The Television and Movie Recommendation/Discussion Thread!

[Killin Joke]

Question: during my gradual and continuous search for cool gay films, I've come across a couple of titles I haven't seen here yet. Does anybody know something about the following movies:

- Skin Deep: read the cover twice. Appearantly it's not about lesbianism but a trans-issue, situated in the tatoo world. Probably extremely interesting, but it would be cool if some kitten could elaborate on it, before I decide to rent it...

- Totally f*cked up: about a bunch of gay teens: contains two "dykes", as the explanation so 'charmingly' described them ("potten" in Dutch)... Maybe I'm just being an "issue dyke" (see: Chutney popcorn )

"Visions dance throughout the night in the pale moon light in the witching hour" (Symphony X)

[Kandicek]

ok, how about the recent offer of Kissing Jessica Stein? I thought that was kinda ok.

And you cant beat the old standards.

[Wytchi Grrl]

Oh have to add I love 'But I'm a Cheerleader' too. Clea DuVall is great. And Also If these Walls could talk 2, I can't watch the first one though, too sad! What about 'When Night is Falling' anyone Like that one? I thought is was ok not amazing though.

"RESPECT THE NARRATIVE FLOW MUCH!?"

[Killin Joke]

- I went to see a couple of films during the Ghent (Belgian) filmfestival again, just like last year, when I saw a pearl like "Lost and Delirious". I agree, the ending sooo falls under the heading dead lesbian cliché, but except from that, the movie really is a gem, delivered with so much feeling: exquisite acting (cutie Piper I knew from Coyote Ugly, the rest I got to know), music (Ndegeocello's Beautiful, Ani Di Franco,...) literature (Shakespeare becomes attractive again), fencing (what is it with girls yielding weapons , nature (the falcon, the woods...), etc. Damn, I want that one on DVD. Broke my heart, but still...



- Also saw "The Crush" then, with pleasant surprise: Anna Chancellor's character turning out gay in the end.



- And "Rain", ok, not a gay flick, but New Zealand's Marton Csokas (discovered he's in the bad flick "Monkey's mask" or something: thanks for telling, anyway, kitten was in it, and the kid who played Xena's son Solan... Granted, I'm obessed. Intimate, sensitive movie



- Moving on to this year's assets. I wanted to see "Bitteren Tranen der Petra von Kant" (regie: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who directed "Berlin Alexanderplatz" if I'm not mistaken), German film of 1972 - with: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Irm Hermann, etc. - 124 minutes - Dutch/French subtitles about model designer Petra and model Karin have an affair. The opportunistic Karin moves back to her husband, when he's back in the country again. 6 months afterwards it's Petra's birthday. She waits in anticipation on a phonecall of Karin...

Anyway, I wanted to go but there was this birthday party of one of my best friends saturdayevening, and I had class monday afternoon. If any Belgian/Dutch kittens have seen it, and are willing to share their opinion: highly appreciated.



- I did go to see "Blue" this thursday, directed by Hiroshi Ando -> Japanese film, obviously, of 2001 - with: Mikako Ichikawa, Manami Konishi, Asami Imajuku, and others - duration: 116 minutes - English subtitles.

Two girls are drawn into a whirling stream of emotions during their last summer holiday. What first seemed liked friendship, turns out to be love. But there's not that much necessary to turn their youthful emotions.

Ok, first of all, it's a weird film, which isn't necessarily bad, it's just it's about an entire different culture, it shows an other way of filming, so you have to adjust to the slow rhythm of the movie. I really had trouble not falling asleep, but that's maybe just because of my own doing, fault, since I hadn't slept that much during the previous nights.

Anyway, there's a lot of symbolism: blue meaning "green behind the ears", feeling blue: sad, melancholic,... One girl painting blue grapes, a gift she received from the other Endo, etc.

There were parallellisms in movement: girls walking with synchronized arms, legs, a chase of one girl, with the other in her footsteps.

One girl using a garden hoze to water the flowers, herself, while the phone rang, she doesn't want to answer it, because she's mad at Endo -> her patience running dry

It does have moving elements: how one innocent, naieve girl, becomes the strongest of the two: she's the one who finds a purpose in life (art) and moves to Tokyo, in stead of the other, who keeps repeating "I don't ammount to something". She does help Endo to build up her confidence time and again. There's this beautiful phrase "You're Endo." and so on, about people valueing people for who they really are, without labeling.

There are a few kisses, wiping away a strand of hair, you know, the sweet stuff, but don't expect a happy ending. I mean, they don't die: it's just: one girl realizes she will always be second place, even if spot 1 isn't fulfilled. Endo does say some cute things like "I mean it." after kissing her, but she has a past: abortion after getting it on with a married man...

All in all, visually stunning, if you're patient enough to get used to the tempo: they deliver one line, than the camera waits for like x seconds.



- Next: saw "Swingers" on friday, directed by Stephan Brenninkmeijer - Dutch film of 2002, with: Joep Sertons, Ellen Van Der Koogh, Nienke Brinkhuis, etc. - 93 minutes - Dutch subtitles

The thirtiers Dianna and Julian have been together for a while now. Despite of Diana's insecurity, she agrees to sexually experiment with another couple. They place an ad on the internet to which the experienced Timo and Alex(andra) react...

Maybe Dutch kitties (like Dr G) know some of the actors (I recognized the one that played Timo). The blonde cute Alex was obviously bi and coming on to Diana almost immediately: tension in the kitchen, when she puts her head close to Diana's while, her fingers linger on Diana's exposed waist skin... Ok, LOL, let's just say there's full frontal nudity, Alex and Diana kissing in the pool porn/ sex scene between Diana, Alex, Julian... Not that interesting (what's wrong with me, huh) if you're a romantic W/T-shipper, but the entire movie's also about the insecurities, the consequences of such acts... Timo wants out, Alex for himself. Diana lacks confidence, because of her strict upbringing. Alex acts tough, but finally breaks down: that was thé moving scene for me. Alex locks herself up in the room, Diana finally manages to allow Alex to let her in. Diana starts to brush her hair (very sensuous: see The Haunting-scene between Theo (Catherina Zeta-Jones) and Eleanor/Nell (Lili Taylor) and Alex starts crying... Diana embraces her and kisses her hair... Nice mirror image: I never could resist a hurt/comfort scene.

Anyway, everyone turns out to be different than they seem in the beginning, they're changed in the end...

"Visions dance throughout the night in the pale moon light in the witching hour" (Symphony X)

Edited by: Killin Joke at: 10/20/02 9:54:46 am

[littlesplinters]

Hey did any uk kittens see 'Chasing Amy' on BBC2 last night? i've avoided this film for years but decided to give it a go last night and actually it was okay, quite funny and coming from a different perspective which I quite like .



In response to Tipping the Velvet - fab drama but I also found Nan's voice abit irritating.



Best lesbian film - 'November Moon' and 'Go Fish' haven't seen anything that is vibrant and daring for along time.

[Killin Joke]

Belgian kitty, but yeah, I managed to watch part of Chasing Amy again (have it on tape anyway, so I've seen it before). It's a fun movie + cute actresses never hurt But with Kevin Smith's flicks you're required to turn a little knob in your head and don't take everything seriously. If you can do that, movies like Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob strike back, Clerks (haven't seen that one yet)... are hilarious to watch.

"Visions dance throughout the night in the pale moon light in the witching hour" (Symphony X)

Edited by: Killin Joke at: 10/20/02 2:12:08 pm

[Repost Moderator]

Originally posted by Jennpurr



Did anyone else see this today?? It was awesome. Elizabeth Mitchell was gorgeous as ever. I just love that woman. And her with the straight hair... I thought she looked very sexy. For those of you who don't know who I'm talking about, she played the principal.



I really enjoyed this. More than the first one, actually. Of course, Elizabeth had most of the reason to do with my liking this one better.



Anyone else have any thoughts? I'll have to go and see this again.



Elizabeth in that black dress...



Jen

[Repost Moderator]

Originally posted by The Rose24



Forgive me, but who is Elizabeth Mitchell?

[Jennpurr]

YOu don't know who EM is?? Just teasing.



Um... she's been in a number of things. Most popular being: ER, she played Dr. Kim Legaspi, Kerry's g/f in Season 7. She was in Gia, she played Linda. Frequency, where she played Dennis Quaid's wife. Um... she was in Nurse Betty, The Linda McCartney story, she played Linda.



Those are the really big roles she was in.







The first one, is a recent photo of her.

Jen

* * * * * * * * * *
"They keep telling me how wonderful make-up sex is." Willow ran her tongue over Tara's lips. "Insisting really." ~ Willow from, "Milestones: Chapter 14," by Lisa Countryman

"I've become really protective of her. I want to make sure if Tara comes back, it's for good reason." ~ Amber Benson

Edited by: Jennpurr at: 11/1/02 8:20:04 pm

[TVFanOnBoard]

i saw the movie and enjoyed it. i agree with jen, EM was gorgerous as ever. i just hope she would be back on ER coz i really miss her.

[KISMIC]

Well I saw 'Kissing Jessica Stein' at an advanced screening today! My oppinion? I didn't love it. Mainly because I didn't particularly like the character of Jessica (she got points for the scene with her mother on the outside swing though, that was a good scene), but did like Helen and thought she was too good for Jessica. The ending Oh my God what a disappointment, I actually walked out of the cinema angry *because* I just thought the ending was, to put it simply, stupid! Anyway, bit of a disappointment for my Saturday, but overall not too bad a movie - the ending just ruined it.





*~Kristy~*

[ruby]

Yowsa, I love Elizabeth Mitchell. I thought she was a very nuanced and convincing lesbian on ER. But I don't think my devotion extends to sitting through that Santa movie, unfortunately.



Yesterday I scared the bejesus out of myself by going to see The Ring. Don't believe the reviews that say it isn't completely terrifying! If Naomi Watts wasn't so darn gorgeous I would have covered my eyes the entire time (instead of only half the time). A great Halloween flick.

Wow, that was so close to being empowering. --"Same Time, Same Place"

Edited by: ruby at: 11/2/02 6:43:29 am

[StuckInIowa]

Just a side question, is ER any good anymore? I found my interest sort of drifting away a couple seasons ago. Is it worth watching again, in y'alls opinions?



-=SS=-

[Dumbsaint]

On kind of a random note, I saw Death to Smoochy for the second time last night, and can I just say how much I freaking love Danny Devito's movies? Fucking genius. Hee. Randomly quirky and weird, with heart. Sigh. And the man just gets the best casts. Robin Williams, Harvey Fierstein, the sassy chick from Being John Malkovitch (in yet another delightfully sassy role), John Stewart, and Ed Norton. If you haven't seen this movie yet, and you like twisted humor, you really must indulge yourself. It even makes me not afraid of plushies for like, a whole two hours. That, my friends, is talent.



So nice to be reminded these days of people whose work is still consistently marvelous.

"And never let it be said that I left a Tara craving unsatisfied." Willow, Wilderness Pt. 1

Edited by: Dumbsaint at: 11/2/02 7:25:41 am

[Warduke]

I saw Kissing Jessica Stein last night and I agree Kristy, the ending was lousy, even though I knew how it would end, it still sucked...big time.



Although I have say, the actress who played Jessica just kept getting cuter and cuter as the movie went on

---

Mozilla : There's a new browser on the block.

[famer]

For me, hands down, Helen from KJS was the hotter babe. She, with all the fantastic clothes, dark hair, red lips & i-want-you attitude -- mmmm. JS was so unappealing to me, but maybe it's because of those neurosis-coloured glasses of hers. And don't get me started on JS' 80s hair in the last scene. I will self destruct.



Non-gay recommendation -- Bowling for Columbine . It's a documentary by Michael Moore on America and guns et al . I know it's a documentary, but it's still really funny! Honest! It's a little bit of learnin' and a passel full of laughter. And I'm not just saying that b/c, as a Canadian, I was a little tickled at his take on Canada.

Edited by: famer at: 11/2/02 11:11:20 am

[Jennpurr]

StuckInIowa,



Um... to be perfectly honest, and this is just my own opinion, but ER is okay. Actually, I'm really only still in to it because of Kerry's storyline. When they introduced Elizabeth as Kim Legaspi in Season 7, I started watching it again.



There is going to be some good stuff coming up with Kerry, so I'm still watching. Plus, not to mention, Lisa Vidal is one of the sexiest women I have ever seen. She'll make her first appearance since last season, not this next episode, but the one after. Episode 7. I'm so excited.



That's just my opinion on ER anyway.



Jen

* * * * * * * * * *
"They keep telling me how wonderful make-up sex is." Willow ran her tongue over Tara's lips. "Insisting really." ~ Willow from, "Milestones: Chapter 14," by Lisa Countryman

"I've become really protective of her. I want to make sure if Tara comes back, it's for good reason." ~ Amber Benson

[Scoobiedoo]

Well, I just saw Kissing Jessica Stein the other day and was extremely suprised by how much I loved it! Ummm....Spoilers I guess....

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

S

I know it doesn't have a "happy" ending in the sense that Helen and Jessica get together and stay together, but it seemed to have an ending that really fit with what the story was trying to say. Helen and Jessica found in each other a wonderful relationship that helped them learn about themselves and what they really wanted from life. Jessica goes back to being an artist and being generally more open to the world. And Helen realises that she was never satisfied with men because perhaps what she wanted was a woman. Good ending in my book



And Helen is sooooo darn fine..... I'd like them to make the sequel... "Kissing Helen"......... Ooooh baby....

--------
This is love

[benet1019]

I have to say that KJS is one of my top 10 fav movies of all times. I first saw it at the Chicago Film Fest last year where the writers were present (both were very charming and intelligent and looked amazing in person).



I know a lot of people who really disliked the ending, but I thought it worked. I just got the DVD and it has not only writer commentary (which is amusing), but also some of the deleted scenes.



Some of the scenes that they cut make the film seem a lot "gayer" - they focus more on Helen and her journey. There is a scene with her in a gay bar (where she first meets the woman she ends up with at the end of the film) and her sense of "Now this feels like home." There is also this great scene where the two girls are trying to figure out what they should do for the evening. Helen wants to spend "a nice quiet evening at home" (wink wink) which Jessica turns into a mask-wearing-let's-rent-a-movie girls' night. Helen has some great longing looks at Jessica with this ridiculous mask onher face which really underlines the difference between the two women. Helen is discovering that she is *attracted* to women. Jessica is discovering that she is lonely. But the bottom line is that the movie is about Jessica's journey, not Helen's.



I didn't dislike Jessica because she reminds me of a number of straight friends who think they should try dating women because they are frustrated with men, as opposed to attracted to women.



All in all - I loved the film.



Also just saw Show Me Love, aka F***ing Amal. Swedish film. Very realistic in terms of how cruel teens can be to one another. It has a happy ending - gotta love that in a lesbian film.

[StuckInIowa]

Hmmm...well, maybe I'll check it out again...starting with Episode 7 of course. Thanks!



-=SS=-

[Scoobiedoo]

benet1019 said:

Quote:

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Also just saw Show Me Love, aka F***ing Amal. Swedish film. Very realistic in terms of how cruel teens can be to one another. It has a happy ending - gotta love that in a lesbian film.

---

I love that film... that ending is great... with their "coming out" of the water closet. Classic :-)

--------
This is love

[KISMIC]

Warduke, yeah I knew what the ending was too, but you couldn't help but just *wish* that the ending would somehow change...big, big mistake on the writers part to end it that way, imo.





famer, the "80's hair in the last scene" - are you talking about the curly hair? If so, that was actually the only scene that I thought, 'wow she's really pretty' in, I had no problem with the curls.





My main problem with the ending though was it implied that after all that happened in the movie Jessica went back to the guy she worked with. Just ddn't sit right with me.





Also the cut scenes that benet wrote about a few posts up just make me like Helen *THAT* much more and dislike Jessica more, but I think I'll hire the dvd when it comes out, just to see the cut scenes and hear the commentary!

[famer]

Kismic : about JS' hair, it's all toe-mate-oh, tow-mah-to. I had a traumatic mental flashback to the time I tried to do that to my own hair in the 80s.



Show Me Love is probably the best coming-of-age/young romance lesbian movie I've ever seen. It's in my top 10. Entre Nous would be up there too.

[KISMIC]

famer, oh so a traumatic hair experience, I understand then





I've never seen 'Show Me Love', I've read the script though which wasn't bad in itself. The movie plays on Foxtel (pay tv) over here, which I don't have, but isn't available on DVD so I guess I won't be seeing that movie for a while But there's a great ending too bad the writers of KJS couldn't have taken notes from it and given us a HAPPY ending!! Ahh well you win a few, you lose a few.

[Tara22]

I haven't seen ANY of this stuff!! I really need to just sit down and watch movie after movie *grins*



so sadly, no recomendations from this little kitty.... give me a few days after exams and I'll be back with a HUGE list *grins*





Kristy: feelin superior? *grins* Miss-newly-senior and all...

"Will, I know what sparkage means, and it's definitely, one-hundred percent, there"- The Crying Game (by Vix84)

[KISMIC]

Hmm just wondering, the movie "Bound" what was it rated in countries other than Australia? My friends and I tried hiring it Friday and found out it was rated R18+. I found that hard to believe because rarely anything other than porn is given an R rating.





Tara22, you trying to get me thrown out of the Movie thread too? *g* Yeah I'm feeling superior, that and stressed and tired...You really should have a movie-fest night, I'd recommend starting off with 'Lost and Delirious', great movie and why not get just *one* of the sob-fest movies out of the way.

[Diebrock]

In Germany Bound was rated "ab 16" (16 yrs. and older).



But I have the English DVD and it's rated 18 yrs and over. It has the title "Bound - The Full Uncut Version", so maybe this version has more scenes that would up the rating to 18 .



And on the topic of sob-fest movies, one of my all time favorites is Aimée & Jaguar but the ending always does me in . Still, I really love it (and Maria Schrader's voice).

There is no gravity, the earth just sucks
ME...Wie du mir, so ich dir

[Jennpurr]

Quote:

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Hmmm...well, maybe I'll check it out again...starting with Episode 7 of course. Thanks!

---

BIG surprise coming up in that episode. I'm not gonna say anything else on that, though. I just can't wait to see Lisa. I bet she'll look yummy.



And you are very welcome.



Jen

* * * * * * * * * *
"They keep telling me how wonderful make-up sex is." Willow ran her tongue over Tara's lips. "Insisting really." ~ Willow from, "Milestones: Chapter 14," by Lisa Countryman

"I've become really protective of her. I want to make sure if Tara comes back, it's for good reason." ~ Amber Benson

[PandoraSpocks]

I just saw Better Than Chocolate for the first time, last night on tv. with comercials, but it wasn't edited for nudity or language, which was nice. I loved it



I haven't seen ing Jessica Stein



Are there other fun, happy ending movies as good a 'Better than Chocolate'? I don't want to see any sad ones, just funny and happy ones (I don't think that's too much to ask! get to work studio's)



& I put these, because their just so darn Cute sigh

Tara: "I am, you know" Willow: "What?" Tara: "Yours" (Hearts a Flutter)

[AmberEyedDragon]

You want Happy ending lesbian movies only? *sniffle* The cliched movies are always so good for a nice session of yelling and throwing pillows and chips at your tv ((as me and my best friend liz experienced as we watched Lost and Delirious, 2nd time for me, 1st for her))



Off the top of my head I really cant think of any other than Better than Chocolate, how sad is that? Of course I have only seen the movies my girlfriend has shown me so far...



I havent checked too far back into this thread, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on how they reacted when they saw Sister my Sister....I'd like to know I'm not the only one out here who found it such a POWERFUL and emotional movie that they burst into sobs for lack of a better way to express what builds up inside of them through the course of that amazing movie...



and yes....all hail the queen of runon sentences.







Sara

Edited by: AmberEyedDragon at: 11/6/02 5:49:10 pm