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

REVIEWS

Cinema, DVD and Blu-ray reviews

La Gloire De Mon Pere & Le Chateau De Ma Mere (Blu-ray)

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Writer and director Marcel Pagnol died in 1974, but since the mid-1980s, movies based on his works have probably done more to create the popular image of Provence than virtually anything else. In 1986 Jean De Florette and Manon Des Sources were huge hits, followed in 1990 by La Gloire De Mon Pere and Le Chateau De Ma Mere, which now come to Blu-ray for the first time in a set that includes both movies.

Based on Pagnol’s memoirs of his youth, the two films cover everything from his birth to what happened to his family in later life, but mainly concentrate on a time during his early adolescence. Both films are rather episodic, looking at different stories from Marcel’s youth, most of which highlight the difficulties of growing up and the conflict between the old ideas on religious and class authority, and a new republican sentiment that was sweeping France in the early 20th Century. [Read more…]

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (DVD)

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When Kal Penn (aka Kumar) went off to work for Obama at the White House (yes, that really happened), it seemed that would be the end of Harold and Kumar. However he left his job in the President’s communications department and so the stoners have returned for a festive adventure. In cinemas they even went 3D, and indeed if you’ve got a 3D Blu-ray player and the right TV, you can enjoy a third dimension in the home, but if you’re going with DVD, you’ll have to enjoy the movie in good old 2D. [Read more…]

Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (DVD)

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It’s hardly worth reviewing Sick, as just mentioning that it’s a documentary about a man who nails his dick to a piece of wood and then dies a horrible, painful death (those two events aren’t connected, incidentally) is pretty much a guarantee everyone is going to watch it. However in case you haven’t rushed off to order your copy and want to know more about this fascinating, complex and often difficult to watch film, I’ll try and oblige.

As the title suggests, Bob Flanagan was a major masochist with a lover who he allowed to dominate him, complete with whips, chains, clamps, suspensions, piercings, knives and all manner of other SM practices. However he was also an artist and writer, as well as one of the oldest surviving Cystic Fibrosis sufferers. The documentary looks at his life, covering the childhood he wasn’t expected to survive and the fact he started his masochistic activities when he was just a teen. [Read more…]

Keep The Lights On (Cinema)

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Keep The Lights On comes to the UK after an incredibly well-received run on the festival circuit and very strong reviews for its US release. So does it live up to the hype that’s suggested this is the gay-themed film of the year? It pretty much does.

There’s been a lot of comparisons between last year’s Brit flick Weekend and Keep The Lights On. There are indeed quite a few similarities between the movies, even if one takes place over two days and the other 10 years. They share a similar tone and style, so that rather than a traditional narrative it’s like peeping in on two gay people’s lives, almost documentary style. They also share the fact that while for years most gay-themed films have centred on issues of identity, both Weekend and Keep The Lights on are about living a gay life once those questions have largely been settled. [Read more…]

Joyful Noise (DVD)

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I don’t consider myself a particularly stereotypical gay man, but that all changes when it comes to Dolly Parton, who has the innate ability to bring out my inner screaming queen.

I’m oddly unashamed about my love for Dolly Parton. Therefore I’m more than a little excited about the fact that Joyful Noise brings her back to movie screens in a starring role for the first time since Straight Talk in 1992. It’s not a completely triumphant return but the film is quite fun. [Read more…]

Call Me Kuchu (Cinema)

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If you’re gay, there’s probably no movie you can watch this Halloween season that will scare you more than Call Me Kuchu, a documentary about life in the Ugandan LGBT community, focussing on activist David Kato. Whilst we in the West still have issues with homophobia and need to fight for things like marriage equality, in Uganda the debate isn’t even about whether gay sex should be legalised, it’s about whether homosexuals should be allowed to live. [Read more…]

Seeking a Friend For The End of The World (Blu-ray)

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What would you do if you knew the world was going to end in three weeks? Maybe you’d carry on with your day-to-day life, go crazy and do all the things you’d always wanted to but just hadn’t had time for yet, or maybe you simply just don’t know.

These are the things that Lorene Scafaria sets out to explore in this touchingly sweet, sad and laugh out loud look at the end of the world. Where as apocalyptic films in the past have looked at how the human race can save the day and prevent the world from being smashed to pieces, this uniquely original film looks at it from the everyday person’s perspective as they casually live out their last days. [Read more…]

Chicago Hope – Season 3 (DVD)

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While Chicago Hope is an entertaining show, it was probably just as important as a training ground for those who’ve gone on to big things in the world of TV. It’s famed as the first show David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal) created and ran, but it was also the first producing gig for Tim Kring (Heroes), Ian Bieberman (Cold Case, Crossing Jordan), Rob Corn (The District, Grey’s Anatomy) and various others, many who’ve continued to work with Kelley over the years. Nor is it a coincidence that both Mandy Patinkin and Thomas Gibson ended up in Criminal Minds, and Mark Harmon and Rocky Carroll went on to NCIS. [Read more…]

Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate (DVD)

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Much of physics is based on the idea that the laws of gravity are constant across the universe and have been that ways since just after the Big Bang. However that would seem to be contradicted by the fact that for decades Wuxia movies have taught us that during the Imperial past, gravity was far less powerful in China, and people were able to leap about like they’ve just arrived on the moon.  And now there’s CGI to make sure the martial art wire-fu masters’ anti-grav antics can make Newton spin ever faster in his grave. [Read more…]

King Of Devil’s Island (DVD)

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I wonder if anyone has ever made a movie where young people in a children’s home or reformatory were treated well and only punished to the extent they deserved,  in an environment that can help them become well-adjusted members of society. King Of Devil’s Island doesn’t just have a brutal borstal, but it’s also set on an island, and groups of people stuck together on an island never bodes well in the movies either. However while it may therefore sound like the film is merely mining movie chestnuts, it’s actually based on a true story. [Read more…]