Judy Garland was a survivor, and the documentary Sid & Judy documents her tenacity and talent through her post-MGM years and what she calls her “184 comebacks". Mixing live footage, Garland’s own personal audio recordings, the memoirs of her third husband and manager Sid Luft, and narration by Jennifer Jason Lee and Jon Hamm, Sid... Continue Reading →
Joker Embraces the Darkness to Make a Haunting Unforgettable Film Joker is an uncomfortable watch, but director Todd Phillips intends it to be uncomfortable. Anytime the protagonist of a film is homicidal and unstable the audience should feel uneasy. While Joker is not revolutionary filmmaking, it is unique to the genre of comic-book-inspired film. Embracing... Continue Reading →
Over the past twenty-plus years, James Gray has established himself has a world class filmmaker with such titles as Little Odessa, Two Lovers, The Immigrant and The Lost City of Z in which he has mastered what I like to call the calm, dreamy epic. His latest, Ad Astra, blends the slow, quiet pacing of... Continue Reading →
‘Tis the season for Broadway’s queer history to fill London’s smaller theatres apparently. From Torch Song at the Turbine and also William Finn and James Lapine’s Falsettos playing at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s incubator theatre, The Other Palace. And similarly to Torch Song, this is another show made up of smaller one-act plays - now united... Continue Reading →
Biopics have evolved in recent years favoring a specifically selected moment in their subjects’ lives instead of going for the sprawling epic treatment. Consider the differences between The Last Emperor and Stan & Ollie as one example. What you lose in a comprehensive overview, you gain with more honed dramatic storytelling. The latest example, Judy,... Continue Reading →
With Ryan Murphy's new series The Politician launching on Netflix this Friday 27th September, one of its stars, Ryan Murphy regular and all-round legendary two-time Oscar-winner Jessica Lange was in New York for a press conference today to talk about her role on the show as "terrifying" grandmother Dusty Jackson. The Queer Review's James Kleinmann... Continue Reading →
Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story which premieres on Lifetime this Saturday 28th September at 8pm ET/PT 7pm C, is based on the harrowing true story of what happened when 15-year-old Alex Cooper (played by Addison Holley) came out to her devout Mormon parents. Throwing her out of their Southern California home they forced her to... Continue Reading →
Welcome to London, where you can't spin a cat without hitting a new Aesop store, a new outlet of the Ivy Brasserie, or a new fringe theatre space associated with a new real estate development. The very definition of luxury problems. But here we are, and as the iconic Battersea Power Station continues to be... Continue Reading →
As Maya Angelou famously said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Hustlers, the new film from writer/director Lorene Scafaria comes riddled with imperfections. It has too many montages, a few wafer-thin characterizations, plot strands which go... Continue Reading →
Michael Barnett's compelling documentary about transgender teen athletes Changing the Game had its world premiere at Tribeca earlier this year and has proved a hit with LGBTQ+ festivals across the US, winning audience awards at both Frameline and Outfest. The film will receive its European premiere at the Iris Prize Festival in Cardiff, Wales on... Continue Reading →
