THEGAYUK

Category: Entertainment

  • Celeb BB’s Kellie and Dee bond

    Pairings come in the unlikeliest places, but Deirdre Kelly and Kellie Maloney have become fast friends on the new series of Celebrity Big Brother.

    It’s the first full day in the Celebrity Big Brother house and Kellie and Dee are bonding. Kellie asks Dee if being on TV has changed her life and Dee says yes, some good ways and some negative. Kellie responds that she can’t believe the reception she got coming into the Celebrity Big Brother house, she tells Dee that for most of her life she wanted to beat her gender issues.

    Dee asks her if she feels like she has won. Kellie replies that she feels she has won and lost at the same time. Kellie adds, ‘Frank wasn’t a bad person.’ She also says that she has tried to make her children understand that she is always going to be their dad, just their dad in a frock.

    In October 2013, Kellie, known then as Frank, made the decision to retire from boxing explaining that he had ‘fallen out of love’ with the sport. However, Kellie now cites her transition as the real reason. Kellie explained how she has felt trapped in the wrong body since she was a child. She is now a year into the transition period and is learning to live life as a woman – a life she kept a secret due to the macho world she lived in as a boxing promoter.

    Twice-married and parent of three daughters, she wanted the transition to be private to protect her family and to build up the confidence to reveal her new identity. She planned to reveal her new life in a book once she had fully transitioned, however, she was exposed by a journalist and made the decision to go public with her transition

    During the mayoral election in London, 2004, Maloney, ran as the UKIP candidate, was criticised for comments made against the LGBT community after it emerged that Maloney failed to campaign in Camden because there wer “too many gays”.

    Maloney tried to justify these remarks telling the BBC, ‘I don’t want to campaign around gays…I don’t think they do a lot for society…what I have a problem with is them openly flaunting their sexuality.’

  • First gay row erupts between Gary Busy and James Jordan in Celeb BB

    Picture the scene, Leslie Jordan dons some white gloves to search ‘White Dee’s’ suitcase when…

    James Jordan then mimes taking his trousers down, and says, ‘And assume the position.’ Hilariously campery, well done, we’re impressed. However,

    Gary Busey walks into this scene and says to James, ‘You are gay aren’t you?’

    James tries to explain to Gary that he is not gay but has lots of gay friends and is comfortable enough in his sexuality to camp it up. Gary then asks James if he is not afraid ‘to get butt-f**ed’ and James replies, ‘I’ve never hit a seventy-year-old before.’

    Gary then tells the group that James has a little Vaseline tube in every part of his luggage. James then loses his sense of fun about the situation and tells Gary to listen to him, not interrupt him and look at him when he’s talking.

    James finally tells Gary that he ‘should be careful what you say, you might be seventy years old but be careful what you say.’

    Ooo er

    Watch Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5 Tonight at 10:00PM

  • FILM REVIEW | Happy Christmas

    Jeff and Kelly are trying are trying to do a balancing act juggling their freelance careers whilst bringing up their 2year old son Jude.

    It’s slightly off kilter right now as Jeff is managing to work on pre-production of his next movie, but Kelly has got writer’s block since she completed her first book so has settled for full-time homemaking for the time being. The couple is however quite happy and things are going along relatively smoothly until they get a holiday visit that shatters their peace and throws the household into disarray.

    The visitor is Jeff’s rather volatile sister Jenny who’s just had a bad breakup with her latest boyfriend and she flies into town for some much needed TLC, in return for helping them out with some childcare. It is soon apparent that self-absorbed Jenny is incapable of looking after herself let alone a small helpless baby. On her first night, she goes to a party with an old friend and gets so totally wasted and passes out that Jeff is forced to go collect her in the middle of the night.

    The next time Jenny gets totally drunk is when she is babysitting young Jude at home and this time she almost manages to burn the whole house down. It then takes a lot of persuading on Jeff’s part to convince his very sceptical wife to give her sister-in-law another chance. Kelly does eventually reluctantly agree and the two women very slowly start to bond. Jenny actually encourages her to her back to writing by telling her to set aside her planned second novel and instead write a sexually explicit trashy novel to make some fast ready money.

    Suddenly Jenny has a purpose too and she looks less likely to self-destruct and even grabs herself a new beau and starts to date the family babysitter (and pot dealer) Kevin and surprisingly looks that she might live happily ever after all. Possibly.

    This is the latest movie from prolific filmmaker Joe Swanberg who as usual directs, writes and stars in it too. I will confess that I am a fan as even when the plots are slight (as this one is) there is a cast of well-rounded characters whose interplay with each other as they cope (and enjoy) their daily existence makes for fascinating viewing. Swanberg injects it all with his own tempered sense of humour, and in this instance is aided by the presence of Lena Dunham playing Carson, Jenny’s best friend. But then he always shrewdly casts his movies with what appear to be his mates Melanie Lynskey as Kelly, Anna Kendrick as Jenny and Mark Webber as Kevin.

    I’m generally on the same page as Charles Laughton when it comes to children in movies, but even I could not help but be seduced by scene-stealing baby Jude played by Swanberg’s own son.

    After last year’s Drinking Buddies this is probably Swanberg’s second most accessible work to date and part of his continued evolving from a filmmaker once known as the king of mumblecore. Long may it continue.

  • GIG REVIEW | James Blunt, Moon Landing Tour, Doncaster Racecourse

    ★★★★ | James Blunt, Moon Landing Tour, Doncaster Racecourse

    On a warm summer evening, Doncaster Racecourse presented the closing concert of James Blunt’s Moon Landing tour. Without the need for flashy pyrotechnics, elaborate sets or backing dancers James Blunt kept the crowd entertained for his 90 minute set with just his voice, his guitar and a four piece backing band.

    Blunt rattled through some of his singles and a number of fan favourites from his four multi-million selling albums. He quite rightly concentrated on the more up-tempo songs with only a few of his slower songs nestled neatly between the upbeat numbers. Blunt casually chatted with the audience and encouraged them to join in with a number of the songs. The crowd absolutely relished in singing along to “You’re Beautiful”, “Carry You Home” and his closing numbers “Bonfire Heart” and “1973”. But there were very few songs where the audience couldn’t help singing along, mainly encouraged by Blunt, which led to the crowd feeling part of the experience as opposed to detached observers.

    “High”, “Wisemen”, “Goodbye My Lover”, “Stay the Night”, “I’ll Be Your Man”, “Satellites” and “Same Mistake” were amongst some of the songs performed over the course of the show. Blunt defied the media persona that has been created around him by coming across as charismatic, enthusiastic and as someone who clearly loved every minute of being on stage. His band was fairly note perfect and the mixture of sound between the vocals and the instruments was perfectly balanced, meaning each instrument could be easily heard. The stage and lighting were functional, with a simple presentation enhanced only by a few projected backdrops. But, to be fair, the show was more about music than spectacular presentation and the straight forward staging served to allow focus on the musicians and song writing, rather than being style over substance.

    It is unfortunate that James Blunt is really a victim of his own success. Having the biggest selling album of the last decade, selling 20 million singles and 17 million albums is no mean feat, but for some reason, the media and the public have seemed to taken a dislike to him. However that does not necessarily detract from the quality of his music, the surprisingly good live performer that he is and how much the huge crowd genuinely enjoyed the show.

    James Blunt was the final concert in Doncaster Racecourses Music Live events, which has also seen the Kaiser Chiefs playing earlier this year. Having never been to a concert with a dress code before, the whole day was incredibly enjoyable with 7 flat races presented over the course of the afternoon followed by the concert. There was the opportunity of being able to enjoy dressing up for the occasion, mixing with the smartly dressed crowd and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of the day at the recently refurbished venue; even without any knowledge of horse racing or a desire to have a flutter.

    James blunt is touring the UK later in the year and details can be found on his website at http://www.jamesblunt.com/home.htm?force=show

    Doncaster Racecourse hold a number of racing events throughout the year, the next one being on the 24th august to raise money for breast cancer charities. Details can be found at http://www.doncaster-racecourse.co.uk/

  • VIDEO: Naked Boys Towel Dancing

    The dashing pair wowed the audience in France’s version of the hit reality show: Got Talent, France Got Talent. (more…)

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Dogfight, Southwark Playhouse

    ★★★★ | Dogfight, Southwark Playhouse

    San Francisco 1963 is the setting for this powerful musical, receiving its European premiere at The Southwark Playhouse. A bunch of marines are on their final night of shore leave before heading off to fight in Vietnam and decide to play a cruel and misogynistic game. They each pool their money; pick up the plainest girls that they can find and compete for who can pull the worst of the bunch and gain the prize money.

    Based on the 1991 movie of the same name starring River Phoenix, Dogfight premièred Off-Broadway in 2012, when it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and was nominated for 5 Outer Critics Circle and 2 Drama Desk Awards.

    Eddie (Jamie Muscato) meets waitress Rose (the talented and powerful newcomer Laura Jane Matthewson) and what starts as a slightly brash testosterone fuelled piece evolves into something much more tender and touching between the two leads. The supporting cast is excellent too, giving sterling performances. Peter Duchan’s book is well written and the music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are a perfect bend of humour, pathos and warmth. There’s a wordy Sondheim-like quality to some of the numbers that work well within the context. The choreography is good (if slightly restricted by the smallish space) and the almost bare stage is cleverly used to recreate various scenes.

    Southwark Playhouse has really picked out a gem in this award-winning premiere. There’s a moving and enthralling story, superb acting and singing and the piece delivers everything it promises and more (including a lot of hot young marines in their underwear, I couldn’t not mention that one).

  • FILM REVIEW | The Notorious Mr Bout

    ★★★★★ | The Notorious Mr Bout

    According to this new documentary from filmmakers Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin, it would seem that everybody has wildly exaggerated polarising ideas about who Viktor Anatolyevich Bout really is. None more so than Mr Bout himself who considers himself simply as a devoted family man and a highly successful international entrepreneur, and the D.E.A. who claim that his illegal arms trading and gun-running activities have rightly earned him the title of Merchant of Death. It seems that the truth may lie somewhere in the middle.

    After the fall of communism in his native Russia, Bout was determined to embrace the newly permitted capitalist society and so bravely entered the world of import/export. At first he traded in anything he could lay his hands upon, but then hit on the fact he could make even more money by buying up old Russian planes and starting a cargo service in the Third World. As well as shipping produce and home electronics he and his rather dubious partners included Bulgarian made arms in the consignments that they flew around some of the more troubled countries in Africa.

    Bout is undoubtedly a larger-than-life colourful character. One of his many excesses was his love of his video camera and whilst it made for some very intimate and extraordinary footage for this film, he also shot footage when he was cavorting with several warlords and some very shady despots, and that provided damning evidence when the authorities decided to go after him. The D.E.A. set up a covert sting operation in Bangkok where it was alleged that the shipment of arms he was selling were intended to be used to kill Americans, so he was arrested and extradited to the US where he was made an example of, by being given an excessively long jail sentence.

    According to investigative journalists who had met Bout out in the field, he was really very small fry in the world of arms trading and he did not in anyway justify either the reasoning or the ferocity of the way that he was pursued. The D.E.A. could have felt that they had been taunted by the brazen way he carried out his activities, which frankly were fueled by both his love of the limelight and his sheer naivete.

    Bout’s loyal wife Alla is a constant presence throughout the film (the very dated archival footage of their wedding is particularly wonderful) and she dutifully plays along as his supportive partner. As she deals with her husband’s trial she also proclaims her innocence too, but whilst she may not have been explicitly involved, it is hard to believe that she didn’t know what her husband was up too.

    At the end of this excellent and compelling documentary it’s clear that the ‘notoriety’ in the title really split between Bout’s activities but also with the questionable motives of the D.E.A. At Bout’s trial, the Judge made a point of mentioning that prior to the entrapment operation that the D.E.A. had set up, there was no evidence at all that Bout had broken any American laws.

    It seems that they wanted to make a scapegoat/example of someone and so they chose Viktor Anatolyevich Bout. This is a distraction from the main picture as just before the credits role, someone makes the point that most arms trafficking in the world is done by Governments trying to help their friends, and this is rarely considered illegal.

    Highly recommended

  • Helen Crowned Queen Of Big Brother

    HELEN IS CROWNED THE WINNER OF BIG BROTHER 2014, ASHLEIGH AND CHRISTOPHER ARE RUNNER UP AND 3RD PLACE.

    Emma asked Christopher how he found his experience in the house: ‘I found it a really tense house, we were always on tenterhooks…a lot of feisty big characters in there…lots of very full on strong minded people’. On standing up for himself in the house: “One thing I can do is listen, I would sit back and think a bit more before I’d storm in”. On Mark, Christopher said: ‘He is amazing, one of a kind, it is what it is with Mark, I’d rather has him as a mate…if we continue to fight all the time, he’s still awesome, I’ll see him afterwards, maybe’. On changing his personality towards the end, he said: ‘It wasn’t a conscious decision to say I’m going to start arguing all the time…maybe I thought I’m going to stick up for myself…I wanted top be more upfront with my housemates’.

    Emma asked Ashleigh how she was feeling: “The happiest you’ve seen me all series”. On Helen: ‘She’s turned such a leaf over the last ten weeks…I’m so proud of her…Our differences where so big…we clashed straight away…I do think we have so many similarities too…Now , I’m over the moon for her, I’m really glad we sorted everything out over the last few days.’ When asked if Ashleigh thought she got away with murder in the house: ‘No not really!’ On Chris, Ashleigh said: “I’m so glad he was there right up until the last second…always bringing me back down to earth….he kept me in shape”.

    Helen left the house, the winner of Big Brother 2014! Emma started the interview by asking Helen how she felt about winning and Helen said: ‘It’s a lie!’ Helen went on to say that she was shocked and that she thought Ashleigh was the winner. Emma then asked her if she hadn’t had the pass to the final did she think she would be sat here and Helen replied: ‘No, I think I would have gone in the first or second week.’ Emma called Helen one of the most controversial, explosive Housemates Big Brother has had. Helen then watched a VT of her arguments with other Housemates and she admitted that she was over the top and out of order on many occasions but did say she was reacting to other Housemates’ remarks but was quite embarrassed.

    Emma said that Helen seemed to calm down in the middle of the series and Helen said: ‘I had to change.’ Helen added that she tried to make friends in the house with ‘certain people’ but they made it impossible. Emma asked Helen how she was going to change and Helen admitted: ‘I can’t speak to people like that.’ Helen added that she needs to learn to bite her tongue and that she can’t be as ‘crude’ as she has been.

    On her relationship with Ashleigh, Helen admitted they were both ‘strong characters.’ She was then asked about her relationship with Ash and although she admitted that he was ‘gorgeous’ she insisted they were just best friends.

    Join Emma on Monday for the live launch of Celebrity Big Brother 2014

  • FILM: A Man, His Lover and His Mother

    Lorenz Meran is a successful middle-aged gay writer who is struggling with writer’s block when he gets called back home after his elderly mother has a stroke.

    Rosie is a feisty old bird and unlike Lorenz and his perpetually unhappy sibling Sophie, she seems to be the one member of this family who likes to have some fun. A little too much now given the fragile state of her health but whatever happens, she is determined not to give up chain smoking or even admit to the fact that she is an alcoholic.

    The parental home is a small town in eastern Switzerland, a far cry from Lorenz’s hedonistic life in Berlin of one-night stands that he chronicles in his novels, but as his mother’s health declines he very reluctantly finds himself back in the house he never thought he would ever have to live in again. He does, however, have a diversion one night when he has an ‘encounter’ with Mario a grandson of his mother’s friend, but as he dresses and prepares to leave the next morning he discovers that the boy had actually been a big fan of his work for some time. So without discussing it at all, Lorenz panics and hastily dashes off telling a startled Mario that he would never have had sex with him if he had known he was just a groupie.

    The plot unravels slowly as the family are hesitantly drawn together by their mother’s decline, and Sophie has to finally deal with her own failing marriage, and both siblings make the startling discovery that it wasn’t in fact their mother who had been having ‘affairs’ when they were young as they had always suspected, but it had been their overbearing and distant father, now long dead. And all his lovers were in fact men.

    Jaded Lorenz’s humor never seems to lighten as he tries to deal with his impatient Literary Agent from afar, and with sullen Chantal a young neighbor of his mother’s who he suspects is supplying Rosie with alcohol. If that is not enough, at his mother’s insistence, Mario turns up to help doing oddjobs about the house.

    And then just when you are about to despair about this family, Rosie reluctantly but with her usual style, decides to make a go of living in the Seniors home that they forced her into, Sophie gets back with her estranged husband for another reconciliation, and Lorenz stops being angry and suspicious of the world just in time to realise that the long term love of his life that he has always wanted is actually there on his doorstep in the shape of Mario. And to top it all, his writer’s block disappears as he sets about writing his latest novel based on Rosie, and the ‘triangle’ he discovered when he explored his father’s past.

    The movie is the latest work of Swiss gay filmmaker Marcel Gisler (who like Lorenz was born in Altstätten and works in Berlin, however I could not establish if this is an autobiographical piece). Gisler’s movie output is infrequent at best… the last one was 14 years ago… his usual fare are more explicitly gay and complicated, and this one is definitely his most refined and subtlest. Lorenz’s long struggle for happiness is finally determined by resolving the questions that arise from the troubling nightmares he still has about his father, and from being able to accept and enjoy the love of his family simply for what it is.

    It all works… albeit a little drawn out… not just because of the script with its scattered passages of dark humour, but also because of the two excellent central performances. The veteran Swiss Actress Sibylle Brunner, in her first ever leading role, is rightly picking up awards for her devastatingly wonderful turn as Rosie, and Swiss actor Fabian Krüger is pitch perfect as the dour faced Lorenz who waits until the last reel to smile.

    This movie is being hailed in some quarters as New Swiss Cinema and worthy of a world audience. I’m not sure if I really knew much about ‘Old Swiss Cinema ‘to make any comment, other than to say it definitely is well-worth seeing.

    A Man, His Lover And His Mother is Available to buy on DVD from Amazon

  • FILM REVIEW | Bruno & Earlene Go To Vegas

    ★★ | Bruno & Earlene Go To Vegas

    When the movie opens Earlene is sitting on a wall in Venice Beach swigging from a bottle secreted in a brown paper bag and she very dramatically utters to a total stranger, ‘Experience is the name we give our mistakes. Which one are you?’ and I cannot help but cringe.

    It sadly will not be the last time I feel like that, whilst watching this well-meaning micro-budget indie movie, that is all heart but ends up being an undisciplined convoluted mishmash of a film.

    Earlene like every other character in this story has her ‘issues’ although in her case the reason for her mood swings is not clear until near the end. Her new androgynous Australian friend Bruno, that she immediately latches on to at their first encounter is sexually confused, and so she adopts his well-being and happiness as her own crusade. Bruno has a dream of visiting Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, which is obviously out of the question as neither of them have any money, so his new friend Earlene promises to take him on a road trip to see the next best thing i.e. a full-size replica in Las Vegas.

    En route and a chance meeting with Billy, a good-looking cocky gay drifter takes them off course and they stumble upon a very small forgotten town in the middle of the Nevada desert. It’s inhabited by an odd bunch of misfits straight out of Central Casting that includes a Cher look-alike Sheriff, a tap-dancing drag queen, and a couple of Scottish male strippers. They are all kindred spirits who have found this remote bolt-hole where they can escape the outside world that none of them remotely fit in.

    This debut feature from British writer/director/producer Simon Savory bravely tackles issues of gender and sexual identity and friendship, and at times is close to succeeding. It’s valiant effort, however, is hampered by a heavy-handed script with a smattering of pompous sounding epithets which made the dialogue somewhat stilted. Ashleigh Simpson the lead actress could have taken her performance down a notch or too as she overplayed the part of Earlene to the point of being annoying.

    On the other hand, Savory’s choice to shoot this British production on location was very wise and really paid off with some excellent cinematography of the beautiful desert setting.

    P.S. It’s tough being a filmmaker with such a minute budget and the biggest disadvantage of assuming all the major functions yourself, as in this case is that you lack the benefit of another independent set of ears and eyes which may have spotted some of the issues, which stopped it being the movie it was obviously meant to be.

    Due for release on the 15th September.

  • Leonardo DiCaprio And Tom Cruise Top Sexiest Flight Crew Survey

    Pilot or stewardess? Man or woman? If you’re an aviation fan and you have a thing for airborne film characters, it will come as no surprise to you that one in two felt a certain weakness for Tom Cruise as a fighter pilot in Top Gun.

    The statistics are drawn from the Travel and Compensation Habits of English Passengers survey carried out by refund.me, the international provider that helps airline passengers claim their right to financial compensation for delays, cancellations, missed connections and diversions.

    Cruise isn’t alone on the wish-list of British passengers. Second place went to Leonardo DiCaprio, who received 32% of the votes thanks to his role in the Hollywood hit Catch Me If You Can, and third place to Denzel Washington for his performance as a pilot in Flight with 18% of the votes.

    When it comes to female cabin crew, the most desired actress after Catherine Zeta Jones was Kirsten Dunst, who received 39% of the votes, for her role in the romantic comedy Elisabethtown. She was followed in third place by Ellen Pompeo, who received 20% of the vote for her performance as Marci in Catch Me If You Can.

    refund.me has consolidated its position in the UK market as a leading representative of passengers seeking compensation from airlines for delays, cancellations, missed connections and diversions. Charging a sector-low commission of 15%, the provider helps users to receive compensation of up to €600.