Greg's Reviews: July 2007 Archives

What a great time at Outfest yesterday. That was, until I backed into a cement pillar in the parking garage as I was leaving the Director's Guild of America Theatre in West Hollywood. I wiull admit this to you: I had just finished gabbing with Matthew Rhys before heading to my car. I sat down and thought: "Could this day BE any better? An interview with Mario Lopez this morning and now Matthew Rhys at night?" Wow...BAM!!!! Backed right into it. My bumper had a crack but mostly, it scared the @#%* outa me.
But, I digress. This post is supposed to be about the screening of "Love and Other Disasters," a damned entertaining film starring Rhys, Brittany Murphy, Santiago Cabrera and Catherine Tate.
It is a gem, a movie that I think could do well commercially if it can get a distributor which I'm sure it will. It includes a hilarious scene featuring cameos by Gwyneth Paltrow and Orlando Bloom and is well-written and well-directed by Alek Keshishian and wonderfully acted.
Catherine Tate steals nearly every scene she's in as Talullah, the chain-smoking, alcohol guzzling, hashish brownie eating friend who's most stable relationship is with a creep from the phone company who is stalking her. And Michael Lerner, as a Harvey Weinstein like character, is a scream. The audience laughed at him and Tate and others...a lot. And they clapped at certain lines like when a hunky male photographer (Santiago Cabrera), who upstaged his older boss at a photo shoot, was asked by a Vogue editor what he thought of "All About Eve" because she considered him an Eve Harrington in male clothing: "I found it silly actually. The idea that Bette Davis could be the victim of anyone is absurd."
Rhys and Murphy play Peter and Jacks, a kind of Will & Grace type if pair (only they aren't annoying) who live together and work in London and navigate dysfunctional love lives. Jacks tries to set him up with a gorgeous guy (Cabrera) who she's sure is gay, but who really isn't and is in love with her. She's got a boyfriend she's broken up with but still sleeps with out of habit, and Peter's the kind of person who bumps into a hot guy in a hotel lobby and decides he is the love of his life...even though they have never met.
"I've never actually had a relationship...except in my head," he tells her as they watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's" together for the umpteenth time. He is despondent because he finds out hotel lobby guy has moved to NYC.
She tells him: I don't think it's healthy for you to have a long-distance relationship with someone you've never met."

Let me say this: Murphy, whose character worships Audrey Hepburn and styles herself after the 60s icon, is the heart of the film and she is dazzling. Her shaky English accent is explained away by saying her character was born in England but raised in the U.S. from the age of 5. Her chemistry with Rhys and Cabrera is terrific and in the end, the film's message is that love isn't like it is in the movies: "It's a process and not an event."
The film was shot on a budget of $9 million two years ago. The director told the Outfest audience about what a tough time he had casting the role of Jacks until he saw Murphy read: "She seemed to embody the character immediately...when Matthew's audition came in on tape, I was literally like 'He's Peter!' Of course he was really busy so I had to push the entire movie for him...but he was worth it."
I'll say.

I've been watching many Outfest 2007 screeners in recent days in anticipation of the LA gay and lesbian film festival which opens tomorrow. So far, my faves have included "The Curiosity of Chance," "East Side Story," "Back Soon," and "25 Percent" but the best of the bunch, so far, is "Shelter."

Written and directed by Jonah Markowitz, "Shelter" is a film that is ripe with commercial possibilities due to its superior production quality and first-rate performances by its cast. It's also written so well and has so much believable interaction between its characters. No false notes here. And then there are the surfing scenes which are terrific. Markowitz is making his directorial debut but he did supervise the surfing footage in "Blue Crush," the female surfing movie from 4-5 years back starring Kate Bosworth and Michelle Rodriguez.
The movie is set in San Pedro and follows two guys who fall for each other while doing what they love most: surfing. The younger guy is a frustrated artist named Zach - sensationally played by Trevor Wright - who is still struggling with his sexuality but begins to come out when he falls in love with his best friend's older brother Shaun, played by Brad Row of "Billy's Hollywood Screen Test" fame.
The two actors play the emotional scenes so well and they got for it in the love scenes as well. Clothes are shed, kisses are shared and they try and weather the rocky road ahead. Zach is a father figure to his adorable young nephew Cody, loves him so much, and is a crucial presence in his life since Cody's mother (Zach's sister) is a mess who constantly makes her brother choose between his family and his dreams.
I also enjoyed the performance of Ross Thomas (pictured, right), who plays Shaun's understanding younger brother, Gabe. Gabe has no reservations about his older brother's sexuality and the scene where he tells Zach that he is aware of the relationship is very tender. Zach is embarassed and doesn't want to talk about it but Gabe insists and in his goofy way, is the best friend you'd ever want to have. As he leaves to go back to college, he hugs Zach tight and says, "We're still bros, right?"
Markowitz wrote the screenplay for "Shelter" four years ago while staying with a friend in Seattle and shot the movie in three weeks. When I think of all the garbage out there that has so much time and money behind it, it's so wonderful to know that such good movies can be made with far less when you have someone behind it with vision and immense talent.
I promise you that "Shelter" will be one of the best films you see at Outfest 2007. It is the festival's dramatic centerpiece on Wednesday, July 18 at the Ford Ampitheatre.

Before I forget, as I walked out of the Arclight Theatre in Hollywood last night, Matthew Perry walked right past me. I had just posted about him a few hours earlier because TMZ had posted side-by-side picks of Perry and Matthew McConaughey jogging and Perry looked pasty and puffy and I defended him. So, I decided to turn around and check him out as he walked into the theater and, well, he is quite portly these days. Guess that's why he's jogging! But the hair was perfect as was that handsome face.
So, I was was at the ArcLight to see "Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix." I have loved every single "Potter" movie so I was quite excited about the fifth in the franchise. It didn't let me down. Loved it! While I miss the lighter moments that the previous films had, this film had a good story, moved along briskly and by this time, the cast inhabits their roles expertly.
The film follows the struggles Harry (Daniel Radcliff) is having as he tries to alert the wizard world about the return of He Who Shall Not be Named — the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. But complicating matters terribly is a real bitch named Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) who is senior undersecretary to the minister and begins teaching at the school. Staunton is just deliciously wicked in the role and more than makes up for the mere cameo roles given in this film to Oscar winners Maggie Smith and Emma Thompson.
Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) are back as Harry's best friends and the three become the leaders of Dumbledore's Army, a secret school organization designed to teach Hogwarts students practical defense against the dark arts after the curriculum at the ancient school is restricted and much of the staff fired. The trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron are growing up and since they have been the leads in all the "Potter" films, you feel like you are seeing them grow up...and you are! I really loved a new castmember, Evanna Lynch, who plays the eccentric Luna Lovegood. She is very odd but so irresistable.
I really missed seeing a spirited game of of Quidditch which is always a highlight for me in a "Potter" film but this is the darkest movie in the series yet so there is no time for fun and games. But there is time for Harry to get a kiss under the missle toe and to battle evil forces and to prove himself a hero once again.
The film opens on Wednesday and if you are a fan of the series, GO!