Review: "Wonder Woman"

by Chris Feil

The absurdly long wait for Wonder Woman to arrive on the big screen is officially over with the arrival of Patty Jenkins’s stellar adaptation. Gal Gadot may have been the all-too-brief bright spot of last year’s Batman v Superman, but in her own story she emerges as a hero for the ages.

While this is yet another superhero origin story, Wonder Woman’s conviction keeps its more common beats alive. Gadot’s Diana is raised to be a warrior among the Amazons, with a strong sense of true justice, under the watchful eye of her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and trainer Antiope (Robin Wright). On the otherwordly arrival of earthly spy pilot Steve Trainor (Chris Pine), Diana sets out for a righteous battle with destiny on the World War I front.

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Interview: Nicholas Galitzine in "Handsome Devil"

An abridged version of this interview was previously published at Towleroad

Nicholas Galitzine is a star on the rugby field in "Handsome Devil"

by Nathaniel R

The third time is the charm. Just three years and three films into his acting career, Nicholas Galitzine has what looks like a breakout role. John Butler's Irish dramedy Handsome Devil centers around the unlikely friendship of a new student Ned (Fionn O’Shea) and the star athlete Conor (Galitzine) at a rugby-mad boarding school. Their friendship is encouraged by their teacher Mr Sherry (played by the fine Irish actor Andrew Scott of Pride and Sherlock fame) but the rugby team isn’t wild about it. Conor is a wonderful showcase for Galitzine’s talent, and in more ways than one. The role also allows the actor to use what he calls his "separate passion,” music.

Screen International named Galitzine one of their “Stars of Tomorrow” in 2015 as part of their annual feature promoting the UK’s most promising actors. Their prediction is looking sound. Galitzine, for his part, isn't taking it for granted. He appears both eager to test his range and grateful for his opportunities. He calls acting "the best job in the world" and admits that "I've been very lucky so far".

Our interview follows after the jump...

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Wonder Women: Tracey Flick

This week is all about female heroes. Here’s Jorge with a cupcake early in the morning…

One of the (many) beautiful things about Alexander Payne’s Election is that, by immersing the audience into the different points of view the main characters, there’s never really anyone who’s unequivocally right or wrong. There are no heroes or villains; the truth lies somewhere in the murky puddle of ethics, ambition, and torn down posters. Everyone had their part on the catastrophic school election events. It’s just that some came out better off than others.

But Tracey Flick would not hesitate one second in calling herself a heroine.

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RuPaul's Drag Race S9E11 - Category Is: GAY

by Chris Feil

Happy Pride Month, everyone!! This week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race was perfectly timed to the start of Pride season with gay extravaganza ball on the runway, and lots of streamers, glitter, and puppets! Andie MacDowell giving us Magic Mike XXL white wine realness!

But like Alexis Michelle’s bowl of Beautiful Turquoise Embellishments, this episode became a miss with lots of unfulfilled promise, particularly on the runway. Some queens had a significant misstep on the runway and others lacked the wow factor we expect from a top five competitor. Meanwhile in the workroom, we got a lot of dismissive interview quotes to amp up an air of contentiousness that wasn’t really there. Less an extravaganza than a passable week. Some of that manufactured cattiness probably comes down to a group of queens that genuinely get along, and the eased frustrations in the room now that Nina Bo’nina Brown was sent packing.

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I Was Tricked Into Seeing "Baywatch"

by Sean Donovan

Of the men currently dominating American movie box offices, few are more men than Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. And by this I don’t mean to praise or value anything specific in their incarnations of masculinity, rather I mean that when one watches Dwayne Johnson or Zac Efron, it’s as if they are working at every fraction of a second to scream in reminder to you “I AM A MAN! I HAVE MUSCLES! I AM STRONG! I EAT MEAT! I PROVIDE FOR MY WIFE AND CHILDREN!” It’s a function of the danger men in real life often pose that masculinity isn’t something we can easily mock or laugh at.

Not so with Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron (and to a lesser extent Chris Hemsworth). Masculinity is rarely sillier than in a Dwayne Johnson movie, the actor’s mind-boggling physique dominating every frame, each new performance somehow more muscled and over-the-top than before. Johnson’s instagram is a running tribute to the inflated absurdity of his sweat-drenched lifestyle. Efron, though not as fully the author of his own image as Dwayne Johnson, has found his greatest performances in Neighbors and its equally great sequel, where he plays up an arrogant frat-boy shtick, with peeks to the insecurities underneath, to absolute comic gold. Both allow us to look at hyper-masculinity as something laughable and campy, a cathartic moment we rarely get elsewhere.

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