Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

I loved the first two seasons of the show. Satire comedy at its best. But something is different this season. It's either my mental state or the show itself. But I tried to watch this in several sittings because at any given point, the show just did not grab my attention. This season the series goes more into deep dark existential crisis for the family especially the brother-sister duo while keeping the dialogues and situations sharp. Still, not even one single episode made me say Wow. So, I am sorry but the season 3 of this show just did not do for me. This season also has 10 episodes of about 30-35 minutes each. At the end of season 2 we saw that all the family members are doing well for themselves. Brooke is engaged now to her boyfriend but she has this insecurity of wanting to do good. She leaves the industry but whatever she tries, she doesn't enjoy. She always feel like others are judging her, which also leads to a rift and eventual breakup of engagement. Cary is going th...

Set in 1987 in El Paso, Texas, this film with a unique name is based on a novel (which I had no idea about). I was just fascinated by the intriguing title; a story of two Mexican teenagers Aristotle "Ari" and Dante, their friendship, and their struggles with racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships. I had no expectations of the film and I have to say that this was so sweet and charming and cute and touches your heart. It's summer. We meet teenage Ari, a loner by choice since he doesn't identify much with other teenagers his age and lives with his Mexican origin parents. His older brother is in jail but the family never talks about it and he doesn't know the reason. Enter Dante, a guy similar to Ari in heritage who offers to teach Ari how to swim at the community pool. Very soon a friendship develops where they spend a lot of time with each other throughout the summer, the parents approving of the friendship. They are opposites. Ari has a tou...

I am liking the fact that more and more gay films are exploring fresh subjects. No more about coming out or being gay, but stories around normal lives of gay men. Now. Some of these aspects could be interesting while others could fall flat, but when you have actor like Billy Porter associated with a project, my expectations were quite high. This film tackles the downfall of a marriage and eventual divorce between two dads, who end up fighting for the custody of their only son, in time to realize their own mistakes. Nicky and Gabriel have been together for 13 years with their 8-year-old son, Owen and somehow they have neatly divided their parental duties. While Nicky spends his days at the office being the primary breadwinner but often missing key moments of Owen’s childhood; Gabriel is a doting stay at home Papa who reads his son bedtime stories, drops him to school and enjoys cooking his every meal. Gabriel recently has met another person and he tells Nicky who is surprised but this o...

Apparently, this show is the third and final chapter in the My Day series. I have not sen the first two in question but I can assure you that this can still be seen on its own. Even if you have seen the first two, it will not change the fact that this series is really bad and a colossal waste of time of watching nothingness, silly drama, odd people and just bad. The show stretches for 13 whole episodes of almost 40 minutes each, which I guess one can watch the fist two and last two episodes and completely leave the middle ones and you would not miss a thing. Zeke lives with his boyfriend Fifth and two other students in some sort of house/PG accommodation. It seems their's is a perfect love story till the appearance of a new guy Kevin. Kevin keeps trying to chat with Zeke who keeps rebuffing him. Kevin pleads Fifth to introduce him to Zeke which eventually happens. Turns out Kevin is someone who Zeke loved before but Kevin refused his proposal then and now he wants Zeke in his life....

I have a fascination towards Turkish films ever since I lived there for few years. Although there have been a very few gay films from the country, once in a while they do come up with decent surprises. This little small budget film running at just over an hour is one such similar film. The basic premise of the film is very simple and straight forward. Two former high school buddies meet for dinner in a cozy restaurant after 17 years. One of them has just had a baby and they were able to connect through social media. When asked about his wife, the other friend very casually says that he is gay, used to have a boyfriend but is now single. As they drink and talk they realize another life is possible on a land where toxic masculinity does not exist. They represent the great divide in Turkish gay society: The lonely self-declared homosexuals and the married hypocrites. While they talk more anymore, we realize that. They might share a history from high school. As the gay man says that they w...

A forbidden gay love of epic proportions stretching from the Red Scare of the 1950s into the early years of the AIDS epidemic under Ronald Reagan is the best way to describe this 8 part Showtime series. Just like holocaust stories, there remains a cultural need for narratives that foreground the AIDS epidemic; but this show does it with a lot of love between its two leads accompanied with a lot of sex scenes relying primarily on its two very very charming leading men. The series efficiently sketches out the wide variety of ways a wide variety of queer people coped, copulated and compromised. Constantly going back and forth between multiple timelines, the show keeps you on the edge of your seat. The story spans decades so I am just gonna try and give just a basic premise. Matt Bomer plays Hawk, working for a senate in the government with high ambitions and likely a suitable groom for the senator's daughter Lucy. Hawk is but player and leaves no opportunity wasted to have flings with...

In 2011, the U.S. repealed its discriminatory “don't ask, don’t tell” policy, which banned gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members from serving openly in the military. That reversal, however, didn’t include transgender people, 15,500 of which are estimated to be serving in the military today. This documentary film chronicles the stories of four transgender service members fighting for their right to serve openly. Following one couple and two others across several years, TransMilitary captures their long journey to meet with the Pentagon’s top brass with the goal of igniting dialogue that will reverse the ban. Staff Sergeant Logan Ireland loves serving in the dangerous Kandahar province in Afghanistan. When the film opens, his fellow troops don’t know he’s trans. As he says, “What I like about the deployment is I can be my authentic self,” including growing a wispy mustache. His scratchy mustache is an issue for his girlfriend Laila, an Army Corporal. Her family had a difficult...

This two part mini-series is a show that no one asked for and it didn't need to be made. It doesn't even have a coherent plot. It feel like a glorified ad campaign of something (a product that is never shown) or a music video or something like that. With just 2 episodes of 30 minute each, even this one hour series got me so mentally tired. Set around a beach, there is a private resort where on December 30th, a guy named Pond shows up. He loses his key and is forced to then share a room with Golf, a guy who is there of location scouting. The two of them are forced to share a room and each other's company for New Years eve. Mild chit-chats and flirting happens while minuscule non-sensible interactions take place. There is not even a proper love story here, but there are feelings they both start to show for one another. As said earlier, there is no concrete plot here and I am not really sure what it is that the makers were going for when they made this. The first half of the s...

This film is anthology of three stories. As per the director he wanted to take ideas of coincidence and past experiences manifesting themselves into present lives with three separate stories of three gay men and their connections to three of the characters. It is a film where concerning person in each story are drawn to each other for their shared love of gamesmanship. Some characters are in love, while others think they are, but they are all skilled at deception. They all, to some extent, use their wit and charm to play at relationships that are more about power and control than any thoughts of love and sex. While they may not be honest with each other, they are all honest about their desire for physical intimacy. Wyatt - The first story shows Wyatt walking with his best friend Logan, hearing how Logan has met this new guy Shane and he has feelings for him. Little does he know that Shane is Wyatt's ex. Wyatt goes to meet Shane to understand on why he is playing with Logan by cook...

I loved season 1 of the British show Big Boys and I am so so happy that the makers came up with a follow up season of this because I could definitely use more of Jake and Danny and all the people around them. The season 1 handled two simultaneous coming-of-age stories. On the one hand, Jack, coming to terms with his life as a gay man, and on the other, Danny opening up about his experience of depression. This Channel 4 show continues from there on, with the shenanigans of these two with their friends Corrine and Yemi. The 4 friends are now looking for a flat to live together but eventually end up going back to the blue shed as their home. Jack is now out and young and proud and trying to get laid but is still struggling. Corrine has started dating another guy leaving Jack behind but he takes in everything in his stride. He is getting over his depression and with Jack's mom and her family accepting Danny into their own, he has come a long way. We do find out a lot more about Danny...

This Thai BL shows is another one of those soap operas that are quite a deviation from the regular BL stories being churned out there. Set in a periodic historical setting, it tackles many complex themes, including class differences, womanhood, and LGBTQ+ experiences. Each fascinating storyline explores the past era and examines cultural nuances insightfully. The show is produced and made on a grand scale, a lot of parallel stories are tackled and given the respect and attention they deserve, while also making sure that the core love story between two men remains intact and satisfies the viewers. Of course, this means that this needs a lot of time investment from us an audience. The show has 12 episodes where each episode is 60-75 minutes long. In present time, Jom is an architect in a relationship with boyfriend Ohm working on a big house project but he gets vivid visions in that house. Soon Ohm breakup with him for another girl and a drunk Jom while driving gets into the sea and lose...

Sometimes some shows are so bad, that you cant stop watching them. The third and hopefully final season of this French amateurish show falls in that category. Things continue to happen haphazardly but it's ok since you probably already saw the first two seasons and your expectations are set accordingly. This season has 10 episodes averaging to about 7-8 minutes and a longer season finale. Season 2 had ended with Maykel proposing to Johaness, and this season is all about their wedding preparation. While they are busy with planning for wedding, they have another idea, what if they had a baby. Characters from previous two seasons keep re-entering the show. They ask one of their friends to be a surrogate and she agrees. Meanwhile another friend of theirs decides to become there wedding planner and helps them with all the arrangements and planning. The couple is excited and everyone is doing their thing, until in a shocking event the girl ends up losing the baby in the third month. Time...

A Thai BL film that combines the elements of supernatural, horror, historical setting and of course a young male couple falling in love. Sounds great on paper, but somehow I wasn't able to connect with the duo (the couple). The whole situation on why the two come together, stay together and fall in love seems all pretty far fetched. But then, when have any of the Asian BL stories felt real. Lol Rawee is a 21 year old teen who lives with his monk grandfather. The old man's friend Parit comes to visit him and offers an opportunity to Rawee to live in the house. Looking for a better life opportunity he agrees. He stats adjusting in the new environment where almost everyone gives him love. While Rawee grows used to his new home, he begins experiencing scary visions and strange nightmares. Each night, he is haunted by troubling phenomena. Parit has a grandson Phloeng and according to a property, that in his 25th year he will have misfortune. The only way to lift the curse is for him...

Dan Levy directing his first feature film was definitely a very exciting thing for me, given I am huge fan of Schitt's Creek. When Is aw the trailer, I did realize that this was going to be a big departure form his earlier work and is probably gonna present a more sensitive and slow burner going deep into one man's grief about losing his loved one over some period of time. I can see most people having mixed reactions to this, because dealing with grief is very personal and hence, when you represent that on big screen, some will connect and others won't. The one thing I would recommend is that leave all your notions about the actor and the writer from Schitt's Creek and try and see this from fresh eyes. Levy plays Marc, who works and lives as an illustrator in London with his husband Oliver, a very famous author and writer whose books have been made into famous films and is a very very loved figure between fans and friends. On the night of Christmas party, Oliver has to ...

You have to set your expectations with a title like this going into watching a film. On abrogate side the barely 90 minute runtime of the film is a plus. But then this way over the top comedy is silly, trashy, vulgar but somehow funny at the same time in a weird way. Combining the basic plot of famous film Parent Trap with the phenomenon known as "twincest," wherein hot gay guys tend to hook up with other hot gay guys who look so much like them that any public display of affection between them grosses everyone else the hell out. Maybe this film takes it literally. And of course, it is a full on musical. Craig and Trevor are two high-powered, noxiously entitled salesman who treat everyone around them in the manner suggested by the film's title. They're straight, sleep around with women and are strangers at first, but when their companies merge, they meet and eventually realize that they're identical twins, each raised by one of their divorced parents. The mom is pl...

Nackte Männer im Wald (Austria) [Naked Men In The Woods] She has a tumor, he is gay, both of them are keeping it a secret. When their only daughter moves out, he is ready to come out. But that is not going to happen. He arranges a date for a bizarre role-play and she is spying on him, firmly believing that he is having an affair with a younger woman. The chase is on. An almost comedy short film which also addresses some serious issues. Total fun 30 minutes. There's No Sex, Only Fans On OnlyFans, viewers pay to watch amateur pornography online. Influencer Hsuan receives a letter from college student A Hsien, asking to film with her. They meet in a hotel to play Hsuan's best shooting theme. Except it turns out that the famous influencer is actually a man. Evening Miracle (Myanmar) A mute and a blind guy keep crossing each other's path unknowingly creating an unsaid bond between them. Traumatized in their own ways, they use music to heal them of their past and heal them to mov...

Each year, Melbourne’s ‘Same Sex Formal’ is attended by young people from across the state who have missed out on the one rite-of-passage most teenagers take for granted - either because their school explicitly refused to let them bring a same-sex partner, or because they just didn’t feel safe to do so. With breathtaking insight, honesty and humor, 12 LGBT teens reveal the highs and lows of their experiences with falling in love, coming out at high school and coming of age. This film is a moving and compelling film about queer students surviving high school and discovering the transformative power of community, acceptance and love.  In 2012, director Suzi Taylor came across a small news story about the ‘Same Sex Formal’ – an event held in Melbourne each year for same sex attracted and gender diverse students and their allies. It was an event for the kids who did not feel safe – or in some cases, had been forbidden – from attending their own high school formals and debutante balls. ...

Having heard a lot about the performances in this film, I was looking forward to seeing it when it recently came out on Prime video. What a take on homosexuality. This film presents a very different perspective than what we have seen ever.  The gay couple is not even ever together in any scene holding hands or anything , but. The film shows what social pressures can do to the psyche of not just the person who is in closet but also to the people around him, especially his wife (in case of this film). It is a bold but much needed attempt to revamp the social stigma associated with one’s sexual inclination. Matthew is a middle aged man who is forced by his friends and community to run for local elections. While the preparations are going on, a two month old court filing comes out in open where his wife Omana of 20 years is now asking him for a divorce, citing the denial of her physical needs due to his homosexual orientation. His political party suggest him to fight the case since the...