Rien à Foutre (2023) Adèle Exarchopoulos Dazzles!
Adele Exarchopoulos gives a stunning performance as a flight attendant handling the grueling task of working for a low-cost carrier.
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Category: TV / Streaming
Rotting in The Sun (2023) Self-Referential with Penises Galore.
Now, after ten years in the (relative) wilderness, Saavedra and Silva (and Silva’s co-screenwriter Peirano) have returned with a delicious slice of meta.
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Red, White & Royal Blue (2023). Even Texas Turns Over in Gay Romance!
Nicholas Galitzine, as Prince Harry, gives a perfect performance. Utterly believable. He’s the ONLY reason to see this movie but he is reason enough!
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BS High (2023). Greed and Exploitation in American High School Football.
American high school/college football is one big exploitation racket that massively exploits the young men on whose backs the whole system rests.
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Full Circle (2023). Soderbergh Disappoints with Latest Miniseries.
After the first episode, the rest of the series goes downhill rapidly as CCH Pounder’s Guyanese kingpin is gradually sidelined.
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Last Call (2023): A Serial Killer Preys on Gay Men in New York City.
Caronna gives these five men back their dignity, something they were stripped of when they became victims of a horrific crime.
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Black Mirror: Season 6
Murphy is marvelous – the scene where she fires a colleague is delicious – and Hayek blazes through the episode like the superstar she is.
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Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate (2023) Netflix Documentary Review
Cantu introduces you to people that you may not have heard of before. And those that you have, like Ernst Rohm and Magnus Hirschfeld are discussed…
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The Idol (2023) Limited Series Review
Levinson, who did good work with Zendaya in “Malcolm and Marie”, is at sea here, unable to connect with Jocelyn/Depp’s character on any level.
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Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Prequel.
It’s all just as delicious as the original two series with the two Lady Danbury’s taking all of the acting honors in their respective time periods.
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Still: A Michael J.Fox Movie (2023) A Davis Guggenheim Documentary
The immaculate comedic timing is still there, only now it unfolds at a slower pace, as Michael’s brain attempts to reach the rest of his body.
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Love and Death (2023) Elizabeth Olsen Asks “Is That All There Is?”
This is the superior version thanks to a spectacularly good Elizabeth Olsen as Montgomery, a housewife who has everything on the Baby Boom checklist.
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Beef (2023) The Netflix/A24 Production is Worth Savoring
Created by Lee Sung Jin, the series boasts a wonderful script and spectacular turns by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as the central characters.
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Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022) Review
Evan Peters, Josh Braaten (young Jeffrey), Niecy Nash as nest-door-neighbor Glenda and a magnificent Richard Jenkins as Dahmer’s Father, all give stellar performances.
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Daisy Jones & the Six (2023) Review
For me, the one magical moment in the series occurs when Keogh and Claflin share the mic in their first concert together.
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The Dropout (2022) Limited Series Review
Amanda Seyfried is simply amazing. She gets Holmes’s uncomfortable stare and that otherworldly voice. But we also get Holmes as a real person.
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The Staircase (2022) Limited Series Review
The result: compulsive viewing for seven out of the eight episodes. Colin Firth is spellbinding. Toni Collette is equally superb.
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The Serpent Queen (2022) Review
Catherine is now played by Samantha Morton who seems to have waited her whole life for this role. Every word, every gesture is savored
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The White Lotus (2021) – Limited Series Review
The action then unfolds in flashback…. Olivia and Paula instantly become the series’ Greek Chorus; the best-friend-duo from hell.
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Mrs. America (2020) – Mini Series Review
Blanchett then slowly hangs up the phone and returns, defeated, to the kitchen. In un hommage à Akerman, the camera frames her in medium shot.
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Enlightened (2011) – TV Series Review
Laura Dern is a card-carrying liberal from Riverside. who wants to do good in this world but gets sidetracked by some deep personality flaws
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You Can Live Forever (2023) Film Review
Laporte is tremendous in portraying a complex character who appears to have an “escape” but really doesn’t. It’s a heartbreaking performance.
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Sick of Myself (2023) Film Review
If you can take moments of extreme gore and disfigurement – it succeeds more as a horror movie than as a piece of social satire – you could do worse.
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Pauline Kael, Was It Really What She Said?
The greatest movie critic of her generation. Pauline wrote the most incisive and respectful response. It was a gorgeous review of “Blade Runner”…
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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) Film Review
Condon is breathtakingly good, capturing every scene she’s in with a mixture of common sense and sadness, but always with a drollness lurking in the background.
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From “Pearl” to “X” Mia Goth Astonishes with MaXXXine on the way.
Pearl is the first part of writer/director Ti West’s horror trilogy and Mia Goth gives one of the definitive horror performances.
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Beanpole (2019) Film Review
“Beanpole” conveys, beautifully, the ability of human beings to find moments of intimacy and even love under the most horrific of circumstances.
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Flee (2021) Film Review
I left “Flee” with that “floating-on-air feeling” that you get after seeing something special. After seeing a masterpiece.
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The Hand of God (2021) Film Review
Memories of Fellini and the Taviani Brothers at their peak. It’s his “Amarcord” (I remember). It’s also his “La Dolce Vita.”
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Parallel Mothers (2021) Film Review
Now, ” Live Flesh” has dropped to the number two position. “Parallel Mothers” is the new movie at the top of my treasured Almodóvar catalog.
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West Side Story (2021) Film Review
West Side Story is Spielberg’s Triumph! Of course, it is Anita who is the real star of the movie and Ariana DeBose is astonishing.
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Quo Vadis Aida (2020) Film Review
Aida knows the horrific fate that awaits her husband and two sons if they are found and, for two hours, you watch as she frantically tries to get them out.
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Under The Skin (2014) Film Review
Guys with erect penises walking downward into a transparent ooze, confused, as Scarlett walks on another level above them.
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Take Shelter (2011) Film Review
It boasts a tremendous performance by Michael Shannon as a quiet man, raising a family, who has horrific nightmares and daytime visions of a meteorological disturbance followed by a feeling that we (the Earth) are being visited by something alien.
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Aftersun (2022) Film Review
“Aftersun” is unforgettable movie. Proustian, in that it is both a remembrance of things past and a search of lost time, it’s one of the best films of 2022.
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Causeway (2022) Film Review
And Henry gives a tour de force performance that matches his spine-tingling monologue in “If Beale Street Could Talk”. Like Lawrence he is one of the all-time greats.
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Emily The Criminal (2022) Film Review
Plaza’s performance is something to behold. All of that nervous energy is now bursting out in a performance that is always true and believable.
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Happening (2022) Film Review
The weeks pass and Anne begins to “show'”. Time is running out. Any attempt at a back street abortion is becoming increasingly dangerous.
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Drive My Car (2021) Film Review
As Yusuke drives into Hiroshima, the opening credits’ role forty minutes into the film. We realize that what we have seen so far is just a prelude to the main story.
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The Power of the Dog (2021) Film Review
“The Power of the Dog” is one of the best films of 2021. Campion directs with an expert hand assisted by Ari Wegner’s cinematography and Jonny Greenwood’s memorable score.
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Spencer (2021) Film Review
Stewart is simply amazing in the role channeling all that star power into a Diana, you feel you know instantly.
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The Worst Person in the World (2021) Film Review
Time stands still as Julie leaves Aksel, frozen in the kitchen as he pours her a cup of coffee, and runs through the streets of daytime Oslo.
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Bodies, Bodies, Bodies (2022) Film Review
Beautifully Queer friendly, the relationship between Bee (Maria Bakalova) and Sophiie (Amanda Stenberg) is the emotional center of the movie.
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The Cathedral (2022) Film Review
D’Ambrose direction is reminiscent of John Cassavetes. He places his camera and lets the action unfold as his actors enter and exit the scene.
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Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022) Film Review
Superb performances by Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell transform this adaptation into a film of great beauty and, yes, sensuality.
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The Menu (2022) Film Review
There is a fantastic faceoff between Fiennes and a mysterious guest who was not invited. She is played by the extraordinary Anna Taylor-Joy
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The Tale of King Crab (2022) Film Review
The directors are extremely cine-literate. However, their references never seemed forced and I basked in their cinematic vision.
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Great Freedom (2021) Film Review
Meise directs what must be some of the most beautiful and heartfelt scenes ever captured on film between two men in love.
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Passing (2021) Film Review
You cannot take your eyes off Ruth Negga’s Claire, a Black woman who can pass for White in New York in 1929.
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Dance of the Forty-One (2020) Film Review
Ignacio de la Torre was the son in law of Mexico’s president for life and dictator Porfirio Díaz’s. But he was leading a double life with his lover Evaristo.
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Undine (2020) Film Review
Christian Petzold’s direction is so seductive, and the two leads are so effective, that you fall easily for “Undine’s” charms.
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Girl Picture (2022) Film Review
Aamu Milonoff is exceptionally good, giving a beautifully grounded yet magical performance. The kind that makes you sit up and take notice.
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God’s Country (2022) Film Review
But the movie belongs to Newton who gives the best performance of her career here. We are completely in her spell.
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The Inspection (2022) Film Review
The revelation is Pope. Those big, beautiful, expressive eyes speak volumes and question volumes. A gay man, you can feel his star presence.
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Till (2022) Film Review
The 2023 Best Actress Oscar Goes To…Danielle Deadwyler in Till. And as she reaches the volta of her magnificent speech she does something extraordinary…
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Watcher (2022) Film Review
A marvelous performance by Maika Monroe, who shares with her namesake a beauty and star quality that gives any movie in which she appears a touch of class.
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The Green Knight (2021) Film Review
David Lowery’s enthralling “The Green Knight”. Alicia Vikander does double duty as a peasant girl, and the mistress of a mysterious household.
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Tick, tick…Boom! (2021) Film Review
Although we know the eventual outcome, there is no great tragedy awaiting us at the end of the movie. In fact, it is a celebration of life.
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The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) Film Review
“The Tragedy of Macbeth” is filled with brilliant touches. The major reason to see this movie is Kathryn Hunter who plays all three witches.
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Dear Comrades (2020) Film Review
Andrei Konchalovsky’s Searing Indictment of a little-known Khrushchev Era Massacre is his best work in years.
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Hit the Road (2022) Film Review
The film begins with one of the most memorable opening scenes in recent memory. It’s a glorious and inventive piece of true cinema magic.
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The Whale (2022) Film Review
As Charlie, an overweight teacher, Brendan Fraser gives a very sweet and appealing performance in director Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale”.
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Jockey (2021) Film Review
Collins and Parker have a wonderful rapport based on their shared love of horses, and there might be something deeper between them.
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Blonde (2022) Film Review – Marilyn Monroe is exploited once again
Immersing herself completely in the role of Norma Jean/Marilyn Monroe, Ana de Armas is sensational. And exhausting!
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Tár (2022) Film Review
However, no one seems to have stopped and thought about the age difference between these two maestros. By my calculations, Lenny would have been teaching Lydia when she was five years old!
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White Noise (2022) Film Review
Our savior is Driver, who, against all odds, manages to give another really good performance in inhospitable settings.
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Shiva Baby (2021) Film Review
Finally, a toast, amid all this great food, to four extraordinarily talented actresses: Sennott, Draper, Gordon, and Argon.
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Fully Realized Humans (2020) Film Review
Jess Wexler and Joshua Leonard have such a natural chemistry that I assumed that they were a couple in real-life.
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Babylon (2022) Film Review
I had no problem sitting through the movie’s bloated 180-minute running because, through all of this nothingness, five actors manage to make lasting impressions
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Pieces of a Woman (2020) Film Review
How can an actress who is pushing ninety be the mother of an actress in her late twenties or early thirties? Not impossible, but implausible.
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The Fabelmans (2022) Film Review
He films one of his jock tormentors as a blond God-like figure – I swear, it reminded me of Leni Riefenstahl’s “Olympia.”
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Licorice Pizza (2021) Film Review
“Licorice Pizza” and the gay stereotype. Here is a mincing queen with movements so exaggerated he could have Tourette’s syndrome.
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Performance (1970) Film Review
There will always be an argument as to who was the real auteur behind the camera.
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Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) Film Review
Starring a luminous Carrie Snodgress, the last movie that director Frank Perry and his screenwriter wife Eleanor made together is their best.
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There Was A Crooked Man (1970) Film Review
Hume Cronyn and John Randolph are our happy and well-adjusted gay couple. Yes, they fight and bicker all the time. However, they are clearly madly in love with each other.
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The Boys in the Band (1970) Film Review
As we saw in the 2020 remake, Mart Crowley’s play “The Boys in the Band” has stood the test of time beautifully.
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The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) Film Review
Excellent work by Robert Stephens (his best screen performance) and Colin Blakely (Dr. Watson). Geneviève Page gives a gorgeous melancholy performance.
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The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971) Film Review
“The Garden of the Finzi Continis” is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by gay Italian writer Giorgio Bassani who is played in the film by Helmut Berger.
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Death In Venice (1971) Film Review
Visconti’s best idea was changing Aschenbach’s profession from a writer to a composer opening up the movie to the Mahler Adagietto .
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Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) Film Review
In “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, Murray Head plays a free-spirited bisexual who is having simultaneous relationships with Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch.
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The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) Film Review
A landmark in both New Queer Cinema and the New German Cinema, Fassbinder’s examination of the dynamics of a lesbian love triangle was shot in der wunderkind’s apartment.
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Cabaret (1972) Film Review
Based on the 1966 Broadway musical “Cabaret” by Kander and Ebb which was adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s The Berlin Stories” (1945).
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Pete ‘n’ Tillie (1972) Film Review
And then there Tillie’s other best friend Jimmy, the film’s token gay guy, played by René Auberjonois, who had one of the most memorable names in cinema.
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Play It As It Lays (1972) Film Review
Unfortunately, despite a good performance by Weld, the film only comes alive when she is driving endlessly around LA’s spectacular freeways.
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Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973) Film Review
Rita Walden, played beautifully by Joanne Woodward, in what is probably her best performance is about to go through a midlife crisis.
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The Day of the Jackal (1973) Film Review
Another example of a gay character whose sole purpose in the movie is to be killed. Still, Zinnemmann and Rodgers treat his character with a modicum of respect.
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Classic Film Noir At Twentieth Century Fox
Fox Noir: Welcome to the world of the femme fatale and multiple flashbacks. Otto Preminger’s “Laura” with Clifton Webb is the crown jewel. And Gene Tierney.
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The Great Gatsby (1974) Film Review
Directed by Jack Clayton, from an adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola, this was the third film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age masterpiece.
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Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Film Review
Weir, who showed, like Hitchcock, that horror can be visited upon us on the brightest and most beautiful of summer days.
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) Film Review
It is, of course, a GROUP EXPERIENCE with those inspired zingers going back to the screen, composed by a generation of audience members over the years.
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Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Film Review
Pacino is magnificent. With Michael Corleone in The Godfather movies, “Dog Day Afternoon” is his defining role.
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Ode to Billy Joe (1976) Film Review
Why did Billy Joe McAllister jump off the Tallahassee Bridge? The answer, according to director Max Baer, is because he slept with a man.
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Carrie (1976) Film Review
Brian De Palma’s masterpiece and one of the GREAT HORROR MOVIES with tremendous performances from Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. The unforgettable score is by Pino Donaggio.
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The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) Film Review
“Ripley”, Minghella’s masterpiece, boasts Matt Damon’s best performance plus stunning turns by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jude Law.
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All About Eve (1950) Film Review
Bette Davis in her greatest role with some of the best lines ever written. Both Addison and Eve are gay and he blackmails her.
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Caged (1950) Film Review
“Hype the New Fish”. Innocent Eleanor Parker spends time in a women’s prison. With Hope Emerson and Agnes Moorehead.
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Young Man with a Horn (1950) Film Review
Lauren Bacall is Kirk Douglas’ young man with a horn’s society wife who is also a closeted lesbian. Bacall is very good in a risque role.
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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Film Review
The best play to film adaptation of all-time with two of the greatest performances: Vivien Leigh as Blanch DuBois and Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski.
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Strangers on a Train (1951) Film Review
Hitchcock reverses himself here, having gay actor Farley Granger play the straight character and straight actor Robert Walker play the gay character.
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Film Review
It’s Howard Hawks again, this time adapting the Jule Stein/Leo Robin Broadway smash “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. With Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe.
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Niagara (1953) Film Review
The buildup to Monroe’s superstardom started here. The magnificent widescreen technicolor cinematography if by Joseph MacDonald.
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Johnny Guitar (1954) Film Review
A Western with two female leads is that rarest of cinematic jewels and, under Nicholas Ray’s direction, both Crawford and McCambridge play to the gallery.
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Rear Window (1954) Film Review
Stewart, Kelly, and Ritter are all magnificent. Kelly, looking radiant, gets to deliver one of the big screen’s all-time sexy lines.
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Tea and Sympathy (1956) Film Review
One of Deborah Kerr’s most sympathetic performances. Both she she and John Kerr (no relation) originated their roles on the Broadway stage.
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Funny Face (1957) Film Review
“Funny Face“, the 1957 musical romantic comedy directed by Stanley Donen, boasts Audrey Hepburn’s most charming screen performance.
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A Touch of Evil (1958) Film Review
Yes, that is Mercedes McCambridge as the unnamed lesbian gang leader getting her kicks while watching Janet Leigh getting roughed up in Welles’ other masterwork.
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Auntie Mame (1958) Film Review
Gay director Morton DaCosta (his real name) directs like he is still in the theatre – he did better in his second and final visit to Hollywood with “The Music Man”.
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) Film Review
Richard Brooks respectable adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play opens with Brick (Paul Newman) pining and drinking in his bedroom for the memory of his best friend (read lover) Skipper.
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Vertigo (1958) Film Review
Anchored by an incredible performance by James Stewart as Scotty Ferguson a private detective and ex-cop who suffers from vertigo (fear of heights) after a coworker fell to his death, and Kim Novak is spectacular in the dual role of Judy/Madeleine.
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Suddenly Last Summer (1959) Film Review
The movie is risible, its few pleasures come from Hepburn’s regal (but very nasty) mother who will do anything to protect her son’s memory.
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Some Like it Hot (1959) Film Review
“Some Like It Hot“ was only the second (following Otto Preminger’s “The Moon is Blue” in 1953) mainstream Hollywood movie NOT to be submitted to the Hays Office.
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North by Northwest (1959) Film Review
Eva Marie Saint gives Grace Kelly in “Rear Window” a run for her money as Hitchcock’s most elegant leading lady and the chemistry between the two leads is more palpable than in any Hollywood picture before or since.
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Pillow Talk (1959) Film Review
Hudson’s characters has a gay alter ego named “Rex” and supporting actors Tony Randall and Nick Allen are constantly brushing off the gay ceiling.
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Ben Hur (1959) Film Review
If you believe Gore Vidal it was all because of a lover’s spat. Wyler and Boyd were in on the ruse, and Boyd played his scenes that way, but Heston was not.
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Psycho (1960) Film Review
Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates made him immortal while, at the same, time, ending his career in Hollywood. A masterpiece.
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Spartacus (1960) Film Review
The Kirk Douglas/Stanley Kubrick epic has not aged well but the supporting cast,, particularly Laurence Olivier and Peter Ustinov, make it worth seeing.
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Victim (1960) Film Review
They say that this film did more to sway public and political opinion on homosexuality in England than any parliamentary discussion.
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A Taste of Honey (1961) Film Review
Although he was playing a teenager, gay actor Murray Melvin was almost thirty when he made “A Taste of Honey” with Rita Tushingham.
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The Children’s Hour (1961) Film Review
Not having the courage of his convictions, what started out as bravery ended in cowardice and it’s a shame.
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Advice and Consent (1962) Film Review
Preminger always liked to be cutting edge and he was with “Advise and Consent” a beautifully written, acted and directed movie.
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Whatever Happened Baby Jane? (1962) Film Review
Both of Hollywood’s grande dames Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are in top form with Davis getting the showier role as faded child star Baby Jane Hudson.
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That Touch of Mink (1962) Film Review
In between the Rock Hudson movies “Lover Come Back” (1961) and “Send Me no Flowers” (1964), Doris Day paired up with Cary Grant.
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David and Lisa (1962) Film Review
In fact, many of Theodore Isaac Rubin’s beliefs have now fallen out of favor. Despite the film’s sensitive moments, it often seems dangerously simplistic and naive.
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The L-Shaped Room (1963) Film Review
Writer/director Bryan Forbes lovely and faithful adaptation of the Lynne Reid Banks novel boasts Leslie Caron’s greatest performance.
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The Servant (1963) Film Review
A savage indictment of the waning British class system, it’s one of the most chilling films ever made. Winner of Best Screenplay of 1964 from the NYFCC.
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The Haunting (1963) Film Review
As a chic Greenwich village lesbian named Theo, whose couture is designed by Mary Quant, Claire Bloom is a knockout in Robert Wise’s 1963 movie “The Haunting”.
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Seven Days in May (1964) Film Review
A peak entry in the American political thriller genre, the film boasts four of the greatest performances of the sixties.
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The Leather Boys (1964) Film Review
Canadian journeyman Sidney J. Furie, does a striking job with this “gay” love story set within the milieu of London’s biker subculture.
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The Loved One (1965) Film Review
Great fun was had by all adapting Evelyn Waugh’s 1948 short satirical novel about the funeral business in Los Angeles.
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Darling (1965) Film Review
“Darling” stars the impossibly beautiful Julie Christie, even if far more people saw in her as Laura in David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago”.
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My Hustler (1965) Film Review
“My Hustler” is a hugely different film from Warhol’s previous offerings with a solid narrative and surprisingly good performances.
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Persona (1966) Film Review
Two of the world’s greatest actresses under the gaze of one of the greatest movie directors the world has ever known.
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Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) Film Review
John Huston’s favorite of all his movies. Brando does something amazing with his closeted gay character who is married to Elizabeth Taylor.
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Portrait of Jason (1967) Film Review
A true breakthrough and a film that has improved with age. Documentary filmmaker Shirley Clarke interviews gay African American hustler and aspiring cabaret performer Jason Holliday in his apartment at the Hotel Chelsea.
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The Swimmer (1968) Film Review
With a near-great performance by Burt Lancaster as the title character who “swims his way home” through his “river” of backyard swimming pools…
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No Way to Treat a Lady (1968) Film Review
“Dorian”, Gill’s hairdresser persona is, of course, gay with a classic sibilant-rich delivery. In the movie’s best scene, just as he is caressing the neck of his intended victim Miss Belle Poppie…
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The Detective (1968) Film Review
However, the awful script by Abby Mann – “Judgement at Nuremberg” – and the mediocre direction by Gordon Douglas put the kibosh on everything.
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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Film Review
In Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”, HAL 9000 is the psychotic gay computer abord Discovery One. HAL is in love with Dave and quickly dispatches with copilot Frank.
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The Killing of Sister George (1968) Film Review
Beryl Reid is marvelous as “George”. That’s not her name. It’s the name of the character she plays in a beloved long-running BBC series.
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Rachel, Rachel (1968) Film Review
Highly regarded at the time of its release (NYFCC awards going to Newman as Best Director and Woodward as Best Actress), it seems a bit underwhelming today.
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The Sergeant (1968) Film Review
The subject matter, its release during the Christmas season, and a couple of scathing reviews by the major critics of the time, sealed its fate.
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The Damned (1969) Film Review
Luchino Viconti’s “The Damned” centers on the Essenbecks (read Krupp family) on the night of the Reichstag fire in early 1933.
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Staircase (1969) Film Review
On the stage Dyer may have been trying to project two sides of his own personality. However, any such subtlety is lost in translation.
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Midnight Cowboy (1969) Film Review
John Schlesinger’s American debut is only X-rated movie to win Best Picture. It boasts two great performances courtesy of Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffmann.
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The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Film Review
Director James Whale’s masterpiece is as close to Susan Sontag’s definition of high camp as the movies can deliver.
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Top Hat (1935) Film Review
The Best of the Astaire-Rogers movies. Cinematography: David Abel. Production Design: Carroll Clark/Van Nest Polglase. Songs: Irving Berlin.
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Sylvia Scarlet (1935) Film Review
Both gay and trans, Sylvia/Sylvester set the bar impossibly high for years to come. One of the great financial disasters of the 1930s, it resulted in Hepburn being labelled box office poison.
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Dodsworth (1936) Film Review
“Dodsworth”: William Wyler’s masterpiece, the best movie ever made about the fear of growing old. It was Wyler’s first Oscar nomination.
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The Women (1939) Film Review
Every character in the movie, and every animal featured, was female. Great work by Crawford, Russell, Shearer and Mary Boland.
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The Wizard of Oz (1939) Film Review
She captured everyone’s heart, gay or straight. There is something vulnerable yet confident about her. And then there is that incredible voice!
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Rebecca (1940) Film Review
“Rebecca”, marked the arrival in Hollywood of the man who was, or would eventually become, the greatest director in the history of cinema.
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The Maltese Falcon (1941) Film Review
The performances are there to savor with the great Mary Astor doing a superb turn as Bridget O’ Shaughnessy and the gay triumvirate bringing up the rear!
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The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) Film Review
Monty Wooley delights as the impossibly pompous Sheridan Whiteside in William Keighley’s wonderful adaptation of the Kauffman/Hart play.
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Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Film Review
Alfred Hitchcock, the cinema’s greatest director, made seven perfect films in which every shot, every camera move, every editing sequence is, well, perfect.
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Double Indemnity (1944) Film Review
“Double Indemnity” is the best of the three great film noirs of 1944, the others being “Laura” and “The Woman in the Window”. The three leads are superb as is Wilder’s direction.
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Laura (1944) Film Review
“Laura” is one of the classic film noirs. Gene Tierney is born and Clifton Webb becomes a star in his fifties. Haunting Raksin score.
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The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) Film Review
Albert Lewin directed his masterpiece, a superb adaptation of Oscar Wild’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” with a beautiful Hurd Hatfield.
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Gilda (1946) Film Review
Feast your eyes on Vidor’s stylish direction, Rudolph Mate lush black-and-white cinematography the Jean Louis gowns and, of course, Rita Hayworth as Gilda.
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Notorious (1946) Film Review
The term “MacGuffin” originated by Angus MacPhail for film, adopted by Alfred Hitchcock, and later extended to a similar device in other fiction. The MacGuffin here is the Uranium in the cellar.
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Red River (1948) Film Review
1948 was the year of Montgomery Clift. In addition to Hawkes “Red River” there was Fred Zinnemann’s “The Search” and William Wyler’s “The Heiress”.
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Rope (1948) Film Review
The story, which is based on the Leopold and Loeb case is irresistible. Granger and Dall are perfection and Jimmy Stewart is also amazing.
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Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) Film Review
In “Kind Hearts and Coronets”: Alec Guinness has fun playing all eight (or nine) of the unfortunate D’Ascoynes, including Lady Agatha D’Ascoyne. The photograph shows Dennis Price with Joan Greenwood who plays that little minx Sibella.
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Adam’s Rib (1949) Film Review
Marvelous acting by Judy Holliday, Jean Hagen, Hope Emerson, Tom Ewell and, as Amanda’s “gay best friend”, David Wayne.
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Haulout (2022) is a Masterpiece.
A “haulout” is a place where walruses mate. Thanks to global warming, over 100,000 are packed into one tiny beach. The result is death on a horrific scale.
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La Nouvelle Vague (The French New Wave)
Included are my favorite thirteen films. Four are directed by Godard, three by Truffaut, two by Renais, and one each by Chabrol, Demy, Malle, and Varda.
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The Films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz
All twenty JLM films rated to coincide with a retrospective at the Criterion Collection. This includes his masterpiece “All About Eve”.
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