Beauty and the Beast pulled from cinema's in Malaysia

Disney has pulled 'Beauty and the Beast' from cinema's in Malaysia, after the film censorship board there said they wanted to cut gay content from the film.

The Malaysia Film Censorship Board told the Associated Press: "We have approved the film, but there is a minor cut involving a gay moment. It is only one short scene, but it is inappropriate because many children will be watching this movie".

Homoexuality is currently illegal in Malasia with those "found guilty" of homosexual "offences" facing up to 20 years in prison.

In 2015, the current Malasyian Prime Minister Najib Razak compared the LGBT community to Islamic State.

Walt Disney have therefore taken the decision to barr the film from being shown at any cinema in the country.

A representative for the company told Bloomberg: "the film has not been, and will not be cut for Malaysia".

Josh Gad, the actor who plays the character of Le Fou, who struggles with his sexuality in the film, said it was a shame that the moment had been leaked. He added that he hopes it will still be somewhat of a surprise for cinema audiences.

Emma Watson, who plays Belle said the subtle portrayal of Le Fou added extra dimensions to the character.

Another cast member, Ewan McGregor, who does the voice of Lumiere, said the views are outdated. Appearing on 'The Late Show', he said: "It's just like...it's just like, he's a gay character, and it's 2017 - f*ck sake, you know".

Meanwhile Russia has banned anyone under the age of 16 from seeing the film because of the "gay moment", and a drive-in cinema in Alabama has said it will also refuse to show the film.

Homophobic bigotry is alive and well. You can show you don't support these views by going to see Beauty and the Beast this weekend!

Review: King Cobra - the Brent Corrigan "true" story

Yesterday I discovered that 'King Cobra' is now streaming on Netflix. A steamy, dark comedy, thriller, about the gay porn industry.

The film focusses on 'Brent Corrigan', real name - Sean Paul Lockhart (played by Garret Clayton), who started his porn career in 2004. It also stars James Franco, who also produced the film, which was directed by Justin Kelly.

Corrigan was discovered by Bryan Kocis, founder of gay porn studio 'Cobra Video'. The film shows how things went sour between the pair when Lockhart decided to go solo, in his career. This resulted in a dispute over the name 'Brent Corrigan' which Kocis said was his intellectual property.

An agreement was made in the end, but Kocis was murdered by two male escorts, Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes, at his home in North Township, Pennsylvania. He was stabbed multiple times and Cuadra and Kerekes set fire to his home to try and cover-up the evidence.

The motive was that the pair wanted to get Corrigan out of his contract with Cobra video, in order to cash in, with Corrigan set to make videos with them.

Brent Corrigan did not conspire with Cuadra and Kerekes and was a witness for the prosecution during the murder trials.

Brent Corrigan not happy

Before production Brent Corrigan was offered a supporting role in King Cobra but declined. On its release Corrigan took to Twitter to bash the film, saying it's inaccurate...

Now, I enjoyed the film, but when it comes to films which claim to be "true stories", I always try and take it with a pinch of salt. The fact that Brent Corrigan wasn't involved with 'King Cobra', does make you question how accurate certain parts are.

It would be easy for me to say "well it's just a film it doesn't matter", but if it was my life I think I would have the same reaction that Corrigan did.

Before the films release Brent Corrigan had viewed the script and said it had "loads wrong with it", and parts which were simply left out. Corrigan also went as far, as to say the film makers had been insensitive, with no respect for anybody involved in the actual events.

Verdict

'King Cobra' is an easy watch, with not as many sex scenes as I was expecting, it certainly isn't the 'Fifty Shades of Gay' I was anticipating, but it does get the heart rate up!

Garret Clayton is the undoubtable break-out star, but this role is certainly a far cry from Hairspray Live.

Though 'King Cobra' does focus on serious issues, including the very taboo nature which still exists towards porn, it has a comedic, easy going tone to it, despite ultimately ending with a brutal murder.

I would have liked to of seen the issues of gay porn explored much more, I think it had the potential to really explore the psychology and perception of porn, a missed opportunity if you ask me! A point which Corrigan himself also made.

'King Cobra' is streaming now on Netflix!

Check out other film related posts:

Review: Hidden Figures

Star Wars Episode 8: Title revealed 

BAFTA 2017: The Results

The British Academy Film Awards 2017 have taken place in London tonight with 'La La Land' among the big winners of the night.

Here are the results:

Rising Star Award: Tom Holland

Best British Film: 'I, Daniel Blake'

Best Film: 'La La Land'

Best Actress (in a leading role): Emma Stone for 'La La Land'

Best Actress (in a supporting role): Viola Davis for 'Fences'

Best Actor (in a leading role): Casey Affleck for 'Manchester by the Sea'

Best Actor (in a supporting role): Dev Patel for 'Lion'

Best Foreign Language Film: 'Son of Saul'

Best Director: Damien Chazelle for 'La La Land'

Best Special Visual Effects: 'The Jungle Book'

Best Sound: Arrival

Best Makeup: 'Florence Foster Jenkins'

Best Original Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan for 'Manchester by the Sea'

Best Documentary: '13th'

Best Adapted Screenplay: Luke Davies for 'Lion'

Best Editing: John Gilbert for 'Hacksaw Ridge'

Best Film Music: Justin Hurwitz for 'La La Land'

Best Costume Design: Madeleine Fontaine for 'Jackie'

Best Cinematography: Linus Sandgren for 'La La Land'

Best Production Design: Anna Pinnock and Stuart Craig for 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'

Academy Fellowship Award: Mel Brooks

Review: Hidden Figures

'Hidden Figures' the untold true story, which invites us to meet the women we don't know, behind the mission we do know.

It's based on Margot Lee Shetterly's non-fiction book 'Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race', which became a New York Times bestseller last year.

The book and the film follows three African American women, Mary Jackson, Katherine G. Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan, who worked in various department's at NASA during the 1960's and beyond.

In particular the film is set during the early 1960's, and the United States' Space Race with Russia, to put a man in space.

The parallel that is drawn between the progress of space travel and the fight to make progress during the civil rights movement is excellent.

At times it really pulls at your heart strings, as these three women face barriers and discrimination, not just for being black, but for being women. All three face an uphill battle, but they kept going no matter what, it truly is inspirational to watch.

Katherine Johnson, played by Taraji P Henson, has a number of emotionally charged scenes highlighting the level of discrimination.

The building Johnson worked in didn't have a "coloured" toilet for her to use, so she had to walk half a mile to another building to use the "coloured" restroom, which eventually results in one of the most emotionally driven parts of the film, delivering an emotion you can physically feel.

As someone born in 1991, living in 2017, it's hard to believe that this level of absurdity actually existed, this level of hatred, this level of disgusting abuse, based on the colour of someones skin.

More about the women...

Mary Jackson was a mathematician and aerospace engineer, firstly at the NACA, which became NASA in 1958. She worked for most of her career at Langley Research Centre in Virginia, and after 34 years at NASA earned the most senior engineering title available. She could have been promoted to a supervisor position, but took a demotion in order to work on improving equality at NASA.

Katherine G. Johnson is a physicist and mathematician known for her unmatched accuracy in computerised celestial navigation. She worked at NASA for decades and calculated trajectories, launch windows, and emergency back-up return paths, for many flights for Project Mercury, which included the early John Glenn, and Alan Shepard missions. Johnson went on to work on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, and the Space Shuttle Program, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2015.

Dorothy Vaughan was a mathematician, who became acting supervisor of the West Area Computers. Vaughan prepared herself for the introduction of machine computers in the 1960's by teaching herself and her staff to programme the computers, she later headed the programming section of the Analysis and Computation Division (ACD) at Langley Research Centre.

Hidden Figures has been nominated for 3 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Octavia Spencer, who played Dorothy Vaughan, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film is also up for an award for Best Adapted Screenplay at tonights BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards).

Star Wars Episode 8: Title revealed

The title for the next instalment in the Star Wars Saga has been revealed and it's amazing! Episode 8 will be called 'The Last Jedi'.

It was announced on social media earlier today sending Star Wars fans (myself included) into a crazed meltdown of excitement.

'The Last Jedi' follows on from 2015's 'The Force Awakens', which ended with Rey finding Luke Skywalker, to hopefully begin her Jedi training.

Here's how the news broke on social media:

A statement on starwars.com read: "We have the greatest fans in this or any other galaxy. In appreciation of the fans, we wanted them to be the first to know the title of the next chapter in the Skywalker saga".

'The Last Jedi' is written and directed by Rian Johnson, and sees the return of original saga cast members Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, among others.

Carrie Fisher sadly died at the end of last year, but Disney later reported that Fisher had completed all of her scenes for the film prior to her death.

'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' will be released on December 15 this year.

Review: Passengers 'A brutal disappointment'

Since probably the month of August, the film Passengers has been advertised to death, between August and December, I don't think I saw a single film in which Passengers was not trailed.

So by the time it actually came to going to see it, I actually wasn't looking forward to it that much, as I felt I had seen the entire film through the trailers anyway! With this in mind I did go to the cinema looking for something spectacular, looking for it to be the best Sci-Fi film for quite some time, looking to be pleasantly surprised.

In reality, I felt all I got was a very bad episode of Star Trek; a long drawn out story, in which I felt no emotional connection to Chris Pratt or Jennifer Lawrence's character.

This review does contain spoilers, in that I will say, the film keeps you interested in the hope that something surprising is going to happen, to pay you for coping with all the long drawn out scenes, but nope! Passengers falls flat on its face and left me feeling personally cheated.

The premise of the film was really good, it felt imaginative and like it could have been so much more than it was.

Even if the idea was to have this film as a setup for a really amazing sequel, the ending doesn't even leave you wanting more. It just leaves you wanting to sort of forget you ever went to see it and push it aside as the irrelevant piece of cinema it is.

Passengers focuses on the starship Avalon, which is a spacecraft transporting people from Earth to the new colony planet Homestead 2, a journey of over 100 years.

The company which offers the transport puts all passengers on board into hibernation, to then wake them up 4 months before arriving at the colony.

Something goes wrong and Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is woken up, with 90 years to go until the Avalon reaches Homestead 2.

I won't give too much away, but another passenger Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) is also woken up too early, so the pair face the prospect of dieing before they reach the colony.

The synopsis sounds gripping and to its credit the suspense did keep me engaged for the near 2 hours it was on, but I felt there was just no pay off, apart from maybe seeing Chris Pratt in the shower.

To conclude; this film could have been so much more and that's what annoys me.

Rotten Tomatoes gives Passengers a 31% rotten rating with an average score of 5/10, but IMDB's user reviews give the film a 7/10, so maybe it's just down to personal taste, but I was highly disappointed.

Review: Rogue One 'A Star Wars Story'

(Note: Top 10 at the bottom of the page does contain SPOILERS)

After seeing the midnight showing of Rogue One, and as an avid Star Wars fan, I am extremely impressed with the first ever Star Wars spin off film.

Though I felt the beginning was slow, the film just seemed to get better and better with each passing minute, I absolutely loved it.

Felicity Jones, brought her all to this delight to watch, playing Jyn Erso, who becomes involved with the rebel alliance, when they need her help to track down her father, who is a key engineer in the building of the Death Star.

The film follows the story of the group of rebels, including Jyn, who steal the plans to the space station, which is a super weapon built by the Empire with the ability to destroy an entire planet.

The plans are referred to, and seen, in the original 1977 Star Wars: A New Hope, the plans are hidden inside R2D2 at the very start of that film, and give the Rebel Alliance, with the help of Luke Skywalker, the ability to destroy the Death Star.

The film addresses what was often thought to be a major plot flaw in Episode 4, which was why the Empire would build a weapon which could be destroyed with a single shot to its reactor. Rogue One explains why it had such a massive design flaw.

This film may be nearly 40 years on from the original Star Wars release, but Rogue One is a prequel to that film and therefore a sequel to the prequels (Episodes 1-3), yes it's getting confusing in the Star Wars universe!

I think just like The Force Awakens last year, these new films tap into a nostalgia that just enhances them, I think if it had just been these films released with no original trilogy, they wouldn't have the same feel to them.

I feel the nostalgia is a key element, having grown up with the original trilogy, Rogue One was a real treat.

It fits perfectly into the timeline of the saga and the space battle scene above the new planet of Scarif, brings back fond memories of the space battle above Endor in 'Return of the Jedi'.

Furthermore though we know nothing of these characters before hand, Rogue One does an excellent job of making the audience care deeply about them, I can honestly say I have never felt so emotional during a Star Wars film.

The end was nothing more than pure perfection, director Gareth Edwards has delivered a stunning piece of cinema, which stands alone but also enhances to no end, the Star Wars universe that many of us have come to love.

To conclude here are the 10 things I liked the most about Rogue One (in no particular order and I should warn - the bottom 5 DO CONTAIN SPOILERS!):

1, Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso
2, Director Orson Krennic (a new villain who needs his own film)
3, Scarif
4, CGI effects
5, Darth Vader
6, Princess Leia
7, Darth Vader's light sabre/force choke rampage
8, The ending
9, Governor Tarkin
10, 'Return of the Jedi' like space battle

Rogue One is OUT NOW in the UK, but isn't released in the United States until tomorrow.

Review: Sully 'Miracle on the Hudson'

'Sully' brings alive the events of January 15 2009, when US Airways Flight 1549 "crashed" into the Hudson River in New York, shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport.

When I say crashed, of course I mean landed on! Something unprecedented in nature, as Sully is quoted as saying in the film "everything is unprecedented until it happens for the first time".

Captain Chesley Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles were in the cockpit, when a bird strike resulted in the loss of power to both of the planes engines shortly after take off, Captain Sullenberger then made the incredible decision to attempt a water landing on the Hudson.

Thanks to his swift thinking and realisation that the plane would not be able to reach an airport, all 155 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A320 survived.

I can always remember when the news broke in 2009, and this photograph taken by Janis Krums on his iPhone started appearing on social media within minutes of the plane's incredible landing...

'Sully' really is a fantastic achievement, starting with Tom Hanks, who gets into his character so much, you forget it's Hanks on screen, you truly believe it is Captain Sullenberger doing his own cameo.

The film focusses on the investigation which proceeded the incident, and the incredible media attention Sullenberger and others involved received, in the United States, but also around the World.

A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Go Team looked into the incident on the Hudson, with many on it claiming that Sullenberger could have made it back to LaGuardia or another airport, rather than landing on the Hudson.

The Captain himself was heavily involved as a consultant on the film, and that is made clear, with the level of insight into his own thought processes and feelings following the incident. 

The film also aims to make clear the contribution of other crew members and first responders, in ensuring no loss of life and evacuation of the aircraft, which took just 24 minutes to complete.

The film relies on a lot of archive footage and recordings, and at certain points feels like more of a documentary.

What I really liked about 'Sully' was the fact that nothing needed be dramatised, the incident speaks for itself.

It came out in the States in September, but only got its UK release this past week.

Trump and Alt-right supporters want people to #DumpStarWars

Donald Trump has targeted plenty of people during his divisive campaign and after, from disabled people to women, and now his supporters have another target - Star Wars.

The online protest started with the hash tag #DumpStarWars, an idea encourage by 'alt-right' who are one of the newest racists movements of white supremacists to infect the Earth.

They basically want people to boycott the latest Star Wars film, Rogue One, when it hits cinema next week (December 15 in the UK).

They're unhappy with the so called "anti-white agenda" of the film's scriptwriter Chris Weitz.

It comes after Weitz and several others working on the film placed safety pins on their social media profiles.

The pins are being used as a symbol of solidarity following Trump's election win in November, as a way to reject the rising Islamaphobia, racist and anti-Semitic sentiments that have arisen as a result of one of the most divided election campaigns in US history.

To me I think it's just a case of the Star Wars universe being too much for these small minded people to handle. The film features a strong female lead, which I bet is a lot for them to handle all at once!

I feel Trump and alt-right supporters would get a lot out identification from the film though, what with the Empire's attitude of wanting to be supreme overlords of the galaxy, for conformity, and against any kind of multiculturalism and diversity.

But lets be clear, to me, any Trump supporter who thinks this film is about them needs to seriously get over themselves, and get some perspective. The film is a work of science fiction to be enjoyed, nothing more, I think the film makers have far too much creativity to have to stoop to looking towards the Donald Trump or alt-right movement for ideas.

Here are some of my favourite responses to this nonsense...

Rogue One hits cinemas on December 15th in the UK, and a day later in the United States.

So why not #DumpHate and go and get your tickets booked!

Review: A United Kingdom

On Tuesday afternoon I went to see 'A United Kingdom' a British film, funded in part with National Lottery funding, produced by Pathe and BBC Films. A powerful true story, which is deserving of the highest praise, I just want to make that clear from the outset.

'A United Kingdom' tells the story of Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana, who 'caused' controversy and international tensions in the 1940's, when he married a white British woman, Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), an interracial marriage, which was still unfortunately met by prejudice and hate back in the 1940's.

David Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King Jr, in Selma (2014), plays Prince Khama in this film, and delivers yet another superb performance, which literally brings tears to the eyes at certain points of the film. Oyelowo delivers raw emotion and captures the feelings of the time, when black people were oppressed and 'ruled over' in some cases by the British. His performance was nothing less than empowering to the core.

Though Khama's importance extends beyond the 40's this film focusses on his life in the 1940's and early 1950's, when he was exiled from Botswana, due in part to his Uncle, who had raised him since being a child not approving of his marriage to a white woman and the British, wanting their own interests served in Botswana and across Africa. Khama at the time was in line the line of royal succession to become King, which would mean Williams would be Queen of Bechuanaland in modern-day Botswana.

The film shows Khama and Williams' marriage and the struggles they face simply trying to be a couple, along with the diplomatic issues which arise as a result.

The film also has a political angle and focuses on how Khama's exile became a political football during the General Election of October 1951, which saw Winston Churchill lead the Conservatives to victory, taking power from the then Labour government of Clement Attlee. Churchill had promised Khama's 5 year exile from the country would be lifted, which undoubtably increased his support from the public, but when in power extended it to life long exile, going back on his election promise - sound familiar?

Though this is all in the history books, I was not aware of this story prior to viewing the film, which I couldn't believe due to its significance.

To me 'A United Kingdom' is absolute essential viewing and one of the best films I've seen this year.

It's out now in the UK, but if you're in the United States I'm afraid you'll have to wait until February 2017, when it is due for release over there. For more information on release dates depending on your country visit IMDB - Here

Right now 'A United Kingdom' has an 88% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and The Guardian called it "a beautifully shot, crowd pleasing gem", adding that the film "is a true-life tale of unity in the face of cultural apartheid and political expediency which remains as relevant as ever in these divided times".

Rogue One: Tickets out tomorrow

Some very exciting news came into range this morning: tickets for 'Rogue One - A Star Wars Story' will be released in the UK tomorrow.

The announcement was made on the official Star Wars UK Twitter page...

The film takes place between Episodes 3 and 4 in the Star Wars universe and is all about the group of rebels who steal the plans for the Death Star. 

According to the Odeon website the tickets will go on sale at midnight, which will promptly been followed by the website crashing I bet as it did when The Force Awakens tickets came out last year.

As a complete Star Wars nut I will definitely be staying up to get my hands on some tickets later on.

Find out more about Rogue One at www.rogue-one.co.uk

Rogue One: the countdown has begun

No politics tonight, instead I am going to blog about Star Wars. Why? Because I can. AND I'm calling it - the fan crazy official countdown to ROGUE ONE has begun. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your co-workers, tell your dog (if you have one).

So some background...

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, to use the full official title, is the first of the Star Wars spin off movies, which Disney announced they would produce after they bought Lucas Film. They will run along side the new Episodic movies (like Episode 7 last year) and will give us a little present each Christmas before each episodic movie is released the following year.

Rogue One (set for release in the UK on December 15th) is the first of the spin off's, there will be a Han Solo one in 2018, then there is expected to be one about Boba Fett, the bounty hunter we see in the original trilogy, in 2020. In between all of this Episode 8 is out in 2017, and Episode 9 is set for release in 2019. It's going to get confusing for the non-crazy fans out there...

That's because Rogue One is a sequel, whilst at the same time being a prequel! It's set between the Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith prequel and Episode 4: A New Hope, the first Star Wars film, so technically a prequel and a sequel. Here's an easy guide, which will hopefully diminish any confusion:

Essentially Rogue One is about the group of Rebels who steal the plans for the original Death Star (SPOILER ALERT: which gets blown up by Luke Skywalker and co in Episode 4). You know the plans Leia puts into R2D2 at the start of A New Hope. And you know what that means! That's right - Darth Vader, the coolest villain of them all will be in this thing. We haven't seen much of Vader from the trailers but that just makes the excitement even better, I absolutely cannot wait.

Speaking of villains, there is a new Star Wars villain to look forward to - Director Orson Krennic, played by Ben Mendelsohn who looks absolutely awesome in the trailers. Take a look...

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Rogue One is released in the UK on December 15th, then in the US the day after on December 16th.

Fun fact: it's actually out in countries such as France and Finland on the 14th, I am a big fan of the franchise but no I'm not flying out to any of these countries to see it a day early. Some, I am sure, will!