THEGAYUK

Category: Entertainment

  • Gogglebox’s Stephen calls Jason Gardiner “Dated”

    Gogglebox’s Stephen calls Jason Gardiner “Dated”

    The backlash against Jason Gardiner is in full swing after his constant jibes at this year’s Dancing On Ice contestants. Gogglebox‘s Stephen Webb, calling his judge act of being “Mr Nasty” “dated” and “dull”

     

    Stephen Webb from the hit Channel 4 show, Gogglebox has called Jason Gardiner‘s “Mr Nasty” judging style “dated” at best and “dull”. The judging style has also been criticised by dozens of fans of the show, who have called out Jason’s overly bitchy comments toward’s the contestants.

    https://twitter.com/Stephenwebb71/status/1084522467840929792

    Viewers have been threatening to switch off after the “Mr Nasty” of ice skating could only raise criticism of the show’s newly trained hopefuls, which this year includes Saara Aalto and Brian McFadden.

    Fans of the show noticed that while Torvill and Dean could score the celebs quite highly, it was rare for Jason to go above a 4.5 out of ten, despite him not being a professional ice skater.

    On tonight’s show, viewers and fans ranted how “slimy” and “bitchy” Jason was coming off.

    Jason has been a longstanding judge on the show and started in 2006 until the show was cancelled in 2014 and then was asked back when the show was relaunched in 2018. He took out a year in 2012.

  • People really have had enough of “slime” Jason Gardiner

    People really have had enough of “slime” Jason Gardiner

    He may be known as Mr Nasty of the Ice Skating world, but his constant bitching at this year’s contestants on Dancing On Ice have viewers switching off.

    Is Jason Gardiner gay
    (C) ITV

    Jason Gardiner might be facing a backlash after his constant jibes at this year’s Dancing On Ice contestants. Viewers have been threatening to switch off after the “Mr Nasty” of ice skating could only raise criticism of the show’s newly trained hopefuls, which this year includes Saara Aalto and Brian McFadden.

    Fans of the show noticed that while Torvill and Dean could score the celebs quite highly, it was rare for Jason to go above a 4.5 out of ten, despite him not being a professional ice skater.

    On tonight’s show, viewers and fans ranted how “slimy” and “bitchy” Jason was coming off.

    https://twitter.com/Reece_Grant1/status/1082030753003782144

     

    Many viewers also spoke about their dislike of the Aussie-born choreographer, singer and theatre producer.

    Some even called on the producers of the show to take action against him. With one calling his interactions with the cast as “obnoxious rudeness” and finished by saying that it was not acceptable ”

    https://twitter.com/chrisnorman1947/status/1084518877579694081

    Some viewers have even taken to pausing the live show so they can “skip through” Jason’s critique of the cast.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Moscow City Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty, Sheffield

    ★★★☆☆ | Moscow City Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty

    Set to the music of Tchaikovsky, and recounting the fairy tale of The Sleeping Beauty; Moscow City Ballet return with one of their better presented, yet staunchly traditional ballets; as Princess Aurora is cursed by the evil fairy, Carabosse, and sleeps for 100 years until she is awoken by the kiss of a prince.

    Of the various ballets in Moscow City Ballet’s repertoire, this is perhaps one of the better presented pieces. With its feet planted very much in the traditional tights and tutu’s style ballet, this production lacks the dramatic flair of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures; and doesn’t have the detailed narrative of Northern Ballet; but does offer a timeless take on a classic ballet which is used to showcase the dancer’s skills and talents, rather than deliver an exhilarating narrative or flashy visuals.

    With some impressive costumes and utilising a static set of backdrops to create a workable dance space, there were times when the ballet sparkled and really came alive, especially during the ensemble pieces and, in particular, in the opening scenes of Act 2, which were quite charming. But despite the technical ability of the dancers, the choreography felt rather lacklustre at times, especially towards the end of the third act where it all became rather repetitive. Compounding that, there appeared to be little connection between the characters on stage, with the dancers performing with fixed grins whilst staring out into the middle distance, and not really looking as if they were enjoying themselves at all.

    Sleeping Beauty is a mixed production. When it is at its height, it has genuine charm; but does have a few lulls in the pacing of the production, especially as it tails off towards its conclusion. But that said, it has some technically excellent performances from the company and is about as traditional as they come.

    If you are looking for an accessible, straight forward evening of ballet which showcases the skill and suppleness of these talented individuals, then this may well be the production for you.

    Moscow City Ballet are at Sheffield Theatres until 12th January 2019 before continuing on their national tour showcasing four ballets, Swan lake, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet. Details can be found on their website.

  • GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics Announces 10th DORIAN AWARDS for Film and TV

    GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics Announces 10th DORIAN AWARDS for Film and TV

    The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has named its nominees for its milestone 10th Dorian Awards for the best in film and television of 2018.

    Leading in the movie categories with eight nominations is The Favourite, followed by If Beale Street Could Talk, Can You Ever Forgive Me and Roma with six nods each, and A Star is Born with four. The stars of the latest “Born” remake—Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga—are both up for Film Performance honours as well as the group’s Wilde Artist of the Year award.

    Many of the nominations add some excitement to this year’s film awards season. On GALECA’s short list for best actor: First Reformed star Ethan Hawke and BlacKkKlansman lead John David Washington. Hereditary’s Toni Collette and Yalitza Aparicio of Roma vie alongside Gaga for best actress. Widows upstart Elizabeth Debicki and Black Panther standout Michael B. Jordan up the ante in supporting performance races. And former YouTube star turned Eighth Grade writer-director Bo Burnham scored a nomination for Screenplay of the Year.

    The spectacular, practically candy-coated Marvel adventure Panther is one of the titles up for Visually Striking Film of the Year, while the Diane Keaton comedy Book Club and Aquaman are in the running for (or from?) the Campy Flick honor.

    In TV categories, FX’s transgender-empowering drama Pose and BBC America’s biting cat-and-mouse thriller Killing Eve lead among drama series. Killing Eve headliners Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer, true to their hit’s storyline, vie against each other for TV Performance—Actress, while Hugh Grant and his “A Very English Scandal” paramour Ben Whishaw face each other on the gentlemen’s side. Also making a fresh impression with GALECA, comprised of over 200 members in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K.: HBO’s hitman comedy Barry, Pop network’s rich-family satire Schitt’s Creek, and Julia Roberts and her cryptic new Amazon conspiracy tale Homecoming.

    “We’re thrilled by the strong variety of films and TV performances our diverse group of members has chosen to praise,” said GALECA President Diane Anderson-Minshall, Editorial Director of The Advocate. “In a lovely compliment to the Time’s Up movement, several categories, including Wilde Artist of the Year, Wilde Wit of the Year and Rising Star, are dominated by women this year. And it’s inspiring that the majority of our Director of the Year nominees are people of colour, including Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins, and Alfonso Cuarón.”

    “It’s hard to believe this is our 10th go-around of giving out our Dorian Awards,” added GALECA’s Executive Director John Griffiths. “In such oddly combative times, that’s really something to covfefe.”

    Speaking of cheeky, along with its latest nominations, GALECA has announced that comedian and radio personality Frank DeCaro (The Daily Show, Sirius XM’s The Frank DeCaro Show) will preside as Master of Ceremonies at its invitation-only 10th Dorian Awards Winners Toast. The event will be held Saturday, January 12, noon to 2:30 at Paley restaurant in Hollywood’s historic Columbia Square.

    De Caro, fondly remembered for his turn as the campy movie critic on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, embodies “the perfect mix of wit and sincerity that suits our freewheeling Toast format,” said Griffiths. “He’s not only charming and funny, he has a deep respect for what it takes to make quality entertainment, remains sweetly starstruck even in these jaded times, and keeps his eye and heart on the big picture too.” DeCaro’s latest book, Drag: Combing Through the Big Wigs of Show Business, comes out from Rizzoli this spring.

    Since GALECA’s first film and TV favourites were named in 2010, over 200 artists and productions have received a Dorian Award, while over 1000 have received nominations. Among its Film of the Year winners are “Argo” and “12 Years a Slave,” as well as two movies directed by Luca Guadagnino, I Am Love and Call Me By Your Name. With five Dorians each across various categories, Moonlight and Carol stand as the most awarded films in GALECA history, while Transparent, with six wins in best-series categories alone, reigns as the most honoured TV title.

    Performers? Jessica Lange, Cate Blanchett and Jeffrey Tambor rank as GALECA’s most honoured so far, while MSNBC news personality Rachel Maddow and filmmaker Jordan Peele have each been recognised with three Dorian wins in non-performance categories.

    FULL LIST OF 10TH DORIAN AWARDS NOMINATIONS

    Film of the Year

    CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

    THE FAVOURITE

    IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

    ROMA

    A STAR IS BORN

    Director of the Year

    (Film or Television)

    ALFONSO CUARON, ROMA

    MARIELLE HELLER, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

    BARRY JENKINS, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

    YORGOS LANTHIMOS, THE FAVOURITE

    SPIKE LEE, BLACKKKLANSMAN

    Film Performance of the Year — Actress

    YALITZA APARICIO, ROMA

    TONI COLLETTE, HEREDITARY

    OLIVIA COLMAN, THE FAVOURITE

    LADY GAGA, A STAR IS BORN

    MELISSA MCCARTHY, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

    Film Performance of the Year — Actor

    CHRISTIAN BALE, VICE

    BRADLEY COOPER, A STAR IS BORN

    ETHAN HAWKE, FIRST REFORMED

    RAMI MALEK, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

    JOHN DAVID WASHINGTON, BLACKKKLANSMAN

    Film Performance of the Year — Supporting Actress

    ELIZABETH DEBICKI, WIDOWS

    REGINA KING, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

    EMMA STONE, THE FAVOURITE

    RACHEL WEISZ, THE FAVOURITE

    MICHELLE YEOH, CRAZY RICH ASIANS

    Film Performance of the Year — Supporting Actor

    MAHERSHALA ALI, GREEN BOOK

    TIMOTHEE CHALAMET, BEAUTIFUL BOY

    SAM ELLIOTT, A STAR IS BORN

    RICHARD E. GRANT, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

    MICHAEL B. JORDAN, BLACK PANTHER

    LGBTQ Film of the Year

    BOY ERASED

    CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

    DISOBEDIENCE

    THE FAVOURITE

    LOVE SIMON

    Foreign Language Film of the Year

    BURNING

    CAPERNAUM

    COLD WAR

    ROMA

    SHOPLIFTERS

    Screenplay of the Year

    BO BURNHAM, EIGHTH GRADE

    ALFONSO CUARON, ROMA

    DEBORAH DAVIS AND TONY MCNAMARA, THE FAVOURITE

    NICOLE HOLOFCENER AND JEFF WHITTY, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

    BARRY JENKINS, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

    Documentary of the Year

    FREE SOLO

    RBG

    SHIRKERS

    THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

    WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

    LGBTQ Documentary of the Year

    THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ANDRE

    MCQUEEN

    SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD

    STUDIO 54

    WHITNEY

    Visually Striking Film of the Year

    ANNIHILATION

    BLACK PANTHER

    THE FAVOURITE

    IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

    ROMA

    Unsung Film of the Year

    COLETTE

    DISOBEDIENCE

    THE HAPPY PRINCE

    TULLY

    WE THE ANIMALS

    WIDOWS

    Campy Flick of the Year

    AQUAMAN

    BOOK CLUB

    MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN

    A SIMPLE FAVOR

    SUSPIRIA

    TV Drama of the Year

    AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE

    THE HANDMAID’S TALE

    HOMECOMING

    KILLING EVE

    POSE

    TV Comedy of the Year

    BARRY

    GLOW

    THE GOOD PLACE

    THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL

    SCHITT’S CREEK

    TV Performance of the Year — Actor

    DARREN CRISS, THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY

    HUGH GRANT, A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL

    BILLY PORTER, POSE

    MATTHEW RHYS, THE AMERICANS

    BEN WHISHAW, A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL

    TV Performance of the Year — Actress

    AMY ADAMS, SHARP OBJECTS

    RACHEL BROSNAHAN, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL

    JODIE COMER, KILLING EVE

    SANDRA OH, KILLING EVE

    JULIA ROBERTS, HOMECOMING

    LGBTQ TV Show of the Year 

    A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL
    AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE
    KILLING EVE
    POSE
    QUEER EYE

    Unsung TV Show of the Year
    THE BISEXUAL
    DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
    THE GOOD FIGHT
    ONE DAY AT A TIME
    SCHITT’S CREEK 

    TV Current Affairs Show of the Year

    THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH

    FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE

    LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER

    THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW

    TV Musical Performance of the Year

    ADAM LAMBERT, “BELIEVE”, 41ST KENNEDY CENTER HONORS

    BILLY PORTER, MJ RODRIGUEZ AND OUR LADY J, “HOME”, POSE

    NOAH REID, “SIMPLY THE BEST”, SCHITT’S CREEK

    KEALA SETTLE, “THIS IS ME”, 90TH ACADEMY AWARDS

    SUFJAN STEVENS, “MYSTERY OF LOVE”, 90TH ACADEMY AWARDS

    Campy TV Show of the Year

    AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE

    CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA

    QUEER EYE

    RIVERDALE

    RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

    The “We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award

    AWKWAFINA

    ELSIE FISHER

    HENRY GOLDING

    INDYA MOORE

    MJ RODRIGUEZ

    Wilde Wit of the Year

    (Honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)

    SAMANTHA BEE

    HANNAH GADSBY

    KATE MCKINNON

    JOHN OLIVER

    MICHELLE WOLF

    Wilde Artist of the Year

    (Honoring a truly groundbreaking force in film, stage and/or television)

    BRADLEY COOPER

    HANNAH GADSBY

    LADY GAGA

    NICOLE KIDMAN

    RYAN MURPHY

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Nine Night, Trafalgar Studios

    ★★★★☆ | Nine Night

    It may come as quite a surprise to learn that Nine Night is the first play from a Black, British female writer to make it to the West End. I’ll just let that sink in for a moment.

    Nine Night is Natasha Gordon’s deft exploration of the traditions of a West Indian wake, referenced in the title, a time when the departed are honoured and remembered by living relatives over a celebration of nine nights, fuelled with upbeat music, home cooked food and the ever so important in most West Indians drink cabinet – rum! Against this, as the backdrop, the semi-estranged family gather to mourn and then slowly unlock a string of revelations, all in the kitchen.

    It is certainly a play for everyone and anyone to enjoy but is most definitely a must-see for anyone of West Indian heritage, a rare chance to see some of the most intimate parts of their culture brought out into the wider public gaze. And while such kitchen-sink dramas have been a staple of British Theatre since the ’60s, few productions have featured so many characters drawn so exquisitely.

    For me, the play came to life immediately through its authenticity particularly when the thick Jamaican accented Aunt Maggie and Trudy, cousin and daughter of Gloria respectively, began to speak. It is such a revelation to hear those gorgeous tones, sonic beacons of ethnic diversity uttered from a stage deep in the hallowed ground of the West End.

    As I said, it is a play for all but as a West Indian spectator the whole resonated with my background and experiences, I bought into the scenes and scenarios displayed before me, one which tugged my heartstrings, jogged deep-rooted memories and spoke to my very being.

    I felt Trudy’s emotion, angst and painful need to be wanted as soon as she appeared on stage but it was only towards the end of the play that I felt that writer’s character, Gloria’s daughter Lorraine, was given a chance to step out of an, up until then, mostly monotonous role and we began to see our writer and storyteller of Nine Night swell with emotion.

    It is a testament to the writing and the characters that had been created for them that the rest of the cast each stand their ground memorably, especially in their approach to grieving their beloved matriarch. We witnessed some wilfully theatrical overacting from daughter-in-law Sophie, which wonderfully balanced her husband Robert’s convincingly ill at ease performance. Uncle Vince delivered a humble contrast to his cantankerous wife and introduced some clever and subtle sub-texts about his relationship with the late Gloria.

    Even if the scenario is unfamiliar to many in the audience, Aunt Maggie acted as the perfect host, inviting us into the late Gloria’s house and breaking the inherent tensions with her hilarious one-liners; quips and asides that that could strip wallpaper without steam.

    Natasha has done a masterful job with the writing and production of Nine Night. I thought it would be interesting to see her role developed more in perhaps an amended version of her character Lorraine. I would certainly watch it again and recommend it heartily to everyone, no matter what their cultural background, as what is at the heart of this smart play is something everyone can relate to.

    It’s essential that both Natasha Gordon and Nine Night’s place in theatre history is appreciated: but it’s at least as necessary to remember that it’s a great play – I will certainly drink to that!

    Nine Night runs until 23 Feb 2019 at the Trafalgar Studios, CLICK HERE TO BOOK

    Running Time: Approx. 1 hour 45 mins no interval

    By Ray Si – a member of IGLTA

  • Doctor Who introduces a gay character and kills him off in 30 seconds

    Doctor Who introduces a gay character and kills him off in 30 seconds

    The BBC show, Doctor Who managed to kill off a gay character in record time.

    (C) BBC

    On New Year’s Day fans of the Sci-fi drama Doctor Who were treated to a brand new LGBT+ character, named Richard, however his fate was sealed the moment he appeared on the screen and he died within 30 seconds.

    Actor Connor Calland who played the character named “Richard” in the credits had just a few lines before his character was killed off just seconds after revealing that he had a boyfriend, with a strange sexualised revelation about his “secure digits”.

    He said, “Today, just me. Most secure digits in Yorkshire. That’s what I tell my boyfriend, anyway. I probably shouldn’t be telling you that, I’m new at this.”

    “Richard” was a minor character who was interacting with a Dalek-controlled Lin who was attempting to gain access to a building.

    The actor himself quipped about the brevity of his scene, but added “Small steps, big moves! Bring on 2019”.

    https://twitter.com/connorcalland/status/1080127709559300096

    Killing off the gays

    Twitter users were quick to point out that Doctor Who had a disturbing history of killing off its LGBT+ characters. PinkNews reports One user noticed, “Am I the only that has noticed if you are openly gay in this series of #DoctorWho, you are gonna be dead within ten minutes? The security guard tonight, Frankie in Arachnids and Alfonso in Witchfind”.

  • Here’s what’s coming to Amazon Prime in January

    Here’s what’s coming to Amazon Prime in January

    A new month a new treasure trove of exciting content to stream on Amazon Prime.

    Timothée Chalamet as Nic Sheff and Steve Carell as David Scheff star in BEAUTIFUL BOY

    Coming up is the new Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) film, Beautiful Boy – a tragic but beautifully told story of a young man struggling with drug addiction. There’s also a new Michael Moore film called Fahrenheit 11/9 a policitcal documentary film about the 2016 US elections.

    Jan. 1

    A Beautiful Mind

    Alpha Dog

    Brazil

    Breaking Big, Season 1

    First Civilizations, Season 1

    Frontline, Season 36

    GI Jews: Jewish Americans in World War II

    Going to War

    Jane Eyre

    Nova Wonders, Season 1

    Reprisal

    Rwanda: The Royal Tour

    The Art of the Shine

    The Jazz Ambassadors

    Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

    Jan. 3

    Leave No Trace

    Jan. 4

    Beautiful Boy

    Sherlock Gnomes

    Jan. 11

    Informer, Season 1

    Jan. 12

    Final Score

    Jan. 13

    Eighth Grade

    Jan. 16

    The Debt

    Jan. 18

    The Grand Tour, Season 3

    Jan. 19

    Fahrenheit 11/9

    Jan. 25

    Escobar: Paradise Lost

    Four More Shots Please!, Season 1

    Jan. 29

    Endeavour, Season 5

    Coming in January, date TBD

    The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Season 1b

     

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  • EastEnders’ are thinking about opening a gay bar in Albert Square

    EastEnders’ are thinking about opening a gay bar in Albert Square

    An LGBT+ venue could open up on Albert Square.

    The BBC are ramping up efforts to get a more diverse cast into EastEnders and it has been revealed that there’s a vision for a gay bar to open on the UK’s most famous Square.

    Kate Oates who serves as a senior executive producer on the BBC flagship soap has revealed that there are plans to make Eastenders more diverse and reflective of the London diverse population and revealed that she’s excited to add more LGBT+ characters to the show.

    Answering fans’ questions about the show, Oates said, “We are looking at opening a gay bar on the square which will be a super-cool precinct where gay and straight characters can all just hang out, and loads of stories can cross and should just be something really exciting, really fun, really visual and feel really true to multicultural London.

    How many gay people are there in the UK?

    There has long been a widely-held belief that around 10 percent of the UK’s population is gay, lesbian or bisexual or who identify as non-heterosexual. This is probably the most accurate of all the figures – as more and more people feel comfortable to come out about their sexuality.

    The most up-to-date statistics from healthcare company Euroclinix show that six percent of people identify as homosexual while seven percent of people identify as bisexual. This equates to 13 per cent of the population identifying as either gay, lesbian or bisexual. EuroClinix surveyed 2,000 people around the UK to find out more about the sex lives of Brits.

    The current population in the UK is estimated to be 66.02 million people, which means that there are over 8.58 million gay, lesbian or bisexual people in the UK if you take that 13 percent statistic.

    How gay is Eastenders?

    In 2015 we compiled the gayest moments of Eastenders. Read it here.

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Aquaman

    ★★★★☆ | Aquaman

    FILM REVIEW for Aquaman

    AQUAMAN – The DC Superhero universe continues the fight back against Marvel with this great musclebound outing. We have had spandex guys everywhere you can imagine from Africa to World war 2 and including outta space so it’s time now to go underwater.

    Nutshell – Land lubber Arthur Curry discovers he is in line to the throne of the underwater kingdom Atlantis. Unfortunately his sexy as fuck half-brother has other ideas, he feels responsible for his mother’s death and the Atlanteans are about to fight back with us surface developers for decades of undersea warfare and now our modern plague of plastic pollution. Cue all-out war and our favourite new hunk of beefcake is right in the middle of it.

    Running Time – 143 Minutes – Cert PG-13. Superhero movies just keep getting longer and longer but it works here.

    Tagline – ‘Home Is Calling’ & ‘He’s Not From Around Here’

    The Gay UK Factor – Jason Momoa is one of the hottest new gay fantasy men out there and here he is topless for the duration. This massive tall muscular stud is heavily tattooed, has sexy scars and great long straggly hair you just want to run your fingers through. He starred in his own Baywatch TV series before heading off to Westeros to be the none English speaking shirtless and bare arsed Dothraki King in Game Of Thrones inducing a huge increase in wanking sock abuse. His Aquaman movie introduction was as small parts in Batman Vs Superman and Justice League where he stole your eye away from a lot of other hot leads but it has all been heading to this his very own two-hour special.

    Cast – We are not sure there was anyone else here besides Momoa as we only had eyes for him but we think we spotted Dolph Lundgren, Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard some guest star appearances as other kingdom monarchs and one of the most underrated sexy men currently acting Patrick Wilson who no gay man would kick out of bed.

    Key Player – James Wan the director keeps the action and key set pieces a coming and turns what could easily be a pile of fantastical dog poop with men riding sharks and seahorses into battle into something believable, current and most of all… fun.

    Budget – $160 Million but it seems to be money well spent as this will dominate the Christmas Box Office as everything else is kiddie blockbusters (Mary Poppins/The Grinch/Spiderman Cartoons) and helped by the major failure of the pretty rough Fantastic Beasts, JK Rowling’s first ever Waterloo and the postponement of the Bond.<

    Best Bit – 1.12 mins; We get a great spell out of the water to undertake a breathtaking downhill rooftop chase with one great stunt after another and serious fingernail chewing jeopardy.

    Worst Bit – 1.25 mins; A fight with a giant mythological creature seems a bit out of place here and more suited to any of a hundred forgettable sword and sandal Sunday afternoon Greek epics which all merge into one. Luckily the scene is short lived and it is soon back to the ocean for the big climax.

    Little Secret – James Wan is, of course, the king of horror making the Insidious/Annabelle/Saw/Conjuring etc movies but don’t worry as he has a different focus here basin this on Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Romancing The Stone but whatever made him decide to include a drum playing octopus no-one will ever know. With this film, the DC universe will cross the four billion dollar mark at the box office in the fastest time ever just six films so take that Messrs Bond, Potter, Tolkien, Sparrow, Vader and especially Marvel.

    Further Viewing – Wonder Woman, The Justice League, Various Spidermans and Batmans and everything from the DC movie universe or the enemy Marvel studio. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Beyond Atlantis, The Meg, The Abyss, Sanctum, Lords Of The Deep but not Finding Nemo or The Little Mermaid.

    Any Good – This works and it so easily might not have. Very fast paced and extremely noisy but it all seems to be in support of the extensive plot. Wholly separate from every other superhero films so no cameos here as it lives entirely in its own domain. It looks great is thoroughly enjoyable and fully launches Jason Momoa to the top of the A-list heading straight at the slightly tarnished Dwayne Johnson crown who has had a very rough year indeed. The Worlds highest paid movie star in history suddenly needs to look over his shoulder for a tatted man with even more muscular and possibly a better actor to boot.

    70/100

  • Santa is black and gay according to a this enlightened kids’ book

    Santa is black and gay according to a this enlightened kids’ book

    Now that’s diversity.

    An author has published a festive children’s book called Santa’s Husband where Santa appears as a person of colour and in a gay relationship.

    Daniel Kibblesmith who is a former writer for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert announced the book back in 2017 and it upends everything you thought you knew about Santa Claus.

    Gone is Mrs Claus and gone is the traditional Caucasian look associated with Father Christmas. Instead, Daniel said that he wanted his children to believe that Santa is black and gay.

    In a Tweet, back in 2017, the writer said, “Me & @JenAshleyWright have decided our future child will only know about Black Santa. If they see a white one we’ll say “That’s his husband”

    The characters in Santa’s Husband have been delightfully brought to life with the amazing illustrations by Ap Quach.

    According to the publishers “In this witty and sweet illustrated Christmas tale, humour writer Daniel Kibblesmith introduces us to Mr and Mr Claus and gives us a glimpse of their lives together. We see the Clauses sitting by the fire at their cosy North Pole home, vacationing at the beach, having an occasional disagreement, celebrating their wedding day, and comforting each other when some loudmouth people on television angrily dispute Santa’s appearance and lifestyle.”

    The new book has been heralded as “enlightened” by Edge and the “the perfect gift for your racist/homophobic uncle” according to World Of Wonder.

    Amazing!

    The book is out now and available on Amazon

  • What if all your favourite Christmas movies were Scottish?

    Well, thanks to BBC Scotland you can now get a glimpse of what your seasonal favourites would be like if they were Scottish.

    BBC Scotland just uploading a hilarious post on Twitter where they revoiced famous scenes from some of the world’s most enduring and favourite Christmas movies.

    Films like Home Alone, White Christmas and Nightmare Before Christmas were all redubbed with Scottish voices, using some very interesting Scottish words instead of the original scripts.

    In the reinvision version of Home Alone, Kevin is repeatedly called a “Dobber” which is a term for a dick according to Urban Dictionary. In the classic White Christmas the Bing Crosby and Vera-Ellen are redubbed to sing “I’m dreading it’s a shi*te Christmas”, instead of the original, “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas”.

    While Jack the Pumpkin King from Nightmare Before Christmas sang “I’m Pished, I’m Pished ah farted and it stunk” instead of “What’s this, what’s this!”

    Watch the clips below