Pride Month Movie - Day Thirteen: Atomic Blonde (2017)

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Directed by David Leitch

Screenplay by Kurt Johnstad

Based on the graphic novel series, "The Coldest City" written by Antony Johnston and illustrations by Sam Hart

Stars: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Sofia Boutella, Eddie Marsan, John Goodman, Toby Jones, James Faulkner, Roland Møller, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, and Til Schweiger

I saw the trailer for this movie years ago. It wasn't on my radar to watch. Then, it was revealed that there were some sapphic scenes. Yes, there were.

The action takes place at the end of the Cold War in West Berlin. An undercover agent, Lorraine (Theron) is being interrogated by her superiors, Gray and Kurzfeld (Jones, Goodman) about a mission that went wrong. She was trying to secure a list of undercover agents from getting in the hands of the Soviets.

When I was watching this, I kept thinking about Wanted. A similar movie with James McAvoy in it, except this time it's agents, not assassins. The positives. The soundtrack was very good. Enjoyed the songs that were peppered throughout. The action sequences were visceral, brutal and well done. If you have seen this movie, do you notice the bi flag color scheme in Lorraine's room? 

The negatives. The plot of the movie was very generic. I knew the "twist" of the movie thirty minutes before it was revealed. I believe interrogation scenes are a hit and miss with me, especially in an action movie. There is no tension or stakes, because you know that this person survives at the end.

Rating: 6.5/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Twelve: Cabaret

Cabaret (1972)

Directed by Bob Fosse

Screenplay by Jay Presson Allen 

Based on the stage musical by Joe Masteroff 

Based on the play by John Van Druten 

Based on the stories, "Goodbye to Berlin" by Christopher Isherwood

Stars: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Fritz Wepper, Marisa Berenson and Joel Grey

Since the Tony Awards are happening tonight as of writing this, I wanted to visit a movie I thought have seen. Turns out I only saw the first fifteen minutes and clips of the musical numbers over the years.

Berlin, 1931. A young man, Brian Roberts (York) arrives at a boardinghouse filled with colorful, including the illustrious Sally Bowles (Minnelli) that works at the infamous Kit Kat Klub.

For the longest time, I thought I knew what the story of Cabaret was about. Looking clips on YouTube will warp your mind into thinking was a movie was going to be.

The movie was more imitate than I thought. All of the musical numbers took place on the Kit Kat Klub stage. Nobody busted out into song out of nowhere. It was refreshing to see. Seeing the film, you feel like you are transported to Berlin during the time when the Nazi Party were gaining influence.

My only complaint with the movie is the whereabouts of some characters. You see them and they are gone. You don't know where they went some of the time. It left me puzzled.

Rating: 9/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Eleven: Maurice

Maurice (1987)

Directed by James Ivory

Screenplay by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and James Ivory

Based on the novel by E.M. Forster 

Stars: James Wilby, Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Billie Whitelaw, Judy Parfitt, Phoebe Nicholls, Mark Tandy, Patrick Godfrey, Simon Callow, and Ben Kingsley

I was going to review The Wedding Banquet or The Children's Hour on Pluto TV, but they are nowhere to be found. People were dropping suggestions in a Facebook group I belong to. They suggested this movie.

Taking place during the Edwardian era, Maurice (Wilby) finds himself falling in love with his fellow classmate, Clive (Grant) while they are studying at Cambridge. Circumstances at the time threaten to tear up them apart.

Withe my limited knowledge of the movie, I thought that Hugh Grant played the titular Maurice. The beginning of the movie takes a while to get into. I was under the impression that the whole movie was going to be about academia and all that jargon. It wasn't. It fades away after ten minutes.

This movie takes some turns that I did not expect. Did I agree with them? No. Some of the characters actions were a bit weird to me. During that time in England, being homosexual was a crime and would send you to jail.

This movie teaches me that love will come in unexpected ways.

Rating: 9/10

Sleepaway Camp

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Written and directed by Robert Hiltzik

Stars: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Christopher Collet, Karen Fields, Katherine Kamhi, Paul DeAngelo, Mike Kellin and Desiree Gould

To wash the taste of Everybody's Talking About Jaime out of my mouth, I wanted to revisit a movie that I knew I was gonna to love. I saw this movie about two years ago. I thought it was going to be a typical terrible movie, but this is different.

The film focuses on Angela (Rose), a shy girl along with her foul-mouthed cousin, Ricky (Tiersten) go to a camp, Camp Arawak for the summer. You think everything is fine until campers start dying.

I was so surprised that the movie was not spoiled for me before I had the chance to watch it. When you first watch the movie, you would think that it was just a bad movie. There is so much subtext that you don't see on your first viewing. Subsequent viewing would make you appreciate what is being unsaid.

You think you know what is going to happen, but wait until the end of the movie. It has one of the best ending ever. You will lose your mind. I try to spread the word of this movie over twitter every chance I get.

It's a terrible masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Ten: Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)

Directed by Jonathan Butterell

Co-directed by Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae

Screenplay by Tom MacRae

Based on the stage musical by Jonathan Butterell & Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae

Stars: Max Harwood, Lauren Patel, Sarah Lancashire, Richard E. Grant, Sharon Horgan, Samuel Bottomley, Shobna Gulati and Ralph Ineson

There were rumblings about the stage musical that was a big hit in the West End. This movie was not on my radar, because it was one of many musicals that were coming out last year. I should have trusted my first instinct.

Jaime (Harwood) is a 16-year-old that has a dream of being a drag queen.

Excuse me, my lack of enthusiasm with this movie. I have a lot of thoughts. I wanted to watch a movie that was fun and whimsical. I thought this was it. The songs do not propel the story forward. It was more of a full stop. The sound mixing was muddled.

This movie reminds me of Love, Simon. A story with a protagonist that is an awful person. I did not like Jaime. I wondered why was the musical so popular in the UK. I don't see it.

Rating: 2/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Nine: And Then We Danced

And Then We Danced (2019)

Written and directed by Levan Akin

Stars: Levan Gelbakhiani, Bachi Valishvili, Ana Javakishvili, and Kakha Gogidze

When I was putting this blog-a-thon together, I was looking at certain movies to see. I saw this movie in the top 50 best reviewed movies on Rotten Tomatoes. I don't get the hype with this movie.

Merab (Gelbakhiani) is a b-squad dancer at the Georgian National Ensemble. He tries really hard to prove to the teacher, Aleko (Gogidze) and to himself that he can advance in his dance career. When a spot in the main dance company becomes available, he has to compete with a new dancer, Irakli (Valishvili) for it.

I might sound like an ignorant American here, but I don't know anything about Georgian culture. It was that disconnect that prevented me from liking this movie.

The motivations of some of the characters were strange to me. I understand that this is Merab's journey of self discovery. Cool. The "relationship" between him and Irakli felt strange to me. There was no connection there. I did not get why Merab acted the way he did. His spiraling felt odd.

I had this one question when the credits rolled, "What was the point of the movie?"

Rating: 3/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Eight: Teorema

Teorema (1968) 

Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Stars: Terence Stamp, Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti, Anne Wiazemsky, Andrés José Cruz Soublette, and Laura Betti

A YouTube channel that I followed mentioned this movie about a guy fucking the entire family. On the surface, it seems that what happens, but you have to look deeper into the movie to the true meaning of it.

A Milanese bourgeoisie family is visited a mysterious person called The Visitor (Stamp). Little by little, the people of the household are exposing to The Visitor in more ways than one until he leaves as quickly as he comes in. The family spirals in unexpected ways trying to go back to the normal.

I am unfamiliar with the works of Pasolini. It seems that his movies have a history drenched in symbolism and allegory. It was prevalent in this movie. 

If you don't know the hidden meaning behind what is happening onscreen, you will be bored out of your mind. There is not that much dialogue in the film. You have to read what is unsaid throughout the movie.

The one thing that bothered me is that the movie seemed to be spoken in English and dubbed in Italian. I was multitasking reading the subtitles and lip reading.

Rating: 9/10