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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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The Holiday Sitter

By Golu
Since the past two years, network TV channels in US have been trying to come up with holiday rom-com film with a gay couple in the lead roles. In last two years, we saw a few of them, but surprisingly for this year 2022, there haven't been many announcements, but thankfully we finally have the first gay holiday rom-com and that too on Hallmark channel, a first for them. Yes it a romantic film, yes its cheesy, yes it has all the quintessential Christmas vibe and stereotype; but guess what, its exactly the kind of love and warmth that we all need this holiday season and I am so happy it has started with this film.

The story is simple. Sam is a workaholic, not ind of kids and also somehow never ends up on a second date. When his sister and her husband need to drive to upstate New York because their surrogate is in labor earlier than expected, he has to change his holiday plans to babysit his niece and nephew. When he reluctantly arrives, he meets Jason (his soon to be beau), the sister's neighbor who has been sitting for kids while he arrived. Jason is gay, single and is in the process of adoption. He has always wanted to be father but all his dates would run away the minute they would realize how serious he is. Now since Sam is very bad at baby sitting, he asks Jason to help him out with kids and he will pay him. Jason agrees since he can use the money for adoption and he is working on the new baby's nursery room anyway. As expected, its the opposites attract and sparks fly. Its during the process of countdown to Christmas Day after day, the duo start to notice tiny little things about each other and even though none would admit, they start falling for each other. But Sam is afraid to fall in love and Jason wants a guy who puts family first over everything. With some help form their respective family members, classic love confession happens at the very minute , sealed with a kiss making for a perfect lovely couple.

This holiday film is very heartwarming and lovely, despite its cringe romance with us having seen almost everything before. But it's the holiday spirit that makes it different. The film doesn't try hard to be funny or delightfully romantic, but its the natural Christmas spirit with some unfiltered family love surrounding them that makes it a treat to watch. For holiday films, we want happy endings and love and we get that and joy and emotions and a few emotional scenes which bring happy tears to you; all this and more. Sam and Jason share a great chemistry and look good together. They do not have any shocking revelations about each other, but its the tiny things that help cement their bond. Not only do their conversations occur effortlessly, but the longing between them is so palpable that you’re itching to see them get together the second they start to bond (which happens only towards the end of the film). There’s a comment during the big, grand love confession where Sam states that he doesn’t know where the future will go, and that’s exactly what tells us that this will be a good thing. As actors, the leads of course do a fantastic job. The other standout performances are by the two kids whom they are sitting for. In fact, the entire cast is memorable and they help make this a feel-good movie that will put smiles on people’s faces. Some of the dialogues were also really funny, for example, stuff about Vega, all suburban houses look the same etc.

Sure, people will try to find faults around the sets, film being too white, stereotypical story, no twists etc etc (and they will not be wrong), but as I have said it before as well, this is holiday season and Christmas love stories, that too with gay leads and happy ending is just what we all need this time of the year. Here, Sam and Jason convince us of their love and their insecurities and their wants from the relationship. Future is never perfect and sure, you can just do your best and hope for best but at least you got to try it. The Holiday Sitter is a Christmas movie about the incredibly unique bond between gay men and their nieces and nephews — family members who have long stood in for children due to the hurdles facing gay couples or gay men looking to adopt. And of course, it is fun. Definitely recommend this season. (8/10)
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