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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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Seventeen (Mandarin)

By Golu
This film could easily have been a short film and would have been lot more effective. It is a story of love, loss and redemption, but the film moves at such a slow pace that it really tests your patience.

Xue Ping is an out of town war veteran, who on a particular day is on a mission to meet someone. We also meet Ahong, a young 17 year old high school student who just wanders around, plays video games etc. Through flashbacks, we see the old man had a young lover when he was in army but he was captured by enemies. We also see him spending every year with his best friend celebrating retirement from the army. Turns out on this particular day, Sue Ping is actually looking for Ahong. He had seen him exactly a year ago for the first time and he immediately reminded him of his young lover in the army. He keeps following the young student and that day he confronts him and gifts him a portrait picture of a young him and his lover. The young boy completely snubs the old man, lashes out at him and asks him to go away. The dejected man goes back home and the young guy goes on with his life.

This film hd scope where they could have used a few moments to connect with the audience but they just did not. Even the gay love story of the young Sue Ping and his lover comes out of nowhere and feels very bland to be honest. The all day aimless walking reminiscing old days is usually memorable to watch, but nit in this specific case, it just felt forced and frankly, very boring. Sure, the young boy may look like his old lover, but aa 70 year man suddenly approaching a 17 year old professing love would obviously lead to unfavorable reactions. What was he thinking? We either needed more character development or just a short film where the old man could have looked at the boy from afar. (2/10)
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