Just a few years before gay performer Michael Carbonaro worked his magic on his popular hidden camera illusionist show “The Carbonaro Effect” he cast a spell over us in Todd Stephens’ raunchy queer teen flick parody “Another Gay Movie” (Breaking Glass Pictures).

Co-produced by Ryan Murphy, gay actor/director Joe Mantello’s 2020 film adaptation of “The Boys in the Band” (Netflix) is nearly a note for note remake of the classic 1970 William Friedkin movie adaptation of Mart Crowley’s brilliant but brutal stage play.

In Mike Mosallam’s affectionate Ramadan rom-com "Breaking Fast" (Vertical), Mo (out actor Haaz Sleiman) is a devout, disciplined Muslim doctor who has reconciled his religious dedication with his queer sexuality.

Co-directors Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer open their documentary “Cured” (Story Center Films) with the viewer discretion warning that it “contains graphic images of past treatments used by doctors to ‘cure’ homosexuality.”

Based on the acclaimed 1994 novel of the same name by gay writer Shyam Selvadurai (who co-wrote the screenplay), “Funny Boy” (Array) is directed by Deepa Mehta (who co-wrote the screenplay with Selvadurai).

Some houses are money pits. Some houses are massacre pits. In the case of "Happy Times" (Artsploitation), from gay Israeli filmmaker Michael Mayer ("Out in the Dark"), the latter holds true.

Directed by Andrea Nevins, the documentary “Hysterical” (FX) takes a serious look at a select group of women in comedy.

Big-screen movie musicals have had a rough go of it in recent years. After the unexpected success of the groundbreaking movie musical homage “La La Land” in 2016, there came a slump.

When Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” hit theaters almost 10 years ago, it probably seemed, for most American moviegoers, like a horror fantasy.

Is it any surprise that after almost four years of hatemonger Trump’s dangerous and divisive presidency, the most powerful films being released at the end of his reign of terror are about outsiders struggling to find a place to fit in the tattered fabric of this country?

Gay Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox’s 2002 movie “Yossi & Jagger,” as well as its 2012 sequel “Yossi,” was a groundbreaking look at gays and the military.

Like Ani Simon-Kennedy’s “The Short History of the Long Road,” Chloé Zhao's “Nomadland” (Fox Searchlight) is about people living on the fringe, by choice or by circumstance.

In late 2020 and early 2021, two movies that became available on streaming platforms — “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “One Night in Miami…” (Amazon Studios) — have more in common than you might expect.

The special edition Blu-ray reissue of John Hughes’ 1984 directorial debut “Sixteen Candles” (Arrow Video/Universal) is arriving at a fascinating time in our culture.

Based on the acclaimed 2000 documentary of the same name by gay filmmakers and World of Wonder (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) masterminds Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, Michael Showalter’s Tammy Faye Bakker biopic “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” (Searchlight Pictures), with a screenplay by gay screenwriter Abe Sylvia, is one of the gayest movies you’ll see in 2021.

As various segments of the population age, and the complications that arise from that become part of our collective awareness, filmmakers have been finding ways to bring those stories to the screen.

Isn’t it ironic the way that sci-fi/horror movies have been predicting the mass destruction of the human population by alien invasion for years, when it turns out that it was going to be a pair of earthly viruses — COVID-19 and Republicans — that would be the culprits?

The message is loud and clear. And big. Very, very big. A billboard recently went up with the simple yet powerful phrase: “Trans Lives Are Precious.”

Let’s be honest: the movie-going experience has lost its luster in recent years.

Christmas surprises aren’t reserved for late December. Antonio Dumas, owner of To The Moon in Wilton Manors, took over the role of Santa and brought holiday cheer to hundreds of first responders in South Florida. 

Oakland Park Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Monica Maldonado was honored by the Florida Department of Health with its EMS Educator of the Year.

Representative Bobby DuBose is staying in his lane. Florida’s House Democratic Minority Leader brushed aside calls for his resignation on Wednesday.

“Call Me by Your Name” (Sony Pictures Classics), gay director Luca Guadagnino’s movie adaptation of Andre Aciman’s 2007 novel of the same name, with a screenplay by gay filmmaker James Ivory, couldn’t have come at a more complicated time. There’s no way to avoid the fact that the film’s central story – a sexual and romantic relationship between two young men, ages 17 and 24, is the kind of thing that keeps evangelicals up at night.

Keep up with the latest movie releases with SFGN's Gregg Shapiro.

If “La La Land” was a modern tribute and love letter to vintage Hollywood movie musicals, then “The Greatest Showman” (20^th Century Fox), with songs by Oscar-winning “La La Land” songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, is an unabashed and unwatchable homage to the faux musicals of Baz Luhrman. If any good comes of this fiasco, perhaps it will be a rush to bring cinematic versions of movie-worthy Broadway musicals such as “Kinky Boots”, “The Secret Garden” and “Hamilton” (and countless others) into production.

She works hard for the money. Donna Summer sang it and Daisy Deadpetals lives it.

To say that Yara Sofia is a fan favorite in the stratosphere of RuPaul’s Drag Race dolls would be an understatement.