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

Glengarry Glen Ross (Blu-ray/DVD)

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Glengarry Glen Ross is proof of what can happen when you put a great script in the hands of an ensemble of dynamite actors. In many ways Glengarry Glen Ross shouldn’t work. It’s largely about people sitting around talking, has minimal plot, and never fully escapes the stage that David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play was originally presented on.

However, what in many films would be seen as shortcomings are here the movie’s greatest strengths, as it allows the film to concentrate on the electric dynamism of Mamet’s dialogue in the hands of one of the best groups of actors ever assembled for a film (even Jack Lemmon said it was the best cast he’d ever been involved with, which is saying something). After all, it contains four Oscar-winners and two more Oscar nominees, which is certainly an impressive line-up, especially as likes of Kevin Spacey weren’t that well known when it was made. [Read more…]

Killer Joe (DVD)

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I can easily imagine a lot of people loving Killer Joe due to its dark, twisty-turny plot, while a lot of others will also thrill to the pitch black humour. However there are a lot who will find the whole thing rather nasty, cruel and repellent, so if you think you might be one of those people, you’ll probably be best to avoid this. However if you do like thrillers that go to the most sordid of places, you may well love this.

Chris (Emile Hirsch) is in need of cash and so embroils his brother, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), in a plot to kill their heartless mother. They’re going to hire a lawman called Joe (Matthew McConaughey) who moonlights as a hired killer. It’s going to cost $25,000, but Chris has heard his mum has a $50,000 life insurance policy that will pay out to his sister, Dottie (Juno Temple). Joe wants to be paid upfront, but agrees he’ll have Dottie as a kind of retainer. However nobody has thought things out very well and things soon spiral out of control, especially when they realise just what a mean character Joe is. [Read more…]

Dark Tide (DVD)

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John Stockwell has made a bit of a career directing sea-bound films, but the problem is that the likes of Blue Crush and Into The Blue haven’t been very good. So does he manage to end the watery losing streak with Dark Tide? Nope, but at least he managed not to include the word ‘blue’ in the title.

Halle Berry is ‘shark whisperer’, Kate, who’s able to swim with Great Whites outside the cage. However while her lover Jeff is filming her for a documentary, a terrible accident occurs and someone is killed by one of the giant fish. Cut to a year later and Kate is a bit gun shy about getting into the water with sharks again, but with cash running low, the now estranged Jeff turns up and suggests a way she can get out of financial trouble. A businessman called Brady (Ralph Brown), who’s visiting with his son in South Africa, will pay $100,000 to be able swim with sharks outside the cage. Kate initially doesn’t want anything to do with it, but slowly she’s talked into it, even if she won’t guarantee the man will be able to get out of the cage. [Read more…]

Grimm – Season 1 (DVD)

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Grimm – Season 2 is just starting on UK TV, so if you need to catch up, you’ll have to get hold of this box set quickly. And it probably will help to catch up, if only because Grimm’s world of beasts and police procedural fantasy can sometimes get a little bit complicated.

Det. Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is a Portland, Oregon cop, who’s good at his job, but rarely experiences anything out of the ordinary. However then his Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) turns up and he starts seeing very strange things – certain people’s faces begin morphing into that of strange creatures, revealing the beasts within. Nick discovers that he is a Grimm, which isn’t just the surname of some fairy tale writing brothers, but essentially a job, handed down in his family. He has the ability to see the beasts, known as ‘Wesin’, who live around us and to most people just look like ordinary humans. Each race is different, from those who are like bears to those who are like beavers, and some are far more dangerous than others. [Read more…]

Chernobyl Diaries (DVD)

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The Chernobyl disaster happened back in 1986 and conspiracy theories surrounding the incident and the aftermath have been rife ever since. The surprising part about this is why a film such as this has never been made before.

Chernobyl Diaries follows a group of travellers as they venture into the land of extreme tourism, heading to the city abandoned and devastated by the disaster. Written by Oren Peli, who terrified most of the world with Paranormal Activity, you can’t help but feel a little let down by this film as it try’s to recreate what happened with the first Paranormal Activity film, but in the process becomes a typical mass of clichés. [Read more…]

Cockneys Vs. Zombies (Blu-ray)

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To follow the imaginatively titled films such as Zombie Strippers and Aliens Vs Predators, yes the title says it all, it’s exactly what it says on the tin! It This film delivers us mad flesh eating zombies and some right Cockney geezers (and girls).

After the huge success of Shaun Of The Dead, we haven’t had a good fusion of comedy and horror, instead getting lacklustre films such as The Cottage and Burke and Hare. [Read more…]

House – Season 8 (DVD)

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I’m still not sure how I’m going to cope – no more House! After eight years the show came to an end on television earlier this year, completing the remarkable run of one of the best TV shows of the last decade. I’ll have to console myself with the DVD box sets, the final one of which has now arrived.

The six disc set features the sardonic Dr. House’s last 22 episodes, and if you watched Season 7, you’ll know he starts the run in a bit of bother. Having taken not getting over a break-up to the extreme and crashing a car into his ex’s house, the doc begins Season 8 locked up in prison. Even there he can’t stop himself from playing mind games or trying to get to the bottom of a medical mystery that presents itself. Soon former employee and now head of Princeton Plainsboro hospital, Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps), helps House get out of the clink and return to work, even if House does have to wear an ankle monitor. [Read more…]

Apartment 143 (DVD)

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The first thing that came to mind when seeing this film is, shouldn’t it be titled Not Another Paranormal Handheld Video Movie in a similar vein to Not Another Teen/Gay Movie? The second thing that came to my mind was, is that the correct spelling of Apartment? (unfortunately it was ! – so I have at least been educated!)

Now back to the film – the fast sell is it’s Paranormal Activity meets Poltergeist, although I would definitely NOT compare it to the Spielberg/Hooper classic – sacrilege indeed! [Read more…]

The Mentalist – Season 4 (DVD)

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The end of The Mentalist – Season 3 was certainly dramatic, with CBI (California Bureau of Investigation) consultant Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) gunning down a man in a shopping mall. The ‘victim’ claimed to be Red John, the serial killer who slaughtered Jane’s wife and child.

For pretty much every other person on the planet, shooting someone to death in cold blood would be the end of their law enforcement career, but this is TV, so former ‘psychic’ Patrick quickly gets out of this sticky situation and is back to solving crimes using his unique brand of mental manipulation. Not only that, but he doesn’t believe the man he killed was really Red John, ensuring that Jane still has his single-minded pursuit of the killer to drive him. [Read more…]

Suicide Room (DVD)

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The Polish film Suicide Room is a strange beast; a tale of teenage angst and depression set partly in the real world and partly in a CG online realm (the titular Suicide Room). Dominik (Jakub Gierzal) is a rather emo teen, who’s surrounded by friends and thinks life is his oyster. However, after he’s dared to snog a good looking guy by his friends, he finds his sense of acceptance spiralling downwards, which gets worse when he has an orgasm during a particularly frenetic judo bout with the boy he kissed. His former friends begin mercilessly making fun of him online as his private struggle with his sexuality takes a very public form. [Read more…]