2007
Goldstar Review: Shock to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery
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So yours truly has teamed up with Here! TV. What does that mean to you? Not much really, other than the fact that I will be reviewing their programming on TLL. Which for me is cool because I have always been a huge fan of LGBT media. I am always curious to see how bad or how good a gay themed film will turn out. I wonder how much it will focus on sexuality. I wonder what a straight person watching it will think. Does the film reflect my life, my community, my own views on gay life? I try to take all of that into consideration when giving my opinion.
With that said I have become Here!’s Whore! This is not to say that because they give me prescreeners I have agreed to give them all good reviews. I have to be honest. Honest with myself and with the film, sitcom, or documentary I am to review. I will say, however, that we should all do what we can to harbor the prosperity of LGBT channels like Here! and LOGO. Do what you can to check out their programming and be sure to visit their websites to let them know what you think. I hope you enjoy my reviews and if you don’t feel free to let me know that too!
Shock to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery:
| Year: | 2006 |
| Director: | Ron Oliver |
| Starring: | Chad Allen, Morgan Fairchild, Sebastian Spence, Michael Woods |
| Synopsis: | When hard boiled private eye Donald Strachey (Chad Allen) finds his latest client dead, an apparent suicide, Albany’s favorite gay detective smells a rat and decides to take matters into his own hands. |
Wow! Chad Allen. Would you believe that at one point in my preteen life I bought a bunch of those teen mags like Tiger Beat. I tore out all the pictures of cute boys from said magazines and plastered my walls with the photos. Chad Allen was my favorite. There was something about those eyes. Perhaps he was so cute he was pretty, and that simply confused the Hell out of this dyke. Either way, the eyes went south with his age but, he does have that great “gay boy” body. God Bless you boys!!
In Shock to the System, Chad plays Donald Strachey PI. He’s a private dick for God sakes, and the cliches so don’t end there! Let me stop here and advise that I have never been a big fan of murder/mysteries so maybe I’m naturally biased on this one. This movie does, however, do a great job of covering some interesting ground. It tackles one of those, “We can cure you from being gay” groups. And I so enjoyed the way Chad and his boyfriend referred to each other as “honey” and “baby” it was honestly very endearing and believable.
This is very much a gay movie. Meaning, it’s not just that one of the characters is queer. The plot involves gays, the theme is gay, all of this and someone managed to limit the sex scenes which we know is hard to do for the boys. Would I watch it again? probably not. Truth be told it lost me somewhere in the middle of the film. From the get it was far too predictable. I do have to give props to Mr. Allen though. He came out, he’s doing gay films, and he looks oh so sexy holding a gun. (Have I mentioned that I’m such a queen trapped in a lesbian’s body) If you do get a chance to see the movie do me a favor and count the gay cliches. I got 14!
Sorry Strachey
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