Club Kid, Rivals and La bola negra — Plus Queer As Folk and Godzilla, Queen of the Gays
Includes new bonuses for paying subscribers.
Hey! David here.
This month marks the 1 year anniversary of Cruising Cinema! I know, I can't quite believe it either. Yes, I really have been chatting gay shit for almost 365 days in your inboxes — and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
To celebrate this special birthday, here's Theo James in his birthday suit.
Yes, he really was born wearing this.
This newsletter exists because people like you are queer and thirsty and give a shit about storytelling. There’s no media conglomerate behind Cruising Cinema, no sugar daddy funding the time and effort I put into this. It's just me and you and all the queer storytellers brave enough to bring their stories alive on screen.
If you want to keep Cruising Cinema alive and help me spread The Gay Agenda™ with our love of film and TV and hot people, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support genuinely keeps the whole operation going.
Every paid sub is a vote for the future that liberals actually want!! Let’s build it together!!
Beyond Friday's free newsletter, you can access a gazillion extras with a paid membership, including a 30 minute Zoom chat for all paying readers.
Want tips on how to get into journalism? Want to chat about your favourite show? Or how about your favourite Godzilla movie?
Paying subscribers old and new can email me and we'll book in a Chatty Man slot together - cruisingcinema7@gmail.com.
🚨 Today I'm also adding two new benefits to the paid tier 🚨
1) Scream Queen - Paying subscribers can promote their projects in this newsletter, be it their website, their Substack, their fiction or their Only Fans. The latter is especially welcomed 🤗
2) Rainbow Request - Subscribers who have been with me for more than 3 months can request a review or listicle of their choice. The focus can be anything from a 100 year-old movie to the 10 Best K-dramas or 10 Best Christmas films. The catch is it has to be queer, because I ain't cruising for no straights honey 💅🏻
Don't forget you can also give a Cruising Cinema subscription as a gift to the gay in your life who's tough to buy for 👇🏻
So what are you waiting for? Sign up heeeeeeeeeeeeeere for a monthly or annual subscription to receive the gayest version of Cruising Cinema. In turn, you'll receive my undying gratitude and the horniest GIFs known to man.
And if you're paying already? Thank you. You're a diva. You're an icon. You are the moment.
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Queer and Now
Everything new in the world of queer TV and film
— Jordan Firstman's Club Kid is a redemption story, not just for the club kid at its heart, but also for Jordan himself.
If you've seen him in English Teacher or I Love LA, you might very well consider him the most annoying gay alive. And with good reason! But it turns out he might also be the most talented gay we have right now if his directorial debut is anything to go by.
This Cannes award-winning story of a New York party addict who suddenly discovers he's a dad is so much better than it has any right to be. What could have been a glossy Big Daddy for gays is actually very funny, authentic and heartfelt.
Kudos to Firstman for writing, directing and starring in a film where he also gets to make out with Diego Calva. Jesus, I've seen what you've done for others... Go see what all the fuss is about in US cinemas today.
— Directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, aka Los Javis, aka the hot judges on Drag Race España, La Bola Negra tells the story of three gay men across three different eras; 1932, 1937 and 2017.
Starring Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau and Carlos González, as well as blonde-wigged Penélope Cruz and Spanish-speaking Glenn Close, La Bola Negra balances collective memory and trauma with deeply emotional, intrinsically queer histories of a personal nature.
It's a bold, sweeping classic in the making that demands to be seen in cinemas (today!!) before it winds up on Netflix from December 4th. Go see those hot Spanish homos up close and personal on the big screen so you know which bits to skip to and replay when you're home alone over the holidays.
(Don't forget to check out my piece at Curzon which explores the film's Oscar chances and the Academy's past history with films starring Alphabet People).
— Rivals is back for the second half of season two on November 11 and it might just be the best this show has ever been.
More than just an 80s parody, Rivals authentically captures the camp and bombast of the loudest decade in human history, more dramatic than perhaps anything else currently on TV.
There's a lot of shouting and screaming, not just from all the banging, as Rutshire is rocked by more scandals than ever this time around. Come for shirtless Aidan Turner and stay for... Wait I got distracted by shirtless Aidan Turner. Just go watch Rivals on Disney+ already.
— Badly-behaved Catholic school girls begin having prophetic visions and get up to some real gay shit in Netflix's The Body, out November 11. I haven't watched my screeners yet but the concept is giving Suspiria meets Yellowjackets and Carrie, which couldn't be more up my alley as a certified homosexual.
The Body creator, Quinn Shephard, started writing the show after she came out. She told Tudum: "It’s satirising some of the trauma of growing up queer and repressed and the confusion around that." And to that I say: "Inject it into my veeeeeeeeins!
— I'm enraged that I missed Mouse at the Berlinale this year, but everyone I know who saw it tells me it's the best thing they watched at the entire festival.
Lucky US cinemagoers now have a chance to go see Mouse for themselves and witness all the reasons why star Sophie Okonedo should (but probably won't) get nominated by the Oscars for this role next year.
Oh, you wanted a synopsis? Don't worry babe. I've got you covered:
"It's 2002, and best friends Minnie and Callie are heading into their senior year of high school, with Minnie long living in the protective shadow of the charismatic and admired Callie. When their friendship is suddenly upended at the start of the summer, Minnie struggles to define her own identity and forms a complicated relationship with Callie’s poised, attentive mother, pulling her further from her own chaotic home."
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59 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of 2026 Ranked (so far)
Plus where to watch them
In need of something new and extremely gay to watch? Look no further than my ranking of the 59 best LGBTQ+ movies released this year so far.
Check out the link below — with 16 new additions — to see where your faves end up.
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Queer Awakenings
You know, the hotties who "turned" you gay.
Being gay is NOT a choice. How do I know? Because I was always going to be gay after seeing this as a kid.
I know. I know. The original Queer As Folk is the best one, OF COURSE.
But even as a young cigarette, the US remake drew me in still, and a huge part of that was down to Gale Harold in the lead role of Brian Kinney.
Aiden Gillen is sex personified in the original, and the same is true of Harold in Showtime's version. Both versions are cocky sex addicts, the kind of walking red flag I couldn't get enough of when I was younger.
But Harold edged Gillen for me, so to speak, with that floppy hair and his tall frame, which I would have happily climbed like a tree.
Plus he briefly dated Teri Hatcher's Susan in Desperate Housewives, which instantly bumps up his gay cred, even if Harold isn't gay himself.
Queer As Folk x Desperate Housewives reboot/crossover when? Woke is back. Anything could happen at this point!
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58 Best LGBTQ+ TV Shows of 2026 Ranked (so far)
Plus where to watch them
Do you want gay shit? Of course you do. Do you want to spend hours looking for it? Obviously not. Thankfully, I'm here to help with this ranking of the 58 best LGBTQ+ shows I've seen so far this year.
Check out the link below to see where your faves end up.
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Mother of the Week
Where Mothers Come To Mother
Welcome back to Mother of the Week where we celebrate icons who have been Mother to us all.
This week's choice is extra tough — or should I say "durable"? I really scaled back the difficulty for once.
Have you guessed who it is yet?
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Did you know the "G" in "LGBTQ" doesn't stand for "Gay". It actually stands for "Godzilla".
Godzilla might be King of the Monsters, but they're Queen of the Gays as far as I'm concerned. Every time Godzilla screams "SKREEONK," what they're actually saying is "Gay Rights!"
Now, you might be wondering why Godzilla is worthy of inclusion in today's Mother of the Week. The reason why everyone's favourite Kaiju can be eligible is because Godzilla's gender isn't as concrete as you might think.
Go back to the original Godzilla film from 1954 and you'll realise that the so-called "King of Monsters" is described using gender-neutral pronouns (as are other monsters in the subsequent Japanese movies). It wasn't until Western dubs and subtitles used male pronouns for Godzilla that English speakers referred to our gender nonconforming icon as a "he".
Godzilla has children, which raises questions, and things were complicated further by Roland Emmerich's 1998 fiasco — as well as some Japanese films — where Godzilla laid eggs, reproducing asexually.
By keeping Godzilla's gender ambiguous, intentionally or not, it cements this idea that Godzilla, the ultimate organism, has transcended the constraints of gender. And in doing so, the films have also spared us from having to look at Godzilla's humongous junk, which we're eternally grateful for.
But even if Godzilla had been coded as a straight male bro, you'd be hard pressed to deny just how camp they and the other kaiju are. Take Mother Mothra, for example, who's accompanied by twin fairies and sprinkles of rainbow dust everywhere they go.
Is Godzilla intersex? Non-binary? However the reptilian behemoth identifies, he/she/they is Mother, raining down fiery atomic carnage on straight society at large.
(I've included a link where to watch the original Godzilla below ahead of Godzilla Minus Zero because I love you and you deserve nice things.)
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And just like that, we've come to the end of Cruising Cinema today. As a thank you for making it this far, here's Jonathan Bailey with a reminder to drink your milk. See you next week!
