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

That Awkward Moment (Cinema)

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Zac Efron is branching out from his heartthrob image and is now in the more adult, blokey phase of his career. To be fair, it’s a part that fits him pretty well, and That Awkward Moment, while clearly a vehicle for his talents, has plenty more going for it than just him. It’s bawdy, funny, charming and easy to watch, and gets to the point pretty economically. It’s only real weakness is the casting of Imogen Poots, but more of her later.

Efron is Jason, a book cover designer who is enjoying the life of a single man in New York. When his pal Mikey (Michel B. Jordan) announces he is divorcing his wife (Jessica Lucas) he, Jason and Daniel (Miles Teller) form a pact, to remain single to help each other out in bars, keep each other company and always be there for each other. [Read more…]

Free Fall (Freier Fall) (DVD)

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After finding a lot of success at film festivals, Free Fall makes it way to DVD in the UK. It’s been described as the German Brokeback Mountain, and while there are similarities, they’re more on the surface than going deep. Indeed this is more a morality tale than an examination of forbidden love in a deeply homophobic society.

Marc (Hanno Koffler) seems to have it all – he’s set to be part of an elite police squad, he’s moved in with his girlfriend and has a baby on the way. While training he meets Kay (Max Riemelt) and they start to go on jogs together. After a brief sexual encounter in the forest, Marc runs off and decides it was just a one off. However soon he comes back for more and he starts exploring new parts of himself – although he’s still insistent that he’s isn’t gay or even bisexual. [Read more…]

Celluloid (DVD)

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Lloyd Eyre-Morgan’s directorial debut, Dream On, hit DVD last summer, and now he’s back with Celluloid, a movie that’s part kitchen sink drama, part thriller, with a little bit of horror movie thrown in as well. It sounds like an odd mix, but it works surprisingly well, thanks to interesting characters and a well-observed look at life.

Our protagonist is Josh (Daniel Booth), a 15-year-old boy who’s coming to terms with his sexuality. He has a major crush on his straight best friend – who shares his love of making films – but has yet to tell anyone he’s gay. However coming out isn’t his first priority as his homelife is tough. His mother, Dawn (Janet Bamford), has mental health issues and seems poised for another breakdown. [Read more…]

Rush (Blu-ray)

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There were quite a few people who were expecting Rush to get a few Oscar nominations, but in the end it was shut out. It’s a shame as it’s a damn fine movie and should have got some kudos, even if it was only in the production design and cinematography departments, as it does such a great job of recreating 1970s Formula 1 racing.

The film tells the true story of the intense rivalry between the British James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austria’s Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). They first meet in Formula 3, where it’s clear they are very different people. Hunt is a playboy whose life is about sex, drugs, partying and being everyone’s friend.  Lauda meanwhile is far more serious, seeing racing as being about business. He spends his time learning the mechanics of the cars, as well as showing off an arrogant streak that ensures none of the other drivers like him that much. [Read more…]

Sunshine On Leith (Blu-ray)

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Unless you’re a fan, you could be forgiven to think Scottish musical twins The Proclaimers only had one song, the ubiquitous I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), although some might also be able to tell you Letters From America is also one of their tunes. As a result to some it may seem odd to base a musical around their songs, but it’s actually a surprisingly smart idea.

Firstly, you may well recognise more of their songs than you expected, and it’s certainly true their music is pretty well known in Scotland, even if not all of it is as popular in the rest of the UK. Secondly, while many acts sing rather airy tunes that talk about abstract ideas and attempt to be universal by being deliberately vague, The Proclaimers music is far more personal, with seemingly naïve but actually rather complex lyrics that place the music resolutely in the shoes of someone living a real life. The songs reference specific Scottish locations and talk about the sort of small scale events of life and how they affect someone emotionally. [Read more…]

The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (DVD)

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The people behind The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones must have thought they had a major hit on their hands. While it’s common for sequels to be put into development before the first movie is released (in Hollywood terms, paying a screenwriter for a first draft of a script is comparatively cheap), but in this case they’d already started casting the likes of Sigourney Weaver in City Of Ashes. However when City Of Bones only grossed $90 million around the world, the likelihood of adaptations of Cassandra Clare’s other books seemed far less likely. [Read more…]

Looking (TV Preview) Is it the gay show we’ve been waiting for?

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Having premiered in the US on January 19th on HBO, the much-anticipated show about a group of gay friends in San Francisco makes its UK bow on Sky Atlantic on January 27th at 10.35pm. So after all the hype, was it worth it? The answer is yes, but perhaps not if you just judge it from the first episode. If you stick with it though (I’ve been lucky enough to see the first four episodes) it proves to be something well worth watching. [Read more…]

West Hollywood Motel (US DVD)

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When Scenes From A Gay Marriage came out, some reviewers compared actor/writer/director Matt Riddlehoover to Woody Allen. It’s something Matt seems to like, as his latest, West Hollywood Motel, borrows liberally from the type of plots Allen used to like, from The Purple Rose Of Cairo to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex. It even uses a similar title font to the one that has been a trademark of Woody’s for decades. [Read more…]

Any Day Now (DVD)

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To many people Alan Cumming is the guy who pops up in supporting roles in the likes of The Good Wife, Goldeneye and X-Men 2. Some have never quite got past him as an insanely camp air steward in the Scottish sitcom The High Life. However he’s far more than that, as the fact he has both a Tony and an Olivier award attests. Here he gets to take centre stage opposite Raising Hope’s Garret Dillahunt in a moving and extremely well made movie.

It’s the 1970s and Cumming is Rudy Donatello, an out and proud gay man who performs in a drag act. His life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers that the kid living next door, Marco (Isaac Levya), has been abandoned by his junkie mother. [Read more…]

Goats (DVD)

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Ellis Whitman (The Good Wife’s Graham Phillips) is a young man who lives in the Arizona desert with his new age mother, Wendy (Vera Farmiga), and her string of boyfriends, as well as a sort-of father figure in the form of ‘Goat Man’ (David Duchovny), a man who goes on goat treks and spends most of his life stoned. Although Wendy hates Ellis’ actual father, Frank (Ty Burrell), Ellis has secretly applied for and been accepted to the straight-laced prep school his father attended.

Over the course of his first year at the school, Ellis attempts to get to know his father, becomes subject to his mother’s whims and emotional guilt trips, and is also forced to reconsider who Goat Man is. [Read more…]