Gay cinema heats up this weekend.

Two new movies open, including the much-anticipated return of Darryl Stephens (photo with Jensen Atwood) and “Noah’s Arc” as well as Tom Cavanagh as a gay dad in a departure from his former TV role in “Ed.”

“Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom” brings to the big screen the cast of the popular Logo television series, making it one of thew few black gay projects to make it into theaters.

“Noah’s Arc” is often compared to “Will & Grace” and “Sex and the City,” and proves to be worthy of such a comparison from the movie’s opening scene, when Noah appears wearing knee-high brown boots, a flailing tweed jacket and a leopard print mink. A regular criticism of those series was that viewers couldn’t fully connect with such fabulous lives that were funded by unexplained sources of income.

The same goes for many of the plot lines in “Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom.” Audiences might appreciate the diversity of complex issues the movie explores, but like a Carrie Bradshaw shopping spree on a four-hour lunch, conquering these issues with such simplicity is not a reality for most people.

Read the full preview, along with an interview with creator Patrik-Ian Polk, in Southern Voice.

Cavanagh appears with Noah Bernett and Ben Shenkman in “Breakfast With Scot,” a flick about two gay hockey dads with complicated closets shaken up by a nelly 11-year-old who comes to live with them.

In short order, the makeup, boa and jewelry-wearing Scot (Noah Bernett) turns the men’s carefully constructed lives upside down.

From his gardenia-scented hand cream to his pink poodle belt, Scot immediately cracks the veneer of the men’s masculine ideals.

“At its heart, the movie is about internalized homophobia,” [filmmaker Laurie] Lind says. “There are a lot guys in Eric’s situation who aren’t out at work. A lot of people live that way. I think we’re mature enough as a community that we can recognize this is what its like to be gay for these particular guys, whether that is our situation or not.”

The film also brings an interesting twist in that the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs allowed the use of their name and logo in the film, a first for a gay-themed movie, according to Outsports. Read a review of “Breakfast With Scot” in Southern Voice.

Both movies open today at Midtown Art Cinema.

Photo: Michael Tompkins, courtesy Logo Features/MTV