Tag Archive for '800'

Does Colin Firth have a point about the plight of gay actors?

Published
by
Beth
on February 3, 2010
in Couch Potato, Films on TV and News
. 4 Comments

Earlier this week A Single Man star and Oscar nominee Colin Firth voiced some long overdue statements about the problem that exists for gay actors in Hollywood. Click here for the full news story.

A SINGLE MAN, COLIN FIRTH

“If you’re known as a straight guy playing a gay role, you get rewarded for that,” he says. “If you’re a gay man and you want to play a straight role, you don’t get cast - and if a gay man wants to play a gay role now, you don’t get cast.”

It’s true. How many big name ‘out’ Hollywood actors can you think of? There are one or two Brits who’ve crossed over into LaLa land (Alan Cumming, Rupert Everett, Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry, Simon Callow), but of the Americans I can think of no big name male actors (the women are few and far between too. With the exception of Cynthia Nixon, they’ve all stopped making movies). So yes, Mr Firth is right, if you’re an out gay man and you want to play ‘a gay role or a ’straight role’, you don’t get cast.

A SINGLE MAN, COLIN FIRTH

Which brings me to my next question - how many mainstream movies can you think of that actually have central gay roles?

Think about it - I’m not talking about those gay characters that pepper the periphery of the action like Julia Roberts’s gay friend (Rupert Everett) in My Best Friend’s Wedding, Hugh Grant’s boisterous pal (Simon Callow) in Four Weddings and a Funeral, or Meryl Streep’s former sweetheart (Colin Firth) in Mamma Mia! No, I’m talking about films with central characters who are gay.

It’s difficult, but I’ve thought long and hard and here is my list of all the mainstream films I can think of featuring central characters who are gay. Its brevity is alarming.

So let’s see if Firth is right. How many of these gay characters are played by ‘out’ gay actors?

Brokeback Mountain: Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal - not gay

Milk: Sean Penn - not gay

A Single Man: Colin Firth - not gay

Capote: Philip Seymour Hoffman - not gay

Infamous: Toby Jones - not gay

Imagine Me and You: Piper Perabo, Lena Headey - not gay

The Birdcage: Robin Williams - not gay. Nathan Lane - yes, he’s gay!

The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert: Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving - none are gay

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar:  Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo - not gay

Wilde: Stephen Fry - yes gay, Jude Law - no, not gay

Far From Heaven: Dennis Quaid - not gay

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: Kevin Spacey - not gay, he says.

Philadelphia: Tom Hanks - not gay

Maurice: Hugh Grant,  James Wilby - not gay

Food for thought eh?

If you’re prepared to stay up into the early hours then you can catch The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert at 1.15am tonight (3rd Feb) on TCM

Or you could stay up even later tomorrow night to watch  To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar at 4am on Sky  Screen 1 HD

Click here to check out more film news.

Nicolas Cage is certainly a bad lieutenant but is Mariah Carey really a good actress?

Published
by
Adele
on November 25, 2009
in News and News Hound
. 0 Comments

News Hound sniffs around the back alleys of the internet to bring you the latest showbiz news - because there’s nothing like a juicy bone to get you through the day…

paw-print.jpgNicolas Cage’s black comedy Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans hasn’t exactly smashed box office records, but it is enjoying excellent reviews all round.

paw-print.jpgGuy Pearce has joined the cast of Roger Donaldson’s vigilante thriller The Hungry Rabbit Jumps, starring Nicolas Cage and January Jones. Shooting starts in New Orleans in two weeks.

Guy Pearce

paw-print.jpgIf you haven’t heard, studio giant MGM put itself up for sale 13 November. Now the bidding is about to start. So if you’ve got $2billion littering your bank account then you might be the next movie mogul, but it’s likely that Time Warner, News Corp. or Lionsgate will beat you to it.

paw-print.jpgMariah Carey has won a Breakthrough Performance award at the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival for her role as social worker Mrs Weiss in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. Looks like Mariah can finally put her Razzie days behind her.

At the Cinema | Traitor

Published
by
Jason Best
on March 27, 2009
in Cinema Releases
. 0 Comments

Traitor - Don Cheadle & Guy Pearce star in this action thriller set against the backdrop of the war on terror

Ridley Scott tackled the War on Terror last year with his muscular action thriller Body of Lies (which gets its DVD release on Monday 30th March). Now another film turns up at the cinema with the aim of getting to grips with America’s fraught relationship with the Islamic world while delivering an action movie’s thrills and spills.

Based on an original idea by Steve Martin (yes, that one), the film stars Don Cheadle as Samir Horn, a Sudan-born, American-educated Muslim who used to be a US Special Forces explosives expert but now appears to be working with an Islamic terror cell responsible for a series of bombings across Europe.

As the group’s attentions switch to the US, FBI agent Roy Clayton (played by Guy Pearce) leads a desperate hunt for Horn, but is his quarry actually playing a dangerous double game?

Traitor distinguishes itself from Body of Lies by making its protagonist a Muslim with ambivalent loyalties, rather than a conflicted American. (In this respect, the movie actually more closely resembles the US TV series Sleeper Cell.) Writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff bends over backwards to be even-handed, but his attempts at balance come over as earnestly unsubtle.

So, to give one example, Pearce’s thoughtful, enlightened FBI agent (he even has a PhD in Arabic studies, for heaven’s sake) gets counterpoised by a fellow agent played by Neal McDonough, a knee-jerk bigot who’s in favour of torture – just in case we’d forgotten that the West has its bad apples too.

Nachmanoff’s heart is clearly in the right place, and he handles his plot’s twists and turns competently, until, that is, he goes off the rails completely with a fatuous ending. Yet, ultimately, his film’s very worthiness dragged it down. Compared with Traitor’s pious scruples, I found Body of Lies’ murky moral equivocations much more convincing and exciting.

General release from 27th March

Win a copy of L.A. Confidential on DVD

Published
by
Jason Best
on March 2, 2009
in Competitions
. 0 Comments

LA Confidential - win a copy of the classic thriller on DVD

This competition has now closed. 

Curtis Hanson’s period crime thriller L.A. Confidential is over a decade old, but with its release on DVD and Blu-ray as a two-disc special edition the 1997 movie remains as gripping as ever.

Based on James Ellroy’s novel and set in 1950s Hollywood, the movie tells a densely-plotted tale of police corruption and murder, and boasts a flawless ensemble cast - including Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kim Basinger, Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito.

We have five copies of the 2-disc DVD special edition to give away, courtesy of Warner Home Video. To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the following question:

One of L.A Confidential’s cast won an Oscar for the film. Was it:

A)    Russell Crowe
B)    Kim Basinger
C)    Kevin Spacey

Send your answer, clearly marked LA Confidential DVD Competition in the subject line, to movietalk@ipcmedia.com. The closing date for entries is Thursday 19 March 2009.

Please note: we will collect your personal email data solely to process your competition entry. Prizes will be awarded to the first three correct entries drawn at random under independent supervision after the competition closes at midnight on 19 March. We will notify the winner by email within 21 days of this closing date. The prize consists of a copy of the 2-disc DVD special edition of LA Confidential. Promoter: IPC Media. Prize Supplier: Warner Home Video. For full terms and conditions, see here.

Couch Potato Pickings - The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Published
by
Beth
on September 2, 2008
in Couch Potato and Films on TV
. 2 Comments


The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce

Last week it was Transamerica, this week it’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - transsexuals are all the rage on TV at the moment it seems, and there’s more to come on Thursday. This road movie is the story of a transsexual drag artist and her two drag artist friends who travel from Sydney to a gig in Alice Springs, crossing the Australian Outback in a flamboyantly decorated second-hand bus they affectionately name Priscilla.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Australia really does produce some fabulous comedy. This is one of my favourite films of all time. It has everything that’s enjoyable about a great drag act (humour, sarcasm, self-deprecation, bitchiness, fabulous wigs, costumes and great songs) and sets it against the stunning scenery of the Australian outback. And, on top of all of that there’s an extremely moving story about friendship and identity that entertains on a deeper human level.

The costumes won an Oscar, the film was nominated for loads of BAFTAs and the soundtrack is fantastic (it includes I Will Survive, I Don’t Care if the Sun Don’t Shine, I Love the Nightlife, Finally, Save the Best for Last, Fernando and Mamma Mia).

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce

Here’s a taste of the movie played out to the film’s opening song, I’ve Never Been to Me.

I’ve been to me, as well as Georgia, the Isle of Greece and paradise. I’ve probably seen some things a woman ain’t supposed to see too, but I’d better not say too much about that.