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Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

La La Land (Blu-ray Review) – Should it have won the Best Picture Oscar for more than 90 seconds?

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It’s the film that won the Best Picture Oscar for a whole 90 seconds, before the Academy managed to says, ‘Whoops, sorry, it was actually Moonlight’. However, it did pick up six of film world’s most prestigious gongs, including Best Actress for Emma Stone, and Best Director for Damien Chazelle. It was also the favourite for the biggest prize going into the ceremony, having charmed audiences with its tale of two people trying to find both love and artistic success.

In LA, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a jazz musician, working a dead-end job playing piano in a bar, but desperate to prove himself as a real force in a music form that many others have given up on. Mia (the brilliant Emma Stone) is a young woman who works as a waitress, but she also goes to a succession of auditions for movie and TV roles in the hope of finding success as an actress. [Read more…]

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Moonlight Takes The Best Picture Oscar, While La La Land Picks Up Six Awards

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Well, writers have something new to include when it comes to Oscars biggest gaffes and bloopers – and this one will probably top the list for a very long time. Faye Dunaway read out that La La Land had won the Best Picture Oscar, the producers came up to the stage, and then, partway through the acceptance speeches, they were interrupted to be told, actually no, it was Moonlight that was the big winner.

The mistake came about due to Dunaway and Warren Beatty being handed the wrong envelope, which read ‘Emma Stone – La La Land’. It was presumably was a duplicate of the Best Actress envelope, as Stone did win for that one. Despite a pause and Stone’s name being there, Dunaway decided to read it anyway.

After the mix-up, surprise winner Moonlight went off to gets its Best Picture gong. It’s impressive for a movie few had heard of before its release, and is about the sort of character – young, black, poor and gay – that the Academy Awards usually give short shrift to. However, perhaps thanks to the Academy’s diversity drive this year, where they set out to invite people from groups traditionally under-represented in the Oscar voting pool to become members, it has triumphed. Some has also suggested it perhaps partially redresses the balance after the gay-themed Brokeback Mountain lost out on the Best Picture to the now half-forgotten Crash, despite winning Best Director for Ang Lee. Moonlight now becomes the first gay-themed movie to win the Academy’s biggest prize.

Moonlight also picked up Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Adapted Screenplay for Barry Jenkins. Ali’s win also marked the first time a Muslim has taken an acting Oscar.

While La La Land had the Best Picture Oscar taken from its hands – literally – which probably tarnished the evening for them, the movie did win more awards than any other film, six in total. That includes Damien Chazelle, who becomes the youngest ever Best Director winner at the age of only 32.

Alongside Stone for Best Actress and Ali for Best Supporting Actor, the other performance gongs went to Casey Affleck who got Best Actor for Manchester By The Sea, and Viola Davis who picked up Best Supporting Actress for Fences. Davis’ win also puts her in the exclusive club of those who’ve won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony award.

You can take a look at a full list of winners below. [Read more…]

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La La Land Takes The Big Prize At The EE BAFTAs, But Moonlight Walks Away Empty Handed

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Do you know one of the reasons the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs manage to attract so many star names? It’s because of when they’re held. The Golden Globes come just a few days before AMPAS members have to submit who they think should be nominated for the Oscars, and the BAFTAs come just before the deadline for them to say who they think should win.

However, as the British equivalent of the Oscars, the BAFTAs are a big ceremony in their own right, and the stars descended on London’s Royal Albert Hall to see who would win.

La La Land was the big winner, taking Best Film, Best Director for Damien Chazelle, Best Actress for Emma Stone, as well as a few others. In the other acting categories, Casey Affleck took Best Actor for Manchester by the Sea, Viola Davis was given Best Supporting Actress for Fences, while Dev Patel won Best Supporting Actor for Lion.

Amongst the other awards there was a good spread of films being honoured, including I Daniel Blake, Kubo & The Two Strings, Jackie, Arrival and Hacksaw Ridge. However, notable by its absence was Moonlight, which may have won numerous Best Film accolades at other awards, but got nothing from the BAFTAs. However, the movie was hampered by the fact it’s only just being released in the UK. The other main LGBT hope for the evening, The Pass – which was up for Outstanding British Debut – also lost out.

Take a look at the full list of winners below (winners in bold): [Read more…]

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Moonlight Leads Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association Dorian Award Winners

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The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association Dorian Award winners have been announced, and not too surprisingly, a lot of love has gone to Moonlight. The melancholy gay-themed drama, adapted from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play about three phases of a man’s life, won five Dorians, including Film of the Year, LGBTQ Film of the Year, Director and Screenplay for Barry Jenkins and Best Film Actor for Mahershala Ali. Trevante Rhodes, who was nominated for Actor alongside Ali, was given the ‘We’re Wilde About You!’ Rising Star Award (named for the group’s patron saint, Oscar Wilde).

The Oscar frontrunner, La La Land, wasn’t completely left out though, winning Visually Striking Film of the Year. Viola Davis, who recently named by GALECA as one of the 10 Best Actress of All Time, earned Best Film Actress Fences. Movies that also scored wins include Christine, the devastating docudrama starring Rebecca Hall as ill-fated ‘70s newswoman Christine Chubbuck; the lesbian-tinged spectacle The Handmaiden; and the Kate Winslet romp The Dressmaker (for Campy Flick of the Year).

In the TV categories, The People v. O.J. Simpson won GALECA’s Drama of the Year, while one of its stars, Sarah Paulson, took TV Actress honors for her turn as prosecutor Marcia Clark. For the third year in a row, Amazon’s Transparent won TV Comedy of the Year, LGBTQ Comedy and TV actor for Jeffrey Tambor.

In a year rampant with voices demanding to be heard, former The Daily Show cast member Samantha Bee’s new TBS hit Full Frontal, a satirical and/or pointed take on current affairs, cut through the static and merited a Dorian Award. GALECA members also saw fit to reward Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the increasingly relevant Broadway hit Hamilton, as well as Saturday Night Live star/political satirist Kate McKinnon (twice). The late Carrie Fisher  was posthumously named Wilde Wit of the Year .

Then there’s John Waters, who was recently announced as this year’s GALECA Timeless Star, who offered this statement: “A ‘Timeless Star’? Wow! Does that mean good-old or crazy-new? Either way, I’m thrilled and honored to be called a star no matter which side of the camera I choose to be on.” The creator of Hairspray, Serial Mom, Polyester and Pink Flamingos, joins past honorees Jane Fonda, Sir Ian McKellen, George Takei, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Cloris Leachman.

GALECA is comprised of over 170 film/TV critics and entertainment journalists from across the US, Canada and the UK, and exists to bolster LGBTQ entertainment journalists as well as remind the world, and our at-risk youth, that ‘the gays’ have a distinct cultural history of helping put great movies and TV shows on everyone’s radar.

Take a look at the full list of Dorian Award winners below: [Read more…]

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La La Land Scores Record-Tying 14 Oscar Nominations, While Moonlight Gets Eight

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The Oscar nominations are here, and while many expected La La Land to do well, few expected it to tie for the record of most noms ever. It now matches All About Eve and the all-conquering Titanic with 14 nominations. As expected La La Land’s nomination haul included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Ryan Gosling and Best Actress for Emma Stone, as well as a raft of nods in everything from Best Original Song to Best Cinematography.

It was the only movie that did exceedingly well, with Arrival and Moonlight both scoring eight. It’s a particularly impressive achievement for the gay-themed, African American drama Moonlight, which many thought that despite being deserving, might struggle to get noticed in amongst the studio titles with much larger marketing budgets. It’s haul includes both Best Picture and Best Director nominations, and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.

Hacksaw Ridge, Lion and Manchester by the Sea followed them with six nominations apiece, and Fences and Hell or High Water with four each. It ensures that while La La Land has cemented its position as the frontrunner, there’s still plenty of space for others to win.

There were some surprises though, as while Arrival may have gotten eight nominations, Amy Adams – who many thought was a shoo-in – wasn’t among them. It’s also a bit odd that Suicide Squad (Best Make-up and Hairstyling) and Doctor Strange (Best Visual Effects) scored nominations, the best received superhero movie, Deadpool, got nothing.

Take a look at the full list of nominations below: [Read more…]

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La La Land (Cinema Review) – Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone star in a Hollywood love letter

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If you’re going to be brave enough to make a two-hour homage to the golden days of the Hollywood musical you’d better make sure you get it right. So many films have fallen into the trap – Frankenweenie, The Man Who Wasn’t There and The Good German are just a few examples of films that have tried so hard so pay tribute to great movies, that they forgot to be a film in their own right. What Damien Chazelle (whiplash) has done here is produce a beautiful, witty, warm homage, but manage to take it in a completely unexpected direction without spoiling the film’s internal logic. It’s fun, yes, but there is a sting in the tail – a nasty sting.

From the opening sequence we know we’re in safe hands. Hundreds of cars are stuck on the freeway, so what else to do for the drivers but to burst into song and dance. It’s brilliantly choreographed and filmed, in what appears to be a single shot. It’s full of joy and sets the scene for the story to come. Somewhere in the traffic jam is Ryan Gosling’s Seb, and Emma Stone’s Mia, and their first meeting is not a romantic one. [Read more…]

Gay-Themed Moonlight & The Pass Pick Up BAFTA Nominations

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A day after picking up a record seven Golden Globes, La La Land solidified its status as the Oscar frontrunner by picking up 11 nominations for this year’s BAFTA Awards. That included a Best Picture nomination, along with nods for Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and director Damien Chazelle.

The next highest number of nominations were Arrival and Nocturnal Animals, which scored nine each. However there was a bit of a surprise that Martin Scorsese’s Silence was shut out entirely.

On the gay-themed front, Moonlight scored four nominations, including Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor, and Naomie Harris for Best Supporting Actress. It was fewer noms than some had expected for the release – especially as Barry Jenkins didn’t get a Best Director nod – although it may have been hampered by the fact that it’s not due for release in the UK until mid-February – a good time to make the most of Oscar buzz, but a little late for the more British-based BAFTA voting cohort.

Elsewhere, the excellent gay-themed The Pass, starring Russell Tovey as a closeted soccer play, scored an Outstanding Debut nomination for John Donnelly (Writer) and Ben A. Williams (Director).

Take a look at all the BAFTA nominations below. [Read more…]

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Moonlight Takes Best Drama Golden Globe, While La La Land Sets A Record

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The members of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association sure like La La Land, with the movie taking a record seven Golden Globes, more than any other single movie has ever taken. It did so well that the only categories it was eligible for that it didn’t pick up, were the the Supporting Actress and Actor categories – and seeing as the movie is so strongly built around Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, that’s not too much of a surprise.

However, it wasn’t just La La Land at the Globes, as gay-themed drama Moonlight also had some extremely good news, as it took the Best Picture – Drama gong. It means that while La La Land is now the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar, Moonlight could cause an upset, having not just taken the Best Drama Globe, but also having won numerous critics association awards. It’s certainly an impressive achievement for a low budget movie that many had thought would go the route of Tangerine – scoring enthusiastic reviews and a lot of love, but getting overlooked by major awards bodies.

The Golden Globe awards were also marked by a lot of concern about the rise of Donald Trump, with Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited Series or TV Movie winner Hugh Laurie quipping, “Thank you, first of all, to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for this amazing honour. I suppose it’s made more amazing by the fact that I’ll be able to say that I won this at the last ever Golden Globes. I don’t mean to be gloomy. It’s just that it has the words ‘Hollywood,’ ‘foreign,’ and ‘press’ in the title.”

Meryl Streep also gave a pretty epic speech decrying Trump and calling on the arts and the press to hold power to account. You can take a look at it below.

One other thing many couldn’t help noticing was a same sex smooch at the ceremony! After Ryan Gosling beat Ryan Reynolds to the Best Actor – Musical or Comedy gong, Andrew Garfield was spotted planting a big smooch on Reynolds’ lips as Gosling went up for his award. You can take a look at that below too, along with the full list of winners. [Read more…]

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La La Land & Gay-Themed Drama Moonlight Lead The Golden Globe Nominations

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A lot of people wondered whether Moonlight would be this year’s Tangerine –  a movie that was heaped with critical praise but got completely shut out at the Oscars. However, if the Golden Globes is any indication, it’s got a good shot of being amongst the nominations for the Academy Awards. Indeed, it’s already racked up a series of wins at Critics Choice awards, and so may actually have a shot at the Best Picture Oscar itself.

The gay, African American-themed drama scored six nominations for the Globes, only beaten by the hotly tipped La La Land with seven, which is currently the frontrunner for the Oscars too. Moonlight scored nominations in the Best Picture (Drama), Best Director (Barry Jenkins), Best Screenwriter (Barry Jenkins), Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali), Best Supporting Actress (Naomie Harris), and Best Original Score category.

Unfortunately no other LGBT-themed project got much love, but there were a few interesting nominations. For a start, Deadpool got surprise nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Ryan Reynolds. It was also the first time for over a decade, that none of the five major studios had a movie included in the best drama picture category.

Take a look at the full list of nominees below. [Read more…]

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Have A Listen To Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling Singing La La Land’s City of Stars

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la-la-land-festival-poster-slideThere are a lot of people who think La La Land will be in the mix come Oscar time, and it’s certainly one of the more interesting movies coming out in the next few months. It’s an original musical, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, and director by Whiplash’s Damien Chazelle.

Now one of the film’s songs has been released to give us a taste for the movie. Take a look below to see Gosling and Stone singing City Of Stars, plus a new US trailer.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Written and directed by Academy Award® nominee Damien Chazelle, LA LA LAND tells the story of Mia [Emma Stone], an aspiring actress, and Sebastian [Ryan Gosling], a dedicated jazz musician, who are struggling to make ends meet in a city known for crushing hopes and breaking hearts. Set in modern day Los Angeles, this original musical about everyday life explores the joy and pain of pursuing your dreams.

John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, Callie Hernandez, Sonoya Mizuno, Jessica Rothe, Tom Everett Scott and Josh Pence also star. [Read more…]

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