Wednesday, November 23, 2005

THE SLASHIN' OF THE CHRIST

BY MICHAEL DOSSIER / Nov 23, 2005
The DVD Dossier

File this one under "I" for "Irony," folks.

CleanFlicks, the Utah-based rental purveyor of edited DVDs - movies and TV shows that have had "objectionable content" removed by the firm - is being sued by Mel Gibson.

It seems that CleanFlicks - which takes PG-13 and R-rated movies and removes the profanity, graphic violence, nudity and sexual content before it rents them Netflix-style - went on a bit of a rampage and slashed three minutes out of "The Passion of the Christ."

According to a report on Salt Lake City CBS affiliate KUTV, Ray Lines, the mastermind behind the CleanFlicks operation, says he cut the most graphic parts out of the 127-minute film. "Not a big deal," says Lines.

Gibson's production company, Icon Productions, disagrees and alleges copyright infringement. The lawsuit does not ask for compensation, but seeks to shut down CleanFlicks for good.

What makes this different than other battles CleanFlicks has had with Hollywood over copyright infringement and "artistic integrity" is that Gibson himself previously released an edited, toned-down version of the film. And that may be CleanFlicks' undoing, as their argument has always been that they are providing a necessary service that Hollywood won't.
And then, of course, there's the delicious irony that the film that might ultimately shut down CleanFlicks is none other than "The Passion of the Christ," one that would seem to be tailor-made for their customers without editing of any kind.

Monday, November 21, 2005

MEL GIBSON SUES MOVIE CHOP SHOP

November 21, 2005
Premiere Magazine


In case you didn't know there's a company in Salt Lake City called "Cleanflicks" who cut the nasty, bad, oooey, gross, perverted stuff out of rated "R" movies and then releases them to the (Moromon.) public. Mel is apparently suing this company for cutting up the Passion of the Christ. It's about time that somebody took these mofos to court! Actor/director/all around-freakazoid billionaire Mel Gibson has decided to sue a Utah-based company called CleanFlicks, who have been editing all "offensive" elements out of copyrighted films for years now, and then selling those unauthorized copies to their customers. Gibson's Icon Distribution is suing them for said unauthorized versions of Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST and asking that CleanFlicks stop distribution and unspecified damages. Ray Lines, the goof behind the chop-shop has come up with one doozy of a comeback, arguing that Gibson himself released an edited version of the film: "He felt it needed to be taken out." Uuuuuh, yeah Ray...so why didn't you just sell HIS version, you weirdo!?! Or better yet, the guy is the DIRECTOR of the film!!! He can actually edit his own movie...YOU can't!! Anyway, I'm glad that someone is finally taking this fruitcake to court, as he's chopped up over 900 films in the past six years alone (Imagine GOODFELLAS chopped-up? It's probably 3 minutes long.). And speaking of fruitcakes, have you seen what Mel Gibson looks like lately? Wow. Kickass beard, dude!!

Monday, September 5, 2005

TV GUARDIAN BACKS CLEARPLAY

September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Solutions prez Bray 'sick and tired' of racy films -- The company that sells the TVGuardian filtering device has sided with ClearPlay in its fight with the DGA over the issue of excising sex, violence and foul language from video and DVD versions of movies.


View full story at www.variety.com

CLEARPLAY TO FILE COUNTER-SUIT


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Movie scrubber seeks court injunction -- The legal battle over sanitized versions of Hollywood movies has heated up with a software supplier announcing it will file a countersuit against leading directors, the Directors Guild of America and the major Hollywood studios.


View full story at www.variety.com

HOLLYWOOD BURNING CLEAN VIDS


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Majors join fight, file suit against sanitizers -- Hollywood's majors have decided it's time to put the CleanFlicks genie back in the bottle. The studios have filed copyright and trademark infringement claims against CleanFlicks and 14 other businesses that traffic in sanitized versions of films.

View full story at www.variety.com

MAJORS SUE OVER 'CLEAN' VIDS


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Studios back claim alleging copyright infringement -- Hollywood studios are expected to back the Directors Guild of America in a legal move today against companies and stores that rent and sell sanitized versions of films.


View full story at www.variety.com

TV GUARDIAN BACKS DGA VID FIGHT


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Foul language filter sellers oppose CleanFlick's suit -- The company that sells the TVGuardian filtering device has sided with the DGA in its fight with retailer CleanFlicks over the practice of cutting sex, violence and foul language from movies it rents.

View full story at www.variety.com

ACE IS DGA'S REEL FRIEND


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Board joins guild in fight against CleanFlicks -- The board of the American Cinema Editors has strongly supported the DGA in its fight with CleanFlicks, the Colorado retailer that cuts sex, violence and foul language from movies it rents.


View full story at www.variety.com

HELMERS' CUT ABOVE?


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Current climate fuels copyright debate -- Maybe Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should give CleanFlicks or ClearPlay a call.

View full story at www.variety.com

MOVIE FILTER FIRM BLASTS DGA CHARGES


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: ClearPlay calls guild actions 'affront to personal rights' -- ClearPlay, a specialist in parental movie filtering technology, has blasted the Directors Guild's recent legal strike against sanitized versions of Hollywood films.

View full story at www.variety.com

DGA MOVES ON EDITED PIX


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Guild launches counter suit -- The Directors Guild has launched its long-awaited legal strike against the companies and stores that rent and sell sanitized versions of Hollywood films.

View full story at www.variety.com

SAG NAGS CLEANFLICKS


September 5, 2005
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Guild joins DGA in fight against CO video store chain -- The Screen Actors Guild has strongly supported the DGA in its fight with CleanFlicks, the Colorado retailer that cuts sex, violence and foul language from movies it rents.

View full story at www.variety.com

CLEANFLICKS VID CHAIN SUES HELMERS


September 5, 2002
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Spielberg, Redford, Altman, others named defendants -- More than a dozen of Hollywood's top helmers have been sued by a tiny Denver video chain that rents sanitized versions of their films in a preemptive strike against an expected DGA lawsuit.

View full story at www.variety.com

WGAW TO HELP NIX CLEANFLICKS


September 5, 2002
The Daily Variety

CleanFlicks Conundrum: Move aids DGA in Colorado retailer's suit -- The Writers Guild of America West has strongly supported the DGA in its fight with CleanFlicks, the Colorado retailer that cuts sex, violence and foul language from movies it rents.

View full story at www.variety.com

DON'T CLEAN FLICKS


September 5, 2002
The Daily Variety
The town's elite directors, who covet their power over "final cut," awakened recently to an ugly realization: Some people have been quietly re-editing their movies into their own final cut, and they haven't bothered asking permission. Needless to say, the directors are headed to court.

Understandably so. A company called CleanFlicks has decided to re-edit movies ranging from "Shrek" to "Saving Private Ryan" and sell their sanitized videos in some 76 outlets in 18 states. And it's a growing business. Their supposed raison d'ĂȘtre is that they know what their people want -- movies without sex or violence. "Bridget Jones Diary" has some naughty references? Snip them out. Some innuendo sneaks into "Shrek?" Zap it.
What all this entails, of course, is an outrageous invasion of artists' rights. "It's wrong to cut scenes from a film, just as it is to rip pages from a book, simply because we don't like the way something was portrayed or said, then resell it with the original title and the creator's name still on it," says Martha Coolidge, president of the Directors Guild of America, which filed suit against CleanFlicks.

There are some fascinating legal nuances to all this. Does re-editing films run counter to the "derivative work right' of copyright holders? A few of the Utah movie rental companies have set themselves up as co-ops whose "members" rent videos from the store that claims to own them -- a weird twist on the "fair use" doctrine.

Censorship is ugly in all its manifestations, and its justification on moral grounds is bogus. If the pop culture offends someone, he is free to abstain from it. But to distort the contents of movies, books or TV shows reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of a free society. Hollywood should throw its support behind the DGA in its worthy cause.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

VARSITY MAKING COMEBACK WITH CLEAN FLICKS

BY TAD WALCH / Feb 23, 2005
The Deseret Morning News

Venue to show only Hollywood hits that meet Y. standards

PROVO — Long lines for tickets were routine during the Varsity Theatre's heyday.

The Brigham Young University playhouse competed with Utah Valley theaters for moviegoers because of its fare — edited versions of R-rated movies such as "The Last of the Mohicans," "A Few Good Men" and "The Firm."

But the lines that snaked through the Wilkinson Student Center hours before tickets went on sale vanished in 1998 after movie studios and distribution companies pressured the theater to stop editing from the films what university officials and Varsity patrons considered objectionable content.

Hollywood hits are making a slow comeback at the Varsity this semester, but local theaters needn't feel threatened, and no one should expect watered-down versions of of R-rated epics like "Alexander," "Constantine" or even PG-13 smashes like "Million Dollar Baby."

"We received permission last fall from the administration to show movies again at the Varsity Theatre, but we will not accept any edited movies, we will not edit them ourselves and we must preview all the movies to make sure they meet BYU standards," said the man behind the renaissance, campus-involvement coordinator Ron Jones.

The theater has been mostly empty for the past seven years, first home to poorly attended movie classics and then to the university's International Cinema program.

Jones is rolling out "Dollar Night at the Varsity" slowly, with a single movie just one weekend a month. "Spider-Man 2" produced a sellout of the Varsity's 794 seats when it ran for three days in January. "The Village" drew solid crowds last weekend.

Students appear interested in an on-campus dollar theater, but the crowds will depend on the movie, said Rob Hickman, a junior from Washington, D.C. Hickman bought a ticket to "The Village" because he considers director M. Night Shyamalan a "modern Hitchcock."

Jones doesn't anticipate the return of long lines, but he does hope to recapture some of the magic of the old on-campus haunt.

He began his quest to resuscitate big events at the Varsity this winter, when it became a popular home for sneak previews of a genre that hardly existed in 1998 — the Mormon-oriented movie. The house was packed for free sneak peeks of "Saints and Soldiers," "The Work and the Glory," "Baptists at Our Barbecue" and "Sons of Provo."

Utah distributor Halestorm will screen its next release, "Suits on the Loose," at the Varsity next month.

Jones said the Varsity will continue to show one Hollywood hit a month, with "Napoleon Dynamite" in March and "Hidalgo" in April, and then move to two weekends a month next fall, when "National Treasure" and "The Incredibles" make their BYU debuts.

"We're looking for movies that don't need to be edited, and we're finding some," he said. "Our purpose is to provide clean entertainment for our students. Rather than trying to make money with our films, we want to provide students with inexpensive choices for on-campus entertainment."

Jones said a committee will rule out movies with objectionable sexual content, "continued use of the Lord's name in vain that is demeaning to religion," other inappropriate foul language or issues of homosexuality.

"That limits what we can show, but we've found some pretty good movies," he said. " 'The Village' is a very innocent story. It has no swearing. It has no sex. It's just a very interesting story with a lot of twists and turns."

BYU might be sticking to its standards, but it took two key philosophical shifts to clear the way for any mainstream movies to return to the Varsity.

First, the administration dropped a requirement that the theater be profitable, Jones said. The goal now is to use it to enhance campus life. Jones also persuaded several administrators to let him deal with Swank Motion Pictures Inc., the company that distributes movies to colleges and universities in the United States.

"The only way to do this is with the distribution company BYU had a problem with in the '90s," Jones said. "Some didn't want to work with them because they felt the company hadn't supported us" during the fight over editing.

A Swank executive did not respond to a Deseret Morning News request for comment.