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In honor of Pride Month, Here’s Christopher James highlighting a pivotal scene from Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader.
Doesn't everyone remember their first time in a gay bar?Satire is a powerful tool. It can take even big dark topics and shrink them down to laughable size. But I’m a Cheerleader represents the high point of what satire can do. Conversion therapy camps are still a blight on our society, despite being declared illegal in 20 states and more municipalities. They have traumatized an uncountable number of queer people. Yet, Babbit’s film subverts the location to be a cotton-candy-colored joke. The film does such a great job of making it a nightmare that loses its shock value because you simply can’t stop laughing AT it.
The joke machine comes to a halt for a joyous moment where we come up for sweet, queer air. The kids escape True Directions to go to a gay bar, "the Cocksucker"...
To celebrate Pride Month, the Criterion Channel has chosen to highlight several works of queer cinema as well as various films featuring LGBTQIA+ characters. The selection is varied, spanning from Ettore Scola's Oscar-nominated A Special Day to the avant-garde work of Chantal Akerman and Cheryl Dunne. It's not all high-brow artistry -- there's space for kitschy entertainment, too. Such is the case of 1999's But I'm a Cheerleader directed by Jamie Babbit, a cult classic looking at gay conversion therapy through the prism of outrageous farcical humor. It's a movie I had never watched before, making it a great subject for this particular series…
It's link time which also doubles as news catch up! (Yes, Oscar Chart updates are currently in progress. So more on that and the foreign submissions very soon)
Think Pieces, List Mania, Celebrity • Movie City News launches another "Gurus of Gold" season where all of us have named our current top 20 "general field" predictions. Yes, I'm updating my charts over the next three days! Manchester by the Sea and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk are expected leaders • Gawker Rich Juzwiack says goodbye to one identity through a George Michael lens. It's wonderful • MNPP Paul Bettany is vacationing in Ibiza • NYT talks to Kirsten Dunst about life after Fargo and her Emmy nomination • Mind of a Suspicious Kind Martin Scorsese's Silence is supposedly his longest ever (over 3 hours) but is it actually coming out this year?
• Cinema Enthusiast polled film twitter on their favorite films of 1982. The results are interesting but weird. The Thing at #1? Erm, okay. Star Trek II above Victor/Victoria? NO. I have to admit that I'm quite spotty on early 80s cinema though because I couldn't drive myself to the cinema back then. • Forbes on the easy-to-predict failure of the new Ben-Hur and how it's a fitting end to this particular summer • Little White Lies wonders if there still a place for eroticism in cinema while watching shorts in Montreal • i09 what went wrong with this summer's blockbusters • AV Club talks to Clea DuVall about past roles on the eve of her directorial debut with The Intervention • MNPP Dagmara Dominczyck's Patrick Wilson appreciation social media game • ...TFE we interviewed her once and she is stunningly gorgeous herself • Slate that nude Trump statue hitting various cities is not amusing to everyone • ...EW including actress/author Amber Tamblyn
News & Miscellania • The Guardian more trouble for Birth of a Nation. AFI cancelled screenings and Q&A • ... icymi TFE previous handwringing about this scandal and film • Forbes Jennnifer Lawrence & Melissa McCarthy top the annual highest paid actresses list this year. Two actresses outside of Hollywood made the list this year: Deepika Padukone (India) and Fan Bingbing (China). Figures include not just films but endorsement deals and such. The Zeéeeee apparently banked a lot for returning to her signature role in Bridget Jones's Baby since she almost made the list.
• /FilmBlade Runner 2 adds Jared Leto to the cast and Jóhan Jóhannsson as composer • Theater Mania Jennifer Holliday joining the cast of the Broadway revival of Color Purple. I guess they've decided to make Shug Avery the short-term award-winning star draw (they've already been through Jennifer Hudson and Heather Hedley) • Screen Daily undervalued British actor Andrew Scott has a lead role. He'll star in the thriller Steel Country • KotakuGhost in the Shell supporting cast photos leaked • Towleroad on Frank Oceans new video Nikes • Coming Soon Amazon developing a TV series based on The Departed. Hmmm. Isn't that an odd fit for long term storytelling. It would imply we can never move past the double crossing discovered stage • Playbill Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher documentary will premiere at the NYFF • Film Stage the first image from Euphoria with Alicia Vikander & Eva Green
Madonna Mania - It's Around This Summer For Some Reason (not complaning) • Boy Culture on a star studded Truth or Dare screening in NYC... • People ...Madonna even showed up super briefly! • Village Voice Michael Musto recalls his up and down relationship to the material girl through their very long contemporaneous careers
And I'll leave you with the new La La Land trailer. (If you missed our discussion of the first trailer, that's here.) This movie can't open soon enough!
Robert Redford wanted this Sundance season to be about diversity of voices and young voices, too. We covered some of that in the last buzz installment but this here's installment of buzz is mostly about women. Well, and Logan Lerman. He's one of many stars hoping to up their game and thus career by way of indie drama success. That is a quick way to up your cred as an actor -- look what it's done for Kristen Stewart recently -- but its weird that it works so well to keep careers going since box office is so rarely part of the equation. At least for festival pick-ups in the increasingly fragmented post-festival market. Do you go video on demand, streaming, theaters, or some weird ass combo of both?
The trick for actors is being great in a movie and also lucking out and having that movie around you be up to your level or at least accessible enough to provide you a nice showcase.
With Judy Greer being the current centre of the ever-increasing storm over the poor state of roles for women in Hollywood (Jurassic World and Ant-Man... they aren't exactly "Judy Greer movies"), a new trailer showcasing both Judy and Natasha Lyonne in a comedy is hopefully a defiant YES on our patented trailer- judgment scale.
Monday, June 13, 2022 at 8:43AM 
Doesn't everyone remember their first time in a gay bar?Satire is a powerful tool. It can take even big dark topics and shrink them down to laughable size. But I’m a Cheerleader represents the high point of what satire can do. Conversion therapy camps are still a blight on our society, despite being declared illegal in 20 states and more municipalities. They have traumatized an uncountable number of queer people. Yet, Babbit’s film subverts the location to be a cotton-candy-colored joke. The film does such a great job of making it a nightmare that loses its shock value because you simply can’t stop laughing AT it.
