Chad Allen once again brings us detective Donald Strachey in On the Other Hand, Death. This entry into the series finds Don coming to the defense of two elderly lesbians (Margot Kidder and Gabrielle Rose) who are being subjected to vandalism and pressure to sell their house. But it turns out that more is going on than gay bashing as Don uncovers more secrets and pulls together the disconnected pieces of the puzzle while fighting off the advances of his lover’s ex (Damon Runyan).
An excellent biography of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) following the openly gay politician from his arrival in San Francisco to his assassination by Dan White (Josh Brolin). Harvey’s arrival in San Francisco with his then lover Scott (James Franco) and his struggle to reach elected office show a bleaker time in the gay rights movement provide a reminder of how things were only a couple of decades ago when the thought of even one state with gay marriage didn’t seem possible. Milk’s struggle for gay civil rights went a long way to propelling us to where we are today, despite his short time in office before he and then Mayor George Moscone were shot by Dan White (who pioneered the “Twinkie Defense” in his trial). Milk.
Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story is a 1997 look at the life of gold metal winning Olympic diver Greg Louganis. With a look at his early life as an adopted child looking for the approval of his father to his drive to perfect his driving and the problems of his love life and infection with HIV. Patrick David portrays Louganis as a younger man and Mario Lopez takes over as the timeline progresses.
Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild reunites the characters from Another Gay Movie, this time for spring break in Florida, where they battle it out with their inexplicable rivals, but without 3 of the 4 original cast. Only Jonah Blechman revises his role of Nico with Jarod (Jimmy Clabots), Griff (Aaron Michael Davies) and Andy (Jake Mosser) being portrayed by new actors. The implication is that the missing actors’ agents felt two gay movies in a row would lead people to make assumptions, but maybe their agents just read the script first. Euriamis Losada is Louis, Andy’s virginal love interest.
There are a couple of funny scenes, but as sometimes happens with sequels, this was a fairly forgettable outing. Some eye candy, but otherwise . . . .
A group of five gay friends (Brad Anderson, Desmond Dutcher, Mark Ford, Alexis Suarez,Bryan West) find their lives turned upside down as a Whirlwind enters their group in the form of an attractive but vindictive young man (David Rudd) enters their world determined to prove that relationships don’t last.
In Save Me, Mark (Chad Allen) is a young gay man heavy into drugs. His brother dumps him in a Christian conversion program run by Gayle (Judith Light) which tries to ex-gayify him. Gayle sees her dead son in Mark and takes a special interest in him. But when Mark meets Scott (Robert Gant) another participant in the program and finally comes to terms with himself.
Upcoming documentary The Sons of Tennessee Williams shows us some of the history of gay culture in New Orleans. Looks like it’s an interesting look at a point in gay history – due for release later this year.
