Manhattan

The most interesting thing about the movie is how life imitates art. An unattractive, not very talented girl gets money and attention by being exploited by white men. Before the showing we had to be lectured by the director in a filmed announcement telling us how good the lead actress is and how hard she worked learning the dances (there was dancing?) and that we should appreciate that the movie was filmed in 35mm. It's a bad sign when the director has to tell you that the actress is good. The script is poorly written with a heavy reliance on the work fuck. Once the plot gets underway, you can predict the story. The twenty year old son of an oligarch isn't responsible and trustworthy? Their family is ruled by a strong woman? The strippers are jealous women prone to cat fights? The erotic dancer is broken inside? The thugs are led by a man of the church? Not one unexpected moment in a very long 139 minutes. I don't care about nudity or adult language or even cliches, I just want the movie to be good. Lots of people are claiming this movie is good. I disagree.

For Christ's sake, Jackylas - walk into any men's spa and take whoever they give you. Everyone will be fairly nice to you and you'll figure out how it works. It's a spa, you'll get a massage. How engaging that massage will be is not something anyone can predict for you. All this planning is only going to increase your anxiety. Just go.

I think the show is pretty funny. It's a good sign that the show makes fun of super "woke" values. The weak link is Alvarez. He's not charming or appealing or attractive enough to play the lead. This is what happens when writers insist on starring in their own material.

NBC has one of the largest DEI initiatives in the industry. If you've spent any time working in television, you know that the diverse casting pool is vey small. You can spend a lot of time looking for an actor. If the studio says they have to be beautiful, slim, and speak fluent english, the search gets harder. If they also have to represent a particular demographic, the chances of finding a talented actor (who's not already booked on a different project) are pretty small. Commercials can successfully push a DEI agenda, since those actors don't need talent or beauty. A television series, however, usually needs good actors to sustain viewership. We'll see how it goes for Matlock.

This forum has thousands of entries to help people just like you. Browse through the topics and read the many comments, recommendations, and warnings. Tipping and etiquette have been covered dozens of times. Do your homework and get yourself up to speed.

It's known as the world's oldest profession because it's the simplest. Someone pays someone to provide a service that requires nothing more than their body. If you're lonely or bored, keep engaging on this forum. Otherwise, go try it. There will always be emotional, physical, or legal risks to consider, but no one here can help you with those.

It's pretty watchable. A bizarre and fictionalized take on an already bizarre story. Mr. Murphy doesn't bother to humanize anyone. The acting is fine, with a lot of shouting! The highly esteemed single take of Koch is the most boring part of the series. It's not difficult to act a long take in mid-shot. It's like doing a monologue in acting class. Film acting is hard when you have to deal with emotion and continuity, coverage, and close ups.

Kind of dumb, but Kathy Bates is better that she has been in a while. The younger attorney played by David Del Rio is cute and talented, but Skye Marshall and Leah Lewis show us the downside of DEI casting. We've got white, black, hispanic, and asian. Who cares that some of the actors are bad? You're the problem if you expect professionals to be good at their jobs.

Idiotic, nonsensical story telling. An unattractive leading lady, because well, you know... A trigger warning because Motion Picture Ratings aren't enough. We need to virtue signal on top of that, because who would expect a horror movie to have violence? Another story of female empowerment like Barbie and Poor Things in which the woman fights the Patriarchy only to reenforce it by taking it over and behaving the same way the men did. A suggestion that there might be homosexual activity! But we can't show it because gay men are a problem for Hollywood right now Please reject movies like this. It's 2024 and we could tell interesting stories about all kinds of people if we supported good directors and writers with imagination.

I agree with Marc in Calif. No one on an anonymous gay website should correct people's language or help educate them. It's no one's business how it was intended. Yes, someone may be offended by the word, but there's always PLENTY to be offended by on this site! And that's part of what makes it great!!!

Ben - How about an update on your third location?

Probably because gay men have plenty of options when it comes to getting off. Apps, parties, bars, parks - one of the best things about our culture is the ease and acceptance of anonymous hook-ups. Straight men (especially married ones) may be more willing to pay for a fast, reliable exchange with no strings attached.

Hey WilliamM, You've hit a lot of decades. Don't leave is hanging. How about a choice from the 1940s? 1960s?

Past Lives represents everything that is wrong with film right now. Unappealing leads, weak cinematography, and almost no conflict. There was not a single offensive, provocative, or merely human moment. This vapid content is what will allow AI to take over - and if those are ten of the best films of 2023, I think AI should be greeted with open arms. It can't be worse.

The Wild Duck! That is an unexpected entry. Very cool.

Was it really 25 years ago? Fuck me, life does go fast. I saw that production too and loved it.

Just saw it today. I usually find Lanthimos's films interesting, but this one left me cold. My friends and I left the theater with the feeling that we were supposed to be thinking about something, but we couldn't figure out what that thing was. The score is heavy handed (sometimes literally) and his coyness about homosexuality is pretty lame. Men kiss and flirt, but Lanthimos always finds a reason to avert our gaze before they consummate the act. That's his prerogative, but focusing women's titties is hardly the sort of edginess I expect to see in 2024. The director's cameo in the movie strike me as self-indulgent. It's a role that he could have given to an actor. An actor who could use the work to help earn their SAG health insurance. On the other hand, the lead performances are all very good and it's shot beautifully.

If he recommended Bros to you, he is not a friend. It's so poorly written and performed that it's painful to sit through. Eichner may be right that the American movie-going public is homophobic, but that doesn't excuse the fact that Bros is a terrible movie.

Beckett is an interesting choice. Any performance I've ever seen of his plays seemed to be completely dependent on the actors. I don't always get the greatness of his writing, but I know it's me not him.

May I ask where you saw it and who played the leads?

What's the best play you've seen? No musicals, please. Just plays.

An interesting documentary available on Prime and Mubi. Galliano is one of the all-time great designers, whose career fell apart after it was revealed that he made vicious anti-Semitic comments (to non-Jews) on more than one occasion. The doc does a good job charting his meteoric rise and showcases his talent well. It also reveals the usual problems associated with his kind of fame - too much work, too much alcohol, too many drugs, too much ego. His career has never really recovered. I wish our society could get over its fetish for destroying talent. He’s a couturier, not a diplomat. He may be a drunk and a jerk and a racist, but genius should come first. I came away from the documentary thinking that re-education is more damaging to culture than hate speech.

Kristin Wiig doesn’t have the ability to pull off a lead in a series. She’s very talented and funny, but an actress she isn’t. There’s lots of wasted talent in a very thin story. Maybe it’s supposed to be camp? It is very stylish, but it’s far from engaging. Stay in your lane, Ms. Wiig. We need big funny movies, not vanity projects that use CGI to enhance everyone’s dusty, saggy, jawlines.

This year's parade made me realize that the LGB community really has achieved equality. We are finally as divided, unattractive, uncivilized, violent, and lacking in creativity as straight people. Go us!

Just watched this documentary on Netflix in honor of Pride. What starts as an interesting retrospective turns into a parade of silly performers who are not part of my community or lived experience. Any documentary that would include a comic who thinks the World Health Organization knows more about gender than Dave Chapelle has no business being in comedy. I know I'm old fashioned and probably filled with self-loathing, but if you are too, skip this one, it won't fill you with pride.