Queer Beacon

The History Boys (2006) - Shipwreck 4

The movie is good, even though the acting is a little too theatrical for me (well, the film is based on a play -- and has the same cast).

In The History Boys we follow a bunch of smart kids from a less than stellar grammar school in England preparing to try for Oxford and Cambridge.  Of the three teachers preparing them for the task, two are certainly gay, and the other could be a lesbian (like, seriously). 

Of the 8 students, one is gay and out, another is kinda bisexual.  It is the 80's but no one has a problem with their sexual orientation.

We have gay content from beginning to end, some of it very very good, but the balance, I think, is negative, and that's a pity: The History Boys would have otherwise been a highly recommendable movie.  The soundtrack, filled with sweet 80's tracks, is pretty good too.

I will talk about the gay content after the jump as it will ruin the plot quite a bit.  In any event, despite what I think of the light for the gays, I would be curious to know if you share my views.  Let me know if you see the movie.  You can queue it on Netflix or get it on DVD.

[SPOILER AHEAD]

Hollywoodland (2006) - LightShed 8

In Hollywoodland we follow detective Adrien Brody in his quest to uncover the facts behind the mysterious death of George Reeves, played by Ben Affleck.  Was it suicide or assassination?

The movie reflects the real life controversy behind the death of the actor who played TV's Superman in 1950s.  The movie boasts beautiful photography and great performances by Diane Lane (who plays Toni Mannix, George Reeves' sugarmomma) and Bob Hoskins (who plays Eddie Mannix, a big shot movie executive at MGM, and Toni's suggardaddy-husband).

We had quite a bit of gay content.  Our first scene with gay content comes when Ben Affleck and a friend are at a fancy restaurant having drinks.  The friend says that because they are two guys sitting next to the bathroom, "people will think that we are queer." The tone of the statement was negative, but Affleck makes it right by shrugging it off with something like: "Well, you do look dapper tonight."  That first gay-content scene reminds us that if you wanted to be an actor on the big screen you needed to stay in the closet, and any inkling of a chance of being gay would have hurt you.  I hope that that is more and more ceasing to be the case today, but it certainly was the case in the 50s, as two other homo-oriented scenes confirm.

We see Bob Hoskins giving one of the cute MGM actors a bad time for having been caught on a photo depicting man-on-man action (you can barely see the two guys inside a car, but I am pretty sure we are looking at two guys, see the pic below).  Bob shows him the photo and implies he had to pay the photographer 15 grand to have the photo off the tabloids:

That gay content was almost imperceptible as the picture is shown really fast (click the pic above for a larger version).  Bob then alludes to the fact that it is career suicide for an actor to be perceived as gay, and asks for a "publicist" who is present at the scene to arrange for that actor to be seen with a girl on a picnic or something.

Still confirming Hollywood's paranoia in the 50s, we have a scene in which Diane Lane is all mad because Affleck is about to break-up with her, and out of despair she tries to hurt Affleck by saying she will tell the newspapers that he is a "red," and a "faggot" and a "lush"...and that everybody would believe that.  She said the F word out of despair, but it was bad bad bad nonetheless (even though I think it is actually not so bad to have "faggot" as an epithet alongside "communist" -- both should clearly no longer be used as epithet nowadays). 

As harsh as Diane's use of "faggot" and Bob's obsession with keeping his actor in the closet are, I believe all the scenes above were used more as criticism, rather than to spread homophobia.  It all comes within the context of a homophobic Hollywood.  In any event, Bob is shown as a money-focused grump who had no clue about anything else, and Diane, well, she was just desperate.

We had other bits of more clearly neutral to positive gay content.  Like the scene in which Ben Affleck tells his manager that he looks handsome without his glasses (it is nice for people to see it is okay for a guy to compliment another guy).  On another scene, Affleck is shooting one episode of the TV series, in character as Clark Kent, and he asks the actress playing Lois Lane whether she wants to see the real man of steel.  She says yes, and he goes on to pull down his pants and pretend-hump her.  Watching that scene, the actor playing Jimmy Olsen is about to leave when Affleck says something like "don't leave just yet Jimmy and keep your bow tie on, you're next."  Horny Clark Kent, nice bisexual reference.  Right after that, Diane Lane tells Ben Affleck that the actress playing Lois Lane is a lesbian; Ben acts surprised, but not disgusted, just surprised.  Diane then takes it back by saying she is not a lesbian but that Ben needs to see her as a lesbian (Diane Lane is jealous, is all).

Hollywoodland is being released on DVD today.

Hellbent (2005) - LightShed 10

What a nice gay flick.  I so wish I had this movie growing up. 

We gays can die in horror movies too, just like anybody else, but not because we are gay, of course, but because we are represented; and more than represented, we are right on the path of the killer, making the same stupid mistakes straighties make in their horror movies, and there are a lot of those mistakes here; you know, the moves that make you go "uh oh, don't go there, girl!" Yeah, those.

In Hellbent, five gay friends are out partying on Halloween night when a killer gets in their way. 

Hellbent takes place in a gay world, the few straight characters in the movie are barely extras. 

As is the case with straight horror movies, the cast is smoking hot; but instead of your usual stereotypical sorority cheerleader making out with Joe-the-football-stud, you get Bryan Kirkwood and Andrew Levitas (both stereotypically hot, the two hottest hotties in my opinion) making out with other guys.  Yay!

Bryan's character was called Jake, the butch loner who befriends our lead gay, a cop wannabe played by Dylan Fergus.  Andrew plays Chaz, a bisexual who will hump anything that moves.   

There are no big departures from straight horror (and that's what makes this movie so good), but this time you can watch a horror flick with your date and totally relate to the story.  I think it will make more sense to grope grab your loved one, tight, while watching Hellbent -- it did for me.  You have got to buy or rent Hellbent.

I will talk about an interesting fact in the movie but that will seriously ruin the plot.

[SPOILER AHEAD]

Summer Storm (Sommersturm 2004) - LightShed 10

Guys, Summer Storm is so cute.  It's such a good movie.

In the movie, Robert Stadlober plays a teenager who is the star of his small town rowing team.  He falls for his best friend Achim, played by Kostja Ullman. 

They go to a summer camp.  There, a girl gets in the way of their friendship, and a gay rowing team called Queerstrokes helps them all grow up.

Solid acting, great production value.  You should definitely see Summer Storm (you can get it on DVD). 

The light for us gays is extremely positive, even with the few homophobic slurs and one or two stereotypes.  I will talk about those after the jump.  My discussion will reveal a bit too much though.

Watch the trailer for Summer Storm here:

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:

Borat (2006) - LightShed 5

People were crazy to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.  Theaters were packed. 

And have you seen the average critics rating for Borat?  The average is A- according to Yahoo!Movies.  That means the critics think the movie is "almost perfect."  I would certainly not go that far, but the movie is good.  You will laugh hard, even if self-consciously and with guilt, quite a few times.

In Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen plays an idiot from Kazakhstan.  He is sent to the U.S. to survey the way of life of the American people for a Kazakhstani TV show.  He arrives in NY and after watching an episode of Baywatch, he falls in love with Pamela Anderson.  He goes on a quest from NY to L.A. to find her and marry her.

The movie is not a substantial improvement over the Borat skits you see on the Ali G series (which you can watch on DVD).  I actually like the disconnected skits, so, I think that trying to give the movie a plot was not really necessary.  Jackass worked out great without a plot.

Borat is deeply disturbing and deeply disturbed.  He is full of prejudice against a lot of people, but he clearly concentrates on the Jews.  I think Sacha chose the Jews as a big target because he is Jewish himself and thinks that that gives him some sort of license...Some people say his jokes would not be funny if he were not Jewish.  And I have to agree, but does that give him a license to make fun of other groups as well?  Should Gays, people of African descent, and women be offended since Sacha is not gay, black or female?

In this kind of movie, the light on the gays would be positive if the main character (Borat) was actually homophobic.  Remember, he is an idiot.  Completely clueless.  Every single thing he does and thinks is wrong.  So, were he to like gays, or be gay himself (even worse), would actually work against us.  That's my theory anyway.  That of course needs to be coupled with movie-goers actually having some sense of right and wrong to be able to tell that the joke is on the racist, homophobic and intolerant.  The whole thing is a harsh criticism.  Right?  And people should be able to see that.

Having said that, my assessment of the movie's gay content is actually slightly positive, although I am still a little unsure about that.  My biggest concern on the matter was voiced by The New York Times: "some people are too stupid and too racist to understand that the joke is on them".  And that might very well be true.  I don't doubt there will be copycats playing out Borat's ignorance like that was something to be proud of.

Anyway, we did have quite a bit of gay content, which I will discuss after the jump.

[SPOILER AHEAD]

Volver (2006) - Best Movie of The Year So Far - LightShed 8

Absolutely brilliant.  Penelope Cruz has got to get an Oscar for her role. 

Volver is easily Pedro Almodovar's best movie yet.  And if you had any idea how much I loved his previous movies, you would realize that that is perhaps one of the best compliments on this site.  Volver is the best movie I have seen this year and probably one of the very best movies reviewed here.  It's that good.

You can watch the trailer here but I am not going to say anything about the plot.  I wouldn't do it justice and I think you will love it if you are as surprised as I was with all the culture and eccentricity and craziness and pain that goes on in Volver.  You are guaranteed to cry tears of happiness -- at the beauty of the movie and of the story. 

Be ready to run to the theaters on November 3, when Volver opens in the US.  After the jump I will talk a bit about the gay content of the movie.

[SPOILER AHEAD]

Shortbus (2006) - LightShed 10

I was expecting way more from Shortbus.  The movie was okay, it wasn't bad, but I was expecting something of the caliber of Hedwig, and Shortbus is amateurish in comparison with John Cameron Mitchell's debut.

In Shortbus, we follow a bunch of people who are experimenting with their sexuality in an attempt to find happiness and let people penetrate them, emotionally.  In New York.  Cute, right?

The main characters in Shortbus include Sook-Yin Lee, playing a sex therapist who never had an orgasm, and Paul Dawson and PJ DeBoy, playing a gay couple entertaining an open relationship. 

I knew about all the genitalia in the movie, erections everywhere, orgies and all, and I went into the movie thinking it was really just going to be an excellent mainstream porn movie.  But it is not at all like that, you should really believe when you read the movie is about sexuality, not porn.  Although the countless sex scenes are very candid, you don't really see porn anywhere.  Most of those scenes carry a quite heavy emotional content. 

I guess for that reason alone the movie deserves to be seen.

You see all sorts of sexual orientations in Shortbus, and although some of the scenes may be a tad shocking (nothing too bad though I don't think), the positive message of acceptance was everywhere.

The soundtrack was superb.  I can't wait for it to come out on November 7.  I saw the movie in the Vancouver International Film Festival, but you can check if it's playing in a theater near you, here.

Unfortunately, most of the reviews I read were harsh.  The trailer is here.

Shadowboxer (2006) - LightShed 5

Good movie. 

In Shadowboxer, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Helen Mirren are a couple and contract killers, oh, and stepmother and stepson.  They are hired to kill a pregnant Vanessa Ferlito, who plays the wife of a nasty mob kingpin (Stephen Dorff).  As Helen is about to shoot Vanessa, she starts to have her baby and Helen decides to protect mother and baby.

The movie is somber but somehow not as gross as you'd think (considering the edgy stepmother/stepson sex scenes -- they almost make you not pay attention to all the screen time Cuba's butt gets, almost).

Helen and Cuba were dressed by Vivienne Westwood:

The Westwood wardrobe was not the only gay content in Shadowboxer.  We had a bit more for our gay movie review.  In the first scene with gay content, Macy Gray (who plays Vanessa's best friend) is in a bar, and we see a transvestite/tranny sitting there, just chilling.  Macy Gray buys her a drink.  Cute, right?

But then, later, one of Cuba's hits turns out to be a dad who likes to get it from behind from transvestites.  Cuba shows up in drag and as the dad bends over, Cuba shoots him but sees a card written by the guy's son.  That was a bit of negative light (I think it is fair to assume the guy was cheating on his wife, but that is not certain though).

There were quite a few homo-erotic moments.  In the first homo moment, in the beginning of the movie, before Stephen Dorff is about to kill a guy, he kind of caresses the guy's hair a few times.  Gently and sexually almost.  Later, in an after work-out scene, Cuba is in the locker room and a guy passes behind him, very close.  Cuba acknowledges that but is not bothered.

Everybody was hot in the movie.  Stephen Dorff and Cuba were hot beyond belief.  And Stephen goes full frontal.  You can really see the whole thing, right in the middle of a sex scene. 

Stephen is giving it to a lady, and there's quite a bit of agitation outside his room, so he gets out and you see all.  His sizable tool was protected only by a condom.  And it was soft, flaccid, not semi-erect.   

The movie was so sexual that I almost put it in the I Can't Believe It's Not Porn category, but the lack of a hard penis kept the movie out of that club.  An erect penis is where I draw the line.

So, we had two diverse, uncommon couples, Cuba and Helen, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Mo'nique.  I almost wanted a gay couple included, but was glad there was none. 

The couples, as nicely diverse as they were, turned out to be disturbingly dysfunctional.  Helen and Cuba were stepmother/stepson, and Joseph and Mo'nique were pretty screwed up, she a crack whore and Joseph a mob physician.  So, I was glad us gays were not equated.

Watch the trailer after the jump.

The Oh in Ohio (2006) - LightShed 8

By Guest Reviewer Jimbo.Info

Queen of Quirk Parker Posey plays a convincing frigid wife on a quest to find her first real orgasm.

On her journey she gets to know her vagina through a brief addiction to vibrators and a sexuality coaching session with Liza Minnelli. 

If that isn't gay enough for you, her pursuit takes her to try a same-sex encounter, eventually frustrating her lesbian bedmate.

Paul Rudd plays the disgruntled husband who tries to restore his lost manhood during a tryst with one of his students.  Bears will enjoy the bearded Rudd, who is handsomely chunky in a few scenes.

The cliche of a reinvigorated romance after the couple explores relationships outside their failing marriage is sidestepped when Posey's character meets a frumpy pool salesman, played by an entertaining Danny DeVito.

The unlikely surprise ending, great acting and good writing make this a worthwhile visit to the theater.