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

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 It’s particularly strange as while a lot of old kid’s entertainment is now horribly outdated and won’t work for modern children, Digby will still be enjoyed by youngsters and so it’s been a bit of an omission to have it out of print.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…]

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (Blu-ray)

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Aardman Animation is one of the most reliable animation houses outside Emeryville (the headquarters of Pixar). From the early days of Morph through the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit onto films like Chicken Run and Flushed Away, you can always be fairly sure of fun when the company is involved. Unfortunately that hasn’t always translated into big box office, which resulted in their deal with Dreamworks Animation ending early. Luckily though Sony was looking for ways to expand their animation output and so they stepped up for The Pirates! (and last year’s Arthur Christmas).

Peter Lord co-founded Aardman with David Sproxton back in the 1970s, but this is the first film he’s directed since he co-helmed Chicken Run with Nick Park back in 2000. Thankfully he hasn’t lost his touch, as The Pirates! is great fun, full of Aardman’s trademark attention to detail and visual jokes, along with a playful sense of humour and a plot that never takes itself too seriously, but still manages to create memorable characters. [Read more…]

African Cats (Blu-ray)

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Once Upon A Time, Disney wasn’t just known for Mickey Mouse and animated movies, it also used to make nature films, bringing the wonders of wildlife to children. Over time, this beloved project of Walt himself rather got lost in the shuffle, but now it’s back with a new imprint called Disneynature, which produced this look at Lions and Cheetahs on the African savannah.

To help them, Disney went to some of the best in the nature filmmaking business, who inevitably worked for the BBC Natural History Unit, including Alistair Fothergill, the former head of the unit who was also the brains behind The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. He co-directed African Cats alongside Keith Scholey, who also got his training at the Beeb. [Read more…]

Children’s Film Foundation: London Tales (DVD)

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If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember the Children’s Film Foundation. Starting in the 1950s, the British Film Industry came together under the direction of J. Arthur Rank, to produce wholesome kid’s entertainment under the CFF banner, which would provide more innocent fun than what was being imported from Hollywood. They were largely shown at Saturday Morning Pictures and matinees through the 50s, 60s and 70s, but as TV started to take hold and children had other things to do on a Saturday morning, CFF films got ever more marginalised until they eventually stopped producing short movies. [Read more…]

The Muppets (Blu-ray)

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Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company back in 2004, realising that with their long-lasting popularity, they might be a good addition to the Disney universe. However since then the House Of Mouse hasn’t seemed entirely sure what to do with them. While they’ve tried several things over the years, the problem seems to have been Disney trying to shoehorn the characters into the way they deal with their other properties, rather than letting them be themselves.

It’s one of the reason The Muppets works so well, as it realises that Kermit & co. live in a netherworld between children’s and adult’s entertainment, where nostalgia is as important as silly jokes for kids. Likewise it acknowledges that part of the reason for the characters’ success is the fine line they walk between absurdity and realism, which works due to an absolute commitment to the idea Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear are real, while everything around them has a self-referential wink. [Read more…]

Passport To Pimlico (Blu-ray)

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Passport To Pimlico is an unexpectedly important movie in British film history, as along with Kind Hearts & Coronets and Whisky Galore – all of which were released by Ealing in 1949 – they set the template for much of the UK’s comedy output right up to the present day. In the film you can see early whispers of Carry On (not least the presence of Charles Hawtrey in a small role), a wink at the absurd that was later taken to its limit by the likes of Monty Python, and a quintessentially British attitude that’s still evident today, not least in the light, heartfelt comedy of Richard Curtis. [Read more…]

Ruggles Of Red Gap (Blu-ray & DVD)

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Back in the early part of the 20th Century, Hollywood really liked Ruggles Of Red Gap. Even though the original play only ran for 33 performances on Broadway, it spawned two silent movies and then this 1935 talkie starring Charles Laughton. The actor had just won a Best Actor Oscar for The Private Life Of Henry VIII, and many thought it was odd he chose such a straightforwardly comic role as a follow-up, something he wasn’t particularly well known for at the time.

Laughton plays title character Ruggles, the butler of a posh English lord who is lent to a rather unrefined but very rich American and his social climbing wife, who sees having a butler as a way of showing people how posh they’ve become. After a couple of adventures in Europe, Ruggles is taken to Red Gap, Washington, a pioneer town that doesn’t know quite what to make of this refined manservant. [Read more…]

The Gospel According To St. Matthew (Blu-ray)

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It’s rather odd that one of the most acclaimed religious films ever was made by Pier Paolo Pasolini, an affirmed atheist who was also responsible some of the most controversial movies ever, such as Salo Or The  120 Days Days Of Sodom. The Gospel According To St. Matthew came about 10 years before Salo, but still shows a unique filmmaker not afraid to let his voice be known.

The film is one of the few biblical movies that the Vatican has given its seal of approval, largely because it’s rather beautiful, poetic and sticks very close to the text of the book it’s based on, with most of the dialogue taken directly from the Bible. However Pasolini concentrates on the political side of Jesus, with Christ coming across a very intense, single-minded, rather humourless figure, whose ideas come across as surprisingly Marxist. [Read more…]

Puss In Boots (DVD)

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You have to wonder whether the fact the Shrek franchise is Dreamworks Animation’s goose that laid the golden egg was going through the minds of the powers that be when they were coming up with the story for Puss In Boots. While we were promised Shrek Forever After would be the last movie about the green ogre, it’s little surprise the studio wanted to carry on with a spin-off, and Puss In Boots is certainly a good character to do it with, allowing for a film that feels familiar but is different enough not to seem as if it’s merely rehashing the Shrek movies.

Set before Puss met his ogrish pals, the film sees the well-shod feline as an outlaw who discovers the dastardly Jack & Jill have the magic beans he’s been looking for most of his life. When he tries to steal them, he’s interrupted by another cat who on the outside of the law, Kitty Softpaws, who turns out to be allied to Puss’ old pal Humpty Dumpty. However Puss and Humpty have long been estranged, as despite growing up together in an orphanage, Puss blames Humpty for making him an outlaw when he got him involved in a robbery he knew nothing about. [Read more…]

Happy Feet Two (Blu-ray)

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In 2006 Happy Feet was a surprise hit, grossing almost $200 million in the US, but sadly this follow-up was a surprise flop, making just a third as much in North America as its predecessor. Many have suggested the problem is the amount of time between parts one and two, with six years being an age in the world of kids’ film. Whatever the reason it’s a great shame, as just like the first film, the initial sense of the whole thing being utterly ridiculous soon gives way to feeling entertained and charmed.

Mumble (Elijah Wood) is now grown up – although rather inexplicably still looks like an overgrown juvenile penguin – and has a chick of his own, Erik, a rather strong-willed youngster who unlike his father, isn’t that good at dancing, and hasn’t shown a huge amount of aptitude for anything else either, barring having a temper and getting into trouble. [Read more…]