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

The Mission (DVD)

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Set in the Mission District of San Francisco, Che (Benjamin Bratt) is the hard-assed, ex-con father of Jessie (Jeremy Ray Valdez). The teen hasn’t had the easiest of lives, but has found some measure of happiness with his boyfriend, Jordan (Max Rosenak). Jessie keeps the relationship a secret, but when Che finds some Polaroids snapped at a gay bar, the truth is out. Che is less than happy having a ‘faggot’ for a son, and is utterly unwilling to try and understand it. The best they can do is come to an uneasy silence over the subject.

As Jessie nears graduation and the Mission’s homophobia builds to potentially lethal levels, Che remains unable to accept his son. Although it seems the wedge between them is immovable, can father and son ever come back together? And can Che fins his own redemption in a relationship with Smoke, who almost acts as his conscience? [Read more…]

Going Down In La La Land (DVD)

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Casper Andreas, director of Slutty Summer and The Big Gay Musical, returns with Going Down In La La Land, a dramatic comedy based on a novel by Andy Zeffer, looking at the highs and lows of trying to find success in LA.

Adam (Matthew Ludwinski – who looks like he just fell out of a Calvin Klein advert) arrives in Los Angeles to live with his friend Candy (Allison Lane). Like Candy, Adam wants to find La La Land success in the world of film and TV, but with no credits or contacts, even getting a side job to pay the bills proves incredibly difficult. After a stint at a very anal talent agency, an increasingly cash-strapped Adam agrees to take a job at an assistant at a gay porn firm. [Read more…]

Shut Up & Kiss Me (DVD)

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I’m starting to think that the reason that a lot of the gay men – especially those who aren’t into endless one night stands – are having trouble in the dating field is because they’re all sat at home writing movies about how difficult dating is for them. Really, we need support groups so these people can meet one another, as if these films are anything to go by, each of them thinks they’re the only one, when actually there are trillions of them – none of whom seem to speak to one another.

Ben is 35-years old and single, but he’s definitely looking for love. He tries out video dating and the world online, but none of them works out. His friends think he’s a commitment-phobe, while simultaneously trying to set him up with just about every gay man they meet. [Read more…]

Our Paradise (DVD)

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There must be a lot of very angry sex going on in France. While cinema has long linked sex and violence, there’s little doubt that it’s a much bigger theme in French films than those from anywhere else. Indeed, prostitutes who kill is almost a subgenre of Gallic entertainment. Our Paradise follows aging hustler Vassili, who’s just coming back from fleecing a trick when he stumbles over the unconscious young Angelo at a cruising ground and takes him back to his flat to nurse his wounds.

The two spark up a passionate affair, with Vassili and Angelo working together to service clients and often violently rob them. When the heat gets too great, they head out of Paris looking for somewhere to be happy. Soon they begin to see a way to get the comfortable family life they crave, but it can’t be achieved without more violence. [Read more…]

Romeos (DVD)

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Earlier this year, Tomboy was released, which saw a pre-adolescent taken in by a new group of friends who believe he’s a boy, even though he was born female. Romeos takes a similar theme, but moves the story into young adulthood, with a character who’s already started the transition from female to male.

Lukas (Rick Okon) is a pre-op transsexual who is taking hormones but is yet to have surgical gender reassignment. He heads off for a social service year to a place where only one person knows him, his lesbian friend Ine (Liv Lisa Fries), who used to know him as Mimi and has been by his side during the early stages of his transition. However nobody else is aware of Lukas earlier life, and while bureaucracy means he’s assigned to the female living block, everyone assumes he was born a man. [Read more…]

Blue Briefs (DVD) (US Release)

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While we’ve mainly concentrated on the UK releases of gay interest entertainment, now we’ve got one from the US. Following on from last year’s release of Black Briefs comes Blue Briefs, a selection of six award-winning, gay-themed short films, ranging from looks at unrequited love to dealing with being gay in a restrictive environment. It’s a great selection. Let’s take a look at the shorts: [Read more…]

Lesbian Vampire Warriors (DVD)

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Lesbian Vampire Warriors would more accurately be titles Vampire Warriors Including Some Of Indeterminate Sexuality, but that would be quite tough to fit on the DVD box. Ar is a vampire hunter, dedicated to taking down the worst bloodsucking scum around – of which there isn’t a lack. However things are slightly complicated by the fact she hangs around with a bunch of ‘vegetarian’ vampires, who don’t drink human blood, and so instead survive on animals.

Events take a serious turn when an ancient, evil vampire called Mung arrives in town who is a cannibal, intent on killing other vamps, sucking the life out of them and stealing their power. With her friend’s life under threat, Ar must make the ultimate decision – is the only way to defeat Mung for her to become a vampire herself? [Read more…]

Spork (DVD)

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Spork is named after the title character, who goes by that name due to her brother’s cruel teasing about the fact she was born a hermaphrodite. She’s frizzy-haired and perennially put upon by her classmates, who like nothing better than bullying her loner nature and intersex biology.

With a school dance-off coming up, Spork decides to enter and prove she’s more than just a loser. With the help of her trailer park neighbour, Tootsie Roll, she starts learning how to bust some moves, and also attracts the attention of young Charlie. However the bitchy, popular, mean girls aren’t about to allow Spork to upstage them and so they launch a campaign to bring her down in the cruellest way possible. [Read more…]

The Lost Weekend (Blu-ray)

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Back in 1945, vaguely realistic depictions of addiction on screen weren’t just a rarity, they were pretty much unheard of. However, coming off the success of Double Indemnity, writer-director Billy Wilder decided that the time was ripe to adapt Charles R. Jackson’s novel about alcoholism, The Lost Weekend, for the big screen. It certainly worked, as Wilder won Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for the movie.

Ray Milland plays Don Birnam, who’s supposed to be giving up the booze and heading off for the weekend with his straight-laced brother, Wick. However the lure of the liquor proves too much and Wick gives up on helping his brother, leaving Don’s girlfriend, Helen (Jane Wyman), to deal with him. This is the start of a four day binge, where Don’s desperation for alcohol becomes ever greater. He harbours ideas of being an author, but blames his alcoholism of writer’s block, and it’s gotten so bad he even hocks his typewriter to get more whiskey. [Read more…]

J. Edgar (DVD)

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J. Edgar is a movie that’s perhaps better off on DVD and Blu-ray than it was in cinemas. The reason for that is that it’s a rather narratively complex beast and so takes at least a couple of viewing to properly unravel. Its problem is that the first viewing is likely to seem rather dull to many, so they’re less likely to want to revisit it.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays J. Edgar Hoover, who for nearly half a century oversaw the FBI from when it was a fledgling organisation, though the depression and era of the gangster, onto the red scare and beyond. The film sees Hoover as an old man dictating his memoirs, while in flashback we see his earlier days and how he quickly climbed to the top of the Bureau Of Investigation (as it was initially known) and used the likes of the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping to increase the power of the organisation. [Read more…]