What's new

Gay-Friendly Blu-rays (1 Viewer)

Mark-W

Supporter
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 6, 1999
Messages
3,297
Real Name
Mark
Mark-P said:
A couple of corrections here. The MGM rollout of DVDs on June 3, 2003 included:
Bent
Jeffrey
It's My Party
My Beautiful Launderette
and
The Sum of Us

On May 4, 2004 New Line Home Video released DVDs of
Torch Song Trilogy
and
Love! Valor! Compassion!

Longtime Companion was actually released on DVD several years earlier on January 23, 2001, and Priscilla on March 28, 2000.
Thanks Mark-P!
 

Jason_V

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 7, 2001
Messages
8,954
Location
Orlando, FL
Real Name
Jason
Mark-P said:
Jason, did your parents have any inkling that you might be gay at the time, or were they just throwing it in for good measure? And if they knew, wouldn't "Philadelphia" have made them more compassionate towards gay people? After all, wasn't that the whole aim of the movie, to win over the straight people?
Probably. When I told an aunt over the phone, her reaction was somewhere between bored by the news and disinterest. She told me she and my uncle knew for a long time and were waiting for me to catch up. So I would assume they knew the entire time. You wouldn't believe the things that came out of their mouths when I actually came out to them in 2000. It's not something we talk about now and know to leave the topic well enough alone. They won't even meet my partner of nine years.

Ejanss said:
That was the general intent, to make the Mainstream Headline-Related AIDS Movie for the Oscars--
Although, in the scene where Denzel gets propositioned by the one supporter rather overeagerly assuming "Well, c'mon, you're defending the AIDS case, so that means you're One Of Us, right? :) ", that also pretty well outlined the reasons why a true "mainstream" AIDS movie for straights was a little further away than hoped.
The cause, the movie tried to take the middle road in telling us, had its Own Worst Enemies on BOTH sides. Kinda makes you wonder what Jason's parents were trying to tell him....

(Although "Who needs to know about the Holocaust, that's all in the past!" isn't exactly free of dysfunction, either. Think learning a Spielbergian lesson about charity and self-sacrifice to ALL people, from a people who actually were persecuted, would have been more food for the soul and the road better taken.)
It's been a long, long time since I've watched Philadelphia, so I know I need to revisit it in the near future. Just think, though, in less than 10 years after the movie came out, Will & Grace was on TV and Bravo was almost all gay, all the time with Queer Eye and Boy Meets Boy. A lot changed in a relatively short amount of time, all things considered.
 

Ejanss

BANNED
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
2,789
Real Name
EricJ
Jason_V said:
It's been a long, long time since I've watched Philadelphia, so I know I need to revisit it in the near future. Just think, though, in less than 10 years after the movie came out, Will & Grace was on TV and Bravo was almost all gay, all the time with Queer Eye and Boy Meets Boy. A lot changed in a relatively short amount of time, all things considered.
I, OTOH, remember when Bravo was a network so named for showing Janus/Criterion foreign films and BBC cultural events, and was one of the more expensive premium channels on the air.
And then the CEO made a big deal about Coming Out, and the TV industry thought this would bring more "diversity" to the cable-scape.

Now, they show entire day-long blocks of Interior Therapy, Real Housewives, Princesses of Long Island, and Watch What Happens Live with one of the network execs hosting celebrity news all by his own lil' overenthusiastic self. The definition of "Programming Diversity" is entirely up to you. :(
(So much for the old stereotype about gays liking old classic films...)
 

MatthewA

BANNED
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2000
Messages
9,727
Location
Salinas, CA
Real Name
Matthew
Ejanss said:
(Although "Who needs to know about the Holocaust, that's all in the past!" isn't exactly free of dysfunction, either. Think learning a Spielbergian lesson about charity and self-sacrifice to ALL people, from a people who actually were persecuted,
That reminds me, I wonder if we'll ever see 1997's Bent on Blu-ray.
 

Mark-W

Supporter
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 6, 1999
Messages
3,297
Real Name
Mark
MatthewA said:
That reminds me, I wonder if we'll ever see 1997's Bent on Blu-ray.
Where did that pink trigangle come from? Oh right, now I remember, it was when the Nazis put it on us when we were *not* being persecured nor put in concentration camps. :rolleyes:
Bent was a good movie, but having seen it live on stage beforehand, it lost something in the translation. That DVD needs a good Blu-ray upgrade!!! Thanks MatthewA!
 

Mark-W

Supporter
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 6, 1999
Messages
3,297
Real Name
Mark
Steve,

A while back you were asking where the ignore feature went to. I just found it, for those that want to use this handy tool:

Go to your profile and
-go to "Manage Ignore Prefs"
--add users that you want to no longer see posts from.

Lively debate and discussion is often a great way to conduct ourselves and learn and grow,but there are other times when it is an exercise in futility.

There are folks that would rather get negative attention than no attention.

Sometimes silence is the best response.
 

Mark-W

Supporter
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 6, 1999
Messages
3,297
Real Name
Mark
SteveJKo said:
Steve, have you ever seen a very good independent film from around 1989/90 called Longtime Companion? In some ways I found it much more moving than Philadelphia. Unfortunately the DVD seems to be out of print, with Amazon listing new copies starting at $47.89. On a positive note the DVD is available to rent from Netflix.
SteveJKo,

Conicentdentally, I found [WARNING SPOILERS IN ARTICLE] this article today about Longtime Companion. It mentions it being avialable on Netflix streaming, too.
 

Steve Tannehill

R.I.P - 4.28.2015
Senior HTF Member
Deceased Member
Joined
Jul 6, 1997
Messages
5,547
Location
DFW
Real Name
Steve Tannehill
I found a reasonably-priced used copy of Longtime Companion and ordered it.

Also, my copy of A Room With A View blu-ray arrived from Amazon.co.uk. It is region free. It includes about 42 minutes of video supplements, and a commentary track with Merchant/Ivory and Simon Callow, the gay actor who played the Reverend Mr. Beebe.

The transfer looks nice on my Thunderbolt display, my only complaint is that the credits are window boxed. I will hopefully watch it on something larger over the weekend. The sound is only Dolby Digital 5.1, but this was not a movie known for its sound.

This is one of the most successful Merchant Ivory films, and it paved the way for the gay-themed Maurice, which was released two years later.

And as I learned from Mark, Ismael Merchant and James Ivory were a couple. I thought that was cool.
 

bujaki

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
Messages
7,096
Location
Richardson, TX
Real Name
Jose Ortiz-Marrero
Steve,
I'm glad you found a copy of Longtime Companion. I saw it when it opened in Dallas and found it very moving, indeed more affecting and less manipulative than Philadelphia.
Although A Room with a View may be the better movie, Maurice is also very affecting. The final shot of Hugh Grant is devastating.
Did you know that E.M. Forster kept the novel from being published during his lifetime? It may seem tame to us today, but it paints a very good picture of Edwardian hypocrisy and its destructive effects.
 

Steve Tannehill

R.I.P - 4.28.2015
Senior HTF Member
Deceased Member
Joined
Jul 6, 1997
Messages
5,547
Location
DFW
Real Name
Steve Tannehill
I also saw Longtime Companion when it opened in Dallas (I think at the UA CIne, I just remember it was a downer for a first date movie).

Yes, I knew that Maurice was not published in E.M. Forster's lifetime. I'll have to read it again, it's been 26 years.
 

SteveJKo

Second Unit
Joined
May 5, 2005
Messages
449
Steve Tannehill said:
...This is one of the most successful Merchant Ivory films, and it paved the way for the gay-themed Maurice, which was released two years later....
Maurice is tied with The Remains Of The Day as my favorite Merchant Ivory film. But perhaps that's because I've never seen A Room With A View. Well that will change after tonight. Netflix has it available for streaming (unlike Longtime Companion) so it'll be viewed this evening. Thanks for the "heads up" on this title. It's funny, It's not like I'm unaware of A Room With A View. It got great reviews upon it's release and I've always meant to see it. But sometimes it takes our friends on this forum to give us that little push to stop procrastinating. :)
 

Steve Tannehill

R.I.P - 4.28.2015
Senior HTF Member
Deceased Member
Joined
Jul 6, 1997
Messages
5,547
Location
DFW
Real Name
Steve Tannehill
Longtime Companion showed up today. I was a little surprised to find that it is non-anamorphic letterboxed.
 

Steve Tannehill

R.I.P - 4.28.2015
Senior HTF Member
Deceased Member
Joined
Jul 6, 1997
Messages
5,547
Location
DFW
Real Name
Steve Tannehill
Well, I just finished watching A Room With A View, and I want to see it again. I continue to bring this up in the gay friendly thread because of its gay pedigree. It's writer, E.M. Forster, was gay. It's director, James Ivory, was gay. It's producer, Ismael Merchant, was gay. One of the actors, Simon Callow, was gay. Another actor, Denholm Elliott, was bisexual. They all came together to produce one of the most romantic movies I've ever seen. Oh, and it helps that there's an extended nude scene... :DThe supporting performances are all standouts, particularly Maggie Smith and Denholm Elliott.The blu-ray looked nice on my big screen TV. The supplements would not play on my PS3, probably because they are in PAL. But the commentary plays, and I will listen to it next.This movie gets my highest recommendation.
 

SteveJKo

Second Unit
Joined
May 5, 2005
Messages
449
Steve Tannehill said:
I'm here all week. Try the veal.

So what did you think of A Room With A View?
I loved it Steve. It's right up there with Maurice and Remains of the Day for me. The entire cast was great, but I especially enjoyed Daniel Day-Lewis. Unfortunately watching it via Netflix streaming brought in some technical issues I'd never encountered before with streaming, so it became a bit of an ordeal, but ultimately well worth it. I think I'm going to pick up the blu-ray on this one.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,808
Messages
5,123,523
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top