Chasing Pavement (US 2015)

The Gist:

A well known successful gay porn star who is making plans to leave the industry needs a new roommate. A Japanese immigrant looking to break into the tech industry needs a place to live. They move in together and realizations are made as boundaries are crossed. 

Comments:

The movie is okay. It's not really that bad, though it's also not exactly good either. 

Best thing is that there are some interesting ideas tossed around, such as the porn dude having submerged his 'real' self in favor of his porn persona for so long that there's nothing "real" left of him. He's just a shell of a person with all depth and humanity worn away. An interesting thought, though nothing much is done with it. 

A lot of the movie is like this, an idea is introduced, but not really addressed in much detail. 

Another issue is the dialogue. Everyone, especially the porn star lead speaks in the style of "listen to how  intelligent I am." Unfortunately it all comes off fake, since people, even smart people don'f talk like that ALL the time. It sounds like an expectation of what smart people sound like rather than how they actually speak. 

The stilted way he talks helps with the idea that the porn star is all artificial surface, though I'm not sure that was intentional. 

More oddness is how the porn star is supposedly leaving the industry to become a chef. Other than one line stating this, there's no indication it's happening. Well there is a scene  of him reading a text book, but for a would be chef, he rarely cooks or shows any interest in food. 

The subplot with the new roommate also goes against this leaving porn behind idea, since the new roomie is hired to work on putting together a website for the porn star's services to expand his "business." A job that results in the introverted, straight roomie watching porn staring his new extrovert gay roommate. A situation that leads exactly where you think it will lead. 

Issues and unsurprising story aside, not much happens here. People talk smart. Talk smart more. Then talk smart even more as everyone present, porn star's, friends, clients, and roommates all lead their lives of lies and artifice. 

So yeah, not terrible, just not overly interesting either. 

Women: 

There are two women in the movie, both seen from a distance voyeristly, one has some dialogue so following my rules of "counting as yes if it's a speaking role then, yes.... barely 

People of color: 

Yes. Very much so. One of the better things in the movie is that everyone isn't a white gay man. 

Gratuitous Nudity: 

butt shots and simulated sex

• Director: Matthew Doyle
• Writer: Mathew Doyle
• Actors: Remy Mars, Tokio Sasaki, Antonio Biaggi
• 82 min
• IMDB

4th Man Out (US 2015)

The Gist:

On his 24th birthday, a “regular” dude comes out of the closet as gay, throwing his unsuspecting close knit circle of male friends into confusion as they figure out the new status quo. 

Comments:

“Regular” guy comes out as gay confusing his clueless friends and family who all assumed he was straight because he was not feminine is not an uncommon sub-genre of gay films. Unfortunately most of them spend an inordinate amount of time avoiding dealing with the actual queer person in favor of how his news affects all the straight people around him. In other words in this type of the movie the gay man is usually only a minor character in his own movie, so it ends being all about straight angst, and boring as a result. 

This movie is better than most, because while it doesn’t avoid straight angst, it does expand the scope of focus to have two protagonists, both the straight and gay best friends, so in addition to straight angst we have a heavy large dose of gay angst as well. Which sounds like an insult but isn’t intended to be. 

This is emotional drama story time, so angst is a “good” thing here , and not forgetting the movie is actually about a gay man makes it more interesting than most, letting us see our newly out gay mechanic deal with dating men and figuring out how his friendships have changed, as well as showing his straight best friend do the same. 

The movie is totally predictable, with no surprises, and yet it ends up being fairly good, and worth a watch if you’re in the mood for warm hearted drama.

Women:

Yes 

People of color: 

A couple  of very minor roles 

Gratuitous nudity:

No 

• Director: Andrew Nackman
• Writer: Aaron Danncik
• Actors: Parker Young, Evan Todd, Chord Overstreet
• 86 minutes
• IMDB

All The Others Were Practice (U.S. 2015)

The Gist:

Jorge, pronounced George, coasts through life, work, and romance; living, working, and dating.

Comments with a big spoiler that isn't much of a spoiler:

We have a movie where not everyone is white, nor gay, nor male, with a non-traditional gay lead, i.e., he's neither white nor thin. More so, when focusing on his love life, his dating problems are the standard "dating is hard" issues that you'd expect from any romcom, not the "no one will date me because I'm fat!" storyline usually used when the protagonist isn't a skinny twink. 

All a good start. Unfortunately it is immediately is hobbled by the difficulty making an interesting story about aimless people living somewhat boring lives. Jorge is described as a commitment-phobe, except he doesn't seem actively afraid of relationships, just passively "meh." The same attitude he has about everything in his life, which does not make him the most engaging of characters.  

On top of that there is a similar problem in that the secondary characters are pretty much all aggravatingly boring.

There's also an issue with the conclusion of the story, in that there isn't one. Not really anyway. This counts as spoiler, but given the setup of a dude having a string of dates and hook ups that don't lead anywhere, and also considering the movie's title, you'd expect the movie to end with him learning a lesson and being ready to build a life with his new (final) boyfriend. 

This doesn't happen. Not really anyway. The pieces are there and put into place, but there's no real reason to believe Jorge's learned anything at all, or that final dude will not just be yet another man who will come and go from his life with no impact or lasting effect. 

This list of negatives makes it sound like I hated the movie. I didn't. I actually liked it. It's not terrible, it's just... not very interesting. 

Women: 
Yes

People of color: 
Yes

Gratuitous nudity: 
No

• Director: Brian Tolle
• Writer: Brian Tolle, John Hancuff
• Actors: Charlie Ballard, Kimberly MacLean, Bennie Bell
• 88 min
• IMDB