Hilarity does ensue. Nathan Lane and Robin Williams were perfect casting for the parts of Albert and Armand. They are able to achieve the flamboyance necessary for the roll. Dan Futterman and Calista Flockhart make a cute couple and Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest are perfect for representing a conservative Senator and his wife.
This type of movie is hard for me to watch as I tend to try to run and hide from embarrassing comedy moments and tend not to think of them as funny. However, I didn’t feel like the jokes were too off the wall and well played for people just suddenly thrown into an awkward situation. I don’t know how you could have put this film together any better.
The boys kick off their Pride Month celebration with a review of “BearCity”, then talk about their favorite gay-themed movies. In the present, they check out “Kung Fu Panda 2” and then head to the future to discuss Hugh Jackman’s upcoming flick, “Real Steel” or as we call it – Rock Em Sock Em Robots: The Movie. All this and news about LOTR, Spider Man, James Bond…and the fate of 3D at the movies? Join us in this 55th reel of COL Movies!
Peter Jackson confirms on facebook, Orlando Bloom confirmed for “The Hobbit” “Ten years ago, Orlando Bloom created an iconic character with his portrayal of Legolas. I’m excited to announce today that we’ll be revisiting Middle Earth with him once more. I’m thrilled to be working with Orlando again. Funny thing is, I look older—and he doesn’t! I guess that’s why he makes such a wonderful elf.”
Officers of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., today announced that the 23rd James Bond film will commence production in late 2011 for a worldwide release on November 9, 2012. The UK and Ireland will be getting the movie two weeks earlier, on October 26.
The latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” installment disappointed with only 47 percent of tickets from its $90.2 million weekend booty coming from 3-D purchases. So-called “event films” tend to do more than 60 percent of their business in 3-D.
3-D tickets accounted for only 45 percent of Memorial Day weekend release “Kung Fu Panda 2.” Meanwhile, ” The Hangover Part II ,” which avoided the 3-D fad, opened to a staggering $103.4 million last weekend
Still, international audiences continue to embrace 3-D films, where they remain a novelty. “3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy” recently opened to $360,000 on its first day in Hong Kong, vaulting it past fellow 3-D picture “Avatar” to claim the record for the biggest single-day gross in film history there.
The Past: BearCity (2010)
Rotten Tomatoes: 57% Fresh; 47% Audience
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Director: Douglas Langway
Starring: Joe Conti, Gerald McCullouch, Brian Keane, Stephen Guarino, Alix Di Dio, Gregory Gunter, James Martinez
Trivia:
On June 11, 2010, world premiere at NEWFEST to a sold out, standing room only crowd.
BearCity wins the coveted Los Angeles Outfest 2010 Grand Jury awards for Outstanding Screenwriting (Director/Co-Writer Doug Langway, Co-Writer Lawrence Ferber) and Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film (Stephen Guarino).
BearCity wins the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 20th Skeive Filmer / Oslo Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
BearCity wins the Jury Prize for Best Feature Film (Fiction) at the 6th Andalucía (Spain) International Festival of Gay & Lesbian Cinema.
BearCity wins the Jury Award for Best Men’s Film at the 2010 Long Island Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
BearCity wins the Jury Award for Best Film at the 2Jury Award for Best Feature Film 2011 Stella Artois QFest St. Louis LGBTQ Film Festival.
BearCity wins Best Bear Video from The Complete Bear’s Best Of The Bears 2010
Talking Points:
How representing of the Bear community?
BearCity 2 in production – Expected Spring 2012 according to http://www.bearcitythemovie.com
What We’ve Learned:
Vowels just don’t cut it for the gay generation
You don’t get any attention with clothes that fit.
The director has the ecstasy
Trailer:
Recommendations:
Jeff: I really enjoy this movie, it’s sweet, and charming. Great? No, but still an enjoyable movie to me.
Ray: While I found some of it entertaining, most felt forced and gimmicky… like we were a few deleted scenes away from a bear porn.
Steve: It’s OK. A snapshot, but not necessarily truth for everyone. Appreciate that it shows there are good and bad sides to the community…you have to make the most of whatever ‘“family” you choose.
Intermission: Best GLBT Movies
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Jeff’s Gay Pride Month Movie Challenge
The Present: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% Rotten; 87% Audience
Director: Jennifer Yuh
Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Michelle Yoeh
Trivia:
Kung Fu Panda 2 was screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in early May before its commercial release.
In Kung Fu Panda 2, the production crew’s shown increased familiarity with Chinese culture. In 2008, after the release of Kung Fu Panda, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and other Dreamworks members visited the city of Chengdu, which is considered as the “panda hometown.”
In addition to seeing real pandas, crew members learned about the local culture. Katzenberg has stated that Kung Fu Panda 2 incorporates many elements of Chengdu in the film.
The film’s landscape and architecture also found inspiration from those found at Mount Qingcheng, a renowned Taoist mountain.
Some critics noted the influences of executive producer Guillermo del Toro’s works in the film’s darker themes, and Jim Tudor of TwitchFilm.net describes that with del Toro on board, the film “effectively probes deeper into Po’s emerging hero’s journey and personal issues, evoking a truly fulfilling Campbellian archetype, but also remains fully viable as mainstream entertainment suitable for all ages.”
Talking Points:
Quality inconsistency, Great to Amazing and back.
Jack Black – another Will Ferrell?
Adoption theme?
3D
Favorite scene?
Video Game?
What We Learned:
If you mess with the wolf, you get the fangs
Trailer:
Recommendations:
Jeff: I Loved it, minor point of goofiness timing I didn’t like but did not take away from my enjoyment of the movie.
Ray: Think I liked this one more than the first.. loved the use of experimental animation
Steve: I like it better than the first movie. I thought the 3D was great! Liked the adoption theme.
The Future: Real Steel
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Kevin Durand
Trivia:
Based on the 1956 short story “Steel” by Richard Matheson.
In the short story, Matheson illustrates a cold-feeling dystopia, but Levy chose to set the film in state fairs and other “old-fashioned” Americana settings that would exude nostalgia and create a warmer tone for the film’s father-son story.
Filmmakers built 19 animatronic robots to feature in scenes with human actors. For scenes when the robots brawl, motion capture technology was used. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard was an adviser for these scenes.
Filming began in June 2010, taking place primarily in Michigan. Locations include those around Detroit and across the state.
While the film features boxing robots, Levy said he wanted to show in the trailer “the father-son drama, the emotion, the kind of rousing sports movie, the Americana of it”. He said, “We are very much the robo-boxing movie, but that’s one piece of a broader spectrum.”
Real Steel was initially scheduled to be released on November 18, 2011, but it was moved earlier to October 7, 2011 to avoid competition with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.
An episode of The Twilight Zone called “Steel” is also based on Richard Matheson’s short story.
Talking Points:
Rock’em Sock’em Robots: The Movie
Summary:
A future-set story where robot boxing is a popular sport and centered on a struggling promoter (Jackman) who thinks he’s found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top, he also discovers he has an 11-year-old son who wants to know his father
Trailer:
Excitement:
Jeff: Rock’em Sock’em Robots: The Movie and I LOVE IT! Not expecting a great movie though.
Ray: When i saw the first trailer.. i was not impressed, but this one actually has me interested.
Steve: Yawn…bite off of Rudy and Transformers. Oh Hugh, what are you doing?
BearCity (2010) Director: Douglas Langway Writers: Douglas Langway, Lawrence Ferber Stars: Joe Conti, Gerald McCullouch, Brian Keane,Stephen Guarino, Alex Di Dio, Gregory Gunter, James Martinez Summary: Tyler is a young gay actor trying to make it in New York City. But he has a secret, he likes Bears. As he finally steps into the bear community, he makes new friends and finds a daddy bear, Roger, he cannot resist. In addition he comes out to his best twink friend as well. Douglas Langway takes us through a bear Sex In The City type story addressing issues such as “spicing up” a long term relationship, weight loss, and finding that special someone.
For all intents and purposes, while our “hero” is this a twink trying to come out into the bear community, this also follow the story of two other couple as well. Michael being such a large guy is having trouble finding a job. He expects it’s because of his weight and he make a decision to have lapband surgery. His boyfriend Carlos is discusted by this and they have a break. Meanwhile Fred and Brent have been together for 4 years and Fred has thought about opening up the relationship. Also, we have Roger, a super hot daddy bear, who seems to be a devoted bachelor. Our hero Tyler has different plans for Roger, but can he.
Overall the story of BearCity is nice, not a fantastic new story, but showing it in a different community, one which I don’t think has been shown very often. It also addresses a gay man’s second coming out into the bear community. Over all the film is not a great film by any accounts, but it has a sweet and tender and funny moments that makes me recommend it.
Director: Peter Bratt Writer: Peter Bratt Stars: Benjamin Bratt, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Alex Hernandez, Erika Alexander and Christopher Borgzinner Summary: Che Rivera, ex-con, bus driver, father, just making a life in the Mission District working on a low rider car, and flirting with his neighbor. Then one day, after coming back from a low rider cruise, he finds out his son, Jes, is gay. He freaks out, full of rage. Facing his son the next day, he get’s violent and throws him out. Eventually Jes returns home as Che tries to come to terms with having a gay son.
Okay So really there’s more to the plot than that but it gives you an idea of what the film is about. This is a basic Parent comes to terms about having a gay child. In this case takes place in a hispanic single parent household in the Mission District of San Francisco. Sure, maybe the story is a little cliché but this different setting still led to what I believe to be a wonderful movie. I’m sad that I just watched this on Netflix streaming and didn’t buy the darn thing.
First things first. Yes, it’s a cliché. I swear I’ve seen this story before. I can’t put my finger on it but not sure where. One difference is seeing the coming out of a gay man from the father’s point of view. This truly is not Jes’s story, it’s Che’s through and through. I felt at plenty of moments I’ve wanted to cheer Che on in how he dealt with each of his screw up. I got mad at him when he did screw up. I had emotional ups and downs with him throughout the film. Benjamin Bratt was wonderful in the role and I cannot see anyone else in it.
I have to say that I loved the cinematography of this film. The colors during the day and during the nights in the street lights were fantastic. The cars were gorgeous and shiny. The pace and editing of the film just felt right and to me never seemed to drag or go to fast. The story kept my attention through the entire film which I really appreciated.
The Birdcage (1996)
