THEGAYUK

Tag: Movie Genre Thriller

  • FILM REVIEW | The Ground Beneath My Feet – Intense

    FILM REVIEW | The Ground Beneath My Feet – Intense

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Very intense and dramatic, The Ground Beneath My Feet is a pure psychological thriller that will mess with your head.

    German with English subtitles, and released in Germany last year, the film follows Lola (Valerie Pachner), a very competitive business consultant. She tries to constantly outdo her co-workers, working very hard on a case that might take her to associate principal level. Lola, who gets by on 6 hours sleep, sleeps more in hotel beds than in her own bed and hits the exercise room at the crack of dawn for an intense workout. She’s having an affair with her boss Elise (Mavie Hörbiger), and she has a sister with mental and emotional problems and who is in a mental institution.

    So to add to the pressure of her job and the illicitness of her relationship, Lola works like crazy to get a deal through the finish line, but she’s also struggling to visit her sister Connie (Pia Hierzegger) and needs to make decisions that impact her life, especially more so when Connie is released. It’s a lot to juggle, and Lola is constantly on the go go go, and even her co-workers worry about her lack of rest. But strange phone calls from a stranger who claims to be her sister, and strategic games that her co-workers play against her shows that Lola’s world is not as perfect and calm as she would like to believe it is.

    Released to great reviews, and competed for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival, Director Marie Kreutzer brings us a taut, nail-biting psychological thriller where Pachner is at the heart of it all and brilliantly takes her character through an emotional rollercoaster.

    The Ground Beneath My Feet is available to stream or download from all major UK digital platforms – including Sky Store, Virgin Media, Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play and the BFI Player.

  • FILM REVIEW | Crisis Hotline – clever, dark and very sexy gay suspense film

    FILM REVIEW | Crisis Hotline – clever, dark and very sexy gay suspense film

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    The clock is ticking when a distressed young man calls an LGBT suicide hotline – but there is more to his story in the suspense-filled drama Crisis Hotline.

    It’s a film cleverly written and directed by Mark Schwab. The story begins where it ends and tells the caller’s story and why he has contacted the hotline on that particular night.

    Simon (a very good Corey Jackson) is in his first-week volunteering at the hotline office and not much has happened. But one night a young caller, sounding very distressed, threatens to kill himself. So Simon gets the caller to tell his story and the events that have led up to this very disturbing call.

    Danny the caller (Christian Gabriel), who is from the Midwest, is new to the big city, trying to find his feet, with a dull job and a very small apartment. Soon enough he meets sexy, hot and fun Kyle (Pano Tsaklas), who on the surface appears to have it all: a great apartment, a sexy smile and hot body, and a great job managing websites for a gay couple who have a voracious appetite for sex and all things dark.

    Soon enough Kyle introduces Danny to his bosses Curtis and Lance (Mike Mizwicki and August Browning). Danny then finds out more about Kyle’s line of work and what he really needs to do to keep his job and apartment. But Danny eventually gets drawn, unwittingly, into their dark games, with Kyle setting him up, which ultimately leads to the hotline call. And throughout the call, the suspense builds and builds and the story gets darker and darker until the shattering, and totally unexpected, finale.

    Schwab, who also produced, has a keen eye for suspense and drama and gets great mileage from his cast. While Gabriel doesn’t quite live up to his role and seems to be sleepwalking through the film, Tsaklas owns the movie with his looks, charm, and relative ease in his complicated role as an on-the-surface good and loyal boyfriend but with a dark and dangerous streak. Mizwicki and Browning are okay, but Jackson brings much to the film as it’s his pivotal role that holds the film together.

    He’s actually fantastic.

    Crisis Hotline throws social media, sex, love, lust, voyeurism and the dark web into one big mixing bowl to make an eerie, clever, dark, very sexy and fun film.

    Now available in the UK through Dekkoo.com

  • FILM REVIEW | The Host – a thriller that will put excitement into your evening!

    FILM REVIEW | The Host – a thriller that will put excitement into your evening!

    Rating: 3 out of 5.

    Why spend your evening on a boring Zoom chat when you can watch a film that is thrilling, dramatic and sexy!

    The film is The Host – and it is being released on April 17th on iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Apple TV and all major VoD platforms. 

    London banker Robert Atkinson (Mike Beckingham) has a good job, good looks, good everything, but wants more. When an opportunity arises for him to come into a lot of cash, via a Chinese cartel, he grabs it, but this leaves to unintended consequences that take him to Amsterdam, where he winds up as a guest in a very large house that has more secrets than you can count.

    The lady of the house, Vera (Maryam Hassouni), is mysterious yet alluring, domestic yet spidery, and she lures Robert into her web-like presence to a point of no return. Eventually, Robert’s brother Steve (Dougie Poynter) goes to Amsterdam to look for him, along with two detectives (Nigel Barber and Suan-Li Ong) who are investigating a crime they believe Robert is involved in. Mystery, drama and a good looking cast should be enough for an evening’s entertainment – yes?

    And even Sir Derek Jacobi makes an appearance!

    The Host is produced by Pearl Pictures Productions, who recently sponsored the Critics’ Circle Film Awards back in January (it feels like a long long time ago). Made by Pearl Pictures Productions, produced by Pearl’s Zachary Weckstein, and directed by Andrew Newberry, The Host was filmed in the heart of Amsterdam and London and has a great appearance by singer and actress Ruby Turner. 


    http://www.thehost.movie

  • FILM REVIEW | Vivarium – scary, and all too real!

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Imagine being trapped, held against your will, in a house and a neighbourhood that is weird and creepy. Actually that’s our reality right now, but take it one step further and imagine that there is simply no escape – and what you have then is Vivarium.

    Vivarium literally means an enclosure, container, or structure adapted or prepared for keeping animals under semi-natural conditions for observation or study or as pets; like an aquarium or a terrarium. In the new scary and disturbing science fiction movie Vivarium, Tom and Gemma (Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots) are being observed, studied, but by whom they, nor we, don’t know.

    Before this, they were just a young ordinary couple looking for a house to buy. Gemma was a teacher, while Tom was a DIY man. But one day they walk into a real estate agents office and meet an odd, clean-cut and crisp robotic salesman named Martin (Jonathan Aris) who is more than happy to show them a house at a development called Yonder.

    Once they get there, everything looks and seems perfect; homes all alike in an environment with round clouds and blue skies, while the house Martin shows them is perfect, almost too perfect. But Martin disappears while Gemma and Tom are looking around the home, and they get into their car and realize there is no escaping the neighbourhood. It’s then that their young idyllic future turns into a nightmare as they are forced to live in the house in which they can’t escape from, where food, and a baby boy, are delivered right to their doorstep, to create one happy family.

    ‘Vivarium’ shows a young couple right at their most vulnerable, put in a situation they simply just can’t escape from. Director and writer (with Garret Shanley) Lorcan Finnegan has a keen eye for detail, and as the mystery builds, so does the nightmare of the whole situation. Without being bloody and violent, Vivarium, is just downright scary, but more chillingly as perhaps because it seems all too real.

    Vivarium is available on the following digital platforms:

    iTunes/Apple TV
    Amazon
    Sky Store
    Virgin
    Google Play
    Rakuten
    BT
    Playstation
    Microsoft
    Curzon Home Cinema
    BFI Player

  • FILM REVIEW | Scribe

    An unemployed accountant takes a job that puts him in the middle of a political conspiracy in the new film “Scribe.”

    FILM REVIEW | Scribe

    “Scribe (La Mécanique de l’ombre)” is a timely taut French thriller that builds its suspense in events that lead up to a political election. François Cluzet is Duval, a recovering alcoholic who takes a job as a transcriber that is literally offered to him with no questions asked. He is tasked with typing telephone conversations from tapes that are numbered and left for him in a nondescript flat where he is all alone. He is told by his boss Clément (Denis Podalydés) to keep to himself, to remain unnoticed, and to not smoke in the flat. He is supposed to open the curtains when he arrives at 9 a.m. and to close them when he leaves at 6 p.m. But as the days go on and the conversations on the tapes he transcribes become all too realistic and downright criminal, it’s clear to Duval that the organisation he is working for is somehow involved in trying to manipulate the upcoming election. After a high profile figure is murdered, the conversation of which is on one of the tapes, it’s just a matter of time before Duval gets caught up in the conspiracy, and a murder,
    and eventually, his life is in danger by the very organisation that employs him.

    Scribe has all the ingredients of being a great political thriller in the same vein as The Manchurian Candidate and 2006’s Oscar winning German film The Lives of Others. Director Thomas Kruithof superbly builds the tension while at the same time not giving too much away during the film until its explosive ending. This film is well worth a watch.

    “Scribe” is in cinemas and on demand from 21st July

  • FILM REVIEW | Norman

    ★★★★ | Norman

    Richard Gere is excellent as always as a man who is desperate to do a deal but can’t seem to get a break in the new film Norman.

    Gere is Norman Oppenheimer, a New York hustler who appears to be living a life of lies – he doesn’t appear to have a place to live, he spends most of his time at a church that could possibly be a homeless shelter and talks about a daughter who may or may not exist. But he sees his fortunes possibly change upon a chance encounter with an up and coming politician. Then One day, after attending a conference, he sees Israeli politician Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi), Norman ingratiates himself with him by buying him an expensive pair of shoes, shoes that Norman probably can’t afford to pay for, but he does (though luckily for him Eshel refuses to get a suit as well). Three years later, as Norman still struggles to get one of his deals done, Eshel becomes the Israeli Prime Minister, so Norman realises that this could be his big chance to get into the big leagues. But what turns out to be a friendly relationship between Norman and the Prime Minister turns into nothing as Eshel sees Norman’s desperate attempts to be close to him a liability, which leaves Norman basically back to where he began – a fixer with nothing to fix.

    Gere does a nice turn as the ageing New York Norman who never quite seemed to have been much of a success in life. He plays Norman with such believability, desperateness, and a bit of wit that it’s hard not to fall for him a bit. The film’s subtitle – The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer – pretty sums up this film – but it’s Gere, who was excellent as a homeless man in 2014’s Time Out of Mind – who shines and makes this film worth a watch. And he’s as handsome as ever.

    Norman is now out in UK cinemas.

  • FILM REVIEW | Berlin Syndrome

    ★★★★ | Berlin Syndrome

    A young Australian woman visiting Berlin meets who she thinks is a perfect man but then he turns out to be too good to be true.

    In the new movie Berlin Syndrome, Is it a game or is it a nightmare? When Clare (Teresa Palmer) meets Andi (Max Riernelt) by chance on a Berlin street, she can’t resist his charms and good looks. She was planning on going to Dresden the next day but instead, she changes her plans to go out on a date with him. The date turns into a one-night stand, at Andi’s flat, in an isolated building in the middle of nowhere that’s typically Berlin. The next day, as Andi goes to his teaching job, Clare wakes up and realises she can’t get out of his flat as the front door and the windows are locked. She’s not too concerned about it because she assumes that Andi just forgot to leave her the key. He comes home from work and they spend the night in Andi’s flat having a romantic dinner, and Clare can’t resist spending another night there. When Andi does leave the key for her the next morning, Clare attempts to open the front door are futile – it’s actually locked from the outside. It’s at this point that Clare starts to panic. She breaks one of the living room windows only to discover it’s double glazed and can’t break the second window. And it’s only a matter of time until Andi comes home from work that their relationship takes a turn from a romantic one to a one fraught with panic, danger and suspense for Clare as she does not know what’s going to happen next. Minutes turn into hours which turn into days and Clare is fraught with more terror as she does not know what Andi has in store for her.

    Berlin Syndrome is almost two hours long, but it’s a film that will make your heart beat a bit faster, and will keep you holding your breath – it’s that suspenseful. Director Cate Shortland has given us a woman’s survival story, that, while the finale is a bit predictable and silly, starts out pure and innocent but then turns into a nightmare. It’ll make you have second thoughts the next time a guy invites you back to his place.

    Berlin Syndrome is now playing.

  • Film REVIEW | Nocturnal Animals

    Film REVIEW | Nocturnal Animals

    ✭✭✭ | Nocturnal Animals

     

    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS film review
    Credit: Merrick Morton/Universal Pictures International

    Tom Ford’s highly anticipated second film, Nocturnal Animals, is both brilliant and confusing, no thanks to its three stories in one arc.

     

    Amy Adams is art dealer Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) who lives high above the Hollywood Hills in a seemingly loveless marriage to her philandering husband Hutton (Armie Hammer). One day she receives a book called Nocturnal Animals written by her ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal, in one of his best performances in years). It’s been 19 years since they broke up, well actually Susan broke it off with him, and she hadn’t heard or seen of him since then. So it’s bit unusual for her to receive a book from him, knowing that he’s been a struggling writer all his life. While her husband is away on one of his many business trips, she settles down to read the book. It’s then that Nocturnal Animals the book becomes a whole second movie, a second movie so brilliantly written, acted, and told that it should’ve been the movie that is Nocturnal Animals.

    The book is a tale of revenge, rape and murder, brutal and in your face and it’s directed wholly at Susan. While it’s obvious it’s a work of fiction, it’s brutal and horrific. The book as we see play out tells the story of fictional character Tony (Gyllenhaal) with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) along with what could be (or not) their daughter – this plot point is not very clear, driving in Texas when they’re menaced by a gang of rednecks led by Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a performance you will never forget which won him a Golden Globe Award). The menacing turns much much worse, but only towards the women, and it’s too much to give away here to explain what happens to them. Suffice it to say you will be on the edge of your seat while this story is unravelling. And Oscar-nominated Michael Shannon is the cop who is roped in to investigate the grizzly crime.

    Nocturnal Animals also replays the beginning of the relationship between Susan and Edward – how they met on a New York City sidewalk, then had a loving relationship, only for Susan to drop him (it’s not clear why she leaves him).

    All of this is played out in just under two hours. Nocturnal Animals is a haunting romantic thriller with tension throughout, but it’s also a bit of a letdown after the brilliant A Single Man. Adams doesn’t have much to do except read the book in which the most exciting scenes of the film play out. A couple plot points are head scratching – a phone call Susan makes to her daughter – a real daughter or it she a hallucination due to Susan’s lack of sleep – (nocturnal), and Edward’s grudge for 19 long years – really? Nocturnal Animals is a movie that is so cruel and cynical, a story so much about disloyalty and especially about revenge, and it becomes very very violent and very very dark, and Ford dedicates it to his husband Richard and their son Zach. A bit narcissistic if you ask me.

    Now available for Digital Download, Blu-Ray™ and DVD
    From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

    BLU-RAYTM, DVD & DIGITAL BONUS FEATURES:
    The Making of Nocturnal Animals – Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Ford, and other cast and filmmakers recount how they brought such a unique story to life including:
    -Building the Story – Tom Ford and cast examine the central characters and how they fit into the story.
    -The Look of Nocturnal Animals – Filmmakers and cast discuss how the cinematography and costumes give the film such a distinct and rich feel.
    -The Filmmaker’s Eye: Tom Ford – See how Tom Ford’s attention to detail adds layers to the two interwoven stories at the center of the film.

  • FILM REVIEW | Inferno

    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.

    film review of Inferno with Tom Hanks
    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%

  • FILM REVIEW | Now You See Me 2

    NOW YOU SEE ME 2 – The sequel to the surprise hit magicians turned thieves movie from 2013. This time the bad guys from episode one are after revenge but nothing is what it seems.

    Nutshell – The Four Horseman magician team are in hiding after the events of the first movie. An attempt to bring down a ‘Steve Jobs’ type character goes badly wrong and they escape down a builders shoot in New York and come out the other end in Macau, China into the hands of a new techno wizz kid wrong’un! Who is the bad guy?, Who’s on the good side? It all turns in on itself many times like a coiling reptile with big set pieces, reveals and high drama like the best magic should with the years starriest cast.

    Time – 129 mins; Certificate – 12A

    Tagline – ‘Reappearing June 30th – You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet’.

    THE GAY UK FACTOR – Dave Franco the youngest of the horseman is just so damn cute and hot we just want to make magic babies with him all day and night. If you can watch this movie and not think about his ass all the time then you are better than us. As an added bonus Harry Potter himself Daniel Radcliffe turns up and boy is he starting to look a real hottie – Expelliramus, the boy has become a man

    Cast – Well known as the biggest starriest cast of the year with Jessie Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark ‘The Hulk’ Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Franco, Ratcliffe and the sexiest thing to ever come out of Devon the Divergent star Ben Lamb

    Key Player – This is Jessie Eisenberg’s film, The Social Network star has turned into an actor that draws the eye away from everyone in all the movies he is in. He is a true star here.

    Budget – $90 Million mostly in star wages but only made 65 mil back. A huge chunk of the film is located in China matching the current trend from films such as Transformers etc to directly target the huge Asian box office which may help this film’s figures.

    Best Bit – 0.58 mins; A break in to a high-tech facility which requires an extensive slight of hand set of tricks with a single playing card involving all five magicians.

    Worst Bit – Two huge problems firstly Isla Fisher is greatly missed as the female horseman and Harrelson’s twin character here does not fit and really annoys in every scene he is in and as for his hair and facial hair ? – it’s just some rubbish casting.

    Little Secret – Isla Fisher had to be replaced and the story rewritten due to pregnancy.

    Movie Mistake – Lot’s; The Dallas skyline is used for the second safe scene supposedly in China, The FBI’s GPS seems to be on the blink and pointing at all sorts of places in London rather than Greenwich as it should be and as for the Dave Franco doing the public street three card trick in Covent garden at the same time as hypnotizing a key character in Greenwich well now that is real magic!

    Further Viewing – Now You See Me 1, The Illusionist, The Prestige, Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire, Hugo, Legend and The Great Houdini.

    Any Good – Well it is all pretty confusing and don’t even consider it if you have not seen the first film. Basically this just isn’t as good as the original which was fresh, fun and exciting this seems like a straight forward repeat film without the fizz – a magic trick that just doesn’t really come off.

    Rating – 66/100 (66th out of the last 100 films reviewed with 1 being Gay UK heaven and 100 being pants)

  • 60 SECOND FILM REVIEW: Eye In The Sky

    EYE IN THE SKY – Real Time Thriller, Real decisions behind fighting war long distance by drone & huge moral issues.

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