so notorious ("movie" review)

Haven't done one of these in a while.

I picked up exactly one episode of so notorious when it was on televious, which, as I understand, is one more than almost everyone in the country. The show lasted nine episodes on VH1 and is loosely based on the life of Tori Spelling. She is surrounded by three of her closest friends -- Zachary Quinto (as the gay, Persian layabout, Sasan), James Carpinelli (as the studly man-ho roommate, Pete), and Brennan Hesser (as the sharp-tongued real estate agent, Janey). Though somewhat weakly written at times, it is far more often clever and laugh-out-loud funny. 

The one episode I saw on television, Whole, was so unbelievably funny and left me with one-liners for weeks that when I saw the entire series at Blockbuster for $9.99 a few months ago, I cuoldn't help but buy it straight out. I watched the complete series that night, and I have watched it in toto several times since. 

The other nine episodes proved equally amusing, though Whole remains  high on the list for the funniest. Imagine Tori in a fit of rage screaming to a man who is trying to make her "whole." 

The interactions between Tori and her "mother" (the indomitable Loni Anderson) are the most amazing part of the whole series. Even though we all know the relationship, in real life, is dark and awful, Tori and cast play it up to a fault. You cannot help but laugh at the sheer awfulness of Kiki's disregard for her daughter, over and above the obvious love of Aaron Spelling. Quinto is probably the weakest of the main characters though he could have been the best (his part was definitely written to be the strongest of the sidekicks), and you'll die for any chance to see Carpinelli shirtless (happens rarely). Meanwhile, Hesser is brilliant. 

It's all about Tori trying to make it on her own, despite the trappings of her name and her family, and trying to be taken seriously. Her quirks shine through the sardonic satire; in mocking herself, Tori proves that she can, in fact, weather the storm of her life, most of which is created by her own hand and sheer ineptitude. 

It's fabulous, and 100% worth the money you'll put into purchasing the whole series. I think you'll find yourself wishing there was more.

GAY MOVIE REVIEW: Mambo Italiano

This is one of those trashy fun little gay movies that I'm addicted to -- that I also randomly picked up out of Blockbuster 4/$20 bin. 

The thing about ethnic comedies is that they are really hard to do well. My Big Fat Greek Wedding did it really well, and, watching this one, you can draw a lot of comparisons between MBFGW and Mambo Italiano. The only difference is that, rather than the love interest being of a different ethnicity, the issue is a gay love story. Mambo Italiano doesn't do it well, at all. In fact, if you're looking for a sickly-sweet romantic comedy that will stick with you forever...

...this is not your movie.

But if you need something to turn on when it's 3a.m. and you're reconnecting with your movie collection and your brain is a little fried from studying a little too much, this is your movie. It's cute and sweet and kind of fun. And Peter Miller, who plays lead Angelo's male love looks good creeping into the bedroom late at night with just a pair of boxer briefs on. 

It's interesting in that it addresses the whole ethnicity-sexuality boundary, but not in any in-depth or particularly world altering manner. The whole "self-hating Italian" thing is amusing, though. 

The writing is bad, and the acting is so-so. In fact, even the way the storyline is told is not particularly that interesting. Starting off with a frame story is neither original nor compelling. All the typical themes of a cutesy, young, gay, coming out story are there. There's the family issue, there is the sister who is the only who knows, there's the macho-I'm-not-gay boyfriend (and the requisite open and understanding and wonderful man who he ends up with), etc. etc. etc. They do try, on occasion, to make it serious and meaningful. But it's rarely even laugh out loud funny. 

Overall, this adds nothing to the dialogue of gay cinema. 

But it's like Trick or Eating Out. Or, if you want, like any silly little high school drama like Can't Hardly Wait. It's just fun.

And I've watched it like 100 times. Totally worth it if you can get it for under $10 and find yourself and needing a silly movie to watch every now and again. 

It's not a bad easy date movie, either.

Oh, but the ending is a little long, also. 

Movie Review: FLOORED BY LOVE

This is another bargain bin at Blockbuster purchase.

Apparently, I have a thing for gay movies about Asians. It's very strange, really, as the only other official LGBT movie review I did was about Ethan Mao, also about a gay Asian family accepting sexuality. Stranger and stranger. 

This movie is about two story lines that occur on two floors in an apartment building. On the top floor, we have a Canadian-Asian lesbian couple that is having trouble getting their families to accept them while being in love, and while discussing their own possible impending marriage in light of their brother's. The second story is about the return of a (freshly out) gay boy's gay dad, and the strain it puts on the relationship with his stepdad. 

It's adorable, but not really that interesting. Let's cover the basic points:

1) Script -- Weak. Weak. Weak. I mean, yea, it's charming and means well, but there is nothing funny or even remotely meaningful about it. The plot is typical and expected. (Is anyone surprised that the prodigal gay dad swoops into town after two years, makes extravagant promises to his newly out 14-year old gay son, only to then disappoint the son?) Nothing added to the world, really, in terms of fun one liners either. I don't get the addition of the whole makeover thing. It seemed plugged in. I feel like it needed a mashup and a theme song... 

2) Acting -- They are trying really hard. Or not trying hard at all. It's like the director said, "Act natural" and they got all self conscious and decided to get weird. It's very... strange. Feels like a high school play sometimes. And the fake Japanese accent on the mom-in-law is something awful.

3) Overall -- It's only 50 minutes long -- no really -- only 50 minutes. It's bearable for 50 minutes, but totally not worth it if you have to buy it full price. I got it for $4, so it's reasonable for that piece. But it doesn't leave you with anything special. You kinda just go "oh, it's over," and you move on with your life. Other people have praised it for its views of multiculturalism and sexual diversity. I say... skip it and watch something else.

Short review, but it was a short flick...

GAY MOVIE REVIEW: Ethan Mao

This is a new feature here at QC.com! We have gotten a lot of hits for our movie stuff -- in fact, if you had typed in "lgbt movies" in google for a few days there, QC.com was the number three hit!!! :-) So we'll keep that up, shall we? Besdies, I do a lot of sitting in front of the TV with my computer studying, so there's lots and lots of time for me to watch...

Ethan Mao

It has sat on my shelf for almost a year now, and I kept swearing I was going to watch it. I got it in the bargain bin at Blockbuster like I do all my movies. Thanks to my affection for Happy Together,  the first gay movie I ever watched and was about Asian gays, I thought this would interest me as easily.

The story is about Ethan, and his roommate Romeo, accidentally-on-purpose taking his family hostage a few months after he gets kicked out for being gay. Predictably, in independent gay movies, the boy turns to hustling and drugs as a way of coping and making money. In an attempt to steal money from his father, they show up unexpectedly and suddenly we have a hostage situation on our hands. Not so unexpectedly for a movie of this genre. I often wonder if the difference between big-budget movies and independents is that big-budget movies depict stories that are thought out and purposeful... where as independents show the randomness of life. 

There are very few surprises in this flick. Not so surprisingly, Ethan and Remigio (pronounced Romeo) are in love and don't know it. Not so surprisingly, there is a really strong mom issue throughout. Not so surprisingly, someone sells them out when they say they won't. Not so surprisingly, there is an evil stepmom twist and an attempt to seduce one of the two hostage takers. On top of that, the accting is mediocre to good, and the lines are sometimes delivered as if in a high school play.

Honestly, Ethan screaming to his stepmom "I said piss in your pants, bitch!" (and she does) could have been a great one-liner out of this flick, but it was delivered weakly. 

That said, I'll probably watch it again. The boys are passably cute, and, despite the inevitably of jail at the end, it is a rather interesting love story. The final kiss is sweet, though the final line about it -- "you'll be the first person I kiss if I ever love anyone" -- is weak and pandering to the main story line. Sadly, I kind of wanted just to see the two main characters doing that a quarter of the way into the movie, during one of their drug highs, rather than five minutes before it ended. 

The character development is astounding for everyone involved, right down to the brothers. Everyone grows, and it is believable growth that we see. The script is excellent and the movie is worth it for that much, at least. 

I also expected more out of Quentin Lee -- the director. Honestly, some of the shots were weak and blocked half of the face of the character in the middle of action. There was too much panned lighting, though the shot of the urine going down stepmom's leg onto the nice carpeting was sheer brilliance. The out-of-focus-into-focus shot is overdone in the genre, too, btw. I get it. Things are becoming "clearer."

At only 87 minutes, it's easy to get through, though the dream sequences will leave you going "what what what" more often than not. Watch it, but take it as a slightly different twist on the typical gay love story, but you'll find yourself often thinking "yea, I feel like I've seen some of this before."

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