16th Jun2019

A Private War (DVD)

by timbaros

Rosamund Pike as journalist Marie Colvin in 'A Private War' copyRosamund Pike is perfect as war journalist Marie Colvin in the new film ‘A Private War.’

Pike is just so good in this film, bringing Colvin to life on the big screen, that it’s quite a shock that she has not been nominated for any of the major acting awards for this film. Sure, Olivia Colman was very good as Anne, Queen of Britian in ‘The Favourite’ while Glenn Close was memorable in ‘The Wife,’ but Pike, in my opinion, had more of a challenging role playing a woman in a man’s industry. Colvin, who was an American war journalist, worked as a foreign affairs correspondent for the British newspaper The Sunday Times. She was always determined to get the story, whether her work took her to Syria, Iraq, or Libya (where she famously interviewed Muammar Gaddafi). Even after she lost her left eye in a blast in Sri Lanka she never gave up, and the black eye patch she wore distinguished her from all of the other war journalists.
First time feature film director Matthew Heineman brilliantly brings her story to the big screen, and Pike really nails it. Along with her photographer Paul Conroy (played by British heartthrob Jamie Dornan), we see Colvin trying to get the story, while leaving the safe confines of her homely Hammersmith terrace house for the dirty and dangerous battlegrounds and war fields of the middle east. We follow her, and Conroy, avoiding bullets and missiles, putting their lives at risk.
Based on the Vanity Fair article “Marie Colvin’s Private War,” this biographical film follows Colvin to her final assignment in Homs, Syria, where she was killed during a siege, at the age of 56. Pike is just simply amazing as Colvin. 
Category : DVD, Uncategorized
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16th Jun2019

Afterglow (Theatre)

by timbaros

AFTERGLOW 7 Danny Mahoney Jesse Fox Sean Hart photo Darren Bell.A married gay couple welcome a third and things will never be the same with them again.

In the show Afterglow, now playing at Southwark Playhouse, Josh (Sean Hart) and Alex (Danny Mahoney) live comfortably in a nice Manhattan apartment and enjoy other men’s company. Darius (Jesse Fox), all but 25 years old, gets involved in a three-way with them, however, Darius and Josh have an instant attraction. They start hooking up with each other, and it is at this point that we know where the story is going to go. But what complicates even more is that Josh and Alex are expecting a baby through a surrogate, and with Darius in the picture, what will happen not only with their relationship but also to their pending fatherhood?

In a show that has nudity as a top billing (a device that’s sure to sell tickets), the actors are not shy and are naked in the very beginning – having a three way in bed. Getting undressed, shower scenes and lots of kissing add a bit more to the show. But this alone cannot save the fact that the scenery changes and the undressing take a bit too long, losing any sense of drama this show is trying to eke out. And it’s a bit frustrating because the actors are all actually quite good –  it’s the story that doesn’t do them justice.

I would say go for the nude scenes –  they are worth the price of admission, just don’t expect much else.

Category : Theatre
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12th Jun2019

Gloria Bell (Film)

by timbaros

image.php-289Julianne Moore is simply fabulous as a middle-aged woman going through the motions in the new film ‘Gloria Bell.’

Moore, who excels in every role she plays, is particularly good here in a film that is a remake of the 2013 film ‘Gloria.’ With the same director, Sebastian Lelio, this Gloria is more nuanced and, with Moore as it’s lead (Paulina Garcia played Gloria in the original film, and won lots of awards), takes this version to another level.
 
Gloria is a 53-year old divorced woman living in Los Angeles. She’s an insurance broker with two adult children, one son who just had a baby with a wife who has gone away to ‘find herself’, and a daughter who is getting ready to move to Sweden to be with her boyfriend. 
 
Gloria willingly attends singles events in the hopes of finding a new man; she’s very attractive and stable, so it should be easy for her to find a quality man.
 
She meets Arnold (John Turturro), who appears to be 100% available at the beginning of their relationship but somehow is tied to an umbilical cord to his two adult daughters, and leaves Gloria, literally, in situations she never thought she would find herself in. But nothing else much happens in ‘Gloria Bell.’ We see her driving around and singing along to the radio, a cat that somehow keeps finding it’s way into her apartment, and an upstairs neighbor who is a bit schizophrenic. But it’s the grace and allure in which Moore plays Gloria that is both mesmerizing and alluring. Moore is very good in these types of small roles (see ‘Still Alice,’ ‘What Maisie Knew,’ and ‘Freeheld’). She literally guides us through this film in one of her best ever performances. But it’s at the end of the film, where the camera is squarely focused on Gloria, who is a guest at a wedding. She gets up and dances with herself, a bit sad that she’s alone, but content, and dancing to the tune of Laura Branigans’ 1992 song ‘Gloria.’ It’s an image that lingers with you long after you’ve left the cinema.
Category : Film
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12th Jun2019

Can You Ever Forgive Me (DVD)

by timbaros
can-you-ever-forgive-meMelissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant both play gay characters in the fantastic ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me.’

Based on the life of book author, and Lesbian, Lee Israel, and fluidly directed by Marielle Heller, ‘Can you Ever Forgive Me,’ based on the late Israel’s memoir, tells about the misadventures of Israel’s life. She was a Manhattanite who didn’t have much money to rub together, so she starts forging signatures of famous people and then sells them to collectors, raking in big money. Questions start arising about her charade, and soon enough she has to pull back, and then enlists her gay best friend Jack (Richard E. Grant – in his best performance ever) to take over her sales duties to pawn more fakes to the collectors. It’s early 1990’s New York City, and one gets the feeling that anything can happen then (‘if you can make it there you can make it anywhere’), and that Israel will rise above it all, but in the end we know what is coming. But before, director Heller (working from a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty) perfectly sets the mood and vibe of New York, with bookshops almost at every corner (long gone now no thanks to the internet) and quite a few of the scenes in the film were shot in the West Village’s classic gay bar Julius. 
 
Can We Ever Forgive Israel? Yes, we can definitely forgive Israel for what she’s done, because it has brought us this fine movie. McCarthy and Grant have been nominated for Oscars, let’s hope that if anyone of them wins, it will be Grant. He is just superb in his role, debonair, chilled, and like a fine wine, getting better with age.
Category : Film
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