Studio One in West Hollywood, one of the first gay discos, operated from 1974-1993 and proved to be an oasis for so many at a time when the world treated the community like second class citizens. With a capacity of over 1000, this cavernous club and adjoining cabaret called The Backlot attracted hordes of mostly... Continue Reading →
Some of my favorite filmmakers say or show things nobody else will dare expose to the world, whether it’s the dark underbelly or something as commonplace yet rarely seen as graphic nudity and sex. They let their characters have flaws, outsized egos, mood swings, and make mistakes, all parts of the human experience which cookie... Continue Reading →
Drawing inspiration from his own awkward teen years, writer-director Corey Sherman makes his feature debut with the sweet and slyly perceptive Big Boys. Much like Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade or Todd Solondz’s Welcome To The Dollhouse, Sherman has chosen to announce himself as a champion of the invisibles, the ones who typically don’t find themselves... Continue Reading →
Starting out at the age of 19 to make her feature writing-directing debut, Sarah Kambe Holland, now in her mid-twenties, has made a queer themed film by and for a Gen Z audience, and the result, Egghead & Twinkie is, to use the language of her peers, “totes adorbs”. With its generous use of animation,... Continue Reading →
Ben (Shlomi Bertonov) lives in a lovely apartment in an up and coming Tel Aviv neighborhood with his boyfriend Raz (Ariel Wolf). Their Roomba cleans their floors every morning like clockwork as they enjoy their protein shakes and head off to the gym. At night they have a straight couple over for dinner, dance wildly,... Continue Reading →
Have you noticed the glut of films about innovators? Those real life dramas have met with varying degrees of success in recent years with such titles as Air, The Social Network, Tetris, The Big Short, and The Founder. We seem fascinated by the process when that spark of genius ignites or when hubris takes over.... Continue Reading →
Even if he never writes or directs anything again, James L. Brooks has already amassed an iconic legacy of masterful television and film projects such as Terms Of Endearment, Broadcast News, and the Mary Tyler Moore Show, not to mention putting his stamp on producing The Simpsons, which has been running for 34 seasons and... Continue Reading →
I’m not the world’s biggest sports fan, although give me two weeks of Olympic Games and I’ll watch almost every solo event. I enjoy watching people push past their own limits, seeing the years and years of training right there in the focus of their hard stares and that beautiful release when they stick their... Continue Reading →
Navigating the emotions of a person who either lacks self-awareness or the tools to articulate their experiences has often proved a captivating exploration in cinematic storytelling. I think of such films as far back as 1973’s Badlands to the more recent Never Rarely Sometimes Always from 2020 as examples of such tellings in which we... Continue Reading →
Growing up, my sister used to blast her records in our family living room. She’d walk back and forth as she’d listen, a ritual I guessed allowed her to really take in the music. I recall her playing “S.O.S.” by ABBA repeatedly, its pop fizz undercut by the melancholy of the lyrics. One of my... Continue Reading →
