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

A Man, His Mother And His Lover (DVD Review)

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Lorenz (Fabian Krüger) is a successful writer who’s made a name with his gay-themed literature. He’s called back from Berlin to his small Swiss hometown after his mother, Rosie (Sibylle Brunner), has a stroke. While she’s determined to get back to normal, with her health declining and her refusal to stop drinking too much, she may have to go into a home.

While dealing with Rosie, Lorenz also bumps into Mario (Sebastian Ledesman), a young man he knew when he was a kid but who is now all grown up and gay himself. Mario seems interested in Lorenz, but after spending the night together Lorenz starts to push Mario away, even if he isn’t sure himself why he’s so intent on backing away from this possible romance. [Read more…]

Transcendence (Blu-ray Review)

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It’s always a shame when a movie that wants to be a genuinely intelligent slice of a-list entertainment fails. If one succeeds, Hollywood always treats it like a fluke, but if it bombs they point at it as proof that all that audiences want are big, dumb fireworks. What’s a particular pity with Transcendence is that it would probably have been better as a slightly smaller film.

Johnny Depp plays Will Caster, a scientist working on artificial intelligence who believes he’s close to creating a machine that will vastly outstrip any human intellect there’s ever been. However as there always is in this type of film, a group of terrorist-type people don’t believe in this type of machine and launch a series of attacks on facilities working on AI systems. That includes shooting Will with a bullet that doesn’t initially kill him, but is poisoned with a radioactive isotope that will cause him to die over the course of a few weeks. [Read more…]

Locke (Blu-ray Review)

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Locke is the sort of film that was always in danger of seeming gimmicky. It is after all an entire movie where the only visuals are a single man, Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy), in a car driving along a motorway, with the ‘action’ playing out in real-time.

However thanks to a truly impressive performance from Hardy and the strong hold of writer/director Steven Knight it’s surprisingly gripping, smart and entertaining. [Read more…]

Goddess (DVD Review)

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Elspeth (Laura Michelle Kelly) is a young mother who’s been transplanted along with her family from the UK to rural Australia. However it’s not proving the idyll she’d hoped, as with her husband James (Ronan Keating) constantly away at sea she’s having to raise young twins alone. She doesn’t even have any friends.

When James gives her a webcam to help them keep in touch, she decides to let the world into her kitchen with a webcast where she sings ‘sink songs’. The idea becomes popular and soon catches the eye of a Sydney marketing whizz (Magda Szubanski), who wants to make Elspeth a star. However as she gets caught up in a whirlwind of possible fame, she risks losing her family. [Read more…]

Mindscape (DVD Review)

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With a largely British cast, a Spanish director and a mix of American and European money, it’s fair to say that Mindscape (released as Anna in the US) is a pretty international production. It follows John (Mark Strong), a memory detective who is able to use technology to go into other people’s minds and see their memories. However following the death of his wife and then suffering illness, he’s no longer at the top of his game.

To help him out he’s given what should be a relatively easy assignment – to go into the mind of 16-year-old Anna (Taissa Farmiga) to find the psychological root of her refusal to eat. Her father seems certain his daughter is dangerous and needs to be locked up, but very quickly from what he sees in her mind, John begins to suspect there might be something else going on. [Read more…]