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

DVD and BLU-RAY REVIEWS

The latest reviews from the world of home entertainment

Hot Pursuit (Blu-ray Review)

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Hot Pursuit must have seemed like a slam dunk. Get two popular actresses who’ve had comedy success, give them a script that’s a little similar to The Heat and bring in a director who had a big hit with The Proposal. However, the resulting movie flopped at the cinemas and has an abysmally low rating of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes.

To be fair to it though, it’s not as dreadful as that might suggest. You can almost feel the critics reacting to the fact it all very forced – a movie that from the ground up feels cynically contrived to pander to the audience and as a result ends up lacking real heart. However, everyone involved is obviously extremely keen to please, rather like an overly keen party host, where you can appreciate the effort even if you wish they wouldn’t try so hard. [Read more…]

Minions (Blu-ray Review)

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I severely doubt that when the creators of Despicable Me came up with the Minions as a bit of comic relief they ever thought they would become the phenomenon they have. Indeed, you could be forgiven if you’d forgotten those films were about Gru, due to the massive wave of Minions merchandise in the shops, and now a spin-off movie that has massively eclipsed its predecessors, becoming only the third animated film ever to gross more than a billion at cinemas worldwide.

The film takes us back to the origins of the little yellow creatures, who have been look for the evilest boss to follow around for millions of years, from prehistoric fish to the T-rex. However, the last few hundred years have been tough, with the Minions losing all their masters and retreating from the world and hiding away at the South Pole. [Read more…]

Terminator Genisys (DVD Review)

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Having spent $10s of millions on buying the Terminator franchise, the backers of Genisys had a lot riding on the movie. The film was planned as the first part of a new trilogy, although it seemed that was in major doubt after it only made $89 million at the US box office. However worldwide it did much better, grossing $440 million overall. As a result we’re likely to see more Terminating, even if the original plans change.

It’s both a continuation and semi-reboot, with Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) sent back in time to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from an evil Terminator (a CGI’d young Arnold Schwarzenegger), but once there it turns out events have changed since the first time we saw things, as Sarah is well aware of what’s going on, as she’s been protected by her own Terminator, which she calls Pops (a non CGI, aging Arnie), since she was a child. [Read more…]

The Overnight (DVD/VoD Review)

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Sometimes when it comes to indie film darlings it’s difficult to see what all the fuss was about. With The Overnight that’s not too much of an issue, as while it might not quite deserve some of the raves it received following its first festival screenings, it’s still a good movie.

Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling) are a 30-something couple with a kid, who are newly arrived in California. It’s not been an easy move, with stay-at-home dad Alex feeling slightly dislocated and friendless. He randomly meets Kurt (Jason Schwartzman) in the park, who invites Alex and Emily over to his house for the evening.

Once there they meet Kurt’s French wife Charlotte (Judith Godrèche), and Alex and Emily can’t help but feel they may have found some firm friends in the arty, free-thinking, bohemian and seemingly cool couple. As the evening goes on the straitlaced Emily and Alex begin to loosen up – thanks to some liquor and pot – but while Alex feels increasingly free and with his inhibitions falling away, Emily begins to wonder whether Kurt and Charlotte are a bit too freethinking and strange. [Read more…]

Mr. Holmes (DVD Review)

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You’d be forgiven for thinking that a movie about an aging Sherlock Holmes would be about the famed detective back on the case solving a murder and recapturing his glory days, but Mr. Holmes is something slightly different.

Holmes (Ian McKellen) is in his 90s, living in a remote cottage after leaving his illustrious career behind 35 years before. His main company is his cook/housekeeper, Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney), her son Roger (Milo Parker) and the bees that he keeps. He’s not trying to recapture his glory days, he just wants to be able to properly remember them, as creeping senility keeps making him to forget things, including what really happened on his final case.

He knows that the ending to the tale isn’t what Watson wrote in his successful books about Sherlock, but he’s having trouble remembering exactly what it was that led him to leave his former life behind. [Read more…]

Boy Meets Girl (2015) (DVD Review)

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Leo (Harry Hepple) is a young man in his mid-20s who isn’t exactly good at romance and dating. Then he meets Judy (Rebecca Root) and there’s an immediate spark, so he decides to invite her out on a date. Once they’re at a restaurant she lets him know that she is transgender, something Leo doesn’t seem too bothered about (although it does cause a few ripples later on).

They both know that while neither of them care, the same won’t necessarily be true of everyone, and they may also have a few other obstacles to overcome on the way to true love. However, the thing that most people want to comment on when they initially see Judy is the age gap between her and Leo, as she is nearing 40.

Across the course of six episodes Boy Meets Girl charts their relationship, as they negotiate the issues of transgender dating, from when to tell his family, to dealing with sex, as well as the viciousness of transphobic people. [Read more…]

San Andreas (Blu-ray Review)

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If you’d hoped that having Lost’s Carlton Cuse writing the screenplay would result in San Andreas being a more cerebral form of disaster movie, you should realise he was also an executive producer on Nash Bridges, so he is not averse to more straightforward entertainment. Indeed, it’s almost like he watched every Roland Emmerich movies – from 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow to Independence Day and Godzilla – and then used that as his template, but cut out anything too intelligent.

There is little to surprise here, although it certainly delivers on the large sale mayhem.

Dwayne Johnson is Los Angeles helicopter rescue pilot Ray, who’s dealing with the collapse of his marriage following the death of one of his children. However, he’s soon going to have more than that to worry about (actually, that’s not true as that’s all he cares about), when earthquakes start devastating California, starting at the Hoover Dam and then working its way up to San Francisco. And wouldn’t you know it, Ray’s daughter is in San Francisco, and so he sets off to rescue her, dodging city destroying shaking, tsunamis and general building destroying catastrophe along the way, as the San Andreas fault splits apart, resulting in the biggest quakes ever known. [Read more…]

Mad Max: Fury Road (Blu-ray Review)

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I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people thought Mad Max: Fury Road was cursed to fail. Some didn’t think it should have been made at all, as they were worried it would sully the name of the originally Mel Gibson trilogy. However, George Miller wanted to make it, but it took years to get all the pieces together and Warner to give it the greenlight. Then, when it was finally ready to shoot, a massive storm blew most of the set away.

That cause a year long delay and a move to a different country. After it was eventually filmed, it took more than two years to get it into cinemas, with some wondering whether that due to the whole thing being a giant mess. However, when it finally arrived a lot of people had to admit they’d misjudged the film, as it’s a really good action movie that certainly deserves to have the Mad Max name. [Read more…]

London Road (DVD Review)

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It’s difficult not to look at London Road and think that it ought to have been a disaster. For a start, a musical about a fairly recent serial killer case sounds tacky and a little bit tasteless. Likewise, having a musical where all the lyrics are taken from real-life interviews, using the original genuine speech-patterns, sounds like the sort of thing that might be nice as an artistic exercise, but not anything that could create good songs that people would be interested in hearing.

However, when London Road reached the National Theatre stage in London, critics had to eat their words and admit it was really good. Whether it would survive a jump to film was another matter, as while it worked within the inherent theatrical artifice of the stage, bringing it out into the ‘real world’ is something rather different. [Read more…]

Back To The Future 30th Anniversary Trilogy (Blu-ray Review)

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Every year the internet gets excited after someone photoshops an image from Back To The Future to suggest we’ve finally reached the date that Marty, Doc Brown and Jennifer go to when they travel into the future in Back To The Future Part II. However, it’s always been a hoax – until now, that is!

Yep, October 21st, 2015 is the date that fans have been waiting for, even if we’ve had to come to accept that flying cars, hover boards, self-lacing shoes and food rehydrators aren’t the commonplace items the movie suggested they would be.

It’s not too surprising then that a DVD and Blu-ray re-release has been put together to celebrate both 30 years since the original movie and the fact we’ve very nearly reached the future (as well as 60 years since the 1955 parts of the trilogy). [Read more…]