THEGAYUK

Tag: Movie Genre Comedy

  • FILM REVIEW | Golden Years

    FILM REVIEW | Golden Years

    ★★★★ | Golden Years

    Golden Years
    PR Provided

    The pensioners in the new DVD release ‘Golden Years’ try to get even at the system that they feel is robbing them.

    It’s a cute and funny film about older people trying to get back what’s theirs. They feel the system is corrupt, so they take matters into their own hands. Retired couple Arthur Goode (Bernard Hill) and his wife Martha (Virginia McKenna), who is ill with Crohn’s disease, eke out a living on their pension while spending time at their local social club with friends Royston (Simon Callow), Brian (Philip Davis), and Shirley (Una Stubbs).

    One day Arthur finds out that the company he spent a lifetime working for has gone bankrupt, and so has his pension. He doesn’t know what to do… how is going to be able to take care of Martha? An opportunity presents itself when, while in front of a bank when money is being delivered, one of the guards trips, falls and gets knocked out on the ground, while the guard inside the truck inadvertently hands over a container of money to Arthur, who gladly takes it and runs. It sets off an idea where he enlists Martha, and eventually his friends, to rob banks. Who would expect pensioners as bank robbers, with cucumbers acting as guns, of stealing money?

    Golden Years is a delightful film with a cast of great actors all relishing their role as bank robbers. It gets even funnier when the local police keep thinking that the bank robbers are a malicious and very dangerous gang.

    I would’ve liked to have seen more of Ellen Thomas, the loquacious and horny local diva, she’s got some of the best lines in the film. Some of the robberies the gang pulls off are, however, a bit unbelievable and far-fetched, especially when they’re attempt at running away is basically a slow walk. But nonetheless it’s a charming film that will make you think what retirement holds in store for you – perhaps robbing banks to get even with the system.

    GOLDEN YEARS is available on DVD from Amazon
    www.facebook.com/goldenyearsmovie @goldenyearsfilm

  • FILM REVIEW | Ghostbusters

    FILM REVIEW | Ghostbusters

    GHOSTBUSTERS – New York is flooded by angry ghosts once again – who ya gonna call ?… The all female reboot that’s who.
    The Ghostbusters Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Holtzmann (Kate

    Nutshell – Thirty-two years after you first heard that legendary song and saw that logo the female Ghostbusters take over with a mega budget and a host of famous cameos plus all the major players (in different roles) from the original films. From the team that brought you recent megahits like Bridesmaids and Spy, means you are in very safe hands with four former Saturday Night Live girls in the lead roles who know how to get laughs a plenty. It has exactly the same tone as the original two movies and is great fun. Bustin’ makes us feel good.

    Time – 116 mins; Certificate – 12A.

    Tagline – ‘Who Ya gonna Call’ & ‘Answer The Call’.

    THE GAY UK FACTOR – If THEGAYUK office was making a Ghostbusters movie we would put Chris Hemsworth in tight T-shirts in as many scenes as possible. We would show several shots of the 6’4″ Aussie muscle hunk with his shirt off and we would close the movie with a three minute private lap dance with the sex god over the credits. Guess what the producers give us exactly all that and more and therefore topping up to our wank bank to the brim.

    Cast – Melissa McCarthy, Chris Hemsworth’s ass, Kristen Wiig, Chris Hemsworth’s pecs, Bill Murray, Chis Hemworth’s cock, Charles Dance, Chris Hemworth’s abs, Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Hemsworth’s thighs and an awful lot more of Chris Hemsworth and some other actors too…

    Key Player – Melissa McCarthy is the current queen of comedy and she leads from the front here in what should be an ensemble piece. She has so many funny lines many of which she ad-libbed. She is on the biggest roll in Hollywood at the moment with twelve straight hits and no misses and it won’t stop here.

    Budget – $144 Million, It will make a profit but won’t bust blocks as may have been hoped for it but a sequel will follow as set-up nicely with the post credit twist.

    Best Bit – 1. 44 mins; The end credits are simply great, with funny comedy clips, outtakes, sequel teasers and that Chris Hemsworth dance routine which caps out the whole movie nicely.

    Worst Bit – 21.00 mins; The big bad is neither very big or very bad and the film really picks up when in Scooby Doo type fashion the evil spirit starts to take over various main cast members and upping both the fun and jeopardy.

    Little Secret – When the movie was first assembled it was a butt clenching 4 hours and 15 mins long so some severe editing was required. As of today its trailer on YouTube was the most hated of all time as fans did not like the idea of the original guys being replaced by gals.

    Movie Mistake – Lots. After the first ghostly encounter when Erin is covered in gloop she hugs Abby who in the next shot has no gunk on her whatsoever, the ghostbusters vehicle Ecto 1 appears in their garage HQ before they have even acquired it in the story and the evil spirit can control a whole army of men and makes them dance but stupidly appear to have no power over the four ghostbusting girls who are obviously the real threat.

    Further Viewing – Ghostbusters 1 & 2, Men In Black 1 & 2, Bridesmaids, The Boss, Heat, Sister Act or anything with Sandra Bullock or Bette Midler in.

    Any Good – Perfectly adequate no more and no less. We have a suspicion that now all the homages to the original is out of the way that the sequel will be truly great. A weird kind of experience where after a neat opening scene, the movie then dips substantially and then gets gradually builds and gets better and better throughout as it progresses to a very lively climax . Giving you a marathon feel rather than a sprint.

    Rating – 51/100 (51st out of the last 100 films reviewed with 1 being Gay UK filmatic heaven and 100 being a dud).

  • FILM REVIEW | Nice Guys

    THE NICE GUYS – Bad cop, meaner sidekick in 70s set LA based film noir mystery thriller … and boy is it funny.

    Nutshell – Ryan Gosling’s ex-cop bumps into Russell Crowe’s hard case alcoholic hard nut investigator in a buddy movie where they simply hate each other. There is a dead porn star called Misty Mountains a femme fatale with a problem that goes right to the top. Slapstick, action, plot twists all laced with the Seventies feel of a Blaxpotation movie and Boogie Nights. The music is great, the story superb and the laughs between the two leads are plentiful.

    Time – 116 mins; Certificate – 15

    Tagline – ‘Nice Pair….They’re not that nice’.

    THE GAY UK FACTOR – Two of the sexiest men alive Gosling and Crowe going full mano et mano for the duration. This is masculine men ripping on each other and beating one another up rather than off for the duration. If you like either of these two guys you will truly love this and the film is about the porn industry too.

    Cast – Russell and Ryan, Angourie Rice and the gorgeous Kim Basinger.

    Key Player – Shane Black the director. A true pet project from the Iron Man director and writer of all the Lethal Weapon films, The Last Boy Scout and Last Action Hero. This guy knows buddy films as he in effect invented them and this is his masterpiece of the genre.

    Budget – A relatively modest $50 Million with stars of this calibre but period films always cost a lot so that money would be quickly mopped up. No problem as it got into profit in under two weeks and there is a lot more money on the way for this one.

    Best Bit – 1.05 mins; The secret is the interplay between the two leads and it is best shown in a comedy masterclass inside a toilet closet.

    Worst Bit – 1.10 mins; The unnecessary dream sequences the first one leading to a car crash just don’t fit with the films tone – who needs giant bee’s etc ?

    Little Secret – The project was initially proposed as a TV series but was re-tooled as a film after the pilot seemed to be going nowhere – good decision.

    Movie Mistake – As with all period pieces there are so many – both the Earth Wind & Fire songs in the club were not released when the movie was set and the song “Get Down On It” was 5 years later. Posters for Blondie who weren’t even formed then and TV shows and films such as London Calling did not exist in 1977 when this was set.
    Further Viewing – Lethal Weapons 1 through 4, Hot Fuzz, Men In Black, Hollywood Homicide, In Bruges and most of all the Rush Hour series.

    Any Good – This is pure cinema marmite if you like the tone it will be one of your favourites of the year if not you will just enjoy it as a decent well acted comedy thriller..

    Rating – 67/100 (67th out of the last 100 films reviewed with 1 being best and 100 being a damp squib).

  • FILM REVIEW | Absolutely Fabulous The Movie

    FILM REVIEW | Absolutely Fabulous The Movie

    ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS : THE MOVIE – The good time girls of PR and fashion are back to expand the hit TV show in possibly the gaiest film ever made.

     

    Nutshell – 25-years after the show debuted we finally get the movie version we wanted. Picking up in real-time the WHOLE cast of major and minor characters are back all a bit older but just as funny this time round. Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders the writer) has lost all her money and desperately needs new clients which leads to a tragic accident resulting in both Edina and walking drug cabinet Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley having to go on the run to the South of France to do a bit of goldigging with an old flame played by Barry Humphries and ‘hilarity ensues’ in this cameo heavy laugh out loud pop culture juggernaut.

    Time – 91 mins; Certificate – 15.

    Tagline – ‘It’s A Huge Great Bloody Movie, Sweetie’.

    THE GAY UK FACTOR – So wonderfully camp Ab Fab makes Pride and Priscilla look like Rocky and Rambo by comparison. With early cameos from a Spice Girl, Lulu, Graham Norton, Rylan Clark, Dame Edna and Biggins it wraps itself in the gay flag with sequins on from the get go. Later it even goes to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern with a sing-a-long from a hundred drag queens led by La Voix and Jodie Harsh so this is gayer than Ricky Martin doing Louie Spence in the front row of an ABBA reunion show with Kylie holding the lube and we just love it.

    Cast – Basically everyone – All the main cast Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks, June Whitfield, Kathy Burke etc plus endless cameos (see above) plus Kate Moss, Rebel Wilson, John Hamm, Jerry Hall, Joan Collins, Dawn French, Gaultier, Hilton, Tempah, McCartney and a hundred others.

    Key Player – Joanna Lumley has been gifted by Saunders with all the best lines for years and she does not just deliver them with her usual style she now basically lives inside Patsy’s skin making one of the most recognisable gay icon characters in history and this is her ultimate high-heeled platform to entertain.

    Budget – $20 million but it will make back a fortune. When TV comedy hits on film like The Inbetweeners or Alan Partridge it runs and runs as opposed to flops like The Harry Hill or Bad Education movies so the cash will rightly flow. The difference here is that this one will score overseas too especially in North America.

    Best Bit – 0.20 mins; When you get a great scene where the PR guru’s are in full mode planning a lavish event lead by Kathy Burke on powerhouse form closely followed by the star-studded hugely funny red carpet which is so fast paced that you want it to last a whole lot longer.

    Worst Bit – 90.00 mins; Nothing wrong with the film at all and it keeps the tone and laugh quotient high throughout. The big disappointment is the soundtrack which could have been a gay classic and a CD to treasure for years but nothing that exciting or inventive here so give iTunes a miss unless you really want an average version of Kylie rehashing “Wheels On Fire” and some French ballads.

    Little Secret – Dawn French in an attempt to get the film kickstarted bet Jennifer Saunders £10,000 that she wouldn’t have a movie script for Ab Fab finished by the end of the year (2015). Dawn lost when the script was delivered but later found that after page 35 there was nothing typed other then Blah, blah, blah. June Whitfield btw turned 90 during filming – go girl!

    Movie Mistake – TBH we were laughing so much that we didn’t notice any real bloopers. There was some average stunt scenes where obviously vehicles have no drivers in them or are male stunt drivers but who really cares, just enjoy.

    Further Viewing – All the camp classics like Bruno, Priscilla, Mamma Mia, Spice Girls The Movie, Pride, Too Wong Fu, Bridesmaids or anything starring Bette Midler or Judy Garland.

    Any Good – Never has a movie been so more appropriately titled. Yes it is very good, very funny and will deliver exactly what you are expecting. Basically if you are reading The Gay UK you have either already seen this or will be planning to very soon and there is not a single reason we can think of to make you change your mind. So time to smuggle in the Bollie and the nibbly little bits into your local multiplex and have a right good laugh, sweetie, darling.

    Rating – 15/100 (15th out of the last 100 films reviewed with 1 being Gay UK filmatic heaven and 100 being a dud).

  • FILM REVIEW | The Secret Life Of Pets

    THE SECRET LIVES OF PETS – Is this the best film of the year? A modern animation film with as much appeal for adults as kids – just like Pixar used to be with added heart and more laughs per minute than Mrs Brown’s Boys or Ab Fab.

    Nutshell – A group of pets have one hell of a day when their owners are out at work. Centred largely around two dogs that via a chain of events get themselves lost across New York and then fall in with some very bad animals indeed. The rescue is on from another hound in love. He meets, an overweight cat, some birds and a rodent and it is pure happiness from start to finish.

    You will laugh in the first thirty seconds and still be splitting your sides 90 minutes later.  Let’s make it simple; this is a classic and a must see. In this depressing Summer. This film is the tonic we all need and then some. Bloody fantastic.

    Time – 90 mins; Certificate – U

    Tagline – ‘Ever wonder what your pet’s do all day?’.

    THE GAY UK FACTOR – Don’t be sick, if you’re into animals in that way move on now. This is simply the best fun you can have with your clothes on.

    Cast – Voice cast of quality rather than pointless star names for the sake of it. Albert Brooks, Kevin Hart, Louis CK, Dana Carvey and Steve Coogan.

    Key Player – Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch the three writers that give us a fresh, fun, laugh out loud, thrilling and exciting story that all this year’s live-action blockbusters have failed to do.

    Budget – $75 Million only opened in a couple of European territories but we expect it to make over $150 million and climbing in a month then there are DVD sales, TV Deals, toy sales and a million other memorabilia marketing possibilities after all this is the team behind the Despicable Me series and look what they did with that Minions brand.

    Best Bit – 0.01 mins; Which is when you first realise how good this movie is going to be but we could have picked any of the 90 minutes right through to the superb Bill Withers song climax set piece.

    Worst Bit – There isn’t one. There we said it. Maybe if you don’t like snakes, there is a dark sequence in the middle that will leave you squirming.

    Little Secret – 2016 will go down as the best year for animation in history ironically in a year that has been largely rubbish for live action. With Zootropolis, Kung Fu Panda, Angry Birds, The Jungle Book, Ice Age and Finding Dory plus more to come all hitting really big the animated Oscar race will be cutthroat we presumed it was a shoe-in for Zootropolis, but now it is probably handing the trophy over to these furry critters.

    Movie Mistake – There is never any mistakes in animation just loads of opportunities for fun inserts, and here we have a lot of references to characters from the studios megahit Despicable Me series as well as posters on buses etc. for their forthcoming movie releases like Sing – never miss a chance for a few subliminal advertising guys.

    Further Viewing – Monsters Inc, Toy Story 3, Babe, Finding Nemo, Shrek, Zootropolis, The Jungle Book, The Lion King and anything else from Disney/Pixar or Dream Works with four legs.

    Any Good – Well Yessss! Hopefully, by now you will have got the message that this is unmissable. If you own a pet of any sort or love animals, then you will get even more out of this. Take your niece, your nephew, the noisy kid from next door but whatever you do go and see the most lovable group of animals since Mowgli set foot in the jungle or Babe learnt how to herd sheep.

    Rating – 6/100 (6th out of the last 100 films reviewed with 1 being Gay UK heaven and 100 being pants)

     

     

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Florence Foster Jenkins – Some Of The Right Notes In All The Wrong Places

    FILM REVIEW | Florence Foster Jenkins – Some Of The Right Notes In All The Wrong Places

    ★★★★★ | Florence Foster Jenkins

    CREDIT: Pathe

    Meryl Streep shines in this touching tribute to the eccentricities of an ageing heiress.

    Meryl Streep once again proves that she is one of the world’s greatest actors. This time Streep takes on the role of Florence Foster Jenkins, the ‘world’s worst opera singer’, who was a rich New York heiress who lived from 1868 to 1944.

    Florence Foster Jenkins was an incredibly successful performer within her own Vaudeville circuit, owning the audience with her incredible tableaux’s. However  she feels that her musicality (she was a child prodigy piano player, until illness robbed her of her ability to use her left hand) is being stymied. The larger than life character of Foster Jenkins decides that she wants to take up opera again, the problem is that she can’t sing, well at least to the ears that are around her. Whether she didn’t know this or refused to accept it is lost in the annals of history, but Foster-Jenkins was a force to be reckoned with, who once made a decision stuck to it doggedly, right to its conclusion.

    After hearing a young Soprano, she sets about making her life-long dream to play at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, a reality. She hires a pianist, expertly portrayed by Simon Helberg (The Big Band Theory) and one of the world’s greatest vocal coaches (David Haig) and along with her Yes Man husband/manager played by a doting Hugh Grant, who pays off critics and audience members to enjoy Foster-Jenkins’ performances, Foster-Jenkins sets herself up for a mighty fall.

    Once again Meryl Streep proves that her acting is all in the eyes. She plays the ageing Foster-Jenkins with a delicacy that is truly touching and shows how poignant an actor she is. Streep manages to bring  hilarity and tragedy into one role. As she flings herself into one of opera’s most demanding arias, the Queen Of The Night, she takes on a Patricia Routledge (Keeping Up Appearances) form, yet is able to truly showcase the depth of Foster Jenkins musings and sheer love of life and ‘anything is possible’ attitude. We could all learn a thing or two from Foster-Jenkins. Hugh Grant perfectly plays his usual suave, English highly impotent secondary character allowing Streep’s magnificent talent to shine through.

    Directed by Stephen Frears and written by Nicholas Martin, this faithful retelling of the famous opera singer that never was, is a laugh out loud, poignant look back at a forgotten era.

  • FILM REVIEW | Marguerite

    FILM REVIEW | Marguerite

    ★★★★

    An aristocrat who thinks she can sing but really can’t is the new French film Marguerite.

    (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW | How To Be Single

    FILM REVIEW | How To Be Single

    ★★ How to be Single | Not a film for you if you’re ready to mingle.

    (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW | Dirty Grandpa

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

  • FILM REVIEW | The Lobster

    Imagine a world where if you can’t find a parter in 45 days you will be changed into the animal of your choice. That’s what ‘The Lobster’ is all about.

    (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW: Faults

    A down on his luck cult expert is hired by a couple to deprogram their daughter in the new online film Faults.

    (more…)