Movie Review: Win-Win (B+)

Movie Review: Win-Win.

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, and introducing Alex Shaffer.  

Story:  A struggling lawyer and volunteer wrestling coach's chicanery comes back to haunt him when the teenage grandson of the client he's double-crossed comes into his life.

Review:  Its a good story of deciding what is right and getting second chances.  The goal is to make life a win-win for everyone.  But, as you can imagine, things don't go as planned.  And, when things get hairy, previous partial truths and lies come forward and people don't know who to trust.

It is a slow moving movie, but keeps going enough to not lose your interest.  It is definitely an independent movie.  It has charm and the acting is well done.  Giamatti and Ryan are professionals and it shows.  The newcomers do well, too.

It has plenty of fun in it, but is mostly a drama.  I won't tell you how it ends and won't ruin the ending for you.  But, you will not be disappointed.  It is rated (R) for the language.  No violence and No nudity.

Movie Grade:  4 of 5 Stars / B+

Movie Review: Vampire Boys (F)

Movie Review:  Vampire Boys
Starring: Jason Lockhart, Christian Ferrer, Dylan Vox.

Story:  Jasin and his vampire brood's time is running out.  In order for them to survive, Jasin needs to find a mortal to turn into a vampire to spend eternity with.  Los Angeles provides plenty of young candidates.  The brood has their eyes set on Tara, a young generous blond college student.  Tara is open to the idea of becoming a vampire, but someone else enters the picture to disrupt the brood's plans.  Caleb, a fresh face college student new to Los Angeles, keeps dreaing of a mysterious stranger.  At school, Caleb meets the stranger, Jasin, and they have an instant connection.  The problem is that time is short, and Jasin needs to convince Caleb that eternity as a vampire can be a very sweet life.

Review: If you were to compare this to recent vampire shows like True Blood and Vampire Diaries, you would be mortified.  Even if you were to compare it to the teen romance / drama Twilight, you would be mortified.  It is that bad.  The story is too simple and just ridiculous.  The plot never takes off and it ends, horribly.  The acting is atrocious.  I'm not sure what else can be said about it.  It does have some man candy for view, but it is definitely not worth it (and don't be fooled by the movie cover ... the guys aren't really that ripped).  P.S. It had unexpected nudity, although brief.

Grade: 0 of 5 stars / F

To the person who recommended this to me:  You owe me a couple of hours of my life back and will be punished for such a recommendation.

Does it really get better? Yes!

It has been a little while since I've posted.  I've been to Wicked in Portland, visited with family and friends.  Mourned loss of a good friend and mourned with friends at a loss of their family members.  I took in a friend who came out to himself and his family (and was then estranged for a short time by them).  We've got him moving on to Utah, now.  I've consoled a friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer and have spent the past 4 months taking care of an immediate family member who is going through chemotherapy treatment.

So, with all of that and other things happening around the world ... Can life really be okay?  Is it good?  And, does it get better?  Well, I have to say a resounding YES to all of that.

And, for those of us who have grown up in or around the LDS Church ... I am going to say out loud, YES, things get better if you are gay, too.

I echo the voice of each of these people in this video.  They are courageous.  They may not be the first gay BYU students (believe me ... I know "I" wasn't the first either), but they are surely going to be remembered for standing up and standing firm for the right.

Congratulations to them and to every gay LDS person.  It DOES GET BETTER.  I'm proud to say this.  And, I am proud to stand with my fellow gay brothers and sisters.  Go Cougs!  Listen up and put your arms out for these guys.

http://www.youtube.com/user/byuitgetsbetter?feature=watch
http://youtu.be/Ym0jXg-hKCI