October 2nd 2015 (UK) Archives - Big Gay Picture Show

Starring: Jonny Woo, Scottee, Holestar, Amber, John Sizzle, Pia Arber
Director: Colin Rothbart
Running Time: 101 mins
Certificate: 18
Release Date: October 2nd 2015 (UK)

There are plenty of different opinions out there about drag queens, from those that think it’s a valuable part of the LGBT heritage or a harmless bit of fun, to those who feel it is a mockery of women and trans people, and plays into harmful stereotypes.

Dressed As A Girl should challenge a lot of people’s ideas of the world of drag – whether they’re positive, negative or indifferent – taking us into the lives of several members of the London East End alternative drag scene. Although there is a sort-of narration and interviews with the participants, there’s generally a bit of a cinema verité feel, with the camera following the performers around (it was filmed across six years) and allowing the viewer to contemplate what’s going on.

It’s a veritable bunch of eccentrics, from veterans such as Jonny Woo and John Sizzle, to up and comers like Scottee. There’s also Holestar, a drag performer who isn’t just dressed as a girl, as she was born one, and Amber, who has gone from the drag scene to transitioning to live as a woman full time. [Read more…]

Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm
Director: Nancy Meyers
Running Time: 121 mins
Certificate: 12A
Release Date: October 2nd 2015 (UK)

I’ll come clean straight away, we have two problems here. In my humble opinion Nany Meyers’ The Holiday was a true low point in cinema, an absolutely wretched affair – lazy, clichéd, corny, utterly without charm and with dialled in performances. Problem 2 is the De Niro syndrome – what on earth happened to the actor who everyone agreed was the finest of his generation. Pacino has his many fans, but De Niro admirers simply mutter Raging Bull and that’s the argument won. So how has this man gone from that peak to decades, literally decades, of mediocre, middling dramas and simply unfunny comedies?

Actually there’s a third problem here, the film’s central idea, which has, in true Hollywood tradition, been done before, and very recently. It’s The Devil Wears Prada, but this time with Anne Hathaway in the Meryl Streep role, and De Niro in the junior position lately vacated by the over-promoted…Anne Hathaway! [Read more…]

Dressed As A Girl (Cinema Review)

The Intern (Cinema Review)