Film Diary.

 

Watched a couple films:

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- Your place or mine? (2023).

A slim romantic comedy, somewhat the textbook definition of "fluff". Delivers more or less what it promises with no further ambition. Thus, easy to watch and even easier to forget.

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- Now you see me (2013).

Four stage magicians stage a series of international heists, drawing the attention of several agencies bent on stopping them. Very entertaining thriller that, like its leads, knows the importance of a good spectacle and how to use misdiection. Slim as well, but quite entertaining.

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Looking

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- Looking: the movie (2016. Dir. Andrew Haigh).

Roughly one year after running away from a disastrous relationship, Patrick comes back to San Francisco for a wedding --and to finally face the consequences of his own mistakes. There may well be a light at the end of the tunnel...

Conclusion to the notable gay tv show, essentially tying up all loose ends. A very satisfying ending to the series, if naturally difficult to follow as a separate movie (really it serves as the third season). Nearly the entire cast returns, and manages to make it feel as if not a day had passed since the last broadcast episode.

In sort, recommended alongside the show itself --one of the most thought-provoking gay series I've seen yet.

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Film (and tv) diary.

 Some stuff I watched recently:

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- Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's revenge.

- Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the realms.

- Mortal Kombat (2021).

Assorted animation and live-action adaptations of the infamous video-game franchise. And anybody who's played any of the games knows these are at their best when they embrace how cheesy and silly the whole thing is. Same here, then: All of these work best when they stop pretending to be a serious story and merely have fun with the over-the-top violence and (literally) outlandish scenarios. Thus: Good, mindless fun.

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- Venom: Let there be carnage.

Likewise for superhero movies: The best ones are the ones that won't take themselves too seriously and merely have fun. This, then is one of the better exampled, particularly for letting the subtext of the first film pretty much become text. A gleefully entertainin romp that requires you to sit back, not think about things too hard and just enjoy the action fest that is also essentially a gay romantic comedy.

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- Looking (2 seasons).

This meanwhile is something else --a gay tv show that is quite possibly the most "quiet", low-key I've seen yet. The life of three gay friends in San Francisco told in whispers rather than shouts. In other words, a very intriguing show, followed by a movie that served as the conclusion. More than worth a watch.

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Film Diary.

 Some movies I've been able to watch recently (...ish).

Animated:

- Wonder Woman (2009).

Fairly decent early foray into having solo movies for Wonder Woman. Better than the latter "Bloodlines" --but the live-action ones were better, and this one suffers from a wildly uneven script (you can practically hear the two credited story writers fencing over the tone). Overall entertaining but missing something.  

- Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017).

Loose adaptation of the infamous comic book arc. So-so, not nearly as fun as the version from the Teen Titans cartoon. The updated cast and setting both feel rather underused, too.

- Justice League Dark: Apokolips war (2020).

This one is just plan BAD. Quite gratuitously gory and grim, to the point that sails way past self-parody and into "just plain sad" territory.

- Freedom Fighters: The Ray (2017 - 2018).

Perhaps the only animated DC superhero movie to star a gay lead. Released both as movie and as mini-series, this is quite worthy of a watch --a very rare good superhero yarn released in the current century.

- Teen Titans Go & DC Superhero Girls: Mayhem in the multiverse (2022).

Essentially the movie of the underrated tv show "DC Superhero Girls" (second version that is) disguised as a crossover film. Surprisingly fun and well-written, definitely recommended.   

Live-action (and gay):

- The Prom (2020).

Film adaptation of the stage musical, itself loosely based on a real-life anecdote. Surprisingly good, if overlong musical. Worth a watch for the powerhouse performance of lead Jo Ellen Pellman and a couple suprisingly touching songs.

- Behind the candelabra (2013).

Biopic about Liberace, told from the POV of his boytoy of ten years (Scott Thorson, whose memoir is the basis for this film). Tremendously underrated and more than worth a few looks.

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Personal news.

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I have been updating more and more sporadically here due to circumstances I did not want. 

A series of hospital visits that today culiminated with the news that... I have leukemia. 

There is nothing to add to that except that... I hope to be here around yet. One way or another. 

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Survival Street

 - Survival Street. 4 issues. James Asmus, Jim Festante, et al.

In the very near future, assorted companies have gained more and more ground and 'rights' --now they control all politics. Every state belongs to a particular corporation. Entertainment is pure open propaganda. Edutainment for children is dead --but not their actors! There are still children to save --literally and figuratively. There are so many bad guys to not just bring down but whose public image needs to be carefully dismantled. And there are a few sellouts to deal with, too...

What could have easily become yet another example of embarassingly puerile takes on famous children's media instead is revealed to be a surprisingly smart comic --and yes, smart is the word. The over-the-top covers parodying famous Sesame St. characters do not remotely do justice to the world within --a world in which immigrant children are forced to fight out-of-control wildfires in California; where the governor of Texas wants to implement a law that will allow toddlers to carry weapons; where out-of-control celebrities and internet personalities have fully bought into their self-made hype. 

The comic is not without a couple misses here and there -- the analogy about colonization somewhat falls flat on its face due to the insistence of making it the island where puppets apparently come from. The climax can seem just a touch too convenient...

...but all in all the moments of hope amidst the despair of so-real-it's-hardly-satire feel earned. On the whole a comic more than worth checking out.

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Extra movies.

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Also watched: 

- Glass Onion. Engaging, fan-favorite sequel to the equally beloved whodunit "Knives Out". A very rare case in which the fandom adoration for the movie is mostly deserved. Entertertaining and clever.

- The pale blue eye. Overlong mystery yarn that starts as a quirky homage to grim thrillers a la The purple rivers --and descends into a so-so rape-revenge supsenser by the end. Not the worst, could have been far better.  

- The imitation game. Biopic about Alan Turing and his Enigma creation. As straight-washed, edges-sanded-down as you'd expect but an okay mainstream introduction to more complex themes. Could be better.
 

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Midnighter and Apollo.

 

- Midnighter and Apollo. Steve Orlando, Fernando Blanco, et. al.

Midnighter: the killing machine on the side of the good. His boyfriend Apollo, a sun god. A vengeful criminal willing to make deals with demons. And a long-forgotten pioneering gay sorcerer... These elements will collide in an explosive, exciting --and surprisingly touching action yarn.

Extraordinarily fun comic that manages to mix the wide-screen gory violence of the characters' early Image / Wildstorm days with long-running DC history. From the excellent use of criminally underrated characters like Extraño and the Tasmanian Devil (the one of the Global Guardians, mind!), to a final page that doesn't just reference but challenges Alan Moore's infamous "Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?" --the result is the kind of explosive, unforgiving gay superhero fantasy we've so long waited for.

Quite recommended. 

 

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Bubble

- Bubble. (Japan, 2022. Dir. Tetsuroh Araki)

After the world is invaded by mysterious alien bubbles that bend the laws of physics, Tokyo is walled off as a particularly dangerous zone. But inside live several teams of teenagers spending their time in hair-rising parkour competitions for trade. One, of them, champion Hibiki, has dealt with hypersensitive hearing since he was a child. Increasingly, he hears a haunting zone coming from the destroyed Tokyo tower...

Charming, highly energetic YA (for teenagers) action yarn, a contemporary take of sorts on "The little mermaid". Gorgeously animated in both action and quiet moments and with a delightful cast, the result is a highly entertaining film for youths. Quite recommended.

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January 2022 extras.

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More stuff finished in the last month.

- Voir. A collection of film essays ranging from genre to format to design to cultural impact. Thoughtful and ponderous, quite recommended --each of the six essays.

- Sailor Moon Eternal. I re-watched the entire "Sailor Moon Crystal" anime, then these two movies  --it holds up much better than we remember all in all, away from pointless discourse and seen more as its own thing.

 

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My heart is a chainsaw

 

- My heart is a chainsaw. Stephen Graham Jones.

Jade Daniels, half Blackfoot, desperately seeks an escape from her stiffling, lonely life. She finds solace in pranks --and especially in her open vice: Slasher films. She's even written several lenghty essays on the matter. Thus, it is perhaps fitting when she starts noticing unmistable signs that an horror tale of the kind is about to unfold on her sleepy Idaho town. But Jade is about to learn that sometimes reality can be far, far harsher than the most brutal films...

Extraordinay novel from Graham Jones, described as his third slasher (after "Demon theory" and "The last final girl"). As is often the case with Jones' fiction it is at once a gleefully wicked pulp yarn --and underneath that bloody mask, a complex, thoughtful meditation on loneliness, abuse, and the historical consequences of racism, segregation and genocide. Like the best writers of the style, Jones plants subtle clues in plain sight --the resulting gut punch as they unfurl and reveal themselves all the more effective because of that.

Quite recommended all in all --and hopefully used to start several fascinating discussions.

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December 2022 extras.

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Also watched, near the end of the month: 

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TV SHOWS

LIVE ACTION

- Wednesday. 

- The Good Cop. 

Copaganda at its most blatant, being a sitcom that asks us to believe that a policeman arrested and discharged for drug traffic is undeniably a good and sympathetic guy. Even as he tries to kill someone he has a personal grudge against. None of it presented as a black comedy even. 

- The Boys, season 2.

ANIMATED

- Bojack Horseman, season 3. 

MOVIES

- Black Adam. 

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