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

Iris Prize Festival LGBT Shorts 2015 – Part 1 (Reviews)

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Closets

Closets, written and Directed by Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, won both Youth Award and Best Of British Award at Iris 2015 for its portrayal of the struggles gay teens have faced over the past 30 years.

Henry (played by Tommy Lawrence Knight, of The Sarah Jane Smith Adventures), a drag-loving 16-year-old living in 1986, is transported, via his wardrobe, to 2016, where he meets Ben (Cucumber’s Ceallach Spellman), a gay teen with problems of his own. Together they find solace and hope in each other’s stories, and the knowledge that they aren’t alone. The performances between the two boys is wonderful, and their interaction is in turns both touching and funny. Suffering slightly in the end scene, Closets is a coherent and enjoyable piece of queer cinema that’s obviously designed to inspire and provoke debate in younger viewers. [Read more…]

Please Like Me – Seasons 1 & 2 and Season 3 Preview (TV Review)

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Sometimes you have to wonder what is wrong with British TV broadcasters. We have hundreds of channels full of absolute nonsense and yet not one of them has picked up this Aussie gem. That’s despite the fact it’s won plaudits and awards around the world, and has a massive international following, led partly by its legion of fans on the internet who’ve found ways (legal or not) to watch it whether it’s shown on TV in their country or not.

So far there have been two seasons of Please Like Me, with the third debuting this month in Australia, and on Pivot in the US starting October 16th. American viewers can also now find Seasons 1 & 2 on Hulu.

I’ve only just managed to catch up (that’ll teach me to live in Britain), as well as getting a preview of the first four episodes of Series 3. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 13: Trick & Treat (DVD Review)

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The Boys On Film collection of gay-themed short films has proved far more successful than you would expect – after all, shorts on DVD have rarely found an audience. However, thanks to the quality of the films it’s now on its 13th instalment, but that doesn’t mean this one is unlucky. So what does it have in store amongst its 10 shorts? Take a look below to find out more.

And you can see what we think of other Boys On Film releases here.

Surprise – dir. Leslie Bumgarner (Canada) 9 mins 2015
Teenager Jack’s mother wants to talk to him about something. It soon becomes clear there’s something pressing she wants to get off her chest, but she isn’t sure whether Jack will understand the evolution she’s going through – especially as he’s got something rather different he needs to reveal. Surprise is a sweet and simple film that captures the dynamic between a mother and teenage child who love each other but exist on slightly different wavelengths. It also has a great ending which is likely to leave a smile on your face (as long as you’re not too shocked by naughty words). [Read more…]

CSI – Season 14 (DVD Review)

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It’s just been announced that CSI, once the most popular TV show in the world, will be coming to end with a two-hour TV movie due to air in the US this autumn. However, those following the show on DVD still have more crime scene shenanigans to look forward to, as Season 14 is now coming to DVD, and Season 15 is still to arrive (and that’s not to mention the TV movie).

By now it’s unlikely that you won’t know what you’re getting with CSI. Set in Las Vegas, the series follows the city’s crime scene investigators as they use forensics and science to track down the bad guys. While original leads William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger are gone (although Helgenberger has a cameo in Episode 5 of Season 14), they’ve been replaced by the extremely capable Ted Danson and Elisabeth Shue, alongside series stalwarts George Eads, Eric Szmanda and Jorja Fox. [Read more…]

Masters Of Sex – Season 2 (DVD Review)

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It’s back to the repressed 1950s in Masters Of Sex – Season 2, where Bill Master (Michael Sheen) is still dealing with the fact the world is less ready for his study into the body’s physiological response to sex than even he expected. He’s been let go from the hospital and is finding it tough to find somewhere to resume his work. Even when he finds a new hospital, it may not be the perfect fit he was hoping.

Things are complicated by his new baby, especially as he is aware the child probably isn’t biologically his. That also puts pressure on his relationship with his wife, as does his increasingly complicated relationship with the co-author of the study, Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan). Their sexual dynamic has stretched beyond their scientific experimentation, but they still wish to maintain a strong working relationship. [Read more…]

Fortitude – Season 1 (DVD Review)

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I enjoyed Fortitude but there is a slight sense with the 12-part series that a bunch of people sat in a room and came up with a list of TV shows they liked, and then tried to put together something that included a little bit of all of them. As a result there are echoes of Broadchurch, Lost, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, The Killing and various other things.

Indeed it gets to the point where it’s difficult not to feel the series ends up as something rather different from how it begins, to the point that those who were hoping for the initial murder-mystery might feel a little cheated when it goes a little sci-fi (even if it is very much at the softer, more realistic end of sci-fi). However, those who are open and stick with it are likely to find it rewarding. [Read more…]

Orange Is The New Black – Season 2 (Blu-ray Review)

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When Season 1 of Orange Is The New Black debuted on Netflix it proved that House Of Cards wasn’t a fluke and that the streaming service could compete with the US TV networks in terms of quality. However it was noticeable that while it was entertaining, it sometimes felt like its best characters were given short shrift, while the less interesting ones got all the screen time.

They seem to have realised that as with Season 2 the show manages to far better integrate the likes of the majestic Laverne Cox’s Sophia (although she’s still not in it enough), and Uzo Aduba’s ‘Crazy Eyes’. Indeed the show gives Uzo so much room to showcase her talents that she won an Emmy. It’s great that in a rare show that’s peopled almost completely by women, Orange Is The New Black has grown the confidence to realise that it has enough great characters that any of them can carry the story. [Read more…]

Cucumber & Banana (DVD Review)

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Cucumber arrived on British television with huge amounts of fanfare. After all it was a return to gay Manchester for writer Russell T Davies more than 15 years after Queer As Folk. Plus it came with the interesting idea of having a secondary show, Banana, which aired on E4 and told a half-hour story about one of the characters from the main Cucumber episode.

However after the first episode the critical response was somewhat muted, and while many viewers hung around hoping Cucumber would suddenly become great, a lot of people gave up partway through. However now that the whole thing is complete and has been released on DVD, should everyone have stuck around until the end? [Read more…]

Looking – Season 1 (DVD Review)

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This time last year we previewed the first four episodes of Looking ahead of its first airing on Sky Atlantic in the UK. While I definitely felt it had promise, there’s no doubt that those four eps alone also had quite a lot issues, largely due to the fact that with each episode only clocking in at 30 minutes it had trouble properly setting up its world and moving the story along at a decent pace. However even within those four instalments there was improvement, so how does the full season stack up now it’s arriving on DVD?

The show follows a group of gay friends in San Francisco, mostly focussing on Jonathan Groff’s Patrick, a videogame designer who’s feeling a bit lost and is looking for love. He meets Richie (Raul Castillo) but the path of true love certainly doesn’t run smooth, especially with the arrival of Patrick’s new British boss Kevin (Russell Tovey), who offers the possibility of passion and a real connection, even though he’s in a relationship with someone else. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 12: Confession (DVD Review)

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The Boys On Film series is back with its 12th instalment, this time loosely themed around the idea of Confession.  Boys On Film is the most popular short film DVD anthology in the world, of any genre, and if you’ve watched them it’s clear why, as there’s a huge amount of incredibly good LGBT shorts out there, much of which would be hidden from the majority of people if it weren’t for discs like this.

This time the films range from one about a 17-year-old with a crush on the local priest to another focussing on a Hollywood hunk heading to his hometown with the hope of rekindling an old relationship. So what is the Boys On Film 12 short film selection like?

And you can see what we think of other Boys On Film releases here. [Read more…]