| Title |
Overall |
DVD |
Review |
| The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert |
•••• |
• |
I believe this film kickstarted the current round of gay-themed films. It has a story in which none of the central characters die, even though they're gay, and it's about drag queens who are perfectly happy being such. What a concept. Of course, the costumes truly steal the show, as expected. No comment on the pingpong ball scene. 01/02
|
| Beefcake |
••• |
••• |
A fictionalized biography of the Athletic Model Guild's heydey and founder Bob Mizer's troubled life. This explained for me the mix of eroticism and wholesomeness seen in Tom of Finland's renderings. While the story of the young lad who makes it big as a muscleman model is thin, it's hard not to enjoy this romp in 50's sexual ethics. The commentary by director Thom Fitzgerald is full of production anecdontes and a call from his boyfriend. 01/02 |
| Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss |
• |
Theater |
Sean Hayes shines in this poorly written ultra low-budget love story, but even he can't make up for what should have remained a student film (one without a five minute fantasy dance sequence). 01/02 |
| The Birdcage |
• |
• |
I find it hard to believe that a comedy duo with as much sophistication as Nichols and May could put out such a piece of crap, but here it is. And it stinks. I should note that I didn't particularly care for the original version of this film, so I may be biased, but by steadfastly not updating the story, there is simply nothing here worth seeing.
01/02 |
| Boys Don't Cry |
•••• |
Theater |
Ah, now here's a film all people should watch. It's a similar premise to M Butterfly, where love demands that lovers ignore the obvious. The characters are fascinating, the actors are well cast and give outstanding performances, and best of all the director makes the whole thing work. It helps if you know a few diesel dykes, although part of the film is showing that even the characters within the film allow themselves to be mislead. The violence is shocking, brutal, and appropriate. |
| The Boys in the Band |
••• |
VHS |
This is an interesting time capsule into what it was like to live a middle-aged, middle class, white lifestyle in the late 60s. The scathing commentary remains, but the fabulousness has dimmed. The plot revolves around a birthday party, with a verbal cat fight by Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (as channeled by two gay men). Hiss, kitty, hiss. 01/02
|
| But I'm a Cheerleader |
•• |
Theater |
A strange film with no apparent point, other than to say that lesbians don't all look like Ernest Borgnine. 01/02
|
| Caravaggio |
••• |
VHS |
A lovely but difficult film to understand, not so much because of a complicated plot or wacky narrative structure, but because of thick English accents. The tale has been told before, but never so stylishly. The recreations of Caravaggio's paintings on film are incredibly beautiful. 01/02 |
The Closet
(Le Placard) (2000) |
••• |
• |
Not at all the backward film I was lead it was by other gay men, this charming French comedy is more a simple self-realization fable. Daniel Auteuil
is the perfect choice for the office bore-cum-newly out homosexual, and Michèle Laroque is beautiful as always. The comedy doesn't arise from the stupid butt fucking jokes, which are actually scorned onscreen, but nicely timed visual jokes.
01/02 |
The Deep End
101 mins.
(2001) |
•••• |
••• |
Tilda Swinton has a face that is impossible not to watch. Here, she reenacts Mildred Pierce. The premise is based on a mother and son's inability to come to
terms with the boy's being gay. What ensues gets wildly out of control, but the lengths to which this charade is played is at once ludicruous and moving.
Goran Visnjic (of "ER" fame) is stuck with the more difficult role, but directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee have de-fanged the wolf at the door; Visnjic's prettiness also works against him here. Jonathan Tucker, as the gay son, is believable and underwritten. Josh Lucas as the boy's lover has to be the most patient actor on earth. Minor criticism: just ONCE I would like to see men having anal sex while facing each other. 05/02
|
| Edge of Seventeen |
••••• |
• |
A low-budget but accurate coming out story where everyone manages to fuck someone over or get fucked over: the hero, the best friend, the parents, the lesbian, the love interest, etc. etc. While other films become wrapped up in marketing the breathless and vapid gay worldof muscle! fashion! and bleached blond hair!, this beautifuly directed film eschew cliche and shows just how confusing and painful the process can be for those who aren't lucky enough to happen upon a diamond mine full of gay dwarves to show the way.
I lived through almost all of the situations shown here, and I laugh and wince every time I watch this. It goes from the shiny fabulousness of disco dance bars and drag queens, to finding out that sex doesn't always equal love, and sometimes doesn't even equal sex.
Casting is perfect. The lead, Chris Stafford, is brilliant—gawky, innocent, and sincere in his confusion. Tina Holmes does an equally remarkable job as Stafford's best friend, who should be up for sainthood as well as an Oscar. Even Lea DeLaria turns in a fantastic performance.
I cannot say enough about the script by Todd Stephens, which is at alternatingly funny, sexy, heartbreaking, and tragic. Compare this with the vastly more popular Trick which is only appreciated by aged queens with no long-term memory. Recommended viewing for all young queers.
01/02
|
| The 4th Man |
••••• |
|
It's weird that Verhoeven decided to remake this as the straight-faced Basic Instinct.
This version is far superior. 06/02
|
| Get Real |
• |
Theater |
The worst gay movie ever made, but some nice lighting. 08/01 |
| Gods and Monsters |
••••• |
•• |
Another amazing turn by recently official homo Sir Ian McKellan. I actually like Brandon Frasier in this, if only for allowing himself to be manipulated into looking like a doof. McKellan is elegant and conspires with the audience at just the right moments. I think of Tennessee Williams' fake heartattacks when the manipulation begins in earnest. 06/02
|
| Happy Together |
••• |
•• |
A difficult film to watch, mostly because the two leads scream at each other in Mandarin through most of the film. The photography is slick and artsy, which helps make things more palatable, but the story itself is as dark as they come. 09/02
|
| Hedwig and the Angry Inch |
••••• |
••••• |
Fabulous beyond belief! I love stories that involve capitalizing on a rotten turn of events due to fucking asshole lovers. Lord knows I've been there. Of course, sacrifice always breeds sympathy, but when the protagonist is at once wonderful and bitter, it takes a healthy does of sugar (the songs) to make the bees come. The BEST film of last year. 06/02
|
| Jeffrey |
••• |
VHS |
There are some very funny moments in this film. I can't remember them, but they were funny. I think. What day is it? |
| Just One Time |
••• |
••• |
Ignore the ridiculous title, and be glad they didn't call it Man Pussy for Love. Surprisingly good despite the sitcom plot. I'm frankly amazed that anyone would actually pony up the funding for a film where the lead is prepared to take a dick in his mouth in order to keep his fiance, but this IS the 90s. Still, worth a look. 06/02
|
| Kiss Me Guido |
•• |
Theater |
Some funny lines occasionally lift this otherwise dismal story about a oil-and-water roommates in NYC. |
| Like It Is
|
••• |
• |
An odd little film about boxing, love, and deception. The lead actors are good and Roger Daltry is appropriately creepy.
|
| Longtime Companion |
•••• |
VHS |
A work by two of my favorite people. While PBS-like in it's recanting of the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, it shows that life goes on
if you find someone who managed not to get a lot of sex in the 70s. Sound familiar? Still, I recommend this to anyone under the age of 30 who doesn't know what it's like to keep losing friends. They lose points for the ghost scene at the end, but memories are all the older queens have. 06/02
|
| The Lost Language of Cranes |
••• |
VHS |
If the son is gay and the father is gay, where does that leave poor old mom? I think they really missed an opportunity here for a Joan Crawford/Mildred Pierce remake. I understand why this is popular with the closeted set, but it feels dated now. 06/02
|
| Love! Valour! Compassion! |
•• |
Theater |
Go see the play. 06/02 |
| Maurice |
••• |
Theater |
If you bought a dozen postcards of Albert Hall, mixed them with some Victorian porno and flipped through them really slowly, you get this. It's sort of like wiping up a wad of spooge with a lace doily. 06/02
|
| Mishima |
••••• |
• |
This is a beautifully complex telling of how a lunatic Japanese author tried to turn the ideals of his novels to life. The story interweaves biography and stylized enactments of scenes from Mishima's novels, most of which focus on the author's homosexuality and his fanatic nationalism. The sets and costumes from legendary designer Eiko and the score by Philip Glass make this film, which is a rare, rare instance of a collaboration which equals more than the sum of the parts. 08/01 |
| My Own Private Idaho |
|
|
I still don't understand this movie, unless the director was making Keanu take it up the ass. 06/02
|
| Parting Glances |
••• |
• |
One of the best and first AIDS films, at once touching and funny, especially since it destroyed the beautiful doe-eyed one's career. Steve Buscemi is amazing here as a homo, and the ex-lover is sometimes believable. The smoking knight is fucking hilarious. Watch this and you'll understand what it's like to live under a death sentence, especially the pitying glances of the ones that love you. 06/02
|
| Prick Up Your Ears |
•••• |
Theater |
Stephen Frears is my favorite director, or at least in the top 10. The film is perfectly cast, and appropriately inaccurate. The tragedy of the ending is less touching because of it, but even I wanted to kill Joe. 06/02
|
| Querelle |
••• |
VHS |
The ultimate gay film for some, and for me if I'm drunk. The stagecraft is par excellence and FRANCO NERO IS THE HOTTEST THING SINCE Steve Reeves as far as I'm concerned. If only he were circumcized. Poor whatshisface is appropriately nasty, but in the end it rings of Papillon's knife killing scene. Charmant? Pas-que oui. 06/02
|
| Relax...It's Just Sex |
••• |
Theater |
This ambitious low-budget film contains the most disturbing scene I've ever seen in a gay film: exactly what transpires I will leave for you to see. In terms of plot, it's basically The Opposite of Sex without the bitchy dialogue. I'm very surprised that the cast hasn't appeared in mainstream films, since performances are quite good. |
| Steam |
• |
Theater |
More a travelogue of pre-earthquake Istanbul than anything. |
| The Talented Mr. Ripley |
•••• |
••• |
I thought at first that this was a farce about the fatuousness of the rich, but it seems to take its window-licking seriously. The film is well-constructed and acted; casting is first-rate. But if you could take a bit of Auntie Mame, a bit of Six Degrees of Separation, and a big to Room with a View, you have this paean to the problems of the American aristocracy. 11/00 |
| Taxi Zum Klo |
••• |
VHS |
A slyly repugnant film about gay horrors, this is THE film to view if you want to see what it's like to fuck a scowling German. The non-stop pursuit of dick is at once familiar and nauseating. If you know German, you are in luck; the subtitles are ridiculous and color the end of the film, which in the original is appropriately open-ended.
06/02
|
To Die For
(also titled "Heaven's a Drag") |
• |
• |
Could have been more interesting with a better script, although the idea of an AIDS ghost story/comedy is
certainly unique. Maybe it should have stayed that way. The cast is actually quite good, but the mauldlin score tries to make every moment a Wrenching Tearjerker. The film has the sterility of someone who has heard about someone dying of AIDS, but when penning the script could only dredge up memories of the death of the family dog.
09/02 |
| Torch Song Trilogy |
•• |
VHS |
I'm not a fan of Harvey Fierstein, but she works some magic here. I cannot watch Matthew Broderick since she murdered those poor people in Ireland and got off scott free, the bastard. It's the maudlin story of drag queen fantasy, but there are moments that truly shine. I imagine the stage version to be superior, and less chiffon. 06/02
|
| Trick |
• |
Theater |
When someone at a bar says that they loved this film, I turn and walk away. This overrated film sticks its tongue so far up the asses of 40-60 year old wrinkle queens that rectal exams result in Sunday matinees. Tori Spelling walks away with this dog just by not contributing to its homophobic stereotyping. 08/01 |
| The Twilight of the Golds |
•• |
•• |
An interesting premise (would parents abort a child if they knew it was going to be gay) with an uninteresting script. I started baking cookies in the middle of this snoozer. 06/02
|
| Velvet Goldmine |
••• |
• |
I'm sure this film would be more interesting to someone who could understand the coded who-fucked-who-while-a-rock-star jerk-off fantasty messaging, but I don't know and really don't care. 06/02
|
Very Natural Thing
(1973) |
••• |
• |
I'm giving this 70s film three stars only because it serves as a time capsule of what it was like to be twenty-something in pre-AIDS New York. There's a bathhouse scene, some racy sex scenes, and pot smoking, but the film is all about the trouble with maintaining a gay relationship. Same problems then, same problems now. All the stereotypes make apperances: the hopelessly clingy romantic, the man who just like a lot of dick, the bitter bachelor, the faggy rich couple in an open relationship, Fire Island bush sex. If only this was a documentary (documentary footage from NYC's 1973 Gay Pride Parade is used, and the dialog is far superior). Acting is weak, script is weak, camera work and editing are weak, but the filmmakers had the right idea, so I recommend it. 09/02 |
| The Wedding Banquet |
••• |
VHS |
When straight men pretend to be gay and still perpetuate the ancient and demeaning asian with white themes, I turne out. But then, Jewish boys never give it up. Ang Lee is better with women anyway. 06/02
|
| Wilde |
•••• |
••• |
The fountainhead of modern GWM culture. If you wrapped up one life in a tobacco leaf and blew smoke rings, you would have the bitterness and pleasure of Oscar Wilde's tortuous life. The unspoken love of a big Irish dick pervades. The commentary is charming if a bit unfocused, spouting off mostly about the style of each scene. If only the lead were better looking, as was Wilde, we could escape for awhile. This film gets two extra points for finally showing that gay men can have sex while facing each other. You can always tell a film actually directed by a man who has topped someone cute.
06/02
|
