Gay-Friendly Blu-rays (3 Viewers)

[Matt Hough]

I enjoyed the film very much. I've been meaning to revisit it during the past few weeks, but I have such a stack of unopened DVDs and Blu-ray, and I often feel guilty when I rewatch things instead of opening some of the other things I have waiting.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Mark, I love how you posted... Slightly different covers in each thread.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I enjoyed the film very much. I've been meaning to revisit it during the past few weeks, but I have such a stack of unopened DVDs and Blu-ray, and I often feel guilty when I rewatch things instead of opening some of the other things I have waiting.

I feel no guilt, but have stacks of unwatched movies too--going back to the DVD Resource days! And I did like this cover better.

 

[Mark-W]

Just adjusting for the audience at large. LOL!

Mark, I love how you posted... Slightly different covers in each thread.

Speaking of large audiences, when I finished watching the series two Blu-rays of Downton Abbey, I meant to respond to Steve T's original post. While Thomas was the character mentioned in our discussion, how the series handled the situation was wonderful if also (like so much of the series) shaped for a 2013 audience's sensibilities. Lord Crawley's response to the matter made me laugh out loud. Series three has several new cast members joining the Downton Abbey including an actor who was always excellent in Foyle's War, Julian Ovenden.

I can only hope he is there to add some romance!

 

[Mark-W]

Saw this while getting my tomatoes at the store:

With this and Game of Thrones season three starting soon, I am subscribing to HBO for the next several months.

 

[Jeffrey:K]

Originally Posted by Mark Walker

Funny that the Brits mark it rated MA for "sexual references:"
I guess seeing Matt Smith naked and making love to another man is a "reference."

This looks like an Australian film/TV ratings classification.

 

[Matt Hough]

I've gone back through this thread and been surprised that I failed to report that there's a lovely subplot in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel that's appropriate for this thread.

 

[Kenneth_C]

I just watched the UK (region free) blu-ray of Shelter.

I hadn't seen it since it was originally released on DVD and had forgotten just how good it is.

 

[Mark-W]

Kenneth_C,

Thanks for posting about Shelter. I remember renting it and liking it. Will certainly revisit it on Blu.

 

[Mark-W]

Steve,

Thanks for mentioning The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

That the lead is the same actor that starred in the underwhelming Percy Jackson & The Lightening Thief was certainly a revelation to me. He is incredible in The Perks..., which I finally got around to watching yesterday.

The film contains two commentary tracks: one with the writer/director, and one with the director and the leads.
Based on the trailer, I passed on this film, as I was not interested in yet another coming of age film, but this film was quite good, and much better than I was hoping. And it does play both to folks that are in their teens now, and purposely
(The director states it in the commentary.), as a nostalgia piece for folks who are long past their teens.

For for its gay-friendly factor, the film is incredibly inclusive. The director gushes on both commentary tracks about his cast and mentions how important it is for him that folks in the LGBT community see themselves as beautiful with all the earnestness of an Oprah life class. As cynical as I can be, I found It very touching.


Thi is not really a spoiler, but, one scene that I found especially remarkable was when

Spoiler

the gay friend kisses his straight friend on the lips during a moment of dispair and there is absolutely no negative reaction.

It is hard not to be impressed with this cast and the lead, Logan Lerman, whose face registers all the thoughts and feelings racing through his mind.

The Blu-ray also includes a brief "Best Summer Ever" documentary and deleted scenes and dailies with optional commentary tracks as well.
One daily, with Ezra Miller pounding a nail in shop class, is particularly hillarious.

Thanks again Steve!

Thanks for the heads up about the HBO Liberace movie. One more reason to keep HBO. "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower," which will be released on blu-ray February 12, is gay-friendly, at least, based on the book which I read yesterday.

 

[Jason_V]

Just looking at Perks of Being a Wallflower, I'm really interested in bumping it up my Netflix queue now. I'm a sucker for pretty much anything Paul Rudd does.

 

[Mark-W]

It’s been a good couple of weeks for Gay-Centric & Gay-Friendly films.
In addition to watching the fascinating documentary Paul Taylor: Dancemaker on DVD (thanks to Netflix) complete with the male lead dancer, the amazing Patrick Corbin, momentarily (and heart-breakingly) talking about his male lover

and now the Blu-ray of Keep the Lights On.

Keep The Lights On follows the relationship of Erik, a Dutch filmmaker from a wealthy family now living in New York City and Paul, a successful lawyer with Random House.

The following is how the film’s website describes the plot, with some deliberate truncating by yours truly:
“Nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor (Thure Lindhardt), Keep the Lights On chronicles an emotionally and sexually charged journey of two men in New York City through love, friendship, and addiction. Documentary filmmaker Erik (Thure Lindhardt) and closeted lawyer Paul (Zachary Booth, Damages) meet through a casual encounter, but soon find a deeper connection and become a couple.”

I watched this film without watching the included “making of” featurette and I could immediately tell it was a true story; the moments captured all feel real, natural, specific, and paced the way real life paces a relationship. I was not surprised in the least to learn this was the director Ira Sach’s real life retelling of his relationship with lawyer Bill Clegg. (Warning, even a Google image search of either of them may result in what amounts to spoilers for some of you.)

While the site mentions Paul as “closeted,” any emphasis on this is too much, as the film deals with that quickly and moves on to the others parts of these men’s secrets.

The film’s title references how the need for men of our generation, now in our 40s, growing up hiding larges parts of ourselves as in order to survive creates complications when, as adults, we continue to hide and compartmentalize parts of lives, particularly the parts we don’t want others to see.

Shot on super-16, the Blu-ray looks as I would assume it should look. It has a film like quality, but no one is going to rank this film’s presentation on Blu-ray as the best image-quality of the year. I suspect part of this is the limits of Super16, but I readily admit I do not have the discerning eye some of you have.

Tonally, this film reminds me Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together, the recently fantastic The Weekend, and, frankly, a whole host films of the Scenes From a Marriage variety. The film is beautifully shot with careful attention to lighting which is quite lovely while still true to its indie roots. The cast all do exceptional jobs with their performances, especially Zachary Booth and Julianne Nicholson, who really stood out for me.

The Blu-ray also includes a commentary track with the director, which is quite good, along with the aforementioned “making of” feature and an additional documentary on early gay underground filmmaker Avery Willard.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[Jason_V]

Alright, no Blu ray on this one, but I just finished A Year Without Love. It's autobiographical, subtitled and, well, not exactly my cup of tea. And I'm not exactly sure why it's not right now. There's nothing particularly new here for me and the storyline-a gay man living with HIV gets involved in the S/M culture-turns out to be meh. I just didn't like anyone in the movie with the exception of a leather dom. There is a single moment of tenderness and compassion in the entire movie, which turned out to be far too little.

The story tries to bite off more than it can chew, I think, and crams too much into 90-ish minutes. Want to tell a story about the leath S/M culture or how a man becomes curious to be a sub? Great, do it. Want to tell a story about a man living with HIV and why he decides to take meds when he previously said he won't? Fantastic. Want to tell a story about an HIV+ man and his struggle to write about his life and get it published? Fine. All of these stories just blend and meld together in a way I wasn't enraptured with. Bored, mostly.

 

[Mark-W]

Thanks Jason!

This thread in its DVD iteration was also very useful for knowing which films to avoid. Glad to see we're continuing that tradition.

 

[Jason_V]

Not a problem, Mark! I was going to dig up the DVD version...but then I got real lazy. I figured if anyone had a problem with posting in this thread, I'd hear about it sooner or later.

I've got another gay-themed movie coming this weekend from Netflix (Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives), so I'll certainly check in again before too long!

 

[Steve Tannehill]

The Liberace movie Behind the Candelabra airs Sunday night on HBO. I'm about to set the DVR.

 

[Matt Hough]

The Liberace movie Behind the Candelabra airs Sunday night on HBO. I'm about to set the DVR.

It has gotten rave reviews at Cannes and from all the show biz periodicals.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Does Tootsie count as gay friendly? It has this exchange:

Michael Dorsey: You should have seen the look on her face when she thought I was a lesbian. George Fields: "Lesbian"? You just said gay. Michael Dorsey: No, no, no - SANDY thinks I'm gay, JULIE thinks I'm a lesbian. George Fields: I thought Dorothy was supposed to be straight? Michael Dorsey: Dorothy IS straight. Les, the sweetest, nicest man in the world tonight asked me to marry him. George Fields: A guy named Les wants YOU to marry him? Michael Dorsey: No, no, no - he wants to marry Dorothy. George Fields: Does he know she's a lesbian? Michael Dorsey: Dorothy's NOT a lesbian. George Fields: I know that, does HE know that? Michael Dorsey: Know WHAT? George Fields: That, er, I... I don't know.

The blu ray which I got from Amazon.de is region free and quite good. Cost $20 shipped.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Watching Behind the Candelabra. Hollywood's loss is HBO's gain.

 

[Mark-P]

Okay, now was I the only one who, at the end of Behind the Candelabra asked, "Where was Debbie Reynolds?"