Movie Recommendations

[joeyconnick]

Originally Posted by goratrix

Yeah, and for south americans yankees are all north american (i.e. american and canadian=... and we usually refer to them as 'those damn imperialists yankees'... not that I use that terminology... but hey, we all have the right to envy those who have more than we do!

Please tell me you're kidding? You guys call Canadians "Yankees?" Ah!

And Canadians aren't imperialists. I'm pretty sure we've never gone out and exploited or taken over another country. Although we have often been complicitly silent while our southern neighbours have done exactly that. Except in the latest case, where we did not win friends in the Bush administration. Which utlimately I hope will be a good thing because the Bush adminstration is frightening, to say the least.

[goratrix]

You know... it's funny, some people are actually surprised that there is a canadian embassy, they are like: 'but it's still north america!'... you know how people from united states (no offense) like to call themselves americans, while america is a HUGE continent with a load of countries... well... that's the result.

As for myself, I'm not an inarticulate creep, so I don't use that kind of generalizations (sp?) but generally (XD) in human beings tend to generalize everything. Like: all gay guys are all fashion-oriented... I'm the exception of that rule... or like: all straight-acting guys are straigh: again, I'm the exception... I act like I act, gay or not... if i dont wear pink shirts that display 'nobody knows I'm gay'... then I must be straight.

It's actually funny... people don't really know much about the world. Some people actually think that in Asuncion (capital City of Paraguay) we live in tents or something... they actually ask if we have power in the city! While paraguay owns two (if not THE) biggest hydraulic generators(not sure of the expression) in the world (Yacyreta and Itaipu). So I'm not suprised by ignorant people... and neither should you...

[joeyconnick]

Well, as much as I like to bash the Americans, if your country is called the United States of America, what are you supposed to call yourselves? The United Statespeople? Technically "America" is two continents, North America and South America but it's all arbitrary naming conventions anyway. I think it's reasonable for people from the US to consider themselves "American" given that (as far as I know) no one has really proposed "American" as a nationality consisting of everyone from both continents. However, what's bad is when Canadians and Americans forget that Mexico is a part of North America. So often "North American" is used when really people only mean "Canadian and US," which if I were Mexican would really piss me off. It would be like the Brazilians saying "South American" and only meaning their country.

[joeyconnick]

Originally Posted by joeyconnick

Well, as much as I like to bash the Americans, if your country is called the United States of America, what are you supposed to call yourselves? The United Statespeople? Technically "America" is two continents, North America and South America but it's all arbitrary naming conventions anyway. I think it's reasonable for people from the US to consider themselves "American" given that (as far as I know) no one has really proposed "American" as a nationality consisting of everyone from both continents. However, what's bad is when Canadians and Americans forget that Mexico is a part of North America. So often "North American" is used when really people only mean "Canadian and US," which if I were Mexican would really piss me off. It would be like the Brazilians saying "South American" and only meaning their country.

Okay, I take most of that back, having read up on the usage of America outside of Canada, the US, and other English-speaking parts of the world. I think we should just call them Yankees. *grin*

Continental plate-wise, though, North America and South America are different, so thinking of the two of them as one big landmass called "America" or "the Americas" just doesn't work for me. It's kinda like considering Europe and Asia as two separate continents when geologically, they're on the same plate.

And no, I have no idea how this is gay anymore, or movie-related.

Originally Posted by joeyconnick

Okay, I take most of that back, having read up on the usage of America outside of Canada, the US, and other English-speaking parts of the world. I think we should just call them Yankees. *grin*

Continental plate-wise, though, North America and South America are different, so thinking of the two of them as one big landmass called "America" or "the Americas" just doesn't work for me. It's kinda like considering Europe and Asia as two separate continents when geologically, they're on the same plate.

And no, I have no idea how this is gay anymore, or movie-related.

Yeah, I studied in the Dominican Republic for a couple months, and I found that many people there disliked it when people from the US called themselves "American" b/c they (the Dominicans) considered themselves American as well. The funny thing is that they were like, "Don't call yourself American. Call yourself North American." And of course I'm thinking, "Umm... You're North American, too..."

But getting back to the movie recs... I just saw Longtime Companion, and it was pretty awesome. I especially liked how it portrayed gay couples in committed relationships. And Angels in America - HBO's adaptation of Tony Kushner's play - is a beautiful and amazing movie as well.

[confusedkid]

Originally Posted by Motionmaker

Yeah, I studied in the Dominican Republic for a couple months, and I found that many people there disliked it when people from the US called themselves "American" b/c they (the Dominicans) considered themselves American as well. The funny thing is that they were like, "Don't call yourself American. Call yourself North American." And of course I'm thinking, "Umm... You're North American, too..."

But getting back to the movie recs... I just saw Longtime Companion, and it was pretty awesome. I especially liked how it portrayed gay couples in committed relationships. And Angels in America - HBO's adaptation of Tony Kushner's play - is a beautiful and amazing movie as well.

LOL Yeah... that's kinda lost in translation. The word in Spanish "norteamericano" means someone from the US or Canada... and believe me, it's a lot easier to pronounce than the "real" word for Americans which is "estadounidenses"!

-CK

[nisomer]

I wish I could watch these movies...but if I rented or baught any of em, people would be like "why the hell are you watching this". Anyways, what would you guys say is your favorite "queer movie"?

[joeyconnick]

Originally Posted by nk1114

I wish I could watch these movies...but if I rented or baught any of em, people would be like "why the hell are you watching this". Anyways, what would you guys say is your favorite "queer movie"?

Toss up between
Lilies, Trick, and a short film called Must Be The Music. Although that's just off the top of my head.

[popboy]

OK, I browsed through this thread for a while... and after going back to the subject I'd like to say few things that came up to my mind (don't take them personal. And I don't mean to pretend I'm wise, I'm not wise at all):

- There are three Americas actually: North America, Central America (yeah, that odd area with islands and small countries between the bigger two) and South America.
- Central and South America (excluding a few countries -I won't bother you with the details), are also called Latin America.
- this is just in case: Brazil is the only country in all the americas where portuguese is spoken.
- this is also just in case: there is not malaria in Argentina -and there has never been since the XIX century! Don't care what some stupid governments say in other countries. You don't need to take any medication before your trip or during your stay here.
- Bush administration is indeed frightening!!!
- Ordinary people don't know much about the world. At least I'm not ordinary. Give me a white globe map and I'll put the name to every country in the world. That is not really useful these days anyway.

OK, maybe this is not the place to express those (hopefully) interesting remarks, though I don't think they worth a new thread.
After all this babble, I formally commit myself to never use the term 'norteamericano' again (I've almost done it already). From now on, 'canadienses' and 'estadounidenses'.

Queer movies? Earlier this year I watched and Argentinian movie called "Un año sin amor" ('A year without love'), which is about a gay guy living with aids and some other problems, who becomes interested in sado-masochism. I don't like sado-masochism at all, and in fact it only takes a part of the plot, I guess no more than the necessary. I really liked the movie. I got to know that it won and award in a Gay/Lesbian movie festival in Europe.

[JonB321]

If you speak only English, but are willing to give subtitles a shot, there are a ton of great spanish and french films with gay plots and characters. Pedro Almodovar is an amazing Spanish director who has won an Oscar or two, and hundreds of other awards. His movies are jam packed with queer friendly themes, like gays, aids, drag queens, transsexuals... the list goes on. Suffice to say, you should go watch a few. Bad Education, or something like Mal Educacion, is his newest film, and you get to see Gael Garcia Bernal in almost nothing!
I also really liked Broken Hearts Club, and Latter Days (This one has two of the hottest guys I've ever seen, and they have a nude scene for like 10 minutes). A lot of gay movies have terrible scripts or are poorly shot. Personally, I'm a big fan of gay themed books. One that you guys should all look into is Clay's Way.

[confusedkid]

Originally Posted by JonB321

If you speak only English, but are willing to give subtitles a shot, there are a ton of great spanish and french films with gay plots and characters. Pedro Almodovar is an amazing Spanish director who has won an Oscar or two, and hundreds of other awards. His movies are jam packed with queer friendly themes, like gays, aids, drag queens, transsexuals... the list goes on. Suffice to say, you should go watch a few. Bad Education, or something like Mal Educacion, is his newest film, and you get to see Gael Garcia Bernal in almost nothing!
I also really liked Broken Hearts Club, and Latter Days (This one has two of the hottest guys I've ever seen, and they have a nude scene for like 10 minutes). A lot of gay movies have terrible scripts or are poorly shot. Personally, I'm a big fan of gay themed books. One that you guys should all look into is Clay's Way.

I definitely agree with JonB... Almodovar is great! They always have his stuff playing at this largely-LGBT indie theatre here in DC.

-CK

[joeyconnick]

Latter Days is DEFINITELY an excellent movie, both for eye candy and for being funny/poignant.

And yes, foreign films are often stunningly better than anything the US can produce. In addition to foreign language films, Australian films are wonderful. Most people would automatically say Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and while that's an excellent movie, I would point out The Sum of Us, which has an extremely young, pre-US fame Russell Crowe playing a gay footballer. It's the first gay movie I saw after I came out and let's just say I'm sure my grandmother in Australia who I was visiting at the time thought it was weird I went to see it twice.

Originally Posted by JonB321

If you speak only English, but are willing to give subtitles a shot, there are a ton of great spanish and french films with gay plots and characters. Pedro Almodovar is an amazing Spanish director who has won an Oscar or two, and hundreds of other awards. His movies are jam packed with queer friendly themes, like gays, aids, drag queens, transsexuals... the list goes on. Suffice to say, you should go watch a few. Bad Education, or something like Mal Educacion, is his newest film, and you get to see Gael Garcia Bernal in almost nothing!
I also really liked Broken Hearts Club, and Latter Days (This one has two of the hottest guys I've ever seen, and they have a nude scene for like 10 minutes). A lot of gay movies have terrible scripts or are poorly shot. Personally, I'm a big fan of gay themed books. One that you guys should all look into is Clay's Way.

I LOVED Almodovar's All About My Mother (Todo Sobre Mi Madre). What a great film.

[JonB321]

Yeah, All About My Mother was Amazing! We actually watched it in Spanish class in highschool, if you can believe that. Apparently I had a very liberal Spanish teacher, great woman. My dad actually knows him, he did some legal work for him, and says he's a really nice, funny guy.

Wow, you got to watch it in high school Spanish?! That's awesome. There's no way that movie would have flown at my conservative high school. We did watch The Last Emperor in my humanities class, but we fast-forwarded through the emperor's group sex w/ his concubines and that scene w/ the lesbian toe-sucking.

I just saw the movie Heights, which stars Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Jesse Bradford... Oh, and Rufus Wainwright has a small role, too. I really liked this one. It might be particularly good for closeted folks to see in that it does have gay themes but does not overtly or specifically cater to gay audiences. So you wouldn't have to be worried about people thinking you're gay b/c you're seeing this film.