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

Rhod Gilbert: The Man With The Flaming Battenberg Tattoo (DVD)

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I was starting to wonder whether Rhod Gilbert’s patented brand of frustrated ranting was all purely an act. Surely someone can’t really get as annoyed and care so much about such small things? Yes it’s funny taking things to the extreme, but it’s not real, is it?

Then I watched this disc’s special feature, ‘Rhod vs. Hecklers’, which sees the comedian answer audience comments that were cut out of the main show. The first half of this feature is pretty standard, but then Rhod starts talking about how he hates the adverts pinned on the wall in front of men when they’re standing at urinals. A woman tells him that girls have the same thing on the back of the door of their toilet cubicles. And that’s enough to set Rhod off on a rant that shows just what pedant he can be, where he gets increasingly annoyed as he’s determined it’s not the back of the door, it’s the inside. [Read more…]

Arthur Christmas (Blu-ray)

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How does Santa deliver presents to all the children of the world in one night? It’s a conundrum we’ve all pondered and while spoilsport scientists have tried to say it’s impossible as he’d have to go faster than the speed of light, the fact is he can do because he’s magic. However he might also have a lot of technology on his side, which is what Arthur Christmas suggests. [Read more…]

Lee Nelson – Live (DVD)

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I’m not sure about Lee Nelson, as my initially lefty think can’t help but wonder if he’s busy reigniting the class wars. I find it difficult not to feel there’s a slightly have-your-cake-eat-it aspect to Simon Brodkin’s character, so that some will see it as a critique of clueless chaviness and laugh at his dimness and stereotyped antisocial attitudes, while others will see him as some type of working class hero. Are we meant to laugh at or with his shoplifting and sexist jokes? Is it an act that essentially makes fun of marginalised people or celebrates them? I suspect Brodkin is playing both ends against the middle, or else he solely cares that it works and people enjoy it. [Read more…]

Jack Whitehall – Live (DVD)

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If I had to put a bet on which of today’s crop of young comedians will still be on our screens in a couple of decades time, I’d put my money on Jack Whitehall. I almost hate myself for saying that as he’s has that mix of being posh (and seemingly getting posher with every day) and overconfident that normally results in the reflex reaction, ‘tosser’. [Read more…]

Daniel Sloss – Live (DVD)

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Daniel Sloss makes me feel old, and not just because he’s only 21. It’s due to the fact that I remember thinking the way he did when I was younger – such as the annoyances of younger brothers and dealing with that time when you’re an adult but still finding a new status outside the family home. Over time much of that drifted away so that now watching him is almost an odd sort of nostalgia, as there’s a slight feeling of him tapping into something many of us lose when grown-up life bashes it out of us. [Read more…]

Frankie Boyle – The Last Days Of Sodom (DVD)

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If nothing else, Frankie Boyle has been a good reminder of how controversial comedy can be. Having been subject to criticism and censure for jokes made on the BBC and recently winning a court action stemming from a Sun article that had labelled him a ‘racist comedian’, he’s also one of the few people who’s been able to put Katie Price in a position to take the moral high ground after she criticised jokes he made about her disabled son, Harvey. [Read more…]

Paul Chowdhry – What’s Happening White People? (DVD)

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This is the first time ever that a British-Indian comedian has gotten their own solo stand-up DVD. But then Paul Chowdhry is one of the first Asian comics to find much traction within the mainstream, with his career rather perversely being given a boost after a racist incident at one his gigs was reported in the national newspapers. The publicity helped to open doors and ever since he’s becomes an increasingly familiar face on stand-up shows and comedy panel series. [Read more…]

Jon Richardson: Funny Magnet (DVD)

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It’s a bit surprising that this is Jon Richardson’s first live stand-up DVD. While it feels like he’s been around for ages, it’s only been since 2010 that he’s really entered the top rung  of TV comics, taking on team captain duties on 8 Out Of 10 Cats and hosting Stand Up For The Week. Now those who haven’t managed to see him live get to see a full set from the comic on this disc.

He’s a funny man, although slightly unusual. With most modern comedians their jokes and stories come from taking normal everyday life and then regurgitating it to you. Their comedy relies on the idea that they’re like us and what they say is immediately recognisable as how most people react. Richardson meanwhile finds his humour in the space between how he is and how he knows other people are. [Read more…]

Peter Kay – Live And Back On Nights (DVD)

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A few years ago Peter Kay got a lot of stick when he released the DVD, Live At The Manchester Arena. The problem was that it was taken from the same tour as the Live At The Bolton Albert Halls release, and so while still hilarious, much of the routine was exactly the same as what his fans had seen before. He seems to have realised that perhaps that wasn’t the greatest of ideas, as while Live And Back On Nights is about the same tour as The Tour That Doesn’t Tour Tour DVD, it goes out of its way to offer something different (although the cover does still make it look like a completely new show). [Read more…]