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 Darkest Hour (Cinema Review) – A Golden Globe winning Gary Oldman takes on Churchill

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If you need an actor to play Winston Churchill look no further than Harry Potter. The great Gary Oldman is the fifth man to play the wartime PM relatively recently after Timothy Spall, Robert Hardy, Michael Gambon and Brendan Gleeson, and he certainly has the gravitas to carry it off. That’s evidenced by his recent Golden Globe win and BAFTA nomination (the film also scored another eight nominations). Despite that, what he doesn’t have is a script that helps him out much, or a director who brings the story to life. A shame, as it could have been so much more, set during a pivotal month in WWII.

This is apparently the passion project of writer Anthony McCarten, but quite what he is trying to tease out of the well-worn story remains something of a mystery. He also plays fast and loose with history – the idea that Churchill was befriended by his best mate the King seems a stretch, as does the idea that most of Parliament wanted to do a deal with Hitler – some did certainly, but not the majority. Another idea, that a doubting Churchill was buoyed by taking a tube train and is roused by the voices of the people, is frankly ludicrous. Some truly dodgy acting by extras doesn’t help. [Read more…]

A Quiet Passion (Blu-ray Review) – Terence Davies & Cynthia Nixon explore the life of Emily Dickinson

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Filmmaker Terence Davies early work was intentionally autobiographical. The likes of The Terence Davies Trilogy, Distant Voices Still Lives and The Long Day Closes looked at growing up working class in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s, touching on the overwhelming effects of Catholicism on him, as well as his own difficult relationship to being gay. Although his work then hasn’t been so explicitly based on himself, there have always remained very distinct echoes of the director in the subjects he’s chosen and the way he’s approached them.

That continues with A Quiet Passion, his biopic of 19th Century American poet, Emily Dickinson. Davies personal connection to the material is apparent from the first scene, where a young Emily is being asked to pick between two strict ideas of where she and a group of other young women stand in relationship to Christianity. However, she stands alone, unable to say where she should be. Once again Davies is fascinated by the push and pull of religion, of someone who wants the world while simultaneously limiting themselves to a small part of it, as well as the strictures of society for those who both desire to fit in and reject it. [Read more…]

Spidarlings (VoD Review) – Anyone for a punk, LGBT, musical, body horror, comedy, indie film?

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A lesbian couple – Eden and Mathilda – are living in a house where they haven’t paid rent for two years. Their mean landlord is getting a bit angry at this, and putting pressure on them to hand over the thousands they owe. One of them also works in a men-only club, where she has to put up with the lecherous unpleasantness of the guys there.

Add to that there’s a very unusual serial killer out there stalking woman, and then bizarre things start to happen after one of the women gets a pet tarantula and it escapes. It’s also a world where people often break into song – including the women, their landlord, and most particularly drag queens. [Read more…]

A Most Violent Year (Blu-ray Review)

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A Most Violent Year is one of those movies where, with stronger marketing, it could have gained traction during the awards season, perhaps not winning much but certainly getting more than just one Golden Globe nomination (a Supporting Actress nod for Jessica Chastain).

Director JC Chandor impressed many with his look at the start of the financial crash in Margin Call, and also with his almost dialogue-free Robert Redford alone-at-sea movie, All Is Lost. In many respects A Most Violent Year is a more tradition movie than either of those films, but it’s still extremely stylish and accomplished. [Read more…]

Spirited Away (Blu-ray Review)

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As Spirited Away is the movie that helped Studio Ghibli become far better known in the West than it ever had before – particularly when it walked away with the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature – it’s a bit of a surprise that it’s never come out on Blu-ray in the UK before. However now it’s here, getting a release of its own before it becomes part of an 11 disc Studio Ghibli Blu-ray collection on December 8th.

It is undoubtedly a strange and often weird movie, but also a beautiful and incredibly involving one. There’s an odd sense of randomness to much of it, but then there also was to The Wizard Of Oz and Alice In Wonderland, which undoubtedly served as inspiration for the way the story is told. [Read more…]

Saving Mr. Banks (Blu-ray)

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Cor blimey Mary Poppins! It’s 50 years since the Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke starrer arrived in cinemas, won the Best Picture Oscar and became one of the greatest family classics ever. However as Saving Mr. Banks shows, Disney’s attempt to get the character on the screen started a long time before the movies 1964 debut, as the character’s creator, PL Travers, wasn’t keen on selling the screen rights. [Read more…]

The Host (Blu-ray)

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After the success of Twilight, it was little surprise that a movie version of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host was put into the works. It seemed to bode well when Truman Show and In Time scribe Andrew Niccol was hired to write and direct, as he’s got a good track record when it comes to somewhat cerebral sci-fi. However the end result is rather underwhelming – not bad, but far from great. [Read more…]

C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)

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C.R.A.Z.Y. follows the first 20 years of young French Canadian Zac’s life, who was Born on Christmas Day 1960. Always striving to please his father, Gervais, this becomes more difficult when his sexuality comes into question. As Zac struggles through his teenage years, will he and his family ever come to understand each other?

What’s the point of Quebec? After all, this is the place that gave us Celine Dion, so it’s got a lot to answer for. However, while not traditionally thought of for its film industry, it came to international attention in 2003 when Les Invasions Babares won the Best Foreign Film Oscar, and now C.R.A.Z.Y. also got a fair amount of attention when it was released in 2005. [Read more…]

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (DVD)

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Harry Potter has undoubtedly been one of the greatest phenomenons in movie history. It’s managed eight films without a dud, grossed more cash than any other franchise in history, and perhaps most impressively has kept nearly all the same actors throughout its run. It’s been a part of many people’s lives for a full decade, especially those who’ve grown up alongside Harry and co. Indeed, when I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 in the cinemas I was sat behind a university-aged young man who announced as the end credits began to roll, “Well, that’s my childhood over.” [Read more…]

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