Dearie Awards 2012: Movie of the Year

Movie of the Year: KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

Ira Sachs’ authentic, explicit, occasionally bruising but ultimately hopeful depiction of the ups and downs of an addiction-fueled gay relationship over the course of a decade emerges as the finest gay-themed drama in several years.  Danish actor Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth(best known as Michael Hewes on TV’s Damages) command attention throughout as they dance their codependent tango but, to its great credit, the film never becomes histrionic and Sachs treats both wounded men with nothing but compassion.  (Booth’s character is actually bisexual, a big-screen rarity.)  Contemporary gay-themed movies just keep getting better and better — see previous Dearie Award Movies of the Year A Single Man and Weekendfor further evidence of this — and Keep the Lights On now takes the crown.

Honorable Mentions: THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER and LES MISERABLES

Perks, starring a post-Harry Potter Emma Watson and rising stars Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman, emerged as one of the year’s biggest indie hits after doing consistent business at the box office for several months.  While not primarily LGBT-themed, Miller gives an exhilarating performance as an unapologetically gay high school student in this cross-generational success.

And though the long-awaited movie version of the long-running stage musical Les Miserablesdidn’t please all fans or critics, it is suffused with enough emotional and spiritual intensity, tortured romance and visual flourishes to fill several movies, not to mention a spectacular lead performance by Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Dearie Awards 2012: Television Show of the Year

Winner: THE NEW NORMAL
On the heels of his smash hits Glee and American Horror Story, Ryan Murphy delivered another quality series to TV with NBC's newest sitcom success The New Normal.  Centering on the subject of gay parenting (something that Murphy only recently knows all about), The New Normal deftly blends high comedy with well-earned sentimentality, plus a healthy dose of brash, highly un-P.C. humor by way of Ellen Barkin as the show's answer to Sue Sylvester.  Justin Bartha and Dearie Award winner Andrew Rannells anchor the show as a loving odd couple (complete with plenty of onscreen PDAs), joined by the sassy Nene Leakes, Georgia King as their perky surrogate and the scene-stealing Bebe Wood as her Little Edie-quoting daughter.  They all make it quite easy to embrace this "new normal".

Honorable Mention: GCB
Lord a'mighty, these GCB (that's "Good Christian Bitches" to you, darlin') were a hoot!  At least while they lasted.  Tragically cut short after only one season, this tart Texas-set comedy/soap was ABC's hope for the next Desperate Housewives... unfortunately, they scheduled it after that past-its-prime show during its too-painful-to-watch final season.  Nevertheless, with a cast included gay faves Kristin Chenoweth, Annie Potts and the best looking male eye candy to grace primetime for quite a spell, GCB was a Lone Star treat.

Honorable Mention: STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Lifetime's "all black" version of Steel Magnolias was a rare flower indeed: a remake that surpassed the original.  Led by an Emmy-worthy Queen Latifah (who's never been better), this updated adaptation of Robert Harling's perennial stage dramedy was more down-to-earth than the 1989 feature film that is now a certified gay camp classic.  Honestly earning every laugh and tear, this Steel Magnolias proves that even an old favorite can bloom anew.

Dearie Awards 2012: Man of the Year

Winner: ANDERSON COOPER
For years it has been an open secret that Anderson Cooper, the multiple Emmy Award-winning "silver fox" of CNN and son of fashion icon Gloria Vanderbilt, was gay. Subtle on-air comments, palling around with Kathy Griffin, and his own self-described "addiction" to reality shows like the Real Housewives only fueled the speculation. And let's not forget that giggle. So when Cooper finally, officially came out last summer, it was not that big a surprise for most people. The bigger surprise was that, once his daytime talk show Anderson Live resumed in the fall, we had a new Anderson. More relaxed and open and funny, Cooper now frequently comments about being gay and even makes jokes that he certainly would have suppressed only a year ago. Regrettably, this second season of his talk show will be its last, but there is no doubt that the man who has been called "the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television" will continue to enlighten, inform and entertain.

Honorable Mention: Matthew McConaughey
Few would have guessed, back when he was Hollywood's new "It Boy" in the mid-90's, that Matthew McConaughey would turn into one of the great character actors of our time.  In 2012 alone, he played hotshot lawyer Danny Buck Davidson in Bernie, Texas hitman-for-hire Killer Joe Cooper, scruffy fugitive Mud, closeted gay reporter Ward Jansen in The Paperboy and, most notoriously, Dallas, the sexually-ambiguous proprietor of the all-male strip club in Magic Mike.  And, with critics awards and Oscar talk for the latter, the former "Sexiest Man Alive" could also turn into something else unexpected: an Academy Award winner.

Dearie Awards 2012: Woman of the Year

Winner: ANNE HATHAWAY

Previous Oscar nominee -- and even an Oscar co-host -- Anne Hathaway scored iconic roles in two of this year’s major releases, The Dark Knight Rises and the current Les Miserables.  She not only stole both shows as, respectively, pseudo-villainess Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman) and Victor Hugo’s doomed factory worker-turned-prostitute Fontine, but is currently the front-runner to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Les Mis.  We at Movie Dearest have had our eyes on Hathaway for a long time and are thrilled to see her blossom into the star performer she is today, but she has also endeared herself to all of us in the GLBT community as an outspoken supporter of our dignity and equality.  Hathaway, who has a gay brother, even left the Roman Catholic Church rather than adhere to the church’s position that GLBT people are essentially second-class citizens.  Finally, we love her because she didn’t hesitate to twirl around in that fringy flapper-style dress she wore at one point when she co-hosted the 2010 Academy Awards.  You keep on going, girl!

Honorable Mention: JENNIFER LAWRENCE

This 22-year old came out of nowhere three years ago as heroine of the fantastic indie thriller Winter’sBone.  She received an Oscar nomination for it and instantly became one of the most sought-after actresses in the industry.  Lawrence proved her talent is no fluke this year as star of one of its biggest blockbusters, The Hunger Games, as well as a potential Best Actress-winning turn as a young widow in Silver Linings Playbook.  She’s obviously making all the right moves according to the Hollywood playbook.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Dearie Awards 2012: New Star of the Year

Winner: ANDREW RANNELLS
Theater fans knew him from his Tony Award nominated role as Elder Price in the irreverent musical The Book of Mormon, but Andrew Rannells broke through to the mainstream in 2012 as one of the stars of the NBC comedy hit The New Normal.  As one-half of a "guppie" couple preparing for the impending birth of their son via surrogate, the openly gay Rannells shines as his character Bryan (inspired by the series' creator Ryan Murphy) hilariously comes to terms with what it means to be a "daddy". Rannells charming performance is Emmy-worthy... and now "Dearie"-winning!

Honorable Mention: STEPHEN AMELL
It is easy to see why Stephen Amell caught our eye this past year. However, Amell has brought more than just rippling muscles and husky handsomeness to the CW's Arrow, the gritty update of DC Comics' classic superhero Green Arrow: his millionaire-turned-avenging archer Oliver Queen is a tortured vigilante who shoots to kill. Fitting for an actor who's looks could kill.

Honorable Mention: QUVENZHANE WALLIS
It isn't often that a child actor delivers a performance as stunning and heartfelt as that of young Quvenzhané Wallis in the indie cross-over hit Beasts of the Southern Wild.  Only six-years old at the time of filming, and with no previous acting experience, Wallis truly is a "New Star". But that hasn't stopped the accolades; she has already won several critics' awards and next week she may become the youngest Best Actress Oscar nominee in history.

Dearie Awards 2012: Stage Show of the Year

Winner: NEWSIES
"Extra! Extra! Disney Turns Flop Flick Into Boffo B.O.!" Broadway may have been surprised by the unexpected success of Disney Theatricals' screen-to-stage transfer of Newsies, but we devoted fans ("fansies"?) of the 1992 box office bomb-turned-cult favorite always knew that the beloved movie musical would "seize the day" on the stage.  With a cast filled with scruffy, athletic (over-aged?) newsboys, a book by Movie Dearest icon Harvey Fierstein and two Tony Awards (including one for, finally, Disney music man Alan Menken), Broadway's Newsies truly is the "king of New York".

Honorable Mention: CARRIE
Twenty-four years after its infamous Broadway opening (and quick closing), the notorious musical version of Stephen King's Carrie reared its pig's blood-soaked head this past year Off Broadway.  And while the revised revival ("revisal"?) took the material seriously instead of going to camp, it did produce the cast albumwe always wanted.

Dearie Awards 2012: Documentary of the Year

Winner: BULLY

Despite the ratings controversy this timely film engendered (egged on by its distributor in the interest of free publicity), Bully is essential viewing for teens and adults and ought to be shown in every high school.  In focusing on the plights of five students harassed by their peers for one silly, inexcusable reason or another (including, in at least one case, sexual orientation), director Lee Hirsch exposes the utter cluelessness of well-meaning parents and the horrific ineffectiveness of school administrators at protecting the children in their charge.  Simply put, this is the year’s one must-see documentary because young people’s lives truly are on the line.

Honorable Mention: HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE

A riveting recollection on the formation of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in mid-1980’s New York City.  After hundreds of deaths and thousands of HIV infections, a diverse assortment of young people came together to take on church and state in support of people with AIDS.  Their efforts resulted a decade later in the introduction of the first protease inhibitor, literally saving lives today.  The film serves as both a necessary eulogy and an inspiring celebration of our history.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.

Dearie Awards 2012: Foreign Film of the Year

Movie Dearest proudly presents the 6th Annual Movie Dearest Awards, honoring 2012's best in film, television and the stage! Also known as the "Dearies", this year's awards are dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and fellow critic/movie lover Neil Cohen.

And the first "Dearie" Award goes to our pick for Foreign Film of the Year:

Winner: AMOUR
Michael Haneke’s exploration of the waning days shared between a man (veteran actor Jean-Louis Trintignant) and his dying wife (Emmanuelle Riva, impressively stripped to her very essence) won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is favored to win the Academy Award.  One would have to be truly heartless not to be moved by their plight, regardless of one’s sexual orientation or relationship persuasion.  Haneke & Company illustrate par excellence that the music of the heart never stops playing.

Honorable Mention: SKYFALL

Some readers may be scratching their heads to see the latest 007 epic here (notice the category is not titled Foreign Language Film of the Year), but we felt it appropriate given the involvement of British director Sam Mendes, many British cast members including noteworthy turns by Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes, and the inherent British-ness of James Bond himself (currently personified by Brit hunk Daniel Craig). Also adding to Skyfall's international flavor is the scene-stealing Spainard Jaiver Bardem, who single-handedly (on 007's thigh, no less) brings the long-simmering homoeroticsm of the long-running series to the forefront as the film's big bad. Thrilling and thoughtful in equal measure, Skyfall is one of the very best entries in this enduring series’ 50-year history.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest, Rage Monthly Magazine and Echo Magazine.