Awards Watch: Short Stories

For the seventh year, Shorts HD will be presenting in theaters special short film programs collecting this year's Academy Award nominated animated, live action and documentary shorts. As in the past few years, this is a great opportunity for movie fans and Oscar watchers to see these small, often overlooked gems not only on the big screen, but also before the Big Night, therefore possibly giving you a leg up in your office Oscar pool. The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013 opens today with the separate animated and live action programs, with the documentary program premiering next Friday.

Unlike in recent years when the Animated Short category has often been populated -- and won by -- cynical and/or esoteric fare (Logorama, The Lost Thing), this year's batch of toons are all accessible and lighthearted (but not light weight). And there is none of that fancy-schmancy computer animation either; two are animated via old school stop motion, while the other three are traditionally hand-drawn. And all five are dialogue-free, not as uncommon in this category as one might think.

You may have actually seen one or two of the nominees already, as Disney's Paperman and Fox's Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" were paired theatrically with, respectively, Wreck-It-Ralph and Ice Age: Continental Drift. The former is a an almost all black-and-white tale (directed by John Kahrs) of a lovelorn office drone desperately trying to connect, via paper airplanes, with the pretty secretary in the office building directly across the street from his. It is sweet and sharply animated, in typical Disney style, however anyone who has seen the popular internet short Signs may feel a strong sense of déjà vu while viewing it.  As for the latter, it is a little ironic that, where The Simpsons Movie failed to get nominated for Best Animated Feature a few years back, little Maggie Simpson got a nod all on her own (actually, the nomination goes to director David Silverman). As the title suggests, our favorite pacifier-sucking yellow toddler finds herself in the "Ayn Rand School for Tots", where she faces off against a unibrowed brat intent on smashing her new butterfly friend. Fast-paced and lively, this one is as cute as its leading lady.

Fresh Guacamole, the only non-narrative short among the animated block, is a stop motion fiesta by the animator known only as PES, wherein viewers are treated to the preparations of the tasty title dish, but with a twist.  At a mere 105 seconds, this is by far the shortest -- and thus slightest -- of the lot, but still a mouth-watering delight.  The other stop motion entry, Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Relly's Head Over Heels, takes place in a topsy-turvy house where an old married couple live, one on the ceiling, the other on the floor. Often at odds with each other, the two eventually find a way to share a common ground in a charming resolution.

As good as all the animated nominees are this year, the final one, Adam and Dog by Minkyu Lee, stands out as the best and is my personal favorite out of all the shorts in these programs. Simply yet beautifully crafted, Adam and Dog answers the question, "what if Eve had competition for Adam's attention... and it was a dog?" Filled with subtle humor and even (gasp!) full frontal cartoon nudity, this one is my prediction for the win on Oscar Night.

Now on to more serious subjects in the Live Action category, which represent five different countries and languages yet still have a few common themes.  Three feature children in prominent roles, two take place in impoverished lands, four deal with death and all, to varying degrees, have the "twist ending" that is seemingly a surefire way to a nomination in this category.

From South Africa, Asad (Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura) has the unique distinction of having a cast made up entirely of Somalian refugees. The title character is a street smart boy who, regarding his future, is torn between the adventure of being a modern day pirate or the mundane life of a fisherman. Like a lot of shorts, this one ends just when it seems to be beginning. Sam French and Ariel Nasr's Buzkashi Boys from Afghanistan fares better with a similar story, this one about two boys (one an orphaned beggar, the other the son of a blacksmith) with dreams of glory as Buzkashi riders (a polo-like sport, but with dead goats). Poignant and tragic, Boys plays as the most true-to-life of the five nominees and is a strong contender for the final prize.

From gritty realism to stark fantasy, Belgium's Death of a Shadow (a.k.a. Dood van een Schaduw) by Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele focuses on a Mr. Rijckx, a soldier slain in World War I who is given a second chance at life by a mysterious Mephistophelean "collector", who sends him out to capture the shadows of the dying for his grim galleries. With elements of steam punk and a taste of The Twilight Zone, the end result is a bit too convoluted in the confines of a short film, yet its compelling ideas would make for an interesting feature if the story were expanded. Also dealing with the theme of death and the dying is Henry, from Canadian filmmaker Yan England. A fading concert pianist, Henry's life is thrown into turmoil at the apparent disappearance of his beloved wife. As a sort-of mini Notebook, the plot's twist and turns are somewhat predictable, yet the heartbreaking lead performance of Gérard Poirier adds heft to the emotional dénouement.

In the same darkly comic vein as such recent Live Action Short winners as The New Tenants and Six Shooter, Curfew begins with our protagonist sitting in a bathtub filling with blood from his freshly slit wrists. A phone call from his estranged sister interrupts him, and he soon finds himself babysitting -- and unexpectedly bonding with -- his precocious preteen niece. Written, directed and starring (in a Ryan Gosling-esque performance) Shawn Christensen, Curfew deftly balances on a fine line, never falling into the depths of hipsterness that, say, God of Love did. Considering the recent run of "oddball" winners in this category, plus the fact that it is the only American entry, Curfew looks to be the stand out and eventual victor.

As for the Documentary Short Subjects, only one was made available for previewing, the MTV sponsored Inocente. An aspiring young artist, Inocente is also homeless, and the documentary (co-directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine) follows her story as she tries to find herself through her highly imaginative, brightly colored art (think Keith Haring meets Jackson Pollock). Although "youngster triumphs over adversity" docs like Smile Pinki and Music by Prudence have triumphed in this category recently, Inocente falls a little short in that regard, especially compared to fellow nominee Open Heart, about a group of Rwandan children who leave their families behind to embark on a life-or-death journey seeking high-risk heart surgery in Sudan.

The remaining three nominees (all five will screen in the doc short program) deal with less grim subjects, such as a group of elderly people living in a Florida retirement home (Kings Point), New Yorkers who survive off the money they make cashing in recyclables (Redemption) and a Long Island beauty salon that services cancer victims (Mondays at Racine).

For more information about the Oscar nominated shorts programs, including trailers for all the nominated films and where there will be playing near you, visit the official website.

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: 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.

Tune in to TCM: What Ever Happend to Baby Peggy

Before even Shirley Temple, there was Baby Peggy, the movies' first child star. Born Diana Serra Cary in 1918, by age five she had starred in over 150 shorts (most of them now, sadly, lost), had legions of fans, and was earning over a million dollars a year (thus earning her the nickname "The Million Dollar Baby"). But fame, especially for young stars, is indeed fleeting, and by the 1930s she was flat broke and working as an extra.

In later years, Peggy became an author, silent film historian (along with Carla Laemmle, Mickey Rooney and Lupita Tovar, she is one of the few surviving stars from the silent era) and children's rights advocate, specifically for child actors. Working conditions for child actors at that time were shockingly atrocious; for example, Peggy worked eight hours a day, six days a week, and had to perform her own stunts, such as when she was held underwater until she fainted(!).

The life and career of Baby Peggy is examined in the new documentary Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room, which will premiere tonight on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Watch the trailer below:

Reel Thoughts Interview: Songs of Bernadette

Few Broadway stars generate the unadulterated love and devotion in their fans that Bernadette Peters does. Patti Lupone, Ethel Merman, Liza Minnelli, Betty Buckley and Bebe Neuwirth all have their obsessive fans, but Peters is in a class by herself, thanks in no small part to her frequent collaboration with musical genius Stephen Sondheim. Whenever she is asked why gay audiences love her so much, she always quips, “Because they have great taste.”

There is much more to Peters’ appeal, which lucky Scottsdale audiences will discover when the icon brings her musical evening to the annual Scottsdale Center for the Arts benefit ARTrageous on December 1st. A look at Peters’ calendar shows that she is selective with the number of shows she’ll perform, which makes her appearance this weekend that much more special.

Along with her long time collaborator Marvin Laird, Peters will entertain the audience with music from her long career, and even promises to lounge across the top of the piano while doing a sultry version of Peggy Lee’s “Fever”.

Of course, if you can’t score tickets, you only need to turn on NBC’s deliciously addictive drama Smash to see Ms. Peters playing Megan Hilty’s mother, a Broadway star whose success and perfectionism have scarred poor Ivy (Hilty). Peters hinted that after living in her mother’s shadow, Ivy has to deal with her mother being in the show with her. “You try to make a name for yourself, and then your mother whose shadow you live under is in the show!” Peters said, laughing. “Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman wrote me a wonderful song, and I’m going to do another one, but I don’t know what it is yet.”

The sixty-four year-old powerhouse is guaranteed to give a show legs or keep it running longer than its original star, which is what happened when she gave a devastating performance as Sally in Sondheim’s Follies on Broadway and, before that, took over the part of Desiree in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music from the well-regarded Catherine Zeta Jones.

A well-known animal welfare advocate, Peters co-founded the charity Broadway Barks with her deaqr friend Mary Tyler Moore. The annual event brings out all of Broadways brightest stars like Angela Lansbury and others who donate their time to help unwanted animals find new homes.

Ms. Peters phoned from her home in New York City just days after Hurricane Sandy had devastated Manhattan and the rest of the Northeast.

“I’m very lucky because I live on the Upper West Side and we made it through very well, but friends who live downtown are still without power. But I have another friend who lives all the way down in Tribeca and one of the parking attendants in the garage lost his life. The water must have come rushing in and he drowned.” She posted a link to Broadway Cares on her web site to help fans donate to the victims. “They are an amazing organization. The word “cares,” they really mean it. They really do whatever they can when disaster hits.”

Peters and Moore hit upon the idea to found Broadway Barks when Peters was starring in Annie Get Your Gun. Now approaching its fifteenth year, the event is a fun way for the public to meet their Broadway idols and rescue pets from the shelters.

NC: I’m thrilled that you’ll be in Scottsdale in December. Do you have some favorite songs that you will be singing for us?
BP: There are certain ones I love just hearing the sentiments of like “No One is Alone” and “Children Will Listen.” Those are important things in life, and just for me to hear them again is a great reminder of how we should be thinking about each other and our lives. I do Rodgers and Hammerstein – “Some Enchanted Evening” – and I do “When You Wish Upon a Star” and I do some Sondheim as well.

NC: I flew out to NYC just to see you in Follies, and I was blown away.
BP: Thank you. That’s quite something, that show, isn’t it? I’m bringing two songs from Follies also.

NC: How did you become the go-to woman to bring Sondheim’s songs and characters to life, and how do you identify with his works?
BP: You know, I’m just so fortunate that he gives me so many things to sing about. He writes the music and the lyrics and he says exactly what the character is feeling. He writes the notes which expresses the passion and he writes the words that express the emotion of the moment. He writes about really great stuff... what a gift he is to us! He’s a national treasure, we’re just so blessed to have him.

NC: You must hear this a lot, but you are so iconic in all the roles you have created; how does someone with your talent and resumé still find challenging work?
BP: I trust the universe! (Laughing) And then things come to me. When I plan something, forget it, it never happens. Right now, I’m doing Smash. I am having fun with that because it’s an interesting role.

NC: I just saw the trailer for the film Coming Up Roses. It looks terrific.
BP: Thank you. It’s loosely based on the director’s story. She’s a fifteen year-old girl and I play her mother who has emotional issues. Back in those days, they didn’t really put names on them. She’s not only bipolar but also emotional, scary issues and the girl takes care of her. It’s sort of sad. But family triumphs in the end. It’s a very touching story, I think.

NC: I was touched to see your support of Spirit Day. What else would you like your GLBT fans to know about your support of our issues?
BP: Well, it’s interesting, I just came back yesterday from performing on my “dream cruise” which was that it never left the port and my audience was a gay audience. It was the most wonderful, lovely experience. But in the end I go out in the audience and sing a lullaby and I thought, “Why is this different?” They’re just so open and willing and eager and open. I think that their spirits are just so open, it’s really a beautiful thing. That’s what I felt from the audience, this great warmth. It was lovely, just lovely.

5 Other Places to See Bernadette Peters:

• All’s Fair: This 1976 sitcom by two of the writers on I Love Lucy, Maude and All in the Family cast Peters as liberal photographer Charley Drake who is dating conservative writer Richard Barrington, played by Richard Crenna. “Richard Crenna really knew about scripts. I just felt honored to be in his company.”
• Silent Movie: Before The Artist, comedy genius Mel Brooks filmed an almost silent movie starring Peters, Marty Feldman, Dom DeLuise and every star in Hollywood in hilarious cameos. “He pushed the envelope, but it was always funny. I think what happens today is that they’re shocking, but they’re not funny.”
• Gypsy: YouTube videos recall Peters’ amazing performance as Mama Rose on Broadway. “I loved that role. It was like going into therapy... it was like the best therapy I ever had. I sort of lived that life because I was on the road with my mother and my sister in that show.
• Into the Woods: PBS recorded Peters’ performance as the witch in Sondheim’s twisted take on Grimms' fairy tales, which predated TV’s Once Upon a Time by two decades. “That’s another show that I feel so fortunate to have done, and I’m so glad they recorded it because it’s so funny. You don’t ever get to see it when you’re in it, but I finally watched it and thought, “What a good idea for a show! This is great!” But kids across the country studying theater got to see it and Sunday in the Park with George. And I just think it’s the most beautiful score.”
• The Jerk and Pennies from Heaven: Peters partnership with Steve Martin produced the iconic idiot comedy The Jerk and the unusual musical Pennies from Heaven, which also includes a dance number by Christopher Walken. Peters won a Golden Globe for her performance in the latter.

Interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend’s Reviews: Dead Funny

Even though he passed away in 1989, that hasn’t stopped Monty Python’s Graham Chapman from starring in a new cinematic testament to himself, albeit in animated form. A Liar's Autobiography - The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman — which also features the voices of MP members John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones — will premiere tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on EPIX. It is also having an exclusive, one-week theatrical run starting today at Santa Monica's Aero Theatre, and in 3D no less.

Chapman was the blonde, more athletic-looking (thanks to rugby and mountaineering) troupe player who also had lead roles in their Life of Brian and Yellowbeard films. Born in Great Britain during the outbreak of World War II, Chapman’s eventual comic sensibility was seemingly impacted by the war-time violence he witnessed as a youngster (which may have been the case with all of MP’s members). He was also MP’s sole gay member, and A Liar’s Autobiography explores Chapman’s sexual coming of age in fairly graphic cartoon detail (see clip below). Sadly, Chapman died of throat cancer when he was only 48 years old.


The film is animated in a variety of styles and with numerous amusing touches to illustrate the stages of Chapman’s life. These styles of animation include traditional hand-drawn, both crude and more sophisticated forms of CGI, stop motion (notably during a Sigmund Freud segment which features the voice of “gratuitous special guest star” Cameron Diaz as Freud), charcoal sketches and watercolor paintings. Some live-action archival footage of Chapman and Monty Python is also utilized. All of the vignettes are framed by a theatrical sketch that has Chapman playing Oscar Wilde.

For gay audiences at least, the film’s primary point of interest will be the substantial amount of time devoted to Chapman’s homosexuality. While initially stating “my sexual life consisted of sleeping with women while dreaming about men,” Chapman later determined himself to be 70% gay on the famous Kinsey Scale. He fell in love with the man who would become his longtime partner, David Sherlock, during a trip to Ibiza. Prior to his death, Chapman came out publicly and also admitted to his longtime alcoholism on British talk shows.

As suggested by its subtitle, The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman, A Liar’s Autobiography is hardly dedicated to painting a completely accurate portrait of the late comedian. However, directors Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson and Ben Timlett draw primarily from Chapman’s own reading of his book, so any discrepancies between the subject and the telling are likely the result of liberties taken by Chapman himself. Both the storytelling and the imagery are often beautiful, sometimes baffling, but captivating throughout. To MP devotees, this film will serve as a great companion piece to Holy Flying Circus, a clever exposé of the controversy surrounding Life of Brian that was just released on DVDlast month.

Reverend's Rating: B

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

Reel Thoughts Interview: Wickedly Divalicious

Thousands of audience members have fallen in love with Alli Mauzey as Glinda in various Broadway companies of Wicked, but her breakout role was her hilarious role as crazy Lenora in the musical Cry-Baby, based on the John Waters comedy. (If you haven’t seen her perform the showstopping “Screw Loose” on YouTube, watch it immediately!) The girl from Anaheim Hills who grew up to watch over the Land of Oz from a floating bubble will be joining fellow Wicked alum and Broadway star Nicole Parker for two nights of delicious displays of their diva mastery with the Phoenix Symphony September 28th and 29th. I caught up with Mauzey and asked her what makes her a Wicked Diva, and what’s next for the rising star.

NC: So, what makes you a Wicked Diva?
AM: All being a Wicked Diva means is that Nicole and I got to star as Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway. We're not divas in the negative sense for sure! We would be the first people to call each other out on that! The night is a celebration of these two iconic women that we got to play and a celebration of so many more women in pop music, classical music and Broadway.

NC: What are your favorite roles that you’ve played? What roles do you want to play but haven’t?
AM: I love playing Glinda, and I loved playing Lenora in Cry-Baby and Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. Roles I hope to play, well, originating roles is ideal. I also love the character of Lizzie in 110 in the Shade and I love her music in that show.

NC: I was lucky enough to see you in Cry-Baby in La Jolla and then in New York . You were hilarious and I still rave to my friends about your performance of “Screw-Loose”. What was that experience like?
AM: Thank you! Cry-Baby was the first time I had originated a role. That combined with the character having a few "screws loose" gave me the freedom to be boundless in creating her. In my mind, there was nothing Lenora could do that was too absurd or too crazy because in her mind it always made sense. It was such a blast to work on a character like that. Very freeing.

NC: I am bummed that they never made a cast album of Cry-Baby. Isn’t there a following clamoring for that?
AM: Me too! I meet fans all the time who ask about a Cry-Baby cast album. It's too bad one didn't get done. It had some really fun music and lyrics. I mean, come on... the opening song, "Anti Polio Picnic"? "Girl Can I Kiss you With Tongue"? Anyone?

NC: What did you enjoy most about playing Glinda in the San Francisco production of Wicked?
AM: I fell in love with San Francisco! I had no idea how much I was going to love it. One of my favorite cities in the United States! I loved the ocean air in the city environment, I had no idea how much good food was up the there, and it just has some incredibly beautiful and breathtaking areas.

NC: I understand that you are from Anaheim Hills California. What was it like growing up near Disneyland , the Happiest Place on Earth?
AM: I love Disneyland! I've had an annual pass for as long as I can remember. Friday nights in high school consisted of meeting my friends at Snow White's Wishing Well in the park and hanging out until the park closed. And on some Saturday nights, Carnation Plaza had a swing band and you could go swing dancing which was always fun! Disneyland is such a familiar thing for me and I know the park like the back of my hand. I love taking people there who have never been.

NC: What was your journey to Broadway like?
AM: My journey to Broadway... It took me a while to warm up to being on stage because I was so incredibly shy as a child. My mother put me in some dance classes and such because my sister had been doing them but also because she thought it would help me come out of my shell. It was painful at first to have all the attention on me on stage. But the more I did it the more comfortable I became. But I mostly became comfortable because I had such a joy for singing and playing with my friends on stage. I also had other interests growing up but by the time I was ready to go to college, it just made sense for me to go into acting so I did. I moved to New York and graduated from NYU. Moved back to California after I graduated, got an agent in Los Angeles. One of the first auditions my agents sent me out on was for Hairspray. I went in for it, danced, sang, read sides and after a few callbacks got an offer to join the Broadway company so I moved back to New York and got my Equity Card and made my Broadway debut. It was an amazing show and I look back on it so fondly. I absolutely love the musical Hairspray. I was sad to see it close because it meant more people couldn't see it.

NC: What advice would you give to other aspiring Wicked Divas who want to follow in your footsteps (or floating bubble)?

AM: Work hard and always find the joy in it.

NC: What else would you like readers to know about you, your co-star Nicole Parker, and your concert?
AM: Nicole and I met doing Wicked in New York and have become such great friends since then. We had so much in common, grew up about 20 minutes from each other, knew some of the same people, worked at some of the same theatre in SoCal, et cetera. It was like connecting with an old friend even though we had just met. So when it comes to us and our concert, you see two friends rocking out and sharing stories and it's just a fun evening of great music and laughter. I have a blast with Nicole each and every time we perform together and I think audiences do too.

Interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reel Thoughts Preview: Do You Believe in Magic?

We’re fairly certain that Sir Laurence Olivier didn’t start his acting career as a stripper named “Chan Crawford” in a troupe called “Male Encounters”, but then again, he didn’t have Channing Tatum’s abs of steel. Tatum joins a gorgeous cast of Hollywood hunks in esteemed director Steven Soderbergh’s (Traffic) sexy and fun-looking romp Magic Mike, in theaters this Friday.

Check out YouTube and you’ll see where the inspiration for this film about a seasoned male stripper showing a “Kid” (Alex Pettyfer) the ropes (and g-strings) of the business originated. Tatum is a rarity – a drop-dead handsome actor who is comfortable enough with his masculinity to have stripped in Florida and posed for some pretty homoerotic pictures to pay the bills. As Ulla in The Producers sings, “If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It!” and Tatum is happy to oblige. He pitched the idea of a film about his experiences as a dancer and Soderbergh saw the potential.

Magic Mike is a Tampa stripper who teaches a newcomer everything he needs to know about dancing, partying and making big money taking off his clothes. In the process, he falls for the Kid’s protective sister Brooke (played by newcomer Cody Horn, who just happens to the be the daughter of Warner Brothers President Alan F. Horn). Eventually, every stripper has to hang up their tear-away pants and settle down, but Brooke isn’t much interested in joining Magic Mike’s lifestyle. Fortunately, the audience is treated to many scenes of what exactly Mike and company do for crumpled up singles, fives and the occasional twenty dollar bill. “You don’t want to know what I have to do for twenties,” Mike warns Brooke, but we can only hope he shows us.

While it will be a couple of days before we can see Tatum and his boys strut their stuff under the watchful eye of club owner Matthew McConaughey, we do know enough about the film to introduce you to the Men of Magic Mike:

- Dallas: McConaughey plays the owner of the night club who shows off some pretty ripped abs himself. McConaughey is photographed shirtless so often, it’s become his trademark, and who can ever forget his Texas arrest for naked bongo-playing?

· 'Magic' Mike Martingano: Tatum plays a big draw at McConaughey’s club who is trying to find something more to do with his life. Tatum is comfortable in comedy, drama and Nicholas Spark-y romances, and more than comfortable out of his clothes.

· The Kid: Pettyfer plays the young guy who Magic Mike indoctrinates into the world of stripping. At twenty-two, Brit Pettyfer has already gained a reputation as a bad boy, which he denies. He likes tattoo tributes to his girlfriends, who’ve included Emma Roberts and Glee’s Diana Agron. He’s best known as the lead in I Am Number Four and Beastly.

· Ken: Matt Bomer has recently come out, which makes him even more gorgeous. In addition to his starring role in the USA Network's White Collar, Bomer also drew raves for his musical work on Glee as Darren Criss’ semi-famous brother. His great physique is drawing raves in Magic Mike. At thirty-four, he and his partner have three children who were born via surrogate.

· 'Big Dick' Richie: Joe Manganiello’s moniker must refer to his 6’5” height, right? This thirty-five year-old True Blood werewolf has been driving audiences wild with his rugged looks for a decade, but he is also a classically-trained theater actor. (It’s also just a coincidence that his 2002 role in something called The Ketchup King was as “Black Dildo.”)

· Tito: Adam Rodriguez rocked Ana Ortiz’ life on Ugly Betty and made CSI: Miami bearable. It only makes sense for a Florida-set comedy to have some Latin flavor.

Eight Sizzling Stripper Sagas:

Magic Mike isn’t the first film to delve into men baring all for their art (and those crumpled singles), but it may be the sexiest. Here are six films to see if you’re into eager ecdysiasts, male or female:

The Full Monty (1997): This hit British film about a bunch of regular blokes who turn to stripping when their factory shuts down was more heartwarming than heart-racing, but it spawned a hit musical and featured Once Upon a Time’s Robert Carlysle, Tom Wilkinson and Mark Addy.

A Night in Heaven (1983): All stripper movies seem to be set in Florida (heck, even the Octomom is set to strip in the Sunshine State), so it is no surprise that this overheated drama was filmed in Titusville. Lesley Ann Warren plays a sexually frustrated professor who falls in lust with Ricky the Rocket, one of her failing students who she spies stripping at a bar called Heaven. The Blue Lagoon’s Christopher Atkins continued his mostly unclothed career as the sexy but immature Rick.

Ladykillers (1988): Grade A Cheese with a healthy serving of beefcake! This TV movie stars Marilu Henner as a tough detective in charge of finding out who is killing the strippers of LA’s hottest club Ladykillers right in the middle of their finales. Her solution is to send her partner, played by Melrose Place’s Thomas Calabro, in undercover, although it is really more of an 'uncovered' stakeout. Another Lesley-Anne, Lesley-Anne Down, plays the Joan Crawfordesque owner of Ladykillers, but is she living up to her bar’s name?

Trick (1999): This hilariously sweet romance tells the story of sweet Gabriel, played by Christian Campbell, who meets sexy stripper Mark, played by adorable John Paul Pitoc. As the title says, they just want to “make it” in the city, but everything and everyone is standing in the way of their trick, including the hilarious Tori Spelling and and the scene-stealing Miss Coco Peru.

The Chippendales Murder (2000): Who knew that before he was a ruthless Iraqi assassin on Lost, Naveen Andrews played Steve Banerjee, the man who invented Chippendale’s male revue? This TV movie featured Castle’s Victor Webster in a very revealing role as dancer Marco Carolo. It’s the true life tale of how Banerjee tried to poison his star strippers when he found out they were going into competition with him.

For Ladies Only (1981):  Many a gay man of a certain age looks back fondly upon this made-for-TV beefcake classic, which starred a hot and hunky Gregory Harrison as an Iowa farm boy trying to make it big in the Big Apple. The (almost) all-star cast also included Empty Nest's Dinah Manoff, Reagan daughter Patti Davis (as Harrison's love interests) and a pre-Beastmaster Marc Singer. Why isn't this on DVD yet?

Striptease (1996): What kind of a stripper (in Florida, naturally) does her bump-and-grind routines to Annie Lennox songs? Do truckers and horny businessmen even know who the Eurythmics singer is? Of course, Demi Moore was trying to do “art” with her “striptease,” which makes this sad comedy funny for all the wrong reasons. Burt Reynolds is embarrassing as a sleazy and obsessive congressman who fixates on Moore at “The Eager Beaver” and who likes to cover himself in Vaseline.

- Showgirls (1995): No list of supreme strip-a-thons is complete without mentioning Paul Verhoeven’s masterpiece of bad taste. While the glitzy “Goddess” number at the Stardust Casino was getting all the buzz, the real action was happening over at the Cheetah Show Club, where Elizabeth Berkley’s Nomi Malone didn’t just pole dance and lap lance, she “lick-danced” the stripper pole in one awesomely crazy moment (to a Prince song, no less). That, Demi, is how you do it! The Cheetah is a treasure trove of talent, from Lin Tucci’s boob-baring comic Henrietta Bazooms to Rena Riffle’s sweet Penny, all under the watchful eye of sleazy club owner Robert Davi, who only ten years earlier had been a Bond villain.

Preview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reel Thoughts Preview: Camp Vamp

Television fans of Dark Shadows have been in a snit ever since the very campy trailer of Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows came out. But even die-hard fans can’t explain why the real world of the late sixties and early seventies, save for groovy costumes and hairstyles, never seemed to intrude on the bizarre world of Collinsport, Maine. Barnabus Collins, the show’s fly-away star, wasn’t even a part of the series until a year into its run. In honor of Burton’s comic new take on the old classic, here is some more Dark Shadows trivia you might like:

- At first, Dark Shadows played like a daytime Jane Eyre, with sweet orphan Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) summoned to the creepy Collinwood Estate by Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Joan Bennett) to care for her misbehaving nephew David (David Henesy). She hoped to discover her roots. Hints were dropped that her parent might be closer than she thought, but they were dropped altogether once the show introduced ghosts and the supernatural.

- The first major monster to strike Collinwood wasn’t vampire Barnabus, but rather David’s crazy mother Laura Collins (Diana Millay), who reportedly died in a fire in Phoenix only to appear suddenly at Collinwood’s front door. She was an actual Phoenix, it turns out, and had to burn herself and her son up in order to live for another hundred years.

- The film’s imposing Collinwood Manor is fake, but is much inspired by the Carey Mansion, a Newport, Rhode Island landmark that served as Collinwood in the original series. In the 1991 TV remake, the house looked like a detailed model covered in rain and fog.

- Katheryn Leigh Scott’s diner waitress Maggie Evans was intended to inject a little working class grit into Dark Shadows, complete with a crazy drunken painter for a father. She was tapped as Barnabus’ reborn lover Josette DuPres, however, and soon became the show’s more popular heroine.

- Alexandra Moltke gained unwanted notoriety as the mistress of Claus von Bulow, who was convicted then cleared of killing his socialite wife Sunny. The case inspired the film Reversal of Fortune, with Jeremy Irons (in an Oscar-winning performance), Glenn Close and Christine Baranski playing Claus’ girlfriend.

- Many of Collinwood’s visitors were gay, at least off-screen. While the original Barnabus, the very private Jonathan Frid, passed away last month without confirmation of his sexual orientation, Louis Edmonds (Roger Collins), hunky Joel Crothers (Joe Haskell), handsome Boys in the Band star Keith Prentice (Morgan Collins), spooky Thayer David (Professor Timothy Stokes), and flamboyant Humbert Allen Astredo (Nicholas Blair) definitely set off many viewers’ gaydar.

- Surprisingly, tough ol’ broad Grayson Hall, who played Dr. Julia Hoffman, was not a lesbian, although she played one rather convincingly in the hilarious Satan in High Heels.

- Did you know about the lost Dark Shadows? Not the two spin-off movies House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows, nor the 1991 short-lived remake starring Ben Cross as Barnabus and a steely Barbara Steel as Julia. In 2004, a pilot starring Marley Shelton as Victoria Winters and recent Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain as Caroline was filmed for the WB, but never aired. It is probably better that way.

Tim Burton's big screen take on Dark Shadows, starring Johnny Depp, Michell Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter, opens today at a theater near you.

Preview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reel Thoughts Interview: The Ape Man Cometh

One thing that is certain about Arizona Broadway Theatre’s Arizona premiere of Disney’s Tarzan: Rhys Gilyeat, who plays the title character, will be comfortable in his loincloth. The New York-based actor is in the best shape of his life, and as anyone who saw his previous performances in Take Me Out or The Full Monty can attest, Gilyeat was in pretty great condition to begin with. His commitment to the part went so far as to include visiting a local waxing salon to achieve the hairless Tarzan seen in the 1999 animated film. Gilyeat admits that his reaction to pain is to laugh, which he demonstrated on a funny but painful-to-imagine video he shot at his first waxing session.

“It’s a really great script,” Gilyeat explained “and I am watching every single (Tarzan) film I can find and the music is wonderful. Phil Collins wrote it, so it’s very pop, which is right up my alley.” Regarding his trademark “Tarzan Yell”, he laughed "It’s going to need some work.”

The show coincides with the hundredth anniversary of Edgar Rich Burroughs’ character, a boy who was adopted by apes when his parents were killed, who must save his habitat, and rescue Jane, before it is destroyed by greedy explorers. Songs include Collins' Oscar-winning hit “You’ll Be In My Heart” along with songs written especially for the musical like “Like No Man I've Ever Seen” and “For the First Time.”

When asked what he is most excited to do in the show, Gilyeat replied, “It’s going to be the flying. I am really stoked, because this is the first time that I’ve ever done true stage flying. This is the first time I’ll be hooked up to a harness... it’ll be great! I get an adrenaline rush from all of that stuff, so I’m really excited.”

ABT has hired Flying by Foy, the professional agency in charge of Broadway flying productions like Peter Pan and The Phantom of the Opera. It means that Gilyeat will be swinging over the heads of the audience with the same finesse as the Phantom’s chandelier, although he won’t crash on the stage in the same way.

“It’s the story of a boy becoming a man, but he has this massive discovery arc that goes through the entire show,” Gilyeat explained, adding that he has to imagine having been raised by apes his whole life and then having to grow up in a human sense and perhaps find love with Jane.

Gilyeat was born in Utah and raised Mormon, but moved to Mesa, where he graduated from Dobson High. He became involved in theater at a young age, which he says, helped him with his coming out process. “Fortunately, I was able to discover myself quite easily, and I had a support group behind me. Not everyone is that lucky as we are in the arts. For me, Pride is about nurturing and helping others get to the point that I was already at. I started the coming out process when I was about fourteen. Obviously, you go in stages. First, your friends, and then go to your family, depending on the relationships. It’s takes time,” he added. “I was raised very religious in a Mormon family, so there were those elements to go through. I have a very large family and opinions vary, but at the end of the day, we’re still family. So it’s been wonderful and they’ve been very supportive. At this point in my life, it’s almost a non-issue.”

Like a lot of notable performers such as Emma Stone, Chelsea Kane and Max Crumm, Gilyeat got great training at Valley Youtheatre, and he also performed with Jordin Sparks when both were finalists in the Arizona Idol promotion for American Idol. Gilyeat’s favorite role was his award-winning performance as The Who’s Tommy, as well as Dean in ABT’s hit All Shook Up last season.

When asked how he was enjoying living in New York now, Gilyeat replied that he and New York have a love/hate relationship, but that he’s made his peace with the fast-paced city. He says that he’d love to return to the Valley and do more parts, and he is excited for audiences to get their first look at Tarzan.

Interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reel Thoughts Interview: Wickedly Talented

To look at Kyle Dean Massey’s resume, you, like him, might marvel at how in 2011, he played “a dead teenager, a Winkie Prince and a tap-dancing cowboy. Now let’s start all over.” Massey is a much sought-after actor who starred as the lead singer in Altar Boyz, as the “dead son” in Next to Normal and then as an aspiring country music singing cowboy whose main rivals were drag sensation Varla Jean Merman and hilarious out comedian Leslie Jordan. The show’s title Lucky Guy didn’t prove prophetic as the show closed quickly on Broadway. The good news is that it is bringing Massey back to Arizona as Fiyero, the gorgeous “Winkie Prince” who falls for the not-so-popular Elphaba in Wicked.

I spoke with Massey,  the handsome star and strong anti-LGBT bullying advocate, while he was finishing a long stop in Los Angeles.  “It’s always different,” Massey explained, about how coming back to the show on tour compares to doing Wicked on Broadway. “The chance to get to do the show in different cities has an effect on it as well. You learn that people in different cities are going to react differently, and that makes it exciting.”

Massey came out with a moving “It Gets Better” video because the Arkansas-born actor wanted kids to know that he came from the same background and now he’s on Broadway. “It’s a disservice to the younger generation not to speak up. What motivated me to make mine was to make it for young gay theater kids.”

Having played the lead of Altar Boyz and now the romantic lead in every tween girl’s favorite musical Wicked has made Massey a teen idol. I asked him which show had the bigger groupies, and he responded that the “Altarholics” were more interested in the performers, while Wicked’s fans are more focused on the show itself. “People get very nervous at the stage door. They’ll ask to take a picture and you can literally see them shaking. That’s the great thing about theater, you can wait by the stage door and meet whoever you want, right after you’ve seen them on stage.”

Asked for the reason for Wicked’s popularity in the LGBT community, Massey replied, “Not to stereotype, but it’s based on The Wizard of Oz. What little gay boy wasn’t obsessed with that movie... I mean, come on,” he said laughing. "The music is very accessible and it’s just spectacular. It just hits on every level. Gay audience, straight audience, there’s something in there for everyone.”

“People identify very closely with one or the other girls, or even my character, who’s changed for the better. It’s just about allowing yourself to be different and how “different can be good” and how you have to look past some things in order to figure out what you think is best or good, or right or wrong.”

“Fiyero is a Winkie prince, and he’s always compared to JFK Jr. He’s royalty and he’s kind of a playboy. Everyone knows who he is, like the male version of a Kardashian. He’s just famous for being famous. He hasn’t done anything and isn’t motivated, he’s always had the means to make people do what he wants. He meets Elphaba and he is so intrigued that he doesn’t “work” on her, that his tricks don’t work on her, and so consequently, he listens to her and learns from her and by the end, he realizes that he wants more than just getting everything he wants, he wants to do good.”

“That show was certainly not smooth sailing,” Massey admitted about Lucky Guy, where Varla Jean Merman played a conniving country star and Leslie Jordan was her partner. “But Jeffrey (Roberson, Varla Jean's alter ego) and Leslie were serious pros. They are both so talented and they brought so much to the table. Leslie was constantly telling stories and I was thinking “You’ve got to be kidding. You’ve got to write a book!” I got to have a lot of fun scenes with Varla. She tried to seduce me, it was just campy and over-the-top and we got to have a good time.”

Xanadu, starring Cheyenne Jackson, was another highlight for Massey, who played a roller-skating muse. “That show was so fun, it was really like the little show that could. No one thought the show was going to run, and here we were getting Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations and appearing on all the morning shows. I don’t think that I’ve had more fun on a show ever.”

Tempe audiences will be the last to see Massey in Wicked, for now. Gammage is his last stop on the tour, but you can also see him on an upcoming episode of the CW show Heart of Dixie, where he plays a stripper who drives a party bus.

When told about Arizona Governor Janice Brewer’s “tiff on the tarmac” with President Obama, the photo of which has been photo-shopped to make Brewer into the Wicked Witch of the West, I asked Massey if all witches are redeemable or just Elphaba. “Well, Glinda is the one who’s redeemable, because Elphaba was always good. Some people, you can’t. Some people are too far gone, that’s for sure,” he said, laughing.

The Wicked tour is now playing through March 11 at ASU Gammage in Tempe, Arizona. For more information on these and future tour dates, visit the official Wicked website.

Interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Preview: AFI Fest 2011

The trailer for Clint Eastwood's latest epic, J. Edgar, shows Leonardo DiCaprio as the equally respected and reviled founder of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, holding the hand of his #2 and confidante, Clyde Tolson (handsome Armie Hammer), in the backseat of their limousine. While historical evidence of a long-rumored romance between the two men is scant, the new film clearly entertains the rumors. The truth may be revealed in Hollywood tonight, when J. Edgar has its world premiere during the opening night gala for AFI Fest 2011, presented by Audi. It will open in theaters nationwide on November 11.

J. Edgar won't be the first movie to at least allude to questions about Hoover's sexuality. In 1991, Oliver Stone's JFK featured Tommy Lee Jones giving a mincingly-gay performance as Clay Shaw (a.k.a. Clay Bertrand), a New Orleans businessman accused of taking part in a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy that involved Hoover's FBI and the CIA. The film also alleged that a ring of early-1960's call boys existed to discreetly serve political power players, including Hoover.

The new movie was written by openly gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won an Academy Award for his excellent script of 2008's Milk. Black has been a busy boy lately, having also penned the stage play 8, about the continuing battle in California over marriage equality. 8 had its world premiere in September at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre. In a recent Out magazine interview, Black said of his work on J. Edgar: "To the conservative right, Hoover was a hero. Of course, in the gay community, you hear he was gay and a cross-dresser. I was curious about where the truth lies. Here is a guy who was arguably the most powerful man in the United States in the 20th century... The truth was often more heartbreaking, more horrible than what people think."

Judi Dench, as Hoover's seemingly manipulative mother, and Naomi Watts also headline the film's all-star cast. DiCaprio may seem an unusual choice to play the title character, even with prosthetic make-up. Black defended the casting, saying "Hoover was a pretty good-looking guy in 1919! He was very fit... they called him 'Speedy.' It's not a huge stretch."

What is known about Hoover's relationship with Tolson is that the unmarried Hoover named the man he described as his "alter ego" as recipient of his estate upon Hoover's death in 1972. Tolson also received the American flag that draped the casket at the end of Hoover's funeral, and is now buried near Hoover at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. Whether Eastwood and Black's J. Edgar reveals anything more remains to be seen. Still, it may emerge as one of the biggest gay-interest movies of 2011, if only due to the pairing of photogenic DiCaprio and Hammer.

Now in its 25th year, the AFI Fest annually spotlights several GLBT-interest films and/or filmmakers. Other screenings in this vein between now and November 10 will include the world premiere of With Every Heartbeat (a.k.a. Kyss Mig), a lovely, sincere domestic drama from Sweden about two women (one of them engaged to a man) who unexpectedly fall in love with each other during a family gathering; an evening with gay auteur Pedro Almodovar, this year's guest artistic director, which will include a screening of his Law of Desire as well as conversation with Almodovar and a yet-to-be-revealed "special guest" (could it be Antonio Banderas?); and Wim Wenders' 3D dance spectacle Pina.

Though I'm not a fan of its source material, I am looking forward to the fest's screening of Carnage. Based on the excessive, inexplicably acclaimed play God of Carnage, the usually-restrained Roman Polanski directs a dream cast (Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly) in the film. I'm also excited about the Los Angeles premieres of We Need to Talk About Kevin, starring GLBT fave Tilda Swinton as mother to a sociopathic son, and Lars von Trier's apocalyptic Melancholia. Watch for my reviews of these awards contenders in my festival wrap-up report here next week.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reel Thoughts: They Called Him the Streak

Talk about a streak of fame! Robert Opel made Academy Award history when he famously ran naked past presenter David Niven at the 1974 Oscars, which led Niven to quip, “Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?" To show how far we haven’t come, this streaking stunt was decades before Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl “Nipplegate,” which seems almost quaint in comparison, yet Jackson’s areola ignited much more rabid Right Wing mouth-foaming than Opel’s penis. Opel even got invited to The Mike Douglas Show where the host serenaded him alongside Bea Arthur.

Uncle Bob (available on DVDthis week), as you might guess from the title, is a tribute to the man who gained national fame in an instant, made by his namesake and nephew Robert Oppel. The film is a fascinating look at a man who was a pioneer in gay rights political action, as well as an erotic photographer who created images as controversial as Robert Mapplethorpe’s. Sadly, Uncle Bob was murdered in 1979 in his San Francisco gallery called the Fey-Way Studios by thugs demanding drugs and money. The younger Oppel spends the film trying to make sense of how and why his uncle was gunned down in front of witnesses.

Oppel mixes archival footage with recreations of events where he plays his uncle, including his murder, and the effect is sometimes effective and sometimes too over-the-top and badly acted. Opel’s death occurred shortly after he staged an “execution” of Harvey Milk’s Twinkie-loving killer Dan White while dressed as “Gay Justice.” Director Oppel (seen, like his namesake in archival photos, frequently full frontal during the course of Uncle Bob) uses a heavy hand to explore the possibility that this act of performance art enraged the San Francisco Police Department, and that they somehow orchestrated his uncle’s murder.

This tangent, with scenes of cops yelling “Kill! Kill!” into the killer’s ear in a jail cell, isn’t necessary, though, because Uncle Bob was a fascinating man who interviewed and worked with the likes of Divine and the infamous Cockettes. The interviews with those close to Opel provide an engrossing look at life in the 1970’s Castro District of San Francisco, and more specifically a moving portrait of a man who led a radical and trail blazing life who was cut down in his prime.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.