ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

camas9 I loved it! I appreciated the tapestry that led to the subtle and uplifting conclusion, probably because it seemed to resemble clarity. I felt no sense of "preaching", indeed it was the brevity of expressed points of view that lent it the sense of reality that one lives with every day. The portrayal of the characters on both sides of the issues were presented with a sensitivity that did not detract from the accuracy of their impact on the protagonist, the Poster Boy. Examples of extreme Right-Wing politicians and religious leaders who have parented gay and lesbian children are too numerous to include here, but one wonders about the true price of the horrendously internalized closet these personalities seem to be lost in. I would recommend it to any with an interest in such issues.

Brandt Sponseller A technical quibble first: my hearing is less than perfect, and Poster Boy has a lot of mumbled dialogue with no subtitles on the DVD. New films without subtitles are just inexcusable in my opinion--what is someone who is deaf supposed to do? Just not watch that film? The best aspect of the film is the acting. The core cast are all fantastic. What didn't work so well for me was the cinematography, editing and the general low budget approach. The cinematography is mostly (or maybe all) hand-held, with a lot of shaky cam shots and a lot of blurriness. The film is loaded with overexposed shots and a dominance of white. While that may have been so for metaphorical reasons, it's not the most pleasant thing to watch aesthetically if it's relentless--and that's also not the best way to get the metaphorical aspects across. The editing is frequently frenetic. In combination with the locations, sets and general lack of music, Poster Boy has the feel of a 100-thousand dollar art house drama made by a director who is way too obsessed with The Blair Witch Project.Fortunately, the story is better than that would suggest, although it's not perfect. This would have been far more on-target and controversial 15 years ago (given our present knowledge and overall lack of reaction to the sexuality of some political offspring), but it's still engaging enough, especially given the performances, and at any rate, it deals with important issues that are still far from resolved in our culture.

Franco-LA It isn't necessarily a bad thing that a first time director is working from a script with first time writers; I've seen worse films where a first time director wrote the script. However, this film would have been better served by either some more experience (or polish) on the writing end and, probably, with a director who was willing to make the necessary changes.For example, when the Noseworthy character admits to his "best friend" that he too, slept with her dead boyfriend, it seems pointless and isn't and doesn't go anywhere, not even to an "I'm sorry for hurting you, Izzy" comment from Noseworthy's Anthony character. The beginning of the film, where the young man walks away from the Anthony character's bed exists purely to show the character would be petulant because guys walk out on him after sleeping with him -- so when the Henry Kray character does it, of course, he needs revenge by messing up the Henry's entire life. These elements are just so predictable or undeveloped as to ruin the opportunity the film has to be something new or unique.Even the basic story, since it's one that has been the plot of a few trashy trade paperback gay novels and even the plot of a few trashy 'JO' (since IMDb doesn't like the more precise verbiage) stories in gay male adult magazines, needed more development than it got. I actually felt Karen Allen's performance was good, although the accent was a bit jarring. Unfortunately, too much time was spent developing her character for too little pay off. If she was going to walk away from the Senator at the end and the Senator and his son haven't reconcile, what happened to her, especially if he won re-election? Too much time is also spent with the Izzy character, especially in context with the Senator's wife, since again, there is no pay-off.And while getting drunk and having coffee is certainly the way for a relationship to begin, there was nothing on screen to justify Noseworthy doing this, especially since they don't end up together in the end.If the director couldn't see the flaws in the script and fix them, he was the major problem. If the writers didn't realize these kinds of problems, they need a good editor. As it was, I gave the movie a better mark than I normally might for trying something different than you might normally see in a gay movie and for good performances by the leads, who were undermined by the script and clearly did the best they could with their dialog and situations, and didn't make them any worse. Hopefully, both will get better roles (or make better decisions about the roles they take) in the future.

christopher-208 This is on of the darkest gay-themed films released in America I have seen. Most reviews have not been favorable, so I'll do my best to tell you what I liked, and what I didn't like. This is not a bad film, a 1 or 2 star rating seems quite unfair, but reviews are subjective. It doesn't hold a candle to other gay films I have enjoyed, but the subject is very different.Why I Gave It 7 Stars: It was a solid 6, leaning towards 8 in the beginning, and towards the end, so I compromised. A solid B- film you might say.The Story: It centers around Henry (played by Matt Newton). Henry is the son of a ultra conservative Senator from the south. Think of "The Birdcage", minus anything to laugh at. Henry is also gay. The film, told in "flashback style" as Henry tells his story to a reporter unfolds over the course of 6 months. Basically, Henry comes out, and family chaos follows. But not for long, as we're almost to the end of the film.What I Liked: Personally, I liked the edge. This was almost more of a docu-drama, albeit a fictitious one, which could easily be based on truth. The actors were good to very good, the overall production was good as well.What I Did Not Like: I was nearly half-way through the film, starting to get concerned where it was going, before all the character/story sub-plots were connected. The second half of the movie was strongest.The Rest of the Characters: Besides our lead, Henry, we also focus on his stereo-typical bigot Republican Father/Senator, and his "senator's wife" Mother. And to the mix, a straight girl Izzi, and her gay male friend Anthony, whose relationship was unusual at best. Anthony and Henry meet under some unusual circumstances at a college party.The Ending: I never give away specifics, but let's just say it's not a "Brady Bunch" wrap-up. If the ending was all tidied up for viewers, I would have knocked this down to a 5 or 6. Everything about the film was somewhat gritty, dark, "off". It's not the type of film that usually comes out of the USA. We usually have to watch films like this with sub-titles, so kudos to Here! films and those involved for producing the film.Final Thoughts: This is not a laugh-out-loud sex romp. No, not at all. It's a good story trying to make a point about politics, sexuality and family values. It does all of those well.Unrelated Chatter: Jack Noseworthy, the actor who played Anthony also starred in "The Brady Bunch Movie" and in his early years, "Cats" in the theater. Matt Newton (Henry) has appeared on the "Gilmore Girls" and "Judging Amy".