Queer Beacon

District 9 (2009) - No Gay Content

Did you guys see the reviews for District 9? They are incredibly positive -- best reviews of a sci-fi in a long time. And you better believe the hype. I went in with high expectations and they were met.

In District 9, Sharlto Copley is a mid-level employee of an agency created to oversee an area that serves as housing for over a million aliens that crashed in Johannesburg.  Aliens have been in the area for 20 years but need to be moved to another, "safer," location. While serving eviction notices to the aliens, some crazy shit starts to happen to Sharlto.

There's a tiny bit of negative gay content. In one scene, Sharlto's character discourages a colleague from wearing some sort of protective mask while serving the eviction notices because those masks are for "sissies." I'll let that slide...

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) - No Gay Content

This wasn't bad. It's a pretty decent catastrophe movie.

In this remake of the 1951 movie, Keanu Reaves plays Klaatu, an alien sent to earth to destroy humans because they are destroying mother earth. Jennifer Connelly is a scientist that inadvertently helps him out.

I saw this on iMax, I mean sort of; they use the iMax screen but the projection is not really full iMax (a large part of the top and bottom are cut off). I think that is a problem that affects most wide release movies on iMax. It pisses me off but I keep coming back for more...

Ghost Town (2008) - No Gay Content

In Ghost Town, Ricky Gervais plays a dentist who has major issues with people. After dying for 7 minutes during a surgical procedure, he starts seeing dead people, one of such people is Greg Kinnear's character, who wants Ricky to prevent Greg's wife (Tea Leoni) from marrying this jerk (played by Billy Campbell).

The premise is preposterous but the movie is actually quite good. Ricky's delivery is very very good, and I'll just about see any movie with Greg Kinnear (he looks like my hubby).

We don't really get any gay content, except perhaps for this one comment from a naked guy (played by Jeff Hiller).  The naked guy is dead and his ghost is after Ricky Gervais to ask for a favor.  One time, the naked guy mentions the guy Tea Leoni is supposed to get married to (Billy Campbell's character) is cute. Not really gay, but I thought I'd mention it.

Wanted (2008) - No Gay Content

Wanted kinda lost me right on the opening scene, when we can read on-screen that the movie is about a society of assassins dating back over a thousand years.  Tacky. I mean, do they really need the "thousand years ago" crap? That ticked me off, they already had a lot going on in the plot, they already had too much for us to deal with, we didn't need the aggravation.

But, once you get over that part of the plot (and that is a big part) and other silly ploys (like that dodging the bullet scene they tirelessly showed to us in TV ads or the fact that the assassins can heal super fast in these pools of candle wax -- pretty much a butched up version of a bubble bath), the movie is actually not bad.  Jolie is drop dead gorgeous. Like, you can cry when you first see her on-screen, she's so pretty (her arms were a little too thin, though -- you can see that on the movie poster above; bitch needs to eat a burger or two). 

The special effects are superb and I must say I am happy James McAvoy are getting these big roles. I think he is ugly, but he is on the normal side of ugly, and that's good for us (he makes the world think that us ugly guys can be hot too), and, more importantly, he is talented. Bitch can act.  This is not the movie you should bring your Oscar ballots to (that's a line from my hubby, who didn't really like the movie, by the way) but it's worth seeing -- you can catch McAvoy's real acting talents in The Last King of Scotland and Atonement.

No gay content.  Just loads of special effects and violence.  I'm still saying: good movie, though.

10,000 B.C. (2008) - No Gay Content

Man, this was unwatchable. 

In 10,000 B.C. this tribe is headed for extinction and have to rely on their warriors to survive. I did not care, except that I kept wishing I was on the set to shampoo those people. Barfy hair was everywhere.

No gay content.

There Will Be Blood (2007) - No Gay Content

In There Will Be Blood, Daniel Day-Lewis plays an oil tycoon in-the-making. He plays a man thirsty for oil power, does it all with his bare hands and will stop at nothing to get what he wants -- surprising, huh?  He nasty, of course. 

I thought the movie should have been shot in two parts, the first with his rise, the second with his, uh, fall.  As it is, the movie feels rushed towards the end (they tried to pass it off as artsy, but that didn't fly with moi).  Having said that, I still think the movie is excellent -- Daniel gave us the best performance by a male lead. Ever.

No gay content.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) - No Gay Content

What a perfect, somber, vehicle for Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.  They both rock in Sweeney Todd.

In the movie, Johnny is unjustly imprisoned by this nasty judge -- when he's out of the joint all he wants is revenge.  Helena helps him out. 

Again, the acting is superb, but I didn't really like the songs.  The movie is good but could have been much better.  I think the plot should have us see more of Johnny's perfect little life before his imprisonment so that we could better taste his revenge.  As it is, the movie feels almost gratuitously gory -- revenge for revenge sake.  Just my two cents...you should still see the movie.

Waitress (2007) - No Gay Content

What a gem of a movie.  Waitress is excellent and you shouldn't miss it.

In Waitress, Keri Russell waits tables and bake pies at this small joint in the south.  She is married to a jealous Jeremy Sisto, she is sick of him and she wants out.  She bitches about life with her girlfriends Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly (who is also the director, killed before her movie opened), and bakes great pies, all the while having an affair with her gynecologist Nathan Fillion.  This waitress story is well told.

Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly deserve recognition for their work.  They are really great here. 

The soundtrack is excellent too. Waitress is out on DVD and Keri Russel is on August Rush, now in theaters.

3:10 to Yuma (2007) - No Gay Content

Every now and then I will forget how much I hate Western movies and I will go see something like 3:10 to Yuma.  Here's my basic beef with Westerns: they glorify bad guys -- and there's a lot of that in this one. 

In 3:10 to Yuma, Russel Crowe is the badass robber who is aprehended and needs to be delivered to a train heading to prison.  Christian Bale is the good guy who helps the law enforcement folks in their effort to put Russel in jail.  The movie is pretty boring except that the last half hour gets pretty interesting; the result is still a mediocre movie, though.

On some level, I think Russel and Christian fell in love with each other, but maybe that was just in head...no actual gay content was present.

Now I just have to forget my hate for Western movies one more time to go see Jesse James when/if it comes out.

Michael Clayton (2007) - No Gay Content

People are thinking way too much of this flick.  In Michael Clayton George Clooney plays Clayton, a lawyer who solves personal problems of the other lawyers and big clients of this fancy NY firm.  I heard somewhere that he plays a broken man fixing the problems of other broken men, and that's a good description -- the movie focuses on Michael's efforts to deal with a partner (Tom Wilkinson) who goes postal in the midst of a ginormous mass tort lawsuit.  The acting is okay, I couldn't see all the Oscar potential people are talking about.  The movie is very good, you should see it, just don't expect that much.