Adam & Steve
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Rating: Not Yet Rated
Release Date: May (Nashville release)
The makers of Latter Days go for the gold again with the new romantic comedy Adam & Steve. The paradoxically cosmogonic title, a common homophobic retort, can be interpreted as a witty affirmation that GLBT relationships have always been, and that one of those many stories is finally being shared with the masses.
This film follows the romantic trajectory of two people struggling to make love work in spite of overwhelming odds. Having met in the ’80s after a disastrous one-night-stand, Adam (Craig Chester) and Steve (Malcolm Gets) don’t recognize each other when they meet again fifteen years later. With the help of their best friends, formerly obese stand up comic Rhonda (Parker Posey), and straight guy ladies’ man Michael (Chris Kattan), our protagonists fall in love only to realize, a year into their relationship, that they met before and unwittingly changed the course of each other's lives that fateful night in the ’80s. Now the question is: can they accept this and incorporate it into their current understanding of each other? Or more importantly, can they hold hands on the street without being beaten up? www.adamandstevemovie.com
My thoughts: New Queer Cinema’s second wave sweeps in with this film, but this time depicting same gender love in a contemporary setting. Relative unknowns head out a cast supported by two of our favorite comedic actors. We aren’t all wildly spontaneous bar flies and club kids with a zest for thrill seeking. Some of us are actually still hopeless romantics holding on to the hope that a chance encounter will lead to our forever after. The premise of this film seems to want to keep that hope afloat for us all. Whether or not it succeeds, and how it fares in comparison to the cowboys, the transgendered mom, and the biopic of a homosexual 1940’s writer is yet to be seen. Nashville moviegoers will have a chance to enjoy the movie, and decide for themselves when it opens in May.
X-Men: The Last Stand
Genre: Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Rating: Not Yet Rated
Release Date: May 26, 2006
Say it ain’t so, just say it ain’t so! Is it in fact true that this will be the final installment in the line of X-Men films? The ominous subheading definitely alludes to that end. The X-Men movies, based on characters created by Marvel Comics masterminds Stan Lee and John Kirby, exploded onto screens in 2000. Six years later, more than four decades after the first comic book’s release, the franchise is still going strong. This is due in no small part to the underlying sociologic themes which explore prejudice, ostracism, relegation, and hate inspired violence; all of which many American subgroups have themselves been victims of and can therefore identify with. The X-Men are mutants who through a sudden leap in evolution are born with superhuman abilities that manifest unexpectedly around puberty. Together with their Professor Xavier, they fight both against wayward mutants and for survival in a world that fears and loathes them.
In X-Men: The Last Stand, the final chapter in the X-Men motion picture trilogy, a "cure" for mutancy threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier, who preaches tolerance, and Magneto, who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test – triggering the war to end all wars. © 20th Century Fox.
My thoughts: Actor Alan Cumming, who is openly gay, took on the role of “Nightcrawler” in the second film. Returning as “Erik Magnus Lehnsherr” a.k.a. “Magneto” is openly gay actor Sir Ian McKellen. Noticeably absent from the credits this go round is director Bryan Singer, who strategically crafted the look of the first two films, and who is also gay. Singer chose instead to direct the upcoming Superman movie, which went into production simultaneously with X-Men: The Last Stand. Whether this was a pivotal factor in the decision to end the series is unclear. Whatever the reason, this diehard fan since age eight can’t wait to see what is sure to be a monumental finale.