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

Crawl (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

A mysterious Croatian man (George Shevtsov) arrives in a small Aussie town and shoots a local garage owner. He’s done it on the orders of the seedy bar owner Slim (Paul Holmes), who wanted the mechanic dead over a business deal gone bad.

Then there’s barmaid Marilyn (Georgina Haig), who heads home to wait for the return of her boyfriend, Tristan, who she is convinced is going to propose to her (Marilyn’s obviously never been in a movie before, as talking about how you’re expecting something good to happen is pretty much a guarantee it’ll all go pear-shaped). [Read more…]

Rust And Bone (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

When Rust And Bone premiered at Cannes, the very first reviews suggested this wouldn’t just be the movie to beat at the Film Festival, but would also be in with a chance at the Oscars. However it quickly lost momentum, losing out at Cannes and not even getting a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the Academy Awards.  The reason it hasn’t done as well as those ecstatic early reviews suggested is that it’s a bit of an audience divider, with some feeling it’s an emotionally involving masterpiece while others can’t quite get past the implausibility of its melodrama. [Read more…]

On The Road (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

It’s taken a long, long time to get On The Road onto the screen. Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights in 1979 (and that’s ignoring even earlier attempts, some involving Jack Kerouac himself) and has been trying to make it ever since. He’s still involved as a producer, but it’s Walter Salles in the director’s chair, who’s previously brought us the likes of The Motorcycle Diaries and Central Station. [Read more…]

Fire In The Blood (Cinema)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

If you don’t want to feel pretty angry, don’t watch this film. Fire In The Blood is an impassioned plea that’s bound to promote fury among many viewers who’ll barely be able to believe the story it tells about the callous indifference big pharmaceutical companies show to millions of lives. Indeed it’s not even indifference, it’s premeditatedly planning to allow millions to die in order to protect profits. [Read more…]

Killing Them Softly (Blu-ray)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

When you start watching Killing Them Softly, you might be confused about why this Brad Pitt film seems to have a distinct lack of Brad Pitt. He doesn’t turn up until nearly 30 minutes in, but certainly makes his presence felt when he does arrive.

Before he comes on-screen we follow Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn), two small-time hoods who are talked into ripping off a mob-controlled card game. As you’d expect the local criminal fraternity isn’t top impressed by this, and so hire Jackie (Pitt) to find out who’s responsible and hunt them down. [Read more…]

Frankenweenie (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

With Frankenweenie and Paranorman, we may be seeing a resurgence in family films that are meant to be a bit scary, rather than the anaemically nice kid’s movies we’ve had for the last few years. While Tim Burton’s animated movie is never too intense for youngsters, it’s gently creepy and touches on some tough themes, such as learning to come to terms with death.

Victor Frankenstein is a young lad who’s devastated when his beloved pet dog, Sparky, is run over by a car and killed. Unable to accept his pooch’s untimely demise, Victor comes up with an incredible plan to use electricity to bring the animal back to life. Miraculously it works, although Victor realises he must keep the revived Sparky a secret. [Read more…]

Blandings (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , , ,
Director:
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

While Britain loves to make period dramas, period comedies are a much rarer beast, but we’ve got one with Blandings, based on P.G. Wodehouse’s numerous book and short stories set at Blandings Castle. The series pulls together some great comic talent, such as Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders and Mark Williams for six 30-minute episodes of entertaining silliness.

Spall is Lord Clarence Emsworth, a rather bumbling fellow who’s more interested in his prize pig than being what’s expected of the landed gentry and master of a stately pile. His rather loose, haphazard style endlessly frustrates his sister, Lady Connie (Jennifer Saunders), who’s constantly trying to bring some order and gentility to the castle, and rarely succeeding. [Read more…]

Hit & Run (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

Charlie (Dax Shepard) and Annie (Kristin Bell) are in love. When she gets the opportunity of a job at a major university, Charlie offers to go with her. There’s a bit of a problem though – Charlie’s in the FBI’s Witness Protection Program and if he leaves the small town they live in, he’ll have to leave the protection he’s got (largely Tom Arnold’s US Marshal) behind. [Read more…]

Cloud Atlas (Cinema)

By Leave a Comment

Starring: , ,
Director: , ,
Running Time:
Certificate:
Release Date:

At the beginning of Cloud Atlas Ben Wishaw’s Robert puts a gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger. Three tortuous hours later I wanted to do the same.

Cloud Atlas was on a long list of ‘unfilmable’ books that have become reality on the screen, but unlike Life Of Pi, which garnered many an Oscar nomination, this proves that the novel should have stayed just that. On screen it’s a complete mess – sprawling, often dull, frequently incomprehensible, utterly humourless and with a vaguely eco-message that is presumably supposed to save its faults – it doesn’t. [Read more…]

All Good Things (DVD)

By Leave a Comment

We’ve had to wait a while for All Good Things. Shot in 2008 it was slated for US release in 2009, but various issues with the distribution meant it didn’t actually hit American cinemas until late 2010 (and even then it only got a small release). It’s take another two full years for it to arrive in the UK, despite the presence of Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst.

Based on a true story, Gosling plays David Marks, who in the early 1980s is the heir to a mega-rich empire. However he massively dislikes his father (Frank Langella) and would prefer to have little to do with the family business. He meets and marries the lower-middle class Katie (Kirsten Dunst), fleeing the city to a place in rural Vermont. However they’re lured back to New York by David’s father. [Read more…]