Growing up in small town Ohio, I didn’t dare attend, let alone go anywhere near the theater, when 1975’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show held its midnight screenings for fear of being perceived as “different”. I didn’t see the film until after moving to Los Angeles where I felt more free to be myself. That... Continue Reading →
The 1970s brought about many paradigm shifts in cinema, prominent among them were those exemplified in Rocky and Saturday Night Fever. Sylvester Stallone defied the studio by insisting on starring in the little $1 million indie he wrote and, despite the prevailing wisdom, the film earned $225 million and won the Best Picture Oscar. With... Continue Reading →
I’ve always admired how filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz has dedicated much of his career to shining a light on so many untold queer stories, including I Am Divine, The Fabulous Allan Carr, Tab Hunter Confidential, and Vito. In his latest, Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders, he takes a multi-pronged approach to the real murders which inspired the... Continue Reading →
My coverage of OutfestNext continues with filmmaker Gary Jaffe’s feature debut, Before I Do. I confess that I approached this film with great trepidation due to the fact that I am often allergic to the genre in which a bunch of people gather in one spot to air out their dirty laundry. Unless you’re Who’s... Continue Reading →
Welcome back Outfest! Now rebranded as OutfestNext, this legendary queer film festival went through some down time in recent years, but has returned with an incredible slate of films. I’ll post several reviews starting with En El Camino (On The Road), from writer-director David Pablos (Dance Of The 41, The Chosen Ones). Blending neorealism with... Continue Reading →
I’ve lived in West Hollywood for years and the Holloway Motel sat just a few steps from me. Walking by it every day, I grew accustomed to seeing an elderly man presiding over his second floor balcony. With a little chihuahua, Sam, by his side, a laptop perched precariously on the balustrade, he served as... Continue Reading →
We’ve had our share of films about gay conversion therapy, such as the heavy dramas Boy Erased and The Miseducation Of Cameron Post, the campy But I’m A Cheerleader, and even the slasher film, They/Them, but Leviticus, the feature debut of writer-director Adrian Chiarella, finds its own lane by chillingly traversing such genres as coming... Continue Reading →
Like most good students of a certain age, I read Albert Camus’ 1947 novella, The Stranger, in high school. Considered a classic of existentialist storytelling (but don’t tell Camus that!), I felt instantly drawn to its spare, distant approach. The 1967 film adaptation by Luchino Visconti, and starring Marcello Mastroianni, didn’t quite capture Camus’ elusive... Continue Reading →
When I heard that D'Arcy Drollinger had followed up his instant classic, Shit & Champagne, with Lady Champagne, I didn’t just jump at the chance to watch it, I hacked my way through dense jungles, leapt over deep crevasses, and walked barefoot across hot coals. It’s the least one should be required to do to... Continue Reading →
As much as I’m drawn to true crime documentaries, they often let me down with their ambiguity and unresolved endings. Wait! Everything is speculative? We don’t find out who did it? Life’s complicated enough. I need closure! So consider my surprise when I watched My Brother’s Killer, which premiered at SXSW 2026. Rachel Mason’s jaw-dropping,... Continue Reading →
