Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more
Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more
Cinema, DVD and Blu-ray reviews
The Iris Prize Festival showcases many of the best LGBT short films out there. Here’s the first of our round-ups of some of this year’s selection.
Dirty Talk
Director: Jeff Sumner
This hilarious retelling of the perennial ‘awkward sexual encounter’ is well made, smoothly-played and slickly shot. Conservative, repressed Nathan tells his best friend (and their arch-eyebrowed waiter) about a chance encounter with a fiery Latino man who loves to get chatty in the bedroom. [Read more…]
The Iris Prize Festival showcases many of the best LGBT short films out there. Here’s the first of our round-ups of some of this year’s selection.
Shower
Director: Christian K. Norvalls
Showering after his swim, a young man finds his interest piqued and his self-image challenged by a strange sound. [Read more…]
The Iris Prize Festival showcases many of the best LGBT short films out there. Here’s the first of our round-ups of some of this year’s selection.
Fighting For Air
Director: Fatima Mawas
A tense family life and problems at school mount as KJ’s teacher, Amal, starts to notice bruises on her face. Drawn into a secret underworld, Amar and KJ must look to each other for help, or fight alone. [Read more…]
An American high school’s three popular girls vie with one another to win the most fashionable prize of all – the Gay Best Friend. This is much to the chagrin of newly-outed Tanner, who becomes the school’s ‘official’ gay guy, and finds himself and the relationships of those closest to him tested by the new-found power and status thrust upon him.
Described as ‘Mean Girls meets Clueless’ G.B.F isn’t short of style, or the usual collection of high school movie tropes, all brought together in a slick and sweetly sexy coming-of-age movie. [Read more…]
After running away from a situation she cannot handle, Earlene finds herself at Venice Beach where she meets and soon becomes close to Bruno, a lost and wandering intersex skater. Together, they head into the desert to find themselves. Their search brings them to a sexually confused thief, a tap-dancing drag queen, a Scottish boyband and many other kindred souls, all drawn to a place where they can escape the world that seemingly has no place for them. [Read more…]
A group of friends in Tel Aviv, Israel, watch Eurosong (a show similar to yet legally distinct from Eurovision) together. Each dealing with their own problems and despairing of the manufactured soulless feeling of their country’s entry, they laughingly create their own more authentic ditty. As a bit of fun, one of the friends sends it to the judges and, to their surprise, it becomes Israel’s official entry the following year.
Each character has a story that unfolds as the big day draws near; the troubled housewife, the flamboyant teacher, repressed Minister’s aide, socially awkward blogger, frustrated executive and the under-appreciated musician. Think Love, Actually with a bit more camp and you’re not far off. [Read more…]
Hollywood studios refused to pay for Behind The Candelabra as despite the presence of Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s 11) and having a relatively low-budget, they thought it was too gay to become a success. They’re probably kicking themselves now as HBO stepped up to the pay for it and had a huge hit with it on US TV, while distributors in other countries took it to cinemas and saw healthy box office. [Read more…]
When I’m reviewing gay-themed films, I sometimes feel I’m using the word ‘forgive’ too much. With many of these films you can see there’s a lot that’s good about them, but you have to forgive the acting, the low-budget (and resulting picture or sound issues), the shaky direction or slightly unfinished script. It’s always great then when you find a gay-themed film that’s just a good movie, and Out In The Dark certainly fits in that category. [Read more…]
I’m not sure why American TV thinks Chicago is mainly about the emergency services, but after the likes of ER, Chicago Hope and The Chicago Code comes Chicago Fire, following the theme that residents of the city need saving an awful lot. As you may have guessed, the series follows a group of firefighters, in this case the men and women of Firehouse 51.
The team includes Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer), who leads the team but is dealing with relationship problems and a mother who’s locked up for killing his father. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) meanwhile has become addicted to painkillers and is trying to cover this up, partly because if he has the surgery that could sort out his pain problem, he could end up behind a desk. [Read more…]
Following the success of Dracula and Frankenstein, it was little surprise that Hammer decided to take on one of the other characters that Universal had success with in the 1930s – The Mummy. The British film company’s 1959 take on bandaged ancient Egyptians reunites Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and director Terence Fisher, and while the results aren’t as memorable as with the earlier movies, it is fun. [Read more…]
