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

Boys On Film 3: American Boy (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

With Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia out on May 28th, we’re looking at all eight of Peccadillo Picture’s collections of gay short films, most of which are well worth a look. We’ve already taken a look at Hard Love and In Too Deep, and today it’s time for American Boy, a collection of seven short movies all hailing from the US of A.

From thriller to comedy they’re an eclectic bunch and while overall it’s not quite as strong a release as the first two Boys On Film discs, there’s still a lot of interesting stuff and it’s a cut above a lot of the feature-length gay releases out there. Let’s take a look at the shorts: [Read more…]

Boys On Film 2: In Too Deep (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

Yesterday we took a look at the first of the first Boys On Film compilations of gay interest short films. We’ll be reviewing all eight of them ahead of the May 28th release of the latest disc, Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia, and today it’s time for the second compilation, In Too Deep, another great selection of bite sized gay movies covering all sorts of different themes and genres.

There are nine shorts on the disc, so let’s break them down: [Read more…]

Boys On Film 1: Hard Love (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

Anyone with an interest in gay cinema will know that the feature-length efforts that emerge each year are a very variable bunch, and it’s difficult to escape the feeling that a lot of the dodgier ones would have had difficulty finding a release if they’d been about straight characters. However there’s a huge amount of great work going on in the world of gay short films.

Peccadillo Pictures’ Boy On Film series is a wonderful showcase for these shorts, focussing on films about gay male characters and themes, and proving there’s an awful lot great filmmaking talent out there exploring gay issues. The eighth in the series, Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia, arrives on DVD on May 28th, but in the run up to that, Peccadillo has provided us with all the Boys On Film releases for us to review. [Read more…]

Suits – Season 1 (DVD)

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I’m torn between loving and loathing Suits. It’s a legal series that undoubtedly has charm and an easy wit, but the main characters are so smug it’s sometimes almost painful to watch. It’s also true that in an age of austerity, this celebration of wealth and conspicuous consumption feels slightly out of touch. But it’s one of the odd things about American TV – it loves rich people, and smugness is almost treated as the right of those who’ve succeeded. To me Suits is occasionally insufferable, but the strong writing elsewhere and the pairing of Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams just about pull it through. [Read more…]

Space: Above & Beyond – The Complete Series (DVD)

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In the year 2063, humanity has started to spread out into the stars. After 150 years exploring space it appears we’re alone in the universe. At least that’s until an advanced alien civilisation attacks two outposts on distant worlds, including Earth’s first colony on another planet, not only making us aware of their presence but declaring war.

The series focuses on a group of young recruits to the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Calvary as they head out to battle the aliens – who become known as Chigs – facing their fears as they take on the threat. Space: Above & Below also deals with mankind’s own prejudices, in this case towards in vitroes, who are artificially gestated humans that face intense prejudice from normal people [Read more…]

Nurse Jackie – Season 3 (DVD)

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It seems to be the current law of US cable TV shows, that the main character has to be empathetic  but a bit of a bastard. Whether it’s Dexter, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire or pretty much anything else HBO or Showtime is putting out, love ‘em hate ‘em protagonists are the order of the day. That’s certainly true of Nurse Jackie, who’s loved by her colleagues, is great for the patients, but is also busy popping pills left, right and centre and will do anything to keep getting her fix.

Season 3 sees pressure coming down on Jackie to quit, with rumours reaching HR that someone in the hospital ER is abusing drugs, as well as increasing tension between Jackie and her husband. He desperately wants to believe she’s kicking the pills, which leads to lies upon lies and the cracks growing ever larger. [Read more…]

Chicago Hope – Season 1 (DVD)

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For some reason in 1994, American TV decided that the world would only be interested in hospitals if they were located in Chicago. In the third week of September of that year, both ER and Chicago Hope debuted on different US TV networks, both set in the Windy City. While ER became a ratings sensation, Chicago Hope went slightly more under the radar, but nevertheless lasted a fairly impressive six seasons.

For the first time anywhere in the world, the first season of the show hits digital disc, taking us into the world of the surgeons at a private charity hospital, whose complicated personal lives are matched by a series of weird and wonderful medical cases. It’s a serviceable enough idea, and indeed it’s been done plenty of times before and after, however there’s not a huge amount about Chicago Hope that really makes it stand proud of the pack, even if it is fairly entertaining. [Read more…]

Doogie Howser, M.D. – Season 1 (DVD)

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1989 was a more innocent time. It was a time when you could put a programme on TV about a 16-year-old doctor and rather than people going, ‘Hang on, this is a bit stupid’, it’d become a hit.

A very young Neil Patrick Harris plays the titular teen doctor, a genius who managed to get his doctorate at the age of 14 and now works as a 16-year-old surgeon in a hospital. Other than getting a few comments, nobody seems that bothered about being treated by somebody who should be at home popping pimples. [Read more…]

Boardwalk Empire – Season 1 (Blu-ray)

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Mixing fact and fiction, the past with present sensibilities and a great cast, Boardwalk Empire hit TV with a bang. Much of the initial interest came from the fact Martin Scorsese directed the first episode, and his influence is felt throughout the 12 episodes of Season 1. With the little expense spared in the creation of 1920s Atlantic City, it’s an incredibly rich world full of well-written characters, plenty of intrigue, decadence and moments of shocking violence.

The series centres around Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), a fictionalised version of a real-life New Jersey prohibition figure, who’s the treasurer of Atlantic City and one of its most esteemed businessmen – largely because he’s got the entire city in his pocket and his criminal network is pretty much untouchable [Read more…]

CSI: NY – Season 7 (DVD)

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You have to wonder whether Melina Kanakaredes pissed somebody off in CSI land. After six years playing the female lead character of Det. Stella Bonasera in CSI: New York, she decided to leave the show. However, the fact she’s no longer in the series at the beginning of Season 7 isn’t even mentioned. None of the characters finds it odd or even comments on it. In fact it’s like she was never there.

Presumably the idea is to treat things as business as usual, but it does feel like a bit of a snub after audiences have gotten to know her over the years. The show just powers through this departure, with Kanakarades’ replacement, Sela Ward’s ex-FBI agent Jo Danville, not in her job more than five minutes before she finds a dead body on the floor of the Crime Lab. [Read more…]