hyped garbage

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The strange but true story of Porn legend Brent Corrigan is told in this well made drama from director Justin Kelly ('I am Michael'). Sean Paul Lockhart took on the name of Brent Corrigan as a 'porn name' when he dipped his toe in the world of smut. He was taken under the, very keen, wing of Stephen played by Christian Slater in a well executed performance. He was a talented man who had a liking for young lads and the moment he saw Sean he was smitten. He also had a canny head for business and stood by the rule of not mixing the two together.We also have the back stories and the story of a rival firm where the star was not making the kind of money that Stephen was and how the envy turned into, what some would cal 'affirmative action'. Those that know the story will not be surprised, I did not and must say this was compelling and gripping in equal measure.The acting is all first rate with some well observed period detail but this is the very 'near past' so not too much effort really needed. The action – if one can call it that - is all simulated and mostly not seen so nothing to put one off ones dinner. The real strength is the story and the performances and they are all more than up to the task. This is a film with gay interest but it is predominantly a thriller and on that scale it scores both highly and readily – hence easy to recommended.

I have to say that this movie was much better than I expected it to be. I suppose I went to see if Garrett Clayton could pull off (no pun intended) playing Brent Corrigan and I felt that he really nailed it (no pun intended). I actually would have been satisfied just to see him in the flesh, as Steven (Christian Slater) remarks at the beginning (was there a pun intended?) and I would have been disappointed if there wasn't enough of his fabulous self on display. In this respect I suspect that many the targeted audience share my hopeful expectations and I would assure them that I wasn't disappointed, though obviously this was a film about porn films and not actually a porn film. However I was pleasantly surprised that I found the movie generally entertaining and that the people I saw it with...... really I should say gay men I saw it with.... found that there was plenty to discuss after we saw it. I have no idea how accurate it was and I know nothing about the director, couldn't care less about Franco's sexuality. Reviewers here have complained that it wasn't sordid enough but I think one could assume that at least two of the totally unhinged characters were 'perhaps' using controlled substances so I'm not sure we needed to actually see them ingested. The two characters I refer to were very nearly played for laughs, until the very, very real violence that, considering that this was based on a true story, did not come as a complete surprise. And then the cheesy faux Schubert that accompanied their denouement sort of put a black comic cherry on top. Others have complained that it doesn't portray the full spectrum of gay life. Well.....duh?I have just seen eight films at NewFest (The LGBTQ film festival here in NYC) and I wouldn't rank this at the top of them, but then again I wouldn't rank it at the bottom either. And last week I saw "Moonlight" and , though I expect I will be dodging pitchforks for saying this, I don't think it was all that much better than King Cobra.For those of you expecting thrilling action I should warn that this story played more like "In Cold Blood" than "Boogie Nights". I was surprised that the story wasn't sensationalized more, though perhaps it was and I'm just too jaded to see it. It certainly wasn't a movie to take your mother to, however. Finally, I want to say that, although the entire cast did an excellent job, Clayton really stole the show.... and it was a lot of fun hearing him shout out the last line!

I saw the preview for this movie and thought it might be worth watching since it was based upon a true story.Be warned: the trailer basically gives you the entire movie plot. There is really nothing else learned other than whodunit.Let's talk about the nudity aspect, which seems to have gotten a lot of attention.Most basic cable channels show a lot of male nudity and it so commonplace now that it is no longer shocking. Of course we could factor in foreign films but that wouldn't be fair as male nudity in many other countries isn't viewed with such prudishness. I'll never understand why women can be completely naked and then it is a big deal to show a man naked, but I digress.For this movie there is no full frontal male nudity, as if to state that the movie makers valued substance over gratuitous nudity. They didn't but never the less, a movie about gay porn has most men running around in their underwear.To me, that isn't a big deal as I was hoping for fully really characters. But there again, I was disappointed. The characters were never fully fleshed out and from what the real Brent Corrigan stated, there is a key person who wasn't even written into the script. The real Brent Corrigan was invited to join the movie and didn't - not even agreeing to the use of his name and finally leasing it to the movie makers.Then there is the issue of the vibrant colors you see in the posters. That is not a representation of the actual movie. This movie appears to have been filmed in a couple of suburban homes with very basic lighting.Overall, there is an indication that this movie was critically praised yet after actually viewing it - there was nothing new learned and it was so sanitized that you would think it was a Lifetime movie.In conclusion, James Franco - if you think anyone believes you are actually straight, keep trying because no one believes it. And that doesn't mean you are a good representation of the LGBTQ community because you aren't.

The still very much active Sean Paul Lockhart, aka Brent Corrigan's career and the scandal associated with it is the subject of the film King Cobra. Disney twink actor Garrett Clayton plays Corrigan and I'm sure Clayton probably has a limited future with the Magic Kingdom. He joins a list of players like Shia LaBoerf, Miley Cyrus, and Lucas Gabreel who've appeared in less than wholesome projects. I don't see any more Teen Beach movies in Garrett Clayton's future.Subsequent to the story told here, Sean Paul Lockhart has gone to mainstream entertainment and gay stories of the non-pornographic nature. I know a few gay adult film stars who have other lives and have diversified their interests and entertainment roles like Lockhart in order to survive. A lot don't survive for one reason or another.One of those who didn't is Christian Slater playing the producer who discovers Clayton and makes him a gay porn star sensation in the middle Bush 43 years. But this relationship which has some resemblance to Liberace and Scott Thorsen goes the same way with Clayton chafing under Slater's dominance.His name Brent Corrigan was trademarked by Slater making him unable to work under what has made him a star in the gay porn world. At the same time Clayton reveals that Slater used him before his 18th birthday and that trashes Slater's career as well.There's a parallel story of James Franco and Keegan Allen also a porn producer and his Trilby like star told and they want to have Clayton's services with the trademark name. Therein lies the seeds of the tragedy that takes place.James Franco created this project and I wish he'd just come out of the closet already. Are you fooling anyone? The gay porn world is certainly part of the gay culture, no getting away from it. Some say this is exploitive. I'd say no more so than Boogie Nights and you see how much acclaim that film got.I hope this leap into most adult type material augers good things for Garrett Clayton.