Welcome back, y’all!
THE QUEEREST THING I WATCHED THIS WEEK
Technically Drag Race, but Latter Days gets an honorable mention.
FILM
REWATCH
Inside Out (available on Disney+)
It was a delight to revisit this Pixar film. It didn’t have the same emotional impact this time around, and I found Joy to be more annoying that my previous watch eight years ago, but it’s still a really top notch Pixar film. The running joke of “what if ‘blank’ had emotions” survives the round of “what if emotions had emotions” and it was a good refresh of the world and humor before seeing the sequel. 9/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.
Latter Days (available on Tubi)
This movie was so important to me as a gay teen and I’m happy that it holds up relatively well. Christian (Wes Ramsey) is an out and proud gay man living in West Hollywood. A group of Mormon missionaries moves in next door, including Aaron (Steve Sandvoss), and there is an attraction between the two of them. It leads to a kiss, which gets Aaron sent back to his hometown in Utah where he is put through conversion therapy before coming through the other side and returning to LA. It’s super low budget, though they managed to get a surprising number of recognizable names in the film, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Amber Benson, Jacqueline Bisset, Jim Ortlieb, Erik Palladino, and Mary Kay Place. I think if I were to watch this for the first time now, I would find a lot of it too idealistic (the ending is a bit saccharine), but the nostalgia factor kept it up for me. 7/10. Queer Factor: 6/7 (would be 7 if either of the main two actors were gay irl)
IN THEATERS
Inside Out 2
Honestly, this was delightful. Sequels are tough to pull off, especially with such a strong original film, but this one built on what already existed and added a lot to it. We are introduced to several new emotions: Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edibiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). Anxiety quickly dismisses the original emotions, leaving them on a journey to recover Riley’s true self before Anxiety ruins everything. It’s a really good depiction of what anxiety can do to a person, and there’s a very thoughtful and descriptive depiction of an anxiety attack from the inside that was really well done. Add in some grade-A jokes, and you’ve got yourself a solid sequel that shows how emotions get more complicated as you grow up. 8/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
I did not think that I’d enjoy this. The trailer was not funny to me, and I was underwhelmed by the third film, so I was not anticipating much. However, I was surprised to find that the trailers were poorly edited in regards to the humor and I laughed my ass off during it. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are masters at comedy, and they knew exactly what to do in this raucous, outrageous action comedy. I won’t get into plot details, because they largely don’t matter. You’ve got some very predictable twists, and some payoffs from previous films. The big downside for me was the camera work. They really tried to do a lot of slick stuff with angles and flip-arounds and POV shots, and a lot of it just felt sloppy and amateurish. Once you get past that, though, it’s a rocking good time. 7/10. Queer Factor: 0/7.
TELEVISION
COMPLETE SEASONS
Disenchantment (Netflix), Season 5
This was mainly a “I’ve come this far, I might as well finish it” season for me. After 40 episodes, what’s 10 more? There was a lot of plot to wrap up and I think it did a good job of tying up all the loose ends. This was never a laugh out loud show for me, but more of a chuckle and “that was funny” remark show, but there’s room for that too. It is a more plot heavy show than most of Matt Groenig’s other work, so it makes sense that while it is joke dense, it’s not a riot a second. The show also ended up being incredibly queer, which was unexpected but very welcome. I do recommend the show, and now that it’s over, I think it can be better appreciated to watch all the way through. 6/10. Queer Factor: 5/7.
STARTED SEASONS
The Boys (Amazon Prime), Season 4, Episodes 1-4
House of the Dragon (HBO on MAX), Season 2, Episode 1
CONTINUING SEASONS
X-Men: The Animated Series (available on Disney+), Season 2, Episodes 1-13
My Adventures with Superman (Adult Swim on MAX), Season 2, Episode 5
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (available on Netflix)
Season 1, Episode 22
Season 2, Episode 1
RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars (Paramount+), Season 9, Episode 7
The Acolyte (Disney+), Season 1, Episode 4
Lingo (CBS on Paramount+), Season 2, Episode 4
CONCLUDED SEASONS
Top Chef (Bravo on Peacock), Season 21, Episode 14
I always love Top Chef, but this season was very “meh” for me. My favorite went out too early, none of my top 5 made it to the Top 3, and there were a number of challenges that weren’t particularly interesting to me. The big bright spot was Kristen Kish as the new host, filling Padma Lakshmi’s shoes effortlessly. Truly, I can’t think of a better replacement. Here’s hoping that next season will be more exciting and that some of my faves from this year will be back in an All Stars. 5/10. Queer Factor: 3/7.
House of the Dragon (HBO on MAX), Season 1, Episodes 7-10
Man, this show rocks. I’m glad I rewatched before the new season, because there was so much intrigue I’d forgotten! I still think the show would have been better served by staying with the younger versions of Rhaenyra and Alicent longer, but even so, the show ramps up to a hell of an ending that made me glad that I could launch into Season 2 right away. 9/10. Queer Factor: 2/7.
Doctor Who (Disney+), Season 14, Episodes 8-9
I’ve been a Doctor Who fan for such a long time, and we finally have a canonically, specifically queer Doctor, and… I just wish the season was better. Ncuti Gatwa steps into the role with Millie Gibson as his companion, Ruby Sunday. There is a mystery surrounding her, as well as a new enemy looming that threatens to wipe out all of humanity. Sadly, they try to tie these two things together in ways that don’t make sense, and the revelation about Ruby at the end of the season was deeply unsatisfying. There were some amazing guest stars this season, including Golda Rosheuvel, Jinkx Monsoon, and Jonathan Groff, as well as returning characters Kate (Jemma Redgrave), Mel (Bonnie Langford), and Rose (Yasmin Finney). I loved the characters in this season so much, and there were some excellent moments in episodes - “Rogue” gave us a kiss we were rooting for, and “Dot and Bubble” had an incredibly poignant ending - but the season plot overall was one of the weakest I’ve seen for this series. 6/10. Queer Factor: 5/7.
That’s it for this week! Grand total: 41 episodes, 4 films
Thanks for reading! Until next time, stay queer out there!