My Favorite Movies of 2013: “It’s called obsession/can you handle it?”

Posted on January 18, 2014 by queerlefty

I’m a little late with my best-of-the-year list this year, but a more relevant question is whether there even is such a thing as being late on this score. Looking back on my best-of-the-decade list, which I published at the tale end of 2009, I am struck by how different it would have looked, had I known – or seen – then what I have now. When compiling lists that are supposed to have a sheen of authority to them, time is not your enemy, it’s your friend. Continue reading →

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The Year in Film Criticism

Posted on December 25, 2013 by queerlefty

Taking stock of the year in film criticism has to begin with honoring the memory of two of the greats of the profession. I wrote extensively about him when he passed away in April, but is worth reminding people of the monumental legacy of Roger Ebert. A beloved TV personality and film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, his reach and influence extended all the way to Norway, where his reputation alone inspired people like my pre-teen self to thinking more, and more critically, about movies. Late in the year, the American critical community saw the passing of an even more senior figure, Stanley Kaufmann of the left-leaning ideas magazine The New Republic. Kaufmann wrote thoughtful and probing essays on movies beyond the multiplex until the end. With the deaths of Kaufmann, Ebert and Andrew Sarris in just the last two years, an era in American film criticism is drawing to an evitable but melancholic close. Continue reading →

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Speaking for the Sport

Posted on December 19, 2013 by queerlefty

When basketball player Jason Collins came out as gay this past May, I really thought this was going to be a game-changing year for queer athletes. My hope was strengthened when Robbie Rogers, who had quit soccer when he came out last year, resumed his career this summer. Both were welcomed with open arms, more or less. But then things went silent again, at least until Tom Daley’s video message to fans in early December. Jason Collins is still a free agent, and judging by the complete lack of out LGBT players, European professional soccer remains an exclusively straight business. Continue reading →

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“Right now I’m dating a guy, and I couldn’t be happier. Is it a big deal? I don’t think so.”

Posted on December 2, 2013 by queerlefty

Today’s big news in LGBT world, at least in my corner of the Internet, is that the British diver and Olympian Tom Daley has come out as bisexual in a YouTube video to his fans. This is obviously good news. My respect for him, already significant for his athletic achievements and all-around, handsome good-naturedness, only increases with the announcement. But let me step back for a moment to ponder the question of why I, and so many other LGBT people, often take it as a sign of self-affirmation when someone like Tom Daley comes out. Continue reading →

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Did I See “Gravity”?

Posted on November 29, 2013 by queerlefty

Yes. It’s a truly spectacular film, in every sense of the word; a suspenseful, high-stakes-small mistakes thriller, a lyrical adrift-in-space drama that manages to simultaneously be both intimate and nearly infinite in scope, and more than anything, a stunning visual achievement.

But also, no. Gravity is one of those movies that people will insist you have to see in 3-D, because the added dimension really brings out something special to Alfonso Cuaron’s talent for visual storytelling (heaven knows scriptwriting is not his forte, judging by some of the hammy lines he has George Clooney, and to a lesser extent Sandra Bullock, delivering in this movie.) Continue reading →

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Bad Blood Brothers

Posted on October 22, 2013 by queerlefty

Something is apparently rotten in Jonas world. I’ve written extensively about the various charms of the power-pop glorious siblings – from half-decent TV movies, to earnest solo efforts and featuring prominently on the Sexiest Males Alive list – but the latest round of news is much more dire. The band recently dismantled its Twitter account and canceled its upcoming tour, leading to speculation that the Jonas Brothers is now assigned sliding into oblivion. There alledgedly is a “deep rift” within the band, and I was not exactly comforted by anonymous sources claiming the cancellation was due to disagreement about its creative direction. Things like these happen all the time, but as Hanson attested to just recently, there are ways to work around them and hope that cooler heads – and perhaps the instinct of self-preservation – will prevail. Continue reading →

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Nick, Over Time

Posted on October 14, 2013 by queerlefty

It may seem a little curious to accuse an autography of being too self-centered, but that nevertheless was my main takeaway from the episodic and “educational” new self-help/memoir hybrid of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter. In no small part it has to do with the book’s curious ambition. Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It is as much of conventional self-help book as a traditional autobiography, with the expected anecdotes from a troubled celebrity life. Continue reading →

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Bringing Jesse Back

Posted on August 21, 2013 by queerlefty

However irregularly this blog has been updated over the years, I have nonetheless managed to single out a couple of recurring characters who have been given extra attention. There’s Hanson, of course, to whom we will hopefully return shortly for a post on this summer’s release of Anthem. In the early years, I also had a watchful eye out for Hunter Parrish and Emile Hirsch, both to chronicle how they graced screens of all kinds, and to chart their continued quest for the top of the then-regular Sexiest Males Alive list. But one of the sad stories of the last couple of years has been the near disappearance of another in-house favorite: Jesse McCartney. Continue reading →

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As Gay as Ever

Posted on August 8, 2013 by queerlefty

Every August 7, I re-post my coming out story. Only this year, I’m doing it belatedly on August 8, not because I forgot, or because I no longer consider it to be an important day in my life; I simply didn’t get around to doing the actual posting sooner. (I was too busy being proud and playing Pet Shop Boys, I guess.)

Below is a spell-checked version of my original post from 2008, Two Years Ago Today Since Out (which, come to think of it, is a somewhat grammatically awkward headline). Since it was first posted, I have told what few readers there may still be out there about several other aspects of my gay life, from Early Gay Crushes to what it’s like to be a disabled gay and how the challenge and excitement of coming out never really goes away. You can find them under the “The Gay I Am” banner. Continue reading →

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On the Death of Cory Monteith

Posted on July 15, 2013 by queerlefty

For no reason, I decided to watch the 2011 Glee concert movie just three weeks ago. It was a very strange experience, for a couple of reasons. First, all background interviews were in character, so Lea Michele and Mark Salling were basically acting out how Rachel or Puck  might have reacted to being part of a big arena tour production. The segments with regular Glee fans straining to explain how the show had changed their lives – or at least their outlook on life – also didn’t quite work in the context of the film, giving more the feel of a season box-set featurette than a theatrical release. Continue reading →

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