Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

Banshee – Season 1 (Blu-ray)

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Alan Ball won an Oscar for writing American Beauty, but since then he’s largely stuck to TV, creating Six Feet Under, True Blood and now Banshee. While the basic plot makes Banshee sound very different from True Blood, they are to a certain extent bedfellows. In fact they could be set in the same world, except nobody in Banshee knows about the existence of Vampires and other supernatural entities (or at least they don’t mention it). [Read more…]

Bel Ami (Blu-ray)

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Robert Pattinson in a drama that’s all about sex and power should be enough to have teenage girls  (and many a gay man) wetting their knickers, although this certainly isn’t a film for twi-hards. Pattinson plays George Duroy, who in 19th Century France leaves the army and heads to Paris to make his fortune. He soon realises that he needs contacts, and that even if he can get one or two of those, no one is simply going to hand him the treasures he wants.

The fact he has few skills would seem an impediment, but what he’s well aware of that he has one thing in his favour, he’s irresistible to women. This starts to become his way into Parisian high society, picking the ladies who can offer him his next step up the ladder. His conquests include the forthright and astute Clothilde (Christina Ricci), the devoted and normally faithful Virginie (Kristin Scott Thomas), and Madeleine (Uma Thurman), a woman who in the modern day would be smashing through the glass ceiling, but in 19th Century France has to settle with being a professional wife whose light must shine through the men she’s with. [Read more…]

Chariots Of Fire – 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)

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God bless the 1920s, when everyone ran in slow motion to the strains of a synthesiser, and the Olympics was like a giant version of a school sports day. It’s 30 years since Chariots Of Fire was released and stormed to Best Picture Oscar glory, and it’s no surprise the film is getting a Blu-ray release shortly before the 2012 Olympics get underway.

Since it came out, there’s been much debate over whether it’s really a good movie or not, with some classing it as one of the most overrated films ever. That’s partly because many don’t understand how it won Best Picture (and to be honest, I’d be willing to bet it was of a split vote on the other contenders – Reds, Atlantic City, On Golden Pond and Raiders Of The Lost Ark. However it’s not a bad movie, it’s just not a great one. [Read more…]