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

War For The Planet Of The Apes (DVD Review) – Caesar’s story reaches a dark & impressive crossroads

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The recent Planet Of The Apes prequel trilogy is probably the most consistently impressive ‘blockbuster’ franchise of the past decade. The movies break the rules far more than they’re generally given credit for, getting progressively more radical as they’ve gone along. This is, after all, a big budget, tentpole franchise where human beings are the bad guys – they’re increasingly presented as brutal, arrogant, cruel and largely deserving of being wiped off the planet.

The three movies have been about the rise of a new civilisation, becoming increasingly confident in having non-human heroes, and that the audience won’t mind siding with the apes against humanity. It’s an oddly radical thing for them to have done. They’ve also become more confident in their moral complexity. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes was essentially about an insurgency from the point of view of the insurgents, using the fact that it was apes and humans to hide the fact that its strongest parallels were about America had done in Iraq and Afghanistan. [Read more…]

Fast and Furious 8 (Cinema Review) – Vin Diesel & crew are back in action

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Franchises are funny things. The popular opinion is that the majority of films on at your local multiplexes are part of franchises, cinematic universes, sequels or reboots. Whereas the Bond series has evolved by having multiple actors playing the titular spy and a soft reboot, Fast & Fuiours franchise has evolved from its ‘cop on the street action/thriller’ origins, to being stupidly fun and very over the top entries which channel heist and spy capers. It’s safe to say this particular franchise has evolved while maintaining its aesthetics, and doesn’t look like it will run out of gas any time soon.

As such we have another entry titled Fast and Furious 8 / The Fate of the Furious / The Fateful 8 / Vin Diesel’s Driving Dchool Vol. 8. As you can tell I can’t take this review too seriously, and you shouldn’t take this film seriously either. I cannot stress how silly, cheesy and, as such, enjoyable this film is. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 15: Time & Tied (DVD Review)

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Having taken us all around the world, Boys On Film returns to Britain for its 15th outing, Time & Tied. However, while sticking with one country, it doesn’t skimp on the quality, showing there’s a hell of a lot of good gay-themed short films being made in the UK.

Boys On Film 15 presents nine shorts which range from the award-winning Closets and the sexy, provocative G’Oclock, to time capsule of Polari that is Putting On The Dish, and a film many thought we’d never see, Trouser Bar.

But are they worth watching? Take a look below for our thoughts. And you can see what we think of other Boys On Film releases here. [Read more…]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Cinema)

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It’s a sign of the times that our superheroes these days are not quite all macho and invincibility, rather plagued with doubts and worries – Batman as Hamlet for example. Captain America seems to be no exception – this actioner has as many scenes with him frowning and worrying over America’s place in the world as zooming around fighting baddies. It’s still not exactly complex – at one point his pal asks, “Which ones are the bad guys” – and he answers, “If they’re shooting at you they’re the bad guys.” [Read more…]

The Great Gatsby (DVD)

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When it was first announced that Warner Bros. was making a $100+ million version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, many wondered why on earth they would spend so much on a literary adaptation – which aren’t traditionally massive box office successes – even if it was directed by Baz Luhrmann. There was some logic to it though. First is that Luhrmann has had huge success taking the historical and turning it into profitable spectacle with the likes of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge. Secondly it attracted big names like Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. [Read more…]

The Amazing Spider-man (Cinema)

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Considering the amount of money studios spend on their tentpole flicks, you’d think that they’d at least be able to come up with something entertaining each time. However history has told us that each summer brings a slew of movies that promise much and deliver little. The moment it was announced that Sony was rebooting Spider-man only a decade after Sam Raimi’s first arachnid flicks, the fanboys and Internet doom-mongers immediately decried the whole idea and decided on principle that the film was a middle-finger to fans and to be ignored.

While some saw Marc Webb coming on-board to direct as a sign of promise, others immediately decided his lack of experience with big budget movies spelled disaster. Well, all the naysayers and incessant prophets of pessimism had better eat their words (and hopefully find something better to do with their lives, such as wait until movies are actually made and then go watch them), as The Amazing Spider-man is great. [Read more…]

John Carter (Cinema)

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This was always going to be an eagerly anticipated take on an American Classic, now brought to us by Disney and directed by Andrew Stanton of Pixar fame, who helmed the brilliant Wall-E and Finding Nemo.

The John Carter books, by Edgar Rice Boroughs (of Tarzan fame), are relatively little known outside the US, but to a certain extent they’re America’s equivalent of British classics such as Lord Of The Rings and Narnia, loved by children and adults alike. I knew very little of John Carter prior to hearing about the release, but the Avatar-esque trailers were promising. Unfortunately though the end result feels more like the dodgy adaptation that turned out to be The Golden Compass, although thankfully not as bad as that movie. [Read more…]