(We’re back with another weekly installment of G.W.W.E. [Guys We Wanna Eff]. Award season is upon us, and while the whole world is buzzing about his film, Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel should be winning an Oscar for Best Effability in a Leading Role!)

Every year, there seems to be one film that captures the hearts and imaginations of the public, and this year everyone is talking about Slumdog Millionaire. Based on the true story of a young man from the poorest neighborhoods of Mumbai who wins the top prize in the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” Slumdog has already won the Golden Globe for Best Picture and is up for the Academy Award in just over two weeks.  And crucial to the movie’s success is the romantic main character, Jamal Malik, played by newcomer Dev Patel.

Just who is this new Hollywood hunk, and is it okay that I wanted to eff him silly when I saw him shirtless in the movie’s first scenes?

Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve got the scoop. Dev was born in England in 1990 (he’s legal!) and had his first big break on the British comedy, Skins. On his Skins cast member blog, Dev thrills us with this titillating update, “Since we last spoke, I have become a sex machine who will bring to you a sensory experience that will blow your feminine mind and titillate your crazy hot body. I am now a sexual master who has complete knowledge of the three positions of love making.” If that’s not an invitation to eff, then you can take down all my Slumdog posters and burn them (actually, just in case, please don’t. I can’t fall asleep at night without a glance at Dev on my ceiling). Read More »

Trainspotting is the movie that introduced me to independent and foreign cinema, not to mention the amazing music of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. And, of course, two of my most persistent celebrity lovers, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewan McGregor.

It was my favorite movie in high school, because it made me feel somehow cooler by association. Now I can appreciate it with a little more nuance, but that doesn’t take away from its intense cool and the nostalgia it inspires within me.

Ewan McGregor plays Scottish heroin addict and general ne’er do well Renton in the film, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name. In the face of his addiction and the destructive relationships he forms with his similarly worthless friends, Renton decides to Choose Life after an almost fatal overdose and a series of horrible misfortunes that befall his friends.

The movie shows the ill effects of drug use without ever letting the film become overly maudlin. It is a hyper-realized world that Renton and his friends live in, and director Danny Boyle (who has gone on to make 28 Days Later and A Life Less Ordinary) negotiates this with a really innovative visual style that reflects the frenzy of addiction juxtaposed with the banality of everyday life. Read More »