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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...

Hook Up (Filipino Series)

First of all, actually I did don't really "need" to watch this series to get context on my latest reviewed Mini series 'Unguarded'. Yes, it does provide one tiny context but other than that, having to sit through 8 episodes, each of 20 minutes approximately to witness two silly strangers randomly falling in love started off ok, but really doesn't go anywhere until the last 2 episodes. Also, don't get fooled by the poster. It was just taken form one o the profiles form the dating app that the show uses but has nothing to do with it.

Its pandemic time and Mark Lee is unsure about his sexuality. He finds himself being attracted tooth girls and boys. On insistence of his friend, he downloads an app 'Findr' to see where things take him. There he meets Henry and in their very first conversation Henry flirts with him a lot and mark Lee gets shy. Eventually they get to talking all the time and slowly love starts building up. Henry even risks one night to go meet him and have sex. But Henry is also going through some personal family stuff and he hasn't yet told Mark lee about his plans to go to Bangkok as exchange student for better future. Henry also has a best friend Lukas, who doesn't like Henry's proximity with Mark ee, since he is also secretly obsessed with him; and he creates distrust and misinformation making Mark Lee doubt about Henry's intentions towards their relationship. They eventually talk it out and Henry tries to make him understand that he really needs to go to Bangkok to study. The ending was lame where he goes off to school.

I wish I could say something interesting about this show. It was just so basic. Sure, people are lonely in pandemic but that doesn't mean you fall in love so quickly with just the one person who you met online on a dating/hookup app? Yes, this series also, like most other series during pandemic was shot indoors by probably actors themselves, but the story and their interactions so just so lame and boring. I mean we saw similar premise in Gameboys but that show had so much love and charm. On the contrast, these characters are boring and their so called conversations are long and preachy. The flow of thought from all the characters are way too similar that it feels like a single person talking to his split personality. The drama was unnecessary and Mark Lee seemed a very clingy sort of boy. Also when two people talk all day every day, why would they not tae about some of the more important things about their relationship. This was definitely one of the more boring shows I have seen and I would recommend staying away from this one. (3/10)

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