180 mins Archives - Big Gay Picture Show

Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling (DVD Review) – JK Rowling’s detective hits the small screen

November 27, 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Tom Burke, Holliday Grainger, Tara Fitzgerald, Martin Shaw
Director: Michael Keillor
Running Time: 180 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: November 27th 2017 (UK)

Apparently, the BBC enquired about the rights to Robert Galbraith’s novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling, before it was revealed that Galbraith was actually a pseudonym of JK Rowling. However, it’s likely their plans for a TV version changed once they realised the interest that would be generated by the connection to the Harry Potter author.

This year we got five episodes of ‘Strike’, the first three of which adapted The Cuckoo’s Calling, and the other two The Silkworm. This DVD just contains the former, introducing us to private eye Cormoran Strike (Tom Burke) – an injured war veteran (he lost part of his leg in Afghanistan), who’s swimming in debt and sleeping in his office. [Read more…]

Boy Meets Girl – Series 2 (DVD Review)

August 14, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Denise Welch, Harry Hepple, Jonny Dixon, Nigel Betts, Rebecca Root
Director: Various
Running Time: 180 mins
Certificate: 12
Release Date: August 15th 2016 (UK)

Boy Meets Girl broke new ground last year as the first British sitcom with a transgender lead character, played by a transgender actress. It quickly showed that it was more than just a bit of token inclusivity by the BBC, with its witty and warm look at the blossoming love between 20-something Leo (Harry Hepple) and 39-year-old Judy (Rebecca Root).

Now it’s back for a second season, with six more episodes following Leo, Judy and their eccentric families. In the first episode, Leo decides it’s time to up the ante by proposing to Judy, with the rest of the series covering the run-up to their wedding. As well as plenty of worry about venues and whether Harry’s mother, Pam (Denise Welch), is being too pushy, there are quite a few other issues to deal with. [Read more…]

Boy Meets Girl (2015) (DVD Review)

October 11, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Rebecca Root, Harry Hepple, Denise Welch, Jonny Dixon, Nigel Betts
Director: Paul Norton Walker
Running Time: 180 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: October 12th 2015 (UK)

Leo (Harry Hepple) is a young man in his mid-20s who isn’t exactly good at romance and dating. Then he meets Judy (Rebecca Root) and there’s an immediate spark, so he decides to invite her out on a date. Once they’re at a restaurant she lets him know that she is transgender, something Leo doesn’t seem too bothered about (although it does cause a few ripples later on).

They both know that while neither of them care, the same won’t necessarily be true of everyone, and they may also have a few other obstacles to overcome on the way to true love. However, the thing that most people want to comment on when they initially see Judy is the age gap between her and Leo, as she is nearing 40.

Across the course of six episodes Boy Meets Girl charts their relationship, as they negotiate the issues of transgender dating, from when to tell his family, to dealing with sex, as well as the viciousness of transphobic people. [Read more…]

The Casual Vacancy (DVD Review)

June 15, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Rory Kinnear, Michael Gambon, Julia McKenzie, Lolita Chakrabarti, Abigail Lawrie
Director: Jonny Campbell
Running Time: 180 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: JUne 15th 2015 (UK)

Considering it’s based on a book by JK Rowling and was high profile enough for the BBC to make it in co-operation with HBO, The Casual Vacancy wasn’t given as massive a push when it aired on TV as you might expect. That’s probably because despite being based on a novel by the Harry Potter author, it’s far more low key and adult than her earlier work.

Indeed, the main complaint about both the book and three-part TV series is that not a huge amount happens, and what does happen often appears, on the surface at least, to be of only marginal consequence. There is a point to most of it, but it takes a bit of work to figure out what that is. [Read more…]

The Wolf Of Wall Street (Cinema)

January 15, 2014 By Tim Isaac 2 Comments

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler, Matthew MacConaughey, Margot Robbie
Director: Martin Scorsese
Running Time: 180 mins
Certificate: 18
Release Date: Jan 17th 2014

We’ve had Wall Street, Boiler Room, Margin Call and, God help us all, Wall Street 2. Now we get Martin Scorsese’s take on the 1990s decade of excess, in which a tiny number of people got very rich by ripping off ordinary people by selling worthless junk bonds.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort is, theoretically, a hugely conflicted and interesting character. As he admits, he’s not a Harvard type, merely an ordinary Joe driven to making his millions, initially hit by starting his first day at work on Black Monday – which turns out to be his last. Undeterred he takes a job at a rundown Long Island firm, selling junk bonds over the phone and making cash fast thanks to his winning charm. [Read more…]

Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves (Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar) (DVD)

January 12, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Adam Lundgren, Adam Palsson, Bjorn Kjellman
Director: Simon Kaisjer
Running Time: 180 mins
Certificate: 18
Release Date: December 26th 2013

While there’s a tendency in English-speaking countries to only ever consider how certain events affected us, of course they often affect other places too. That’s very true of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Most documentaries and films tend to concentrate on what happened in the US, but the three-part mini-series Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves takes us to Stockholm, Sweden in the early 80s. [Read more…]