MD News Desk: Bears, Oh My!

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

Coming Soon:
- When Bears Attack: Advocate.com visits the set of BearCity, starring Gerald McCullouch and Sebastian LaCause.
- DC Comics trots out their version of Wolverine, Lobo, for the big screen, with Guy Ritchie at the helm.
- Naked Lunch author William S. Burroughs is the subject of a new documentary titled A Man Within.
- Disney's Tron Legacy set for release Christmas 2010.
- Twilight Watch: Extended New Moon trailer to premiere during MTV's Video Music Awards.

And the List Goes On:
- The Huffington Post takes a look at "Gender Benders" on film.
- Meanwhile, Empire Magazine presents the "50 Greatest Movie Sequels". And no, their #1 is neither The Godfather Part II nor The Empire Strikes Back.

Out in Film:
- Newsweek has an arresting interview with Jane Lynch, scene-stealer.
- Alan Cumming will bring his one-man show, I Bought a Blue Car Today, to Manhattan in October.
- Kelly McGillis has joined the cast of Stake Land, yet another vampire movie.
- Mike White's Enlightened series, starring Laura Dern, gets an HBO pilot.
- Megan Mullally will play a stage mother (no doubt "from hell") when she joins the cast of the Starz series Party Down.
- Congrats! Eating Out star Jim Verraros to wed his boyfriend this weekend.
- Joey Arias and Basil Twist will bring their GLAAD Media Award-winning evening of music and magic Arias with a Twist to Los Angeles in November.
- Say it ain't so!: John Waters talks about retiring from movie making.

Coming to TV:
- Want to know when your favorite show returns this fall? Then be sure to check out Entertainment Weekly's handy dandy "Fall TV Cheat Sheet".
- Who gets fired from Seattle Grace? Grey's Anatomy spoilers for the new season.

From Screen to Stage:
- GoGo Belinda Carlisle is the new Velma Von Tussle in the West End's Hairspray.
- Following Grey Gardens, Doug Wright to adapt another documentary to the musical stage: Hands on a Hard Body.
- Last Chance: 9 to 5 closes on Broadway this Sunday.
- Buddy's back: Elf—The Musical is coming.
- Tyler Perry to direct a screen version of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Will Madea have a cameo?
- What does Antonio Banderas say about not being cast in the Nine movie?

Ride the Movies:
- The bloodthirsty stars of Halloween, Saw, My Bloody Valentine and Child's Play will be on hand for the mayhem that is Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights.

Videodrone:
- The hilarious Bryan Safi explains the supernatural phenomenon known as "Gayngels" in this week's That's Gay.
- Zachary Quinto talks to his penis (NSFW).

Cinematic Crushes:
- A new photo book will let you spend A Day in the Life of Daniel Radcliffe.
- True Blood's Mehcad Brooks cast in ABC's The Deep End. Does this spell doom for Eggs?
- Colin Farrell to star in his In Bruges co-star Brendan Gleeson's directorial debut At Swim-Two-Birds.

Best of the Fests:
- The Venice Film Festival kicked off earlier this week and runs through September 12. Among the American films participating in the competition is Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story and Tom Ford's A Single Man.
- Meanwhile, the Telluride Film Festival begins today and continues through Monday. Premieres include Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime and John Hillcoat's The Road.


Women We Love:
- Kathy Griffin plugs her new memoir Official Book Club Selection, available next Tuesday (click hereto pre-order from Amazon.com).
- Madonna to direct a musical bio of royal scandal figure Wallis Simpson starring Cate Blanchett.
- Want to dress up as Julie Andrews for a Castro Theatre sing-along? No, not Maria ... get out your umbrellas, it's Mary Poppins.

The Actor Factor: Desperate Hours

It’s five years later, and everything on Wisteria Lane has changed. Well, maybe not everything, but there is definitely some thing fresh and reinvigorated about Desperate Housewives ... and no, I’m not talking about rumored Botox injections in any of the lead actresses’ foreheads. The DH season four finale saw the action jarringly and unexpectedly jump five years into the future, and that is where the fifth season (available on DVDthis week) picks up.

Bree is now a catering dynamo with a book deal. Katherine is her unsung partner. Lynette and Tom are working overtime to keep Scavo’s Pizzeria running and their kids in line. Edie has returned to town after a five-year absence with her creepy new husband. Gabby, overweight and out of shape, and Carlos, still blind, are struggling to make ends meet while raising two daughters. And the couple of couples, Mike and Susan, are no longer a couple.


As always, the cast is fantastic. Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman never fail to deliver. Nicollette Sheridan plays the deadpan-sexpot-pragmatist, Edie, to perfection. Dana Delany is classy and understated, but a little underused for an actress of her talents. This, however, allows well-deserved camera time for the Emmy-winning Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey, who turns sleuth and tackles this season’s mystery arc. Eva Longoria Parker is particularly strong this season as a frumpy, down-and-out Gaby, who spends nearly the entire season clawing her way back to the top.

Season five, however, truly belongs to Teri Hatcher. Her storylines this year have been their strongest ever, and Hatcher rises to every moment. Episode after episode, she runs the gamut from light comedy to heart-felt pathos and ridiculous, screwball situations to heavy drama — often played all in one scene. The girl can turn on a dime and make you believe every minute of it.

The ‘Desperate Husbands’ also have particularly good plotlines and scripts this season, especially Doug Savant as Tom Scavo. His midlife crisis meltdowns are hysterical and downright ludicrous at times. However, he never fails to grow up and rise to the occasion when Lynette and the kids truly need him to be strong. Neal McDonough, as Edie’s new husband, Dave Williams, performs effectively with Machiavellian menace, and he remains creepily sexy despite his strange, albino crew-fro.

The children of our desperate housewives and husbands (The ‘Desperate Offspring,’ as I like to call them) have always played a strong part in the show, and this season is no exception. However, many characters have been recast in the five-year jump. Madison de la Garza, as Gaby’s eldest daughter, Juanita, is the standout. There is wonderful chemistry between her and Longoria, as the controversial “New Game” scene in the opening episode will attest. Juanita often functions as Gabrielle’s main foil and sometimes confidant, and it is an interesting dynamic to watch.

The only continually returning ‘D-Offspring’ actor is Shawn Pyfrom as Bree’s son, Andrew. He is still gay and now engaged to a hot young doctor. Said doctor has an interesting past, about which gay neighbors Bob (Tuc Watkins) and Lee (Kevin Rahm) know a little too much. To see four recurring gay male characters, each with different and distinct personalities, is a delight rarely seen in any media. Add to this Edie’s gay ex-husband, Lily Tomlin as McCluskey’s sister (and detective sidekick) and Queer as Folk’s Gale Harold as Susan’s new love interest, and I say we have DH’s gayest season ever!

It is also the show’s best season since season one. There are several standout episodes. “Mirror, Mirror” has some of the finest editing and direction seen on broadcast television. The 100th episode, “The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened,” guest stars Beau Bridges, who was justly Emmy nominated for his turn as Eli Scruggs, a handyman who touches the lives, both past and present, of all the women of Wisteria Lane, including that of pre-suicidal Mary Alice Young. “Look Into Their Eyes and See What They Know,” the episode in which the housewives say goodbye to a long-time friend, however, is particularly moving, but I cried at the wedding episode of The Nanny, so I am a bit of a pushover.

The season finale does what DH does best: brings everything to an exiting conclusion without demonizing the villains or sanctifying the heroes. The cliffhangers are less sensational than usual but are still clever, and they will keep you desperate to know what happens next.

The “extras” on the DVD release (I received “The Red Hot Edition”) are a mixed batch. The blooper reel, consisting of little more than some flubbed lines, is somewhat disappointing. The deleted scenes don’t add much, though Lynette’s drunken chemo session is priceless. However, the 100th episode retrospective is a nice touch, as is the mini-tribute to Teri Hatcher.

The best “extra” is the behind-the-scenes look at the table read of the weekly script, showing just how much work goes into crafting such quality television week after week and year after year. There is also excellent and informative commentary by series creator Marc Cherry and weekly narrator Brenda Strong on the 100th episode.


“Extras” are always nice, but it is the episodes themselves that truly matter, and this fifth season is the cream of the crop. If you have never seen DH, season five is a great place to start. If you left DH after the first season (and shame on you), this is a great season to come back. If you are like me, and have been desperate for the last five years, it is well worth watching this season all over again. So — get the DVD setand pour a glass of chardonnay, or perhaps a ‘Desperate Daiquiri,’ and sit back and enjoy the show. Every night is Sunday night, and the gals of Wisteria Lane and all their desperate escapades are just a remote click away.

The Actor Factor: A View from Both Sides of the Camera is by James Jaeger, Los Angeles based actor and resident television critic of Movie Dearest.

MD News Desk: Marvel! Glee! Mamma Mia!

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

Glee:
- Gleeks unite! While we wait for the much-anticipated second episode of the fab new musical comedy series Glee next Wednesday, Fox will air special repeats of the pilot twice this week. First, tonight's broadcast will be a "director's cut" including deleted scenes, while Friday's showing will offer scrolling Twitter commentary from the cast at the bottom of the screen.
- In the meantime, here's a preview of an upcoming episode, featuring a rapping Matthew Morrison.
- And the first of at least two Glee soundtrack albums will be released November 3. Click hereto pre-order from Amazon.com.

Coming to TV:
- The L Word to return to Showtime ... as a reality series?
- MTV planning a Teen Wolf series.

Coming Soon:
- The big news this week: Disney buys Marvel. Variety has a good overview on how this will (and will not) effect Marvel's film and theme park properties for the foreseeable future ...
- Such as Fox's planned reboot of the Fantastic Four (let's hope they keep Chris Evans and boot Jessica Alba) and Paramount's scheduled The Avengers, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 2 and 3.
- Meanwhile, in more superhero movie news: DC Comics' Deadman to rise from the grave onscreen, while The Green Hornet gets pushed back to Christmas 2010.
- Remake This: Rebecca De Mornay cast in Mother's Day update, while Paul W.S. Anderson will helm a 3-D Three Musketeers.
- Sequel Watch: Halloween 3-D and Rambo 5 (not in 3-D ... at least yet).

From Screen to Stage:
- And speaking of Marvel, it may not be the end for the troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark after all.
- The Los Angeles run of Mary Poppins extends a month.
- The national tour of The Color Purple, starring Fantasia Barrino, launches in Chicago.
- Master parodist Gerard Alessandrini discusses the past and possible future of Forbidden Broadway.
- The Dreamgirls tour wants you to "Listen" to Deena ... and Effie.
- Naked Boys Singing goes to West Hollywood.
- Sold out: Streep Tease: An Evening of Meryl Streep Monologues Performed by an All-Male Company.

Out in Film:
- AfterElton.com offers an extensive and informative interview with Nicholas Rodriguez, a.k.a. One Life to Live's newest gay character Nick.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Tom Lenk joins Rock of Ages.
- Neil Patrick Harris talks Emmys and American Idol.
- Tony Kushner's epic Angels in America saga to be revived Off-Broadway next season.
- Moisés Kaufman's new epilogue to The Laramie Project, about the murder of Matthew Shepard, will be presented in a "historic and unprecedented" premiere concurrently at theatres around the world.
- As Avenue Q winds down to its Broadway closing September 13, Playbill.com interviews its Tony Award winning librettist Jeff Whitty (who is not only working on the Tales of the City musical, but one based on ... Bring It On!), while their Seth Rudetsky chats with the ladies of the final cast.
- The Advocate chats with Giuliana & Bill's "gay husband" Matt Jacobi.

Women We Love:
- Star Trek: Voyager's Kate Mulgrew has joined the cast of this fall's new NBC hospital drama series Mercy.
- DRG Records will release the six-disc "The Essential Barbara Cook Collection" October 14. Click hereto pre-order from Amazon.com.
- Estelle Parsons leads the touring cast of August: Osage County.
- Angela Lansbury to host a memorial for her Mame co-star Beatrice Arthur in NYC.

Ride the Movies:
- Behold: Fantasmic's new Maleficent Dragon at Disneyland.


Awards Watch:
- The Academy has announced that it will be using the preferential voting system to determine which of the 10 contenders for its Best Picture award will receive the 2009 Oscar.
- The Bold and the Beautiful (and their grizzly bear) was the big winner at this year's Daytime Emmy Awards.
- Robin Williams and all four Golden Girls are among those to be named Disney Legends at the D23 Expo next week.

Videodrone:
- Watch This: Serial Mamma Mia!

Reverend's Reviews: Getting Groovy with Ang

For a native son of one of the planet's more GLBT-oppressive countries (Taiwan), director Ang Lee sure doesn't have much fear around the subject of homosexuality. Although he does seem to get squeamish when it gets to their more passionate scenes (Lee is straight and married), he nonetheless deserves our appreciation for helping to mainstream same-sex relationships internationally with his well-received films The Wedding Banquet and Brokeback Mountain.

While Taking Woodstock, Lee's new film, isn't as well-made or significant as those earlier works, it unapologetically shows how the huge, transformative concert event of 1969 likely wouldn't have occurred without the participation of several gay or questioning men.

Chief among these was Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin), a budding young entrepreneur dedicated to keeping his immigrant-Jewish parents (great performances by Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman) and their run-down Catskills resort financially afloat. Opportunity knocks when a neighboring town cancels what would become Woodstock due to citizens' fears of hippies "stealing everything and raping the cattle."


Teichberg and neighboring dairy farmer Max Yasgur (an excellent turn by Eugene Levy) invite Woodstock's organizers — led by Spring Awakening's Jonathan Groff as the enigmatic and sexy Michael Lang — to consider holding the event on Yasgur's sizeable property. The rest is history.

During the course of the movie, the closeted Teichberg receives encouragement to embrace his sexuality from a transsexual former Marine (Liev Schreiber) who offers to serve as Elliot's family's personal security detail, a hunky carpenter (Darren Pettie) he takes a fancy to, and a free-loving bisexual couple (Paul Dano and Kelli Garner) he hooks up with at the concert.

The first half of Taking Woodstock is wonderful. Lee, screenwriter James Schamus — adapting Tiber's autobiography — and the exceptional cast (which also features Emile Hirsch, Watchmen's Jeffrey Dean Morgan and "John- Boy" himself, Richard Thomas) find no shortage of ironic and often downright funny moments in this true story.


Unfortunately, the tone becomes more serious and the pacing meanders in the film's second half. Though the film's running time is just over two hours, it ends up feeling closer to three. There are too many sequences of Elliot slogging his way through the crowds and post-storm mud for no real purpose. When he meets Dano and Garner's seductive, acid-dropping characters, the encounter goes on too long despite some cool hallucinogenic special effects.

The actual Woodstock event likely went on for too long in many of the locals' and perhaps even some of the participants' estimation. Forty years later, though, it continues to cast a mystical spell over those who were there as well as many people who weren't even born yet. While Taking Woodstock doesn't have the power to convert non-believers, it is despite its flaws a generally worthy anecdote. This is especially the case for GLBT moviegoers.

UPDATE: Taking Woodstock is now available on DVD and Blu-rayfrom Amazon.com.

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