Dearie Awards 2011: Movie of the Year - WEEKEND

While most awards-givers are heaping praise on more mainstream titles, we at Movie Dearest like to take a queerer look at film. Andrew Haigh’s intimate romance Weekend, while every bit as moving as, say, The Descendants or The Artist, is the film that will resonate much more with the GLBT community. Although some found the accents hard to decipher, those who could understand the handsome blokes in Weekend were rewarded with a sweet, sexy, moving romance with a keen understanding of how gay men interact and the walls they put up while seeking companionship. Tom Cullen was a gorgeous teddy bear and Chris New was a purposely abrasive party boy at first, who then dropped his façade when confronted with Cullen’s innate sweetness and lack of pretense. A bittersweet ending was the perfect way to complete this enthralling Weekend.

Honorable Mentions:
In a year overflowing with marvelous female performances on screen, what other film had the amazing collection of women as The Help? Based on the bestseller, The Help is a moving story of the strong African-American women who worked tirelessly for their often-abusive Southern employers in Civil Rights-era Mississippi. Drama and comedy meld effortlessly in this chick flick extraordinaire! Meanwhile, in the amazing French import Tomboy, Zoé Héran plays a young girl who moves to a new town and is mistaken for a boy by the neighborhood kids. This gives her the freedom to live her life the way she wants, at least for the summer. Tomboy showed a deep understanding of gender identity issues and its hopeful ending demonstrates the saying about “Out of the mouths of babes.”

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Dearie Awards 2011: Man of the Year - CHAZ BONO

2011 was a big year for Chaz Bono. His acclaimed documentary Becoming Chaz, which detailed an important time period in his transition from Sonny and Cher's daughter to the man he is today, aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network and was nominated for an Emmy Award. And if that wasn't enough, he became the most famous transgender person in the world with his much-watched stint on Dancing with the Stars. Chaz's appearances on the hit series may have been controversial too some, but proved far more inspirational and enlightening to many.

Honorable Mentions:
Ever since The Sound of Music, Christopher Plummer has had a special place in the hearts of many a gay fan. But his performance as a newly-out elderly man in Beginners has sealed the deal; multiple awards, including the Golden Globe and a strong chance at the Oscar, only makes it sweeter. This past year, Zachary Quinto completed an acclaimed Off-Broadway run in Angels in America, both starred in and produced the underappreciated Margin Call, and guest starred on the cult creepfest American Horror Story. And, oh yeah, became the biggest star since Neil Patrick Harris to come out as a gay man.

Dearie Awards 2011: Women of the Year - GLENN CLOSE & JANET MCTEER

Our Woman of the Year couldn’t go to just one actress after we saw the pair of sublime performances by Glenn Close and Janet McTeer in the flawed but moving period piece Albert Nobbs. Close’s Albert is a tightly-wound manservant with a secret: he is really a woman who has hidden her gender for thirty years in order to work and live as a man. Spoiler Alert: McTeer plays a fellow who discovers Albert’s deception and reveals that he is a woman as well, but one who has a life with a wife that opens Albert’s eyes to what life could be for him. Close is amazing, playing a passive closed-off person, but showing Albert’s inner life very subtly. McTeer’s forceful and energetic performance was even better, and the two actresses formed one of the most touching relationship of the year.

Honorable Mentions:
A powerhouse collection of actresses led by Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Sissy Spacek and Cicely Tyson brought the best-selling novel The Help (about Mississippi maids gaining their voice in the civil rights era) to entertaining life on screen. Davis, Spencer and Chastain are generating some much-deserved Oscar talk.

As Glee's Coach Beiste, Dot-Marie Jones has become an unconventional hero and challenged stereotypes and cliches. She showed audiences how not to judge a butch by her cover, since Coach is just a big-hearted gal looking for her Mr. Right.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Dearie Awards 2011: New Star of the Year - MICHAEL FASSBENDER

Michael Fassbender and first runner-up Jessica Chastain had a year like no other new or veteran actor, appearing in no less than five films each in 2011. While we predict lengthy big-screen careers for both of them, Fassbender gained a slight edge in our eyes not only thanks to his chiseled good looks (on ample display as Rochester in Jane Eyre as well as Magneto in X-Men: First Class) but through his no-holds-barred lead performance as a struggling sex addict in Shame. Such fearlessness is what stars are made of.

Honorable Mentions:
Out of a slew of great turns this year (including The Debt, Take Shelter and The Tree of Life), Chastain delighted audiences most as a naive but well-intentioned Southern belle in The Help. And not to be ignored, Chris Hemsworth is well worth mentioning honorably for carrying the superhero epic Thor and its bigger-name stars on his beefy but ultimately down-to-earth (literally) shoulders.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Dearie Awards 2011: Television Show of the Year - MILDRED PIERCE

Who would have thought that a 5 1/2 hour-long remake of a campy 1945 Joan Crawford classic could become compelling television in 2011? Or that Kate Winslet would make the title mother struggling with class issues and a demanding daughter as memorable as Crawford did in her original Oscar-winning turn? While more faithful to James M. Cain's original novel, gay writer-director Todd Haynes made this Mildred Pierce uniquely his own, as well as funnier, sexier and surprisingly relevant to our own class-torn times.

Honorable Mentions:
Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story, meanwhile, was also successful at updating the time-honored haunted house story by adding generous heapings of gore, nudity and Jessica Lange. Our second honorable mention, HBO's Cinema Verite, starred Diane Lane and Tim Robbins as the heads of TV's first reality-show family, the Louds, with Thomas Dekker as their son, Lance, likely the most famous out gay person of the time.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Dearie Awards 2011: Foreign Film of the Year - THE ARTIST

You’ll be forgiven if you didn’t realize that The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius’ brilliantly beautiful ode to old Hollywood and silent movies, is really a foreign film. That’s because this homage to silent cinema is almost completely silent itself, and you won’t miss the chatter at all. Jean Dujardin, a beloved French actor known for his campy OSS117 spy spoofs, perfectly plays George Valentin, a 20’s matinee idol unwilling and unable to make the leap to talkies, and beautiful Bérénice Bejo played the captivating Peppy Miller, who becomes a star while George’s career fades. No other film better celebrated the magic and hope that movies can bring than this seemingly un-French French import, making it our Foreign Film of the Year... and a probable Best Picture Winner come Oscar time!

Honorable Mentions:
Potiche, another fantastic French film, proved that sixty-eight year-old Catherine Deneuve is still a sexy screen presence as a trophy wife who powerfully takes the reins of her husband’s company when he is taken hostage by his striking employees. Out director Francois Ozon recreated 1977 in all of its disco glory as he showed us an 'Iron Lady' we can all root for.

Andrew Haigh’s British-based romance Weekend couldn’t have been simpler in story or more profound in how it peeled away the layers of two different men who meet, have sex, and then decide to spend the weekend building a romance. Sexy bear cub Tom Cullen and gym-toned party boy Chris New made perfect surrogates for anyone who has met Mr. Right-Now, only to realize they might have found Mr. Right.

By Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Dearie Awards 2011: Documentary of the Year - WE WERE HERE

There have been numerous documentaries and feature films made during the 30 years since AIDS first raised its ugly head, but few have captured the virus's initial, devastating impact as well as David Weissman and Bill Weber's We Were Here. Focusing on San Francisco's unsuspecting gay community in the late 1970's-early 80's, it captures the personal losses suffered by the survivors like no other movie I remember. A must-see... though not without a box of Kleenex handy.

Honorable Mentions:
Becoming Chaz is the revealing and inspiring story of Cher's little girl turned trans activist (not to mention a great 2011 Dancing with the Stars contestant), and Carol Channing: Larger Than Life serves as a lovely testament not only to the legendary performer but to her late-life husband, who sadly just passed away last mont.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Dearie Awards 2011: Stage Show of the Year - THE NORMAL HEART

We now present The 5th Annual Movie Dearest Awards!

The 2011 "Dearies", chosen by myself and my fellow Men on Film, Chris Carpenter and Neil Cohen, honor the best and brightest of film, television and theater as covered here on Movie Dearest.

To kick off the festivities, we turn our attention to the stage...

26 years after its debut, Larry Kramer's controversial, landmark drama The Normal Heart finally made it to Broadway, and with all its power still intact. One of the first plays to tackle the subject of the AIDS crisis, the new production featured a stellar cast (including the Broadway debuts of such gay faves as Ellen Barkin, Luke Macfarlane, Lee Pace and Jim Parsons) and drew critical raves and numerous awards, including three Tonys.

Honorable Mentions:
Daniel Radcliffe proved there's life after Hogwarts with his crowd-pleasing turn in the hit revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, now starring Glee's Blaine, Darren Criss. And on the high heels of La Cage aux Folles came another glitzy drage musical based on an international blockbuster, this time from down under: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.