Friday, July 25, 2008

Debra Winger - Podcast #3




DEBRA WINGER

About 12 years ago Debra Winger, one of Hollywood's most versatile and respected actresses, walked away from the business of movies (but not, she is quick to point out, from acting). Her meteoric rise at the beginning of the 1980s began with her portrayal of the sexually aggressive Sissy (who rode the mechanical bull to fame) in Urban Cowboy and continued with unforgettable roles in Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentlemen, Cannery Row, Black Widow, The Sheltering Sky, Shadowlands, and my personal favorite, the indie mystery Mike's Murder. Now she's written a fascinating book, "Undiscovered," a far from typical movie star autobiography. It's a small volume that includes everything from her thoughts on raising her sons, plastic surgery, the simple pleasure to be found in gardening, the loss of her mother, and here and there, even a few tantalizing memories of her film career. The reflective little book reveals that Winger is also a talented writer.

I recently had the chance to talk with her and in this excerpt from my interview we touch on a wide variety of subjects - her book cover reminding me of the iconic photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe (on the back of her book of paintings), the late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, her new movie Rachel Getting Married in which she co-stars with Anne Hathaway, her reaction to being the subject of the coolest trivia question of all time (it has to do with E.T.), and a bit about Terms of Endearment and Mike's Murder.

Throughout Winger laughs big and gets serious when the conversation veers in that direction. We had a great time talking. Hope that you enjoy this excerpt.

Here's the link to Amazon to order the book:
DEBRA WINGER'S BOOK

David has been busy working on his latest theatrical endeavor so I've been holding down the screening room at Movie Queen Manor as of late but he returns in our next podcast. Until then...
Sweet Cinematic Dreams,
Ricky

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Loved Him, Liked Her

The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia! are here as if you didn't know and so, at last, are my extended reviews. Here's the link to read my dearthless, cinematic poetry:

Ricky's Dark Knight-Mamma Mia! reviews

Everything quiet for the moment here at Movie Queen Manor. Coming Attractions: an interview podcast with Debra Winger coming this week, along with two obscure new film recommendations from David and myself.

Sweet cinematic dreams,
Ricky

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Coming Soon - The Dark Knight-Mamma Mia!














GAY x TWO

Two of this summer's queerest movies (and I mean "queer" as in "mega gay") are almost here and I've seen both of them - The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia! this week. I'm dying to tell you what I thought but instead I'm going to be a nice little film critic and respect the studio embargos and withhold my reviews until next week. But I will say this - these two are chock full of gay subtext (the latter actually quite overt) and are going to make a lot of hearts beat a lot faster. Christian shirtless! Heath acting! Meryl singing! That cute guy from The History Boys shirtless in MM! (in virtually every scene). Gay audiences should just get in line right now and if you really want to experience The Dark Knight in all its explosive glory, get thee to an I-Max. You can read all about it next week at my Knight at the Movies site and David and I might talk about these in an upcoming podcast as well. Until then...

Sweet Cinematic Dreams,
Ricky

Monday, July 7, 2008

Gigolo Movies - Podcast #2













GIGOLO MOVIES

David and Ricky discuss one of cinema's most homoerotic genres: the gigolo movie. Everything from The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone to The Walker are discussed. David describes what sounds like a camp gigolo movie masterpiece, Love Has Many Faces, a Lana Turner picture from 1965 in which she is romanced by TWO gigolos - Hugh O'Brien and Cliff Robertson. Plus D&R chat about booze, shock treatments, Richard Gere's bush in American Gigolo, David's distaste for Breakfast at Tiffany's - so extreme that he uses one of his big words ("ajeda") to describe his reaction and a lot more. 14 minutes of Movie Queen insight in fact.