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

The Crying Game: 25th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray Review) – Neil Jordan’s classic returns

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Is 25 years long enough for something not to be considered a spoiler? Well, just in case, don’t read this review if you don’t want to know the ‘twist’ of The Crying Game. That said, I highly suspect that due to cultural changes in the last quarter of a century, it won’t be quite as much of a surprise as it was for most audience members in 1992.

The Crying Game opens with British soldier Jody (Forest Whitaker) getting kidnapped by the IRA in Northern Ireland. They demand that the UK government release one of their top men who’s recently been detained, in exchange for the soldier’s life.

However, one of the kidnappers, Fergus (Stephen Rea), unexpectedly starts to bond with his captive, even though he knows they may have to kill him. Jody tells Fergus about his lover, the beautiful Dil (Jaye Davidson), and asks him to check she’s alright if the worst comes to the worst. [Read more…]

Byzantium (DVD)

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Neil Jordan has always been interested in the supernatural, from the werewolves of The Company Of Wolves to the mermaids of Ondine. He also had great success with bloodsuckers in Interview With The Vampire. Now he returns to vamps for a very different movie, Byzantium.

Clara (Gemma Arterton) and her younger sister, Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan), are constantly moving around, and this time end up in a run-down English seaside town, where they are taken in by the gentle Noel (Daniel Mays). Clara is soon back to her old tricks of setting herself up as a brothel madam, while Eleanor attempts to once more settle into a new environment. [Read more…]

Fresh Byzantium Trailer – Saoirse Ronan And Gemma Arterton thirst for blood

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Byzantium definitely looks intriguing, even if it met a bit of a mixed response on its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival at the end of last year. However this new trailer look pretty good, with Neil Jordan going back to the world of bloodsuckers for the first time since Interview With The Vampire.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) is a precocious girl with a bent for storytelling. A natural introvert, her idea of a good time is to put pen to paper and reflect on her inner life. Her “sister” Clara (Gemma Arterton) is the complete opposite: extroverted and sexual, she struts around in stilettos and skin-tight garb, attracting hungry male gazes wherever she goes. Both carry secrets from deep in their shared past — all 200 years of it — which bubbles to the surface as Jordan wends his way through the twists and turns of the plot.

‘It turns out that Clara was involved in a passionate love affair during the Napoleonic Wars, while at the same time Eleanor was abandoned as a child. In the present, both seek to preserve their secret from their unsuspecting new companions. Eleanor falls for a sweet young waiter (Caleb Landry Jones), while Clara settles on a homey, unsuspecting man (Daniel Mays) who has just come into an inheritance: the Byzantium Hotel, which has seen better days. The fun begins as Eleanor and Clara shack up in the hotel, feeding off their victims while attempting to stay one step ahead of their pursuers, who are hot on the duo’s trail after Clara rather violently disposes of a particularly seedy pickup.’

The movie, which also stars Jonny Lee Miller, Sam Riley, and Tom Hollander, will be out in the UK on May 31st and the US on June 28th. [Read more…]

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New Byzantium Trailer – Saoirse Ronan & Gemma Arterton turn a little bit vampire

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Byzantium definitely look intriguing, even if it met a bit of a mixed response on its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival at the end of last year. However this new trailer look pretty good, with Neil Jordan going back to the world of bloodsuckers for the first time since Interview With The Vampire.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) is a precocious girl with a bent for storytelling. A natural introvert, her idea of a good time is to put pen to paper and reflect on her inner life. Her “sister” Clara (Gemma Arterton) is the complete opposite: extroverted and sexual, she struts around in stilettos and skin-tight garb, attracting hungry male gazes wherever she goes. Both carry secrets from deep in their shared past — all 200 years of it — which bubbles to the surface as Jordan wends his way through the twists and turns of the plot.

‘It turns out that Clara was involved in a passionate love affair during the Napoleonic Wars, while at the same time Eleanor was abandoned as a child. In the present, both seek to preserve their secret from their unsuspecting new companions. Eleanor falls for a sweet young waiter (Caleb Landry Jones), while Clara settles on a homey, unsuspecting man (Daniel Mays) who has just come into an inheritance: the Byzantium Hotel, which has seen better days. The fun begins as Eleanor and Clara shack up in the hotel, feeding off their victims while attempting to stay one step ahead of their pursuers, who are hot on the duo’s trail after Clara rather violently disposes of a particularly seedy pickup.’

The movie, which also stars Jonny Lee Miller, Sam Riley, and Tom Hollander, will be out in the UK on May 31st. [Read more…]

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Byzantium Trailer – Gemma Arterton & Saoirse Ronan turn vampire

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When Byzantium debuted at TIFF last year it was met with decidedly mixed reviews, but it’s definitely an intriguing looking movie, with Neil Jordan going back to the world of bloodsuckers for the first time since Interview With The Vampire.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) is a precocious girl with a bent for storytelling. A natural introvert, her idea of a good time is to put pen to paper and reflect on her inner life. Her “sister” Clara (Gemma Arterton) is the complete opposite: extroverted and sexual, she struts around in stilettos and skin-tight garb, attracting hungry male gazes wherever she goes. Both carry secrets from deep in their shared past — all 200 years of it — which bubbles to the surface as Jordan wends his way through the twists and turns of the plot.

‘It turns out that Clara was involved in a passionate love affair during the Napoleonic Wars, while at the same time Eleanor was abandoned as a child. In the present, both seek to preserve their secret from their unsuspecting new companions. Eleanor falls for a sweet young waiter (Caleb Landry Jones), while Clara settles on a homey, unsuspecting man (Daniel Mays) who has just come into an inheritance: the Byzantium Hotel, which has seen better days. The fun begins as Eleanor and Clara shack up in the hotel, feeding off their victims while attempting to stay one step ahead of their pursuers, who are hot on the duo’s trail after Clara rather violently disposes of a particularly seedy pickup.’

The movie, which also stars Jonny Lee Miller, Sam Riley, and Tom Hollander, will be out in the Uk on May 3rd.

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The Company Of Wolves (Blu-ray/DVD)

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If you have a teenage daughter you want to warn off boys and sex, but would prefer to do it through symbolic folklore than just telling them straight, then this in the film for you. If nothing else it’ll make them wary of any man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.

Neil Jordan’s 1984 fantasy film, based on Angela Carter’s stories, is part anthology, part tales within tales and quite often very strange. The film plays out as the dreams of a girl called Rosaleen, who’s on the threshold of womanhood. He sleeping fantasies see her living in a folklore-ish village deep in the woods. Her grandmother (Angela Lansbury) tells her stories that impress upon her that she should, “Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.” These stories within stories generally involve women falling for rather bestial men who have an extremely wolfish side, or the terrible repercussions of doing the wrong thing. [Read more…]

First Pic Of Saoirse Ronan In Vampire Drama Byzantium

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Interview With the Vampire director Neil Jordan is returning to the world of bloodsuckers with Byzantium, which stars Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley, Caleb Landry Jones and Jonny Lee Miller. Now the first image from the movie has arrived, with Saoirse Ronan looking bloody fingered and slightly Red Riding Hood.

Byzantium is about two young women (Ronan and Arterton) who arrive in a nameless British town and claim to be 200-year-old vampires. Local teachers and parents then try to counsel the girls to get to the bottom of their delusions. However, when people start disappearing, people in town must confront the possibility that the two women are, in fact, what they say they are. The film will be out later this year.

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