Queer Beacon

Eastern Promises (2007) - Shipwreck 2

Cronenberg's superb A History of Violence left me with high expectations for his next movie, and that is, in a way, unfair to Eastern Promises.  EP is a great movie, but it is not even in the same category with A History of Violence.  The building blocks of EP's plot are quite interesting, but the execution, the details (especially the ancillary dialogs) are lame; distracting at best (like the cheesy-ass attempts at comedy from Naomi's racist uncle).

In Eastern Promises, Naomi Watts is a nurse who helps out a teenage mother.  The teenage girls dies during labor and Naomi feels like she needs to find out the whereabouts of the girl's family so that the baby can be sent them.  In her quest for information, she becomes entangled with the Russian mafia.  We have Armin Mueller-Stahl as the big boss, Vincent Cassel as his son, and Viggo Mortensen as the family's, uh, driver.  That's all you need to know.

In Eastern Promises you get the gory violence Cronenberg is famous for right in the first few minutes.  There are other gory scenes, one of which is quite original.  Viggo fights two guys -- totally naked.  The two guys are not naked but Viggo is, which, I think, adds a very interesting layer of risk to the fight.  We see Viggo's parts swinging left and right, dodging the blades and small knifes.  Superb.

Eastern Promises packs quite a bit of gay content, but my discussion of the homo scenes will ruin the part of the plot.

An Early Frost (1985) - LightShed 10

I only found out about An Early Frost after Richard told me about it.  He wrote a very passionate review for the movie here.  An Early Frost is very good, you should really see it. 

I wanted to review an important movie today, on World AIDS Day, and An Early Frost is just that movie. 

In the movie, Aidan Quinn plays a closeted gay attorney who is struck by AIDS.  He is forced to come out to his co-workers and his family.  The year is 1985 and the epidemic was barely being discovered. 

The light for the gays could not have been better.  Aidan's character is shown in a context much needed then, and much needed now.  In the movie, Aidan is a successful guy in the prime of his life, he loves his family, and he is in a committed relationship, yet he is struck by the disease.  You will need to see the movie to learn more about the plot, characters and the great, but painful, gay portrayal.  Kudos to Aidan Quinn for his brave performance as a gay man facing tough times.   

Seeing the movie made me think about an argument I once read, that said that the AIDS epidemic, as awful as it was and is, did have some positive effects for gay rights.  I was shocked to read that such a terrible disease could bring us any benefit.  According to the argument, the benefit is that AIDS forced many people out of the closet, and society had to finally see gay men, the gay men who got AIDS were forced out of the closet, and society has advanced in gay rights because it was able to see that we are people and we too suffer.  We are famous rock and movie stars, we are the regular neighbor next door, the son, the co-worker.  We have been there all along.  And for the most part, not knowing we were gay, people liked us.  With AIDS, visibility was forced on both homosexuals and society.  Also, embracing the argument would also help give meaning to the lives that were already lost.

I still react to that argument with mixed feelings.  I bet a lot of people would prefer a life in the closet and a life of no rights and of discrimination, than a life without many close friends.  Also, against the "benefit" argument, it could easily be argued that AIDS also reinforced the fear society had of the gays.  "Gays are sick people, stay away" would be the message read from the AIDS epidemic.  But there's little gain now in discussing how we would like for the world to be, how we would like for there to be no AIDS. AIDS is a reality with which we cannot argue, but with which we can fight.  Still with my conflicting feelings, I came to understand the argument, and see how important visibility is to us.

Gays have gained rights, and I believe discrimination has decreased (although I am not sure by how much), but we still have a long way to go.  AIDS is now associated with poverty, and race, but it is still very much associated with male homosexuals.  Gay men still cannot donate blood in most parts of the world.  There's still a lot to be done, and because of that, gays need to be safe and stay safe, and be visible and inform people. 

Today is a day that needs to be taken seriously.  It is a day that must remain with us and be remembered throughout the years.  Richard nailed it in the head: "To forget is to put yourself yet again in harm's way, a lesson that younger generations of gay men are wont to ignore."

Early Frost was released on DVD only in 2006, to mark the 25th "anniversary" of the discovery of AIDS. 

Stay safe dear readers! Stay out the closet!

Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (2006) - LightShed 10

First. American. Gay. Sequel. Ever.  In Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds our gay Kyle, played by former American Idol contestant Jim Verraros, is dumped by boyfriend Marc (played by Brett Chukerman).  Kyle is then kinda forced into ex-gayness as a plan to bed Troy, played by Marco Dapper.  Troy is not sure whether he is gay or not, so, on a preemptive strike he decides to go to ex-gay meetings, and Kyle is his sponsor.  Kyle hopes to spend enough time with Troy to see him detract from the ex-gay teaching.

From my brief description above you can tell that you will find more than a bunch of hot guys shirtless and making out for your viewing pleasure on Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds. The movie does have a lot of man-on-man action, that's certainly the major attraction.  No doubt.  But there's more.

First, we see the ex-gay movement at play.  It's all very superficially covered, nothing is really serious on the surface, and that's the way it should be on a movie like this, the joke and superficiality show those people in the light they deserve to be shown.   

The movie is always making fun of the ex-gay movement.  "Who would Jesus do?"  reads one post just outside one of the ex-gay meetings.  I thought that was pretty funny.  If you want a serious tone against the ex-gay movement you should head over to Wayne Besen's Truth Wins Out.

Another interesting issue underlying Eating Out 2 is that of the gay obsession with hot bodies.  I don't know if the movie is really concerned with gays becoming even more obsessed with their bodies after seeing the movie, but it is nice to see that our gay Kyle (who is not ugly, but is far from the ideal chiseled Chelsea boy) continues to get action despite his lack of hotness.  I guess that gives solace to a bunch on non-hot gays out there. 

Finally, still on a slightly more serious tone, I think it is just great to see a gay romantic comedy.  The very fact that this is a sequel makes me feels nice.  It makes me feel like gay relationships have been normal for a while...I wish a younger crowd (maybe not too young given the nudity in the movie) could see Eating Out 2, just to feel like they belong and they even have date movies.  I'm not that old, but all I had in my time was the Top Guns and Dirty Dancings of the world and we had to focus on the male lead.  Now we have full-on gay action.  Mega Yay! 

The message of self-acceptance is so positive. I wish closet types and homophobes all over the world could see the movie. 

All right, let's get down to the hotness in the movie.  If you saw Scott Lunsford (pic on the left) on the first Eating Out you would probably think that the producers could not possibly find a hotter replacement.  Lunsford was just way too hot, right? (take a look at his pictures, including a frontal, over at Bent). 

But. Wait. Till. You. See. Marco. Dapper:

Of course, that smile had to come on top of this body:

Can you believe he could have been delivering packages right to your door?  He was "discovered" by a talent scout in Northern California while he was a UPS delivery guy.

Richard had a good description of the hotness in Eating Out 2: "this is another gay flic that delivers enough eye candy to give Oscar Wilde's long dead corpse an erection."  Richard was really into Dapper, with good reason, and you can read his review here.  And forget about the hater reviews, even if they contain a grain of truth.

Two of the hottest guys go full frontal (Dapper and Brett Chukerman seen above on top of each other).  And you'll be glad they did.  You can actually see one frontal right now at Oh La La.  You should really see the other one on the big screen.  Oh, and Brett and Marco can actually act.

The movie opens on November 24 in limited release (according to the official website which also contains the dates of the release in other cities).  Limited release, as you know, often means that Nyla homos will get to see Eating Out 2 first.  Middle-America gays and gays in most parts of the world will have to wait for the DVD.  Oh, and don't leave the theater until after the credits...as was the case with the first Eating Out, there's more after the credits...

Watch the trailer for Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds:

Elizabethtown (2005) - No Gay Content

Very good movie. 

Here, Orlando Bloom bombs at a huge shoe project from the company he works for.  He makes the company lose hundreds of millions of dollars, he gets fired, gets dumped by his girlfriend, and his father dies. 

Suicidal, he goes back to his town in Kentucky, Elizabethtown, to deal with it all.  On the way, he finds Kirsten Dunst.

The reviews said the movie was mediocre at best, and I sort of understand where they come from.  There were a few hard to believe, or just tacky, scenes, like the one where Orlando is flying in an empty airplane.  However, I liked the movie a lot.  It was very entertaining.  Orlando and Kirsten were able to keep it together, I thought, and Susan Sarandon (who played Orlando's mom), Alec Baldwin (who plays his boss), Judy Greer (the sister) and the soundtrack provided excellent support.

I was a little sad to see a nice chick flick without any gay content :-( 

Maybe it had something to to do with Tom Cruise being one of the producers).

The Evidence - Episode "Down for the Count" - LightShed 10

I hope you all watched the episode from The Evidence that just ended.  I couldn't resist reviewing this one TV episode.  Awesome.  The Evidence is a crime solving show, takes place in San Francisco.  I think it just started.  It was pretty good I thought. 

In tonite's episode this boxer gets killed.  We find out early in the show that the boxer was gay and was actually married to a guy.  BEAUTIFUL.  One of the best portrayals of the gays I have seen in TV recently.  Here's the description for the episode:

The gay issue is dealt with quite naturally.  There's also quite a lot of discussion about monogamy, gay behavior and all.  Super cute.

At the end a guy hits on Rob Estes.  It happens that Orlando Jones' character had been wearing Acqua di Gio all through the episode, and the cologne transferred on to Rob Estes.  At a cafe, the guy asks Rob Estes what cologne he is wearing, and Rob says something like: "Oh no, that's my partner's cologne."  The gay guy goes: "Yeah, all the cute ones are taken."  As predictable as it was lovable.  Rob Estes just agrees.  He liked the attention.  He respected the attention.  He never went through the whole denial thing.  Very butch and cool.  Yay!  Go straighties!  Go Rob Estes!

Everything is Illuminated (2005) - LightShed 6

Good movie.  Here, Elijah Wood is a young Jewish American guy in a quest to find the woman who helped his grandfather flee from the Ukraine during World War II.  Eugene Hutz plays the guide with a bad case of broken English.

In one scene, Eugene Hutz claims to be so tall that only a lesbian could be taller than him.  He also says lesbians like 69 (where did he get that from?). 

Later on, in a conversation with Elijah Wood, Eugene wonders if there are women accountants and accountants of African descent in the US.  Elijah responds affirmatively, and Eugene wonders further if there are homosexual accountants.  Elijah says something like: "Of course there are, there is homosexual everything, even garbage men."  Yay!  Go Hobbit!  Great light, even if there was not a whole lot of gay content there.  I mean, it would always be nice to have gays remembered in holocaust related movies.  Kudos to Liev Schreiber anyway (he was responsible for the screenplay).

11:14 (2003) - No Gay Content

One of the most interesting plots I have seen in a long time.  Interesting enough to attract Hilary Swank for a supporting role.  Well, but Patrick Swaize also has a supporting role, so I don't know what happened.  The movie just didn't work, there was no direction.  It was every man on his own here.  I bet the writer insisted on also directing the movie.  Bad mistake. 

In the movie, two deaths occur early on and we come to see how the deaths are very interestingly related.  It felt like reading The Da Vinci Code, it was awful but the plot was so interesting that you just couldn't stop reading it.  In the Da Vinci Code, the writing is bad, in 11:14 it is the film-making that is bad.  It would have been a great movie if it had the dynamics of a movie like Go.   

One scene involves a guy running holding his buddy's penis in his hand -- I kid you not.  He goes: "ewwww."  But I guess anyone would react the same way if carrying a dismembered penis.  No gay content anyway. 

In summary, the movie is not good but I guess you can't rent it on a long vacation or something.

Elektra (2005) - No Gay Content

Yeah, my brothers wanted to see this, and I went with them.  The movie is not that bad (but it is bad), you can rent it, I guess.  Cool special defects.  Total dude flick.  Here, Jennifer Garner (I love her, there, I said it) is a super assassin / hero who actually tries to protect her two current hits.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) - No Gay Content

Nada. Good scary movie though.  Tom Wilkinson is a priest, he does some exorcism on Jennifer Capenter (she is Emily Rose) and needs legal help (that's where Laura Linney comes in). Scary.  Go see it.