James McAvoy breaks out the guns in Wanted

The insane action epic Wanted opens today (Ed. note: It's mad fun. Seriously.), and Scottish actor James McAvoy plays an everyman who's given the chance to become an action hero. From the pic above, it's obvious that James isn't an everyman, but a buff He-God. It's a far cry from how I remember him best, as Mr. Tumnus, the faun, in The Chronicles of Narnia:

Lots of actors try image changes in their career, but one of the toughest to pull off must be when actors try to break out of the "boyish, sensitive" mold and transform themselves into bad boys or kick-ass superheroes. Here are a few more examples of actors who went (with varying degrees of success) from wimp ... to pimp. (I know that was horrible, but it rhymed.)

Tobey Maguire

When the sensitive lad from The Ice Storm, The Cider House Rules, and Pleasantville was cast in the long awaited big screen version of Spider-Man, people scoffed at the idea ... until they saw him shirtless in the movie. I clearly remember the audible gasps in the theater when he stood in front of the mirror, and the jealous straight guy in front of me who turned to his girlfriend and whispered, "It must be CGI."

Ben Foster

I knew Ben primarily from when he was a kid on the tv show Flash Forward, and as that creepy guy on Six Feet Under, so I was not prepared for it when he spread his wings in X-Men:The Last Stand. Unfortunately, he was only in the movie for literally five minutes (rip-off!), because I would have loved to have seen him really spread them wide.

See more transformations after the break!

Gay-fave Julie Brown brings the "camp" to the premiere of Camp Rock

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• You know, it's been faaaaar too long since we checked in with Cute with Chris, the utterly gonzo kittens-and-masochism pie hosted by Chris Leavins (star of the fantastic The Hanging Garden). In recent months Chris hasbeen posting viewer-submitted pics of shirtless men (some with pets, some without), which lends another wonderfully troubling dimension to what is still the most addictive show on the Interwebs.

• Oh, brother: Madonna's gay sibling Christopher Ciccone to write a scathing tell-all about his famous sister. I don't know what's more confusing, the idea that one bitter sibling would do that to another, or the suggestion that there's anything left to tell about the most overexposed person in the history of the universe.

John and Colin from NewNowNext

• Our brother site NewNowNext has been nominated for an HX Award (HX is an NYC gay nightlife mag) and you should totally vote for them. Yay John, Colin, and crew!

• Time has an interesting article about the positive economic impact the gay marriage window (pre-November, when things might change) will have on California, and does everything but urge gay couples from other states to go to Palm Springs, get married, and after their honeymoons, sue for recognition in their home state. Book it!

Ryan Reynolds and Scott Thompson at the Genie Awards a few years back

• Happy birthday to Scott Thompson! The Kids in the Hall star turns 49 today. I wonder if fellow Canadian Ryan Reynolds will give him another kiss on the occasion?

• Reality show laughingstock and pig vagina gourmet Tila Tequila credits herself for the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California. I credit her for the overturn of my breakfast.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

Yes, it's that time again, when buds are on the trees and visions of beefcake swim in the heads of gay men everywhere. Is it the rising temperatures? Is it that the UPS guys are back to wearing shorts again? We're not sure, but spring seemed the perfect time to launch the second annual AfterElton.com Hot 100, where we ask gay and bi men around the world for their picks of who the hottest men are in popular culture.

Last year's poll was a testament to the diversity in tastes among gay and bi men, and this year, to get as many balls rolling as possible, we're providing Top Tens from members of the AfterElton.com team and some of our favorite online personalities. Ready to make your own contribution? Head on over and vote!

And so, without further ado, here are my picks ... 

Hot 100 vet Taye Diggs

10. Chris Evans (Actor, Sunshine)

9. Seann William Scott (Actor, Southland Tales)

8. Taye Diggs (Actor, Private Practice)

Jay Brannan, photographed by Nicolas Moore

7. Byung Hun Lee (Actor, G.I. Joe)

6. Jay Brannan (Musician and actor, Shortbus)

5. Alessandro Calza (Actor, Ciao)

Ian Roberts (from Outrage magazine)

4. Ian Roberts (Aussie rugger turned actor, Kiss Me Deadly)

3. Eddie Cibrian (Actor, Ugly Betty)

2. Ryan Reynolds (Actor, The Nines)

And my new top pick for the year...

• I wonder, wonder why the WonderCon:
  For those of you who are heading out to Wondercon in San Francisco this weekend, local alt-weekly the Bay Guardian takes a look at what's gay at the convention. Meanwhile, Prism Comics has an even fuller agenda for gay fans. The San Francisco Chronicle also takes a look at the con's gay content. In addition to those panels, the Prism Comics booth is a place where you can usually find a wide variety of LGBT comics.
  
  
• Wolverine adds three hunks and Morrison creation:
  While most gay bloggers have been quick to notice the increasingly hunky cast of the Wolverine movie (which now includes Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Daniel Henney, along with Hugh Jackman), it's the news that Dominic Monaghan will be playing Beak that has gotten my attention. Beak? Beak? My inner Grant Morrison fanboy is pretty excited to hear that one of his characters is going to be a part of one of the X-Men films. Now, if only we could see signs of how Morrison pushed the franchise (creatively as well as its gay metaphor) forward in his New X-Men run show up in future films. Oh, and because the excuse doesn't come up often, here's an illustration of how abtastic the Wolverine film is getting:

  

  There aren't many guys who can manage to still look hot despite being stuck with Sally Brown's hairdo, but Jackman certainly manages it. (I'd link you to the Tim O'Neil comic I stole that joke from, but I can't find it anymore ... can anyone with better Google-fu help?)
  
  
• Wii old school gamers love the Commodore:
  One way of establishing your nerd credibility -- at least if you're old enough -- is by reminiscing about Commodore. (I get to mix my Commodore geekery with my marketing geekery by being able to tell people how my parents bought me two of Commodore's failed C64 emulators ... anyone remember the Commodore Plus 4 or the Commodore 128?) Wii owners are going to get the chance to indulge in that nostalgia when Commodore classics become available as Wii Ware titles in Europe. Now, if only someone would realize how the genius Dan Dare video game needs to be introduced to a wider audience. (And is Dan Dare the nexus of video game, anglophile and comics geekdom?)
  
  
• Turok the Guykiss Hunter:
  Well, this could have made it interesting, a conceptual storyboard for the Turok videogame reveal a cut scene where the game's dinosaur hunter locks lips with another guy.

  

  I'm not sure how the Turok franchise just keeps on going. No matter how much I ignore it, it keeps coming back (unlike Quantum and Woody or other Acclaim title I liked). Is there a quality about this one the rather generic title and bland story descriptions are hiding?
  
  
• Boys on film:
  The Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic The Boys was optioned for a possible film recently, which I have to admit has me a bit worried. While Ennis' history as a comic writer is mostly gay friendly (we did have complaints about his work on Midnighter and I'm not sure if there's a gay-friendly angle to The Boys' infamous "hamster" cover), his edgy style of humor is the type where some of his gay jokes can take on a homophobic undercurrent if mishandled by the screenwriter (and from what I've read about The Boys the title does have the occasional crude gay joke), this is one film I'll be keeping a cautious watch over.
  
  

Last week I wrote a review of The Nines in which I singled out gay writer/director John August's originality and daring in bringing his cuckoo, reality-bending, self-referencing triptych to the screen. But he's gone and done me one further with his latest stunt, which might be the most genius incentive to see a film a second time that I've ever seen.

On his website, August has posted a live movie commentary for the film, recorded by both himself and lead actor Ryan Reynolds. The idea is that you download the file to your iPod or Zune or hamster-driven MP3 player of choice and play it (quietly, one would hope) while you watch the film in the theatre.

At first I thought, well, this is cute. Clever new media marketing idea, might be fun to try. And then something dawned on me: this is the closest I am ever going to get to having Ryan Reynolds whisper in my ear during a movie.

Seriously, the movie's a fun watch and I was planning on seeing it again, eventually, as it is incredibly complex and merits a second viewing. But now instead of waiting for DVD, I'm going to download this thing and try it out. Kudos to August for the idea (which he says he actually cribbed from Kevin Smith, who did something similar for Clerks II) and Reynolds for playing along ... popcorn's on me, fellas.

We seem to be on a teen roll of late what with all the discussion of gay teens in last week's BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER! column as well as the latest edition of our vlog Two Gay Guys, so I thought I might as well do a pic post form this weekend's "Teen Choice Awards". The upset of the night occurred when PBS beat out MTV for the "All Time Rockingest Network Ever" award. Okay, that didn't happen, but for all I know it could have since I didn't actually tune in. Frankly, anyone over the age of twenty-five who watches strikes me a little dodgy.

Neil Patrick Harris of How I Met Your Mother was up for best actor in a comedy, but, alas, he didn't win. However, Will Ferrell did win for the gay-friendly Talladega Nights. The gay-seeming villain God King from 300 wasn't even up for best villain, so I'm happy about that. All the winners can be found here! Now on to the pics!

Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno of Dancing With the Stars was up for best male reality star...

but lost to Sanjaya Malakar of American Idol. Yay, Sanjaya!

I've no idea why Ryan Reynolds (The Nine) was there, but I'm glad he was. I think he won for best facial hair.

The out Adam Shankman, director of Hairspray with his lead actress Nikki Blonsky.

• Soundtrack details for gay filmmaker Todd Haynes' sure-to-be-fascinating Bob Dylan biopic, I'm Not There, in which the singer/songwriter is portrayed by everyone from Heath Ledger to Cate Blanchett to one of my cats. Antony and the Johnsons covering "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"?! Sufjan Stevens on "Ring Them Bells"?!?! Somebody catch me...
• The L.A. Times has a nice article on how Neil Patrick Harris is a gay actor playing a straight role and how no one seems to mind in the least. But beware: the piece quotes some wingnut named Michael Jensen, so they're obviously not playing with a full deck!
  
• SpoilerTV caught wind of yet another gaysploitative detective show episode on its way, yet again within the Law & Order monolith.
  
• GLAAD has changed the eligibility rules for their media awards to include gay-for-gay media (the awards until now have only been awarded to mainstream media). Gay-targeted outlets will not be granted their own categories, but are invited to compete within existing categories. In other words: Sorry, The Lair. That "Best Gay Vampire Softcore Soap Opera" award isn't yours quite yet.
• I so cannot believe that no one was all over this while I was out at the end of last week, but The Advocate cover boy of the month, Ryan Reynolds, and gay filmmaker John August (whom Reynolds actually plays, in part, in their utterly bizarro new comedy The Nines) did a fascinating Q&A for the mag and also documented their trip together to Africa, where they helped build an orphanage. We already knew that Reynolds was uncommonly gay-friendly and as hot as tarmac, but he builds orphanages, too? *SWOON*