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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...

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors.

Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who has already moved on. But he needs to decide how and where these two men fit in his life with an over possessive and slightly mentally abused current boyfriend and a passionate ex-lover. 

The film sounds straight forward but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. All three characters have obsessive nature. They can't let go of their issues and hangups and barely communicate with each other. According to me, all three of them are unstable in one way or the other.  As you can expect, with characters like this, the film is not going to end well and sure enough it didn't. From an acting perspective, Yong joon stands out. You can feel his pain, anguish and loneliness but why does he feel the need to be the sole caretaker of his boyfriend is never explained. Its not even that they share an excellent chemistry or anything. The other two boys are strictly ok. I was tired of watching the constant guilty expression on Jae Sung after a while. The whole blind boy and his father scenarios that kept reappearing was all so confusing and made absolutely no sense. I don't think tings were getting lost in translation with the subtitles, but I think this has more to do with the direction and execution. And hey, did I mention that this has a few very graphic scenes including hard dick scenes. There is a lot to be desired in this film and I don't think I will recommend it. (3.5/10)

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