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

The Circle (Der Kreis) (Cinema Review)

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When I started watching The Circle, I slightly wondered whether I’d got the wrong film. I’d been expecting this to be a fictionalised look at being gay in the 1950s in Europe, but the movie opens in documentary mode, with two older gents talking about their past.

What ensues is a mixture of documentary and drama, involving people talking about being gay in Switzerland 60 years ago, and actors playing the younger version of these men, re-enacting the story of the heyday and decline of the titular Circle. [Read more…]

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Cinema Review)

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So here we are at the end of Bilbo’s quest, and a journey that Peter Jackson and co started on many years ago to bring Middle Earth to the big screen. I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2004) and they are some of my all-time favourite films.

It’s been more than a decade since I went to the cinema to see The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), and at the time I went in with little expectation, just knowing that it was a fantasy film based on a beloved book that had gained legions of fans worldwide. I was captivated by a fully realised world and became attached to the characters and their quest. And then suddenly it ended and I couldn’t believe I had to wait a year for more! [Read more…]

In Their Room: San Francisco/Berlin/London (DVD Review)

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Travis Mathews certainly hasn’t had a traditional film career. He started out with the semi-documentary art project In Their Room, which led to him teaming up with a gay porn company for the short film I Want Your Love. That short was then made into a feature-length movie, which led to Travis’ highest-profile project yet, his collaboration with James Franco, Interior Leather Bar.

However it was the first In Their Room project that brought him to the film world’s attention. It started as a series of separate five-to-ten minute films, each going into the bedroom of a different gay man, where they discuss their lives and desires, and most particularly their sexual thoughts. The shorts became known for their sexual frankness, with some including masturbation and many featuring at least a little nudity. However what impressed most was the surprising intimacy and seeming honesty that Mathews managed to capture about gay men’s lives. [Read more…]

Out To Kill (US DVD Review)

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I have to admit that for about 20-minutes I didn’t hold out any hope for Out To Kill. It starts out following Justin (singer/songwriter/actor Tom Goss), who lives in an apartment complex full of gay people and believes he’s just about the best thing that’s ever happened to the planet. He’s the type of guy who thinks looking good is all that matters, treats nearly everyone else with disdain, and just about everything he says is a sexual come-on.

It appears he’s going to be the lead character – and an intensely annoying one he’d be as well. Therefore it almost comes as a relief when he’s found dead in the communal swimming pool (that sounds like I’m being nasty, but if you watch the movie you’ll know what I mean). The police are quick to blame the death on a drug overdose, but Justin’s friend, Gene (Rob Moretti), thinks it was murder. He hires new resident and private eye Jim (Scott Sell) to investigate. [Read more…]

The Dark Place (US DVD Review)

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It’s certainly been noticeable in the past year or two that an increasing amount of gay-themed thrillers have been released. Some have been good, some have been dreadful and now we have The Dark Place, which sits somewhere in the middle.

Keegan Dark (Blaise Embry) is a young man who’s long been estranged from his family, but agrees to go with his boyfriend Wil (Timo Descamps) to see his mother at her vineyard. His first shock is that when he arrives he discovers that his mom, Celeste (Shannon Day), has a new husband, Adrian (Andy Copeland), and as a result Keegan suddenly has a stepbrother, Jake (Sean Paul Lockhart). [Read more…]

Big Gay Love (DVD Review)

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What would Willow think? Xander from Buffy has gone gay (he likes to call himself Nicholas Brendon, but he’ll always be Xander to me, whether he likes it or not).

Here he’s teamed with Jonathan Lisecki, who’s best known as the writer, director and co-star of Gayby. Lisecki takes on the lead role of party planner Bob, who’s looking for his big gay love, especially as everyone he knows seems to be in a relationship. However his insecurities make things difficult, so that he initially can’t see why hunky chef Andy (Brendan) would be interested in him, and even after they start dating he seems sure the fact he’s a bit overweight will inevitably ruin things. [Read more…]

Eastern Boys (Cinema Review)

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I’m not a big fan of French cinema. Although the country has produced some magnificent movies, I find most of it to be ponderous and far too impressed with itself. However after Stranger By The Lake and now Eastern Boys, I’m starting to think France may be becoming the premier place for gay-themed cinema.

Daniel (Olivier Rabourdin) solicits a young Eastern European man, Marek (Kirill Emelyanov), for sex at the Parisian train station, negotiating a price and arranging to meet at Daniel’s place later that week. However when the time comes it’s not Marek who turns up, but all his ‘friends’, led by their intimidating boss (Daniil Vorobyov), who proceed to party in the apartment and then completely clear it out, threatening that they will accuse Daniel of being a paedophile if he does anything. [Read more…]

More Scenes From A Gay Marriage (US DVD Review)

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More Scenes From A Gay Marriage starts out with a dangerous gambit. As its title suggests, it’s a follow-up to Scenes From A Gay Marriage, a film that asked us to root for its main characters, Darren (Matt Riddlehoover) and Joe (Jared Allman), to get together by the end. However the sequel opens with trouble in paradise as the duo have now decided they’re going to split up.

So much for happily ever after! But then, that’s part of what the movie is about – suggesting that quite often films give us a neatly packaged and unrealistic version of reality, and that real life is often more messy. [Read more…]

Mood Indigo (Blu-ray Review)

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As a film reviewer it feels almost compulsory to believe that a director’s original cut is the one we ought to watch, but in some cases that’s not true.

Mood Indigo was released in France back in early 2013 with a very lengthy running time of 131 minutes. However despite having Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine, Be Kind Rewind) at the helm and talents such as Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou and Omar Sy starring, it took over a year for it to arrive in the US and UK, and when it did, it was 40 minutes shorter.

At the time, many harrumphed about the idea of philistine producers neutering Gondry’s original intentions, but the home entertainment release gives us a chance to see both versions side by side and it turns out that what we got was better than original edition the French had. [Read more…]

Jon Richardson – Nidiot (DVD Review)

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If you’ve seen recent episodes of 8 Out Of 10 Cats you’ll know life has changed in the world of comedian Jon Richardson. He made his name for being a fastidious man on the edge of OCD, with a worldview which he seems to believe is misanthropic but is closer to constantly disappointed optimism – and he’s also known for being perennially single.

However now he’s not just got himself a girlfriend, he’s engaged and will probably be getting married soon. His stand-up show Nidiot is largely based around the story of how he decided to take stock of his life to become a happier person, as well as how he met and started dating his fiancée. [Read more…]