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Chained To My Bully Stepbrother (AI Vertical BL Drama)

By Golu
This is the second vertical AI BL drama I've sat through, and honestly I went in knowing better. I had it on while I was doing cardio at the gym, and what struck me was just how much the plot echoed the last one I watched. Same step brother romance angle, same mystery girlfriend showing up near the end, same extra guy pining after one of the leads. Genuinely the only thing going for it was the runtime, the whole thing wrapped up in forty five minutes flat.  The setup kicks off with Finn moving schools because his mom just married into money. He finds out his new step brother Aiden goes to the same place, and he's warned to keep his distance from him. Their first run in at school is rocky, just like you'd expect, but there's this odd pull between them neither can shake off. Finn keeps telling himself not to read into it because Aiden's straight and openly homophobic. Things shift when some kids start bullying Finn and the student council president, Ryan, steps in to ...
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The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls

By Golu
Last year, I remember, I saw some wonderful holiday movies with prominent gay storylines with the should focus being on holiday cheer and not sexuality. This Hallmark film is an amazing holiday sequel to “The Christmas House,” which I reviewed last year here, and just like the original it is about love and coming together. I quite enjoyed this film actually, even slightly more than the original, although its probably not the righting to do to compare these films. 

The time for Christmas again and the entire Mitchell family decides to celebrate Christmas together. TV star Mike has been seeing Andy for a while now, and Brandon along with his husband Jake now has 2 kids. All is good till Mike is asked to participate in a celebrity home decorating reality TV show 'Deck Those Halls'. After some convincing from everyone else, Mike is excited to share the famed Christmas House with the world. When Mike’s opponent in the competition drops out at the last minute, Brandon is tasked with rivaling to make for an epic, brother versus brother Christmas decorating showdown. Of course there is usual tussle and anger and fight when this competition goes down, but at the heart of it, this will bring more love and joy the family. Mike has to figure out a right time to propose to Andy, but things get complicated when her ex-husband shows up. Thankfully with Andy's son Noah's help. Things are back on track. The mom and dad play a more supporting part here compared to the original and here the focus is more eon both brothers.

Most scenes in this film bring a smile to your face. The pandemic is still upon us and few of us are home alone for holidays, so this definitely brings a cheer to our life. Both Mike and Brandon are excellent in their lead roles and bring that's sense of competitiveness from their childhood. But at the same time, they also share some emotional moments which is the key to films like these. I also enjoyed the fact that there were no unnecessary new characters added just for the sake of it. The film puts very real family issues at the forefront while simultaneously recapturing all the holiday fun from the first film. We see why Brandon is so driven to beat his brother and how he fears everyone , including his own kids would prefer Mike over him. And meanwhile, Mike is struggling to propose and start a new life with Andi. As in the original movie, the gay couple retreated with same dignity and respect without making any deal out of it, and this is one part I absolutely love and commend the makers. We have seen many coming out stories where it is about sexuality. It is time we normalize things.

I actually hope we have further sequels of the film. It keeps the holiday spirit alive, keeps the fun of the original one intact and brings a smile to my face. What more can I ask. (7/10)
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