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Reviews
In the Blood (2006)
One BIG problem
I was curious to see this film; sounded like fun. It's a sort of supernatural thriller with a gay twist---meaning, the main character is gay, but the film isn't solely focused on that fact. And for the most part I enjoyed the movie; nicely creepy, with a background score that was quite good. Oh, there were a few eye-rolling moments, where I was thinking "now THAT seems likely," but for the most part I thought the film wasn't bad at all; easily superior to many of the other low-key supernatural/psychic films out there.
But the last ten minutes of the picture TOTALLY SUCKED. A crappy, crappy ending---boy, did it tick me off! Ruined the entire thing, in my eyes (can't say what happened without giving everything away!), and it brought my overall rating for the film WAY down. A huge disappointment.
Regarding Billy (2005)
I quite liked this one!
I've been watching a fair number of independent gay-themed films over the past few months (those with a very low---or NO---budget), just to see what all is out there. Quite honestly, a lot of them really are not very good. But I have to say that I enjoyed "Regarding Billy" more so than about 80% of the similarly-themed independent films I've seen.
Oh, no doubt about it, this is a sentimental tear-jerker sort of story. Think of a very small-scale Lifetime made-for-television film, with a gay twist. But hey, I tend to be a sentimental kind of guy, and sometimes I really am in the mood for just such a picture. And this one fit the bill admirably. It's not perfect, but it really did engage me on an emotional level.
I do wish that the relationship between the two leads was explored in more depth; they were an appealing couple and had great chemistry together, and I simply wanted to see more interaction between them. Perhaps that is the greatest drawback of this film; with its modest running time, it seems more like a sketch of a story, waiting to be made into a two-hour feature. There are a lot of interesting ideas here waiting to be more thoroughly explored. But taken on its own modest terms, I can say that I really did enjoy this picture. (I would REALLY have liked to see a bit more snogging between the two leads, however, that is certain! As I said, they were an appealing pair.) The DVD contains a handful of outtakes, a couple of which are quite funny. And the commentary track, with the director and three actors, is a lot of fun (despite a couple of silent spots early on). It's just those four guys in a room, laughing around and joking and having a good time while talking about the film. I recommend this one.