Author Topic: Other gay-themed movies  (Read 141649 times)

Offline Impish

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #80 on: May 17, 2006, 09:43:11 am »
"Before Night Falls" has been on my To-Buy list for quite some time now...  I'll bump up its priority now that both of you recommend it.

I'd never heard of "Total Eclipse" or "Buck and Chuck" but will now definitely check 'em out.

Last night, I watched a documentary "The God Who Wasn't There."  Not a gay film but does briefly discuss the harm christianity has done -- and is doing -- to gay people.  I was pleased to see something I've believed quite some time now:  that fundamentalists are right about the bible, and instead of stretching for explanations, gay christians should question the bible (and its religion) itself.   The film itself is short -- about an hour -- but the DVD includes over an hour of  extended interviews with the christians and atheists that appear in the film.  These are fascinating in and of themselves.  Not for the fearful, but I recommend it.

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Offline j.U.d.E.

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #81 on: May 17, 2006, 09:57:37 am »
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Just watched "Making Love" last night, for the first time since its release in 1981. 

The good:  brave for its time,  not one swishy stereotype in it, and I want to lick Michael Ontkean head to toe.
Tststss!!  :laugh:  I've liked Michael Ontkean for a long time now (even before seeing Making Love for the first time back in 2002 or so). I had seen a little scene of it in "Celluloid Closet" and couldn't wait to finally get the VHS or DVD! I try to see every movie he has been in, but there are not many.. or at least not many very good ones. Too bad, really! There is this rather cheezy "Just the Way You Are" with Kristy McNichol which I like.. and there is a mini-series "Family Album" from 1994 or 1996, which is a bit cheezy too, but interesting, [spoiler ahead!] because his character finds out that his son is gay and reacts badly.

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The bad:   it feels like a soap opera and Kate Jackson is simply terrible in it.
Yep! I agree 100%

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I'd never heard of "Total Eclipse" or "Buck and Chuck" but will now definitely check 'em out.
Never?! "Total Eclipse" with Leo DiCaprio!?   ;D

I have been waiting for "Burnt Money" (Plata Quemada) to come out on DVD, but I'm still waiting..

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Offline Impish

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #82 on: May 18, 2006, 07:12:12 pm »
A new shipment just arrived, and guess what's in it?  Before Night Falls.

I'd completely forgotten I'd ordered it.  So I'll be seeing it for the first time this weekend.

Also included was "Andre's Mother" a one-act play by Terrence McNally that was filmed for PBS.  Quite the tear-jerker about the relationship between a mother who just lost her son to AIDS and her son's lover (played superbly by whats'isname... you know... he also play  John-Boy Walton...  oh!  Richard Thomas).
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Offline Shuggy

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #83 on: May 21, 2006, 11:09:35 pm »
Watched "Prick Up Your Ears" the biopic of Joe Orton, gay British playwright of the comedies "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" and "Loot," who was murdered by his "lover" (not the right word for their relationship) out of jealousy for Orton's success.
Rage that Orton was claiming credit for Halliwell's work, more, though how much Halliwell contributed is moot.

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(Note: The title is the kind of double-entendre Orton was famous for.)
It was the name of an unfinished play of his, I think.

I've just seen "Trick", that doesn't seem to have been mentioned here. It's a story about an innocent young writer of out-of-date musicals who picks up / is picked up by a go-go dancer. They spend the night looking for somewhere to have sex and during the course of that they find more. It's a bedroom farce in the way they keep being thwarted, but very ingenious in the setups and resolutions. Particularly amusing is the way people (especially the musician) will say something obliquely and be misunderstood. Then someone (expecially the dancer) will say the same thing direct and be either misunderstood or ignored. Torri Spelling is well cast as the inotolerable would-be singer-dancer friend of the musician.

It reminded me of BBM in its attraction of opposites and underlying message of "seize the moment".

Offline Impish

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #84 on: May 22, 2006, 09:59:29 am »
Rage that Orton was claiming credit for Halliwell's work, more, though how much Halliwell contributed is moot.

No, at least that's not how the movie portrays it.  Orton's hits were all his own, and Halliwell was enraged that Orton did not want -- or need -- his input.
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Offline Impish

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #85 on: May 23, 2006, 09:00:00 am »
Saw "Before Night Falls" last night.

An important film.  A true story, it taught me a lot about Cuban history.  And while it followed the life of gay writer Reinaldo Arenas, it managed to show that his persecution was part of a larger campaign against the intelligentsia.

The screeplay uses an interesting approach of showing both what really happened and the fantasies, thoughts, and hopes in the mind of Arenas as well.  Similar to BBM's use of the "tire iron" story: did that happen,  or only what Ennis thought happened?  That kind of thing runs through "Before Night Falls" and it can be a bit bewildering at times trying to sort out what was what.  But this is not a criticism; the technique involves you in the story and lets you in on Arenas' thought process. 

I recognized Johnny Depp in both of his cameo roles, but missed Sean Penn entirely.  I'll be looking for him during my second viewing.

I'm very happy to have this film in my collection.
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Offline JCinNYC2006

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #86 on: May 23, 2006, 06:59:10 pm »
The book is really good as well.  He's written other books, and I think poetry, but I've only read this one.  It later helped me to understand some of the Cuban clients I have who actually went through a lot of what he did - the imprisonment, the torture, the boat lifts, the new lives in the US and dealing with AIDS. 

Juan
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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #87 on: May 23, 2006, 07:50:34 pm »
Before Night Falls really is a good movie.  I haven't thought about that one in a long time.
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Offline JCinNYC2006

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #88 on: May 23, 2006, 07:56:20 pm »
Oh!  Another movie that I was waiting for on DVD that just came out...The Mudge Boy.  Very sad, harsh story about a boy who loses his mother and befriends a neighborhood tough.   Emile Hirsch is in it and I hadn't seen him before.  Very sweet story, I could relate to the kid a lot...

Juan
What is essential, is invisible to the eye....

Offline Impish

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Re: Other gay-themed movies
« Reply #89 on: May 23, 2006, 07:57:56 pm »
Before Night Falls really is a good movie.  I haven't thought about that one in a long time.

Hey, Amanda!  Where U been???
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If you won't pray in my school, I won't think in your church.