Movies Dearz

There are various theories as to why Martin Scorsese's first big-budget movie — 1977's New York, New York — was a box office flop. One is that its blend of 1940's musical melodrama with more modern language and acting styles was off-putting. Scorsese seems most accepting of this suspicion in his commentary on the film's just-released Blu-ray edition. Another is that New York, New York was doomed by such contemporary mega-hits as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Saturday Night Fever and Annie Hall, all released in 1977 as well.

Upon watching the gorgeously-designed movie on Blu-ray, however, another reason quickly becomes clear: its screenplay is awful. At 163 minutes, the story about an egotistical saxophone player (Robert De Niro) and a rising jazz singer (Liza Minnelli) who share a tortured romance is too slim and derivative of other, better movies such as the 1954 version of A Star is Born (which even starred Liza's mother, Judy Garland).


Jimmy and Francine meet cute, even though De Niro comes across as only a slightly less psychotic version of Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle, in a nightclub the night of V-J Day. She is understandably wary at first, and Minnelli is great in these early scenes as well as in her later musical numbers. The Blu-ray includes the lengthy, lavish production number "Happy Endings," which was quickly cut from the film after its release in a desperate effort to make a shorter, more audience-friendly version.

There is much to admire in New York, New York, especially Boris Leven's production design, Theodora Van Runkle's costumes and Laszlo Kovacs' stunning cinematography. But the script by Earl MacRauch and Mardik Martin takes a full half-hour for anything substantial to happen, and even then nothing too substantial happens. It's best to skip chapters, stopping each time Liza sings.


Along with New York, New York, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and MGM have also released Milos Forman's energetic adaptation of the rock musical Hair (1979), choreographed by Twyla Tharp, and the more recent gay classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on Blu-ray for the first time. Both look great in the high-def format, and boast memorable performances and musical numbers. They serve as great inspiration to anyone who hasn't yet invested in Blu-ray player to do so.

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

If the Greeks didn't actually invent homosexuality, they were at least the first culture to recognize and integrate it. The Los Angeles/Hollywood summer season of film festivals kicks off this weekend with the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF), a more obscure or specialized but increasingly popular event. Now in its 5th year, the fest runs through Sunday, June 12 at the Laemmle's Sunset 5 in the gay mecca that is West Hollywood. Seven feature films (including one of definite GLBTQ interest reviewed below), five documentaries and nine shorts will be screened, and represent three world premieres, ten US premieres and eight LA premieres. "This year's films represent all facets of Greek life: humor, music, wine, erotica, and family... with a twist! Los Angeles audiences will not be disappointed," says Ersi Danou, LAGFF co-founder.

Last night's opening gala celebrated Lea Binzer's documentary Pelican's Watch. It pulls back the veil on a small community of elders on the island of Santorini, where they are charged with the unique duty of preserving the ancient traditions of vine growing and winemaking in the face of changing times. It was followed by a reception featuring some of the top Greek wines with the Santorini winemakers and the filmmakers in attendance. Tonight, LAGFF will present the US premiere of Roy Sher's My Sweet Canary, which recounts the life story of Roza Eskenazy, the Diva of Rebetiko, or “Greek Blues," whose music shaped the soundtrack of Greece and Asia Minor for almost a century.


The festival's major GLBT happening takes place on Saturday night, with the LA premiere of Strella (A Woman's Way). No doubt the tale of "family... with a twist" that Danou refers to above, this provocative drama-comedy weaves elements from traditional Greek tragedies and myths through a decidedly modern story. Set in Athens, it opens with an inmate, Yiorgos (a fine, subtle performance by Yanis Kokiasmenos), kissing his cellmate/lover goodbye as he is released from prison. Yiorgos doesn't waste time in starting to search for his long-estranged son. He settles into a hotel, where he makes the acquaintance of his pre-op transexual neighbor, Strella (Mina Orfanou, very good). Although Strella makes her living as a prostitute, she and Yiorgos embark on a sexual relationship together that soon turns romantic.

I don't want to give away any of the plot's sometimes jaw-dropping twists, so let's just say Yiorgos's son turns out to be closer than his father suspected. Directed by Panos H. Koutras and written by Koutras with Panajotis Evangelidis, Strella is well-structured and -layered. The lighting and photography aren't the most glamorous but this generally suits the film's lonely, wounded central figures. There are also some amusing sequences involving an animated squirrel that serves as Yiorgos's id. Ultimately, much of Strella's impact and resonance can be summed up in one character's line to another: "You made me love you in every possible way."


With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, a documentary about the legendary comics creator, and the reality-inspired horror film The Death I Dreamed Of will also be shown during the fest. "The growing Greek film community is rapidly proving itself a formidable source of truly groundbreaking cinema, and I am proud to help bring these incredible works to the Los Angeles screen," states Owen Ward, Director of Programming. LAGFF will conclude Sunday with another gala screening and reception. Tickets for screenings and other festival events can be purchased online at the fest's official website or at the door while still available.

Reverend's Rating:
Strella (A Woman's Way): B+

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

Who would have guessed that Woody Allen’s 41st film, starring Owen Wilson of all people, would be one of the best pictures of the year? After the nightmarishly shrill You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, in which all of the ingredients (acting, story and direction) were curdled, Midnight in Paris is a fine, light French soufflé that harkens back to my favorite Woody Allen masterworks, such as Manhattan, Bullets Over Broadway and The Purple Rose of Cairo. It is the story of a nostalgic screenwriter who escapes from his Hollywood hack life into the golden age of Paris in the 20’s via a magical midnight limousine ride.

Like a Twilight Zone episode written by an English Lit major, Midnight in Paris is a wonderful fantasy filled with characters like Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway and Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gil (Wilson) is thrilled to find himself among his literary heroes, as well as rubbing elbows with Picasso, Dalí, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker and director Luis Buñuel, all played by wonderful actors like Kathy Bates, Allison Pill and Adrian Brody.


Creatively stifled by his money-and-status-conscious wife, Inez (Rachel McAdams, in the film’s one bad, thankless role), Gil comes alive with his 20’s cohorts, and falls in love with Adriana (a luminous Marion Cotillard), an art muse already linked to Picasso and Modigliani. Is it cheating if it’s in an alternate reality? There is no explanation for how or why Gil keeps finding his way back to the 20’s, nor does there need to be. Wilson does a great job as Allen’s stand-in, and his innocent love of the period will draw in viewers, even if they (like me) have no idea who Djuna Barnes was!

As with most time travel tales, there comes the time where the hero must decide in which world he wants to live, and I am not completely satisfied with Gil’s choice. It almost feels as if Allen realized that he had to tie things up in a hurry... although, given his perfectionism, that seems unlikely. At least in the similarly-themed Night Gallery episode, “They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar,” a wrecking ball ended the story with a bang. Then again, with wonderful performances like Bates’ Stein, Pill’s flighty Zelda and Corey Stoll’s manly Hemingway, maybe I just didn’t want Midnight in Paris to end.

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

Hailing from Rome, Georgia, Cole Burden is a long way from Paris, but he still finds himself climbing a barricade and fighting for French independence eight times a week. As Courfeyrac in the hit musical Les Misérables, which has launched its 25th Anniversary tour, he is part of a band of idealistic students who rise up against the oppressive government. Given the current climate of union-busting and stripping rights from public employees, Les Misérables couldn’t be more timely.

Set in the early nineteenth century, Les Misérables is Victor Hugo’s epic story of love, revolution and redemption, centering on Jean Valjean, a former prisoner, who spends his life trying to help others, but is pursued by Inspector Javert, who vows to bring Valjean down no matter how long it takes. A love triangle develops between Cosette, Valjean’s adopted daughter, Marius, an idealistic student, and Eponine, the daughter of the cruel couple who raised Cosette before Valjean rescued her. The show’s staying power has always been its gorgeous score, featuring songs like “I Dreamed a Dream”, “On My Own”, “Bring Him Home” and the comedic “Master of the House.”


“It’s nice to stay on the go. I like that lifestyle,” Burden explained. The handsome twenty-seven year old actor gave up plans to sing opera when he realized that he would be relegated to doing the same few roles due to his vocal range. “I’ve always been drawn to acting, in film or on stage. I just happen to be able to sing.” Musical theater fulfills him more. He has been in workshops of Yank!, the musical about gay soldiers in love during World War II, and played Buck Barrow, Clyde’s brother, in the new musical Bonnie and Clyde by Hunter Foster of Urinetown fame.

“I think I’m the only actor in musical theater who had never seen Les Miz,” Burden laughed. “It’s such a rewarding show to do because I do a lot of workshops of new musicals and you’re trying to get a feel for what the audience thinks. With Les Miz, it’s so great because it’s such a ‘sure thing’ every night. The audience is singing the finale with us every night. I think every actor needs to experience what it’s like to do such a hit, because that’s not always the case. It’s nice to do something that everybody loves.”


Being in the ensemble means that Burden is working non-stop. “I think I have fifteen costume changes,” he explained. “It’s a lot of fun. I get to be a little bit of everything. I’m a sailor, I’m one of the poor at the beginning of the show, and I’m Courfeyrac, one of the students, who’s told, “Courfeyrac, you take the watch”. I’ve started a blog on my website called “Taking the Watch” where I let people know what’s going on on the tour. I also understudy Bamatabois, who’s one of the fops. I get to put on a lot of make-up and beat up on (downtrodden heroine) Fantine, so that’s a lot of fun.” Burden’s blog gives a rare look behind the scenes at an actor’s life on the road, including one incident where the infamous iPhone Daylight Savings glitch made him late to a performance. “I just want to talk to people about life within Les Miz. Nothing personal, but there are so many fans of the show that I think they’d love to hear stuff that goes on. It’s such an epic production, I think that there are lots of interesting stories that one can tell.”

Burden devotes a lot of his time to raising money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. “It’s so important as an actor to stay abreast of what’s going on, for lack of a better term, ‘in the real world’.” He is committed to making sure that people continue to fight the spread of HIV, and is proud that they as a cast have already raised more than $75,000. “Just the difference (in attitudes about AIDS) as a gay man between being twenty-seven and twenty-three... it’s like there’s a complacency about unprotected sex. I just don’t understand where that comes from. I guess we’re just getting away from an understanding of how it all originated. It’s very scary, actually.”


He’s glad that Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, a play about the early days of the AIDS crisis, is back on stage in New York. “I draw a correlation between that play and what happens to the students in Les Miz. It’s about standing up and fighting, literally going into the streets and fighting for a cause that you believe in. In Les Miz, it’s about children and education and the decline of Paris and we have to take control and get it back together because the government is not going to. I relate more to seeing a film like Milk and seeing what Harvey Milk really did for the gay community. That’s something as a person that I can relate to, that I’m passionate about.” Burden hopes that people of all generations can take the message from Les Misérables that you have to stand up and be willing to fight against those who want to keep you down.”

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

Parents are mysterious creatures to their kids, and sometimes it takes a lifetime to figure them out. Mike Mills’ engrossing and uplifting film, Beginners, seeks to document his own experiences with his parents, in a fictionalized way. It is such a specific, personal journey, full of details that you know came straight from Mills’ life, yet Beginners feels relatable to anyone who has turned around a strained relationship with a parent or anyone who has embarked on a romantic relationship not knowing if they have what it takes to make it work. The film has whimsical elements, like the way Arthur the Jack Russell Terrier has ongoing subtitles to reveal his feelings, but overall, the film is a leisurely-paced love story paired with a late-in-life coming out tale.

Oliver, played by Ewan McGregor, is packing up his late father Hal’s (Christopher Plummer) belongings as the film begins, and in flashback, you are introduced to the man who, after being widowed at age 75, decides to come out of the closet. The film is both a tribute to a man who, being a product of the 50’s, denied his true sexual orientation his whole life, only to embrace it in the end, and an intelligent examination of the effect parents have on their children and the way they interact with others. Oliver is closed off emotionally, and doesn’t stick with relationships very long. He watched his mother Georgia (Mary Page Keller), who made Oliver her confidant and surrogate best friend, suffer from the loneliness of being in a marriage with a closeted gay man. At the same time, Hal was a distant and absentee father.


Oliver meets French actress Anna (Mélanie Laurent from Inglourious Basterds) at a costume party where she is playing mute to save her voice. Their courtship is sweet and tentative, since both come with a lot of baggage. Hal, on the other hand, embraces every aspect of gay life, trying out bars where youth rules supreme and then settling in with a great group of “Prime Timers” who host movie nights and dinners out in West Hollywood. He even gets a wild and crazy boyfriend named Andy (ER’s Goran Visnjic, in a horrible bowl cut). But Hal’s days are numbered, it turns out, and Oliver becomes much closer with his father than he ever was growing up. Mills keeps the tone even and mostly light-hearted, but the reality of losing a parent is explored in a way everyone can relate to; don’t be afraid if tears flow... it’s good for you.

Beginners has many moments of emotional truth, and the performances could not be better. Plummer is sure to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and he does a great service to a group in the gay community that tends to be ignored, namely older gay men. McGregor has a much quieter role to play, but he does it with his usual intelligence and intensity. Laurent is quirky and beautiful and Cosmo the dog makes the perfect cinematic companion for Oliver. If you can handle a summer movie that isn’t full of shape-shifting robots or Caribbean pirates, Beginners is a nice, quiet beginning to the season.

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

The new X-Men film is first class all the way. But what did you expect? Starring James McAvoy and the sizzling Michael Fassbender, and directed by Matthew Vaughn (the man who brought us the hugely entertaining Kick-Ass), X-Men: First Class reinvigorates the series by going back to its groovy, swinging roots. Part adventure, part history lesson and all-exciting, Vaughn’s film delves movingly into what made young Holocaust survivor Erik Lehnsherr into the villainous Magneto, played by Sir Ian McKellen previously. McAvoy is a perfect, compassionate counterpoint, as the telepath who would be Patrick Stewart, a.k.a. Professor X.

The story of these friends and future enemies begins in the 40’s, when Erik reveals his mutant power over metal in an attempt to save his parents, and at the same time, young Charles Xavier finds a familiar blue shape-shifter stealing food in the kitchen of his family’s palatial Westchester mansion. Raven, a.k.a. Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence of Winter’s Bone fame, who cements her reputation as a strong, committed actress who is ready to assume any role that would have earlier been given to Leelee Sobieski. But if Young Magneto and Junior Professor X are friends, who is their super-villain nemesis? That would be the utterly evil Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), a former Nazi scientist and current mutant collector. The action moves to 1962, where it turns out the Shaw is primed to bring about nuclear war via the Cuban Missile Crisis.


X-Men: First Class echoes J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek prequel in that we are introduced to many characters who will be very important in the X-Men’s future, with enough nodding cameos to tickle fans of the film series. The rest of the cast is impressive, including Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man) as Beast, January Jones as Emma Frost, and Rose Byrne and Oliver Platt as the only good guys in the US Military Complex that will eventually demonize all mutants.

The awesome sixties production design is a character unto itself, even if I doubt miniskirts were all the rage that early. X-Men: First Class truly succeeds in creating human stories amongst the action sequences. Fassbender’s quest for vengeance is a powerful plot, and the mutants’ quest to be accepted for who they are and not be hated and feared for it continues to strike a deep chord with LGBT audiences.

The best thing about X-Men: First Class is that you don’t have to have seen anything that came before to appreciate and follow the plot. In a summer that will be jam-packed with monsters, wizards and superheroes. X-Men: First Class graduates with top honors!

UPDATE: X-Men: First Class 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.

"If we really heard the voice of God, we would be reduced to juice. The vibration of His voice would reduce us to liquid... so He has to use other people to speak His word."

So says singer-turned-pastor Andrae Crouch at the start of Rejoice and Shout, a wonderful new documentary about the evolution of Gospel music from Magnolia Pictures that opens today in New York and June 24 in Los Angeles. I likely would have loved the movie solely for incorporating footage of the late, great Mahalia Jackson, but when you throw Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Clara and Willa Ward, the original Five Blind Boys of Alabama and the Edwin Hawkins Singers ("Oh Happy Day") into the mix, it constitutes a near-instant classic.

As this sweeping film (made by the longtime team of director Don McGlynn and producer Joe Lauro) points out, Gospel music has long represented freedom in times of slavery and oppression. The first known or recognized Gospel record was recorded in 1902 by the Dinwiddie Colored Quartet. The film's press notes point out that this was nearly 20 years before any African-American blues or jazz recordings were made. Influenced by their relatives' experience of having worked on Southern plantations for white masters, these black musicians struck a multi-cultural nerve.


Other Gospel musicians honed their craft through the Great Depression and two World Wars. These included the "controversial" Thomas A. Dorsey, who wrote both spiritual and secular songs that often seemed at odds with one another. And then there's Mahalia, who started out as a hairdresser aspiring to sound like her idol, Bessie Smith, and ultimately "crossed all barriers" performing Gospel songs on The Ed Sullivan Show. As Smokey Robinson says in the film, "Just as many white people had Mahalia Jackson in their homes, listening to her, as black people did." Heck, I have several Mahalia compilations I listen to on a semi-regular basis today.

Interviews with scholars, authors and contemporary musicians are incorporated throughout Rejoice and Shout and provide essential, generally objective perspectives. The movie also utilizes restored archival footage of the most significant figures in Gospel music. There were a couple of premature edits or reel changes in the print I viewed, but these were hopefully unique and won't be observed elsewhere.

"Faith is the thing that keeps you going," according to on-screen commentator Bill Carpenter (no relation). He won't find an argument from me, nor will the numerous musicians recounted over 150 years of often-painful American history in Rejoice and Shout.


In a natural progression, six backup singers of various ethnicities yearn for headliner status in the new DVD release This Time, available now from Village Art Pictures. Having once sung with the likes of Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin, these talented individuals have more recently battled homelessness and the brutality of the music industry in an effort to become stars themselves.

This similarly-exceptional documentary features three queer subjects in addition to its openly gay director-photographer-editor, Victor Mignatti (who directed chapters 13-22 of R. Kelly's infamous "Trapped in the Closet" music video). The GLBT folks shown are cabaret singer Bobby Belfry, music producer Peitor Angell, and Estelle Brown, now a lesbian minister who co-founded the Unity Fellowship Church in Los Angeles. The talents of all concerned are on full display here, and their music is both inspiring and entertaining.

Feel free to sing along to both of these films, whether you'll be watching in a theatre, at home or at your local worship center.

Reverend's Ratings:
Rejoice and Shout: A-
This Time: B+

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