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‘A few wry smiles and a couple of gentle cringes’ – Theatre Camp review | Films | Entertainment

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The mockumentary is nothing new. And TV licence holders can see the funniest one ever made on BBC1 on Tuesday night.

Theater Camp, an affectionate ribbing of children’s musical theatre, is nowhere near as accomplished as Rob Reiner’s 1984 heavy metal spoof This Is Spinal Tap.

The songs aren’t as catchy, the lines aren’t as sharp and there are no mishaps with badly measured stage props. But a game cast delivers a few wry smiles and a couple of gentle cringes.

The setting is an upstate summer camp in New York where misfit kids get to air their jazz hands while preparing a show for their doting parents.

A documentary crew captures a crunch year for the camp after a strobe light sends founder Joan Rubinsky (Amy Sedaris) into a coma while scouting for new recruits.

Her utterly idiotic “influencer” son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) takes over, only to find the camp is on the brink of bankruptcy. As the self-appointed business genius tries to save it, luvvie teachers Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) and Amos (Ben Platt) decide to stage Joan, Still, a musical biopic about their ailing founder.

The closest thing to a quotable line involves a teary performer being called “the Lance Armstrong of acting” for secretly using a tear stick.

But I suspect co-directors Gordon and Nick Lieberman over-estimated their cast’s capacity for improvised comedy. A tighter script may have reined in some of their performances.

Gordon and Platt are suitably theatrical but Tatro really turns it up to 11.

Theatre Camp, Cert 12, In cinemas now



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Best Carry On movie of all time is streaming on 2 platforms – not Netfix | Films | Entertainment

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The Carry On franchise has kept viewers entertained for years. It comprises 31 films, the largest number of films of any British film franchise. Additionally, it features four Christmas specials, a television series, and stage shows. All products were produced between 1958 and 1992, and while it generated a lot of success, one film is regarded as the best of the bunch.

Carry on Up the Khyber has earned the number one spot according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The film, which was released in 1968, is rated 6.8 stars as a result of 5,700 ratings. The film is the 16th in the series, directed by Gerald Thomas stars the regulars such as Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, and Peter Butterworth. For those who love it or those who have never seen it before, the film is currently streaming on two platforms.

Amazon Prime users can rent the movie for £3.49 or buy it for £4.99. The film is rated a 4.7 out of 5 stars, with reviewers branding the film as “almost faultless” and “The pinnacle of Carry Ons”.

One reviewer wrote: “This is a film that defines the series. Kenneth Williams was at his villainous best, Sid James making the very best of his skills and the full support cast were brilliant. Plus the dinner scene is up there with Four Candles as a true classic comedy moment.

Another added: “As a great fan of the Carry On movies, this is quite simply the best of the best. There isn’t a thing about this epitome of silliness and English comedy not to like. Brilliant”

For those who do not have an Amazon Prime account or not wanting to pay for the movie, well there’s still luck, because it is also available on ITV’s streaming platform ITVX, where viewers can watch it free of charge. All you need to do is create an ITVX account.

“Expect lashings of innuendo in this delightfully remastered comedy set in 1890s India. Trouble looms as the third Foot & Mouth regiment protect their outpost,” reads the streaming platform’s description.

It does however, warn that the film contain “mild language and sexual references, racial imagery and stereotypes that may cause offence.”



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Goodfellas fans are just realising iconic scene was improvised | Films | Entertainment

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Fans of the iconic movie Goodfellas have realised one of the most beloved scenes was improvised. The hit 1990 crime thriller tells the story of the rise and fall of Mafia accomplice Henry Hill, who was linked with the Lucchese crime family of New York City from the mid 50s until his arrest on narcotics charges in 1980. He went on to become an FBI informant.

Goodfellas is based on the non-fiction book about Hill’s life, Wiseguy, written by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi. The movie stars Ray Liotta as Hill, as well as Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino and more.

Pileggi helped pen the script alongside veteran director Martin Scorsese. Collaboration was an integral part of the creative process, with Scorsese and Pileggi said to have worked on 12 drafts of the script.

The director encouraged the writer to be open to a more non-linear or traditional approach to the story’s structure. Goodfellas was critically acclaimed and went on to be nominated for a string of awards.

It bagged some coveted wins, including the BAFTA for Best Film and Best Director, as well as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci, among other wins throughout awards season.

The movie is still praised and lauded as a cinematic masterpiece to this day, with many other filmmakers inspired by its distinctive style. Nicholas Pileggi told GQ: “Mob guys love it, because it’s the real thing, and they knew the people in it. They say, ‘It’s like a home movie’.”

In one scene, Martin Scorsese cast his mother, Catherine, to play Joe Pesci’s character Tommy’s mother. The director didn’t give her a script though, and told her the purpose of the scene.

When he called “action”, she improvised her lines. On-set assistant Heather Norton explained to GQ: “There is no noise on Scorsese’s set… They improv’d a lot of stuff in this very quiet environment where they felt totally at ease.”

The scene was recently shared again on Facebook by the popular page History in Memes, where the improvised nature of it was discussed. In the caption accompanying the clip, the page admin penned: “In Goodfellas (1990), Martin Scorsese created an iconic scene with his mother, Catherine Scorsese, as Tommy’s mother. Without a script, Scorsese directed her to act like a typical Italian-American mom.

“Her spontaneous dialogue about cooking a meal at 2AM, brimming with warmth and authenticity, was completely improvised, capturing familial dynamics and adding a memorable, grounded moment to the film.”

Reflecting on the film with the American Film Institute, Martin Scorsese explained: “What I wanted to show you was the danger of the exuberance of that kind of life.

“At first, you see the danger of the exuberance, the danger of the excitement. When you’re young, you think you’re going to live forever, and you think you’re tough and you could take a few more shots in the head than somebody else could.

“So you think you’re tougher than the other person – well, eventually, if you don’t use your brain, you know you’re not going to wind up anywhere.

“That’s what happens with the Joe Peshi character and I think the danger of the excitement of that lifestyle is what I grew up around, and I saw a lot of people disappear because of that.”



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‘Out of this world’ action movie is on 2 streaming platforms – not Netflix | Films | Entertainment

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Heat: Robert De Niro and Al Pacino star in 1995 trailer

Val Kilmer sadly died earlier this month, leaving behind an incredible movie back catalogue.

According to film fans on IMDb, his greatest movie was Michael Mann’s iconic crime thriller Heat.

The 1995 movie stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as an LAPD detective chasing a career thief.

Kilmer plays the villainous Chris Shiherlis, a crew member in that incredible heist sequence.

heat poster

‘Out of this world’ action movie is on 2 streaming platforms – not Netflix (Image: WB)



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