Horror Channel brings plenty of suspense and splatter to July's line-up with the UK TV premiere of The Rezort , where The Walking Dead meets Jurassic World. Starring Dougray Scott and Jessica De Gouw, this fast-paced, gory horror is directed
by Outpost franchise helmer Steve Barker.
There are also channel premieres for Damien Mace and Alexis Wajsbrot's cleverly sinister Don't Hang Up , where an invisible predator turns the tables on two online prankers, and
Paul W.S Anderson's cult gaming adaptation Resident Evil , with Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez in blistering form.
Plus, there are welcome returns for No One Lives , director Ryuhei Kitamura's taut, tension-laden
cat-and-mouse thriller, starring Luke Evans, alongside Sam Raimi's unforgettable genre classic The Evil Dead and fans of Arnold Schwarzenegger will welcome the clone-seeker's top-notch performance in The 6th Day .
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 USA action Sci-Fi fantasy by Irvin Kershner. Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.
Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca face attack by the Imperial forces and its AT-AT walkers on the ice planet Hoth. While Han and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon, Luke travels to Dagobah in
search of Yoda. Only with the Jedi Master's help will Luke survive when the Dark Side of the Force beckons him into the ultimate duel with Darth Vader.
No censorship issues beyond noting that the film was U rated from 1980 until 2011,
but was PG rated in 2020.
The 2011 Blu-ray was rated U for mild violence and threat whereas the 2020 cinema release was rated PG for moderate violence, mild threat.
There have also been a few minor tweaks to plot and special
effects over time.
J'accuse is a 2019 France / Italy historical thriller by Roman Polanski. Starring Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel and Emmanuelle Seigner.
In 1894, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus is wrongfully
convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at Devil's island.
Just rior to the coronavirus lockdown Quebec's major distributors announced they would ban cinema showings of Roman Polanski's J'accuse ( An Officer and a Spy ),
whether out of fear of reprisals from the #MeToo campaign or in deference to the movement's anti-democratic arguments. News of the ban susbequently got lost as the cinemas weren't open to notice that the film wasn't being screened.
It should be noted
that despite the efforts of the Macron government and #MeToo's feminists to intimidate audiences and have J'accuse banned, the film was extremely popular in France--by the end of February 1.5 million people had viewed it in that country.
Polanski's film is a truthful and poignant reconstruction of the Dreyfus Affair that shook French society between 1894 and 1906. The case concerned a French army captain of Jewish origin, Alfred Dreyfus, who was falsely accused of espionage and imprisoned.
An article in the Quebec daily newspaper Le Devoir, published at the end of February under the headline Director Roman Polanski, persona non grata in Quebec, shows the kind of anti-democratic conceptions that have penetrated the world of cinema and
the arts. Encouraged by large sections of the ruling elite, including the Democratic Party in the United States and Justin Trudeau's Canadian federal government, the #MeToo campaign has served to undermine fundamental democratic principles, such as the
presumption of innocence and due process.
As in France, the viewing public in Quebec is largely in favour of the film being shown. The thirty or so comments under the article in Le Devoir all opposed the reactionary argument that one could not
separate the work from the author and demanded that Quebec distributors reconsider their decision. Many compared the censorship exercised by the #MeToo campaign and Quebec distributors to the censorship exercised by the Catholic Church during the era of
Quebec history from the mid-1930s to the late 1950s known as the Great Darkness, when the Catholic clergy exercised stifling control over culture, education and social mores and the ultraconservative government of Maurice Duplessis promoted reaction and
used state violence to suppress an increasingly militant working class.
A feminist extremist has had a go at Amazon Prime for its catalogue of British sex comedy films, whingeing that they trivialise sexual harassment by presenting it as a hilarious joke.
The online platform features a number of 1970s softcore porn
slapstick flicks, complete with suitably saucy descriptions, available to buy or rent.
Kate Smurthwaite spouted to FEMAIL:
I'm not offended by nudity or sexual scenes or references ...[BUT]... The
issue is that these films routinely present sexual harassment as a "hilarious" joke. The same is true of some modern shows such as Keith Lemon's output. Recommending them on mainstream platforms reinforces the message that this behaviour is
normal and even funny. For many women the experience of being harassed and then told to "take it as a joke" is all too familiar. Media streaming services should take the time to think about what they are putting on their platforms and
recommending to their customers.
According to the Amazon description, the Confessions... series follows the 'saucy antics of the hapless Timothy Lea.
The Daily Mail then kindly details many of the most well known of the sex
comedies and reminds us of how many well known mainstream stars featured in the films.
Offsite Comment: The Manufactured Outrage Over Seventies Sex Comedies on Amazon
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 USA war historical romance by Victor Fleming and George Cukor (uncredited) Starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and Thomas Mitchell.
Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has
vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler.
Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie.
The US film channel HBO Max has banned Gone with the Wind citing unacceptable historical attitudes to racial sensitivities. HBO Max
said the 1939 film was a product of its time and depicted ethnic and racial prejudices that were wrong then and are wrong today. In a statement, HBO Max said it would be irresponsible to keep the film on its platform without an explanation and a
denouncement of its racist depictions. It said the film itself would return as it was originally created, saying to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.
