"Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same"
New York Times, January 6, 2012
In “Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same,” Madeleine Olnek’s witty ode to urban love and shoestring sci-fi, a lonely Manhattanite and an exiled extraterrestrial find interspecies contentment.

"Pariah"' a gay coming-of-age story that's come of age
Reuters, December 28, 2011
First-time writer-director Dee Rees avoids all the usual clichés with the powerful “Pariah,” a moving story that’s told with intelligence, heart and a working knowledge of the real world we live in. Even coming in at a lean 86 minutes, the film paints a fully formed picture not only of its budding protagonist but also of the family and friends around her.

"Albert Nobbs" -- Finding a safe harbor in male identity
New York Times, December 27, 2011
Glenn Close’s portrayal of Albert Nobbs, a woman disguised as a man in early-20th-century Ireland, is both charming and sad.

"The Skin I Live In" -- A Beautiful Prisoner Lost in Almodóvar’s Labyrinth
New York Times, October 13, 2011
There are several genres nimbly folded into “The Skin I Live In,” which might also be described as an existential mystery, a melodramatic thriller, a medical horror film or just a polymorphous extravaganza. In other words, it’s an Almodóvar movie with all the attendant gifts that implies: lapidary technique, calculated perversity, intelligent wit. There’s also beauty and spectacle.

"Tomboy" -- A summer of freedoms in boyhood
New York Times, November 22, 2011
If you didn’t know the title of the French movie “Tomboy,” an intimately scaled film about a 10-year-old girl who wants to be a boy, or at least enjoy some boyish freedoms, you might not know the sex of the pretty child in the opener. And you might not think it mattered.

"J. Edgar" -- Finding humanity in the F.B.I.’s feared enforcer
New York Times, November 9, 2011
Even with all the surprises that have characterized Clint Eastwood’s twilight film years, with their crepuscular tales of good and evil, the tenderness of the love story in “J. Edgar” comes as a shock. Anchored by a forceful, vulnerable Leonardo DiCaprio, who lays bare J. Edgar Hoover’s humanity, despite the odds and an impasto of old-coot movie makeup, this latest jolt from Mr. Eastwood is a look back at a man divided and of the ties that bind private bodies with public politics and policies.

Leo and Armie on the Hoover Love Story
Advocate.com, November 11, 2011
Armie Hammer says it was the love story at the center of J.Edgar that drew him to the project, while Leonardo DiCaprio suggests that it was being emotionally repressed and an insatiable need for power that compromised his feelings for Clyde Tolson.

Sizing up the 20th century with the cross-dressing head of the FBI
San Antonio Current, November 11, 2011
It's no secret these days that J. Edgar Hoover was a real bastard. But back in the day he was a paragon of American idealism and fortitude. As director of the FBI from 1935 to 1972, he built and ran the organization as the nation's premier protector, champion, and defender of old-fashioned values. He served under eight presidents, scaring the shit out of almost all of them. He kept files on enemies. He kept files on friends. He spied on U.S. citizens. He hated the Kennedys. And he liked to dress up in women's clothing from time to time.

"Weekend" -- Morning after turns into dance of discovery
New York Times, October 21, 2011
“Weekend,” Andrew Haigh’s astonishingly self-assured, unassumingly profound second feature is a matter-of-fact, tightly focused observation of two young men who find their one-night stand growing into something more serious. It is about the paradoxes and puzzlements of gay identity in a post-identity-politics era, and also about the enduring mystery of sexual attraction and its consequences.

"We Were Here" -- In a City’s Plague Years, Caring for Their Own
New York Times, September 9, 2011
“We Were Here” is an unblinking chronology of the AIDS epidemic, recounted by five people who lived through it and watched countless friends and lovers die. The humility, wisdom and cumulative sorrow expressed lend the film a glow of spirituality and infuse it with grace.

Movie review -- Circumstance - Where the Personal Is the Intensely Political
New York Times
Maryam Keshavarz's "Circumstance" chronicles the coming of age of two young women in contemporary Iran. Atafeh (Nikohl Boosheri) and Shireen (Sarah Kazemy) are schoolmates whose affection grows into erotic passion.

"I Love you Philip Morris" -- A winning smile makes the scamming a breeze
New York Times, December 3, 2010
Jim Carrey’s portrayal of Steven Russell, a notorious real-life con man now serving a 144-year sentence in a Texas prison, hot-wires "I Love You Phillip Morris," a nervy comedy that bills itself as an "improbable but true story." Because it is a sexually forthright gay love story, "I Love You Phillip Morris" is also transgressive, at least by Hollywood standards.

"A Marine Story" -- A stoic Marine undone by Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
New York Times, November 5, 2010
A Marine major who has served four deployments in Iraq, Alexandra is first seen returning to her hometown in the California desert in the summer of 2008 and briskly walking the 10 miles from the train station to the house where she grew up. We learn, bit by bit, mostly through flashbacks, that Alexandra, who is married to a serviceman, is a casualty of the military’s "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy.

"Howl" -- Leaping off the page, a beatnik’s poetic rant
New York Times, September 27, 2010
Not quite a biopic, not really a documentary and only loosely an adaptation, "Howl" does something that sounds simple until you consider how rarely it occurs in films of any kind. It takes a familiar, celebrated piece of writing and makes it come alive.

"Strapped" -- A Dreamlike Tale of a Gay Hustler
New York Times, September 24, 2010
"I like adventure," says the boyish gay hustler (Ben Bonenfant) at the heart of "Strapped," Joseph Graham’s dreamlike debut feature. The statement may or may not be true, but it helps fabricate the persona of the moment: what makes this particular young man desirable — aside from a guileless face, a knowing body and a sweet disposition — is the facility to morph into whomever his customer most desires.

"Brotherhood" -- A nand of neo-Nazis, navigating sexuality
New York Times, August 9, 2010
Nicolo Donato’s melodrama "Brotherhood" digs into the collective psyche of a Danish neo-Nazi group whose brightest recruit and biggest potential star, Lars, is a semi-closeted gay man with masculinity issues.

"The Kids Are All Right" -- Meet the Sperm Donor: Modern Family Ties
New York Times, July 9, 2010
I’m tempted to start this review by falling back on a tried-and-true movie critic formulation and saying something like "Lisa Cholodenko’s ‘Kids Are All Right’ is the best comedy about an American family since ..." Since what? Precedents and grounds for comparison seem to be lacking, so I may have to let the superlative stand unqualified for now. There is undeniable novelty to a movie about a lesbian couple whose two teenage children were conceived with the help of an anonymous sperm donor.

"8: The Mormon Proposition" -- Marching in the war on gay marriage
New York Times, June 18, 2010
Reed Cowan’s polemical film "8: The Mormon Proposition" examines the successful campaign against gay marriage in California that was heavily financed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is implacably opposed to homosexuality. The highly emotional documentary is narrated by Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter for "Milk," who, like Mr. Cowan, is gay and grew up in a Mormon household.

June 28, 1969: Turning Point in Gay Rights History
June 16, 2010, New York Times, June 16, 2010
"The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. He is not interested in, nor capable of, a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage." So declared Mike Wallace in authoritative voice-of-God tones in "The Homosexuals," a tawdry, sensationalist 1966 "CBS Reports," excerpted in Kate Davis and David Heilbroner’s valuable film, "Stonewall Uprising." Funny how yesterday’s conventional wisdom can become today’s embarrassment.

'Eyes Wide Open' -- Passion and identity crisis in a pious community
New York Times, January 8, 2008
"Eyes Wide Open," the quiet and confident feature debut of the Israeli director Haim Tabakman, explores the conflict between sexual desire and religious obligation. The film tells the story of Aaron, who runs a butcher shop and who is proud to be recognized in his community a righteous man. However Aaron’s world is jeopardized when he begins a sexual relationship with a man he hires to work in his shop.

Review: 'A Single Man'
Los Angles Times, December 11, 2009
We're always looking for those performances that truly define an actor, where we can sit back and simply watch the talent soar. For Colin Firth, "A Single Man" is that film. Until now probably best known for his work in the "Bridget Jones" films -- the stuffy, sensitive suitor forever in the shadow of Hugh Grant's roguish charmer -- his portrayal of George, the gay single man that he imbues with amazing grace, should change all that.

"Hannah Free" -- Even at Death’s Door, a Lesbian Couple Still Find Peace Elusive
New York Times, December 12, 2009
In "Hannah Free," a clanking, sudsy tear-jerker about longtime lesbian lovers languishing in the same Michigan nursing home in the 1990s, Sharon Gless plays Hannah, a cantankerous resident prevented by the staff from visiting her partner, Rachel, who lies in a coma after a stroke.

"Bruno" -- Teutonic fashion plate flaunts his umlauts
New York Times, July 10, 2009
It should be noted that Sascha. Baron Cohen remains a brilliant slapstick artist and a master of voices — Brüno’s mock-German and scrambled American idioms are in some ways even more crazily spot-on than Borat’s gibberish — and a performer of no small discipline and physical courage. He is able to stay in character even, for example, when a naked woman is flogging him with a belt. But in spite of Mr. Baron Cohen skills and keen low-comic instincts, "Brüno" is a lazy piece of work that panders more than it provokes.

"Humpday" -- Putting a bromance to an erotic test
New York Times, July 10, 2009
To guys everywhere: "Humpday" has your number. With X-ray vision, this serious indie comedy sees through its male characters’ macho pretensions to contemplate the underlying forces hard-wired into men’s psyches in a homophobic culture. Think of it as a Judd Apatow or Kevin Smith buddy film turned inside out.

"Outrage" -- A documentary about closeted Republicans
MetroWeekly.com, April 30, 2009
Director Kirby Dick, who last covered the Motion Picture Association of America's rating system in This Film Is Not Yet Rated, tackles a seedier topic in his latest documentary, "Outrage" -- the hypocrisy of likely gay officials who vote against the GLBT community. Outrage examines a series of sensational stories from a psychological and sociological perspective in an attempt to make sense of men who vote against their very self-interests. Yet in doing so, Outrage manages to make sex scandals academic and dull.