Courtesy of The Weinstein Co.

Nothing can stand in the way of the almighty Meryl Streep – except on this particular afternoon. At a New York City hotel, in front of a room full of journalists from mainstream press, she braces herself for what could be the ultimate career challenge. The mission? Answer a “gay” question.

With mock surprise, Streep dramatically throws her arms up and whips back in her chair, pretending it’s something she – Oscar winner, recent Kennedy Center honoree, the “devil” herself – isn’t sure she can pull off.

“OK,” she says, sarcastically, “let me get ready. All right, go.”

And so we do, citing mentions of the fierce Margaret Thatcher, whom Streep doesn’t just play but becomes in The Iron Lady, as a gay icon. So, is she?

Streep deliberates, working out the answer in her head before she lets go of it: “You know, I… I don’t know. I just recently found out that I am a gay icon. It’s flattering, of course,” she says, noting the all-male tribute Streep Tease in West Hollywood (of which she says, “I haven’t gotten the nerve to go”). “But I think (Margaret) stirs very strong feelings even today, 20 years after leaving power. And she remains divisive. The film will enter a landscape of a world where she continues to cause controversy. I can’t answer the question about whether she’s a gay icon. That’s a difficult one for me.”

Look at that: something Meryl Streep can’t do. The recent Golden Globe winner for Best Actress in a Drama, for Iron Lady, is supposed to be the Queen of Can, the thespian superwoman who can effortlessly slip into character: head-turner in Death Becomes Her, doubtful nun, Julia Child (she’s so remarkable, in fact, that she can work those chameleon skills within just one movie, as she did with 2003’s Angels in America).

She’s such a persona-transcendent pro that when she’s sitting right in front of you, you’re asking yourself: Is that really Meryl Streep? At this point, even Meryl Streep doesn’t look like Meryl Streep. Heck, after being so outside herself, does Meryl Streep even know Meryl Streep?

She’s the rare actress who never plays herself in a movie. Iron Lady, then, is a made-for-Meryl movie, from the prosthetics that afford an uncanny transformation into Britain’s first female prime minister to the heart that she finds among all that, well, iron.

“The biggest challenge for me was accomplishing the long lines of thought that she would launch into without taking a breath,” Streep recalls. “Even with all the drama school that I’ve had, I had a lot of trouble managing that. Just the galvanizing energy and the drive and the capacity to follow through with a conviction all the way through to the end of your breath until you can’t go any further,” she says, breathlessly in character, “and not to let anybody interrupt!

“It was masterful the way she could manage these interviews.” She lets out a hearty laugh. “I’m taking notes on that.”

Thatcher was a strident figure of polarizing effect, a loved-and-hated political icon admired not necessarily for her ideas but for the way she was able to execute them – in the face of class and gender prejudice.

“The array of obstacles that stood before her in England at that time were enormous,” Streep notes, “and I think she did a service for our team (women) by getting there – even though you might not agree with the politics. Her determination, her stamina, her courage to take it on. Anybody that stands up and is willing to be a leader, who is as prepared as she was and as smart as she was, is admirable on a certain level, because you really sacrifice a great deal. All of our public figures do.”

Courtesy of The Weinstein Co.

The film spans three days in Thatcher’s post prime, well into her 80s, after dementia wipes out her memories and she tries to capture whichever ones she has left. For as political-minded as she was, the film isn’t very political at all. And it wasn’t meant to be.

“All of us understood what we were wanting from this piece,” Streep says. “It was not going to be chronicling Margaret Thatcher’s political life; it would be a particular look back through her own eyes at selected memories – not in chronological order, but in a jumble of memory, regret, glory days. It would all be a part of a reckoning.”

The film is facing intense scrutiny for breezing past the political turmoil that Thatcher stirred and, instead, focusing on her personal life. “We have come under criticism for portraying someone who is frail and in delicate health,” Streep admits. “Some people have said it’s shameful to portray this part of a life, but if you think that debility, delicacy and dementia are shameful, if you think that the ebbing end of life is something that should be shut away – if you think that people need to be defended from that, from those images – then yes, it is a shameful thing. But I don’t think that. We are naturally interested in our leaders, and we tell stories about ourselves through the stories of important people.”

Out director Phyllida Lloyd elaborates: “We thought of the film as something of a King Lear for girls, a Shakespearean story – not a political story. So, in that sense, we spoke to a number of Margaret Thatcher’s closest associates, who described her story in Shakespearean and operatic terms. I’d worked in opera a lot and to me, this did have some of the elements of a tragic opera. The movie is a combination of the political world and pure imagination. It’s two very distinctive worlds.”

Photo Courtesy of Alex Bailey

This isn’t the first time Streep and Lloyd have bridged two worlds. 2008’s Mamma Mia! united the actress’ singing and dancing, with Lloyd directing.

“I think it’s always easier the second time working together,” the filmmaker admits. “In fact, you should start with the second time.”

Looking at her, pretending to be offended, Streep laughs: “What do you mean?”

“I loved working with her… the first time,” the actress razzes. “We had shorthand (on Iron Lady), and we had to – because we had $14 million to shoot a movie that takes place over the course of six decades. And that’s basically no money. That’s less than a 10th of what Hugo cost.”

She hands it to Lloyd for strongly conveying her vision prior to shooting, which allowed Streep a sense of security in knowing just how to find Thatcher’s mind, body and spirit.

“I’m playing a Margaret Thatcher no one has seen or really knows, and we can’t know – it’s an imagined journey that we were taking – so I felt a lot of freedom. I did,” Streep says. “I felt completely free, and that’s a testament to the director.”

But it wasn’t all Lloyd. Though she’s never met Margaret Thatcher, Streep wore the prime minister’s many hats, learning that the woman wasn’t a slacker and that her father saw Thatcher as the man of the house. “He discovered, of his two daughters, one was uncommonly bright and uncommonly curious, and maybe this could be his boy,” she says. “That’s what I think. She fulfills a promise, and he infused in her the courage to get up and out. She had a lot of promise, and she wanted to live up to it.”

When did Streep realize the same for herself?

“I never really decided. I’m still ambivalent.” She laughs at the notion. “But no, being an actor lets me be a million different things, so I don’t have to decide.”

Keep the Lights On (Directed by Ira Sachs; Starring Zachary Booth)- Lights was a highly buzzed film at Sundance last month and follows the tumultuous romance/relationship between Eric, a Danish filmmaker who is bankrolled by his father, and Paul, a is-he-or-isn’t-he gay man with a penchant for crack. The film follows the pair over a decade-long period in which, as anyone who has stayed together that long knows, they see a shit ton of ups and downs. Critics have compared Lights to both Weekend and the recently-released Pariah as a film that sheds much light on the modern gay experience.

Keep The Lights On — Trailer from KTLO Movie on Vimeo.

The Normal Heart (starring Mark Ruffalo , Matt Bomer and Julia Roberts)- From Ryan Murphy, the man who brought you Glee and American Horror Story, comes the adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play by Larry Kramer. While there is no word yet when this film will go into production, ever since You Can Count on Me in which he starred with the delightful Laura Linney, I’ve lusted after Mark Ruffalo, so it’ll be great to see him on screen as an LGBT activist falling in love with a “closeted” New York Times fashion writer (Bomer). Remember this film is set in the 80’s because no one would believe in today’s day and age that a New York Times fashion writer was straight.

Mosquita Y Mari (Directed and Written by Aurora Guerrero)- Mosquita Y Mari follows the friendship of two young Chicana high school students who stir up feelings in each other they aren’t sure how to deal with. Coming-of-age films seem to be a trend in queer cinema, but Mosquita also explores the immigrant lifestyle and the importance of family within those households thus promising to be more than just an  ‘oh, wow I’m gay and now I need to come to terms with it’ film.

Jitters (Available on DVD March 27^th)- Jitters, touted as an Icelandic Skins, is a coming-of-age film that follows 16-year-old Gabriel and his friends through the ever-changing word of adolescence. When Gabriel shares a kiss with free-spirited Marcus, his world is turned upside down and he struggles to find out who he is. This film is being released by TLA who brought us such great gay films as Latter Days and Another Gay Movie.

Come back March 27th for a full film review.

As I’m sure everyone knows, Whitney Houston was found dead in a bathtub on February 11 at the Beverly Hills Hilton after visiting Brandy and Monica at their rehearsals for Clive Davis’ pre-Grammys party. Police pronounced her dead a little before 4 PM PST. TMZ reported two days later that the L.A. County Coroner’s Office informed Whitney’s family that she likely died as a result of mixing a combination of prescription drugs with alcohol, as there was not enough water in her lungs for her to have drowned, and that she was likely already dead before her head was submerged.

It’s a tragic end for one of the most prolific and prominent artists of the past three decades who was unarguably bestowed with one of the most iconic and astounding voices in music history.

Whitney’s fame and career may have taken hits over the past few years, turning her into more of a tabloid fixture than a musical legend, but her list of accomplishments is nonetheless staggering. Guinness World Records cites her as the most-awarded artist of all time, having won over 400 awards in her lifetime, including 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, 6 Grammys, and 2 Emmys. She is the only artist to chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits. She is the only female artist to have two number-one Billboard 200 Album awards on the Billboard year-end charts, and the second artist ever to receive the designation, behind only Elton John. Her second studio album (Whitney) became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. She’s sold over 170 million albums worldwide. Her last album, I Look to You, became her fourth chart-topping album, debuting at number one and going on to garner platinum status, thus extending her lead as the female artist with the most cumulative weeks at the number one position. She has influenced a fleet of international superstars: Céline Dion, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Britney Spears, Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Kelly Clarkson, P!nk, Jessica Simpson — the list is practically endless.

A lot of Whitney’s success is due in part to the soundtrack from the film The Bodyguard, which is far and away the best-selling soundtrack of all time, having sold more than 17 million copies in the U.S. alone, and an unprecedented 45 million copies worldwide. The album cemented Whitney as the first act ever (repeat: first EVER) to sell more than one million copies in a week, and its lead single, Whitney’s infamous cover of the Dolly Parton classic I Will Always Love You, is the best-selling single by a female in music history.

We’ve often heard Whitney described as “incomparable,” and that’s because it’s exactly what she is. There is no one else to compare her to; she set the bar for everyone else in so many ways. Her demise was tragic, but her life and career were magnificent. I think Barbra Streisand put it best when she said, of Whitney’s death: “How sad her gifts could not bring her the same happiness they brought us.”

Read more about Whitney Houston from The Brent Star Report

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo 
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse 

Joseph:

(silence) Guess my prediction would be for The Artist but it’s really hard to select a film from this list because I don’t feel like any of them were truly great. Hollywood likes to toot its own horn but I think if The Artist had been made, say 30 years from now, it wouldn’t even be a contender. It’s like a 2-D Disney film winning Best Animated Feature in 2027. It’s all about nostalgia.

As for The Help, it should have been titled White People Make Everything Better . . . Again. Don’t get me wrong (I’m all about helping white people assuage their guilt), the movie was a good movie, it just wasn’t great.

I was severely disappointed in The Descendants. After the heart-warming, laugh-riot that was Sideways a few years ago, I had higher hopes for Alexander Payne’s tale of a father trying to keep his family together amidst tragedy.

Midnight in Paris was an interesting Woody Allenish concept but Owen Wilson annoys the hell out of me. If there had been a different lead actor, this might’ve made for a better film.

I’m sorry but throughout Moneyball I couldn’t help but think “Damn Brad Pitt looks more like a monkey as he gets older”.  This against-the-odds type film has been done so many ways, I just don’t think the subject matter was strong enough to warrant a feature length film.

Tree of WHAT-THE-HELL-IS-THIS-MOVIE-ABOUT??!!!!! Enough said.

At press time I’ve yet to see Hugo or War Horse but my personal favorite from the list was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Sure 9/11 is going to be the go-to American tragedy for years to come in film making but I guess I really relate to the confusion, anxiety and utter desperation protagonist Oskar goes through. Plus, who doesn’t love Sandra Bullock?

Will Win: The Artist

Should Win: None

Elijah:

First off, let’s observe just how boring the field is this year. There are some legitimately good nominees this year, as well as some head-scratchers—I’m looking at you, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close—but nothing that really stands out as an exciting entry. A tenth nominee in the field might have helped, especially if the choice was, say, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo or Drive.

That being said, it’s inevitable that The Artist will win this year. It’s won the bulk of the precursors. It’s unique in the category (black & white and silent!). And it has Harvey Weinstein pushing for a win. Unfortunately, it’s also a very slight film. If it were competing with the classics of the silent era, it wouldn’t stand a chance. This year, though, no other film really has a chance.

If there’s an upset, though, don’t be completely surprised if the award goes to The Help. It fits into Hollywood’s formula for dealing with racism (see: Crash), plus it’s the only box-office winner among this year’s crop of nominees.

Will Win: The Artist
Should Win: The Artist
Should Be Nominated: Drive

Up Next: Best Director