Hot Sheet: Mormons, Miley, and Mirren

DVDs  

Hung: The Complete First Season — High school basketball coach Ray Drecker (the always beguiling Thomas Jane) is broke, depressed, divorced, living in a tent ... and extremely well-endowed. What’s a guy to do but become a hooker? Despite the title, the comedy is a surprisingly gentle treatise on loneliness and self-esteem, and while Anne Heche and Jane Adams register as Ray’s unhinged ex-wife and pimp, respectively, Charlie Saxton as ambiguous son Damon who “doesn’t like labels” stands out.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager – A cross between 7th Heaven and Juno, The Secret Life of the American Teenager isn’t exactly all saccharine and sweet, but the characters pleasantly seems to lack quite the bite of those in Diablo Cody’s Oscar-winning film. As gay BFF Griffin, Brando Eaton is a total find — and offers a nice distraction from the men on the show who are usually hanging out with girls just for the sex. Gay fav Molly Ringwald as the family matriarch (and now grandmother) is another reason to watch this well-written show.

The Last Station — The final year of iconic Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who became a leader in the nonmaterialist movement, might not sound like compelling film material, but The Last Station is a rarity — a lively and accessible historical tale filled with high drama, sex, and unexpected humor. Christopher Plummer and gay fave Helen Mirren give formidable performances as Tolstoy and tempestuous wife Sofya, while James McAvoy nearly matches them as Tolstoy's worshipful assistant.

A Star Is Born (Deluxe Edition) — Gay director George Cukor created bona fide movie magic with this great 1954 showbiz saga about the colliding careers of a self-destructive veteran movie star and a talented young newcomer. While a major suspension of disbelief is required to believe 32-year old Judy Garland (here at the height of her power as a performer) as an novice singer, and though she notoriously lost the (much-deserved) Best Actress Oscar to Grace Kelly, this is undoubtedly the tour de force performance of her legendary career. James Mason (possessor of perhaps the movies' most debonair speaking voice) is equally memorable as her downward-spiraling husband. The film has been lovingly remastered in this new Blu-ray and two-disc DVD set that’s loaded with bonus content.