Welcome to the weekend. Here are your movie suggestions for the week.
Cars and Dumb Hunks Together for the Fifth Time
Fast Five, directed by Justin Lin (who directed parts III and IV of the series), starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Dwayne Johnson. Entertainment Weekly calls it “high octane trash”–Like that’s a bad thing?! In this fünfquel, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson plays an FBI agent sent to Rio de Janeiro to put the kibosh on Walker and Diesel who are still racing cars…this time for their lives. (Unlike the last four times.) The Onion has an exclusive (and hilarious) interview with the screen writer here. Why this movie has gay appeal: First, If you like ‘em big and dumb, you can’t get much bigger and dumber than Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, a new comer to this franchise, one that’s already heavy laden with big dumb hunks, Diesel and Walker. Second, any movie starring The Rock immediately has huge camp appeal. The Mummy II is a perfect example of mainstream camp without all the coyness of films that try too hard to appeal to the gays (Burlesque for example.)
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, directed by Kevin Munroe (TMNT), starring Brandon Routh, Anita Briem, and Sam Huntington. Here’s the pitch–Let’s cast Brandon Routh as the lead in a film adaptation of a comic book with a cultish fan base. What could go wrong?
Rupert Everett in Cemetery Man
It turns out the original comic book, hugely popular in Italy, is also the point of departure for the weirdly wonderful, gorey and sexy Cemetery Man (1994), starring a young and handsome Rupert Everett. I wonder what else Rupert Everett might have in common with Brandon Routh? English? No. Friends with Madonna? No. Oh, I give up.
Prom, directed by Joe Nussbaum, starring Aimee Teegarden, Thomas McDonell, and DeVaughn Nixon. It’s surprising a romantic comedy called simply “prom” hasn’t already been made. Tons already have prom scenes that serve some kind of pivotal plot point—10 Things I Hate About You, American Pie, Pretty in Pink, Valley Girl, Footloose, She’s All That, Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion, and don’t forget Prom Night, Prom Night II: Hello Mary Lou, and Carrie, the best prom movie ever made. With this go-round Disney studios try to recapture the phenomenal success of the High School Musical franchise. The studio has abandoned the musical format, which is being done better each week on Glee, for a straight up teen romcom. It’s bound to please the tweens, but looks a little hackneyed for anyone who might have already lived through one of these ridiculous rights of passage.
On the Bowery (1956), directed by Lionel Rogosin, Ray Salyer. Shown as part of Fact Maverick: Three Films From Lionel Rogosin. This early documentary follows a railroad worker, Ray Salyer, who comes to the Bowery for a good time, meets a ragtag bunch of alcoholics, and drinks away all his money. Certainly not uplifting crowd-pleaser material, but an important snapshot of 1950s Manhattan street life. (Northwest Film Forum, all week)
Brad Davis as Querelle
Querelle (1982), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, starring Brad Davis, Franco Nero, and Jeanne Moreau. The final film by the highly prolific Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who completed 44 films before his death by drug overdose at age 37, and the final film in Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s Spring Film Series—OUTLAW: Jean Genet on Film. The radical ex-con and openly gay Genet’s material finds a perfect match in with Fassbinder, the enfant terrible of 1970s/80s German cinema. Querelle, played by the smokin’ hot Brad Davis, is a sailor on leave in a seedy seaport. He tracks down his brother working at a sleazy tavern caberet run by Lysiane, played by the incredible Jeanne Moreau. The fact that Lysiane’s husband will allow any man to sleep with her who beats him at cards, but losers must sleep with him, is only one of the many sexual quirks in this sexy and disturbing film. Advanced tickets are available here. This film might sell out. The film introduction, will be given by yours truly, and all ticket holders are invited to the post-film after party at Pony. Sailor uniforms highly encouraged. (Northwest Film Forum, Saturday 7 p.m. only)
Ryan Hicks is Development Manager for Three Dollar Bill Cinema, presenting Translations: the Seattle Transgender Film Festival (May 12-15). He is a film fan and contributor to Seattle Gay Scene.
