of course it is more likely that the discrepancy is down to distributor logos or running time rounding algorithms....but if anyone know differently then please let us know.