Pride Month Movie - Day Two: But I'm a Cheerleader

But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

Directed by Jamie Babbit

Story by  Jamie Babbit

Screenplay by Brian Peterson 

Stars: Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, Cathy Moriarty, RuPaul Charles, Eddie Cibrian, Melanie Lynskey, Katrina Phillips, Katharine Towne, Joel Michaely, Douglas Spain, Dante Basco, Kip Pardue, Bud Court, Mink Stole and Michelle Williams

This moment is serendipitous. I saw the fantastic Snatch Game with Jinx Monsoon portraying Natasha on All Stars 7 and mentioned this movie. It was meant to be that I was going to see it during Pride Month.

Megan (Lyonne) is a typical high school girl. She is part of the cheerleading team,. She has a boyfriend that mouth assaults her with his kisses. She is a good Christian. She cannot get the images of women out of her mind. In order to put her on the right path, Megan's parents (Court, Stole) send her to "True Directions," an gay conversion camp to help her to become straight.

Full disclosure. I have not seen many-- if any lesbian centric movies-- so I am only basing my feelings of the movies with my own queer experiences. The topic of this movie very prevalent. There are a lot of families are taking their kids to these ex-gay camps to try to "cure" the homosexuality. It is a terrible practice that I'm glad is being outlawed in some states.

I liked the movie. I wish I would have gotten the motivation on why Mary Brown (Moriarty) started True Directions. Is it because of her son Rock (Cibrian) that is clearly gay with his booty-shorts? A clear example why the program does not work. Wait a minute. Maybe that's the point. Clearly the campers and the counselors still have the urges. I wish we got to see more of the other camp with Richard Moll's character and his onscreen partner more.

Mary tries to teach the campers archaic lessons from the 1960s. The gender dynamics have to be firm in her eyes. Girls like boys, pink, housework. Guys like girls, chopping wood and throwing a football around. The colors of this movie were intense. Certain shots assault your eyes with bubble gum pink in one frame then purple the next. Monochromatic dressing. 

Rating: 7/10

Three Kings

Three Kings (1999)

Directed by David O. Russell

Story by John Ridley

Screenplay by David O. Russell

Stars: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, Cliff Curtis, Saïd Taghmaoui, Nora Dunn, Jamie Kennedy, Judy Greer, Holt McCallany and Mykelti Williamson

Three Kings is the kind of movie that virtually everyone in the world has seen except for me, because that's the way I was programmed. I always wanted to see it. This is as good of time as any to watch it. I excepted the movie would be on thing and ended up other, which left me confused.

After the first Iraqi War in 1991, a platoon is interrogating a bunch of POWs when it was discovered that one of the prisoners is carrying a piece of paper between his ass cheeks by Conrad Vig (Jonze). Removing the paper and inspecting it, it turns out to be a treasure to find gold bouillon that Iraqi forces stole from Kuwait in the conflict. Troy Barlow (Wahlberg) and Cheif Elgin (Cube) were deciphering the map when Speical Forces Major Archie Gates (Clooney) takes over everything. He devises a plan to recover the missing bouillion and keep a couple of them for themselves. On their way to the bunker, the four men realize that some civilians need their help.

I was very psyched to see this film. I thought that the movie would be a straight up drama, but it turned to be a comedy. Not like funny "haha" comedy. It caught me completely off guard. It was confusing that a film about a non-war would have scenes of violence would then have a conversation about Michael Jackson during a torture scene.

The tone of movie was the biggest issue that I had with the movie. It was trying to take itself seriously, but then it was try to have a jokey moment that comes out of nowhere. I think the "comedy" aspects of the film were not necessary. If the movie was a straight up drama, I would have like the movie more. Some instances in the movie would have had a greater impact on me if that was the case.

My Rating

LAMBs in The Director's Chair Series Spotlight (Sam Raimi): For Love of the Game

For Love of the Game (1999)

Directed by Sam Raimi

Written by Dana Stevens

Based on the novel by Michael Shaara

Stars: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, Jena Malone, John C. Reilly, JK Simmons and Brian Cox

I have to admit when the LAMB announced that the next person in LAMB Director series was Sam Raimi, I only knew that he did the Spider-Man movies and the Evil Dead series. I was really surprised that he directed the 1999 release of For Love of the Game. This is the second of Kevin Coster's baseball trilogy which included Bull Durham and The Upside of Anger. I have to say that this is my least favorite of  them.

The movie is supposed to be a love letter to America favorite pastime: baseball. It deals with Billy Chapel (Costner), a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers who is in the crossroads of career. He is 40 years old with a bum pitching arm, his mentor Gary Wheeler (Cox) has sold the team who has a decision to retire or be traded, also his girlfriend of five years, Jane (Preston) is leaving for London. The main action of picture deals with the seemingly the last game of his career. During the game, Chapel gets flashbacks of what lead him to this pivotal part of his career.

I thought that the movie was going to be about making people appreciate baseball, but the thrust of the movie meandered about Chapel's relationship with Jane and some random reconciliations that he had during the course of game. It was filler. Costner's characterization of Billy Chapel was very charismatic, but that doesn't get you anywhere with me. The dialogue felt like it was taken for a romance novel. It made me gag. I was not invested in the characters or the plot. I wish the movie ended differently, instead of a sickly sweet ending that we have seen a million times. I was bored. The movie should not have been two hours.

My Rating: