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

X-Men: Apocalypse (Cinema Review)

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I’ve been a big fan of the X-Men ever since watching the Saturday morning cartoons many years ago, and I have been waiting for the films to introduce Apocalypse and do justice to one of his storylines. X-Men (2000) is seen as the birth of the modern comic book movie and still holds up today as a great film. Seven franchise entries later (excluding Deadpool (2016)) and it’s no surprise that the films have varied in quality.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) was great as it combined the worlds of the original trilogy and the X-Men: First Class (2011), with older and younger actors portraying different versions of their characters and a time traveling plot with peril for both mutants and humans. But it did lose me with the plastic sentinels with plastic bullets, and presumably plastic processors and wires. Also the ending didn’t make much sense, until you realised that it combined two separate timelines and ended up with four. [Read more…]

Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures (Cinema Review)

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Many people know the name Robert Mapplethorpe and the fact that he took some pretty rude photos. However, the man himself has become somewhat lost in the mix. Indeed, perhaps the best known thing about him happened after he died. His exhibition The Perfect Moment caused protests in many of the cities it travelled to in the US, which launched a national conversation about whether the government should subsidise such ‘shocking’ art. It also resulted in a court case that tried to convict one of the exhibition spaces showing The Perfect Moment with obscenity.

That’s not the only thing that’s tended to obscure the man behind the myth, as well as meaning many people know little about the breadth of his art. Other things that sometimes overshadow a fuller appreciation of Mapplethorpe include his relationship with Patti Smith, as well as particular images that tend to overwhelm everything around them (such as the infamous self-portrait where he has a bullwhip stuck up his ass). Indeed, many watching this documentary may be surprised about how many his non-sexual images they recognise, without knowing he was the man behind them. If nothing else, Look At The Pictures is testament to what a good photographer he was. [Read more…]

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Cinema Review)

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This film has been a long time coming and there are some great articles online chronicling the various attempts to bring Batman vs Superman and the Justice League to the silver screen. As you can tell from the subtitle, this film serves as an introduction to the Justice League films coming in 2017 and 2019, and the continuation of the DCCU (Detective Comics Cinematic Universe) which began with Man of Steel in 2013.

But in a film that is two and a half hours long I was concerned that they would rush the introduction to a wealth of new characters and backstories when it should just focus on the leads. Too many cooks and all.

DC and Warner Brothers are reaching for the financial success that Marvel has had with their cinematic universe (MCU), but the tone of their films set the studios apart. Marvel films are more light-hearted whereas DC’s recent films have mainly been darker (excluding the Schumacher Batman movies). Despite the darker tone I enjoyed Man of Steel up until the finale, where it seemed like the production had $100 million left and spent it needlessly destroying Metropolis. But it didn’t feel like a Superman movie and lacked the charm of Richard Donner’s 1978 version. [Read more…]

Spotlight (Cinema Review)

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For many, All the President’s Men is the ultimate 70s paranoia movie, the film which inspired a generation of investigative journalists. Now, all these years later, comes a film which in every way is its equal. Spotlight is angry, unbearably tense, brilliantly written and performed, and of course based on a real life scandal, arguably one of the biggest scandals to hit America since the 1970s.

The newsroom in question is the Boston Globe, specifically its special investigations section called Spotlight. Its leader is Michael Keaton, who immediately comes under pressure to deliver a story by new editor Live Schreiber, a peculiar, possibly autistic man but one who is thorough in his job and sees potential in a story about a child abuse case. Keaton agrees to pursue the story with his crack team, including the driven Mark Ruffalo and the sensitive Rachel McAdams. They slowly reveal several cases of abuse of children in the 1970s by Catholic priests, and try to get the victims, now very fragile adults, to reveal their stories. [Read more…]

The Revenant (Cinema Review)

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2016 should be the year that Leonardo DiCaprio bags his first Oscar, while Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu picks his second for Best Director and Best Picture (following last year’s Birdman). As in the title of the film, DiCaprio is a revenant – a person who has returned supposedly from the dead.

Based on a true story, the premise of the film is one of revenge set against the backdrop of the bleak wilderness of America around 1820. Glass (played by DiCaprio) and his half-Indian son are fur trappers, whose party is attacked by a group of Indians intent on stealing their fur so that they can trade it with the French. The decimated party then struggle against the elements to make their way back to their base, whilst trying to shake off the Indians, who are intent on killing them and stealing the furs. [Read more…]

The Danish Girl (Cinema Review)

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The idea of a film about Lili Elbe has been doing the rounds of Hollywood for years, but despite plenty of interest from well-known actors and directors, it never got off the ground, partly because the money men thought a period piece about transgender issues would be box office poison. However, trans issues suddenly hit the mainstream and the film got the go ahead.

It’s certainly arrived with a lot of fanfare, but the movie is so polite in a very British sort of way, that it will leave many feeling like they’ve appreciated it but aren’t totally satisfied. [Read more…]

Carol (Cinema Review)

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If Far From Heaven was Todd Haynes’ love letter to director Douglas Sirk, this is his tribute to painter Edward Hopper. Whatever the flaws of his film – more of which later – it is probably the best-looking movie of 2015. Meticulously reimagining the New York of the 1950s it has shot after shot of its protagonists exquisitely framed, gorgeously coloured and superbly dressed.

Several moments are worth pausing and gazing at for hours, especially one amazing shot of a grey, drab New York street lifted by the bright red coat and hat of the ethereal Cate Blanchett striding along. The interiors are gloomy, the exteriors washed out and tired-looking. Hopper would be impressed.

It received a standing ovation at Cannes and has been held back to coincide with Oscars season, during which it will probably clean up. However… [Read more…]

Tangerine (Cinema Review)

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While many movies were hoping to get a blaze of publicity by debuting at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the one that got the biggest boost was Tangerine. Few had heard of the movie before the fest, but it got huge amounts of buzz and won the Jury Prize, something it certainly deserved.

Sin-dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is just out of jail and meets up with her friend, Alexandra (Mya Taylor) to celebrate. Alexandra lets Sin-dee know some bad news – her boyfriend and pimp, Chester, has been sleeping with someone else while she was inside. The now furious Sin-dee sets off to find this woman, something that proves more difficult that you’d think.

Alexandra meanwhile is preparing for a performance she’s arranged at a club, but before that she needs some cash, which involves turning some tricks. [Read more…]

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (Cinema Review)

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Here we have the end of a franchise that initially I didn’t think I would like, but which I have been impressed with over the years. Yet another teen book sensation transitioned onto the big screen, and on the surface The Hunger Games (2012) seemed like a tween rip-off of the excellent Battle Royal (2000). However, it was so much more than what I was expecting and its sequel Catching Fire (2013) is one of those rare sequels that is better than its predecessor.

As Hollywood trends seem fit, the third and final book, Mockingjay, was split into two movies a la Harry Potter, Divergent and Twilight. But this trend generates more money for the studio and the audience gets more time with the characters and story that they love. Everyone (in theory) wins, although with Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) the audience was left hungry for more (pun intended). [Read more…]

Dressed As A Girl (Cinema Review)

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There are plenty of different opinions out there about drag queens, from those that think it’s a valuable part of the LGBT heritage or a harmless bit of fun, to those who feel it is a mockery of women and trans people, and plays into harmful stereotypes.

Dressed As A Girl should challenge a lot of people’s ideas of the world of drag – whether they’re positive, negative or indifferent – taking us into the lives of several members of the London East End alternative drag scene. Although there is a sort-of narration and interviews with the participants, there’s generally a bit of a cinema verité feel, with the camera following the performers around (it was filmed across six years) and allowing the viewer to contemplate what’s going on.

It’s a veritable bunch of eccentrics, from veterans such as Jonny Woo and John Sizzle, to up and comers like Scottee. There’s also Holestar, a drag performer who isn’t just dressed as a girl, as she was born one, and Amber, who has gone from the drag scene to transitioning to live as a woman full time. [Read more…]