THEGAYUK

Tag: Four Star Film Review

The latest four-star film review from THEGAYUK.

  • FILM REVIEW | Nureyev

    FILM REVIEW | Nureyev

    ★★★★☆ | Nureyev

    The most famous ballet dancer of all time is spotlighted in the new film Nureyev.

    Rudolf Nureyev was born during the cold, dark days of communist Russia. His talent for dancing was spotted at a young age, and lucky for him, his country wanted to show him off to the rest of the world. While never really hiding his homosexuality, Rudolf was able to travel the world with his ballet troupe, and Nureyez just seemed to lap up the stardom, fame, and money that came along with this success.

    But as we all know, Nureyev didn’t want to be a part of the Russian state, he felt that he, after travelling all over with the ballet company, that he wanted to be free, freedom to him was essential, so while in Paris on a tour, he defected. Yes, he thought about this long and hard, and he knows that when he defects, he would never be able to go back to Russia to see his family, but his decision was final. And thus, he was free, a free man to enjoy a new life in the West, and did he enjoy it.

    Nureyev goes on to show what a life he led; the acclaim, the wealth, and his too close for comfort relationship with Margot Fonteyn, a married British ballet superstar. As the documentary goes to show us, Nureyev and Fonteyn were inseparable. They spent lots of time together, not just on stage but off stage as well. But life had other plans for Nureyev. He was in his early 20s when gay and bisexual men around the world started developing AIDS, and Nureyev, who would die from AIDS-related complications in 1992 (at the age of 54), more than likely picked up the HIV virus in the 80s.

    The documentary filmmakers show us the last days of this superstar, dying and frail, and looking much much older than what he was.

    Nureyev the documentary elegantly, and beautifully incorporates modern dance scenes to play out some of Rudolf’s life events. Ballet dancers, atop a stage in the middle of a forest, play out scenes and events that are being told in the documentary. This storytelling adds to the beauty and dignity of Nureyev’s life. However, Nureyev, the documentary doesn’t even go into detail about any of his gay relationships. Him and arts student Robert Tracy had a two-and-a-half-year love affair, which is not mentioned in the film. Tracy later became Nureyev’s secretary and live-in companion for over 14-years in a long-term open relationship until his death. And there’s no mention of any other lovers nor the hedonistic times he spent dancing at Studio 54.

    Perhaps this is for another documentary. Nureyev, while not completely telling the whole story, is nonetheless a beautiful film about a very talented man who died before his time was up.

    NUREYEV HITS CINEMAS NATIONWIDE | FROM 25 SEPTEMBER 2018 | TICKETS ON SALE NOW: WWW.NUREYEVTHEFILM.COM

  • FILM REVIEW | Reinventing Marvin

    ★★★★ | Reinventing Marvin

    Touching performances make this film about the troubled life of a young gay man In the new film ‘Reinventing Marvin’ a must see.

    Newcomer Finnegan Oldfield plays Marvin as a young man (while Jules Porier plays Marvin in his younger years). As a child, he lived a very dysfunctional, and depressing life. Marvin was bullied and beat up at school, constantly taunted for his soft mannerisms (and also for appearing to be gay), and even worse at home where he had a volatile stepfather, slept in a closet, and had a mother who was supportive yet unable to provide him with what he needed most.

    Reinventing Marvin cleverly uses flashbacks that takes the story from his childhood to him discovering a new life in Paris where he truly discovers who he is. He meets people just like himself there, befriends an older gay couple who provide him support that he never got. And finally, he is introduced to Isabelle Huppert (playing herself), who helps him to tell his life story on stage, which changes Marvin’s life, and perhaps will bring some sort of reconciliation with his family, and hopefully, finally, acceptance.

    Marvin reinvents himself, and it’s nice to see the transformation, and Director and writer Anne Fountaine (The Innocents), has crafted a beautifully told and acted story with great performances.

    Now playing at the cinemas and available to order.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Meg

    ★★★★☆ | The Meg

    Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

    THE MEG – Sex God Jason Statham takes on the biggest nastiest shark in cinema history in the ultimate muscular monster movie showdown an instant camp & cult classic & he’s never looked hotter.

    Nutshell – Firstly this is a thriller, not a horror and the ultimate progression of The Stath’s career-long mano et mano film genre he has made all his own. A deep sea mission unwittingly releases the biggest beast known to man but a very big fish indeed. Can our hero stop the modern day Jaws from killing his crew and then hitting the nearby popular South East Asian beach?  It’s a non-stop, well thought out water bound action with serious bite, you will feel tense throughout but not scared.

    Running Time – 113 Minutes – Cert 12A. That family-friendly certificate obviously takes a lot of blood and the gore out of the movie – this is not the new Jaws nor sets out to be.

    Tagline – ‘Before Chasing Sea Monsters, Check Your Place On The Food Chain’

    The Gay UK Factor – This is the one we have been waiting for all Summer, Jason Statham topless for two hours in swimming trunks or even less. Slipping on the tightest wetsuit ever seems to show every bulge and muscle ripple he has.  The original 1950’s Kinsey report & test of whether you were gay or not is now officially replaced by this movie. Is there a big shark in it? As we didn’t notice.

    Cast – Jason Statham and no-one else you have ever heard of (Unless you watch endless Resident Evils) but frankly that is all you need, the others are just fish food, except the little dog as we loved him but oh dear he has fallen in the water too so now what will happen?

    Key Player – This is a one-man show. The movie wouldn’t have been greenlit, made and got past its first studio meeting without the hunky star’s signature. The UK’s biggest movie star probably of the last decade just gets action movies made around him like no other actor and they always hit at the box office – Our island should be very proud of the guy who now has a record-breaking six movie franchises to his name. Tom Cruise has one.

    Budget – $130 Million and in one week it has made double that back in profit totally pissing all over the other one man band Summer blockbuster Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper. This is the last big hit of the summer and fans are fucking lapping it up big time… but may not want to go back in the water for a bit!

    Best Bit – 0.47 mins; The Stath has to get a GPS tracker attached to the giant killer fish which means he has to swim real close to it. Cue the best heart-stopping scene of the film before the crazy good mad as a box of frogs climax.

    Worst Bit – 0.05 mins; The opening prologue sets the scene some months before the main action and it’s OK but is nothing special. Film reviewers often use the term ‘Roller Coaster Ride’ and it has never fitted better here. Once you get over the initial warm up its non-stop excitement until you breathlessly hit the credits. One more rider please and Scream if you want to go faster!

    Little Secret – Spot the Jaws music used here in the underwater cage scene plus numerous references to all four Jaws films & The Abyss. This was originally meant for George Clooney then when it was offered to director Eli Roth (Hostel and Inglorious Bastards etc) who wanted to cast himself as the hero but as an actor, his biggest role was as Frowny The Clown in a horror film so a star with more box office whoomph was sought.

    Further Viewing – Jaws 1-4, Piranha, The Deep, Open Water, Croc, Lake Placid, Orca, Deep Blue Sea and The Stath’s greatest hits Transporter, Crank. The Expendables, Fast & Furious 8, Spy, The Italian Job, The Pink Panther & of course Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.

    Any Good – You don’t need a review to know whether this is for you or not. If you like the actor or this type of monster film then this is a really great one. If you want some fun escapism then you will be very happy but if you thought I, Daniel Blake was the greatest movie of all time or worship at the feet of Dame Maggie Smith then move along.

    Rating – 70/100

  • FILM REVIEW | Mission Impossible: Fallout

    ★★★★☆ | Mission Impossible: Fallout

    MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT – The sixth high octane spy thriller of Impossible Missions
    Nutshell – The IMF based loosely on the 60’s TV show this time have to find some missing plutonium that they let slip through their fingers in Berlin at the start of the film. An old adversary wants to blow up the world again, so Tom Cruise jumps out of planes, crashes motorbikes, falls out of helicopters and fights everyone in sight on a global action odyssey. This time he has the man mountain Henry Cavill shadowing him all the way and also has some women problems and half decent twists.
    Running Time – 147 Minutes – Cert 12A. A very long movie that does fly by.
    Tagline – ‘Some Missions Are Not A Choice’
    THEGAYUK Factor – Tom Cruise is now 57-year-old and looks great for his age but the gay sex appeal is not what it was, but he does make great movies. Ving Rames, Simon Pegg and Alec Baldwin are never going to make it onto anyone’s wank bank list, but we do have one fantastic saving grace Mr Henry Cavill is stunningly hot, built like a brick shit house and looks like everyone’s dream fucking top.
    Cast – Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rames, Angela Bassett, Sean Harris, a very very hot Wes Bentley and the straight face of CNN, Wolf Blitzer as opposed to the silver fox himself Anderson Cooper.
    Key Player – Although this is Cruise’s show he is not really giving us anything new here. The director Christopher Mcquarrie is the first guy to be invited back for his second Mission as previously a new director was employed each time. This is not quite as good as his last film Rogue Nation and lacks that one signature stunt that we expect from this franchise but he is solid and holds it all together nicely.
    Budget – $178 Million but it has the lowest opening of any Mission to date and is struggling to get the right number of bums on seats which is strange as it has good reviews and decent word of mouth perhaps its the same old same old feeling or the Worldwide heatwave.
    Best Bit – 0.27 mins; A great well-filmed HALO (High Altitude Low Open) parachute jump which goes wrong is genuinely exciting but why they have to be so clandestine jumping out of a plane over Paris to avoid radar is anyone’s guess and a figment of the writer’s mind.
    Worst Bit – 1.48 mins; The over contrived endless double-crosses hit full speed, and logic goes out of the window with the twists and irrational happenings that make Harry Potter or Star Wars look realistic but never mind just enjoy the action which is very good indeed.
    Little Secret – These Missions are now largely all about Tom doing his own stunts, and it works because they do look real. Here he has four major ones; the HALO jump he spent a year training for, an extended helicopter action set piece where he did most of the flying, a Paris motorcycle chase without helmet including an against the traffic scene around the Arc de Triumph and that London-based foot chase where he busted his ankle and closed the movie down for months. Let the stunt guys do what they are good at fella maybe as the next Mission you will be in your sixties.
    Further Viewing – Missions 1 through 5, Anything with the words Jason and Bourne in, The Man From Uncle, Spy, Kingsman, the more recent James Bonds.
    Any Good – This is just a few points down on the last two Missions, and it is the longest, so there is a lot of story to wade through here. The action is as good as anything out this year and almost Fast & Furious level, and there are many positives especially the addition of Henry Cavill. You do get the feeling of deja vu though, fake interrogations again, a surprise mask wearer, The CIA infiltrated yet again, bosses being killed, and countdowns to explosions all so predictable why do bad guys have countdowns anyway they just exist so as the good guys can save the day with less than 10 seconds to spare. If you want to destroy the world why take your time?
    Rating – 72/100
  • FILM REVIEW | Fags In The Fast Lane

    FILM REVIEW | Fags In The Fast Lane

    ★★★★ | Fags In The Fast Lane

    Having headed into Dullsville to counteract a string of gay bashings, handsome hero, Sir Beauregard (aka The Cockslinger) and his trusty companion Reginald Lampoon III find themselves embroiled in a quest to retrieve The Golden Cock, a talisman which you rub to bring “good luck to the f***”, and which has been stolen by The Chompers, a grotesque Burlesque troupe of mutants, led by Wanda the Giantess. Heading off with homophobic hood, Squirt, in tow, and chased by Squirt’s equally homophobic sheriff father, Beau joins forces with a Persian cross-dressing princess and an Indian assassin on an increasingly bizarre road trip leading to Freaky Town with one goal in mind – to get his hands on the phallic wonder.

    Without fitting into any specific movie genre, Fags is a wonderfully distasteful yarn which couldn’t be much gayer if it tried. Knowingly revelling in its gaudy, kitsch, low budget glory, Fags harks back to the late 70’s/early 80’s sexpoltation parodies, in a massive mash-up of trashy, freaky, funny, and downright bizarre. From brothels to Bollywood, and from tiki-tiki huts to trashy townships, the road trip is littered with phallic references, drag queens, knob gags galore and plenty to laugh at. Throw in a handful of musical interludes, puppets, miniature models and practical special effects and you have a film which has its tongue planted so firmly in its cheek that it hurts; and one which you just have to sit back, and let yourself be taken along for the ride. Imagine the kind of film that you would end up with if the lovechild of Russ Myers and John Walters made a Barbarella / Xanadu crossover in the style of Flesh Gordon with added (gay) sexploitation and you are pretty much there.

    But aside from that, Fags also takes clichés and stereotypes and successfully subverts them, by not only reclaiming them, but by celebrating them. It’s not afraid to thrust its camp glory in the faces of the viewers and does so with aplomb; whilst somewhere buried deep in the garishness of it all is a bold statement about being yourself.

    Nestling neatly between parody and homage, Fags in the Fast Lane is brimming with giggly homoeroticism and is quickly heading for camp cult classic status.

    Fags in the Fast Lane is available on DVD , VOD or from iTunes.  You can  also view the trailer on YouTube

  • FILM REVIEW | Mario

    ★★★★ | Mario

    Two young footballers fall in love in the tender love story Mario.

    Cute, sexy and very lean Leon (Aaron Altaras) is drafted into the football club where he meets player Mario (Max Hubacher). Leon, with striking dark curly hair and eyes, is quite a contrast to Mario – blond and a bit baby-faced who has been brought up by a football-mad father. But when Leon and Mario are assigned to live together in the same apartment while they train, a natural attraction between them kicks in, literally. They end up sharing a bed, even though the apartment has two bedrooms. But Mario is very uncomfortable to have their relationship be known to anyone, especially to their fellow team members, some of whom are quite homophobic. But one day Leon and Mario are seen together in public by a fellow team member who blabs it to the rest of the team. This puts not only Mario and Leon’s relationship to the test, it also puts their football careers at risk as well. But they really are in love with each other, but will they stay together, and if so at what cost?

    Director Marcel Gisler does a very good job getting his actors to display their affection for each other while at the same time creating excitement and tension, both in the locker room and on the playing field. Altaras is a natural, and he and Hubacher excellently portray young men who are conflicted between their love for each other and their love for the game. Mario is a beautiful love story that will fill you with love and sadness, and the timing is just right for this film to come out – right before the World Cup Championships, meanwhile there is not one out player currently in the game.

    Mario is in UK cinemas on Friday.

  • FILM REVIEW | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

    ★★★★☆ | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

    FILM REVIEW | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

    JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM – The fifth entry in the dinosaur theme park saga and the second since its hugely successful reboot where it became the 4th biggest earner in world cinema history so big claw prints to follow indeed. This time we get a movie in two distinct halves and endless breathless action throughout – We like very much. This movie certainly has a bite that Michael Crichton would be proud.

    Nutshell – When the volcano on Isla Nublar looks set to erupt and terminate all the dino’s forever a rescue mission is organised by our two former heroes but skulduggery is afoot and the big lizards have their own ideas too and when some get back to our world in the UK the prehistoric shit really hits the fan.

    Running Time – 128inutes – Cert 12A.

    Tagline – ‘The Park Is Gone’ & ‘Life Finds A Way’

    The Gay UK Factor – Two hours of Chris Pratt looking dirty, dishevelled and sweaty as hell like your fantasy local builder, scaffolder or gardener wank fodder this is very easy on your eye as the man just wreaks of masculinity with an incredible sense of humour. Pure husband material but he does not write back! Unlike most of his other films, there are no shirtless or naked ass shots (Passengers we are talking about you). There are a bevvy of musclebound thugs throughout which will help your Summer sap to rise – these villains seem to have a recruitment policy as if you are as fuckable as hell you can become my henchman, go figure.

    Cast – Chris (Future Husband) Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howerd, Jeff Goldblum, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall & James Cromwell but the stars are the dinosaurs as always.

    Key Player – J A Bayona is Spain’s top director and he hails from the horror world with the likes of films such as The Orphanage. He brings this experience heavily into this movie wherein the first half he gives us the standard huge non stop action big set-piece sequences this franchise demands including that volcano eruption but in the second half we get very fresh one location horror almost gothic type tight set of sequences based on the infamous claustrophobic ‘kitchen sequence’ from the original movie over two decades ago.

    Budget – $170 Million much cheaper than the previous one but it is a better film for that. Currently, it has hauled 7 times its budget so a great investment all round and it’s on to Jurassic Park/World 6 the climax of this trilogy.

    Best Bit – 0.36 mins; When the volcano erupts all hell breaks out in a wonderful elongated action sequence which starts suddenly underground and ends claustrophobically underwater probably the best since Spielberg was in charge.

    Worst Bit – 0.05 mins; The opening action sequence is fine but it has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. It seems added purely so as we have an action beat before we get 15 minutes of set-up. In the eighties, all action films like say, Lethal Weapon, had to have an action beat every 8 minutes regardless of plot we have a throwback here.

    Little Secret – This film has the most dinosaurs of the franchise and of any film in history so your little nephews and nieces will be happy. Of course, dinosaurs developed from birds so many here should have feathers and be much brighter and varied colours but we seem to find brown, grey and green lizards scarier so that’s what we get on the screen. Raptors should have wings but directors think that claws are scarier so again that’s what we get and dinosaurs cannot roar as they have birds voice boxes but we want our T Rex’s to sound like monsters so that what Hollywood gives us. Part 3 of this new trilogy is rumoured to be called Jurassic War with weaponized dinosaurs – surely not! We will find out in 2021. The post credit scene here was actually filmed in London Zoo so don’t rush off to the exit to soon.

    Further Viewing – JP 1-3 and JW from 3 years ago, Godzilla (any of them), King Kong 1,3 or 4 (never ever consider 2), BBC’s amazing Walking With Dinosaurs, Nightmare At The Museum, The Land That Time Forgot and any of the millions of Dino movies but stop short of Barney, The Land Before Time or One Of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing.

    Any Good – Pure Summer multiplex entertainment at its best. More ideas than the last one that seems to be going somewhere and a clever structure. There are a couple of massive hints as to huge new directions later on in this film which should if handled correctly take this series off in fascinating new action-packed directions. Regardless this is not to be missed if you like straightforward Saturday night popcorn entertainment and there is nothing wrong with that as we don’t need Ken Loach, Kurosawa, Scorcese or Subtitled Slovakian war refugee movies all the time.

    Rating – 74/100

  • FILM REVIEW | My Friend Dahmer

    FILM REVIEW | My Friend Dahmer

    ★★★★ | My Friend Dahmer

    Jeffrey Dahmer, the American who murdered 17 young men back in the 1980s and 1990s, was showing signs of strange behaviour at a young age, according to the new film My Friend Dahmer.

    Based on the 2012 novel of the same name by cartoonist John Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school, the film shows how Dahmer came from a home where his parents constantly fought, and where he had an unnatural curiosity of the insides of animals. Dahmer, who grew up in Bath, Ohio, is brilliantly played by Ross Lynch, in a film that’s sharply edited and continually tense and spooky by the director, and writer, Marc Meyers. We see that Dahmer was awkward even to his own family, with a crazy and alcoholic mother (played by Anne Heche – in her best performance ever), and how Dahmer had a shed in the woods where he did certain experiments with animals.

    Dahmer is eventually adopted by some of the cool kids in his class to perform certain acts that drew attention to himself, basically these acts were spasms set out to cause disruptions, but they also seemed to do something to Dahmer’s soul, for he became more and more intense and weird, turning some of his evil thoughts from animals to, eventually, humans. Dahmer even plotted to kill a local doctor whom he became attracted to, but it was not meant to be. But it’s in these early years that we see the beginnings of Dahmer’s sinister future – how he would end up becoming one of the world’s most cruel and crazy mass murderers.

    Luckily for us, this film ends before the killings begin, but we know that this was the path that Dahmer’s life would take – the murder of many gay men in some of the most brutal and horrific ways.

    My Friend Dahmer is an excellent film that preludes an adult life where Dahmer would turn into a complete monster.

    My Friend Dahmer is released in the UK & Ireland on June 1st.

  • FILM REVIEW | Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

    ★★★★ | Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

    REVIEW Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist
    Vivienne Westwood – she truly is an icon, punk, activist and an inspiration to us all. Westwood called this documentary mediocre, but she is far from mediocre.

    Clothing Designer Vivienne Westwood has denounced the new documentary about her saying that the film does not at all focus on her activism but instead is ‘made up of archive fashion footage.’

    In the first few minutes of Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, Westwood tells the camera, and the interviewer, that she doesn’t want to talk about certain important bits of her life. And that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of this 83-minute documentary.

    Filmmaker Lorna Tucker spent three years with the fashion designer trying to get Westwood to tell her life story, and the documentary could’ve been so much more, but we still are presented with a fascinating look at a fascinating woman who changed the course of British fashion with her non-conservative designs and her extreme personality.

    Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, glosses over her younger years, and spends more time in the present where she presides over a global empire that she still can’t believe it’s gotten as big as it has – she doesn’t even know what half her staff does. But that’s the job for Austrian Andreas Kronthaler, who was her former fashion student and is now her husband and creative director for the brand. The documentary shows Westwood in her day-to-day life; looking over models wearing her designs, attending store openings where she says she’s not quite convinced she likes them or not, and shows Westwood cycling around London on her bike when she really should be chauffeured about in a limousine. We see snapshots of her life before she became famous, and the ex-council flat in Clapham where she lived for 30 years until 2000, and her two sons speak at times not so glowingly about their famous mother. Less is mentioned about her time with Malcolm McLaren and the clothing shop where she made punk clothes in the 1970s known as SEX which was controversial and radical for its time. Perhaps that’s a topic for another documentary.

    But what’s most fascinating about Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist is her clothes. Whether shown in the workshops or on the fashion runways all over the world, the clothes are really a work of beauty, unique in every sense of the word. And so is Vivienne Westwood – she truly is an icon, punk, activist and an inspiration to us all. Westwood called this documentary mediocre, but she is far from mediocre.

    ‘Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist’ is in UK cinemas on Friday, March 23rd. 

  • FILM REVIEW | The Post

    Brilliantly observed and timely.

    Nutshell: Steven Speilberg’s latest outing with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in the starring roles, is probably more important than we think. What with Trump’s constant attacks on the “fake news” media and the fight for women’s equality in the spotlight, The Post, shows how far, we haven’t come since the 70s.

    The film focuses a moment in The Washington Post‘s history where it was published by a woman, Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep). She was and still is, one of the very few women of power in media. Watch Meryl talk about her character in The Post. When we look out at media ownership in the 20-teens, nothing much has changed in the 40 or so years that have passed. She successfully and bravely decided to publish articles about the Pentagon Papers, documents which described successive US Government’s dishonesty about the Vietnam War. The decision would ultimately lead to President Nixon barring The Washington Post from entering the White House ever again, which only hardened their resolve to hold power accountable.

    Running Time: 116 minutes



    Certificate: 12A

    THEGAYUK Factor: It’s all about Meryl in this movie, once again proving that she is one of Hollywood’s most influential players. Streep plays Graham with sturdy fallibility – which is quite an achievement. There are moments of the Iron Lady, mixed with Miranda Priestly, with a mix of fragility.

    Cast: Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Sarah Paulson

    Key Players: The dream team of Steven Spielberg working with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.

    Budget: Rumoured to be $50,000,000. This is a grower, not a shower. Opened to a limited release in the US late last year, with under $600,000 in receipts. So far it has grossed over $33,000,000 in the US, and with it opening worldwide this week, we expect this film to make a good little profit for the studios.

    Best Bit: When Katherine Graham makes one of the most difficult decision to publish, Meryl’s acting positively seeps from every pore. Plus the end scene, it’s not a spoiler because The Washington Post‘s involvement in “Watergate” is well known, is a brilliant piece of timing and comedy.



    Worst Bit: The way in which “the men in charge” would talk about their female boss, in earshot.

    Little Secret: Having never worked with Speilberg, Meryl Streep was apparently “flabbergasted” that he never rehearses with his actors.


    Further Viewing: All The President’s Men, Frost/Nixon, CitizenFour

    Rating: ★★★★☆

    ORDER The Post on DVD now from Amazon

     

  • FILM REVIEW | The Greatest Showman

    THE GREATEST SHOWMAN – The already award-winning musical of the original showman PT Barnum celebrating the birth of show business itself with all original songs including the best new gay anthem in 30 years… and it is now climbing up the pop charts.

    Nutshell – The greatest entertainer of all time in a classic rags to riches story of how he discovered that ‘freakshows’ and different people were of interest to the paying public if presented with fantasy and imagination and how he gave them all respectability. It goes from bankruptcy to the most famous three-ring circus shows of all time in Victorian era New York. With 11 songs that will be new to your ears which is unusual in this Mamma Mia, Chicago, Disney Musical era but many of them soon grow on you especially the big set piece ones. The movie Hugh Jackman has waited his whole life to make.

    Running Time – 105 minutes – PG.

    Tagline – ‘From The Writers and Producers Of La La Land‘.

    THEGAYUK Factor – Well it is a musical to start with and visually spectacular a la Moulin Rouge and this is about outsiders with public taste campaigning against them like black trapeze artists, midgets and bearded ladies with a good-looking penniless orphaned hero. It all comes together in the incredible new gay anthem “This Is Me” which will replace “I Am What I Am” from La Cage Aux Follie as the ultimate gay anthem from a musical in no short space of time. This movie is as gay as Kylie in drag belting out “It’s Raining Men” as she enters the Big Brother house.

    Cast – Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson and the king of the abs fresh from The Baywatch beach Zac Efron.

    Key Player – The three men here Justin Paul, Benj Pasek  who together wrote all the numbers and Jackman who carries most of them off with aplomb. There is not really a bad tune here and all 11 have now entered the pop charts with the gay anthem getting the highest spot straight in the Top Ten even before it started picking up awards.

    Budget – $84 Million but it looks a lot more expensive maybe some good CGI. Brokeven in seven days and like all musicals, it tends to find its real home on DVD and TV with repeat viewings – this is the first money spinner of the New Year.

    Best Bit – 0.59 mins; The big set piece showstopping number “This Is Me” which has already won The Golden Globe for Song Of The Year and will now be the surefire Oscar winner in a few weeks time. The film’s misfits belt out these great gay-friendly lyrics and boy does it build, as Alex Zane announced on Sky it is the first key change ever that made him weep. Download this song now before every drag queen in the land gets their hands on it.

    Worst Bit – 0.05 mins: There is a lot to get through here and this leads to a slightly rushed finish and more annoyingly a mega rushed jerky beginning which simply does not engage. The rest is pure heaven.

    Little Secret – Barnum’s American Museum was so popular that crowds stayed too long and he could not squeeze new paying punters in so he tricked them with signs saying “This way to the Egress” which the audience thought was a new attraction not realising it means exit until they found themselves outside on the street. In January 2017, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that their doors were closing forever, due to decreased attendance and protests by animal rights activists. Their last shows were in May 2017 they did not last to see the opening of this movie.

    Further Viewing – Moulin Rouge, La La Land, Les Mis, Hugh Jackman’s warm-up musical, The School Of Rock, Hairspray, Phantom, Dreamgirls, Fame and Into The Woods if you must.

    Any Good – The Golden Globe and now the BAFTA nominations don’t lie this is a great piece of film and a labour of love for the main star. Will the songs become evergreen favourites? Well, we hope so and they are a lot better than the 11 dirges in La La Land. If it starts picking up Oscars watch that soundtrack sell big time as already it is beating Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran. Jackman is ace and Efron learned his singing craft down at the High School Musical so you are in good hands here. If you like musicals this is a great addition and you don’t get many nowadays if not then stick with The Darkest Hour, Jumanji or Star Wars who will all happily take your money off ya instead.

    Rating – 70% out of 100.