Joyland, Sexual Lessons and Mysterious Skin — Plus the Smallville hottie you forgot
I hope this newsletter also brings you joy.
Lanterns star Aaron Pierre runs rings around the competition when it comes to "Hottest Man In This Galaxy And Any Other."
In his new DC show, Pierre plays a Green Lantern who can make anything he imagines come to life using a special ring.
It's a good thing I don't have that ring or I'd be imagining that arm wrapped around my sfhskfhdkshfajhadfasfdsadfaufalo;g
Want to see more shameless thirst of this nature? Please consider some shameless self-promotion and subscribe to the paid tier of Cruising Cinema today.
Beyond Friday's free newsletter, you can access a gazillion extras in the paid newsletter every Tuesday that also includes a 30 minute Zoom chat for all paying readers 🚨.
Want tips on how to get into journalism? Want to chat about your favourite movies? Or how about your favourite episode of the noughties Justice league cartoon?
Paying subscribers old and new can email me and we'll book in a slot together - cruisingcinema7@gmail.com.
Plus you can now give a Cruising Cinema subscription as a gift to the gay in your life who's tough to buy for. Birthdays, Christmas, Daddy's Day... the possibilities are endless! 👇🏻
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.
Upgrade to paid.
The full newsletter straight to your inbox
Queer and Now
Everything new in the world of queer TV and film
— In lieu of jewels, please throw a DVD of Mysterious Skin into my open casket when I die. That's how much I adore Gregg Araki's 2004 masterpiece, a bruising story of abuse and connection that starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet (as well as Michelle Trachtenberg in her best role ever).
Why am I banging on about this gem? A new 4K restoration is heading to US cinemas starting today in New York's IFC Center before expanding across the country in the weeks to follow.
Read more about my obsessive love for Mysterious Skin in an early edition of Cruising Cinema right here.
— Oh look. "My name is Dylan Meyer and I got to cast my gorgeous perfect wife Kristen Stewart in my directorial debut, The Wrong Girls."
Excuse me for being bitter, but imagine just how good your karma must be to end up with Kristen on and off screen. Did Meyer save Jesus in a past life or something? I dunno how these things work, but what I do know is that the world needs more stoner comedies created by queer power couples like these two.
Plus bisexual icon Alia Shawkat co-stars, so you just know that the wrong girls got it so right for this one.
— Scraping dregs from the bottom of the Disney barrel, Camp Rock is back for a third instalment today. The Jonas Brothers reprise their roles from the first two films while Demi Lovato returns for a cameo, which says all you need to know about this film really.
Still, it's gonna be a camp old time, quite literally, and that's true whether the film turns out to be good or not. Catch me practising "This Is Me" for karoake again this weekend in the meantime.
— Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Japan's snowy island, Hokkaido, My Sunshine (Hiroshi Okuyama) revolves around two kids who grow close to their figure skating teacher in a gentle coming-of-age story.
It's gay because figure skating, duh, but also because of the coach himself whose personal life is casually dropped in at points. I really adored this hidden gem when I saw it last year, and now it's out on VOD, you have no excuse to let it skate on by.
— I first stumbled across Sexual Lessons on Twitter because it's basically the horniest, most graphic BL ever and my timeline assumed that's something I would be into...
Most of the series is now available to watch on GagaOOLala, but a "special episode" will be added on August 19th where you can watch the sex tutor give his tip(s) in an extra bonus instalment.
— Julia Sweeney's cult character Pat was apparently a huge deal on Saturday Night Live in the 90s. I wouldn't know firsthand because that wasn't really a thing in the UK back then. But looking back, people say the character was actually very problematic when it came to androgyny and gender.
A new documentary called We Are Pat explores how trans and non-binary people still saw something of themselves in Pat at the time when their identities were otherwise non-existent on screen.
Watch how trans and non-binary comedians reclaim the character in new reimagined sketches that explore how humour can be used as a radical force for change (Out August 20th on Peacock!).
Upgrade to paid.
The full newsletter straight to your inbox
43 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 43 best LGBTQ+ movies released this year so far.
Check out the link below to see where your faves end up.
🚨 Are you a hot, attractive, all-round amazing human being? 🚨
If so, may I suggest you follow Cruising Cinema on:
✍️ Facebook
Upgrade to paid.
The full newsletter straight to your inbox
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.
News just in. Justin Hartley is hot.
He was hot on Smallville where he played DC superhero Green Arrow.
He was hot on This Is Us when he played himbo Kevin Pearson.
And — you can see where this is going — he's hot now on a network show named Tracker that I only follow for pictures of said hottie.
Looking back, Hartley was pretty much the only one who wore spandex on Smallville at the time, which was a win for comic book nerds, but a loss for gay comic book nerds who'd rather see him wear nothing at all.
I even enjoyed Hartley when Kevin became a down-and-out loser in later seasons of This Is Us. Although, if I'm being honest, this arch screams nothing but WINNER to me.
Reply with your own Queer Awakenings or email me at: cruisingcinema7@gmail.com.
Upgrade to paid.
The full newsletter straight to your inbox
Out Takes
Queer hidden gems you need to see
Joyland (2022) was banned in its native Pakistan at first, which is how you know it's a good un.
But Saim Sadiq's first feature is so much better than just "good". There's a reason why it was rewarded with the Un Certain Regard jury prize at Cannes, after all.
Set within the confines of a stifling household in Lahore, Pakistan, Joyland follows an unemployed, childless man named Haider (Ali Junejo) who is constantly judged by the rest of his family while his wife works as a makeup artist.
Things seems to turn around when Haider lands a job at a local erotic theatre where he works as a backup dancer for the show's transgender star, Biba (Alina Khan). But then Haider falls in love and complications ensue.
After starring in Sadiq’s 2019 short film Darling, Khan plays Biba with relentless charisma. She's an iconic diva, naturally, one who "uses her tongue like scissors" to survive in a world especially cruel to people like her. But Khan's Biba is layered in ways that this diva archetype can sometimes overlook.
It's an extraordinary performance, the kind that would be Oscar-nominated in a just world, and the same goes for Junejo as Haider. Confusion over his love for Biba feels achingly real in a film that's intimate to an almost unbearable degree.
You feel so deeply for the pair and for everyone around them too. Sadiq's realist approach to filming ensures this throughout, although there are magical moments which transport us out of the everyday still, like when Haider carries that huge poster of Biba home on his bike.
Joyland should be a source of pride for Pakistan, not a film to be banned or cut so it appears more "palatable". These are exactly the stories we need right now, the kind of stories that cinema is made for.
I've included a link on where to watch Joyland below because you deserve nice things.
Upgrade to paid.
The full newsletter straight to your inbox
44 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 44 best LGBTQ+ shows I've seen so far this year.
Check out the link below to see where your faves end up.
Upgrade to paid.
The full newsletter straight to your inbox
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 Tuesday!
Follow Cruising Cinema below!
✍️ Facebook
Subscribe now and support queer journalism!
