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Reviews
The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green (2005)
Rubbish
I watched the first 45 minutes of this film and decided to cut my loses. As a film studies graduate, its extremely rare for me to not watch a film in its entirety, I don't like the nagging, lingering question that arises sometimes after only seeing half a film; "I wonder what happened in the end?" With regards to this film, I honestly don't care how it ended. A romantic comedy that is neither funny nor romantic. I couldn't even force half a smile at any of the jokes.
This film breaks the most basic fundamental rule of storytelling; the audience needs to feel empathy, affection and support for the central protagonist. I could not invest in the character Ethan Green at all, I felt no interest in his 2 dimensional life whatsoever.
The plot is farcical, the narrative is all over the place and the acting is wooden and amateur.
Avoid, avoid, avoid.
Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild! (2008)
Switch your "reality-based" brain off and just enjoy the madness!
First things first; this is not like the first movie. In the first movie you have crazy scenarios occurring within a plausible/realistic context, and the narrative of the story was clear-set and followed a linear unfurling path. However in the sequel, reality has no business here. There's numerous addresses to the camera, ridiculously naff special effects, references to the fact that this is just a movie, for god's sake there's a mythical sea creature in the story!
You can tell from the very beginning of the movie that the aim is not so much to tell a heartwarming coming-of-age story, but rather to make you laugh as much as possible by presenting crazy over-the-top, sometimes revolting, gags which it does with gusto. In fairness, this had to be their approach to making this movie. If they were going to make this a serious and realistic follow-on to the last movie, how could they have possibly explained away why three of the four main leads look completely different?! No, they had to just forget about reality and just go all out for funny gags. And on this level it worked; I laughed throughout the whole movie. Result!!
The only thing I would criticize is the use of "actors" who can't actually act - I'm talking about you Perez Hilton! I cringed whenever he was on screen. It was like watching the antics of the drunken slut at a party; you just felt embarrassed for him.
Jonah Blechman deserves a paragraph of praise. He definitely stole the show in this movie. From his zany uber-camp performances to his heartfelt monologue; kudos Jonah. I don't think the movie would have been anywhere near as good if he had wimped-out and jumped ship like three other certain actors.
Biggest surprise; Rupaul is actually a really good, natural and convincing actor. We don't see enough of him on this side of the Atlantic.
Look, just watch the movie with the intention of having a laugh. Switch off the nit-picking film-critic part of your brain and you will enjoy this movie.
Davy and Stu (2006)
A very enjoyable short film.
This short film tells the story of two young Scottish lads who have met in the damp marshes for one of their secret rendezvous. What ensues is a powerful mix of forbidden love, teenage-angst energy and tender affection.
"Davy & Stu" is a fine example of great acting. Both actors give strong, convincing performances. In particular, Nicholas Cutro(Stu) manages to convey the emotional intensity of his character, without over-acting or spelling-it-out for the audience. Words can be deceiving; the facial expressions, and especially the eyes, are more than enough to tell the truth of a character. From Cutro's performance, we understand Stu's internal struggle; the relentless pressures of social acceptability and his intense (almost over-powering) love for Davy.
This is a very enjoyable and touching short film. Hopefully these young actors will continue with their acting careers, as they put some veteran Hollywood actors to shame.
Another Gay Movie (2006)
It's meant to be ironic!
Back in 1996 , Alanis Morissette sang a song about irony; and yet upon listening to the lyrics, it became blatantly clear that she completely misunderstood the concept and definition of irony. Likewise it seems that the majority of the reviews from harsh critics of "Another Gay Movie" are on the same wavelength as Alanis. The film is bombarded with irony and parody, one of the best examples of this is the character of Nico. The film creators took a stereotypical character-type within gay cinema (that of the "bi-sexual" teenager guy struggling with his sexuality, fooling himself with a girlfriend and still in the closet to his parents) and completely parodied it by making Nico super-effeminate and dressed in over-the-top camp outfits,make-up and hairstyles. Irony and parody are subtle forms of comedy. Some people just can't grasp them. Maybe they should just stick to the standard run-of-the-mill Disney comedies that lead the audience by the nose to the punchlines and gags. Don't think for yourself about what is funny and just laugh and clap at their jokes on queue like trained seals.
"Another Gay Movie" is hilarious. Bring on the sequel!
Hustler White (1996)
painful to watch
This is such a curious oddity of a "movie". It's as if Bruce LaBruce was trying to create an artsy soft-core porn movie. If that was indeed the case it begs the question....why?!? Proper film-fans view art-house films with specific intentions and expectations; likewise with porn films. Never does, or should, these distinct viewpoints co-exist simultaneously.
The plot is trite, unfocused and absolutely riddled with holes.The script lacks any depth or originality; consisting merely of snide, bitchy catch-phrases of the stereotypical prancing queen, and lines taken from the poorest quality porn films, while also being delivered in an unnatural context and setting.
The acting is atrocious. The cast's acting ability is less than that of a failed porn actor, which is really saying something! Judging by Bruce LaBruce's acting, its easy to see how the cast managed to pass through any competent casting screening process. As the director of this train-wreck, he should have known better.
LaBruce's attempts at deep, meaningful symbolism and ambiguity are more hilarious than art-house-esquire. At one point I suggested to myself that maybe he intentionally made such a poor-quality film so as to use the film itself as an example of some deep, philosophical ideological statement. I soon realized that I was giving him way too much credit...it was simply just a rubbish movie! I can't help but feel sympathy for Tony Ward. He was definitely the least painful element of this film, and God love him, he tried his best. But what chance did he have with such farcical and incompetent scripting, directing, co-acting, cinematography,etc,etc,etc. Tony, my advice; dust yourself off and try again.
To any potential viewer....AVOID!