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My Own Private Idaho - Criterion Collection

Actors: Chiara Caselli, Mickey Cottrell, Tom Cramer, Sally Curtice, Matthew Ebert
ASIN : B00005JLHW
Sales Rank : 9384
Brand : Image Entertainment
Studio : Criterion
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781559409575
ISBN : 1559409576
UPC : 715515015929
Release Date : December 01, 2005
Publisher : Criterion
Manufacturer : Criterion
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Criterion
Running Time : 104

Description

River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves star in director Gus Van Sant’s haunting tale of two young street hustlers: Mike Waters, a sensitive narcoleptic who dreams of the mother who abandoned him, and Scott Favor, wayward son of the mayor of Portland and the object of Mike’s desire. Navigating a volatile world of junkies, thieves, and johns, Mike takes Scott on a quest from the grungy streets to the open highways of the Pacific Northwest, in search of an elusive place called "home." Groundbreaking and visually dazzling, My Own Private Idaho is a stirring look at unrequited love and life at society’s margins.

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Mapping the spaces between fortune and degeneracy, Shakespeare and street cant, Europe and the Pacific Northwest, and gay and straight, My Own Private Idaho is the 1991 masterpiece by director Gus Van Sant. River Phoenix gave the most generous and memory-searing performance of his tragically shortened career as Mike Waters, a narcoleptic street hustler in search of his mother. His best friend, Scott, played by Keanu Reeves, is a son of privilege who fosters plans of rejoining the moneyed world of his father after gallivanting with assorted urchins and ne'er-do-wells. The beautifully symmetrical story that emerges between the two is one of friendship, yearning for lost time, and sexual identity conveyed with a poet's eye for landscape. The camera lingers on abandoned houses in golden fields and time-lapse clouds, providing what T.S. Eliot called "the objective correlative"--external representations of interior emotional states. We're treated to striking iconic sequences like a barn falling from the sky and still-life scenes of carnal entanglement. The supporting cast is a rogues' gallery that includes Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Udo Kier, director William Richert, and a variety of "nonactors" pulled literally off the street to provide documentary veracity to a film that gleefully careens into riffs on Henry IV. It's beautiful.

What's also beautiful is the Criterion Collection's treatment of the film's DVD debut. The director-approved transfer successfully conveys the warmth of the film's palette of oranges and browns, and preserves the whimsical atmospherics of the yodeling country music soundtrack. Many members of the original crew contribute their fond memories to the documentary features, which include a conversation between Phoenix's sister Rain and producer Laurie Parker. There are also two lengthy audio-only conversations--one between Van Sant and Velvet Goldmine director Todd Haynes, and another between author J.T. Leroy and filmmaker Jonathan Caouette about their experiences on the street. The deleted scenes mostly suggest alternate endings that Van Sant wisely left on the cutting room floor. A superb example of a beloved film on DVD. --Ryan Boudinot

Stills from My Own Private Idaho (click for larger image)

The Cast
River Phoenix
Keanu Reeves

Keanu and River
Udo Kier
Gus Van Sant

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Party Monster

Actors: Seth Green, Macaulay Culkin, Diana Scarwid, Chloë Sevigny, Marilyn Manson
ASIN : B00014K5TQ
Sales Rank : 4819
Director : Randy Barbato, Fenton Bailey
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Full Screen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543106814
UPC : 024543106814
Release Date : December 10, 2004
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 99

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Party Monster is a curiosity: a fictional version of events already covered in documentary form (see Party Monster: The Shockumentary) by this film's co-directors, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, best known for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Party Monster, theatrically released in 2003, also signals the return of Macaulay Culkin to films after a long absence. Culkin plays 1980s club kid-turned-killer Michael Alig, a small-town boy who arrives in New York in search of reinvention on the Ecstasy-fueled party scene. Alig ascends from rube to ringmaster, organizing Fabulous happenings and anointing, in Warhol-like fashion, various transvestites and studly naifs the era's new superstars. Seth Green plays Alig's arch but more reticent co-conspirator and roommate, James St. James. Green is more grounded in character than Culkin, though neither actor is convincing as a deluded drag queen. Despite interesting material, the directors never reveal what makes Alig a compelling figure in Manhattan's social history. --Tom Keogh

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East Side Story

Actor: Rene Alvarado; Cory Schneider; Steve Callahan; Gladise Jimenez
ASIN : B000WDVNMO
Sales Rank : 7284
Director : Carlos Portugal
Brand : EAST SIDE STORY (DVD MOVIE)
Studio : WOLFE VIDEO
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0754703762979
UPC : 754703762979
Release Date : December 04, 2007
Publisher : WOLFE VIDEO
Manufacturer : WOLFE VIDEO
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Label : WOLFE VIDEO
Running Time : 88

Product Description

Called a "feel good movie" by its fans, this appealing debut film of director Carlos Portugal suffers from no freshman errors, as Portugal confidently tells the story of Diego (played by the wonderful and charming René Alvarado), a young, closeted Latino, who helps his grand-mother (standout Irene DeBarri) run the family restaurant while carrying on a clandestine relationship with equally closeted Pablo (the delightful David Beron).

Diego has long felt trapped by the conservative culture of East LA and plans to move away and open an upscale restaurant, hopefully with his lover. But Pablo views their situation very differently - a point driven home when he begins dating Diego's spirited Aunt Bianca (hilarious sexpot Gladise Jimenez). At the same time, white gay men like Jonathan and Wesley are moving in, gentrifying the neighborhood. The attraction between Wesley and Diego is immediate and electric, forcing both men to reexamine their state of affairs in this entertaining comedic drama.

A "coming out" story that avoids all the tired cliches and stays committed to telling the stories of these characters, East Side Story examines bias of all kinds and features stirring performances by incredibly attractive actors. This story sweetly appeals to the romantic impulses of us all, gay and straight.

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Handsome restaurateur Diego (Rene Alvarado, Fall to Grace) thinks he has the perfect boyfriend--until Pablo (David Beron, Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders) makes it clear he's not coming out of the closet, in case it might threaten his real estate business. Of course, Diego himself isn't out at work--until his flighty aunt Blanca (Gladys Jimenez, Tremors: The Series) casually reveals this to the homophobic staff. Heartbroken and alienated at work, Diego gets distracted when Wesley (Steve Callahan, Nine Lives) and Jonathan (Cory Schneider, The M.O. of M.I.), two hunky guys who are apparently allergic to shirts, move in next door. But as sparks start to fly with Wesley, Jonathan attempts to use racial strife as a tool against Diego. For a low-budget gay romance, East Side Story has broad ambitions, juxtaposing racism and homophobia without getting too heavy-handed with either. The script and the acting are a little wooden, but sincere warmth, flippant humor, unapologetic directness about its characters' lives, and a lot of well-muscled bodies give this movie its appeal. Irene DeBari, as Diego's grandmother, provides a lot of the movie's heart. --Bret Fetzer

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Heavenly Creatures

Actors: Jed Brophy, Pearl Carpenter, Lou Dobson, Moreen Eason, Peter Elliott (III)
ASIN : B00006ADFL
Sales Rank : 6213
Studio : Miramax
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0717951002976
UPC : 717951002976
Release Date : December 24, 2002
Publisher : Miramax
Manufacturer : Miramax
Label : Miramax
Running Time : 109

Product Description

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/10/2006 Run time: 99 minutes Rating: R

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A starkly original film-going experience based on a true life story, this film from New Zealand director Peter Jackson (Dead Alive, The Frighteners) is a stirring drama that offers up the unexpected. The story concerns two girls, outcasts who become best friends, whose bizarre fantasy life becomes more intense as their bond becomes increasingly more obsessive. When the mother of one of the girls tries to intervene and split the girls apart, they kill her and stand trial for murder in what is to this day still a celebrated and controversial case. Kate Winslet (Titanic) and Melanie Lynskey create two sympathetic and yet uncomfortably eerie characters in riveting portrayals. Featuring some startling and unique moments of visual brilliance as well as a disturbing love story between the two girls, Heavenly Creatures is at once both unsettling and beautiful to behold. --Robert Lane

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Gia

Actors: Angelina Jolie, Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mercedes Ruehl, Eric Michael Cole
ASIN : 0783117523
Sales Rank : 10672
Director : Michael Cristofer
Studio : Hbo Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780783117522
ISBN : 0783117523
UPC : 026359139024
Release Date : December 18, 2000
Publisher : Hbo Home Video
Manufacturer : Hbo Home Video
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Label : Hbo Home Video
Running Time : 120

Product Description

When gia carangi first arrives in new york shes a beautiful drop-out from philadelphia brashly bursting through the closed doors of top modeling agent wilhelmina cooper. Gias electrifying personality and potent sexuality soon find their way onto the covers of americas top-selling magazine. Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Angelina Jolie Faye Dunaway Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R Director: Michael Cristofer

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There's a reason why Cindy Crawford was dubbed "Baby Gia" when she first hit the modeling scene. Indeed, Crawford, now the world's best-known supermodel, greatly resembled model Gia Carangi, who went from high school to the cover of British Vogue in less than two years. Carangi appeared on many more covers of Vogue (French, British, Italian, and American) and Cosmopolitan before dying of complications from AIDs (she was an IV heroin user) in 1986. Now most people recognize Carangi's name from this powerful HBO film that stars Golden Globe-winner Angelina Jolie, who comes by her talent honestly. Jolie is the daughter of veteran actor Jon Voight, and her own training as a model serves her well--she has the moves. Throughout, she's heartbreaking--as no doubt the real Carangi was--effective, and stunning.

With good source material (Stephen Fried's A Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia), Jolie's stunning performance, and strong directing by Michael Cristofer, the movie goes beyond the merely sensational. The script was cowritten by Cristofer and novelist Jay McInerney, whose Bright Lights, Big City covers similar territory. As a cautionary tale, Gia works. But to watch Jolie in her character's tragic self-destruction is utterly compelling. --N.F. Mendoza

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Fingersmith

Actors: Stephanie Middleton, David Troughton, Imelda Staunton, Karen Seacombe, Tallulah Pitt-Brown
ASIN : B000A4T804
Sales Rank : 6825
Director : Aisling Walsh
Brand : STAUNTON/DANCE
Studio : Acorn Media
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781569387900
ISBN : 1569387907
UPC : 054961790791
Release Date : December 13, 2005
Publisher : Acorn Media
Manufacturer : Acorn Media
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Label : Acorn Media
Running Time : 180

Product Description

Growing up as a foster child among a family of thieves, orphan Sue Trinder hopes to pay back that kindness by playing a key role in a swindle scheme devised by their leader, who is planning to con a fortune out of the naive Maud Lilly.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: STAUNTON/DANCE
Title: FINGERSMITH
Street Release Date: 09/13/2005
Domestic
Genre: DRAMA

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From Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet, comes this twisting and twisted Victorian-era thriller with an L-word charge. Sally Hawkins stars as Sue, an orphan who grows up among the reprobates of Lant Street to become an accomplished "fingersmith" (thief). Elaine Cassidy costars as Maud Lilly, an heiress who, as a young girl, was plucked from the madhouse and raised by her stern, bibliophile uncle (Charles Dance). He makes her wear gloves at all times so as not to smudge the precious tomes he makes her read every night. Enter Richard Rivers (Rupert Evans, the otherwise sterling cast's weakest link), an artist hired to give her painting lessons. But he has designs on Maude's fortune, and recruits Sue for an elaborate con. That's when the gloves really come off. Originally broadcast on the BBC, this riveting three-part tale of illicit passion and betaryal is by turns harrowing and quite erotic (the tasteful sex scenes manage to generate heat without baring a lot of skin). The literate script reveals its feminist leanings ("You are a man and might do everything," Maude tells Richard during their first meeting. "I am a woman and might do nothing."). The superb cast includes Academy Award-nominee Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) as Mrs. Sucksby, a Fagin-esque character who mentored Sue, and has a few surprises for Maud, as well. --Donald Liebenson

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The Crying Game (Collector's Edition)

Actors: Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson, Adrian Dunbar
ASIN : B0006FO9BK
Sales Rank : 9748
Director : Neil Jordan, Susan Ricketts
Brand : Lions Gate
Studio : Lions Gate
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0012236132509
UPC : 012236132509
Release Date : December 25, 2005
Publisher : Lions Gate
Manufacturer : Lions Gate
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Lions Gate
Running Time : 112

Product Description

A powerful provocative and unforgettable study of sex politics and terrorism. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 08/30/2005 Starring: Forest Whitaker Stephen Rea Run time: 112 minutes Rating: R

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The Crying Game offers a rare and precious movie experience. The film is an unclassifiable original that surprises, intrigues, confounds, and delights you with its freshness, humor, and honesty from beginning to end. It starts as a psychological thriller, as IRA foot soldier Fergus (the incomparable Stephen Rea) kidnaps a British soldier (Forest Whitaker) and waits for the news that will determine whether he executes his victim or sets him free. As the night wears on, a peculiar bond begins to form between the two men. Later, the movie shifts tone and morphs into something of a romantic comedy as Fergus unexpectedly becomes involved with the soldier's girlfriend Dil (Jaye Davidson) and discovers more about himself, and human nature in general, than he ever dreamed possible. Like Spielberg's E.T., The Crying Game was supposed to be director Neil Jordan's "little, personal movie," the one he just had to make, even though no studio was willing to give him money because the story was so unusual. Instead, it became a surprise popular sensation, thanks in part to Miramax's cleverly provocative campaign playing up the hush-hush nature of the movie's big secret. The performances (including Miranda Richardson as one of Fergus's IRA colleagues) are subtly shaded, and the writing and direction are tantalizingly rich and suggestive; you're always trying to figure out the characters' true motives and feelings--even when they themselves are fully aware of their own motives and feelings. The Crying Game is a wise, witty, wondrous treasure of a movie. Director Jordan's credits include Mona Lisa, Interview with the Vampire, Michael Collins, and The Butcher Boy. --Jim Emerson

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Walk on Water

Actors: Lior Ashkenazi, Knut Berger, Caroline Peters, Gideon Shemer, Carola Regnier
ASIN : B0009YVBGO
Sales Rank : 16187
Director : Eytan Fox
Brand : Sony
Studio : Sony Pictures
Region Code : 99
Format : AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781404982352
ISBN : 1404982353
UPC : 043396111059
Release Date : December 30, 2005
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Sony Pictures
Running Time : 103

Description

This enthralling award-winning film by internationally-acclaimed director Eytan Fox explores the motives, strengths, and, ultimately, the humanity of an Israeli assassin sent to rectify a wrong committed five decades earlier. Eyal is a top assassin in the Israeli secret service. He has killed terrorists before, but this time he is sent to eliminate an aging former Nazi war criminal. During his mission, Eyal meets his target’s granddaughter and grandson, who inadvertently help him uncover his own troubled history and face his demons, while they discover the ugly truth their family has hidden from them for decades. What began as a straightforward mission, has suddenly escalated in intensity and complexity – thrusting three very different people into a thrilling triangle of murder, friendship and fate.

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An unusual psychological spy thriller, Walk on Water follows Israeli agent Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi, from the superb romance Late Marriage) as he tries to learn from a German brother and sister (Knut Berger, Push and Pull, and Caroline Peters, Schone Frauen) whether or not their grandfather, a Nazi commander, is still alive--but his growing friendship with the pair forces him to grapple with his wife's suicide only months before. Walk on Water grapples with racial prejudice and homophobia without once seeming preachy; surprisingly, the spy storyline introduces these issues naturally, as Eyal's hostility towards Arabs and his blithe view of Nazi war criminals are central to his character. Ashkenazi is charismatic and subtle; his bedroom eyes and understated smolder make him something of an Israeli Clive Owen. Don't buy Walk on Water expecting James Bond spectacle, but the excellent performances, intelligent script, and quiet tension will draw you into this thoughtful and emotionally nuanced movie. In English, with a few subtitled scenes in Hebrew and German. --Bret Fetzer

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Tales of the City (Collector's Edition)

Actors: Olympia Dukakis, Donald Moffat, Chloe Webb, Laura Linney, Marcus D'Amico
ASIN : B00006BT1A
Sales Rank : 13111
Director : Alastair Reid
Studio : Acorn Media
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781569385425
ISBN : 1569385424
UPC : 054961542499
Release Date : December 25, 2003
Publisher : Acorn Media
Manufacturer : Acorn Media
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Acorn Media
Running Time : 300

Product Description

A funky apartment house in the freewheeling san francisco of the 1970s provides the backdrop for a story about a colorful cast of characters in search of love. Studio: Acorn Media Release Date: 02/25/2003 Starring: Olympia Dukakis Laura Linney Run time: 300 minutes

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"The City" in question is San Francisco, and the tales are novelist Armistead Maupin's, his romantic, affectionate, and spirited homage to the glory days of his hometown. Maupin's idea of SF's glory days isn't the drug-filled Summer of Love (1967), but rather the drug-filled lust-in of the late '70s. Replacing acid with coke and ludes, psychedelia for disco, this six-hour miniseries (which caused controversy for its open drug use, nudity, and direct depiction of homosexuality upon its initial airing on PBS) follows the romantic struggles and identity crises of a colorful cast of characters. The action--as addictive as the drugs the characters ingest--is seen mostly from the innocent point of view of Mary Ann, the city's newest culture-shocked resident--so its presentation is rather decadent and hedonistic. Because the story originally ran as a daily serial in the San Francisco Chronicle before being compiled into a novel, its serialized structure suffers from typical soap-opera mawkishness and the need to shock with ridiculous revelations. Thankfully, this degeneration mostly occurs during the final two hours, allowing you to just enjoy the personalities and hilarious and often-touching interactions of the richly drawn characters before they're manipulated by plot devices. The performances are all outstanding, especially Chloe Webb's spacey ex-hippie Mona, Marcus D'Amico's romantically doomed Michael, and Olympia Dukakis's Anna Madrigal, the enigmatic mother hen/landlady of many of the film's central characters. --Dave McCoy

Browse Gay & Lesbian Online

My Own Private Idaho - Criterion Collection

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Party Monster

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East Side Story

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Heavenly Creatures

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Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon

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Gia

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Fingersmith

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The Crying Game (Collector's Edition)

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Walk on Water

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Tales of the City (Collector's Edition)

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