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

Boulevard (Cinema Review)

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After Robin Williams’ untimely death, it looked for a while like we might not see his final movie beyond festival and other limited screenings. Despite starring the much-loved actor, distributors seemed to be shying away from it. However now the movie has arrived and you can see why in the immediate aftermath of Williams’ demise distributors might have had pause, as in it Robin plays a quiet and melancholic character in a movie that has an air of sadness running right through it.

However, Williams is extremely good in the movie as Nolan, a middle-aged, married man living a dull, grey life with little joy and little to keep him going into his fast encroaching later life. Then he literally bumps into Leo (Roberto Aguire), a young rent boy working on the streets. While Nolan doesn’t want sex, something about the man lights something inside him and he starts to seek out Leo’s company and attempts to help him. [Read more…]

Reckless (US DVD Review)

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We’re used to Hollywood doing pointless remakes of European movies, but we’re less used to one European country remaking a film from another. It’s not actually that uncommon though – for example Spain has had some success with new versions of British films – and now it’s time for Holland to take on the 2009 British movie, The Disappearance Of Alice Creed.

The set-up is pretty much the same. In the opening scene a woman, Laura, is kidnapped, taken to an apartment, stripped naked and photographs are taken or her in preparation of asking for a ransom. Victor and Rico are the kidnappers, with Victor an incredibly intense, paranoid and dominant person, who met the softer, more gentle Rico in prison, and who has plotted their latest attempt to make a lot of cash. [Read more…]

The Gunman (Blu-ray Review)

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Until recently the prospect of Sean Penn starring in a movie meant that while the film was likely to be a little bit tedious, he would be extremely good in it and the movie would be worth a watch. However, with Gangster Squad, Walter Mitty and The Gunman, he seems to be trying his hand at more standard fare.

Unfortunately though, all the Gunman offers is more of what we’ve seen 1,000 times before. In fact, I almost wonder if in the pact actors make with Hollywood, it includes a clause that makes it compulsory for them to star in at least one movie about an assassin having an existential crisis. [Read more…]

The Third Man (Blu-ray Review)

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As you might have guessed, a lot of my friends are film fans. However, I was genuinely surprised how few of them had seen The Third Man. Everyone had heard of it, knew Orson Welles was in it and quite a few knew cuckoo clocks were involved somehow, but hardly any had seen it all the way through.

That’s a shame, as it’s a great film. The wonderful Joseph Cotten (who should be considered one of the screen’s greatest actors but normally gets overlooked) plays pulp novelist Holly Martins, who arrives in Vienna to start a new job that’s been offered to him by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). He finds a city that in the post-war era is still in crisis and where the black market is flourishing. [Read more…]

This Town: San Francisco: Episodes 1 & 2 – Looking at life in a gay mecca

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this-town-san-franciscoMike Enders has had great success as founder of the website Accidental Bear, but now he’s stepping behind the camera to make a gay-themed web series. In what he’s calling a pilot season, he’s taking us into ‘This Town: San Francisco’.

The first two episodes are now online.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘”This Town: San Francisco” is a new web series written by Mike Enders (Owner of Accidental Bear Website). The series will be based in San Francisco and tackling and having fun with real-time San Francisco issues such as gentrification, drought, rental pricing, and within the LGBT community, body image, race, aging and much more, but most importantly, poking fun at ourselves as a community in order to start conversations and making change.

‘There will be 6 pilot episodes in what Enders is calling the “pilot season.” As a sound track for the episodes we will reach out to the LGBTQ musicians from the community, sharing and promoting from within as much as possible.

‘Enders describes This Town: San Francisco as Looking meets Strangers with Candy. The 6 pilot episodes will be released over the summer! Keep your eyes out!’ [Read more…]

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The Gift Trailer – Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton have secrets

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the-gift-posterWhile Jason Bateman is best known for comedy, he’s getting into horror-thriller territory for The Gift.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Can you really go through life having never wronged anyone? Even if you are unaware of how, or when, and even who you may have wronged….chances are there is someone out there who won’t ever forget it…or you.

‘Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) are a young married couple whose life is going just as planned until a chance encounter with an acquaintance from Simon’s high school sends their world into a harrowing tailspin. Simon doesn’t recognize Gordo (Joel Edgerton) at first, but after a seemingly coincidental series of encounters proves troubling, a horrifying secret from their past is uncovered after nearly 20 years. As Robyn learns the unsettling truth about what happened between Simon and Gordo, she starts to question: how well do we really know the people closest to us, and are past bygones ever really bygones?

‘From the producer of Whiplash and The Purge, Jason Blum, comes a chilling psychological thriller that marks the feature directorial debut of acclaimed actor and writer Joel Edgerton (The Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty, Warrior).’

It’s out in the UK August 7th. [Read more…]

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Win Jesse Metcalfe In Dead Rising: Watchtower On DVD!

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Dead_RisingTo celebrate the release of DEAD RISING: WATCHTOWER – on DVD, Blu-ray and Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook 27th July – we have a copy on DVD to giveaway!

From the producers of Mortal Kombat: Legacy and the Transformers film franchise comes DEAD RISING: WATCHTOWER. Based on the globally successful video game Dead Rising franchise from CAPCOM™, which has sold in excess of 8.2 million copies worldwide!

Dead Rising: Watchtower is inventive, full of pumped up energy and unforgettably awesome zombie crushing moments! This live-action adaptation stars a first-class cast – including Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives), Oscar-nominee Virginia Madsen (Sideways) and fan favourites Meghan Ory and Keegan Connor Tracy from ABC’s Once Upon a Time.

Order the DVD & Blu-ray: http://amzn.to/1gxbFTs

Order the Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook: http://bit.ly/1IVjNID

To be in with a chance of winning the copy of DEAD RISING: WATCHTOWER on DVD that we’ve got to give away, answer the question below and fill in your details, then press submit! The competition closes on August 2nd, 2015, so get answering and good luck [Read more…]

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Win Nisekoi: False Love Season 1 Part 1 On DVD!

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nisekoi-comp_1Raku’s the son of a yakuza big shot. Chitose’s the daughter of a rival mob boss. It’s like Romeo and Juliet …except this Juliet would much rather kick her Romeo in the face. Stylish new rom-com Nisekoi: False Love sees the jokes flow thick and fast as we follow two classmates forced to pretend to be couple to keep the peace between their feuding gangster families. So funny, it’s criminal.

Nisekoi: False Love Season 1 Part 1 is out to own on DVD & Blu-ray from 20th July.

To be in with a chance of winning the copy of Nisekoi: False Love Season 1 Part 1 on DVD that we’ve got to give away, answer the question below and fill in your details, then press submit! The competition closes on August 2nd, 2015, so get answering and good luck [Read more…]

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Merce: Episode 1 – A musical comedy web series take on being gay and HIV+

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Merce2Musical comedy isn’t necessarily the first genre many people would think of for something about a man living with HIV, but the reality is there’s no good reason why not. Indeed it’s just what the people behind Merce have done.

Now the first episode of this new web series is online and you can watch it below.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Being single, middle-aged and HIV+ in New York City isn’t always easy, but Merce couldn’t be happier! Hailed as “Seinfield with HIV” by Poz Magazine, Merce follows the adventures of an HIV+ Polyanna who sings and dances his way through life in search of self-acceptance and true love. With his gal-pal roommate, three gay guy fairies that appear to him in musical fantasy sequences, and his Mama (on a webcam) always at his side, he’s gonna make it after all. The series is a surprising, bawdy look at HIV today, proving that life can be positive, even when you’re HIV+.’

Merce was created by openly gay, HIV+ writer/performer Charles Sanchez, who was inspired by the rich lives and bright spirits of people living with HIV today.  He says, “One of my biggest gripes about any HIV movie or TV show is that it’s always tragic, always about 30 years ago when we were in the midst of the crisis. No one is really writing about what it’s like to have HIV today. Merce is a modern HIV story. There is an amazing negative stigma attached to HIV, and it’s outdated. It’s unbelievable how the mention of HIV can still invoke fear in people, and the reality is that it’s no longer the death sentence it was 20 or 30 years ago. It’s considered a manageable, chronic condition, and although it’s still serious, it’s totally possible to live a full, complete, healthy, sexy, fun life while managing HIV. I made the show a comedy because comedy is the best way to show truth, and is a great way to change people’s perceptions. Funny, like music or love, is an international language.”

Watch Episode 1 below. [Read more…]

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Gay Marriage Comedy Dodie & Cheryl Get Hitched Seeks Funding

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dodie-and-cheryl-get-hitchedThe lesbian wedding movie Jenny’s Wedding, starring Katherine Heigl and Alexis Bledel, will be in US cinemas on July 31st, but it’s not the only movie out there about two women getting married . There’s also Dodie & Cheryl Get Hitched, which has launvhed a Kickstarter to raise an ambitious $200,000 to get the film made.

In the film, ‘Dodie Pickerling, a bowling alley manager, and Cheryl Shook, a second grade teacher, are two small town Midwest middle-aged lesbians who’ve been together forever and lead a quiet modest life, accepted by the community because they keep their relationship to themselves. Dodie is fine with this arrangement, but after they attend a neighbor’s shotgun wedding, Cheryl finds herself longing for more. She wants to count too. When she’s denied hospital access to Dodie after a bad allergic run-in with a nut, Cheryl decides to dig out an old rainbow flag and boldly swaps it out with their Cincinnati Reds porch banner.

‘As soon as the town realizes what it represents, the shit hits the fan. “DIKES” is spray painted across the girls’ garage (yeah – the offenders don’t spell so good…) Carried away with emotion, Dodie proposes to her lady friend in front of the small crowd gathered on their lawn. Cheryl is euphoric, but as the wedding plans get underway, Dodie’s enthusiasm wanes. Resentment quickly builds between the two, coupled with the community’s overtly anti gay sentiments. An ugly surge of hypocrisy questions if these supposed god-fearing folks are as righteous as they’d like to believe. Told in the vein of both John Waters and John Hughes, “Dodie & Cheryl Get Hitched” questions if the girls’ union will survive, and why they’d even want to be part of such a fucked up institution in the first place??’

Director Coley Sohn (Sassy Pants) says the film, “is my ode to all the ugly heads that are rearing [against gay people and mariage equality] and also the ones that are buried in the sand. This ain’t no schmaltzy feel good Katherine Heigl rom com. Not that there’s anything wrong with those…  It’s a funny, sometimes dark and disturbing look at an institution that gay or straight, is pretty fucked up to begin with.”

If the movie sounds like something you’d like to see, watch the crowdfunding video below (which features Drew Droege) and then head over to Kickstarter to help out. [Read more…]

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Ant-Man (Cinema Review)

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It’s summertime and we get another Marvel movie about a lesser known superhero. Last year we had the amazing Guardians of the Galaxy, but I was very apprehensive about this latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

I presume more of this story will come to light after this film’s general release, but rumour has it that general legend Edgar Wright and co-writer Joe Cornish (another legend) approached Marvel to do an Ant-Man movie long before Iron Man’s release in 2008. As we know the MCU has become a box-office phenomenon with interconnecting plots and characters all leading towards Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and 2019. [Read more…]

Pan Trailer – Hugh Jackman & Garrett Hedlund are going to Neverland

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pan-main-poster-slideEarlier promos for Warner’s upcoming Peter Pan prequel have been rather underwhelming, largely because the whole thing looked like a rather shoddy cartoon. However it looks like they’ve been using the fact the release was delayed from Summer to October 2015 to work on the special effects and make the whole thing look a little less plastic.

This new trailer certainly looks a lot better and suggests this might actually be a decent movie.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘From Warner Bros. Pictures comes, “Pan,” a live-action Peter Pan feature directed by Joe Wright (“Atonement,” “Pride & Prejudice”).

‘Offering a new take on the origin of the classic characters created by J.M. Barrie, the action adventure follows the story of an orphan who is spirited away to the magical Neverland. There, he finds both fun and dangers, and ultimately discovers his destiny—to become the hero who will be forever known as Peter Pan.

‘The film stars Oscar® nominee Hugh Jackman (“Les Misérables”) as Blackbeard; Garrett Hedlund (“Inside Llewyn Davis”) as Hook; Oscar® nominee Rooney Mara (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) as Tiger Lily; Adeel Akhtar (“The Dictator”) as Smee; and newcomer Levi Miller as Peter.

‘Amanda Seyfried (“Les Misérables”) rounds out the cast as Mary, alongside Jack Charles (“Mystery Road”) as The Chief/Tiger Lily’s father; Taejoo Na (“The Kick”) as Kwahu; Nonso Anozie (“Son of God,” “Atonement”) as Bishop; Kathy Burke (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”) as Mother Barnabas; Kurt Egyiawan (“Skyfall”) as Murray; Lewis MacDougall (UK TV’s “In the Name of the Children”) as Nibs; and newcomer Leni Zieglmeier as Wendy Darling.’ [Read more…]

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