Pride Archives - Big Gay Picture Show

Pride (Blu-ray Review)

March 8, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Ben Schnetzer, George MacKay, Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Andrew Scott
Director: Matthew Warchus
Running Time: 120 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: March 2nd 2015 (UK)

For many people Pride was one of the best films of 2014, if not the best. It’s well made, genuinely funny, angry, smart and heartfelt; and while tinged with tragedy, overall it’s astonishingly uplifting.

It’s the early 1980s and the National Union Of Miners is on strike due to theThatcher government’s decision to close a number of coal pits. The strike is dragging on and the nation is divided, including in London where a group of gays and lesbians decide to come together to raise cash for the miners. There’s a problem though, as when they try to donate the cash they find out that the Union and various other groups don’t want to take the money as they’d preferred not to be associated with a bunch of ‘poofs’. Although LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) could donate anonymously, de facto group leader Mark (Ben Schnetzer) is determined that gay people raised the cash and they should be able to donate without hiding their sexuality. [Read more…]

Pride Picks Up A BAFTA, But Imitation Game Loses Out

February 9, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

EE BAFTA Rising Star winner Jack O’Connell

It was a big night at the EE British Academy Film Awards, where Boyhood was named Best Film with Richard Linklater winning Director and Patricia Arquette receiving the award for Supporting Actress. The Awards were hosted for a tenth year by Stephen Fry and held at London’s Royal Opera House.

While Pride lost out on Best Supporting Actress for Imelda Staunton and Best British Film, Writer Stephen Beresford and Producer David Livingstone received the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for the movie.

However the big loser on the gay-themed front was The Imitation Game, which had high hopes due to its 10 nominations, but walked away with absolutely nothing. To be honest that won’t be surprising to many, as few thought it was likely to do particularly well, but there was hope it would pick up a couple.

The Grand Budapest Hotel won five awards: Costume Design, Production Design, Make Up & Hair and Original Music, with Wes Anderson winning his first BAFTA for Original Screenplay.

Leading Actor was presented to Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, which also received the awards for Outstanding British Film and Adapted Screenplay.

Whiplash received three BAFTAs: Supporting Actor for J. K. Simmons, Editing and Sound. Leading Actress was presented to Julianne Moore for her role in Still Alice, meaning all four of this year’s performance awards went to first-time BAFTA winners.

Writer Stephen Beresford and Producer David Livingstone received the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for their first feature film Pride. Previous Outstanding Debut winner Pawel Pawlikowski picked up the award for Film Not in the English Language for Ida.

Emmanuel Lubezki received the BAFTA for Cinematography for Birdman, having won this category twice previously, most recently in 2014.

The Lego Movie received the BAFTA for Animated Film, and Special Visual Effects was presented to Interstellar. The award for Documentary was won by Citizenfour.

Boogaloo and Graham won the British Short Film award and the British Short Animation award was presented to The Bigger Picture; both shorts are nominated for this year’s international short film and animation categories at the Oscars later this month.

The EE Rising Star Award, voted for by the public, was presented to Jack O’Connell.

The special award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema was presented to BBC Films in their 25th year. Mike Leigh, whose films include Naked, Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake and Mr. Turner, received the Fellowship, the highest honour the Academy can bestow.

You can take a look at the full list of winners below:

[Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Jack O'Connell, Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, Eddie Redmayne FILMS: Pride, The Imitation Game, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards Go To Transparent, Pride & More

January 20, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

If most awards are a bit too straight for you, then GALECA – the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association – and their Dorian Awards are for you. They had out gongs for both mainstream and gay-themed films, as well as in more unusual categories such as Campy Film Of The Year, and Wilde Wit Of The Year.

Now this year’s winner’s have been announced, with Boyhood getting Best Film Of The Year. It’s a good omen as for the past two years GALECA has chosen the movie in that category that went on to win the Best Picture Oscar. Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore took the film Film Performance gongs, while Ava DuVernay got Best Director Selma.

On the gay front, there was an extremely strong field of contenders for LGBTQ Film Of The Year, including Stranger By The Lake, Love Is Strange and the multi-Oscar nominated The Imitation Game, but in the end it went to the excellent Pride, which also picked up Unsung Film Of The Year.

In the TV categories, Transparent was by far the biggest winner, scoring TV Comedy of the Year, TV Director of the Year for Jill Soloway, TV Performance of the Year – Actor for Jeffrey Tambor and LGBTQ TV Show of the Year. The Normal Heart also stood out, taking TV Drama Of The Year.

Take a look below for the full list of this year’s Dorian Award winners.

Film of the Year
Boyhood – Sundance Selects/IFC

Birdman – Fox Searchlight
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Fox Searchlight
The Imitation Game – The Weinstein Company
Pride – CBS Films

Film Performance of the Year – Actor
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything – Universal

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher – Sony Pictures Classics
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game – The Weinstein Company
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler – Open Road
Michael Keaton, Birdman – Fox Searchlight

Film Performance of the Year – Actress
Julianne Moore, Still Alice – Sony Pictures Classics

Essie Davis, The Babadook – Sundance Selects/IFC
Anne Dorval, Mommy – Lionsgate
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl – 20th Century Fox
Reese Witherspoon, Wild – Fox Searchlight

Film Director of the Year
Ava DuVernay, Selma – Paramount

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel – Fox Searchlight
David Fincher, Gone Girl – 20th Century Fox
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman – Fox Searchight
Richard Linklater, Boyhood – Sundance Selects/IFC

LGBTQ Film of the Year
Pride – CBS Films

The Imitation Game – The Weinstein Company
Love is Strange – Sony Pictures Classics
Stranger by the Lake – Strand Releasing
The Way He Looks – Strand Releasing

Foreign Language Film of the Year
Mommy – Lionsgate

Force Majeure – Magnolia Pictures
Ida – Music Box Films
Stranger by the Lake – Strand Releasing
Two Days, One Night – Sundance Selects/IFC

Unsung Film of the Year
Pride – CBS Films

Obvious Child – A24
Love is Strange – Sony Pictures Classics
The Skeleton Twins – Roadside Attractions
Snowpiercer – Radius/TWC

Documentary of the Year
(theatrical release, TV airing or DVD release)
The Case Against 8 – HBO

CitizenFour – Radius/TWC
Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me – Sundance Selects
Life Itself – Magnolia Pictures
Regarding Susan Sontag – HBO

Visually Striking Film of the Year
(honoring a production of stunning beauty, from art direction to cinematography)
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Fox Searchlight

Birdman – Fox Searchlight
Interstellar – Paramount
Snowpiercer – Radius/TWC
Under the Skin – A24

Campy Flick of the Year
Into the Woods

Annie
Gone Girl
Maleficent
Tammy

TV Drama of the Year
The Normal Heart – HBO

Fargo – FX
The Good Wife – CBS
How To Get Away with Murder – ABC
Mad Men – AMC

TV Comedy of the Year
Transparent – Amazon

The Comeback – HBO
Modern Family – ABC
Orange is the New Black – Netflix
Veep – HBO

TV Director of the Year
Jill Soloway, Transparent – Amazon

Lisa Cholodenko, Olive Kitteridge – HBO
Jodie Foster, Orange is the New Black -Netflix
Andrew Haigh, Looking – HBO
Ryan Murphy, The Normal Heart – HBO

TV Performance of the Year – Actor
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent – Amazon

Matthew Bomer, The Normal Heart – HBO
Matthew McConaughey, True Detective – HBO
Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart – HBO
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards – Netflix

TV Performance of the Year – Actress
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback – HBO

Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder – ABC
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife – CBS
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black – BBC America
Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge – HBO

TV Musical Performance of the Year
Neil Patrick Harris, “Sugar Daddy,” The Tony Awards – CBS

Beyonce, MTV Video Music Awards – MTV
Jessica Lange, “Life on Mars,” American Horror Story: Freak Show – FX
Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, Madonna, et al., “Same Love,” The Grammys – CBS
Prince, Saturday Night Live – NBC

LGBTQ TV Show of the Year
Transparent – Amazon

Looking – HBO
Modern Family – ABC
Orange is the New Black – Netflix
Please Like Me – Pivot

Unsung TV Show of the Year
Getting On – HBO

Looking – HBO
Orphan Black – BBC America
Please Like Me – Pivot
Transparent – Amazon

TV Current Affairs Show of the Year
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – Comedy Central

Anderson Cooper 360 – CNN
The Colbert Report – Comedy Central
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – HBO
The Rachel Maddow Show – MSNBC

Campy TV Show of the Year
Jane the Virgin

American Horror Story: Freak Show
How to Get Away with Murder
Peter Pan Live!
Penny Dreadful

Music Video of the Year
Sia, “Chandelier”

Nicki Minaj, “Anaconda”
Perfume Genius, “Queen”
Taylor Swift, “Blank Space”
Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”

The “We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award
Gina Rodriguez

Ansel Elgort
Jack Falahee
Ellar Coltrane
Jack O’Connell
Finn Wittrock

Wilde Wit of the Year
(honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)
John Oliver

Stephen Colbert
Rachel Maddow
Bill Maher
Jon Stewart

Wilde Artist of the Year
(honoring a truly groundbreaking force in the fields of film, theater and/or television)
Jill Solloway

Xavier Dolan
Neil Patrick Harris
Richard Linklater
Tilda Swinton

Timeless Award
(to an actor or performer whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit)
George Takei

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore FILMS: Transparent, Pride, The Normal Heart, The Theory Of Everything, Boyhood

Nominees Announced For Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards

January 12, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

The Golden Globes may be over and the Oscars may be a month away, but what is undoubtedly the most important gongs of the year have just announced their nominees – the Dorian Awards, as handed out by GALECA (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association). And yes, part of the reason it’s the most important is that I’m a member, but of course that doesn’t sway my opinion of it at all.

GALECA is comprised of over 100 critics and entertainment journalists, who’ve picked their nominations across 25 categories, from mainstream to LGBTQ-centric, including four newly-added runs, such as Film Director of the Year, TV Director of the Year and Music Video of the Year. GALECA’s mission to honor content ‘from mainstream to gaystream’ has led to an unusually wide variety of nominations and winners since its inception in 2009. For example the organisation’s previous choices for Film of the Year include those that have gone on to Oscar success, such as 12 Years a Slave and Argo, along with less lauded (but equally worthy) fare like Weekend, I Am Love and A Single Man.

Amongst this year’s nominations, Birdman has the edge with four noms in the movie categories, including Film of the Year, while Michael Keaton is up for for Film Performance of the Year – Actor. Just behind are The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game and the crowd-pleaser Pride, about blue-collar miners and LGBTQs standing united for a cause.

In the TV categories, the transgender-comes-out-to-their-family dramedy, Transparent, leads with five nominations, including nods for star Jeffrey Tambor and creator Jill Soloway (for TV Director of the Year). The Normal Heart, Orange is the New Black and the new drama How to Get Away with Murder (for TV Drama of the Year, star Viola Davis and Campy TV Show) are also well-represented.

LGBTQ-specific categories for TV and film have their own surprises. For example in the LGBTQ Film Of The Year category, the mainstream success The Imitation Game is nominated alongside the likes of The Way He Looks – a movie that grossed less than $100,000 on its US release.

One winner is known already, as Star Trek icon and LGBTQ-rights activist, George Takei, has been named Timeless Star. GALECA has previously awarded such luminaries as Lily Tomlin and Sir Ian McKellen with this career achievement honor.

This winners will be announced on Tuesday, January 20th, with the group’s annual, free-wheeling Winners Toast set for Sunday, March 1, in Los Angeles.

Check out the full list of nominees below. [Read more…]

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FILMS: The Imitation Game, Looking, Pride, Birdman, The Way He Looks, Stranger By The Lake (L'Inconnu du lac)

Imitation Game & Pride Lead LGBT Interest Amongst The BAFTA Nominations

January 9, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

The BAFTA nominations are out, with The Grand Budapest Hotel leading the way (perhaps surprisingly) with 11 nominations. However LGBT interest hasn’t been ignored with The Imitation Game picking up nine nominations, while Pride has three nominations and Lilting picked up a Best British Debut nom.

The Grand Budapest Hotel’s impressive line up of noms include Best Film, Director and Original Screenplay for Wes Anderson, Original Music, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Make Up & Hair and Sound. Ralph Fiennes is nominated for Leading Actor.

The Imitation Game is nominated in Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design and Sound. Benedict Cumberbatch is nominated for Leading Actor and Keira Knightley is nominated for Supporting Actress.

On the Pride front, Imelda Staunton is nominated in Supporting Actress, while the film also receives nominations in Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for Stephen Beresford (Writer) and David Livingstone (Producer).

The nominees for the EE Rising Star Award, announced earlier this week, are Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jack O’Connell, Margot Robbie, Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. This audience award is voted for by the British public and presented to an actor or actress who has demonstrated exceptional talent and promise.

The EE British Academy Film Awards, hosted by hosted by Stephen Fry, take place on Sunday 8 February at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

Take a look at all the noms below. [Read more…]

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FILMS: The Imitation Game, Lilting, Pride

Pride Director Matthew Warchus Says He ‘Understands’ Why All Gay References Were Removed From The US DVD Cover

January 7, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

In the last few days there’s been a firestorm of protest about the fact that the DVD cover of the US version of the film Pride removed all reference to homosexuality, despite the fact gay visibility is one of the main themes of the movie. What made people most angry wasn’t just that the blurb of the back cover ‘straightwashed’ the plot, but that one of the images had been photoshopped to remove a banner referencing the main group in the movie, ‘Lesbians & Gay Support The Miners’.

Now the film’s director, Matthew Warchus, has stepped forward with his thoughts on the DVD cover. Talking to BBC Radio 5’s Phil Williams, he said that, “Changing the cover is kind of clumsy and a bit foolish, but this is a film that is loved by people of all political persuasions and sexual orientations. I’m just keen for as many people who have yet to see the film to see it.”

He added, “I think someone in the marketing department in the US used their marketing judgement to try to remove any barrier to the widest possible audience. It’s clumsily done but I understand it and it’s a valid instinct.”

He also talked about “the nature of marketing” being “over-simplification [and] reductive”, as well as that he “didn’t want to preach to the converted” and hoped the movie would “find a mainstream audience [and] broaden people’s minds”.

Although we can understand what Warchus is saying, there are ways of appealing to a broad audience without creating a cover that effectively feels like it’s lying (by omission) about the movie, as well as going against its spirit.

While CBS Films owns the distribution rights to the film in the US, it’s believed that when they handed the DVD release to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, they also took control of the DVD cover and that if was them who made the alterations.

Despite the controversy, Pride continued to be extremely well received, winning several awards at the British Independent Film Awards last month, and also scoring a Golden Globe Best Film nomination. (Quotes via PinkNews) [Read more…]

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DIRECTORS: Matthew Warchus FILMS: Pride

CBS Films ‘Looking Into’ Why References To Homosexuality Were Removed From Pride US DVD Cover

January 5, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

There’s been some ire over the weekend after various outlets (including BGPS) reported that the cover for the recently released US DVD of the gay-themed movie Pride doesn’t just omit all reference to homosexuality from the blurb, but also edits the main image on the back cover to completely remove a banner referring to the film’s main group, ‘Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners’.

The changes don’t just seem to have caught the general public by surprise, but also CBS Films, which owns the US rights to the movie and which released the movie in cinemas. However for the DVD release they passed things over to Sony Pictures, who handle their home entertainment releases and who brought the movie out on DVD in the US.

On Sunday, CBS Films took to Twitter, responding to Pink News’ initial story about the changes to the DVD cover, saying, ‘@pinknews we’re looking into this now and our page for the film remains the same as it has for months: http://cbsfilms.com/pride/‘.

It appears Sony Pictures is yet to make any comments. Some are also wondering whether, although CBS Films’ remarks suggest they’ve been taken by surprise, they really had no idea these changes had been made.

The BBC meanwhile quotes Ben Roberts, director of the BFI film fund, which backed Pride, as saying: “I’m not surprised that the US distributors have taken a decision to sell more copies by watering down the gay content. I’m not defending it, it’s wrong and outmoded, but I’m not surprised.

“It’s an unfortunate commercial reality both here and in the US that distributors have to deal with and consider in getting films onto the shop shelf. LGBT material is largely marginalised outside of rare hits like Brokeback Mountain.”

Pride follows a group of lesbians and gay men from London in the 1980s, who decide to raise funds to support striking miners, who are fighting against Margaret Thatcher’s plans to shut down their pits. However they soon discover that many miners, including their national union, don’t want to take money from a bunch of gays, until a small Welsh village agrees to take the cash. This marks the beginning of an unexpected bond between the big city gays and the tiny, rural mining community.

You can take a look at a comparison between the original Pride image and the photoshopped US DVD cover version below. [Read more…]

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FILMS: Pride

US Pride DVD Cover Criticised For Removing All Reference To Homosexuality

January 3, 2015 By Tim Isaac 1 Comment

The film world has a bad reputation for trying to hide aspects of movies it decides will make them more difficult to sell (for example, just see how many trailers for foreign language films feature absolutely no dialogue). It’s certainly affected gay-themed films in the past, but you’d have thought a movie as out and proud as Pride would be immune to that.

However not in the US, where the DVD cover hasn’t just removed all reference to homosexuality in the the blurb, but altered one of the main images to take out a banner referring to the movie’s central group, ‘Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners’.

The text on the back meanwhile refers simply to ‘London-based activists’, rather than specifically mentioning the gay group that sets out to raise funds for striking coal miners which the film is all about.

It reads, ‘PRIDE is inspired by an extrodinary true story. It’s the summer of 1984 and much of blue-collar Great Britain is on strike. For one tiny Welsh village, the strike brings unexpected visitors – a group of London-based activists who decide to raise money to support strikers’ families and want to make their donations in person. In this heartwarming comedy, two groups seemingly from world’s apart, discover that standing together makes for the strongest union of all.’

While Pride has been a critical success in the US, it made little impact at the box office, grossing just $1.5 million. As a result it would appear the distributors are attempting to try and widen the audience on DVD by hiding what it’s actually about, presumably on the assumption more people will watch it if lesbians and gays aren’t mentioned at all.

The logic often used in these circumstances is that while many general viewers don’t mind watching a film about LGBT people, they’re less likely to do so if they think of it primarily as a ‘gay film’. However to use that idea with a movie like Pride, in which the importance of gay visibility is one of the major themes, seems particularly foolish.

It’s a particular shame coming shortly after the movie scored a surprise ‘Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy’ Golden Globe Nomination, suggesting that if it had been sold and marketed better in America, it might not just have been more of a commercial success, but could also have had a major awards run.

Take a look below to see the US DVD back cover, and then compare the image at the top of that with the original above. (Source: Pinknews)

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FILMS: Pride

Big Gay Picture Show’s Top 10 LGBT- Themed Films Of 2014

December 29, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

There is a lot of good work going on in the world of LGBT film (and to be honest, a lot of rubbish too), but due to the fact it’s a bit of a niche area, far fewer people are aware of it than there ought to be. So in an effort to help shine a light of those movies that anyone interested in queer cinema really ought to check out, we’ve put together this Top 10 of 2014’s LGBT-themed movies.

To be in for consideration, BGPS needed to have reviewed the movie over the last 12 months. It should also be noted it’s not based purely on the score out of 10 we gave the movie at the time of the review, but also how we view it in hindsight and whether it’s stuck with us over the months. So take a look below to see what we think is the best of 2014. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
FILMS: Getting Go: The Go Doc Project, The Way He Looks, The Normal Heart, Boys (Jongens), The Case Against 8, Who's Afraid Of Vagina Wolf?, Boy Meets Girl, Eastern Boys, Stranger By The Lake (L'Inconnu du lac), Pride

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Imitation Game, Pride & Normal Heart Lead A Great Year For LGBT Entertainment In The Golden Globe Nominations

December 11, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

It seems far too early for the Awards Season to have started, but with the Oscars recently moving earlier in the year it’s pushed all the other shows up as well. That means that while 2013 hasn’t ended yet and several of the big award contenders are yet to be released, the Golden Globe nominations are already out, ahead of the ceremony on January 11th, 2015 (which is deliberately timed to be handed out just a few days before Oscar nomination ballots are due).

Often seen as the biggest (or at least noisiest) bellweather for the Academy Awards, this year Birdman led the movie list with seven nominations, while Boyhood and The Imitation Game got five each.

On the TV side Fargo led the way with five nominations, while True Detective scored four.

There were some surprises, with Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken being completely shut out, while Pride getting a Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical nomination was impressive for a film that had little awards buzz and which scored just $1.4 million on its US release (despite near universal rave reviews). The hope is that the Golden Globe buzz may encourage a few more Oscar voters to check out the British film about a group of gay men and lesbians who form a bond with the small Welsh villagers during the 1980s miners’ strike.

Imitation Game and Pride led a great year for LGBT entertainment at the Globes, which also included Transparent scoring a nomination for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical, and the series’ star, Jeffrey Tambor, being acknowledged in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical category.

The Normal Heart was also included with a Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television nomination, while both Mark Ruffalo and Matt Bomer amongst the acting nominees. Similarly Orange Is The New Black is up for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical, with acting noms for Taylor Schilling and Uzo Aduba.

You can take a look at the full list of nominations below: [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Matt Bomer, Mark Ruffalo, Taylor Schilling, Uzo Aduba, Jeffrey Tambor FILMS: Pride, The Imitation Game, Boyhood, Birdman, The Normal Heart, Orange Is The New Black