MOVIE NEWSZ: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Monthly Wallpaper - February 2011: Best Actresses

With just under a month to go until Oscar night, this month's Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper takes a look back at the Best Actresses, the legendary leading ladies who took home the Academy's gold man in years past.

These iconic performances of unforgettable characters include Cher as Loretta, Sally as Norma, Katharine as Eleanor, Diane as Annie, Frances as Marge, Meryl as Sophie, Barbra as Fanny, Elizabeth as Martha, Jessica as Daisy, Charlize as Aileen and more.

All you have to do is click on the picture above to enlarge it, then simply right click your mouse and select "Set as Background". (You can also save it to your computer and set it up from there if you prefer.) The size is 1024 x 768, but you can modify it if needed in your own photo-editing program.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

MD Poll: If You Picked the Oscars 2010

It's that time of year again! Time for you to pick what movies and performances you would vote for if you were a member of the Academy and could vote for the best of film 2010 in the actual Oscars.

Last year, you correctly matched the real thing in three out of the five major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. But remember, this isn't about predictions, you are voting for who you want to win!

There are five separate polls, located in the right-hand sidebar, so be sure to vote in each one. The polls will run from now until Oscar Eve, February 26, when the winners of the MD Poll: If You Picked the Oscars 2010 will be revealed!

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Reverend's Reviews: The Rite Ain't Right

The Roman Catholic and other churches use a time-honored, usually effective Rite of Exorcism prescribed for casting out demons. The genre of movies that deal with the subject of demonic possession is a much more mixed bag. There is one true classic, 1974's Oscar winner The Exorcist, but a number of shoddy sequels and prequels to it (although I consider 1990's The Exorcist III underrated). Despite occasional entries such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose and last year's The Last Exorcism that are both cinematically and theologically accomplished, most are exploitative and nonsensical.

The Rite, which opens nationwide today, unfortunately falls into the latter category. It's a misbegotten mess of haunted house clichés, Vatican mumbo jumbo, and Anthony Hopkins channeling Hannibal Lecter (for the umpteenth time) as well as Linda Blair!

In The Rite, "inspired by" a book about exorcisms by Matt Baglio, Colin O'Donoghue (The Tudors) plays real-life priest Michael Kovak. O'Donoghue represents the youngest and hottest but most reluctant wannabe exorcist ever. Ordained a Catholic deacon after four years of seminary, which he entered as an escape from his mortician father, Kovak is coerced into going to Rome and taking exorcist training classes taught by Fr. Xavier (the great Irish actor Ciaran Hinds, giving the only truly credible performance in the film). Like many a skeptic before him, however, Kovak is convinced that so-called demonic possession has more to do with mental illness than Satan. That is, until he meets Fr. Lucas (Hopkins), an "unorthodox" yet successful liberator of the truly possessed.

The movie is directed in thoroughly heavy-handed fashion by Mikael Hafstrom, who previously made the much better suspense yarns 1408 and Evil. According to Hafstrom and screenwriter Michael Petroni, nothing signifies the forces of darkness so much as frogs, cockroaches and even feral kittens, plus the occasional red-eyed mule. They and O'Donoghue also take great pains to assure the audience that Kovak is heterosexual. When Kovak first tells his best friend that he is entering seminary, the shocked buddy replies "Is this your way of telling me you're gay?" Once in seminary, Kovak is offended by some seemingly too-close physical contact between his neighbors. Finally, Kovak develops a pseudo-romantic relationship with a lovely, undercover journalist (Alice Braga, niece of Brazilian actress Sonia Braga of Kiss of the Spider Woman fame) out to expose "the truth" about exorcisms.

Despite great cinematography and its authentic Roman trappings, The Rite gets pretty much everything wrong about Catholicism, the Rite of Exorcism and effective horror movie-making. Demonic possession may be an enduringly fascinating topic but the Vatican, which reportedly endorsed this film and is now collaborating on a reality-based TV series about exorcisms, needs to better screen those who claim to want to do the subject justice. I doubt even the Devil would approve of The Rite.

Reverend's Rating: D

UPDATE: The Rite is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Toon Talk: Horseography

When it comes to sports biopics, the subgenre breaks down into two camps. First is the warts-and-all, blood-and-guts variety best exemplified by Raging Bull. Then just about everything else, from The Pride of the Yankees to Hoosiers to The Blind Side, easily fall into the second type: the “inspirational” kind. Filled with “rags to riches” stories, training montages and slow motion moments of triumph, these films are no doubt crowd-pleasers. Yet, after you’ve seen a few, they also become rather predictable, even interchangeable.

With its Disney brand and tame PG rating, it’s not hard to figure out what category Secretariat fits into; and while the film (now available on Disney DVD and Blu-ray) is definitely a family friendly one, you’re likely to feel that you’ve seen this race before… even if you haven’t seen Seabiscuit.

As the “super horse” that, in 1973, became the first racehorse to win the US Triple Crown in twenty-five years, Secretariat certainly could run fast, but he doesn’t say much. Therefore, the movie leans heavily on his owner, Peggy Chenery (played by the always welcome Diane Lane) to carry the story. Unfortunately, as a main character, Peggy is a bit of a cipher. Her motivation to race Secretariat, tied to fulfilling some unspoken dying wish of her father (Scott Glenn), is barely tangible, while attempts to show her as a “woman in a man’s world” fall flat. Subplots about the strain on her marriage and family (including, quite awkwardly, a wannabe hippie daughter) and her reluctance to speak in public go nowhere.

To compensate, director Randall Wallace (the Academy Award nominated screenwriter of Braveheart) and writer Mike Rich (who based his script on William Nack's book Secretariat: The Making of a Champion) try to throw some more obstacles in her way, mainly conflicts with her quirky horse trainer, Lucian Laurin. A French-Canadian former jockey who fancied loud outfits and unconventional training methods, Laurin is played by John Malkovich, the go-to guy in Hollywood for quirky characters (that is, when Christopher Walken is unavailable). Alas, Malkovich pretty much sleep walks through the role, relying on a string of goofy hats and sporadic outbursts in French for character development...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Secretariat at LaughingPlace.com.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Reverend’s Reactions: The 2010 Oscar Nominations

The sun is just starting to show itself here in Hollywood, but celebrations are already underway in the wake of the Academy Awards nominations announcement at 5:38 AM PST today. The film industry's equivalent of Christmas morning has inevitably left some kiddies disappointed while many others are gleeful today.

In general, I'm pleased with this year's contenders. I was very happy about the unexpectedly strong showing made by Winter's Bone in addition to The Social Network, The King's Speech (the leader with 12 nominations) and Inception, all of which were among my top 10 of 2010. I was also pleasantly surprised by Nicole Kidman's well-deserved Best Actress nomination for the affecting Rabbit Hole as well as the inclusion of Javier Bardem, who has been largely shut out of other awards this year, in the Best Actor category for his raw, haunting performance in Biutiful, which was also nominated as Best Foreign Language Film.

The Kids Are All Right, 2010's big GLBT-themed release, garnered a number of nominations and cemented its status in my mind as last year's most overrated movie. Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo were deservedly honored, but the nods it received for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture are excessive. More strained domestic drama than ballyhooed comedy, The Kids Are All Right fell way short for me despite its excellent cast.

Also highly overrated in my opinion is True Grit. While technically proficient, very well-acted (the amazing, 14-year old Hailee Steinfeld received a deserved nomination for Best Supporting Actress), and a definite improvement on the original movie version, it's also a fairly routine achievement for Joel and Ethan Coen. The brothers' latest nomination for Best Director is unjust, especially when one realizes Christopher Nolan was left out of the category for his extraordinarily creative work on Inception!

But my disappointment with the high praise heaped upon these two films is tempered by some nominations in "lesser" categories: the song "I See The Light" from Tangled as Best Song (although "You Haven't See the Last of Me" from Burlesque was somewhat surprisingly omitted, so we won't have the prospective thrill of seeing and hearing Cher sing it live during the awards ceremony); composer John Powell's Best Music Score nomination for How to Train Your Dragon; the Best Costume Design nod for the sumptuous I Am Love, our Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association pick as Best Film of the Year; and the inclusion of the hand-drawn, Jacques Tati homage The Illusionist among the Best Animated Feature contenders (alongside Dragon and Toy Story 3).

We'll have to tune in to the 83rd Academy Awards presentation on February 27 to see how everything plays out, but I'm expecting Bening and Colin Firth (Best Actor nominee for The King's Speech) at least to have continued reason to celebrate after that night.

See the comments section below for a quick look at all of this year's Oscar nominations.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Step Up 3-D

Movie Genres: Drama, Music, Romance
Movie Released: 4 Aug, 2010
Video Length: 1 hr 47 min
IMDB Rating: 2.65/5

A tight-knit group of New York City street dancers, including Luke (Malambri) and Natalie (Vinson), team up with NYU freshman Moose (Sevani), and find themselves pitted against the world's best hip hop dancers in a high-stakes showdown that will change their lives forever.

Little Fockers

Movie Genres: Comedy
Movie Released: 22 Dec, 2010
Video Length: 1 hr 38 min
IMDB Rating: 2.70/5

It has taken 10 years, two little Fockers with wife Pam (Polo) and countless hurdles for Greg (Stiller) to finally get in with his tightly wound father-in-law, Jack (De Niro). After the cash-strapped dad takes a job moonlighting for a drug company, however, Jack's suspicions about his favorite male nurse come roaring back. When Greg and Pam's entire clan -- including Pam's lovelorn ex, Kevin (Wilson) -- descends for the twins' birthday party, Greg must prove to the skeptical Jack that he's fully capable as the man of the house. But with all the misunderstandings, spying and covert missions, will Greg pass Jack's final test and become the family's next patriarch...or will the circle of trust be broken for good?

Love and Other Drugs

Movie Genres: Comedy, Romance
Movie Released: 24 Nov, 2010
Video Length: 1 hr 52 min
IMDB Rating: 3.30/5

Maggie (Hathaway) is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone - or anything - tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love. Based on Jamie Reidy's memoir "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman."

127 Hours

Movie Genres: Drama, Thriller
Movie Released: 5 Nov, 2010
Video Length: 1 hr 34 min
IMDB Rating: 4.15/5

A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.

The Green Hornet

Movie Genres: Action, Crime, Thriller
Movie Released: 14 Jan, 2011
Video Length: 1 hr 52 min
IMDB Rating: 3.40/5

By night, debonair newspaper publisher Britt Reid fights crime as a masked superhero known as The Green Hornet. At his side is martial arts expert Kato

Season of the Witch

Movie Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Movie Released: 7 Jan, 2011
Video Length: 1 hr 53 min
IMDB Rating: 2.85/5

14th-century knights transport a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague.

Burlesque

Movie Genres: Drama, Musical, Romance
Movie Released: 24 Nov, 2010
Video Length: 1 hr 59 min
IMDB Rating: 3.10/5

A small-town girl ventures to Los Angeles and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club run by a former dancer.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Awards Watch: GLBT Films of 2010 Honored

The annual Hollywood awards season is in full swing, with the Golden Globes recently announced and the Academy Awards coming up on February 27. The Social Network and The King's Speech may be the big winners thus far, but the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (GALECA) had some surprises among the winners of its second annual Dorian Awards, which were announced today.

GALECA is only two years old but is quickly becoming known in the industry. The organization is composed of more than 40 LGBT film and television critics from across the US as well as Canada and Great Britain. Such major publications as The Advocate, US Weekly, TV Guide and our own Movie Dearest are represented. Unlike GLAAD, which specifically honors movie and TV shows each year that show the GLBT community in a positive light, GALECA considers both mainstream and LGBT-specific projects for the Dorian Awards. Toy Story 3 and The Social Network were among GALECA's five nominees for Film of the Year in addition to the more LGBT-oriented The Kids Are All Right, Black Swan and I Am Love. The Dorian Awards are so named in honor of gay writer Oscar Wilde and his literary masterpiece, The Picture of Dorian Grey.

I Am Love was the surprise choice as the 2010 Dorian Award-winner for Film of the Year. This sensual tale stars Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton as the Russian-born matriarch of an Italian family beset by romantic entanglements of various genders and orientations. Little seen upon its theatrical release but much admired by those who have caught it, I Am Love is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Unlike most groups that bestow awards, GALECA doesn't separate men and women in its consideration of the Best Performances in Film and Television. This year, Annette Bening triumphed over such acclaimed fellow nominees as Colin Firth (The King's Speech), James Franco (who was nominated for his great acting in two 2010 releases, 127 Hours and Howl) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan). Bening won the Dorian Award for her excellent turn as one-half of a lesbian couple raising two teenagers in The Kids Are All Right.

In GALECA's television categories, The Good Wife won Drama of the Year while Glee won its second Dorian Award in a row for TV Comedy or Musical of the Year. Glee also won the Dorian for LGBT-themed TV Show of the Year as well as acting awards for Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer, who tied in the TV Comedy Performance of the Year category. New Glee cast member Darren Criss won GALECA's "We're Wilde About You" Rising Star Award over such other talented newcomers as Andrew Garfield (The Social Network and the upcoming Spider-Man reboot) and Black Swan's Mila Kunis. Michael C. Hall, as the sympathetic serial killer of Dexter, won the Dorian Award for TV Dramatic Performance of the Year. The HBO series Hung, about a well-endowed gigolo, was recognized as the Unsung TV Show of the Year and the new comedy Hot in Cleveland, starring Valerie Bertinelli and Betty White, won the "Campy (Intentional or Not) TV Show of the Year" Dorian.

The delightful Easy A, about a high school student who takes her Scarlet Letter reading assignment a bit too literally, won the Dorian Award for Unsung Film of the Year. Additional winners in other film-related categories were Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Documentary of the Year); I Love You Phillip Morris (LGBT-Themed Film of the Year); 8: The Mormon Proposition (LGBT-Themed Documentary of the Year); and Burlesque (Campy (Intentional or Not) Film of the Year). The latter beat out such dubious contenders as Sex and the City 2 and Piranha 3-D.

Finally, GALECA's prestigious "Wilde Wit of the Year Award" was given to Rachel Maddow, the openly lesbian TV and radio news host, and the group's annual "Timeless Award" — which is given to a living actor or performer with an exemplary career marked by smarts, character and wit — was bestowed upon theatre and film legend Angela Lansbury.

While this year's Academy Award nominations have yet to be announced, a number of LGBT-interest contenders are likely. Annette Bening and Natalie Portman will likely duke it out for the Best Actress Oscar, and Bening's Kids Are All Right partner, Julianne Moore, could also be nominated. Meanwhile, the Academy Award for Best Song might well go to "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," which was sung by Cher in Burlesque and won the Golden Globe. If the song is nominated for an Oscar, Cher will likely perform it during the telecast. Her appearance alone will be enough to get virtually every gay man in the US to tune in on February 27!

See the comments section below for a quick look at this year's Dorian Award winners.

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

Monday, January 17, 2011

Reel Thoughts: Biutiful Bardem

Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of the somber Babel and 21 Grams, has hit the depths of depression with Biutiful. If there’s a better film to make you suicidal, I don’t know what it is.

Javier Bardem plays Uxbal, a flawed man flailing for some decency in his life who finds out that his life is in peril. He tries to make a good life for his two kids, despite the fact that their mother is a drug-addicted mess who favors one child over the other. His business is tied to a Barcelona sweatshop that cranks out designer knock-off purses and the like, which are hawked on the street by African immigrants.

His business partner is a closeted gay man who must keep his lover a secret from his powerful family. It is a sign of how disconnected Biutiful is that we don’t care a bit for the only gay characters in the film. When an act of kindness by Uxbal, intended to provide warmth to the exploited workforce, goes horribly wrong it sets off a series of even more depressing events that will bring all the characters to the edge of an emotional abyss.

Bardem hasn’t given a bad performance in his career, and was the only decent thing in Eat Pray Love. Not surprisingly, his work in Biutiful is the only reason to see it. Just be sure to go in a good mood; you can’t be held responsible for your actions after suffering through this not-so-beautiful film.

UPDATE: Biutiful is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Shrek Forever After (2010)

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892791/

Longing for the days when he felt like a "real ogre," Shrek is duped into signing a pact with the smooth-talking dealmaker, Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek suddenly finds himself in a twisted, alternate version of Far Far Away, where ogres are hunted, Rumpelstiltskin is king and Shrek and Fiona have never met. Now, it's up to Shrek to undo all he's done in the hopes of saving his friends, restoring his world and reclaiming his one True Love.

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

MD Poll: Global Certainty 2010

The Golden Globes are tomorrow night and, if the "real" voting was as close as it was for out latest MD Poll, it will be a heated race to victory in at least one of the Best Picture categories.

The Social Network narrowly topped the Dramatic competition, closely followed by Black Swan and The King's Speech, in a tie for second place. Meanwhile in the Comedy or Musical category, it should be smooth sailing for The Kids Are All Right, which netted more then 60% of the votes. See the comments section below for the complete results.

Since the Oscar nominations are only two weeks away, the MD Poll will be taking a short break until then.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Reel Thoughts: Know Jack

It’s a surreal experience to watch Kevin Spacey play disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in Casino Jack and then watch the real Jack Abramoff in the documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money. The story is the same, but Spacey’s version is a lot more fun in a true-crime way. The documentary is more depressing, since a lot of the right-wing people implicated in the scandal escaped unscathed and still wreak havoc to this day.

Spacey (in a Golden Globe nominated performance) plays Abramoff as a mass of contradictions, an Orthodox Jew who pals around with the Christian Coalition, and who harbors dreams of Hollywood fame. His devoted wife is played by Kelly Preston and his partner in crime, Mike Scanlon, is played by Barry Pepper in full Glengarry Glen Ross mode.

Much like I Love You Phillip Morris, the enjoyment of watching Casino Jack is in realizing that everything you see really happened, more or less. Abramoff’s rise and fall is depicted in entertaining detail as he first lobbies for sweatshop owners in the Northern Marianas Islands, then fleeces Native American tribes through casino gambling scams, and then hitches his fortunes to Adam Kidan (Jon Lovitz), a sleazy entrepreneur with mob ties. Lovitz nearly steals the show in a scene where he is attacked with a ballpoint pen, but overall, the film belongs to Spacey and Pepper.

The late director George Hickenlooper juggles all of Jack’s schemes admirably, so that we understand the method to Abramoff’s madness. Casino Jack is a sadly American tale that may only get worse with the recent Supreme Court ruling on corporate election donations. Consider yourself warned.

UPDATE: Casino Jack is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Awards Watch: Nominations for the 2010 Dorian Awards

The Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (of which yours truly and my fellow Movie Dearest Men on Film Chris Carpenter and Neil Cohen are members) has announced its nominations for the group's second annual Dorian Awards, celebrating the best in film and television for 2010.

In 17 categories, including new ones this year for documentaries and "unsung" movies, GALECA has nominated a wide variety of films and TV programs, both with and without GLBT themes. Titles with multiple nominations include such big screen hits as Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right and The Social Network, while The Big Bang Theory, Glee and Modern Family represent the small screen.

See the comments section below for the complete list of nominations. Winners will be announced January 18 in Los Angeles.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Tune in to TCM: Luise Rainer

Tonight, Turner Classic Movies will celebrate the 101st birthday of legendary screen actress Luise Rainer. The first person to win back-to-back Academy Awards (as Best Actress for her performances in The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth), Rainer will be feted with the world premiere telecast of Luise Rainer: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival. The special features TCM host Robert Osborne's interview, which was taped at the premiere TCM Film Festival last year in Hollywood (our own Chris Carpenter attended the event; read his report here).

TCM will round out the birthday festivities this evening with presentations of Rainer's two Oscar-winning performances, as well as her memorable roles in The Great Waltz and Dramatic School.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Reel Thoughts: Sophia's Choice

Sofia Coppola’s films, like her acting, take some getting used to. The Virgin Suicides was an unremittingly dark tale of suburban angst, while Marie Antoinette was a candy-colored nightmare. Only Lost in Translation seemed to find a quietly powerful place in people’s hearts, and the low-key film energized the careers of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Somewhere, starring Stephen Dorff as a debauched action movie star living in the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles, aims to cast some light on showbiz lives of the rich and famous, but it is so inert as to be more slideshow than movie.

Dorff's Johnny Marco is a familiar character: the Hollywood player who has so much fame and money, he’s about run out of ways to spend it. Twin strippers who do private shows with their own poles in your room? Check. More booze and drugs than a year with Lindsay Lohan? Check. Gorgeous groupies who show up in your bed naked? Check. Eleven year-old daughter left on your doorstep? Oops!

Elle Fanning (Dakota’s little sister) plays Cleo, Johnny’s adoring daughter who is left with the star by her mother who, in true 1970’s fashion, leaves to “find herself.” Coppola loves long, silent scenes of people lying by a pool or cars driving around and around in the desert. Cleo loves her dad, and suddenly Johnny has to man up and be the father he never was.

Dorff is an intense actor who does his best, and I welcomed any scene that the lovely Fanning graced; she is primed to match her big sister’s fame, and has equal talent. However, to say that Coppola pads a half hour or less of material with pretentious pauses and self-indulgent hoo-haw is being charitable. Given the choice, you’d probably prefer the broken arm Johnny suffers from to sitting through 97 minutes of Hollywood angst. Check out episodes of Entourage if you want a showbiz fix, but Somewhere is nowhere you’ll want to be.

UPDATE: Somewhere is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Dearie Awards 2010: Movie of the Year - I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS

This was a tough choice to make at the end of a great year for GLBT-themed films, both domestic and foreign. We decided on I Love You Phillip Morris as our top pick, though, not only for its sharp, alternately hilarious and touching screenplay (which was just announced as a surprise nominee for this year's Writers Guild Awards) but for the sheer fact that it was finally released in the US after a tortured, nearly two year wait.

I Love You Phillip Morris, which starred Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor (both delightful) in the true-life story of misguided convicts in love with each other, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2009, then opened in virtually every European country, but saw its American opening held up by marketing concerns and financial squabbles. It finally played a number of US theaters just last month, to mixed critical and box office success. Nevertheless, everyone — gay, straight and in between — ought to see this bizarre yet oddly universal, resonant love story. We love Phillip Morris too!

Honorable Mentions:
A leading contender in this year's Oscars, The Kids Are All Right was also nominated by the WGA, as well as for a host of Golden Globe and other awards. This topical tale of a lesbian couple (the fabulous Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) coping with their rapidly maturing children's desire to develop a relationship with their sperm-donor father (a similarly great Mark Ruffalo) struck a chord among parents of all stripes. Though it received mixed reactions in the GLBT community, the general acclaim heaped upon The Kids Are All Right serves as a testament to how far we have come as film viewers and filmmakers, and the movie is probably the most significant mainstream achievement in that regard since 2005's Brokeback Mountain.

Burlesque won't go down as a cinematic classic, but this contemporary homage to A Star is Born melodramas had enough musical pizzazz and camp charm to win over gay audiences. Add Cher (in her first film role in seven years) to the time-honored mix and we had, if not a blockbuster, a Xanadu-esque pop pageant that will likely stand the test of time. As Cher prophetically sings on the soundtrack, "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me." Christina Aguilera didn't suck, Cam Gigandet showed his shapely derriere, Stanley Tucci played gay (again) and Kristen Bell amused as the alcoholic diva. Oh, and out actor Alan Cumming appeared sporadically in a variation on his Cabaret MC role. What's not to like?

Click the following links for our original reviews: I Love You Phillip Morris, The Kids Are All Right and Burlesque.

UPDATE: I Love You Phillip Morris is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

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

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