Iron Boys

The Iron Boys DVD series is a collection of four short film anthologies featuring some sexy and provocative films from around the world.

The first in the series, Iron Boys 1: No Ordinary Joes, depicts young gay men in everyday situations that challenge cultural stereotypes. This collection may be the best in the bunch. The highlight is Spokes, a 1996 short about an African-American youth in New York taking a foreign tourist around for the day.

Iron Boys 2: The Last Secret includes films dealing with death and grief. The program opens with a well-meaning, but ineffective title short about gay teen suicide, while Quintessence, in which the sister of a man dying from AIDS confronts his ex-lover, is considerably more powerful.

Iron Boys 3: Implicación, focuses mostly on Latin shorts, with two striking, erotic entries—Pausa, in which a man masturbates to the image of another, and Esas Nubias, about a man remembering his lover in a series of artfully filmed scenes.

Iron Boys 4: To Hold a Heart is perhaps the most uneven collection in the quartet. Room Service, in which a young man hires his boyhood idol for a one-night stand is compelling, but a bit amateur. El Día de Mi Boda is a madcap wedding comedy with a queer twist that is too long, and not amusing enough. Only the ambitious last entry, Time Will Tell about lovers separating, resonates. B- —Gary M. Kramer

Torchwood: The Complete First Season

Who would have thought that a sci-fi mystery show about a 400-year-old bisexual alien hunter and his ragtag team of scientists would go on to become BBC America’s biggest hit ever? But this addictively entertaining series—a Russell T. Davies (Queer as Folk) spin-off from Dr. Who that takes the X-Files formula (the team investigates meteorite crash landings, extraterrestrial sightings and even the occasional cyberwoman) and pumps it full of wit and veddy British sensibility—offers up more than just alien-of-the-week thrills and chills. There’s also pathos and poignancy to be found in the depiction of the relationships that Captain Jack Harkness (the dashing—and openly gay—John Barrowman) has with his team (especially Eve Myles as a police constable who joins the team in the first episode), and a knowing sexiness that propels his mysterious backstory throughout the season. The show occasionally dips into the well of cheesiness and camp, but when it delves full steam into the creepy, it soars with otherworldly charm. Extras: Commentary on every episode, outtakes and deleted scenes, a “Captain’s log” video diary and 14 fascinating (if relatively standard) featurettes on putting the show together.B+ —Ken Knox

The Yacoubian Building

This soapy, operatic melodrama from Egypt chronicles the lives of various residents in the titular apartment building, a once elegant edifice that—as the fine prologue explains—has changed, like Egypt, over time. Alas, director Marwan Hamed’s engrossing film, adapted by his father from a popular novel, fails to provide much enjoyment during its two-and-a-half hour running time. Like several of the major characters—a man with political aspirations who regrets marrying a second wife; a Pasha who realizes too late that he let the woman he loved slip away; and a poor man jilted by his girlfriend because of his sudden religious fervor—Hamed’s ambitions backfire. Significantly, The Yacoubian Building merits attention for daring to depict homosexuality, but queer viewers will be dismayed by the portrayal of Hatem (Khaled El Sawy), a newspaper editor, who seduces a soldier (Bassem Samra) and “keeps” him. Because this is an Egyptian film, any controversial scenes are discretely presented, and there is no surprise how Hatem’s story ends. D —G.M.K.