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

Snails In The Rain (UK Jewish Film Festival Review)

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A lot of people say that Israel is one of the best places to be gay and that Tel Aviv is one of the freest, most welcoming places for LGBT people, with a vibrant and open gay culture. However if the gay-themed films coming out of Israel are anything to go by, there’s still a lot of challenges for LGBT people in the country.

Snails In The Rain is one of several Israeli movies made over the past few years looking at the difficulty for closeted men who are struggling with the fact the life they’re living doesn’t match the way they feel inside. Interestingly a lot of these movies also juxtapose the men’s lives now with their experiences when they were in the military (which is compulsory for all young Israelis). You can understand why this is, as being in the army is almost the apogee of masculinity in society’s eyes and yet for many people it will be where they first express their same sex feelings. [Read more…]

Geography Club (US Cinema/VoD)

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Based on Brent Hartinger’s popular book, Geography Club follows high school student Russell (Cameron Deane Stewart), who’s just figuring out his sexuality but not ready to tell the world about it yet. He’s also involved in a fledgling relationship with star quarterback Kevin (Justin Deeley), although the sportsman is absolutely determined nobody will find out about it.

Russell ends up getting involved with the new Geography Club, which has nothing to do with geography. It’s actually just a boring name to stop anyone bothering them, as it’s really a secret club for LGBT teens to talk about their problems and connect. However their secrets may be difficult to keep and they may have to face whether they want to come out in the open. [Read more…]

Alan Davies: Life Is Pain (DVD)

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Much of the audience approaching this know of Alan Davies through his regular appearances on QI, in which he consistently outshines many touring comedians with his lovable quirkiness and child-like charm. Others might remember him solving creepy mysteries in Jonathan Creek. Few people know him for his stand-up comedy – partly as he hasn’t done any for quite a few years – but now he’s back to his roots with his new show, Life is Pain. [Read more…]

Thor: The Dark World Tops The US Box Office Again

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thor-the-dark-world-poster2As most box office watchers expected, Thor: The Dark World stayed on top of the US box office, taking another $38.4 million for a gross so far of $147 million. The 55% drop from the last weekend is about in line with other big movies, and should ensure it ends up with a North American total somewhere around $250 million.

However the real surprise was the movie in second place, The Best Man Holiday, a follow up to the 1999 movie The Best Man, which took just over $30 million. By now the success of films aimed at African-American audiences shouldn’t be a surprise anymore, but every time it happens even veteran watchers treat it like some bizarre anomaly, mainly because the film hasn’t been marketed to them and so they don’t know much about it.

Best Man Holiday was the only new movie in the top 10, as it was a quiet weekend before things gear up this Friday in the run up to Thanksgiving with the likes of Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of November 15th-17th.

Rank Title Weekend Gross (millions) Total Gross to date (millions)
1 Thor: The Dark World $38.4 $146.9
2 The Best Man Holiday $30.5 $30.5
3 Last Vegas $8.8 $46.9
4 Free Birds $8.3 $42.2
5 Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa $7.6 $90.2
6 Gravity $6.2 $240.5
7 Ender’s Game $6.2 $53.7
8 12 Years A Slave $4.7 $24.9
9 Captain Phillips $4.5 $97.6
10 About Time $3.4 $11.5
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Jackpot Short Film – A gay teen finds porn in the pre-internet age

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We covered Jackpot back when it screened at the Iris Prize gay short film festival back in 2012. Now the whole thing has popped up online, courtesy of director Adam Baran, and you can watch it above.

Here’s what we had to say about the movie when we caught it, ‘Jackpot is a breath of fresh air. A 14-year-old boy is interrupted from a moment of self-pleasure by a phone call from his friend. The news of a stash of gay pornography being found leads the protagonist to rush out and hunt it down. Upon discovering the bounty he is visited by the apparition of one of the models in ‘Jackpot’ magazine, who helps him overcome the bullies who aim to ruin his day.

‘The story of a boy hunting down pornography to give himself a good time, and the introduction to his imaginary friend was quite a surprise: a very pleasant one. I’ve never seen a film with such a fresh (and silly) concept! And one executed so well? Get out of here! The production of the film suits the narrative so well, with fast cuts, outrageous costumes and vibrant colours. The boy taking a stand against the bullies shows this film also has an important message for its audience. Surprisingly tasteful given the subject matter, this film swaggers with confidence and shows off director Adam Baran’s high professional standards. The timing is impeccable. It is the most fun I have had watching a short film.’

If you like the short, you can give a tip over on Vimeo. [Read more…]

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Gay Surfer Documentary Out In The Line-up Seeks Funding

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While gay people are seen in more and more walks of life, there are some where they are still pretty much invisible. This includes surfing.

However the documentary Out In The Lineup wants to challenge that perception, and it’s launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign that it hope will help ensure the movie gets finished and can be submitted to film festivals around the globe.

The movie hopes to challenge stereotypes, connect people and raise awareness.

The movie is, ‘is a feature documentary about two gay surfers, David and Thomas, who set off on a global journey to uncover the taboo of homosexuality in surfing. They travel from Australia to Hawaii, California, Mexico and the Galapagos Islands to speak with people from all corners of the surfing community, from former world champions through to everyday surfers. Stories of fear, isolation and self-doubt emerge alongside ones of hope, self-empowerment and transformation. As their journey unfolds, Thomas and David  are inspired to promote change within the existing culture by looking to surfing’s grassroots values of freedom of spirit, open-mindedness and love for the ocean.’

Take a look at the campaign video above, and if you’d like to help, head over to Kickstarter.

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John Apple Jack Trailer – A gay man doesn’t want his sister to marry his childhood crush

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John Apple Jack recently premiered at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, and if this trailer is anything to go by, it’ll be well worth a look. After all, a lot of gay men will know the irrational jealousy when you find out one of your female friends is dating the straight guy you have a major crush on.

Here’s the brief synopsis: ‘When John discovers his sister’s fiancé is Jack, his childhood crush, passions ignite and his life spirals out of control… losing his job, his playboy reputation and his underwear – all while rushing to the altar to finally confess his love.’

Take a look at the trailer for the movie above. It should be screening at more film festivals in the coming months. [Read more…]

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Melissa McCarthy Says Only ‘Lovely Gay Boys’ Liked Her Stand-Up Comedy

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Stand-up can be a tough world, where the audiences aren’t at all forgiving if they don’t immediately find you funny. It turns out it was difficult for The Heat and Bridesmaids star Melissa McCarthy, who says the only people who liked her were gay men.

She says of her brief live comedy career, “I did stand up for like, you know eight months,” McCarthy said. “I didn’t know you were supposed to write… I was just like, ‘I guess I’ll just have a shot and get up on stage, that’s what they do, right?’”

She also had issues with hecklers, “As you were just placing your foot on the stage. Somebody from the back of the room was always like, ‘Show us your boobs!’”

But then she found the right crown, saying, “Do you know The Duplex in New York. That place I loved, because it was all lovely gay boys… They didn’t want to see boobs.”

McCarthy has of course since gone onto major stardom, although it seems stand-up days are in the past, even for gay audiences.

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Samuel L. Jackson Didn’t Know He Was Gonna Play A Gay Character In An Upcoming Movie

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samuel-l-jacksonA couple of weeks ago it was revealed that Samuel L. Jackson has signed up to star alongside John Cusack Cell, and as many people pointed out, the character he’s taking on, Tom McCourt, is gay in the Stephen King novel Cell is based on.

However it turns out nobody told Jackson that.

When asked by the New York Post about it, he said, “I have no idea. I haven’t read the book. Is that character gay in the book?”

Jackson probably isn’t too upset though, as he’s long been a supporter of LGBT rights and causes.

Cell follows Clay Wheeler (John Cusack), a Boston artist who is trying to reunite with his son after a mysterious cell phone signal turns humans into vicious, zombie-type monsters. Jackson’s Tom McCourt, an engineer and former soldier who flees from the city with Clay. However, from the actor’s reaction, his sexuality may not be that relevant in the movie.

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Best Night Ever Red Band Trailer – The Date Night parody team take on party movies

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Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have made an entire career out of parodies that nobody liked that much, but which cost so little to make they still end up making money. After helping write the first four Scary Movie film, they’ve since gone off to direct the likes of Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet The Spartans, Disaster Movie and Vampires Suck.

This year they’ve already come up with Hunger Game parody The Starving Games, and now they’re got Best Night Ever too, which takes on the likes of Bridesmaids, The Hangover, and Spring Breakers. As those film are already pretty extreme, it’s difficult to see why they’d need a parody, but never mind. Now the red band trailer has arrived.

As so often with these things, as group of people (four young women in this case) head for Vegas and things soon spiral completely out of control. [Read more…]

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Eli Roth May Direct A Horror Film Based On A David O. Russell Script

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eli-rothEli Roth and David O. Russell aren’t too people you’d immediately think would work together, as the creator of the likes of Hostel seems a long way from someone who’d make Silver Linings Playbook. However in a THR Roundtable, O. Russell has written a movie Roth may direct.

O. Russell says, “I wrote a couple of things that someone might make, Eli Roth may actually do one, I wrote a horror a few years ago.”

He adds, “Well it’ll be coupled with Eli Roth, that’s exciting to me. Cause I had to write to support myself. So I wrote a horror for producer Colleen Camp, a horror film that I thought was interesting. And Eli thinks its interesting, I think he’s going to make it more interesting. It’s emotional, it’s also… we’ll see. It’s also…I don’t wanna say anything more, I’ll let Eli talk about it.

He also has another script in the works, saying, “I also wrote a supernatural… sort of a time thing, that again is out of my genre. You would probably be better at it than me.”

Unfortunately there’s no more news on what either film will be, so we’ll just have to wait and find out.

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Imogen Poots Up For Todd Field’s Beautiful Ruins Adaptation

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imogen-pootsMany people believe Imogen Poots has a shot at real a-list stardom, but the young British actress is still waiting for the film that shoots her into the stratosphere. Now Variety reports that she is attached to star as Dee Moray in Todd Field’s Beautiful Ruins, based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Jess Walter.

The story begins off the Ligurian coast in the spring of 1962 and centres on four characters whose ‘orbit around one another is set in motion by an incident involving the international jet-set center, Rome, in the throes of La Dolce Vita madness during the shooting of Cleopatra. As the sole female lead, Poots will play “Dee Moray,” a young actress whose ties to several men, a force-of-one studio raconteur, a WWII veteran struggling to finish his first novel, a young Italian hotelier, and the great Richard Burton himself, are the epicenter of the story. Casting for the male roles is underway.’

It could certainly be an interesting one. Poots has previously been seen in the likes of 28 Weeks Later, Fright Night, Filth, A Late Quartet, The King of Soho, and Terrence Malick’s upcoming Knight of Cups.

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