The Beaver ($26.99, Summit Entertainment)
In this surreal family drama, Hollywood’s premier A-list lesbian directs Hollywood’s most notoriously drunken, homophobic anti-Semite with woman issues who isn’t Charlie Sheen. And it makes more sense than you’d think—they’re old friends from co-starring in the 1994 western-comedy, Maverick. You can see from how Foster guides Gibson’s performance through the bizarre story—a mentally unstable man copes by speaking through a beaver puppet—that she genuinely cares for the troubled actor she chose to star as the film’s troubled protagonist. You can hate Gibson personally but, along with the truly disturbing Edge of Darkness, this is one of his best, most anguished performances in a long time.
Blitz ($28.99, Millennium Entertainment)
Little-seen stateside, this UK flick is notable for starring all-action-all-the-time Transporter and Crank stubble-dude Jason Statham, as well as British Queer As Folk star Aiden Gillen and Immortals‘ Luke Evans. It’s about tough policemen chasing a cop-slaying serial killer—but you might get a different read on it given Evans’ publicist’s recent media blitz to shove the once-out actor back in the closet.
The Women In Cages Collection: The Big Bird Cage, Big Doll House, Women In Cages ($34.98, Shout! Factory)
You can debate the wisdom of releasing high-def Blu-Ray versions of cheapo’ 70s grindhouse classics, but there’s no denying the lurid girl-on-girl thrills offered by these three campy women-in-prison films starring Pam Grier. In Big Doll House, Grier and other sexy, roughed-up prisoners struggle against a sadistic warden while, inside The Big Bird Cage, Grier engineers a daring prison break—from the outside in. And in Women In Cages, the Jackie Brown star is on the other side of the bars, playing a tough-as-nails warden who seduces and torments her buxom inmates in the Philippines jungle. These tasteless time capsules offer something for everyone: gay dudes who like to watch angry chicks mud fighting, straight guys who want to see women soaping each other in the prison showers, lesbians who can appreciate the old-school weirdness of Sapphicly-tinged sadistic sexploitation films. Advice before buying: Find the nudity-rich NSFW trailers on YouTube before they’re taken down. They’re entertainingly offensive all by themselves.
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Jimmy Fury
ooooo the Women in Cages collection will go nicely next to my Fox in a Box set…
Cam
Wow, so you’re actually encouraging people to go see a movie staring a bigot. I’m very curious at the level of self hate going on there.
Would a woman’s magazine be encouraging people to run out and buy the latest Chris Brown CD or movie by….well Mel Gibson?
Would BET be encouraging people to run out and see a film staring MArk Furman?
Seriously folks…….
Ronbo
If it put a red cent into his pocket, I’m out! Gibson is getting what he deserves. May he end up working the street tricking for booze and a place to crash.
What’s the old saying? Step on people carefully on your way up, you may depend upon them on your way down. Gibson is getting as he gives.
dave white
@Cam: To be more clear, I find Gibson a fascinating and somewhat pitiable public figure. I don’t know the man personally, only the bizarre actions he’s publicly committed thanks to his out of control addictions.
Watching a movie starring a problematic person and finding it worthwhile in spite of or because of that person is not the same as hating oneself.
I’m the film critic for another site, Movies.com, and so my job is to see everything, whether it stars someone like Gibson or not. This is an interesting but flawed movie, regardless of Gibson’s obvious problems.
Sebizzar
I think Jason Statham is the hottest man on my list of Hot Men Over 40 ;P
Lefty
Jason Statham is the hottest man in the world. 😀
The Beaver got a 10 minute standing ovation at Cannes.
Doubt I’ll ever see the film…
Fitz
ZERO interest in seeing a movie starring a woman-beating, homophobic, drunk driving, anti Semite and made by his quisling teen-beating dyke friend. ZERO. And those of you “Critics” who want to ignore and excuse who he is for the sake of your glorious art are just a shade from quisling status yourself. Being a human requires judgement.
RomanHans
Queerty isn’t advocating anything by announcing what’s new on DVD. I just reserved a couple of these movies online at my local library. Mel Gibson isn’t getting a penny out of me.
Cam
@dave white:
Hi DAve,
The issue is that if Gibson sells, then hollywood thinks he is marketable, and he starts making money and working, and then it is seen that everything he did has no reprecussions.
If it turned out that J.K. Rowling came out and said that gays shouldn’t have rights, I wouldn’t have seen the last Harry Potter film in spite of seeing the first six.
There were hundreds of small movie releases that could have been reviewed and publicised, but picking the one featuring Gibson is still giving the mans work a serious push in spite of who he is as a person. Why not review some of the other films out there made by people who do not have his views?
dave white
@Cam: When there are gay-related releases of note or releases of tangential gay interest on the release schedule for the week, I make a point to cover them. That’s my editor’s mandate for this weekly column.
I post this round-up every Tuesday (DVD release day) and it’s devoted to what’s new on DVD and streaming video for that particular week. I chose The Beaver as a film to cover specifically because it was directed by a lesbian and stars a man who’s not only noted for his public anti-gay remarks but also well-known to be a close friend of hers. Therefore, there’s an inherently interesting tension in that weird situation and the film itself is, for anyone who cares to investigate it, sort of a window into Gibson’s real-life problems.
If presenting it as an option for viewing is the same as endorsement, then I guess I’m guilty of endorsing it. However, I don’t see it that way. I’m here to report what’s happening in the DVD release market. Do I still think it’s a half-way decent movie and interesting to watch because of Gibson’s problems? Yes. But I’m not going to make anyone do it who doesn’t want to, clearly.
Now, the day may come when Gibson is once again seen by Hollywood as a marketable star. It could happen. The public has a short attention span and he may once again succeed even if he never gets the kind of help he needs to change his self-destructive life. But if it does happen that his career resurrects itself somehow, it probably won’t come about because of this particular movie. It was that big a box office disaster.