Stonewall
- Director: Roland Emmerich
- Writer: Jon Robin Baitz
- Producer: Roland Emmerich; Michael Fossat
CGiii Comment
So...now that the dust has settled, gobby little shits have been silenced and the world is at peace once again (metaphorically speaking)...we bring you our review of the film that caused quite a commotion and received a ridiculous amount of criticism before it was even seen.
Stonewall - and, it's nowhere near as bad as you would have been led to believe...by a youtubing-fame-thirsty, gobby little shit!
Now...if this film had had a different title...it would have done much better than it did. There are many, many people who hold 'Stonewall' dear to their hearts (whether they were there or not)...and, like all historical events, facts are blurred and 'facts' are created, or misinterpreted, with the passing of time and the deaths of eye-witnesses.
Many have jumped on the bandwagon...giving their account of what really happened. Of one thing we can be sure...many of these eye-witnesses would have their testimonies thrown out of every court...because they were off their tits on drugs and/or alcohol.
So...this is - merely - a fictional account inspired by true events. There's really nothing to get your knickers in a twist about...it's a simple story of a small-town gay boy coming to the big city and being led a not-so-merry dance by everyone he meets. The Stonewall Inn is the backdrop.
The film is saturated with stereotypes and clichés...have you ever been in a gay bar? Gay bars are stuffed to the rafters with stereotypes and clichés...even more so in the 60s, 70s & 80s...
And, if you have ever been, The Stonewall Inn is a grubby, unimpressive little bar...and grubby, little bars usually attract grubby little customers...Ed Murphy - an employee - was a grubby drug-dealing, blackmailing, kidnapping low-life...who, in later years, was exonerated and held in high esteem by the Christopher Street's LGBT community...how quickly they forget. He made many, many people's lives utterly miserable. The film - quite rightly - shows this scumbag in his true colours!
As for the claims of white-washing history...no-one knows who threw the brick, if - indeed - it was a brick...some say it was a stiletto! See...different versions of the same event. Stonewall is - simply - a version of an ill-documented event...and, it's a decent film to boot. So untwist your knickers and watch it.
That gobby little shit (a definitive stereotype & a moaning cliché) who started the anti-film campaign had not even been born when 'Stonewall' happened...and, quite possibly, neither had the gobby little shits' parents...so, before you pounce upon another bandwagon...stop and think: it's the older LGBT generation that did what you are now benefiting from...screaming about a film is not activism...it's pathetic.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
A young man's political awakening and coming of age during the days and weeks leading up to the Stonewall Riots.
It’s rare for a Hollywood film to focus entirely on LGBT history, but 2015’s Stonewall fumbled the opportunity to shed light on a pivotal moment and went on to fail at the box office. The 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City were a series of demonstrations by members of the LGBT community fighting back against a police force that routinely persecuted LGBT people. Stonewall instead told a coming-of-age story about fictional gay character Danny, a naïve Midwestern teen who arrives penniless in New York City after being kicked out of his home, with a vague sketch of the riots as a backdrop to his tale. Once he arrives in the city, Danny meets gender non-conforming homeless teen Ray, who also uses the name Ramona.
Ray introduces Danny to a group of queer youth who are struggling to survive on the streets, and to the Stonewall Inn - the only gay bar that allows dancing. Finally, fed up by the corrupt cops raiding the mafia-owned bar, Danny throws the first brick through a window and provokes the riots. The film has been widely criticized for telling a whitewashed version of the riots, erasing many of the real stories of LGBT people of color and women who were instrumental in the rebellion, in order to focus on the fictitious character of Danny. Sadly, audiences may have been left unaware that actual people inspired several of the characters - including Ramona, loosely based on Sylvia Rivera, and early trans advocate Marsha P. Johnson, who appears in the film, but only in a minor role. Their erasure from this turning point in LGBT history was unjustified and unnecessarily revisionist.
Let us face the facts...this film never stood a chance...because of all the cow-tailing to political correctness...arse-licking the gobshites!
To call this 'revisionist' is an affront to the intelligence and integrity behind GLAAD...it's a loose interpretation of an event...it ain't fucking textbook history...it's Hollywoooooood and Holly don't do revisionism...too highbrow, too intellectual.
GLAAD you let yourself down on this one!
Cast & Characters
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Trevor;
Joey King as Phoebe;
Ron Perlman as Ed Murphy;
Jeremy Irvine as Danny;
Jonny Beauchamp as Ray Castro;
Caleb Landry Jones as Orphan Annie;
Matt Craven as Deputy Seymour Pine;
Atticus Mitchell as Matt (as Atticus Dean Mitchell);
David Cubitt as Coach Winters;
Mark Camacho as Fat Tony;
Karl Glusman as Joe Altman;
Andrea Frankle as Joyce Winters;
Kwasi Songui as Big Daddy;
Joanne Vannicola as Sam