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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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Urbania

By Golu
This film had received amazing reviews all over and I believe has also won multiple international film festivals. Naturally my expectations were high, and sadly they were not met. A non-linear format of story telling needs a lot of patience and somehow after 30 minutes into the film, I completely lost interest and was barely able to finish through the film.

Charlie is no longer with his boyfriend Chris. He prowls on the streets (either hallucinating or with dreams) of manhattan looking for a man he saw several months earlier.  harlie has other encounters with men who care but he finally meets Dean, who is unabashedly racist, sexist and homophobic. Nevertheless, Charlie, pretending to be straight, buys Dean drinks and smokes a joint with him. Dean takes Charlie to a gay cruising area looking for victims, but Charlie is able to warn away the intended target. We soon find out that  Dean and his buddies had murdered Chris several months ago in a hate crime and Charlie is here to take revenge. But is this real or still a hallucination? In dreams Charlie tells Chris that he has taken the revenge. Charlie is only finally able to sleep when he realizes that finally Chris' soul will find peace.

Because of the topsy-turvy narrative, the film is volatile and unexpected, which according to me was a huge detriment. The film is supposed to be an ode and study of love and loss but it somehow takes a long time to get there and in the process people like me lose complete interest to even care of what really is going on. There are some good performances delivered by an attractive cast scattered throughout but that doesn't help salvage the film in its completeness. Daniel is sexy and handsome and charming as crazy and one can just watch the film for only his sake, if at all.

It might be just me who hasn't liked this film. I am amazed having read all the glorious reviews all over internet but something failed to connect with me as an audience. I wonder if I was not in the right frame of mind. (4/10)
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Comments

luigi43 said…
In his dreams he can take revenge his lover's murder. Just in his dreams , pity ! Too pretentious movie .
January 6, 2020 at 7:45 AM
Golu said…
I guess then I am not the only one who didnt like the film. I was wondering what's wrong with me that I am not liking a movie that is universally praised by all movie critics and film festivals.
January 7, 2020 at 4:47 AM
luigi43 said…
No , UR not wrong at all : sometimes a movie is " praised" for ..... commercial reasons . For me , I'm an amateur , this film was useless and without any meaning.
January 7, 2020 at 10:58 AM
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