[GPSCC-chat] Peacemovies.com June 2012 Flier w/Medea Benjamin Talk Info

[John Thielking]

Peacemovies.com


by John Thielking
June 2012
Vol. 1 No. 6




      Corrections to last months issue: I am not going to file a RICO lawsuit against the MPAA, RIAA and Internet Service Providers because according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation articles (search their site for “graduated response”) there are not going to be any deep packet inspections of people's home Internet connections done by ISPs in attempts to find copyright infringers. Also according to the EFF and RT.com , ACTA (the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is not quite dead yet. It is tied up in committees in the EU Parliament and although it has three negative committee recommendations attached to it, this is not the last word on the subject in the EU Parliament. Stay tuned for more details.
     This is the first issue of Peacemovies.com that is distributed in a newsrack. So let me give you a synopsis of the reasons why Peacemovies.com exists and what its purpose is.
      Currently, the US is involved in many undeclared wars around the world. This war fighting has been getting easier to do since the introduction of drone warfare. Drones make it possible to engage the enemy without ever setting boots on the ground or sending actual persons into a foreign country's airspace. It is a misguided myth that drones kill enemy combatants without ever harming civilians. The human involvement with war fighting is potentially much reduced with drones, particularly with the possibility of developing autonomous drones that are programmed to carry out missions with little if any human input. This is Skynet from the movie Terminator come to life in the real world. For more information on this check out the book Drone Warfare: Killing By Remote Control by Medea Benjamin. 
     The user interface for controlling drones currently resembles the joy stick and computer screen of a playstation video game. The political popularity of drone warfare is also similar to that of video games, with 75-85% of the public supporting the concept of drone warfare, particularly in regards to using drones to take out terrorist suspects. Most disappointing was a former Human Rights Watch board member named Maureen White who seems to think drone warfare is just fine. The main problem according to her seems to be marketing. From page 146 of Drone Warfare by Medea Benjamin, Maureen White said: 


“We have failed to control the debate,” she said. “The 
Taliban have a home-grown movement in the tribal areas 
of Pakistan that is vicious. They are terrorizing civilians 
and creating thousands of refugees. Taking out the leaders 
with drones is critical. It's a pinpointed, targeted, precise 
and successful mechanism. From a military standpoint, 
drones are a dream come true.”


With regards to the crisis in Syria, the San Jose Mercury News had an article on Syria. From page A-11 of the Thursday May 31, 2012 issue: 
 

“You may come to the point where you have Srebrenica 
syndrome,” said Edward Djerejian, a former ambassador 
to Syria, referring to the slaughter of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims 
that galvanized more aggressive international action in 1995. 
“Once a humanitarian disaster looms so large, the 
international community becomes forced to act despite the 
national security considerations and the more levelheaded 
thinking on the consequences of military action.” The White 
House has made clear that, however horrific, the killings in 
Houla last week, and another massacre discovered 
Wednesday, do not rise to that level.
 
     It is this type of video game mentality about warfare that Peacemovies.com attempts to combat by telling people about the relatively nonviolent movies that are available in theaters and on DVD. According to the marketing survey that was done when I started this project back in 2009, ½ of the people specifically want to watch a nonviolent movie, the other ½ don't care one way or the other and less than 10% specifically want to watch a violent movie or list a violent theme, such as horror movies, as their favorite. By increasing the market share of nonviolent movies I hope to send a message that violence, of the video game and movie variety at least, is not as popular as some might think. 
     The Peacemovies.com newsletter comes out once per month, while the Peacemovies.com web site is updated at least once per week. I decided to charge $1 per copy for the newsletter rather than distribute it for free because this way I can potentially have a larger circulation with no fussy advertisers to please and the project will also consume about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of paper per copy that an ad supported newsletter would need to use to generate enough income to support myself.
     Medea Benjamin will be visiting San Jose to talk about her book Drone Warfare: Killing By Remote Control on Monday, June 25, 2012 from 7PM-9PM at St. Paul's Methodist Church, 405 S 10th St, San Jose, CA (corner of 10th and San Salvador).
     A side note is that in her book Medea Benjamin points out that drones are very unreliable. In addition to having cameras that broadcast blurry images that make it hard to identify the people targeted, the drones have a high probability of crashing. This should make everyone uncomfortable with the prospect of the FAA being forced to allow drones to fly in US domestic airspace by 2015.
     Below you will find movies released to DVD and in theaters categorized into 4 categories: Little or No Violence, Nonviolent, Iffy and Too Violent. The movies in the first three categories are given reviews later on in the newsletter, while the movies that are Too Violent are listed but not reviewed. While the reviews for movies in theaters only cover the movies currently in theaters as of the date of publication, an additional list of movies due to be released to theaters that are too violent are listed for the entire month of June, 2012. The DVD's of nonviolent movies released for the entire month of June 2012 are also reviewed. 


Violence Ratings Of Movies Released To DVD from June 5, 2012 to June 26, 2012. General release dates are in (parenthesis) while release dates for Netflix are in [brackets]. 


Nonviolent (10 or less violent scenes per 90 minutes with few if any dead bodies.)
Tyler Perry's Good Deeds PG-13 Drama (6-12-12) [6-12-12]
Thin Ice R Dark Comedy/Drama (6-12-12)
Big Miracle PG Drama/Adventure (6-19-12)
Jeff Who Lives At Home R Comedy/Drama (6-19-12) [6-19-12]
A Thousand Words PG-13 Comedy (6-26-12) [6-26-12]


Too Violent (Way more than 10 violent scenes and/or many dead bodies and/or an orgy of violence at any point.)
Safe House R Thriller (6-5-12)
Journey 2: Mysterious Island PG Adventure (6-5-12)
John Carter PG-13 Action/Adventure (6-5-12) [6-5-12]
Act Of Valor R Action (6-5-12)
Machine Gun Preacher R Drama (6-5-12)
Bad Ass R Drama (6-5-12) [6-5-12]
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows R Drama (6-12-12)
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance PG-13 Horror (6-12-12) [6-13-12]
In Darkness R Drama (6-12-12) [6-12-12]
Kill Speed R Drama (6-12-12)
Monster Brawl NR Horror (6-12-12)
Project X R Comedy/Drama (6-19-12)
Wanderlust R Comedy (6-19-12)
Seeking Justice R Drama (6-19-12) [6-19-12]
Too Violent DVDs (Continued)
The FP R Drama (6-19-12) [6-19-12]
Cat Run R Drama (6-19-12)
The Legend Of Hell's Gate: An American Conspiracy Drama (6-19-12) [6-19-12]
21 Jump Street R Comedy (6-26-12)
Wrath Of The Titans PG-13 Action/Adventure (6-26-12)[6-26-12]
Mirror Mirror PG Comedy/Action/Adventure (6-26-12)
The Artist PG-13 Drama (6-26-12)


Violence Ratings Of Movies In Theaters As Of June 5, 2012.


Little Or No Violence (2 or less violent scenes or a few off screen violent stories and few deaths if any)
I Wish PG Comedy/Drama
Otter 501 NR Documentary
First Position NR Documentary
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel PG-13 Romantic Comedy
Roving Mars G Documentary
Hubble G Documentary
To The Arctic G Documentary
Think Like A Man PG-13 Romantic Comedy


Nonviolent (10 or less violent scenes per 90 minutes with few if any dead bodies.)
Hardflip NR Drama/Action
Hysteria R Comedy
What To Expect When You're Expecting PG-13 Comedy
Bernie PG-13 Comedy
Darling Companion PG-13 Drama
Chimpanzee G Documentary
American Reunion R Comedy
Tornado Alley NR Documentary
The Secret World Of Arrietty G Animation/Fantasy


Iffy (11-20 scenes of mild violence)
Where Do We Go Now? PG-13 Drama
Bully PG-13 Documentary
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen PG-13 Romantic Comedy/Drama
Comedy Sportz NR Live Improv Comedy


Too Violent (Way more than 10 violent scenes and/or many dead bodies and/or an orgy of violence at any point.)
Crooked Arrows PG-13 Drama
Thrill Ride: The Science Of Fun G Documentary
Rowdy Rathore NR Comedy/Action
Piranha 3DD R Horror
Snow White And The Huntsman PG-13 Drama
For Greater Glory R Drama
Polisse NR Drama
Men In Black 3 PG-13 Comedy/Sci-Fi
Chernobyl Diaries R Horror
The Dictator R Comedy
Battleship PG-13 Sci-Fi
Dark Shadows PG-13 Comedy/Horror
Marvel's The Avengers PG-13 Sci-Fi/Action
The Lucky One PG-13 Drama/Romance
Safe R Thriller/Action
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits PG Adventure/Animated
The Three Stooges PG Comedy
The Cabin In The Woods R Horror
Mirror Mirror PG Comedy/Action/Adventure
The Hunger Games PG-13 Action/Family
21 Jump Street R Comedy
John Carter PG-13 Sci-Fi
Dr Suess' The Lorax PG Animated




Other movies to be released to theaters from June 1, 2012 to June 29, 2012 that are too violent.
A Cat In Paris PG Comedy
Like Water NR Documentary
The Loved Ones R Horror
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted PG Animation
Prometheus R Sci-Fi/Horror
Brave PG Animation/Family
Jack The Giant Killer Adventure/Fantasy
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Horror
Beasts Of The Southern Wild PG-13 Drama
Killer Joe NC-17 Crime Drama






Flier produced by


Peacemovies.com
5669 Snell Avenue #173
San Jose, CA 95123 USA
1-408-914-2751
pagesincolor at yahoo.com


The complete Peacemovies.com newsletter is currently being sold for $1 per copy in front of Camera 3 at 2nd and San Carlos in downtown San Jose, CA. Note that a limited number of free copies of the complete Peacemovies.com newsletter are available at the San Jose Peace Center, 48 S 7th St., San Jose, CA between the hours of 4PM-7PM Monday through Friday. Up to date information is also available for free by visiting www.peacemovies.com . The web site is generally compatible with most types of cell phones that have web access (smart phone not required, there is no app for the web site). The first two pages of the newsletter (the commentary plus the lists of movies) are also distributed for free as a flier by the Santa Clara County Green Party at various events around San Jose, CA. 





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