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Stop! That! Train!

Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...

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I had heard of the film first time in Philly LGBT film festival but couldn't see the film. So I was excited now when The film is finally out on dvd. I kind of knew the basic plotline but I was a little disappointed when I saw the final product. Mark has died in a car accident. His best friend Jeff is taking care of his stuff. He checks his emails and finds out that a guy named Andrea was about to visit him from Italy. Jeff is surprised that he doesn't know anything about Andrea. With his regular correspondence with Andrea, Jeff finds out that they had met online about an year ago and have been in regular touch. This would have been their first visit in person. Since Andrea had already booked his tickets, he decides to come anyway. They eventually meet, where they extend their e-mail exchanges into more personal and intimate conversations. They talk about their respective countries, their jobs, their families, their lives. Mostly, they talk about Mark. What began as a tragedy that linked two strangers from different ends of the world becomes a deeply realized friendship. In the process Andrea also realizes that maybe Jeff had feelings for Mark. The film ends with Andrea going back to Italy with an invitation to Jeff to visit. The film sounds simple and believe me, it had nothing more than what I mentioned above. The film's direction was fine but it was too dark. A little more money on lighting etc would have been better. Performance wise, the actors were just ok. You know how sometimes you know they are acting. They know what's coming up. Thats how I felt. It didn't seem natural. Still not a bad watch. I have seen much much worse. (5.5/10)

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