THEGAYUK

Author: Chris Jones

  • FILM REVIEW | The Loft

    The storyline is fairly straightforward, five seemingly respectable professional men conspire to share a secret apartment. A safe space in which to conduct their illicit affairs and indulge in their deepest, darkest fantasies, safe from the prying eyes of their wives.

    That is until one of them, Luke, arrives to find a dead body, an unknown woman, a blonde, hand-cuffed to the bed they have all used at some point.

    Then their fantasy turns into a nightmare, as they realise there are only 5 keys to the apartment and it isn’t possible to duplicate the keys… so one of the 5 must be the murderer?

    Or so you think…

    The film is quite inventive in terms of use of flashbacks, the way the five are questioned by the detectives investigating the crime, the possibility of the wives being involved? The list of potential suspects grows, as the victim is revealed. It has a feel of classic Hitchcock about it as we appear to suspect everyone, no-one is safe.

    With a stellar cast, including James Marsden (Hairspray, amongst many others), Keith Urban (Bones in the Star Trek reboot), Wentworth Miller (Prison Break) and Matthias Schoenaerts (from the original version of Loft, and also Rust & Bone, A Little Chaos and Far from the Madding Crowd) who all give performances that waver between making you feel revulsion for them and their predicament and pity for the game they are all involved in.

    Erik Van Looy remakes his 2008 Belgian classic and succeeds with playing with you – you think you know where it’s going, but you’re wrong!

    One for a DVD and pizza night…

    A massive 4 stars

  • FILM REVIEW | The Last Knights

    In the current climate of sword and sorcery fever, stirred up by the wonderful Game of Thrones, we are seeing a surge of books and films set in Machiavellian worlds, with plot twists and turns to keep you on your toes.

    This film is one of those – probably more by happenstance than by planning. This film seems to seek to ride that wave – however, it falls short, far short.

    A fallen warrior, one of the last knights of the title, seeks to avenge his former and now dishon-oured master against a cruel and corrupt ruler in a pseudo-medieval land.

    Beautiful backdrops, amazing scenery, weather fit for Winterfell and its frozen North, there just seems to be something missing.

    The cast work hard, the plot, in theory at least, should entertain but it fails somewhere.

    Have you ever settled down to watch a good movie, only to be left a little, well, a little flat and dis-appointed?

    With a cast that includes Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman, we could expect more but they can only work with what they have. The scenery is wonderful, spectacular even. The castles and courtyards appropriately epic, the costumes perfection.But, and its a big but, it doesn’t succeed – and I can’t put my finger on why?

    I read a few reviews on this film from Amazon and my favourite one read: “utter ball bag”. Not sure why this tickled me, but it did! It was also too harsh as it only gave the film 2 stars – I’d give it 3 and maybe a second watch at some point to check if my review was right.
    A mild-mannered 3 stars

    BUY ON AMAZON

  • FILM REVIEW | Kidnapping of Freddy Heineken

    ★★★ | Kidnapping of Freddy Heineken

    This film is a true sleeper, it had a limited cinema release earlier this year but now gets a DVD release.

    It tells the true story of the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, the head of “that” brewing dynasty. It goes inside the gang responsible and shows their family links, how it escalated. It shows how these individuals went from owning a successful building company through to one of the worst recessions the world has seen that hit everyone, and finally to show how they planned and executed one of the biggest kidnappings in history.

    It stars Jim Sturgess (21, Cloud Atlas), Sam Worthington (Avatar, Clash of the Titans), Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Home & Away) and Mark van Eeuwen as the main components of the group who, after being turned down for loans to help them through this tough period, and having their only piece of real estate occupied by squatters and therefore open to long and expensive legal battles to free it up, turn to crime.

    This film paints them all as dreamers, people who didn’t want to live in the real world, people who wanted their boats and mansions and cars back, people willing to do anything, ANYTHING to get their old lives back.

    So, along comes the idea, after a successful bank job that will keep them afloat and food the new scheme.

    The rest of history, and makes for a bloody good film. The back-story is intriguing, the plan ingenious and the rest of the film is gripping.

    Anthony Hopkins puts in a great turn as Freddy, showing little concern for his own safety and having fun with his captors as the whole scheme unravels.

    This film scored a terrible 27/100 on Rotten Tomatoes, but I enjoyed it. It is entertaining, the story is intriguing and the cast put in good performances. It is no frills, no major special effects, but this means it doesn’t detract from the actual story, which is, for me, how it should be – the story is centre stage.

  • INTERVIEW | Tom Goss

    Google Tom Goss, I dare you. The guy is prodigious and will keep you online, amused, toe-tapping, for days! He’s been likened to Jack Johnson – they share the same penchant for flip-flops and casual chic, and guitars!

    His a renaissance man in that he writes his own materials, covers some tracks in a quirky and unique way, writes and acts in his videos, and has now dipped a toe into the world of straight acting with the imminent DVD release of the movie “Out to Kill” and 2, yes 2 of his music releases.

    I had the chance recently to pick his brains about his work, his love of bears, and his penchant for getting his kit off

    How would you describe what you do? What’s your “job description”?
    I describe myself as a singer, songwriter and video maker. Obviously it’s more than that but I try to keep it simple. I work hard to create meaningful and fun art. Like many independent artists, my productions often cross genres musically and visually. I try to push the boundaries and do things new and interesting. Most of all, I just want to touch people. If I make them smile or feel something they didn’t before they listened or watched, I did my job.

    You’re known for your original songs, but also for your cover versions. Which do you prefer doing?
    I prefer doing my own material, and I have a lot of it. My live shows are 95% original material. Luckily for me, that’s what most my listeners respond to most often. That said, the internet loves cover songs! That means I make fun cover videos. Similarly to above, I try to keep it interesting and different, you won’t catch me sitting in a chair just plucking my guitar. It’ll usually involve household items as instruments, loop pedals or crazy green screen antics.

    Your videos are well known for being quirky and slightly off the wall, who originates the ideas? Describe the process.
    I think about videos all the time. It’s how the world consumes media. It’s how the world consumes new music. Think about it, when was the last time someone posted an amazing song on their Facebook wall? It doesn’t happen. Now, if that amazing song is in YouTube format, it might just get posted. Sadly, an amazing song is nothing these days without an amazing video.

    That means I think about videos all the time. I come up with lots of ideas, not all of them are feasible (too expensive, too technically difficult, too silly), but some are. I’m churning over in my head how to make 3 different videos right now, hahahaha

    The process of creation usually starts by me convincing people that it’ll be fun, cool and possible. I’m very lucky, I have a number of great collaborators that embrace my ideas and help make them possible rather than dismiss them as too off the wall. That said, they’re not always my ideas. Every day people tell me what I should be doing. Usually they’re not up my alley, but every now and again people have amazing ideas (the music video for Lover was not my idea). I’m always willing to abandon an idea if someone comes along with a better one.

    In your recent All About that Bass, you semi-drag up with the wig and make-up – any plans to go all the way? And how do you “recruit” your co-stars?
    That video was an idea I pitched a couple days before shooting the music video for Wait (soon to be released). I saw we had a light shoot schedule so said, ‘hey, while we have the green screen up let’s make another video!’ There was some hemming and hawing (it turned our chill 2 day shoot into a frantic 2 day shoot) but everyone loves that song so we thought it would be funny.

    How we recruited? That goes back to me being lucky to have such fun folks around me. The folks in the video were my crew and a couple folks that had parts in Wait (the other video we were filming) that we convinced to dance in front of a green screen. It was really that simple. ‘MDQ’ is actually our on set makeup artist, he’s been doing makeup since Lover (2010). I knew he could sing so I asked if he ever performed in drag. Lucky me, he had some experience and we were off!

    You aren’t ashamed of showing off that body where does the confidence come from?
    I don’t know. To be honest, I’m not sure it’s confidence, I think it’s necessity more than anything. Sometimes my videos require some skin, so I show it. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with it over the years. I definitely would not have done it early in my career. These days I see it as fun and campy, I’m embracing my body more as a tool that can be used as sexy or funny or dramatic. Additionally, if we’re being blunt, my audience is gay men, gay men love videos with half naked men. So… there’s that too.

    Illuminate the Dark is one of our favourite tracks ever – what inspired it? And the appearance of Alex Minsky in your video was inspired – how did that come about?
    Thank you! It’s one of mine too. The director (Michael Serrato) and I were just talking about the song and it’s message of beauty and acceptance. We started seeing it as a literal illumination of that which makes us the most beautiful. I see beauty in places that most people don’t, I don’t know if that makes me lucky or odd, it just is. We started talking about people that were untraditionally beautiful, and we wanted to show them in a way where their beauty shone brightest.

    Alex Minsky is amazing and inspirational. He was one of the first people that came to my mind once we settled on a storyline for Illuminate the Dark. How did we link up? Honestly, I just sent him a message. I was shocked when he responded immediately. Obviously he’s beautiful physically, but his real beauty shines in his positive attitude and charming personality. It was a pleasure working with him.

    Now let’s chat about Bears? I love this song and its accompanying video – seems to be a message of acceptance and whatever your size, who cares? Love it – and wondered what the back story was? And for our British bears out there….any truth on your preference for bears?
    I love that people still ask me that question. I mean, I wrote a song and made a huge production about how ‘bears got the best of me’ and ‘bears are my fantasy’ but people still think it’s a put on, hahahaha. Of course I love bears! I’m married to a bear. In fact, he’s the big, bald, bearded, adorably dancing guy in All About That Bass and also the man I wake up to in bed at the end of Bears, in our actual bed mind you. I think that answers the back story too. In short, I LOVE BEARS!

    What other projects are you working on? What can your YouTube and Facebook fans look forward to next?
    Working on a holiday song right now (way quirkier than you’re thinking most likely) and finishing up a remix EP, both slated for a December release. I was in a movie last year ‘Out To Kill’ that releases on DVD 12/9. Other than that I’m writing a lot. Working on a couple bigger, still hush hush projects. Oh, and of course I’m performing. I’ll be back out on the road in 2015, singing, dancing and meeting awesome new folks.

    Keep up to date with all the news fit to print by going to:

    www.tomgossmusic.net

  • FILM REVIEW | Testament of Youth

    ★★★★★ | Testament of Youth

    This is one of those titles you may know, you’ve seen it somewhere or have heard of the author, Vera Brittain… it rings bells.

    But you may be like me, know of it but not know it? I’d heard of it, I’d seen the cover, I knew the author (not personally) but it didn’t appeal enough to buy, beg or borrow a copy to read.

     

    I’m glad I didn’t now – I’m glad I waited for this lush, rich adaptation which only makes me want to whizz out and buy a copy to read it and savour every detail.It’s an epic tale, set against the fight for women’s rights, struggles in Edwardian England that then faces the First World War, and all that this entails for the youth of that time – the lost generation.I can only imagine what it was like, but this film helps show it – the life of privilege for upper middle classes, women wanting equality and suffering for it, the horror of going to war and the horror of waiting at home for news of loved ones.It only briefly touches on it in one scene, but it also mentions the love that dare not speak its name, as Vera’s injured brother clutches to a letter from a fellow officer.This is an amazing adaption; the script is rich with Brittain’s words, the scenery gritty and pretty in equal measures and the acting superb.

    Kit Harrington and Alicia Vikander are perfect as the slightly awkward lovers, separated by war and a society that still insists on chaperones for young unmarried couples.

    They are more than ably supported by Taron Egerton as Vera’s brother, Miranda Richardson as a stand offish Oxford tutor, Dominic West as Vera’s father, the list goes on…
    For all its epic proportions and massive story – this is still a very personal film and I defy you not to be touched by it.

  • DVD Review: Silicon Valley

    Where would we be without HBO? They keep churning out good programmes – and this Silicon Valley is no exception. Think Sex and the City with geeks, and penises, and the main characters are all men, and mostly virgins, and did I mention they were geeks? But I think you get my drift.

    ★★★★

    The premise is simple. In Silicon Valley, California, everyone wants to be that tech start-up that gets bought by the big boys for the big bucks – but in order to do that, you need the idea, the app, the techie bit that doesn’t actually matter in this review, but these 5 guys have it. They have come together as part of a hot house, somewhere to work on ideas, in exchange for a percentage of their product – it’s a roof over their heads and someone to bounce ideas off and get help if and when they need it.

    Over the course of the 8 episodes in series 1, we meet all 5, flesh them out as characters and watch as they face the ups and downs of bordering on a genius and totally inept at everyday life – and a potential billionaire. Richard is the idea man, a stereotypical geek, shy, nervous, awkward around people and in crowds, but full of ideas and potential.

    When his product is put before several possible buyers or backers, he’s given a choice – take the money and run but sign away the rights or take some startup funds and sell a small share of his company and also get the business knowledge and guidance needed to succeed in this cut-throat world.

    The rest of the series follows his adventures or mis-adventures with his 4 buddies and their possible backers. It pokes fun at the whole tech world, highlights some of the anomalies, the sheer wealth available, and is host to a lot of in-jokes!

    The cast is made up of pretty much complete unknowns, and the series is the better for that – I liked that I got to binge watch as these boys grew and matured, learning from mistakes as they go along their journey. The writer, Mike Judge, drew on his own Valley experience back in the 1980s and this shows – it needed a gentle hand to make the jokes and still produce something where you care about the characters.

    This is the real deal and cannot wait till Season 2 – yes, I’ve checked IMDb, there is a season 2!

    4 stars – minus one as some of it goes way over my head at times

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Freaks (1932) Cinema Re-release

    ★★★★ | Freaks (1932) Cinema Re-release

    Hollywood Classics presents a cinema release of “Freaks” – in cinemas from 12th June 2015

    This classic opens with a sideshow barker shouting about his latest addition, without showing it immediately builds some tension, as you want to see this freak. The audience around the cage gasps and screams and so sets the scene for that back-story, the story of how the freak came into being.

    A beautiful circus trapeze artist, Cleopatra, takes an interest in Hans, a dwarf who works in the circus sideshow away from the main ring. She has ulterior motives though as her interest is more about Hans and his inheritance than in Hans himself. Hans has his head turned by this beauty, and forgoes his loving finance to pursue this highflying love.

    What he isn’t immediately aware of is that she is carrying on an affair with Hercules, the circus strongman. At their wedding party, a drunken Cleopatra tells the sideshow freaks just what she thinks of them – huge mistake and this group of friends close ranks and plot. Together, the freaks decide to make her one of their own.

    Tod Browning, the director and producer, drew on his own experiences in the fairgrounds and circuses of America to create this once shocking film. He was given leeway by the studio system to create this horror after his success in creating Dracula. He intentionally showed the “freaks” to be the ones with a code of honour and a sense of justice and the so-called normal cast as the ones with murderous intentions.

    Tod also managed to interweave sub-plots that built on the “freaks” having normal lives, such as the co-joined twins who each have romances, the armless wonder who performs everyday tasks with her feet – remember folks, in 1932, these were shocking images, things never before seen, hence their place amongst the circus sideshows.

    It seems impossible to believe now, but after test screenings in New York, the film was pulled after one lady threatened a lawsuit – claiming the film had been so shocking, she had suffered a miscarriage! The film was butchered and reduced from its original 90 minutes to just over 60, with some of the more shocking scenes removed. There were extended images of the freaks attacking Cleopatra and the scene where Hercules, her lover, is castrated was also removed.

    The initial barker scene was added to give it some context, but despite this and the other cuts, it lost money on it’s second release and despite Brownings earlier work with Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi, his career was effectively over – Hollywood doesn’t forgive or forget easily!

    The film was considered overly exploitative over here and was banned in the UK for over 30 years but even with mainly negative reviews, some saw this as a masterpiece, a true gem of film-making with even the Rotten tomatoes site giving it an overall thumbs up, stating that time has been kind to this film and the US National Film Registry adding it to its archives as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

    It isn’t easy to watch, in this age of PC conformity, you do question its making, it’s potential to exploit – but if you can, put that to one side and consider it in it’s historic context.
    Take a peek if you can, in its intended surroundings – aim for a real cinema with Rococo fittings and real organ music. Failing that, go see it at your local multiplex, but DO GO SEE IT.

    A huge 4 stars – not as scary as it once was, but excellent historical perspective and amazing cast

  • FILM REVIEW | A Most Violent Year

    ★★★★★ | A Most Violent Year

    Ok, a film that’s set in 1980 (my era) and stars Oscar Isaac (W.E. and Inside Llewyn Davis) and Jessica Chasten (Interstellar and Zero Dark Thirty), along with some killer outfits and one hell of a story – who wouldn’t want to watch this?

    The storyline follows Abel Morales (Isaac), an honest and hard working man, as his ethics collide with brutal violence at a time when New York is facing an unexpected and unprecedented spike in violent crime. Abel is building his business, following the American Dream, over-stretching himself in order to expand in what appears to be a sensible way.
    Having borrowed heavily to fund this expansion, his business is hit by opportunistic thieves, and he finds himself taking matters into his own hands in order to protect his interests. Alongside this, his wife, from a very distinctly NY “family”, is itching to get in there and sort the matter out if her husband can’t!
    While searching for those responsible for these crimes, he attracts the attention of an ambitious Assistant District Attorney (David Oyelowo – Interstellar and Selma) who is out to make a name for himself and needs a victim to do it.
    This film has the look and feel of a classic thriller from the Serpico and Godfather era, the use of language and mannerisms are spot on. The colours and settings echo the early ’80s perfectly, with the costumes showcasing power dressing NY style. Chasten has some killer outfits and hair-dos and knows how to work ‘em!
    With a strong supporting cast that includes Alessandro Nivola (American Hustle and Coco Before Chanel), Albert Brooks (Drive) and Elyes Gabel (World War Z and Spooks), this film showcases the underbelly of a city, pitting good men against what can seem impossible odds.
    Director JC Chandor did an amazing job on this film and I for one was dumbfounded that it didn’t generate any interest at the major awards – showing how unfair these shindigs can be.
    This is a perfect pizza and beer movie and a distinct 5 stars, I paid good money to see this first time round and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again.
    Buy on Amazon

  • FILM REVIEW | Hooked Up

    ★★★ | Hooked Up

    Technology is moving so fast and we now own more powerful processing power in our pockets (I mean your phone) than ever before. The cameras are better, image storage immense thanks to cloud storage and video quality crisper than ever.

    So, when I got the chance to review a horror movie filmed entirely on an iPhone, you can imagine how it piqued my curiosity, I am after all, a complete iFan.

    The storyline is fairly straightforward for schlock horror movie fodder, two stereotypically loud Americans go to Europe to get drunk and get laid. Both come across as quite unlikable characters, and in a horror movie, I always found you need to invest some feelings towards at least one character – otherwise why watch?

    With this, I didn’t really care for either – felt no emotion that one had just split form his long-term girlfriend, didn’t care what happened to them but was curious about the film and how it looked as it was shot on a phone.

    However, once they get to Barcelona and get out there, things take a more interesting turn and, after picking up two girls, they are invited back to one girls “grandmothers” house for the usual rumpy-pumpy. I must stress, the grandmothers house was supposed to be empty and said rumpy-pumpy did not include the grandmother.

    And this is where the film gets interesting. Obviously, there are nasty things going bump in the night, lights going out, strange happenings, lots of blood and a bit of gore – but the best thing for me was that the iPhone filming felt right?

    I know that sounds odd, but not once did I question why they were filming things – I use my phone all the time, without it, I feel like someone cut off my hand. To use one to film and take images whilst on holiday is now normal so this film didn’t feel contrived in that sense.

    Co-writer and director, Pablo Larcuen, has a good stab (yes, i went there) at writing something that tries to move the found footage genre along a little by the inclusion of something we all own – a smart phone.

    The performances are, on the whole, good with my only issue being the characterisation I mentioned earlier – give me one person to care about and I’ll stick with a film to the bitter end to see what happens. When you don’t really care, you’re just looking for the inventive ways they’ll die!

    My other issue, and not just with this film, but with all found footage films is who found the film?

    A decent 3 stars – it won’t set the world alight but a decent watch with a good pizza and a nice white wine.

  • FILM REVIEW | Frequencies

    ★★★ | Frequencies

    This quirky and ingenious British film shows us a slightly dystopian future, where we are all born with a frequency that predetermines our future, our luck and affects our relationships.

    It follows Marie-Curie Fortune (aka Marie) and Issac-Newton Midgeley (aka Zak) as they grow, knowing their respective frequencies and how it will affect their lives, expect they seem to be continually thrown together as Marie tries to understand how they can only spend one minute together at a time, without some catastrophe happening.

    Think magnets, and how they repel and attract and you have an idea of how this film works – until it throws something else in the mix. The power of words and sound waves to alter this effect – certain words being able to raise or lower a persons frequency and enable two opposites to get close to each other.

    The film then goes on to look at how this power has existed since time immemorial and has been forgotten by the vast majority of the population…and there are darker ways in which to use this power.

    But music can provide a “reset” and counter-act the effects of the sound waves – whether used for good or evil!

    The film is lovely, it doesn’t go for the silver foil suits of other low budget sci-fi. Instead it places itself in the near future or possibly a parallel earth, leaving you a feeling of familiarity with the sets and clothes – and no doubt saving much needed cash.

    This gem is written, directed and produced by Darren Paul Fisher, who has had a hand in the In-betweeners and he does a mean turn here – playing with the ideas of words and sound waves leading to mind control but music being a reset on a button based in the soul.

    The grown up Marie and Zak are played well by Daniel Fraser and Eleanor Wyld, but the child and teen characters put in excellent turns.

    Overall, it can come off a little like a well-meaning episode of Doctor Who, but I for one don’t think that’s such a bad thing.

  • FILM REVIEW: Tin

    This innovative independent film takes a simple storyline of intrigue and shenanigans and gives it a slight twist and does so on a micro-budget.

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