PAPI CHULO: DVDebut for John Butler's comedy/drama of Latinos and Gringos in L.A.

A movie full of small surprises (and one major surprise), PAPI CHULO is the work of Irish filmmaker John Butler, the fellow who, back in 2016 brought us Handsome Devil and in 2013 The Bachelor Weekend (which I've not yet seen).  His latest film would seem to be his first time working in the USA, and TrustMovies must say that Butler has nicely nailed the peculiarly Los Angeles dynamic involving Latino and Gringos, class and economics, and especially those cliched attitudes that permeate so much of what goes on between the two.

Mr. Butler, shown at right, doesn't so much upend those cliches as he does simply lay them out in front of us (and the characters), simultaneously revealing their silliness. This is a smart way to handle a tricky subject, and the filmmaker manages it throughout the entire film, often leaving a smile on our faces, even as we wince in recognition.

The plot pf Papi Chulo has to do with Sean, a gay L.A. TV weather reporter suffering from a break-up with a longtime lover, from whom he is having a very difficult time separating. To complete the painting of his deck, Sean hires an older Hispanic laborer, Ernesto (Alejandro Patiño, below, right), who is waiting in one of those pools of men seen on the sidewalks of L.A., New York and now probably in most cities throughout the country, hoping to find work.  Slowly, haltingly and often humorously, a kind of bond begins to form between the two.

Sean is played by Matt Bomer (shown above, left, and below), an "out" gay actor who has often played gay roles, including an excellent representation of a trans woman in Anything. This role, however, seems to me different in some important ways because the character of Sean is so sad, silly and needy, often simultaneously, that he is as funny and charming as he is unhappy and sometimes even obnoxious.

Mr. Bomer is actually quite extraordinary in the role, so alternately loose and easy, frightened and protective is the actor that he makes Sean into one of the most vulnerable of gay characters I have seen on screen. He is also enormously funny, as he tries every which way to connect to his new friend. Mr. Butler's delicious dialog, coming from the mouth of Bomer, often sounds utterly spontaneous, and all the better for it.

How the movie, along with relationship of the two men, progresses comprises the simple plot, which takes quite a turn midway. In retrospect, this makes perfect sense but it may still throw you -- the way the certainty of an assumption proven wrong often does.

As complete and "out there" as the character of Sean is, Ernesto's appears quite the opposite. Guarded and near completely unable to demonstrate affection, he is a good example of Hispanic machismo, non-toxic variety, in which those signs of love must be shown via his wife and children. Señor Patiño imbues his character with clear-headedness and a quiet grace that is believable and touching.

As in Handsome Devil, Butler allows in sentiment without letting it gush into sentimentality. You'll be charmed, surprised, entertained and/or moved by just about everything here, without feeling ill-used the following morning. Think of it as a guilt-free pleasure.

From Breaking Glass Pictures and running 98 minutes, Papi Chulo hits the street on DVD  this coming Tuesday, November 5 -- for purchase or rental.

Home video debut for Michael Dunaway and Chris White's slick, surprising and commendable SIX L.A. LOVE STORIES

Just how much quality entertainment can be packed into a sextet of unconnected stories lasting only 77 minutes is demonstrated quite vividly in the just-released-to-home-video indie movie, SIX L.A. LOVE STORIES.

This proved to be one of those films TrustMovies agreed to watch, thinking that at least he'd be doing the publicist a favor, that turned out to be a delightful surprise he would not have wanted to miss.

A sterling example of what decent direction (Michael Dunaway)

and editing (Sean Valla), smart writing (from Mr. Dunaway and Chris White) and most especially the kind of terrific acting that some of tinsel town's finest supporting and ensemble actors can deliver, this little movie actually makes good on what many other vastly more storied and expensive projects fail at: an intelligent, funny, occasionally even moving and always entertaining piece of movie-making.

That cast includes Dunaway, shown at left, who plays (and very well) a big, cuddly teddy bear of an ex-husband to Alicia Witt's ex-wife, meeting ostensibly to discuss the proper school for their young daughter, but delving into other, much more personal things. Ms Witt (below) provides the dramatic high point here, as she navigates near-perfectly a most difficult and confusing few moments of self-revelation.

The writing includes a marvelous riff on Kurt Cobain's pancreas, delivered with in deliciously dry fashion by one of my favorite actors, Ross Partridge (below, whose film Lamb you really ought to see),

playing a "guest" at a rather typical L.A. pool party who has a yen for another guest, an angry young woman essayed with zest and finesse by Ashley Williams, below.

More delightful dialog comes as a recently cuckolded husband (a fine Matthew Lillard, below), confronts his abashed wife with a raft of questions: "Did he use a condom?  Was it one of mine?  Out of my sock drawer!?"

That poor wife (the always wonderful Carrie Preston, below), here as hang-dog as you are likely to have seen her, can only sit and hope and cope.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, a sort of mini-Ted-Talks-marathon is taking place, staged managed by Jennifer Lafleur (below, left), at which one of the guest speakers turns out to be her ex-lover (Ogy Durham, below, right), whose very appearance here has been stage-managed, too.

What L.A. movie would be complete without some "movie industry" fodder? This is provided by the tale of a ditzy would-be screenwriter (Marshall Allman, below) who seems to pride himself on insulting the very folk who try to help him,

and his ex-girlfriend (Jamie Anne Allman, below), who, despite his idiocy and maybe due to how f-ing adorable the kid is, continues to carry a torch.

The funniest story involves the historic home of the famous Will Rogers, and a tour guide/docent at that home (the fabulously funny Beth Grant, below) and her encounter with an academic writer who is not a fan of this Mr. Rogers but who has flown out from New York to visit the house.

The writer is played by that ubiquitous supporting actor Stephen Tobolowsky, and he and Ms Grant make quite the match. These tales, fortunately, are women together so that we spend two, three, maximum four minutes with one and then move to another and another before arriving back to the original again. The pacing proves just about perfect so that we never lose touch with the each plot nor its humor and drama, even though there is no connection between the characters or tales.

The movie has a nice, improvisational quality that carries through all the tales, and it helps immensely that each situation and each set of characters are different enough, one from another, that neither repetition nor similarity ever sets in. What is maybe most surprising here is how very involved we get in these short little stories -- thanks to the very high grade of acting, writing, directing and editing on view. Good job, all! (That's Peter Bogdonovich, below, who makes a guest appearance in the film as one of those Ted-ish-Talks speakers.)

From Random Media and running just 77 minutes, Six L.A. Love Stories made its debut on digital, DVD and VOD this past Tuesday, May 8. It's definitely worth a watch, especially for those who appreciate the movie equivalent of some good "short stories."

Homeless and addicted, but singing for joy, in Delila Vallot's documentary, MIGHTY GROUND

Thanks to filmmaker Delila Vallot and her subject -- a crack-addicted black male singer named Ronald Troy Collins -- we get closer to the life and plight of the homeless than we often do in movies, either narrative or documentary.

Ms Vallot, shown below, devotes most of her movie to Ronald and his story, but she also allows a few experts in the field to speak out and provide some statistics that help place homelessness as one of the most problematic of society's many current problems -- one that ends up costing taxpayers much more than it should, while providing very little relief to those suffering without homes.

In Los Angeles (where this film takes place), for instance, much of the money earmarked for the homeless goes to the Los Angeles Police Department -- which barely helps those homeless but does, apparently, lead to more slaughter. Yes, Black Lives Matter continuously and forever, it seems.

As well as letting us see Ronald in his drug stupor (two photos below), as well his singing glory, we also view and hear some of fondest memories (Saturday morning cartoons and cereal made with near-frozen milk!), and we also meet some of the friends who have taken it upon themselves to try to help this fellow.

Two of these are Aimee (shown above with our hero) and William, a couple who feel their meeting with this homeless singer was somehow preordained. This attitude seems part and parcel with the film's somewhat oddball "spirituality" angle, along with Ronald's would-be ability to pray and then work miracles. Still, his enormous addiction problem does help keep the movie on more stable, serious ground.

The frustration of dealing with an addict, even one who is very talented. is huge. "I just want to know why he wasn't more honest with us?" one of our do-gooders asks, after Ronald has fallen off the wagon yet again. To its credit, the movie does not skirt this issue, and for awhile it seems as if addiction is bound to win out.

While the songs we hear Ronald sing are generally impressive, as is his voice, I sometimes wished the accompanying musical score didn't make the film more sentimental than it needed to be.

Along the way we hear some (but not as much as we might wish) of Ronald's music and lyrics, and even meet some of his fans and family members. Prior to that, however -- whoops! -- there's jail. And bail.

About one hour into this 83-minute documentary, we get a full-fledged song with accompany music video, all of which looks and sounds quite good. Then a live club appearance, and the beginning of what increasingly looks like an upward trend in Ronald's life. In the film's funniest, most ironic line, our boy tells us, "It's very addictive: having material things!"

Overall, the music here is surprisingly good. Ronald's is a voice you'll want to hear more of. In fact, you may want to get the EP soundtrack album (from GOAT Records) -- which will simultaneously become available, along with the DVD and digital release of the movie, via Random Media, this coming Tuesday, April 10.  

DVDebut: Mike Mendez goes after those giant spiders -- again! -- with LAVALANTULA

If the Syfy Channel, where the film LAVALANTUAL made its debut, was expecting another Sharknado -- the campy, now-classic, so-bad-it's-good, would-be scary movie -- I'm afraid they were disap-pointed. They should not have been. This newer film, which combines tarantulas and volcanoes much more cleverly and intelligently than its predecessor managed sharks and tornadoes, is simply a model of straight-ahead B-movie smarts with A-level special effects.

Written by Neil Elman and Ashley O'Neil and directed by Mike Mendez (shown at right), who back in 2013 gave us the wonderful little monster comedy Big Ass Spider!, this new film manages to combine comedy, camp, chills, thrills and terrific special effects with a story that starts fast and keeps up that pace for almost its entire 83-minute running time. That's exactly what a good B movie is supposed to do. Everything else--style, charm, wit and some decent performances (all of which there are plenty of here)--is gravy.

Lavalantula is lucky to have as its star, the under-rated Steve Guttenberg, (above, right) who, for nearly 40 years now, has been in the limelight. Remember The Chicken Chronicles and the Police Academy series, not to mention Can't Stop the Music, which might easily have qualified in its day as the Sharknado of musical comedies? Well, Mr. Guttenberg is still at it, entertaining us easily with his off-the-cuff charm, humor and sex appeal, almost none of which have drained away over the intervening decades. The guy still looks great, acts easily and seems to have actually gained some additional charm en route.

Here Guttenberg plays an over-the-hill actor who once had a successful franchise but is now making C and D movies for a living. He has just walked out on one of these after an altercation with its director when a series of earthquakes and volcanic activity seize Southern California, releasing those titular Lavalantulas all over the place.

As in all thee B horror/monsters flicks, protecting family becomes paramount and so our hero rushes to save mom (Nia Peeples, above) and teenage son (Noah Hunt). The filmmakers use their hero's "star" status to make good, loving fun of Hollywood, agents, the industry and especially fan worship, and all this is blended quite well with the thrills and chills, as what looks like about half of Hollywood gets incinerated by these fire-breathing spiders.

There's a nice balance of excitement, storytelling, humor, and inside-the-industry that should keep audiences happy and on their toes throughout, as Guttenberg commandeers a tour bus, which leads to a lovely turn from Patrick Renna (above, left) as one of its passengers.

If there is nothing great here (the ending is a little bit of a let-down, given what's comes before), it is still quite pleasant to view a good B movie from a bunch of professionals who know what they're doing and do it this well.

Released to DVD from Alchemy, after its Syfy debut, the disc hit the streets this past week, for purchase and/or rental.

Streaming: Joe Carnahan's nifty STRETCH gives Patrick Wilson a juicy role -- and he runs with it

Actually, everyone in Joe Carnahan's new movie gets a juicy role, and everyone does a crackerjack job. It's just that Patrick Wilson gives the kind of performance he rarely has the chance to tackle, and he's a delight to watch as he cajoles, pleads, races and gets knocked around some as a limo driver in debt who must suddenly pay that debt by tonight. And Mr. Carnahan, shown below, excels at this kind of fast-paced nonsense (as in Smoking Aces and The A Team).

His new movie, STRETCH, never takes itself too seriously but entertains us like crazy. It's one of those films filled with weird, crazy criminals doing nutty stuff that sort of makes sense if you're living in a word gone utterly loony. And as the movie is set in Hollywood and its environs (it even has nifty cameos by Ray Liotta and David Hasselhoff playing themselves), all this makes more than a little oddball sense. Why a film this much fun never got a theatrical release (or appeared on DVD) is beyond my ken -- the IMDB notes only an "Internet" release this past October -- but here it is now, playing on Netflix streaming for all to see.

In addition to Misters Wilson (above), Liotta and Hasselhoff, the movie features Jessica Alba, below and looking pretty ordinary (yes, this is possible) as the limo service's dispatcher, and Chris Pine (shown at bottom, right) in the major -- but uncredited -- role of the Wilson charac-ter's craziest and richest passenger/client. Both actors are aces, as is everyone down to the smallest role. And there are plenty of small, juicy roles here, too. Screenwriter Carnahan, along with his "story" guys, Jerry Corley and Rob Rose, have let their imaginations run wild to produce a cast of characters that consistently surprise us, while tickling our collective funny bone.

Despite all the evil and would-be ugly goings-on, this is the kind of smart, fast whizzer in which, no matter what might happen, you're pretty much assured that the hero will triumph against whatever odds. So you can relax and just go with the very speedy flow, with the built-in assurance that a very good time will be had by all.

Stretch, which is both the movie's title and the name of our hero, runs a fast 94 minutes and can be seen now via Netflix streaming and elsewhere. (Only the movie's closing credits -- featuring some really crappy, not-very-funny outtakes -- spoil the fun. The movie is such as upper that you should maybe stop watching as those credits start to roll.) 

The hottest doc? Ryan McGarry's CODE BLACK probes the ER workers at L.A.'s County Hospital

The year is about halfway along, but with the theatrical release of the new documentary CODE BLACK, which deals with the young doctors who help run the Emergency Room of the the Los Angeles County Hospital, it looks like we've got (unless there's some Academy rule or other that I'm unaware of) a sure contender for a Best Documentary nomination, and very likely the winning film. This important and well-made movie doesn't simply show us these doctors at work, both saving and losing lives (which would already be enough to rivet us), it gives us the best demonstration imaginable for the need for decent health care across our nation, particularly in the emergency rooms that serve those who can least afford to pay for the kind of most expensive/least effective heath care our country has for so long insisted on providing.

The movie and its movie-maker, Ryan McGarry (at right) -- himself one of these young doctors and also the director and co-writer of, as well as one of the cinematographers and "performers" in the film -- takes us into a place, the likes of which we may imagine we've seen (on a TV program such as ER) and shows it to us anew and from a perspective we have not, up to now, gotten anywhere near. The first thing you may notice is how incredibly crowded is this ER. I am not referring to the waiting room, which is also terribly crowded, but to the area the doctors call C Booth where much of the life-saving (and life-losing) takes place.

As one doctor explains, C Booth may "look like chaos" (and, boy, does it ever -- there seems barely room for anyone to even move), "but as a trained doctor, I can see that it is not." C Booth, we're also told is "where you learn."

We're immediately swept back and forth between emergencies and meeting our cast, the doctors who "work twice the hours for half the pay." Who are these people? "Emergency medicine," we're told, "calls a certain type of person." This turns out to be someone for whom the adrenaline rush is important. "Being a new doctor," someone else explains, "optimism overshadows realism. It has to."

But then we learn that, "Death connects everyone," and we're then shown exactly what this means: in the experience of losing a patient ("Do we drape her and clean her for the family?" one new doc asks), of having to tell loved ones what has happened (we hear the grief expressed, rather than see it, which is more decent and generous than most documentaries or television programs would allow) and then of having to live with the outcome of this failure.

While this film was being prepared and made, Los Angeles finally moved its County Hospital from the old quarters -- above, built in the early 1930s, via a bond issue that helped pay for it, and not, unfortunately "earthquake proof" -- to its spanking new headquarters (below), which, of course, is better. Sort of. The old building, it turns out, was so old that it had few of the modern conveniences such as computer record-keeping and the like, which is now demanded of the doctors and leads to the problem of constant documentation and a concurrent flood of paperwork.

We learn what the number codes 1 through 4 mean to the folk waiting to receive emergency care and how they can sometimes wait ten to fifteen hours for that care to materialize. "Code Black," it turns out, refers to the times when ER is so crowded that the doctors know in advance that they will never be able to see all the patients gathered before them.

At the new facility, besieged with paperwork, the doctors come up with a "fast track" ideas to better serve the patients. This has its pros and cons, and we see how difficult innovation can sometimes be, especially when the nursing staff is badly under-served. We also learn some of the backstories of our doctors, especially that of filmmaker McGarry, below, who knows first-hand what ER help can mean.

Code Black is consistently intelligent and thoughtful in its take on ER health care, and like the doctors we see here, it is also tight, organized and efficient. It is political about health care in the best way, and also as personal as it gets. It is difficult to imagine U.S. citizens of any stripe (except perhaps completely closed-minded Republicans) viewing this film and not understanding the importance of and need for decent health care. Toward the end of the movie, there is a terribly moving grace note, as the camera simply pans around the room -- no music, no sound -- and we see a whole range of people, young to old, quiet, ill and waiting for care.

The film also demonstrates that if we have folk like the graduating-class doctors we see here, then our country simply can't be as irreparably lost as it sometimes seems.  I was born and raised in Los Angeles -- a sprawling city I've never much liked -- but nothing I've so far encountered has made me as proud of the place as has this movie.

Code Black opens this Friday, June 20, here in New York at the IFC Center, and next Friday, June 27, in Los Angeles at The Landmark. (There will be Q&As with director and his cast over opening weekends in both cities.) In the weeks and months  to come, the film will play many cities across the country. To see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters listed, click here.

The photos above are from the film itself, except for 

that of McGarry (second from top), which is by 

Eugene Gologursky, courtesy of Getty Images, 

and the shots of the new and old L.A. County Hospital.