Skip to main content

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...
Post a Comment

The Groomsmen: Second Chances

By Golu
An interesting initiative by Hallmark channel in fall of 2024. They came up with a romantic comedy trilogy titled The Groomsmen. This innovative series focuses on three best friends (2 straight and one gay) navigating the journey of love and matrimony from the unique perspective of groomsmen. I will of course focus just on the gay film, which is the second one in the series, but let's do a quick background. Danny, Jackson, and Pete are childhood friends who have always been there for each other. In the first part we see Pete meeting the love of his life at Danny's (the gay one) sister's wedding. Pete has a teenage daughter who also spends a lot of time with this trio.

Danny is in love with Zack, his business manager who also happens to be his best friend. His friends Danny and Pete know about it but Danny is scared to express his feelings because he fears if it's not reciprocated, he may even miss out on a friend. Zack is now dating Nolan and this bothers Danny. Soon enough the relation gets serious and Nolan and Zack decide to get married, leaving Danny shocked but he really loves his best friend. And Zack now asks Danny to be his best man at the wedding in Greece. Suppressing his feelings, Danny decides to be a good best man and plans everything about the wedding with Zack, especially given that Nolan is always super busy with work (big red flag). Because of busy schedule, its only Danny and Zack who end up going to Greece few days before wedding and they all all preparations spending every single minute with each other making it very hard for Danny. We don't really know much about Zack's feelings but one night they almost kiss. Danny cant take it anymore and the day before the wedding he confesses his love to Zack who is shocked and doesn't know what to do. In a typical runaway bride form, on the day of wedding; Zack decides that even he feels very strongly about Danny and he would rather spend all of his life with Danny and the two get married.

To be honest the movie is quite predictable, but what I really enjoyed were the beautiful locales of Greece. Clearly production values and money were not an issue here. As characters I am not sure where Zack stood all this while. Yes, Danny and Zack were extremely close friends, but there was never a hint that Zack was also into Danny. Agreed, that Nolan was full of red flags, but was that enough for Zack to realize that he loves Danny. I do understand that sometimes, you do not know what your heart desires and it takes an outsider to bring your feelings out and it seems like this is what happened here. It's just that it is a bit hard to digest. The actors all do a pretty good job, given it s a TV movie. We have seen the actor playing Danny do similar-ish roles in a few gay Christmas movies. What surprised me was the actor playing Zack. He had some broods charm to him that was very addictive. The other two movies, which I saw were also ok. I guess Hallmark does have to keep its conservative audience intact and this was a good way to plug in a gay film. As you would expect from this kind of TV film, this is a feel good, typical Hallmark sirupy plot with a plus that it depicts gay relationships in a normative manner, much closer to reality than the stereotypical prior mainstream depictions of gay relationships. Overall an expected decent watch. (6/10)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Phor Lae Lukchai (Thai) [Father & Son]

By Golu
I think the budget of this film was probably too small, but for that, the film definitely offers a different and unique storyline without over dramatizing anything. Yes, some scenes were a bit amateurish but in the bigger scheme of things, that can be overlooked. The film is both beautiful and sad in its own unique way. Aek is a gay dad, whose partner died right around the time their son Nueng was born through surrogacy in a road accident. The relationship between father and son is unpleasant and unstable. We are not really told why, but it seems the father has been unsuccessful in caring and loving his son because of his partner's death. Aek continues to hook up wit hookers. Also, Nueng is constantly bullied by everyone around him for having a gay dad. He has no friends, except Nat, a neighborhood boy, who also happens to be Nueng's boyfriend. In a sudden turn of events Nat is found murdered along with another boy naked. Saddened by the events, Nueng jumps from roof and k...
1 comment
Read more

Gaya Sa Pelikula (Filipino Series) [Like In The Movies]

By Golu
Pinoy BL series seem to be catching up to the popularity of the Thai shows. And I must say that they are doing a pretty good job at it. Where Thai series started to get repetitive with so many shows based in a college setting with seemingly similar storylines, Pinoy series are offering the viewers with new and interesting stories and some really good sets and surroundings. This series was 8 episodes of about 25-20 minutes each. Karl, a 19-year old introvert architecture student is in the middle of an identity crisis. Prior to the start of the second semester in college and forced by his parents, he moves into his uncle's condominium unit so that he can learn to be financially independent. Karl takes on odd jobs online to do so. But when one of his major clients suddenly goes MIA, he is left short on funds and without a means to pay for his utilities. An opportunity presents itself when his cocky neighbor Vlad has to hide from his family and proposes to share Karl's space for th...
23 comments
Read more

The Tuxedo (Thai Series)

By Golu
When I saw this series with 8 episodes of about 20-25 minutes each, I thought, good: Finally someone has come to senses and made a show which is not stretched out and they have tried to squeeze in a decent storyline in a good small episode format. But unfortunately, despite a decent premise on hand, the clunky writing, bad screenplay and an extreme tasteless portrayal of mental illness makes this show, not a fun watch. By the time it finishes, you just want to laugh off at the entire absurdity of it all. Aioun is talented tuxedo designer and very much in demand but he has handful of clients and he builds suits only for people who he feels a connection to. One night when his younger brother is about to get mugged, he is helped by a total stranger named Sichol. Since he tears his suit in the fight and has an interview the next day, Aioun gifts him a suit form his design as an expression of thanks. Sichol's interview is for. Personal assistant of a man named Nawee, a wealthy heir to h...
25 comments
Read more