jaroslaw99 Reviews

The Wedding Banquet (1993)

Wai-Tung should have told Simon right away

[8/10 · 5 March 2023]

Like many others, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I did see it when it came out but thought my main point would have been discussed somewhere by now but apparently not. It was full of unexpected twists and turns. Many aspects of this film were very realistic about Gay life, East meeting West and so on. There is a lot of pressure in most cultures for sons to marry and produce grandchildren. Perhaps there is greater pressure in Asian ones but it certainly isn't exclusive to them.

So we have very well off, very disciplined Wai-Tung living an openly Gay life in New York City with his partner of at least 5 years and the partner's idea is to have a sham marriage to a woman to deceive the Chinese parents. During the wedding banquet, the woman, Wei-Wei takes advantage of a drunken Wai-Tung and gets pregnant.

After reading multitudes of reviews and not seeing what I'm about to say, I'm assuming I'm the only one with this opinion. Drunk or not, Wai-Tung had an at least 5 year relationship with Simon which he told his mother later he treasured. I think he would have been able to resist Wei-Wei's advances. At the very least he should have told Simon the next day he slipped up instead of what appeared to be many days later finding out she was pregnant.

Frankly I didn't like the ending. Wai-Tung's relationship is with Simon. It would be very difficult having a constant reminder of the breach of that. And how the three of them are going to co-parent seems like it will be a disaster based on past interactions. Simon was ready to call it quits and being a co-parent is enough to repair his relationship with Wai-Tung? Very unlikely.

And then there is the Chinese father knowing almost the entire time understanding English, his manipulations to get his grandson etc. Perhaps the lack of gay content 30 years ago led even gay reviewers to give great reviews.

The Pass (2016)

Enough material for 15 minute short film

[3/10 · 10 February 2023]

I watch a lot of films and read a lot of reviews. Someone once said no two people see the same movie. That is particularly true for this one. This was supposed to be similar to a gay romcom per Roku tv. So I was understandably disappointed. So I watched it again after reading mostly great reviews. It still disappoints. Seems like mostly boring, very long conversations between two people. The "pass" according to the summary was just a couple kisses then Jason went off to shower. So no sex occurred. (Edit - I wrote this review just before the end where Ade said "you held me all night and told me you loved me." That scene was not shown adding to the story line being not realistic) I can't believe "that" had reverberations for 10 years. Even in the hyper macho sports world. And if Ade and Jason had been at the soccer academy for 12 years, since age 7, his narcissism and rudeness (amply displayed as the movie continued) would have been well established and Ade wouldn't have given a romance with Jace a second thought. That said, the acting was very good. It was just too long and boring.

Dark Legacy II (2014)

Thought provoking

[9/10 · 23 January 2023]

First I want to address the naysayers. It is true this piece has an agenda and some bias. But it tells a lot of truth that they seem to ignore. The lies have been repeated so much they believe them. What possible excuse could government have for waiting 15 1/2 hours to start a search? When JFK Jr was less than 5 miles from the destination why are the searchers looking everywhere but near where the plane should be? Do you believe the government's story that no family or friends didn't report the plane missing for 4 plus hours? If none of this and tons more doesn't bother you and you believe everything the government tells you then I guess this was a bad film.

The Andy Warhol Diaries (2022)

Historically interesting some tedious parts

[7/10 · 22 July 2022]

Not surprised there are mostly high or low ratings. Mostly I want to say I disagree that this series was about his gayness. I think it dwelt too much on his loneliness. It seemed to me that he wrote so much about that yet refused to change. I would have liked to hear more from his family. Although I am 30 years younger I was alive for much of Andy's successful Period I enjoyed hearing from all the celebrities and art dealers, Andy's friends and the general history of the era. I think it could have been well covered in half the number of episodes.

Birth of the Dragon (2016)

Kept my interest

[10/10 · 14 May 2022]

I do not understand the low rating for this movie. It was a compelling story of a very pivotal point in Bruce Lee's life. It didn't pander, had a romantic element, wasn't overly anything. Phillip Ng's body is so beautifully sculpted without being too muscled. I enjoyed the acting and story very much.

Elite (2018–2024)

(Hopefully) this is unrealistic but somewhat interesting

[3/10 · 12 May 2022]

I decided to watch this for the Gay interest and often fast forwarded to the sex scenes. Amazingly or sadly, I was easily able to follow the story line. Obviously if any tv show was about typical people it would be too boring to watch. But to believe the type of shenanigans that went on in this show at a high school much less college or regular business with adults is extraordinary. To put it mildly. One student bribed a teacher with an adoption, another bunch tried extortion, constant sex was portrayed as absolutely normal. No one including adults was even slightly overweight. All the boys were muscular and toned. The English subtitles did not match the dubbing. Depending on how much tv you watch and how old you are it's unfair to say stories are recycled. Most dramas are about love, sex, jealousy, envy etc. So there is going to be great similarity. Last, I thought the acting was perfectly believable. Those who say it's terrible, give some examples.

Goodbye Seventies (2020)

Not sure what the point is

[3/10 · 13 April 2022]

A dancer breaks his leg, can't dance ever again and makes porn instead. Supposedly a story of Gay excess, AIDS and drug use in 1970s New York City but beyond that, I don't know what the message was. Somehow I missed it was by Todd Verow who has made many other very poor movies. He seems to think if you have a few male full frontal scenes, and a very brief masturbation scene, it will save the film. The character "Horse" or his stand in has a whopper and while nice to see, did not add anything to the story. I did not think the cast was unattractive. While one guy was heavy, he was hairy which is a plus to me. Seems most guys pluck all their body hair these days and for me, every guy does not need to be a gym bunny to be fairly nice looking. Still, this movie was a waste of time.

Tennessee Queer (2012)

Good concept poorly executed

[4/10 · 13 April 2022]

A slow moving low budget movie with mediocre acting. The characters were mostly cliche with some bordering on absurd. I suppose there are some ministers that advocate rounding up Gays but the anti Gay characters are shown with enough savvy to be duplicitous. The ending of the movie and Pride parade falls flat. This could have been much better even without major funding.

José (II) (2018)

Compelling and a bit boring

[4/10 · 10 April 2022]

If the makers were trying to portray how hard life is in Guatamela generally and more so for Gay people, they were successful. The story wanders, with our main character very much undecided what he wants. Agree with others who say the romantic scenes were hot but don't save the film.

The Invisible Thread (2022)

Not what I'd hoped

[5/10 · 5 April 2022]

This is the story of a teen guy with two fathers conceived by in vitro fertilization. He makes a film for a school project about his atypical but happy family. Along the way, the story is focused a lot on very typical teen stuff - buddies, parties and his budding romance. Meanwhile there is problems in paradise between the two dads. One is having an affair which is uncovered by the lover showing up at the 20th anniversary of the two dads.

I found this and several other things to be unrealistic. One of the dads owned a restaurant. He couldn't be called there? In the teen character's romance, the girl he was attracted to set him up with her closeted brother. It was so obvious that teen was attracted to her. I realize the main story was not about the two dads breaking up but the film spent a lot of time on mundane things. The cheating dad didn't apologize at all, which one would expect after 20 years of marriage.

Also unrealistically the teen blows off the cheating dads offer of lunch but later imparts wisdom to the other dad that "it's never just one person's fault." And while we're at it, for the teen to be brought up with unconditional and intense love up to the moment of the break up, he didn't seem to react as upset as he almost certainly would have been.

As others have said, at least it is not a movie about coming out. The acting was very good overall but I didn't see anything comedic in here. I didn't find either dad believable as Gay. There were a number of unexpected twists to keep the story interesting. To me, I wish the dad's had fought about something else and reconciled. There are enough Gay movies with sad endings. But while enjoyable, this is not a movie I would watch again.

Shank (2009)

Plot proceeded as expected

[4/10 · 26 March 2022]

I understand this is not a "typical" Gay film. Still that alone doesn't make it brilliant. I would expect a thug in a gang to be in the closet. I found the romance to be very believable. Why wouldn't the lead (thug) fall in love with probably the only person who showed him love and concern?

There is a lot of eye Candy and male nudity for a Gay guy. Simulated sex is okay, the scenes are more than a bit too long for my taste. They should be long enough to get the idea of what is going on. Close ups of truly gorgeous men are appreciated and a flash of nudity - great. After that just make hard core porn.

So Jonno finds out his best thug friend is Gay and rapes him as punishment? I suppose gang behavior mixed with drugs and angst doesn't make sense. Other areas of society don't make logical sense either. But a male raping another male for being gay is absurd. Maybe it really happens. I don't know.

I mainly came here to deplore how our society handles gangs, what makes them come into existence etc. I'm neither a bleeding heart or a throw away the key kind of person but this kind of violence needs to be dealt with.

Adam & Steve (2005)

Underrated and realistic movie

[10/10 · 4 March 2022]

Oddly I wasn't crazy about this movie the first time I saw it. May have been my frame of mind but I really paid attention when I watched it recently and I can't say enough good things about Craig Chester as both a writer and actor. While everyone was very good, I tried to imagine myself doing what Mr. Chester did - with his hands, eyebrows, forehead etc -- he was so expressive it is amazing. I couldn't. He must have practiced in front of a mirror for years. There is a lot of understated humor and I liked there was no laugh track. Aside from a brief unpleasantness at the very beginning, (which is integral to the plot) it a very nice story about romance with a lot of offbeat and regular humor thrown in. Highly recommend! Update : I read some reviews here and elsewhere. Poor writer/director Craig Chester - People criticize and applaud the exact same thing in these reviews. Roger Ebert said Adam & Rhonda "awkwardly" moved into the positions of the Gay statues on the park bench. Another reviewer thought it clever. I personally didn't see any awkwardness at all. Another comment I see a lot is unrealistic or clunky romance. If you have watched tons of Gay movies as I have, the dialogue here (when they're being not deliberately corny etc) is very realistic. As to the romance itself not being realistic - I know quite a few people that aren't seemingly matched yet together for years. If the acting is bad in this (which it isn't) watch anything by Casper Andreas or Matthew Montgomery. How Casper manages to keep finding funding to keep making bad movies I'll never know. Like another said, if you don't like romantic comedies stop reviewing them.

For the Bible Tells Me So (2007)

Reacting to some reviews and more

[10/10 · 9 February 2022]

I found this film very even handed and it told both sides. There was a lot of historical context, not the least of which was the election of Gene Robinson as the first Gay bishop of the Episcopal church. For a child born in the last three months of the 1950s, this was truly amazing. Something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. I showed this to a very nice but very fundamentalist Christian. Actually I loaned her my dvd. Although a very caring person, she found nothing that caused her to change her views that homosexuality is a sin. I find that amazing considering the discussions we've had about the status of women and many other changes in society over the last couple hundred years. I'm not surprised some people feel this documentary "twisted" the Bible. Sad.

The Keepers (II) (2017)

Not the crime show I expected

[3/10 · 24 January 2022]

I thought this was about the murder of a nun and it was mostly "the Jean show." Sexual abuse is a serious thing and I know things were different but when told Jean, one of the victims, said the Priest told her during a bj his cu* was the Holy Spirit flowing into her, I thought truly this is beyond belief. Even if you have the most naive, rudimentary view of sex education or even none, you know what private parts are. Emphasis on private. And her father was a police officer! So wouldn't you think even if she was threatened she would have some defense in that?

The other thing that bothers me, like all good "stories" is one or two people are the "villains" and everyone is virtuous to a fault. Ummm no. The teachers must have had some clue. Obviously Sr Kathy did. The priest did so many things but everyone was "afraid" to say anything. And this story must be the first time in history that 20-40 (abused) or more teenagers, girls in particular kept a perfect secret for years.

Last, this story casts a pall on all priests, the Church and Catholicism in general. Yes, the Church should be held accountable for all wrongdoing. But to act as if the Church mostly does wrong is hardly fair and serves no one. As the world becomes more secular, I think a case can be made lots of things become more perverse. Think of all the public school teachers in recent years in prison for having sex with students (to name just one). And only the very naive think the government doesn't cover up and mislead on a monumental scale, whether it is the police, the courts, failure of agencies to protect us and more.

Anyway I had to turn this off after the 3rd episode. It was just too monotonous.

Into the Sun (2005)

A confusing mess

[3/10 · 4 January 2022]

The women and scenery were often beautiful but I only had the vaguest idea what was going on in the movie. Since Seagal has been in so many movies, as the producer of this I would think he would know how to make a coherent one. All I can say is I'm glad it was free with the subscription service I have. Would be mad if I had to pay extra.

Heartstone (2016)

Very realistic, talented actors but boring

[2/10 · 17 July 2021]

I don't really have a lot to add, others have given all the details - the abundant animal cruelty, incredible dysfunctional families etc. Etc etc. Teen angst was a major theme too. I give this a low rating because I was led to believe this was a Gay themed movie and it wasn't. That was a tiny part. It was a story about two boys and one eventually discovers he is attracted to the other. The script does an excellent job of portraying the other boy as straight but it leaves many hints that he might not be totally into girls. I dont really know what Iceland is like socially but I thought they were fairly tolerant and this is present day. One would think they could have talked about gay feelings at least to each other. Lastly for a movie over two hours long that concentrated on mundane things for many minutes there was no reason for an inconclusive ending.

Last Ferry (2019)

Attractive actors, good acting, terrible story

[3/10 · 12 July 2021]

As someone whom has watched literally dozens if not a couple hundred Gay themed movies, I can say this is not the worst. Still the reviews are either great or terrible. I lean toward bad. As others have said the story starts out murky and is never clarified. Motives are never revealed and there are several incidents which make no sense. For example one assumes even a bad lawyer has a few brain cells. Not saying our main character is bad lawyer but he couldn't read up on fire island and realize he was going in off season time? Taking a drink from a total stranger on the boardwalk with no one else around? The stereotyped characters of which there are many. Then the ending was very strange and inconclusive. Here's the famous "don't waste your time with this" caveat. I wish I had read the reviews first. Luckily I am retired so I have some time to waste and this was. Well not totally Raymon Torres and Sheldon Best are gorgeous especially with shirts off.

Screwed (2017)

Plot holes big enough to drive a bus through

[3/10 · 9 April 2020]

I won't violate the rules with spoilers here but please read bosenfrai's review. He does an excellent job of reviewing this. Oddly, this was very well acted in spite of some characters having almost split personalities and the scenery was great. It did feel like a real movie and not a low budget affair with stilted acting.

Naked Dragon (2014)

A nice love story

[10/10 · 19 March 2020]

I really enjoyed this - a story about an FBI agent and patrol officer who meet and fall in love. I thought the acting was adequate or good and the story totally believable. Unlike many Gay themed stories, no one cheated or did drugs - the leads were perfectly normal. Several guests to my home have seen this and all liked it.

Touch of Pink (2004)

Delightful and different

[9/10 · 14 March 2017]

I guess I am not the brightest bulb once in a while because I didn't figure out what Cary Grant was doing in this movie until about 15 or so minutes into the movie.

This review will contain some mild spoilers.

I did see this movie when it came out and there are so many basic reviews already I will just mention what I found to be good and bad. Yes this is another cross cultural coming out story but it is done in a very unique way. Some have complained there wasn't chemistry between the male leads (Alim- Muslim and Giles British) or Alim's mother Nuru was too abrasive. Or that the Alim character was too droopy/ sad. I take a different tack and realize the actors didn't write the script and judge how well they did with what they were handed. I say the acting was excellent.

That said it would have been nice to see a little more romance/normal life between the leads before turning everything topsy turvy with all the inter familial drama. This movie moves fast and even after watching it three times I still catch very subtle nuances.

I agree with others who say Alim's mother's transformation was pretty smooth but then few of us go through what she did - living all over the world and widowed at 19. The most ridiculous criticism here is that she looked to young to be a mother of a 30 year old man. Movies are make believe aren't they? Whoops Goldberg rightly protested when they told her the princess wasn't black so she couldn't play the part! Nuru the mother had very traditional clothes and very old fashioned hair dos. It was good enough. I can see why they wanted her - she is stunningly beautiful.

I didn't understand a couple things. Giles professed his love for Alim and vice versa yet the reactions to various situations (about their romantic relationship) seemed very understated and others very over dramatic. It was unclear how long they had been together. This may explain some of the reconciling. The credits said there was a cultural consultant but Giles was way too smart to say to Alim during a fight "if you're mother is just an ignorant Pakistani what does that make you?" At the cousin's wedding also Muslim the sister thinks her husband is drunk and then says very distraughtly "I knew we should have had a cash bar". ??? At the very end Nuru Alim and Giles leave the wedding for reasons I won't expose here. It didn't change anything but definitely contradicts Nuru's earlier statement that (paraphrased and in more ways than one) "family is everything especially when no one else will have you"

Despite everything each time I see this I like it more. I read the producer spent 11 years putting this together, writing many of the songs and so much more. It is not perfect. But neither is it a campy stereotyped movie full of nudity or the tragedy of AIDS or things like that. Just enjoy the story and have fun.

Hidden Kisses (2016 TV Movie)

Well done but still mediocre

[7/10 · 31 December 2016]

If you haven't seen any coming of age films, this is better than many others. It is the story of two teen guys who are dealing with same sex attraction. It is just as much a story about how the parents, siblings, and teachers deal with (or are the cause of) the problems of societal attitudes, bullying, etc. The film conveys the emotional aspects very well and the acting is excellent. It is hard for me to give this a glowing review since it really doesn't cover any new ground. (Spoiler) if anything it is sad to see such strong parental angst and disapproval from both fathers and the mother, especially considering one father is an MD. It is 2016 after all and while I realize everyone still isn't tolerant, Gay children aren't something new. Another spoiler - in the scene where Nathan is in the locker room and the boys are beating him, Louis the love interest joins in punching him too. Of course that is to remove suspicion that he is Gay. But he doesn't apologize later. This seems to be a recurring theme in movies that apologies aren't necessary almost no matter what the transgression is.

Pleasure So Deep (1981)

definitely dated porn

[7/10 · 31 December 2016]

I saw previews of this movie many years ago, and decided I had to have it. So I bought a VHS tape. Unfortunately, the sex scenes were hardly longer than in the preview and they are chopped up as well. Some guy is banging away for a couple seconds, then the scene changes to a car driving on a highway. Back to the couple and then more often than not, the guy doesn't do the money shot, the scene just ends while he is still thrusting away. But there are some money shots, so maybe it was VERY poor editing? I did notice in very old porn from the 1970s there were NO money shots, which was odd considering everything else was hard core. I don't understand the logic but at least it was consistent. I will agree that much of today's porn is sex only, no seduction, no story, no scenery, often the couple is already naked even; nothing but the mechanical act really; the camera even gets close enough to count individual hairs! But if you're looking for much actual sex, this movie isn't it. The scenery is very nice and there are some very attractive people in this film.

Man of Steel (2013)

should have turned this off after the first five minutes

[4/10 · 28 November 2016]

Mild spoilers in my review. I gave this a 4 instead of a 1 for a few reasons - I was intrigued by the twist that Clark/Superman was an outcast from the beginning. That seems much more plausible since children are unpredictable and growing up is a difficult process. Also Henry Cavill is super handsome in this. The title of my review is based on the following. (young teen) Clark saves the children and driver after the schoolbus crashes into a lake. Of course, this isn't the first time Clark's uniqueness has been noticed. Clark gets a lecture from his father about hiding his powers and an upset Clark asks "was I supposed let them die?" The father, who makes no effort to comfort him stands at a distance and says something like "maybe, this isn't about just a few lives........" REALLY? He is going to lay the deaths of 30 kids on a 12 or 13 year old boy? It goes downhill fast from here as you can see from any number of negative reviews. This incarnation of Superman lets people die, destroys entire cities and has enough plot holes to make net to catch fish.

Snatch (2000)

The endless movie

[3/10 · 7 September 2016]

I give this a 3 just because I like Jason Statham. This got a lot of good reviews and if you like dozens of characters and bouncing all over the place like popcorn kernels in hot oil then this is the movie for you. Yes, you really need to pay attention to be able to follow what is going on and I just wanted to be entertained. I call this the endless movie because it just moves from one scene to the next with great speed. And the next and on and on. Like many forms of entertainment such as rap or opera, I can appreciate the work involved to make such an intricate movie, I just didn't care for it nor do I like movies such as this which are heavily narrated.

London Spy (2015)

Hate to repeat others but this is pretentious and absurd

[4/10 · 23 August 2016]

I gave this a 4 because the acting was excellent. Unfortunately my writing ability doesn't match the thoughts in my head, but I will try. I say this series is pretentious in the sense it pretends to have a plot. Two men meet and with just a few words spoken and a look "Danny" figures out "Alex" is Gay. Really? I don't think so. This series seems to have no idea where it is going and flips back and forth in time constantly. It is like the writers devise scenes they think would be cool and just write the preceding and proceeding story around them. The problem is these scenes make no sense. The just go on and on in circles. Danny inexplicably alternates between naïve lost soul and clever sleuth. One minute he doesn't know what day it is and another day he is "led" to a box at his warehouse job containing keys and he figures out how to find Alex's high school notebook in an unused pipe in the ceiling of a warehouse? This is beyond absurd to me. I finished episode 3 last night and I am bored out of my mind with the numerous, mostly ridiculous twists and turns. (SPOILER) Alex is dead so I can't imagine what the point of finishing this would be. I was hoping for a Gay romance. (PS yes, there are nude men kissing and caressing and yes, you see their behind. But there is no frontal nudity and no sex acts. So I don't know why there are several reviews here talking about "explicit" Gay sex. How would they describe it if Danny actually did F* or S* off Alex?) We have so few Gay characters in serious shows and even fewer with happy endings. The only reason Alex is in all five episodes is the endless flashbacks. Last comment, I disagree with another reviewer that Ben Whishaw is too old to play Danny. He has a skinny body without wrinkles, he definitely could pass for 25 or less.