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

Thor: Ragnarok (Cinema Review) – The God of Thunder is back & so is The Hulk

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I have absolutely no problem with Disney churning out Marvel (or Star Wars) films as long as the quality is up to scratch. Thankfully, they are indeed on point with this third and possibly final Thor movie.

Thor: Ragnarok is set two years after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – although that film’s events seemed more like a week rather than an age – and our hero Thor, the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth), is forewarned about Ragnarok: a prophecy that spells the destruction of his homeland of Asgard. [Read more…]

The Big Short (Blu-ray Review)

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There’s an odd contradiction at the heart of The Big Short, as it’s a movie where the ‘heroes’ are people who managed to make out like bandits due to the world economy collapsing. Thankfully though the film knows that and is at pain to point out that while the main characters may have realised what was going on before anyone else, they’re also aware that while what they’re doing may be good for their investors, it’s also built on the back of the misery of a lot of normal people.

Based on real events, the ensemble film tells a trio of interwoven tales set during the run up to the economic meltdown of 2008. Christian Bale is Michael Burry, an eccentric hedge fund manager who realises that there’s something strange going on in the housing market, and that the financial instruments that it is now based on are a house of cards that have become increasingly corrupt and that it’s only a matter of time until the whole thing collapses. While these instruments are rising in value and billions are being made from them, Burry knows that many of the underlying loans they are based on are worthless. [Read more…]

Testament Of Youth (Blu-ray Review)

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It’s almost surprising the world of film didn’t make a few more movies to tie into the centenary of the start of the First World War. However Testament Of Youth is an apt tale to make a new version of at this time, as rather than being a gung-ho war story, it is more about grief and the wiping out of swathes of young lives.

Based on Vera Brittain’s memoir, the movie follows Vera (Alicia Vikander) as a free thinking young woman determined that her path in life will not just to be a wife and mother. She heads off to Oxford (after a little resistance from her father) and almost surprises herself when she falls for a handsome young man called Roland (Kit Harington). However their seemingly idyllic youth, along with that of her brother Edward (Taron Egerton) and their friends, is disrupted by the War. [Read more…]

Tomorrowland: A World Beyond (Cinema Review)

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I love sci-fi and to say I was looking forward to this film is an understatement. I am a huge fan of Brad Bird’s previous work, The Incredibles (2004), and his first live action film, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), is one of the best entries in the franchise.

His films have a trademark sense of kinetic fun and action, mixed with well-formed characters and witty dialogue, which is the perfect mix for any summer blockbuster.

Tomorrowland tells the story of Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) a highly optimistic girl with smarts who has dreamt of travelling to the stars. She is arrested whilst trying to sabotage the dismantling of Cape Canaveral’s Launchpad, and upon release she discovers a mysterious pin which by touch transports her to the scientific and artistic wonder that is Tomorrowland (think Epcot designed by Apple and Syd Mead, complete with a hoverrail (hover meaning hover, rail meaning rail)). [Read more…]

Brokeback Mountain The Opera (DVD Review)

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Yes, there really is a Brokeback Mountain The Opera. It’s not a satire like Jerry Springer The Opera; it’s a proper, legit opera, and even has a libretto by the creator of the original short story it’s based on, Annie Proulx. It was originally written to be performed by the New York City Opera’s programme that creates new works around ideas and stories that are familiar to a younger, less elite audience. However when General Director Gerard Mortier moved from New York to the Teatro Real in Madrid, he took the piece with him.

It is initially an odd mix. Watching big, tough burly cowboys singing in a singularly operatic fashion takes some getting used to. I’m sure you’re familiar with the story though. Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar meet when they are hired to look after sheep one summer on Brokeback Mountain. Initially Jack finds it difficult to connect with the quiet and somewhat taciturn Ennis, but soon they bond and embark on an intense love affair. [Read more…]

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Blu-ray Review)

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In the 80s and early-90s, the world of film had a great sideline in female-focussed movies that traded in sentiment, nostalgia and emotion. They were heart-warming and charming and many of them became major successes (Fried Green Tomatoes cost $11 million to make but grossed more than $80 million in the US alone back in 1991). They don’t seem to make that sort of film much anymore. Indeed they don’t seem to make that many major female-focussed movie at all that aren’t rom-coms or potential Oscar bait.

It’s a great pity as these sorts of film can be excellent and Fried Green Tomatoes is a wonderful example – even if there are some reservations. [Read more…]

Serpico (Blu-ray)

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Few people have had a stronger start to their career than Al Pacino. His first few films include The Panic In Needle Park, the first two Godfathers, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico, all of which are classics in their own rights. Now the last of those arrives on Blu-ray for the first time.

Pacino is the title character, Frank Serpico, who’s always wanted to be a New York cop. He gets his chance and ends up being a plainclothes officer who doesn’t quite fit in as he’s far more hippie-ish than his colleagues. He’s also far more honest. Frank soon realises there’s a huge amount of corruption, with many officers involved in a well-organised operation to take under the table payments from local criminals. [Read more…]

Iron Man 3 (Blu-ray)

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Iron Man 3 presented an interesting challenge to Marvel, as it’s the completion of the Iron Man trilogy – with no stand-alone adventures for Downey Jr’s metal man likely to follow – but also the follow-up to The Avengers and a prequel to his appearance in The Avengers: Age Of Ultron. As such the movie could have ended up a complete mess, unsure what it was meant to be doing. However it actually handles the challenge fairly well, sewing up themes from the earlier Iron Man movies, while having Tony Stark rocked by the events of the Battle Of New York, which have started causing him to have panic attacks. [Read more…]

Mud (Blu-ray)

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Director Jeff Nichols impressed many with his film Take Shelter and has got a lot more critical acclaim for Mud. Part Huckleberry Finn, a little bit dark fairy tale, and with more than splash of Southern Gothic and Whistle Down The Wind thrown in, it’s an absorbing film even if it likes to take its time doing anything.

Ellis (Tye Sheridan) is a young teen who lives with his parents on a houseboat in Arkansas. The river is his father’s life, although his mother is on the verge of packing up and leaving. Along with his friend, Neckbone (Jacob Loflan), Ellis heads off to find a boat that’s gotten stuck in a tree during a flood. They want to make the vessel theirs but they discover it’s being used by a man called Mud (Matthew McConaughey) as somewhere to sleep. [Read more…]

Total Recall (2012) (Blu-ray)

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Len Wiseman was always going to face an uphill battle remaking Total Recall, as the moment the film was announced legions of fans of the 1990 Arnie movie rose up to denounce the very idea of a do-over. They quickly decided the entire thing would be a disaster, a feeling that deepened when it was announced Len Wiseman would direct (the naysayers concentrated on the fact he made the Underworld movies, not that he did a pretty good with Die Hard 4.0). On the plus side though, it did mean that all Wiseman had to do to beat many people’s expectations was produce a movie that wasn’t awful, and he’s just about managed to do that. [Read more…]