FILM
A lesbian thriller, ‘Scream’ returns, and more lm V option for prin A host of queer programming on tap for upcoming season
By JOHN PAUL KING sword-and-sorcery adventure starring Chris Pine, “Bridgerton” hunk Reg -Jean Page, bi “Fast Spring is always an exciting time for queer fans of film and TV, as the entertainment industry Furious” star Michelle Rodrigue , queer actor Justice Smith, and Hugh Grant. Planned as the shifts its eye to the future and begins to roll out the eagerly awaited movies and shows it has ambitious launch point for a “multi-pronged” franchise that includes a graphic novel tie-in, an in store for us in the upcoming year. This year is no exception – but while there are several upcoming television spin-off, and a slate of future installments across these and other forms exciting titles announced for 2023’s cinematic lineup (like the Anne Hathaway-starring lesbian of media, it’s an eagerly awaited roll of the 12-sided dice in an unpredictable market already thriller “Eileen” and Dan Levy’s directorial film debut “Good Grief”), many of their release dates saturated with tent-pole style entertainment options. After years in development and multiple are slated for later in the year or still to be determined. COVID-related delays, moviegoers – doubtless including millions of queer fantasy fans – will That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few good options for queer movie buffs looking for some finally get to decide whether or not it was worth the “spring fresh” cinema, and the Blade has compiled gamble. a few suggestions.
MOVIES
Renfield (In theaters April 14) The renaissance of Nicolas Cage continues with another franchise-ish new action-fantasy, this one more in the in the horror vein – a vein injected with a healthy dose of humor by director Chris McKay (The Lego Movie”) and screenwriter Ryan Ridley. Nicholas Hoult (“A Single Man,” “The Great”) stars as the title character, the long-suffering lackey of Count Dracula (Cage, in a role it was inevitable he would eventually play), who discovers an unexpected new outlook on life when he falls in love with a traffic cop (Awkwafina) in modern-day New Orleans. Ben Schwart and Adrian Martine round out Lonesome (Digital/DVD, available now) the cast of what looks to be a highly entertaining Another import making its way to U.S. screens, Another chapter in the ‘Scream’ saga is coming this spring. (Image courtesy Paramount Pictures) tall-tale blend of gothic vampire camp and quirky this Australian Outback-meets-big-city romance comedic reinvention. As for the LGBT connection, from director Craig Boreham explores “sexuality, well, “Dracula” author Bram Stoker was reputedly queer, and that’s a good enough excuse to loneliness and isolation in a world that has never been more connected” through the story of give this promising romp a chance. a country boy (Josh Lavery) who, fleeing from small-town scandal, arrives in Sydney and meets a city lad (Daniel Gabery) with secrets and struggles of his own. In their new acquaintance, the Little Richard: I Am Everything (In theaters and VOD April 21) two young men “find something they have been missing, but neither of them knows quite A must-see for fans of both documentaries and classic rock ’n roll, not to mention anyone how to negotiate it.” We don’t want to spoil anything, but since this festival-circuit favorite was interested in the story of a unique individual charting his own course of self-expression in praised by reviewers for its masterful use of erotic storytelling, it’s safe to assume they figure a world that wasn’t ready for what he wanted to be, this richly illuminated film profile from it out. director Lisa Cort s was the opening night documentary selection at this year’s Sundance Festival. Framed as a story of “the Black queer origins of rock ’n roll,” it aims to dismantle “the Scream VI (In theaters March 10) whitewashed canon of American pop music” by positioning its titular subject – whose “real” The rebooted horror franchise – originally created by queer screenwriter Kevin Williamson, name was Richard Penniman – as an innovator who forever shaped the genre with his irrewho in an interview around 2021’s “Scream V” said the movies were “coded in gay survival” – sistibly flamboyant style and persona. Offering a wealth of archive and performance footage picks up where it left off, as the four survivors the latest Ghostface killings leave Woodsboro alongside interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the behind to start a fresh chapter. Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Jenna film brings us into an icon’s complicated inner world, “unspooling” his life story with a compreOrtega, Hayden Panettiere, and Courteney Cox return to their roles, joined by Jack Champion, hensive sense of scope and a keen eye for important detail. Henry C erny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, and Samara Weaving. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (In theaters April 28) Fifty-three years after its publication, Judy Blume’s iconic piece of A fiction comes to the The Tutor (In theaters, March 24) screen for the first time in this adaptation from writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig starring Recently out “Stranger Things” star Noah Schnapp hits the big screen in this eerie thriller Rachel McAdams and featuring Abby Ryder Fortson as the title character – a sixth-grader who from writer Ryan King and director Jordan Ross, in which an in-demand tutor (Garrett Hedlund) moves to a New Jersey suburb from New ork City with her mixed-faith parents (one Chrisaccepts a lucrative offer to take on the son of a wealthy elite family (Schnapp) as his pupil and tian, one Jewish), prompting her to go on a coming-of-age quest for her religious identity. A finds himself becoming the object of an unsettling obsession – a situation that quickly escatouchstone for generations of young readers, the original novel has been a perennial source of lates toward the sinister as his creepy new student threatens to tear apart the life he is building controversy – not only does it depict a child allowed the freedom to choose their own religious with his newly pregnant wife (Victoria Justice) before it even begins. Ekaterina Baker, Jonny beliefs, it contains frank discussions of “taboo” issues relatable to young teen girls, like menWeston, Michael Aaron Milligan, Exie Booker, and Ashritha Kancharla also star. struation, bras, and boys. Naturally, that means it has been included, along with other classic titles from among Blume’s work, on countless lists of “banned books” across the five decades Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (In theaters March 31) since it first saw print. That is more than enough reason to go out and support this female-led es, the venerable RPG (that’s “role-playing game,” for the uninitiated) played on the tablescreen adaptation with your box office dollars, as far as we’re concerned. tops of countless Gen nerds is coming to the screen once again, this time as a big-budget The First Fallen (Digital/DVD, available now) A Bra ilian release from 2021 making its debut on US screens, this 1983-set historical drama from writer/director Rodrigo de Oliveira follows a group of small-town LGBT men and women as they face the first wave of the AIDS epidemic. We haven’t seen it ourselves yet, but it comes with a five-star Rotten Tomatoes rating and the subject matter strikes a deep communal chord. Johnny Massaro, Renata Carvalho, and Victor Camilio lead the cast.
16 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • MARCH 10, 2023