Batman Movies

The Batman is a 2021 USA action crime drama by Matt Reeves.
Starring Robert Pattinson.  

International film censors have different opinions about the age rating for The Batman. In particular

• US: Rated PG-13 for strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material
• Ireland: Rated 15A for strong violence and intense action sequences
• UK: Rated 15 for strong threat, violence

Of course where there's an easy to cross border these differences may make a commercial impact. Cinemas in Northern Ireland are worried that groups with 12 to 14 year olds would travel to Eire so that the youngsters could see the film.

The cinema chain Movie House asked Belfast Council to overrule the UK BBFC rating of 15 and instead enforce an Irish IFCO 15A rating which allows under 15s to see the film if accompanied by an adult.

However Belfast councillors rejected the request with several councillors noting that they haven't seen the film so are not best placed to overrule the BBFC rating.

Movie House managing director Michael McAdam wanted the rating to be lowered to 15A. He pointed out it would be on a streaming service in weeks, when parents can decide if their children can watch it, putting cinemas at a disadvantage. He added:

The world has changed. We used to have a five-month window, now streaming services are becoming stronger, he said. At home, parents can permit their children to watch it on TV, but at the cinema the same parent would be breaking the law.

Edward Lamberti of the BBFC said that most superhero films get a lower age classification. But The Batman movie was different, and the BBFC hadn't given it a 15 lightly:

It is a stronger, tougher, bleaker movie than is typically the case with a superhero film.

He made reference to films such as The Joker, which was given a 15 classification, and went on to receive the most complaints of 2019, with parents believing it should have been rated higher.

Joker is a 2019 USA crime thriller by Todd Phillips.
Starring Robert De Niro, Joaquin Phoenix and Marc Maron.

Joker centers around an origin of the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Todd Phillips' exploration of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.

While speaking at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, Joker director Todd Phillips explained that there were a few scenes that he had to cut, the most notable of which was a scene had Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck doing something bizarre while inside a bathtub.

Phillips suggested that the scene that was removed is not sexually explicit in nature, but is simply too bizarre for a standard R-rated movie to handle. He spoke in vague terms at the film festival:

So the other thing that's great about Joaquin is that he's always up to try things -- the fridge was one of those. It wasn't in the script it was something that Joaquin just kind of did and there was a few others, there's only one other that's in the movie and it's when he's laughing after he goes to [Zazie Beetz's] apartment and he comes back down the hall and he's laughing alone in that living room, that was another one...

There were two or three others we shot, one that is amazing in a bathtub, but I don't think we can actually include it in an R-rated movie and it's not because it was pornographic, it was just insane.

The Guardian writes:

Is it just me or is it getting crazier out there? Joaquin Phoenix's proto-Joker Arthur Fleck asks his psychologist in the new Joker movie. The real answer is both. Fleck is a man losing his grip on sanity, but the world out there is a powder keg of lawlessness, inequality, corruption, cuts and all-round despair. Joker's story is set around the early 1980s, but it consciously chimes with our own increasingly crazy present. These are tough times, the psychologist acknowledges. She might as well turn and wink to the camera.

It's no surprise that 2019's Joker -- while set to be a triumph, critically and commercially -- has raised concerns over its narrative. An early, leaked version of the script, plus the portrayal of Phoenix's character as a sad young man losing his grip on sanity (mental health problems, past trauma, failing comedy career, loneliness) has led to the film being aligned with so-called incel culture (involuntarily celibate men who are angry and misogynistic).

...Read the full article from theguardian.com

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right

The moral panic over Joker is a depressing throwback to video nasty hysteria.

See article from reprobatepress.com. By David Flint

Three families of those killed while watching a Batman film in 2012 have written to Warner Bros complaining about the new Joker film and urging the studio to join action against gun violence.

Twelve people died in a cinema showing The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado. They included Jessica Ghawi, 24, whose mother Sandy Phillips told BBC News she was horrified by the Joker trailers. Speaking to BBC News, Phillips said:

When I first saw the trailers of the movie, I was absolutely horrified. And then when I dug a little deeper and found out that it had such unnecessary violence in the movie, it just chilled me to my bones. It just makes me angry that a major motion picture company isn't taking responsibility and doesn't have the concern of the public at all.

A letter from the 3 families asked the studio to lobby for gun reform, help fund survivor funds and gun violence intervention schemes, and end political contributions to candidates who take money from the National Rifle Association.

Warner Bros responded that the latest film Joker was not an endorsement of real-world violence and said that the studio has a long history of donating to victims of violence, including the 2012 cinema shooting in Aurora, Colorado.  It added:

Make no mistake: neither the fictional character Joker, nor the film, is an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind. It is not the intention of the film, the filmmakers or the studio to hold this character up as a hero.