THEGAYUK

Category: Review

  • FILM REVIEW | Dirty Grandpa

    Both DeNiro and Efron star in the new rude, crude, and obscene film ‘Dirty Grandpa’. ★

    We are ‘treated’ to seeing Robert DeNiro (as perverted frisky and unsexed Grandpa Dick Kelly – get it?) masturbate to an interracial pornography video the day after the funeral of his wife who he was with for 40 years.

    We also get to see Effon’s (James Kelly) brother pouring beer over his dead grandmother’s coffin, Efron wearing a bee thong with his arse out in the open (several times), which at one point comes off causing him to expose himself to a little boy, while simulation with the assumption of oral sex between the two (I’m not kidding here) and an endless, and I mean endless, supply of cock jokes, and cocks (one scene has Effron and DeNiro sharing a bed together in which DeNiro sleeps naked, and the next moment there is a penis in his face supposedly to be Grandpa’s).

    This is not to mention scenes of Efron in jail with a fellow cellmate feeling him up, the one gay character in the movie being made fun of because he is gay, two inept police officers who all but ignore the town’s drug dealer (Adam Pally) who happens to shoot guns in his tourist a/k/a drug shop, and an extremely horny young woman (Zoey Deutch) who has way too much sex talk with DeNiro.

    It all adds up to one dirty, and bad movie. The plot is this: after the death of his wife, Grandpa Kelly wants to head down to his condo in Florida, so he tricks grandson Jason into driving him down there, much to the dismay of Jason’s fiance Meredith (Julianne Hough), who’s he about to marry and with the wedding rehearsal just days away. On the way Grandpa and Grandson run into Grandson’s ex-schoolmate Lenore (Aubrey Plaza), with the aforementioned horny Shadia (Deutch) and the gay camp Tyrone (Brandon Mychal Smith) in tow.

    Shadia’s got the hot hots for Grandpa (to tick one of her ‘must do’ boxes) and Lenore will realize that she’s got the hots for Jason. It’s a road trip that ends in most of the character’s lives changed, as well as the audiences. You will walk out shaking your head and vow to never see a Zac Efron (and possibly a Robert DeNiro) film ever again. Thanks to Director Dan Mazer (The Dictator) and writer John Phillips for taking Efron and DeNiro to new lows in their careers.

     

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Macbeth, Birmingham Rep

    When a story is often told, there is a risk of it getting old, however, with Carrie Cracknell and Lucy Guerin’s Macbeth told the same story but through a completely new lens. It was Stargate meets Resident Evil bent of Macbeth. It had moving chambers and symbols that lit up, just like in the pyramids of the former film, and it had the underground facility feel of Resident Evil, with dim lights, almost appearing like they were trapped in the sewers. ★★★★

    Having watched Macbeth the film starring Michael Fassbender, expectations were always going to be high. With this production, you just didn’t know what you were going to get, which made it so much more exciting, and John Heffernan’s Macbeth was his own, and it was genius.

    The marvel that was the set made the show start before the actors had even walked on, as the tunnel type design, by Lizzie Clachan, let your mind loose imagining what would be happening first. The set is worthy of stealing all awards for a production’s visual masterpiece.

    When the show did start, and through to the end there were no disappointments with the visual of this Macbeth, as every scene was coloured differently with physicality that was otherworldly. Particularly the witches of Macbeth, played by Ana Beatriz Meireles, Jessie Oshodi and Clemmie Sveaas, who stunned the senses with their movement, voice and visual shapes they created as an instrument of telling the story. I was glad to see them throughout the performance.

    John Heffernan owned the show with his careful, precise, yet troubled portrayal of Macbeth, where the transitions of the character were strategic and well thought out. There were no exaggerations or contrivance, and there were plenty of shades of Macbeth oozing out of Heffernan, and I particularly loved the end where his last soliloquy was quiet and understated, giving it more a solid effect, as it drew people in to listen.

    Unfortunately, Anna Maxwell Martin’s Lady Macbeth was not on the same level. The way she spoke was too quick, making it hard to understand what she was saying, and also overly predictable with presenting herself as mad throughout, not showing much depth to the character. The mad scene became expected and obvious.

    Overall, a stunning visual and an outstanding version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth that needs to be seen all over the country and beyond.

    Macbeth plays at The Birmingham Rep until 30th January, 0121 236 4455

     

     

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Alright Bitches, Above The Stag

    THEATRE REVIEW | Alright Bitches, Above The Stag

    ★★★ Alright Bitches | Let’s go on a trip to Gran Canaria via Above the Stag Theatre in their newly-penned play ‘Alright Bitches.’

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  • FILM REVIEW | Naz & Maalik, a tender love story amidst barriers in their culture

    ★★★★ | Naz & Maalik

    Bedford-Stuyvesant is a tough neighbourhood to grow up and live in, it’s even tougher if you’re young, black, Muslim and gay.

    Naz & Maalik (Kerwin Johnson Jr. and Curtiss Cook Jr.) are two closeted Muslim teenagers who happen to be in love with each other. Their relationship remains a secret, not just to their families they are very close to, but also because of their religion’s condemnation of homosexuality. But Naz & Maalik shows us how both young men go about their daily routine on a Friday afternoon, it’s an afternoon that sees their relationship get tested over a series of events that take place on that day. They sell lottery tickets and saints cards on the streets to passersby to make a bit extra spending money, and then they go to their local mosque for afternoon prayers, where the preacher says a special welcome to any police or FBI who might be in attendance.

    A man on the street tries to sell them a gun that interests Maalik who tries to get the guy to bring the price down. They decide to just walk away and not buy the gun. But unbeknownst to them, the gun seller was an FBI agent (Bradley Brian Custer) who, along with his partner Sarah Mickell (Annie Grier), start following the young men around. But It’s Mickell who takes more of an interest, she corners them separately and questions them on where they were the night before, and while Maalik tells her that he was with Naz, it’s Naz who lies and tells her he was at another friends house as to not give Mickell an idea that him and Maalik are in a relationship. But the young men just want to be left alone, and to complete their day’s mission of getting a chicken to kill for Maalik’s mom’s birthday.

    Inspired by true events, Naz & Maalik poignantly tells what it’s like to be an outsider within your own community, a community that has been under constant surveillance since 9/11. And at its centre is a well-acted film by its two lead stars. Writer and Director Jay Dockendorf interviewed Muslims, including closeted gays, to get a realistic point of view. It’s an impressive first feature from Dockendorf.

    Available on Amazon

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Lady Lust, Birmingham Rep

    Lust be a lady tonight. ★★★★★

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  • THEATRE REVIEW: The Snowman, The Birmingham Rep

    The Snowman is a children’s picture book created by Raymond Briggs and was first published in 1978. The Snowman was televised as a 26-minute animated adaptation on the 26th of December 1982, Channel 4, and it conquered many people’s hearts thereon. It is also a production that has graced The Birmingham Repertory Theatre since 1993. ★★★ (more…)

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Botallack O’Clock

    THEATRE REVIEW | Botallack O’Clock

    Dangling for 70 mins in a smoky room, adjacent to a stained mattress with Dessert Island Discs emanating from a Bush radio, alongside tick tock tick tock, Beethoven and the squiffed fantasies from an abstract artist who will drink to your health, insult if you were christened Darius or if you work for Blue Peter, might cause you to fornicate with a portrait and Monster Mash with a bear. ★★★

    Writer and Director Eddie Elks interprets a suspended hour at 3am for artisan Roger Hilton CBE in his Cornwall basement/bedroom/studio, aided with a bottle of Teachers malt, a talking wireless and a paint-water-thirsty feline.

    Attempted gherkin stabbing, a wife-eating crocodile composition, hide and seek with some teddy trouser pulling-down nonsense is enough to keep Hilton awake in the wee hours – will it keep your mince-pies open?

    Turbulent and bonkers with glimmers of merriment as you delve deeper into the whisky-hazed, gifted mind of a boob-admiring canvas-and-oil prize winner.

    Think self-indulgent luvvie in a student’s bedsit.

     

    Botallack O’Clock run until 6th February 2016 at the Old Red Lion Theatre, 0844 412 4307

     

  • Restaurant Review: Slug and Lettuce @ Brindley Place, Birmingham

    Slug and Lettuce is a cocktail bar that serves food, and it is a place where I have always had a good time, having booked it for my birthday a couple of years ago. Last night was the first time I had ever eaten there, and it was my guest’s first time there too. (more…)

  • THEATRE: Le Corsaire English National Ballet

    BALLET ‘Le Corsaire’ by English National Ballet@The London Coliseum, St.Martin’s Lane to 24th January. 5 Stars! Flesh made Furiously Fluent! ★★★★★ (more…)

  • REVIEW: Voices Of The Damned, Barbie Wilde

    REVIEW: Voices Of The Damned, Barbie Wilde

    Why does gay art – in every form – completely eclipse its’ timid, straight rival? Because – quite simply – it’s fuelled by overwhelming lust. From the lush, teeming criminality of Caravaggio’s canvases, to the pouting proportions and Apollonian aphrodisiac that is Michaelangelo’s David, gay aesthetics scream artistic arousal. ★★★★★ (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW | Room

    FILM REVIEW | Room

    Room  | ★★★★★

    A mother and her son are trapped in a room and can’t escape in the very dramatic and suspenseful film ‘Room.’

    ‘Room’ will take your breath away. It’s one of the most talked about films of the year, deservedly so, with performances that are top notch. It’s an adaptation of a novel called ‘Room’ written by Emma Donoghue, who also wrote the script. And what a script it is. Although the film takes place in just a few locations, it feels like it goes far and wide.

    It’s a plot that could be ripped from the headlines: a young teenage girl was kidnapped at the age of 17 by a stranger and is held captive in a shed in his backyard with the young son who was born out of an unwanted sexual relationship with him – they call him ‘Old Nick’ (Sean Bridgers). Brie Larson plays Joy, and Jacob Tremblay is her son Jack, and both are superb. They survive in that shed, with grey concrete walls. it’s a room (or as they simply call it ‘room’), where they are held, prisoner.

    It’s got a skylight, a kitchen, a toilet next to the bed, a closet where Jack sleeps, a plant, and a mouse that pops out every now and then. And five-year Jack knows of no other life than the life he’s led in the room. He doesn’t really know anything about the world outside room, and he thinks that what he sees on television is make-believe, and not real people acting. When Old Nick pays visits to room for his sexual pleasure with Joy, Jack hides in the closet, and Joy refuses to let Nick touch him, or even to see him. But Joy has an idea that might work to get her son out of the room, and when the idea takes place and works, Jack is suddenly thrust out into the world. If you’ve seen the trailer you know that Jack and his mother have escaped the room, but it’s the five or so minutes when this happens that is the most suspenseful and compelling five minutes of this film, of perhaps any film, you will have seen for years. But Jack has to adjust to the outside world, a world he’s never been exposed to. This includes being exposed to other people, including his grandparents, the divorced Nancy (Joan Allen) and Robert (William H. Macy), and Nancy’s new husband Doug (Matt Gordon). And Joy has to adjust being out of the room as well – it’s an adjustment that’s not an easy one. Told from Jack’s point of view, we see through his very young eyes this brave new world that he knows nothing about, grandparents that he’s meeting for the first time, and more important leaving the room where he had lived all of his short life.

    ‘Room’ is a story about survival, emotions, and the tight relationship between a mother and her young son. It’s masterfully directed by Lenny Abrahamson who is responsible for holding our attention throughout the entire movie. It’s also credit to the actors who bring this story to life. Told from Jack’s perspective who is in every scene, we see his freedom as a rebirth of sorts, with Joy being his world in and out of the room. Only seven when he was cast, Tremblay captures, and holds us, in his every scene. It’s incredible that a young boy his age has so much range that he displays in the film. He’s simply incredible. It’s a shame that he didn’t receive a BAFTA, Oscar or Golden Globe nomination for this film, it’s the performance of the year. Larson is excellent as Joy. Larson rose to fame in her award-winning performance in 2013’s Short Term 12.

    She just deservedly won Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards and is now the front runner for the Best Actress Oscar. But it’s Tremblay who steals the movie. He’s simply just amazing. ‘Room’ has been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar – deservedly so.