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 Seminarian (DVD)

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I slightly wonder if the title of this one will confuse a few people, who’ll think a Seminarian is some sort of sexual stud, when it’s actually a ‘student in a theological seminary’ (thank you Dictionary.com). That said, The Seminarian does follow one of my maxims about gay-themed movies, which is that a penis will appear in the first 10 minutes, preferably in an unnecessary context – but then if I looked as good nude as Mark Cirillo I’d be unnecessarily naked a lot too.

However this is not a movie about tricking people into thinking Semin is the same as Semen or simply titillating the audience with the sight of a willy, it’s actually a romantic drama about a young, closeted man called Ryan (Cirillo), who’s trying to write a thesis he hopes will get him onto a top PH.D  theology course. His subject is ‘The Divine Gift Of Love’, looking at whether love in its many forms is an aspect of us being made in God’s image (and therefore any love for another person is an expression of His goodness), or if the seemingly unneeded pain love brings is incompatible with a truly good God. [Read more…]

Glengarry Glen Ross (Blu-ray/DVD)

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Glengarry Glen Ross is proof of what can happen when you put a great script in the hands of an ensemble of dynamite actors. In many ways Glengarry Glen Ross shouldn’t work. It’s largely about people sitting around talking, has minimal plot, and never fully escapes the stage that David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play was originally presented on.

However, what in many films would be seen as shortcomings are here the movie’s greatest strengths, as it allows the film to concentrate on the electric dynamism of Mamet’s dialogue in the hands of one of the best groups of actors ever assembled for a film (even Jack Lemmon said it was the best cast he’d ever been involved with, which is saying something). After all, it contains four Oscar-winners and two more Oscar nominees, which is certainly an impressive line-up, especially as likes of Kevin Spacey weren’t that well known when it was made. [Read more…]

The Life & Death Of Colonel Blimp (Blu-ray)

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It’s not often that being hated by Winston Churchill was a good thing, but it probably was for 1943’s The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp. The wartime leader refused to allow Laurence Olivier out of service to star in the film and along with the War Office was adamantly against the film, which they apparently worried would undermine the war effort. However it probably helped publicise the movie and went some way to making writer/directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s names.

Colonel Blimp was originally a 1930s comic strip that parodied the kind of jingoistic, pompous, old-school, army gent (which was one of the reasons Churchill and others were wary of the movie), although the film itself is a totally original tale not based directly on the comic. It follows Clive Candy, who we first meet as a stodgy old man in a Turkish bath, who’s horrified when uniformed men storm in to capture him, even though he’s adamant that “War begins at midnight!” [Read more…]

Killer Joe (DVD)

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I can easily imagine a lot of people loving Killer Joe due to its dark, twisty-turny plot, while a lot of others will also thrill to the pitch black humour. However there are a lot who will find the whole thing rather nasty, cruel and repellent, so if you think you might be one of those people, you’ll probably be best to avoid this. However if you do like thrillers that go to the most sordid of places, you may well love this.

Chris (Emile Hirsch) is in need of cash and so embroils his brother, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), in a plot to kill their heartless mother. They’re going to hire a lawman called Joe (Matthew McConaughey) who moonlights as a hired killer. It’s going to cost $25,000, but Chris has heard his mum has a $50,000 life insurance policy that will pay out to his sister, Dottie (Juno Temple). Joe wants to be paid upfront, but agrees he’ll have Dottie as a kind of retainer. However nobody has thought things out very well and things soon spiral out of control, especially when they realise just what a mean character Joe is. [Read more…]

Dark Tide (DVD)

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John Stockwell has made a bit of a career directing sea-bound films, but the problem is that the likes of Blue Crush and Into The Blue haven’t been very good. So does he manage to end the watery losing streak with Dark Tide? Nope, but at least he managed not to include the word ‘blue’ in the title.

Halle Berry is ‘shark whisperer’, Kate, who’s able to swim with Great Whites outside the cage. However while her lover Jeff is filming her for a documentary, a terrible accident occurs and someone is killed by one of the giant fish. Cut to a year later and Kate is a bit gun shy about getting into the water with sharks again, but with cash running low, the now estranged Jeff turns up and suggests a way she can get out of financial trouble. A businessman called Brady (Ralph Brown), who’s visiting with his son in South Africa, will pay $100,000 to be able swim with sharks outside the cage. Kate initially doesn’t want anything to do with it, but slowly she’s talked into it, even if she won’t guarantee the man will be able to get out of the cage. [Read more…]

Grimm – Season 1 (DVD)

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Grimm – Season 2 is just starting on UK TV, so if you need to catch up, you’ll have to get hold of this box set quickly. And it probably will help to catch up, if only because Grimm’s world of beasts and police procedural fantasy can sometimes get a little bit complicated.

Det. Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is a Portland, Oregon cop, who’s good at his job, but rarely experiences anything out of the ordinary. However then his Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) turns up and he starts seeing very strange things – certain people’s faces begin morphing into that of strange creatures, revealing the beasts within. Nick discovers that he is a Grimm, which isn’t just the surname of some fairy tale writing brothers, but essentially a job, handed down in his family. He has the ability to see the beasts, known as ‘Wesin’, who live around us and to most people just look like ordinary humans. Each race is different, from those who are like bears to those who are like beavers, and some are far more dangerous than others. [Read more…]

Chernobyl Diaries (DVD)

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The Chernobyl disaster happened back in 1986 and conspiracy theories surrounding the incident and the aftermath have been rife ever since. The surprising part about this is why a film such as this has never been made before.

Chernobyl Diaries follows a group of travellers as they venture into the land of extreme tourism, heading to the city abandoned and devastated by the disaster. Written by Oren Peli, who terrified most of the world with Paranormal Activity, you can’t help but feel a little let down by this film as it try’s to recreate what happened with the first Paranormal Activity film, but in the process becomes a typical mass of clichés. [Read more…]

Cockneys Vs. Zombies (Blu-ray)

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To follow the imaginatively titled films such as Zombie Strippers and Aliens Vs Predators, yes the title says it all, it’s exactly what it says on the tin! It This film delivers us mad flesh eating zombies and some right Cockney geezers (and girls).

After the huge success of Shaun Of The Dead, we haven’t had a good fusion of comedy and horror, instead getting lacklustre films such as The Cottage and Burke and Hare. [Read more…]

The Company Of Wolves (Blu-ray/DVD)

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If you have a teenage daughter you want to warn off boys and sex, but would prefer to do it through symbolic folklore than just telling them straight, then this in the film for you. If nothing else it’ll make them wary of any man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.

Neil Jordan’s 1984 fantasy film, based on Angela Carter’s stories, is part anthology, part tales within tales and quite often very strange. The film plays out as the dreams of a girl called Rosaleen, who’s on the threshold of womanhood. He sleeping fantasies see her living in a folklore-ish village deep in the woods. Her grandmother (Angela Lansbury) tells her stories that impress upon her that she should, “Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.” These stories within stories generally involve women falling for rather bestial men who have an extremely wolfish side, or the terrible repercussions of doing the wrong thing. [Read more…]

House – Season 8 (DVD)

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I’m still not sure how I’m going to cope – no more House! After eight years the show came to an end on television earlier this year, completing the remarkable run of one of the best TV shows of the last decade. I’ll have to console myself with the DVD box sets, the final one of which has now arrived.

The six disc set features the sardonic Dr. House’s last 22 episodes, and if you watched Season 7, you’ll know he starts the run in a bit of bother. Having taken not getting over a break-up to the extreme and crashing a car into his ex’s house, the doc begins Season 8 locked up in prison. Even there he can’t stop himself from playing mind games or trying to get to the bottom of a medical mystery that presents itself. Soon former employee and now head of Princeton Plainsboro hospital, Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps), helps House get out of the clink and return to work, even if House does have to wear an ankle monitor. [Read more…]