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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...

Vilom (Hindi/English/Punjabi)

This film was an amateurish attempt at shedding light at the whole section 377 of Indian society when homosexuality was criminalized again in 2013 and it was only in 2018 it was again decriminalized. Not only the story could have been attempted in a short story, the acting, the direction and the story were all as if they were done as part of a college project.

Vilom is a lonely, isolated guy who works as a YouTuber and is trying to find social media attention. Amay a young dynamic boy comes to this city from a village in Punjab. He works as a hairdresser in a salon. The 2 boys meet and somehow fall in love and before you know, they have moved in together. A young beautiful girl Nivi is struggling with her acting career. She meets Vilom during his new social experimental video project and falls for him, But Vilom tells him he is gay. Amay's family is after him to get married. The worst is yet to come. Amay and Vilom continue to grow in their relationship but an incident of them getting brutally raped by the cops, using section 377. This incident finally breaks their strength and they decide to eventually take a break. Vilom is heart broken when he sees Amay going back home with another girl.

The film is divided into three episodes named Desire, Love and Shame. The film tries to dabble in multiple concepts but the directions and execution is so bad. Vilom’s passion for his craft and art is questioned by his love. Nivi, a woman who gets engrossed into her passion of acting yet when the time comes to face the truth, she develops cold feet. Amay, a man who is deeply in love with Vilom, struggles with his own insecurities. It's actually the part 3 where Amay and Vilom go through a night of inhuman torture that leaves us shocked as an audience. But other than that bad acting, bad dialogues, amateurish execution fails to deliver this film at any film. I would not recommend this film at all. (2/10)

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