THEGAYUK

Tag: Five Star Film Review

The latest Five-star film review from THEGAYUK.

  • FILM REVIEW | 1985

    FILM REVIEW | 1985

    ★★★★★ | 1985

    The year is 1985. AIDS had already started to rear its ugly head. It’s also the year that Adrian comes home for perhaps the last time.

    1985 is a tear-your-heart-out film about one New Yorker’s journey back home to see his family at Christmas. Cory Michael Smith is just incredible as Adrian, a young man going back home to Texas after a three-year absence to see his father, mother and little brother. But it’s really not a festive time for him – for all the lies and deceits that Adrian tells his family – that his life in New York is just amazing, with a good job and great friends, all this couldn’t be further from the truth. Adrian’s friends back in NYC are all dying or dead – including his partner. Adrian has been to six funerals in that year alone, and he faces the grim fact that he is not immune to the disease that has slowly crept up on gay men like himself. With a doting mother who takes care of all his needs while he is at home (a graceful and saintly Virginia Madsen), a tough religious father who lives his life by the Bible (Michael Chiklis), and a soft younger brother who is into theatre (Aidan Langford), it’s up to Adrian to secretly say goodbye to everyone (including his best friend Carly, played by the wonderful Jamie Chung).

    Directed and co-written by Yen Tan, 1985 is a small film that packs quite a punch. It’s one hour and 25 minutes that will hold your attention throughout, with gripping performances, and an equally stunning soundtrack, and will have you reaching for the tissue box many times. Reminiscent of Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World (where a terminally ill writer (assumed sick with AIDS) returns home to tell his family he is dying), 1985 is a much much better film.

    With a perfect cast, including Madsen who is just simply amazing, as well as Chung, 1985 is a great film in every sense of the word, and excellently captures that time in 1985 when President Ronald Regan had yet to utter the word ‘AIDS’ and when hundreds of young men were dying and there was no treatment available, nothing could be done for them. Tan, along with the cast and crew, in a film beautifully shot in black and white (by Hutch, who also co-wrote the film), has pulled off quite an achievement with this film. Every gay man under 50 really needs to watch this film to understand what gay men over 50 were dealing with in the 1980s and early 1990s.

    Order this film now from our online shop and support THEGAYUK

  • FILM REVIEW | Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

    MAMMA MIA: HERE WE GO AGAIN – The sequel and a much more accomplished movie to the 11th most successful film of all time. Everyone is back bringing you over 20 Abba songs and a much better story with added Cher class.

    Nutshell – A movie released exactly 10 years after the first film tells us what the characters are doing also a decade on with parallel flashbacks to the origin story of Meryl Streep’s Donna character in the 80s from the first time around. So we get mother and daughter’s stories filled out and then grandmother Cher rolls in but its all about the tunes and we get some huge production numbers right from the outset with a vastly increased budget and Richard Curtis added to the writing team.
    Running Time – 114 Minutes – Cert PG.
    Tagline – ‘Thankyou For The Music Again’
    The Gay UK Factor – Well we only have a couple of lines but this is as gay as Lady Gaga doing a Madonna medley at an Elton John used buttplug auction. It was the gays that took over Abba’s back catalogue about 8 years after they disbanded leading to the stage musical. We have kept them close to our glitter covered hearts since whilst Cher became queen of the gays straight after she climbed on board a battleship with 500 sailors in just her knickers belting out ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ with a 40-foot cannon between her legs. It helps that two of the young leads in this movie are hotter than Tom Daley’s popper collection also.
    Cast – Amanda Seyfried, Lily James, Meryl Streep, Cher, Dominic Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walters, Andy Garcia, Colin Firth plus Benny & Bjorn from the greatest pop act of all time.
    Key Player – This is a love affair to Abba and with the same production team as before much credit also needs to go to the brains behind it all Julie Kramer, Phyllida Lloyd and Richard Curtis. That said there is no question that the breakout performance here is that of Lily James (Baby Driver, The Darkest Hour, Cinderella) playing the young Meryl character she is a great actor and lights up the screen and boy can that girl sing.
    Budget – $70 Million already made double that so, on to week two and the obvious second stage play.
    Best Bit – 1.12 mins; With a great life-affirming opening number ‘When I Kissed The Teacher’ and two great bits at the end one which will make you weep and the other that will make you sing at the top of your voice there is plenty of high points here. Yet when the opening blast of ‘Dancing Queen’ hits at a real key moment you will be flying as high as a bird on the wing. Pure joy in a bottle.
    Worst Bit – 0.18 mins; With any musical, you are going to get a couple of numbers which don’t work even the great Les Mis has that high pitched kiddie song. Here we get a rough as a dog’s ass version of ‘Kisses Of Fire’ but even that surpasses ‘Waterloo’ sung badly in a Napoleonthemedd restaurant sung by TV’s Hugh Skinner (ITV’s The Windsors & BBC’s W1A) and he makes Brosnan sound like Pavarotti on a good day here.
    Little Secret – How popular are musicals at the moment? The Greatest Showman soundtrack just had the longest run at number one of 27 weeks for 51 years since Julie Andrews was spinning around on an Austrian hilltop. Now it’s been knocked off the chart summit by this juggernaut. Through Chicago, Frozen, Les Mis, Beauty & The Beast, La La Land etc. we cannot get enough of musicals and there are many more in the pipeline.
    Further Viewing – Mamma Mia 1, Mermaids, Chicago, Phantom Of the Opera, Grease, Into The Woods, Evita, Dreamgirls, Summer Holiday, Blue Hawaii and the original beach musical classic South Pacific.
    Any Good – If you are a fan you will lap this up if not, then go see the boy’s own Mission Impossible or Dwayne Johnson films instead. This is really great, it is better than the original, partly due to the fact that it can break even further away from its stage origins and also because it can pick lesser known songs which fit better rather than having to be a greatest hits and forcing them into a story whether they like it or not and yes ‘Money, Money, Money’ & ‘Chiquitita’ we are looking at you. This just works, will make you feel joyous for a day or two after you have seen it and many times more when you buy the CD and DVD by the millions.
    This should have been a car crash in all honesty but it is full on Formula 1 massive success.
    88/100
  • FILM REVIEW | The Happy Prince

    FILM REVIEW | The Happy Prince

    ★★★★★ | The Happy Prince

    Rupert Everett has reached a new pinnacle in his career with the release of his new film The Happy Prince.

    In a film in which he wrote and directed, Everett plays Oscar Wilde in the final years of his life. Everett, if you remember, played Wilde a few years back in London’s West End in the critically-acclaimed show ‘The Judas Kiss’ which won Everett awards. Now, and ten years in the making, sees Everett play the role he was practically born to play. It was ten years of struggling to get funding for this film, and once Colin Firth had signed on (he is an Executive Producer as well as playing Reggie Turner, one of Wilde’s best friends, in the film), The Happy Prince was finally made, and what an excellent film it is.

    In the very late 1890’s, Wilde was a penniless man, living in France, with lots of stories to tell yet not a whole lot to his name. However, three years prior to his death (in 1900), Wilde had been released from prison where he served time for sodomy and gross indecency. Before his prison sentence, Wilde had enjoyed being a member of high society and was usually the centre of attention (we see as flashbacks in the film), and in The Happy Prince, we see this side of his life portrayed. We also see the desperate side in the opening sequence in the film where he happily takes money from an old friend in a dark alley while he struggles to come to terms with the fact that his life will never be the same ever again. He does, however, have occasional contact with friends, and with his long-forgotten wife (yes he was married) Constance Lloyd (Emily Watson) – the mother of their twin sons – while he surrounds himself with young men, cocaine, and not much else.

    It’s a bravura performance from Everett that makes The Happy Prince both an ode and tribute to a man who has been the subject of many a book and show. By making The Happy Prince his way, Everett will reap the respect, and the rewards and awards, that he truly deserves for making this magnificent film.

    ‘The Happy Prince is now in cinemas

  • FILM REVIEW | McQueen

    ★★★★★ | McQueen

    Film review, McQueen

    Fashion designer Alexander McQueen was a genius He had an eye for fashion but was also a troubled soul. The new documentary McQueen shows the highs, and the lows, of McQueen’s life.

    Alexander McQueen, born in London’s East End in 1969, seemed not to be destined to become one of fashion’s hottest and most successful designers in the 1990’s, but according to the documentary, he had talent, talent that can only be described as natural – he was born with it.

    McQueen begins with old footage of McQueen talking directly into the camera, footage that was taken at the height of his illustrious career. He enrolled as a student at Central St. Martin’s College of Fashion, and then moved on to Paris to learn the trade, then became a tailer, but it was when he met Isabella Blow, who happened to take him under his wing and, which is, according to the documentary, made him what he was. But McQueen was extremely talented, and not only did he launch his own fashion brand, but at the same time he was also head designer for fashion brand Givenchy all the while picking up various people along the way who became his trusted staff, people who speak to the camera effortlessly and honestly about McQueen and their time together.

    But all was not meant to be. McQueen dabbled in cocaine and London’s gay fetish scene, he was under enormous pressure to put together several collections a year, including haute couture, and he had a falling out with Blow, who would commit suicide at the age of 46, which put on more pressure and guilt on McQueen. But it was when his dear mother died when McQueen decided that enough was enough, and ended his pain. He committed suicide at the age of 40 in 2010.

    McQueen is an excellent testament to the man who was also called Lee. Through his friends, associates and sister Janet, we really feel that we get to know who Lee actually was ourselves. But it’s through the footage of his fashion shows where we get to see the real talent that he had. His shows were events, some very dark (which explains how deep and troubled he was), and showed how gorgeous, and emotionally beautiful, his creations were. Alexander McQueen died way too young, but through this documentary, you can at least experience his life and work, which was cut way too short.

  • FILM REVIEW | Deadpool 2

    DEADPOOL 2 – The foul-mouthed superhero is back in an improvement on the very good first film upping the laughs and story twists – the fourth wall is not just broken as destroyed making the viewer part of the movie throughout.

    FILM REVIEW | Deadpool 2
    Just how good is Deadpool?

    Nutshell – Our hero fails to kill one villain on a mission resulting in tragic personal consequences. A successful suicide attempt follows but he forgets he is the superhero that cannot die which sets everything in motion. Introduced to the X-men he meets a boy with fiery powers who has a murderous future ahead of him triggering a Terminator time travelling super villain to come back in time to change things – that’s just for starters then it gets complicated, funnier and more exciting by the minute.

    Running Time – 119inutes – Cert 15 – this superhero film is definitely not for your young nephew.

    Tagline – ‘Prepare for the second coming’ and ‘ From the studio that killed Wolverine’ – underlining this is the superhero franchise with the comedy chops.

    The Gay UK Factor – Really??? This movie stars Ryan Reynolds, the sexiest man on the planet not called David Gandy (He has been on top of the sexiest man alive polls). The trouble here is that a lot of the time he is covered face and all in his coverall superhero neoprene outfit and most of the rest of the time to fit with the storyline his face is disfigured. You do get some normal straight shots of Mr Reynolds but you do have that voice throughout so this is a movie to listen to as much as watch and let your imagination run riot…just imaging Ryan Reynolds sitting on our faces for two hours and you will get the picture.

    Cast – Ryan ‘time to get off my face’ Reynolds and some other people… well you get Josh Brolin, TJ Miller and appearances from Brad Patt, Matt Damon, Nicholas Hoult and James McAvoy.

    Key Player – Well, we would like to write more about Ryan Reynold’s ass, abs and bulging lycra but credit should also go to the superb writing team of Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and … Ryan Reynolds, is there no end to the man’s talent. Also, the director David Leitch who just gets everything right here in that rare thing a sequel that is a great improvement on the original. Leitch is new to directing after formally being Hollywood’s top stunt guy for such films as The Matrix, 300, Wolverine, XXX, Troy and the Jason Bourne films so you bet the action here is fierce.

    Budget – $110 Million less than half that of Infinity War and this is a better film – Already it has made over $630 million in just a few days and that’s just from the gay members of the Ryan Reynolds fan club, so lockdown for Deadpool’s 3 through 10. It is the third biggest grossing movie of the year and climbing just edging out The Greatest Showman and that bird with the beard singing “This Is Me” repeatedly.

    Best Bit – 0.47 mins; A prison convoy assault by our heroes and his buds and boy does it go spectacularly wrong in a fashion that only the Deadpool franchise can pull off.

    Worst Bit – 0.41 mins Nothing very bad here at all but you do get the slight deja vu feeling when the Terminator back in time plot to change the future kicks in. Also with Josh Brolin playing the bad guy in Marvel’s Avenger’s Infinity War last month do we need him playing a different villain here… does the studio not have a release calendar?

    Little Secret – Marvel main man Stan Lee rarely does not appear in this movie. The film was shut down for two days after the death of a stunt woman in the motorcycle chase. We are also promised a wonderful extended cut with an added hour that we cannot wait for but most of all throughout Deadpool makes many references to his pansexuality and the appeal of guys and with the characters of Warhead and Yukio we get the first LGBTQ couple in Marvel history. So this is the gayest superhero film yet.

    Further Viewing – With 19 Marvel films to pick from as well as the DC Universe and many others also you may consider the best of Ryan Reynolds naked and topless go straight for Blade Trinity or his gayest roll is The Nines.

    Any Good – Absolutely – this is better than Black Panther, Infinity War, Wonder Woman and Guardians 2 making it the best superhero movie of the last year. It is so on the money from the first minute to the incredibly funny mid credit scenes. There are countless great pop culture references, superb action sequences and a laugh every 30 seconds. Pure Friday night entertainment, this is what all cinema should be like, just don’t take the kids.

    82/100

  • FILM REVIEW | Love, Simon

    ★★★★★ | Love, Simon

    He’s just like you.

    Simon Spiel (portrayed by Nick Robinson) has a “huge ass secret” in Love, Simon… he’s gay. The seventeen-year-old hasn’t told his perfectly ordinary nuclear family or his perfectly ordinary group of friends yet, but begins communicating with an anonymous Blue via email when he finds out through the school’s gossipy blog that Blue is also, in fact, closeted. Teenage drama ensues, complications arise but boiled down to its core, you’re left with a syrupy-sweet premise and a completely revitalised romantic outlook on life.

    Despite knowing the reactions he’ll get probably won’t be as severe as they could be, Simon’s worry and fear of change encapsulate the paralysing effect of coming out – or the process of coming out – can take on any individual. As Simon attempts to figure out who Blue is, his daydreams and fantasies remind me just how much I used to do the same with every boy who smiled at me. Like Simon, I was lucky enough to have a minimal reaction when I came out; a cryfest followed by group hugs and soppy speeches from my parents. But watching the fear in his eyes when Martin (Logan Miller) threatens to leak his emails with Blue to the school reminded me just how insufferable the thought of this secret being exposed used to be. The constant guard that he has up, the fake bro talks that he has to keep having, to not let it slip is painstakingly familiar. The journey that Simon goes on, from not understanding why straight people don’t have to come out to the heart-warming post he makes where he embraces himself irrevocably, is something that I think most of us have experienced. It’s a feeling of rejoicing and acceptance that director Greg Berlanti makes you feel as if for the very first time. My eyes first watered when Simon choked on the word. He sputtered and couldn’t seem to get it out. Gay. These small nuances are what make the film more than a teen rom-com, even with the archetypal bullies and linear plot structure, there’s so much depth and warmth in this story that so many of us can see ourselves in.

    Outside of Simon and Blue, the other characters (while, for obvious reasons, not getting as much screen time) still serve valuable purposes not only to the plot but to the world built around Simon himself. His parents (played by Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel) give the right balance of comedic and heartfelt, making us laugh and swoon and cry. Garner and Duhamel give equally charming and memorable performances, but Garner’s speech especially had the audience waiting with bated breath until she delivered the line – “You get to exhale now, Simon.” At that point, no one even attempted to hide their tears. Speaking of the audience, every time the drama teacher Ms Albright (Natasha Rothwell) came on screen our collective shoulders were shaking and our tummies were hurting from the amount of rip-roaring laughter she instantly produced. Out of Simon’s group of friends, while Abby (Alexandra Shipp X-Men: Apocalypse) and Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr. Spider-Man: Homecoming) certainly had their moments, Leah (Katherine Langford – 13 Reasons Why) shone the brightest but definitely suffered from sidekick syndrome. Maybe we’ll get to see more of her in future, if Becky Albertalli – the author of the book Simon Vs. The Homosapien’s Agenda, which the film is based on – gets Leah’s book on the big screen.

    Everything from the cinematography to the marketing to the soundtrack had undertones of the old school teen movie genre, which makes sense since it’s the first major studio film focusing on a gay love story. I feel incredibly lucky to still be a teenager and have this film validate my experience with its normalcy, opening up a plethora of opportunities for more people’s stories to be told. The tagline of the film itself, “Everyone deserves a great love story”, encourages the exemplar celebration of diversity that Love, Simon does. Simon himself feels like such an easy character to get lost in, you see yourself in him or if not you, then your brother, your cousin, your friend, he’s an every man in the best possible sense and watching him fall in love is both infuriatingly sweet and extremely awkward in the best-worst relateable way as he navigates conversations with his potential love interests.

    The characters that surround him are so vividly real, with their own quirks, going through their own things, you feel a part of Simon’s world just watching him listen to his playlist as he drives to pick up his friends. That kind of audience inclusion, be it through the editing or the camera technique, enhances the moral of the film of tolerance and inclusion. I might be biased, being the exact target audience (a gay teenager) but Greg Berlanti and the whole cast and crew have created a modern-day classic for those who liked but never identified with the Cady Herons, the Ferris Buellers, the Jim Levensteins and the Olive Penderghasts. I feel incredibly lucky to now have a Simon Spier.

  • FILM REVIEW | A Fantastic Woman

    ★★★★★ | A Fantastic Woman

    Daniela Vega gives an award-worthy performance in the Chilean film A Fantastic Woman. Vega’s performance as a woman who, after the death of her lover, is rejected and scorned by his family that is superb.

    You see, Vega is transgender, and her character Marina Vidal, who happens to be an aspiring singer, is also, of course, transgender. She and her lover Orlando (Francisco Reyes) had a regular relationship, but his ex-wife and son never truly accepted her nor her relationship with Francesco. But after a birthday celebration where they shared a romantic dinner, a sexy dance in a club, and a night of passion at home, Francisco starts having problems breathing, and after a tense drive to the hospital, Francesco dies, and in panic and a state of confusion, Marina walks away from the hospital. But after a police car picks her up and takes her back to the hospital, she realises that she’s being treated as a suspect in Francesco’s death and not as a grieving partner. To make matter much much worse, Francesco’s grown up son wants her out of Francesco’s apartment, and his ex-wife wants his car and explicitly tells Marina, to her face, that their relationship was perverted and not normal. It’s too much for anyone to take, but Marina is strong, and she will do anything to attend Francesco’s funeral, even when Francesco’s family tries to keep her way. Marina loved Francesco and wants to say a final goodbye.

    There’s no doubt about Vega’s performance. We feel her pain, and her anger, and her confusion over the series of events that have happened in her life in a short period of time. Vega is a revelation, and she should’ve been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, nevertheless she’s been nominated for a slew of other awards, and has won Best Actress at the Palm Spring International Film Festival, while the film, written and directed by Sebastiån Lelio, won the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. ‘A Fantastic Woman’ is really fantastic, one of the best films of the year, and Vega’s performance will most definitely move you.

    A Fantastic Woman is now playing.

  • FILM REVIEW | Star Wars: The Last Jedi

    STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – The eighth film from a galaxy far far away, bigger, better, longer, more convoluted and with added gay appeal as the new Darth Vader gets his kit off. These films are not just for kids anymore

    FILM REVIEW | Star Wars: The Last Jedi

    Nutshell – This film picks up from the end of the Force Awakens so there is no need for character introductions or background info so we can get straight into a very good twisty turny story with endless action and so many strands to follow in future. Han Solo is pushing up intergalactic daisies, and the rebels lead by Carrie Fisher’s Leia in her final acting role before she sadly passed have finally located Luke Skywalker, and he is not a happy bunny. The new bad guys the First Order are in control of the entire Galaxy, and the good guys are down to a few hundred, and they are hotly pursued, is this the end – strap yourself in for a great roller coaster ride through hyperspace and beyond – this will be very big indeed.

    Running Time – 150 minutes The longest Star Wars film to date by a considerable margin but there is a lot of story to get through here; Certificate – 12A.

    Tagline – Doesn’t need one if you don’t know what is going on here after 40 years then you never will.

    THEGAYUK Factor – There has been nothing gay in the Star Wars universe to date and then suddenly here the new Darth Vader Kylo Ren for no plot reason whatsoever starts walking around shirtless… it is very eyeopening and slightly jarring. He looks really good and the unnecessary scene lingers on, even one of the other characters tells him to get some clothes on and cover himself up but we were happy with it. There are no other apparent studs here like say early Harrison Ford, but we hope for more gay angles in future maybe next time Chewbacca will get a blowjob from a hot Ewok or perhaps C-3PO will get into fisting.

    Cast – From the original series you get Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher with a much more significant part than you may expect, Anthony Daniels and Frank Oz. They are joined by the new team of Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Laura Dern, Benicio Del Toro, Game Of Thrones Gwendoline Christie even Ade Edmondson turns up, and of course, Prince William and Prince Harry are there as stormtroopers.

    Key Player – George Lucas has not been involved for five years, but he got so much right with the first film(s) that this and all future SW films are slam dunks – probably impossible to screw up. You get some real crowd-pleasing new stars in the Porgs which take to nesting in the Millenium Falcon amongst other places. The fox-like Crystal Critters and BB-8, the new fan favourite droid, gets a bigger part and he steals the movie. Disney knows better than anyone what they are doing with franchises and product placement and every kid and big kid will buy anything with these characters on.

    Budget – $200 Million and already in 5 days it has made $450 Million and is heading towards the Top 20 of all time. Repeat viewings will push it to the top of that list hopefully with huge profit unless the competition steals screens from under it namely Ferdinand, Pitch Perfect 3, The Greatest Showman and Spielberg/Hanks/Streep’s The Post all within ten days of SW opening. Disney currently reportedly makes $2.5 billion every year from the brand in memorabilia, so the film is a big money-maker.

    Best Bit – 2.11 mins; The final battle is one of the best of the entire series but every appearance of BB-8 is a winner and the Porgs double act with Chewbacca throughout is priceless.

    Worst Bit – 1.02 mins; Some editing would have been nice as we could do with less Jedi training and not as much time spent on an unnecessary Casino planet. That you can live with but when Leia is blown out into space and goes all Marvel superhero – there is a serious problem – it is a rare mistake in a great addition to the saga.

    Little Secret – There is only one Star Wars film on the biggest box office chart of all time, and that is The Force Awakens in third place behind Titanic, and Avatar and they are the exclusive three members of the Two Billion Dollar club. High hopes for this one to get up there but that running time will limit the number of shows per day, and that competition is coming for its screens with gusto and no fear. The Last Jedi‘s first record target is to beat Fast and Furious 8 the biggest movie of the year to date, and it is way behind that at present. Its other big Achilles heel is that Star Wars is just not popular in Asia unlike Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, Pirates, Jurassic, Transformers, Avengers and Fast and Furious films and that is a bloody big market.

    Further Viewing – Star Wars 1-7, Rogue Nation, Spaceballs, Star Trek’s 1-13, Avatar, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordan and Battlestar Galactica.

    Any Good – It is wonderful and so entertaining. New fans maybe should steer clear as there is so much past knowledge needed here. Great effects, several wow moments, sad bits, laugh out loud bits and something for all ages and plenty for geeks and those that just want a great Friday popcorn night out to forget their working woes. On now to next year’s Han Solo origin story, but do not miss this one in the meantime.

    Rating – 87% out of 100.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Florida Project

    ★★★★★ |  The Florida Project

    From filmmaker Sean Baker, writer and director of 2015’s critically acclaimed film Tangerine, comes another film about living life on the edge in the bittersweet The Florida Project.

    Tangerine, which was shot on iPhones, told the story of two trans sex workers surviving by any means possible in Hollywood. The Florida Project, shot on 35mm, has a similar trajectory involving a single mother and her adorable 6-year old daughter surviving by any means and barely eking out a living in a rundown motel on the tacky fringes of Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida. It’s an area filled with cheap motels (with tacky names such as Futureland Inn) and even cheaper and tackier gift shops and fast food restaurants (Orange World). And like in Tangerine, Baker uses non-professional actors in this film.

    Bria Vinaite is excellent as Hailey, a single young mother who struggles to find money to pay the weekly rent and to care for her very adorable six-year-old daughter Moonee (an excellent and natural Brooklynn Prince). Moonee has made friends with all of the little children at their motel complex (appropriately called The Magic Castle) in an area where Disney did not sprinkle magic dust on. The children spend their days getting up to no good, causing mayhem wherever they go, much to the annoyance of the motel manager Bobby (Willem Dafoe – in an award-worthy performance). Hailey’s downstairs neighbour Ashley (Mela Murder) works at the nearby Waffle House and gives them free food, but after an incident that involves her son and Moonee, she forbids her son to hang out with Moonee, and severs her friendship with Hailey. One thing leads to another and slowly the magic seeps out of The Magic Castle.

    The Florida Project is just fantastic. While it doesn’t quite come close to Tangerine with its sarcastic and biting humour, it nonetheless is a cute and charming movie of childhood through a little girl’s eyes and the hard truths that reality will eventually rear its ugly head. And the cast are just superb. Baker, who co-wrote the script with Chris Bergoch, has another winner on his hands.

  • FILM REVIEW | Paddington 2

    PADDINGTON 2 – Your second favourite bear after that hairy muscled gay bloke you met in the darkroom at XXL or Brut is back for a sequel and this time he falls foul of the law and is eating porridge rather than marmalade sandwiches.

    Nutshell – The most polite Peruvian ursine returns and is in a battle with Hugh Grant’s baddie for a special book with a hidden treasure trail that Paddington needs as a very special family present. Things go amiss when he gets framed for theft and is sent to prison for 10 years which is a long time in bear years, can he escape, find the book & treasure and save the day in probably the happiest film of this and any year?

    Running Time – 103 minutes

    Certificate – PG

    Tagline – ‘Free Paddington’ and ‘It Takes A Bear To Catch a Thief’.

    THEGAYUK Factor – This is probably the most perfect family movie ever so nothing “gay” here… move along. This is the movie to take your Mum to or your little nephew but you will probably enjoy it the more than any of them. If you want gay smut just wait 7 days for the Justice League as there is hoards of it there.

    Cast – Hugh ‘Downton Abbey’ Bonneville, Julie ‘Acorn Antiques’ Walters, Hugh ‘Four Weddings’ Grant and every other major Brit you can think of such as Joanna Lumley, Brendon Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Ben Miller, Michael Gambon etc etc plus Peter Dr Who’ Capaldi for good measure.

    Key Player – Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington is perfect you cannot imagine anyone else doing it now he has the friendliest tones imaginable and can make you care, laugh or cry with just a simple turn of phrase.

    Budget – $80 Million. The first film was a huge surprise hit making $250 Mil worldwide – this with pre-brand recognition will make a lot more as, whisper it quietly, this is an even better movie. The first film is the biggest money-making independent family film of all time expect that record to have gone well before Christmas here.

    Best Bit – 1.14 mins; There are three very sad and dark sequences here and the last one is a real doozy and it comes right after some great laughs and a huge action sequence and it will hit you like a sledgehammer – superb filmmaking, taking your hankies.

    Worst Bit – 1.27 mins; There are two sequences in the final credits the first one is a Hugh Grant song and dance number that is just screaming for a much hookier better song. The only hiccup in this whole enterprise – rare for a sequel indeed.

    Little Secret – The creator of the character and books Michael Bond was told that the sequel had been greenlit on his 90th birthday. He sadly died at 91 on the exact same day as the last day of shooting, he never saw the finished film but adored the first one and we know he would love this even more. He published the last ever Paddington book in April of this year… that is active in your old age.

    Further Viewing – Paddington 1 obviously, Mary Poppins, The Railway Children, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Labyrinth, Witches, any quality British family film of the last 50 years or any of the 10 great Muppet movies.

    Any Good – It is so rare for a sequel to be better than its predecessor as there are so many traps and issues with sequels. We rate this alongside the great step-ups like Aliens, Terminator 2, The Two Towers, Star Trek 4, Return Of The Jedi and Fast & Furious 5. Let’s make it simple, this is marvellous, perfect entertainment for everyone, very funny, great action and an instant classic… with fur on to be watched with a smile on your face for years to come. Be prepared to be taken back to your childhood in spades.

    Rating – 94% out of 100.

  • FILM REVIEW | Baby Driver

    BABY DRIVER – The surprise hit of the summer, The UK’s very own Edgar Wright takes on the American car chase genre and makes an absolute film classic… all to an endless hit music soundtrack.

    FILM REVIEW | Baby Driver

    Nutshell – Baby is a 22-year-old driver for crime kingpin Doc and he does it all to pounding music to drown out his tinnitus hearing problem and he has been doing it since he learnt to wipe his own butt. He meets a love interest waitress and sees a way-out but escaping his crime world will prove a lot harder than he hopes… cue heists, exciting four-wheel action, plenty of gunplay and huge stunts and boy is it massively enjoyable.

    Running Time – 135 minutes; Certificate – 15.

    Tagline – ‘All You Need Is One Killer Track’

    THEGAYUK Factor – Jon Hamm is well known for allegedly having the biggest appendage in Hollywood and this is his best breakthrough movie. There are many scenes where you get to see this weapon of ass destruction in full view in all the action beats and boy is this one eyed trouser-snake distracting. There are some big firing weapons on show here but it’s obvious who has the biggest ‘gun’.

    Cast – Ansel Elgort stars alongside a mega supporting cast including Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Lily James and Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers & BigBoi from Outkast continuing this Summer of celeb cameos following David Beckham, Paul McCartney and Harry Styles elsewhere.

    Key Player – Edgar Wright does everything here including writing, directing, producing and choosing all the music. The Dorset born cinematic genius from his Spaced/French & Saunders beginnings through Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, TinTin, Antman & The World’s End has been leading up towards this his whole career – Simon Pegg will have to look for a new buddy now.

    Budget – $34 Million and boy it looks bigger than that on screen. So far in two weeks, it has made three times its costs with many territories still to be released in and this cult film will do mega-business on DVD, download and streaming which it is perfect for – A Hit Hit Hit!

    Best Bit – 0.05 mins; A tour de force of the most complicated very long running shot of all time as the lead walks around several blocks interacting with hundreds of extras all hitting exact beats of a Martha Reeves & The Vandellas Motown classic… very clever indeed and it sets you in the mood for a truly special experience.

    Worst Bit – 0.33 mins; The female lead, a waitress, who becomes the love interest has little presence, no back story and is the only weak link here. You don’t root for her or see what Baby sees in her… maybe a good looking lad like him should forget girls altogether and turn to the dark side… Originally this part was to be played by Emma Stone who bailed for Oscar glory in La La Land instead – good for her but shame for this film.

    Little Secret – Wright had this idea for years and first filmed it in a pop video for the band Mint Royale starring Noel Fielding. Noel appears in the clips at the start of the film and basically every clip on Baby’s TV as he flips through it actually details the final heist. There is so much like that for repeat viewing like all the vinyl records across the floor in the ransacked apartment are those on the film’s soundtrack and on and on the clever touches go here – this movie was not thrown together it was made with love.

    Further Viewing – Drive, Heat, Oceans 11, Snatch, Inside Man, Reservoir Dogs, The Italian Job, Usual Suspects and the greatest heist film of all time The Town.

    Any Good – This is simply f*cking great. Very funny, truly thrilling with more twists than a twisty turny thing and as entertaining as a pub lock-in with Graham Norton, Peter Kay and Lily Savage. In the midst of a sea of summer numbered sequels, this entertaining two hours in your local fleapit is a wholly fresh screenplay turned hip-as-hell movie.

    Rating – 91% out of 100.

     

    Order Baby Driver from Amazon | iTunes