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

Ex_Machina (Blu-ray Review)

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Young programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a competition to meet the legendary but very reclusive Nathan (Oscar Isaac), the owner of the company Caleb works for, on his secluded, private estate. Once there Caleb discovers this isn’t just a holiday, but that he’s expected to take part in an experiment to see whether Nathan has broken through the barrier to create an artificial intelligence that can truly think for itself, and which is indistinguishable from human behaviour.

Caleb is introduced to Ava (Alicia Vikander), an AI housed in a very human looking body. Soon Caleb is thrown into a quandary. He is extremely taken by Ava, but knows there’s always the possibility that rather than truly thinking, Ava is simply using her programming to ‘fool’ him into thinking she’s more ‘real’ than she is. With Nathan possibly switching Ava off if she fails – something Ava seems to be afraid of – and Caleb increasingly wondering how he knows whether anything is real, the situation starts to grow dangerous. [Read more…]

Masters Of Sex – Season 2 (DVD Review)

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It’s back to the repressed 1950s in Masters Of Sex – Season 2, where Bill Master (Michael Sheen) is still dealing with the fact the world is less ready for his study into the body’s physiological response to sex than even he expected. He’s been let go from the hospital and is finding it tough to find somewhere to resume his work. Even when he finds a new hospital, it may not be the perfect fit he was hoping.

Things are complicated by his new baby, especially as he is aware the child probably isn’t biologically his. That also puts pressure on his relationship with his wife, as does his increasingly complicated relationship with the co-author of the study, Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan). Their sexual dynamic has stretched beyond their scientific experimentation, but they still wish to maintain a strong working relationship. [Read more…]

Whiplash (DVD Review)

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It’s not too surprising that most of the posters for Whiplash, and indeed the DVD cover, is covered in quotes and star ratings from reviews. After all, it was always going to be a tough sell at the cinema to get your average moviegoer to give it a chance, as few people will go ‘Do you fancy seeing the one about the young drummer who gets shouted at a lot?’ – unless you give them a damn good reason, that is. JK Simmons deservedly winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar didn’t hurt either.

It’s actually not too bad a plot synopsis that this is a film about a young drummer who gets shouted at a lot. It’s about a lot more than that too, not least what it takes to make someone truly great at something, rather than just being good. [Read more…]

American Sniper (DVD Review)

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Often when an actor has a passion project it turns out to be something that should never have been attempted and ends up as a very expensive way to massage their ego. However, while Bradley Cooper was one of the major driving forces behind American Sniper, it was always clear he was onto something interesting. Indeed, at one point Steven Spielberg even signed on to direct, before the gig went to Clint Eastwood.

While Clint may be known as a bit of a hard man actor, he really brings the emotion out of what could have been a rather stereotypical war story in other hands.

The film is about Chris Kyle (Cooper), who found ‘fame’ of sorts when he became the Navy SEAL sniper with the most verified kills in US history. However, the movie isn’t just about his time on the battlefield but also its effects – both how he deals with what he’s doing while on tour (which for a sniper is oddly personal, as it involves very deliberately finding a single person and snuffing out their life) and also when he arrives back home and is suddenly supposed to jump into ‘normal’ life again. [Read more…]

Fortitude – Season 1 (DVD Review)

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I enjoyed Fortitude but there is a slight sense with the 12-part series that a bunch of people sat in a room and came up with a list of TV shows they liked, and then tried to put together something that included a little bit of all of them. As a result there are echoes of Broadchurch, Lost, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, The Killing and various other things.

Indeed it gets to the point where it’s difficult not to feel the series ends up as something rather different from how it begins, to the point that those who were hoping for the initial murder-mystery might feel a little cheated when it goes a little sci-fi (even if it is very much at the softer, more realistic end of sci-fi). However, those who are open and stick with it are likely to find it rewarding. [Read more…]

Stretch (Blu-ray Review)

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Stretch is a bit of a crazy film. Indeed it’s so crazy that despite a cast full of well-known actors the studio behind it didn’t know quite what to do with it and cancelled its US cinema release just a couple of months before it was due to hit cinemas, before trying to sell it to another distributor. However, that’s a shame as while it is nuts and sometimes incredibly messy, it’s also oddly entertaining, even if you can see the studio’s point that it’s a tough film to properly market.

Patrick Wilson plays an LA limo driver whose life hasn’t turned out as he wanted – he planned to be an actor but never made it, he’s lost the love of his life and now he’s got a massive gambling debt and no time to pay it off. In the hope of getting a massive tip he takes a job driving an extremely eccentric passenger (Chris Pine), but soon finds him caught up in a situation involving foreign gangsters, the FBI, a suitcase full of cash, an asshole version of Ray Liotta (playing himself) and a psychotic tow truck driver. [Read more…]

Shaun The Sheep The Movie (Blu-ray Review)

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It’s amazing to think that Shaun The Sheep started off as a minor character in one of the Wallace & Gromit shorts, as since then he’s become a bit of a children’s entertainment powerhouse, with a TV series, loads of merchandise, a spin-off (in the form of Timmy Time), and now a movie.

In the film Shaun decides that once more he must try to outwit the farmer so that and the flock can take the day off. However a series of accidents results in the sheep ending up in the big city. They dress up as humans and set out to look for the farmer, who has been knocked over the head and has amnesia. During to his shearing skills, the farmer becomes a celebrated hairstylist, but can Shaun and co. get to him and help him recover his memories, before the evil animal control man can get them? [Read more…]