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

Men In Black III (Cinema)

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It has been 10 years since we last heard from the Men In Black. The successful film series has grossed over $1 billion worldwide at the box office, not to mention having vast DVD sales. Has the world forgotten MIB? Is it still relevant today when action/alien films are ten-a-penny? Well, this is a welcome return to the franchise – it delivers nothing new but fits like a comfortable pair of slippers and entertains nonetheless.

The film, like the previous two, is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and there is no need to introduce the familiar characters, although there are a few new ones to add into the mix. The plot starts off with Nicole Scherzinger helping free Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement) from prison – this really is a rather pointless cameo in her movie debut, where she does nothing more than walk around in a rubber outfit holding a cake. [Read more…]

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound Of The Baskervilles (DVD)

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When we think of Soviet Era Russia, we don’t normally considering people under Communist rule settling down to watch a home-grown adaptation of Sherlock Holmes on television. However in the late 70s and early 80s director Igor Maslennikov made a series of TV versions of Conan Doyle’s tales about his famed consulting detective, which are surprisingly faithful. They also thankfully lack the feel of some Cold War era Russian entertainment (particularly if it’s set in the West), that the State is forcing it to push an anti-capitalist agenda.

After the death of Sir Henry Baskerville, his nephew Charles seeks the help of famed consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Vasili Livanov), hoping he can use the man’s deductive reasoning skills to pull apart the suspicious circumstances surrounding Henry’s death. [Read more…]

Haywire (DVD)

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With a cast including Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender and Michael Douglas, alongside newcomer and MMA fighter Gina Carano – not to mention that it’s directed by Steven Soderbergh – you’d expect something pretty special from Haywire. Sadly though the film doesn’t live up to expectations, beyond a few very good fight scenes.

Carano plays Mallory Kane, a covert operative for hire who does the jobs governments and companies don’t want to admit any part of. After a mission to Barcelona she heads to Dublin for another job and soon realises something is amiss and that she’s suddenly a target herself. Knowing she’s been double-crossed, Mallory must use all her skills to stay one step ahead of those who are out to get her and work out exactly what’s going on. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 5: Candy Boy (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

It seems you guys can’t get enough of gay short films, as the Boys On Film reviews we posted last week have proved extremely popular. After Hard Love, In Too Deep, American Boy and Protect Me From What I Want, today we move on to the fifth in the great series, Candy Boy, which we’re reviewing ahead of the release of the eighth compilation, Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia, which is out May 28th (and which we’ll be reviewing later this week).

Candy Boy features nine shorts, so take a look at what we think of them below. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 4: Protect Me From What I Want (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

Nine more gay short films are brought together in this fourth disc in the Boy On Film series. Ahead of the release of Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia on May 28th, we’re looking at all the releases, which showcase some of the best gay-themed shorts from around the world. This fourth collection includes films from the US, UK, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and even Iceland, and while some are better than others, they’re definitely an interesting bunch.

Let’s take a look at the nine shorts: [Read more…]

Boys On Film 3: American Boy (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

With Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia out on May 28th, we’re looking at all eight of Peccadillo Picture’s collections of gay short films, most of which are well worth a look. We’ve already taken a look at Hard Love and In Too Deep, and today it’s time for American Boy, a collection of seven short movies all hailing from the US of A.

From thriller to comedy they’re an eclectic bunch and while overall it’s not quite as strong a release as the first two Boys On Film discs, there’s still a lot of interesting stuff and it’s a cut above a lot of the feature-length gay releases out there. Let’s take a look at the shorts: [Read more…]

Tape 407 – The Mesa Reserve Incident (DVD)

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Think horror, think Lost meets Jurassic Park! On second thoughts scrap that thought, but Tape 407 does involve a plane crash and some sort of dinosaur hell bent on killing the survivor.

After Dark productions have given us some great little horror gems over the last few years, some slightly better than made for TV productions, and some not, unfortunately this release falls into the latter category. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 2: In Too Deep (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

Yesterday we took a look at the first of the first Boys On Film compilations of gay interest short films. We’ll be reviewing all eight of them ahead of the May 28th release of the latest disc, Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia, and today it’s time for the second compilation, In Too Deep, another great selection of bite sized gay movies covering all sorts of different themes and genres.

There are nine shorts on the disc, so let’s break them down: [Read more…]

She-Monkeys (Cinema)

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She Monkeys is an intriguing, dark and eerie tale of two girls engaged in a confusing underlying lesbian relationship set against the backdrop of the equestrian vaulting world. With a relationship that’s brimming with physical and psychological challenges, lead character Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser) does whatever it take to master the rules of this almost twisted game, failing to resist the temptation of taking control from Cassandra (Linda Molin).

The film was shot and is based in Sweden, but is subtitled in English for all of you out there who enjoy a good foreign language film, and this film is pretty special. You can see why it won a host of awards on the festival circuit over the last 12 months, even taking the Best Narrative Feature trophy at the Tribeca Film Festival as it grips you from beginning to end even if Swedish isn’t your mother tongue. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 1: Hard Love (DVD)

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Read our reviews of the other Boys On Film short film collections here.

Anyone with an interest in gay cinema will know that the feature-length efforts that emerge each year are a very variable bunch, and it’s difficult to escape the feeling that a lot of the dodgier ones would have had difficulty finding a release if they’d been about straight characters. However there’s a huge amount of great work going on in the world of gay short films.

Peccadillo Pictures’ Boy On Film series is a wonderful showcase for these shorts, focussing on films about gay male characters and themes, and proving there’s an awful lot great filmmaking talent out there exploring gay issues. The eighth in the series, Boys On Film: Cruel Britannia, arrives on DVD on May 28th, but in the run up to that, Peccadillo has provided us with all the Boys On Film releases for us to review. [Read more…]