Reverend's Reviews: Sex Gods

 

It's the lusty month of May, as Guinevere declares via song in Camelot.  Judging by the graphic sexual content in a new crop of streaming and home video offerings, she wasn't kidding. That at least one of them deals rather profoundly with the current state of religion in America piqued Reverend's interest all the more.

American Gods, the current Starz series adapted from Neil Gaiman's fantastical novel, features more theology, mythology, violence and diverse sexual proclivities than any one show should be able to handle. While the first four episodes I watched were uneven in tone and quality, their high points exceed anything I've seen on TV recently with the exception of The Man in the High Castle.  These include a gay sex scene — between a mortal and a jinn or genie, no less — so lengthy and apparently revolutionary that GLAAD held a special advance screening of the episode (#3) in Los Angeles last week. Other divine characters featured include Bilquis, a poly-amorous goddess of love who uniquely ingests her partners via her vagina, as well as Media, a new deity played by Gillian Anderson who offers numerous enticements including sex while taking on the appearance of Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo, Judy Garland and other classic screen divas.

"You ain't never had a friend like me"
Omid Abtahi, Mousa Kraish in American Gods

The show's central character is Shadow Moon (the very hot, smoldering Ricky Whittle).  No sooner is Shadow released from prison for his role in a casino robbery gone wrong than he is recruited by the mysterious Mr. Wednesday (the great British actor Ian McShane).  The ex-con is primarily employed as Wednesday's driver and bodyguard but finds himself drawn into a war between old and new gods. We learn that Mr. Wednesday is also known as Wotang or Odin, the Norse god most recently played in the Thor movies by Anthony Hopkins.  By the end of episode 4 this divine conflict hadn't yet kicked into full gear but the series is well worth watching, despite sex (complete with male erections) and violence that may startle other religious viewers, if for no other other reason than seeing old pro Cloris Leachman and musical powerhouse Kristen Chenoweth play other classic deities.  I'm completely devoted to Gods.

There is more far from mindless sex on display in two new gay-themed releases.  Utopians (Breaking Glass Pictures) is probably the most sexually explicit movie made in China to date.  That it primarily deals with homosexual relations is even more astounding.  Writer-director/provocateur Scud weaves a philosophy-infused story in which a young Hong Kong student struggling with his budding homosexuality is gradually seduced by his openly gay professor.  Some aspects of their relationship may seem dated and/or unethical by western standards, but we must be mindful that openly gay relationships remain frowned upon in China.

Paris 05:59 Theo & Hugo, now available from Wolfe Video, is an explicit yet very romantic love story told in real time between the two title characters. They make an instant connection in a Paris sex club but their fledgling relationship is quickly tested by the specter of HIV.  Co-directors Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau won multiple awards for their significant achievement.  The actors in both Utopians and Theo & Hugo also deserve kudos for their fearlessness.

Then there is Fifty Shades Darker (Universal).  This sequel to 2015's hit, hetero S&M fantasy Fifty Shades of Grey is even glossier and disappointingly more tame.  A change of directors is primarily to blame, with veteran James Foley (At Close Range, Fear) taking over from the more adventurous (and notably female) Sam Taylor-Johnson.  Not that the original was a very good movie but it proves to be better than the latest.  Controlling billionaire Christian Grey (returning Jamie Dornan, yum) returns after having been spurned by his latest disciple, Anastasia Steele (still Dakota Johnson, ugh), at the conclusion of episode 1.  He is humbled and contrite as the new film opens.  She agrees to take him back on her terms which quickly become more like his terms, Ben Wa balls and all.  In a nod to the 1980's kink semi-classic 9 1/2 Weeks, Foley casts Kim Basinger in a sadly minimal role as Christian's original master.  Before it all ends, there is a masquerade ball, a new boss for Anastasia who turns out to be a vengeful rapist, a helicopter crash (?) and a wedding engagement for Anastasia and Christian complete with fireworks.  There are sex scenes, especially in the unrated extended edition available, but they are fairly succint and Dornan, oddly, keeps his pants on for most of them.  Alas, there is one more sequel coming (no pun intended), next year's Fifty Shades Freed.  Then hopefully we will be freed from such exploitative, bondage-light silliness.

While not as sexually graphic as these predecessors, three other gay-interest home video releases this month aren't completely without worthwhile elements.  Taekwondo from TLA Releasing is the latest exercise in teasing homoeroticism by expert Marco Berger (Hawaii, Plan B), this time with co-director Martin Farina.  Unlike Berger's previous works, however, there is actual full-frontal nudity and a gay character in this one.  The plot is minimal — a bunch of gorgeous Argentinian friends gather for a boys-only vacation — but host Fernando clearly has the hots for gay newcomer German.  Berger draws out the tease a bit too long but the payoff is worth the wait.

A Little Lust, also available from TLA, is one of the few gay-themed films from Italy to date.  As such, its a bit dated and retro, especially since it was reportedly made in 2009 under the title Neither Juliet Nor Romeo.  Still, better late than never.

And the semi-autobiographical domestic drama Counting for Thunder (Wolfe Video) suffers from over-involvement by its writer/producer/director/leading man Phillip Irwin Cooper.  It is well-written but the film could have benefited from more objectivity.  It has a great supporting cast though including Mariette Hartley, John Heard (so sexy in 1982's Cat People) and Alison Elliott.

Reverend's Ratings:
American Gods (Episodes 1-4): B+
Utopians: B
Paris 05:59 Theo & Hugo: A-
Fifty Shades Darker: C-
Taekwondo: C+
A Little Lust: B-
Counting for Thunder: C

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend’s Reviews: Rage and Devastation

Its official: Ryan Murphy is the new Barbra Streisand. I don’t know if Murphy can sing although, given his success with Glee, I expect he can at least carry a tune. But the producer-director has finally succeeded, where previous rights owner Streisand failed, in bringing Larry Kramer’s celebrated 1985 play, The Normal Heart, to the screen. It premieres this Sunday, May 25th, on HBO.

Kramer, in addition to being a playwright and screenwriter (including the derided 1973 musical version of Lost Horizon), became one of the loudest and angriest voices in New York City during the initial years of the AIDS crisis. While watching his gay friends die at an exponential rate, Kramer formed the pioneering Gay Men’s Health Crisis organization in 1982. He and his associates raised money for medical care, pushed for greater research into the then-mysterious virus, and agitated against local and national government leaders to have them recognize HIV/AIDS for the epidemic that it was.

The Normal Heart largely recounts Kramer’s experiences from 1981 to 1984. Lead character Ned Weeks (a superb Mark Ruffalo) essentially serves as Kramer’s surrogate and viewers’ tour guide through the devastation. The movie opens during a typically hedonistic holiday on Fire Island, where by weekend’s end AIDS has begun to rear its ugly head. More deaths follow and Ned is led to Dr. Emma Brookner (Julia Roberts, still in de-glammed but effective August: Osage County mode). The compassionate, polio-afflicted Brookner is seemingly the only doctor at the time to even care that gay men are suddenly dropping like flies, and she reserves a private wing for the stricken at a nearby hospital. Finding nurses and others willing to enter the quarantined wing and care for them, however, proves a battle.

Convinced by the good doctor that gay men are spreading the virus through unprotected sex, Ned sets out to “scare the shit” out of his friends in an effort to stop them from having sex until the disease’s transmission can be better understood. His pleas fall on deaf ears at first but, over time, abstinence and the newly-coined “safe sex” prove themselves to be life-saving precautions. Ned also gains the opportunity to practice what he preaches when he unexpectedly falls in love with Felix, a closeted newspaper editor (played by openly gay Matt Bomer). Sadly, however, the precautions prove to be too late for Felix. The stakes become personal for Ned as he watches his lover waste away, which only makes Ned angrier and more aggressive with his frequently alienating tactics.

Murphy apparently enlisted nearly every out gay actor of the modern era for his lovingly-realized version of The Normal Heart, which was adapted by Kramer himself. In addition to Bomer, parts are assumed by Jim Parsons, BD Wong, Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare and, in a thoughtful nod, Angels in America veterans Stephen Spinella and Joe Mantello. The only out performers conspicuously absent to my eye are Neil Patrick Harris and Richard Chamberlain. Straight actors Taylor Kitsch, survivor of the big-screen debacles John Carter and Battleship, and Alfred Molina are strong in other roles.

Kramer’s screenplay powerfully retains Ned’s anger but the scenes where Ned exhibits it tend to get repetitive on film. The script also adds some superfluous characters and moments that make the film a tad overlong at 135 minutes. It boasts great performances though and lovely directorial touches that make this Normal Heart movie well worth the nearly 30-year wait, even as more than 36 million people worldwide (most of them heterosexual) have died of AIDS. Kramer & Co.’s anger remains thoroughly justified.

Godzilla is back in a big way, no pun intended, and seems at once more wrathful than ever yet more zen-like in his latest incarnation. The ancient, radioactivity-charged beast is awakened by a pair of prehistoric parasites dubbed MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) by intrigued scientists and incredulous military leaders. Themselves roused from their hibernation by Filipino miners, the initially separated MUTOs set a course for San Francisco in order to mate. A military squadron, powerless against them, is tracking the creatures but so is the big G. A climactic, city-squashing smackdown becomes inevitable.

Young British director Gareth Edwards proves to have been a good choice to helm this “rebirth,” as he prefers to call it, given the similarly thoughtful treatment Edwards gave to the massive alien invaders in his last (and first) feature, Monsters. But relatively new screenwriter Max Borenstein wasn’t as inspired a pick to write the new Godzilla, given its protracted and largely disconnected first act involving a nuclear plant meltdown survivor turned conspiracy theorist played by Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston. Cranston is great and becomes sorely missed once the bulk of the movie is handed over to hunky but dull Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays the long-alienated soldier son of Cranston’s character.

Of course, the real star here or in any Godzilla movie is its towering namesake. Once he appears in his entirety for the first time during an initial fight with one of the MUTOs at the Honolulu International Airport, the movie catches fire and hardly lets up. The special effects are stunning, especially in IMAX 3D, and the opening weekend audience I viewed the film with went wild and cheered when Godzilla first displays his famed radioactive breath as well as at the film’s conclusion. I also admired the film’s take on the title monster as “nature’s balance” who charges to the fore whenever that balance is disrupted. Despite his advanced age and what some Japanese fans are decrying as his “pudgy” appearance (although the new film hasn’t yet opened in Japan), Godzilla clearly has a lot of life left in him.

Reverend’s Ratings:
The Normal Heart (HBO): B+
Godzilla (2014): B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Tune in to TCM: What Ever Happend to Baby Peggy

Before even Shirley Temple, there was Baby Peggy, the movies' first child star. Born Diana Serra Cary in 1918, by age five she had starred in over 150 shorts (most of them now, sadly, lost), had legions of fans, and was earning over a million dollars a year (thus earning her the nickname "The Million Dollar Baby"). But fame, especially for young stars, is indeed fleeting, and by the 1930s she was flat broke and working as an extra.

In later years, Peggy became an author, silent film historian (along with Carla Laemmle, Mickey Rooney and Lupita Tovar, she is one of the few surviving stars from the silent era) and children's rights advocate, specifically for child actors. Working conditions for child actors at that time were shockingly atrocious; for example, Peggy worked eight hours a day, six days a week, and had to perform her own stunts, such as when she was held underwater until she fainted(!).

The life and career of Baby Peggy is examined in the new documentary Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room, which will premiere tonight on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Watch the trailer below:

Reverend’s Reviews: The President and The Spy

This presidential election season has already given Americans plenty to laugh — and cry — about.  Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group is weighing in with their local premiere production of David Mamet’s 2007 satire, November.  Now running at the Mark Taper Forum through November 4^th, it is a scattershot but frequently amusing work… so long as one can tolerate Mamet’s generous use of the F-word.

Ed Begley, Jr. headlines the LA production as President Charles “Chuck” Smith.  As Smith’s failed first term is drawing to a close, he’s less interested in being re-elected than in ensuring he has enough cash with which to build and furnish an impressive presidential library.  When Smith learns he only has $4,000 in his library fund, he begins to concoct far-fetched fundraising schemes with the help of his closest advisor, Archer Brown (played by Rod McLachlan).  Their most immediate target becomes the National Association of Turkey and Turkey By-Products Manufacturers, whose chief representative (the very funny Todd Weeks) happens to be waiting at the moment outside the Oval Office along with two turkeys waiting to be pardoned for Thanksgiving.

   

Smith also enlists the help of his longtime speechwriter, Clarice Bernstein (former Desperate Housewife and Transamerica Oscar nominee Felicity Huffman), to craft an alternate Thanksgiving Day mascot and menu item should the turkey rep fail to meet the President’s extortionist demands.  Bernstein is an out lesbian who has just returned with her partner from a trip to China, where the pair adopted a baby girl.  She also may have brought back an infection with highly-contagious bird flu.

While November is full of ripe ingredients for an effective satire, Mamet’s dish ultimately feels under-baked.  The cast works hard (especially Begley, who suffered a frog in his throat and some resultant poor delivery during his first scene on opening night but triumphed through the remainder of the performance) and Takeshi Kata’s Oval Office set is excellent, but too much of the play’s humor is dependent on unoriginal swipes at Jews, the Chinese and, yes, GLBT people.  Huffman is a hoot in the final scene, wherein she sashays about in a lavish wedding dress waiting for the President to marry her and her partner on national television (an arrangement she has herself extorted), and the play ends up taking a strong stance for same-sex marriage.  GLBT members of the audience, however, have to endure more than a few references to gay love as “disgusting” and “unnatural” along the way.

November is minor Mamet and hardly a play for the ages, unlike most of his other works.  If the satirically-minded among us aren’t getting enough kicks out of the current debates, though, this big-name LA production may be just the ticket to comedy heaven.

Speaking of presidential elections, the last time a James Bond adventure hit the big screen was just after Barack Obama's victory in 2008.  Now, 50 years after the debut of Dr. No -- the first feature movie adapted from one of Ian Fleming's classic novels -- and just prior to next month's premiere of the Sam Mendes-directed Skyfall, there is a terrific new documentary detailing the long-running film series' history.  Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 is now playing theatrically in the UK and on the EPIX satellite channel here in the US.

Writer-director Stevan Riley (Fire in Babylon, Rave Against the Machine) expertly distills five decades' worth of backstage and onscreen drama into 98 rapid-fire minutes.  He incorporates interviews with Fleming and those who knew him, including distant cousin and horror film star Christopher Lee, who played the villain Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun; footage from Fleming's home movies; snippets from the 22 Bond features; and, most effectively, excerpts from the various Bond movie scores as the documentary's soundtrack.

"Fleming put his own struggles on the page," says current Bond Daniel Craig, while another commentator refers to the British superspy's creator as "a man of infinite contradictions."  Whereas Bond actually made his first appearance off the page in an American (and Americanized) TV adaptation of Casino Royale, it was producers Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and former circus showman Harry Saltzman who transferred Bond to the silver screen in 1962, and in the iconic form of Sean Connery.

Everything or Nothing (which was Broccoli's and Saltzman's motto as producers, the initials of which — EON — composed the name of their production company) recounts the Connery years, as well as the one-time appearance of George Lazenby in the role.  Lazenby gives a great interview in the doc, during which he reveals that he had to convince Broccoli and Saltman he wasn't gay since his only prior experience on camera was as a male model.  Subsequent Bonds Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan also give illuminating interviews.  

Saltzman eventually had to sell his share in the franchise in order to pay off debts, which made Broccoli the sole proprietor behind the Bond films from 1976 until his death twenty years later.  His daughter, Barbara, and son-in-law Michael Wilson are the current custodians of the Bond name.  "Cubby," Wilson states, "never took the audience for granted."  This shows, I believe, in the series' remarkable consistency and endurance.

Moore's last appearance as Bond in 1985's A View to a Kill is strangely omitted, but Everything or Nothing is otherwise a thoroughly, captivatingly comprehensive tour of 50 years of cinema and cultural history.  It's also one of the best, most uniquely crafted documentaries I've seen this year.

Reverend’s Ratings:

November: B

Everything or Nothing: A-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Family Affair

While it is being advertised as a real-life version of The Kids Are All Right, last year's Oscar-nominated movie about a lesbian couple raising two teenagers conceived with the help of an initially anonymous sperm donor, it may disappoint some prospective viewers to learn that Donor Unknown only briefly acknowledges the two pairs of same-sex parents included. The documentary will premiere tonight on the PBS series Independent Lens (check local listings for time and channel).

Rather, the focus is on young JoEllen Marsh and her search for the man she knows only as "Donor 150" via the California Cryobank. Once she learns his true identity is Jeffrey Harrison (a former Playgirl model and dancer in a male revue who now lives in an RV with his dogs and a pet pigeon), his biography and JoEllen's effort to meet him fuel the film's narrative drive. Along the way, JoEllen and viewers meet 14 known people fathered by Harrison, who made contributions to the Cryobank as many as four times a week during the 1980's. Theoretically, thousands of young people living today may owe their conception to Harrison and he may still be fathering children through the donations he made 30 years ago. (An amusing mention is made that the California Cryobank is today the 6th largest user of Fed Ex in the Golden State.)

Donor Unknown offers insight into a fascinating, ongoing saga, even if Harrison strikes one as a less-than-desirable father in many respects. The documentary raises the enduringly pertinent question, "What is the importance/meaning of a father?" As some of JoEllen's half-siblings conclude once they connected with Harrison, he represented "the death of a dream" as a result of both their idealized notions and the sad state of his life.

Harrison, however, doesn't seem to regret his free-spirited past or present. He refers to himself as "a fringe monkey" who, like some wild primates, is alienated from the rest of the tribe but ultimately serves as its protector and warns the others when danger is approaching. While I don't see Harrison fulfilling that responsibility as well as he thinks he does, his analogy nonetheless provides an interesting consideration of the roles outsiders like him play in our society.

Directed with a truly objective eye by Jerry Rothwell, Donor Unknown is a glimpse into another dimension of the ever-evolving institution we call "family."

Reverend's Rating: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Preview: From Chastity to Chaz

Even though I was just a few years older than she was, I vividly remember little 2-year old Chastity Bono sending all us viewers a good night kiss at the end of her parents' hit 1970's TV show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Her mother, of course, went on to become an acclaimed solo singer and Academy Award-winning actress. Her father was a sometime actor (including a role in the original Hairspray) before serving as mayor of Palm Springs and, a few years later, dying tragically in a ski accident.

And little Chastity? Well, she is now a he in the wake of successful gender-reassignment surgery and hormone therapy that began in 2009. Having legally changed his name to Chaz Salvatore Bono (the middle name was his father's birth name), the now-son of Sonny and Cher is the subject of an eye-opening documentary, Becoming Chaz. It is scheduled to premiere on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network tomorrow night, but Reverend got an advance look at the film.

"I've hated my body since puberty," Chaz says on camera of his pre-op state. "In high school, I often went to bed praying I would wake up as a boy." He started considering transitioning from female to male in the late 1990's as he saw cultural acceptance growing, partly due to the acclaimed movie Boys Don't Cry. Chaz gratefully recalls Sonny encouraging him to dress and act like a boy following his parents' divorce when Chaz was four years old.

Years prior to the decision to transition, Chastity had come out publicly as a lesbian. Jennifer Elia, Chaz's longtime partner, plays an integral part in the documentary. A recovering alcoholic, Jennifer's sobriety is put to the test during the "exhausting process" of Chaz's surgery and recovery. Chaz's own, 10-year addiction to prescription painkillers proved its own challenge, resulting in a low tolerance to the drugs intended to give him comfort during and after his initial operation and following six years of abstinence.

"I believe this happened when it was meant to happen," Chaz says of his transition. The post-op Chaz appears much happier in the documentary than he does before surgery, whether he is playing video games with good friend RuPaul, buying a suit for the premiere of his mother's movie Burlesque, or serving as a role model/consultant to trans children and their parents. On bravely going public with his decision to transition, Chaz reveals, "I'm doing this to try to put a public face on a serious issue."

Becoming Chaz also helps to answer a long-standing question on the lips of many: what has been Cher's reaction to her only daughter's decision to become a male? (She has a biological son by fellow singer Greg Allman.) Cher was initially silent but allows this film's accomplished directors, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (who previously made 101 Rent Boys, Party Monster and the wonderful The Eyes of Tammy Faye) to interview her extensively.

"I wasn't happy," Cher says of her first reaction to Chaz's decision to go public. She later recounts hearing Chastity's (female) voice for the last time on her answering machine. "That's when it hit me." Whereas Jennifer does call Cher from the recovery room following Chaz's surgery to assure her everything had gone well, Cher apparently couldn't bring herself to be there personally.

One scene in the film shows Chaz watching his mother's appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in late 2010, and being moved by Cher's first public or private reference then to Chaz as a "he." Cher clearly continues wrestling with her child's decision but seems to be coming along. Be sure to watch through the end credits of Becoming Chaz to see Cher's and Chaz's face-to-face reunion at the Burlesque premiere.

Immediately following tomorrow's broadcast of Becoming Chaz on OWN, Rosie O'Donnell will interview Chaz and the filmmakers about their experience making it on The Doc Club with Rosie O'Donnell.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

MD Poll: All Hail the King

With just over a day until the "real thing", it's time to take a look at the final results of our latest MD Poll and see what movies and performers would win the top Academy Awards If You Picked the Oscars:

At close to 30% of the vote, The King's Speech was victorious as your Best Picture pick. However, second place went to Black Swan over the heavily favored The Social Network, which placed third. Inception and Toy Story 3 round out the top five.

Just as expected for tomorrow night, Colin Firth easily topped the Best Actor race, with Oscar co-host James Franco coming in a distant second for his performance in 127 Hours.

The Black Swan herself, Natalie Portman, triumphed as Best Actress, with her closest competition, The Kids Are All Right's Annette Bening placing second.

As for the supporting categories, one film delivered two knockout performances that you chose as the champions. With over half of the votes, The Fighter's Christian Bale was named your Best Supporting Actor. But it wasn't without a fight, as The King's Speech's Geoffrey Rush earned over half of the remaining votes.

The closest race, here and in reality, was for Best Supporting Actress. With just 0.5% of a difference, The Fighter's Melissa Leo squeaked past The King's Speech's Helena Bonham Carter for the win. Also making an impressive showing was True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld.

See the complete results in the comments section below, and be sure to tune in to the actual Oscars tomorrow night on ABC to see how well we matched the actual winners!

MD Poll: Hot for Teacher

The Gleeks have spoken: your ultimate Glee crush object is none other than Will Schuester, played by Matthew Morrison.  But it wasn't an easy win, as he is followed closely in the voting by bad boy Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling). Gay cutie Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) rounds out the top three.

See the comments section below for the complete statistics for this MD Poll, and don't forget to tune in to Fox on April 13 for the much-anticipated return of Glee!

Reel Thoughts: Oscar Love (and Hate)

When the curtain rises on the Oscars tonight, there won’t be much notice of Tom Ford’s gorgeous drama, A Single Man. The story of a gay man dealing with the death of his partner didn’t get much Oscar love. Except for Colin Firth’s Best Actor nomination, the movie was ignored.  Just as Brokeback Mountain lost Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Acting honors to lesser challengers in 2006, this year, the GLBT community is again reminded that being “too gay” is the kiss of death as far as Oscar is concerned.

Still, there is a lot to love about Oscars this year ... and a lot to hate:

Best Pictures:
Love It: Ten Best Pictures are nominated, including Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (directed by out director Lee Daniels), Inglourious Basterds, Up and District 9.
Hate It: Ten Best Pictures nominated include Avatar and The Blind Side, but not A Single Man or Julie & Julia.

Acting Nominations:
Love It: In a year that really wasn’t so great, great performances still happened, and Oscar noticed with nominations for Firth, Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), Mo’Nique (Precious), Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Helen Mirren (The Last Station) and newcomer Carey Mulligan (An Education).
Hate It: No nominations for Julianne Moore (A Single Man), Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man) or Irving Thalberg Memorial Award for Mariah Carey’s Precious mustache.

Oscar Music:
Love It: There’s a nice mix of Best Song nominees, thanks to Crazy Heart, The Princess and the Frog, Nine and some French movie no one has ever heard of.
Hate It: But we won't hear the songs. Producer Adam Shankman (Hairspray) has cut the live performances from the Oscars telecast. Come on! It’s not like Snow White was going to do a reprise with Rob Lowe.

Oscar Party Food:
Love It: There are great Oscar food inspirations this year! District 9 Prawns (or ... canned cat food?), Crazy (Artichoke) Hearts, a Coralime Jell-O Mold, Inglourious Strudel (don't forget the cream!), Hot Cocoa Before Chanel, Precious Pigs Feet (ew), etc. And if you're lazy, just get Taco Bell à la The Blind Side.
Hate It: Avatar’s inclusion means lots of blue food, except there are no really blue foods ... perhaps Blueberry Avatarts? Na'vi Blue Curacao Martinis will mean lots of hangovers the morning after.

First Nominations:
Love It: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) and Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) got their first nominations ... finally!
Hate It: Director Tom Ford and his brilliant art director Dan Bishop did not get nominated for A Single Man. If that movie wasn’t a brilliant bit of art direction, what was it?

Now, on to the part I love ... Picking the Oscars!:

Best Actor:
Who Should Win: Colin Firth gave a heart-breaking performance as George Falconer, an outwardly closeted man whose life partner is killed, and who wishes to join him in A Single Man. George Clooney is great in Up in the Air, and so is the man who will win, but it’s really hard to pull off the quiet intensity that Firth masters.
Who Will Win: Jeff Bridges, as a washed up but still pretty talented country singer in Crazy Heart. Bridges lives and breathes his role, and he’s considered “owed” the award.

Best Actress:
Who Should Win: Meryl, Meryl, Meryl! Saying it enough won’t make it happen. Her Julia Child in Julie & Julia was as light as a perfect soufflé, yet as earthy and grounded in real human emotions as a hearty stew. Streep makes it all look too easy, but she is never less than brilliant.
Who Will Win: Sandy, Sandy, Sandy! If any year belongs to Sandra Bullock, it’s this year. Hollywood loves a success story, and with her tart and funny performance in The Proposal and her immensely warm and lovable role in The Blind Side, she’s as unstoppable as Big Mike!

Best Supporting Actor:
Who Should and Will Win: This one’s easy. Remember a certain unknown actor who electrified people as a cold and murderous Nazi in Schindler’s List? Ralph Fiennes became a star and got his first Oscar nomination (and should have won over The Fugitive's Tommy Lee Jones). Christoph Waltz is a different man playing a different Nazi “Jew Hunter” in Inglourious Basterds, but he is no less thrilling to watch. He should win. He will win.

Best Supporting Actress:
Who Should and Will Win: If Waltz’s character was a hate-filled black woman living in the slums of New York, taking her wrath out on her obese daughter and grandchildren rather than helpless Jews, he still wouldn’t be all of the marvelous, horrifying, pitiful and raw things that Mo’Nique is in Precious. The actress is getting a lot of flack for not seeming grateful enough for Oscar’s love, but honey, that performance stands on its own (as Mo’Nique herself might say).

Best Picture:
What Should Win: Jason Reitman is an amazingly smart and talented director, able to create seemingly flippant films with surprising heart and soul. Up in the Air is his best work yet. In terms of achieving all that it attempted, it deserves the title of Best Picture.

What Will Win: The front-runners are The Hurt Locker and Avatar. I wouldn’t be hurt by a Locker upset, even though the film isn’t much more than one tense bomb-diffusing scene after another. But it does capture the hell of being in the Iraq War. Avatar however, is the big blue monster that can’t be stopped. It will win, and somewhere cinematic angels will weep.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be presented live on ABC tonight.  Movie Dearest will chime in after the show with a quick round up of the winners, and we'll offer our full "Oscar Post Mortem" tomorrow.

By Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Inglourious Basterds illustration by Morning Breath for Upper Playground. All other illustrations by Tavis Coburn for the BAFTA Awards.

MD Poll: Hurt's So Good

On this Oscar Eve, the results are in ... if you picked 'em, the Oscars would go to:

Best Picture was as close as it probably is in reality, with the three front-runners taking nearly 60% of the vote and only 3.6% separating them from victory. In the end, The Hurt Locker triumphed, with Avatar and Inglourious Basterds nipping at its heels.

Mamma Mia! co-stars (and Movie Dearest faves) Colin Firth (A Single Man) and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) are your lead acting victors, besting the favored Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) and Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side).

As for the supporting races, you went with the consensus: Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds and Mo’Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. The surprises here were second place finishes for Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones and Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air.

See the comments section below for the complete stats in all five polls.

Of course, we'll find out how well our picks match up with the real thing tomorrow night when ABC presents the 82nd Annual Academy Awards live from Los Angeles.

Illustration by Tavis Coburn for the BAFTA Awards.

Reverend’s Reviews: Gladiators in the Living Room

Kirk Douglas was sexy, to be sure, as the loincloth-clad star of Stanley Kubrick’s epic 1960 film Spartacus. Apart from that loincloth, though, Douglas doesn’t have anything on the sometimes-nude hunks that populate the new Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, which premieres on the cable channel tonight.

Seemingly inspired by the blockbuster 2007 film 300 as much as by historical accounts of a slave uprising against ancient Rome, the series is a stylish if graphically bloody soap opera. A lot of money appears to have gone into Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and its high-powered producers include filmmaker Sam Raimi (best known for his Evil Dead and Spider-Man movies), Rob Tapert (The Grudge) and Steven S. DeKnight (of the beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show).

Newcomer Andy Whitfield plays the title role, although his character doesn’t initially sport the moniker “Spartacus.” Rather, he starts out as an unnamed, happily married Thracian who becomes enslaved by a treacherous Roman soldier with a vendetta against him. Subsequently forced to fight four trained gladiators at once, the Thracian stuns his captors and the audience by slaying all of his opponents single-handedly. A star is born and is christened “Spartacus” (after a legendary fighter) by the crowd.

Spartacus is purchased by the scheming Batiatus (played by John Hannah, who was very funny as Rachel Weisz’s high-living brother in The Mummy movies) for formal training at the ludus (gladiator school) he owns. Batiatus sees his new recruit as having the potential to earn him and his wife (Lucy Lawless, Xena herself, who looks ravishing here) enough money and prestige to be accepted into the upper-echelons of Roman society.

I was able to view the first three episodes of Spartacus: Blood and Sand in advance. While the main plot and setting will seem familiar to anyone who has seen Gladiator or, again, 300, there is enough sex (both romantic and kinky, as well as some lesbian action) and full-frontal male and female nudity to keep more than a few GLBT viewers interested. Gay men, especially, will want to catch the second episode, “Sacramentum Gladiatorum,” which features naked gladiators shaving, strutting and preening in the ludus’s bath. Be sure to have your thumb at the ready over the remote’s “freeze frame” button!

The series is set in a digitally recreated ancient Rome wherein men stand stoic in virtual snow and sunsets, and slo-mo blood sprays out in all directions during the fight scenes. The violence is completely over-the-top, with severed heads and limbs similarly flying across the screen. There is also gratuitous, historically questionable use of derogatory terms for sexual acts and anatomy.

What gives Spartacus: Blood and Sand some sorely needed credibility are the fine performances of its lead cast members. Whitfield makes a fine hero: strong and seething angrily as appropriate while adding a nuanced softness and everyman quality to his role. Hannah and Lawless are excellent, as is Peter Mensah as Doctore, the gladiators’ domineering head trainer. Mensah deserves special credit, as he keeps his and his character’s dignity intact while delivering the scripts’ ripest dialogue.

But if chiseled, oiled men grappling with one another while wearing little more than codpieces get your blood pumping, you won’t want to miss Spartacus: Blood and Sand. For more information, visit the show's official website.

UPDATE: The first season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

MD Poll: Global Awareness 2009

The results are in:  your predictions for the Best Picture winners at this year's Golden Globes are Up in the Air for Drama and Nine for Musical or Comedy.  In fact, you were in complete agreement as exactly one third of the 84 votes in each poll were placed for both of these contenders.

Runners up, respectively, were Avatar and Julie & Julia. See the comments section below for the complete results of both polls, and tune in to NBC tomorrow night to see if the Hollywood Foreign Press agrees with us.

The Latest on TV: All I Want for Christmas

Two of our favorite things — Kristin Chenoweth and half-naked men — will be in one place tomorrow night: the new Lifetime Original Movie 12 Men of Christmas!

Described as "The Full Monty meets Calendar Girls", Chenoweth plays a publicist who loses both her high-powered Manhattan job and her lawyer-fiancé at her office Christmas party. So, naturally, she ends up taking a job in Montana where, to help the local search-and-rescue station raise desperately needed funds, she tries to convince the male rescue workers to pose for a beefcake calendar. Of course, along the way she discovers what really matters to her (and, no doubt, the "true meaning of Christmas") ... plus wins the heart of one of the pin-ups.

Cougar Town's Josh Hopkins, Paradise Falls' Stephen Huszar and DietTribe's Jessie Pavelka are amongst the dozen hunks appearing in the movie ... and the calendar. Speaking of which, you can get a sneak peek at all 12 Men of Christmas in their calendar poses right here, or watch the trailer here.

MD News Desk: Cover Stories

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

Out in Film:
- Ellen DeGeneres does O, the Oprah Magazine and Tom Ford does The Advocate.
- Candis Cayne chats about Nip/Tuck and her upcoming reality show.
- Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick to turn the hilarious Twitter sensation "Shit My Dad Says" into a sitcom.
- Lily Tomlin on turning 70.
- The Advocate's "People of the Year" include Alan Ball, Chaz Bono, Larry Kramer, Annie Leibovitz and Ryan Murphy (part two here).

Cinematic Crushes:
- Luc-ky us: Gilles Marini hanging around Brothers & Sisters a little longer than expected.
- Jake Gyllenhaal to star in sci-fi thriller Source Code.
- Video Preview: James Franco is the mysterious stranger with a "Mad World" crush on Steve Burton's Jason on General Hospital.
- Alexander Skarsgård chats about his role in the upcoming Straw Dogs remake.


From Screen to Stage:
- If you're in LA this weekend, be sure to catch the camp-tastic Whatever Happened to Busty Jane?, a new play written by and starring Jackie Beat.
- "Welcome Christmas": Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical now playing in Hollywood.
- Dame Edna Everage's It's All About Me lands on Broadway next spring.
- The Weisslers finally reach the bottom of the barrel: Ashlee Simpson-Wentz to play Roxie Hart in Chicago.
- Will The 39 Steps follow Avenue Q from Broadway to Off-Broadway?
- Silence! The Musical, the Silence of the Lambs parody, will premiere in London.
- Off-Broadway's Toxic Avenger to close in January.
- Listen to Glee's Chris Colfer and Lea Michele's solo versions of Wicked power ballad "Defying Gravity".


Videodrone:
- First Trailer: the new Clash of the Titans starring Sam Worthington.
- Legends of the Fail: Me Tarzan.
- Drunk Ewoks take over The Today Show.
- Saturday Night Live spoofs Twilight.

Coming to DVD:
- The Brüno DVD and Blu-ray(available next Tuesday) will include deleted scenes featuring La Toya Jackson and Pete Rose.

Women We Love:
- Cher set to return to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in 2010.
- Pam Grier will play the hard-ass Amanda Waller on Smallville.
- Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking gets two extra weeks on Broadway.
- The Kathy Griffin hosted Let's Dance — in which celebs recreate classic movie dance sequences — bumped to next year.
- Christine Baranski will return to The Big Bang Theory in her Emmy nominated role as Leonard's mom.

The Latest on TV:
- Cheyenne Jackson makes his first appearance on 30 Rock this Thursday.
- ABC has canceled Eastwick, which is good news for Ugly Betty.

Hands Off the Merchandise:
- Dr. Horrible gets a comic book.
- CBS turning The Amazing Race, Ghost Whisperer, Hollywood Squares and more of their shows into video games.
- New Moon band-aids are not the most ridiculous Twilight merchandise after all: Robert Pattinson panties.

GLBT Entertainment:
- Looks like the Weinsteins are working overtime to "de-gay" the marketing of A Single Man.
- One of the real-life inspirations for Heavenly Creatures gets the documentary spotlight with Anne Perry — Interiors.
- Interviews: Kevin Rankin on his gay EMT on Trauma and Paula Patton on her lesbian teacher in Precious.
- Winona Ryder to join Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in Darren Aronofsky’s lusty ballerina thriller Black Swan.

Awards Watch:
- Star Trek, True Blood and Twilight are among the big nominees in this year's People's Choice Awards ... and you too can vote for the winners!

MD News Desk: Kishy Face

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

Kish:
- This week saw the "Big Gay Wedding" storyline come to a head on One Life to Live, culminating in this climactic kiss between Scott Evans' Oliver Fish and Brett Claywell's Kyle Lewis. Watch it all here.
- You can catch up on all the soapy goodness of the complete Kish storyline at the Official Movie Dearest YouTube channel (courtesy of YouTuber final81).

Awards Watch:
- The Big News this week was that Oscar has not one host, but two: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.
- Academy Award nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Right Stuff, The Natural) to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.
- Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart is a late-breaking Best Actor contender.
- Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side could be a surprise in the Best Actress race, which is also seeing some last minute entrants.


The Latest on TV:
- Move over, Ellen: The Wanda Sykes Show premieres tonight on Fox. In preparation for her talk show debut, Wanda has been all over the place this past week, including chats with TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly.
- And speaking of Ellen: Miss DeGeneres and her Mrs., Portia de Rossi, will have a sit down with the Big O on Monday's edition of Oprah.

Coming Soon:
- Sex and the City Watch: Stars spotted filming in Morocco.
- More childhood memories to be plundered by Hollywood: feature film adaptations of the Risk board game, the Berenstain Bears books, the Marmaduke comic strip and Yogi Bear are all in the works.
- Is the world ready for Three Men and a Bride?
- Beyond the Apocalypse: Roland Emmerich's 2012 may get a TV spin-off.
- More than 50 years after To Hell and Back, movie star/war hero Audie Murphy to get another biopic.

Cinematic Crushes:
- First Look: James Franco on General Hospital. And after that, he'll head on over to 30 Rock.
- In more Soap Hunk News: Cameron Mathison's Dr. Dan brightens up Brighten Bay.
- Heroes' Adrian Pasdar to fly the coop. And apparently, this is how he found out about it.
- Casting About: Gerard Butler in Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut Coriolanus, George Clooney in Alexander Payne's family dramedy The Descendants, Bradley Cooper in the suspense thriller Dark Fields, Patrick Dempsey in an untitled bank-heist comedy, Johnny Depp joins Angelina Jolie in The Tourist and Dwayne Johnson in the action drama Faster.
- Wouldn't you like to be the cloth on that loin: Into the Wild's Dave Salmoni does Tarzan on Tyra.
- Cover Story: Robert Pattinson does Vanity Fair.

Videodrone:
- Trailer Park: Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Brothers, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes and Bruce LaBruce's L.A. Zombie (NSFW) starring François Sagat.
- A video salute to gay characters in prime time soaps.
- Several Lloyd Doblers take to the streets of NYC to promote the 20th anniversary DVDof Say Anything ...


From Screen to Stage:
- First Look: The Addams Family starring gay faves Nathan Lane (Gomez), Bebe Neuwirth (Morticia), Kevin Chamberlin (Uncle Fester) and Jackie Hoffman (Grandmama).
- Both The Shawkshank Redemption and Prick Up Your Ears to close early in the West End.
- Billy Elliot, Bye Bye Birdie, Hair and Shrek (plus Alan Cumming and Jane Krakowski) to perform at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
- Speaking of Billy Elliot: the hit musical gets another award and two new Billys.
- Photo Calls: The new cast of Irving Berlin's White Christmas, and The Lion King celebrates 5,000 performances.
- Buffy alum Anthony Head headlines the London revival of Six Degrees of Separation.
- Off the Shelf: Get all the backstage dish on your favorite musical parody revue in Forbidden Broadway: Behind the Mylar Curtain.
- Meet Broadway's Spider-Man.

Movie Music:
- Movie Music Videos: Adam Lambert's "Time for Miracles" from 2012 and Jake Monaco and Jen Hansen's "Gloria" from Make the Yuletide Gay (on DVDthis Tuesday).

Out in Film:
- Pedro Almodóvar and his muse Penélope Cruz on their latest collaboration, Broken Embraces.
- Finian's Rainbow star Terri White's inspiring story, from homelessness to Broadway to marriage.
- Neil Patrick Harris Watch: He'll lend his voice to the CBS Christmas special Yes, Virginia, and will be honored by the Trevor Project.
- Fiona Shaw to reprise her performance of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land in London.
- Logo's Legacy Campaign salutes Mad Men's Bryan Batt.
- Rosie O'Donnell can now add "radio host" to her long résumé with the debut of Rosie Radio on Sirius XM.
- Michael Feinstein to return to Broadway with his new show All About Me next spring.
- Jane Lynch really really wants to sing on Glee.

Women We Love:
- Casting About: Jennifer Beals in the Hallmark Channel's The Night Before the Night Before Christmas, Annette Bening in Andy Garcia's Hemingway & Fuentes, Sally Hawkins in the coming-of-age comedy Dirty Girl, Helen Mirren in the espionage thriller Red, Elizabeth Mitchell in the indie ensemble drama Answers to Nothing, Sigourney Weaver in the comedy Cedar Rapids and Zhang Ziyi in the English-language drama Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.
- Jamie-Lynn Sigler dishes on her Ugly Betty stint.
- President Obama has selected the 25 members of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Alfre Woodard and Vogue editor Anna Wintour, as well as talent agent Bryan Lourd and playwright George C. Wolfe.


GLBT Entertainment:
- A Single Man gets a poster, but is it "too straight"? Meanwhile, director Tom Ford is ready for his close up.
- The controversial play Jesus, Queen of Heaven — in which Christ is depicted as a transsexual woman — met with protests in Scotland; playwright and star Jo Clifford responds.
- More new queer theater: Made in Heaven (billed as "the best gay/straight Siamese twin comedy of 2009"), Loaded and My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding.
- Natalie Portman talks about her sex scenes with Mila Kunis in Black Swan.
- Author Annie Proulx to donate an early draft of her classic short story Brokeback Mountain to the New York Public Library.
- Foodie Frank Bruni's memoir Born Round heading to television.
- Grey's Anatomy's Jessica Capshaw on the future of Arizona Robbins and her relationship with Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez).
- More lesbian storylines coming to TV on Legend of the Seeker and Law & Order.
- Gwyneth Paltrow joins Nicole Kidman in The Danish Girl, an adaptation of the David Ebershoff novel that tells the story of the first post-operative transsexual.


Potent Quotables:
- "This is the first time I’ve done an interview with an ice pack down my pants." — Invictus star Matt Damon, suffering from a pulled groin muscle while filming the romantic thriller The Adjustment Bureau, to The New York Times.