Stephen Baldwin likes Lara Flynn Boyle, who likes Josh Charles, who likes Stephen Baldwin. They’re fit young college students living in the same dorm. The solution seems obvious… or does it? Threesome hadn’t much to offer a closeted teen in … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Threesome (1994) & Fun Down There (1989)
This week we lost Larry Kramer. The founder of ACT UP dedicated his life to activism but was also a talented author. His screenplay for Women in Love and his script for The Normal Heart were justly celebrated. Less known … Continue reading Movie Recap: Lost Horizon (1973)
Today’s films concern angsty gays at British Boarding Schools. In fiction such schools are cauldrons of rage and lust. Lord of the Flies and Plato’s Symposium. A place where a gay man can discover his true self or be beaten … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Another Country (1984) & Maurice (1987)
Tron meets Star Wars anyone? Alex Rogan wins an arcade game and gets recruited by the Starfighters. The CGI is expensive so he returns to Earth to faff about before the big space finale. The Last Starfighter has likable actors, … Continue reading Movie Recap: The Last Starfighter (1984)
A spoiled teen musician (charmless Kevin Bishop) visits Barcelona with his mother (delightful Juliet Stevenson) and has a fling with an older man (relaxed Paul Rhys). When the boy returns to New York he loses his way. I’d hoped for … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Food of Love (2002)
So your brother kills your wife, kills your father and kidnaps a nun. What do you do? If your answer is ‘grab a fist sword and a can of silly string’ then you might appreciate Hawk the Slayer. This 1980 … Continue reading Movie Recap: Hawk the Slayer (1980)
Today I look at two films about gay panic. The family in The Twilight of the Golds is told an unborn baby has gay genes. The townsfolk in It’s in the Water are told that something in their drinking water … Continue reading LGBT Movies: The Twilight of the Golds (1996) & It’s in the Water (1997)
Readers of my Dune article convinced me to seek other epic flops. Today I look at the fantasy/sci-fi hybrid Krull. The trailer tells me that a Darth Vader type and his storm troopers will invade a medieval world and kidnap … Continue reading Movie Recap: Krull (1983)
Edge of Seventeen is a coming of age tale set in the Sandusky, Ohio of 1984. A gay teen will work his first job, lose his virginity and get his heart broken. Todd Stephens’ semi-autobiographical script is frank about sex … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Edge of Seventeen (1998)
On December 14, 1984, the movie Dune opened in U.S. cinemas. David Lynch’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel was a critical and financial flop. Lynch and his star, Kyle MacLachlan, would quickly salvage their reputations with the film Blue Velvet … Continue reading Movie Recap: Dune (1984)
A sullen teen falls for a closeted jock in a tropey tale of heartbreak. I saw Get Real in 1998 and disliked it. It shined a mirror on an ugly adolescence I was ready to escape. The critics saw something … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Get Real (1998)
The full title of Rosa von Praunheim’s 1971 manifesto is It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives. A young man moves to Berlin, samples gay subcultures (the art world, the leather world, … Continue reading LGBT Movies: It is Not the Homosexual… (1971)
Greetings, Avocadoans! Welcome to the weekly discussion of LGBTQQIA+ issues! Rules for this discussion: All are welcome! However, please be respectful that this discussion is specifically about issues and topics related to lesbian, gay, bi- or pansexual, trans, queer, questioning, … Continue reading Weekly LGBT+ Discussion
William McNamara is engaged to a woman but hiding a terrible secret! His narcissistic WASP parents ignore the truth till it’s almost too late! I’d first dismissed the TV-movie Doing Time on Maple Drive as overripe camp. Then I read … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Doing Time on Maple Drive (1992)
In 2019 Emma Stone performed in a Saturday Night Live sketch titled “The Actress.” She’s overly invested in her performance as a cheated wife in a gay porn. The sketch is funny but there was indeed a time when the … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Song of the Loon (1970) & Score (1974)
The Set follows the coming of age of an Australian artist. He romances a nice woman and a cruel man. Both relationships are diluted by a sprawling screenplay filled with underwritten characters and subplots. The melodrama, camp and copious nudity give … Continue reading LGBT Movies: The Set (1970)
Can a homophobic film from 1957 look gay friendly in 2020? Sorta. In Germany’s The Third Sex a mother “rescues” her sensitive son from his gay best friend by setting him up with her maid. The parents treat homosexuals like … Continue reading LGBT Movies: The Third Sex (1957)
A seven-hour gay adaptation of the novel Howards End? London loved it. Broadway snubbed it. And now it’s gone. A section of the gay press sneered that the play was for uptight cis white gays who liked Pete Buttigieg. I … Continue reading LGBT Theater: The Inheritance (2018)
This week I revisit two films from the “gay friends hang out” genre: Terrence McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion! and Greg Berlanti’s The Broken Hearts Club. McNally’s soap opera features a community of gay men who support each other through tragedy. … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Love! Valour! Compassion! & The Broken Hearts Club
A meek protagonist is accused of homosexual conduct. They are cast out of their social circle and forced to start a fresh life. I enjoyed 2018’s Giant Little Ones but some melodramatic elements didn’t sit well with me. The film … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Tea and Sympathy & The Children’s Hour
Foes to friends to lovers. I’ve enjoyed this romcom formula since I first saw William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. There’s something magic about that moment before characters realize their world view is changing. The 1989 film When Harry Met … Continue reading LGBT Movies: The Thing About Harry (2020)
