Angels with Tethered Wings

By: Peter

There is a line that one of the characters says in the early part of the film 'what's its all about?' That sums up the film for me.Towards the end of this film another character says ' we're making this up as we go along' That seems to be the what the scriptwriter did as well. The acting (if you would call it that) is atrocious. Seeing blue sky in the nights scenes looked amateurish. .Day for night photography never works in films.Truly the most tedious gay film in a long long time. In fact it was VERY tedious to watch.

By: ptab

After Erodditys, this movie sounded interesting, I sometimes find twinks cute, but being my mid 30s, wouldn't feel right dating one. The title and trailer was misleading, yes forgiveness and redemption were storyline arcs, but I noticed a lot more deception, revenge and seduction, but still enjoyed it, I look forward to more from S. V. both new and old.

By: Allen Street

"Angels With Tethered Wings" (we'll get to the title later) is the latest and most ambitious work from Steven Vasquez and his Babaloo Studios team, which has previously offered us "Triple Crossed" and "Erodditys."
"Angels" tells the story of the Gleason Brothers porn studio, which has seen better days financially. Cory Tyndall plays both Gleason brothers ? Grant, who does some bad stuff but is a decent guy at heart, and Garret, who probably doesn't have a decent bone in his body. Enter Cody (Trip Langley), who is so eager to have sex with Garret's star twink Timothy Russell (Brandon Rife) that he's willing to pay $200,000 for the privilege.
Complications ensue when Timothy wants nothing to do with Cody, and shortly thereafter the money disappears from Garret's office. Suspicion immediately falls on Timothy, and good-guy Grant undertakes to hide him not only from Garret, but from a mysterious mobster named Carmine, to whom Garret owes a whole lot of money.
As in all Vasquez feature-length films, you're never quite sure who's a good guy and who's a bad guy until the end of the 99 minutes. But I can tell you that Jessie (Addison Graham), who becomes Timothy's boyfriend in the second half of the film, is an undiluted good guy, not only falling for Timothy but also helping Lawrence (Ivan Bohman), a homeless , straighten himself out. I can also tell you that when you think early on that Vanessa (Naiia Lajoie), Garret's secretary, is up to no good, you're right. OK, I'll also tell you that several characters die, but in a Vasquez fantasy, nobody has to STAY dead.
Tyndall's performance, particularly as Grant, is his most nuanced yet. The same goes for Rife, who is entirely believable. Langley is hilarious as the horny but rich yokel, and Graham and Bohman are both excellent. Lajoie is totally villainous. The rest of the large cast includes Robby Valls, Andrew Vega, Cameron M. Ellis, Joseph Haggerty, Grayson Gilbert, Tammy Tolene, Eric Harris, Gary Kent James, Grayson Lange, Bryan Vasquez, Jessica Beck, Laura Reilly, and Sheri Vasquez, who also sings a lovely version of Schubert's "Ave Maria." Executive producer Ward Bodner makes a cameo.
The movie is dotted with nude scenes, but honestly, I have to say this is not a porno movie. There are real characters, real scenes, and real storytelling here. In one scene, Timothy and Jessie share a love of Disney's "Fantasia," and indeed, much of "Angels With Tethered Wings" is scored to music that was also performed in that film. If you're looking for cute guys in a "Hi ? hi ? let's have sex" kind of movie, you'll want to look elsewhere. There are cute guys aplenty, but there are no scenes in motel rooms.
If I were to offer a criticism, it would be that Director Vasquez might want to make more takes of particular scenes, in order to get the lines delivered exactly the way he wants them. I realize that budgets are tight, but I think this could have been an even better movie with, say, some pregnant pauses between sentences. Where these do occur ? for example, in the hilarious opening scene ? they really add a lot to the storytelling.
Oh yes, the title. I'm not sure why the word "Tethered" is in there. Nobody really holds back as the various subplots unfold, which is what tethering implies to me. But it's not my story; it belongs to Steven Vasquez, and since I love his storytelling, I'll pass on quibbling about his title. It's a good enough movie that you'll probably want to watch it more than once. I can't wait to see what's coming next.

By: Amos Lassen

I thought I had seen and read enough about zombies but then along came a new film from Babaloo Studios and directed, written and edited by Steven Vasquez (who always has something interesting to say or to see in his films). "Angels with Tethered Wings" is a zombie movie so to speak (it his zombies in it) but is totally fresh and lots of fun. It also has some very good-looking young gay men who bare it all for the camera and for us. I found it interesting that this film came when it did because on the same day I read an article professing the mainstreaming of porn. Now I would not say that "Angels" is porn because what we see is integral to the story; the film is an erotic drama and so nudity is important to the plot. Without it, I am not sure that we would understand what is being shown us.

The story comes to us in three parts and they all share the theme of hope and forgiveness. Grant Gleason (Cory Tyndall) does something wrong but for the right reason (Remember Robin Hood?). This is quite a dark film about living and loosing and it is full of twists and turns. So you may wonder from where the zombies-from where else than beyond the grave? Grant tries to right by wrong but it backfires and the lovers that he helped to become free become trapped. It gets a bit more involved but for that you will have to either see or get a copy of the film. By the end of the film we are certainly aware of all the double-dealings and double crossing. The cast is quite cute and clever.

Aside from the already mentioned Cory, there are the following: Brandon Rife (Timothy), an ex porn star on the run, very hot Addison Graham as Jessie, Timothy's lover, Trip Langley as Cody who is both Timothy's number one fan and number one tormentor, Naiia Lajoie is Vanessa, a conniving woman, Robby Valls is Chewy, Andrew Vega is Nicky, Cameron Ellis is Lewis, the hard of hearing wannabe thug and Ivan Bohman is Lawrence, a down on his luck man with a dream.

I would not say that the acting is of the caliber of the Academy Awards but the idea for the film is smart. We have, of late, seen a myriad of movies about LGBT life and while many are very good, there have not been many fresh and new ideas. Perhaps this is the reason that I enjoyed "Angels" so much. It is unlike anything we have seen before and the cast seemed to have enjoyed themselves making this film. Their feelings are felt by the viewer who becomes part of the film as he watches and tries to analyze the crazy goings-on. This is one of those films to be simply enjoyed and anything more is, as we say in Louisiana, lagniappe.