News

Witness how far one family will go to rescue one of their own in the riveting and emotionally charged action-drama Let Him Go, available to own for the first time on Digital on January 19, 2021 and on Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand on February 2, 2021 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Based on the novel of the same name by New York Times acclaimed author Larry Watson, the intense thriller reunites Academy Award nominee Diane Lane and Academy Award winner Kevin Costner as a husband and wife who set out to save their young grandson from the clutches of a ruthless family. Hailed as “original and suspenseful”, the visually stunning, Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh film is set in the 1960’s American West and explores the bonds of family, the power of love and the necessity of sacrifice. Featuring never-before-seen bonus content with the film’s cast and crew, Let Him Go on Blu-ray,...

Writer-director Thomas Bezucha clearly flourishes under a big sky: Returning to Montana for “Let Him Go,” he fulfills the promise of his acclaimed debut feature, 2000’s “Big Eden,” also shot in the Treasure State. But where his earlier film was a lovely romantic comedy about the power of community, this new film (based on the novel by Larry Watson) is a nail-biting thriller about a couple rescuing their young grandson from a terrible new family.

Between its taut script and some indelible performances, “Let Him Go” succeeds both as a low-key character study and as a breathlessly intense thriller about the clash between good (but not perfect) people and bad people, none of whom are to be trifled with.

Bezucha opens with some idyllic images right out of Norman Rockwell, and only subtly does an undercurrent of Edward Hopper become visible. Retired sheriff George Blackledge (Kevin Costner) and his wife...

Thomas Bezucha, whose 2000 feature “Big Eden” was a queer festival favorite, is back with his first film as writer-director in nearly a decade. While his last effort, “Monte Carlo,” was a lighthearted family comedy, his next feature, “Let Him Go” is a much darker effort. The film’s first trailer plays like a Western riff on the “Taken” franchise. “Let Him Go” is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Larry Watson.

“Let Him Go” stars Kevin Costner as a retired sheriff and Diane Lane as his wife. Following the loss of their son, the couple leave their Montana ranch to rescue their grandson, who has fallen into the clutches of a dangerous off-the-grid family headed by a matriarch named Blanche Weboy (played by “Phantom Thread” Oscar nominee Lesley Manville). The couple are forced to fight for their family when they discover the Weboys have no intention of letting the child go.

Thomas Bezucha will direct “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” a film adaptation of the best-selling novel about a professional racecar driver and his family as told from the perspective of the family dog. Bezucha wrote and directed his first three movies – “Big Eden, “The Family Stone” and “Monte Carlo” — but this time he will direct from a script by “Wolverine” writer Mark Bomback. Michael Rich wrote an earlier draft. Bomback and Rich worked from Garth Stein’s novel, which remained on the New York Times best-seller list for more than 100 weeks. Universal Pictures bought the rights to...

Brace yourselves. This list of the Top 100 Greatest Gay Movies is probably going to generate some howls of protest thanks to a rather major upset in the rankings. Frankly, one that surprised the hell out of us here at AfterElton.

But before we get to that, an introduction. A few weeks ago we asked AfterElton readers to submit up to ten of their favorite films by write-in vote. We conducted a similar poll several years ago, but a lot has happened culturally since then, and a number of worthy movies of gay interest have been released. We wanted to see how your list of favorites had changed.

We also wanted to expand our list to 100 from the top 50 we had done previously. We figured there were finally enough quality gay films to justify the expansion. And we wanted to break out gay documentaries onto their own list (You'll find the...

Monte Carlo is a good-natured throwback to romantic comedies that took place in exotic locations for no reason other than for escapism. Here is a film that’s pure escapism, light and upbeat if missing a biting wit that would have made this delightful. Instead it’s an adventure film with a farce structure but refuses to waltz into farce, holding the line. Selena Gomez stars as a recent Texas highly graduate, who is sent by her step father to Paris with her best friend, Emma (Katie Cassidy) and her half-sister whom she has tenuous relationship with, Meg (Leighton Meester).

Staying only one night in Paris (hey, wasn’t that title of something else?) they see key tourist destinations at a break-neck speed, but when they slow down they get stuck. They discover Gomez’s Grace looks an awful lot like rich heiress/snob Cordelia Winthrop Scott (why can’t...

When John Schultz was in elementary school, his favorite classroom activity was when the teacher would hand out a vocabulary list of 20 words and he would have to write a story that employed all of them. "I loved that challenge of here's what you have to work with. Make it work," Schultz said.

It shouldn't be all that surprising then that the director is making his third indie feature, but it is refreshing that with this week's "Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer," he's aiming to entertain today's elementary school kids by working in the indie world's least prolific genre, the family film. Oddly, in the considerably more ungoverned area of the medium that's wide open to personal coming-of-age stories and cinematic anarchy, few are made with the intention of appealing to all audiences.

Less unusual has been Schultz's career path, though it still might strike some as peculiar.

Charlie David and Richard Harmon

Magical realism hits gay film!

In Judas Kiss, a new film now playing the festival circuit, a washed-up filmmaker named Zachary (Charlie David) is talked into judging the student film festival where, 15 years previously, a movie of his made a big splash — a splash that ultimately led nowhere when he squandered his early buzz with bad personal and career choices. Zachary is so disappointed in himself and his past that he's even changed his name from "Danny Reyes."

But the night before the festival, he meets a hot college student named Danny (Richard Harmon), and the two have a torrid one-night stand. The next day, however, Zachary discovers a very disconcerting fact: the "Danny" he slept with is also named Danny Reyes — and he shares much else with Zachary, including the fact that the short film he's entered into the contest, Judas Kiss, is the...

A few weeks ago we asked readers to submit up to five of their favorite movies in our third annual favorite gay film poll. We wanted to see which older gay films have timeless appeal and which recent gay films you judged important enough to register in the rankings.

After voting closed we sorted through the nearly 15,000 nominations (representing over 500 individual titles) to identify your top fifty favorite gay films.

Tabulating this data is actually a bit harder than it sounds. For instance, do you know how many different ways our readers can type/abbreviate "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert?" We counted about a dozen!

But we're not complaining, because the list that resulted this year is actually rather interesting.

Nine new films made their way into the rankings, and five of these are of very recent vintage. This represents a strong showing for current queer cinema.

French actor Pierre Boulanger (2003's "Monsieur Ibrahim") is set to make his English-speaking feature debut in "Monte Carlo" from Fox 2000 and New Regency. In the comedy, Boulanger will play the love interest to Selena Gomez's character. Thomas Bezucha ("The Family Stone" and "Big Eden") directs as well as writing the screenplay with Maria Maggenti and April Blair based on the novel by Jules Bass. Selena Gomez, Katie Cassidy and Leighton Meester star as three American girls who travel to Paris and then end up heading for Monaco when one of them is mistaken for a spoiled princess. Andie McDowell also stars. Brett Cullen ("Lost," "Red Dawn" revamp) and Australian actor Luke Bracey ("Home and Away") play other love interests...

This week! The Kids in the Hall, whether it's okay to out dead celebrities, and lots and lots of Ugly Bettys! Plus, the most pleasurable "guilty pleasure" of all!

Q: In your recent column on coming out, you didn’t address outing celebrities posthumously. How should this be handled: "don't speak ill of the dead" or "add another name to the pantheon of the fabulous"? – Hue-Man, Canada

A: I vote for “add another name to the pantheon of the fabulous.” Here’s why: There are two reasons why most media outlets (including AfterElton.com) are still at least somewhat sensitive to reporting that a closeted famous person is gay: (1) if the person hasn’t ever revealed it in an interview, it’s an indication that he or she thinks there would be career-repercussions and doesn’t want the world to know, and (2) we're not absolutely sure it’s true.

Think...

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Send it to [email protected]! (Please include your city and state and/or country.)

Q: So far my favorite scene in my favorite show, Glee, is Artie singing “Dancing With Myself.” How did that wonderful scene come about? – Marshall, Chicago, Il

Kevin McHale as Glee's Artie

A: “I think it was [creator] Ryan [Murphy’s idea],” Kevin McHale tells us of that striking scene that has him moving around the school in his wheelchair and singing, sometimes in normal motion while everyone else is in slow motion. “[Ryan] was the one who walked by me a few episodes before and he was, like, ‘Learn “Dancing With Myself.’ It was cool.”

As for the unique, wheel-popping choreography, “It was very unconventional,” Kevin admits. “Me and the choreographer, Zach [Woodlee], kind of knew what I could do in the chair. He’s amazing. It was us figuring certain types...

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Send it to [email protected]! (Please include your city and state and/or country.)

Q: As much as I like seeing all the scantily-clad men in Spartacus: Sand and Blood, I can’t help but wonder: how awkward must that be for the actors? – Walter, San Diego, CA

Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) gets sand in his codpiece

A: It’s definitely a challenge, at least according to Andy Whitfield, who plays Spartacus on the show.

“They hand you a costume, and you say, ‘That’s it?’” he tells AfterElton.com. “You go, ‘Okay, I’m going to have to create the rest of the character from my own flesh and blood.’ There’s nowhere to hide. You’ve got to show yourself to everyone who’s watching.”

Still, in some ways, the costume does help him get into character. “There’s no protection in what we wear.

Why aren’t there more good gay movies? We hear this complaint at AfterElton.com a lot, and we’ve even made it a few times ourselves (although we think the results of this poll prove that there are more good movies than many of us think!).

There are surely many reasons why more “mainstream” movies don’t include gay or bisexual themes, but no doubt one of them is heterosexual discomfort – not just discomfort on the part of audiences and network executives, but also discomfort on the part of critics and others to champion these films.

This is where our poll of AfterElton.com readers on the 50 Greatest Gay Movies comes in. We can think of no better way to encourage the creation of more good gay movies than to praise and support the existence of past good gay movies!

How does this list compare to our previous poll?...

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Ask the Monkey! (Please include your city and state and/or country.)

Q: Are there any movies aimed at younger audiences that portray romance between gay couples? There are actually a lot of parents like myself who want to show their kids a movie with two people of the same sex falling in love in the fun way they show other kids’ movies. -- Marcy, Tacoma, Wa

A: Have you considered Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild!?

That’s a joke. Seriously. Gays Gone Wild is the raunchiest gay movie I’ve ever seen, and not in a good way.

"This might have been a mistake."

Anyway, I actually love this question. Nothing makes me quite as annoyed as the idea that “gay” is synonymous with “sex” while “heterosexual” is not.

In fact, I love this question so much that I wish I had a better answer.

Heath Ledger's beloved Brokeback Mountain movie has topped a new list of the best gay films.

The 2005 movie beat Beautiful Thing and Shelter to the top of a new online poll compiled by website AfterElton.com.

The top 10 is:

1. Brokeback Mountain

2. Beautiful Thing

3. Shelter

4. Latter Days

5. Maurice

6. Trick

7. Get Real

8. Big Eden

9. The Broken Hearts Club

10. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert...

Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermot Mulroney have signed on to the project previously known as Hating Her for Fox 2000. Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams and Luke Wilson are in negotiations to join the romantic comedy, which is currently untitled. Tom Bezucha writes and directs, while Michael London, whose Sideways is being toasted by many awards groups, produces. Set around Christmastime, the story revolves around a family whose favorite son (Mulroney) brings home the woman to whom he intends to propose (Parker), only to have his family turn on her. Keaton plays the matriarch and the family's emotional core. Wilson and McAdams would play Mulroney's brother and sister, while Danes would play Parker's sister. "It's an embarrassment of riches," Bezucha, who wrote and directed the 2000 indie Big Eden, said of the cast. "You can't even dream this big."...

Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermot Mulroney have signed on to the project previously known as Hating Her for Fox 2000. Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams and Luke Wilson are in negotiations to join the romantic comedy, which is currently untitled. Tom Bezucha writes and directs, while Michael London, whose Sideways is being toasted by many awards groups, produces. Set around Christmastime, the story revolves around a family whose favorite son (Mulroney) brings home the woman to whom he intends to propose (Parker), only to have his family turn on her. Keaton plays the matriarch and the family's emotional core. Wilson and McAdams would play Mulroney's brother and sister, while Danes would play Parker's sister. "It's an embarrassment of riches," Bezucha, who wrote and directed the 2000 indie Big Eden, said of the cast. "You can't even dream this big."...