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

Sexual Tension: Volatile (DVD)

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Marco Berger made his name with gay themed flicks like Plan B and the Berlin Teddy award-winning feature Absent. For Sexual Tension: Volatile he’s teamed up with Marcelo Monaco – who has a background in porn – to create six short films (each directors helmed three) all themed around men getting close in a variety of situations, where the sexual heat gets turned up even if they never fully get in on. [Read more…]

A Liar’s Autobiography – The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman in 3D (Cinema)

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This film has been released 23 years after the untimely death (or not, if you look at his lifestyle) of Graham Chapman. The Film is not calling itself A Monty Python film, but a Graham Chapman film, and after watching it you might understand why.

The synopsis: in 1989 Chapman – ‘a freeloading bastard’ (according to John Cleese at his funeral) sadly ceased to be! ‘E’s expired and gone to meet ‘is maker! ‘E’s kicked the bucket, ‘E’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! – OK enough Parrot Sketch quotes already!! (which he co-wrote with John Cleese) [Read more…]

The Knot (DVD)

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When The Knot was released in cinemas it’s not an understatement to say it was met with bad reviews. It currently has a score of 0% on RottenTomatoes and the invective spewed at it reached a point that it even led to a spat between a few of the cast (and their relatives) and some of the reviewers.

To be honest, many of the cinema reviews were a lot harsher than the film deserves – that not to say it’s good, just that’s there are far worse films out there. I think perhaps part of the problem was seeing it on the cinema screen, as it’s seems far more suited to television. Indeed it would probably have been better to have made it as a six-part comedy series for TV. [Read more…]

Taken 2 (DVD)

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I’m not entirely sure what it was about Taken that made it a $200+ million grossing film around the world. It was a decent enough action movie, but nothing particularly amazing. However its success ensured we’d get a Taken 2, and it’s not surprising Liam Neeson was keen to return, as the first movie gave his career a real shot in the arm. [Read more…]

The Story Of O: Untold Pleasures (DVD)

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I’d be willing to bet that if it weren’t for 50 Shades Of Grey, this 2002 movie ‘inspired’ by Dominique Aury’s ‘classic’ novel wouldn’t have got a new DVD release (sorry for all the quote marks, but it’s the sort of film that demands them). This isn’t the 1975 European movie that many saw as pushing the boundaries of eroticism in film, instead it’s a 2002 American Version that looks and plays out like late night TV softcore porn. [Read more…]

Out In The Open (DVD) (US Release)

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During the documentary Out In The Open, director Matthew Smith talks about the fact that he doesn’t like the type of aggressive LGBT activism where you go and shout at someone in the hope of affecting change. This then is his friendlier, more heartfelt approach to changing hearts and minds, as well as saying it’s okay to be gay. [Read more…]

The Journey (DVD)

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Ligy J. Pullappally’s 2004 debut (sadly it’s still her only movie) gets a welcome re-release. The deceptively simple film is about two teenage Indian girls, Kiran and Delilah, and the growing desire one has for the other. As you can probably guess this causes a few issues, not least of which is that that Kiran is mortified by her feelings for Delilah. However it may not only be Kiran who is feeling this way.

They live in a world where arranged marriage is the only option, and a relationship between two women seems out of the question. [Read more…]

Keep the Lights On (DVD)

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Keep the Lights On tells the story of a Danish filmmaker, Erik (Thure Lindhardt), who’s working on a new documentary and living in New York City. He enters a loving yet complicated relationship with Paul (Zachary Booth), a struggling drug and sex addict. The film takes a rare and honest look at the complications that impact on most relationships and the negative effects addiction can cause for yourself and a partner, all put together in a way that makes you not think of this as a ‘gay film’. [Read more…]

Looper (Blu-ray)

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Time travel is a tough nut to crack. It’s an idea that’s full of possibilities but it also has major pitfalls, not least of which are the endless paradoxes and logic knots that time travel films can tie themselves up in. Although Looper doesn’t completely resolve these problems, its gets closer than any film since Twelve Monkeys and presents a reality that’s actually pretty close to how some quantum physicists think time travel could actually work.

Indeed as Twelve Monkeys and Looper both feature Bruce Willis, perhaps all prospective time travel movies need to be given the Brucey seal of approval before they go into production. [Read more…]

Stanley Kubrick’s Fear And Desire (Blu-ray)

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The early works of great filmmakers often get a home entertainment release purely because of the name attached to it rather than because they’re great movies. However it’s taken until 2013 to get Stanley Kubrick’s Fear & Desire a release, which is largely because the director himself spent a fair amount of time trying to supress it.

After he became a major name, Kubrick didn’t really want it seen, and indeed for a while it was thought that all prints had been lost. However an archive print kept by Kodak was held at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, which has since been supplemented by the original negative, which was discovered in Costa Rica and is now in the US Library Of Congress (it’s this print the new Blu-ray is taken from). [Read more…]