Where the Boys Are

The Sex and the City movie just got a little hotter: Jason Lewis, along with David Eigenberg and Evan Handler, will join the previously announced Chris Noth as our four fabulous fashionista's significant others.

At least one newcomer to the film (which just got a prime release date) has been added. Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson will play Carrie Bradshaw's assistant, which leads me to believe a new job is in store for our favorite sex columnist.

As for the show's two main gay characters, Mario Cantone is rumored to return, but what about Willie Garson? I don't know what Carrie ... or I ... will do without Stanford Blatch.

UPDATE: Is America ready for a woman president? The Daily Show's Samantha Bee channels Carrie Bradshaw to find out.

Links via Imdb.com, MoviesBlog.MTV.com, People.com and LATimes.com.

Film Art: Minnelli by Warhol

We all love Liza. We can't help it; it's in our genes. Of course, some of us have more in the genes then others ... not that there's anything wrong with that.

Links via Imdb.com and YouTube.com.

Toronto: 'Eastern' Wins Northern Prize

Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg's crime thriller starring Viggo Mortensen, won the top prize at the just completed Toronto International Film Festival. As conventional wisdom states, that means this unconventional film is now officially a "frontrunner" in this year's awards race. Nevertheless, we'll have to wait and see if its grim subject matter doesn't turn off older Academy members like the duo's last outing, A History of Violence, although that didn't hurt The Departed last year.

Shaping up to be this year's Little Miss Sunshine is Jason Reitman's quirky look at teenage pregnancy Juno, with no less then Roger Ebert predicting an Oscar nod for its 20-year old leading lady, Ellen Page. See for yourself with the official trailer for the comedy, which boasts a fine supporting cast that includes such favorites as Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons and Jennifer Garner, herself receiving some early Oscar buzz.

Cate Blanchett's two diverse biopics continued to receive mixed responses, even if everyone was enthralled by her own performances as the Virgin Queen and the Folkie King in, respectively, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Todd Haynes' I'm Not There.

However, the most divisive film of the festival, and likely the year, was Alan Ball's Nothing is Private. The bleak drama features a controversial sex scene between Aaron Eckhart's character and a 13-year-old Arab-American girl (played by 19-year-old Summer Bishil) that the ultra-conservative Fox News likens to "kiddie porn". Here's what the trades had to say about it.

Other notables at the fest:

• Breakfast With Scot: In this, the so-called "gay hockey movie", Tom Cavanaugh and Ben Shenkman star as a couple who look after their flamboyant nephew (think Ugly Betty's Justin, only in Canada).
• A Jihad for Love: This documentary, filmed in secret over a six-year period, examines the often dangerous lives of gay Muslims.
• Then She Found Me: Helen Hunt stars in her directorial debut, where she plays a baby-wanting woman who meets her long absent birth mother, played by ... Bette Midler?!
• Trumbo: Blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is the subject of this doc, which, considering its subject, is sure to nab an Oscar nom.
• And continuing their road to glory: Atonement, In the Valley of Elah, Into the Wild, Michael Clayton and No Country for Old Men, another wacky crime caper (à la Fargo) from the Coen Brothers, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Woody Harrelson.
• Or not: Rendition and Cassandra's Dream.

Even with some promising standouts, the general consensus is that ... there is no consensus. Which means it should be an exciting awards season this year.

UPDATE: Here's the official trailer for Atonement. Anyone else reminded just a tad of The Children's Hour?

Links via GoldDerby.LATimes.com, TIFF07.ca, AwardsDaily.com, RogerEbert.SunTimes.com, YouTube.com, EW.com, EdgeBoston.com, Blogs.MercuryNews.com and MoviesBlog.MTV.com.

Cinematic Crush: William Holden

Often underrated but never overlooked, William Holden was a Golden Boy long before he got his big break opposite Barbara Stanwyck in that film. He could have easily coasted through life on his boy-next-door looks and rakish charm, but he proved time and time again that he had talent behind that cleft chin and those dreamboat eyes.

Holden became a leading man when Montgomery Clift turned down Sunset Boulevard, and never looked back: he was a natural. As Joe Gillis, the opportunistic yet tortured screenwriter-turned-kept man, Holden earned his first Academy Award nomination. He would win the Oscar three years later as a cynical P.O.W. in Stalag 17.

As adept at comedy (Born Yesterday, The Moon is Blue) and romance (Sabrina, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing) as drama (The Country Girl, The Bridge on the River Kwai), Holden never took himself too seriously. All you have to do is watch his legendary guest spot on I Love Lucy to see that. He never shied away from the hunk factor either, often appearing shirtless in the posters advertising his movies (Picnic being the famous example).

In later years, Holden alternated between acclaimed pictures (The Wild Bunch, Network -- his third and final Oscar nomination) and far lesser fare (The Towering Inferno, Damien: Omen II) while his handsomeness grew more rugged and his personal life more tempestuous. But he will always be a "golden boy" in our hearts.

Links via Imdb.com and IMPAwards.com.

Who's Cruising Who?

A lot of movies are talked about long after they come out, but those are usually good ones. Cruising, the notorious gay killer thriller written and directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, is not a good movie by any means. Yet, here we are, 27 years later, still talking about it.

The controversy surrounding the making of the film places it in a unique place in gay history. However, aside from occasional airings on pay cable or dusty VHS tapes, it has mostly stayed buried since its box office failure back in 1980. More people have heard about Cruising then have actually seen it, and the coverage the book and film The Celluloid Closetgave it pretty much damned it in the eyes of most, sight unseen. Friedkin rarely discussed it, and as far as Pacino was concerned, he never made it (for example, it was conspicuously absent from his recent AFI tribute).

Nevertheless, the film did develop a sort of "cult" following through the years, largely due to its scarcity. It was even unofficially "remade" as a comedy, two years after it was first released, as the even more dreadful Partners. (If you really want a laugh though, skip that one and watch Boy Toys, a scene-for-scene "remake" of Cruising ... using Ken dolls. Warning: lots of gratuitous fashion doll nudity and violence.)

So now that Cruising is making its long-delayed DVD debut this Tuesday, a lot of people have been talking about it even more; Friedkin himself is particularly chatty about it. Some say it's worth another look, while others naively wonder what all the fuss was about; this being the internet, there are diverse opinions ranging from the clinical and balanced to the superficial and dismissive.

However, if you read one article about Cruising, make sure it is this superlative piece from Entertainment Weekly contributing writer Mark Harris. Harris covers all the bases regarding the film's infamous makings and deconstructs it with not just a critical eye, but with the eye of a gay man. He also calls to task Friedkin and producer Jerry Weintraub, who (in the DVD extras) try to frame the movie as "a work of art ahead of its time". Yeah, right. If anything, Cruising was a product of its time, not a victim of it.

UPDATE: For his typically laugh-out-loud take on something other then Top Chef, be sure to check out Steven Frank's irreverent look at Cruising over at After.Elton.com.

Click here to pre-order Cruisingon DVD from Amazon.com. Click here to buy Cruisingposters from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, AFI.com, YouTube.com, eBAR.com, Cinematical.com, NYBlade.com, SFBayTimes.com, VillageVoice.com, BrightLightsFilm.com, SFBG.com, NewNowNext.com, AfterElton.com and EW.com.

Awards Watch: God Bless America

Tonight was yet another bizarre year in the bizarre history of the Emmy Awards. (James Spader? Over James Gandolfini? Really???) Questionable wins aside, let me first give a shout out to the four actors from "my shows" that did win:

• America Ferrera, Best Comedy Actress for Ugly Betty: Not only is it fantastic to see somebody win who so very much deserves it, but our gal America was so gracious and humble in her acceptance speech, I confess to tearing up just a tad. You go, Betty, we love you!
• Katherine Heigl, Best Drama Supporting Actress for Grey's Anatomy: What a year our Izzie Stevens is having -- first she's Knocked Up, then she wins what was probably the most competitive race of the night, and on top of all that, she was the best dressed of the evening; seriously, she looked fabulous. (And it's "High-gull", not "High-jull" ... you would think they would prep their announcers on such things.)
• Terry O'Quinn, Best Drama Supporting Actor for Lost: He rightfully should have won two years ago, so it's great to see this incredible character actor finally get the gold. His John Locke is a complicated role, and he pulls it off brilliantly every week.
• Sally Field, Best Drama Actress for Brothers & Sisters: I love this show, and Field's Nora Walker is the heart and soul of it. She gave a great speech too ... until she got flustered ... and then she was cut off in the middle of an anti-war statement. Gee, what a surprise from the Fox Network ...

Rob Marshall also won for his classy Tony Bennett special, as did another Tony ... the awards show, that is. Also, the über-gay friendly Ugly Betty won two other awards (and if you too can't wait for that show's second season to start, here's a hilarious preview to tide you over until September 27).

All right, back to the show. Some random observations:

• The "in-the-round" set: A good idea in theory, but it seemed to throw most everybody who stepped foot on it. Just goes to show how many television actors these days have very little experience in the "thea-tah". (I did love that cool circular video screen though.)
• Ryan Seacrest: Ryan, Ryan, Ryan ... you know, you were doing OK ... until you came out in that costume from The Tudors and said it looked "a lot less gay on the rack". Are you kidding me? At what point did you think that was funny, let alone that it would fly in this day and age? What flabbergasts me about the whole thing is that the whole thing was just that: a lame gay joke. GLAAD better be all over this by tomorrow is all I'm saying.
• I also expect some backlash to be directed at Conan O'Brien and Bill Maher for their little skits showing, respectively, Mexican immigrants piling into a pick up and a toe-tappin' bathroom brigade. Oy, where do I start?
• It always amazes me that these award shows really think they can get it all in during the allotted time, so they have clips of all the early acting nominees but then have to cut them for the bigger categories later in the show. In other words, we get to see a bit of Ed Asner's nominated performance in something called The Christmas Card, yet none from Helen Mirren's winning performance in Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act. Go figure.
• Forgetaboutit! The cast of Jersey Boys was awesome! But is it just me to think that it was a big stretch to connect it to The Sopranos (winner of Best Drama Series for its polarizing finale season)? And did we really need to see Silvio whacking Adriana to the tune of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You"?
• Ellen and Portia looked great on the red carpet together, but I missed Neil Patrick Harris with beau David Burtka. And T.R. Knight looked very dapper, except when they cut to him after an Isaiah Washington joke; then he looked pissed.
• And finally: What was up with that creepy guy staring at Queen Latifah during the Roots tribute?

Click here for a complete list of this year's Emmy winners.

UPDATE: If you missed them too, here's a pic of Neil and David on the Emmy red carpet.

Links via YouTube.com, TheEnvelope.LATimes.com and AfterElton.com.

The Latest on TV: A Hitch in Time

Notable movies and other programs on TV for Monday September 17 to Sunday September 23:

AMC continues their "7 Nights of Hitchcock" this week, with several of the master's best, including The Birds, Rope, Vertigo, Psycho and Shadow of a Doubt. To get you in the mood, the channel's website has a list of his ten most famous onscreen murders. Gee, I wonder what #1 is?

Over at Turner Classic Movies, they serve up their second batch of lost Warner Bros. First National classics from London's famed Teddington Studios on Monday. Three of the titles have never been seen in the United States in any way, shape or form.

Tuesday on the channel brings more "A Star is Born" films, movies that gave big stars their big break. Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Bette Davis and Patricia Neal are spotlighted this week; Neal's The Founthead will be followed by her own Private Screenings one-on-one with Robert Osborne.

On Saturday, TCM presents a look at the first "talkies" of several silent greats, including Harold Lloyd in Welcome Danger and Lon Chaney in The Unholy Three, both not available on DVD.

Other classic movies on TV but not DVD for the week include Anne Bancroft in The Pumpkin Eater (Monday, TCM), Jennifer Jones in Tender is the Night (Tuesday, Fox Movie Channel), Greta Garbo in The Kiss (Tuesday, TCM), Tyrone Power in Lloyd's of London, Susan Hayward in The President's Lady and Bette Davis in The Virgin Queen (all Saturday, FMC) and Mickey Rooney in Young Tom Edison (Sunday, TCM).

If you ever wanted to learn more about the exciting world of location scouts, then be sure to catch one of the screenings this week of IFC's Action Indies: Extraordinary Location Scouts.

And on LOGO this week, Monday brings No Dumb Questions, a documentary about how three small children come to terms with their uncle becoming their aunt. M. Butterfly, David Cronenberg's film version of the Tony Award-winning play starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone (which is surprisingly not on DVD) airs Tuesday. More docs on Thursday (When Ocean Meets Sky takes a look at the notorious gay hotspot, Fire Island) and Saturday (100% Woman concerns a transsexual mountain bike champion), and, just for fun, be sure to catch the light-hearted look at gay TV faves, from Wonder Woman to The Golden Girls, in Inside TV Land: Tickled Pink on Sunday.

Click on the network links to find the show times in your area. All programming is subject to change.

Links via AMCTV.com, TCM.com, FoxMovieChannel.com, IFC.com and LOGOOnline.com.