Gal Pals Watch

Gal Pals Watch The Nowhere Inn

Episode 75: Nowhere Inn

 

Hey hi hello! Remember a while back when the gay girl internet got really excited for a second about Dakota Johnson playing a version of Kristin Stewart in a movie with and by Annie Clark/St. Vincent and Carrie Brownstein? This is that movie, and it's on Hulu! It is... weird! Join Alicia and Sarah as they try to work through their confusion and their feelings, which are mainly neutral, spoiler alert. Also, happy Pride to all who celebrate!

 

Further Reading:

Nowhere Inn review in The Guardian by Phuong Le

Pitchfork review by Eric Torres

Nowhere Inn Wikipedia page

Gal Pals Watch Baka Bukas

Episode 74: Baka Bukas

Good day, fair queers! Today on the pod we're discussing a film out of the Phillipines, 2016's Baka Bukas! This is billed as a romantic drama, and that's pretty accurate. It follows two early-20s friends working in the entertainment industry in different roles, one of whom is out as lesbian to everyone but this friend. Who then becomes the love interest. As you do. There's a lot of stereotypes in here, including a vapid GBF and some fashun, but Alicia and Sarah think it's a solidly okay film, and have some stuff to say about it. So tune in and hear about one of the only mainstream gay movies to come out of the Phillippines and let us know your thoughts!

 

Further reading:

Baka Bukas Wikipedia page

Review from Beauty Within
SAMANTHA LEE BRINGS QUEER REPRESENTATION TO FILIPINO FILM by Sara Tardiff in Nylon

Gal Pals Watch The Fallout

Episode 73: The Fallout

Hello queeros, this month Alicia and Sarah are delving into a movie that will hit you in the absolute feels, fyi. The movie is The Fallout, starring the dancing Sia girl (sorry, that was reductive) Maddie Ziegler and the most amazing Jenna Ortega, and a lot of other really great people, about how a few teens cope after a school shooting. This one is heavy y'all, but the movie itself is more character-study-as-microcosm-of-this-truly-horrible-world-we-live-in-for-real than trauma porn, which is something we both appreciate about it. It's actually really good except for the fact that it's too real. Anyway you can hear us talk about it and even cry if you wanna!! Love you and take care of yourselves!

 

Further reading:

The Fallout Wikipedia page

Review on Slate.com by Ilana Kaplan

Gal Pals Watch So My Grandma’s a Lesbian!

Episode 72: So My Grandma's a Lesbian!

 

Hi loves! This month, after a brief hiatus due to cHaOs, we are back and discussing a movie that requires very little brainpower to sit through! Titled So My Grandma's a Lesbian exclamation point, this Spanish movie follows some sweet older women who love each other in a very healthy way, in contrast to the shitshow of their surroundings, which include many people who are younger than them and yet much more Homophobic TM and/or wayyy to concerned about their conservative in-laws, in the case of Eva, the granddaughter. Anyway! This movie isn't exactly good, but Alicia and Sarah agree it is not the worst and the landscape is very beautiful and we want to go to Canary Islands ASAP. Tune in to hear us talk about it! 

 

Further reading:

NME Review by Ella Kemp

Roger's Movie Nation review by Roger Moore

Gal Pals Watch Spencer

Episode 71:

Hello beautiful queeros and happy Valentine's Day! (we hate it, but we also love it) Unfortunately (for some of us, like Sarah) KStew is off the market, but that won't stop us from talking about her, and today we are discussing her latest gay Christmas movie, Spencer! It is not exactly an upbeat film, and is also not that gay, but it's gayer than you might think, both explicitly and subtextually (because KStew brings gay energy to everything she does, in a good way). Also, Diana is in some ways a gay icon. Anyway we had fun with this, and fun fact, Sarah went to a ~movie theater~ to see this, which was a big deal and they won't be going back anytime soon, but worth it. Ok, have a good love day, love all your people extra hard and enjoy this episode!

 

Further reading:

Spencer Wikipedia page

Spencer review in the NYT by A.O. Scott 

Kristen Stewart's Princess Diaries by Kyle Buchanan in NYT

The True Story Behind Spencer--And What It Can Tell Us About Princess Diana by Cady Lang in Time Magazine

Gal Pals Watch The Party

Episode 70: The Party

 

Good evening, happy new year, and welcome to our Bougie and Pretentious evening soirée, with a side of gay. Tonight we will be discussing the 2017 Art Haus Film The Party. Topics include mortality, cocaine, cultural appropriation, academia, The Men, dated lesbian culture, Cherry Jones, Kristen Scott Thomas, murder, and plot twists! Pull up a reading chair and listen in, love ya!

 

Further reading:

The Party Wikipedia page
"Sally Potter: 'The Party is the opposite of Brexit'" https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/13/sally-potter-the-party-berlin-interview 

Gal Pals Watch The Novice

Episode 69: The Novice

 

Happy 69, queerz! This month we watch the new psychological sports thriller, The Novice, in which a college freshman is ~*very obsessed*~ with getting onto her school's varsity crew team. Some very disturbing obsessive thoughts and self harm in this one, so take care of yourselves if you watch it, but also it's pretty absorbing even if it's literally and figuratively dark as hell. There is a cute queer TA who we love (the main character is queer too btw), and Sarah recognizes the obsessive sports mindset a little too much and that is not great for them but oh well! Stay rad friends!

 

The Novice Autostraddle review by Drew Gregory

Gal Pals Watch Addicted to Fresno

Episode 68: Addicted to Fresno

 

Helloooo lovely listeners! This month we're headed to Cali, but it's the part of Cali people like to dump on, aka Fresno! In this 2015 film, Natasha Lyonne and Aubrey Plaza are gay for each other but not enough. A bunch of other stuff happens including Sister Drama and Murder, but you'll have to listen (and watch the movie, you could do that too if you want) to find out what. Enjoy!

 

Further reading:

Addicted to Fresno Wikipedia page

Addicted to Fresno review in NYT by Neil Genzlinger

 

Gal Pals Watch A Date for Mad Mary

Episode 67: A Date for Mad Mary

 

Hiya queeros! This month we are watching an actually pretty good movie! The 2016 Irish film A Date for Mad Mary is a surprisingly great example of nuanced and bittersweet storytelling based on a one-woman play, and it is way better than its title. Tune in to hear us talk about ambiguity, love, and ~personal growth~ involving dancing and learning to show up and move on. Happy listening y'all!

 

Further reading:

A Date for Mad Mary Wikipedia page

Variety review

Gal Pals Watch See You Then

 

Episode 66: See You Then

 

Hey lovely queers! It's us, Alicia and Sarah! This month, we bought tickets to virtual screenings of some movies at LA's Outfest, and we love virtual screenings because we can "go to" tons of different festivals! This movie is one we saw via Outfest, and it stars Lynn Chen of Saving Face fame, which is tbh 99% of the reason we wanted to see it. This movie takes place over the course of one night (mostly) and involves a lot of ~*dramatic*~ dialogue which sometimes does not work for us, but we love to see a trans woman centered in a movie (not Lynn Chen - the other lead, Pooya Mohseni's Kris) even though lack of representation means that too much weight gets put on the few characters there are to be everything for everyone, etc etc we get into it! Tune in and hear us talk about Performance Art, Drama, Gender, Etc. Thanks for listening friends!

 

Alicia's Paid in Puke episode!

See You Then IMDB Page

See You Then official website