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

Noah (Blu-ray Review)

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For years Darren Aronofsky tried to get his epic version of Noah off the ground, but it never seemed likely to really happen. His only previous foray into big budget filmmaking, The Fountain, turned into a bit of a disaster, with only part of the movie actually made (due to studio intervention) and what was left being confusing and making little money at the box office.

However after the success of Black Swan and with biblical epics looking like they might be coming back into fashion, Paramount decided to take a punt on the movie. However this is Darren Aronofsky, the man behind the likes of Requiem For A Dream and Pi, so it was always clear this wasn’t going to be your typical $125 million studio movie. That said, it appears even Paramount was surprised by how strange and intense it turned out. After viewing Darren’s preferred version they made their own, more traditional cut, but it turned out audiences liked Aronofsky’s take better and so that’s what we have. [Read more…]

The Normal Heart (TV Review)

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In the last few years there seems to have been a renewed interest in the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. There have been documentaries, films and books, as well as major re-stagings of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. The reason for this is probably twofold.

Firstly there is a whole generation of LGBT people who weren’t even born when AIDS first emerged, many of whom know little about it. Even if they do know about it, they often treat it like something from the dim and distant past that has nothing to do with them (as I’ve said before, the fact gay-history isn’t taught in schools tends to make many people, including many gay people, think there isn’t one or that it isn’t important). Secondly, those who survived the emergence of ‘gay cancer’ are now getting older (Kramer is now 78) and so it’s not surprising that they should want their stories recorded to ensure that it’s those who lived through it who control the narrative. [Read more…]

Southern Baptist Sissies (US Cinema)

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Normally filmed versions of stage productions are pretty tedious affairs. It’s very difficult to transfer the feel of a live production from stage to screen. That’s partly because they’re very different mediums and partly because if you’re having to shoot around an audience, it severely limits how it can actually be shot. That’s not to mention that stage acting often has to be bigger than screen acting and can come across as a little silly when removed from the theatre.

For about the first five minutes I thought this was going to essentially ruin Southern Baptist Sissies. As Emerson Collins’ Mark addressed the audience, it didn’t really feel like something that would work on screen. However then it all started to come together to create a surprisingly successful hybrid of stage and screen. [Read more…]