Eclipse Final Trailer

We've got our hands on the final movie trailer of Eclipse that was shown during the latest Oprah show:

This new cut of the trailer of Eclipse put the emphasis on action rather than emotions... It does look good, but hey, they should rather focus on Bella and Edward! Anyway, the fight between wolves and vampires looks gorgeous!
:)

Eclipse MTV Movie Awards

Here's the full clip of Twilight Eclipse shown during the MTV Movie Awards 2010:


ECLIPSE MTV AWARDS
What do you think of this Eclipse clip? Do you like it?
:)

Eclipse TV Spot

A first TV Spot of Twilight has aired, you may watch it below:


TWILIGHT Eclipse - TV Spot Event
Twilight Eclipse is going to be a hell of great movie!
:)

Eclipse Soundtrack

Here's the cover of the track list of the soundtrack of Eclipse:

Twilight Eclipse The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

1. Metric – "Eclipse (All Yours)" 2. Muse – "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)" 3. The Bravery – "Ours" 4. Florence + The Machine – "Heavy In Your Arms" 5. Sia – "My Love" 6. Fanfarlo – "Atlas" 7. The Black Keys – "Chop And Change" 8. The Dead Weather – "Rolling In On A Burning Tire" 9. Beck and Bat For Lashes – "Let's Get Lost" 10. Vampire Weekend – "Jonathan Low" 11. UNKLE – "With You In My Head (featuring The Black Angels)" 12. Eastern Conference Champions – "A Million Miles An Hour" 13. Band Of Horses – "Life On Earth" 14. Cee-Lo Green – "What Part Of Forever" 15. Howard Shore – "Jacob's Theme"

The Eclipse soundtrack will be on sale starting June 8, 2010.
:)

Reverend’s Interview: Lurch Speaks…and Sings!

They’re creepy, kooky, ooky and spooky. For decades, the amusingly macabre Addams Family has assumed a beloved spot in American pop culture via cartoons, a TV series and two big-screen capers. Tomorrow night they make their Broadway debut in a musical headlined by out actor Nathan Lane as the family’s wacky patriarch, Gomez, and the fabulous Bebe Neuwirth as his eternally devoted spouse, Morticia.

In other well-known roles, GLBT faves Kevin Chamberlin (of the movie Trick, and a Tony-nominee as Horton in Seussical: The Musical) and Jackie Hoffman (who was featured in the original Broadway casts of Hairspray and Xanadu) star as Uncle Fester and Grandmama, respectively. However, the Addams family wouldn’t be complete without its one non-biological member: Lurch, their seemingly undead butler/man-servant.

28-year old singer-actor Zachary James portrays Lurch in The Addams Family: A New Musical, and at 6’6” he more than fits the bill physically. The character of Lurch, though, isn’t exactly known for his vocal prowess. Traditionally, Lurch has been a man of few words, usually relying on painful-sounding moans and groans to express himself.

Bass-baritone James had to create a vocal and physical language for Lurch based on very little material. “I have the original cartoons (by the Addams Family’s creator and namesake, Charles Addams) all over my dressing room,” James told me during a recent telephone interview from New York. “They’ve been very helpful in developing a movement vocabulary for Lurch.” And yes, Lurch does sing in at least one of the show’s numbers.

“My first exposure to the characters was the 1991 movie (which featured actor Carel Struycken as Lurch, in addition to memorable performances by Anjelica Huston as Morticia and the late Raul Julia as Gomez),” James elaborated, “then I started watching the 1960’s TV series.”

He continued, regarding the stage musical: “We are drawing primarily from the original New Yorker cartoons, but we owe a debt to the TV series since it gave the characters names.” Charles Addams had originally refrained from identifying the members of his cartoon “family.”

James made his Broadway debut in Coram Boy a mere six months after he moved to New York. Prominent roles in the hit revival of South Pacific as well as regional productions of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum followed. James’ hometown is Springs Hills, Florida, and he majored in musical theatre at Ithaca College. He is equally adept at opera, and past productions include La Boheme, Don Giovanni and Madama Butterfly.

“I’m having a lot of fun with Addams Family and creating a role; it’s very exciting to be a part of this show,” James said, while confessing his fondness for Sondheim’s works. “(The Addams Family) is my first new musical, and it has been a fascinating experience putting it together since the first reading two years ago.”

The Addams Family musical is written by the award-winning Jersey Boys team of Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice in collaboration with acclaimed Broadway songwriter Andrew Lippa. It has been designed and directed by the Shockheaded Peter team of Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, with an assist from musical-theatre veteran Jerry Zaks (Mame).

I asked James how The Addams Family was progressing prior to its New York premiere and following a successful run last fall in Chicago. “It’s going great,” he replied. “We had our first preview audience last night and it was very well-received; it’s very exciting to be part of this show.”

On working with his stellar, accomplished cast mates, James says, “It’s been just wonderful; it’s kind of like going to work with my heroes everyday, and everyone is a family.”

James recently made his television debut as well on the popular series 30 Rock. He shared the screen with Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. “It was quite fantastic,” James enthused. “It was my first gig on-camera and I kept wondering ‘What am I doing here?”

I asked James pointedly why GLBT people should go and see The Addams Family musical. “Well, it’s musical theatre, and it’s a surprisingly thoughtful show about love, acceptance and family,” he answered. “The tagline for the show’s marketing is ‘A Family Not Much Unlike Your Own,’ and there are plenty of political jokes in the show.”

With advance ticket sales of $15 million, the $17 million production is shaping up to be a major hit. If you are planning a trip to NYC this summer or in the eventual future, be sure to pay a visit to The Addams Family.

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Reverend's Reviews: A Heaven-Sent Big Gay Musical

“Sometimes being the person you’re not helps you learn to love the person you are.” So states the tagline for The Big Gay Musical. A big hit on the GLBT film festival circuit, including at January’s Palm Springs International Film Festival, the movie is due to be released on DVD tomorrow.

It is directed by Casper Andreas and Fred M. Caruso, who previously collaborated on the popular gay-themed film A Four Letter Word. The Big Gay Musical is a thoroughly silly, occasionally overbearing but ultimately entertaining tale of two gay actors who strive to overcome their personal issues while starring in an off-Broadway production of Adam & Steve: Just the Way God Made 'Em.

One of the men, Paul (played by Daniel Robinson), is constantly on the hunt for the perfect man with whom to share his life. Eventually disappointed one time too many, Paul decides to become a slut under the tutelage of the musical’s less-romantically inclined chorus boys. His new, more promiscuous approach leads Paul to encounters with numerous hotties, including an escort tenderly played by gay porn star Brent Corrigan.

Eddie, Paul’s co-star, is newly out to everyone but his conservative Christian parents, who are planning to attend the opening night of Adam & Steve but are unaware of the subject matter. Joey Dudding plays Eddie, and conveys well the young man’s struggle with his integrity. Eddie and Paul also endure a frightening ordeal involving possible infection with HIV.

The growing friendship between Paul and Eddie is touching and serves as a nice, contemporary counterpoint to the musical’s campy recounting of the not-quite-biblical story of Adam and “Steve.” Eddie tries to convince Paul to hold out for “Mr. Right” and not give in to the temptation of commitment-free sex, while Paul provides Eddie support and encouragement in coming out to his parents.

The musical numbers are fun, the men are pretty, and the film’s good-natured attack on the Religious Right is timely. Its joyous and abundant spirit of gay self-affirmation is infectious. Gossip columnist Michael Musto has a funny cameo, as does Steve Hayes (who was memorable as Christian Campbell’s show tune-loving friend in Trick) as God in the show-within-a-show.

Writer and co-director Caruso told The Advocate, “So many gay people have been screwed up by religion, but gay shows and movies about religion always end up being so depressing. I wanted to create a show with a positive message about being gay and religion that was funny, campy and crazy.” Caruso, a former Roman Catholic, has actually said he considers The Big Gay Musical to be as “divinely inspired” as the Bible.

Caruso also co-wrote the film’s original songs with composer Rick Crom. They include “I’m Gonna Go Straight to Heaven,” “God Loves Gays,” Paul’s showstopper “I Wanna Be a Slut” and the clever “Musical Theatre Love Story.” Most of the musical numbers feature energetic choreography by Shea Sullivan and pleasingly minimal costumes by Tony Award-nominee Bobby Pearce. Some of the song lyrics are obvious while other songs go on a bit too long, but all are sufficiently entertaining.  (A soundtrack CD is also currently available.)

The religious commentary in the screenplay is similarly overdone at times and borders on being heavy-handed. However, it is so unrepentantly on the pro-gay side that it is easy to forgive such occasionally preachy excess after all the anti-gay sentiment our community has weathered from religious conservatives over the years.

The Big Gay Musical boasts a cast of stage veterans representing nearly 50 Broadway productions of the past decade, including the blockbusters Hairspray, Wicked, The Lion King and Mamma Mia! Caruso intentionally recruited experienced stage performers because he needed a cast of “triple threats” who could act, sing and dance. Their professionalism is obvious even while evoking a low-budget musical on a smaller, off-Broadway stage.

While buying or renting The Big Gay Musical, you might also want to check out several other “big gay musicals” I recommend:

A Chorus Line (1985): Generally reviled by fans of the stage production, the movie nonetheless includes two gay characters (fairly bold for a mid-80’s studio film), a then-attractive Michael Douglas, dynamic choreography and most of the original songs, plus the sexy, Oscar-nominated newcomer “Surprise, Surprise.”

Moulin Rouge! (2001): Exhibiting one of the gayest cinematic sensibilities ever, Aussie director Baz Luhrmann’s musical fantasia on the bohemian ideals of “truth, beauty, freedom and, above all things, love” is an unconventional delight. Nicole Kidman has never been more beautiful on screen, and you’ve got to love its all-male rendition of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”!

Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter (2002): I kid you not. This low-budget indie film is a mash-up of songs, transvestites, Mexican wrestlers, gory impalings, a vicious trio of lesbian vampires and the second coming of Christ. Not quite a camp or cult classic yet, but this imaginative spectacle deserves to be seen.

Rent (2005): While the film version of the Broadway smash about a group of friends struggling with poverty and AIDS in 1990’s New York City is overproduced, the score and the cast — most from the original Broadway production — are great and the gay love story at its heart remains endearing.

20 Centimeters (2006): A wacky comedy from Spain, written and directed by the talented Ramon Salazar, in which a narcoleptic transgender woman longing to complete her sex change procedure (despite her super-buff boyfriend’s protests) dreams up elaborate musical numbers in which she’s the star. Well worth tracking down on DVD.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

MD Poll: 21st Century Oscar

With the recent crowning of The Hurt Locker as Oscar's Best Picture of 2009, it is time to look back at the 2000s to pick the best of the best.

Of the ten Academy Award winning Best Pictures since 2000, which movie is your favorite? Make your pick and place your vote in the MD Poll located in the right hand sidebar. The ultimate Best Picture of the 2000s will be revealed on May 1.

MD Poll: Hot for Teacher

The Gleeks have spoken: your ultimate Glee crush object is none other than Will Schuester, played by Matthew Morrison.  But it wasn't an easy win, as he is followed closely in the voting by bad boy Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling). Gay cutie Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) rounds out the top three.

See the comments section below for the complete statistics for this MD Poll, and don't forget to tune in to Fox on April 13 for the much-anticipated return of Glee!

Reverend's Reviews: An Easter Threesome

Peter Cottontail and his pals at Gay.com have brought a special treat to all you good queer boys out there, at least those in LA and NYC. In conjunction with Regent Releasing/Here Films, a split triple bill of festival hits Manuela & Manuel, Dream Boy and Just Say Love is now playing at LA's Laemmle Sunset 5 and the Chelsea Clearview Cinema in NYC.

Manuela & Manuel is a hysterical, not-to-be-missed delight from Puerto Rico. The charming Humberto Busto (Amores Perros) stars in the title roles as a female impersonator whose boyfriend has recently left him. As Manuel pines for his lover's return with the help of a video diary and a teddy bear named Brad (for Brad Pitt), he receives surprising news from his female best friend, Coca. She has learned she is pregnant by a soldier who has since shipped out of town. Unable to inform her parents of the news without also telling them she and the father-to-be are getting married, Coca asks Manuel to pose as her fiancée.

Needless to say, complications ensue. Upon meeting Coca's father, Manuel recognizes him as a frequent patron of the bar at which he performs as Manuela. Manuel's fundamentalist-Christian landlady, Rosa, becomes increasingly excited by what she sees as her tenant's apparent attempts to become straight. And Manuela's bitchy co-star, Faraona (the very funny Marian Pabon), tries to manipulate the situation in order to seize the spotlight all to herself.

Director Raul Marchand Sanchez and screenwriter Jose Ignacio Valenzuela milk their comedic scenario for all that it's worth, but it never feels strained. The great script and performances — Ineabelle Colon is also a riot as Coca's alcoholic mother, appropriately named Margarita (note how she blesses herself before brunch) — result in a near-masterpiece of comic timing. My partner and I laughed pretty much non-stop through the film's 94 minutes.

Definitely not as funny but almost as worthy is the second film in Gay.com's current triple feature, Dream Boy. Written and directed by James Bolton (Eban and Charley) and based on the acclaimed novel by Jim Grimsley, it weaves a gay coming-of-age tale that unexpectedly becomes a gothic ghost story.

When shy teenager Nathan (played by Stephan Bender, who made a brief impression as young Clark Kent in Superman Returns) moves to a rural farm in the deep South, he begins to find himself attracted to his schoolmate next door, Roy. Roy also serves as their school bus driver, and it doesn't take much of an invitation from Roy for Nathan to start sitting in the seat right behind him!

The two become study partners and, gradually, lovers. Roy is predictably conflicted, since he has a pseudo-girlfriend and is friends with two of the school's more athletic, seemingly straight guys. When Roy invites Nathan to join the three of them on a weekend camping trip, things take a decided turn in an old, reportedly haunted plantation house.

While I'm generally over coming-of-age stories at my curmudgeonly middle age and find they rarely have anything new to offer, I discovered Dream Boy to be surprising and genuinely affecting. Bolton's approach to the material is subdued and rarely exploitive, aside from occasional, shirtless shots of hunky Randy Wayne (who plays Roy's buddy, Burke). Diana Scarwid, Christina Crawford herself in Mommie Dearest, also lends credibility as Nathan's mother.

The chief attribute to Dream Boy, however, is Max Roeg in the role of Roy. Max is the 25-year old, British-born son of actress Theresa Russell of Black Widow and Spider-Man 3 fame (whom he resembles closely) and director Nicolas Roeg, and Dream Boy marks his feature film debut. Max gives a sensitive yet strong, assured performance, which is all the more impressive for his authentic-sounding Southern accent. Anyone tempted to think British actors can easily master Southern US accents needs to listen to the London cast recording of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Whistle Down the Wind, and learn first-hand how nearly impossible it can be! Roeg, Bender and Dream Boy will more than likely haunt you.

The third — and weakest — film in this special triple-header is Just Say Love, a meditation on Platonic love adapted from David J. Mauriello's play. Sole cast members Matthew Jaeger and Robert Mammana play two very different men; one is gay and mourning the recent death of his cat, while the other is seemingly straight and expecting a child with his girlfriend. Doug (the sexy Mammana) is the bi-curious construction worker who comes on to Guy (Jaeger) on a park bench one day during his lunch break. Doug just wants a blowjob, while the Plato-reading Guy is longing for a soul mate.

Though talky and unnecessarily stagey (wasn't a real park and bench available?), Just Say Love is often compelling. If viewers overlook the characters' heavy-handed jokes about each other's names and even more heavy-handed lines of dialogue such as "You'd be my wings if I had 'em," one can appreciate the men's deepening attraction and the actors' heartfelt performances.

So, boys, arrange your baskets, head to the cineplex, and have a happy Easter! For more information about these films, visit the Regent Releasing website.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Reverend's Reviews: March Madness

Here at Movie Dearest, we try to champion films of GLBT interest even though many are far from perfect. The month of March, however, brought a pair of gay DVD releases that I, at least, feel an obligation to warn our readers away from; "Beware the Ides of March," indeed!

I've been a fan of gay director David DeCoteau's prior works: low-budget but stylish, general-interest horror flicks like The Brotherhood series and Voodoo Academy that feature undeniable homoerotic elements (he also directed 1997's blatantly-homo and sexy Leather Jacket Love Story). The filmmaker's contemporary spin on Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum was released on DVD by E1 Entertainment on March 9.

A very loose adaptation of Poe's literary classic, the movie follows a group of nubile, mostly male young adults who converge on a country estate one weekend. They have been summoned by an alleged psychologist, JB Divay (played by an alleged actress, Lorielle New). Divay is interested in overcoming pain through hypnosis and other, more questionable techniques like stripping down to one's skivvies followed by lifting weights and/or wrestling one's buddies until somebody dies.

While these scenes and a central same-sex romance makes The Pit and the Pendulum DeCoteau's most overtly gay mainstream movie yet, they are also ludicrous. Man-flesh is abundant even as full male nudity is avoided (props to hottie Michael King, though, for eschewing DeCoteau's trademark boxer-briefs in lieu of more minimal briefs). The script makes absolutely no sense, so if you ignore my advice and end up renting or — heaven forbid — buying The Pit and the Pendulum, just turn the volume off and watch the pretty pictures.

Just out on March 30 is a "retail friendly" re-edited version of Raging Stallion's pornographic hit, Focus/ReFocus (from Breaking Glass Pictures). Directed by Tony DiMarco, it is a simplistic wanna be-thriller set in San Francisco that follows a porn-obsessed guy, Joe (Cole Streets), who finds himself trapped in a gay serial killer's web.

While not nearly on par with the oeuvre of Brian DePalma, whom DiMarco seems to be emulating, or even the woeful Basic Instinct, Focus/ReFocus boasts gory killings and steamy man-on-man sex scenes that include several porn stars (including my new favorite, the tattooed and muscle-bound David Taylor). It's periodically sexy but mostly dreary.

Anyone anxious to see these guys in their unbridled, unedited glory will want to check out the X-rated version, which leads me to question why they re-edited Focus/ReFocus at all. Is there that big a market for gay-interest movies neutered of their graphic sex scenes? Or is this version intended to serve as a feature-length trailer for the original?

If viewers haven't figured out who the killer is by the midway point, they should stick to fast-forwarding through the dialogue and just watch the awkwardly-edited sex. Focus/ReFocus may be a good movie or at least stimulating in its original form (I haven't seen it), but sitting through this is an exercise in futility.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.