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2010 Films XVI-XXI
XVI: The Towering Inferno (John Guillerman, 1974)
I don’t believe I’ve ever watched this – I’ve seen it a dozen times, always with the sound down, but never watched it. So, it’s the story of architect Paul Newman whose skyscraper burns down and needs to be saved by fireman Steve McQueen. It is tense toward the end, but the effects are hit and miss. And doesn’t he think of building a second tower awfully fast?
XVII: Victim (Basil Dearden, 1961)
Post-Wolfenden, pre-Stonewall, with Dirk Bogarde as the closeted and married lawyer who stands up to a blackmailer. A brave and moving performance by Bogarde, but the film is stolen by the evil and clearly closeted blackmailer, played by Derren Nesbitt. Whilst apparently it was hard to cast, it’s still a who’s that of British film, with Trigger’s dad in a major role. And it swings oddly from Free Cinema to Gainsborough Melodrama in style. Iconic.
XVIII: Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (Phillip J. Bartell, 2006)
Sequel – the modern (gay) romantic comedy. Kyle is playing straight and recently inned to seduce new boy Troy, whilst Kyle’s ex is trying to seduce Troy to get back at Kyle. Fitfully amusing, but probably not as bad taste as it thinks it is.
XIX: The Fluffer (Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, 2001)
When a wannabe film maker is issued with a porn film instead of Citizen Kane, he falls in love with the gay for pay star and joins the studio Men of Janus who made the film in hopes of getting near him. Not quite comedy, not quite melodrama, and apparently with real porn stars as themselves.
XX: HellBent (Paul Etheredge-Ouzts, 2004)
I spot a theme… Gay slasher. Eddie, who failed the medical when trying to become a cop like his father, is drafted in to solve the crime of two beheader loves, and meets smoking tattooed biker, Jake. Whilst on the carnival with his friends at Halloween Kyle runs into Jake again, but a madman is on the loose with a razor sharp cudgel. Fairly preposterous nonsense – Eddie isn’t quite the final girl because no one else has quite had sex either, and no one seems to have a mobile phone. And can someone really be hacked to death on a dancefloor with no one noticing, even on Halloween? Better acted than it frankly deserves.
XXI: Paris (Cedric Klapisch, 2008)
French version of Crash in which Pierre, a former dancer (Roman Dupris, surprisingly aged), faces death, a professor seduces his student, a group of market workers look for sex and a Cameroonian tries to get to Paris. Never quite more than the sum of its parts, it’s sort of a weepy Rear Window, with almost the sense that the dancer has made these stories up about people. Good, but could have done with being 90 minutes rather the 124 it was.
I don’t believe I’ve ever watched this – I’ve seen it a dozen times, always with the sound down, but never watched it. So, it’s the story of architect Paul Newman whose skyscraper burns down and needs to be saved by fireman Steve McQueen. It is tense toward the end, but the effects are hit and miss. And doesn’t he think of building a second tower awfully fast?
XVII: Victim (Basil Dearden, 1961)
Post-Wolfenden, pre-Stonewall, with Dirk Bogarde as the closeted and married lawyer who stands up to a blackmailer. A brave and moving performance by Bogarde, but the film is stolen by the evil and clearly closeted blackmailer, played by Derren Nesbitt. Whilst apparently it was hard to cast, it’s still a who’s that of British film, with Trigger’s dad in a major role. And it swings oddly from Free Cinema to Gainsborough Melodrama in style. Iconic.
XVIII: Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (Phillip J. Bartell, 2006)
Sequel – the modern (gay) romantic comedy. Kyle is playing straight and recently inned to seduce new boy Troy, whilst Kyle’s ex is trying to seduce Troy to get back at Kyle. Fitfully amusing, but probably not as bad taste as it thinks it is.
XIX: The Fluffer (Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, 2001)
When a wannabe film maker is issued with a porn film instead of Citizen Kane, he falls in love with the gay for pay star and joins the studio Men of Janus who made the film in hopes of getting near him. Not quite comedy, not quite melodrama, and apparently with real porn stars as themselves.
XX: HellBent (Paul Etheredge-Ouzts, 2004)
I spot a theme… Gay slasher. Eddie, who failed the medical when trying to become a cop like his father, is drafted in to solve the crime of two beheader loves, and meets smoking tattooed biker, Jake. Whilst on the carnival with his friends at Halloween Kyle runs into Jake again, but a madman is on the loose with a razor sharp cudgel. Fairly preposterous nonsense – Eddie isn’t quite the final girl because no one else has quite had sex either, and no one seems to have a mobile phone. And can someone really be hacked to death on a dancefloor with no one noticing, even on Halloween? Better acted than it frankly deserves.
XXI: Paris (Cedric Klapisch, 2008)
French version of Crash in which Pierre, a former dancer (Roman Dupris, surprisingly aged), faces death, a professor seduces his student, a group of market workers look for sex and a Cameroonian tries to get to Paris. Never quite more than the sum of its parts, it’s sort of a weepy Rear Window, with almost the sense that the dancer has made these stories up about people. Good, but could have done with being 90 minutes rather the 124 it was.
Totals: 21 (Cinema: 3; DVDs: 12; TV: 6)