Reverend’s Reviews: Ghosts & Demons

The Shining, Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film adapted from Stephen King’s bestseller, received mixed reviews upon its release but is today regarded as a classic.  The elegant, mannered chiller starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall has inspired all sorts of interpretations as to its message and meaning.  Such speculation has apparently only increased since the director’s death in 1999.

The new documentary Room 237, named after the film’s most haunted hotel room, explores several viewers’ theories.  Some see The Shining as a damning critique of western US expansion and the subsequent extermination of Native Americans, while some regard it as a Holocaust allegory.  Others discuss it as either a re-telling of the Minotaur myth, a Freudian analysis of fairy tales or a possible “confession” of Kubrick’s alleged involvement in a faked moon landing.  The film could also serve as an exploration of sublimated sexuality including homosexuality, especially given its hostile treatment of Duvall’s character and the fact that Nicholson is revealed to be discreetly reading a Playgirl magazine at one point!

Some of these interpretations seem more of a stretch than others but all are entertainingly presented by director Rodney Ascher.  If nothing else, Room 237 serves as a testament to Kubrick’s cinematic mastery, whatever his intent may have been.

You think you and your girlfriend have issues?  Well, at least you aren’t a nun and she isn’t potentially possessed by an evil spirit.  Such is the plight faced by Voichita and Alina, the two young women at the center of the fine, intense new drama Beyond the Hills.  Directed by the award-winning Christian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), the movie was Romania’s official submission for this year’s Oscars.

Having grown up together in an orphanage and apparently fallen in love, the pair becomes separated once they turn 18 and Voichita (Cosmina Stratan, making a strong film debut) subsequently enters an Orthodox convent.  They are reunited when Alina (well-played by spirited newcomer Cristina Flutur) arrives for a visit.

Determined to get Voichita out and move together to more progressive Germany, Alina runs afoul of the other nuns and their resident priest.  As Alina becomes more desperate, she finds herself accused of demonic possession and forced to undergo an exorcism.  These scenes, while absent of head spinning and pea-soup vomit, are nonetheless upsetting.

Mungiu balances his film’s more disturbing content with peaceful shots of the idyllic, surrounding countryside and of intimacy between the two women while slowly building to an inevitable confrontation.

Reverend’s Ratings:
Room  237: B+
Beyond the Hills: B+

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

Monthly Wallpaper - April 2013: Bette Davis

This April 5th marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of quite possibly the best actress to ever grace the silver screen, Miss Bette Davis. Yes, she was more than just eyes.

Winner of two Oscars and nominated for eight more, Bette starred in such cinematic classics (and certified gay faves) as All About Eve, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and uttered such iconic lines as "What a dump", "I'd love to kiss you, but I just washed my hair" and "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night". To paraphrase Margo Channing, "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a Bette month!"

Just click on the picture above to enlarge it to its 1024 x 768 size, then right click your mouse and select "Set as Background", and you're all set.

Reverend’s Reviews: Sex, Dance & Rock n Roll

Diversity is an understatement when it comes to these new DVD releases!

Sexual Tension: Volatile (TLA Releasing)
Talented Argentinian director Marco Berger (Plan B, Absent) and porn writer Marcelo Monaco deliver this compilation of six stories involving straight or questioning men who find themselves in steamy situations with another man.  The scenarios include a teen fantasizing about the tattoo artist working on him, a buddy teaching his overly-endowed friend how to make love to a woman without scaring her away, and a married man on vacation with his wife who develops a naked kinship with their innkeeper.  Most of the stories end with a frustrating lack of resolution, but this is intentional on the filmmakers’ part.  However, the final short, “Workout,” is a satisfying mix of hot guys, muscle worship and flirtation set to a cheery music score.
Reverend’s Rating: B

The Wishmakers (Ariztical Entertainment)
A newly out, Jewish dancer from Ohio moves to West Hollywood in hopes of starting his new gay life.  After making a wish for true love with his two best friends, he meets a cute fellow dancer with a secret or two.  David Grotell’s enjoyable film has a slight, sometimes strained plot but benefits from its four lead actors as well as supporting turns by Oscar nominee Sally Kirkland and “Chloe” YouTube sensation Drew Droege.  Don’t miss the romantic, digitally-enhanced dance finale.
Reverend’s Rating: B-

Satan's Angel: Queen of the Fire Tassels (Breaking Glass/QC)
Angel Walker, aka Satan’s Angel, has ruled the burlesque scene in San Francisco for decades.  A long-out lesbian, she also partied with The Doors and the Rat Pack in the 1960’s and toured with Bob Hope in the USO.  Josh Dragotta’s documentary gets the performer to dish about her experiences while showcasing her commitment to the art of burlesque.  Walker’s brassy personality takes a bit of getting used to and I wish the film featured more serious discussion of Walker’s relationship with her devoted wife, Vic.  Still, it provides an insightful glimpse into a little-known life and industry.
Reverend’s Rating: C+

Strange Frame (Wolfe Video)
An undeniably stylish and ambitious animated sci-fi film.  Set in the 28th century, it plays something like a lesbian version of Blade Runner or Total Recall as a rock musician/freedom fighter falls in love with a biologically-enhanced “debt slave” forced to work on a dangerous, other world.  The character animation is colorful but stiff and video game-like, which can be irritating, while the environments and backgrounds are often stunning.  It features a commendably diverse voice cast that includes Juliet Landau (Martin’s daughter), Claudia Christian, gay actor George Takei of Star Trek fame, Barney Miller’s Ron Glass and that “Sweet Transvestite” himself, Tim Curry.
Reverend’s Rating: B

Les Misérables (Universal Home Entertainment)
There are riches and deficits to be found in Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper’s big-screen transfer of the beloved stage musical.  Among its big-name cast members, Hugh Jackman shines as reformed convict Jean Valjean, Anne Hathaway over-emotes but still makes a moving Fantine, and young newcomer Samantha Barks shines as the tragic Eponine.  (But then isn’t every character here pretty tragic?)  Russell Crowe looks great as the law-revering policeman Javert but lacks vocal strength and Amanda Seyfried is one-note dramatically and musically as Cosette, while Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen are simultaneously under-utilized and excessive as the comically villainous Thenardiers.  Hooper also relies too heavily on lavish digital scenery.  Fortunately, the film’s weaknesses fail to diminish the power of Victor Hugo’s 150-year old saga of morality, grace, sacrifice and redemption, and the score’s best songs — generally well-performed in much-ballyhooed live recordings — highlight this all the more.
Reverend’s Rating: B

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

Reverend's Reviews: Dueling Divas

At first glance, last year's Tony-nominated End of the Rainbow and 1995's Tony-winning Master Class share a number of similarities.  Each has a real-life, late-career superstar as its subject, and each features a piano accompanist character who serves as supporter/confidante.  Both plays have one room as the primary setting, although they periodically break their respective set's back wall to transform it into a performance space.  And both works are by renown writers with serious diva fixations: Judy Garland in the first instance and opera's "La Divina" Maria Callas in the second.

Peter Quilter's End of the Rainbow, now having its West Coast premiere by Center Theatre Group (CTG) at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles through April 21st, takes place in 1968 London.  Garland (played by Tony nominee Tracie Bennett, more on her later) has arrived with her new manager and fiancé, Mickey Deans (the very good and grounded Erik Heger), to perform a five-week series of shows at the Talk of the Town nightclub.  Waiting for them in Judy's lavish but not-big-enough hotel room is her longtime accompanist, Anthony (Michael Cumpsty), who is apparently an amalgamation of the numerous, frequently gay accompanists with whom Garland worked.

Mickey has cut Judy off of alcohol and drugs in advance of her financially-necessary London run.  Anyone with a cursory knowledge of Garland's troubled life and premature death in 1969 will realize its only a matter of time before she jumps off the wagon.  Indeed, by the end of Rainbow's first act, the girl is high as a kite and literally barking like a dog.

It may all be historically accurate but Quilter's play, directed here by Terry Johnson, often takes a demeaning, borderline-sensationalistic approach to Garland and her tragic addictions.  Quilter also implies, strangely, that Garland's legion of gay fans were to blame for her downfall, with Mickey telling Anthony at one point, "You people love to see her fall down and get back up again."  The playwright and director wisely avoid camp but watching Garland's decline in End of the Rainbow is at times literally, sickeningly akin to watching a train wreck.

Bennett's galvanizing performance goes a long way toward redeeming this boozy spectacle.  While arguably a bit too gimmicky and histrionic at times (even though it is a matter of public record that Garland could be histrionic), Bennett is a force of nature who makes a more than credible Judy.  This is especially evident during the show's several musical numbers, where Bennett sings such Garland classics as "Just in Time," "The Trolley Song," "Come Rain or Come Shine" and, yes, "Over the Rainbow," backed by a terrific band that magically appears whenever that back wall flies up.  Bennett's vocal strength and approximation of Garland's increasingly insecure and erratic behavior at several points convinced me I was actually watching Garland, and makes the play's denouement genuinely heartbreaking.

In terms of writing finesse, gay playwright Terrence McNally's Master Class is definitely the superior work.  It is now enjoying a worthy if imperfect revival at Long Beach's International City Theatre (ICT) that runs through April 14th.  McNally presents Callas leading a tutorial in opera performance to a trio of eager, if dangerously naïve, students.  Most winningly, the audience also comprises the student body, with the blunt Callas speaking directly to and otherwise engaging viewers throughout.

As Callas, Gigi Bermingham (a veteran of TV's Hart of Dixie and other shows, films and plays) seemed a bit restrained on opening night; Callas should be an unquestionably commanding (or, as she states in the play, "conquering") presence.  Some of Bermingham's transitions between recollections from Callas's past and the present moment were also rushed.  Whether the result of opening night jitters or faulty direction on the part of Todd Nielsen, I encourage Bermingham to make Callas bigger vocally and in terms of physical presence and to take her time during the transitions.

The supporting cast is excellent.  As Callas's "victims," Danielle Skalsky, Jennifer Shelton and the über-talented Tyler Milliron (he also dances, paints, writes music and makes short films) are full-voiced and full-blooded.  In addition, James Lent serves well as the session's adoring yet gently reassuring accompanist.

Whereas I recommend End of the Rainbow for Bennett's reincarnation of Judy Garland more than for the material, I recommend ICT's Master Class primarily for McNally's exceptional, quotable writing despite its fine performances.  Long after Bennett has moved on to other roles, McNally's will be the play that lives on.

Reverend's Ratings:
End of the Rainbow (CTG): B-
Master Class (ICT): B+

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