THEGAYUK

Tag: Film Review

All the latest film reviews for LGBT themed films and others.

  • FILM REVIEW | Last Christmas – not a funny movie

    FILM REVIEW | Last Christmas – not a funny movie

    ★★★ | Last Christmas

    LAST CHRISTMAS – Festive rom com based on the massive two million selling Christmas hit single by George Michael and Wham of the same name backed up by as many of his other hits as Emma Thompson who is in charge here both in front of and behind the camera can squeeze into the short running time. There are Christmas baubles in every single scene.

    Nutshell – An accident prone singleton who is unlucky in love played by Game Of Thrones ‘Queen Of Dragons’ Emilia Clark works in a all year round Covent garden Christmas Grotto Store and she simply loves George Michael music. She meets a new man who has an element of mystery about him but her life really starts to change for the better with his on/off input leading towards a surprising denouement… that some will see coming a mile off.

    Running Time – 103 Minutes – Cert PG-12A.

    Tagline – ‘Sometimes You just gotta have Faith’

    The Gay UK Factor – It is a very ‘straight’ romantic tale with the usual cinema ups and downs so the gay appeal besides the hot male lead Henry Golding all comes in the form of the soundtrack. GM is one of the most successful and popular gay singers of all time and his songs are much loved and hold up superbly well with time. It is great to hear them again largely in their original versions – their relevance to individual movie scenes is another matter all together though.  

    Cast – Emilia Clark, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Thomson and a cast of star cameos including Patti Lapone, Rob Delaney, Sue Perkins and even Mr Richard Notting Hill/4 Weddings/Love Actually (which this film aims to be) Curtis… plus two big surprise appearances in the final scene. 

    Key Player – We would love to say the lovely talented actor/director Emma Thompson but tbh her input in both roles are not her career high points so it is back to Georgie boy again who gave Thompson his permission to use his songs before his untimely death. You get 13 of his most well known songs (some in their entirety) and the much publicised new unreleased song ‘This Is How (We want You To Get High)’ which is mid table GM probably at best… it sure ain’t no ‘Careless Whisper’ or ‘A Different Corner’ that’s for sure.

    Budget – $25 Million which is as cheap as chips and it has already made $37 Million with 5 weeks to still go to the big guy in the red suit who like our editor only comes once a year turns up. Christmas films do tend to have long legs in the earning stakes becoming relevant Love Actually/It’s A Wonderful Life stylee every year on DVT/TV/Streaming etc so a potential good little earner and it won’t do George’s record sales any damage either which is great for many of his favoured charities.

    Best Bit – 1.05 mins; The movie starts getting into its belated heart warming third act just at the right time as you are wandering where it is going with some fun busking and charity fund raising which fits as perfectly with all the snow and Xmas trees here as a cock in a tinseled glory hole.

    Worst Bit – 0.44 mins; A staged bit of early romance on an ice rink is forced in like a set piece that seemed like a good idea on paper but it just doesn’t work and the GM track is a very poor fit which misses the hoped for emotional target by a few thousand candy canes… maybe Ace Of Spades, Anarchy in The UK , Gangnam Style or Baby Shark would have worked better.

    Little Secret – George Michael wrote ‘Last Christmas’ one of the most famous festive songs in history when he was just 17 years old. Impressive but get this he had written ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Club Tropicana’, ‘Young Guns’, ‘Bad Boy’s and unbelievably ‘Careless Whisper’ before he was 18 when the rest of us were still learning how to jack off properly.

    It was probably the most prolific bout of songwriting in History that even members of the Beatles would struggle to compete with. ‘Last Christmas’ was a double A-side with ‘Everything She Wants’ and famously is the biggest selling song in History to never make number one. It is the Third biggest selling Christmas song ever behind Band Aid and Boney M’s hummable ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ far outstripping Slade/Shaky/Mariah/Pogues/Wizard/Cliff/Bing et al.

    It has been a hit on 16 separate occasions a world record and it has just reached 90 weeks on the chart which is phenomenal for a tune with not all year round appeal but for some reason it failed to make the Top 20 in the US.    

    Further Viewing – You can probably make this list yourself but start with About Time, It’s A Wonderful Life, Walking On Sunshine, Four Weddings, Ever After, Two Weeks Notice, Sleepless In Seattle, Notting Hill, The Wedding Singer, Muriel’s Wedding, the magnificent Pretty Woman and You’ve Got Mail which this is basically a carbon copy off this film but that was better.

    Any Good – It is OK which most people will see as a disappointment as the idea and premise seems fool proof. It just does not deliver on the promise. The Christmas feel is great so you will feel in the holiday mood on leaving a screening but there are two fundamental flaws.

    Firstly the movie just is not that funny and we expect you may laugh once every 30 minutes and that simply is not good enough.

    Secondly and even more damaging is the songs with the exception of the headline song’s three appearances have no relevance to the scenes they are in, they seem crow barred in and could actually be swapped with any other GM song without anyone noticing…

    Mamma Mia Here We Go Again / LaLa Land or Rocketman this is not. 

    Rating – 41/100

  • FILM REVIEW | All Male, All Nude: Johnsons

    FILM REVIEW | All Male, All Nude: Johnsons

    ★★★★ | All Male, All Nude: Johnsons

    Step into the sexy world of male strippers in the new titillating documentary All Male, All Nude: Johnsons

    Johnsons is not the name of one of the strippers – it’s the name of a male strip club in Fort Lauderdale. Well not actually Fort Lauderdale but a community within called Wilton Manors – Americas second gayest city per capita.

    In a follow up to the popular 2017 feature documentary ‘All Male, All Nude,’ director Gerald McCullouch introduces us to the all too hot, sexy, and young male strippers of all nationalities at Johnson’s.

    Owned by Matt Colunga, an award-winning bodybuilder who has been in the male entertainment industry for 23 years, we see that Johnson’s is the perfect place to work if you want to be a male stripper. The strippers can make as much as $500 on a good night – and perhaps even more if they go to the ‘private’ rooms with a customer. But everything here is on the up-and-up, no risqué business takes place here, where Matt really cares for his strippers, even to a point to make them take a breath test before they leave the club after their shifts.

    We meet the adorable hot and sexy Alexander, 26, who spends his days dressed as Spider-Man creating fun for children at kids parties and then spends his nights stripping down to his G-String for gay men, and others including one young man who decided to become a cosmetologist when he decided he did not want to strip anymore.

    Also, there are single fathers and young men putting themselves through college with their stripping income, to entertainers in the adult film world – all sorts of men who are working hard for the money. While the focus in the documentary is not on the customers, it’s them who keep this place going, and packed most nights.

    ‘All Male, All Nude: Johnsons’ is exactly what it says on the tin – it’s sexy, nude and all-male!:)

    On DVD & VOD

  • FILM REVIEW | Judy

    FILM REVIEW | Judy

    ★★★★ | Judy

    Renee Zelwegger is electric as the late, great Judy Garland in the new film Judy.

    Judy is a semi-biographical account of her time in London in winter 1968 where she performed a five-week sold-out show at the venue that was called ‘Talk of the Town.’ The film also traces her life when she became very famous for the film Wizard of Oz, and how it affected not only her career, but also her well-being, her relationships with men, and her overall sanity.

    It’s 1968, and it appears Garland doesn’t have two pennies to rub together (hard to believe a woman of her calibre and celebrity would be in such a position), with two children in tow (the father of the children is Sydney Luft, while Liza Minnelli was a bit older and already on her own), and not a place to call home.

    So Garland is asked to go to London to perform, and it’s an opportunity to make some real money so she can get a home for her and her children, which would put some stability in theirs, and her, lives. But Judy is, to put it mildly, a mess.

    She’s drinks a lot, take pills a lot, and is practically frightened to get on that stage. But when she puts her mind to it, and leaves all the demons behind, she is a tour de force. But she is not consistent and it’s a mystery as to which Judy will appear each day.

    Judy shows us a Judy who was struggling and still looking for a little bit of hope, love and sanity in her final year of life (she died in 1969 of an accidental drug overdose in London).

    Zelwegger perfectly captures Garland’s look, body and voice (yes, it’s actually Zelwegger singing). Zelwegger lost weight for the role, and it’s her best performance to date which could net her an Oscar. The rest of the cast don’t fare as well. While Finn Wittrock is good as her 5th (and last) husband Mickey Deans, Rufus Sewell is a bit dry and boring as Sydney Luft, while Jessie Buckley has a thankless role, and task, as her London minder.

    And while the performances of Zellweger singing are captivating, the scenes of her as a young girl on film sets just don’t seem to ring true (bullying by the studio head – Louis B. Mayer and her minders – are a bit exaggerated). Director Rupert Goold doesn’t quite capture the entire essence of Judy’s life, and time, in London and in her younger years. With this being his second directorial effort, I feel that he just wasn’t quite qualified to take on a film of a woman with so much stardom, of such legendary status, and unfortunately heartbreak.

  • FILM REVIEW | Fahrenheit 11/9

    ★★★ |Fahrenheit 11/9

    There’s a lot to take away from Michael Moore’s brand new documentary Fahrenheit 11/9 from the Flint Water Crisis, school gun violence the rise of Trump and how maybe the democrats aren’t as people-friendly as you might hope.

    It’s the day after watching Fahrenheit 11/9 and my mind is still whirling. Michael asks (of Trump’s presidency) at the beginning of the film, “How the fuck did we get here?” and it’s a question many are asking.

    But Moore’s troubling documentary takes us through history lessons and finds a way to link a number of big button issues and it doesn’t quite work, but you’ll be left with an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach.

    In the two hour and a bit film, Moore manages to squeeze in the water crisis in Flint Michigan, the Parkland School shooting, the Bernie Sander’s vote scandal, the teachers’ strike, President Obama’s undermining of US citizens, Bill Clinton’s republicifcation, The New York Times‘ political bubble and of course, the rise and rise of Donald Trump.

    It’s pretty full-on and you may be left with a sense of foreboding for the future of civilisation, but Moore doesn’t disappoint with the breadth of research undertaken for this documentary.

    Available to stream on Netflix.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Shiny Shrimps

    FILM REVIEW | The Shiny Shrimps

    ★★★★ | The Shiny Shrimps

    A gay water polo team struggles to compete amidst personal dramas on their way to the Gay Games in the fun, camp and hilarious film The Shiny Shrimps.

    In French with English subtitles, and directed by co-directors and co-authors Cédric Le Gallo (a real-life Shrimp) and Maxime Govare, ‘The Shiny Shrimps is a cross between Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Pride, with a road trip film interspersed with lots of melodrama!

    When straight world champion swimmer Matthias Le Goff (Nicolas Gob) makes a homophobic remark on television, he tries to redeem himself, at the direction of the swimming federation, by being tasked to train The Shiny Shrimps – a Parisian gay water polo team (and purely not athletes) who are in the sport purely for the social aspect of it as well as to be able to perform dance routines and dress up in competitions. So Goff has a huge task ahead of him. all the meanwhile trying to impress his young daughter.

    Other men on the team have their own issues; Cédric is married with two kids and his partner says the water polo team is taking him away from his family, while Jean has health issues he’s yet to divulge to the team, and another team member is newly out and is about to have the time of his life. We are too when the Shrimps travel, by bus, to the Gay Games in Croatia.

    It’s a road trip like no other; they camp it up to the extreme while love, and sadly homophobia, comes into play. And once they get to the games they’ll attempt to make their mark in any way they can.

    The Shiny Shrimps is so much fun to watch it’ll make you want to join some sort of sports team to experience what you’ve just seen in the film. And the cast are having lots of fun, with each actor perfectly suited for in roles. The Shiny Shrimps is une joie.

    ‘The Shiny Shrimps’ is out now in UK cinemas

  • FILM REVIEW | Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

    FILM REVIEW | Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

    ★★★★ | One Upon A Time In Hollywood

    Brad Pitt star in Columbia Pictures “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

    Nutshell – Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio together for almost three hours and one of them goes shirtless… not enough? Well, this is Quentin Tarantino’s 9th and apparently, his penultimate movie a homage to the last Golden days of Hollywood, set in 1969 with the Manson murders of Sharon Tate & friends washing around in the background. Two hours of fantastically nostalgic beautiful cinematography & set dressing followed by some standard Tarantino blood lust at the denouement making it possibly the directors weirdest film to date. Leo is a fading movie star and Pitt is his stuntman. The former lives in the Hollywood Hills right next to a house just let to Mr Polanski and Ms Tate,

    Running Time – 161 Minutes so bring a cushion – Cert – 18, and yes you get plenty of language and violence for your buck.

    Tagline – ‘The 9th Film From Quentin Tarantino’ yes that is what they are going with to get you through the doors.

    The Gay UK Factor – The two leading men are and have always been gay icons and eye candy ever since we saw the unknown Brad’s abs in Thelma & Louise where he was playing an escort (we should be so lucky) and DiCaprio ‘s hair was wafting in the wind of a certain sinking ship. In many ways, they have never looked fitter than they do in this film and the camera lingers on every part of their body with a gorgeous soft glow throughout especially their (and everyone’s else feet) which has always been a kink of QT’s so heaven for foot fetishists everywhere. Brad Pitt has an elongated shirtless scene which is a distinct highlight and later LDC jumps into the pool to compete for you masturbatory fantasies.

    Cast – Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie (Hugely underused), Emile Hersh, Dakota Fanning plus cameos from Bruce Dern, Al Pacino & Damian Lewis and the very sexy hunks that are Luke Perry & Timothy Olyphant.

    Key Player – This is the writer, director & co-producer show and if you like QT then you have been waiting for his new movie for a while, if not a fan then the weird structure here may not convert you. It is definitely his most beautiful but is it lazy, overlong or indulgent… probably a bit of both.

    Budget – $90 Million and you often wonder how he produces such a fantastic 1969 look right throughout the film so cheaply, simply it looks a lot more expensive. QT films always make money (except the niche Jackie Brown) and at double the cost at the Box Office already then this is a hit but will it out gross Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained we think that running time and confusing word of mouth may halt it?

    Best Bit 1.28 mins; A very tense and languid confrontation between Pitt’s stunt man character and some of the Manson families followers on their derelict ranch home. As this film is not factual you don’t really know where this or other scenes are going and it is all the better for that. Rewriting history could be not big and not clever but it sure works here.

    Worst Bit – 0.40 mins; The Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski scenes are a bit undercooked and feel tacked on although they are of course vital to the film. Sharon has a long drawn out visit to a cinema to see a movie she is starring in which is certainly where the editor’s scissors should have started to maybe bring this marathon movie down under two hours.

    Little Secret – This maybe QT’s ‘9th film’ according to publicity but in fact, he has 22 directing credits and even more writing credits at 30… he has acted in 37 movies but it is difficult to remember any of them as he is not gonna give Daniel Day-Lewis a run for his money. Most of his films are 18 Certificate including this one.

    We checked the most successful 18 movies in History and found that there is only one ‘Horror’ film in the top 20 (Hannibal) the rest are made up of films there sometimes for violence but most commonly for swearing and the number one 18 Cert adult film of all time surprisingly is The Wolf Of Wall Street… no sex, no violence, no horror just Leo DiCaprio’s filthy mouth did his Mum not wash it out with soap enough when he was young.

    Further Viewing – Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, The Hateful 8, Kill Bill 1 and 2, Inglorious Bastards, Django Unchained you get the idea plus anything by Robert Rodriguez or Chris Nolan, Helter Skelter, The Manson family, The Black Dahlia, Hollywoodland and in fact any film that glorifies Hollywood’s past from Sunset Boulevard right through to La La Land.

    Any Good – Is it Tarantino’s best? No, but it is certainly way ahead of most other movies and a pleasant change to endless sequels and instantly recognisable blockbuster fare. In one word this is Art and it is not about making money although it will do that. Its structure is strange the longest build-up in cinema history slowly VERY SLOWLY introducing us to all its characters as they head into the last 30-minute typical Tarantinoesque showdown which is a major shot to the gut when the style change finally arrives.

    This reviewer is not the biggest QT fan but we enjoyed it more than any of the other eight but it is not for everyone as we said at the top this film is weird. If he directs another film it will be a Star Trek of all things and we hope he does as we cannot wait to see what he makes of a sci-fi franchise but we bet Kirk calls Spock a fucking big-eared c..t at some point as they get beamed up.

    Rating – 74/100

  • FILM REVIEW | Fast the Furious Hobbs and Shaw

    ★★★★ | FAST & FURIOUS : HOBBS & SHAW

    Nutshell – Two huge gay icons get their own spin-off (sort of) from the mega Successful F&F franchise. The cop and villain from the last four movies Misters Johnson & Statham have to chase the latest MacGuffin world killing virus through London, Russia and The South Seas in the biggest stunts of the year.

    Incredible action, but with these two highly likeable stars you get so much comedy to balance it out often aimed at The Stath’s height or The Rocks muscles and everything is a fun competition between these two even bashing heads.

    Running Time – 137 Minutes – Cert PG-12A.

    Tagline – ‘One is fast & the other is Furious but there is a new protagonist in town’

    The Gay UK Factor – With two of the fittest men in movies together for their own extended films this is a gay guy into muscle’s wet dream and the film they have been waiting for all year.

    The eternal mano et-mano posturing throughout here is reminiscent of every bit of gym or locker room banter you have ever heard and they do everything together except fuck. The Rock even goes shirtless for an extended Haka scene and the Stath jokes about him losing his baby oil…

    It could not get any queerer if the stars of Rocketman, Bohemian Rhapsody and Mamma Mia turned up for a lip-sync battle mid car chase.

    Idris Elba also goes shirtless too more than once as do many of the hot macho henchmen.

    Cast – Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba on bad guy duties & Vanessa Kirby as the female lead and then we have a new thing in F&F land endless cameos from Helen Mirren, Rob Delaney, Kevin Hart, Ryan Reynolds, etc etc.

    Key Player – This is the perfect double act. The producers saw the chemistry between these two guys in The Fast & The Furious and greenlit this new strand especially as The Rock and Vin Diesel were at loggerheads constantly so a new direction was needed. They are both the ultimate believable action heroes rather than say short arse Tom cruise who both have perfect comic timing that would get them a slot on Live At The Apollo any day of the week.

    Budget – $200 Million and it is all up there on the screen with one massive gravity-defying set piece after another. Worldwide Box office for the first week was 180 Mil and that was without the lucrative Chinese market where this series really cleans up. This is a box office bonus bonanza for Universal Studios being their 5th biggest opening of all time (And most of them are previous entries in this saga) it is also the biggest opening ever of both these two megastars.

    Best Bit – 1.16 mins; There is a tremendous car/bike chase through the busy packed streets of London’s Square mile early on but all the best bits come from the one-liners and they peak in a tremendous corridor fight scene where the stars wordplay hugely tops the great martial arts action with the endless gun-toting goons.

    Worst Bit – 0.28 mins; Jason Statham is 52 years old whilst Vanessa Kirby is 31yo but looks 10 years younger and here we are supposed to believe that they are brother and Sister & that she is an unstoppable fighting machine. It requires more suspension of disbelief and the strangest casting since a tank top wearing Denise Richards was cast as Dr Christmas Jones ‘a nuclear expert’ in James Bond’s The World Is Nor Enough.

    Little Secret – With the exception of the tropical climax and the studio scenes this film is shot entirely on location in the UK from Glasgow to The City Of London via High Wycombe and part of the fun is spotting the many locations you may know well… even the supposed many Russian set scenes are filmed across our fair isle.

    When this was greenlit it so annoyed Vin Diesel that he cut some of Johnson’s scenes in the last F&F film as he was exec producer and then failed to turn up for a days work leaving over 1,000 crew members idle. Idris Elba refused to say a scripted line for his character, calling himself “the black James Bond”. He instead used the phrase “black Superman” not to look too needy that he wanted the 007 job.

    Further Viewing – Fast & Furious 1-8, Need For Speed, The Cannonball Run, All Mission Impossibles, Spy, I Spy, and any mismatched buddy film from The Lethal Weapons to The Rush Hours, Bad Boys, Midnight Run & The 48 Hours movies not Wild Wild West though or anything with the words Jay & Silent Bob in them..

    Any Good – You know what you are getting here and there are no surprises but what you do get is another great chapter if you like this sort of thing and it seems everyone from 11-61yo does judging by its receipts. The surprise is the humour which really works and gives a great 80’s hit movie feel to it. The action is on par but maybe no real wow moment as in previous chapters but this is still great fun and the long-running time flies by.

    Whether this franchise goes down the Hobbs & Shaw route or back to the Vin Diesel ‘It’s all about family’ set-up time will tell but this is now the third longest-running franchise in history just passing Harry Potter and you would not bet on this overtaking Star Wars very soon.

    77/100

  • FILM REVIEW | ONLY YOU

    FILM REVIEW | ONLY YOU

    ★★★★★ | ONLY YOU

    A contemporary romantic drama starring Laia Costa and Josh O’Connor, from first-time filmmaker Harry Wootliff. ‘Only You’ was shown as part of the London Film Festival’s First Feature Competition.

    Elena (Laia Costa), 35, and Jake (Josh O’Connor, from the gay-must-watch film, God’s Own Country), 26, meet by chance on New Year’s Eve, fighting for the same taxi. But, instead of going their separate ways after a shared ride, they start a passionate relationship. Within weeks they are living together, and not long after they talk about starting a family. But, as the seasons pass, reality catches up with them. Falling in love was the easy part, but can they remain in love when life doesn’t give them everything they hoped for? It’s as realistic a love story as you can get – and both Costa and O’Connor are electrifying.

    ‘ONLY YOU’ is now in Cinemas and On Demand by Curzon

  • Men In Black International Review: Not as good as the sum of its parts

    Men In Black International Review: Not as good as the sum of its parts

    ★★☆☆☆ | MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL

    (C) Columbia Pictures

    The 4th MIB movie coming 7 years after the last one and 22 years after we first met the super agents with no Will Smith, no Tommy Lee Jones but the welcome addition of sex god Chris Hemsworth.

    Nutshell – The secret well-dressed sunglass wearing organisation that exists to protect the earth from aliens and the scum of the universe are back in a loud CGI action-heavy film that in theory sits alongside the original trilogy rather than being a sequel. Almost all new characters and this time with a lot of globetrotting to Europe and Morocco as they try to stop another alien villain and protect yet another artefact hidden on earth but the bigger problem is that there is a mole in the Men In Black hierarchy – our money is on the Pug dog.

    Running Time – 114 Minutes – Cert 12A.

    Tagline – The World’s Not Going To Save Itself

    The Gay UK Factor – Chris Hemsworth is one of the world’s best-looking men. Of course, Hemsworth in a tight designer suit showing every inch of his massive firm buttocks is something right from the top end of the wank fantasies – the ones we reserve in the back of our brain for the intense vinegar strokes. Not enough for ya? Well, you get a two-minute extended topless scene at the start of the film… We have seen this movie six times so far and counting for that alone.

    Cast – Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Liam Neeson, Rafe Small, Kayvan Novak and the only major returning cast member Emma Thompson… no Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones and boy do we miss their chemistry here as the two leads mix about as well as Madonna’s music does with the current charts.

    Key Player – For the first time ever we cannot spot one. The directors, writers, cast etc are all retreading a tried and tested formula for ever diminishing results. The new CG chess piece character gets all the best lines though and our marriage proposal to Hemsworth is not rescinded by this but he just cannot carry a comedy on his own as he is better as the straight man to a comedians foil – now Will and him that could have been one-liner heaven but Will wanted to be Aladdin‘s genie instead.

    Budget – $110 Million – Thank goodness they kept this budget down as it is just not flying like the previous films in the trilogy. The first week it took the entire world box office to break even so now it can start making some profit which it will do but don’t expect any sequels as you file this under slightly disappointing.

    Best Bit – 0.48 mins; We get a very thrilling fight with the invaders in a studio set London street which has great action and well-placed comedy beats and it works well. Shame this balance couldn’t be kept up elsewhere – an action comedy needs both to be effective and this is often lacking in either one or the other at most points and often both.

    Worst Bit – 1.15 mins; Lots of little bits here don’t come off including a by the numbers hoverbike chase not as good as in MIB 3 but none more so obvious than the flying car in a secret organisation. Harry Potter and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang did this better. It underlines an attempt to make everything bigger than we have seen before but too much smaller returns. So much possibility ends in something not bad but just average and is that not condemnation enough for a blockbuster.

    Little Secret – Believe it or not the MIB universe also includes the 21/22 Jump Street movies. The film was originally going to be a Jump Street / Men in Black crossover with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill reprising their roles from that franchise when Smith and Jones refused to do another MIB. However, plans fell apart, so it became a spin-off with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. Chris Hemsworth announced shortly after the release of this film that he would take a break from acting (not because of this film we should add more to do with the end of the Avengers’ saga) to; a) stand for US President, b Join the Jonas Brothers, c) Start his much in demand gay porn career or d) be with his family… only one of these is correct.

    Further Viewing – Men In Black – 1-3, Ghostbusters 1-3, Austin Powers 1-3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1-3, Detective Pikachu, Pixels, Evolution, Space Jam and the king of sci-fi action comedies Galaxy Quest.

    Any Good – Not as good as the sum of its parts. There are two major problems. Firstly the original MIB was a breath of fresh air with great ideas from its wonderful characters in both the fore and background through to the classic number one hit single but then unlike a lot of other franchises instead of taking the best bits and improving on them they have gone the opposite way with every new addition to the set.

    Secondly whoever cast Hemsworth and Thomson as the leads here (They were together in the Thor films) has made a fatal error. We need a comedian of Will Smith’s character bouncing of a straight man like Tommy Lee Jones instead here we get two straight men/women delivering all the punch lines. You will enjoy the film but don’t expect a laugh a minute maybe one every 30 mins is closer and is that good enough for an action comedy?

    TWO STARS

  • After 82 Review: A moving documentary film about the AIDS stories that need to be told

    After 82 Review: A moving documentary film about the AIDS stories that need to be told

    ★★★★☆ | After 82

    AFTER 82 is a new documentary about the AIDS crisis and the people who were affected by it most, is now available on VoD.

    These men tell their stories of what they went through, what it felt like to receive a death sentence, and why they can’t really understand why they are still here after having lost so many friends and lovers in the 1980s and 1990s. We also hear from some of the women who were also in the front lines of the early days of the epidemic.

    Narrated by Dominic West, Ben Lord and Steve Keeble’s compelling documentary looks back to the very early days of the pandemic when there were no medications available and a positive HIV test meant almost certain death.

    The documentary features interviews with the actor Jonathan Blake (portrayed by Dominic West in the BAFTA-winning film Pride) who has lived with the virus for over 30 years. Dr Rupert Whitaker, who was still a teenager when he fell in love with Terrence Higgins, recounts their relationship, and Higgins’ subsequent death.

    Lord Norman Fowler describes, with actual footage, of his visit to AIDS wards in San Francisco and sees for himself how the US was not dealing with the disease very well. He was part of Margaret Thatcher’s government and is the only man to have changed her mind about the then escalating crisis in the UK.

    Thanks to his persistence and massive campaign surrounding HIV/AIDS during the 1980s HIV infections started to decline. Lisa Power OBE, who co-founded Stonewall, provides testimonies and insight to an era where hysteria from fear spread across the world through lack of knowledge and understanding. And Gary Brough, so eloquently and movingly tells his own personal story of having the disease in his 20’s and how now, in his 50’s, he has a mortgage, is in a civil partnership, and is thinking about retiring after having lived so long with the disease.

    AFTER 82 is a moving documentary about stories that need to be told, and the ones told in this documentary are just a few of thousands of stories that have yet to be told.

    After 82 is available now to stream on demand and buy as well as selected screenings.

  • FILM REVIEW | Rocketman

    FILM REVIEW | Rocketman

    ★★★★ | ROCKETMAN

    Taron Egerton as Elton John in Rocketman from Paramount Pictures.

    The story of Elton John, Is it a musical definitely, is it a biopic partly is it sanitised? No damn way – 25 years of his life from 17-42 years-old, warts and all with added chems and gay relationships.

    Nutshell – Not really a chronological life story nor with chronological music but a celebration of our favourite ivory tickler with the many up’s and just as many down’s. The songs are not sung by Elton but by Taron and the cast which makes it a bit more interesting than the straight Queen lip-syncing in Bo Rhap for example. We get his early none fame days, his breakthrough worldwide and all the drugs, rock n roll and gay sex you could want largely featuring the long relationship with Manager John Reid plus his straight marriage. The story goes up until he finally checks in to rehab in the early ’90s and gets clean for life so no Lion King, David Furnish, Billy Elliott, Princess Di or AIDS campaigning.

    Running Time – 121 Minutes – Cert 15.

    The Gay UK Factor – The costumes, the endless music with many songs turned into ready for the stage musical versions and not skimping on his voyage of sexual discovery including gay kissing so a huge gay appeal indeed. The legendary two bare man ass sex scene has not made the final cut though fingers crossed for the extended or outtake DVDs for fans of Egerton and Madden’s asses. Maybe just as well as the kissing and hugging are enough to get the movie banned in some backward thinking countries alone. Taron Egerton is one great looking guy for anyone’s wank bank and he is fully supported here by the lush Richard Madden and a Jamie Bell looking much hotter than we have ever seen before. A new gay icon has arrived and it is Billy Elliott himself all grown up and as masculine and f**kable as a striking coal miner.

    Cast – Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas-Howard, Gemma Jones, Stephen Graham fresh from a good throat slitting in Line Of Duty and even unbelievably a low key Keith lemon himself.

    Key Player – A three-way split between the director Dexter Fletcher fresh from his three week stint saving the Oscar sponge Bohemian Rhapsody and doing a better job here. Taron is sensational and he has a great singing voice and most importantly he does his own thing than rather doing an impersonation which was Elton’s request. Finally of course Sir Elton himself whose endless superb songbook could fill four movies and some. There are many favourites here but just as many missing and it truly helps the movie fly by surely demanding repeated viewings.

    Budget – $40 Million – Yet this has already made six figures and is heading for 200K fast. Maybe it won’t make the 800K that the Queen film made last year (and this is the better film) but it is a bona fide hit and Taron’s stock has gone up as fast as Elton’s greatest hits sales have. So get ready for the George Michael film, the Bon Jovi biopic, the Steps & Vengaboys films, How the Weather Girls became big, the biopic of Shakin Stevens and the Chesney Hawks story probably all being green lit as we speak.

    Best Bit – 0.44 mins; When Elt makes his big American breakthrough at the Troubadour club in LA, the singer, band and the entire audience all levitate to ‘Crocodile Rock’ as someone’s star goes stratospheric in one short night and things will never quite be the same again along the ‘Yellow Brick Road’.

    Worst Bit – 1.39 mins; There is nothing that out of step here but ‘Bennie And The Jets’ as a live performance is the weakest link in a very strong chain… maybe because we don’t really like that song in Europe (A number 1 in the US though). ‘Border Song’ goes nowhere but not helped by coming after an incredible version of ‘I want Love’ and do we really need ‘Tiny Dancer’ again when there are so many other hits that could jump straight in (Although frustratingly it’s lyric fits the movie like a glove).

    Little Secret – Over the years in development James McAvoy, Daniel Ratcliffe and Tom Hardy were to play Elton, the singer himself was originally very keen on Justin Trousersnake until he met Taron Egerton. Besides there filming together in the Kingsman sequel Taron also did a lengthy version of ‘I’m Still standing’ in the hit cartoon animal film ‘Sing’ as a giant Gorilla! The film suggests that Elton Hercules John took his first name from a band mate and the last name from John Lennon, in fact, it was inspired by the other sixties singer Long John Baldry… He took the name Hercules from Steptoe And Son’s rag and bone cart horse.

    Further Viewing – Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star Is Born, The Greatest Showman, Mamma Mia’s 1 & 2, Moulin Rouge, Mary Poppins Returns (with a few more ‘fks’ here’), Les Mis, Walk the Line and all Elton’s movie appearances from Pinball Wizard in Tommy through to him co-starring with a certain sexy as fk suited and booted Taron Egerton in Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

    Any Good – Yes, if you are not an Elton fan (what’s wrong with you!) and YESSSS if you like the John Lewis ad botherer from Pinner like a true gay music aficionado. This is great fun and it flies by as you count the hits off and wait in anticipation for ‘Your Song’ the title track or ‘I’m Still Standing’. You will learn a lot about the great man and really enjoy his and Bernie’s company for two happy hours.

    There could even be a sequel in our view there are enough quality tunes that is for sure. In the meanwhile let’s have the soundtrack, the sing-a-long cinema and DVD version and most importantly the hit stage show as this is ready to go with or without Ben Elton’s interference. Of course we all have fave Elton John tracks that we would love to have seen included ours would be ‘Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds’, ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘Nikita’ but there are 25 hits to be going on with here including a brand new song over the end credits which is as good as anything he has done.

    A great night out at the movies with what feels like an old friend – kudos to all involved.

    FOUR STARS

     

    In Cinemas now