In Wilde, Stephen Fry is Oscar Wilde the Irish playwrite and poet who’s affair with “Bosie” aka Lord Alfred Douglas (Jude Law) leads to his down fall upon his confrontation with Bosie’s father the Marquess of Queensberry. Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Sheen are among Oscar’s conquests who are thrown over for the enchanting and troubled Bosie.
Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi) is an Israeli intelligence agent who returns after a successful run assassinating terrorists to find that his wife has committed suicide. After his refusal to go to therapy, his boss puts him on the trail of an aging Nazi by detailing him to play tour guide and spy on Axel (Knut Berger), the Nazi’s grandson, who’s on a trip to Israel to visit his sister who’s living in a kibbutz. Already annoyed at his assignment, Eyal is further confounded by Axel’s openess to consorting with Palestinians, cute male ones at any rate. Eventually, the two develop a friendship as Eyal deals with his frustrations with his life. And, oh yeah, they have a nekkid shower on the beach. Walk on Water.
Michael Ontkean is Dr. Zach Elliott and Harry Hamlin is Bart McGuire in Making Love. In this 1980’s picture, Zach has been mostly happily married to Claire (Kate Jackson) for 8 years. He’s started to question his sexuality, but can’t quite work up the nerve to experiment. Bart, a bit of a hypochondriac, comes to see him and the two strike up a friendship which moves to something sexual. Zach finally works up the nerve to come out to his wife, but can’t find the acceptance he wants with Bart.
One of the first real gay movies I ever saw on the really, really late movie.
What are the forces of evil to do when the last scion of generations spent perpetuating badness passed from father to son turns out to be gay?
Cthulhu takes the works of H.P. Lovecraft as a starting point and puts a modern spin on the tales of ancient evils. Gay college professor Russ (Jason Cottle) returns to the creepy sea side town he was born in to attend his mother’s funeral. His father’s in charge of the local cult and the entire town seems a little odd towards him. Is it because he’s gay or that he’s the embodiment of evil nastiness? Russ strikes up a relationship with Mike (Scott Green), his childhood friend, and has to choose between his love or reigning over a dark empire. This was actually a fun movie, though slow in spots. Reminded me of late night monster movies when I was a kid, and having a gay protagonist was extra nifty. If you watch the DVD, the commentary is worth a listen as the director and writer (apparently a first movie for them) spend all their time trashing the film as an apocryphal lesson to other film makers; kinda funny actually.
So what do the forces of evil do? They send in Tori Spelling to get the job done.
More surfing going on in Tan Lines. The basic plot idea is the same as Shelter: young Midget Hollows (Jack Baxter) falls for his best friend Dan’s (Jed Clark) older brother Cass (Daniel O’Leary) and they hang around the beach and surf. But in Australia. That’s where the similarities end. Shelter is by far a better film. Tan Lines is in places unbearably slow, so if you watch, a remote with fast forward kept handy is a good idea. I just couldn’t develop any liking for the characters, although the talking religious icons in Cass’ bedroom were kinda funny.
Eric (Anthony Meindl) and Phil (Cameron Watson) are a gay couple looking to adopt a baby. Then a social worker cons them into taking two troublesome boys for just one (more) day. Then the boy’s drunken mother shows up on the doorstep. Soft touch Phil (a family therapist by trade) tries to form one big happy family only to drive a wedge between himself and Eric.
Timothy (Tanner Cohen) is a student in a private school who’s cast as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by his eccentric drama teacher. Studying his lines, he discovers a recipe for a secret love potion hidden in the book. Soon, in Were the World Mine, Timothy creates a magical pansy for spritzing his potion and first accidentally makes his best friend (Ricky Goldman) fall in love with him. He then proceeds to bespell the rugby player he’s got a crush on (Nathaniel David Becker), then goes on to make the entire rugby team gay. Then as the chaos mounts, he spritzes most of his small town.
This movie ended up being a pleasant surprise. Hate Crime was in the bargain bin and it had a first time director, so I wasn’t expecting much, but it turned out to be very well done with an interesting story.
Robbie (Seth Peterson) and Trey (Brian J. Smith) have a good life planning a commitment ceremony and thinking about adopting. That’s until the son (Chad Donella) of a fundementalist preacher (Bruce Davison) moves in next door. Trey is found beaten and dying after walking their dog in the park and Robbie soon finds the legal system isn’t on his side. He teams up with Trey’s grieving mother to find out who done it and get justice on his own.
