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Stop! That! Train!

By Golu
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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Devil's Path

By Golu
We should always give credit where its due. There are so many similar themed gay films out there that there story lines keep blending with each other. So in that respect the makers have definitely come up with an interesting novel storyline. Unfortunately, something that looked good on paper loses its steam and feels too stretched at many places.

The title refers to a hidden hiking trail in a wilderness park where gay men often go for cruising. A young man Noah is walking around with tarrot cards and starts following Patrick as soon as he sees him. They strike up a conversation but clearly Patrick is looking for just casual sex. On Noah's insistence, Patrick decides to stay little longer for him but when Noah is attacked from behind after wandering off for a minute and he and Patrick begin fearing for their lives. It seems the only chance for survival is to get back to the main trails and back to their cars. Instead, they spend the day running from the assailants in what turns out to be an ever-expanding piece of forest. The two get to know each other while they are running and we feel a layer of mystery and back story. We find out that Noah is looking for details of mis missing brother Michael who was last seen with Patrick on Devil's Path. Michael and Noah also have some childhood history of abuse and that Noah feels Michael has always been his soulmate.

The story is interesting because as an audience we are looking to understand what really is going on. But at some point things start getting repetitive. Almost half of the film is spent running with minimal dialogues. But on a brighter side, the two lead actors do a very commendable job. They have great chemistry as 2 guys who are on the run and keep audiences hooked but how I wish that was enough. The plot slowly loses direction and i just wanted them to come to the point. Patrick really didn't have to say 100 times that he is scared of dark. And a few such things like inhaler, or Noah's search for his soulmate and all. It got a big yawn from me. The film is more of a psychological thriller but both the reasoning for Noah's behavior and the abrupt ending takes away the fun.

Agreed that this film tries to do something different in this genre but I wish how they had done a better job. (4/10)
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