Category: Entertainment
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FILM REVIEW | Candid Love
★★ | Candid Love
Filmmaker Kurtz Frausun’s voyeuristic record of an ill-fated relationship between two desperately troubled men is a disturbing sight that raises all sorts of questions.
The first one of which is why they even allowed the intrusive camera into their lives at a time when they are both clinging on to the last vestiges of hope as their worlds continue to unfold in front of their (and our) eyes. Frausun even jumps in front of the camera at one point to question the morality of being a witness to this highly personal situation especially when it soon becomes apparent to us, if not the two men themselves, that it is doomed.
Jon is gay and bi-polar and Daniel his partner is a recovering alcoholic and suffers from depression and has still not recovered from the love of his life who is his (ex) wife of 11 years. He doesn’t identify as gay per se but admits to dating gay men in the two years since his marriage fell apart. Jon is his second boyfriend and they are fast approaching their first anniversary when Daniel’s father is suddenly taken to hospital with an aneurysm.
The ‘story’ starts after Daniel has rushed from the apartment he shares with Jon in Texas to his father’s bedside in Wisconsin. A quick session of events follow resulting in the father’s death and Daniel needing to deal with both planning the funeral and taking care of his mother even though it is clear from the morose and confusing phone conversations with Jon that his depression has really kicked up a notch or two and that he will not be able to resist slipping back into hitting the bottle again.
In all of his conversations, first on the phone and then when he eventually comes back to Texas, he uses Jon as a verbal punching bag, although judging from his disclosures, sometimes in the past he resorted to physical violence as well. His is obviously a deeply unhappy man struggling with his mental health issues who makes no secret that his ‘relationship’ with Jon started falling apart just after two months and as he goes into detail of its disintegration, it’s remarkable that he even considers continuing wanting to be with someone he has such scant regard for and seems to positive loathe.
Jon is not much better as all he does is complain to the camera about how miserably unhappy he is with the state of affairs between the two of them and the only thing that makes it all bearable is smoking. Legal and illegal cigarettes.
It’s infuriating at times watching these two people’s obvious pain as they just stumble around directionless and as the totally unsatisfactory compromise that they clumsily piece together hasn’t a chance in hell in succeeding, doesn’t make their reality any less unpalatable. I simply have no idea why they put themselves through it all let alone why they allowed the camera to record it. I for one, wished they hadn’t.
‘Candid’ means straightforward and honest, and frankly, neither Daniel nor Jon were capable of really ever being this. Plus of all the emotions they showed in the 60 minutes of this film there was very little ‘love’, if any at all.
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Top 10 Gay German Films
Since it produced one of the world’s first ever explicitly gay films called Different From The Others back in 1919, Germany has been at the forefront of making really good LGBT movies. To mark the occasion of the release of the German-produced Futuro Beach made by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz, we have named our Top Ten German Gay Movies.
1) Futuro Beach
This stunning new movie is light on plot as it focuses much more of the sensuality of each moment. There are certain pivotal scenes that are sparse of dialogue where he allows the camera to remain much longer than the norm with such riveting effect. Whether it be Donato letting off steam dancing rather manically in a club, or when he and Konrad are making rough and passionate sex together, or in the closing scene of the final motorbike ride. This story about the search for self-identity is one that will linger with you for a long time after you have seen it.
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Jack Wins Big Brother… Sort Of…
Jack declined a BMW worth £27,000 to remain in the House and protect the winner’s prize fund
For the past three days viewers have been voting via the Big Brother App in a free poll to find out who they’d like to be the Winner of Big Brother 2015 and receive the next Timebomb. The Housemate with the most votes was Jack. He was not actually crowned the winner tonight, instead the viewers’ Big Brother Champion was called to the Diary Room and Big Brother had a massive dilemma for him.
Big Brother offered Jack a brand new BMW worth £27,000. However, this prize came with a cost. The option was to to leave the Big Brother House and drive away in the BMW but no longer be a Housemate, or decline the prize and stay in Big Brother. By accepting the prize he’d reduce the winner’s prize fund from £150,000 down to zero. Jack chose to turn down his prize and return to the House, leaving the prize fund untouched.
Big Brother also dropped another Timebomb with Nick’s first set of face to face nominations, as during the Live Launch on Tuesday his Timebomb was to nominate face to face throughout his time in the House. Nick nominated Adjoa and Sarah. The rest of the Housemates will nominate over the weekend.
Join Emma next Friday at 9pm for the second Live Eviction of the series. Big Brother: Timebomb returns tomorrow night at 9:20pm on Channel 5.
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Queer As Folk Actress Returns To Emmerdale
Viewers last saw Joanie when Kyle’s mother, Amy Wyatt (Chelsea Halfpenny) went on the run leaving on a ferry. Joanie took custody of her adopted grandson Kyle and returned with the boy, to her life in Leeds.
Joanie is now down on her luck, living in temporary housing and struggling to bring Kyle up. With nowhere to turn, she contacts Kyle’s real father Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) for some money, to help her with a flat deposit, safe in the knowledge Cain would never want Kyle in his life.
Yet when she’s suddenly mugged, robbing her of Cain’s hand-out, Joanie is at rock bottom, knowing Kyle could be taken away as she doesn’t have a proper roof over their head.
A desperate Joanie soon arrives in Emmerdale village where Cain is furious to see her but could it be the Dingle family who offer Joanie the help she so badly needs?
Denise explains: “I am very excited to be coming back to Emmerdale. It’s a lovely show to work on and I’m well set for Joanie’s revival. I bet she has learned a thing or two since we last saw her. Is she still a single grandma? Has she changed? How is Kyle? I can’t wait to find out.”
Denise also have a brief appearance in Channel 4’s hit Cucumber.
Denise’s reappearance is screened from Wednesday 17th June on ITV’s Emmerdale.
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Ex Policeman Wows Simon Cowell With Beyonce Drag Act
Aaron Carty a 29-year-old ex-policeman from London went full-on Sasha fierce in the last episode of Britain’s Got Talent.
Aaron wowed the judges with his drag dance act to a medley of Beyoncé hits.
https://vimeo.com/127143487
Even Alesha got up and had a wiggle.
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Is The Simpsons Losing Its Main Gay Character?
Will The Simpsons be left without its main gay character?
Harry Shearer who voices the openly gay character Waylon Smithers in The Simpson might be leaving the long running comedy possible contract disputes.
Shearer who also voices Ned Flanders, Skinner and Mr Burns is said to be leaving after 26 seasons of the Fox show after a disagreement on the freedom for its actors to take on other work.
The actor who is reportedly paid up to $300,000 per episode has allegedly had contractual disagreements over the voice actors taking on other work, whilst under contract with The Simpsons. In 2011 Shearer released a statement after Fox, the programme’s owners said that they needed to reduce costs as it said the economic model was becoming unviable. The cast including Shearer stated that they would be happy to take a pay cut in order to keep the show running.
SMITHERS’ GAYEST MOMENTS
TWITTER BLAST
Show executive producer James L. Brooks’ lawyer said: ‘Show will go on, Harry will not be part of it, wish him the best”
Shearer responded with: “This because I wanted what we’ve always had: the freedom to do other work. Of course, I wish him the very best.”
According to the The Hollywood Reporter the actor was the last hold up in the latest round of re-negotiations of contracts, with the rest of the cast signing up for season 27 and season 28.
Last year Shearer appeared in Daytona with Maureen Lipman.
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BB Joel Strips Off For All Over Spray Tan
Joel Williams got the celebrity tan treatment as he stripped to his underwear and received a good spraying.
The 19 year-old from Cardiff pretended to be a TV presenter as twins, Amy and Sally ordered the local Conservative councillor to strip to his undies. Adjoa joined in the treatment as Joel stood in his tight white underwear.
Joel, who was channelling a Blue Peter presenter questioned the girls about which Disney characters they would be and whether they would be princesses or witches.
“Which do you think we’d be?” they asked in return.
“I think you’d be witches” he replied.
Careful Joel, they’re the ones with the spray cans in hand.
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Big Brother: Adjoa Comes Out As Gay And Shocks Housemates
During last night’s episode of Big Brother UK, Manchester based law student Adjoa Mensah came out as gay to some of her fellow housemates. Which caused them all to question her.
We thought those days of coming out and causing shock were over, but apparently not in Big Brother, as demonstrated by the reactions from Big Brother housemates who couldn’t quite believe that Adjoa, 22, is gay. Despite never hiding the fact, housemates reacted with a variety of clichéd lines which included:
“You go gurlll… Are you really?” said Harriet Jackson, 22, in surprise.
“Do you know what I wouldn’t have guessed it though!” said Twin Amy Broadbent
“Have you ever been with guys?” chipped in her sister, Sally.
Adjoa shakes her head.
Kieran question: “Never ever? You can never rule it out then?”
Adjoa, whose first language is Dutch, took the questioning with good grace and replied: “That’ the one thing I don’t want to experience.”
To which Kieran replied: “Why?” and talked about how shocked he was about her revelation.
Adjoa who is also a committed Christian later went into the big brother to admit that she has a crush on Sarah saying: “Sarah is so lovely, and she’s hot and is just so sexy!”
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FILM REVIEW | Rosewater
This rather tense drama opens with Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari been awoken by Investigators in his mother’s house in Tehran and subsequently hauled off to jail. Then in a flashback, we see Bahari in London 11 days previously with his heavily pregnant English wife discussing his assignment from Newsweek Magazine to cover the impending Presidential Elections in Iran. They are both aware of the danger particularly as both his late father and sister had both been imprisoned by Ayatollah Khomeini for being communists.
When Bahari arrives in Tehran a chance meeting hooks him up with a young driver who zips him around the city on his motor bike introducing the Journalist to his own liberal minded friends who are concerned that the present corrupt regime will rig the Elections to insure that their Candidate running against the incumbent President fails completely. When their worse fears are realised and the Government falsely declares that the President has been reelected with a landslide majority, the streets of the city are overrun with hundreds of thousands of protesters. The authorities react by sending out armed troopers to fire into the crowds, and when Bahari captures some of this on video that is shown on US TV, he has become a wanted man.
He is thrown into solitary confinement in Evin prison and is accused of being a spy for the CIA, the MI6, or any other Western organisation his captors claim are set on bringing the downfall of the Iranian Nation. Its a combination of paranoia and panic as the Investigator clutches at straws to make his claims stick. Bahari is blindfolded most of the time, and he establishes some sort of relationship with his tormentor…. known as Rosewater for his predilection for spraying himself liberally with the scent … who seems to bumble his way through their daily sessions of interrogation without gaining any information or a ‘confession’ from Bahari after several weeks.
As time passes and ‘Rosewater’ is pressured by his Superior to get a ‘result’ he taunts Bahari more and deprives him of anything to read and feeds him with ant infested food, but beyond depriving him of his liberty and hope, he surprisingly never really resorts to physical torture that one may have expected
This re-telling of the ghastly imprisonment of London based Iranian Newsweek Journalist Maziar Bahari in a Tehran jail for 118 days is the directing/writing debut of US TV journalist Jon Stewart whose own celebrity rather overshadows that of his subject.
Whilst Stewart does an admirable job, he still doesn’t quite succeed in overcoming his main difficulty in maintaining the tension in a true story the greater part of which is just about these two men in jail, that we already know the outcome off, and that Bahari will survive.
Gael Garcia Bernal however does an excellent job portraying the scared imprisoned journalist, and Shohrer Aghdashloo steals all her scenes in the cameo role of his mother.
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Rugby Player Grabs BIG WILLIE
During a Rugby match seen live on Australian TV this weekend Newcastle rugby player Korbin Sims walked up to Eagles player Willie Mason and grabbed his balls.
The baffled commentators asked: “What is going on out there? ” as were others watching at home.
Mason, who has previously played alongside Sims, said said after the game he thought it was “hilarious”.