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

CINEMA REVIEWS

The latest cinema reviews from BGPS

North Sea Texas (Cinema)

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While adolescence is one of cinema’s favourite subjects (and for various reasons a virtual obsession in gay and lesbian cinema), few films find a balance that feels as if it’s getting to the truth about ‘coming of age’. Bavo Defurne’s North Sea Texas does just that, telling a familiar story yet managing to make it feel fresh, acutely observed and charming. Much of this comes from evoking a strong sense of the early 1970s, great cinematography and excellent performances from a mostly inexperienced cast. It doesn’t hurt either that the strong characters avoid clichés.

Pim (Jelle Florizoone) is a teenager living with his floozy former beauty queen mother in a Belgian coastal town. His mother is more interested in how Pim makes her feel than the boy himself, although this does give him a small amount of freedom to lust after his next door neighbour, Gino (Mathias Vergels). [Read more…]

This Must Be The Place (Cinema)

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What is it with Hollywood and unimaginative film titles? In this case it can be forgiven as it refers to a song by the Talking Heads, and not some ill thought out, Channel 5 afternoon  film drama. I suppose ‘Ex Rockstar Turned Nazi Hunter’, or ‘Cheyenne’s Odyssey’ might have been too obvious.

This Must Be The Place played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2011, and is certainly quirky enough to have gone down well. The film is directed by Paolo Sorrentino (his first English language film, having won the Cannes Prix Du Jury in 2008 with Il Divo) and stars the incredible talent that is Sean Penn. [Read more…]

The Hunger Games (Cinema)

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As many know by now, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games is a young adult bestseller that’s become a phenomenon around the world. It’s now been transferred to the screen and is one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year. So far the novel trilogy has amassed over 26 million in book sales (mostly due to popular word of mouth) and this will no doubt grow after the pretty much inevitable success of the movie.

The Hunger Games is set in North America in a dystopian future. The Hunger Games have been introduced by the government as a tactic invented to help control and punish each District for a previous uprising. Each of the 12 Districts have to select a male and female teenager, who must then all fight each other to the death in a televised event, for the honour and hope of their Districts. [Read more…]

How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire (Cinema)

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Director, subject and star Dan Edelstyn sets off to the Ukraine looking into his family’s past, and to find out more about how his great grandfather was once a rich, factory owner, before the October Revolution came along in 1917. Once in Eastern Europe, Dan discovers his family’s past wasn’t just in sugar but also in Vodka. Dan returns to the UK with ideas of buying the still-standing distillery and reviving the old family business, but soon realises that’s way beyond his means. Instead he embarks on an odyssey to import the vodka into the UK and launch a new brand, hopefully helping the locals in the Ukraine along the way. [Read more…]

Trishna (Cinema)

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There have been various themes running through the incredibly eclectic films of Michael Winterbottom. He’s shown a deep interest in music (24 Hour Party People), delved repeatedly into foreign countries and politics (A Mighty Heart, Welcome To Sarajevo), and experimented with different naturalistic, almost documentary styles (9 Songs, The Road To Guantanamo).

There’s also been a bit of an obsession with the works of Thomas Hardy, as he’s made Jude, based on Jude The Obscure, The Claim, which took The Mayor Of Casterbridge to the 19th Century American frontier, and now Trishna, which is Tess Of The D’Urbervilles in modern-day India. With an almost improvised style, culture clash themes and mix of musical types, the film brings together a whole heap of Winterbottom’s interests. [Read more…]

John Carter (Cinema)

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This was always going to be an eagerly anticipated take on an American Classic, now brought to us by Disney and directed by Andrew Stanton of Pixar fame, who helmed the brilliant Wall-E and Finding Nemo.

The John Carter books, by Edgar Rice Boroughs (of Tarzan fame), are relatively little known outside the US, but to a certain extent they’re America’s equivalent of British classics such as Lord Of The Rings and Narnia, loved by children and adults alike. I knew very little of John Carter prior to hearing about the release, but the Avatar-esque trailers were promising. Unfortunately though the end result feels more like the dodgy adaptation that turned out to be The Golden Compass, although thankfully not as bad as that movie. [Read more…]

This Means War (Cinema)

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I know the exact moment when I gave up on the idea that This Means War was going to be a good movie. Fairly early on Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) is shopping with her friend, Trish (Chelsea Handler), a character who only exists to give Lauren an excuse to say exactly what she’s thinking at any point in time.

However it wasn’t the lazy exposition (something the film loves to engage in) that made me realise that behind the fireworks there wasn’t much going on in This Means War, it was because the scene was set up so that the two women were doing their entire supermarket shop based on what was on the end of the aisles. They picked out detergent, looked at special offers and neither of them seemed to need anything that wasn’t right there in front of them. [Read more…]

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Cinema)

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The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel doesn’t have the catchiest title I have ever heard. However, based on the novel by Deborah Moggach, the film stars the ‘crème de la crème’ of our favourite geriatric British film and TV actors, and is directed by John Madden (Shakespeare In love, Mrs Brown and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin).

After the phenomenal success of Slumdog Millionaire, it was inevitable that at some point mainstream British cinema would be return to India. The premise of the film is that seven elderly people decide to up-sticks from the UK and go to India, moving into a hotel for the ‘elderly and beautiful’. However it doesn’t quite live up to the image of the photoshopped promos! [Read more…]

The Woman In The Fifth (Cinema)

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Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke) isn’t having a good time. He arrives in Paris in the hope of reuniting with his daughter, but is soon thrown out of his ex-wife’s home amid accusations of prior violence and a restraining order. After falling asleep on a bus, he wakes up at the end of the line having been robbed of his suitcase and cash.

Still in hope of having some contact with his child, Tom manages to find a cheap room in a hovel and to supplement his income with a strange CCTV job that merely involves opening a door for people, without knowing what’s on the other side. He has hopes of finishing his second novel (even though he seems to remember little about the first), and putting his life back on track. [Read more…]

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D (Cinema)

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I was seven-years-old when the original Star Wars movie came out, but for some reason after watching the first trilogy, I missed Phantom Menace on the big screen (I think I was off my tits at Mardi Gras in Sydney) and just never bothered to see the subsequent films. So I was really excited to be invited to the 3D theatrical re-release of the 1992 prequel, which is set 32 years BBY (before the battle of Yarvin)

Watching the current seven-year-olds having their picture taken with Storm Troopers in the foyer, a cute young bear asked if I’d take one for him and having obliged, he returned the favour saying that “we bearded geek types should stick together” –  I should have heard the alarm bells ringing and run to the barbers but thinking I’d pulled [Read more…]