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

Boys On Film 9: Youth In Trouble (DVD)

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Read our thoughts on the other Boys On Film releases by clicking here.

Boys On Film, the series of DVDs showcasing the best in LGBT short films, returns with Youth In Trouble, featuring eight shorts ranging from 11 to 29 minutes long. They come from countries as diverse as Brazil, Germany, Canada, Britain, Australia and Spain, but are brought together by the theme of young people facing emotional and/or physical peril. It’s another great selection, with only a couple of bum notes amongst the crop – and even they’re not too bad. [Read more…]

The Sex Of Angels (DVD)

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For about the first 20 minutes of Sex Of Angels, I felt primed to dislike it. I was trying to be open-minded, but as the plot unfolded it looked like it was going to hit on some of my biggest bugbears about LGBT-themed movies. However as it continued it turned out to be a lot smarter and more involving than it first seemed.

My issue with it initially was that it appeared to be yet another movie about a ‘straight’ guy in a relationship with a woman, who cheats on her, yet we’re supposed to think it’s okay because he cheats of her with a guy – which in the lexicon of gay movies often doesn’t get treated as ‘real’ infidelity. The guy in question is Bruno (Llorenc Gonzalez), who’s been with Carla (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) since he was young. [Read more…]

Bait (DVD)

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Bait is a movie about the unluckiest people in the history of mankind. An armed robbery is going on in an underground supermarket in Australia when a tsunami hits and completely floods the place. Many people are killed but the few survivors manage to find safety perching on top of the supermarket shelves. That’d be bad enough, but they soon realise they’re not alone, as the tidal wave has washed a man-killing great white shark into the shop with them.

Oh, and there’s also a live electricity wire sparking, which could kill them all if it hits the water. Suffice to say, nobody in this film is having a good day. [Read more…]

Bernie (Cinema)

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It’s taken quite a while to get Bernie to the UK. It’s almost a year since its US debut and a few months after it flirted the edges of the awards ceremonies, such as Jack Black being nominated for a Golden Globe. Now it’s here though, but has it been worth the wait?

The film is based on the true story of Bernie Tiede (Black), a quiet, God-fearing, possible gay mortician in a small Texas town. Popular with the locals due to his unfailing kindness, he manages to strike up a friendship with aging rich widow Marjorie Nugent, a woman most people think is mean and thoroughly unpleasant. [Read more…]

The Lords Of Salem (DVD)

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Rob Zombie has made his name as a filmmaker manking extremely gory films that seem designed to make the viewer want to constantly wince, such as The Devil’s Rejects and House Of 1000 Corpses. For The Lords Of Salem he sticks with horror but tones down the blood, guts and truly gruesome violence for a film that deliberately harks back to the movies of the 60s and 70s, although still with a modern feel. [Read more…]

Evil Dead II – Special Edition (Blu-ray)

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With a remake of Evil Dead in cinemas, Studiocanal has dusted off Sami Raimi’s 1987 movie Evil Dead II for a spruced up Blu-ray re-release, with some new extras added in. There’s no doubt the film is a horror classic. While less grossly gory than the original Evil Dead (although no slouch on the gore front), it’s much funnier and yet still manages to be original, strange and scary. [Read more…]

30 Rock – Season 6 (DVD)

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I’ve never quite worked out why Comedy Central shows 30 Rock in the way they do in the UK, where we tend to get it in half season chunks (sometimes with the second half of one season and the beginning of another shoved together). It means that while 30 Rock – Season 6 ended in May 2012 in the US, it’s only just come to a conclusion on British TV, and so now we can get the 22 episodes on DVD. [Read more…]

You’re Human Like The Rest Of Them – The Films Of B.S. Johnson (DVD/Blu-ray)

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The BFI is very good at delving into its archive to bring out things that feel like it’s a very good thing that they’re out there for the public to find, even if it’s difficult to imagine any more than a very tiny segment of that public ever caring to seek them out. That’s very true of You’re Human Like The Rest Of Them, which I think it’s safe to say won’t be reaching the top of the DVD/Blu-ray sales chart, but gives an outlet to the work of an intriguing artist who has a bit of a cult following in certain circles. [Read more…]

What Richard Did (DVD)

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What Richard Did got a healthy dose of publicity a couple of months ago when Michael Bay announced he was casting young Irish actor Jack Reynor in one of the lead roles in Transformers 4 after seeing his performance in Lenny Abrahamson’s movie. Reynor is indeed very good, although the film itself is slightly more problematic.

Richard (Reynor) is a young lad who’s popular, has plenty of friends and has status thanks to playing on the rugby team. He begins a relationship with Lara (Roisin Murphy), although there are some issues with her ex-boyfriend, Conor (Sam Keeley). At a party things come to a head when Conor steps into an argument between Richard and Lara, leading to a moment of violence that could have major repercussions for all involved. [Read more…]

The Servant (DVD)

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A couple of days ago I reviewed Accident, the second of three collaborations between director Joseph Losey and writer Harold Pinter. Now it’s time for the first, 1963’s The Servant, a slightly more straightforward film, although still with a biting interest in class and the complexities of relationships between people.

James Fox, in one of his very first movie roles, plays Tony, a young man from an aristocratic family who moves into a house in London and needs a servant. He hires Barrett (Dirk Bogarde), a gentleman’s gentleman who promises to cook and look after Tony. However things get tricky when Tony’s girlfriend, Susan (Wendy Craig), takes an instant dislike to Barrett. The sexual politics are ramped up when Barrett moves his ‘sister’, Vera (Sarah Miles), into the house, with Tony initiating an affair with this woman from far ‘beneath’ his supposed station. [Read more…]