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

GAY INTEREST MOVIE REVIEWS

The latest gay interest film reviews from BGPS

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool (Blu-ray Review) – They’re also only a little bit bi, apparently

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In the late 1940s and 1950s Gloria Grahame was a big name Hollywood actress, known for the likes of The Big Heat (1953) and Oklahoma! (1955), as well as winning an Oscar for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). However, her star power soon faltered.

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool picks up her story in the 1970s, by which time Grahame (Annette Bening) is appearing in theatre in Britain. The older star meets the much younger Peter Turner (Jamie Bell), with a May-December romance developing. Grahame is flattered by the attentions of the younger man, while Turner is impressed by his beau’s celebrity – something that’s beguiling and exotic for a working-class Liverpudlian lad. [Read more…]

Professor Marston And The Wonder Women (DVD Review) – A bisexual polyamorous relationship births a comic book icon

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It must have seemed like the perfect time for this movie. Coming just after the huge success of the Wonder Woman movie, Professor Marston And The Wonder Women explores the birth of the character. However, despite some decent reviews it didn’t make much of a dent at the box office and got none of the award love it was probably hoping for.

The Professor Marston of the title is William Moulton Marston, a psychology lecturer at Harvard in the early 1940s, whose theories include trying to promote better equality between the sexes. His smart and forceful wife, Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) is well aware of the era’s gender issues, as Harvard won’t give her a doctorate because she’s a woman. [Read more…]

Thelma (DVD Review) – Lesbian sexuality awakens & so do supernatural powers

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Joachim Trier’s follow-up to his much-praised movie, Louder Than Bombs, has found much acclaim. It’s the sort of intriguing film that builds tension by living in a moral grey area and maintaining an enigmatic, sexual air.

Thelma (Eili Harboe) is a young woman who’s led an incredibly sheltered life. Her strongly religious parents have completely controlled her existence, but now she’s getting her first taste of freedom by going away to university. As she settles into college life – which still includes the need to contact her parents everyday so they can keep an eye on her – she starts to have feelings for one of her female friends. [Read more…]

Just Charlie (US DVD Review) – A football-loving teen transitions to living as a young woman

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Young Charlie seems to be living a British teen boy’s dreams when given an opportunity that’s setting them up to play football (soccer) professionally in the future. However, Charlie seems reticent, despite loving football and having a dad, Paul (Scot Williams), who’s extremely keen as his own sporting dreams were dashed when he was younger. Indeed, he’s the football equivalent of a stage mother.

It’s not just typical teen contrariness though, as Charlie is struggling with gender identity issues and reaching the point where she can’t hold it in anymore. As she slowly and steadily begins living more of her life openly as a girl, both she and her family face challenges they never expected. That ranges from the fact Charlie’s father struggles to accept the new reality and starts to blame his daughter for it, to her best friends rejecting her when she transitions at school. There’s also a school that isn’t sure how to handle things and the threat of violence from those who don’t understand. [Read more…]

God’s Own Country (Blu-ray Review) – Does the BAFTA-nominated gay-themed movie deserve its acclaim?

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In most years we’re lucky if one gay-themed movie could be classed as a crossover success, but in the UK we had two released at cinemas within weeks of one another last autumn – Call Me By Your Name and the homegrown God’s Own Country. Although the former is now a quadruple Oscar nominee and the latter isn’t (although it did score a BAFTA nomination), as God’s Own Country star Josh O’Connor has said, that’s more to do with the lack of resources for a major Oscar push than because the movie isn’t good.

God’s Own Country follows young farmer Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor), who lives on a remote smallholding in Yorkshire with his recently disabled father (Ian Hart) and his taciturn grandmother (Gemma Jones). With most of his schoolfriends having gone to university or moved somewhere bigger, Johnny is leading a lonely existence. He has started drinking heavily and having occasional, casual sex with guys – although with no conception that it could be more than just one-off sex. With the lambing season on its way, they decide to hire someone to help, which brings Romanian immigrant Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) to the farm. [Read more…]

Romeu & Romeu: Parts 1&2 (DVD Review) – Romeo & Juliet gets gayer and more Brazilian

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Romeo & Juliet seems to be a story that appeals to gay sensibilities, as it’s been referenced in all manner of gay books and movies. Romeu & Romeu is far from the first time the whole play has been given a same sex twist. For example, 2011’s Private Romeo kept Shakespeare’s dialogue but set the story between two male cadets at an American military school.

Romeu & Romeu is a Brazilian web series take of the Bard’s classic, with the Capulets and Montagues becoming the Monteiros and Campelos, and Verona moving from Italy to somewhere outside Sao Paulo. Ever since homophobic violence back in the 1960s, the families have been sworn enemies, trapped in a constant cycle of eye-for-an-eye anger and violence. [Read more…]

The Revival (US DVD Review) – A preacher falls for a handsome gay drifter

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In Arkansas a married Southern Baptist preacher, Eli (David Rysdahl), is frustrated that he’s having difficulty getting people into the pews, as they want something fancier and simpler than his more nuanced take on God. It doesn’t help that the church was started by his father, and he’s constantly being compared to him.

He comes across young, homeless, drifter, Daniel (Zachary Booth), and decides the Christian thing to do is to help him out by finding him a place to stay. However, that leads to an affair between the two men, which challenges the preacher’s faith and could destroy both his church and his marriage. [Read more…]

French Kisses (DVD Review) – A collection of Galllic gay short films gets a release

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Many of the most interesting gay-themed films are shorts – not least because the lower budgets often allow them to explore themes and ideas that longer movies would be afraid to try in case it hurt their economic potential. French Kisses brings together six Gallic shorts, which vary quite a bit in quality. But are they worthwhile as a whole? Can a look below to see what we thought about each film.

Apollo
A young man is going swimming, but is worried that he doesn’t stack up ‘down below’ compared to the other guys. In his head everyone else’s package seems bigger and their body looks better. After an attempt to stuff his Speedos goes awry – and eating endless bananas doesn’t work either – he begins to despair about ever being ‘virile’ enough… until something unexpected happens. Quite short and a little odd, Apollo nevertheless has worthwhile points to make about the negative side of masculinity. It’s keen to point out that it’s not just women who feel the need to live up to unattainable standards. It’s also quite fun.
3 out of 5 [Read more…]

Saturday Church (US Cinema Review) – A musical look at a LGBTQ teen finding his home

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Sometimes when you watch a film, one of the key things that exudes from the screen is how much love it was made with. That’s certainly true of the LGBTQ musical, Saturday Church, which has just hit US screens, following a successful, award-winning run at film festival.

Ulysses (Luka Kain) is a 14-year-old, African-America living in the Bronx. His father has just died, leaving him with his largely absent mother and domineering Aunt Rose (Regina Taylor). He’s also starting to explore his sexuality and gender expression – however both his mother and most particularly his aunt are determined that he shouldn’t ever wear women’s clothes – something they’ve discovered him doing more than once. While looking after Ulysses and his younger brother, Rose believes it’s her job to ensure Ulysses becomes a proper ‘man’. [Read more…]

Surge Of Power: Revenge Of The Sequel (US Cinema Review) – The gay superhero returns for a cameo filled adventure

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Back in 2004 the film Surge Of Power was released, which offered up what’s said to be cinema’s first gay superhero. That film may have been largely forgotten, but 14 years later he’s back with Revenge Of The Sequel.

After defeating the evil Metal Master (John Venturini) in the first film, energy wielding superhero Surge (Vincent J. Roth) realises he’s going to have to face his old nemesis again after the bad guy is released from jail. However, Metal Master is now working as the reluctant henchman of supervillain Augur (Eric Roberts), and gets given an assignment to heads off towards Las Vegas to track down some special crystals. [Read more…]