You cannot help but wonder how J.K Rowling’s Wizarding World (writing her first original screenplay) will work without Harry Potter and his crew.
Well, given that it is based in another country and about 54 years before Harry Potter was born, it was pretty easy to forget about him within the first 20 mins because you fall completely in love with Newt Scamander, the socially awkward and shy wizard, played by Eddie Redmayne, and his No-Maj friend (the new American term for a Muggle) Jacob Kowalski, played by Dan Fogler.
But all is not as shiny as a bag of Galleons; some of the editing with the action scenes leaves them loud, aggressive and hard to follow. I Imagine seeing this in the IMAX or/and in 3D could be pretty intense, but not in a good way.
The real screen stealer is Samantha Morton, who plays Mary Lou, a leader of the New Salem Philanthropic Society, an extremist group that exposed and eradicated witchcraft in the 1920. Her performance echoed the recent rise of the right wing in the USA, characterised by fear of change and their perceptions of ungodliness.
Overall this is a great entry into this magical world and shows that Rowling and David Yates (director of the final four Harry Potter Films as well as Fantastic Beasts) are Hollywood gold.
An L.A. graphic designer is contacted by a flame from his past that puts into doubt the relationship he has with his husband in the new film Lazy Eye.
FIfteen years ago Dean (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe) and Alex (Aaron Costa Ganis) were boyfriends in New York City. But after their breakup, Dean moved to Los Angeles to start a new life. But out of the blue Dean receives an email from Alex, and Dean, after working up the courage and giving it a bit of thought, invites Alex to come visit him in California. Dean still has feelings for Alex (now both in their late 30s), feelings that actually never went away, and Dean gets excited with the thought of seeing Alex again. Dean tells Alex to come and spend the weekend with him at his house in the desert near Joshua Tree.
So when Alex arrives him and Dean pick up right where they left off, jumping right into bed. But fifteen years is a long time for them to have last seen each other, and unfortunately sex is the only thing they have in common. And you see Dean forgot to tell Alex that he is in a long-term relationship with another man, who happens to be in Australia for work. This puts a strain on their weekend, but then there’s more drama when Alex suggests him and Dean get back together again, permanently.
Lazy Eye ( a really poor name for a film this good – the name comes from the beginning of the film when Dean has to get bi-focals because he’s got a lazy eye) is a gentle, easygoing and lovely story about two men who were, or were not, meant to be with each other (we’ve all been there!). Subtle and quiet direction by Tim Kirkman (who also wrote the clever screenplay) and great music by Steven Argila (and great scenery of the Joshua Tree area of the California desert) make Lazy Eye a nice crystal clear viewing, perhaps on your own or with an ex.
In 1995, I saw a play in the West End called Burning Blue. It was a brilliant telling of a story about the relationship between two gay men in the US Navy in the 1980s. It was brilliant, memorable, and award-winning. A new film version of the play has just been released and it’s quite the opposite.
The play was written by David Milne Greer and is based on his experiences as a US Navy Aviator in the 1980s. The fictional story is about an investigation into a naval accident that turns into a gay witch hunt and is based on Greer’s knowledge of the treatment of gay men in the US Navy. Two Navy fighter pilots – Daniel (Trent Ford) and Will (Morgan Spector) – live and work aboard a Navy destroyer in very close quarters with other servicemen.
An accident that involves Will is investigated by the higher ups and puts their unit under intense scrutiny. Complicating things is the arrival of a third pilot Matt (Rob Mayes), and he and Daniel fall in love, causing Matt to leave his wife. But this type of behaviour was not accepted during the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ era; homosexuality in the Navy was just not allowed, and there were serious consequences for out gay men. Needless to say, Daniel and Matt’s relationship can’t endure the Navy’s ant-gay policy, and then suddenly theirs, and Will’s, lives are changed forever when another accident happens.
You would think a film about this timely subject would expertly crafted and well told. Well, it’s not. The pacing and acting of the movie are just horrible; scenes go on for a longer than they should, the acting (unfortunately), is stiff and wooden, and quite a few of the dramatic scenes are funny. Burning Blue has the look and feel of a Murder She Wrote episode, and it lacks the drama and intensity of the stage play. Burning Blue only gets one star – for tackling the theme of gay love in the military – but it tackles it very badly.
Now available to watch on digital download on iTunes and Amazon
JACK REACHER NEVER GO BACK – Tom Cruise is back as the loner ex-military guy in the second Reacher film adapted from the 18th book in the hugely successful literary series.
CREDIT: Paramount
Nutshell – Jack Reacher, the ultimate loner with skills, has to go on the run with a female military officer as they are both in the frame for some murders in a Government conspiracy. Jack finds out he has had a daughter all along, and then all hell breaks lose from Washington to New Orleans and the body count goes up.
Running Time – 118 minutes; Certificate – 12A
Tagline – ‘Never Give In, Never Give Up, Never Go Back.’
The Gay UK Factor – Patrick Heusinger is an out and out f***able stud muffin. This Florida-born hunk would not be kicked out of bed by any gay man anywhere in the World, but he does not show as much flesh here as he did in Oscar-winning Black Swan… shame.
Cast – Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders who if we were straight would be our ideal woman, Aldis Hodge reprising from Jack Reacher One and Heusinger who has shot to poll position in our crowded wank bank.
Key Player – Lee Child who writes these books and delivers fully on the intrigue with regular doses of believable action and dialogue that would put Tarantino to shame. He even has a cameo here in the airport scene.
Budget – $60 Million which is cheap for a Cruise movie and a sequel at that, so it was in profit after just the first week and racing over the $100 million mark, so on with Jack Reacher 3. That is if Tom can be arsed to do it as he is not big on sequels this being the only one he has ever done outside of the Mission Impossibles.
Best Bit – 0.01 mins; So don’t be late as the opening unconnected set-up scene has such great dialogue it will settle you perfectly into a fun night at the flicks. You may have already seen this diner scene as it is one of the trailers put out for the movie.
Worst Bit – 1.38 mins; The big Afghanistan reveal is pretty predictable with some serious bloopers, but what is worse it is largely underwhelming. Next time let’s have a bigger back plot or story, please.
Little Secret – Cobie Smulders spent eight weeks learning several new martial arts so as she could and did do all her stunts in the film; she is one real feisty bitch. Cruise who always claims to do all his own stunts didn’t here, so that’s one for the girls. In the books, Reacher is 6.5″ of pure man muscle Tom Cruise is 5’7″ on a good day so nearer to a Hobbit than a US military tough guy and in his 50s too.
Further Viewing –Jack Reacher 1, The A-Team, Incredible Hulk, Dirty Harry, Law Abiding Citizen, Man on Fire, Deathwish’s 1 to 5 and basically anything featuring lone vigilantes a true Hollywood staple.
Any Good – This is so much better than the first film which we can hardly remember tbh, and there is a great prison escape scene which is pure Ethan Hunt . A lot is squeezed in here and there are a few scenes that are wasted we just wished the baddies’ story and plot could have been a bit bigger but it was made up for by casting such a f*ckable chief bad guy with hot henchmen too – we bet they get it on balls deep down the thug gym.
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN – 56 years on from the original we get an almost note for note remake of the most famous Western ever made with big stars and modern day stunt action.
Nutshell – They just don’t make films like this anymore. This is as old-fashioned as a guy using a condom for a shag in a London gay fetish bar or sauna. A town in peril recruits Seven loners to help defend them against a veritable army of bad guys, cue a very extended climax which not everyone is going to make it through in one piece – it feels very dated but that might be its charm and with two massive lead actors it is a worthwhile popcorn guzzler.
Running Time – 133 minutes; Certificate – 12A
Tagline – ‘Justice Has A Number’.
The Gay UK Factor – Two hours of hot men in cowboy gear, it’s like Brokeback Mountain with a lot more sweat and testosterone. There is a massive subliminal gay undercurrent between two of the Mag 7 who always seem just 5 seconds away from slipping their tongues up each other’s mouths and jumping into the ‘saddle’ to explore the reverse cowboy position for a decent shag. The fact that the two guys in question are the hottest men here namely Pratt and Garcia-Rulfo make this virtual Western gay porn.
Cast – The Seven are – Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt (Hot off of Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic Park), Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, our newest man crush Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plus two more and Peter Sarsgaard on bad guy duties.
Key Player – Denzel Washington just has that star quality that holds your attention in any scene of any movie and no difference here – and it’s his first time in cowboy gear.
Budget – $90 Million, Not a runaway hit but will turn a small profit we predict.
Best Bit – 1.40 mins; When the bad guys get out their secret weapon and the tables take a major turn for the worse against our team of Seven and their townsfolk buddies.
Worst Bit – 0.45 mins; Still travelling around the Midwest recruiting the allotted number of outlaws/vigilantes but it’s getting a bit repetitive now.
Little Secret – This is a remake of the original Mag 7 from 1960 which itself was a remake of the Seven Samurai from Six years earlier. The ‘So Far So Good’ joke told by Chris Pratt is the same as the Steve McQueen joke in the original. Pratt’s horse was the same talented beast that starred in Spielberg’s War Horse movie.
Further Viewing – This is as generic a Western as you will see so anything from True Grit to Rio Bravo, High Noon, The Searchers, Stagecoach, Unforgiven or even gay cowboy porn like Fisting Ranch Hands or To The Last Man where a bottle of Jack Daniels is used as a dildo!
Any Good – Actually yes it is – there is nothing overly clever here but you will be engaged as the slow build of the film leads to the extended action climax where you really route for all the protagonists some of which probably won’t make it out alive.
Rating – 54/100 (54th out of the last 100 films reviewed with 1 being Gay UK filmatic heaven and 100 being a dud).
Four gay men, all with issues in their lives, experience a night of mystery and sex in the beautifully told Beautiful Something.
Writer Brian (Brian Sheppard) is sexy and picks up guys in bars and on the street – but they love him and leave him. Then there’s Jim (Zack Ryan), a wannabe actor who doesn’t realise that the man he lives with really really loves him. And that man is Drew (Colman Domingo), a tortured and passionate artist who uses Jim as his muse and model. And then there’s Bob (John Lescault), a wealthy talent agent who is chauffeured around town picking up men but not necessarily for sex. It’s one night in Philadelphia, and these men’s lives intertwine in search of meaningful connections on a night when anything is possible.
After a one night stand that for some reason goes horribly wrong, Brian goes for a walk and meets Jim, who’s just had a bust-up with Drew. They are immediately attracted to each other and have sex in the house that Jim shares with Drew. Drew, meanwhile, is so involved in his artwork that he’s doesn’t realise that Brian and Jim are downstairs getting it on. But this is not enough for Jim, and after Brian leaves and not wanting to stay home, Jim goes for a walk and is picked up, and intrigued by, Bob. They share a meal only after Bob tells Jim that if he’s an actor he must get out of the car. So Jim lies to Bob and they have dinner and eventually go back to Bob’s palatial home. Meanwhile, Brian looks up an old flame and Drew wonders what is really going on in Jim’s head. All this drama takes place in one sublime night, with the sprinkling lights of Philadelphia providing a romantic and perfect backdrop to the movie.
Beautiful Something beautifully explores the need for us gay men to seek out romance and adventure in the hopes of finding something, anything, meaningful. Director and writer Joseph Graham successfully captures a night these men, nor us, won’t forget.
With excellent and realistic performances throughout, Beautiful Something, inspired by real-life experiences, will put a twinkle in your eye and the optimism of love in your heart.
Description: Locked down on a haunted gloomy island with no escape route, the ZAP pledges mysteriously disappear as a maniacal clown reaps personal revenge on the unsuspecting frat boys. Homophobia abounds as frat pledge Jack Jones must quickly formulate a plan to stop the devious clown and save his fraternity brothers.
Description: Jasin and Caleb’s eternal bliss is put to the test when Jasin’s century old rival Demetrius returns to get his revenge. Demetrius plots to destroy Jasin by creating an army of vampires by recruiting unwilling victims from the local boxing gym for his new brood. In his quest for domination, he recruits Jasin’s ex, Tara, who is still quietly grieving from Jasin’s rejection.
Okay, not officially gay, but the homoerotic nature of this film makes it a must see on this list!
On a deserted highway, a school bus is carrying a basketball team and its cheerleaders back from a triumphant game. The bus breaks down on a lonely stretch of road and the thrill of victory is quickly replaced by terror, as the journey becomes a road trip to Hell. As the sun sets, the Creeper descends on the bus and picks off the athletes one by one, sniffing out his victims. Will any of them survive, or will they all provide the Creeper with another horrific helping of mouth-watering morsels, in this nerve-jangling horror?
INFERNO – First we had The DaVinci Code then Angels and Demons now the fourth Robert Landon story becomes the third Dan Brown film adaption.
Jonathan Prime – (c) 2015 CTMG, Inc. All rights reserved.
Nutshell – Tom Hanks globe trots across Europe once again working out cryptic historical clues in another intelligent adventure from one of the Worlds favourite authors. This time the race is against the clock to save mankind from an apocalyptical plague that a nutter has created who has laid the trail along the descent Dantes legendary inferno.
Running Time – 121 minutes that fly by; Certificate – 12A
Tagline – ‘Every clue will take him deeper’, ‘Humanity’s last hope’
The Gay UK Factor – Mr blue eyes himself and one of America’s finest hunks of manhood Ben Foster struts his sexy as f*** stuff as the bad guy and boy does he fill out a designer suit well and we love a stud who dresses to the left suited and booted.
Cast – Tom Hanks (looking old) v Ben Foster (looking buff) helped by Felicity Jones, Omar Sy and Irffan Khan reunited after living through Jurassic Park.
Key Player – Dan Brown, the writer who stopped the world with the DaVinci Code’s reveal about the Last Supper picture and Jesus having a child comes up with more great inventive twists in a great thriller that wraps straight from today’s headlines mixes in great art and historical locations and then adds loads of chases so what’s not to like.
Budget – $75 Million but the yanks aren’t getting it so not busting blocks there but it is storming museum and cinema walls Internationally making a small fortune so easily making up for America’s lack of class here.
Best Bit – 0.58 mins; A deadly chase across a museum rooftop which is oh so tense with a stunning final stunt… Does everyone live?
Worst Bit – 1.40 mins; A very aged Hanks has to start fighting the baddies mano et mano when he would obviously rather be at home watching Country File with a mug of Horlicks.
Little Secret – Neither Director Ron Howard or star Tom Hanks ever do live action sequels (The exception being Toy story). This trio is their one exception but they see the books as all stand alone projects so don’t count as sequels. So don’t get your hopes up for Forrest Gump 2:Back to the chocolates, Apollo 14, Sleepless In San Francisco or Philadelphia:The PrEP Years.
Further Viewing – Obviously The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons then Jack Reacher, The Girl On The Train, The Game, Gone Girl and Insomnia.
Any Good – It is not as good as the previous two films but they set a very high bar. This is still a very entertaining two hours with not a wasted scene as all the explanation is craftily woven in and out of the action and the big set pieces. Another very clever piece of work from this franchise.
Hotel for Criminals is a reworking of Louis Feuillade’s silent film Phantasmagoria – Director Patrick Kennedy’s adaptation of Richard Foreman’s musical went the other way and implements a form of Chinese torture, attempting to impair the audience’s eardrums sixteen times in the form of a deafening hand pump emergency horn buzzer. Nodding off isn’t an option.
You’ll be transported to a perverted French realm where sense has no bearing – a concoction of Mary Poppins’ Chim-Chim-Cheree with more of an Elvira approach, thrown together with a clown-style Night of the Living Dead meets Dracula – guided through by creepy narrator.
Betwixt the chess-piece mobile, camp whirling walks of terror, a journo’s nuptials, vampire blood-supping, dead-pan humour, a hit-and-jaunt and a foreboding big black bird are some ghoulishly good musical numbers and spanking face-painted blood suckers: masters of their craft. Warning: Kate Baxter’s (Irma Vep) chilling vocals and the live band could possess – don’t forget your crucifix.
Not everyone should check into Hotel For Criminals: you’ve got to have the right constitution for this sort of chaos, riddledom and buzzer torment – get clearance from your parole officer first.
A middle-aged man is down on his luck. He can’t work because he’s got a heart condition while at the same time he’s having trouble navigating the UK’s benefits system. He is I, Daniel Blake and it’s a film that opened this weekend.
I, Daniel Blake, which won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and directed by Ken Loach, is the story of one man, in Newcastle, and the trials and tribulations, and the humiliation and despair, he goes through in an attempt to receive benefits he thinks he’s entitled to. Stand-up comedian Dave Johns eloquently plays Blake, a man with so much heartbreak and despair where nothing goes his way.
We first meet Blake after he’s had a heart attack and can’t work anymore. So he applies for Employment and Support Allowance, but first, he must go through a rigorous telephone assessment by a health care professional who asks him some very intrusive questions. He then heads to the Jobcentre where he meets single mum Katie (Hayley Squires). She’s got two kids and has just been moved from London to Newcastle by the system because Newcastle is a cheaper place to house people on benefits. She barely has two pence to rub together, and she and Blake form a special bond. He’s there to help her around her house, he’s there to support her in any way possible, even after she shoplifts. And he’s there at her side when she makes a wrong decision to earn money. But it’s Blake who is spiralling down a hole; he can’t apply for benefits online because he’s never used a computer. Then he’s been judged fit to work, so his benefits stop, however, he doesn’t have a CV to look for work so he handwrites one. More despair comes his way when he is told that he doesn’t qualify for any benefit so he has to wait for a ‘decision-maker’ to decide his fate, while Katie has to rely on the local food bank in order to feed her family. It’s one thing after another for both in this very bleak film that shows how life really must be for people on benefits.
Johns, who has very few acting credits, is superb as Blake. He beautifully portrays a man down on luck who keeps losing his optimism and will to live along the way. Squires is just as good trying to survive in a town where she doesn’t know anyone with two kids who need to eat and have new clothes for school. Loach, who is British born, harshly displays the reality of the UK’s benefits system for people who are really in need, people who lose their dignity, navigating a system that works against them and not for them.
As Blake says in the film, “When you lost your self-respect, you’re done for.”
This film is a wake-up call with a strong message that this could happen to anyone of us.
We have had Al Pacino in the gay leather epic Cruising and Mark Wahlberg in the straight porn classic Boogie Nights and this month gay porn hits your multiplexes in the form of King Cobra a James Franco project and you simply won’t believe its incredible back story.
CREDIT: King Cobra
This movie ripped straight from the headlines is “based on a true story” of the early career of the biggest gay porn star of the moment, Brent Corrigan. The movie stars Christian Slater (Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves), James Franco (Spiderman), Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) and Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club), yes this is one big expensive Hollywood cast and it contains a whole host of man on man gay sex too as we take a peek behind the curtain of the world gay porn industry.
The film which stormed the Toronto Film Festival had its European premiere at the London Film Festival recently before going on full release in Europe and across North America from 21st October. The film has stirred up a lot of controversies as it shows the discovery of Brent Corrigan before two other agents then decide to take charge of his mega career which leads to an infamous murder that shocked the porn industry, remember this is real and true life story.
The controversy has been fanned by Brent himself refusing to support the movie and worse has denounced it on social media as taking liberties with his life story and massively showing the gay porn industry which Brent is a big supporter of in a very bad light.
The film directed by Justin Kelly is based on the successful book Cobra Killer written by Andrew E Stoner and Peter A Conway. It centres on the 2007 murder of gay porn producer Bryan Kocis (played in the film by Christian Slater) by two aspiring producers (James Franco as Joe and Keegan Allen as Harlow) who wanted to buy out Corrigan’s performing contract. It is doing great business which you would expect with that A-list Hollywood cast and with the huge interest factor of being the first real mainstream foray into our hugely popular and sleazy gay porn royalty world.
The Idaho-born Brent Corrigan was coerced into the gay porn industry at the earth shatteringly underage of 17-years-old. He immediately won Best Newcomer awards but was denounced from many a porn award stage by the likes of uber-producer Michael Lucas for lying about his age to get work and also the studios that used him knowing he was too underage to have bum sex in any form never mind on film in front of millions of viewers. His boyfriend, who he met when he was 16, got him to do his first gay porn film with Bryan Kocis who was also his scene partner then immediately signed him to a six picture deal and paid him for his first scene with a second hand Vauxhall Jetta car rather than cash.
Kocis’s company was called Cobra Studios and he continued sleeping with the underage Corrigan privately as he had done with other guys as young as 15. Brent soon became unhappy at Cobra.
Writing on his blog in 2007 Brent shared,
“Every scene Bryan has had me shoot with him he insists on making the boys cum in my face. I HATE CUM IN MY FACE. I hate it. Bryan knew I hated it. I don’t care how many people out there think it’s hot, it sucks to do it on set.
“On top of it, I have somewhat of a sensitive skin type. Each time it happens, my face becomes irritated and red after the shoot.
“So basically every time you see a picture with cum on my face, just know that I’m unhappy doing it.
“I’m sure this is why since my falling out with Cobra Video; Bryan has made it a point to put a considerable more amount of pictures out there with cum on my face.”
Brent was ready to work for others and Joe and Harlow two up and coming producers were keen to make a blockbuster film with Corrigan but instead of entering into contract arrangements and sharing the rewards they cack-handedly decided to kill Kocis instead and not just any old murder we are talking decapitation here and 28 stab wounds – remember this is all a true story from the wacky world of gay ass-banging on film.
To see the whole story and what happens next go see the film that is picking up rave reviews and getting in advance of 75% positive ratings from the world’s critics. Brent went on to have the biggest career of recent times and he has a great life working with his number one passion horses in New Mexico so not all porn stars have sad tales. As we speak in October 2016 he has 190,000 followers on twitter which is the highest number of any guy doing either gay or straight porn on planet earth – he is much loved.
As we speak in October 2016 he has 190,000 followers on twitter which is the highest number of any guy doing either gay or straight porn on planet earth – he is much loved.
During the filming, Brent went on record, writing on his Facebook page, about his involvement,
“The internet has been a buzz regarding some recent news that a movie is being filmed right now in New York State chronicling the Bryan Kocis murder and the early days of my adult career. I was originally approached to be a part of the film as a consultant and the cast. I was asked to play a small part in the film and declined the role. Ultimately, I chose to move forward with my own plans to finally release my book in place of taking part in someone else’s presentation of events that I personally lived as a young adult. Even with the time that has passed, the memories are still very real and raw for me.”
“Yes, I’ll see it. (he added) Likely in the independent theatre with everyone else. I’m stubborn, but still curious. I have very poignant ideas about the screenplay, which was presented to me about 10 days before principle photography was slated to begin in New York. I met with the director and his agent. They were insensitive right out of the gate in our interactions with them. They wanted me to come on board without even considering what dredging all that up was really asking of me.”
He continued,
“When it was all said and done, I had no dealings with Franco or his people. I chose to stay out of it because it was clear to me they were not trying to make a movie that would serve gay men, the gay adult industry, or any justice with what happened to Bryan, or what I lived through with Grant [Roy]. Grant played an integral part of the investigation, He wore a wire for the feds! I was always just the bait, but Grant was the true hero. These filmmakers couldn’t even write him a part in the movie. They made it seem like I navigated it all alone and even went so far to present their version of me as extorting Bryan. I never did that. I wanted out and away, and I hid behind Grant and the law when push came to shove. I was a kid, not a martyr.”
Brent has loads more to say on his social media so go check it out about the movie and the forthcoming book which we will feature when it is published.
