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

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…]

The Hunger Games (Cinema)

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As many know by now, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games is a young adult bestseller that’s become a phenomenon around the world. It’s now been transferred to the screen and is one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year. So far the novel trilogy has amassed over 26 million in book sales (mostly due to popular word of mouth) and this will no doubt grow after the pretty much inevitable success of the movie.

The Hunger Games is set in North America in a dystopian future. The Hunger Games have been introduced by the government as a tactic invented to help control and punish each District for a previous uprising. Each of the 12 Districts have to select a male and female teenager, who must then all fight each other to the death in a televised event, for the honour and hope of their Districts. [Read more…]

Weekend (Blu-ray)

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A film which consists in large part of two gay blokes sitting around talking doesn’t immediately smack of something that would set the critical world alight and bag awards at the likes of the British Independent Film Awards, The Evening Standard British Film Awards and the London Critics Circle Film Awards. Weekend did just that though, and it deserved every award and more. Indeed if the world was fair and small independent movies could compete on a level playing field with the big boys, it should have scored a fair few BAFTA noms too.

The film opens on a Friday evening with the quiet, self-effacing Russell (Tom Cullen) heading off to his straight mates’ house before pretending that he’s tired, begging his leave and going to a gay club on the pull. There he meets the louder, brasher Glen (Chris New) and the two end up in bed together. The next morning, Glen gets out his tape recorder as Russell has drunkenly promised to be part of his art project, where he gets people to record their thoughts. [Read more…]

A Horrible Way To Die (DVD)

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If a film is called A Horrible Way To Die, you’d expect it to mainly be about dying in horrible ways. However compared to a lot of horror movies, there’s comparatively little dying in this film, and what death there is, is more of the rather unpleasant kind than the truly horrible. However, while the title is unnecessarily generic and doesn’t really match the movie itself, it doesn’t mean the film is completely without merit.

Sarah (Amy Seimetz) is a young woman trying to rebuild her life after a disastrous relationship and a descent into alcoholism. However she’s now going to AA and seems to be getting back on the right track and is even thinking of getting back in the dating game with fellow AA member Kevin (Joe Swanberg). Meanwhile vicious serial killer Garrick Turrell (AJ Bowen) has escaped prison and is cutting a swathe through the local population, killing anyone who gets in his way. What will happen when his path crosses with Sarah’s? [Read more…]

Snowtown (DVD)

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Snowtown comes to DVD with a reputation for violence, intensity and people walking out of the cinema because they couldn’t stomach it. However if you’re expecting this to be gruesome, gory and basically the latest successor to Saw, you’ll be disappointed, as the strong reactions people have had to Snowtown are more to do with its psychological intensity and moral complexity than the on-screen violence – although it does have its moments.

Based on a true story and with a largely first-time cast and crew, Snowtown tells the story of teenager Jamie (Lucas Pittaway), living in a poor, deprived neighbourhood just outside Adelaide in Australia. It’s a place where abuse seems commonplace, with Jamie dealing with it not only from his mother’s boyfriend but also his own family. [Read more…]

How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire (Cinema)

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Director, subject and star Dan Edelstyn sets off to the Ukraine looking into his family’s past, and to find out more about how his great grandfather was once a rich, factory owner, before the October Revolution came along in 1917. Once in Eastern Europe, Dan discovers his family’s past wasn’t just in sugar but also in Vodka. Dan returns to the UK with ideas of buying the still-standing distillery and reviving the old family business, but soon realises that’s way beyond his means. Instead he embarks on an odyssey to import the vodka into the UK and launch a new brand, hopefully helping the locals in the Ukraine along the way. [Read more…]

Booked Out (DVD)

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Booked Out is a sweet but small-scale movie that was always going to have difficulty finding large-scale distribution, and so it’s going with a rather charming DIY-feeling release strategy, with a DVD & Blu-ray release on Monday, alongside a cinema tour with accompanying Q&As all over the country between now and mid-April (you can find out more about that here).

The film follows artist and bookstore worker Ailidh (Mirren Burke), who’s seen a young man coming and going from another one of the flats in her building and so she manufactures a way of meeting him – by acting as if she’s accidentally dropped all her drawings on him. The man turns out to be Jacob (Rollo Weekes), and soon a friendship develops between the two of them, partly due to Ailidh drawing Jacob into helping her with fellow neighbour Mrs. Nicholls, whose husband died several years before, although she still acts as if he’s alive, well and in the house. [Read more…]

Love Never Dies (DVD)

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It strikes me that your appreciation for Love Never Dies may depend on your thoughts about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom Of The Opera, with the slightly odd thing being that the sequel may best be appreciated by those indifferent to the original. The reason for that is that those in love with Phantom will rile at the lack of the classic score and the rather different tone, while those who hate it tend to do so for reasons that have little to do with the show itself (and more to do with the sort of supposedly spectacle over substance musical entertainment it represents) and Love Never Dies will do nothing to change that. [Read more…]

Goblin (DVD)

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The Perkins family heads out to a small hamlet deep in the woods to spend Halloween and so the parent can discuss a possible big business opportunity. However Hollow Glen hides a secret – back in the dim and distant past a witch put a curse of the entire town in revenge for them burning her sickly child – an evil creature known as The Goblin will rise every Halloween and kill any infant in the vicinity, cutting a swath through anyone that has even the smallest whiff of little kid on them. And wouldn’t you know it, the Perkins don’t just have mom, dad and two teen daughters, but also a little baby that would make perfect goblin grub. [Read more…]

Le Clan (DVD)

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The 2005 French flick gets a welcome re-release. Le Clan follows three young brothers, with the narrative split into three sections, each focussing on a different brother, but carrying on the overall story.

Things start off with middle-brother Marc (Nicolas Cazale), who’s a bit of a hard nut and on the edge of the drug dealing world. When a deal goes wrong, his life is suddenly in danger, which may have dangerous repercussions for both him and his dog. Older brother Christophe is fresh out of prison and trying to turn his life around, getting a job in a meat packing factory. Finally there’s Olivier, who’s carrying on a secret relationship with another young man, trying to find his way to happiness against the backdrop of his slightly wayward brothers and harsh father. [Read more…]