Reviews

I'll start by saying that this isn't a bad film. It's watchable and necessary in the sense that it's a huge step forward in normalizing LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream cinema. I for one never assumed that it would open in my hyper-religious, homophobic country and yet it did, for all of two weeks.

However, what I had expected to be a charming coming-of-age/coming out film didn't really deliver, or rather it delivered but withheld the charm. I'm not one of those people who raises a fuss when a movie doesn't live up to the book it's based on. If the movie is good, regardless of the changes made, I can still appreciate and enjoy it. But with "Love, Simon" I felt like everything that made the book dynamic and unique was lacking in the film and so I can't help but compare them. Whereas it seemed like the writer made sure not to portray overly stereotypical characters, the film went with the usual, predictable John Hughes-esque teen tropes that we've been inundated with for decades. The best example would be the character of Nick. In the book he's a popular soccer player who says very little and disappears into his own world whenever he's playing guitar. He's crushing on a girl but doesn't actively pursue her. In the movie, he constantly runs his mouth, cracking jokes like he'll die if he takes a minute to breathe and the reason I find this problematic is because they made the decision of making the character a POC and as a POC myself, I'm tired of always seeing us portrayed as loud-mouthed braggarts. Or, in Abby's case, who is also POC, educating the "ignorant white folks" about hip-hop culture and the like. For a film as innovative as this was meant to be, I guess they only felt the need to tackle one form of representation at a time. Also, where the book managed to make you see the humanity in/feel some sympathy for the blackmailer Martin, the film character, once again, was as cliche as you could possibly get.

Now I'll get to Simon himself. I've never had a problem with Nick Robinson in anything I've seen him in but I don't feel like he really tapped into the emotional depth of the character. Part of the reason this happened, I believe, is that the writers basically had him looking for "Blue" in every guy he met, to the point that he even asked a couple of them if they were Blue. It didn't feel like he was looking for THE Blue so much as A Blue: as if ANY Blue would do. It ruined the mystery and sense of, I don't know, possessive safe-keeping that the book had. Blue was his special secret, his person, not a name to be spoken aloud and to guys whose gazes only lingered on his for a few extra seconds no less. Book Simon wanted badly to meet Blue but for the majority of the book he cherished their online relationship more than his growing feelings and desires and he understood Blue's reluctance to come out and did his utmost not to out him. I suppose this doesn't matter much since there was no mystery to Blue's identity to begin with. They made it obvious from the get-go who he actually was. He may as well have been wearing a stamp on his forehead.

Another huge mistake that the movie made is the big public reveal. In the book, Simon told Blue through their usual form of communication that he'd be waiting for him on the ride. When Blue did show up, there was no huge spectacle. He didn't come out to the entire school the same time he revealed himself to Simon. In fact there was hardly anyone around. It made it all the more special and intimate.

So in summation, I guess my biggest gripe with the film is that it took something that was fresh and touching, gave it the Hollywood treatment and made it into yet another teen movie, only with a gay lead. I suppose as far as normalizing gay cinema, they're on the right track in that respect. No special treatment there. But it could have been so much more than that and since I really looked forward to it, I regret that it wasn't.

One of my greatest accidental finds of the year, Bad Day is delightfully humorous, action-filled and, it goes without saying, violent. Not gratuitously so, however, which I appreciate. It isn't necessary since the passion for revenge is powerfully displayed and that therein is the foundation of any good revenge film.

I was surprised to find myself touched and a bit saddened by the end, though. It's the type of film where it's easy to get caught up in the fantasy of revenge, to tap into the protagonist's thirst as if it were your own, and just when you think that the bad guys are going to get theirs, reality comes and slaps you in the face. But I suppose that too was something I appreciated since it's a reminder of how cyclical life is. Violence begets violence and more often than not, innocents wind up being collateral damage in other people's wars.

Overall, an entertaining, thought-provoking action film.

I wasn't sure about this film but I actually ended up really liking it. It's full of stereotypes, as one would expect given the subject-matter, but manages to remain charming and touching, not to mention it's quite funny.

Dennis lives a complacent, pampered life with Farleigh, not realizing that the term "boy" no longer applies to him until someone younger and arguably more attractive appears. Sensing danger, Dennis tries to find a way to get rid of the competition and keep his man. That's what I thought it was going, ALL I thought it was going to be, but I was pleasantly surprised by the journey I was taken on.

It's not the best film out there by any means but there's enough charm and heart in it to make it worth a watch.

Cop commits crime. Cop's son gets kidnapped by crime-lord in exchange for return of stolen goods. Throw in some dirty cops, more criminals and pumping club music amidst sporadic action scenes and you've got the gist of the movie.

Now, while the movie is overall enjoyable, well acted and possesses decent action, it was frustrating to watch at times because it felt like the cop kept making stupid or bad decisions, one after the next, which ultimately made his and his son's situations worse. He's a cop, and supposedly a criminal on top of it, so you're inclined to think that he should be more savvy than he actually is. But then I asked myself what I would do in his situation and I had to admit that he really didn't have a lot of options. Still, I found some of the scenes frustratingly repetitive and the pace slow at times so instead of the "I can't wait to see what happens next" expectation of an action-suspense film like this, I found myself wanting something, ANYTHING, to happen if only to break the tedium and move the plot - or status bar - along. I didn't expect non-stop mindless action but every scene should move the film along and many did quite the opposite.

If someone were to ask me what the point of the movie is, I honestly couldn't say. To be honest, after reading the reviews here, I thoroughly expected to hate it. I thought it would be another exploitation film along the lines of Taekwondo: chock-full of attractive, oft-nude guys doing little to nothing for far too long a run-time. I was in for a surprise.

The story follows Jonas and his best friend Phil on a trip through the German countryside. If you're expecting a film about best friends falling in love along the way, that's not what happens here. At least, not quite. During their travels, they meet Boris: a youth from Poland, also exploring the countryside. He joins them in their van and shenanigans ensue. There is a fair bit of unnecessary and unimpressive nudity but nothing as bad as I feared based on previous reviews(at least compared to Taekwondo) and there's only one graphic shot of someone urinating.

This movie is rather ridiculous and pointless but I feel like that's the charm of it. The first part of the film is basically just Phil getting on Jonas' nerves, which I empathized with, and not much else happens until they meet Boris. That's when the dynamic changes and Phil's sexuality comes into play. Boris himself is a strange character prone to randomness. One minute he's tearing his pants off during an angry yet hilarious rant about Phil wanting to have sex with him and the next, he's flirting with Phil. Shortly thereafter, they consummate their attraction and then Jonas starts feeling like the third wheel. Or is it more than that? Truth be told, to the very end I was left wondering whether what subsequently unfolded happened because Jonas really wanted to be with Phil, and didn't realize that until he had competition, or he just wanted Phil to himself again. An argument can be made for either since the film provides very little conclusive evidence. Phil even asks but all Jonas does is smile.

As I said before, I didn't expect to like this movie and saying that I did might be a stretch but I didn't hate it. Was it enjoyable? Strangely, yes. It was entertaining, if only because it was so silly and kept surprising me with how much sillier it could get. And since it was short, it didn't feel like a complete waste of my time. If that's what the director was going for, then they succeeded.

I really didn't expect to like this movie. I've seen quite a few surfer flicks and while the ocean footage is always breathtaking, the story lines tend to be superficial at best. Still, I was interested enough in the synopsis to give it a try and I'm glad that I did.

The story is about Jesse, a young surfer with dreams of making it big. He faces some challenges, though, in the form of his older brother's legacy(and subsequent failure)/ aggressive jealousy and his own self-sabotaging ways. Jesse is pretty volatile and after a while you'll start to wonder how he even has any friends because he treats everyone like crap, especially his twin brother (I only deduced that they were twins at the end based on something Fergus said. It's never stated in the movie). His friends are douches in their own right but Jesse is in a league of his own. He is quite unlikable for the majority of the film.

My favourite characters would have to be the supportive grandfather, Fergus and Andy, the only nice one in Jesse's group. Although there's no real, in depth "gay romance", I still loved the moments that Fergus and Andy shared and I felt that the actors succeeded in building the idea of the "potential" the characters could have together with what little screen time they were allotted. I also liked the fact that neither was a stereotype, in the sense that Fergus, despite being "different" and constantly verbally abused, was confident and content in who he was and Andy was similarly confident and self-aware. There were no fem/masc roles, no closeted-bully/athlete situation. The way Andy revealed his interest in Fergus/men was very casual and no matter how many times his friends teased him about being nice to Fergus, suggesting that he might be gay as well, he never stopped being kind, never put up a front. After a while, I even started to suspect that they knew the attraction was mutual and didn't mind. Apart from Jesse, their teasing was really just that. Although I would have liked for there to have been a little more substance to their "relationship", it was nice to have it somewhat confirmed that they were together in the end. For as light as their storyline was, it was far better portrayed than a lot of legitimate LGBTQ films.

While I did enjoy the movie overall, even with the immature little boys and their shenanigans, my main issue with the film and having Jesse as the protagonist is that he is also the antagonist and he experiences very little development. He swears, shouts, and stomps his way through 3/4 of the film and it's only when his older brother/nemesis dies, from an accident that he technically caused, does he finally change, if you can even call it that. I found that to be a rather weak way to get him to stop being an ass. The "bigger" ass had to die for the little one to realize that there's more to life than surfing and that it wouldn't kill him to be nice to people. He never apologizes to Fergus or his friends for his past actions and in the end, he gets to be in the competition that was his goal from the very beginning. Sure, he's guilt-ridden, but it still felt like a cheap resolution and that he didn't deserve the happy ending he got. I would even go so far as to say that Victor, the brother that dies, showed more humanity in his final moments than Jesse did in the entire film, even after Victor's death, because he was looking out for Fergus at the time that Jesse pulled a dumb move that killed him and almost killed Andy.

This film isn't for everyone and like some of the other reviews stated, it may just be too plot-light to seem worth spending almost 2 hours watching, but for me at least it was enjoyable. Jesse aside, I genuinely liked the characters and the surfing is top-notch. I love the way the surfing styles seemed to fit the individual characters' personalities and every scene of the Australian land and seascape was just breath-taking. Once you get past the bratty teenage aspects, it's quite an enjoyable film.

Look, this isn't a terrible film by any means. It has a few comedic and touching moments and if eye candy is your thing then it definitely delivers in that respect. But it offers nothing that anyone, whatever their orientation, hasn't seen before. It's packed to the brim with stereotypes and you see every single one of them coming from a mile away.

Blaine - the nice, attractive, intelligent guy next door that no one in over-sexed, superficial L.A seems to want - falls for Xander, the new-in-town country cutie. As with all rom-coms a misunderstanding occurs, in this case Xander thinks that Blaine is really Cameron, Blaine's promiscuous go-go boy roommate, because when they met online there was a mix-up with the pictures, yadda yadda. Instead of doing what both his hag bestie and somehow-smarter-than-the-smartest-guy-in-the-room roommate advise, Blaine decides to pretend to be Cameron when he finally meets Xander in person and thus ensues what's supposed to be a comedy of errors but lacks any of the charm or actual humor of such. Throw in the old queen, complete with tiny toy dog, and the mildly homophobic "you people" boss and that's the film.

I can't say what makes this film watchable. It's unremarkable and I'm going to forget it as soon as I post this review. But I suppose the fact that no one truly got on my nerves and I merely wanted to shake some sense into Blaine instead of the more volatile reactions films/characters like this usually stir within me means that it was at least tolerable. It's definitely not the worst of its kind out there.

This movie gave me a lot of feelings and not one of them was positive. The two hours (six because I kept pausing to vent) I spent watching this were an exercise in frustration. This should not have been two hours long. It doesn't have enough substance to warrant that length.

Full disclosure: my main source of irritation with this film stems from the lead character, and I'll admit that it's in large part due to the actor. None of the acting in this film is stellar but his was the weakest for me(except for act II where Tim suddenly starts talking like Mr. Darcy in P&P). Needless to say that I didn't like Ben; found him completely un-rootable. We're meant to sympathize with him, admire his courage at being out in high school while living in a conservative town, but I couldn't muster even that. This is supposed to be a story about growth, which visits the main pair at 3 different points in their lives, but while Tim did change/grow, I felt like Ben stayed the same. As the "good" one of the two, I guess that we're supposed to look at it as Tim "growing" to get to Ben's level of self-acceptance, which he did, but Ben is a flawed, inherently selfish character who could've done with considerable growth himself and unfortunately we didn't get to see that.

It took me a while to put my finger on it but this felt like one of those films that's intended to be a vehicle to launch an actor's career, to show how special and talented he is. Or one of those self-indulgent ones where the director/writer also assigns himself a lead role regardless of his ability to act. Mulligans comes to mind, probably because I watched that recently. But even that guy, with his two facial expressions and monotone voice, didn't annoy me this much. I wasn't aware going in that this was also a musical so the first time Ben burst into song, I was taken aback. It was hard to take his performances seriously, however, since every time he did the scene "froze" yet you could see the other actors struggling not to move and blinking rapidly. It was very distracting. Also, while Ben/Grant can indeed sing, I wasn't fond of his voice and I don't think the songs accomplished what the director intended.

Long story short, I personally would not recommend this film. By halfway through, I didn't care whether the two ended up together or not. I actually felt like Tim could do better but then I decided maybe it was best that they be together to save anyone else the misery of having to date them. The fact that someone literally had to die for them to come together in the end just cemented my dislike of the film, especially since that person was perhaps the nicest and most likable character in the film.

The synopsis of the film is what drew me to it. As vague as it was, I wanted to see how they, German and Fer, were going to get together in what I presumed would be a house full of testosterone-driven heteros. And for the most part that is essentially the plot of the film, in as much as a plot exists. However, that particular storyline could be whittled down to 20 minutes of the film's almost two-hour run time, if so much. The majority of the film comprises of half-naked guys lounging, more often than not chatting about cheating on their girlfriends or being tied down by said girlfriends, etc.

I would agree with the review that said that it's meant to depict how gay guys feel surrounded by their heterosexual friends talking about their conquests to a point but the majority of those conversations take place without German or Fer in attendance and neither of them seem bothered by said conversations when they are there. For Fer, who's the host, it's par for the course because they are HIS friends and German spent most of his scenes wondering whether Fer was even interested in him or not. If they are bothered by those conversations, there's nothing in the film to indicate it.

For as little substance as this film has, it's too long and yet I can't quite think of how they could've possibly made it suitably shorter so I guess I must give production credit for relatively decent organization and cinematography. But I'm not inclined to even give them that much because when we do finally get to the end of German and Fer's story, there is little to no reward. Two hours of "are they, aren't they", Fer's friends' incessant lusting for sex (and a couple of actual hookups), and those two got one brief, pitch-black kiss.

I can't in good conscience recommend this film, it made me feel like I'd wasted two valuable hours that I could've spent watching something else, but if a buffet of oft-naked guys talking, swimming, sleeping, eating is your cup of tea then have at it.

I'm almost ashamed to admit how much I wanted to see this movie. I fully intended to go to the cinema to see it but it didn't open here in my country. As it turns out, our selective system saved me my money, though not my time since I still watched it eventually.

From the trailer, I expected it to be predictable. How could it not be? However, predictable isn't always bad. Just because something's been done before doesn't mean it can't be done again and done well. This, sadly, does not fall into the latter category. There were only two ways that this was going to play out as far as culprits went, hence the predictability. I have to wonder if the writer/s even really tried, the writing was so lazy. I might actually have respected them more if they'd thrown in some random guy who'd been stalking her all along or if she'd really been insane, anything but it boiling down to the catatonic son or/and the weird little boy. But no, it went there. Over and over and over again. And of course we couldn't possibly have the characters make logical choices. God forbid these intelligent beings, psychiatrists no less, exhibit some kind of advanced thinking that would keep them out of danger once the cat was out of the bag. That would simply be asking too much.

The acting was solid, as it should be for a talented cast and for at least a portion of the movie the suspense does pull you in, but then it falls and keeps falling before it dumps you into the cold, black lake in the woods. Literally. Charlie Heaton, who was my main reason for watching since I was riding the Stranger Things wave at the time, made me very uncomfortable as an unhinged teenager obsessed with his step-mother to the point of it being borderline incestuous. Or one could argue that he crossed that line with the bath scene.

Considering how awful this movie was, I really should rate it lower but the scenery was beautiful, one of the things that really attracted me to it, and as I said the acting wasn't bad. The actors did the best with what they were given, however lacking. I can't in good conscience recommend it but if you really don't mind wasting 90 minutes...

I didn't expect much going into this movie. I found it on a list of "gay" films and when I got my copy, I did a little flip through like I always do to make sure that it was good and as a result stumbled upon the solicitation scene. I'm not into incest personally but I have seen a few films where the topic was handled delicately and beautifully so I have an open mind towards the genre if nothing else. This is NOT a gay film, however. Still, I was intrigued by the twins. They're very striking in a non-classical kind of way.

The overall premise of the film is that the boys ran away from their father's home in France to attend the funeral of their mother who lived in Spain and whom they had no relationship with. The film follows them on their journey. As other reviewers have pointed out, what dialogue there is is minimal but I don't think the film suffers as a result. If anything, it builds the tension because something is almost always just around the corner. Usually a fight because we see within the first few minutes that the boys have a very combative relationship, a juxtaposition of the sweet relationship implied in the animated short at the very beginning of the film.

As I watched, I started thinking of them as the "good" twin and the "evil" twin but truly, the good one isn't without his own faults and the evil one isn't that evil. Well...at first, anyway. It becomes obvious early on that the "evil" one, Antoine who bears a scar to make him that much more sinister looking, was the more dominant of the two and Quentin, the "good" one, was used to him handling matters and taking care of him. We see Quentin whining about being hungry and also getting a piggy-back ride from Antoine when he didn't feel like walking. Those scenes cement the nature of their relationship and the differences in their personalities. However, things change whenever someone new comes into the picture and it's interesting that on two occasions, first with the girl from the gas station and later on at the farm, Antoine finds himself on the outside looking in, literally spying on Quentin as he has sex. There's no actual incest in the film and no confirmation of sexual desire on either of their parts but the possessiveness that Antoine exhibits towards Quentin marks him as his own just as plainly as if he were his lover. In fact, his anger and jealousy spur him to do something that ultimately leads to their separation.

I consider this film a study in human behaviour, specifically relationships and how you can love someone and hate them at the same time, knowing that they're poison and no good for you but you still need them all the same. It's "you can't live with them but you can't live without them" at its very core and I appreciate that it's not a stereotypical romantic pairing, though it still comes across that way to an extent.

It's not a perfect film by any means but it's not a terrible way to spend 76 minutes. The scenery is beautiful and the action, when it comes, is gripping. My biggest complaint is that I would've liked more backstory into their estrangement from their mother and I wish they'd shown what happened to Quentin after he ran off. The film is primarily seen through Antoine's POV and once Quentin runs away from his would-be rapist, we don't see him again until the funeral, which left me with some questions that we never got any answers to because the film ended 10 minutes later. How did he make it to the funeral when he left all of his possessions behind?

The twins were brilliant in their portrayals, though. They did an excellent job of establishing the polarities in the twins' personalities. I couldn't have asked for more from them.

Overall I enjoyed it, even wished it was longer if only because I wanted more Quentin and his silent brooding.

I found Hidden Away on a list of LGBT movies from 2014. I guess it is that, technically and in the barest sense, but it's so much more.

I didn't know what I expected going in but it certainly wasn't what I got coming out of it. I think I'm so used to these young/coming of age films being stereotyped to the hilt that I imagined this would be yet another one of those. Boy was I wrong. Even as I write this, I still don't really know what to say.

Firstly, it's a lovely film about friendship. The friendship that blossoms between two unlikely characters. The friendship between two best friends going down separate paths. And the realization that just because you belong to the same social group, it doesn't mean that the people within that group represent you or your beliefs. For Rafa, and Ibra too to a lesser extent, it's a lesson that is learned throughout the film.

It's interesting how their lives mirror each other in this respect yet for all that it's similar, it's also extremely different. Rafa has a nice, if tediously repetitive, life with school, a full social calendar and parents he either dislikes(father) or finds annoying(mother). Ibra, on the other hand, is a literal fish out of water. Not only is he alone, with no family or community for support, but he's in a land that rejects him for something that's beyond his control. He's forced to do things that compromise who he is in order to survive. And he says repeatedly in the film that he has no friends. Until, one day, he does. I have to say that my favourite friendship in the film is the one between Rafa and Guille. He was the only good one in the bunch, the only one Rafa acknowledges as a real friend. From the beginning to the end, Guille is always there keeping watch, sometimes literally over Rafa's shoulder.

Secondly, the film brings light to the Xenophobic policies and attitudes of many countries. Ibra and others like him, who came to the country and have been there for many years, face deportation under the guise of repatriation: a sudden "discovery" of a distant family member that no one has ever seen or heard of. Except, miraculously, the government. The movie Xenia, another "gay" film, addresses the same issue, with a pair of brothers, one who happens to be gay, facing deportation despite being born in the country within which they reside. The overtly racist attitudes of the people, often violent, is exemplified by the multiple clashes between Rafa and Ibra's social groups. That and the suspicious nature of every clerk/store owner whenever Ibra or one of his "kind" walks into their business.

Now, for the "love" story. Is there one? Certainly. But anyone expecting or hoping for passionate embraces, torrid make out sessions or any kind of nudity/sex is going to be sorely disappointed. But that's honestly what I love about it. What few moments of affection they share (that aren't disguised as roughhousing) are tentative and all the more sweet for it. Keep in mind that these characters are supposed to be kids still. Rafa's "friends" constantly pressure him to be with a particular girl who likes him, to have sex with her because that's what they're supposed to want to do at their age. The girl is willing and Rafa tries at one point but ultimately he ends up where he truly wants to be: with Ibra.

There were far too many insurmountable obstacles so it's not really surprising that the movie had the ending that it did. I often moan about gay/gay-youth films having bad/unhappy endings but this one was truly unavoidable. For what it's worth, the ending was really touching, though. Sad but perfect.

In conclusion, this film is for everyone. It's beautifully directed and acted (major props to the young actors, especially Rafa/German), it deals with important issues, thus it's also educational, and it has the ability to reach a variety of audiences. If you're looking for a gay-themed film and you're concerned that the lack of romance will make this a waste of time, trust me: you won't feel that way by the end.