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

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (DVD Review)

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After Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck comes Chris Pine as Jack Ryan, with a film that attempts to relaunch the Tom Clancy-based franchise for a new generation. As with the Ben Affleck effort, Shadow Recruit takes us back to the early days of Ryan, this time setting him up as a Marine injured in Afghanistan who is then recruited by the CIA to use his superior intellect as an analyst inside top banks, in order to try and track funding for terrorism.

It’s supposed to be a desk job, but he’s still not allowed to tell his girlfriend, Cathy (Keira Knightley), he’s in the CIA until they’re married. Ryan uncovers hidden accounts that suggest some rich Russians plan to destroy the American economy by tanking the dollar and coinciding that with a terrorist attack. His handler, Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner), decides to send Jack to Moscow as he is the only one who understands the complex financial information. [Read more…]

That Awkward Moment (DVD Review)

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Jason (Zac Efron) isn’t good with commitment. In fact he isn’t that good at knowing whether he’s dating someone or not, as they tend to emotionally break up with him when he just thinks they’re hooking up. His friend Mikey (Michael B. Jordan) is more settled down, with a wife, job and nice home.

Then Mikey discovers that his wife is cheating on him and suddenly he’s single. Jason and their third musketeer, Daniel (Miles Teller), vow to help him enjoy his newfound freedom, and they all agree to stay single and have some fun. Inevitably though (as this is a movie) Jason almost immediately meets Ellie (Imogen Poots), and after getting over an initial mistake where he thinks she’s a hooker, they start seeing each other. Daniel also has a new beau in the form of the rather posh Chelsea (Mackenzie Davis). [Read more…]

The Normal Heart (TV Review)

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In the last few years there seems to have been a renewed interest in the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. There have been documentaries, films and books, as well as major re-stagings of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. The reason for this is probably twofold.

Firstly there is a whole generation of LGBT people who weren’t even born when AIDS first emerged, many of whom know little about it. Even if they do know about it, they often treat it like something from the dim and distant past that has nothing to do with them (as I’ve said before, the fact gay-history isn’t taught in schools tends to make many people, including many gay people, think there isn’t one or that it isn’t important). Secondly, those who survived the emergence of ‘gay cancer’ are now getting older (Kramer is now 78) and so it’s not surprising that they should want their stories recorded to ensure that it’s those who lived through it who control the narrative. [Read more…]

Maleficent (Cinema Review)

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At long last one of the most eagerly anticipated films of 2014 has arrived. However it’s one of those films that could either have been excellent or a total mess. Thankfully Maleficent is in fact magnificent!

Disney has released a few very expensive live-action movie in the Spring and Summer in the last few years – Alice In Wonderland, John Carter, Lone Ranger etc – some more successful than others. However this time they will have the jackpot, despite a budget of an estimated $200M. If there’s any justice Maleficent will make that back in spades. [Read more…]

Inside Llewyn Davis (Blu-ray Review)

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It just goes to show how useful it is to have a ‘name’ in the film world. If most filmmakers had said they wanted to make a movie about a misanthropic 1960s folk singer who spends the first 25 minutes of the film trying to get a cat back to its owner, they’d have been laughed out of the room. However the Coen Brothers have the sort of clout that can get things done.

And while not one of their best, Inside Llewyn Davis is not a bad movie at all. [Read more…]

Willow Creek (DVD Review)

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To some people Bobcat Goldthwait is still the strange voiced guy from Police Academy, to others he’s a cult stand-up, and to some he’s become a bit of a fascinating director. His projects have ranged from the countercultural, such as God Bless America, to the mainstream, like World’s Greatest Dad, but few expected him to have a go at a found footage horror. [Read more…]

Top Dog (DVD Review)

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The latest entry in the curious British genre of ‘hard men being assholes’ comes from former Spandau Ballet member and Eastender Martin Kemp. As he was born on the mean streets of London himself, you might hope the musician/actor would bring a dose of reality to things, but we’re just as much in gangster-ish fantasy land as we normally are, even if there is a dose of morality that’s often lost in this sort of film.

Based on a novel and script by Green Street’s Dougie Brimson, Top Dog is about Billy (Leo Gregory), a small time bad boy who takes over a gang of football hooligans known as the Acton Casuals. When he discovers landlord members of his family are being hassled as part of a protection racket, he recklessly decides the Casuals are going to take over the pub and protect it themselves. [Read more…]

X-Men: Days Of Future Past (Cinema Review)

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The latest instalment in the X-Men franchise; Days of Future Past does not disappointment. Not only does it have the original X-Men stars, including the wonderful Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (and a lot more), but it also features the hot new stars such as James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. Of course there’s also the ultimate X-Men veteran who has appeared in ALL of the X-men films, Hugh Jackman.

And  if you’re a big fan of Jackman, you get to see a whole lot of him. Yes, there are nude shots. [Read more…]

Orange Is The New Black – Season 1 (Blu-ray Review)

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When Netflix first announced it was going to make TV-style series, few people expected much. After all, most previous web content that stretched beyond a few minutes was absolutely dreadful. However the subscription-based internet upstart has proved they can equal or even better the US networks, with House Of Cards winning Golden Globes and Emmys, while Orange Is The New Black took TV Program Of The Year at the AFI Awards and received almost universal acclaim.

Loosely based on an acclaimed memoir, the 13 episodes of Season 1 follows Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who’s been sentenced to a term in prison for transporting drug money and is just about to enter a US women’s federal penitentiary. That means leaving behind her nice, middle-class life and her fiancé (Jason Biggs) and going to a place she knows nothing about. [Read more…]

Godzilla (Cinema)

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16 years after the dodgy Roland Emmerich version of the 1954 Japanese cult classic comes a welcome Hollywood reboot of the mother (or father) of all monster movies – Godzilla.

Gareth Edwards, who shot to fame as the director of the hugely successful Monsters, is behind the camera this time and has managed to breath fire into this dormant franchise. [Read more…]