Reel advice: Queer planet

If you are one of the few people who missed the 2011 James Franco vehicle The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the more successful of the 21^st century Planet of the Apes franchise reboots (the other being the humiliating 2001 Tim Burton Planet of the Apes remake with Mark Wahlberg), the first couple of minutes of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes , directed by Matt Reeves (Let Me In, Cloverfield), does a decent job of filling in the blanks. Those blanks include a simian virus that decimated much of the human population, unleashed by a greedy pharma corp anxious for profits from a potential treatment for Alzheimer's.

Through the wonders of CGI and various computer generated apps, the apes, led by talking chimp Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his close associate, the aggressive Koba (Toby Kebbel), exist relatively peacefully, hunting other wildlife for nourishment, in the woods. But the arrival of a group of humans, including Malcolm (Jason Clarke), Ellie (Keri Russell) and Malcolm's son Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee), desperate to reactivate a shutdown dam near the forest to restore their diminishing power supply in what remains of San Francisco, threatens the balance.

Full of the kinds of messages one would expect in our current (human) political climate about how fear makes others follows (a page ripped from the Republican playbook) and the intrinsic value of trust, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, gives the audience a lot to think about while watching the outstanding special effects and action sequences. Finally, a true summer blockbuster has dawned.

It's fitting that Roger Ebert, a man who loved and devoted his life to film, should be given a tribute as reverent and celebratory as the informative doc Life Itself (Magnolia), based on his memoir. It's also appropriate that Steve James, a filmmaker who's 1994 doc Hoop Dreams was one of Mr. Ebert's favorites, should be the person helming Life Itself.

Ebert's story is as fascinating and powerful as the best filmmaking. An only child from Southern Illinois, he developed into a well-respected journalist while still an undergrad. His love of writing led him to grad school in Chicago where he got a job at the Sun-Times newspaper, leading to not only a career as one of the most beloved film critics of his generation, but also a Pulitzer Prize.

Director James expertly interweaves intimate film footage from as recent as 2013 (shortly before Ebert's death) with an array of clips from the critic's storied past, including his coverage of the Cannes Film Festival, as well as his contentious TV pairing with the late Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel. It was, of course, through Siskel and Ebert's film criticism programs, including Sneak Previews, among others, that the duo became international superstars and their thumbs up/thumbs down rating system became their trademark.

The interviews, including a majority with Ebert's widow Chaz, as well as those with fellow journalists, film critics, close friends and family members, flesh out the portrait of the man. But it's the unforgettable scenes with Ebert (a longtime ally of the LGBT community) himself, at the end of his life, as cancer took its devastating toll on him, that make Life Itself well worth experiencing.

Filmed before a live audience at the Lincoln Center Theater, gay playwright Douglas Carter Beane's Tony-winning 2013 play The Nance stars Nathan Lane as Chauncey, a politically conservative gay burlesque performer in 1930s NYC. Chauncey plays the nance (effeminate, queer) character in a variety of sketches, alongside performers Sylvie (Cady Huffman), Carmen (Andrea Burns). Efrem (Lewis J. Stadlen) and Joan (Jenni Barber).

A regular at a certain automat in Greenwich Village where homosexuals are known to congregate, Chauncey meets Ned (Jonny Orsini), a young guy who has just arrived in town after leaving his wife behind in Buffalo. As an unlikely a love story as you might imagine, Chauncey and Ned becomes a couple in the midst of the social upheaval in the city where Mayor LaGuardia has the police conducting nightly raids on places popular with gay men.

Alternately campy and heavily dramatic, we watch as Chauncey is transformed from carefree (but cautious) to bitter and resentful, following a raid on the theater. With his career threatened, Chauncey also lashes out at innocent Ned, thoughtlessly destroying their relationship. Beane uses this backdrop of unrest and censorship to make political and social commentary, much of which is as relevant today as it was during the time in which The Nance is set. (The Nance screens July 16 and 20 at Landmark Century in Chicago)

Perfect Cowboy (Orphean Circus), out actor/writer/filmmaker Ken Roht's second full-length feature, is an impressive achievement on a few levels. From the main characters, who are gay fathers in a small town, to the way it kicks religious fanaticism to the curb and the handling of issues ranging from HIV to recovery, Roht reinvigorates independent filmmaking with a cast of virtual unknowns (including himself), turning in (mostly) strong performances.

Jimmy (Roht) and Ty (Jeffrey Watkins), musicians and gay fathers (together for 20 years), are embraced by most of the citizens in their small town. Together they raised Ty's son Mark (William Nicol), who shares his fathers' love for music. Mark's mother Lacy (Charla Cochran), a recovering addict, lives nearby and keeps to herself.

Troubled Jimmy avoids recovery. Instead he regularly drinks himself into oblivion, leading him to do something stupid like attacking a convenience store ATM with a baseball bat, thereby violating his probation and landing him in prison for three years. Ty is there to pick him up at the pen when he is released and brings him back home.

Jimmy's re-entry is complicated by a number of things. He's still drinking heavily. Mark, who is also a talented singer, wants to play a bigger role in the band Jimmy and Ty started. Jimmy appropriates one of Mark's songs, setting off a firestorm resulting in Mark attacking Jimmy. Jimmy's resulting hospitalization reveals his newly discovered HIV status, something that is hinted at in earlier scenes.

Perfect Cowboy covers a lot of ground, including the negative influence of Christian extremism (see the collapse of Mark's marriage to Darlene, played by Sienna Beckman), the definition of family, the road to recovery, healing and forgiveness, and the opportunity to begin again. For those reasons alone, Perfect Cowboy is recommended viewing. ( Perfect Cowboy has its world premiere at Outfest in LA on July 13. Outfest.org for more info.)

Wade Gasque's beautifully rendered Tiger Orange , a story of gay brothers Chet (Mark Strano, who also co-wrote screenplay with Gasque) and Todd (Frankie Valenti aka porn-star Johnny Hazzard) who different paths in life, like Ken Roht's Perfect Cowboy, has the ability to restore a person's faith in the lost art of gay indie American filmmaking. While it has enough similarities to Thomas Bezucha's 2000 masterpiece Big Eden to qualify as an homage, Tiger Orange is original and entertaining enough to stand on its own.

Set in a rural California town, just north of Los Angeles, Tiger Orange (whose title comes from a paint color sold at the hardware store inherited by Chet after his father died) utilizes flashbacks to illustrate the ways the brothers differed as children. Abandoned by their mother when they were small and raised by their perpetually raging father, Chet and Todd are as different as brothers can be. Chet stayed behind after college to help his father with the store, while Todd got the hell out of town as fast as he could.

Chet, who lives alone in the cabin where he took care of his father until his death, has his safe and stable existence rocked by a pair of events. First, Brandon (Gregory Marcel), an old high school crush who has since come out as gay, returns to town to take care of his ailing mother. Second, tattooed and pierced Todd, who has basically been run out of L.A. following a series of unfavorable events, also returns to town, and wants to stay at the cabin with Chet.

As you might imagine, the set-up is rife with conflict. But what gives Tiger Orange its roar is the way that the astute and sensitive screenplay handles an array of situations, including the way gay people are able to coexist peacefully with straight folks in a suburban setting, as well as the portrayal of the complex sibling relationship that arises when both brothers are gay. Strano and Marcel are quite good, but it's Valenti, who like fellow porn actor Sean Lockhart (aka Brent Corrigan), proves there's more to him than what we've already seen. (Tiger Orange has its world premiere at Outfest 2014 in LA on July 18. Outfest.org for more info.)