Change Your Image
eeblunt
Reviews
Framing Agnes (2022)
Academic Filmmaking, Confused Story
Academic filmmaking, not in a good way. I wanted to like it and am the right audience, so am more disappointed. The best thing about it is getting trans actors on screen (Gil-Peterson is great on screen, wish there was way more Angelica, less of the director who shows up in almost every scene for some reason). But there are better ways to do that. The storytelling is confusing. The editing is all over the place. This could have been a very good movie. But what we get is pretentious and rushed. Lotsa jargon. Lotsa postmodern meta stuff that would have made more sense, and been more original, 10-20 years ago. This content could have been interesting but it's mishandled. Not sure anyone outside of the festival crowd and certain kinds of critics will find things to like here if they're being honest. Maybe if the core story was clearer and more thought was put into putting it together, the "experimental" departures would be more meaningful, and this could actually reach beyond elite insiders.
Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen (2020)
Important
I'm not saying this doc will blow your mind if you know anything about LGBTQ+ issues. But it's well directed and produced. And it's doing better work than many of the artsy docs I've seen in this space in the last few years which are (mostly) not reaching far outside of elite in-group viewers who are already on board with the issues they take up. Worth seeing.
Euphoria (2019)
Overhyped but noisy and gets boring
I love Zendaya so was hoping to like this one more. The acting is strong which you get from many popular HBO shows. But the stylized look is too noisy for me and some of the drug culture stuff feels predictable. The characters don't hold up as you keep watching either. And the story becomes boring as you move further in.
Moonlight (2016)
Film Poetry
An amazing movie that feels like poetry. Director Berry Jenkins avoids cliches, and manipulative sentiment, giving us black gay life in its ordinary and powerful moments. A real achievement especially for a movie that did so well commercially. The direction and acting are impressive. The cinematography avoids the documentary realism that's still so common in indie movies.
Two Sentence Horror Stories: Elliot (2021)
Painfully mediocre
I don't usually write reviews but this series is so disappointing. Was expecting more from this episode with the trans aspect. But the writers, director, most of the actors serve up something mediocre and predictable. The only good part of this ep is the young trans actor James Goldman who plays Elliot. Much better speculative anthology series out there. Black Mirror. Jordan Peele's Twilight Zone. Even Monsterland which is not even that interesting, but better than this. Smarter LGBTQ+ content too.