Queer Beacon

United 93 (2006) - LightShed 8

Excellent movie.  I felt sick in it -- because of the content, certainly, but also because the camera wouldn't stop shaking.

United 93 tells us the story of the fourth airplane that was hijacked on September 11, 2001, and the only one not to hit a previously specified target. 

There is no explicit gay content in the movie.  However, one of the heroes in that flight was Mark Bingham, an out gay rugby player and businessman, played well by Cheyenne Jackson.

In the movie, we see our gay hero talking about rugby, laying out plans of action, but we do not get any indication that he is gay in the movie. 

A lot of the people got to say goodbye, but Mark was fighting and it appears he did not get a chance to say bye to his family.  Sad, sad, sad.

Anyway, Mark was an out gay men, and there was plenty of media attention to that fact.

So, despite the lack of explicit gay content, I believe the movie deserves a LightShed score (rather than a No Gay Content score). 

Another movie about the September 11 events will be released on August 9, 2006: World Trade Center.  Maybe influenced by what I saw in United 93, I cried watching the trailer for World Trade Center.  I know, gay, gay, gay.  You can watch the trailer here. 

The United States of Leland (2003) - LightShed 5

Good movie. 

Here, Ryan Gosling is an apparently normal teenager, who is sent to a juvenile detention center: something to do with a crime involving a mentally challenged kid.  The kid's sister (played by Jena Malone) and Ryan are excellent in the movie.  Kevin Spacey plays Ryan's father, he is a prick, a famous writer.  Don Cheadle is a wannabe writer and a teacher at the juvenile center and he wants to get something out of Ryan's experience.  Our girlfriend Michelle Williams has a small part in the movie.

Now to our gay movie review.  In one scene, Don Cheadle is sort of stalking Kevin Spacey at a hotel bar, but Kevin quickly recognizes Don Cheadle as a fan and a wannabe writer who just wants to suck up for help in the publishing world.  So, Kevin tries to keep Don away by saying that he, Kevin, is not a fag and does not want to fuck Don, so Don has no chance of actually approaching him.  Not too nice, but Kevin doesn't say it in a bad way actually.  In any event, Kevin Spacey is an asshole in the movie, so it's all good for us.

The soundtrack was very good too.  Oh, and I think Kevin Spacey is gay.  But then again, I think everyone is...

Urbania (2000) - LightShed 10

Mediocre movie.  But, if you consider the movie was made for under $250,000 and was shot in 18 days, you have to agree that it can't get any better than this. 

In the movie, Dan Futterman is always close to or barely dodging urban myths, including a kidney thief (in this case, being gay saved his life), a lady who dries up a dog in the microwave, that kind of crap.  Yes, Dan is gay in the movie. Alan Cumming cameos as a queen friend who is in bad health. 

Just in case you didn't know, Dan is super talented in real life (he wrote the screenplay for Capote). I think he should stick to writing, he is okay as an actor but his screenplay writing abilities are far better.  Oh, he also played a gay in Enough, the movie where J.Lo fights back.  He was super nice in that movie, helping out an abused big ass-ed friend.

Now to our gay movie review.  Dan picks up a bisexual guy in a bar, they argue over who should bottom.  Silly. 

Dan has a nice relationship with a straight bartender, played by Josh Hamilton.  That alone would have been enough to cast a positive light on the gays.  But there's more.  I'll have to really spoil the movie to keep discussing though. 

So read on or rent the movie (just don't expect much).  There is quite a bit of skin, and everybody is pretty hot.  There's even a very fast frontal from the guy without the kidney.  This was just spooky though.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) - LightShed 8

Good movie.  Here, Diane Lane is a writer who just got a divorce.  She goes to Italy and buys a house on a whim in hope of finding a new life.  Great feel good movie.  You gotta rent it.

Our gay content is super sweet.  Diane Lane first goes to Italy with a gift from a lesbian couple (Sandra Oh is one of them).  The trip starts with a gay bus ride.  Yay!  Diane Lane is very cool about it all.  Raoul Bova is her catch.  Look at him:

An Unfinished Life (2005) - LightShed 9

The movie stars J. Lo as Robert Redford’s daughter-in-law. Morgan Freeman plays a guy who was attacked by a bear and lives in a little house on Redford’s farm. Redford is all bitter because he blames Lo’s for his son’s death. Lo lives far away but finds her way back to Redford’s farm to run away from her abusive boyfriend.

Gay content was present and it was very good. Having Redford and Freeman seating opposite each other for breakfast, Lo’s daughter, played by Becca Gardner, shares that she has a lesbian teacher at school, and that it is ok for Redford and Freeman to be gay. Both guys laugh, and Freeman makes a comment about Reford’s lovely hands (earlier in the movie Redford was massaging some ointment or medicine on Freeman’s bear scars – although the little girl had not seen that). It was really well done. Gardner and Freeman have a great little dialogue; she says “everyone deserves to be loved by someone,” to which Freeman replies “You’ve got that right.” Lovely. A little girl teaching a great lesson in love and acceptance. Kudos for the movie.

I just wish Redford hadn’t asked “what’s next?” implying the question “what crazy question is this little girl going to ask next?” But I’ll take it anyway.