Category Archives: Anti-Gay Laws

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, Anti-Gay Laws, Art appreciation, Art Museum, Based on a Book, Bisexual theme, British Drama, British Police, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Gay Bashing, Gay theme, Homophobia, Longsuffering wife, Love Triangle, Marital Infidelity, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Police Culture, Prison, Promiscuity, Sex Scenes, Sexual Seduction, Surprise Ending, Trial Scenes, Unexpected Ending, Unhappy Ending, Unhappy Marriage, Unusual ending

My Policeman (2022)

From IMDB:

The arrival of Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previously.

From Amazon Prime:

A tale of forbidden romance and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows the relationships between three people—policeman Tom (Harry Styles/Linus Roache), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin/Gina
McKee) and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson/Rupert Everett)—and their emotional journey spanning decades.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 54 minute British drama.

In this intense drama Tom marries Marion all the while carrying on a secret love affair with Patrick.  Such an explanation is far too simple for such a superb, complex, well acted drama.

Because the action switches continually between the past and the present, each of the three characters are presented by two actors,  a younger actor for the past and an older actor for the present.

  • Harry Styles as young Tom also stars in the film “Don’t Worry Darling.”
  • Linus Roache as older Tom is well-known as the assistant DA from several seasons of “Law and Order.”
  • Emma Corrin as young Marion played Princess Diana Spencer in one of the seasons of “The Crown.”
  • Gina McKee as older Marion for me will always be Irene from “The Forsyte Saga.”
  • David Dawson as young Patrick played Alfred in “The Last Kingdom.”
  • Rupert Everett as older Patrick played George Downes in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”

Critics found many negatives but audiences, including Kathy and me, loved it.

DO NOT MISS!

2020, Alcoholism, Anti-Gay Laws, Anti-Semitism, B-movie, Bad Acting, Barely Acceptable Trash, Black struggles, Career Competition, Corny, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Feel Good Not For Children, Gay Bashing, Gay Prostitution, Gay theme, Happy ending, Hollywood Culture, Homophobia, Imperfect, Longsuffering wife, Love Story, Male Chauvinism, Male Prostitute for Women, Male Prostitutes, Marital Infidelity, Maudlin, Mediocre, Mostly About Sex, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Oscar Awards, Preachy, Promiscuity, Romance, Satire, Sex Scenes, Sexual promiscuity, Soap Opera, Unhappy Marriage, Vulgar, Women's Equality

Hollywood (2020)

Leave a comment

From Netflix:

While waiting for his big break, aspiring movie star Jack Castello accepts a job at a local service station that pumps more than just gas.

From Netflix you can stream the 7 episodes of this soap opera. Each episode runs between 45 and 58 minutes.

Maudlin. Salacious. Corny. Subtle as a brick. Clichéd. Barely acceptable trash. Maudlin. Raunchy. Preachy. Woke. Terrible acting. Production errors.  And the list could go on.

My college freshman rhetoric teacher suggested that in order to better appreciate good examples of a given art discipline such as literature, music, and film, it helps to experience the bad examples. Well, with this film we now have a golden opportunity to experience one of the lesser achievements of the movie industry.

“Golden Tip Gasoline” is a gas pumping station that doubles as a gas pimping station for the young male gas attendants who will “fill your tank” if the customer uses the code word “dreamland”, no matter if that customer is male or female.   Not only all these attendants but also their boss and some customers have Hollywood aspirations. One way for such a gas pumper to get his start is to service those customers who are part of the Hollywood management nobility. Instead of casting couches it seems there were casting nozzles.

Rather than merely prurient attractions, this story offers a noble sub-theme: No longer would the film industry suppress black,  gay, and women actors.

Indeed from the goings-on we might suspect that half of Hollywood consisted of closeted gays .  As an example: One client, say Jake, is so stupid that when he drives up to engage Archie Coleman he can’t remember the word “Dreamland”. But they hook up and eventually fall in love.  Jake is told he cannot act. Nonetheless he forges ahead.  Because he could not remember two lines, his first screen text required 67 takes. Because Jake is as handsome as he is stupid, some producer accepts him but says “Jake” is not an acceptable screen name and must be changed to ROCK HUDSON (get it?). His boyfriend Archie is a black man (horrors!) who wants to become a screen writer. Camille Washington is a black woman (even worse!) who wants to have some screen role other than playing a maid (uppity!). And so it goes on and on for 7 episodes.

Is this a satire? Have I missed something here?

If you can last till episode 7, which is aptly named “A Hollywood Ending”,  you will be rewarded with a happy, sappy ending. Amen!

But just remember I LOVE TRASH!

1987, Anti-Gay Laws, Anxiety Attacks, Based on a Book, Blackmail, Boxing, British Drama, Cambridge University, Church of England, Classic, Drama, Ethical struggles, Explicit sexual discussion, Father-son relations, Friendship, Gay theme, Good Acting, Good Production Values, Government Prosecutions, Happy ending, Homophobia, Kanopy streaming, Love Story, Mostly About Sex, Mother-son relations, Nudity, Sensitive treatement of emotions, Sex Scenes, Uncategorized, Upstairs - Downstairs, Wasp Snobs

Maurice (1987)

Leave a comment

From IMDB:

After his lover rejects him, a young man trapped by the oppressiveness of Edwardian society tries to come to terms with and accept his sexuality.

From Kanopy you can stream this 2 hour 20 minute vintage British film made by Merchant Ivory and  based on the 1971 novel Maurice by E. M. Forster

34 years ago some very young but now well-known British actors made what  has been called Ivory’s best film. In 1987 it got rave reviews and awards everywhere except England.  In the Wikipedia article about the film, the director James Ivory is quoted as saying:

… in England, where almost every important film critic was gay, they came out against the film. Their reactions to it were extraordinary! You’d think that they would have been supportive, but they were afraid to be supportive.

Despite those actors being so young, it is easy to recognize Hugh Grant, James Wilby, Rupert Graves,  Judy Parfitt, Ben Kingsley and others.

If there is a secondary theme, it is the strict division between the upper and  servant classes.