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Reviews
Layer Cake (2004)
The anti-Bond film.
This is a solid and entertaining (and yes, layered) film that greatly showcases the future Bond, James Bond. Craig comes off here as the anti-Bond, not smooth, not always knowing what to say and not always doing things the right way.
I was relieved to see this when I watched the film, especially knowing while watching that he has been already chosen as the next Bond. As a true Bond-fanatic, it was refreshing to see Craig's performance not be an audition for the super-spy, instead, it's a very mellow and understated solid role.
This should help Craig create his own version of Bond in the time to come.
While sharing traits of Matthew Vaughn's usual film-making partner Guy Ritchie, Layer Cake stands on its own two feet as a convoluted, funny and engaging piece.
Worth the rental.
The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green (2005)
Very funny and sweet. This is what gay comedies should be like.
What a pleasure this film is! It is so light, fun and breezy that you want it to go on.
I have to confess, I have never seen the comic strip that the film is based on, so I didn't know what to expect, but what I got was a truly funny film.
This is what gay cinema should strive for when it comes to making comedies. I saw this film at a gay & lesbian festival in Chicago and there were plenty of other comedies that felt like they were all the same. (Boy meets boy, boy likes boy, boy goes after boy, boy has sex with other boys, boy gets boy, boy dumps boy, boy gets boy. Or the usual recent contraption of boy likes girl, boy pretends to be gay to befriend girl, etc. etc.)
And might I add, why isn't Meredith Baxter in more movies? She kicked ass in this and looks as beautiful as ever. I want to see her everywhere now. Who knew Alex P. Keaton's mom would end up as a funny and snarky mom who lives with her gay son's ex-boyfriend and has a potty mouth! Classic.
All in all, if you get a chance to see this film, do it. No idea when it will be on video or out in theatres (other then its festival run), but remember the name.
Scab (2005)
Very cool spin on vampires, with a gay twist. (Hold the lemon).
I saw Scab at the gay & lesbian film festival here in Chicago. I was very surprised since I didn't really know what to expect. My first thoughts were that it was going to be a vampire horror slasher film, but it wasn't. Not in a bad way, though. It's really a drama with some dark humor (and a couple of hot guys, which isn't a bad thing at all).
The film about a Hollywood gay guy who gets 'infected' and becomes a vampire and takes his best friends to Vegas to get away from all of the drama. When there, the situation gets worse, people die, sex is had, and skin is shown. There are a few kooky characters thrown into the mix, but not in too jarring a way. I was impressed with the sound and the score, which for an indy film were pretty good.
I noticed that the filmmakers cast some gay porn stars to play 'victims'. You can definitely tell with a couple of them (Cody Cash especially), that they aren't professional actors, it doesn't hurt the scenes too much and the rest of the actors more than make up for them.
I've seen lots and lots of gay cinema and it's always cool to see something that tries to do it a little differently and isn't the usual fare. While this film has its shortcomings and could have been paced a little better, I would recommend it and spread the word.