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

Tomb Raider (Blu-ray Review) – Alicia Vikander takes on Lara Croft

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Many people were surprised when it was announced there was going to be a Tomb Raider movie reboot, especially considering the Angelina Jolie movies of the early 2000s aren’t exactly well remembered. However, as with so many other videogames, there’s no intrinsic reason it couldn’t be turned into a good movie. Although for some reason, Hollywood has great difficulty turning games into serviceable film.

This time around Jolie has been replaced by Alicia Vikander, who like her predecessor stepped into Lara Croft’s shoes shortly after winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar (Jolie for Girl Interrupted and Vikander for The Danish Girl). Her Lara is a young woman who’s fiercely intelligent and smart, but whose life shifted sideways when her adventurer father went missing, presumed dead, when she was a child. [Read more…]

Room (DVD Review)

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The Best Actress category in this year’s Oscars was very strong. Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlotte Rampling and Saoirse Ronan all gave powerful, committed performances that were finely-tuned, expressive and thoughtful. All of them however were overshadowed by one towering performance, from Brie Larson in Room. She was the favourite, and probably won it by a country mile. Put simply it’s a performance that you won’t see the like of in a very, very long time.

The room in question is the tiny space where Larson’s Ma is being held captive and raped nightly by Old Nick (a 17th century term for the Devil). The only light is from a skylight, the room itself is a squalid collection of cheap furniture and utilities, just enough to keep her alive – a sink, a bed. Her only companion is her young son Jack (Tremblay), who it transpires was born in this space, and therefore knows nothing else. The only thing that keeps Ma going is her young boy, but obviously their relationship is strained and difficult. [Read more…]

Carol (Blu-ray Review)

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Todd Haynes 2002 movies Far From Heaven was a very deliberate homage to the ‘women’s films’ of the 1950s made by the likes of Douglas Sirk. As with his HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce, Carol is set in decades past, but eschews the high gloss of Far From Heaven, instead being more interested in looking at how society was through the eyes of society today, but done in a style as if you really were there.

The film follows Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett), whose marriage is in the process of imploding when she meets charming shop assistant Therese (Rooney Mara) in a Department Store. They both sense a connection which slowly builds as they meet for lunch and then Carol invites Therese to spend the day with her in her country house. [Read more…]

Wilde (Blu-ray Review)

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I’m almost surprised 1997’s Wilde hasn’t made it to Blu-ray in the UK before, but it’s now arrived, giving us an HD look at the biopic of legendary writer and wit Oscar Wilde, as played by Stephen Fry. At the beginning of the movie Oscar is already well-known and meets the pretty young Constance (Jennifer Ehle), whom he marries.

However, there is another side of him, initially brought out by Robbie Ross (Michael Sheen), that seeks the emotional and physical intimacy of men. Oscar begins to see it rather like the Greek ideal, where he is the older man, passing down knowledge to his ‘boys’, as well as sleeping with them. Then he meets the beautiful Lord Alfred Douglas (Jude Law), known as Bosie – and if you’ve ever seen pics of the real Bosie, he was very good looking – and the two fall for one another. [Read more…]

Carol (Cinema Review)

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If Far From Heaven was Todd Haynes’ love letter to director Douglas Sirk, this is his tribute to painter Edward Hopper. Whatever the flaws of his film – more of which later – it is probably the best-looking movie of 2015. Meticulously reimagining the New York of the 1950s it has shot after shot of its protagonists exquisitely framed, gorgeously coloured and superbly dressed.

Several moments are worth pausing and gazing at for hours, especially one amazing shot of a grey, drab New York street lifted by the bright red coat and hat of the ethereal Cate Blanchett striding along. The interiors are gloomy, the exteriors washed out and tired-looking. Hopper would be impressed.

It received a standing ovation at Cannes and has been held back to coincide with Oscars season, during which it will probably clean up. However… [Read more…]

Big Eden – 15th Anniversary Edition (US Blu-ray Review)

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Big Eden is a movie that was probably a few years ahead of its time. It’s a gay-themed film made in a mainstream style that’s sweet and charming, which you could imagine finding a measure of mainstream success. However, in 2000 it was perhaps a little early for that.

It did find plenty of love from those who saw it though, which has ensured that it’s now getting a 15th Anniversary re-release.

The film is about Henry Hart (Arye Gross), a man who left his small, Montana hometown – the titular Big Eden – after high school and rarely looked back, becoming a successful artist in New York. However, he is called back to Big Eden after his grandfather (George Coe), has a stroke. Henry is happy being openly gay in the big city, but he’s never told the folks back home about that side of his life, and isn’t sure whether he can. [Read more…]

The Best Of Me (DVD Review)

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Have you ever had the sensation where you weren’t sure whether to be emotionally moved or whether to vomit? Well, I do now after watching The Best of Me.

After surviving an oil rig disaster, Dawson (James Marsden) gets a call to say that an old friend of his has died and he needs to travel back to his hometown to help sort things out. When he arrives he discovers he’s not the only one who got a call, as so did Amanda (Michelle Monaghan), a woman who has a history with Dawson and isn’t initially pleased to see him. [Read more…]

Romeo & Juliet (2013) (Blu-ray)

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There was plenty of eye-rolling when it was announced a new version of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet was in the works. Many asked whether after Franco Zeferelli and Baz Luhrmann’s versions, we needed another take. However in my opinion there’s no real problem with doing Romeo & Juliet on film again – but you do need to bring something new to the party, or at least do the old stuff so well it’s riveting in its own right. [Read more…]

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds – The New Generation: Alive On Stage (DVD)

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In the 1970s unusual albums were the flavour of the times, from The Who’s Tommy to the surprise success of Tubular Bells. However when Jeff Wayne released his musical version of HG Wells’ War Of The Worlds in 1978, I’d be surprised if he thought that 36 years later it would still be going strong re-envisioned as an arena spectacular. Many people mistakenly think it started out as a stage musical, but it wasn’t it was a concept album, with the voice of Richard Burton and various people singing the songs. [Read more…]

Behind The Candelabra (DVD)

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Hollywood studios refused to pay for Behind The Candelabra as despite the presence of Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s 11) and having a relatively low-budget, they thought it was too gay to become a success. They’re probably kicking themselves now as HBO stepped up to the pay for it and had a huge hit with it on US TV, while distributors in other countries took it to cinemas and saw healthy box office. [Read more…]