A Piece of Pie: The Queer Film Podcast

Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

Just in time for scary movie season, we are back with a look at two horror classics. In 1987, gay filmmaker Joel Schumacher redefined the vampire film with The Lost Boys , featuring a stellar soundtrack and a cast filled with hot young up-and-comers like Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric, placing them alongside theater and film veterans like Edward Hermann and Diane Wiest. The result was a phenom...

This week we're joined by Chicago's own drag queen Coco Sho-Nell to discuss movies about beauty queens! 1999's Drop Dead Gorgeous has become a queer cult classic in the years since it's release, with it's biting social satire and broad caricatures mocking the culture of American capitalism and teen beauty pageants. For a pairing, we look to 2000's Miss Congeniality, ...

This week we're taking a look at two classic romantic comedies! Lauren joins Brian as they discuss When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. Both were written by the legend Nora Ephron, with Sleepless her directorial debut. We discuss the legacies of Ephron and her work, a writer who did more for romantic comedies than any modern director. We examine what makes these films not just st...

We’re continuing our look back at the careers of Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson, as we pair up their two most emotional epics; Magnolia and Kill Bill.  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

This week we’re putting on our film nerd caps and re-examining the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. With both Rope and Strangers on a Train ol’ Hitch trots out killer queers in high society out to commit the perfect murder. Under the rules of the infamous “Hayes Code,” these films couldn’t portray homosexuals explicitly, and Alfred Hitchcock seemed to take that as a challenge, crafting two films that s...

For this episode we're taking another look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and this time we have a special guest. The Marvel comic-book series, "The United States of Captain America" introduces us to Aaron Fischer.  and we're proud to have writer Josh Trujillo as a guest to talk to us about the creation of the first queer Captain America, as well as take a look back at the la...

We're abandoning all pretensions for this episode, as we cover two beloved shlock-fests, 2003's Identity and the 2019 head-scratcher Serenity , starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. We won't get into the strange twists of these films here in the description, but know that they were paired together because of those twists. In each case, its the third-act reveal that seems t...

We’re wrapping up Pride Month 2021 with a look back at two films that are now seen as precursors to the New Queer Cinema. Today, Gus Van Sant and Todd Haynes are Oscar-nominated filmmakers, but Mala Noche and Poison were their first theatrical releases. How did these once-and-future auteurs introduce themselves to the world? Join us as Brian, Matthew and Max take a look back at these debut films t...

Continuing our celebration of queer cinema for Pride 2021, we're turning our attention to some controversial films. Both Cruising (1980) and Basic Instinct (1992) take the Killer Queer stereotypes to stylish if problematic heights. Each was protested heavily throughout production, with queer activists not just disrupting filming, but at the multiplex, with signs giving away the ending in an e...

We're continuing our look back at formative gay films from the late-90's, as we look back at Trick and The Broken Hearts Club. Each film has developed a following, with The Broken Hearts Club boasting a cast of then unknowns like Zach Braff, Billy Porter and Timothy Olyphant as a group of gay coworkers at a West Hollywood restaurant. Trick stars JP Pitoc and Christian Campbell as two gay...

For Pride 2021, Brian and Max are revisiting the seminal queer films of their teenage years, better known as the 1990’s. We’re starting off with The Opposite of Sex, paired with the cheerful But I’m a Cheerleader. In Opposite of Sex a teenaged Christina Ricci walks into a gay man’s life and blows it up by sleeping with his boyfriend. But I’m a Cheerleader takes a broad, John Waters-aping swing at...

It's our fourth annual Oscar episode! We started this podcast discussing the 2018 Oscars so every year we make sure to watch as many nominees as possible to properly cover Hollywood's most glamorous night. This time Brian, Max and Matthew hopped on Zoom to talk predictions before the big show, and came back after to discuss the results. A few things caught us by surprise, of course, but...

For the first time ever, we're covering a film and it's sequel. The Ridley Scott classic Blade Runner redefined science fiction films forever, but how does it hold up today? Join us as we pair it with the 2017 sequel starring Ryan Gosling. James and Max join this week to discuss both films, the influence of Phillip K. Dick and the sex appeal of a young Harrison Ford.  Questions or commen...

For the first time ever, we scrapped a planned pairing because one of the movies gave us enough to talk about. An Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, Actress Carey Mulligan, and writer/director Emerald Fennell, this subversive revenge fantasy gave us a lot to talk about. TW: Our discussion delves into sexual assault; listener discretion advised. Questions or comments about what we talked about...

We’re celebrating our 69th episode with the least sexy film of all time, the cult classic Showgirls ! Is it a cutting satire, the ultimate in camp cinema or does it belong in the trash?  Our contributors take a look back to 1996, the Clinton era, queer coded thrillers, white trash screenwriters and Dutch auteurs!  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

After a few episodes in a row featuring queer adjacent stories made for straight audiences, we’re taking a look back at the New Queer Cinema. In the early 90’s,  filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Greg Araki reclaimed the road movie for queer audiences. These two tales of narcoleptic hustlers and murderers on the run tapped into a queer culture ignored and left for dead by their government. They tak...

We’re continuing our look back at 90’s queer films made for straight audiences with My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Object of My Affection! Both of these films feature early portrayals of the gay best friend trope, setting  queer male characters as romantic leads for...straight women. While that’s one reading of My Best Friend’s Wedding, the Object of My Affection actually doubles down and gives...

This week we're finally covering two of the 1990's most iconic gay films; The Birdcage and In & Out. Arriving in the middle of the Clinton era, they feature mostly straight actors in queer roles (Nathan Lane didn't come out until 1999) . Made largely by straight people for straight people, these films nevertheless touched a nerve to a generation still coming to terms with their...

For the second edition of our Quentin Tarantino/Paul Thomas Anderson pairings we’re discussing their second films Pulp Fiction and Boogie Nights !  Questions or comments about what we talked about? Click here to let us know!

In our final episode of 2020, we take a look at Happiest Season, Hulu's new queer holiday movie! Directed by a lesbian icon and featuring the queerest ensemble this side of a Ryan Murphy project, the new film is one of Hulu's most popular movies. So we reached out and got our contributors to weigh-in on the new queer hit. And since it's the last episode in this very weird year, we a...

We’re leaving the planet this week and taking Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey with us! We’re covering the 1997 classic Contact with Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Each movie sends their protagonist to outer space to ask life’s most important questions, but which one does it better? We discuss IMAX's inevitable transition from 3d documentaries to Christopher Nolan films; Robert Zemecki...

With just a few days left in October, we take a look at two horror-adjacent queer films. Closet Monster takes coming out cliches and familiar character arcs and gives them a dash of Cronenberg, a sprinkle of Lynch and a pinch of Donnie Darko to tell its coming out story, but does it work? Meanwhile You’re Killing Me casts viral LA comedy stars as friends who welcome a mysterious new boyfriend into...

Even though 2020 has been plenty terrifying, we’re getting into the Halloween spirit! We’re joined by Lauren to discuss women in horror with the badass adventurers of The Descent and the teenage succubus of Jennifer’s Body! Did we overlook Megan Fox? Does adding a male character make matters better or worse? We tackle these questions, plus reminisce about Adam Brody, dismiss Chris Pratt and much m...

We covered the original queer classic, The Boys in the Band , back in June in celebration of pride. This month, Netflix released a remake starring the cast of the Tony winning revival and produced by Ryan Murphy. So this week, in celebration of its release, Max and Rob dropped in to watch the remake. Starring Zachary Quinto and Jim Parsons, the drama has some big shoes to fill. Does it? Or does it...