Get your TV fired up, because there is a lot of home entertainment goodness happening this week! Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan attempt to track down a long-lost adopted son in Philomena, while James Franco helps recreate a famous lost chapter in queer cinema with Interior. Leather Bar.
A pair of bros are shaken up when one comes out in Date and Switch, and a closeted Polish priest realizes that celibacy may not be the answer in In The Name Of.
($19.99 DVD; Strand)
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Director William Friedkin shot a lot of hot gay action scenes for his controversial 1980 film Cruising, but these 40-some minutes of footage went unused and have since been lost. James Franco and Travis Matthews have crafted a strange hybrid of recreation, drama, documentary, and film within a film that imagines what they might have looked like. Extras include a pair of short films directed by Franco and Matthews, respectively, and interview featurette.
($34.99 Blu-ray, $29.98 DVD; Anchor Bay)
In this based-on-a-true-story dramedy, Steve Coogan plays a journalist who is tasked with helping a former nun, portrayed by Judi Dench, track down the son that was taken away from her and adopted decades ago. There’s a gay twist here, which is just a bonus reason to see this deeply moving, incredibly acted, and often funny feature directed by Stephen Frears (Prick Up Your Ears). Extras include a commentary track, conversation with Dench, brief interview with the real Philomena, and a Q&A with Coogan, who also co-wrote the script.
($24.95 DVD; Film Movement)
In this superbly acted drama from Poland, a closeted Catholic priest who looks a touch like Daniel Craig, Father Adam, has been transferred to a rural outpost. While he hopes to avoid dealing with his repressed sexuality, clutching on to the institution’s celibacy, a group of young male delinquents in his parish cause it to bubble up. Oh, Father… Comes with the bonus short film from Israel, Summer Vacation.
($24.98 Blu-ray, $19.98 DVD; Lionsgate)
High school bros Matty and Michael are determined to lose their virginities before prom… a goal complicated by the fact that Matty has realized he’s “a gay dude.” A queer twist on the teen losing-our-virginity-before-graduating trope, we can kinda forgive the fact that the cast looks more like they’re about to get their PhDs rather than high school diplomas. Extras include two featurettes, deleted scenes, and an audio commentary.
ALSO OUT:
Better Living Through Chemistry
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Being Ginger
Death Do Us Part
The Invisible Woman
Ride Along
Shofixti
As a film school grad (who didn’t pursue film) – let my one contribution be the plea to not bother with Interior. Leather Bar.:
It does not re-imagine a lost 40 minutes, but barely even 4 minutes of coherent footage. The rest is snore-worthy interviews and cut aways and other shots like people getting into character and rehearsing scenes. A fizzle with no meaning.
Ron Jackson
@Shofixti: I have to agree with you. I found it very boring and bailed after thirty minutes. Not engaging.
stranded
@Shofixti:
lol. With Interior leather bar, i found it on the internet and watched it, but i got disappointed, i thought it was a behind the scenes docu, later i realized no, that’s the actual movie. I don’t see what the point of recreating lost footage of that movie and only devoting like 5 minutes to the recreation and an hour on the process of making it. It made no fucking sense.
Date and switch – i forgot about that movie. I wanted to see it, but it doesn’t look all that great.
Flowers in the attic – i was so disappointed by it.
DarkZephyr
@stranded: Regarding Flowers in the Attic, I thought this remake stayed truer to the VC Andrews novel than the 80s version did.
Cee
Interior. Leather Bar. One of the worst films I’ve ever seen. I will never get that time back either.