Nicola Marsh and Giovanni Reda's riveting and inspiring portrait of trailblazing pro skateboarder Leo Baker, Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story, received its world premiere at last month's Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, ahead of its global launch on Netflix this Thursday, August 11th. Produced by Alex Schmider (Changing the Game, Disclosure, Framing... Continue Reading →
The first issue of Neil Gaiman's award-winning and influential The Sandman arrived in comic book stores in 1989, published by DC, marking the birth of a long-running saga that would go on to be collected in volumes of graphic novels and rank on The New York Times Best Sellers list. With comic book adaptations filling... Continue Reading →
Hypochondriac, an unsettling comedy horror with Donnie Darko vibes, world premiered at SXSW 2022, going on to play major LGBTQ+ film festivals including Outfest and Frameline, where its writer-director Addison Heimann was nominated for the Jury Prize for Outstanding First Feature. As the film opens we meet Will (Ian Inigo), a sensitive Hispanic kid approaching... Continue Reading →
TV hitmaker Darren Star, who followed up long-running shows like Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Sex and the City, and Younger with the Netflix favourite Emily In Paris in 2020, delivers another enjoyable and highly bingeable series for the streamer with the eight-episode first season of Uncoupled, co-created with Modern Family executive producer Jeffrey Richman.... Continue Reading →
Oscar-nominated veteran screenwriter John Logan (Skyfall, Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) makes his directing debut with his own skillfully-crafted screenplay for the gripping and bloody terrifying slasher, They/Them (pronounced They-slash-Them), which received its world premiere tonight as it closed the 40th anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Carrie Preston as Cora Whistler, Anna Chlumsky as... Continue Reading →
Director Mercedes Kane's touching and surprisingly expansive feature documentary Art and Pep, which received its world premiere at the 40th anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, introduces us to two Chicagoans, Art Johnston and José Pepe Peña, who've been at the centre of the city's queer community together for nearly fifty years. Partners in... Continue Reading →
I’ve always enjoyed Michelle Ehlen’s films, such as Butch Jamie, Heterosexual Jill, and S&M Sally, and consider them a maverick in that they write, direct, produce, edit and star in their own films. Full disclosure: Michelle wore many hats on my feature debut, Eating Out: All You Can Eat, and our pre-existing relationship scared me... Continue Reading →
Many film festival programmers look at a collection of films and realize they’re all speaking with each other, the themes reverberating across the divide, that they’re tapping into the zeitgeist, crying out together. Perhaps due to the past couple of years of COVID lockdown and loss, a deep well of loneliness has informed many filmmaking... Continue Reading →
If you enjoyed Take Shelter, Midnight Special, Bug, and Safety Not Guaranteed, four films which had you wondering if the sci-fi events depicted were real or a result of of a mental break, then you may respond to director Juan Felipe Zuleta and writer Leland Frankel’s Unidentified Objects, Outfest LA’s U.S. Centerpiece. Otherwise, your mileage... Continue Reading →
Edward Brzezinski in Make Me Famous. Courtesy of Outfest. After a few days of watching so many films at Outfest LA, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and overloaded. But the pair of films I’m reviewing today felt so fresh, that I feel almost as rejuvenated as when soaking in a tub with one of those... Continue Reading →
