THEGAYUK

Category: Entertainment

  • FILM REVIEW | Triple Crossed

    ★★ | Triple Crossed

    After he had finished his posting serving in the military in war-torn Afghanistan during which time he witnessed his best friend being killed, Chris Jensen is struggling to adapt back into civilian life. Unable to find a job, as no one seems prepared to want the services of a somewhat damaged ex-serviceman, he has resorted to living in his car.

    Out of the blue, he gets a call from Jackie who wants to offer a job that he would like to turn down. Her recently deceased half-brother has left his controlling share of the family’s multi-million business to his boyfriend Andrew, and she is having none of it. She wants to get his share but doesn’t want to pay a cent for it, but she is however prepared to pay Chris a handsome sum to kill Andrew so she can get her own way.

    He is desperate enough to take on the assignment but first he goes to check out his ‘target’ who naturally turns out to be as hot as hell. The two men are soon grappling with each but not quite in the way Jackie had wanted as they are naked and in bed. The question then is to kill or not? Not an easy one to answer as the title of this drama implies everyone has their own agenda, and so we are never sure how this will play out.

    What makes this small-budget indie stand out from others of this genre is that it marks the debut of Sean Paul Lockhart; aka ex-porn star Brent Corrigan behind the camera as well as in front for a change. Although it is full of the good intentions the movie does sadly fail to be a thriller in or out of the bedroom even though it does have a gun-toting finale.

    Sean doesn’t ever quite manage to convince us that he really did go to war, although he does put in a pretty good performance as a potential new boyfriend for Andrew who seems to have soon forgotten his ex dead one. If you are a fan of Sean aka Brent then you’ll want to see this,but if you are not, then you may just want to wait for a rainy afternoon when you have nothing better to do.

  • TV REVIEW | American Horror Story

    ★★★★★ | American Horror Story

    American Horror Story, or AHS as it is abbreviated to, is a four season (soon to be five) long delve into the creative mind of Ryan Murphy, the creator. In case anyone hasn’t watched AHS yet, please do.

    I mean genuinely it is such a deep and intense show you can not afford to miss it. I will be honest, since Season four “Freak Show” finished in January I have re-watched season 1, 2, and 3 all over again in less than a week. I am an addict, I will admit. Now with the premise of season 5, “Hotel” featuring, Lady Gaga, I am struggling to keep my panties dry.

    I will commence with a season by season commentary, I will warn you, there will be spoilers.

    Season 1: Murder House.
    The Harman family move from the East coast to the West, LA, to settle down and try and get their family together again after a ‘brutal’ abortion and a cheating husband. Mum Vivian, dad Ben and daughter Violet move into their 18th Century house which appears normal. Until they slowly discover all of the deaths in the house. Almost every occupant who has lived there has died in that house. Each of them are wanting something. It isn’t long until Ben gets his first patient (he is a psychiatrist) and we meet Tate Langdon (Evan Peters *Clenches butt*). Violet and Tate hit it off great and it’s even more dramatic when we find out he is dead, and why… It is so damned intense! Vivian gets pregnant with twins, unfortunately for her, one of the babies is Ben’s but the other is a masked man’s in a gimp suit who raped her. Turns out it was Tate. Fast forward a little and she looses Ben’s baby in childbirth and gives birth to the rape baby, but dies in labour. At this point we find out Violet died from an overdoseThe neighbour next door, Constance (who we find out is Tate’s mum and is played by Jessica Lange) takes the rape baby because it is her grandchild. Ben is left alone and the other spirits kill him, which leaves Ben, Vivian and Violet together as a family in the house. It’s oddly a nice ending. It ends with them warding off new buyers so the don’t have to go through what the Harman’s did.

    Season 2: Asylum. Featuring Adam Levine.
    Set in the 1960s, this corrupt church owned mental institution is governed by the sick minded Sister Jude (Jessica Lange). She wrongly commits Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) into their care because she was snooping and wanting to write a story about an inmate, Kit Walker – Bloody Face, (played by Evan Peters), who was wrongly accused of skinning alive women. Move down the line and Lana thinks she finds her escape with a friendly doctor but turns out he is Bloody Face and he rapes her. She gets away and ends up back in the asylum. Finally, she gets out again and gets her story out and kills bloody face. In all of this time, Sister Jude has been forcefully committed to the asylum and her fellow Nun, Sister Mary Eunice who has been possessed by the devil was partially responsible. Queue a Nazi Doctor and you have an amazing story! Things progress, and Kit Walker gets free and later takes sister Jude with him. She dies and he gets abducted by aliens after he gets terminally ill (the aliens are explained in the plot). At the end, Lana is an old woman who is a very successful writer and ends up meeting her baby from Bloody Face’s rape she gave up for adoption. She shoots him in the dead and that’s it. End. Finito.

    Season 3: Coven.
    Set in New Orleans this school for witches sounds like a cheap and nasty Harry Potter magic school. It is far from it. It is set now. It is modern, sassy and darn right attention holding season. There is less explaining I can do here. A group of witch girls fight to become the new Supreme of the Coven and cause havoc on their way to it. People die, monsters die, zombies invade, slavery is witnessed and we see what hell is like. The majority of the soundtrack to this is Fleetwood Mac so if you like that you’ll like this because Stevie Nicks also makes an appearance as well. We end up getting to the point were there are two witches left and their new Supreme. The coven makes national news and they recruit a mass of new witches. This end well. Well worth a watch as this is my favourite.

    Season 4: Freakshow.
    You follow around Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) a German woman of wonder who is the owner of a travelling Freak Show. They settle down in New Orleans but the welcome is not great. They are losing audiences fast. Throughout this, we visit were Elsa has been, through picking out the freaks to getting mutilated, to where she wanted to be. On TV. In the show there are new acts, new drama, back stabbing, kidnap and a new and gorgeous fancier of one of the women there. Betty and Dot (Sarah Paulson) the two-headed woman is right in the sights of Dandy (there are a few bare butt scenes which are a bonus). Things get so out of hand at the end that Dandy buys the show, massacres the majority of the freaks and then gets drowned by the remaining few. Elsa gets her TV show but ends up dying. This doesn’t end well for any of Jessica Lange’s characters.

    Season 5: Hotel
    This season is coming out in October 2015 and features the one and only Lady Gaga. The saddest part is Jessica Lange is not in it anymore (my ultimate woman crush). All we know is that it is set in a hotel. It looks promising with many returning characters and I just hope it is too the standard of Murphy’s other work.

    Not only is AHS beautifully written and cast, it has some real personality. The cinematography is a gem, the mise-en-scene is fabulous, the sounds are eerie and well thought out and the editing is just as you want it. You can tell that Ryan Murphy has put every last thought into it. A masterpiece. The only criticism is can you please you not bring Emma Roberts back. That is all.

  • Eurovision Singer Goes Gay In Hot As Hell Music Video

    Iranian-born Norwegian singer Tooji – real name Touraj Keshtkar – who represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 with the song Stay has just issued his latest music video.

    He is as hot as hell which is where some say he may end up at after seeing him not just come out as gay but practically jumping a handsome priest in a church.

    Have a glass of very cold water beside you before you watch this one.

     

     

    @RogerWakerDack

  • The Boystown Series by Jake Biondi

    Looking for a steamy page-turner for your summer holidays? Jake Biondi’s Boystown series are proving to be popular with readers in the United States and Europe.

    Whether you’re sweltering in San Tropez or freezing in a gale in Blackpool; this series with its hot male cover stars and cliff-hanging plots is sure to crank up the heat. Biondi started writing the books as a regular serial (much like Dickens and Maupin; although they were in newspapers rather than online) but the popularity of the stories led him to launch them in book format.

    Chicago’s Boystown is one of the most diverse and lively neighbourhoods in the country with something for everyone. It’s no wonder that Jesse Morgan and Cole O’Brien chose to live there upon graduating from college. Ready to begin the next phase of their lives in an exciting new city, Jesse and Cole quickly find themselves at the centre of a new group of friends. Joyelle and Derek Mancini have been happily married for years but Derek is harbouring a secret that could tear them apart. Derek’s brother Emmett is about to discover that his boyfriend Keith Colgan has a past that will haunt them both.

    Long time couple Logan Pryce and Max Taylor must face a crisis that neither of them expected. Before they realise it, Jesse and Cole find themselves at the centre of it all in the adult playground known as Boystown.

  • Preview Of I Am Cait Hits The Internet. Internet Goes Mad For It

    The US cable company E TV today released the first preview of Caitlyn Jenner’s new reality tv show ‘I Am Cait’ due to be aired from July 26th.

    No release date has been set for the UK …. but we will update you as soon as we know

  • THEATRE REVIEW | That Is All You Need To Know

    ★★★ That Is All You Need To Know | In a day and age where you can share every aspect of your life at the touch of a social media button, the concept of an entire workforce keeping ‘what they did in the war’ a secret for 30 years is one which may be difficult to comprehend. But for the workforce of Bletchley Park, where the government brought together some of the greatest minds of the time together to gather war time intelligence, that is exactly what they had to do.

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  • Family Guy “Outed” Bruce Jenner 6 Years Ago

    Video of an episode of TV’s Family Guy that first aired in 2009 and had outed Bruce Jenner as a woman is circulating this week.

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  • Lord Cashman Lends Support To Play Which Tackles Sexual Abuse And Cover Ups

    The cast of a new play called At Ease will be joined by Lord Michael Cashman, on Friday 5 June, during rehearsals to lend his support to the play which tackles the issues surrounding historic sexual abuse and cover-ups.

    Victims of historical physical and sexual army abuse are given a voice in a new play in rehearsal in Birmingham.

    Lord Cashman appears as a character in the play.

    At the centre of this highly unusual play is the correspondence between one-time Household Cavalryman, Alex Rees who was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder, and Michael (Lord) Cashman, who was an intended target. Rees writes he was brutally tortured and raped while in the army in the 1970s. Rees, who died in 2002, identifies adults involved in the bullying and in the parties in which abuse took place. He also identifies army personnel involved in cover-ups. Rees is, at last, given an opportunity to put his story to the public via his extraordinary correspondence.

    The bond between Rees and Cashman, a life-long campaigner for LGBT rights, is both strange and poignant.

    In an attempt to right some wrongs, while contributing to the present debate around historical abuse by giving voice to Rees and others, theatre company DD Arts Birmingham is piloting its new play, AT EASE, from June 17, raising these issues, together with other contemporaneous accounts.

    Pilot performances 17-20 June: Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham. 0121 200 0946.

  • 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.

  • Boy Is A Bottom Racks Up 18 Million Hits

    Since it was released this wickedly funny parody of Alicia Keys “Girl On Fire” has racked up over 18 million hits.

    We simply cannot get enough of Willam, Detox & Vicky Vox as after all, this boy really is a Bottom.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Shrek, National Tour 2015

    ★★★★ | Shrek, National Tour 2015

    Making the transition from screen to stage is not always easy, especially when you are adapting something as beloved as Shrek.

    The tale of the big green ogre rescuing the fair princess on behalf of the diminutive Lord Fardquaad is one which follows the plot of the film fairly closely, albeit with so many songs crammed into the running time, the whole thing teeters on the edge of being a sing through musical.

    Like the film, the stage show has a bit of something for everyone, with a script which is packed full of kid friendly comedy but with enough one liners and near the knuckle jokes to keep the adults more than entertained, nowhere more evident than in every second of stage time held by Lord Faquaad. Gerrard Carey was just outstanding as the vertically challenged monarch-to-be, and gave a deliciously camped up performance which was quite frankly hilarious. Look up the definition of “scene stealer” in any theatrical dictionary and you should find his picture. Dean Chisnall’s portrayal of the grumpy ogre was suitably downplayed, but his powerful voice was simply incredible as he belted out the songs.

    But it wasn’t just the performances that made this show, it was the whole package. For a touring production, the staging was incredible, utilising a slew of techniques to bring the tale to life in a way which far exceeded expectations. The set was beautifully put together, lavish and detailed, the lighting was well designed and the costumes and make up were stunning. The show pads out the backstories of the main characters a little, but equally allows the supporting cast to all get their turn, and with such a strong line-up, it would have been criminal not to.

    Where the show doesn’t quite peak is in the songs themselves.” I Got You Beat” was a neat take on the courting songs of Irving Berlin, “What’s Up, Duloc?” was an upbeat big production number and “Morning Person” was a Bob Fosse inspired tap dancing routine. When coupled with the visuals of the set, the choreography and the polished delivery, the actual numbers were are all perfectly amiable and got the feet tapping. However, they were ultimately pretty forgettable; and whilst they certainly work on stage, most audience members left the theatre singing the 1966 hit, “I’m A Believer”, rather than humming any of the shows original songs.

    Shrek carries with it an air of childhood magic and a theatrical experience which, provided you allow yourself to buy into it, will transport you back to that feeling of being a kid again. It’s a show which is bold, loud, colourful and utterly charming. Whether it was giggling at the occasional spot of toilet humour, laughing at the jokes which go over the kids’ heads, or simply being transfixed by the spectacle of a dragon flying about the stage, Shrek had me smiling throughout the show.

    Shrek is currently playing at the Sheffield Lyceum Theatre (www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk) until 6th June 2015 before continuing on its national tour at various venues throughout the country up to February 2016. Get yourself “ogre” to the tour’s website for full details (www.shrekthemusical.co.uk)