Halfway Mark Pt 1: Gay Films of the Moment and Near-Future

by Nathaniel R

JOYLAND

This pronouncement is two weeks late for Pride Month but 2023 is shaping up to be a good year for queer films. Not that people have noticed, exactly. The first new challenge for audiences in the brave new world of cinematic distribution is actually knowing that any particular movie exists. The second is knowing where to find it once you do (distribution is so messy in the 21st century!). Between the streaming wars, teensy theatrical runs, and the still rarely discussed / under reported wilderness of "VOD" many titles slip by unnoticed. The artists who made them and the lucky audiences who discover them can only hope they pick up steam through word of mouth or with the passage of time. The best LGBTQ title of the year is Pakistan's 2022 Oscar submission Joyland (reviewed by Cláudio) which is currently in the gap between a theatrical run and various ways to screen it at home and you already heard me rave about last November. When you get a chance to see it you absolutely must. Another unmissable is the Taylor Mac documentary on HBO (reviewed by Glenn).

After the jump some gems you can currently rent or stream that were released theatrically already and some to look forward to...

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"Elvis" wins big at the AACTAs

by Travis Cragg

Austin Butler as "ELVIS"

As anticipated here last month, Baz Luhrmann's Elvis has dominated the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards this week. The musical biopic won a total of 11 statues. But the wealth wasn’t completely hoovered up by the Memphis biopic, as some other uniquely Australian stories managed to pick up awards as well. The full results for film are after the jump…

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"Elvis" maxes out on nominations from the AACTA

by Travis Cragg

Baz Luhrmann’s musical biopic Elvis has thoroughly dominated the film categories of the Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts (AACTA) scoring a nod in every category for which it was eligible. The grand total is 15 nominations! Not too far behind, with 13 nods each, are George Miller’s fairytale 3000 Years Of Longing and Leah Purcell’s revisionist Western The Drover’s Wife: The Legend Of Molly Johnson. In recent times, the big movie of the nominations tends to sweep the wins as well (see Nitram, Babyteeth, Lion, and Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby for evidence), so if you’re wanting to make predictions, the Presley biopic is the best bet for all. 

After the jump a list of nominations, where you can stream them in the US, and a few comments. In case Elvis leaves the building, we offer a few alternatives as to what might win...

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Olivia Newton John (1948-2022)

by Nathaniel R

Olivia receiving an award in 2019 for her philanthropy. [image via.]

Heaven is one angel stronger today. The iconic 1970s superstar Olivia Newton-John passed away earlier today at age 73 after her fourth bout with cancer. Our thoughts here at The Film Experience go out to her surviving loved ones, husband, siblings, and daughter. More pointedly they go out to her legion of fans since yours truly counts myself among them. If you're in that group, you're surely hurting, too. You see, dear reader, Olivia was my first love. Like everyone who came of age in the 80s, the trio of Grease and Xanadu and "Physical" were impossible to escape. Nor did young Nathaniel want to! I can't remember where I even first learned her name or heard her sing. She was just always part of the world...

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Yes No Maybe So: Baz Luhrmann's 'ELVIS'

by Nathaniel R

Baz Luhrmann's career began explosively with two of the most endearing, unusual, and entertaining films of the 1990s (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet). His promise as a Great Showman was realized with his masterpiece Moulin Rouge! (2001) which was only his third feature. Unfortunately in the 21 years since that very modern movie musical revitalized its genre, he mostly vanished from movie screens. He's made only two features since, the disjointed epic Australia (2008) and a box office hit adaptation of The Great Gatsby (2013). Nearly a full decade later we finally have a sixth feature. His latest, which was untitled long enough that its official title Elvis is hysterically anti-climactic, is a biopic of the rock n roll superstar. The movie hits theaters on June 24th, so let's break the trailer down with our Yes No Maybe So™ system...

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