Force Awakens 5th Viewing, Gay Themed Movies & British TV series

This week I have felt the itch to see Star Wars The Force Awakens.. again. I put it out there on social media to see if anyone wanted to join me and a few of my NerdStrong friends said that they did. So after our morning workout we went out for brunch before heading home to clean and then head to the theater. Joining me for my fifth viewing of Star Wars was Lauren, Bruce, Shannon and her husband Tony. We tried to see it at a different theater or a different format but the only one that was available at the time we all could see it was Acrlight Sherman Oaks and a 2D version... not that I'm complaining.. the Arclight is a great theater to watch movies and I prefer 2D to 3D.

So as I said this was a fifth viewing and I enjoyed it just as much as my first viewing. I actually noticed more with every viewing. There is just something special about his movie. I'm not a prequel hater, I actually enjoyed them and I did want to see them a few times in the theater but it's not the same with this movie. This one feels more like the original movies, if I could I'd go everyday and watch this movie. There were a few prequel characters that I instantly connected with but nothing like I have with these new characters. And maybe it's because this movie has some of the original characters in it but these new characters feel so familiar, as thought I've known them this entire time. As soon as I walked out of the theaters I'm ready to go back and see it again.. which I'm sure I will for a sixth time. I can't get enough of Star Wars The Force Awakens.

I spent the rest of today watching Netflix. I have been trying to watch as many "gay themed" movies as I can. That's one of my favorite parts of Netflix is that they have a nice selection of gay films but I have been going through them at a steady pace and I'm getting down to the ones that I initial passed on because they didn't sounds interesting or I wasn't in the mood to read (as 2/3's of the films are foreign)

First up is a moved called Last Summer. This movie came out in 2013, here's a quick synopsis: Two high school sweethearts, Luke and Jonah, spend their final months together over the course of a long, quiet summer in the rural South--a world of baseball, bicycles, church and green bean casserole--contemplating their uncertain future and the uncertain future of America.

This movie was okay, it's like a slice of life movie. We pick up the story towards the end of the school year and these two boys (one who's a genius and the other not so much) are debating what they are going to do next in their lives. It's an extremely slow movie and not much happens. It was more like watching a piece of art. There were scenes like a light beam coming through some trees and they would slowly pull out or pan the camera and the shot lasted for a few minutes.. nothing was happening it was just there. The entire movie was like this. I was bored many times and did fast forward through some of the awkwardly long shots. If you want to watch something visually with a simple story then give this movie a shot but it wasn't what I was looking for and was glad when it was over. I give Last Summer a B+ for the way it was shot visually but D for story and enjoyment.

Next I watched Come Undone, this movie came out in 2000, It's a story of two young French boys who begin a passionate relationship that boils over and threatens to destroy both their lives. Shy Mathieu is 18-years-old and on summer vacation in the south of France. He spends his days lazily sunning himself at the beach, until he spies the handsome Cédric and falls in love. 

Coming off of the boring Last Summer movie I was hoping for something better, this was subtitled so I knew I was going to have to be reading alot (but I'll admit that these foreign films really don't have alot of dialogue). I enjoyed this movie, more then the previous one but still it was a bit confusing as they would jump back and forth in time with no real rhythm and reason. From what I gathered there were three timelines that we were suppose to be following. It took me a while to figure out what happened and where he was going and why. In the end I was just confused which does take away some of the enjoyment. I'd give Come Undone a C, it's not something I'd watch again, the love story was okay but the jumping around in time was really confusing.

After those two lackluster gay themed movies I saw something called The Delivery Man, I'm scrolled passed it a few times so I figured I'd check it out. This is a British TV series that premiered in 2015. All of season one (well six episodes) is up on Netflix so I spent the remainder of the day watching this entire season. Here's a brief synopsis: Former police officer Matthew starts work as a newly qualified midwife. As expected, his first day is full of drama, sarcastic comments, and snide remarks about his gender.

I'm a sucker for British TV series, usually I love their dramas like Doctor Who, Downton Abbey or Call the Midwife but I've also enjoyed their comedies like The IT Crowd and Gavin and Stacey so I figured I'd give this a go.

I liked it, they had a range of crazy characters, some I liked more then the others. But the main character was very charming and kept my attention. I don't know if I'd say that I loved this series, it was funny at times, had it's dramatic moments and lots of slapstick type of humor but it was enjoyable enough that I kept watching it thought I was getting tired and wanted to go to sleep. I don't know if they are doing a second season or not and if they don't I won't be crushed but if they do I'll give a watch. It's a nice solid comedy series.