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

Spud (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

For the last decade or so, John Cleese has given the distinct impression that he’s not really that interested in doing anything more than get his cheque and pay off his ex-wives, rather than really putting any effort in. It’s nice then that with Spud he gives us a reminder that he’s a genuinely talented chap, and not just with comedy.

Based on a book by John van de Ruit, Spud follows young John Milton (Troye Sivan), who’s about to start at the rather posh South African boarding school, Michaelhouse, just as Nelson Mandela is being freed from prison (although the political changes in South Africa play a perhaps surprisingly small role in the movie). It doesn’t take long for him to feel like an outsider, not least because he’s smaller than most of the other boys and gets the nickname Spud when they see the size of his genitals (needless to say, it’s not a compliment). [Read more…]

Albert Nobbs (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Glenn Close spent 30 years trying to get Albert Nobbs to the big screen, ever since she played the title role in the stage version off-Broadway in 1982. Finally she’s gotten her wish. She doesn’t just star in the movie, she’s also produced, co-adapted the script and even wrote the lyrics for the Sinead O’Connor song that plays over the end credits.

She is excellent as Albert, a waiter/butler in a late-19th Century Irish hotel who, despite being born a woman, has spent the last 30 years living as a man – a secret he has kept from absolutely everybody. He thinks the truth may get out after he’s forced to share his bed for the night with a painter called Hubert Page. [Read more…]

Maison Close – Series 1 (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

What is it with the French and prostitution? Ever since the 19th Century (and perhaps before) Gallic art has had an odd preoccupation with ladies of the night, from Manet’s painting Olympia and Emile Zola’s novel Nana, through movies like Belle de Jour. And just in the last year there’s been the Juliette Binoche starrer Elles, as well as House Of Tolerance, which is set in a similar milieu as the TV series Maison Close.

The series charts the lives of the workers and owners in an upscale Parisian bordello called ‘Paradise’ in the 1870s. Over the eight episodes the lives, desires and tribulations of the women are uncovered. Some feel utterly trapped and degraded by the lives they’re pretty much forced to live (if they don’t please the men they risk being sold to a cheap flophouse), while others seem happier with the money and sense of empowerment they have in a male dominated society. [Read more…]

The Hunger Games – The Unseen Version (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

In the early days of DVD, studios went to great trouble putting together really good packages, with feature-length documentaries, plenty of featurettes and various other bits and pieces to please film fans. These releases are becoming increasingly rare, with even major mega-budget blockbusters often getting paltry extras that are only there because they’re expected and give the marketers something to write on the back of the box. It’s nice then that The Hunger Games gets a two-disc Blu-ray release with around three hours of features, including an extremely good 122 minute ‘making of’ documentary. [Read more…]

Cloclo (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

I think Cloclo is gonna be a tough sell for a lot of people. It’s one thing watching a biopic of a famous face of yesteryear, but it’s another get people to watch a movie about a French guy they’ve probably never heard of, whose main claim to fame outside France is that he co-wrote the original version of Sinatra’s My Way. It doesn’t help either that he was a bit of an asshole.

However despite the fact I can’t imagine too many people picking this out as their preferred viewing option, it’s not a bad movie. Jérémie Renier plays Claude Francois – aka Cloclo – who was born in Egypt to a French family, but during the Suez crisis is forced to leave along with his family. Back in Europe he yearns to make music, even though his father disapproves. [Read more…]

The Aggression Scale (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

Steven C. Miller seems to be on a mission to mash up the family films of his youth with the wince-inducing violence of the horrors and thrillers of that era – the 1980s. Earlier this week we posted a review of Miller’s Frightfest movie Under The Bed, which we described as a ‘mix of Amblin-esque horror and bloody monster movie’. The Aggression Scale meanwhile is Home Alone meets Rambo. (And Miller’s a busy boy, as he’s also made Silent Night this year, which continues his love of the 80s as it’s a remake of Silent Night Deadly Night).

Bellavance (Ray Wise) is a crook who’s going to be sent to jail unless he can get $500,000 of his bent cash back so he can skip the country. However the money has been stolen by a former associate. He sends four armed and very dangerous heavies off to get the money. [Read more…]

Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (DVD)

By 2 Comments

Thanks to the TV series Tom Goes To The Mayor and Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim have quite the cult following and so have decided to move into film with Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie. To do so they’ve teamed up with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Funny Or Die, and with cameos from Ferrell, Jeff Goldblum, Zach Galifianakis, Will Forte, John C. Reilly, it all sounds like this should be hilarious.

Sadly it isn’t – or more accurately, it has some very funny moments, but largely it’s just dumb. You get the feeling Tim & Eric are people who know how to make comedy in bite-sized chunks but have floundered when trying to stretch things out to feature-length. The bits that work are essentially slightly surreal sketches within the main narrative, but everything inbetween is either dull, stupid or just plain lazy. It also suffers from the comedy killer that is briefly destroying the characters that have been built up just for a cheap joke. [Read more…]