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

Free Birds (Blu-ray)

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There’s always an issue with movies about things such as American Football and Thanksgiving. While you can see why they’d be popular in the US, they don’t always travel well, as most other countries don’t have those traditions. That’s particularly true with family films, as many youngsters won’t even know what Thanksgiving is.

Free Birds seems to have realised this though, so that while non-US youngsters won’t get the nuance of the founding fathers and why turkeys are the preferred meal, it does at least make sure it sets out the basics so they won’t be completely lost. [Read more…]

G.B.F. (Cinema/VoD)

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There have been several attempts at making gay-themed teen comedies, but most have failed in one way or another. Either the acting was abysmal or more commonly the script lacked wit and direction, feeling more dumb and dull than entertaining and memorable. G.B.F. is certainly a step up from those, with more polished production values, a great cast (including a fair few recognisable faces) and a script with both charm and wit. [Read more…]

The Machine (Cinema)

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Sometimes a film feels like an advert for what those involved could do with a little more money. The Machine is a little like that, although that’s not to say it’s a failure on its own – just that visually it’s trying to do a lot with not a lot of cash (and at that it succeeds) but the script could have done with being a little tighter. [Read more…]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Cinema)

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It’s a sign of the times that our superheroes these days are not quite all macho and invincibility, rather plagued with doubts and worries – Batman as Hamlet for example. Captain America seems to be no exception – this actioner has as many scenes with him frowning and worrying over America’s place in the world as zooming around fighting baddies. It’s still not exactly complex – at one point his pal asks, “Which ones are the bad guys” – and he answers, “If they’re shooting at you they’re the bad guys.” [Read more…]

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (DVD)

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Not many three-hour foreign movies arrive with as much adulation and controversy as Blue Is The Warmest Colour. With incredibly glowing reviews and the Cannes Palm d’Or in in its pocket, it then managed to gain extra notoriety due to a falling out between the lead actresses and the director over how difficult it was to work with him. The controversy was slightly manufactured as a few comments made about the intensity of both Kechiche and the how he makes his movies became a major bust-up in the press, which the director then made 10 times worse by taking it far more personally than it was ever meant to be. [Read more…]

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Blu-ray)

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With the first Hunger Games, many remarked that it was surprisingly violent for a young adult film. The second isn’t quite as violent, but it’s is surprisingly dark and gritty. Many wondered whether swapping director Gary Ross for Francis Lawrence would result in a more mainstream, Hollywood-ised tale, but instead it’s rather gone the other way, with a film that doesn’t pull its punches over the darkness and pain at its heart, or try to make its hero less flawed than she is. [Read more…]

Escape Plan (Blu-ray)

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If this was 1987, Escape Plan would have been just about the most exciting prospect any popcorn flick fan had ever heard of, but Schwarzenegger and Stallone aren’t quite the box office titans they once were. So if they’re going to make a movie together they need something worthwhile around them and unfortunately Escape Plan doesn’t quite stack up.

Stallone is Ray Breslin a security expert whose job is to get inserted into maximum security prisons and then test their security by trying to break out. He’s asked to do the same for a secret facility where the government keeps the most dangerous people on the planet, who essentially need to be disappeared. However Ray won’t be allowed the back-up of his usual team. [Read more…]

Boys On Film 11: We Are Animals (DVD)

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The popular Boys On Film collection returns with another selection of gay-themed short film, this time offering a pleasingly eclectic mix ranging across a number of genres and coming from various different countries. Here’s what we thought…

And you can see what we think of other Boys On Film releases here. [Read more…]

Querelle (Blu-ray)

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Ever since it was first screened in 1982, Querelle has divided audiences. Some are drawn in by its complex exploration of sexuality, its theatrical look and tone, and the way it creates a totally fake world that feels oddly real. Others however can never get past its pretentious edges and the fact it is so deliberately artificial.

The 1982 movie was the final film of the storied Rainer Werner Fassbinder and it’s one of his most personal. While based on the dense and difficult Jean Genet novel, Querelle De Brest, it’s filtered through Fassbinder’s own life experience and the fact he’d come to realise that he was gay himself (he had a rather complex sexuality). It’s an impressive mix, keeping the philosophical literary pretensions of Genet, while turning a book most thought was unfilmable into something that feels almost like a trip into one man’s mind. [Read more…]

The English Teacher (DVD)

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Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) is the titular English teacher, a 40-something spinster whose life has been so filled with literature that she has been unable to find a man who can fulfil her romantic ideals. She discovers that one of her old students, Jason (Michael Angarano), is back in their small town after returning from studying writing at university. He’s given up on his dreams of being a writer, but after Linda reads his play, The Chrysalis, she decides it must be staged and that her high school is going to do. [Read more…]