Lesbian and Gay DVDs and Videos - Page 5

"The City" in question is San Francisco, and the tales are novelist Armistead Maupin's, his romantic, affectionate, and spirited homage to the glory days of his hometown. Maupin's idea of SF's glory days isn't the drug-filled Summer of Love (1967), but rather the drug-filled lust-in of the late '70s. Replacing acid with coke and ludes, psychedelic for disco, this six-hour miniseries (which caused controversy for its open drug use, nudity, and direct depiction of homosexuality upon its initial airing on PBS) follows the romantic struggles and identity crises of a colourful cast of characters.

In this movie, a grad student gets drugged, kidnapped and tattooed by a group of not-so-smart gangsters who incidentally work for a frozen food factory owner. The action and laughter go on and on in a zany and unbelievably imaginative plot that intertwines lesbian hookers, a redneck step-family and a corrupt FBI agent. But the one-liners in this movie make it worth seeing, alone. There are also many familiar actors and actresses in the cast, but actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Dietrich Bader put on the most brilliant performances.

You don't have to be gay to love this surprising and unpretentious little movie, which should appeal to the hidden sense of "outsider" in most viewers. The story of an overweight, overly emotional, gravel-voiced and very unglamorous drag queen who seeks true love in a society that prizes appearance over values, TORCH SONG TRILOGY is a hilarious and often poignantly touching film with a break-out performance by Harvey Fierstein, who adapts his Tony-award winning stage script and performance for the screen with considerable aplomb.

Jarring,  portrait of a group of bored, alienated L. A. teens. They hang out and talk about sex, relationships, and their parents; their language is littered with such words as "grossomatic" and "gagorama." And... they're gay, so there is no shortage of venom vented against homophobia.

Destined to be forever referred to as the "American Priscilla," this bit of cross-dressing whimsy lacks that film's exhilaration and sharp character definition, but ultimately pleases with its good humor and spirited performances. Tough guys Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes get in touch with their feminine side as they don sequins and high heels as two New York drag queens who win a preliminary drag contest and ride off towards Hollywood for the finals. Along for the ride is Latina spitfire John Leguizamo, an ill-refined drag looking to learn the ropes. En route, they run afoul of the law, and are stranded in a small Midwestern town (and befriend the locals) which provides most of the story. Though the gay characters are positively portrayed, they are virtually sexless fairy godmothers who neither love or have partners and who help the hapless heterosexuals with no fashion sense. This is so tame you can watch it with your mom. Looking like Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot, Swayze seems to enjoy himself as the demure Vida; Snipes is rambunctious as the glib Noxeema; and Leguizamo steals the show as the fiery Chi Chi. Blink and you might miss Quentin Crisp's appearance as a beauty pageant judge.

Life in New York City, apparently, ain't what it used to be. In director Dan Ireland's "slice of life," Vincent D'Onofrio is a former porn star named Valentino (how's that for subtle metaphor?) who is slowly dying of AIDS. That's the least of your worries. He's also one third of a symbiotic ménage à trois that includes waitress girlfriend Mary Carmen (an obnoxious Salma Hayek) and fetishistic gigolo boyfriend Gary (Thomas Jane, strutting like Madonna on valium). The movie comes across like some Midwestern housewife's salacious idea of what life is like "on the edge"--teeming with drugs, wild dancing, and drag queens. There's even a deaf, Transgendered, Patsy Cline-wannabe who, no kidding, gets hit by a car while trying to call for an ambulance. Ireland and screenwriter James Still make such an embarrassing show of being outrageous that it's almost offensive; everybody is so busy being dangerously fabulous that nobody is even remotely human. - Steve Wiecking (Amazon)