Queer Beacon

Hancock (2008) - Shipwreck 2

So, we have a homophobic superhero.  Really, really upsetting. 

Let me first give you the good news. Hancock is a good action movie.  This is an interesting story of a homeless guy who happens to be a superhero, he recklessly rescues people and prevents crimes --  after each rescue or intervention, the city is left with millions in unnecessary and usually easily avoidable damages.  Hancock is a drunkard and is constantly grumpy.

Things start to change when he saves the live of major cutie Jason Bateman.  Jason is into public relations and offers to change the image of our super hero.

Now the bad stuff.  The first homophobic content comes right on the first scene. When Hancock is busting these three criminals, he breaks into their car and says something to the effect that he was not even judging the fact that there were three dudes in the car.  He said it in a way that conveys his disgust with the all-dude situation. Bad.  Then, later, Jason is trying to help him choose a super hero outfit by showing the cover of a few comic books.  To every single one of the outfits Will Smith reacts: "homo", "homo in red", "Scandinavian homo" and so forth.  Again, really bad.

I concede that in those two scenes, Hancock had not been "saved" and he was still the baddass idiot; nasty and in bad behavior. But we are clearly made to be on his side at all times and we never forget that this is Will Smith, whose shit is not supposed to stink even when he's playing an idiot.  Also, to be a baddass, do you need to be homophobic?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) - LightShed 5

I liked the movie, but I don't see what the fuss is all about; maybe because of the great reviews I was expecting too much, and this one was not any better than the previous ones.

In Order of the Phoenix, Harry goes back to Hogwarts as ugly as ever and tries to develop his own little army of magic nerds to fight evil Voldemort (played by Ralph Fiennes).  Harry has to keep his army a secret from this new professor who's an evil bitch from hell (played by Imelda Staunton).

In the beginning of the movie we got a bit of gay content.  A bully (Harry's cousin Dudley Dursley) teases Harry about Cedric (remember? the student who died at the end of the previous installment).  Apparently, Harry had been having nightmares and kept uttering the name "Cedric"...the bully taunts Harry: "Who is Cedric, is he your boyfriend?"  Well, it was a about time Harry got a little homophobic abuse, in what world would a nerdy kid like Harry not be taunted by gay-hating bullies? 

The bully learns a lesson, but still, I wish we had more.  Hopefully we'll get more gay content next time.  I'm betting on Hermione coming out.  Isn't she the biggest lesbian?

She is one of the few mildly cute kids in that school...Also, I was glad to see Voldemort looking less like an evil queen.  In Goblet of Fire, Voldemort came off as a vicious queen and that was not nice, this time he is just evil (no longer really a queen).

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]

Half Nelson (2006) - LightShed 9

Ryan Gosling totally deserved his Academy Award nomination for Half Nelson.  But he is not alone in the movie: costar Shareeka Epps is superb.  I can't get over how great her performance was.  100% Oscar worthy.  Great direction too (that's director Ryan Fleck on the right).  You should absolutely see this movie.

In Half Nelson drugs have gotten a tight grip on Ryan Gosling, who plays a school teacher.  His students kinda like him, and Shareeka, also a student, lends a hand.

We have very brief, but outstanding gay content.  In one class, a student talks about the assassination of Harvey Milk and how sad it is for a person to die just because of who the person is.  Awesome light for the gays: A kid telling other kids that hating gays is wrong.  Kudos.

Curiosities: a Half Nelson is a wrestling hold and it "is done using only one hand, by passing it under the arm of the opponent and locking the hand at the opponent's neck. Half nelsons are commonly used in amateur wrestling."

More curiosities: head over to fourfour to read Rich's post on Half Nelson (he tries to get Shareeka to laugh, it's hilarious).

Hannibal Rising (2007) - No Gay Content

By Guest Reviewer Lone Star Verve

The American Film Institute recently chose their top 50 heroes and top 50 villains of all time. The greatest villain of them all was revealed as the brilliant, cunning and psychotic Dr. Hannibal Lecter from "The Silence of the Lamb." Joining Dr. Lecter in the circle of top three evildoers in film history were Norman Bates from "Psycho" and Darth Vader from the "Star Wars" trilogy. Where we always knew that Bates was driven to madness and murder (along with being a transvestite) by a clinging, overly demanding mother and we eventually discovered that Vader had turned to the dark side because of a lie that he had killed his own wife, we’ve never had a complete back-story on the flesh-eating Dr. Lecter. Now bestselling author Thomas Harris has answered all those nagging questions that we had about our favorite cannibal with his screenplay for the prequel to his Hannibal Lecter franchise, "Hannibal Rising." While trying to sit through this movie though, we suddenly became so sorry that we had asked.

As WWII rages in Lithuania, the aristocratic Lecter family is killed by Nazis. The war atrocities continue for 8 year old Hannibal (Aaron Thomas) and his younger sister Mischa (Helena Lia Tachovska) who are kidnapped by a band of ruthless thugs (lead by Rhys Ifans). With food scarce, the men decide that in order to survive they should eat little Mischa while Hannibal watches helplessly. Flash forward to a now teenage Hannibal (Gaspard Ulliel) who escapes to France where he studies medicine and lives with the mysterious wife (Gong Li) of his recently-deceased uncle in a grand mansion on the outskirts of Paris. All the while, he is secretly tracking down and seeking revenge on the men who killed his beloved Mischa. However, a relentless detective (Dominic West) is hot on his trail of terror.

The film is sleekly elegant thanks to director Peter Webber (The Girl With The Pearl Earring) with a few of the murder sequences that are memorably gruesome. Handsome Gaspard Ulliel is also sleekly elegant and smart not to try a Hopkins impersonation with a younger version of such a famous character. The main problem with this movie is learning the pathology behind his cannibalism really spoils all the wicked fun from the over-the top evil of Hannibal Lecter. Plus it doesn’t help that the film drags at times and the dialogue is unintentionally laughable in spots. Over all, we can’t fault Thomas Harris for wanting to disclose the origins of his iconic antihero. But after seeing this latest chapter in Hannibal Lecter’s life, we can’t help but believe that Harris’ real motivation was just another paycheck.

‘Hannibal Rising’ movie trailer.
‘Hannibal Rising’ official website.

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]

Happy Feet (2006) - No Gay Content

By Guest Reviewer Jimbo.info

An official holiday season panel of two gay men screening the animated feature ‘Happy Feet’ unearthed no evidence of gay penguins in the film. While there is a message of the importance of being happy with your individuality amongst sameness, if there was a specifically “gay” subtext in there, our panel missed it. Lots of people feel different, gays among them, but it doesn’t mean this movie is pushing any gay agenda. Think ‘Footloose’ with penguins and you’ll get the idea.

The film is about an emperor penguin named “Mumble” who was born without a distinctive “heartsong,” but he does have an uncontrollable habit of tap dancing in lieu of the ability to sing.

This leads to his inevitable exile from the penguin colony, which sends him on a journey of self-discovery and exploration. On his journey Mumble meets voracious predators, friendly penguins and humans.

The movie opens trying to be like an Antarctic ‘Lion King’ with a trippy visit from a spectral ancestral penguin-spirit in the opening sequence. That was just plain weird. Then it turns around and tries to take a crack at being a clever Baz Luhrmann musical, replete with attempts at witty pop-culture medleys, but fails at this as many of the songs are too obscure to immediately recognize. Plus it’s been done before, and using computer-generated penguins doesn’t help deliver the genre quite right. Then it gets serious, adding an eco-drama element, but by then we’re all quite confused about what the film is trying to be. PowerPoint presentations are best delivered by wooden former politicians, rather than by fuzzy CGI penguins.

As I watched the movie it struck me that some Hollywood executive saw ‘March of the Penguins’ and thought some of them acted like various international stereotypes, depicted with bad accents by a long list of voice-over celebrities. Since the exec thought Robin Williams was funny in ‘Aladdin’ he had to include him too. Williams is the voice of two characters in the film whose accents are often indistinguishable, and I felt embarrassed for him as I did when he chose to be in ‘RV’. I guess he has kids to send to college.

I wouldn’t take the niece and nephew to go see ‘Happy Feet’, and the other gay panelist - a children’s CGI movie fan - wasn’t impressed either. We both walked away thinking that the film tried to deliver too many messages and missed out on the fun along the way. Just when the music started fly, some morality lesson was put in. Even the spectacular computer-generated landscapes were interrupted by one persona change or another. Throughout most of the film, even the kids in the theater weren’t laughing much, and I enjoyed my Cookie Dough Bites and Cherry Coke a lot more than the film.

The only gay content in ‘Happy Feet’ was the inclusion of a k.d. lang song in the soundtrack. And possibly one soft-spoken penguin in the colony could have been interpreted as gay, but without further cloacal and behavioral examinations of the bird, we are unsure if this was in fact a gay penguin.

Hard Candy (2006) - No Gay Content

Hard Candy sounded pretty interesting, but it's just mediocre.  In the movie, Patrick Wilson plays a pedophile who is in for a big surprise from one of his victims.  The victim is played by Ellen Page.

I didn't like the acting in the movie, and Wilson can be good, he rocked as a trophy husband in Little Children.  I'm blaming director David Slade. 

We had no gay content, except for a brief mention of Jodie Foster by Ellen Page, but I won't count it as lesbian content just yet, I'll wait for JoFo to come out of the closet.

I was glad the pedophile did not prey on boys (Ellen Page did look pretty androgynous though). 

After all the Foley crap, we need all the distance we can get from pedophilia.  Homosexuality has nothing to do with that perversion and people need to see that.

The trailer is better than the actual movie, but be warned that it reveals too much:

Harsh Times (2006) - Shipwreck 1

This was unwatchable.  Christian Bale is usually pretty good, but he was so bad here.  So was Freddy Rodriguez.  The plot was painful to sit through.

In Harsh Times Christian Bale plays a discharged Army Ranger haunted by his terrible war experiences.  You know, with those tacky crazy flashbacks?  So annoying. 

Christian hopes to get a job as a cop and to get married to his Mexican girlfriend (played by cutie Tammy Trull).  While waiting for his life to happen, he hangs out with his best buddy, played by Freddy Rodriguez.  Eva Longoria, who is married to Freddy in the movie (very believable, right?) keeps getting in the way of their "friendship." 

I did sense lots of heat in their "friendship." 

There was gratuitous homophobia everywhere.  Maybe because our main characters were afraid that they might have been attracted to each other (there's no strong evidence to that fact in the movie though).  So, we have to put up with lots of slurs, mostly "faggots", uttered by pretty much everybody in the movie, except Eva.  We also had to put up with a quick gay impersonation, done over the phone, by Christian Bale.  All bad.

Harsh Times is unfortunately in theaters since Friday...but certainly not for too long.  Really, don't bother (you don't even get Christian shirtless).