Hot Entertainment Picks for December 2011
FILM: Uncle Bob
I bet you never thought there’d be a documentary on the guy who streaked at the Oscars. When I first heard of this, I thought to myself that someone might as well make a documentary about me. But I was surprised that Robert Opel, the famed exhibitionist who streaked during the 1974 live telecast of the Oscars, was an activist for gay rights in America. And like many gay activists of his era, he was murdered.
His nephew, who’s also named Robert Oppel (notice the extra ‘P’), made the film Uncle Bob about his artist and activist uncle who participated in controversial demonstrations such as the mock assassination of Dan White and the murderer of Harvey Milk. This film isn’t just a look at one man, but it’s also a look at the movement that rose from the ashes of the Harvey Milk shooting and set the GLBT cause in motion.
The younger Opel continues to look for an answer for his uncle’s murder. Filled with intimate celebrity interviews and vintage footage of Opel and his art performances, this documentary is a surprising addition to a much-needed stock of GLBT education films. Uncle Bob is now on sale.
MUSIC: Florence + the Machine Ceremonials
Florence Welch looks like your everyday redhead, but she’s powered by a machine.
Not really. But she can burn a hole through your soul when her vocals hit a crescendo. Florence is the lead singer of Florence + the Machine, and the name is actually quite appropriate. Her voice is commingled with a near violent array of percussion beats that make you think she was a Norse goddess with a drum machine. At times the album will sound like medieval electronica, but there is an instrumental method to the melodic madness.
The band’s new album, Ceremonials, has such songs as “Shake it Out,” which is an anthem to find strength during hard times. The track “No Light, No Light” is a personal admission that it’s easier to sing to a crowd than to speak to a lover. Ceremonials has a haunting melodic touch to an album that finds itself surrounded by a thousand pop songs that sound nothing like Florence + the Machine.
FILM: Longhorns
Cute boys, the 80’s, and Texas. Three things I love. Fortunately the movie LONGHORNS combines all of them. This comedic sex romp by writer/director David Lewis takes us back to the decade when the music and the hair were as gay as a bunch of insecure frat boys living together.
College student Kevin tries to figure out why he’s always fantasizing about other guys while he’s in bed with his girlfriend. Can the only gay guy in the fraternity help him out? Expect naughty behavior and cowboy hats. This is nothing like Brokeback Mountain. LONGHORNS is on sale now at TLAReleasing.com.
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