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...
We see an odd friendship between the most unwanted girl in the school and the boy who is always bullied. When the girl spills the boy's secret hoping to make friends, the boy is bullied even worse and is force to move towns when he kisses a boy. Not everything that happens on a school playground is play. (6/10)
Miles Apart (USA)
Such a warm film inside and out, this film shows that compassion and transformation are possible. Jeffery and Miles are visiting Jefferey's mother's house for his sisters wedding. Despite the boys having been together for 5 years, the mother hasn't accepted Miles. This weekend things are set to change and like they say "never say never". Not the best production quality but the film positively portrays love, commitment and a very uplifting message. (8/10)
Chaitak and his mother deal with their soon-to-strike tragedy as he wants to confess to his mother every little thing about himself within the little time he has. He also gets confronted by his past during the same period of time when his boyfriend meets him. Very very novel and good concept but not such a good execution. (4/10)
Is it a sin? (Germany)
Its the story of 3 friends who have been together since childhood in a small country village. Hanna, Magdalena & Samuel. Samuel is in a relationship with Robin but doesn't have the courage to tell his friends. When Magdalena finds out, she gets very disappointed in him saying horrible things to him. While Hanna is supportive, Samuel decides to end his life when he gets message from Hanna about "It Gets Better" project and that life for Samuel will be better soon. Decent film. Samuel was sooooooo obviously gay, why would anyone think otherwise? (5.5/10)
With This Ring (USA)
All marriages have their share of problems, and this film takes a dark look at gay marriage gone bad. A young man brings home a sexy stranger and realizes the spark they are feeling in bed might be something special. As the night progresses the young man begins to think that there may be more to this encounter. (7/10)
Love Ain't Magick (USA)
Athiest Will and his partner Om, a hippie, who loves to change his names, have their share of couple problems. But when their daughter comes home engaged to a guy who’s parents are extremely Christian, the two men bond together to make it work for her to meet the in-laws and funny secrets are revealed. Funny premise but such terrible bad acting. A good movie to watch and learn ho wont to act and how not to direct. (3.5/10)
Believe The Dance (Norway)
This is NOT a gay short. Four different souls are stuck in their daily mundane job. They all get hit at the same time by the dance 'God' in a life-altering experience. I personally did not like the short film at all. It was odd, pretentious and quite boring and meaningless. (2/10)
A Star-Crossed Love (USA)
"Star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers whose relationship is often thwarted by outside forces. A gay version of Romeo -Juliet shown between 2 teenager boys. When one of the boy's friends find out, they beat up the other kid, forcing the 2 boys to individually commit suicide if they can't be with each other. Ironically, its the friends of the boy who attends theatre who have an issue with him being gay, whereas, the jock guy's friends are all cool about it. Very decent film. (7/10)
Roerloze Ontploffingen (Belgium)
The film is overall divided in theme of homosexuality with 3 separate stories, all with some sentimental value. First one about a woman falling for a married woman, the second one about a guy in the bar really longing for a man, who doesn't have the courage to accept himself and third and final about a gay teenager who is bullied in school. A very iterating way of direction and The camera work gives the viewer a feeling of how confined the character must feel. Quite decent. (7/10)
Boris and Nadir (France)
A 9 episode, each of 60 to 90 seconds, promoting public awareness advertisements for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. How in such a sweet fun and easy way you can educate people on just use of condoms but only on post HIV positive status and how life doesn't end. Best thing is that actors are real porn stars. Fantastic!!. (8/10)
Comments
One thing I would absolutely LOVE is if you had a tag, or a category, that would distinguish films with happy endings, from those that will crush my spirit by having Clive Owen leap onto an electric fence (or some other powerful but horrifying sucker-punch to the soul).
However elevating and character-building and important those films are, sometimes we just want to KNOW we're sitting down to a feel-good movie, you know? (Best example I can think of is "Shelter".)
A 4/10 feel-good movie will get my vote before a 10/10 horrifying movie any day of the week, and I'm sure I'm not alone---straight people know going into pretty much any rom-com that they're gonna feel happy when it's over; with us, it's like playing Russian Roulette.
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