cinema reflections
Magnificent Obsession book by Anthony Slide. Whereas Lloyd C. Douglas' 1929 Magnificent Obsession book dealt with a playboy's urge to restore the eyesight of the woman he had accidentally blinded, Anthony Slide's latest explores the lives and times of movie buffs. Now, are Twilight, The Dark Knight, and The Avengers fans as consumed with passion for their idols as, say, the warring members of the Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy […]
Valentino with Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips. Ken Russell's 1977 Rudolph Valentino biopic Valentino is based on the dubious 1966 bio (“Was he a great lover – or a sham?”) penned by Chaw Mank and Brad Steiger. A coal miner's son and self-proclaimed psychic, Mank was one of the most influential – and surely the busiest – movie buff of them all, for decades founding and/or […]
Jimmy Edwards. Best known for his radio and television work – Take It from Here in the former medium; Whack-O! in the latter – British comedian Jimmy Edwards was seen, mostly in small parts, in about a dozen features from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. His most notable film role is probably that of Prof. Jim Edwards in Mario Zampi's 1960 comedy Bottoms Up!, a big-screen Whack-O! spin-off […]
Crime novel The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. While her husband is away during World War II, housewife Lucia Holley – the sort of “Everywoman” who looks great in a two-piece bathing suit – does whatever it takes to protect the feeling of “normality” in her bourgeois, suburban household. The Blank Wall is a classic depiction of an attempted cover-up being much more serious […]
(See previous post: “Gay Pride Movie Series Comes to a Close: From Heterosexual Angst to Indonesian Coup.”) Ken Russell's Valentino (1977) is notable for starring ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev as silent era icon Rudolph Valentino, whose sexual orientation, despite countless gay rumors, seems to have been, according to the available evidence, heterosexual. (Valentino's supposed affair with fellow “Latin Lover” Ramon Novarro has no basis in […]
Turner Classic Movies' 2017 Gay Pride film series comes to a close this evening and tomorrow morning, Thursday–Friday, June 29–30, with the presentation of seven movies, hosted by TV interviewer Dave Karger and author William J. Mann, whose books include Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines and Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969. Among tonight's movies' LGBT connections: Edward […]
'Making Love': Groundbreaking romantic gay drama returns to the big screen As part of its Anniversary Classics series, Laemmle Theaters will be presenting Arthur Hiller's groundbreaking 1982 romantic drama Making Love, the first U.S. movie distributed by a major studio that focused on a romantic gay relationship. Michael Ontkean, Harry Hamlin, and Kate Jackson star. The 35th Anniversary Screening of Making Love will be held […]
On the day a U.S. appeals court lifted an injunction that blocked a Mississippi “religious freedom” law – i.e., giving Christian extremists the right to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, etc. – not to mention the publication of a Republican-backed health care bill targeting the poor, the sick, the elderly, and those with “pre-existing conditions” – which would include HIV-infected people, a large […]
Palme d'Or winner The Square with Claes Bang. “Gobsmackingly weird” Cannes Film Festival favorite may have a tough time landing a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award nomination. As an aside, Ruben Östlund's comedy-drama is totally unrelated to Jehane Noujaim's 2013 Oscar-nominated political documentary of the same title, which refers to downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square. Cannes winners & Academy Award nominations: Ruben Östlund's Palme d'Or […]
Turner Classic Movies continues with its Gay Hollywood presentations tonight and tomorrow morning, June 8–9. Seven movies will be shown about, featuring, directed, or produced by the following: Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Farley Granger, John Dall, Edmund Goulding, W. Somerset Maughan, Clifton Webb, Montgomery Clift, Raymond Burr, Charles Walters, DeWitt Bodeen, and Harriet Parsons. (One assumes that it's a mere coincidence that gay rumor subjects […]
Considering everything that's been happening on the planet in the last several months, you'd have thought we're already in November or December – of 2117. But no. It's only June. 2017. And in some parts of the world, that's the month of brides, fathers, graduates, gays, and climate change denial. Beginning this evening, Thursday, June 1, Turner Classic Movies will be focusing on one of […]
Boom! movie with Elizabeth Taylor: Critically panned box office disaster featuring memorable headwear and situations. 'Boom!' movie: Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton critical & box office bomb reappraised as 'cult classic' fare If you've never seen Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's 1968 vanity production Boom!, don't feel singled out. Boom! bombed at the box office almost as soon as it blasted on the screen. Since […]
2016 movies Things to Come (pictured) and Elle have earned French cinema icon Isabelle Huppert her – surprisingly – very first National Society of Film Critics Best Actress Award. 2016 Movies: Isabelle Huppert & 'Moonlight' among National Society of Film Critics' top picks Earlier today (Jan. 7), the National Society of Film Critics announced their top 2016 movies and performances. Somewhat surprisingly, this year's NSFC […]
Star Trek: Beyond with Chris Pine as Captain Kirk: Will movie franchise reboot achieve “escape velocity”? 'Star Trek: Beyond' review: Movie franchise needs to boldly go where J.J. Abrams has never gone before We're never told what “beyond” refers to in Star Trek: Beyond, the 13th film in the venerated sci-fi series. But here's a theory: if the franchise is to regain its footing after […]
TCM presents the life story of (a not gay) John Nash, starring Russell Crowe: In the phony 'A Beautiful Mind,' director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman wash the gay away. '31 Days of Oscar' on TCM: From fake biopic & passionate bromance to the deadly clash of civilizations Turner Classic Movies' “31 Days of Oscar” continues on Saturday, Feb. 6, '16, with more recent […]
Ernst Lubitsch movies: Subtle, sophisticated 'Touch' all but gone from contemporary filmmaking. Ernst Lubitsch movies: The forgotten, passé 'Touch' Ernst Lubitsch and William Cameron Menzies were Turner Classic Movies' “stars” on Jan. 28, '16. (This is a fully revised and expanded version of a post published that day.) Lubitsch had the morning/afternoon, with seven films; Menzies had the evening/night, also with seven features. As a […]
David Bowie: The former Ziggy Stardust in 'The Hunger.' David Bowie movies: Iconic singer memorable as fast-aging vampire, Nikola Tesla Singer and sometime actor David Bowie, one of the iconic figures of the English-language music scene of the second half of the 20th century, died of cancer yesterday, Jan. 10, '16. Bowie (born David Robert Jones in the London suburb of Brixton) had turned 69 […]
Michel Galabru and Louis de Funès in the comedy 'Le gendarme et les gendarmettes': No 'affection' for his movies. 'La Cage aux Folles' actor Michel Galabru dead at 93: Embodiment of 'traditional family values' in international box office hit Michel Galabru, best known internationally for his role as a rabidly reactionary politician in the comedy blockbuster La Cage aux Folles, died in his sleep today, […]
'Sunset Blvd.,' with Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond: Final Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder collaboration. The Charles Brackett Diaries: Gay Rumors quashed, troubled Billy Wilder partnership discussed in Q&A with Anthony Slide See previous post: “Charles Brackett Diaries: Politics and Gossip During the Studio Era.” First of all, how did you become involved in this Charles Brackett project? And what did your editorial job entail? […]
Charles Brackett ca. 1945: Billy Wilder screenwriting partner (1936–1949), producer (1945–1949) and Hollywood diarist. Q&A with 'Charles Brackett Diaries' editor Anthony Slide: Billy Wilder's screenwriter-producer partner in his own words Six-time Academy Award winner Billy Wilder is a film legend. He is renowned for classics such as The Major and the Minor, Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd., Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, and […]
'Eye of the Tiger' band Survivor: Lawsuit against a couple of radical Christians. Infamous radical Christian county clerk Kim Davis, far-right U.S. presidential candidate Mike Huckabee sued by 'Eye of the Tiger' band Survivor The band Survivor, whose song “Eye of the Tiger” underlined the critical dud (but box office hit) Rocky III back in 1982, has filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against radical Christian […]
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.: Rare movie star child to achieve Hollywood success. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was never as popular as his father, silent film superstar Douglas Fairbanks, who starred in one action-adventure blockbuster after another in the 1920s (The Mark of Zorro, Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad) and whose stardom dates back to the mid-1910s, when Fairbanks toplined a series of light, modern-day comedies in […]
Joan Crawford: Ambitious, driven Movie Star. Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her craft, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades […]
Robert Walker: Actor in MGM films of the '40s. Robert Walker: Actor who conveyed boy-next-door charms, psychoses At least on screen, I've always found the underrated actor Robert Walker to be everything his fellow – and more famous – MGM contract player James Stewart only pretended to be: shy, amiable, naive. The one thing that made Walker look less like an idealized “Average Joe” than […]
Lord Montagu documentary. 'Lord Montagu' documentary: Anti-gay witch hunt victim became successful entrepreneur and National Motor Museum founder On first blush, the life of a Lord of the Realm, a Peer to the English monarchy, a child born with an actual silver spoon in his mouth and an ancient estate to inherit, would seem wholly irrelevant to a commoner such as myself – and an […]
'JFK' movie with Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison. 'JFK' assassination movie: Gripping political drama gives added meaning to 'Rewriting History' If it's an Oliver Stone film, it must be bombastic, sentimental, clunky, and controversial. With the exception of “clunky,” JFK is all of the above. It is also riveting, earnest, dishonest, moving, irritating, paranoid, and, more frequently than one might expect, outright brilliant. In sum, […]
Marc Allégret: André Gide lover, all-around starmaker and the initial driving force behind the film career of Simone Simon. Marc Allégret: From André Gide lover to Simone Simon mentor (See previous post: “Simone Simon Remembered: Sex Kitten and Femme Fatale.”) Simone Simon became a film star following the international critical and financial success of the 1934 romantic drama Lac aux Dames, directed by her self-appointed […]
Neil Patrick Harris. Neil Patrick Harris to host Oscar 2015 ceremony Stage, film, and television actor Neil Patrick Harris will host the 2015 Oscars, a.k.a. the 87th Academy Awards ceremony, Oscarcast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today, Oct. 15, '14. This will be Neil Patrick Harris' first time hosting the show, which in the United States will air live on ABC on Sunday, […]
Whiplash movie with J.K. Simmons. 'Whiplash' movie review: 'Emotionally explosive film' Damien Chazelle, writer and director of Whiplash, his 2014 Sundance Film Festival-winning second feature, is himself a musical prodigy of sorts. He attended the sort of prestigious musical conservatory his protagonist – played by the acerbic, ascending star Miles Teller – attends in Chazelle's sharply realized, emotionally explosive film. Whiplash, in fact, is a […]
The Way He Looks movie: Ghilherme Lobo and Fábio Audi. 'The Way He Looks' movie: Gay teen love story is Brazil's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar submission In mid-September 2014, The Way He Looks / Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho was selected as Brazil's entry for the 2015 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Written and directed by 32-year-old São Paulo native Daniel Ribeiro, The […]
'Love Is Strange' movie review: Gay romantic drama is 'beautiful in every way' (image: John Lithgow and Alfred Molina in 'Love Is Strange') Love Is Strange is beautiful in every way that a film can be beautiful, and unabashedly so. Yet, despite its willingness to gild the lily for love of ethereal, aesthetic beauty in all its forms, it is a film that reaches for […]
James Garner movies on TCM: 'Grand Prix,' 'Victor Victoria' among highlights (image: James Garner ca. 1960) James Garner, whose film and television career spanned more than five decades, died of “natural causes” at age 86 on July 19, 2014, in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood. On Monday, July 28, Turner Classic Movies will present an all-day marathon of James Garner movies (see below) as […]
Édouard Molinaro: La Cage aux Folles' Oscar-nominated filmmaker. 'La Cage aux Folle's director Édouard Molinaro, who collaborated with Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau & Orson Welles, dead at 85 Édouard Molinaro, best known internationally for the late '70s box office comedy hit La Cage aux Folles, which earned him a Best Director Academy Award nomination, died of lung failure on Dec. 7 at a Paris hospital. […]
Running with Scissors with mom Annette Bening and son Joseph Cross. 'Running with Scissors' movie review: Annette Bening shines in muddled coming-of-age tale Problems abound in Ryan Murphy's movie version of Augusten Burroughs' book of memoirs Running with Scissors. Those range from the film's cartoonish humor and meandering storyline to an unappealing lead character and fuzzily sketched secondary ones. The only element that prevents this […]
Daniel Radcliffe: Gay sex scene in 'Kill Your Darlings' will 'startle' fans (image: Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan in 'Kill Your Darlings') Daniel Radcliffe, 24, has survived Harry Potter. Last year, he starred in the horror thriller The Woman in Black, a major sleeper hit in the United Kingdom and a moderate one in several other countries, including the United States and Mexico. Radcliffe's next […]
Dirk Bogarde: 'Victim' star took no prisoners in his letters to Dilys Powell Letters exchanged between film critic Dilys Powell and actor Dirk Bogarde – one of the most popular and respected British performers of the twentieth century, and the star of seminal movies such as Victim, The Servant, Darling, and Death in Venice – reveals that Bogarde was considerably more caustic and opinionated in […]
'Kinky (sex) film festival' looking for entries: CineKink 2014 (image: 'Strange Live Acts') CineKink, which bills itself as “the kinky film festival,” is looking for “films and videos, of any length and genre, that explore and celebrate a wide diversity of sexuality.” In the last decade, CineKink has screened an eclectic mix of documentaries and narrative movies, camp comedies, and experimental efforts, ranging from the […]
Cary Grant and Randolph Scott marriages (See previous post: "Randolph Scott and Cary Grant: Gay Lovers?") The English-born Cary Grant was married five times: Charles Chaplin's City Lights leading lady Virginia Cherrill (1934-1935), Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton (1942-1945), Grant's Every Girl Should Be Married and Room for One More co-star Betsy Drake (1949-1962), Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Heaven Can Wait Best […]
Randolph Scott and Cary Grant: Gay lovers or good friends and roommates? (image: Cary Grant and Randolph Scott ca. 1933.) (See previous post: "Randolph Scott Movies: From Westerns to Cary Grant Comedy.") Now, one suggestion: Do not believe those rumors about Randolph Scott and Cary Grant having been gay lovers. Anything is possible, of course, but there's no credible evidence indicating that the two actors […]
Ramon Novarro. Ramon Novarro: Mexican-born actor was first Latin American Hollywood superstar Mexican-born actor Ramon Novarro, the original Ben-Hur and one of MGM's biggest stars of the late '20s and early '30s, has his Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” day on Thursday, Aug. 8. First, The Bad News: TCM will not be presenting any Ramon Novarro movie premieres. And that's quite disappointing. (Image: […]
Call Me Kuchu: The universality of anti-gay hate in Uganda (image: Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato in Call Me Kuchu) It's impossible to watch Call Me Kuchu, Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall's affecting and shocking documentary about the fight for gay rights in Uganda, and not rail against the religion-inspired hatred that many Ugandans hold towards homosexuals. It's even tempting to look down […]
Léa Seydoux in Blue Is the Warmest Color. 'Blue Is the Warmest Color' graphic novel writer Julie Maroh discusses Abdellatif Kechiche's film adaptation + lesbian sex scenes Julie Maroh, the author of the graphic novel on which Abdellatif Kechiche's 2013 Palme d'Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color is based, wrote a lengthy essay on her blog following both the film's Cannes Film Festival win […]
Behind the Candelabra with Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson. 'Behind the Candelabra' HBO Hit: Liberace movie starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon nearly breaks record Behind the Candelabra, the Steven Soderbergh-directed Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover-chauffeur Scott Thorson, was first aired Sunday evening on HBO. The result: 2.4 million television viewers, the largest […]
Pierre de Ladonchamps and Christophe Paou in Stranger by the Lake. Gay erotic thriller 'Stranger by the Lake' wins Queer Palm at Cannes Film Festival Writer-director Alain Guiraudie's gay erotic thriller Stranger by the Lake / L'inconnu du lac has won the 2013 Queer Palm handed out to Cannes Film Festival movies featuring gay, lesbian, bi, tri, multi, transgender, etc. characters. Stranger by the Lake […]
Academy Award nominee Fernanda Montenegro gay kiss protest in Brazil (image: 1998 Best Actress Oscar nominee Fernanda Montenegro kissing fellow actress Camila Amado) Forget Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock and Scarlett Johansson, Madonna and Britney Spears, and Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Fernanda Montenegro, best known internationally for her Academy Award-nominated performance in Walter Salles' 1998 drama Central Station, kissed stage actress and […]
Harry Potter actor Richard Griffiths dies: Renowned for gay roles in The History Boys (with Dominic Cooper), Withnail & I Richard Griffiths, 65, died on Thursday, March 28, following heart surgery at University Hospital in Coventry, England. Although known by the masses solely as the Harry Potter actor who played Uncle Vernon Dursley, Griffiths was a renowned star of the British stage, winner of multiple […]
Marsha Hunt actress with Roger C. Memos. Gay marriage debate gets a song: Veteran MGM actress Marsha Hunt 'inspired' by U.S. Supreme Court marriage equality debate Gay marriage is a divisive issue, leading to all kinds of different responses. It's a fact of life in Argentina, Portugal, South Africa, Vermont, and Iowa, but it's all but unthinkable (for now) in Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Iran, South […]
Interior. Leather Bar: Self-identified straight men dealing with gay sex while recreating Cruising 'lost footage' (image: James Franco and Travis Mathews' Interior. Leather Bar, with Val Lauren) [See previous post: James Franco Gay Sex Movie 'Replaces' Banned Gay Sex Movie at Australian Film Festival.] William Friedkin's widely lambasted Cruising, which many at the time perceived as anti-gay, starred Al Pacino as a New York cop […]
'Gay sex movie' 'I Want Your Love' with Jesse Metzger and Brenden Gregory. Gay sex movie 'replaces' another gay sex movie following Australian censorship incident James Franco and Travis Mathews' sexually charged Interior. Leather Bar, about the recreation of footage purportedly excised from William Friedkin's 1980 cop thriller Cruising, will work as a sort of “replacement movie” for Travis Mathews' own sexually charged I Want […]
Divine and John Waters at the 2013 London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (Image: Divine in John Waters' Female Trouble) The 2013 London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival kicked off with a gala screening of Jeffrey Schwarz's I Am Divine on Thursday evening. In the coming days – the LLGFF comes to a close on March 24 – the festival will be screening dozens of […]
Andy Warhol, Gus Van Sant, Jean Genet: Risqué and/or controversial Gay movies at LACMA (Image: Paul America in Andy Warhol's My Hustler) Whether or not you find the label “queer” idiotic, misleading, simple-minded, and/or downright offensive, if you're in L.A. it would be worth your time (whatever your sexual orientation and however you choose to label it) to check out the Los Angeles County Museum […]
John Kerr. John Kerr: 'Tea and Sympathy' gay teen on stage and screen has died John Kerr, best known for playing the sensitive (and suspected to be gay) adolescent opposite Deborah Kerr in Tea and Sympathy both on Broadway and in Hollywood, died of heart failure at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, northeast of downtown Los Angeles, on Saturday, Feb. 1. Kerr was 81. (Image: John […]
Miguel Ángel Silvestre in I'm So Excited. Pedro Almodóvar I'm So Excited trailer Pedro Almodóvar's upcoming movie, I'm So Excited / Los amantes pasajeros (literally, “passing lovers” and/or “passenger lovers”) has a new and full trailer. That's the good news. The not-so-good news (for non-Spanish speakers): it's in Spanish, without subtitles. (Please scroll down to check out the I'm So Excited trailer.) But don't feel […]
'Kill Your Darlings' Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg. Daniel Radcliffe 'Kill Your Darlings,' Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, and producer Stephenie Meyer: Sundance 2013 movies Beasts of the Southern Wild, Keep the Lights On, Middle of Nowhere, Safety Not Guaranteed, Smashed, The Sessions (then known as "The Surrogate"), How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, and Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present are all 2013 […]
Movies about transgender identity top Madrid lesbian, gay, and transsexual film festival Movies about gender – or rather, transgender – identity were the top winners at the 2012 edition of LesGaiCineMad, Madrid's lesbian, gay, and transsexual film festival which ran Nov. 1-11. Xavier Dolan's Canadian drama Laurence Anyways, a portrait of the relationship between a woman in a man's body (Melvil Poupaud) and his/her partner […]
Gay romantic comedy tops Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival The Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival screened a handful of features and about two dozen shorts over the November 9-11 weekend. Earlier today, the jury winners were announced on the festival's Facebook page. Elliot Loves, a romantic (and mother-son) comedy by first-time feature-film writer-director Terracino, and Douglas Horn's Coffee & Pie, a comedy short in which a jilted […]
Lon McCallister: Height, gay sexual orientation issues [See previous post: "Lon McCallister Bio."] Some have blamed Lon McCallister's slight frame for his inability to switch from juvenile to leading-man roles, but that's absurd. Had that been so, Alan Ladd and Charles Boyer, among others, would never have become top stars in the '30s and '40s. Others have blamed his professional downfall on the fact that […]
'Bad Education.' Bad Education: Pedro Almodóvar's complex, disturbing, brilliant gay film noir (in gorgeous color) One of Pedro Almodóvar's most accomplished, most complex, and most daring films, Bad Education / La Mala educación is a disturbing, but also immensely moving effort that cleverly twists all the conventions of the film noir genre. As a plus, Bad Education offers Almodóvar's trademark stylish visuals and a whole […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes: Total Recall vs. selective recall Arnold Schwarzenegger may be an inept actor and may have been an even more inept (Republican) governor of California, but one must admit that he is the consummate salesman. His chief product: Arnold Schwarzenegger – I mean, not his ruthlessly ambitious self, but rather his unassuming, self-parodying public image, which, for the braindead everywhere, equals the man. […]
Clint Eastwood in Trouble with the Curve Clint Eastwood is mystery speaker at Republican National Convention Clint Eastwood, who won Best Director Academy Awards for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, and whose family has its own reality show (Mrs. Eastwood & Company), is reportedly the “mystery speaker” at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, which comes to a close tonight. [Photo: Clint Eastwood […]
Gore Vidal movies: The Best Man, Caligula, Suddenly Last Summer. (Image: A young Gore Vidal.) Author, playwright, screenwriter, acerbic storyteller, and political commentator Gore Vidal died Tuesday, July 31, '12, at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Vidal, who had been living in Los Angeles since 2003, was 86. Gore Vidal movies Details about Vidal's life and literary career can be found elsewhere on the […]
George Cukor 'gay Woman's Director'? Known as a refined "woman's director," George Cukor has had his considerable output either relegated to the sidelines or simply dismissed by those who like their directors macho and their films male-centered. Not helping matters is the general perception that Cukor was merely a hired hand for the likes of David O. Selznick at RKO and Louis B. Mayer at […]
Doris Day has sent a letter thanking the nearly 3,000 participants of AIDS/Lifecycle 11. Day's on-screen romantic partner and off-screen friend Rock Hudson died of AIDS-related complications in 1985. In reference to Hudson, Day wrote the following: “I know many of you there have also experienced a similar loss to mine. What you're doing is so important, both to remember those gone and also to […]
The Dictator trailer: Sacha Baron Cohen 'The Dictator' Red-Band Trailer: Funny? Earlier this year, Jean Dujardin and his fellow The Players producers reportedly had a Sept. 11 '01, comic moment cut from their film so as not to in any way jeopardize Dujardin's chances of winning an Oscar. Apparently, The Dictator's Sacha Baron Cohen isn't worried about missing out on any potential Oscar nominations for […]
Jennifer Lawrence, House at the End of the Street Jennifer Lawrence stars in House at the End of the Street, Mark Tonderai's horror / thriller to be released by Relativity Media on Sept. 21. The video below makes House at the End of the Street's house at the end of the street look more than a little like Psycho's Bates Motel. Jennifer Lawrence has the […]
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie Leg + Marlene Dietrich Pioneer Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Angelina Jolie's notorious right leg (“Brangeleg” for short?) are seen backstage at the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony, which took place at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood on February 26. Pitt was a Best Actor nominee for Bennett Miller's Moneyball. (Image: Darren Decker / […]
Edward G. Robinson, Little Caesar Little Caesar is a good example of a film that is historically important, but that has dated very poorly. Tony Gaudio's camera work is mediocre, Warner Bros. musical director Erno Rapee's spare soundtrack is garbled, and the acting is for the most part wooden. Even Edward G. Robinson, who became a star in this role, is good – but hardly […]
Srdjan Dragojevic's The Parade Srdjan Dragojevic's black comedy Parada / The Parade has become the biggest box office hit “in the former Yugoslavia in years,” according to an Associated Press report. The film has sold more than 500,000 tickets and has been “equally acclaimed in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia,” where it's supposed to have been seen by more people than James Cameron's Avatar. In Dragojevic's […]
Omar Sharif Jr., grandson of the Doctor Zhivago star, is currently in the news because he has come out as a gay man who happens to be half-Jewish (on his mother's side) in an essay found in The Advocate – one accompanied by a photograph showing a hairy, buffed-up, bare-chested man (Sharif Jr.?) holding the Egyptian flag. In the essay, the 29-year-old Montreal-born actor explains […]
“It seemed that perhaps the Lord was in this,” Kirk Cameron (not Kurt Cameron) told Baptist Press. The Lord was in on what? From the beginning: A couple of weeks ago, Cameron landed in ungodly hot waters after making several anti-gay remarks on Piers Morgan's CNN talk show. While chatting with Morgan, he referred to homosexuality as “unnatural” and affirmed that it is “ultimately destructive […]
Kirk Cameron, 41, has gone from his television teen idol days to starring in Fundamentalist Christian-themed movies such as Left Behind and Fireproof. Just recently, Cameron has also proven himself to be an outspoken anti-gay bigot, which has brought a swift response from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). While interviewed by CNN's Piers Morgan, Cameron said the following about homosexuality: “I think […]
Maya Rudolph. Maya Rudolph attends the Governors Ball after the 84th Academy Awards ceremony held at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood on Feb. 26, '12. Rudolph wasn't nominated for any Oscars, but she was a presenter alongside fellow Bridesmaids actresses Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Kristen Wiig. (Image: Darren Decker / © A.M.P.A.S.) Billy Crystal was this year's Oscar host. Among […]
Elaine Taylor, Christopher Plummer Christopher Plummer and Elaine Taylor arrive for the 2012 Academy Awards from Hollywood, CA. The Oscar ceremony was held at Hollywood & Highland on Feb. 26, 2012. As expected, the veteran Plummer (The Sound of Music, The Man Who Would Be King) won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Ewan McGregor's gay father in Mike Mills' semi-autobiographical Beginners. […]
Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, The Artist Jean Dujardin can't win 'em all. For his (in my humble opinion brilliant) performance as a fading silent film star in Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist, he was voted Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Awards, the SAG Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Australian Film Institute Awards (as Best International Actor). He was also chosen […]
Kevin Kline, Tom Selleck kiss, In & Out Following my Valentine's Day post featuring lots of male-female kisses and embraces (and a few shapely legs, bare breasts, and sensuous lips, courtesy of, respectively, Silvana Mangano, Clara Calamai, and Jane Russell), here's the gay/lesbian version. This Gay Kiss Montage post was originally published in June 2007, when Turner Classic Movies ran a couple of dozen films […]
Matt Bomer gay drama The Normal Heart movie adaptation. The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's semi-autobiographical off-Broadway play about a New Yorker confronted with AIDS in the early years of the pandemic, has been a perennial “film project.” In the last couple of decades, Oscar winners Barbra Streisand and John Schlesinger have at some point in time announced they were going to tackle it, but to […]
Chris Colfer: One of Hollywood's few openly gay actors on the Golden Globes Red Carpet. 'Glee' actor Chris Colfer at Golden Globes Chris Colfer, who became known as one of stars of the television series Glee – he won a Golden Globe last year for his performance as Kurt Hummel – and one of the relatively rare openly gay actors in Hollywood, is seen above […]
Shahab Hosseini in Asghar Farhadi's A Separation The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC), among whose members are the majority of the United States' most influential and respected film commentators, has – as usual – taken a (mostly) different route than your average US-based critics' group. For every The Social Network or The Hurt Locker there's a Mulholland Dr. or a Yi Yi. This year, […]
Clint Eastwood on the J. Edgar set with star Leonardo DiCaprio (as longtime FBI director J. Edgar Hoover) and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. One of the great cinematic hopes of 2011, J. Edgar has turned out to be a dud with both critics and U.S. audiences. Oscar chances are slim, except perhaps for Leonardo DiCaprio, who may land a Best Actor nomination. Also in the […]
Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: Princess Leia is ready to tackle Captain Kirk. The daughter of Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds (Singin' in the Rain, Best Actress Oscar nominee for The Unsinkable Molly Brown), Star Wars franchise actress Carrie Fisher has humorously taken on William Shatner – Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s and big-screen features of the 1980s. […]
Alan Turing: gay cryptographer was World War II “hero” – well, not that he risked his life while blowing people up or bombing cities; Turing, according to some “the father of computer science and the father of artificial intelligence,” came up with code-breaking techniques that, once again according to some, shortened the war in Europe and consequently saved countless lives. Unfortunately for himself, Alan Turing […]
Andrew Embiricos, grandson of Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan, was found dead of an apparent suicide at his West 17th Street apartment in Chelsea, New York City, on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011. Embiricos was 25. Andrew Ali Aga Khan Embiricos was the son of economist and shipping heir Basil Embiricos and Princess Yasmin Aga Khan. He was also the nephew of Prince Karim, Aga […]
Nov. 13 update: At no. 5 on the domestic box office chart this weekend, Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar raked in $11.47 million – at the very lower end of expectations – as per studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. The J. Edgar Hoover biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover, Armie Hammer as his associate and intimate companion Clyde Tolson, and Naomi Watts as FBI […]
Rob Reiner is developing a Proposition 8 movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Of course, Reiner's project is not for Proposition 8; in fact, it should feature legal challenges brought up against the California ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriages in the state. Prop. 8 was later found unconstitutional by a federal district court judge. “We have been involved every step of the way. Right […]
Brett Ratner may be stepping down as Oscar producer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. THR mentions “a source close to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences” for this story. The Academy is supposed to “make an announcement shortly.” On Friday, during a q&a for Tower Heist in Hollywood, Ratner said that “rehearsal is for fags.” He later apologized for his remark. Also a […]
Ramon Novarro swimming in his Los Feliz Hills house Lloyd Wright's Samuel-Novarro House is back in the market (November 2011), as per Curbed Los Angeles. Located in the Los Feliz Hills, the eastern section of the Hollywood Hills, the house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's son Lloyd Wright in the late 1920s. In order to pay for Wright's services, personal secretary Louis Samuel embezzled […]
Ramon Novarro, Barbara La Marr, Trifling Women Ramon Novarro Brutal Death Pt.2: Convicted Killer Blames Catholicism Ramon Novarro's extant films for Rex Ingram, The Prisoner of Zenda (1922), in which he plays the sly villain Rupert of Hentzau, and Scaramouche (1923), in the heroic title role, are also well worth a look. I haven't watched The Arab (1924), which has been recently brought back to […]
Movie Star Ramon Novarro Brutally Killed Halloween Eve 1968 Paul Ferguson, in a letter he wrote me at the time I was working on Beyond Paradise, blamed his Catholic background for Ramon Novarro's death: “When [Novarro] kissed me, I reacted like a Catholic, what they call homosexual panic. Some old guy in the desert says, 'Kill homosexuals.' It's inbred. . . . I was too […]
Ramon Novarro: MGM star ca. 1925. Ramon Novarro death: Silent film star brutally killed on Halloween eve 1968 Ramon Novarro, the original (and most effective) Ben-Hur, Greta Garbo's leading man in Mata Hari, and the star in the silent film classics Scaramouche and The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, was brutally killed on Halloween eve, October 30, 1968. (See also: "'Ben-Hur' Chariot Race," and "'Whitewashing' […]
At ZacharyQuinto.com, Star Trek's Zachary Quinto explains (all in lower case) that the suicide of a gay 14-year-old, Jamey Rodemeyer, in a Buffalo suburb last September prompted him to go public about his sexual orientation. See below. (I've added paragraph breaks to facilitate reading Quinto's text.) [See also Zachary Quinto: “As a Gay Man".] “when i found out that jamey rodemeyer killed himself – i […]
Zachary Quinto, Chris W. King before passionate gay kiss in So NoTORIous Star Trek's Dr. Spock, Zachary Quinto, 34, also known for his roles in the television series Heroes and So NoTORIous, has come out “as a gay man.” I have that in quotes because he refers to himself that way – “as a gay man” – at least twice in an interview published in […]
Michael Douglas and Matt Damon will play, respectively, Liberace and lover Scott Thorson in the HBO production Behind the Candelabra. With Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh at the helm of the Liberace movie, filming should begin in the summer of 2012. Richard LaGravenese, whose latest credit was the Reese Witherspoon-Robert Pattinson effort Water for Elephants, is the project's screenwriter. The Wisconsin-born Liberace – a walking, […]
Weekend 2011 with Tom Cullen, Chris New Sept. 26 update: Writer-director Andrew Haigh's gay love story Weekend brought in $27,245 – about 8 percent above Sunday estimates – at the North American box office according to actuals found at Box Office Mojo. Currently screening at one single New York City location, the Sundance Selects-distributed Weekend scored by far the highest box office average per theater […]
The name George Kuchar (seen on the right, with Marion Eaton in Thundercrack!) will probably not ring a bell to the vast majority of moviegoers anywhere in the world. Yet, Kuchar, who died of cancer last night, September 6, directed more than 200 movies – mostly shorts and video productions – from the mid-1950s to the late 2000s. The New York-born (Aug. 31, 1942) Kuchar […]
Tab Hunter turns 80 today. In his honor, Turner Classic Movies is showing five of his films. The first of the batch, Phil Karlson's Western Gunman's Walk, is on right now. Hunter and The Time Tunnel's James Darren play rancher Van Heflin's sons. Next is Ride the Wild Surf, starring Hunter and teen idol Fabian as a couple of dudes riding waves in Hawaii. Featuring […]
Rock Hudson. Gay actor Rock Hudson was not… It's surprising that back in the mid-1980s some people were surprised to learn that Rock Hudson was gay, when the star of Magnificent Obsession, Giant, and the television series McMillan & Wife became the best-known person with AIDS in the world. After all, since I was a little kid I'd heard stories about Hudson's sexual orientation. Looking […]
Kyle Chandler in J.J. Abrams' Super 8 June 12 If studio estimates are correct, J.J. Abrams' Super 8, a Spielbergian horror flick co-produced by Steven Spielberg himself, performed better than expected at the North American box office this weekend (June 10-12), raking in $38 million – including $1.5 million from Thursday sneak/midnight screenings – at 3,379 locations, according to estimates found at Box Office Mojo. […]
Sylvia Syms, Dirk Bogarde in Basil Dearden's Victim 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan is in the news today because of viciously anti-gay remarks he made while performing a comedy routine in Tennessee, a state where gays and lesbians have seen their civil rights attacked by right-wing Christians/Republicans on various fronts. Coincidentally, Turner Classic Movies is showing three movies about a time decades ago when gays were […]
Weird stuff happened at the most recent MTV Movie Awards ceremony: Justin Timberlake grabbed Mila Kunis' breasts, Mila Kunis grabbed Justin Timberlake's crotch, Robert Pattinson kissed Taylor Lautner instead of Kristen Stewart, and winners in the various categories were given trophies that look like overstuffed popcorn bags. Yet, the weirdest thing at the ceremony held last Sunday evening in Universal City was watching a 35-year-old […]
Chris New, Tom Cullen in Andrew Haigh's Weekend Kathleen Turner, Richard Chamberlain, Esai Morales: Outfest 2011 Outfest 2011's four centerpieces are Maryam Keshavarz's Teheran-set drama Circumstance (U.S. Dramatic), winner of the Dramatic Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year; Andrew Haigh's Weekend (International), a sleeper hit at SXSW 2011 and the winner of the festival's Emerging Visions Audience Award; P. David Ebersole's […]