Friday, Brian took a look at trailers for this weekend's Meet the Spartans and wondered if the 300-inspired parody would follow the homophobic tone of its inspiration or manage to mock it.

Since the Scary Movie films are a guilty pleasure of mine and I'm always eager to see the machismo of Frank Miller (who wrote and drew the graphic novel that 300 was based on) get mocked, I decided to see Meet the Spartans and judge it for myself. Sadly, after seeing the movie, I think judging Meet the Spartans as homophobic or subversive is giving it a little to much credit. Spartans is a directionless and poorly paced gag-fest (some of the weakest parodies get way too much screen time and there are too many moments waiting for something funny to happen). It bludgeons every joke to death, seemingly because the script wasn't long enough to withstand any selective editing.

I wanted to give Meet the Spartans the benefit of the doubt; the film makes use of a few Mad TV vets like Ike Barinholtz and Nicole Parker, who gave us some great gay-themed comedy sketches. (Parker's spot-on imitations are easily the best thing about Meet the Spartans, aside from the constant beefcake, which, sadly, isn't saying much considering how infrequently she appears.) Finding a promotional clip for the movie where Kevin Sorbo, Ken Davitian and Diedrich Bader talk with Carrie Keagan about women finding male/male sexuality hot, without a hint of cringing or squeamishness.

NSFW language in the clip below:

Today the 300 parody Meet the Spartans opens in theatres everywhere. Don't pretend you're not excited.

Of course, given the fact that Spartans is spoofing the homophoberotic nipple opera that took the world by storm last March, we figured that it would feature gay jokes of some kind: it could either blindly follow the implicit homophobia of the source film and pile on the gay jokes (while simultaneously being a film carried by a bunch of men hanging out together in thongs), or - if we were lucky - it could smartly lampoon the homophobic choices made in 300 and feature proudly gay and masculine characters or mock the origin's skewed take on masculinity and sexuality.

We can't say for sure which (if either) will happen, because the film didn't screen for critics (Really? Noooooo....). But from the looks of these gay-joke-packed ads - which feature everything from a rooster-headed Sanjaya lookalike screaming "I'm not gaaaaaaaaay!" as he's kicked into a pit to the Spartans laughing at Chris Crocker to a cross-dressing Rambo (?!!), we shouldn't really get our hopes up. Not that there was much chance of that happening in the first place.

Will actor Sean Maguire, who played a gay character in the short-lived sitcom The Class, undo any goodwill he had with gay audiences by starring in this mess? It's a shame to see a man in a leather Speedo go to waste, but "class" is something that this project could used a bit more of.

Check out two of the ads here and here.

The homoeroticism of 300 is the target of the latest Scary/Date/Epic Movie parody film. In Meet the Spartans buff soldiers wearing very little armor encounter the most current pop culture parodies that film schedules will allow. (Check out the trailer after the break for more.)

A plethora of beefcake isn't the only thing about Meet the Spartans that might grab the attention of gay viewers. As GuyTV Blog noticed, Spartans' cast includes British actor Sean Maguire, who you might remember recently played gay teacher Kyle Leno on CBS' The Class. Maguire certainly seems to have been working out a lot since The Class wrapped - either that or that sweater covers up a lot.

300 and the way it mixed homoeroticsm with homophobic humor seems especially ripe for mocking. It'll be interesting to see if Meet the Spartans can offer a little bit more than the usual barely-coherent string of pop culture references.

The nominees for the 34th Annual People's Choice Awards were announced last night, and among them is out actor Neil Patrick Harris, in the "Favorite Scene Stealing Star" category. He's up against Chandra Wilson of Grey's Anatomy and Richard Belzer of Law & Order: SVU. Needless to say, it would be awesome to have an out, proud actor win a popular vote like this one, so be sure to click the link at the bottom and cast your ballot! Here's a rundown of the other gay-significant noms...

Celebrities:
Gay-faves Sally Field and Katherine Heigl nabbed noms for "Favorite Female TV Star", Jodie Foster is nominated for "Favorite Female Action Star" and Queen Latifah and Drew Barrymore are nominated for "Favorite Leading Lady". Ellen, Whoopi, and Wanda Sykes make "Favorite Funny Female Star" the best category of the bunch, by far.

Television:
Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies, which both have gay creators, are up for "Favorite New Drama Series", and out producer Russell T Davies' Doctor Who is up for "Favorite Sci-Fi Series".

Movies:
Recently outed wizard Albus Dumbledore appears in "Favorite Movie Drama" nominee Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and homophobic pigfest Wild Hogs somehow made it into the "Favorite Movie Comedy" category. Likewise, homophobic yet sure-to-win 300 pops up in the "Favorite Action Movie" noms.

Afterthought: I find it interesting that 2 out of 3 "Favorite On-Screen Duo" noms are bromances (Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker and George Clooney/Brad Pitt) and the third, Tobey Maguire/Kirsten Dunst, acted more like they were going through a messy divorce than like lovers in Spiderman 3. Where's the romance?

For all the nominees - and more importantly, to vote yourself (go, NPH!) - head on over to the official website. The winners will be announced on January 8th in a broadcast hosted by Queen Latifah.

After years in development hell, Warner Bros. announced a cast for a movie adaptation of Watchmen at Comic-Con International. Watchmen is a highly regarded comic by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons that asked how different our world would be if superheroes actually existed and if real people could maintain their morality if they found themselves wielding so much power and authority.

The story primarily takes place at the end of the Cold War, the late 80s, but also looks back at the history of its alternate universe to see how superheroes would have changed our history. One of the caped crusaders we meet during those flashbacks is Hooded Justice, one of the first masked men to arrive on the scene who, it turns out, was also gay.

So far, Hooded Justice hasn't been cast and hasn't been mentioned in discussion of the film. I hope that doesn't mean he won't appear in the movie. While Hooded Justice isn't one of Watchmen's essential characters, he plays a key role in establishing the bigotry and violent tendencies of another character, The Comedian.

I'm probably suffering from a bit of hair trigger worry, considering that Watchmen will be directed by Zack Snyder, who unfortunately struck more than a few homophobic notes in his previous comic book movie, 300. It's probably worth considering that the 300 comic was also considered homophobic by many, while Watchmen creator Alan Moore has a history of being very gay friendly (he also wrote V for Vendetta). Perhaps, in the long run, we'll be able to attribute the homophobia in 300 more to the source material than the director, but in the meantime it's worth watching to see if Watchmen's influential gay hero makes it into the film adaptation.

When 300 came out, its bizarre mishmash of homoeroticism and blatant homophobia was met with a broad range of reactions, from those who found it needlessly offensive (like we did) to those who found it to be the "gayest thing ever" (like many people who apparently don't know many gay people did).

At the time I wondered, "what would this film have been like in the hands of a gay director?" Well, I think we may have our answer.

Gay director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day) has a new film opening next spring called 10,000 B.C. that at first blush bears some superficial similarities to the abs-and-sandals epic (it also coincidentally comes from the same studio). I looks to have lots of scantily-clad action, impressive vistas, and monster-battles ... hopefully without all the gay-baiting that 300 had.

The film stars Steven Strait (best known from teen weeotch flick The Covenant) and Camilla Belle (When a Stranger Calls) and you can check out the action-(and-loincloth)-packed teaser here. Steven, better wrap up that call -- I don't think they've got coverage where you're going.

• It's Raining 300 Men. Much funnier than it has any right to be.
• A hilarious drunk-driving cowboy sobriety test from Reno: 911!
• George Takei enthusiasts practice their "Sulu Dance" routine for Pride
• Ford model Chris Comfort shows us his favorite push-up exercises. We know it's hard to pay attention, but it's for your health.

Fur loincloths and pageboy haircuts may be back in fashion sometime soon (and not a minute too soon, in my honest opinion). Variety reports that Warner Bros. and Joel Silver have announced plans for a new live-action version of He-Man and The Masters of The Universe to be penned by Justin Marks, pending approval of the story by Mattel, the original manufacturers of the He-Man toys.

Though it lacked the obvious homosexual undertone of Race Bannon’s and Dr. Quest’s relationship on Jonny Quest, or the camp affectations of Snagglepuss, He-Man has been a gay fave since it premiered in the 80s. Not surprising considering that Prince Adam went from wearing a white muscle tee to a loincloth, leather boots and a metal harness as He-Man whenever he chose to use his “special powers”. Personally, I was a bigger fan of She-Ra, He-Man’s fabulous sister, but then I spent more than a few hours spinning in the backyard trying to transform into Wonder Woman.

One little point of worry is that the studio seems to be set on emulating the recent massacre-fest 300, at least in terms of style. Hopefully that doesn’t include the homophobic posturing, though the film's massive success doesn’t exactly discourage it.

No word yet on casting, but since the heydays of Stallone/Lundgren/Schwarzenegger-like musclemen are long gone, there doesn’t seem to be any obvious choice. Perhaps an unknown bodybuilder will come to the fore, or maybe He-Man will be slimmed down for the new century. Any suggestions on who you would cast?

On a lighter note, the following He-Man smash-ups give us a little insight into Castle Grayskull’s circuit scene.

Spiderman exploring his kinkier side

And Live Hard or Die Free which shows the downside of product placement

Be sure to check out the others

Speaking of a cheeky look at the movies, it's doubtful Will Ferrell will ever score an Oscar win, but his odds of winning at this year's MTV Movie Awards are pretty damn great. Ferrell is up for a whole slow of awards, most notably for our interests, he snagged a nod for Best Kiss for the same-sex snogging in Talledega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby. This follows in the footsteps of last year's winners Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. However, Ferrell's lip lock with Sacha Baron Cohen in Talladega Nights was considerably more lighthearted than Brokeback Mountain's smooch. (I've got the Ferrell/Cohen smooch after the jump.) Ferrell and Cohen will have to beat out Cameron Diaz & Jude Law in The Holiday, Columbus Short & Meagan Good in Stomp The Yard, Mark Wahlberg & Elizabeth Banks in Invincible, and Marlon Wayans & Brittany Danie lin Little Man.

Looking at that list of nominees, I'd say the same-sex snog has a good chance of winning again.

Other gay noms of interest include Best Picture nominees Blades of Glory, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and Little Miss Sunshine all of which were more or less gay-friendly. Even Pirates of the Caribbean has a gay-sensibility.