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

I Am Bruce Lee (Blu-ray)

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As the title suggests, I Am Bruce Lee is all about the martial arts action superstar, taking in his entire life and featuring rare footage of Lee, along with plenty of interviews with his friends and family. There’s no doubt the documentary will be of most interest to fans of Lee, but there’s also plenty to appeal to those whose interest in the actor is more tangential.

The film covers everything from his birth in San Francisco and early life in Hong Kong, through his rise as both an actor and martial arts instructor in the US, before he headed back to Asia to make the likes of The Big Boss, which led to the classic Enter The Dragon. Of course, he tragically died shortly before that film was released. There’s plenty of interesting info, from the fact he returned to the US at the age of 18 partly because he’d gotten into so much trouble fighting, to the battle he had to conduct with old school martial artists who said he shouldn’t be teaching non-Chinese people Eastern styles. [Read more…]

Shut Up & Kiss Me (DVD)

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I’m starting to think that the reason that a lot of the gay men – especially those who aren’t into endless one night stands – are having trouble in the dating field is because they’re all sat at home writing movies about how difficult dating is for them. Really, we need support groups so these people can meet one another, as if these films are anything to go by, each of them thinks they’re the only one, when actually there are trillions of them – none of whom seem to speak to one another.

Ben is 35-years old and single, but he’s definitely looking for love. He tries out video dating and the world online, but none of them works out. His friends think he’s a commitment-phobe, while simultaneously trying to set him up with just about every gay man they meet. [Read more…]

Romeos (DVD)

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Earlier this year, Tomboy was released, which saw a pre-adolescent taken in by a new group of friends who believe he’s a boy, even though he was born female. Romeos takes a similar theme, but moves the story into young adulthood, with a character who’s already started the transition from female to male.

Lukas (Rick Okon) is a pre-op transsexual who is taking hormones but is yet to have surgical gender reassignment. He heads off for a social service year to a place where only one person knows him, his lesbian friend Ine (Liv Lisa Fries), who used to know him as Mimi and has been by his side during the early stages of his transition. However nobody else is aware of Lukas earlier life, and while bureaucracy means he’s assigned to the female living block, everyone assumes he was born a man. [Read more…]

Magic Mike (Cinema)

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When I first saw the advert I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s Showgirls meets The Full Monty’, however I was perplexed somewhat that Oscar winning director Stephen Soderbegh was at the helm. He’s delivered some brilliant films over the years, including Traffic, Erin Brockovich and Solaris, although his work of recent has not been as impressive, namely Haywire and Contagion.

However, with Magic Mike, he has given us is a crowd pleasing, energetic, realistic behind-the-scenes look at the glamorous but shady lives of the stripping community, in a tight, well scripted gem of a movie. [Read more…]

Friends With Kids (Cinema)

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What do you do if you want a kid but you don’t have a significant other (or indeed if you’re a gay man)? Well, if you’re a woman you could pop down the sperm bank, I suppose, but in the case of Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt), they decide perhaps they should have a kid together, despite not being in love. Now in their 30s, the duo are best of friends, but for various reasons haven’t settled down.

That’s not true of their friends, Ben (Jon Hamm) and Missy (Kristen Wiig), and Leslie (Maya Rudolph) and Alex (Chris O’Dowd), who are married and on the baby train. Despite the fact both couples seem harassed and on the edge due to their children, Jason and Julie decide to go ahead anyway and have a child. [Read more…]

Lesbian Vampire Warriors (DVD)

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Lesbian Vampire Warriors would more accurately be titles Vampire Warriors Including Some Of Indeterminate Sexuality, but that would be quite tough to fit on the DVD box. Ar is a vampire hunter, dedicated to taking down the worst bloodsucking scum around – of which there isn’t a lack. However things are slightly complicated by the fact she hangs around with a bunch of ‘vegetarian’ vampires, who don’t drink human blood, and so instead survive on animals.

Events take a serious turn when an ancient, evil vampire called Mung arrives in town who is a cannibal, intent on killing other vamps, sucking the life out of them and stealing their power. With her friend’s life under threat, Ar must make the ultimate decision – is the only way to defeat Mung for her to become a vampire herself? [Read more…]

Spork (DVD)

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Spork is named after the title character, who goes by that name due to her brother’s cruel teasing about the fact she was born a hermaphrodite. She’s frizzy-haired and perennially put upon by her classmates, who like nothing better than bullying her loner nature and intersex biology.

With a school dance-off coming up, Spork decides to enter and prove she’s more than just a loser. With the help of her trailer park neighbour, Tootsie Roll, she starts learning how to bust some moves, and also attracts the attention of young Charlie. However the bitchy, popular, mean girls aren’t about to allow Spork to upstage them and so they launch a campaign to bring her down in the cruellest way possible. [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…]

Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance (DVD)

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Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), aka Ghost Rider, is lying low in Eastern Europe, trying to control the demonic presence inside him. However he’s sought out by a man called Moreau (Idris Elba), who wants to use the Rider and in return he promises to try and free Johnny from the curse of the flame-skulled demon inside him. Moreau wants Johnny to protect a young boy, who happens to the son of the Devil. Satan, in the human form of Roarke (Ciaran Hinds), has plans for the child, which Johnny and the Rider must stop.

Many were surprised that a sequel to the somewhat disappointing Ghost Rider was put into production, and reports that the reason it was rushed through was because Sony would otherwise lose the rights to the character didn’t exactly promote confidence. However early footage reignited interest, with fun-looking, slightly insane images of the Rider pissing fire and zooming around on his bike. [Read more…]

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Cinema)

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It turns out Abraham Lincoln wasn’t just a lawyer who became the President of the United States and led the winning side in the Civil War – he actually did it all to battle the undead. Well, at least that’s what happens in this version of history.

As a child, Abe watches as a vampire sucks the life from his mother, an event which shapes his entire life, so that once he’s grown (into the form of Benjamin Walker), he wants nothing more than to kill the man responsible. After an attempt to shoot the vamp goes wrong – he’s not using the sort of ammunition that can kill bloodsuckers – he’s saved by Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper). Turns out Sturgess makes it his mission to destroy bad vampires, and trains Lincoln up to take on the undead. [Read more…]