Tag Archives: Movie Challenge

Reviews

GPMMC #5: Head On (1998)

headonHead On (1998)
Director: Ana Kokkinos
Writers: Andrew Bovell, Ana Kokkinos, and 2 more credits »
Stars: Alex Dimitriades, Paul Capsis and Julian Garner
Summary: There’s this kid from Greek immigrants to Australia.  He’s gay and doing drugs and has arguments with his dad, and  . . . oh hell, I have no clue what this movie was about.  Everything felt disconnected, the script was horrendous.  Weirdly, the acting was okay, the script just sucked.  I couldn’t follow this movie what so ever.  It couldn’t keep my attention at all.  And don’t think that it was because of the constant switch between Australian English and Greek.  That had nothing to do with it.  It’s just a terrible movie.  Australia has had much better movies come from it.  This one should be erased off the face of the Earth.  Well, at least is streaming free on Amazon Prime.

1 Star because my scale does not include 0

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Reviews

GPMMC #4: Latter Days (2003)

LatterdaysLatter Days
Director: C. Jay Cox
Writer: C. Jay Cox
Stars: Wes Ramsey, Steve Sandvoss and Mary Kay Place

Summary: Party Boy Christian places a bet that he can get the underwear of one of the Mormon Missionary boys next door.  He soon finds out that Elder Aaron Davis is a closeted gay himself. Aaron calls Christian shallow causing Christian to join Project Angel Food and discover in himself what it truly means to love someone.  Meanwhile, Elder Davis has to face the consequences of being excommunicated from his church, and hated by his parents.

Okay, not sure if that’s the best summary for the movie but good enough.  The first time I saw Latter Days was more out of my periphery while my roommate was watching it.  It was good this time to sit back and watch it directly through.  However, the movie didn’t really catch me.  The story moved along at a great pace, neither too fast, nor too slow.  However, the acting was awful, even for Joseph Gordan-Levitt and Jacquelin Bisset.  Honestly, this was just a long episode of a Soap Opera.  I really felt like the movie I was watching was an episode of Gays Of Our Lives,  Christian just felt to me through the entire movie like a plastic Ken doll and I couldn’t find anything within myself to really care for him.  On the other hand Elder Aaron Davis, was adorable and compelling and I wanted him to be happy.  Honestly, he could have found better than Christian.  Overall, this movie was an alright film.

3 Stars

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Reviews

GPMMC #3: The Birdcage (1996)

ThebirdcageThe Birdcage (1996)
Director: Mike Nichols
Writers: Jean Poiret (play), Elaine May (screenplay)
Stars: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart
Summary: La cage aux folles is a french play.  It was made into a movie in 1978.  In 1996, it was adapted into an American movie.  A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancé’s right-wing moralistic parents.

Hilarity does ensue.  Nathan Lane and Robin Williams were perfect casting for the parts of Albert and Armand. They are able to achieve the flamboyance necessary for the roll. Dan Futterman and Calista Flockhart make a cute couple and Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest are perfect for representing a conservative Senator and his wife.

This type of movie is hard for me to watch as I tend to try to run and hide from embarrassing comedy moments and tend not to think of them as funny.  However, I didn’t feel like the jokes were too off the wall and well played for people just suddenly thrown into an awkward situation.  I don’t know how you could have put this film together any better.

It certainly deserves it’s 77% if not higher on the Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes.

5 Stars

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Reviews

GPMMC #2: BearCity (2010)

BearcityBearCity (2010)
Director: Douglas Langway
Writers: Douglas Langway, Lawrence Ferber
Stars: Joe Conti, Gerald McCullouch, Brian Keane, Stephen Guarino, Alex Di Dio, Gregory Gunter, James Martinez
Summary: Tyler is a young gay actor trying to make it in New York City.  But he has a secret, he likes Bears.  As he finally steps into the bear community, he makes new friends and finds a daddy bear, Roger, he cannot resist.  In addition he comes out to his best twink friend as well.  Douglas Langway takes us through a bear Sex In The City type story addressing issues such as “spicing up” a long term relationship, weight loss, and finding that special someone.

For all intents and purposes, while our “hero” is this a twink trying to come out into the bear community, this also follow the story of two other couple as well.  Michael being such a large guy is having trouble finding a job.  He expects it’s because of his weight and he make a decision to have lapband surgery.  His boyfriend Carlos is discusted by this and they have a break.  Meanwhile Fred and Brent have been together for 4 years and Fred has thought about opening up the relationship.  Also, we have Roger, a super hot daddy bear, who seems to be a devoted bachelor.  Our hero Tyler has different plans for Roger, but can he.

Overall the story of BearCity is nice, not a fantastic new story, but showing it in a different community, one which I don’t think has been shown very often. It also addresses a gay man’s second coming out into the bear community.  Over all the film is not a great film by any accounts, but it has a sweet and tender and funny moments that makes me recommend it.

3.5 Rounded up to 4 Stars.

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Reviews

GPMMC #1: La Mission (2009)

LamissionLa Mission

Director: Peter Bratt
Writer: Peter Bratt
Stars: Benjamin Bratt, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Alex Hernandez, Erika Alexander and Christopher Borgzinner
Summary: Che Rivera, ex-con, bus driver, father, just making a life in the Mission District working on a low rider car, and flirting with his neighbor.  Then one day, after coming back from a low rider cruise, he finds out his son, Jes, is gay.  He freaks out, full of rage.  Facing his son the next day, he get’s violent and throws him out.  Eventually Jes returns home as Che tries to come to terms with having a gay son.

Okay So really there’s more to the plot than that but it gives you an idea of what the film is about.  This is a basic Parent comes to terms about having a gay child.  In this case takes place in a hispanic single parent household in the Mission District of San Francisco.  Sure, maybe the story is a little cliché but this different setting still led to what I believe to be a wonderful movie.  I’m sad that I just watched this on Netflix streaming and didn’t buy the darn thing.

First things first.  Yes, it’s a cliché.  I swear I’ve seen this story before.  I can’t put my finger on it but not sure where.  One difference is seeing the coming out of a gay man from the father’s point of view.  This truly is not Jes’s story, it’s Che’s through and through.  I felt at plenty of moments I’ve wanted to cheer Che on in how he dealt with each of his screw up.  I got mad at him when he did screw up.  I had emotional ups and downs with him throughout the film.  Benjamin Bratt was wonderful in the role and I cannot see anyone else in it.

I have to say that I loved the cinematography of this film.  The colors during the day and during the nights in the street lights were fantastic.  The cars were gorgeous and shiny.  The pace and editing of the film just felt right and to me never seemed to drag or go to fast.  The story kept my attention through the entire film which I really appreciated.

Overall, I’m giving it 5 Stars.

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