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

Fast Girls (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

In the years running up to the London Olympics, there were quite a few films planned to tie in with the sporting extravaganza. Few of them actually went into production but one that did was Fast Girls, which focuses on a group of female British athletes as they train for a big competition.

Shania (Lenora Crichlow) is a working class girl from a rundown part of London, who wants to be a great athlete but only has dilapidated tracks to run on. However thanks to her coach and her natural talent, she qualifies for the World Championships and is invited to join the relay team by trainer Tommy Southern (Noel Clarke). Suddenly thrown into the world of major meets, Shania almost immediately clashes with the posh Lisa (Lily James), whose father is a former champion and also a major player in the UK team selection. As the two butt heads, Shania’s will is tested, as well as her discipline to do what it takes to win at the highest level. She’s got the talent, but can Shania make it? [Read more…]

The Hollow Crown (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

One of the by-products of this year’s Cultural Olympiad and the Summer Of Shakespeare was the BBC’s ambitious plan to bring the Bard’s Henriad tetralogy (sorry, it’s Shakespeare and therefore long words are compulsory) to the screen. Under the title The Hollow Crown we get Richard II, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part 2 and Henry V, which cover one period of British history from the rise of Henry IV and the usurpation (another good long word there) of Richard II, through the reign of Henry’s son, Henry V.

While the three Henrys tell one interlinked story with many recurring characters, Richard II is a bit of a play on its own, even though it deals with some of the same people. It’s also probably the least known of the plays, often regarded as one of Shakespeare’s more difficult texts, but as Rupert Goold’s two-hour take on the tale proves, it’s also one of the richest. [Read more…]

The Landlord (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

A lot of directors get labelled as being ‘one of a kind’, but in the case of Hal Ashby it really was true. With his hippie spirit and amazing eye for human connections, he made wonderful films like Harold And Maude, Shampoo, Coming Home, Bound For Glory and Being There. However it all started with his debut movie, 1970’s The Landlord.

A young Beau Bridges stars as Elgar Enders, a 29-year-old from a very well-to-do family who’s been feeling increasingly stifled living at home with his overbearing mother. He buys a house on a run down, inner city street, with the plan of getting the tenants out, doing it up and helping with the gentrification of the area. However he soon finds the tenants aren’t interested in leaving, and Elgar begins to find a new life there far from the one he grew up in. He even starts to date a mixed-race woman, something his mother is less than impressed by. [Read more…]

All In Good Time (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

Writer Ayub Karan Din scored quite a hit with his script for East Is East a few years ago, and now he’s back with All In Good Time, based on his Olivier award-winning play, Rafta Rafta. It’s another trip into the world of British Indian families and the generation gap between parents born half a world away and children who’ve only ever known life in the UK.

Young Atul (Reece Ritchie) and Vina (Amara Karan) have just gotten married, but their plans for a honeymoon in Goa are ruined when the travel firm they booked it through goes bust. Instead they stay at home with Atul’s parents, Eeshwar (Harish Patel) and Lopa (Meera Syal). Having saved themselves for marriage, Atul and Vina can now finally have sex – except they can’t, as for various reasons it doesn’t happen for them. [Read more…]

Covert Affairs – Season 2 (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

The most implausible but entertaining spy show on TV hits DVD once more with its second season release. When we left newbie spy Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) at the end of Season 1, the lover who’d abandoned her and then suddenly reappeared in her life, Ben (Eoin Bailey), had been shot and they were trying to escape on a helicopter. Once the fallout of that is dealt with (and Ben’s disappeared again), it’s on to 16 more episodes of silly but fun CIA shenanigans. At least I desperately hope it’s silly, as if the CIA is really like this, it’s a miracle we’re not being blown up by terrorists every day. [Read more…]

Avengers Assemble (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

We all remember the Battle Of New York, when Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow got together to fight off extra-terrestrial terrors coming through a wormhole, due to a plot by Loki. This documentary looks at what led up to that battle.

Well, okay, I’m sure you’re aware this isn’t a documentary, as we’re in a world sadly lacking in superpowered heroes (although the lack of alien terror-mongers is a bit of a plus), but as audiences proved earlier this summer, we do love to escape to a comic book world. Avengers Assemble is only the third film ever to gross more than $1.5 billion (and the first not directed by James Cameron). It’s an astonishing success, particularly as the movie made more than twice as much as any of the movies that led up to it (Iron Man 2 was the biggest previous Marvel produced movie, taking $623 million). [Read more…]

Cloclo (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

I think Cloclo is gonna be a tough sell for a lot of people. It’s one thing watching a biopic of a famous face of yesteryear, but it’s another get people to watch a movie about a French guy they’ve probably never heard of, whose main claim to fame outside France is that he co-wrote the original version of Sinatra’s My Way. It doesn’t help either that he was a bit of an asshole.

However despite the fact I can’t imagine too many people picking this out as their preferred viewing option, it’s not a bad movie. Jérémie Renier plays Claude Francois – aka Cloclo – who was born in Egypt to a French family, but during the Suez crisis is forced to leave along with his family. Back in Europe he yearns to make music, even though his father disapproves. [Read more…]

The Lucky One (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

While Zac Efron could do with a few bona fide hits, there’s no doubt that’s he’s got all the prerequisites for stardom – looks, talent and a rather endearing way about him. He certainly brings all that to The Lucky One, but rather like Charlie St. Cloud, he’s let down by a script and tone that takes things a bit too literally and often undermines itself even if it does have its heart in the right place.

Cut straight from the Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, Dear John) novel template, Efron is Logan, an Iraq soldier who sees a picture of a beautiful woman on the battlefield. Bending down to pick it up saves him from a violent death, which makes him start to think of the woman as a kind of guardian angel. [Read more…]

This Means War (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

Note: Some of this review was previously published in connection with the cinema release

I know the exact moment when I gave up on the idea that This Means War was going to be a good movie. Fairly early on Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) is shopping with her friend, Trish (Chelsea Handler), a character who only exists to give Lauren an excuse to say exactly what she’s thinking at any point in time.

However it wasn’t the lazy exposition (something the film loves to engage in) that made me realise that behind the fireworks there wasn’t much going on in This Means War, it was because the scene was set up so that the two women were doing their entire supermarket shop based on what was on the end of the aisles. They picked out detergent, looked at special offers and neither of them seemed to need anything that wasn’t right there in front of them. [Read more…]

Falling Skies – Season 1 (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date: ,

It’s tough to make a successful sci-fi TV show. Many arrive each year but most quickly fall by the wayside, some getting cancelled because the ratings don’t justify the expense and others ending quickly because they’re simply not very good. Falling Skies however was a ratings hit on its US debut last year, and for the most part tells a compelling story.

In the aftermath of an alien invasion, the major cities have been destroyed, modern civilisation has fallen and only ragtag groups of survivors are around to resist the brutal extra-terrestrials. While he’s spent most of his life as a history professor, in this new world Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) has become second in command of the 2nd Massachusetts, a military unit fighting the ‘skitters’ and also sheltering a group of civilians. [Read more…]