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

REVIEWS

Cinema, DVD and Blu-ray reviews

McQueen (Blu-ray Review) – An exhilarating look into the life of the gay fashion legend

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I’ve often thought that if I ever had enough money that I could spend it on high end fashion, the first place I’d head is for Alexander McQueen. While in this documentary the fashion label’s namesake and founder, Lee Alexander McQueen, says in an archive interview that he can’t see the brand going on without him as the driving force, following his untimely death it has continued to find success and present the unique McQueen style thanks to the creative direction of his right hand person, Sarah Burton.

The documentary itself focuses on Lee, following his story from working class East End London lad through his apprenticeship in Savile Row, MA at Central St. Martin’s, founding his own fashion label in his early 20s, his appointment as Creative Director at Givenchy and on through the growth of the Alexander McQueen brand thanks to a partnership with Gucci. It does this via extensive archive footage as well as interviews with those closest to him, including his sister and nephew, along with the circle of friends and colleagues who worked alongside him over the years. [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 3 (Short Film Reviews)

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The final three programmes of short films in competition at the Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival were certainly an intriguing bunch, ranging from the complex and somewhat sinister to the very silly. The six-day celebration of LGBT+ film is centred around its justly prestigious Iris International Prize. This is the most valuable LGBT short film prize in the world, worth £30,000, which allows the recipient to make another short.

So, what were the films that rounded out the competition like (can read about the others in Part 1 and Part 2)? [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 2 (Short Film Reviews)

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The second day of the Iris Prize Film Festival brought another trio of eclectic film brought together into themed programmes. The six-day celebration of LGBT+ film is centred around its justly prestigious Iris International Prize. This is the most valuable LGBT short film prize in the world, worth £30,000, which allows the recipient to make another short.

You can read about what we thought about the films from Day 1 by clicking here, but read below for Day 2. [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 1 (Short Film Reviews)

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The ‘gay short film Oscars’, the Iris Prize, is happening in Cardiff, Wales as I post this. The six-day celebration of LGBT+ film is centred around its justly prestigious Iris International Prize. This is the most valuable LGBT short film prize in the world, worth £30,000, which allows the recipient to make another short. The first of the 35 films in competition have now screened, and once more it’s an eclectic and fascinating bunch, covering a range of themes concerning sexuality, gender and more.

This year the screenings of the shorts have been brought together into thematic groups, so take a look below to see our thoughts on the Iris Prize International Shorts from Day 1 of the fest.

Click here to read Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2018 – Part 2 [Read more…]

Book Club (DVD Review) – A cast of living legends reads Fifty Shades of Grey

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For decades four female friends have been getting together for a monthly book club. However, while this started when they were in their youth, they now all facing the fact they’re aging. Diane (Diane Keaton) is a relatively recent widow being pressured by her daughters to move to nearer to them in Arizona, as they think she’s too old to manage by herself. Carol (Mary Steenburgen) is stuck in a rut with her husband, while federal judge Sharon (Candice Bergen) has completely given up on the idea of either love or sex. Finally there’s Vivian (Jane Fonda), a woman who’s never had a problem finding sex but has always disdained the idea of settling down with one person.

Rather than their typical book club novels, the quartet decide to read Fifty Shades Of Grey. After discovering the Red Room shenanigans that Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele get up to, the four women start to shake up their own lives. That may not involve BDSM, but it does set them thinking about what they really want from their remaining years. [Read more…]

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Cinema Review)

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It really doesn’t seem that long since I saw the last Mission: Impossible film (Rogue Nation, 2015), and I praised it for its ability to utilise the tried and tested formula of its predecessors, whilst being a fresh and exhilarating entry to the franchise. That’s something this series continues to do effortlessly with Fallout, which is without doubt one of the best entries. You can’t say that for many other franchises six movies in.

Without going too much into the plot, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team have to retrieve three plutonium cores before they are turned into nuclear bombs, as well as foil the plot of a religious terrorist group called the Apostles, who want to reshape the world. On this mission Hunt is chaperoned by CIA agent Walker (Henry Cavill), and we have the welcome return of regulars Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), Ilsa (Rebeccan Fergurson), alongside some new and memorable additions. [Read more…]

Tomb Raider (Blu-ray Review) – Alicia Vikander takes on Lara Croft

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Many people were surprised when it was announced there was going to be a Tomb Raider movie reboot, especially considering the Angelina Jolie movies of the early 2000s aren’t exactly well remembered. However, as with so many other videogames, there’s no intrinsic reason it couldn’t be turned into a good movie. Although for some reason, Hollywood has great difficulty turning games into serviceable film.

This time around Jolie has been replaced by Alicia Vikander, who like her predecessor stepped into Lara Croft’s shoes shortly after winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar (Jolie for Girl Interrupted and Vikander for The Danish Girl). Her Lara is a young woman who’s fiercely intelligent and smart, but whose life shifted sideways when her adventurer father went missing, presumed dead, when she was a child. [Read more…]

My Friend Dahmer (Cinema Review) – The infamous gay serial killer as a teen

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Often I like to watch films that I know nothing about besides the title so that it doesn’t taint my viewing experience, but having seen this movie I feel that having prior knowledge of the protagonist’s horrific crimes would have enabled me to have gotten more out of this film.

Having grown up in England and not having an interest in serial killers, I had never really heard of Jeffrey Dahmer and the 17 men and boys he murdered between 1978 and 1991. I read his Wikipedia page after seeing this movie and it shed a lot of light upon things that were hinted at, both subtly and explicitly, throughout the film. [Read more…]

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (DVD Review) – Robbed of the Best Picture Oscar?

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For many Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri seemed to be the smart bet to win the Best Picture Oscar. While The Shape Of Water had made the early running, Three Billboards gained momentum through the Award season and seemed like it might cruise to a victory. In the end it didn’t get the big gong, although it did win for the exceptionally strong performance of Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell. Many were also surprised it lost for writer/director Martin McDonagh’s screenplay, although it is a couple of issues with that screenplay that may be the reason it didn’t win the biggest award.

McDormand plays the hard-bitten Mildred, a woman filled with anger at the local police’s inability to catch whoever was responsible for the rape and murder of her daughter. To try and force the authorities into action she hires three billboards on a rural road, putting up massive posters asking why there have been no arrests and specifically calling out police chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). [Read more…]

The Post (Blu-ray Review) – Spielberg, Streep & Hanks stand up for press freedom

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He may be in his 70s but Steven Spielberg shows no signs of slowing down. He managed to slot in The Post while simultaneously making Ready Player One, something most directors half his age wouldn’t even contemplate let alone succeed at.

The Post is a bit of an old school flick, set in the 1970s and telling the story of the Pentagon Papers, a leaked set of documents that revealed that while in public the military and government was still positive about the war in Vietnam, privately many felt that it was unwinnable and that official finding bore this out. The authorities from President Richard Nixon downwards unsurprisingly didn’t want this made public, while the press felt it was imperative to publish it. [Read more…]

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