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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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B-Boy Blues

By Golu
I have such mixed feelings about this film. For some odd reason, I wanted to like it and I tried my best but there were so many places it just didn't add up and gave me a bad web series vibe. Set in New York, the direction left a lot to be desired giving a major amateur feel (which it is not). I feel the story was good, actors had potential but somewhere it came out as a very wannabe film trying to address multiple issues within black community, especially gay.

Mitchell is a successful black man working in corporate industry who has recently ended a disastrous relationship. He swears to be off men, but fate has different plans. He meets Raheim, a hunky, absolutely gorgeous courier guy all of 24 year old and sparks fly immediately. We witness their romance build-up despite repeated warnings by Mitchell's friends that the 'get' rough trade, young guy is just using him and he will end up being heart broken. Raheim ends up meeting friends and family and everyone is smitten by him. But Raheim and Mitchell belong to very different classes. When Mitchell meets Raheim's friends, they don't get along well, since they are more 'rough' and 'punk' and clearly these two aspects of Raheim and Mitchell's life go through conflicts. Things get weird when Raheim introduces him to his son, but Mitchell gives in, but when Raheim raises his hand on him, that is the breaking point for Mitchell. His friends come to him as the savior, but eventually Raheim comes back a few days later apologizing fo this behavior and Mitchell makes it very clear what's ok and what's not ok in a relationship and takes him back.

I was actually quite surprised by the end. Sure, Mitchell stands his ground and explains very clearly to Raheim that it is not ok to physically abuse anyone, but was he so madly in love that he was willing to give him a chance. I guess he was clearly smitten by the very handsome and dropped gorgeous Raheim and ignored all warnings that his friends gave. The whole act of physical abuse could be seen from miles but Mitchell just ignored. The film is unapologetic in its celebration of black gay men. On the surface it is a love story, but it also explores what it means to be black and queer not just in general, but within your own community. While Mitchell is clearly out and proud and belongs to a more upper class status; Raheim’s actions suggest that he is still not accepting of who he is and who he loves. Had the film ended on some other note, I would have vouched for it, but IMO the ending is very problematic. Also the pacing was very off with random edits here and there. There was no reason to stretch this film for almost 2 hours. There were random songs is between that served no purpose. Also introducing the term 'good' was funny and cute the first couple of times but using it like 100 different times was nothing but seriously annoying. The film was good for extremely good looking and hot gorgeous men who also acted well and had good chemistry. Raheim's little son was very adorable and the only reason of voice was Gene, Mitchellll's best friend. As I mentioned before, I wanted to care for the characters and root for them, but the poorly put together and directed film, prevented me from being wholly involved in their life. (4/10)
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