Reverend's Reviews: Modern Gay Classics on DVD

Longtime fans of independent queer cinema will probably find it hard to believe that it's been 20 years since Todd Haynes' Poison hit the screen. The controversial anthology of three mini-movies exploring the darker side of the gay experience debuted at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival and won its Grand Jury Prize. It also won the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Poison is being re-released today by Zeitgeist Films as a special, remastered 20th anniversary edition DVD. Packed with rare extras and a 16-page booklet, it provides an excellent opportunity to re-discover the film or see it for the first time. The success of Poison enabled Haynes to write and direct such popular queer titles as Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven and the recent HBO miniseries adaptation of Mildred Pierce.

The filmmaker's classic opens with the foreboding words, "The whole world is dying of panicky fright." Haynes then intersperses scenes from the stylistically-diverse "Hero," "Horror" and "Homo" over the next 85 minutes. The first is a mock TV news report of a boy who kills his sexually abusive father and then, inexplicably, flies away. "Horror" serves simultaneously as a black & white homage to 1950's B-movies and as a metaphorical account of the AIDS epidemic, focusing on a well-intentioned scientist who isolates the human sex drive with devastating results. "Homo," inspired by the work of gay writer Jean Genet, is a dream-like but disturbing romance between two prison inmates. All three stories are beautifully photographed by Maryse Alberti and Barry Ellsworth.

Upon its release, Poison was denounced by conservative commentators such as Ralph Reed and the American Family Association's Donald Wildmon. They objected to both Haynes' subversive, pro-gay commentary and the graphic nudity and sex depicted in the "Homo' segment, especially since the film had received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Of course, many more critics — including J. Hoberman (whose original essay from The Village Voice is included in the DVD's booklet), David Ansen and Richard Corliss — lauded the movie.

Poison also launched the careers of producers Christine Vachon and James Schamus, who have supervised many of the most significant independent films of the last 20 years. Schamus eventually became president of Focus Features, which released Far from Heaven, Brokeback Mountain, Milk and the current Beginners. He and Vachon as well as Haynes are featured in a special 20th anniversary Q&A about their achievements. As made clear by the new, remastered DVD, the impact of Poison has been far-reaching.

1981's German production Taxi zum Klo (in English, Taxi to the Toilet) has left a similar mark on queer film history and was also recently made available on DVD in a 30th anniversary Director's Cut by QC Cinema. It was written and directed by Frank Ripploh, who also stars as a respected schoolteacher with a secret gay life. Set in West Berlin, it has been hailed as "the first masterpiece about the mainstream of male gay life." While dated in some respects and perhaps not the most positive portrait of our community by today's standards, Taxi zum Klo is nonetheless an enduring testament to the gay experience, then and now.

Reverend's Ratings:
Poison: A-
Taxi zum Klo: B-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: Mixed Musicals Now on Blu-ray

There are various theories as to why Martin Scorsese's first big-budget movie — 1977's New York, New York — was a box office flop. One is that its blend of 1940's musical melodrama with more modern language and acting styles was off-putting. Scorsese seems most accepting of this suspicion in his commentary on the film's just-released Blu-ray edition. Another is that New York, New York was doomed by such contemporary mega-hits as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Saturday Night Fever and Annie Hall, all released in 1977 as well.

Upon watching the gorgeously-designed movie on Blu-ray, however, another reason quickly becomes clear: its screenplay is awful. At 163 minutes, the story about an egotistical saxophone player (Robert De Niro) and a rising jazz singer (Liza Minnelli) who share a tortured romance is too slim and derivative of other, better movies such as the 1954 version of A Star is Born (which even starred Liza's mother, Judy Garland).

Jimmy and Francine meet cute, even though De Niro comes across as only a slightly less psychotic version of Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle, in a nightclub the night of V-J Day. She is understandably wary at first, and Minnelli is great in these early scenes as well as in her later musical numbers. The Blu-ray includes the lengthy, lavish production number "Happy Endings," which was quickly cut from the film after its release in a desperate effort to make a shorter, more audience-friendly version.

There is much to admire in New York, New York, especially Boris Leven's production design, Theodora Van Runkle's costumes and Laszlo Kovacs' stunning cinematography. But the script by Earl MacRauch and Mardik Martin takes a full half-hour for anything substantial to happen, and even then nothing too substantial happens. It's best to skip chapters, stopping each time Liza sings.

Along with New York, New York, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and MGM have also released Milos Forman's energetic adaptation of the rock musical Hair (1979), choreographed by Twyla Tharp, and the more recent gay classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on Blu-ray for the first time. Both look great in the high-def format, and boast memorable performances and musical numbers. They serve as great inspiration to anyone who hasn't yet invested in Blu-ray player to do so.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: Sing Out, Louise!

"If we really heard the voice of God, we would be reduced to juice. The vibration of His voice would reduce us to liquid... so He has to use other people to speak His word."

So says singer-turned-pastor Andrae Crouch at the start of Rejoice and Shout, a wonderful new documentary about the evolution of Gospel music from Magnolia Pictures that opens today in New York and June 24 in Los Angeles. I likely would have loved the movie solely for incorporating footage of the late, great Mahalia Jackson, but when you throw Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Clara and Willa Ward, the original Five Blind Boys of Alabama and the Edwin Hawkins Singers ("Oh Happy Day") into the mix, it constitutes a near-instant classic.

As this sweeping film (made by the longtime team of director Don McGlynn and producer Joe Lauro) points out, Gospel music has long represented freedom in times of slavery and oppression. The first known or recognized Gospel record was recorded in 1902 by the Dinwiddie Colored Quartet. The film's press notes point out that this was nearly 20 years before any African-American blues or jazz recordings were made. Influenced by their relatives' experience of having worked on Southern plantations for white masters, these black musicians struck a multi-cultural nerve.

Other Gospel musicians honed their craft through the Great Depression and two World Wars. These included the "controversial" Thomas A. Dorsey, who wrote both spiritual and secular songs that often seemed at odds with one another. And then there's Mahalia, who started out as a hairdresser aspiring to sound like her idol, Bessie Smith, and ultimately "crossed all barriers" performing Gospel songs on The Ed Sullivan Show. As Smokey Robinson says in the film, "Just as many white people had Mahalia Jackson in their homes, listening to her, as black people did." Heck, I have several Mahalia compilations I listen to on a semi-regular basis today.

Interviews with scholars, authors and contemporary musicians are incorporated throughout Rejoice and Shout and provide essential, generally objective perspectives. The movie also utilizes restored archival footage of the most significant figures in Gospel music. There were a couple of premature edits or reel changes in the print I viewed, but these were hopefully unique and won't be observed elsewhere.

"Faith is the thing that keeps you going," according to on-screen commentator Bill Carpenter (no relation). He won't find an argument from me, nor will the numerous musicians recounted over 150 years of often-painful American history in Rejoice and Shout.

In a natural progression, six backup singers of various ethnicities yearn for headliner status in the new DVD release This Time, available now from Village Art Pictures. Having once sung with the likes of Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin, these talented individuals have more recently battled homelessness and the brutality of the music industry in an effort to become stars themselves.

This similarly-exceptional documentary features three queer subjects in addition to its openly gay director-photographer-editor, Victor Mignatti (who directed chapters 13-22 of R. Kelly's infamous "Trapped in the Closet" music video). The GLBT folks shown are cabaret singer Bobby Belfry, music producer Peitor Angell, and Estelle Brown, now a lesbian minister who co-founded the Unity Fellowship Church in Los Angeles. The talents of all concerned are on full display here, and their music is both inspiring and entertaining.

Feel free to sing along to both of these films, whether you'll be watching in a theatre, at home or at your local worship center.

Reverend's Ratings:
Rejoice and Shout: A-
This Time: B+

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: Short Stack

The short films shown at various film festivals sometimes end up outshining the feature offerings. Recognizing this, The Film Collaborative and First Run Features have teamed up to gather some of the best shorts from the 2010 GLBT circuit and release them on DVD. Volumes 1 of Fest Selects: Best Gay Shorts and Fest Selects: Best Lesbian Shorts are both out today.

While they vary wildly in tone and style, the eight films included on the Best Gay Shorts edition are generally excellent. A couple of them — My Name is Love and Steam — may strike some as uncomfortably dark, and the partly animated Mouse's Birthday is just plain bizarre, but the high quality of these assorted filmmakers' techniques can't be denied.

After, a stylish tribute to the stories of Dennis Cooper, kicks off the collection. Written and directed by Mark Pariselli, it is awash in Cooper's trademark mix of kink and tragedy. Three gay college students sit silently on the stoop of their house, watching a group of seemingly straight boys play football at a park across the street. When an athlete being observed unexpectedly shows a tender interest in one of them, each of the students fantasizes about a sexual encounter with him. Faithful as it is to Cooper, don't expect a happy ending.

Two of the films featured were shown at last year's Long Beach Q Film Festival, for which I served as a programmer. I'm very happy to see them included here. Gaysharktank.com, by the clever Guy Shalem, is a hilarious expose of modern gay life utilizing the ultimate online dating site. The short's stellar cast includes Coco Peru, Jack Plotnick, Jai Rodriguez and Drew Droege. Pierre Stefanos' sweet Bedfellows spins a decades-spanning love story. While the two lead actors don't age convincingly during the 30+ years depicted, it otherwise all but proves that true love can be found when least expected.

Gayby is a very funny short about a straight woman desperate to bear a child before her biological clock runs out. With what could be termed mixed motives, she turns to her now gay college-era boyfriend to help her conceive "the old fashioned way." Writer-director Jonathan Lisecki has a great ear for contemporary dialogue and is a sharp observer of relationships between women and the gay men they love.

Matthew Wilkas, the attractive actor who plays Gayby's male lead, also headlines another film included in Best Gay Shorts entitled Curious Thing. Billing itself as "based on true stories" of straight-bi-gay confusion, it focuses on the complex attraction between two seemingly straight guys. It will likely remind viewers, as it did me, of one's first crush on our typically straight best friend in high school or college. The actors' performances here are particular good.

The aforementioned My Name is Love, Mouse's Birthday and Steam round out the collection. The first is Swedish filmmaker David Fardmar's painfully autobiographical story of a young man's first gay encounter going horribly awry. Mouse's Birthday, by Barry Morse, relates in avant-garde (and then some) fashion an encounter between a rodent, a cockroach and a thong-clad, mohawk-sporting muscle boy. It serves as both cautionary tale and pride statement, with fun choreography by fellow indie filmmaker PJ Raval.

Finally, the Twilight Zone-esque Steam focuses on two hot men (literally and figuratively) who find themselves mysteriously trapped in a doorless gym's sauna following a sexual encounter between them. The denouement struck me as somewhat muddled theologically and morally, but the short gets considerable points for its provocative originality. And did I mention the guys are hot?

In short (pun intended), these new gay and lesbian releases are well worth one's investment.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Toon Talk: From HSM to NYC

Spin-offs are tricky; for every Frasier, there’s a dozen Joeys. The key to a successful spin-off is a character that is interesting and compelling enough to break out of the supporting ranks to become a full-fledged leading player. So when it came time for Disney to try to milk their hit High School Musical franchise even further, it’s no surprise that they chose HSM’s resident diva, Sharpay Evans.

As played by blonde wannabe-dynamo Ashley Tisdale in two Disney Channel movies and one theatrical feature, Sharpay was a teenaged drama queen to be reckoned with, a rising star… at least in her own mind. And now she is the star, of her own direct-to-video movie, Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (now available on Disney DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack).

Alas, this Adventure is not that Fabulous. Borrowing heavily from such previous “girl power” chick flicks as Legally Blonde and The Devil Wears Prada, Sharpay’s first solo outing is as predictable, clichéd and preposterous as the all-pink wardrobe of its leading lady...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure at LaughingPlace.com.

Reverend's Reviews: Straight & GLBT Collide in New DVDs

It seems appropriate for three new DVDs exploring mash-ups of the hetero and homo/bi/trans worlds at the beginning of GLBT Pride season. First out of the gate is Breaking Glass Pictures' Straight & Butch, which was just released today. This intriguing documentary follows the multi-year odyssey undertaken by Butch Cordora, an openly gay Philadelphia TV host, to create a calendar in which he and an assortment of straight men would pose together nude. In re-creating iconic images including Janet Jackson's hands-on-breasts Rolling Stone cover, a nude John Lennon embracing Yoko Ono, and The Beatles' Abbey Road album cover sans clothing, Cordora hoped to find common ground between gay and straight men in the most intimate of photographic situations.

While a few of the subjects were personal friends or co-workers of Cordora's before shooting and a couple are professional models, most are regular guys from the Philadelphia area. The film notes that 59 exclusively straight men in all were asked to participate, but 48 said "no" and refused to state their reasons for doing so on camera. A few wrote that their wife or girlfriend would be uncomfortable with them posing nude, at least with another man.

Those models who agreed include the husband of one of the photographers, a Whole Foods grocery store bag boy, a pizzeria owner, a professional wrestler, and a heavily-tattooed artist. There is also a nice ethnic mix among them, including two Black men, a Latino originally from Colombia, and an Asian. The men's initial comfort levels vary, as do their body types, but all save one come away from the experience of being photographed nude with Cordora feeling good about it. As one model remarks, "(The project) says something about our country or, more importantly, where our country could and should be" in terms of gay-straight relations. While Straight & Butch gets a little long and repetitive by the final shooting session, it is well worth watching.

Meanwhile, a lesbian-themed movie out May 3 on Wolfe Video, Bloomington, is generally worth avoiding. The plot initially focuses on the adjustment to college life in the titular Midwest city of a previously home-schooled young woman who also happens to be the former star of a cult science-fiction TV series à la Star Trek (to really drive the comparison home, the character's name is Jackie Kirk). Jackie, played by the Miley Cyrus-esque Sarah Stouffer, has good intentions of leaving showbiz behind and studying law. Things start to change, however, once she crosses paths with Abnormal Psychology professor Catherine Stark (the beautiful Allison McAtee).

Stark's reputation as a "vampire lesbo" (in the unflattering words of one student) who sleeps with her students precedes her. It isn't long before Stark confirms she is lesbian and begins an affair with Jackie. It also isn't long before Hollywood starts beckoning Jackie back for a movie version of her TV show. Fearful Catherine starts drinking and inexplicably sleeping with a man, while Jackie apparently realizes she needs to "straighten up" and have sex with a male fellow student if she is to have a chance at headlining a blockbuster movie.

Bloomington, written and directed by Fernanda Cardoso, starts promisingly but is ultimately compromised by its characters' shifting allegiances and alliances. Too much of the film is hard to swallow, from the casual way it treats an ethically-questionable sexual relationship between student and teacher to its perfunctory ending. Like Jackie, Cardoso may need to get back to basics academically.

The best by far of these new DVD releases is Casper Andreas' hilarious Violet Tendencies, out May 24 from Breaking Glass Pictures. Mindy Cohn, lovingly remembered by many of us as the irrepressible Natalie on the 1980's series The Facts of Life, stars as "the last fag hag" in Manhattan. Violet is adored by her large circle of gay friends and spends virtually all her free time with them. This makes it difficult for her to find romance with a "fag stag" or other straight man, for which she desperately longs, despite late nights on the "Frisky Friends" phone chat line and resultant, aborted dates.

As much as she hates to do so, Violet cuts herself off from her boys once she meets Vern, an ex-Mormon architect from Idaho who reminded me a lot of Geoffrey Rush in Shine. But the boys will have none of it, devoted to Violet's happiness as they are, and begin to seek a more ideal partner for her... who may unknowingly be right in their midst.

Violet Tendencies kept getting away from me when it played last year's GLBT film festival circuit, and I'm so glad I finally saw it. The film is chock full of relatable, well-drawn characters, razor-sharp dialogue and witty observations (the screenplay was written by Jesse Archer, Andreas's frequent collaborator), and fabulous New York locations. Cohn's performance and those of the supporting cast are great, and there are cameos by such NYC gay icons as Hedda Lettuce, Michael Musto and Randy Jones, a.k.a. the Village People's Cowboy.

To quote Violet's dating advice-dispensing, food-deprived fashion model co-worker, Salome: "Get off your racket" and see Violet Tendencies ASAP!

Reverend's Ratings:
Straight & Butch: B
Bloomington: C-
Violet Tendencies: A-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Reviews: The Princess and the Nun

It can be difficult even today for women to achieve equal standing in male-dominated religious settings, so imagine how tough things were in the 12th and 16th centuries! Two fact-based new releases, The Princess of Montpensier (now playing theatrically in select cities) and Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (out today on DVD from Zeitgeist Films), explore the challenges faced by two women caught between the religious conflicts and social mores of their times.

The Princess of Montpensier, directed by the fine French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier ('Round Midnight) and adapted from a 17th century historical novella, tells a tale of intrigue involving an innocent young heiress who becomes the apple of no less than four men's eyes during the reign of corrupt Catholic queen Catherine de Medici. The lovely Marie de Mezieres (beautifully portrayed by Melanie Thierry) is betrothed by her father against her wishes to Prince Philippe de Montpensier (played by the very cute Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet, who reminded me of a Gallic Jake Gyllenhaal and has a nude scene to boot). Marie loves Henri de Guise (Gaspard Ulliel of Hannibal Rising), who with the Prince frequently wages war against the Protestant Hugeuenots alongside Catherine's son — and the future King Henry III — the Duc d'Anjou (a charismatic turn by Raphael Personnaz).

In addition to these three men, Marie also unintentionally stirs the desire of Philippe's monk-like bodyguard, the Count of Chabannes (Lambert Wilson, most recently seen in the excellent, similarly fact-based Of Gods and Men). While the Prince is away at war, the Count empowers Marie by teaching her how to write and instructing her in science, theology, and matters of both state and the heart.

Thierry and the screenplay by Tavernier, Jean Cosmos and François-Olivier Rousseau imbue Marie with an intense longing for respect and equality even as she respects her father's demand that she "submit" to his plan to marry her to the similarly unwitting Philippe. Whereas the Count on one hand reinforces this with his observation of the heavens, noting, "The stars teach obedience to the laws of equilibrium and modesty," he is also a clearly conflicted man when it comes to his feelings for Marie and the raging religious conflict. As he muses in the presence of the Prince and Princess, "How can people of the same blood and faith kill each other in the name of the same God?" Marie takes respectful note of the Count's position.

Marie also confesses to the Count at one point, "This war, I don't know what it's about." Five centuries later, she may as well be echoing the thoughts of people the world over today who helplessly weather the ongoing "War on Terror" and other religion-fueled political skirmishes. The Princess of Montpensier is a potent, intimate romantic epic that satisfies yet frequently exceeds genre expectations.

Meanwhile, Mother Hildegard von Bingen endures as one of the most progressive (and criminally but tellingly non-canonized) Catholic women of all time. Claiming to receive directive, sometimes painful, visions from God, this Benedictine nun and mystic gained the favor of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, her contemporary, as well as the Archbishop of Mainz, Germany. The local abbot, her immediate superior, bristled at Hildegard's frequent challenges to his government, especially when she decided to separate herself and her sisters from his hermitage in order to establish their own convent.

In addition to her notable leadership of their religious community — she famously insisted that the sisters vote for their new mother following the death of her predecessor, also over the abbot's objections — Hildegard is remembered for her voluminous writings (including a book on human sexuality), a number of musical compositions, and for being one of the first women religious to travel and preach extensively. To Hildegard, God was first and foremost "the living light" and love was "the greatest power given by God." She accurately defined envy, jealousy and desire for power as the greatest enemies of Christians and human beings in general.

Actress Barbara Sukowa (Berlin Alexanderplatz, Romance & Cigarettes) brings Hildegard to vivid life in Margarethe von Trotta's Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen. It is an overdue and generally well-made but not entirely satisfying biopic. The script covers considerable historical ground much too quickly, and some cheesy zoom camera shots and quick-cut editing distract rather than augment. Still, Hildegard receives via von Trotta and Sukowa a greater tribute than she has to date from the Church she so remarkably served 900 years ago.

Reverend's Ratings:
The Princess of Montpensier: A-
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard Von Bingen: B

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Toon Talk: That’s Incredible

Seven years later, and Pixar’s superhero epic The Incredibles is still, well, pretty incredible. Now released, for the first time this week, on a high definition Disney Blu-ray, the Academy Award-winning adventure still ranks as one of the best of its genre, even with such newer entrants as The Dark Knight and Iron Man in the mix...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of The Incredibles Blu-ray at LaughingPlace.com.

Reel Thoughts: Show Me How You Burlesque

Leslie Zemeckis, wife of director Robert Zemeckis of Back to the Future and Forrest Gump fame, clearly has a love for the ladies of burlesque. Behind the Burly Q, available on DVD tomorrow, is a valentine to women like Sally Rand, Lili St. Cyr, Blaze Starr and numerous other fascinating women who fill the fascinating documentary. Only Gypsy Rose Lee gets a stinkweed bouquet from the other dancers, but that makes the film all the more delicious.

Behind the Burly Q charts the history of burlesque from its family friendly beginnings, through its heyday in the thirties through the fifties to its sad decline into sleazy pole dancing like Elizabeth Berkley did in Showgirls. While it lasted, however, most of the women recall a life where they had control of their careers, made money that supported their families and were never asked to prostitute themselves.

Alan Alda and Chris Costello are on hand to describe the role comedians like their dads Robert and Lou had in the shows, but Zemeckis also reveals the dark side of burlesque. The influence of the Mafia and the often hypocritical conduct of law enforcement played a part in business. Also, sometimes the ladies found the most dangerous foes to be other dancers.

The women are such larger than life creations, anyone who loves camp and drag will find plenty of inspiration in the film. There is also plenty of tassel-and-pasty-covered beauty to admire on display for those who admire the female form. None of the women consider themselves exploited, which dovetails with the retro resurgence of popularity for burlesque as an art form. Behind the Burly Q is a priceless chronicle of a lost form of entertainment.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Hooters & Orgasms

Sexual desire among women -- and the complications that arise when said desire is not or cannot be met -- is the subject of two very different new releases. The OWLs (now on DVD from First Run Features) was fairly well-received on the 2010 GLBT festival circuit despite its dark storyline. Written and directed by Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman), its protagonists are all former members of The Screech, a fictional band whose members were the hottest lesbian music-makers around ten years earlier.

Now faded into obscurity, depressed and/or alcoholic, the ladies refer to themselves as "OWLs": Older, Wiser Lesbians. Their accumulated wisdom becomes highly suspect, though, in the wake of an accidental death at a pool party hosted by former band leader Iris (a great performance by Guinevere Turner, best known as the star, producer and writer of 1994's rightly-heralded Go Fish). They conspire to cover up the event and succeed... that is, until a mysterious stranger (Sklyer Cooper) shows up at their doorstep one night.

According to the press notes, Dunye intentionally set out to imitate "pathological lesbian" films such as The Children's Hour and The Killing of Sister George. One OWLs character notes, "Even sisters can stab each other in the back," and another states, "We're always trying to be the alpha male in our community." Do we really need to project such images in this more liberated day and age? Dunye seems concerned that younger lesbian women aren't aware of the struggles their foremothers endured. To my thinking, though, this makes as much sense as re-making 1980's notorious Cruising so young gay men today will be more cognizant of the stereotypes that previously defined us. The original versions of all these invaluable time capsules are available on home video. It would be better to screen and discuss them and note how far we've come than to recreate them.

The narrative of The OWLs is oddly interrupted at times by interviews with the actresses regarding their roles and their "collective" approach to the project. Even with these, the film runs just over an hour and its hard to think of the interludes as anything but padding. There is also a documentary about the making of The OWLs -- somewhat derisively titled Hooters -- being released separately. If lesbian viewers think I'm off, I'm certainly willing to hear from you. As it is, I can't recommend The OWLs very highly.

On the other hand, the current theatrical release Orgasm Inc. (also from First Run Features) is a must-see for women and men alike. This expose by award-winning documentarian Liz Canner delves into the pursuit of a Viagra-style drug to treat "Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD)", aka the inability by a reported 43% of women to have an orgasm every time they have sexual intercourse. As one expert interviewed on camera notes, "(FSD) is the first corporate-sponsored definition of a 'disease'."

Orgasm Inc., which was filmed over nine years, reveals with often-clinical precision the expensive and mostly fruitless research that has gone into developing pills, creams, devices and even a nasal spray to assist affected women. The result of such labor? Viagra works as well for some women as it does for men; pornography is the most effective stimulant for both men and women; and the pharmaceutical company-backed, long-term solution of combining estrogen pills with testosterone patches can cause cancer. Wisely and thankfully, the latter proposed "treatment" was rejected by the FDA.

One interviewee's giggly likening of female orgasm to "a blooming flower" and some unnecessary animated sequences threaten to undermine Canner's insights into a very serious issue. But so long as the filmmaker sticks to disturbing facts and figures such as "The USA makes up just 5% of the world's population but it accounts for 42% of the world's spending on prescription drugs, and yet Americans don't live any longer than others," Orgasm Inc. provides a stiff tonic indeed.

Reverend's Ratings:
The OWLs: C
Orgasm Inc.: B+

UPDATE: Orgasm Inc. is now available on DVD from Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Toon Talk: Let Down Your Hair

Sometimes a story needs to be heard more than once in order to be fully appreciated. Such is the case for me with Tangled, the recent box office hit making its Disney DVD and Blu-ray debuts this week.

As told in my original Toon Talk review of Tangled upon its theatrical release last November, I admitted to being disappointed with the film. And while Tangled’s faults — such as its formulaic plot, non-distinctive songs and overall sense of “safeness” — are still present, my second viewing was a more rewarding one. Perhaps it was because my expectations were lowered following my first viewing, or maybe Tangled’s charms just needed to grow on me, but I found it more clever and romantic, not to mention funnier, the second time around...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of the Tangled Blu-ray at LaughingPlace.com.

Reverend's Reviews: Romance Blossoms in New DVDs

It's Spring, time for rebirth and potential new love! As two new, gay-oriented home video releases make clear, nothing says "romance" quite like... bikini parties and blood-sucking vampires?

A bikini party is the memorable centerpiece of the German film Alex and Leo, out April 5 on DVD from Breaking Glass Pictures. Set in Berlin, it depicts the challenges the two title characters face in the process of falling in love. Shortly after the two have a brief encounter in a coffee shop, Alex (Andre Schneider) discovers that his longtime boyfriend has been cheating on him. Meanwhile, Leo (Marcel Schlutt, who is too cute, especially when playing drunk) tells his girlfriend of four years that he is gay. She not unpredictably breaks up with him.

Leo and Alex cross paths again in a local cabaret. Alex, still reeling from the end of his relationship, is hesitant to get involved with another man so soon. His friends also caution Alex against getting involved with a "closet case" like Leo. Leo, however, is very attracted to Alex and is anxious to start living an openly gay life.

Alex's hesitance toward Leo begins to falter during the previously mentioned bikini party, at which both male and female guests are required to wear two-piece women's bikinis. I don't know whether this is a traditional German concept or not, but it's fun and there is naturally plenty of flesh on display. Neither Leo nor Alex are model-quality in appearance, but their average looks make their relationship and the movie more believable.

Unfortunately, Alex and Leo (which was written and directed by Ives-Yuri Garate) isn't the most visually attractive film. Many scenes are at times grainy and/or over-lit. This fact and an awful end title song keep it from scoring higher in my critical book, but it is nonetheless a well-acted, sweet and funny take on contemporary gay relationships.

Another new release with romance on its mind is Vampire Boys, from Ariztical Entertainment. Obviously aiming to cash in on the current craze for all things having to do with pretty, ageless bloodsuckers (i.e. the Twilight saga, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries), this direct-to-DVD production features a posse of toned, frequently shirtless dudes who prowl around LA hunting for plasma.

Into their midst comes young, innocent Caleb (Christian Ferrer). The gay college student has just moved to California from Ohio, lured by an online friend named Paul (Ryan Adames). While Paul is hoping for more than just a roommate arrangement with Caleb, the leader of the local vampire squad, Jasin (the truly captivating Jason Lockhart), begins having visions in which Caleb appears as "The One." Jasin needs to mate with "The One" and turn them into a vampire in order for him and his boys to survive.

The vampires had anticipated a woman to be "The One," so they are all initially surprised when Jasin and Caleb become attracted to each other. This is a unique and appreciated twist in the plot of Vampire Boys over the tortured heterosexual love triangle at the center of Twilight, et al. Only one of the vampires (played by Dylan Vox, formerly known as gay porn star Brad Benton) voices objections, so he plots to steal leadership from Jasin.

The film is pretty silly and amateurishly directed by Charlie Vaughn but isn't without its romantic charms. Caleb and Jasin are worth swooning over as their relationship escalates, especially after Jasin "comes out" as a vampire to Caleb and Caleb must decide whether to become a vampire too. I don't like how the character of Paul is treated, however. He is dispatched so unsympathetically and Caleb's concern over Paul's disappearance is so fleeting that Paul ultimately becomes inconsequential. Why have the character in the script in the first place? The producers of this obviously low-budget affair could have spent even less money.

Still, if you like half-naked male vampires (while a couple of their male victims are shown in their full-frontal glory), Vampire Boys may be the movie for you.

Reverend's Ratings:
Alex and Leo: B
Vampire Boys: C

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.