Tag: Movie Genre Drama

All movie reviews for films in the Drama genre

FILM REVIEW | Burning Blue

✮ | Burning Blue

In 1995, I saw a play in the West End called Burning Blue. It was a brilliant telling of a story about the relationship between two gay men in the US Navy in the 1980s. It was brilliant, memorable, and award-winning. A new film version of the play has just been released and it’s quite the opposite.

The play was written by David Milne Greer and is based on his experiences as a US Navy Aviator in the 1980s. The fictional story is about an investigation into a naval accident that turns into a gay witch hunt and is based on Greer’s knowledge of the treatment of gay men in the US Navy. Two Navy fighter pilots – Daniel (Trent Ford) and Will (Morgan Spector) – live and work aboard a Navy destroyer in very close quarters with other servicemen.

An accident that involves Will is investigated by the higher ups and puts their unit under intense scrutiny. Complicating things is the arrival of a third pilot Matt (Rob Mayes), and he and Daniel fall in love, causing Matt to leave his wife. But this type of behaviour was not accepted during the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ era; homosexuality in the Navy was just not allowed, and there were serious consequences for out gay men. Needless to say, Daniel and Matt’s relationship can’t endure the Navy’s ant-gay policy, and then suddenly theirs, and Will’s, lives are changed forever when another accident happens.

You would think a film about this timely subject would expertly crafted and well told. Well, it’s not. The pacing and acting of the movie are just horrible; scenes go on for a longer than they should, the acting (unfortunately), is stiff and wooden, and quite a few of the dramatic scenes are funny. Burning Blue has the look and feel of a Murder She Wrote episode, and it lacks the drama and intensity of the stage play. Burning Blue only gets one star – for tackling the theme of gay love in the military – but it tackles it very badly.

Now available to watch on digital download on iTunes and Amazon

10th November 2016
FILM REVIEW | The Magnificent Seven

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN – 56 years on from the original we get an almost note for note remake of the most famous Western ever made with big stars and modern day stunt action.

Nutshell – They just don’t make films like this anymore. This is as old-fashioned as a guy using a condom for a shag in a London gay fetish bar or sauna. A town in peril recruits Seven loners to help defend them against a veritable army of bad guys, cue a very extended climax which not everyone is going to make it through in one piece – it feels very dated but that might be its charm and with two massive lead actors it is a worthwhile popcorn guzzler.

Running Time – 133 minutes; Certificate – 12A

Tagline – ‘Justice Has A Number’.

The Gay UK Factor – Two hours of hot men in cowboy gear, it’s like Brokeback Mountain with a lot more sweat and testosterone. There is a massive subliminal gay undercurrent between two of the Mag 7 who always seem just 5 seconds away from slipping their tongues up each other’s mouths and jumping into the ‘saddle’ to explore the reverse cowboy position for a decent shag. The fact that the two guys in question are the hottest men here namely Pratt and Garcia-Rulfo make this virtual Western gay porn.

Cast – The Seven are – Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt (Hot off of Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic Park), Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, our newest man crush Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plus two more and Peter Sarsgaard on bad guy duties.

Key Player – Denzel Washington just has that star quality that holds your attention in any scene of any movie and no difference here – and it’s his first time in cowboy gear.

Budget – $90 Million, Not a runaway hit but will turn a small profit we predict.

Best Bit – 1.40 mins; When the bad guys get out their secret weapon and the tables take a major turn for the worse against our team of Seven and their townsfolk buddies.

Worst Bit – 0.45 mins; Still travelling around the Midwest recruiting the allotted number of outlaws/vigilantes but it’s getting a bit repetitive now.

Little Secret – This is a remake of the original Mag 7 from 1960 which itself was a remake of the Seven Samurai from Six years earlier. The ‘So Far So Good’ joke told by Chris Pratt is the same as the Steve McQueen joke in the original. Pratt’s horse was the same talented beast that starred in Spielberg’s War Horse movie.

Further Viewing – This is as generic a Western as you will see so anything from True Grit to Rio Bravo, High Noon, The Searchers, Stagecoach, Unforgiven or even gay cowboy porn like Fisting Ranch Hands or To The Last Man where a bottle of Jack Daniels is used as a dildo!

Any Good – Actually yes it is – there is nothing overly clever here but you will be engaged as the slow build of the film leads to the extended action climax where you really route for all the protagonists some of which probably won’t make it out alive.

Rating – 54/100 (54th out of the last 100 films reviewed with 1 being Gay UK filmatic heaven and 100 being a dud).

5th November 2016
FILM REVIEW | Beautiful Something

★★★★ | BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING

Four gay men, all with issues in their lives, experience a night of mystery and sex in the beautifully told Beautiful Something.

Writer Brian (Brian Sheppard) is sexy and picks up guys in bars and on the street – but they love him and leave him. Then there’s Jim (Zack Ryan), a wannabe actor who doesn’t realise that the man he lives with really really loves him. And that man is Drew (Colman Domingo), a tortured and passionate artist who uses Jim as his muse and model. And then there’s Bob (John Lescault), a wealthy talent agent who is chauffeured around town picking up men but not necessarily for sex. It’s one night in Philadelphia, and these men’s lives intertwine in search of meaningful connections on a night when anything is possible.

After a one night stand that for some reason goes horribly wrong, Brian goes for a walk and meets Jim, who’s just had a bust-up with Drew. They are immediately attracted to each other and have sex in the house that Jim shares with Drew. Drew, meanwhile, is so involved in his artwork that he’s doesn’t realise that Brian and Jim are downstairs getting it on. But this is not enough for Jim, and after Brian leaves and not wanting to stay home, Jim goes for a walk and is picked up, and intrigued by, Bob. They share a meal only after Bob tells Jim that if he’s an actor he must get out of the car. So Jim lies to Bob and they have dinner and eventually go back to Bob’s palatial home. Meanwhile, Brian looks up an old flame and Drew wonders what is really going on in Jim’s head. All this drama takes place in one sublime night, with the sprinkling lights of Philadelphia providing a romantic and perfect backdrop to the movie.

Beautiful Something beautifully explores the need for us gay men to seek out romance and adventure in the hopes of finding something, anything, meaningful. Director and writer Joseph Graham successfully captures a night these men, nor us, won’t forget.

With excellent and realistic performances throughout, Beautiful Something, inspired by real-life experiences, will put a twinkle in your eye and the optimism of love in your heart.

Available on DVD & Digital HD on November 7th, 2016

3rd November 2016
FILM REVIEW | Inferno

INFERNO – First we had The DaVinci Code then Angels and Demons now the fourth Robert Landon story becomes the third Dan Brown film adaption.

Jonathan Prime – (c) 2015 CTMG, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nutshell – Tom Hanks globe trots across Europe once again working out cryptic historical clues in another intelligent adventure from one of the Worlds favourite authors. This time the race is against the clock to save mankind from an apocalyptical plague that a nutter has created who has laid the trail along the descent Dantes legendary inferno.

Running Time – 121 minutes that fly by; Certificate – 12A

Tagline – ‘Every clue will take him deeper’, ‘Humanity’s last hope’

The Gay UK Factor – Mr blue eyes himself and one of America’s finest hunks of manhood Ben Foster struts his sexy as f*** stuff as the bad guy and boy does he fill out a designer suit well and we love a stud who dresses to the left suited and booted.

Cast – Tom Hanks (looking old) v Ben Foster (looking buff) helped by Felicity Jones, Omar Sy and Irffan Khan reunited after living through Jurassic Park.

Key Player – Dan Brown, the writer who stopped the world with the DaVinci Code’s reveal about the Last Supper picture and Jesus having a child comes up with more great inventive twists in a great thriller that wraps straight from today’s headlines mixes in great art and historical locations and then adds loads of chases so what’s not to like.

Budget – $75 Million but the yanks aren’t getting it so not busting blocks there but it is storming museum and cinema walls Internationally making a small fortune so easily making up for America’s lack of class here.

Best Bit – 0.58 mins; A deadly chase across a museum rooftop which is oh so tense with a stunning final stunt… Does everyone live?

Worst Bit – 1.40 mins; A very aged Hanks has to start fighting the baddies mano et mano when he would obviously rather be at home watching Country File with a mug of Horlicks.

Little Secret – Neither Director Ron Howard or star Tom Hanks ever do live action sequels (The exception being Toy story). This trio is their one exception but they see the books as all stand alone projects so don’t count as sequels. So don’t get your hopes up for Forrest Gump 2:Back to the chocolates, Apollo 14, Sleepless In San Francisco or Philadelphia:The PrEP Years.

Further Viewing – Obviously The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons then Jack Reacher, The Girl On The Train, The Game, Gone Girl and Insomnia.

Any Good – It is not as good as the previous two films but they set a very high bar. This is still a very entertaining two hours with not a wasted scene as all the explanation is craftily woven in and out of the action and the big set pieces. Another very clever piece of work from this franchise.

Rating – 56%

31st October 2016
FILM REVIEW | I, Daniel Blake

★★★★ | I, DANIEL BLAKE

A middle-aged man is down on his luck. He can’t work because he’s got a heart condition while at the same time he’s having trouble navigating the UK’s benefits system. He is I, Daniel Blake and it’s a film that opened this weekend.

I, Daniel Blake, which won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and directed by Ken Loach, is the story of one man, in Newcastle, and the trials and tribulations, and the humiliation and despair, he goes through in an attempt to receive benefits he thinks he’s entitled to. Stand-up comedian Dave Johns eloquently plays Blake, a man with so much heartbreak and despair where nothing goes his way.

We first meet Blake after he’s had a heart attack and can’t work anymore. So he applies for Employment and Support Allowance, but first, he must go through a rigorous telephone assessment by a health care professional who asks him some very intrusive questions. He then heads to the Jobcentre where he meets single mum Katie (Hayley Squires). She’s got two kids and has just been moved from London to Newcastle by the system because Newcastle is a cheaper place to house people on benefits. She barely has two pence to rub together, and she and Blake form a special bond. He’s there to help her around her house, he’s there to support her in any way possible, even after she shoplifts. And he’s there at her side when she makes a wrong decision to earn money. But it’s Blake who is spiralling down a hole; he can’t apply for benefits online because he’s never used a computer. Then he’s been judged fit to work, so his benefits stop, however, he doesn’t have a CV to look for work so he handwrites one. More despair comes his way when he is told that he doesn’t qualify for any benefit so he has to wait for a ‘decision-maker’ to decide his fate, while Katie has to rely on the local food bank in order to feed her family. It’s one thing after another for both in this very bleak film that shows how life really must be for people on benefits.

Johns, who has very few acting credits, is superb as Blake. He beautifully portrays a man down on luck who keeps losing his optimism and will to live along the way. Squires is just as good trying to survive in a town where she doesn’t know anyone with two kids who need to eat and have new clothes for school. Loach, who is British born, harshly displays the reality of the UK’s benefits system for people who are really in need, people who lose their dignity, navigating a system that works against them and not for them.

As Blake says in the film, “When you lost your self-respect, you’re done for.”

This film is a wake-up call with a strong message that this could happen to anyone of us.

24th October 2016
Film Review | Theo & Hugo – sexually charged and romantic

★★★★ | Theo & Hugo

Two men meet at one of Paris’ most popular, and notorious, gay sex clubs, and then embark on an evening with lots of twist and turns, in the new film Theo & Hugo.

You might think you’re watching a gay porn film as the first 20 minutes of Theo & Hugo is full-on man-to-man action – erections and anal sex are all on full display, filmed at L’Impact – a naked gay sex club in the Marais district in Paris. Theo & Hugo, In French, with English subtitles, is shot in real-time, and it’s in that club where Theo and Hugo meet, at exactly 4:27 a.m., amongst the writhing and moaning group of men who are all enjoying each others’ company.

While there, Theo and Hugo connect sexually, intimately, and emotionally. They then decide to leave the club together to carry on their night with each other. But what wasn’t discussed while they were having unsafe sex at the club was the use of a condom to prevent HIV transmission, as Hugo (Francois Nambot) tells Theo (Geoffrey Couët) that he is HIV+.

What transpires after is a rollercoaster of a night for both of them, when Theo goes to the hospital to get PEP (Post-exposure prophylaxis), a medication that should kill any traces of the virus that might be in his system.

Romantically, and responsibly, Hugo joins him there. They then wander the streets of Paris, on a night that could turn out to be either very romantic or very tragic, with the ramifications of HIV staring them right in the face, and the possibility that their encounter could be more than just an encounter.

Is Theo & Hugo a porn film or is it a film with an important message? This is something that you will have to decide, but nonetheless, it’s guerrilla and gay filmmaking at its finest. And Kudos go to the actors for ‘baring it all’ in scenes that are relevant to the message of the film, and to writers and directors Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau for bravely, and successfully, having the balls to make this controversial, yet romantic and engaging film.

11th September 2016
FILM REVIEW | Those People

★★★★ | Those People

Spoiled rich kids on Manhattan’s Upper East side have lots to deal with, including lack of parental guidance, and secret crushes on each other in the gay romance film Those People.

But it’s Charlie’s story. Played by Jonathan Gordon, Charlie, a painter, is one of five people in his very very tight knit group of friends, which includes two women and two other guys. One of the guys – Sebastian (Jason Ralph) – is who the group revolves around. Every emotion, laugh, anger that is emitted from Charlie has effects on the rest of the group. He’s at the center of everyone’s attention because his hedge fund father has just been sent to prison for swindling money, and it’s up to the gang to rally around Sebastian to make sure he’s protected from the media spotlight (and to perhaps help spend some of his money). And Charlie is at Sebastian’s every beck and call 24 hour seven days a week. When Sebastian asks Charlie to move in with him in his big empty house (poor him!), Charlie does so right away. You see, Charlie, for the past 15 years, has been carrying a torch for Sebastian, and Sebastian has known this but has never let on that he knows. Sebastian gets a kick out of it, without reciprocating back. But when Charlie meets successful pianist Tim (Haaz Sleiman) and slowly starts to fall in love with him is when Sebastian realizes that he might be losing Charlie to Tim. It gets all the more complicated after Sebastian’s father kills himself in prison, and Tim announces that he wants to take Charlie with him to San Francisco where he’s offered a great job. It’s a move that will make Charlie chose between his love for Tim or his loyalty and friendship and more for Sebastian.

Those People shows us what a group of young, rich, and goodlooking upper east side kids get up to. It’s a life of parties, drama, drinking and secret crushes. It’s a sophisticated, beautifully debut film brought to us by Director, writer and Producer Joey Kuhn. It’s a world he seems to know (he was born and raised in NYC), as he captures the lives of these upper crust young adults very well. And the cast are all respectable and fine. It’s a classy movie without being too snobby.

AWARD WINNER
Audience Award, Best Narrative Feature, NewFest, New York LGBT Film Festival
Best Actor, Jonathan Gordon, Atlanta Out on Film
Audience Award – Best U.S First Feature, Outfest Film Festival
Jury Award, Best Feature Film, Kansas City LGBT Film Festival

Those People is now available on DVD/VOD

18th June 2016
FILM REVIEW | Holding The Man

★★★★★ | Holding The Man

A moving and very emotional film about a gay couple during the height of the AIDS crises is beautifully told in the new film Holding the Man.

CREDIT: PeccaPics

(more…)

8th June 2016
FILM REVIEW | Alice Through The Looking Glass

★★★★ | Alice Through The Looking Glass

Disney’s new film Alice Through the Looking Glass hit theatres this weekend and it’s bound to be another huge moneymaker for the studio.

Alice Through the Looking Glass sees the return of the same actors who played the same characters from the 2010 film. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) travels back in time to try to save the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). Along the way she reconnects with her friends including the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), Absolem (the late Alan Rickman) the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and of course the Mad Hatter. We’re also treated to a delicious turn by both Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen (and Alice’s sister) and Sacha Baron Cohen (as Time).

Alice has spent several years sailing the high seas (and following in her father’s footsteps). When she returns to London, she is asked (and demanded) to sign away her ship to her ex-boyfriend James (Ed Speelers). When she attends a meeting with him and her mother (Lindsay Duncan), she goes to an upstairs room and steps through a mirror, and through this mirror Alice takes a journey (literally through the looking glass) to Wonderland. It’s here where she sees all of her Wonderland friends, but something is not right with the Mad Hatter. She needs to turn to Time to correct things in the past that will make the Mad Hatter’s life better. Alice ends up taking a device called the Chronosphere, which allows her to travel back in time. She sees ways where she can help the Mad Hatter, but also comes across the events in her own life, which include a lie that she told as a young girl that tragically affected her sister the Red Queen. It’s all told, as expected from Disney, in very visual colors and 3D.

There was no way that anyone could top Tim Burton’s 2010 film, but James Bobbin (The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted) successfully manages to bring the story back to life, with the help of screenwriter Linda Wolverton (who also wrote Alice in Wonderland). But no film would be as good as this if it were not for the excellent cast. Wasikoska does her bit as Alice as well as she did in the 2010 film, but it’s the addition of Cohen as Time that adds a fun element to the film, where he, and the Red Queen, live literally in time. And it’s Carter as the Red Queen who steals every scene she’s in. With a huge head, and a huge head of hair, and makeup that’s expertly applied on her face to give her a highly unusual look, Carter chews up every scene she’s in (and in my opinion it’s an Academy-Award worthy performance, though it’s rare for a performer to receive one in a Disney movie – however, Meryl Streep was nominated for Into The Woods – but of course it was Streep!).

Expect Alice Through the Looking Glass to make lots and lots of money (though it doesn’t help that Johnny Depp is currently embroiled in a nasty separation with his wife Amber Heard)

Available as pre-order on Amazon | iTunes

30th May 2016
FILM REVIEW | Sing Street

★★★★ | Sing Street

CREDIT: (C) Lionsgate

It’s 1985 and the music of Duran Duran, Tears for Fears and Spandau Ballet were at the top of the charts. Sing Street follows the story of one young man during this era who decides to start his own band to woo a local girl.

Dublin during this time was not a very good place to grow up. People were flocking to London where careers and money were to be made. Fresh, young and innocent Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), baby-faced yet intelligent and going through puberty, is struggling with the eminent divorce of his parents. They no longer can afford to send him to private school so he’s chucked into attending the very rough Synge Street school where he immediately gets beaten up by the school’s bullies. But Cosmo comes up with the idea of forming a band because he wants to impress pretty 16-year old Penny (Maria Doyle Kennedy) who he spots sitting on her stoop at a girl’s boarding house where she lives. Cosmo immediately takes a liking to her but she says that she’s going to become a model and is planning on moving to London with her ‘adult’ boyfriend. But Cosmo is really keen on her and in order to impress her, together with his mates, they form the Sing Street band, but there’s a small matter of sourcing instruments and getting others (preferably talented) to join. After lots and lots of practice in a friend’s living room, Sing Street actually become very good. But Cosmo is still keen on impressing Penny, so he and the band invite her to star in their music video, made on the very cheap. As Sing Street continue to get better and better, and with fellow band members, they become local celebrities. With Cosmo’s no good for nothing brother Brendan’s support (Jack Reynor), who was never actually able to follow his dreams of leaving Dublin, Sing Street continue their plans to be successful and to conquer Dublin.

Sing Street is a good old fashioned British musical that could’ve been made with the Monkees back in the 1960s. But it’s now 2016 and Sing Street is a very good throwback to that era and captures the look and feel and sound of that time. Sing Street really works thanks to a great young cast and crisp direction and writing by John Carney (the Oscar-winning 2007 film Once). But it’s the music in Sing Street that will get you to tap your toe and to hum along. Music by the actual actors in the Sing Street band in the film, Duran Duran, Hall & Oates, and Adam Levine make this musical comedy drama a must see.

Order your copy from: Amazon

24th May 2016
FILM REVIEW | Philomena

★★★★★ | Philomena

It’s Anthony’s 50th birthday, a fact that Jane discovers when she finds her mother Philomena crying over an old photograph.

Anthony is the son that she had out of wedlock as a teenager in Ireland and who was forcibly taken by nuns and given away for adoption. It’s a tale that she has kept to herself for all these years but she can longer hold back on wanting to know whatever became of him.

A chance meeting leads Jane to Martin Sixsmith a former BBC journalist who just had to resign as a government spin doctor over a scandal and was now at a loose end. As an ex-foreign correspondent used to loftier matters he initially resisted the approach to investigate Philomena’s story as he considered human interest pieces beneath him. But he did reluctantly take on the project even though he initially had a great deal of difficulty adapting to Philomena and her world. She was still a devout Catholic, and a retired nurse with very simple tastes, plainly spoken and completely unworldly. And he was ex Oxbridge & Harvard, having spent years as the BBC’s correspondent in Moscow & Washington and was urbane, sophisticated and very sarcastic.

They started by taking a trip together back to the convent in Ireland where the baby had been born. Philomena still believed that the nuns would help her in her search even though all those years ago they had been prepared to let her die as a penance for her sins when it was a difficult breach birth. However, they drew a blank as the nuns claimed that all the papers relating to all the babies born there had been burned in a fire long ago. But later at the local pub where they were lodging, Martin learned that the nuns had burned all the evidence because they had actually been selling all the babies off to wealthy families in the USA.

Now that he senses that there is a real story to tell, he gets a contract with a magazine that will finance the next part of their search which will mean them both of flying to Washington D.C. to investigate any leads they can get from adoption agencies on immigration officials to find Anthony. Finding the son who was given away turned out to easier than even the intrepid journalist believed. However not only was it not the outcome that either of them had wished for, but it was what they also discovered about themselves as a result that had a profound effect on them both.

Director Stephen Frears (The Queen, High Fidelity) is so back on form with this wonderful new movie after his last three misfires. Based on a true story written by Martin Sixsmith …. and with a script co-written by Steve Coogan, who plays Martin in the movie … it’s a harrowing heartbreaking tale that fills one with so many emotions. In fairness, it starts out slowly, but once Philomena hits her stride and you begin to realise that this is far from a predictable birth-mother and child reunion story, that you start to choke up … and get angry too.

Dame Judi Dench reunited with Mr Frears (Mrs Henderson Presents) is flawless as Philomena, who she reveals has this wonderful sense of wicked humour, and on certain matters is a lot more worldly than we ever expected. Her rigid belief in her faith regardless of all the evil she uncovers is both remarkable and totally convincing, albeit hard to approve off. Despite all that she went through, she asks for very little ….’I’d just like to know what he thought of me, I have thought about him every day’. And she does at least get that. It is a breath-taking performance.

Steve Coogan plays Sixsmith rather drolly as a total non-believer and in the investigation itself is the ‘bad cop’ to her ‘good cop’ role. He and Philomena hold different views on almost everything, but as the search moves closer to its conclusion they develop a close bond together and a deep respect for each other.

This movie will probably end up on my year’s Best Movie List … I think it best to go into this movie knowing no more of the plot than what I have revealed here, but there is a very specific reason why all readers of thegayuk.com will so relate too it. Although I should perhaps share that you will more than one pack of kleenex handy, and also if you had a low opinion of the morals of Catholic nuns before this, you will discover that they are even more despicable evil than that. Urgh!

Such a treat.

Available to buy / view on: Amazon | Amazon Prime | iTunes

23rd May 2016