Owing as much to the Italian giallo films of the 60s and 70s such as Suspiria as it does to Stanley Kubrick at his most arch with A Clockwork Orange, Peter Strickland’s In Fabric blazes out of the gates as one of the loopiest, most gorgeously shot thrillers I’ve seen in ages. Although set in... Continue Reading →
The filmmaking team behind 2016's critically acclaimed, BAFTA nominated Weiner, proved that they were adept at capturing rivetingly unselfconscious, humanising, and often very funny, footage of the former Congressman turned New York mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner. Next for The Fight, directors Eli B. Despres, Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, joined by executive producer Kerry Washington,... Continue Reading →
This week GLAAD handed out their annual Media Awards and among this year’s winners was a character that got a few people scratching their heads. You may know Star Wars, but do you know the queer antihero Doctor Aphra? A unique creation of Marvel’s official Star Wars comics in 2015, Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra is... Continue Reading →
In the first few minutes of She Dies Tomorrow, we are shown a glimpse through a doorway of a man with his back to us, peering in on him as he spirals out of control. "Oh my God, it's over," he mutters to himself. "It's fucking over." As he paces, he becomes more and more... Continue Reading →
Hailed by Vogue as “the most fabulous entrance in Met Gala history”, in May last year Billy Porter was carried on to the pink carpet by six shirtless Broadway hunks on a palanquin dressed as Cleopatra in a dazzling gold ensemble designed by The Blonds. Just three months earlier, Porter had shut down the red... Continue Reading →
At first blush, a shimmery new Kylie Minogue dance anthem would seem wasted during a pandemic in which we are unable to dance together or even get together. Ten years ago she debuted All the Lovers with a video featuring a writhing human pyramid that epically exaggerated a carefree socializing we just can't imagine right here,... Continue Reading →
Marvel Comics has finally kicked off its much delayed summer “crossover event”, the intergalactic epic titled Empyre, and at the core is Teddy Altman, the gay superhero named Hulkling. Empyre puts Earth in the center of a battle between the recently reconciled Kree/Skrull Alliance (the waring races in the Captain Marvel movie) and the Cotati,... Continue Reading →
Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful opens with the image of a naked female model, smoking in front of a giant billboard of the Marlboro Man. The clash of brash female sexuality, hyper masculinity and the male gaze sets the stage for a fascinating look at the legacy of one of fashion’s most influential... Continue Reading →
Between Lady Bird, Pen15, and now Yes, God, Yes, we've officially reached the point where nostalgic coming-of-age media is nostalgic for the time period where I came of age: the early 2000s. I've spent my life watching movies and TV shows that were nostalgic for a time before I was born, learning how to decode... Continue Reading →
Ghosts, coffee, arson and love - it’s a funny mix in Crema, a new supernatural graphic novel from writer Johnnie Christmas and PRISM Award nominated illustrator Dante Luiz. Esme is a Brooklyn barista with the uncanny ability to see ghosts when she’s caffeinated to the hilt. When her café is about to be sold to... Continue Reading →
At the core of this three-part documentary series, Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia, are previously unheard FBI surveillance recordings and enlightening, often riveting interviews with the operatives who planted the bugs in homes, cars and restaurants and monitored the audio for incriminating evidence. There are some lavish, high production value visuals, including sweeping... Continue Reading →
Existing in some No Man’s Land between Life Is Beautiful and Defiance, writer/director Jonathan Jakubowicz's Resistance tells the true story of the most famous mime in history, Marcel Marceau. Rather than focusing on how he slid his hands along invisible walls or held non-existent umbrellas, we experience his talents at the start of Hitler’s occupation... Continue Reading →
GLAAD published its annual Studio Responsibility Index (SRI) on Thursday July 16th 2020. The study examined the 118 theatrical films released during 2019 by the eight top grossing US studios and their subsidiaries. 22 of those releases, or 18.6%, were considered by GLAAD to have featured explicitly identified LGBTQ characters, the "highest percentage of inclusive films... Continue Reading →
With the final two episodes of HBO Max's ballroom competition series Legendary landing on the platform yesterday, the streamer announced that the show will be back for a second season, moving the production from New York to Los Angeles. MC Dashaun Wesley along with judges, the Wonder Woman of Vogue Leiomy Maldonado, Jameela Jamil, Law... Continue Reading →
I May Destroy You, a co-production between HBO and the BBC, is fast becoming one of the most talked about television series of the year on both sides of the Atlantic. Centring authentic Black voices and exploring frank and nuanced questions around sexual consent and exploitation it is compelling and essential viewing. Written and created... Continue Reading →
The stars aligned on Friday night, ahead of the July 8th Netflix release of Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch's Mucho Mucho Amor, as drag queen Alexis Mateo channeled the spirit of the astrologer and Latinx icon Walter Mercado for Snatch Game of Love on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 5. And he did a beautiful... Continue Reading →
Everyone knows it's impolite to ask a woman her age, but in the case of Andromache the Scythian, better known as Andy (Charlize Theron), the reason that she won't reveal hers might just be that she’s lost count of her birthdays. After all Andy has been alive for several millennia. She's the head of an... Continue Reading →
By now, we all know Judd Apatow makes long movies. With the right script, premise and actors, however, you may find yourself having a great time basking in his universe. He takes his time, allows for breathing room, and essentially makes mumblecore movies on a large scale. Call it Jumbocore. With his latest, The King... Continue Reading →
As safety restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic continue to adversely effect many businesses across the US, Julius in New York's Greenwich Village, the city's oldest gay bar, has launched a fundraising campaign. "The bills are piling up, rent, utilities, insurance, etc. and there is no set date for indoor dining," says Julius' owner Helen Buford... Continue Reading →
This is THAT rare release. And exactly what we need right now. A lightning-in-a-bottle-powered glitter ball just waiting to quicken a lonely dance lover’s pulse. This is a conceptual disco diva album that grabs you immediately by the brain, the feet and some popular parts in between. Spotlight sets the stage with a slinky dip into... Continue Reading →
To contextualise the release of Hamilton at a time when people can't gather for live performances, and many consider what it means to be an American this Independence Day, there's a brief introduction. We hear from the director of the original stage production, and this filmed version, Thomas Kail, along with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the originator... Continue Reading →
Second Stage Theater’s planned production of Richard Greenberg’s Tony Award-winning play about a gay baseball player and the reaction to him coming out, Take Me Out, which had been postponed due to the current Broadway suspension, will come to Broadway next year with performances beginning the week of March 22nd 2021 at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater (240 West 44th Street,... Continue Reading →
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics marked the end of Pride month today by announcing the nominees for the first Dorian TV Awards. The final season of Schitt’s Creek leads with seven nominations including Best TV Comedy and Best LGBTQ TV Show, followed by Ryan Murphy's Hollywood with six nods. “With a global pandemic, severe... Continue Reading →
Legacy Recordings and digital studio Cut.com have partnered to release Love In Transition, a touching video interview montage celebrating the beauty of love set to Elvis Presley’s classic Can’t Help Falling In Love. https://youtu.be/NgVHr5jf5t4 Falling in Love with My Trans Partner Love In Transition shares the stories of six couples who describe falling in love while a trans... Continue Reading →
Netflix will mark the final day of Pride month with a virtual celebration on their Youtube Channel starting at 7pm ET / 4pm PT. Netflix Pride presented by The Most will bring together queer performers, creators, and leaders as well as celebrity allies to mark Pride 2020 and in support three LGBTQ+ organisations: OutRight Action... Continue Reading →
Oscar-nominated filmmaker and journalist David France follows his searing AIDS activism documentary, How to Survive a Plague, and the poignant The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, with a deeply unsettling look at Chechnya’s anti-LGBTQ purge. Inspired by Masha Gessen's The New Yorker article Forbidden Letters: The Gay Men Who Fled Chechnya’s Purge, Welcome... Continue Reading →
With their feature film debut, director Andrew Patterson and his co-writer Craig W. Sanger have made an idiosyncratic splash with the micro budget yet winning sci-fi mystery, The Vast Of Night. Set in 1950s small town New Mexico, the film begins with a Twilight Zone style introduction as we push in on an old fashioned... Continue Reading →
Dawn Porter’s feature length documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble is both an up close and personal biographical study of the activist and longstanding public servant, as well as a compelling examination of the history of the Civil Rights movement, through Lewis’ vital role in it. What results is a fascinating and inspiring chronicle of an extraordinary life... Continue Reading →
Last week it was announced that four leading North American LGBTQ film festivals, San Francisco's Frameline, Toronto's Inside Out, New York's NewFest, and Los Angeles' Outfest had joined forces to form NAQFA: the North American Queer Festival Alliance. NAQFA's first collaborative event, taking place tonight Wednesday June 24th 6pm PST/9pm EST, is a live-streamed celebration... Continue Reading →
Let the Eurovision Song Contest begin! The global health crisis might have put a stop to those immortal words being enthusiastically declared this year, with the 65th Eurovision Song Contest postponed until 2021, but fans and newcomers alike will nevertheless get to experience a version of the musical campfest vicariously through this genuinely feel-good comedy... Continue Reading →
When HBO Max launched on May 27th, part of its opening day lineup was the first two episodes of the nine-part Max Original dance competition Legendary. Inspired by the world of ballroom, the show pits eight Houses against one another in weekly vogue battles in the search for a Legendary House. With a different theme... Continue Reading →
In the spirit of the landmark documentaries The Celluloid Closet and Ethnic Notions, Sam Feder’s ambitious, ground-breaking and nuanced Disclosure, which launches globally on Netflix on Friday June 19th, examines over a hundred years of trans screen representation. Covering an impressive range of frequently damaging trans portrayals and storylines, Disclosure takes in Oscar-winning movies like... Continue Reading →
Yesterday’s landmark Supreme Court decision on LGBTQ protections in the workplace is reason for us to breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate. It also reminds us of the need for more mainstream LGBTQ+ representation as we continue the fight for full equality and societal acceptance. As Sam Feder’s Netflix documentary Disclosure released this Friday... Continue Reading →
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic — boy, am I tired of starting articles with those words — film festivals around the world are finding new methods of distributing movies to fans. An unexpected benefit of the situation is that festivals, which are by their very nature dependent on geography, open themselves up to film fans... Continue Reading →
This Wednesday June 17th sees the mid-Pride month release of all ten episodes of the new Hulu Original series Love, Victor. Set in the world of the 2018 GLAAD award-winning movie Love, Simon, which was inspired by Becky Albertalli’s much-loved YA novel Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, the series stars Michael Cimino as Victor, a... Continue Reading →
A number of individuals and organisations have responded swiftly, eloquently and comprehensively to J.K. Rowling's recent 'essay' in which she detailed her reasons for speaking out about sex and gender issues. I won't pretend that I have anything unique to add. However, I am also aware that in moments like these, the trans community shoulder... Continue Reading →
Selected to play at Mexico's cancelled Guadalajara Film Festival in March, queer director, cinematographer and co-editor Bruno Santamaría's hauntingly beautiful Things We Dare Not Do/Cosas que no hacemos finally premiered in the World Showcase section at the 2020 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which ran online from May 28th until June 6th. Following his... Continue Reading →
Global Pride leaders announced today that they will acknowledge the international response to the death of George Floyd and the demand for racial justice by working with founders of the Black Lives Matter movement to amplify black voices in the June 27th streaming event. Co-Chair of the Global Pride organising committee, Natalie Thompson, said: “As... Continue Reading →
Director Sam Feder’s Disclosure, which world premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is an ambitious, ground-breaking and nuanced examination of over one hundred years of trans representation on screen. Iconic and lesser known scenes from film and television are placed in context by a line-up of trans trailblazers including the iconic Laverne Cox, who... Continue Reading →
Spike Lee's most recent feature film, BlacKkKlansman, which finally won the filmmaker an overdue competitive Oscar, was set in the 1970s but had a biting, traumatizing epilogue that brought the film into the present day, with Trump's 'very fine people on both sides' speech and footage of Heather Heyer's murder in Charlottesville. Reminding us that... Continue Reading →
This Friday June 12th, in observance of Pride Month, PBS will air Prideland, an hourlong special about the lives of LGBTQ+ people who live south of the Mason-Dixon line. The special is a companion to their ongoing Youtube series of the same name; some of the interviews in the special have already aired in a... Continue Reading →
If you're a regular reader of The Queer Review you'll already know that we are big fans of HBO's We're Here, which has been helping to uplift us and give us some comfort and hope during self-isolation. And, without fail, making us cry! We've already spoken exclusively to We're Here's drag mothers, Drag Race alum,... Continue Reading →
Can I get a Hallelloo up in here? Shangela Laquifa Wadley aka D.J. Pierce burst on to our television screens a decade ago competing in the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race. She might've been first to sashay away that year, but you can't keep a fierce queen down and she was back for the... Continue Reading →
"How many Black people have to die before anti-Black violence is taken seriously? Our thoughts are with George Floyd’s loved ones for their untenable loss. And we support the ongoing protests underway in Minneapolis and St. Paul demanding that the four officers who were involved in this fatality be arrested and charged with murder. Today, Hennepin... Continue Reading →
She may not have made it to tomorrow night's RuPaul's Drag Race season 12 grand finale, but she has undoubtedly won an indelible place in viewers' hearts, and is likely to snatch this year's Miss Congeniality title. Hailing from the small country town of Ramseur, North Carolina, Heidi added some new phrases to the Drag... Continue Reading →
N.B. Contains potential season 5 spoilers.I’ve just spent the past few days binging all ten episodes of the upcoming fifth season of Queer Eye, which lands on Netflix right on time for Pride month on June 5th, and I am feeling pretty amazing actually; upbeat and optimistic. It's the kind of afterglow you get when... Continue Reading →
“I cannot sanction your buffoonery." That’s what Tommy Lee Jones reportedly said to Jim Carrey as they were about to make a Batman film together. It also neatly sums up the critical reaction to Joel Schumacher’s two Batman movies, Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). Subversive, camp, kinky - Joel Schumacher queered the... Continue Reading →
