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

The Wolf Of Wall Street (Cinema)

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We’ve had Wall Street, Boiler Room, Margin Call and, God help us all, Wall Street 2. Now we get Martin Scorsese’s take on the 1990s decade of excess, in which a tiny number of people got very rich by ripping off ordinary people by selling worthless junk bonds.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort is, theoretically, a hugely conflicted and interesting character. As he admits, he’s not a Harvard type, merely an ordinary Joe driven to making his millions, initially hit by starting his first day at work on Black Monday – which turns out to be his last. Undeterred he takes a job at a rundown Long Island firm, selling junk bonds over the phone and making cash fast thanks to his winning charm. [Read more…]

Exposed: Beyond Burlesque (Cinema)

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In recent years the likes of Dita Von Teese have helped to bring the world of burlesque back into the public consciousness. However Exposed: Beyond Burlesque is here to show that this world goes far beyond slightly kitsch striptease with a sprinkling of feminism on the top. The documentary follows several performers who don’t fit into simple boxes, showing how burlesque can be used to challenge perceptions of things such as gender and disability. [Read more…]

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Cinema)

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There’s one thing to be said of Ben Stiller’s reimagining of famous daydreamer Mitty – he certainly captures the mood of the times. Mitty works at Life magazine, which is going digital, and most of the staff are being laid off. The ‘digital takeover’ is being handled by Ted (a gloriously oily Adam Scott) and there are many scenes of upset worker carrying brown boxes containing their meagre possessions out of the building, security guard in tow. [Read more…]

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (Cinema)

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After the massive success of Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey wasn’t as well received by fans and critics. This was due to running time, the lengthy introduction to all the new characters, as well as Peter Jackson’s controversial decision to film and project it at 48fps (which many complained gave it a video feel).

So has Jackson redeemed himself with the diehard fans of Middle Earth with part two of the Hobbit trilogy? Yes, Smaug is The Two Towers compared to the slower Fellowship of the Ring. [Read more…]

Floating Skyscrapers (Cinema)

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Poland has absolutely no history of gay-themed cinema, but this year has seen the arrival of two acclaimed movies from the country, In The Name Of and now Floating Skyscrapers. The latter initially sold itself as Poland’s first LGBT movie, but it was actually beaten into film festivals by In The Name Of by a few weeks. [Read more…]

Geography Club (US Cinema/VoD)

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Based on Brent Hartinger’s popular book, Geography Club follows high school student Russell (Cameron Deane Stewart), who’s just figuring out his sexuality but not ready to tell the world about it yet. He’s also involved in a fledgling relationship with star quarterback Kevin (Justin Deeley), although the sportsman is absolutely determined nobody will find out about it.

Russell ends up getting involved with the new Geography Club, which has nothing to do with geography. It’s actually just a boring name to stop anyone bothering them, as it’s really a secret club for LGBT teens to talk about their problems and connect. However their secrets may be difficult to keep and they may have to face whether they want to come out in the open. [Read more…]

How To Survive A Plague (Cinema)

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I was alive during the early days of the AIDS epidemic but was too young to really understand what was going on. It’s always shocking to see something like How To Survive A Plague, about events that took place while I was around but which seem so far from a world where gay people are increasingly being allowed to get married. Sure there are still problems but it’s incredible that just 20-30 years ago politicians were happy to allow millions around the world to die, just because they didn’t want to be seen to doing anything that might help gay people. [Read more…]

Gravity (Cinema)

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Gravity comes to the UK having taken an impressive $200+M dollars at the US box office on a budget estimated at only $100M. So why has this movie been such a huge success, rocketing its way to the the big box office earners of 2013?

Gravity has great pedigree of talent, namely Oscar winners Sandra Bullock (Ryan Stone), George Clooney (Matt Kowalski) and Ed Harris (the voice of Mission control) as well as its Oscar nominated director, Alfonso Cuaron (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children Of Men). [Read more…]

Philomena (Cinema)

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Peter Mullan’s 2002 film The Magdalene Sisters was a howl of outrage at the Catholic Church in Ireland; a coruscating, raw drama about the abuse of young girls basically held prisoner by sadistic nuns after falling pregnant.

Stephen Freers’ Philomena has basically the same theme but is, by comparison, a gentle, warm story, which seems too timid to unveil the same power as Mullan’s film. Dench and Coogan have rightly garnered strong reviews for their performances, but the film’s script seems too scared of going for the emotional knockout punch, despite the real power of the story. [Read more…]

Thor: The Dark World (Cinema)

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Thor – The Dark World is the 8th installment set in the Marvel’s Interconnected Universe, and this time the franchise has a new director, Alan Taylor, taking over from Kenneth Branagh, who did such a great job introducing Thor to the cinematic world.

So what do we need to know about Thor: The Dark World? Well, it delivers much the same as the original Thor – there are intergalactic baddies (Elves lead by Malekith – played by Christopher Ecclestone) trying to kill the residents of Asgard as well as the other nine realms. There are amazing backdrops to set the battles in, there are ridiculously over the top costumes, and massive body counts, rippling muscle and a good thread of humour running through the film. [Read more…]