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Reviews
Cherry Pop (2017)
Fierce Queens That Don't Get To Shine
Seriously, this movie features some of the best Drag Race queens in herstory but doesn't do a damn thing with them.
How can a move featuring Bob The Drag Queen and Detox not be good?
We get almost and a half of endless explanations of each character in freeze frame format with endless boring monologues by the "Cherry" of their background and motivations. Show us, don't tell us!
Then the drag performances are over-dubbed by the same person singing each song. It was funny the first song (barely) then a complete bore by the 2nd song.
I feel this movie was written for the un-charismatic lead "Cherry" to give him a springboard for his career or maybe he's partnered to the writer and they wanted to give him a starring role.
Then he literally almost gay bashes the queens with his awesome straightness just because the drag queens roasted the hell out of him. What an embarrassment because you know Detox would had beat his ass in real life.
Then we get to see the Cherry come out on stage and look completely awkward. Remember how Gene Hackman looked in drag in The Birdcage? This is worse.
Manic (2001)
Great Movie - Have to be in the right mood for it though.
Saw this one night on Cinemax. Watched it about 20 minutes, turned the channel, then switched back because I was going nuts to see where this was going to end up. It's very captivating.
The acting was really good, by the teen actors anyway. Don Cheadle's performance was so/ so. The kids really stole the show.
The herky-jerky camera movements were very annoying, especially the basketball scenes. You want to see more of the surroundings and detail, but are always denied that by the camera. Which is probably the intent of the director.
The movie is mainly about Lyle, from actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I knew I had seen before, but just could not place in anything I had seen. Lyle, comes from a single parent home, and has violent tendencies toward others who he disagrees with. Actually, he is just very self-righteous and you almost want to agree how he sticks up for himself. You almost want to see him beat the crap out of the resident bigot resident, who is Caucasian, but sees himself as a African-American gangsta type.
Joseph hit this character right on the mark as far as I am concerned, and it was just great to see him pull off a role like this. A truly talented young actor. Who would have thought this from the kid on Third Rock From The Sun?
So, great movie, if you are in the mood for something indie-spirited, raw, and truly depressing in a lot of respects, go ahead and watch. It left me hoping you can see some of these kids fix their problems, and get out of the institution.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Loved it despite the cheesiness.
I watch part seven of the Friday the 13 series about twice a year. It's absolutely one of my favorites despite all the campiness and stereo-typical actors and deaths.
Yes there are loopholes abound in the movie, and it's very likely the writers were out of any real good ideas to add to the myth of Jason Voorhees, but what the hey. I loved how the psychic Tina was able to surprise Jason at every turn. I accepted if someone like Jason could exist, then why not a telekenetic?
I got an extreme kick out of watching the frumpy Maddy, deciding to give herself an extreme makeover, to "get even" with her best friend - Robin (I think). Actually, they were both pretty horsey looking. And both dying to hook up with the stoner of the group, David, for some reason. Well of course when Maddy is looking all fine and done up, she wanders out into the woods, and starts calling Davids name, since for some reason he is out in the woods??? I have to give it to her for one of the highest skirts, and one one of the biggest derriers to be slashed by Jason. She had the best scream-of any of the Jason movies-all while inserting her lost ear-ring into her ear. To top it all off, is the awesome scene where she finds some type of garden shed to hide in, which just gives Jason the right ammo to off her. From the dynamic scream, to the flowy little dress, to crawling in the dirt, to holding her heels while hiding, this was the best death in the film. Just seeing the flash of a sling blade was enough to make it painful.
The biggest reason I got a kick out of this chapter, and most of the Jason movies, is the payoff at the end where you see his face. This is by far the best face out of any of the movies. They actually gave him a bit of personality, and he looked schocked and then uber-p***ed at the psychic Tina when she tore of his mask, which was a pretty gross scene in itself.
As long as you don't expect an Academy award winning picture, have fun with this one.