Censor Watch

Mystery Men is a 1999 USA action comedy fantasy by Kinka Usher.
Starring Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo and William H Macy.

Uncut and PG rated for 1999 cinema release but cut and PG rated for all UK home video releases until a12 rated uncut Blu-ray in 2020. Uncut and MPAA PG-13 rated in the US.

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Summary Notes

In order to generate more endorsement revenue, Champion City's resident superhero Captain Amazing arranges for the release of supervillain Casanova Frankenstein, only to be captured by him. The city's fate rests in the hands of seven loser superhero wannabes: the spoon-flinging Blue Rajah, the shovel-wielding Shoveler, the possessed bowling ball-hurling Bowler, the flatulent Spleen, the only-when-nobody's-looking Invisible Boy, the mysterious Sphinx, and the perpetually-angry Mr. Furious.

121:16s

UK: Passed 12 uncut for moderate violence, brief gore, sex references, implied strong language: 2020 88 Films Limited video

In an episode of the comedy programme Heresy , broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the comedian Jo Brand made comments about milkshakes being thrown at politicians, suggesting battery acid could be used instead.

The BBC assessed complaints it received under the BBC First process that the comments were highly offensive and likely to incite violence. The BBC upheld the complaints about offence, but not those about incitement.

Ofcom then received six complaints which had completed the BBC First process. We carefully assessed these complaints against the Broadcasting Code, taking into account the broadcaster’s and the audience’s rights to freedom of expression without undue interference.

We concluded that Ms Brand’s comments had clear potential to offend listeners. However, we considered a range of contextual factors, including the likely audience expectations of this well-known comedian, and long-running comedy programme, which aims to challenge generally accepted ideas through satire. We also took into account that Ms Brand immediately qualified her comments, making it clear they should not be taken seriously or acted on. For these and other reasons set out below, we have concluded that the complaints do not warrant further investigation by Ofcom.

Birds of Prey is a 2020 USA action crime adventure by Cathy Yan.
Starring Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ewan McGregor.

The upcoming cinema release was passed 15 uncut for strong violence, injury detail, language, sexual threat.

The BBFC noted that this was the first film rated using new technology at the BBFC, explaining:

The first film to be classified using the BBFC's brand new, world leading classification platform has officially received its age rating certificate.

Birds of Prey is the first cinema release to be submitted and classified using the BBFC's new client portal and tagging platform. The BBFC has been classifying content since 1912, and this is the biggest technology transformation the organisation has seen.

The transformation project, known as Project Horizon is cloud based, and has been developed by a group of cutting edge technology partners including Amazon Web Services, Vidispine, Guidesmiths, NMR Consultancy Ltd and 100 Shapes.

Dave Barrett, Deputy CEO of the BBFC, said:

This is a radical shift in the way that we work with our clients to classify content. Along with our consultants, Remodus, who worked with us on the development of the platform, we have been working in close partnership with the film and home entertainment industries and our technology partners to design and build a flexible system that makes our classification process even more efficient and much easier for everyone involved.

Everything submitted to the BBFC will still be seen by our highly trained team of compliance officers, it's simply the tools that we use as a business which are changing. This is a move towards greater transparency between regulator and client - and we're looking forward to migrating all our clients to the new system by summer 2020

The key differences between the old system and the new platform include; a flexible and intuitive client portal for all submissions; a content tagging and data enrichment platform where classification is carried out; and reduces risk.

The new client portal offers all clients choice over dates and price structure, and greater control over their account management.