Episodes
Friday May 07, 2021
Gal Pals Watch The Half of It
Friday May 07, 2021
Friday May 07, 2021
Episode 62: The Half of It
Hello lovelies! It is us, your forever gay aunts! This month we are talking about the movie that got us all through that early lil bit of the pan pizza in May 2020, The Half of It! In case for some unfathomable reason you don't know about this adorable movie, it is the long-awaited sophomore venture from ultimate fave Alice Wu (check out our episode on her first film, 2004's Saving Face). The movie is almost about sophomores but is actually about seniors in high school in a fictional Washington state town (which is where we also live! Washington state, not a fictional town, unless you want to get metaphorical about Seattle being FAKE). It follows very sweet and smart and wonderful queer teen Ellie Chu in a story that, as we conclude, is a major glow-up for the Cyrano de Bergerac plot. Tune in to hear our thoughts, of which we have some!
Further reading:
Friday Apr 09, 2021
Gal Pals Watch Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt)
Friday Apr 09, 2021
Friday Apr 09, 2021
Episode 61: Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt)
Howdy, beautiful listeners! We are back from a winter spent in survival mode, hbu? Shooting for the stars that we will be on a monthly recording schedule from here on out :) Today we start out with a lil update, including a discussion of our tagline and why we decided to change it. Then we get into the ~*cute*~ Australian film, Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt)! Which Sarah can only think of as Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's GAY Aunt), but it's fine. We saw this one "at" the Seattle Queer Film Festival, but if you live in Aus or aren't an Elder like us and know your way around a VPN, you can stream it online. Regardless, this movie was like if The Prom was good, and it has a lot of queer shit going on in front of and behind the camera, so join us as we talk about it to each other and your ears. Love ya, take care of yourselves!
Further reading:
SQFF film guide from 2020: https://threedollarbillcinema.org/filmguide
Binge (Australian streaming service), if ya savvy: https://binge.com.au/
Friday Dec 11, 2020
Gal Pals Watch Happiest Season
Friday Dec 11, 2020
Friday Dec 11, 2020
Episode 60: Happiest Season
Hello gays! We are back with a brand-new episode of the highly anticipated (and now highly debated) movie, Happiest Season, directed by Clea DuVall (of But I'm a Cheerleader fame). There are things we loved and things we did not love about this movie--we talk about those things around Sarah stanning KStew. We're so happy to be back! Stay safe!
Friday Mar 27, 2020
Gal Pals Watch Wild Nights with Emily
Friday Mar 27, 2020
Friday Mar 27, 2020
Episode 59: Wild Nights With Emily
Hey all you beautifuls! We hope you are weathering this really wild and not great time. We're here this week with a movie that's the good kind of wild, Wild Nights With Emily. If you're stuck at home, which at this point I'm pretty sure we all are, and you can stream stuff, watch this!! It's so good! And then listen to us gush about how the oddball workings of Madeleine Olnek's (of Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same fame) mind worked wonders on this story of Emily Dickinson's life. Stay safe, y'all.
Further reading:
Wild Nights With Emily Wikipedia page
Emily Dickinson Wikipedia page
Friday Mar 13, 2020
Gal Pals Watch Tell It To The Bees
Friday Mar 13, 2020
Friday Mar 13, 2020
Episode 58: Tell it to The Bees
Hi, 1950s lesbians! This movie is real bad but we watched it for you anyway! Taking place in postwar Britain and involving a lot of Lesbian Staring, a precocious skinny white kid, rape, racism, senseless magical realism, and weird CGI bees, this movie is not our favorite. But you can listen us get mad/laugh at it, and talk about how boring straights are!
Further reading:
Tell it to The Bees Wikipedia page
Fiona Shaw's article on how they made her gay ending into a straight ending
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Gal Pals Watch Princess Cyd
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Episode 57: Princess Cyd
Have you ever found yourself daydreaming about wandering around the lush north side of Chicago in summer while your writerly aunt hosts literary soirées and a cute andro barista dances with you on a rooftop? Well then this movie is for you. We're talking about cute queer summer flings and annoying teens on this episode, enjoy!
Further reading:
Princess Cyd Wikipedia page
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Gal Pals Watch Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes Feeling Heart
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Episode 56: Sighted Eyes, Feeling Heart
Helloooo literary lez's and otherwise identified queers! Have you read the book Looking for Lorraine by Imani Perry? Because you should. But you can also watch this pretty good, very PBS style doc about Lorraine Hansberry, aka one of the baddest/best humans ever to be too good for America. If you don't know, Hansberry wrote the 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, which you probably read in high school, and was a huge hit and made into a movie. But tbh that was the least of her amazingness. She was a true queen. Also, she was queer af. Listen in to hear us talk about this movie, the book Looking for Lorraine (which is much gayer, and also one of Sarah's favorite books of all time), and how much we stan this communist activist legend. Enjoy!
Further reading:
Get the book Looking for Lorraine!!!
Sighted Eyes Feeling Heart official website
Lorraine Hansberry Wikipedia page
Friday Jan 31, 2020
Gal Pals Watch Rafiki
Friday Jan 31, 2020
Friday Jan 31, 2020
Episode 55: Rafiki
This week, we're headed to Nairobi, where two of the most lovable lesbian characters ever fall in love in a movie whose title translates to 'friend,' aka gal pal, obvs. We loved this movie, even though it has some serious homophobic violence, because it also has serious homophilic love. Enjoy, queeros!
Further reading:
Rafiki Wikipedia page
Friday Jan 17, 2020
Gal Pals Watch The Girl King
Friday Jan 17, 2020
Friday Jan 17, 2020
Episode 54: The Girl King
We're going even farther back in time this week, queers! Last time, we went to the 1920s with Vita and Virginia. Now, we're going to the 1630s!! This movie made by a Finnish director, taking place in Sweden, and spoken in English for some reason, is about Christina, Queen of Sweden and First Names (that last part is not real). Queen Christina was A Gay but somehow got bought (not literally, but still) by the pope and is one of only two women buried next to a pope. Because patriarchy! And Catholicism! Same same. Christina is also remembered as the Virgin Queen which is bull.shit. because we all know virginity is a construct! Anyway, we liked this movie alright, so you can listen to us talk about it. Love ya, gay virgins!
Further reading:
The Girl King Wikipedia
Variety review by Dennis Harvey
Friday Jan 03, 2020
Gal Pals Watch Vita and Virginia
Friday Jan 03, 2020
Friday Jan 03, 2020
Episode 53: Vita and Virginia
Hello and happy new year, cute queers! For our first episode of 2020, we're going back to the other 20's -- the 1920's! We watched the 2018 adaptation of one of the most epic literary love affairs to ever be super well-documented, namely that of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. And, well, it could've been better. Listen to us talk about what we liked and didn't like about this long-ass movie, teary-eyed Virginia, and some random CGI -- and get some rec's for books and letters to read instead! This particular love affair is exactly Alicia's wheelhouse, so that part is really fun. Enjoy!
Further reading:
Vita and Virginia Wikipedia
NPR review by Mark Jenkins
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