Review Monday

Movies

The latest Netflix: Latter Days (2003).
Plot from the sleeve: This controversial film explores the consequences of a young Mormon missionary, Aaron (Steve Sandovoss), recognizing his homosexuality and falling in love with another man. Aaron's first sexual encounter with gay "party boy" Christian (Wesley A Ramsey) leads to a passionate romance that gets Aaron excommuniated from his church and risks destroying both their lives. Charming and sexy, Latter Days offers a heady mix of romantic comedy and powerful drama.

Notes:
I remember when this movie came out, because it got a lot of great press, and I'd really wanted to see it, but as these things go, I never actually got to. It's part of my quest to see all the gay movies out there. I don't know why--a lot of them are terrible. But I like the idea of alternate (love) stories. Anyway, this one is not terrible. It is actually pretty well-acted, and the love feels real. In fact, I am definitely going to recommend that my brother watch it. He was just telling me he thought that gay men were not meant to be married, since he lives in L.A. and can't meet a decent guy. The character of Christian is supposed to represent shallow, club-going, gym-busting male gay culture, where "sex is as casual as a handshake", and the movie is about how he learns to love someone for who he is inside, not just what he looks like on the outside. It doesn't hurt that the other guy is totally perfect too, but I guess that's the movies for you. Anyway, the movie was much more dramatic than I thought it would be, and I was rooting for the characters (Including Amber Benson from Buffy, who has a small role here as an out of work actress) more than I thought I would, so all in all, I give it a solid NOT BAD. I shouldn't have watched the featurette though. I really hate it when actors have to go on and on about how they are or are not gay for real. Who freaking cares? Just shut up and be the character, y'all. sheesh.

Also up for review, the 25th anniversary edition of Vogue Knitting. That link should be to their preview, but don't go from that alone. I subscribe because I got a good deal (I'm sure everyone who subscribes does), but I've never really knit anything from a VK before. Most of their designs are pretty way out there, or not interesting to me. This one actually has a few sweaters I really really love, and of course that gorgeous Nikki Epstein scarf from the cover. Boy, I'd really love to work that up in a cashmere yarn with the same crystal beads. I love it so much.

Anyway, the issue has so many many great things inside. That preview doesn't show you the half of them. The only thing I was disappointed in was the 10 best VK patterns of all time spread. Those patterns are NOT the best from the magazine. At all. They're all boxy and huge and pretty ugly. And I don't think changing the color palette of something really constitutes 'remaking' it for the modern age.

Hm. I'll have to add the details from the mag to this post tomorrow. It's in the bedroom, and Spanky's in kind of a snit, so I can't drag this out. When you work late, you have only a set amount of things you can finish in between walking the dog and bed. I'm lucky I got this much done! At least that's two days in a row. I'm going to see if I can find something to say all week! YAY.