It’s a big day for gay-interest DVDs, especially if you’ve got Blu-ray capability.
Madea’s Big Happy Family
(Lionsgate, $29.95)
Tyler Perry dons fat-suit drag once again to play homespun matriarch Madea. The basic plot is the same: She yells and hits people; they obey her after she yells and hits them enough times. Longtime fans might find her lack of weed smoking and gun use a kind of betrayal, but Perry knocked that off after he learned that children love Madea even more than brain-damaged adults do. And there’s nothing children find more problematic in their favorite drag queen/Big Bird surrogate than drug use and gunfire.
Top Gun
(Paramount, $29.99)
The most memorable moment of the 1994 Gen-X flick Sleep With Me was a crazy cameo from Quentin Tarantino, in which he rants convincingly about the not-so-subtle gay subtext in Top Gun. Really, really, convincingly. Now you can enjoy how right he is on crisp Blu-Ray.
The Perfect Host
(Magnolia, $26.98)
David Hyde Pierce, a gay getting ready to host a dinner party, finds himself home-invaded by a criminal on the run (Clayne Crawford). Then Dr. Niles Crane goes all Girl With The Dragon Tattoo on the guy. So that’s awesome. As is the appearance of Helen “I Am Woman” Reddy.
NEXT: Good Will Hunting, Latter Days and
Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus on Blu-ray. Plus: Blackmail Boys
Good Will Hunting
(Lionsgate/Miramax Blu-ray, $19.99)
Looking at it now, this male weepie about therapy and math geniuses famously written by best buds Ben Affleck and Matt Damon is most watchable for Gus Van Sant’s cinematic adoration of young Damon. Seriously, watch this Blu-Ray with the sound off and check out how the baby-faced actor is framed and lit. Such care care is rarely lavished on priceless artwork.
Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus
(Criterion Blu-ray, $39.95)
Jean Marais stars in this 1950 retelling of the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus, who loses his love to the Underworld. Given that Marais and Cocteau were lovers at the time, this could be one of the places where Van Sant learned how to appropriately worship Damon.
Latter Days
(TLA Releasing Blu-ray, $29.99)
The 2003 drama about a Mormon missionary and a West Hollywood party boy who fall for each other is a cut above most small-budget gay flicks, and features some potent love scenes between handsome leads Wes Ramsey and Steve Sandvoss. It’s release on Blu-Ray now is undoubtedly timed to help it ride the Book of Mormon popularity wave.
Blackmail Boys
(TLA Releasing, $19.99)
To solve their financial woes, an art-school student/hustler and his boyfriend extort cash from a prominent religious figure (Hannah Takes The Stairs director Joe Swanberg), who’s also a client. Like Spike Lee said in Do The Right Thing: “Get that money.”
David Ehrenstein
“Latter Days ” is just so damned lovely!
David Ehrenstein
Actually by the time they made “Orpheus” Cocteau and Marais ha broken up. They still worked together however (the French are SO civilized) and this film was devised to showcase Cocteau’s new boytoy — the enchanting Edouard Dermithe. When Cocteau died he left everythign to Edouard.
Lefty
I agree about Good Will Hunting. Matt Damon never looked more beautiful. :'(
Great film. As is Orphee. Latter Days is okay, as far as those kinds of films go and Top Gun is the only Tom Cruise film I can still watch without wanting to barf. I’ll check The Perfect Host out, sounds great!
Thanks, Dave.
Paco
You know I think I might just make a link of this, put it on facebook, and use it as my birthday wish list.
slanty
I’ll sit this one out.