Vardy V Rooney: The Wagatha Christie (Theatre)
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The story of one of the biggest selling groups of all time is now a West End show billed as ‘Ain’t Too Proud’
In ‘Close’ two 13-year old boys have formed a very strong, and close friendship, perhaps too close as they start getting teased and bullied at school. It gets to be too much for one of them so he decides it’s time to start hanging out with other boys, but the consequence changes their lives as well as the lives of their parents and all involved. Gustav de Waele and Eden Dambrine give superb, and devastating, performances, and Dhont’s script (he co-wrote with Angelo Tijssens) will leave you in tears. There was not a dry eye in the house at the premiere where the film deservedly received a 20 minute standing ovation. In his speech once the clapping came to a stop, Dhont said that he had always wanted to do this film for all the friends he lost when he was younger, friends who could not be who they were. He also praised his two leading young stars, de Waele and Dambrine, for their magnificent performances. He could not be so right, they both were superb.
And ‘Close’ deservedly won (with ’Stars at Noon’) the Grand Prix Award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
‘Joyland’ was such a joy to watch.
It’s the first Pakistani feature film (in 75 years) to be shown at Cannes, and what a film it is. It took director Saim Sadiq seven years to bring this film to the big screen. A married man (excellently played by Ali Junejo) falls for a trans-woman (Alina Khan – a real find) who hires him to be a backup dancer in her erotic show. Meanwhile he’s got an expectant wife at home who suspects her husband is not the man he says he is. Controversial subject matter for a Pakistani film where homosexuality is still illegal. Kudos to the cast and crew for pulling this superb film off. Shot in Lahore, Pakistan, the filming was done in secret due to the subject matter, and believe it or not it was shot in October 2021 and was ready in time for Cannes. The shooting took 40 days, and lead actor Junejo was working 39 of those days. The film asks a real important question for all of us, who are we?
Director Sadiq said at the premiere in Cannes that the film no longer belongs to him, now it belongs to all of you.
‘Joyland’ film is the feature debut of writer and director Sadiq, whose previous short film “Darling” won the Orizzonti Best Short Film award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival.
‘Joyland’ won the Un Certain Regard prize at the festival, along with the Queer Palm Award.
The film also stars Rasti Farooq, Sarwat Gilani, Salmaan Peerzada and Sania Saeed.
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite gobbled up five wins, including Film of the Year, Director and Screenplay. Renée Zellweger took Performance of the Year—Actress for Judy), with Antonio Banderas the top choice in the Actor race. The Society’s Rising Star of the year: Florence Pugh (Little Women).
“GALECA members strive to determine the best cinematic experiences through the distinct LGBTQ lens, and this year was particularly rich in options,” said GALECA President Diane Anderson-Minshall, Editorial Director of The Advocate. “Yet when director Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite practically swept our awards roster with five wins, I was not surprised. The dynamic, darkly comic drama about a poor family conniving to live the good life speaks to the times we live in, with vivid commentary on class, inequity and even climate change. Parasite is a perfect film for the Trump era.”
Among the professional LGBTQ journalists group’s trademark categories, Booksmart scored as Unsung Film of the Year, while Cats took the group’s semi-dubious, if affectionate, Campy Flick of the Year category.
With the Society’s recent move to spin off its television categories with a separate ceremony starting this August, the Dorians’ TV categories came with a somewhat truncated eligibility window of January 1 through November 1.
FX’s Pose again won TV Drama of the Year and LGBTQ TV Drama for the second year—and its star Billy Porter took another Dorian win as well—while Comedy Central’s The Other Two was named best Unsung TV Show. Amazon’s Fleabag was anointed TV Comedy of the Year, with star-creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge reigning as TV Performance of the Year—Actress and Wilde Wit of the Year.
Lady Gaga wowed GALECA’s members in a special vote as Wilde Artist of the Decade. Gaga’s duet with Bradley Cooper on “Shallow” at last year’s Oscars also counted with the group as the TV Musical Performance of the Year.
As previously announced, Olivia Wilde, the first-time director of Booksmart, will be receiving a special honor at the group’s Dorian Awards Winners Toast, which will be held brunchtime Sunday, February 2, in Los Angeles, before football fever kicks in. The invitation-only event will include a raise of the glass to Wilde, named GALECA’s Wilde Artist of the Year.
GALECA, formed in 2009, aims to generate camaraderie and solidarity in an unsettling media environment, champion constructive film and television criticism and elevate the craft of entertainment journalism. Via panels, screenings and our annual Dorian Awards, GALECA also strives to remind at-risk youth, bullies and bigots that the world looks to the Q eye for leads on great, unique movies and TV. And how would the world fare without knowing what’s campy?
GALECA is a proud core member of CGEM: Critics Groups for Equality in Media.
FULL LIST OF 11TH DORIAN AWARD WINNERS (noted in bold and with an asterisk)
Film of the Year
Hustlers
Little Women
Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood
Pain and Glory
*Parasite
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Director of the Year
Pedro Almodovar, Pain and Glory
Greta Gerwig, Little Women
*Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
Sam Mendes, 1917
Celine Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Film Performance of the Year — Actress
Awkwafina, The Farewell
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Lupita Nyong’o, Us
Alfre Woodard, Clemency
*Renée Zellweger, Judy
Film Performance of the Year — Actor
*Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Taron Egerton, Rocketman
Film Performance of the Year — Supporting Actress
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Florence Pugh, Little Women
*Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Margot Robbie, Bombshell
Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell
Film Performance of the Year — Supporting Actor
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood
*Song Kang-ho, Parasite
LGBTQ Film of the Year
Booksmart
End of the Century
Pain and Glory
*Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Rocketman
Foreign Language Film of the Year
The Atlantics
Pain and Glory
*Parasite
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The Farewell
Screenplay of the Year
Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
*Bong Joon-ho, Han Jin-won, Parasite
Greta Gerwig, Little Women
Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Rian Johnson, Knives Out
Documentary of the Year
American Factory
Apollo 11
For Sama
*Honeyland
One Child Nation
LGBTQ Documentary of the Year
Circus of Books
Gay Chorus Deep South
The Gospel of Eureka
5B
*Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street
Visually Striking Film of the Year ** TIE
Midsommar
1917
The Lighthouse
Parasite
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Unsung Film of the Year
*Booksmart
Her Smell
Gloria Bell
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Waves
Campy Flick of the Year
*Cats
Greta
Knives Out
Ma
Serenity
TV Drama of the Year
Chernobyl
Euphoria
*Pose
Succession
Unbelievable
TV Comedy of the Year
*Fleabag
The Other Two
PEN15
Russian Doll
Schitt’s Creek
TV Performance of the Year — Actor
Bill Hader, Barry
Dan Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us
*Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession
TV Performance of the Year — Actress
Natasha Lyonne, Russian Doll
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Mj Rodriguez, Pose
*Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag
Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon
LGBTQ TV Show of the Year
Euphoria
The Other Two
*Pose
Schitt’s Creek
Tales of the City
Unsung TV Show of the Year
Gentleman Jack
On Becoming a God in Central Florida
*The Other Two
PEN15
Years and Years
TV Current Affairs Show of the Year
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
The Rachel Maddow Show
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
*Leaving Neverland
Covent Garden is now Paris in 1831. Well, it is for 150 minutes when St. Paul’s Church in the heart of Covent Garden plays, to great effect, Notre Dame cathedral in an excellent outdoor production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Victor Hugo’s classic tale of survival, injustice, and love is played out in the grounds of the church by the actors from Iris Theatre. They are an award-winning theatre company created in 2007 to produce site-specific work centred around it’s Covent Garden home, St. Paul’s Church.
A priest and a hunchback both fall for the mysterious and beautiful Esmerelda who solely longs to find her long-lost mother. When the unhappy pair try to take matters into their own hands they set off a chain of events that no one can control.
Revolution then sweeps over the city of Paris and the mob breaks against the walls of the cathedral. Will the hunchback find true love? Will the priest save his soul? And will it take the people of Paris to save Esmerelda?
Benjamin Polya’s adaptation is superb as the scenes move around the church courtyard and then brilliantly the most dramatic scenes of the play take place inside the church, perfect timing as the outdoors gets a bit chilly and the darkeness and smoke in the church adds great dramatic effect to the finale of the play.
This very affordable production is for the entire family.
The Hunchback Of Notre plays at the Iris Theatre until 1st September 2019, www.iristheatre.com
Rosamund Pike is perfect as war journalist Marie Colvin in the new film ‘A Private War.’
Andy Bell, the man we all know from Erasure, has just released his third solo album called Queereteria, and in conjunction, and is in a new play of the same name at the Above the Stag Theatre.
‘La La Land’ sweeps up four prizes, while Ken Loach’s ‘I, Daniel Blake’ is named best British film.
Damien Chazelle’s ‘La La Land’ was the big winner at the 2017 BAFTAs, scooping four awards, including best picture and best director. First screening to UK audiences at the BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express®, Chazelle’s exuberant musical also won best actress for Emma Stone and best original music.
Ken Loach’s powerful welfare state drama ‘I, Daniel Blake’, backed by the BFI Film Fund, was named the year’s outstanding British film, while Babak Anvari’s horror film ‘Under the Shadow’ won best British debut.
Other BAFTA-winning films that screened at the BFI London Film Festival include Best Actor for Casey Affleck for ‘Manchester by the Sea’, Dev Patel as Best Supporting Actor in ‘Lion,’ ’13th,’ ‘Son of Saul’ and ‘Arrival.’
Complete list of winners:
Best film
Winner: La La Land – Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, Marc Platt
Arrival – Dan Levine, Shawn Levy, David Linde, Aaron Ryder
I, Daniel Blake – Rebecca O’Brien
Manchester by the Sea – Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Kimberly Steward, Kevin J. Walsh
Moonlight – Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adele Romanski
Director
Winner: La La Land – Damien Chazelle
Arrival – Denis Villeneuve
I, Daniel Blake – Ken Loach
Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
Nocturnal Animals – Tom Ford
Leading actress
Winner: Emma Stone – La La Land
Amy Adams – Arrival
Emily Blunt – The Girl on the Train
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins
Natalie Portman – Jackie
Leading actor
Winner: Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nocturnal Animals
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
Supporting actor
Winner: Dev Patel – Lion
Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Nocturnal Animals
Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
Supporting actress
Winner: Viola Davis – Fences
Hayley Squires – I, Daniel Blake
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Nicole Kidman – Lion
Outstanding British film
Winner: I, Daniel Blake – Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty
American Honey – Andrea Arnold, Lars Knudsen, Pouya Shahbazian, Jay Van Hoy
Denial – Mick Jackson, Gary Foster, Russ Krasnoff, David Hare
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – David Yates, J.K. Rowling, David Heyman, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram
Notes on Blindness – Peter Middleton, James Spinney, Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison
Under the Shadow – Babak Anvari, Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill, Lucan Toh
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Winner: Under the Shadow – Babak Anvari (Writer/Director), Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill, Lucan Toh (Producers)
The Girl with All the Gifts – Mike Carey (Writer), Camille Gatin (Producer)
The Hard Stop – George Amponsah (Writer/Director/Producer), Dionne Walker (Writer/Producer)
Notes on Blindness – Peter Middleton (Writer/Director/Producer), James Spinney (Writer/Director), Jo-Jo Ellison (Producer)
The Pass – John Donnelly (Writer), Ben A. Williams (Director)
Under the Shadow: the films that influenced this creepy Iranian horror
Original screenplay
Winner: Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan
I, Daniel Blake – Paul Laverty
La La Land – Damien Chazelle
Moonlight – Barry Jenkins
Adapted screenplay
Winner: Lion – Luke Davies
Arrival – Eric Heisserer
Hacksaw Ridge – Robert Schenkkan, Andrew Knight
Hidden Figures – Theodore Melfi, Allison Schroeder
Nocturnal Animals – Tom Ford
Film not in the English language
Winner: Son of Saul – László Nemes, Gábor Sipos
Dheepan – Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
Julieta – Pedro Almodóvar
Mustang – Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Charles Gillibert
Toni Erdmann – Maren Ade, Janine Jackowski
Documentary
Winner: 13th – Ava Duvernay
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years – Ron Howard
The Eagle Huntress – Otto Bell, Stacey Reiss
Notes on Blindness – Peter Middleton, James Spinney
Weiner – Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg
Animated film
Winner: Kubo and the Two Strings – Travis Knight
Finding Dory – Andrew Stanton
Moana – Ron Clements, John Musker
Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore
Original music
Winner: La La Land – Justin Hurwitz
Arrival – Jóhann Jóhannsson
Jackie – Mica Levi
Lion – Dustin O’halloran, Hauschka
Nocturnal Animals – Abel Korzeniowski
Cinematography
Winner: La La Land – Linus Sandgren
Arrival – Bradford Young
Hell or High Water – Giles Nuttgens
Lion – Greig Fraser
Nocturnal Animals – Seamus Mcgarvey
Editing
Winner: Hacksaw Ridge – John Gilbert
Arrival – Joe Walker
La La Land – Tom Cross
Manchester by the Sea – Jennifer Lame
Nocturnal Animals – Joan Sobel
Production design
Winner: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock
Doctor Strange – John Bush, Charles Wood
Hail, Caesar! – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
La La Land – Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, David Wasco
Nocturnal Animals – Shane Valentino, Meg Everist
Costume design
Winner: Jackie – Madeline Fontaine
Allied – Joanna Johnston
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Colleen Atwood
Florence Foster Jenkins – Consolata Boyle
La La Land – Mary Zophres
Makeup & hair
Winner: Florence Foster Jenkins – J. Roy Helland, Daniel Phillips
Doctor Strange – Jeremy Woodhead
Hacksaw Ridge – Shane Thomas
Nocturnal Animals – Donald Mowat, Yolanda Toussieng
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Nominees TBC
Sound
Winner: Arrival – Claude La Haye, Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Sylvain Bellemare
Deepwater Horizon – Mike Prestwood Smith, Dror Mohar, Wylie Stateman, David Wyman
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle, Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Ian Tapp
Hacksaw Ridge – Peter Grace, Robert Mackenzie, Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright
La La Land – Mildred Iatrou Morgan, Ai-Ling Lee, Steve A. Morrow, Andy Nelson
Special visual effects
Winner: The Jungle Book – Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, Adam Valdez
Arrival – Louis Morin
Doctor Strange – Richard Bluff, Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Tim Burke, Pablo Grillo, Christian Manz, David Watkins
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Neil Corbould, Hal Hickel, Mohen Leo, John Knoll, Nigel Sumner
British short animation
Winner: A Love Story – Khaled Gad, Anushka Kishani Naanayakkara, Elena Ruscombe-King
The Alan Dimension – Jac Clinch, Jonathan Harbottle, Millie Marsh
Tough – Jennifer Zheng
British short film
Winner: Home – Shpat Deda, Afolabi Kuti, Daniel Mulloy, Scott O’Donnell
Consumed – Richard John Seymour
Mouth of Hell – Bart Gavigan, Samir Mehanovic, Ailie Smith, Michael Wilson
The Party – Farah Abushwesha, Emmet Fleming, Andrea Harkin, Conor Macneill
Standby – Charlotte Regan, Jack Hannon
EE Rising Star Award (Voted for by the public)
Winner: Tom Holland
Anya Taylor-Joy
Laia Costa
Lucas Hedges
Ruth Negga
Outstanding contribution to British film
Curzon
BAFTA Fellowship
Mel Brooks
Better late than never, the winners of The Entertainment Website Readers Choice Best in Film 2015 have been revealed and it’s no surprise that some of the winners were also winners at the Oscars, BAFTA’s and Golden Globes.
The Revenant was your Best Film of last year. It ecked out a win in this category, with Carol, Tangerine and 45 years not far behind. Shockingly, The Revenant lost out the Best Picture Oscar to Spotlight.
Leonardo DiCaprio was the overwhelming choice for Best Actor – taking 40% of the vote in this category – for his performance in The Revenant (which won him every acting award!). Tom Hanks for Bridge of Spies and Michael Fassbender for his performance as Steve Jobs were second and third, respectively.
Brie Larson was chosen as your favorite performance by an Actress. The Room star, who also won the Oscar, barely won this category. Cate Blanchett for Carol, Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years and Carey Mulligan for Suffragette were not too far behind.
Sylvester Stallone was your overwhelming favorite for best performance by a Supporting Actor for his comeback role in Creed. Tom Hardy for the Revenant and Benicio Del Toro for Sicario were far behind in the voting.
Charlize Theron won Supporting Actress by the largest lead of all the acting categories – 60%. She won for her role in Mad Max: Fury Road. Alicia Vikander for Ex Machina and Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs were far behind.
Your choice for Best Director was Oscar winner Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu for The Revenant. He won with 100% of the vote, no other director received a vote.
There was a three-way tie for Best Animated Film – Inside Out, Maya the Bee and Raise the Flag. It’s a write-in category so each one received the same number of write-in votes.
Thanks to you, the readers, for taking the time to vote. We can’t wait to see your choices for next year!
It’s time to have your say in what you think were the best film and best film performances of 2015. The Entertainment Website has compiled it’s nominations list and ‘Bridge of Spies’ and ‘The Revenant’ are tied with 5 nominations each. There are 14 films up for the Favorite Film Award including the low budget transexual film ‘Tangerine’ and the beautifully filmed ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Son of Saul.’ ‘Spotlight,’ the film that just last week won Best Picture at the Oscars, is not among the 14 films nominated for Best Picture as we feel it’s not one of the best films from last year!
Tom Hardy has received three acting nominations! One for Best Actor for ‘Legend’ and he’s competing with himself for Best Supporting Actor for ‘The Revenant’ and ‘Mad Max: Fury Road.’ Michael Fassbender is competing with himself for Best Actor for ‘Steve Jobs’ and ‘Macbeth.’ Jacob Tremblay, who was strangely overlooked by the other film awards, has received a Best Actor nomination for his role in the highly dramatic ‘Room.’
The two lead actresses from ‘Tangerine,’ – Kitani Kiki Rodriquez and Mya Taylor – both received a Best Actress nomination, along with 11 other actresses, including Lily Tomlin for ‘Grandma.’ Alicia Vikander is nominated in both the Best Actress (‘The Danish Girl’) and Best Supporting Actress (‘Ex Machina’) categories.
Other surprises? ‘The Lobster’ and ‘Suffragette,’ both overlooked by the other film awards, received nominations. And Will Smith received a Best Actor nomination for ‘Concussion.’
Voting in The Entertainment Website Readers Choice Best in Film Awards ends on Sunday April 3rd. So please vote now and tell all your film-goer friends to vote as well! Thanks!
Vote here:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Y3K7ZZH
The blues are back in town in the form of ‘The Blues Brothers Christmas Special’ at the Arts Theatre in Covent Garden.
It’s a night of rowdy and eclectic music as David Christopher-Brown and Joshua Mumby star as The Blue Brothers. Brown is electric and all over the stage as ‘Joliet’ Jake Blues – he’s practically a dead ringer for a role that was made famous by the late and great John Belushi, and he nails it when he sings the Randy Newman-penned ‘Guilty.’ But he’s really on fire when dressed as a bee for ‘I’m a King Bee.’ Mumby’s time to shine, in the role of Dan Aykroyd, is when he sings the tune ‘Rubber Biscuit.’ It’s a mesmerizing tune done with skill needed to sing a relentless strings of words with a deep voice in one big mush up, and Mumby does it brilliantly. Google the song on You Tube and you will see how hard it is to pull off. And together, as The Blue Brothers, Brown and Mumby plow their way through classic songs such as ‘Gimme Some Lovin,’ ‘Jailhouse Rock,’ and the song The Blues Brothers are most identified with – ‘Soul Man.’
But it’s not just The Blues Brothers who are part of the show. We are treated to the energetic Simon Ray-Harvey in his triplet role as Ray Charles, James Brown and Cab Colloway, singing ‘Minnie the Moocher.’ His performances are nicely intertwined with The Brothers performances. If that was not enough, T’Shan Williams brings the requisite female vocals in her dual roles as part of the backing up Stax Sisters (which also includes Hannah Kee and Sasi Strallen) and in her solo performance as Aretha Franklin singing ‘Respect.’ She’s got the lungs and the voice to overpower everyone in show, including her fellow Sisters, who can’t quite match her in the singing department but are able enough.
The Blues Brothers Show was created back in 2009 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with Brown and Mumby as it’s leads since then. It’s a show that has been approved by Judy Belushi (John’s wife) and Dan Aykroyd, and according to the press notes, none of the productions are the same as the previous ones. New songs, choreography, direction, and design are constantly changed with each production to keep the spirit alive and fresh. In this reincarnation, directed by Mumby, it’s a show full of energy and music. And without an interval, we are treated to 90 minutes of songs that doesn’t for a moment get dull. There’s so much energy on stage in these 90 minutes that it might leave you exhausted by the end. The show doesn’t have a story to tell, just like similar successful jukebox musicals (Let it Be, Sunny Afternoon and We Will Rock You), but it’s success lies in the musical performances of the leads in recreating the sounds and look of the singers they are performing as. It’s a show that, while it won’t be winning any prizes, will lift your spirits up and get you dancing in the aisles, at the insistence of The Brothers themselves.
To book tickets for The Blues Brothers Christmas Special, which is playing until Sunday, January 10th, please click here:
https://artstheatrewestend.co.uk