Ali Gator Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 It's time to hand out the Emmys now - Bomer deserves 'Best Actor' hands down. The writers deserve Emmys, the costume designer deserves an Emmy, the set designer, etc. One of the best series in a very long time. Becket 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ stevenkesslar Posted December 27, 2023 Share Posted December 27, 2023 On 12/17/2023 at 12:47 PM, TonyDown said: One aspect I think about is the bad wrought by gay men against other gay men. On 12/23/2023 at 1:56 AM, Becket said: It makes me so angry. All these people forced to live double lives, harassed for who and how they love. Two different and interesting reactions. Both of which are right in their own way. I'll repeat what I said earlier in the thread. The director wanted to make a point about how queers had all this horrible shit thrown at them. And we survived, and still managed to love. Even if sometimes it came out sideways. Or, with AIDS, it sometimes killed us. We now have many more options, and freedoms, for how we treat each other. We won. These two kind of look like Matt and Jonathon. Becket and TonyDown 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeThomas Posted December 27, 2023 Author Share Posted December 27, 2023 Queers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate_sf Posted December 28, 2023 Share Posted December 28, 2023 Really wonderful series, very poignant and moving. The last scene (I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it) brought tears to my eyes. + Summerson, BSR, Rod Hagen and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ stevenkesslar Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 (edited) Finally finished the last episode last night. If the measure of great film is it makes you think and feel a lot, including lots of conflicted feelings, this was an LGBTQ masterpiece. But also a very hard watch. Even though both male leads are adorable eye candy. Do they have an award for eye candy that is nevertheless painful to watch? 🤔 Matt and Johnny deserve awards for that alone. As well as for their subtle performances. I ended up reading Reddit discussions of each of the last three episodes, since I was curious what others thought. Some thought Hawk was a selfish monster who never really loved anyone. Others thought he was madly in love, but it always came out sideways. Pretty much everyone loved Tim. Although several people got the memo that Hawk's actions in the 50's had a certain cruel logic to them. Given that government and society were breathing down the necks of men who loved men. I found the 60's and 70's episodes particularly frustrating. The world was literally on fire. And Nyswaner situated Tim and the supporting characters right in the middle of these freedom movements. But most of the plot was about how Hawk and his family were trapped, and lost, in a cage of Hawk's own creation. I kept wanting those episodes to be about Tim, and how he was changing. That actually could make a good sequel. But I understand why the focus was on how Hawk was stuck. In some alternative Gay universe, this movie will win a porn award for the most horrific three way ever. 🤢 Given that none of this was in the book, it was necessary to take the movie where it wanted to go. Which was a path to repentance and redemption for Hawk. That was very moving, even if Hawk was not easy to love. The film went to very emotionally searing places that the book didn't. I think it will stand as a masterpiece and memorial to all the lives and loves that were lost due to homophobia and hate. Including internalized homophobia, and self-hatred. So the ending fit quite well. Hate you, Roy. Love you, Tim. And I'm delighted that Matt Bomer gets to live the life the character he played never did. That - and all the lives and love and commitment that went into making it even possible - redeems everything. Edited December 31, 2023 by stevenkesslar Rod Hagen, Marc in Calif, jerryskater and 2 others 2 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d.anders Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 On 11/13/2023 at 7:20 PM, Rod Hagen said: how the heck could Roy Cohen have done that to his own people? How? Cohn was drowning in hate, being a vain gay and Jewish in the 50's, with an ugly scar running down his nose. A Shakespearean character of his own making, especially after he was awarded power and fame from the Rosenberg trial at the age of 24. The self-hatred among gays in the 50's is what struck me in this story. The closet was a very ugly, Hell-ish place to live. The fact that Joe McCarthy and his ilk were mostly Catholic was the second most disturbing truth from the series. Unforgivable cruelty and evil, all for the sake of power and fame. Most young gays today have no clue that our government behaved the way it did in the 50's. Do they teach this stuff in red state schools? Absolutely not. I doubt much of this gets taught in blue state schools. The suicide rate during the McCarthy era was staggering. As for acting, Jonathan Bailey stood out for me. His character was incredibly layered and complex. Given how he speaks in real life, I thought his acting was amazing. thomas, Rod Hagen, + stevenkesslar and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSR Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 On 1/2/2024 at 9:40 AM, d.anders said: Cohn was drowning in hate, being a vain gay and Jewish in the 50's, with an ugly scar running down his nose. A Shakespearean character of his own making, especially after he was awarded power and fame from the Rosenberg trial at the age of 24. The self-hatred among gays in the 50's is what struck me in this story. The closet was a very ugly, Hell-ish place to live. The fact that Joe McCarthy and his ilk were mostly Catholic was the second most disturbing truth from the series. Unforgivable cruelty and evil, all for the sake of power and fame. Most young gays today have no clue that our government behaved the way it did in the 50's. Do they teach this stuff in red state schools? Absolutely not. I doubt much of this gets taught in blue state schools. The suicide rate during the McCarthy era was staggering. As for acting, Jonathan Bailey stood out for me. His character was incredibly layered and complex. Given how he speaks in real life, I thought his acting was amazing. As good as Fellow Travelers is in so many ways, I'm struggling to get through the series because of all the ugliness. I love Jonathan Bailey, both for his performance and his nerdy sex appeal, I love the whole cast really, love the script, direction, and production quality, but as someone posted previously, forget how awful McCarthy et al were to gays (as if that weren't bad enough) -- how could we be so awful to each other?? I'm almost done with Ep 5, 3 more to go, but it's been the most difficult series I've ever watched. MikeThomas, + stevenkesslar, Rod Hagen and 3 others 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSR Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 On 12/27/2023 at 7:50 PM, nate_sf said: Really wonderful series, very poignant and moving. The last scene (I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it) brought tears to my eyes. I really needed that final scene after all the ugliness of Cohn & Co. I won't spoil it either, but the ending was beautiful in its sadness. Thanks to @MikeThomas for starting this thread. Since I watch so little English-language TV & movies, I probably would have missed Fellow Travelers otherwise. As tough to take as the series was at times, I really enjoyed it. nate_sf, thomas, Rod Hagen and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeThomas Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 I highly recommend "All of Us Strangers." Andrew Scott should have received an Oscars best actor nomination and Paul Mescal (be still my heart) should have received a best supporting actor nomination. + EVdude, Rod Hagen, thomas and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lseactuary90 Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 They are *both* problematic. Matt's character is just easier to point fingers at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhattan Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Just watched the first episode. It promises to be a good series. The only problem is Matt Bomer. He has moved into a rather waxy Rob Lowe-ish appearance with too much lip gloss. Also - watching a gay man pretend to be a straight actor playing a gay character is always unsatisfying. Yes I know Bomer is out now, but years of pretending to be straight change you. He's not able to really connect to the role emotionally. A gay actor who is comfortable with his sexuality would bring a vulnerability to sex scenes. A straight actor will usually attack each scene because they know they are pretending and don't care. But Matt is stuck without a way to play a human being. It makes the sex scenes gross, because he's so busy "acting straight" that he can't really be in the scenes with his costar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Hagen Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 (edited) On 3/27/2024 at 10:14 PM, Manhattan said: Yes I know Bomer is out now, but years of pretending to be straight change you. He's not able to really connect to the role emotionally. I'm not disagreeing with you, I didn't know this. I never really followed Bomer, too attractive to be of interest to me, or too classically attractive I guess, but I thought he was always out, I guess I was wrong. IMDBing him now, wasn't he out the entire run of White Collar? (which I didn't watch) Edited March 30 by Rod Hagen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhattan Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 He started out in daytime drama in 2000. He came out publicly in 2012, during the run of White Collar. I don't know anything about him as a person, but I never believe him in a romantic/sexual role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchal Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 On 3/28/2024 at 1:14 AM, Manhattan said: Just watched the first episode. It promises to be a good series. The only problem is Matt Bomer. He has moved into a rather waxy Rob Lowe-ish appearance with too much lip gloss. Also - watching a gay man pretend to be a straight actor playing a gay character is always unsatisfying. Yes I know Bomer is out now, but years of pretending to be straight change you. He's not able to really connect to the role emotionally. A gay actor who is comfortable with his sexuality would bring a vulnerability to sex scenes. A straight actor will usually attack each scene because they know they are pretending and don't care. But Matt is stuck without a way to play a human being. It makes the sex scenes gross, because he's so busy "acting straight" that he can't really be in the scenes with his costar. I beg to differ. I think the emotional repression you see in "Fellow Travelers" exactly fits with his character. He was so deep in the closet, so practiced at it, and so wary of the consequences of even peeking out of the closet that he couldn't get far enough out of it to have a fully emotional relationship with another man. I think what you saw was Matt Bomer playing exactly the character he was supposed to be. thomas, BSR, MikeThomas and 4 others 3 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ EVdude Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Season 3 of The Sinner with Bomer playing opposite Chris Messina was an evil wet dream. Both really crafted their parts. thomas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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