'The Lion King' (2019) Film Review

Can this lion find it's roar?

Disney has found relative success in revamping their animated classics. Alice in Wonderland kicked things off in 2010 when the live-action, Tim Burton take garnered over $1 billion at the box office. Since then, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella have all gone through the 'live-action remake' process, each one prospering at the box office. There's something a bit different about The Lion King, though. The film is, for many, already an undoubted masterpiece, and if Ghostbusters (2016) didn't already make it obvious, millennial nostalgia is a force to be reckoned with. 

Peppa Pig's 'My First Album' Review feat. Tamsyn Chandler

Will Peppa Pig's debut deliver some bangers?

Peppa Pig is the latest pop princess to hit the music scene, with her debut album My First Album hitting streaming services earlier today. In order to unpack the artistry within, I've teamed up with the incredible Tamsyn Chandler. Be sure to load the album and listen along with us as we dissect it track by track before offering our final thoughts.

A Note on 'Love Island' and Homophobia

We need to talk about Curtis

Love Island, ITV 2's colossal real-time hit wherein a range of conventionally attractive 20-somethings battle it out to find 'love' in Majorca, is one of televisions only youth-backed juggernauts. This is significant - the Netflix oriented age of streaming has seen young people's TV engagement drop by almost 33% (according to a 2017 Ofcom study). With a young audience, naturally, comes social media, and many fans of the reality show will openly admit that half of the fun of keeping up with the programme is in engaging in each day's Twitter reactions.

Love Island is, arguably, half of its own show, with the remaining 50% of the fun found not on your telly but on your phone. Obviously this means that there are daily viral tweets referencing the show - some of which reach hundreds of thousands of interactions - and while most of these jokes are harmless fun some occasionally feel unkind. On Twitter, Love Island 2019 has led to the rise of the 'Yewande support group', the 'anti-Arabella bad spellers' and a general liking of Maura, but the ongoing narrative around one Islander has left me incredibly uneasy - the suggestions that Curtis is gay.

'Booksmart' Film Review | "Straight As, Zero Fs"

The film for a generation.

I haven't written for this blog in months on account of exam season, so I'm feeling a little rusty. I felt compelled to log back in today, though, because I think Olivia Wilde's theatrical debut Booksmart may be the most relevant and masterful coming-of-age film released in the last few years. The film is rightfully set to attain the acclaim and respect afforded to the thematically similar Lady Bird (which hit screens in 2017 and nabbed 5 Oscar nominations the next year). Unfortunately, Booksmart is receiving neither as much attention as Lady Bird nor as many box office dollars, so I feel it my duty to insist that everyone reading this review go and support this phenomenal indie film. 

'Tucked' Film Review | BFI Flare Festival 2019

This drag race is a marathon, not a sprint.

Tucked, along with the queens in which it presents, exists as an anomaly in the wider drag landscape. Drag recently hit the mainstream thanks to the popularity of RuPaul's Drag Race, but that show prioritizes a very specific type of drag. Because of this, 'drag' as pop culture seemingly focuses on uplifting skinny, white performers while disregarding their equally talented counterparts. It's about time, then, that both old and black queens got the chance to step into the spotlight; Tucked offers this opportunity to both.

'Giant Little Ones' Film Review | BFI Flare Film Festival 2019

The coming of age film that defies all expectation...

As Giant Little Ones begins and the camera focuses on Frankie - our protagonist who sings along to the electro-pop sounding through his headphones - you'd be forgiven for thinking Keith Behrman's latest film would be a queer take on the coming of age tropes; boy meets boy, school drama gets in the way, break ups and make ups, etc. This was initially exciting. Not since Love, Simon has a queer film been basked in the same Hollywood glow that their hetero-normative counterparts take for granted. Sure, Giant Little Ones is itself an independent film, but writer-director Behrman makes a concerted effort to initially ground this film in this aforementioned genre.

'Vita & Virginia' Film Review | BFI Flare Film Festival 2019

Literature, Letters and Lesbians

Back in 2014 (when I originally started JG Review) I would sneakily upload blog posts in the back row of my GCSE computer lessons and hope to one day cover Film as a member of the press. While I haven't (yet) figured out a way to get paid for that, I have managed to get into film festival coverage which is, honestly, still shocking to me. Before I begin my review of Vita & Virginia, then, I want to quickly thank anyone who has ever visited and read something on this blog - your clicks and support have literally opened doors that were too heavy for me to push on my own. To any of my regular readers and supporters: because of you I'm currently covering my second Film Festival, and not for a student paper or magazine but for this blog - thank you! 

You can expect an imminent wave of reviews and features covering films highlighted in this year's BFI Flare Film Festival, an event aimed at uplifting and showcasing the latest LGBTQ+ cinema. I'm hoping to be able to exclusively interview some directors who have brought their films to the festival, but it's about time I spoke about the first I got to see here...