Reviews by Al

I did like this film very much, and I suspect Matthew Macfadyen might have something to do with it.  They say height is a major factor in male attractiveness.  I can’t say that I ever really bought into the claim, but here is one specimen which might prove the rule — although maybe I was swayed by the character’s wealth and generous nature.  Austen’s recording of period culture, the classes, women’s position in society, the studied civility is fascinating.  The dvd bonus extras are quite enlightening as well.  I didn’t realize that the movie Clueless was based on Austen’s Emma for example.

Also the soundtrack is really great particularly track 15.  Almost all classical and piano sonatas.

Rather too contrived a story for my taste.  Knowing that it was a woman playing a male-to-female transsexual, did somewhat detract from the realism and drama, though at moments she did look rather manly.  Of course, everyone expects the kid to eventually find out the truth.  In view of this inevitable realization, the ending lacked kick.

Completely instrumental.  Not too much variety from track to track, but pleasantly dark and atmospheric.

Spanish film shows a bear (a hairy, usually overweight and older gay man) living in Madrid and having to take care of his 9 year old nephew while the man’s sister (boy’s mother) is away on vacation.  Refreshingly, it shows a very gay accepting society.  The conflicts in the film aren’t the typical gay fare.  In fact, this is a drama which could be written about a heterosexual with minor modifications.  Still since it has gay content, it did keep my interest and the actors are excellent.  Be prepared for some rather explicit scenes in the beginning.

I generally try not to spend time writing a bad review, so I’ll be brief.  This movie pretty much sucked.  I hear that the original version of the story shows the assassin played by Brosnan as a pan-sexual.  Here his same-sex attraction is non-existant and serves as the punch line for jokes and shock value.  The story is stupid and predictable.

The film was heavily marketed to the gay community with advertising in Advocate and Out magazines.  The cover art has a shirtless guy right next to another guy in uniform — a suggestive juxtaposition.  The distributor, Picture This! , does actually carry mostly gay interest films. However, this film, Before the Fall, has practically no gay content — it is _not_ a gay interest film.  I see why some reviews say disappointing and predictable.  On the other hand, the film has a couple things going for it: one pretty boy actor playing the lead who goes naked in one scene (the bed-wetter minor character actor was a knockout, too) and a slighty interesting plot.  The story shows the protagonist struggling against the brutality and inhumanity of the Nazi war machine in 1942 while at an elite high school age Nazi military training academy.  I guess it’s best to lower one’s expectations greatly before seeing this film.   

And here is yet another esoteric foreign film which garners interest and money through gay marketing.  If it didn’t have that hook probably no one would have seen this amateurish production.  I hereby put Picture This! on notice: you are skating on thin ice folks.  I won’t be tricked again by your misleading marketing.

– updated 10/15

A far better gay-interest film with a very slightly related story line is Europa, Europa.

I went into this thinking I wouldn’t like this film.  It would be the old rehash of oppressed group against big business, but it turned out better than I expected.  One thing I remember something like "when the herd sticks together it survives, when it doesn’t it dies."  Idiotic how some things stick in your brain.

Sappy but enjoyable chick flick — and there is a miniscule gay supporting role thrown in there somewhere.  Gosh, I didn’t realize that Diane Lane is just a year older than John Cusack.  They are both really old!  :)  But Diane does look pretty good for a 41 year old.  Hard to imagine that she would be dumped by any 40ish year old man even if it is for a girl 15 years younger — nevertheless this is the premise which starts the movie.  (There’s a few lines in the dialog about how men always go for the younger women, but that’s discussion for a different blog.)  It is just me noticing this or does Cusack play the same old eccentric intellectual, but inhumanly confident drive-women-wild romantic every movie he is in?  What drives me up the wall is women fall for this guy despite his middling looks and low status.  In this movie, he’s got a major gut and beginnings of fat face syndrome and though he has his own sort of business, he’s hardly successful.  Pretty unappealing, but it is a movie after all.

– updated 10/12

I guess Cusack is rather tall though…  [See Pride & Prejudice posting]

A funny little movie about a pretty unlucky gay kid with a homophobe for a Dad and straight kid brother who is the favored son even before the gay kid comes out of the closet.

J. Lo does a decent job here portraying the daughter-in-law seeking shelter with a distant and hostile  father-in-law — her husband is dead from the same car accident in which she survived as the driver.  Morgan Freeman plays the sidekick to Redford’s father-in-law character.  Ok, it might be classified as one of those human drama, ‘chick flick’ type movies.  Still, I found it amusing.