BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)

"Jack, I swear..."

Wyoming, 1963. Two young cowboys are hired to take care of some sheep way off in the wilderness for a few months. They fall in love and then spend the next 20+ years living a lie. Both get married and have kids, but their hearts belong to each other and their entire existence revolves around the infrequent visits where they can be together.

Honestly, it was hard to simply write out that brief synopsis without crying.  BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is such a great movie.  A masterpiece of human emotions, regret and lost love.  When Heath Ledger says "Jack, I swear..." all I could think about was how we're only blessed with one trip around this racetrack and it's so easy to waste that time and get caught up in life and dumb shit and unintentionally neglect the ones you love or to simple lose them for other reasons that are completely out of your control. Relationships (and humans) are such a fragile thing sometimes.  Treat every day like it is your last.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN isn't just a masterpiece of emotions, but also a masterpiece of filmmaking.  Perfect direction by Ang Lee, breathtaking cinematography, heartbreaking story, great pace, masterful acting and the music is a joy.  Highly recommended.

FAST & FURIOUS (2009)

"Still a busta."

Well, let's see...after the bizarre Tokyo field trip in the third installment, things get back to normal in Part 4.  Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are both back along with some others.  The story is continued from earlier, but honestly, I wasn't paying enough attention to the story to really care.  Something about Mr. Diesel's girlfriend being murdered and Paul Walker being an undercover cop infiltrating a drug smuggling operation that uses fast cars.  Who knows?!  It's all over the place.  I was entertained, but the drug running stuff was weak.  I miss the racing douche bro stuff from the earlier films.  That shit was so much fun to make fun of.  As it is though, I still enjoyed the film, but I cannot see myself revisiting this installment too often.

Fair amount of racing, lots of crazy stunts, dated technology, racing through a dark cave (how exciting!), promising ending, supporting cast full of familiar faces (ol' girl from Dexter, ol' boy from True Detective, etc.), an iguana eating an ice cream bar.  Worth checking out if you are watching the entire series, but don't expect your socks to be blown across the room!  They might end up being a little bit loose in the toes, but that's about it.

Part 1 - The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Part 2 - 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Part 3 - The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Part 5 - Fast Five (2011)
Part 6 - Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Part 7 - Furious 7 (2015)
Part 8 - The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Spin-off 1 - Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Part 9 - F9 (2021)
Part 10 - Fast X (2023)

PARIS IS BURNING (1990)

"...you're black and you're male and you're gay.  You're gonna have a hard fuckin' time.  If you're gonna do this, you're gonna have to be stronger than you ever imagined."

Filmed in New York City in the latter part of the 1980's, PARIS IS BURNING gives a small, but fascinating look into the NYC "ball culture".  Balls are (from what the film told me) a mix of dance, posing, performance, modeling, etc. where participants (mainly African-American and Latin American members of the LGBTQ community) get up in front the audience and strut their stuff like a motherfucker!!!  I mean work that shit!  It's dope.  I wish I knew how to move like that.  It'd be awesome!  Strutting around, pointing at the cat, voguing all up in her smug face.  "Mmmm-hummmm!!!  What are you gonna do about it?!"

Anyway, PARIS IS BURNING focuses solely on one certain group location in NYC.  We're shown the events of a ball, explained the different categories, terminology and introduced to some of the main players who all have bad ass names like Pepper LaBeija, Danni Xtravaganza, Octavia St. Laurent and Willi Ninja.  There's so much going on, you really can't even take it all in in just one viewing.  I had to watch it twice and it was great both times.

One of the sadder things I noticed (besides the racism, homophobia, cruel parents and murder) was how a lot of the people being interviewed wanted to be somebody else.  Like a person they saw on television (Dynasty, which ran from 1981 until 1989, is mentioned a few times) or somebody that is wealthy.  It was sad.  I wish more people, not just the people in this film, but people in general, could be happier with being themselves.  Realize that it doesn't take money or material possessions to give you value.  You, yes, you reading this, if you possess virtues like honesty, empathy, integrity, civility, modesty...then you have value.  Fuck sports cars, fuck big TV's, fuck boats, fuck motorcycles, fuck a powerful job...honesty, compassion, acceptance.  That is where it is at.   

Try to leave the world a better place than how you found it. And, if you find somebody to love (and they love you back), love them every single day like it is your last, because one day it will be.

Wow.  I got way off subject.  Long story, short: PARIS IS BURNING is a great documentary.  Quick pace, uplifting story, delightful people, unique subject matter, GHOSTBUSTERS on TV.  The entire thing was like a really cool time capsule.  Highly recommended.

If you need me, I'll be in my room sad voguing to $uicideBoy$.