Out at the Movies: What's gayer, "Milk" or "Transporter 3"?
The big news in gay movies is that a screen biography of slain gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk finally hits the big screen today. But did you know we're also getting a new installment of what's probably the gayest international action movie franchise in contemporary cinema? More after the break!
After 30 years of waiting for Hollywood to tell the story of legendary gay political figure Harvey Milk, Milk is finally a reality, with an impressive cast that includes Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Lucas Grabeel, Joseph Cross and Diego Luna, just to name a few. And while not every single gay critic is completely enamored with the film, there's no denying the film's potential to open people's minds about queer equality, particularly in the wake of the battle over Proposition 8.
But lest you think Milk is the only film with a gay agenda opening today, let's not forget Transporter 3. Yes, it's a loud and silly action franchise that relies heavily on the delish Jason Statham removing his shirt, but the director of the first Transporter movie says he wove gay themes into the film for the sheer heck of it, and Statham has never denied that element of the character. T3 wasn't shown to the press, so we'll just have to see how shirtless and how queer Statham plays it this time.
Hugh Jackman (above right, with Nicole Kidman) recently topped People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" list, but he's also leading Defamer.com's list of Celebrities We Love to Imply Are Gay. Whatever your feelings about his personal life, anyone who wants to see Wolverine soap up his upper torso before rinsing it with a bucketful of water should head right out to Australia, the latest over-the-top epic from Baz Luhrmann. It does for the sweeping historical romance what Moulin Rouge! did for musicals, only without quite so much editing.
And finally there's the dreary Four Christmases, a Reese Witherspoon-Vince Vaughn comedy that starts out being snarky and sardonic about "traditional" family values, only to wind up being a dreary advertisement for marriage, babies and heteronormativity. Go see Catherine Deneuve tear up the joint in A Christmas Tale instead. Submitted by on Wed, 2008-11-26 10:57. |
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Hey...that critic has the same name as you!
T3... he's not gay.
According to other reviews of Transporter 3, the driver character is asked if he's "the gay" by the European female lead, and he says "No, he's not 'the gay.'"
Jason Statham
So I take it, with 4 remarried parents in 4 Xmases, plus other
Gay themed... Really?
Has anyone actually seen the first two Transporter films? I have this past week and they're probably the LEAST gay fims that could be imagined.
What I saw was standard Hollywood action fare -- car chases, foot chases, explosions, fires and lots and lots of kick-boxing where Frank (Statham) takes on 15 toughies by himself and prevails. Think Die Hard, Bourne Identity or Lethal Weapon as similar flicks.
In T1, Frank hooks up with Lai, a Chinese woman -- it's made quite evident in the dialog that they sleep together. Nothing in the sequel (T2) raises any red flags, either. It's the usual: quiet, non-verbal alpha-male takes on the bad guys and after 90 minutes of violent altercations, triumphs in the end.
What gay themes were woven into these movies, exactly? I don't see 1% in either of them. Zero, nada, zilch!