Movie Reviews -
Gay Themed

Continuing from the season 1, we get next 3 episodes again of about 30 minutes each which continues to focus on not just lives of Michael and Justin, but this time we do get to see a little more of Brooke and the daughter as well. This season, Michael or Luck Dragon, as Justin so fondly refers to him, must face the accumulating expectation he feels to always be the "rock" in their relationship when a devastating tragedy at work hits a little too close to home sending him over the edge. I am really enjoying this continued evolving relationship of Justin, Michael and their family.  Justin and Michael's daughter Mandy is really starting to grow. One day when she arrives with her friends and Brooke shows up, they realize that its their daughter's first period and as expected she feels comfortable talking to a woman and in this case, it is Brooke, the pivotal parental figure. Brooke soon wants to leave to meet her boyfriend, but something Justin says doesn't sit well w...

I saw the film "More Than Only" almost 5 years back and honestly I even forgot about it. Had to go and re-read my review about the beautiful film I saw. When I got my hands on this short film series, I did not realize that the makers have continued to series to show us what the lives of Michael and Justin has turned up to me after the film ended (which was they got married and had a surrogate daughter with their best friend Brooke). There are three seasons and I will maybe review them separately. This first season is 3 episodes of about 30 minutes each. Michael and Justin are a happy couple and living with their almost teenage daughter. Their friend and the surrogate mother Brooke is still very much a part of their life. The series begins with Michael's parents visiting the couple to spend a day. Given Justin's really bad experience in childhood and his parents reactions, he is always nervous of this visit and always tries to go out of his way to impress his in-laws b...

A gay serial killer and alien murder mystery would be one way to describe this Spanish-German co-production. I wouldn't call it a horror at all, because not even once I flinched or was scared. It was a bit silly at places but I wanted to check out to see if it made any sense. Luckily I kept my expectations extremely low. It also helped that the film was barely 50 minutes. Film starts with one man giving bj to another in a cruising park and a third man watching them. The next day a mutilated body of the person is found as if the entire body of the person was sucked out, leaving what could best be described as a puddle of goo. A similar death happens a few days later of another boy. Two lady detectives are assigned to the case and the note marks around the dick suggest that it feels like some sort of a spider or a giant tarantula, but the experts say that this is not possible given how far apart the bite marks are. The man who had witnessed the first murder helps detectives create a ...

Oh my god!! What were the makers thinking? This series is so painfully dull and boring. After paying attention for 3-4 episodes, I Was so lost and really couldn't care less about our main protagonist. With 10 episodes each of 15-20 minutes duration, this series and its purpose made no sense to me. I expected better from Taiwan. Also, I am quite shocked to see some glowing reviews about this show. I am clearly missing out on the hidden trend here. Raccoon is a handsome and famous gay influencer. One night at a bar, he hooks up with a guy, they have a great chemistry and the next thing you know they are sharing intimate moments. Raccoon, who struggles with severe insomnia, admits he relates to Endymion. Every time Raccoon tries to sleep, he hallucinates, blurring the line between dreams and reality. He has had these issues for a while and when pills did not work he is seeing a sleep therapist. Instead of improving, Raccoon's condition worsens. Each night, he experiences bizarre d...

Like a lot of movies from the nineties, this goofy action comedy throws a bit of everything at you, wild fight scenes, ridiculous stunts, dumb humor, and some straight up drama mixed in too. It probably landed fine back in the day given how silly it was and honestly how casually homophobic that era's comedy tended to be, but stuff like this just doesn't hold up watching it now. Sitting through it today feels pretty strange. That said, I'll admit there were a handful of scenes I genuinely had fun with just because of how ridiculous they were. The setup is that a serial killer's out there murdering gay men, so two cop buddies get assigned to infiltrate the scene by posing as a gay couple themselves. Neither of them's thrilled about it, but they don't really get a say in the matter. So they end up going through this intense three day crash course on basically how to act gay. Once that's done, they rent an apartment, play it up as a couple, and head off to a gay...

This documentary is trying to break down the old tired stereotypes and show that gay men can look like anything, blue collar guys, cops, tough athletes, rodeo cowboys, gym bros who could scare anyone just by walking in the room. It brings in a bunch of different guys talking about what being masculine actually means to them. The guys they interview are pretty honest about their sexuality and how people see them. They talk about the usual butch gay categories, leather guys, bears, rodeo riders, muscle guys, construction workers, truck drivers, cops, athletes, and mix that in with stuff like homophobia, being stereotyped, being called too feminine or too polished, and fashion. A lot of them say they feel kind of alone trying to fit into gay culture as masculine guys, like they don't belong to the "normal" gay scene either. Some talk about just not caring about pop culture or fashion or divas like other gay guys do, worrying if they'd be accepted in a typical tough guy j...

Should've known better the second I saw Todd Verow's name attached to this film. That name alone tells you exactly what you're signing up for, his usual brand of weird experimental stuff that definitely isn't for everyone. It sure wasn't for me. There's some nudity scattered in along with a couple sex scenes, but there's really no actual story here at all. Basically the whole film is just a bunch of loosely connected snapshots of gay men in different cities, all trying to outrun their loneliness through love, lust, or some mix of both. It mostly takes place across New York, Paris, and Berlin, the cities people tend to think of as gay capitals. Some of these little segments show characters getting ready to meet someone or coming home after a one night stand, all without a single word of dialogue. Other segments have a bit more talking, but overall there's barely any dialogue at all, it's clearly not the point here. And that's basically the entire ...

This is a documentary that serves as an overview and examination of the lives and careers of aspiring and professional gay and lesbian athletes from all over the world. Chronicling the present, framed within a historical context of those that came before, this film highlights the experiences of athletes who have fought and struggled, both in and out of the closet, to represent the LGBT community and their true selves. This film is told through the voices of pioneers, present day heroes, tomorrow’s superstars and the people who’ve helped them succeed.  By casting those who’ve come out in the past as “heroes” — including women’s tennis game-changers Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, NFL vet David Kopay, retired baseballer Billy Bean and ex-NBA pioneer John Amaechi — the film aims to chip away at the potentially career-ending stigma that intimidates many athletes into keeping their identities a secret. Though Sam himself isn’t interviewed in the film, his publicist Howard Brag...

This horror musical was definitely not my cup of tea. It is one of those productions that throws everything against the wall in hopes that something will stick and resonate with the viewer. In particular, the project attempts to tackle several different genres; romance, comedy, horror, mystery, and musical. The result, as is often the case with films bogged down in excess, is a bit of a muddled mess that is impressive one moment only to transition into aggravating tedium. Martin is on a quest. Long ago, before he understood his sexuality or what it could mean for him socially, he fell for one of his friends, a skinny blond boy called Daniel. Not so long afterwards, Daniel disappeared, and nobody knows what became of him. Sometimes he thinks he catches sight of him. He is now hiding in his aunt's coastal house away from everyone. There his cousin also shows up with her boyfriend and other friends. Martin meets Lucas, a neighborhood boy and together they wanna search for the mystery ...

This 90s German film feels like an absurd satire about German society and sexuality in those days. 90s were different times and this indie film tries to portray its own understanding of likely how things were during those times. The film gets slightly confusing at times but is very much focused on sex and sexuality. 14 year old Axel comes from a broken home with a substance-abusing mom and an abusive stepfather. Rather than go to school, Alex hangs out with his friends in the center of town and cruises a gay bar to try and find johns and make some money. Axel mostly appears quite assertive in his behavior, he is smart-mouthed, sometimes violent and sports a giant Elvis-like hairstyle. Things change when he meets an older guy, who is unhappily married, has a son and is likely hiding his sexuality. Their affair starts off as a blackmail event but slowly the relationship evolves. All this while Axel using his place to have sex with his girlfriend, who is also sleeping with his best friend...

Though not explicit and in your face like most gay films, this is a queer coming-of-age drama focusing on the intense, manipulative, and toxic relationship between 20-year-old Yuri and the older, charismatic entertainer Agostino. The film explores themes of sexuality, freedom, and power dynamics within their nomadic journey through southern Italy. The narrative focuses on Yuri's transformation from a nervous and confused young man into someone who gradually asserts himself within the tumultuous relationship. 20-year old Yuri has been living in the protective village environment raised by his aunts. He is quiet and shy, with the social skills of a toddler and some visible learning difficulties. Yuri becomes fascinated by the cocky Agostino, around 10 years his senior, with formidable piercing eyes, flame-red dyed hair and the perfectly chiseled face. He lives in a camper van and barely scrapes a living by conducting children’s birthday parties. The highly seductive and manipulative ...

Thriller films are supposed to excite you and create the thrill.. Somehow it's only after 25 minutes into the film , I could figure out what exactly is going on. Taking the principal e that thanks to surveillance cameras these days, anyone can be monitored from one place to another and it's easy to catch folks. Not that fifths wasn't there, this film would need to change its story, because even in that case, it would have stayed the same. Adam, an IT teacher at an illustrious public school, is picked up by a charming photographer Jake at a gay bar. After spending the night at Jake’s flat, he leaves, but manages to pick up the wrong mobile phone by mistake. When he returns to give it back, he witnesses a couple of thuggish men carrying something that looks suspiciously like a body in a sack out of the flat. Unfortunately, it seems that they were also after the very same mobile that he now happens to be in his possession, and they want it back. Knowing he’s out of his depth, ...

Gay Rights is an issue heard around the world, including Cuba. Free Havana paints a vivid picture of what it has been like to be gay in Cuba through the candid stories of six gay and lesbian individuals. Free Havana exposes the evolution of gay life from a time when homosexuality was considered a punishable crime to current efforts to promote a greater acceptance of freedom of sexual orientation. Honest in approach and poignant in content, the stories of the six Cubans will inform and inspire as they touch your heart. The six interviewees are interviewed one by one and tell their personal stories. First we have a guy who at the age of 17 was enlisted for 'military' but in reality was a group where all suspect LGBT folks were rounded up and taken to a village and were made to work non stop hours in a field, hoping to get cured. Then we hear from a guy who knew he was different and when his love letter o another boy was found, his father threw him out. But thanks to his mother...

Covering the topic of death in film can be done successfully in many different ways, but it's very difficult to make the subject matter beautiful and something that people can connect with. Especially hard is to make it funny and poignant. Interestingly this film is whimsical, funny, and also touching at the same time. Supposedly inspired by a true story (if the end credits are to be believed), this thoughtful script is quite alright. Jimmy, an elderly gay man suffering from Alzheimer's, decides to die on his own terms, as he is aware that his condition will only worsen with time. This spurs him to host a “FUNeral,” a final get-together with loved ones, meant to play out more like a farewell party to honor the rich, vibrant life he has led. Jimmy is a man of many talents. Apart from being a musician, he also has a deep interest in space, is the founder of a famous soft-toy line named Moonie Babies, and has helped people from numerous walks of life embrace their authentic selves...

How did Hollywood pitch movies about gays and lesbians between 1953 and 1977? Here are theatrical trailers for 27 mainstream and art-house films, presented chronologically from "Tea and Sympathy" to "Outrageous!" More than half are films released between 1968 and 1972. Half are dramas and half are comedies, with farce dominating the films released after 1971. At least three advertise X-rated films: "The Killing of Sister George," "Midnight Cowboy," and Visconti's "The Damned." A collection of vintage movie trailers offering a crash course in lesbian, gay, bi and transgender movie history. Features virtually every major mainstream queer-themed film produced during that time. This fast-paced overview offers a crash course in gay and lesbian movie history and a colorful look at the best (and worst) Hollywood hard-sells of gay and lesbian "subject matter." Archivist Jenni Olson is one of the world’s leading experts on LGBT fil...