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Palm Royale: Maxine Saves the Whale (2024)
Jumped the Whale
I've been loving the entire series and consistently rating each episode an 8 or 9. Character development, set design, acting are all A+. Kristen Wiig and Ricky Martin are the stars of the series but Carol Burnette steals the show even with limited dialogue. She's a national treasure. Allison Janney does a great job as Evelyn Rollins. I was pleased that Laura Dern's character takes a vow of silence which was much needed. It's great to see Mindy Cohn working again - her Ann character adds a nice touch to all the bougie men and women in the cast.
But the whale...seriously? A beached, what appears to be a humback whale. Yes, whales do occasionally beach themselves in that part of Florida, but the episode literally jumped the whale. Evelyn falling in love...with the whale? Chester the "vet" (does Michael Hitchcock ever play any other role?) is a complete idiot. I realize it's a private beach but only 2 people hanging out with the whale for a couple days? Did they run out of $$ for extras? I will admit that Maxine's whale calls on the yacht were hysterical but the entire episode was off brand and I hope the following episodes bring the series back to center.
Love to Love You, Donna Summer (2023)
Lacking substance
What should have been a deep dive into all things Donna Summer felt more like an opportunity for remaining family members to make a buck and focus on themselves. We really learn nothing about how this remarkable musician became an international superstar. Editing and directing was a mess. There was an opportunity to dig into how she became born again and how she shamed the gay community who made her a superstar. The doc also skips decades of her life. We jump from about 1984 to 2011 when she is diagnosed with lung cancer. Don't waste your time and instead watch some of her performances on YouTube.
Sell By (2019)
Great Cast but....
This film had potential with an outstanding ensemble cast and some good performances but my goodness the script was all over the place. Maybe it was editing but the entire film was so disjointed. Characters were poorly developed.
Making Montgomery Clift (2018)
Disappointing
The film's title is truly misleading and instead focuses almost entirely on His brother's attempt to dispute two biographies. Monty's brother Brooks is featured almost as much as Monty himself. Monty's twin sister is only mentioned once and is nerve interviewed. The archival footage and some of the recorded phone calls were fascinating but cannot make up for a very unfinished product
Maniac (2018)
Writers were on a great drug trip
I wanted to like this. I enjoy quirky and avant-garde but this was just absurd. The opening episode was intriguing. The expectation is that each episode would subsequently remove a layer to explain the story. Instead by the end the layers were so thick the entire concept made far less sense than I could have even imagined. Most of the middle episodes were just a whacked out acid trip. I can appreciate the writers wanting the audience to come to its own conclusion on some things but NOTHING was really explained in the final episode. Don't waste your time as you will just become frustrated. I give it 3 stars instead of 1 as some of the secondary character actors were quite good - Jonah Hill on the other hand was horribly cast.
Breakfast with Scot (2007)
A very pleasant surprise
I was very pleasantly surprised by this movie. It was a very well acted and directed film. That said, I thought the writing would be typical of an indy film and was not expecting much. I also remember critics saying at the time the film was released that the directors tried to hide the gay relationship too much. Now after seeing the movie I think I was just reading reviews from some bitter queens. The gay relationship is very much secondary to the main theme. The focus on the film is the child named Scot and his living life to the fullest regardless of how society sees gender roles. I liked that it was not the worn out theme where straight guy is uncomfortable with a kid or person not conforming to typical male gender roles, rather this was about a semi-closeted former pro hockey player that learned about his own internalized issues while learning to love this new child in his life who he becomes a dad to. It just goes to show whether gay or straight - we all have our issues to deal with. Again a very pleasant surprise and well worth watching.
Denied (2004)
Simply Atrocious!
Simply one of the poorest movies ever made. I made it through 35 minutes and threw in the towel. I read enough summaries and reviews to know that it might be a realistic plot but it was horribly put together so it did not matter. Perhaps with a different budget and director the movie would garner 1 star. I felt like I was watching a first year film student's attempt at being artistic and he/she miserably failed. The lighting is beyond poor. I was so bored I counted the minutes until the first scene where the lighting was sufficient to recognize character faces (22 minutes). The sound editing is just bizarre with random scenes with no sound and then bizarre sound effects thrown in for god knows what reason. Sound levels are all over the place and most of the dialogue is inaudible. If I could give it a negative star I would.
And Then Came Summer (2000)
Unfortunately horrible
This movie had such potential but the script was horrid. The acting was horribly stiff, especially the aunt's character. The actor who played Tommy appeared to be the only actor who has any acting chops and I was surprised to see that he has not had any other work outside of this movie.
Frankly I still have not figured out what her role was in the movie. I really wanted to like this movie as the message is important but it just never got past bad acting, directing, and especially editing.
The only good point of the movie was the music. There was some beautiful piano work in the movie.
The Delta (1996)
Very disappointing
I had waited for this movie to come out on DVD for 10 years after missing it at the Tampa Gay Film Festival in 1996. What a disappointment. The summary notes are very misleading. This is a very dark movie with no plot and no character development. Writing, film quality, audio, acting and especially directing were simply horrible. I can see why none of the actors never did any other work...perhaps they would have performed better had they been given something remotely decent to work with. By the end of the film was I was yelling at myself for wasting 85 minutes of my life. This movie failed to provide any emotional attachment to any of the characters, whether good or bad. Do not waste your time with this movie.
Take-Out (2000)
Entertaining short
If you've rented the shorts compilation Boys Briefs 2, this is the best of the 6 films. Gianpaolo Venuta was outstanding....he did a great job portraying a young man coming to terms with his sexuality and the guilt associated with his discovery. I liked the fact that he did not get together with the repeat customer...rather it was the thoughts about the possibility that led him through his discovery. The use of the speed photography to indicate time passage was a nice touch and allowed you to get a good underlying feel to the overall time period. The really only negative I can add is that the music selected was a poor overall match for the content.