Rotten Tomatoes Ranks Top LGBT Films Of All Time

Rotten Tomatoes, the movie ranking website, has compiled its list of the Best 200 LGBTQ-themed films of all time.

All of these films stand on the shoulders of other LGBT films that have come before. Our list of the 200 Best LGBT Movies of All Time – expanded from our original list of 150 movies, released last year – stretches back almost 90 years to the pioneering German film, Mädchen in Uniform, which was subsequently banned by the Nazis, and crosses multiple continents, cultures, and genres.

There are broad American comedies (The Birdcage), artful Korean crime dramas (The Handmaiden), groundbreaking indies (Tangerine), and landmark documentaries (Paris Is Burning). In this thorough update and expansion of the list, we added films from the last year in cinema that qualified (from 2018’s We the Animals and The Miseducation of Cameron Post to this year’s The Heiresses and Giant Little Ones and more) and worked to include more stories from outside of the U.S.

To be considered for the list, a movie had to prominently feature gay, lesbian, trans, or queer characters; concern itself centrally with LGBT themes; present its LGBT characters in a fair and realistic light; and/or be seen as a touchpoint in the evolution of queer cinema.

And it had to be Fresh. The final list was culled from a longlist of hundreds, after which the films were ranked according to the Adjusted Tomatometer, which acts as a kind of inflation adjustment, taking into consideration the Tomatometer score, as well as the number of reviews a film received relative to the average number of reviews for films released that same year.

It's a pretty comprehensive list to be sure. Some folks are surprised at the ranking of certain films versus others, but I think it's a great list.

Just a few of my favorites here are (in no particular order): Torch Song Trilogy, The Sum of Us, Cabaret, Trick, The Birdcage, Philadelphia, The Hours, The Color Purple, Beach Rats, Boy Erased, The Way He Looks, Rocketman, Longtime Companion, Brokeback Mountain, Victor Victoria, The Kids Are Alright, God's Country, Call Me By Your Name, Moonlight and Love, Simon.

Click here to check out the list over at Rotten Tomatoes.

Trailer: Netflix's New Teen Comedy "Alex Strangelove"

Just as we come off our Love, Simon high, Netflix steps up to the plate with their own take on questioning high schoolers.

In the new coming-of-age film Alex Strangelove, produced by Ben Stiller, we meet way-cute, wide-eyed high school senior "Alex Truelove" (played by Daniel Downey) who seems to have it all.

Life seems pretty sweet for young Alex until his girlfriend (Madeline Weinstein of Beach Rats) begins to pressure him about that major teen milestone - losing his virginity. Suddenly, Alex isn’t so sure about which team he plays for.

Adding to the confusion is "Elliott," a gay teen (played by out actor Antonio Marziale) who clearly sparks an interest in Alex.

Here’s the official synopsis:

High school senior Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny) has it all – the grades, the girlfriend (Madeline Weinstein), and the motley crew of hilarious friends. Everything is smooth sailing until Alex shares that he’s decided to part ways with his virginity – and meets Elliott (Antonio Marziale), a sweet and confident gay boy who isn’t shy about his instant crush on Alex…who may or may not feel the same. Rocketed into a endearing and amusing journey of sexual and self-exploration, Alex ultimately learns that like so much of growing up, love can be confusing. And that’s okay.

Director Craig Johnson (The Skeleton Twins) recently told Entertainment Weekly that he's thrilled the film landed at Netflix, "because you can be a closeted kid in rural Wyoming and access it, where you might not have gone to it were it playing in the theater."

The film feels very much in the same vein as recent hit Love, Simon, and we couldn't be happier. More gay rom-coms!

Alex Strangelove premieres on Netflix June 8. Watch the trailer below.

Podcast: The Best Of LGBT Film, Music, TV & Pop Culture In 2017

This podcast is a big one as I celebrate the best 2017 had to offer regarding:

Best LGBT films:
• Call Me By Your Name
• God's Own Country
• Beach Rats
• Dream Boat
• Tom of Finland
• BPM
• In A Heartbeat
• No Place Like Home


Best music from out artists:
• Wrabel - "The Village"
• Halsey - "Strangers"
• Eli Lieb - "Next To You"
• JoLivi - "Love Who You Wanna Love"
• Rayvon Owen - "Volume"
• Trey Pearson - "Love Is Love"
• Billy Porter - "Edelweiss"

• Best in LGBT Pop Culture - including the return of "Will & Grace," "Star Trek's" first same-sex kiss, the Disney Channel's first gay storyline, RuPaul's second Emmy win and the historic win at the Academy Awards by "Moonlight"

Plus - good news LGBT headlines in the U.S. and around the world

This is a fun show to look back and feel good about the best 2017 had to offer the LGBT community.

Hit play.

Gay-Themed "Call Me By Your Name" Leads 2017 Independent Spirit Award Nominations

This year's Independent Spirit Award nominations have been announced and the highly-anticipated gay drama Call Me By Your Name starring Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet received six nominations including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Male Lead (for Timothee Chalamet), and Best Supporting Male (for Armie Hammer).

Call Me By Your Name bows in New York City and Los Angeles this Friday before opening nationwide.

Also, Sundance favorite Beach Rats picked up two nominations, one for Best Male Lead (for Harris Dickinson) and Best Cinematography,

Additionally, French AIDS/ACT UP drama BPM (Beats Per Minute) got a nod for Best International Film, as did A Fantastic Woman from Chile, in which trans actress Daniela Vega plays a transgender singer faced with discrimination and loss when her lover dies.

Here’s the full list of nominees:

Best Feature
“Call Me by Your Name”
“The Florida Project”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“The Rider”

Best First Feature
“Columbus”
“Ingrid Goes West”
“Menashe”
“Oh Lucy!”
“Patti Cake$”

Best Director
Sean Baker, “The Florida Project”
Jonas Carpignano, “A Ciambra”
Luca Guadagnino, “Call Me by Your Name”
Jordan Peele, “Get Out”
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, “Good Time”
Chloé Zhao, “The Rider”

Best Screenplay
Greta Gerwig, “Lady Bird”
Azazel Jacobs, “The Lovers”
Martin McDonagh, “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Jordan Peele, “Get Out”
Mike White, “Beatriz at Dinner”

Best First Screenplay
Kris Avedisian, Story By: Kyle Espeleta, Jesse Wakeman, “Donald Cried”
Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, “The Big Sick”
Ingrid Jungermann, “Women Who Kill”
Kogonada, “Columbus”
David Branson Smith, Matt Spicer, “Ingrid Goes West”

Best Cinematography
Thimios Bakatakis, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”
Elisha Christian, “Columbus”
Hélène Louvart, “Beach Rats”
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, “Call Me by Your Name”
Joshua James Richards, “The Rider”

Best Editing
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, “Good Time”
Walter Fasano, “Call Me by Your Name”
Alex O’Flinn, “The Rider”
Gregory Plotkin, “Get Out”
Tatiana S. Riegel, “I, Tonya”

Best Female Lead
Salma Hayek, “Beatriz at Dinner”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Shinobu Terajima, “Oh Lucy!”
Regina Williams, “Life and nothing more”

Best Male Lead
Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Harris Dickinson, “Beach Rats”
James Franco, “The Disaster Artist”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Robert Pattinson, “Good Time”

Best Supporting Female
Holly Hunter, “The Big Sick”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
Lois Smith, “Marjorie Prime”
Taliah Lennice Webster, “Good Time”

Best Supporting Male
Nnamdi Asomugha, “Crown Heights”
Armie Hammer, “Call Me by Your Name”
Barry Keoghan, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Benny Safdie, “Good Time”

Robert Altman Award
“Mudbound”

Best Documentary
“The Departure”
“Faces Places”
“Last Men in Aleppo”
“Motherland”
“Quest”

Best International Film
“BPM (Beats Per Minute)” (France)
“A Fantastic Woman,” (Chile)
“I Am Not a Witch,” (Zambia)
“Lady Macbeth,” (U.K.)
“Loveless,” (Russia)

What To Watch This Weekend

What to watch this weekend:

• Beach Rats - According to Rolling Stone, writer/director Eliza Hittman has created "a film of erotic heat and piercing delicacy." The acclaimed film tells the story of Frankie, a Brooklyn teen in the midst of a sexual-identity crisis. He spends his nights cruising for encounters with older men online, but his daytime beach bros are not in on his secret. Adding to his list of conflicts, a tough, street-wise girl and a father dying of cancer. The flick won honors at several film festivals including Sundance and OutFest LA. In select theaters this weekend.

• Whitney. Can I Be Me - Never before seen video, candid interviews and behind the scenes performance footage highlight this raw and uncensored portrait of Whitney Houston, who died suddenly at age 48 after years of struggling with addiction. The documentary explores, in part, Houston's relationship with her childhood friend, Robyn Crawford, that fueled much speculation about her sexuality. Premieres on Showtime Saturday, Aug 26 at 6:15 PM ET/PT.

• Always one of the most wildly creative awards shows, Katy Perry hosts the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards set to kick off this Sunday at 8 PM ET. The awards will feature a new category, "Best Fight Against the System," celebrating socially conscious music that may not get as much attention in the mainstream. Among the nominees is "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" off the Hamilton Mixtape.

• And, Sunday night at 9 PM is the season finale of HBO's Game of Thrones. What more do I have to say?

Queer Film: "Beach Rats"

I'll be curious to see if Barry Jenkins' Oscar winning Moonlight might open the door for more queer-themed indie films.

The film I have in mind right now is Eliza Hittman's new flick, Beach Rats, which just dropped a full-length trailer.

Synopsis:

On the outskirts of Brooklyn, Frankie, an aimless teenager, suffocates under the oppressive glare cast by his family and a toxic group of delinquent friends.

Struggling with his own identity, Frankie begins to scour hookup sites for older men. When his chatting and webcamming intensify, he begins meeting men at a nearby cruising beach while simultaneously entering into a cautious relationship with a young woman.

As Frankie struggles to reconcile his competing desires, his decisions leave him hurtling toward irreparable consequences.

Eliza Hittman won at Sundance for her direction this year; and the film also won at the Montclair Film Festival and the Independent Film Festival of Boston.

Critics have called the film a powerful character study that is as visually stunning as it is evocative.

The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the flick thusly:

The film brews a potent cocktail of bristling male aggression and inarticulate sexual longing mixed with fear, as Frankie's burgeoning identity becomes irreconcilably distant from his native habitat. That makes for a tense and unsettling final section, with a conclusion that leaves Frankie reeling at an ambiguous crossroads.

English actor Dickinson stands to make a significant leap on the casting radar with his work here, playing a character floating through his impulsive sexual exploration, seemingly in total denial that any of it involves conscious choices. It's a characterization that might easily have read as weak, unfeeling, even remote, and yet despite the refusal of both actor and filmmaker to signal Frankie's vulnerability, his lost quality keeps us in a melancholy grip.

In select theaters August 25th. Watch the trailer below.

News Round-Up: January 31, 2017

(image courtesy of Sundance)

Some news items you may have missed:

• After a splashy world premiere at Sundance Film Festival, BEACH RATS, a gritty coming-of-age tale about a Brooklyn teen’s struggles to come to grips with being gay, has been picked up by new indie label Neon.

• Trump son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may be feeling squeezed out of his power position in the White House.

• Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins aren't completely sold on billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. #TheresHope

• New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who forced "The Donald" to settle his Trump University lawsuits for $25 million, is joining the ACLU's lawsuit against Trump's travel ban.

• Awkward - in 2015, during now-fired acting Attorney General Sarah Yates' confirmation hearings, Sen. Jeff Sessions queried Yates about her responsibility to then-President Obama should he ask her to defend "unlawful" orders. Kinda like yesterday which led to her getting canned?

• Lead singer and chief songwriter for 80s band Asia, John Weston, passed away at the age of 67 of colon cancer. The band's debut single, "The Heat of the Moment," spent 6 weeks on top of the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in 1982. I thought the 10/8 meter of the verse was the coolest thing. Loved Asia.