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

Digby The Biggest Dog In The World (DVD)

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From the 1950s to the early 80s, the British film industry had a thriving sideline in almost ridiculously wholesome family entertainment. Much it came through the Children’s Film Foundation, but other companies got in on the act too, and through one of those we got 1973’s Digby The Biggest Dog In The World. Thanks to showings on TV it became a bit of fave for several generations of kids, but bizarrely it’s been unavailable on DVD for years. It’s particularly strange as while a lot of old kid’s entertainment is now horribly outdated and won’t work for modern children, Digby will still be enjoyed by youngsters and so it’s been a bit of an omission to have it out of print. [Read more…]

The Babymakers (DVD)

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Someone must think the Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe are good, as they’re allowed to keep making films. After the likes of Super Troopers, Beerfeest and Broken Lizard’s Stand Up comes The Babymakers. It’s got a talented cast and a decent premise, but unfortunately it screws things up from beginning to end.

Tommy (Paul Schneider) and Audrey (Olivia Munn) are a married couple who decide they want to have a baby. There’s a problem though, as for some reason Tommy’s sperm is rubbish and more interested in swimming in circles than inseminating eggs. This wasn’t always true though, as to pay for his wife’s engagement he got paid to donate some healthy sperm. [Read more…]

The Angels’ Share (DVD)

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For nearly 50 years now Ken Loach has been charting his own course with the sort of social realist cinema that’s ensured he’s long had admirers and been beloved in arthouse circles, but has often had difficulty convincing mainstream audiences to give him a chance. It’s a bit of a shame, as while he did go through a period where his films were a bit of a slog, he usually has a knack for making movies that while grounded in an often deprived or desperate social world, still manage to be entertaining and truly believe in the possibilities of human beings. That’s certainly true of The Angels’ Share. [Read more…]

Late September (DVD)

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Late September isn’t your usual movie. Made on a microbudget, the film was completely improvised by the actors on set (based on an outline from the director), using long takes with little editing. To be honest, for about the first 20 minutes, I didn’t hold out much hope for the film. The beginning suffers the curse of many attempts at improvisation, where the actors are so busy trying to get across the information they need to – while also appearing natural – that the whole thing comes across faker than if they’d just followed a script. [Read more…]

Sing Your Song (DVD)

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Nowadays when celebrities take up causes, they’re just as likely to be pilloried as praised. However in the 1950s and 1960s, many African-American actors, singers and other artists were at the forefront of the Civil Rights struggle. Admittedly, it was rather different for them as there very existence was political, whether they wanted it to be or not.

Sing Your Song looks at singer and actor Harry Belafonte, a man who this documentary suggests should be as lauded for his activism as his voice. He grew up poor, but it was the Second World War that really highlighted to him the evils of racism. There was segregation in the army, and then when he and other blacks soldiers returned home from fighting for their country, they found they were still treated as second class citizens despite their brave actions. [Read more…]

Be Mine (DVD)

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Be Mine is gay themed romantic comedy that tells the tale of a gay man who is about to be married, as he recounts the time he was a kissing virgin, waiting for that first snog.

At first you may think the film sounds like it could be another light hearted comedy in the way that Another Gay Movie was, but where as Another Gay Movie had hilarious characters and a plethora of laugh out loud moments, Be Mine has none of those. Overall it isa bit like what the secondary characters were up to during the house party of the first American Pie film, only this party is quite possibly the worst I’ve ever seen in a film, with around 20 guests and that’s being generous. [Read more…]

All In Good Time (DVD)

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Writer Ayub Karan Din scored quite a hit with his script for East Is East a few years ago, and now he’s back with All In Good Time, based on his Olivier award-winning play, Rafta Rafta. It’s another trip into the world of British Indian families and the generation gap between parents born half a world away and children who’ve only ever known life in the UK.

Young Atul (Reece Ritchie) and Vina (Amara Karan) have just gotten married, but their plans for a honeymoon in Goa are ruined when the travel firm they booked it through goes bust. Instead they stay at home with Atul’s parents, Eeshwar (Harish Patel) and Lopa (Meera Syal). Having saved themselves for marriage, Atul and Vina can now finally have sex – except they can’t, as for various reasons it doesn’t happen for them. [Read more…]

Four More Years (DVD)

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Political leader David Holst (Bjorn Kjellman) believes he’s on the verge of becoming Sweden’s Prime Minister, but when thing go slightly wrong at the polls and his coalition can’t quite get enough seats to make him the head of country, he’s thrown into a bit of a funk. The setback at the polls causes him to re-evaluate his life, his outlook and his political future.

He then meets Martin (Eric Ericson), a man actively involved on the other side of the political spectrum, but who he feels a connection to. After a night of drink and discussion about the best direction for Sweden, Martin kisses David, and while the latter doesn’t think he’s gay, he doesn’t resist either. As David comes to a new realisation about his sexuality, he only sees obstacles ahead, not least his marriage and the reaction of his political backers. Can Martin and David’s romance withstand this? [Read more…]

Untouchable (Cinema)

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Untouchable hits the UK after having extraordinary success across the rest of the globe. It’s now by far the highest-grossing French-language movie ever, taking an extraordinary $365 million around the world (although only $8 million of that is from the US, which still remains particularly resistant to foreign-language fare). It’s particularly impressive as not only does the world generally ignore the output of the French film industry, but it’s about a subject that many would usually see as something to shy away from – as it’s about a man who’s completely paralysed below the neck. [Read more…]

Silent House (DVD)

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Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen), along with her father and uncle, head for an old, crumbling lakehouse retreat, to pack things up and get ready to sell it. Not long after arriving, Sarah gets a visit from a young woman claiming to be an old friend, although Sarah can’t remember her. Soon Sarah finds herself trapped in the house and someone or something seems to be in there with her, trying to get her.

The setup for the plot of fairly simple and generic, but that’s probably as it should be, because with the movie’s formal conceit, it might have become unmanageable if it got too complex on the story front to quickly. The main interest in the film is that it’s shot to look like it was made in one single take (although it’s actually several long takes stitched together), following Sarah as she becomes trapped in the house and things become ever stranger and more disturbing. [Read more…]