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

Stand Up Guys (Blu-ray)

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Val (Al Pacino) gets out of prison after 28 years and is met by Doc (Christopher Walken), an old friend and former criminal associate. They catch up and Val wants to celebrate his release, which eventually involves robbing a pharmacy, finding hookers, stealing a car, and spring another of their old pals, Hirsch (Alan Arkin), from his old folks home so they can share one last hurrah.

However there’s one big wrinkle. Before he was locked up, Val accidentally shot the son of a major criminal. That had guy has been waiting all this time to get his revenge and has ordered Doc to kill Val before the following morning. [Read more…]

Rapture-Palooza (Blu-ray)

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It seems like a normal day, but then the Rapture happens. While not something that’s particularly well-known in the UK, the Rapture is popular with the more fervent evangelical sections of US Christianity. It basically says that when the end of the world begins, the righteous will be whisked off to heaven, leaving everyone else behind to deal with the apocalypse. [Read more…]

Twixt (DVD)

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It’s taken quite a while to get Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt to the UK, but now it’s here. While famed for the likes of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, recently Coppola has gone much smaller with Youth Without Youth, Tetro and now Twixt. It’s an odd yet intriguing film, which feels more like the work of someone early in their career than a grand-old-man like Coppola.

Val Kilmer plays Hall Baltimore, a struggling writer who arrives in a strange town that we’re told is a peculiar place where evil may lurk. As Hall attempts to write a book, he gets sucked into an old murder mystery, which spans both everything from possible vampires and a seeming dream-world to a ghost called V and being visited by Edgar Allan Poe. [Read more…]

Snitch (Blu-ray)

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It’s been a great year for Dwayne Johnson, who’s had hits with GI Joe:  Retaliation, Fast & Furious 7 and Pain & Gain, and a smaller success with Snitch. It’s not just impressive he’s had so much box office success, it’s amazing he’s managed to squeeze that many movies into such a short timespan. [Read more…]

World War Z (DVD)

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After a troubled production history, many thought World War Z would be the flop of the summer. However it became a pretty decent hit, grossing over $540 million around the world. That’s pretty impressive for a film that had to have its entire final act scrapped and a brand new one shot to replace it.

Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, who gets in his car one morning with his family and heads off into the city. Suddenly all hell breaks loose, as out of nowhere zombies start ravaging the streets, attacking everyone they can find and turning them into one of them. Gerry and his family manage to escape and soon learn the zombie plague has spread across the world. [Read more…]

Grimm – Season 2 (Blu-ray)

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Grimm is one of those shows where the premise is so silly that it really ought to be dreadful, but it’s actually a lot of fun. It’s helped by some good actors and a tone that manages to be slightly contrary, as the characters take the set-up very seriously, but there’s still a sense it knows it’s often a bit daft. [Read more…]

American Horror Story: Asylum (DVD)

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Rather than having a continuing story, American Horror Story has decided to go the more interesting route of telling a completely different tale each season, although with many of the same actors (but playing new character). So while the first season was set in a haunted house in LA, Asylum takes us to the Briarcliff asylum.

We start out in the present day, when a man (Maroon 5’s Adam Levine) and his girlfriend are poking around the ruins of Briarcliff when they are confronted by an incarnation of the psychotic serial killer, Bloodyface. We then flash back to the 1960s, when Briarcliff in still in operation, presided over by the terrifying nun, Sister Jude (Jessica Lange). [Read more…]

Hummingbird (Blu-ray)

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Jason Statham’s career so far has turned him into a brand as much as a movie star – as with many action stars before him, his name has come to connote big, dumb action movies with OTT stunts and plots that are simply showcases for the action. It’s done him well and his name is often enough to sell the movie to mindless action fans, but it becomes a problem when he attempts to do something different. Hummingbird has come in for a bit of flack, not so much because of what it is but due to what it isn’t. Namely it isn’t a ‘Jason Statham’ movie. Indeed it has more in common with the arthouse than the likes of Crank. [Read more…]

Gorilla – Iris Prize Festival Best Gay Short Film Winner 2013

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On a weekend away, a newly-formed couple are forced to face the unknown in their lives when a mysterious woman arrives at their secluded campsite.

Tim Marshall’s Gorilla will leave you saying ‘Whaa….?’ and trying to resist the urge to watch it again, just in case you missed something the first time round. It’s offbeat, silly and completely weird in a way that will either charm you to your core or leave you a little cold and confused.  A nice effort, perhaps a surprising choice for Best Short Film 2013 considering the strength of some of the talent on show this year, but either way, it’s well made; the “gorilla” choreography is nicely done; and the tension between the three actors is so genuine you can almost taste it.
https://www.facebook.com/gorillashortfilm

Reviewer: Scott Elliott [Read more…]

Iris Prize 2013 LGBT Short Film Round-up 4

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The Iris Prize Festival showcases many of the best LGBT short films out there. Here’s the first of our round-ups of some of this year’s selection.

Finding Franklin
Director: Alex Bohs
Upon returning home after the funeral of her grandfather, Violet finds that she has been left with more than just mementos but also a mystery – a man named Franklin.
A love story told in retrospect, Finding Franklin speaks of love, loss and the sides of ourselves that our relatives may never really know. [Read more…]