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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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A Night Like This (UK)

By Golu
The summary of the film says "A stone-broke gay actor and a privileged fuck up with a failing business cross paths on a winter night and join forces in a quest around London to find a meaning to their miserable lives, but when their unlikely connection turns into something deeper, fears and demons from their past come to jeopardize the whole mission." I thought this sounds interesting and should be a good watch, but oh man! was I disappointed! The execution of the film is so bland and uninteresting, it just feels like it's going nowhere. 

Brash and cocky, Oliver enters an empty bar asking if someone could buy him a pint? Sitting at the bar nursing his beer is Lukas, who wants none of the entitled fratboy energy this loser is giving off. What Oliver doesn't know is that before he ended up drinking alone on Christmas, Lukas came dreadfully close to jumping off a bridge (which we find out much later). The two men happen to meet again in a bus a short while later. Oliver suggests that the two hang out. Lukas agrees but makes clear that he is gay. Each is saddled with his own demons. Lukas, the gay man from Germany, struggles with his acting career, while Oliver juggles singing aspirations and a failing nightclub. The whole film is about the duo hanging out and slowly opening up about their past, their fears and future plans. We don't know about Oliver's sexuality clearly, although the two end up kissing in the middle of night. Regardless of whether Oliver and Lukas' bond is strictly platonic or whether it could ignite sexual heat, these two feel good together.

The film is laced with the many lengthy conversations between Lukas and Oliver unfolding primarily in dully functional repetitive shot/reverse shots. The lighting is flat and the writing lacks depth of any kind. The two actors share a good chemistry, but I felt also cheated thinking this film is gonna be a queer love story, but it was nothing like that. The two hold hands and there is another kiss towards the end, but that's about it. Honestly besides Lukas being gay, there is really no hint of his sexuality at any point. We also get a 16 year old teenager aded to the group for a while but that also goes nowhere. Overall, I fettle film is extremely uninteresting, too dialogue heavy an don't sure where it was headed. Maybe it's about trying tomato connections, but what's the point if audiences can't wait for the film to end. The two actors are charming and good looking but that can take you only so far when the script itself doesn't have much to offer in the first place. (3/10)
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