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

The Adored (DVD)

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Maia (Ione Butler) is a model who’s lost her confidence and has been having a difficult time in her personal life. A photo shoot in the Welsh countryside with photographer Francesca (Laura Martin-Simpson) offers her the chance to get away and have a little fun for the weekend. However what should have been a simple girly weekend begins to take on an ominous tone as Francesca embarks on a long, slow seduction of Maia that seems to have an unhealthy intensity and intrusiveness. Maia also can’t shake the feeling there’s someone else hanging around and spying on them. [Read more…]

Micky Flanagan – Back In The Game (DVD)

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When I’ve seen Micky Flanagan in short bursts on stand-up and panel TV shows, I’ve found him quite amusing, but I’m not 100% about his gig here. It’s not that it’s bad, but I can’t work out if he’s rather overplaying his cheeky chappie Cock-er-nee geezer persona, or if I’m just too hideously middle-class to fully appreciate it. [Read more…]

The Bling Ring (DVD)

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Based on a true story, The Bling Ring follows a group of LA teens who in 2008 and 2009 became notorious for robbing the houses of celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Audrina Partridge, Lindsey Lohan and Orlando Bloom. Marc (Israel Broussard) is a lonely young man (who’s also gay, but the film doesn’t really deal with that) who finally feels connected when he meets Rebecca (Katie Chang). She gets him involved in petty crime, which eventually grows until they break into Paris Hilton’s place. [Read more…]

Cupcakes – Iris Prize 2013 Best Feature Winner Review

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A group of friends in Tel Aviv, Israel, watch Eurosong (a show similar to yet legally distinct from Eurovision) together. Each dealing with their own problems and despairing of the manufactured soulless feeling of their country’s entry, they laughingly create their own more authentic ditty. As a bit of fun, one of the friends sends it to the judges and, to their surprise, it becomes Israel’s official entry the following year.

Each character has a story that unfolds as the big day draws near; the troubled housewife, the flamboyant teacher, repressed Minister’s aide, socially awkward blogger, frustrated executive and the under-appreciated musician. Think Love, Actually with a bit more camp and you’re not far off. [Read more…]

Our Idiot Brother (Blu-ray)

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It’s taken a long time for Our Idiot Brother to reach the UK. It was released in the US just over two years ago, but it’s only now making it onto DVD and Blu-ray. Considering the awesome cast, it might seem surprising it’s taken so long, but after watching the slightly underwhelming film I can understand why nobody felt in too much of a rush.

Paul Rudd plays the titular idiot, Ned, who lives on an organic farm with his girlfriend, but gets busted and locked up for selling pot to a uniformed police officer. After being let out of prison, he discovers his girlfriend has taken up with another man and won’t allow him back on the farm. Ned’s not even allowed to take his beloved dog, Willie Nelson. [Read more…]

The Last American Virgin (Blu-ray)

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Teen films got very raunchy in the early 80s. The Last American Virgin was released shortly after Porky’s, and while it didn’t see the commercial success of that movie (and indeed isn’t quite as full-on with its sexual shenanigans), it did leave its mark on cult cinema. Indeed you have to wonder whether Adam Herz watched this before he decided to write American Pie (just leaving out the more serious bit towards the end). [Read more…]

I’m So Excited! (DVD)

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In the last decade or so, Pedro Almodovar has become a master of taking ideas and spinning them in unexpected and complicated directions, filling his movies with larger than life, complex characters who draw you into a world that seems slightly absurd and yet uncomfortably close to the murkiness of real life.

I’m So Excited takes him in a slightly different direction as it’s far simpler, a lot camper and more interested in being pure entertainment than most of his movies. This has disappointed some, who were expecting an ‘Almodovar’ movie, but that doesn’t mean it lacks its own small-scale charms, even if it’s unlikely to amaze many. [Read more…]

Beat Girl (Cinema)

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After the death of her mother, Heather (Louise Dylan) is forced to move in with her estranged father (Michael Higgs) and a stepbrother (Percelle Ascott) who doesn’t want anything to do with her. After years of training, she’s on the edge of fulfilling her mother’s wish that she attend Juilliard and study to become a truly great pianist.

Then she meet record store owner Toby (Craig Daniel Adams), who introduces her to the underground world of DJ-ing. It’s something she knows nothing about and involves a type of music that’s never penetrated her rarefied classical world. Initially she’s attracted to the idea of being a DJ in the hope she can get paid and save money for music school, but soon she starts to realise the excitement of this world. [Read more…]

Konga (DVD)

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Sometimes you watch an old movie and it’s difficult not to wonder what the filmmakers thought they were producing when they made it. Konga is now seen as a b-movie cult classic of trampy camp. But when director John Lemont was making it, did he think his man in a monkey suit was good and would terrify audiences?  Did he think he was making a sci-fi thriller in the vein of King Kong that would impress people in the same way the 1933 movie did? Or even at the time did he know he was making silly nonsense that would be a guilty pleasure at best (perhaps the fact it’s called Konga suggests he did)? [Read more…]

I’m So Excited (Cinema)

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Just when Pedro Almodovar earned himself a new audience with the brilliantly bonkers Skin I Live In, he follows it up with a film that at best can be described Almodovar-lite. It’s charming enough and at times well-acted, but ultimately too paper-thin to be remembered along with his great works.

If he is the high priest of camp then it was only a matter of time before he made a film set on a plane, with three stewards as his main characters. And very funny they are, although their constant bitching and fussing about who is bisexual and who has slept with who gets tiresome over the 90 long minutes. Even their singing of the title song by the Pointer Sisters wears a bit thin after 30 seconds. [Read more…]