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

Kuma (Cinema)

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Ayse is young woman living in a small village in Turkey whose family has decided to marry her off to the handsome Hasan. However the arrangement is actually a way to get around polygamy laws, as Ayse is really going to move to Austria and become the second wife of Hasan’s father. Ayse is welcomed into the family by first wife Fatma, who has cancer and sees this new woman as the way her family will continue if the worst happens. Perhaps unsurprisingly some of the children, who’ve all grown up in the west, are unimpressed by this ‘bumpkin’ interloper. [Read more…]

Berlin 36 (DVD)

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After the rise of the Nazis, young Jewish high-jumper Gretel Bergmann (Karoline Herfurth) is thrown out of her athletics club and so goes to England where she becomes British champion. While the German rulers are glad to be rid of her, protests in America suggest they won’t send a team unless Jewish people are allowed to compete in the upcoming Berlin Olympics. [Read more…]

The Jungle Book (Blu-ray)

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Since he was a baby, Mowgli has been raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. When the local animals hear that the fierce tiger, Shere Khan, is nearby, they decide Mowgli must be sent back to his own kind. However panther Bagheera has trouble getting him there, as Mowgli doesn’t want to go, which isn’t helped when he meets carefree bear, Baloo.

It wins nearly every poll of people’s favourite Disney film, so it’s a good job that for its first appearance on Blu-ray, the movie has been given a really great HD transfer, which is pin sharp and has virtually no noise. Indeed it’s impressive what can be done with these older animated movie, as while nearly every other film from before about 1980 has obvious signs of degradation, Disney has managed to ensure their films look as good as the day they were made. [Read more…]

The Lone Ranger (Cinema)

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When I saw that adaptation of The Lone Ranger was being made starring Jonny Depp, Armie Hammer and directed by Gore Verbinski, I couldn’t help but wonder whether a humorous western could really work with a young film audience who’ve being spoiled by huge Sci-Fi effects ridden blockbusters? Would the modern filmgoer still flock en masse to this type of film? Unfortunately, as US audiences have already proven, they won’t. But perhaps they should. [Read more…]

Scenes From A Gay Marriage (US DVD)

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Written, directed by and starring Matt Riddlehoover, Scenes From A Gay Marriage follows Darren, a man who’s rather lost in life. His only job is growing a beard and taking photographs of it for a strange man on the Internet (who pays him $200 a week). That gives him plenty of time to pine for both the relationship he lost and the man he moved across the country for – only for that man to move back to where they came from.

Spending most of his time in his small apartment, he passes the hours listening to the ups and downs of the relationship of his neighbours, whose arguments, conversations and noisy lovemaking comes straight through the air ducts. [Read more…]

Beautiful Thing – 20th Anniversary Production (VoD/Download)

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It’s always a bit odd when you first watch a filmed recording of a stage production. Initially it’s difficult to escape the feeling you’re watching it in the wrong medium. However if done well you quickly forget that what you’re watching was designed for a theatre setting and can just enjoy the show. Thankfully that’s very true of this filmed version of the 20th Anniversary Production of Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing.

It was shot over two nights in May this year at The Arts Theatre in London, and is now available for online viewing & download via Digital Theatre. [Read more…]

The Host (Blu-ray)

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After the success of Twilight, it was little surprise that a movie version of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host was put into the works. It seemed to bode well when Truman Show and In Time scribe Andrew Niccol was hired to write and direct, as he’s got a good track record when it comes to somewhat cerebral sci-fi. However the end result is rather underwhelming – not bad, but far from great. [Read more…]

The Comedian (DVD Review)

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Ed (Edward Hogg) is in his early 30s, a northerner who’s been living in London for a decade and is hoping to make it big as a comedian. However few people seem to laugh at his jokes, with a compere describing his act as ‘interesting’ rather than funny.

Outside comedy he’s stuck in a phone call centre job he hates and has a slightly dysfunctional relationship with his flatmate, who’s in love with him even though he’s gay. After striking up a conversation with a man (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) on a bus, they start a relationship, which begins to highlight the ennui and sadness at the heart of Ed’s life. [Read more…]

A Late Quartet (DVD)

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The world famous Fugue Quartet has reformed a year after cellist Peter’s wife passed away. Determined to play Beethoven’s notoriously challenging Opus 131, the aging Peter (Walken) is now facing retirement due to the early onset of Parkinson’s, while second violinist Robert (Hoffman) and his wife, violist Juliette (Keener), have reached a breaking point in their relationship. All the while the cold first violin, Daniel (Ivanir), refuses to accept that the people in his quartet are struggling to survive together. Can the quartet keep it together for one last grand farewell to Peter? [Read more…]

Side Effects (DVD)

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I don’t think they did the early marketing of Side Effects very well, particularly in the US, as it was presented as if this was in the vein of Steven Soderbergh’s ensemble tales like Traffic and Contagion, but this time taking on the pharmaceutical industry. However it isn’t anything really like them – although it rather deliberately starts out like them and retains a streak of questioning our love of prescription drugs – as this is really a full-on twisty, turny thriller designed to keep you guessing as to what’s really going on. [Read more…]