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

Tell No One (Come non detto) (DVD)

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Mattia is a young man in a relationship with Eduard, and he’s about to head off to Spain to live with him. Despite the fact he’s out to friends, Mattia still hasn’t let his family know he’s gay, even if he’s told Eduard his relatives all know and are perfectly happy about it. Mattia doesn’t have any plans to tell his mother and father, but then Eduard announces he’s heading to Rome and expects to be able to meet Mattia’s family. [Read more…]

Monster Pies (DVD)

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Mike is an Aussie teenager who’s long felt alienated and a little alone. Things begin to change for him with the arrival of new boy William. They’re teamed up on a school project where they have to explore Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. They decide to do it by making a film about Frankenstein’s monster and the wolf man, which they (perhaps surprisingly) find fits well into the themes of the play. [Read more…]

Rapture-Palooza (Blu-ray)

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It seems like a normal day, but then the Rapture happens. While not something that’s particularly well-known in the UK, the Rapture is popular with the more fervent evangelical sections of US Christianity. It basically says that when the end of the world begins, the righteous will be whisked off to heaven, leaving everyone else behind to deal with the apocalypse. [Read more…]

Apartment 1303 (3D Blu-ray)

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A few years ago, every horror movie Asia produced got a Hollywood remake, but the pace has certainly slowed down. However somebody decided that Ataru Oikawa’s 2007 Japanese movie was ripe for a makeover, and as was the rage when it went into production they did it in 3D.

The film starts out following Janet (Julianne Michelle), a young woman keen to get out from under the feet of her stifling ex-singer mom Maddie (Rebecca De Mornay) by renting her own place. She moves into Apartment 1303, but almost immediately strange things start to happen, with a small child hanging around, an aggressive superintendent and noises that suggest someone is in the flat. [Read more…]

Frankie Go Boom (DVD)

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Farce is a tough thing to get right even if you follow all the rules. Frankie Go Boom gets very close to being great – the actors are good (and appear to be having a lot of fun) and many of the scenes are very funny. However it ultimately falls foul of the problem that causes many farces to come a cropper – it’s actively nonsensical, which is rather frustrating.

Frankie (Charlie Hunnam) is used to being made a laughing stock by his older brother, Bruce (Chris O’Dowd). For example, Bruce put Frankie’s wedding video on the web, even though it featured Frankie discovering his wife-to-be was cheating on him, before he punches and then vomits on her. Unsurprisingly it was a viral sensation. [Read more…]

But I’m A Cheerleader (1999)

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There is nothing that seems so strange and insidious to British viewers of American culture as summer camps.  They are a phenomenon that would not be tolerated by British youth – yet the Americans seem to love them and they are commonly seen in American films and television.

But I’m a Cheerleader tells the story of Megan (Natasha Lyonne), a naïve teenager who is sent to a gay rehabilitation camp due to her seemingly deviant behavior – the joke being that she thinks that due to her being a cheerleader, she can’t be anything but ‘normal’.  However her friends and family all read the signs and decide that she’s a lesbian who needs help to be straightened out. [Read more…]

A Liar’s Autobiography – The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman in 3D (Cinema)

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This film has been released 23 years after the untimely death (or not, if you look at his lifestyle) of Graham Chapman. The Film is not calling itself A Monty Python film, but a Graham Chapman film, and after watching it you might understand why.

The synopsis: in 1989 Chapman – ‘a freeloading bastard’ (according to John Cleese at his funeral) sadly ceased to be! ‘E’s expired and gone to meet ‘is maker! ‘E’s kicked the bucket, ‘E’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! – OK enough Parrot Sketch quotes already!! (which he co-wrote with John Cleese) [Read more…]

Digby The Biggest Dog In The World (DVD)

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From the 1950s to the early 80s, the British film industry had a thriving sideline in almost ridiculously wholesome family entertainment. Much it came through the Children’s Film Foundation, but other companies got in on the act too, and through one of those we got 1973’s Digby The Biggest Dog In The World. Thanks to showings on TV it became a bit of fave for several generations of kids, but bizarrely it’s been unavailable on DVD for years. It’s particularly strange as while a lot of old kid’s entertainment is now horribly outdated and won’t work for modern children, Digby will still be enjoyed by youngsters and so it’s been a bit of an omission to have it out of print. [Read more…]

Dark Horse (Cinema)

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Todd Solondz is an award winning writer and director who has brought us such classics such as Welcome To the Dollhouse, Palindromes and the highly controversial and brilliant Happiness. Solondz’s greatest is gift is giving us a slice of life drama with characters on the edge of society that we normally wouldn’t care for. This is his first film since Palindromes in 2004, so has the wait been worth it?

Dark Horse is exactly what it says in the title – a film about a dark horse, an outsider, someone who isn’t thought likely to succeed, but who may just surprise us all. The dark horse in this film is Abe (Jordan Gebler), who’s the elder son of Jackie (Christopher Walken) and still works for his father, who runs a highly successful development company. [Read more…]

Twice Round The Daffodils (DVD)

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Gerald Thomas is definitely best known for directing the Carry On… movies, with a dedication to the series that took him from 1958’s Carry On Sergeant right through to 1992’s Carry On Columbus. However while most of his career was taken up with those films, he did sometimes find time for movies outside the series, such as Twice Round The Daffodils.

The comedy, which comes to DVD for the first time, is sometimes considered an unofficial Carry On film. On the surface you can understand why. After all, it features several of the Carry On actors (Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims etc.), has Thomas directing, Peter Rogers producing and Norman Hudis writing. However it has a rather different tone. For a start Hudis adapted it from a play by Jack Beale and Patrick Cargill. The comedy is gentler and less obvious, and there’s more of a bittersweet feel to the whole thing. [Read more…]