The decision to remake “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” for American audiences will be debated endlessly and passionately, but if anyone is to bring the story of Lisbeth Salander to life in the multiplexes, mercifully it’s David Fincher. His take on the material is moody and unhurried, marked by a star-making performance by Rooney Mara as the ass-kicking, bisexual girl in question.
Stieg Larsson’s densely-plotted “Millennium series” spawned a trilogy of films, starring actress Noomi Rapace as the titular character. This version covers the same material from the first Swedish film, with tweaks here and there.
Here, Daniel Craig is Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has just left the magazine he works for after he is sued for libel for an article he has written. Shortly after, he is hired by Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), the head of a large, powerful Swedish family, to find out what happened to his young niece Harriet 40 years ago. She disappeared – almost literally – from their home and he believes her murderer could have been in the family.
Chaz Bono danced with the stars, Lady Gaga spoke out after a “Little Monster” committed suicide, a gay teen’s video went viral when he defended his two moms to the Iowa legislature, and gay characters went all the way on “Glee.”
LGBT individuals and issues were everywhere in the media this year. Here are some of the biggest moments from social media, television, music, movies and theater.
The year’s biggest LGBT media moments
As a card-carrying romantic, I’ve sometimes made the mistake of trying to extend a lovely one-night stand into something more than it was meant to be. Perhaps the embarrassment I’ve felt when these situations didn’t work out made me sensitive to sophomore filmmaker Andrew Haigh (“Greek Pete”) doing the same thing to his characters in “Weekend,” which opens Nov. 25 for a one-week engagement at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.
Love in the movies happens on a grand scale in major studio films and more intimately in independent films. But love always happens, or what’s the point?
That’s the point of “Weekend,” which is definitely small and independent. But is it about love? You may not know, even when it’s over, but you’ll want it to be.
Documentary of trans man with ovarian cancer part of monthly LGBT film series
Two Academy Award-winning directors – one not known for straying too far from the mainstream and one known for gay-themed fare – open features this weekend in Atlanta that should both generate lots of interest from LGBT audiences.
Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” teams the director with an unlikely screenwriter — Dustin Lance Black, himself an Oscar winner for “Milk.” The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular character, beginning with the young Hoover working for the Justice Department and eventually making his way up the ladder until he becomes the first director of the FBI.
The early goings-on here are meandering and often lifeless, but Eastwood and Black gel better in their collaboration in the second hour. Hoover assumes more responsibility and control of his career and as his practices become dicier and more controversial, “J. Edgar” gets infinitely more absorbing.
Israeli television celebrity Assi Azar will debut his autobiographical film, “Mom, Dad; I Have Something to Tell You,” to Atlanta audiences on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Saint Mark United Methodist Church. Azar came out publicly in 2005, and the film explores his coming out process, as well as the challenges other LGBT Israelis face.
Azar is the co-host of the Israeli version of reality television program “Big Brother” and was named as one of Out Magazine's 2010 "Most Influential Gay People in the World" list.
Gay-founded Congregation Bet Haverim is sponsoring the event with the Atlanta Israeli Consulate. A screening of the film and a Q&A session with Azar follows the film.
What happens to a mama’s boy when his mama dies? That’s the basic dilemma in the coming-of-age dramedy “Toast,” based on the childhood memoir of Britain’s beloved television chef Nigel Slater.
The film opens Friday, Oct. 28, for a one-week run at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.
It’s obvious that the boy is gay from the outset, when nine-year-old Nigel (Oscar Kennedy) watches Josh (Matthew McNulty), the hunky gardener (and Nigel’s first crush), undress. It’s always there in the background but it’s not the point of the movie.
Film explores relationship between father, transgender child
Had k.d. lang not broken out of Alberta with her early band, the Reclines, she might today be Canada’s equivalent of New Zealand’s Topp Twins: a national treasure little known in the rest of the world. But k.d. would still only be one lesbian, not two.
“The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls,” Leanne Pooley’s little documentary that could, is spreading their fame a bit wider, winning awards at numerous film festivals, both LGBT and mainstream. The film opens July 29 at Atlanta’s Midtown Art Cinema for a one-week run.
Besides singing original songs in traditional country style, Jools and Lynda Topp poke gentle fun at various types, from socialites (Dilly and Prue) to randy middle-aged men (Ken and Ken), through comic characters they’ve developed. They used their characters in a successful TV series for four years but still insist, “We’re not really comedians. We’re singers that are funny.”