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 Skin I Live In (2011)

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Pedro Almodovar rarely makes a bad movie and The Skin I Live In is no exception. Antonio Banderas plays a doctor called Robert Legrand, who’s known for his advances in artificial skin and sex change operations. However he hides a secret, because locked away at home is a woman (Elena Anaya) he’s been doing surgical experiments on. She wants to get out, but Robert has a sophisticated security system and a dedicated mother (Marisa Parades) to keep her in. But is he keeping her in because what he’s been doing is illegal, or is there more going on?

The Skin I Live In is the sort of film where I don’t want to say too much about the plot or it’ll spoil the film’s slow reveal, but suffice to say things are not as they appears, and it all has to do with former tragedies in the doctor’s life and the destruction of his family. And it’s no coincidence the woman looks like Robert’s deceased wife. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 7: Bad Romance (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

With Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia out on Monday, we’ve been busy working our way through all eight of Peccadillo Picture’s great compilations of gay short films. You’d think we’d have had enough of them by now, but the series keeps coming up trumps, and this seventh outing, Bad Romance, is no exception (we’ll bring you our thoughts on Cruel Britannia tomorrow). With a loose theme of love gone wrong, these 10 films from around the world cover everything from horror to teen romance, and there’s even an Oscar winner thrown in for good measure.

Here’s what we thought of the shorts: [Read more…]

Final Destination 5 (DVD)

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I’m slightly worried I’m about to die. Before I even put the Final Destination 5 DVD in the player, I had a premonition that it would be about someone foreseeing a terrible event that allows them and a bunch others to survive, followed by an hour of death trying to claim the lives of those who managed to escape its clutches. As I knew all that before the film started playing, going by the rules of the franchise it surely means I’m going to die in an overly elaborate fashion anytime now!

This time around the disaster is a spectacularly collapsing bridge, and it’s a guy called Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) who’s having the premonition, which allows him to lead a bunch of his friends and work colleagues off the bridge just before all hell breaks loose. [Read more…]

Meet Me In St. Louis (Cinema)

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When people complain that modern movies are lacking in plot, I suggest they go watch Meet Me In St. Louis, a film that makes many modern blockbusters look like they’ve got Russian novels full of storyline. However the 1944 musical, which is getting a welcome Christmassy cinema re-release courtesy of the BFI, is proof you don’t need acres of plot to make a movie.

Here’s the story: The Smith family lives in St. Louis and the four daughters are really looking forward to the 1904 World’s Fair, which is due to be held in the city. However their father gets a job in New York and so they might not be able to go to the fair. And, um, well that’s about it! [Read more…]

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (Cinema)

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This sequel has a lot of expectations to live up to. The first Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes amassed over $524 million at the worldwide box office and remains in the Top 100 grossing films of all time.

As you’d hope, in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows the original bromance is back with a vengeance! Guy Ritchie has delivered once again (after a few turkeys mind!), as the on-screen chemistry between Jude Law and Robert Downey Jnr. is superb – reminiscent of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The supporting cast is also tremendous in their roles, although some of the parts are just too small. Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade is most notably missing screen time – blink and you’ll miss him – as is the excellent Geraldine James as the long-suffering Mrs Hudson (though I can’t help but think of her as one of the prostitutes from Band Of Gold!). [Read more…]

Puss In Boots (Cinema)

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Shrek spin-off Puss In Boots has already had quite a lot of good reviews in the US, but it’s just the latest attempt by the liberal left in Hollywood to indoctrinate kids. Everyone knows that the natural state of cats is not to be in boots, but Dreamworks Animation and its media colleagues keep presenting this perversion of nature to us as if it’s something we should treat as normal. Not content with using the Shrek movies to warp young minds into thinking that cats in footwear are the equal of regular unshod felines, now they’re giving Puss In Boots a whole movie to himself!

It’s just plain wrong. It’s bound to cause children to start asking awkward questions about why Puss is wearing boots. It should be a parent’s decision how and when to broach such thorny subjects, not forced upon them by the all-powerful pro-shoes-for-cats agenda. Indeed it’s gotten to the point where right thinking people are afraid to stand up for what’s right and openly say Puss shouldn’t wear boots! [Read more…]

Brazil (Blu-ray)

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A masterpiece to some, a source of utter befuddlement to others, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil has been dividing opinions now for over 25 years. Now it reaches Blu-ray, which is certainly a good way to show off the film’s extraordinary production design.

Set in a dystopian mix of the future and the past, Jonathan Pryce plays Sam Lowry, a man trying to live a quiet life as part of a vast bureaucracy, but who has extravagant dreams where he’s a flying, monster-slaying hero. During his waking life though, he’s mainly trying to be efficient and stop his plastic surgery obsessed mother from pushing him around. [Read more…]

We Were Here (DVD)

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Although it’s a bit of a shame We Were Here didn’t hit DVD  last week, just in time for AIDS Awareness Day on December 1st, the powerful documentary about the impact of HIV and AIDS in San Francisco in the 1980s has now been released. It’s already received plenty of plaudits, including being shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar.

We Were Here consists of interviews with San Franciscans who lived through the early years of the emergence of AIDS, giving testimony about its effect on them and those around them. For a younger generation for whom HIV has largely seemed like a manageable condition (whether that’s the truth or not), it’s sobering stuff. [Read more…]

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (DVD)

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Harry Potter has undoubtedly been one of the greatest phenomenons in movie history. It’s managed eight films without a dud, grossed more cash than any other franchise in history, and perhaps most impressively has kept nearly all the same actors throughout its run. It’s been a part of many people’s lives for a full decade, especially those who’ve grown up alongside Harry and co. Indeed, when I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 in the cinemas I was sat behind a university-aged young man who announced as the end credits began to roll, “Well, that’s my childhood over.” [Read more…]

Eating Out: Drama Camp (DVD)

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A few years ago, the idea that a gay film series could prove so popular that it would have reached a fourth entry, with a fifth on the way, would have seemed impossible, but Q. Allan Brocka’s Eating Out has. While the first film in 2004 was a rather sweet rom com, things have increasingly headed in the direction of farce ever since, particularly since the third entry, which featured a mostly new cast and a more gross-out attitude (only Rebekah Kochan as the very loud Tiffani has appeared in all the Eating Out movies, although her role in Drama Camp is tiny). [Read more…]