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Out at the Movies: "Quantum of Solace", "Slumdog Millionaire", "A Christmas Tale"
Three terrific new movies open in US theaters this weekend, and while none of them is gay per se, they're all queer-adjacent enough (not to mention that each is just flat-out awesome in its own way) for AfterElton.com readers to check out. Find out more after the break! James Bond 007 returns in Quantum of Solace, a movie that takes the grim, hard-bitten paradigm shift of Casino Royale and ups it, making it the most brutal of the venerable series. Still, director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Stranger than Fiction) keeps the action terse, resulting in some car chases and construction-site fisticuffs that rank with the best from this venerable franchise. Judi Dench keeps things hilariously dry as M, but it's Daniel Craig's show all the way. Craig (above left, with Gemma Arterton), in addition to crafting a very new millenial Bond, has shown great openness when it comes to queer subject matter. He dazzled arthouse audiences in 1998's Love is the Devil, where he played the lover of legendary painter Francis Bacon (Derek Jacobi), and he smooched Toby Jones on the lips in Infamous (aka "the other movie about Truman Capote and In Cold Blood").
Slumdog Millionaire While 007 will own the weekend, there are two films opening in limited release that also merit a look. The less you know about Slumdog Millionaire going in, the better, so I'm just going to say that it left me with a bigger grin than any other movie in recent memory. It's directed by the always-stylish Danny Boyle, who uses the film's Indian milieu as an excuse to stage an elaborate Bollywood-style musical number, and who doesn't love that?
A Christmas Tale's Chiara Mastroianni and Melville Poupaud A Christmas Tale tells the story of a howlingly dysfunctional family getting together for the holidays, but don't expect hugs and reconciliation. Catherine Deneuve stars as the cool-as-the-falling-snow mom of the clan who hopes that one of her children will give her a bone-marrow transplant as part of her cancer treatment, which means that her sparring kids will once again be under the same roof. The cast — which includes Mathieu Amalric, also playing the Quantum of Solace baddy, and Deneuve's talented daughter Chiara Mastroianni — features the handsome young actor Melvil Poupaud (above right, with Mastroianni), who you may have seen playing a dying gay man in queer director François Ozon's moving Time to Leave. So yay, a weekend with more than one good movie opening! If you can't get Quantum tickets, do give one of these other titles a shot if they're opening in a theater near you. Submitted by on Fri, 2008-11-14 16:46. |
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All Slumdogs Go to Heaven
I looooooooooved Slumdog Millionaire, too. It's got drama, insane Indian scenery (not necessarily pretty stuff, but staggeringly well-shot), M.I.A., lovable street urchins, preposterous unlikely torture scenes, and a big heart. And a scene with a lot of poop. What's not to like?
And I'm a sucker for Deneuve, Melvil Poupaud (loved him in the Parker Posey flick, Broken English), glum French folks and Xmas movies.
And I love that you got a Love Is the Devil reference in there. Daniel Craig was uber-hot trade in that one. He was almost as good as Tilda Swinton's rotten fake teeth. Snarggghhh!
Bravo Alonso!
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Slumdog
This is going to to be the sleeper hit of the Oscars. Danny Boyle's Millions was equally terrific and very ovelooked, it will not be here, this could be the most emotionally fulfilling movie of the year.
INSIDEGUY
Oh, Auntie M, there's no hero like Bond!
afhickman
"The mountain has wings."
I almost boycotted "Quantum of Solace" (Paul Haggis wrote the screenplay, and I AM one to hold a grudge), but the screenplay turns out to be one of the least interesting things about the movie. Daniel Craig is in fine form, and he barely takes a breath in the course of the film. My favorite scene is the one that takes place in Austria during a production of "Tosca"; it gives Craig a chance to play dress up and to match wits, rather than muscle, with the villains. But it's all fun. Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis are back (although the latter is stuck in a "throw away" role). But the heart of the movie is the May-December relationship of Craig and Judi Dench, who also returns as "M." Throw in a mudlark named Strawberry Fields and a Russian temptress (albeit she plays a Bolivian) named Camile--don't forget to shake, not stir, the recipe--and you've got a major boxoffice hit. By the way, Haggis claims he was originally asked to direct AND write the film, but he didn't think he'd have time to do both. Enter, German-born Marc Forster, who also directed the lovely "Finding Neverland," with Johnny Depp as James Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan. James Bond is a sort of Peter Pan, I think, and, as such, may he never grow old!
Another gay baddie in Quantum of Solace?
Just got back from seeing Quantum of Solace (a mediocre Bond film, imho) and was wondering if anybody else caught the throwaway bit during the Austrian opera scene: Matthieu Amalric's henchman with the monkish hairdo, played by Anatole Taubmann, gives a leering, lustful glance at the other henchman, and is seemingly portrayed as ever-so-slightly effeminate.
Oh, and I loathed Danny Boyle's Millions, but I adored his Sunshine, so I don't what my feelings are in anticipation of Slumdog Millionaire. But Melvil Poupaud and Catherine Deneuve in the same movie? I'm so there!
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