Reviews

The DVD edition of this movie contains a second disc with special features. I really didn`t understand the logic of that, since it could have all fit onto one disc; the movie is two hours, and the extras total only one hour. Apparently, they wanted to boast about being the first gay movie with a two-disc set.

Still, I enjoyed the extras, and recommend watching the deleted scenes with the commentary turned on. Those scenes really wouldn`t have added anything to the movie, but they are interesting as explorations of some likable characters. The `making of` documentary was especially enjoyable, because of the enthusiasm of everyone involved in this ambitious but seemingly simple little movie.

As for the movie itself, I could have done without all the country music, but the documentary reveals that those songs helped inspire the movie, so I suppose I should be grateful for that. It`s a lovely film, in which simple rural folk play matchmakers for gay men! Impossible? Not really, just unlikely. But it`s a positive, hopeful vision, and a pleasure to watch!

Even the most obnoxious and overbearing characters provide amusement. This is the perfect gay movie to watch with your parents, a group of friends, or your nearest PFLAG group. It`s even a good date movie.

Kirkus has just reviewed my book The Acorn Stories, saying that “A lush tangle of small-town life branches out in this engrossing collection of short stories.” The Acorn Stories previously received a Pride in the Arts Award, as well as numerous positive reviews at Amazon.Com and bn.com. It involves gays and nongays in a small and largely religious town.

When I first saw Torch Song Trilogy, I had only seen a few movies that included gay characters, and most of those showed gays in both a limited and a negative role. Certainly, none of them came close to exploring how I felt as a gay man.

This movie changed that. I watched with amazement at how much Harvey Fierstein’s character matched my life and expressed how I felt. Actually, I wasn’t a gravel-voiced, Jewish drag queen who sang torch songs, but Harvey’s outlandish character experienced the same need for love and acceptance that other gays experience. In fact, he even manages to capture the universal desire for all people to know love of every kind.

Fierstein adapted the screenplay from his Tony-winning drama of the same title, bringing it to the big screen in 1988. Though parts of it might seem dated, the struggles of his character (Arnold) continue to epitomize the struggles of gays and lesbians everywhere.

Of course, Fierstein gets helps from great co-stars like Anne Bancroft (as Arnold’s mother), Brian Kerwin (as Arnold’s lover at the beginning of the movie), and Matthew Broderick (as the new man that Arnold slowly learns to trust). Despite seeing this movie countless times, I still feel empathy for Arnold in his struggles. I also still feel ambivalence toward the way he treats his mother; despite her flaws, I think she really wants to understand and love unconditionally.

Overall, I can’t think of many gay movies that I suggest as readily or as often as Torch Song Trilogy. Watch it. Then watch it again. I certainly will.

Another Gay Movie brings gay cinema into the testosterone-driven realm of Porky’s and American Pie. Like those comedies, Another Gay Movie features teen characters but aims for a strictly adult audience; in fact, writer/director Todd Stephens intentionally kept the movie unrated, knowing it wouldn’t receive an R-rating without losing some of his most outrageous footage.

However, instead of just making a gay copy of Porky’s and American Pie, Stephens playfully spoofs both movies. He also skewers gay favorites like The Broken Hearts Club, Queer As Folk, and the coming-out classic Edge of Seventeen.

Of course, Stephens also wrote and directed Edge of Seventeen. If his own baby isn’t safe from his demented imagination, nothing else in the gay community is safe. This movie writhes around, crashing gay pride parades, mocking exotic dancers, and winking at gay priests.

A couple of scenes are more gross than funny, many of the scenes are more amusing than they would sound if explained, and some allusions will go right over most people’s heads, but all of that happens because of an anything-for-a-laugh approach to film-making. The overall package not only succeeds as a comedy but provides a refreshing reply to uptight messages about how gay artists should or shouldn’t represent gays.

The soundtrack also includes an unlikely mixture: Nancy Sinatra, Shannon, Jimmy Somerville, and United State of Electronica, to name a few. The music always fits the scenes, though—if not for raciness or camp value, then just for a simple, driving beat.

A talented young cast plays the young gay men who set a familiar goal for the summer after graduation. Corpus Christi native Mitch Morris previously appeared in such TV shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ER, Queer As Folk, and the E-Ring. Morris and the actors playing his buddies all boast impressive credentials for such young actors; they also approach their roles with enthusiasm and convincing naiveté.

Stephanie McVay simultaneously spoofs her role as the homophobic mom in Edge of Seventeen and Sharon Gless’s role as the overly gay-friendly mom in Queer As Folk. Ashlie Atkinson (from Spike Lee’s thriller Inside Man) raucously sends up American Pie’s Stifler in her role as bull dyke Muffler. This film also includes appearances by some well-known and openly gay celebrities, such as stand-up comic Ant, Survivor winner Richard Hatch, Kids in the Hall star Scott Thompson, and a drag star of stage and screen…Lypsinka.

Despite Another Gay Movie’s irreverence, it stays light-hearted and even becomes sincerely romantic at times. Still, anyone who finds sexual humor offensive probably would (and should) avoid it anyway. Visit http://anothergaymovie.com/ for cast notes, the trailer, etc.

***

Another Gay Movie. Distributed by TLA Releasing. Reviewed by Duane Simolke, author of Holding Me Together, The Acorn Stories, and Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure. Review originally written for twit. 

Please visit the newly updated DuaneSimolke.UK. 

A student at a Christian high school wants to save her gay boyfriend by having sex with him. Another student there seems to see herself as God's head cheerleader. Right away, this film shows its irreverence and its outlandish humor.

However, despite what the previews and the first half of the film suggest, this movie isn't anti-Christian at all, but rather anti-hypocrisy and anti-bigotry. Too much prejudice parades around in the cloak of religion, and this little comedy tears that cloak off.

With a brilliant and mostly young cast that includes Jena Malone, Macauley Culkin, and Mandy Moore, Saved! calls us to laugh at our arrogance and ultimately feel more compassion toward those who might not fit into our world view...as well as those who mistreat us.

Some will dismiss Saved! as simply an attack on religion in general, while some others will see it as a specific attack only on fundamentalist Christianity. I wouldn't call it either, and I speak as someone who attended Christian colleges and immersed himself in the culture this movie depicts: a culture of often-tacky Christian merchandising and a culture that centers around the constant politics of exclusion.

I would call Saved! a funny, enjoyable satire that might challenge us to show a little more love. And isn't love the one virtue that Jesus stressed the most?

More of my movie reviews appear in my blog (Duane Simolke’s Acorn Universes) and at the gay site This Week in Texas. Duane Simolke, author of Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure.

Seeing the uber-macho trailers for 300 i was unsure as to whether i would actually like it or not. Sure the Hollywood style homo-erotic naked Spartans tempted me but i was worried that they where just wheeling out the sexy bits to tempt us.

I have to say i was very turned on impressed. Visually the film was stunning, (not just the sight of Gerard Butler and his band of buff greased up men with drawn-on bulging six packs) but also the stylized visual effects which where created using the same technique used for Sin City (same director too). The whole thing had the feeling of a long music video, very intense and visually immersive.

The amazingly buff cast made everyone in the audience sit up straight, pull in their stomachs and text their personal trainer to arrange an emergency cardio session. In my opinion they should play this film in gyms to motivate people as it certainly did the job for me.

Apparently, since the film, Yahoo! has been experiencing a massive amount of searches for gerrard butler 300 workout and 300 six pack.

I always find it ironic that these films have such obvious homo-erotic themes in them and how they are geared towards a

Written and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, an acclaimed Turkish director, Climates (Iklimler) is a story of a middle-class couple's breakup and the immediate consequences of it. The film is so disturbingly life-like that it made my friend's head ache. Very long and beautiful shots of a face that turns from a smile to sadness to hate to tears, lots of silents and telling the story without speaking is what makes this movie a postmodern classic. Add the amazing scenery, brain twisting scenes that blur dreams and reality and what i would call the most bizarre sex scene ever, are what makes Climates a must for every film lover.
Official website

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is the King Henry VIII in the new tv drama The Tudors which tries to give a sort of funky look to the history. Youthful and full of energy and a bit mad and very colourful details of everybody

I have really gone off musical films recently and sceptically went to see DreamGirls last night. I was mightily impressed. Ex-American Idol star Jennifer Hudson stole the show with her goose-bump inducing vocals which really put Beyonce to shame. Her soulfull rendition of One Night Only was spectacular. Mrs Knowles put on a good show and was quite believable but hardly set the screen alight.

A big surprise for me was Eddie “Tranny F*cker” Murphy who not only sang well but put on a convincing performance as the troubled star Jimmy Early. His vocals where great. It’s shame for him that he may have ruined his Oscar chances by doing Norbit another dual personality/Nutty Professor type film as if we needed another.

Dreamgirls has been nominated for 8 Oscars! Woop!

Beyonce's Version Of One Night Only

Jennifer Hudson's (Better) Version Of One Night Only