my new plaid pants

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Today's Mood

First things first just LOOOK how enormous the six foot five inch Armie Hammer's hand is in that picture. Thank you, Jason Isaacs, for sharing. But a second and perhaps even more significant thing - did you see Jason's screed against the presence of noxious little man Sean Spicer at the Emmys? I am so glad SOMEBODY called that shit out - go follow this hero on Instagram immediately.

Which is Hotter?

I just realized via Vanity Fair's review of the Kingsman sequel that this is yet another movie that stars Taron Egerton in a one-piece snowsuit buddy-buddying up with a Daddy-type...

... after having made that Eddie the Eagle movie with Hugh Jackman last year. This is a very specific fetish for a Hollywood Exec out there to have, but clearly a Hollywood Exec out there has it because it keeps getting lots and lots of money tossed at it to be realized on screen. So let's pay attention...
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10 Off My Head: Siri Says 2007

I wasn't planning on having time to do one of our "Siri Says" series today what with my NYFF screening eating up half of the afternoon, but then I asked my phone for a number and it gave me "7" and I thought I could probably rattle off a list from The Movies of 2007 pretty easily because I already did that before -- 2007 was the first year I tried to do such a thing, right here in this post.

But it turns out that 2007 was a really really good year for the movies, you guys, and I kind of couldn't narrow this down to just five. It has to be ten. Hell it could've been 20 I think - there are titles in the runners-up that in a shittier year could've pushed their way to the front. And my list has actually changed a little bit in the 10 years since these movies came out, too. (And yes, all of these movies turn 10 this year.) So here is my revised list.

My 10 Favorite Movies of 2007

Zodiac

(dir. David Fincher)

-- released on March 2nd 2007 --

Ratatouille

(dir. Brad Bird)

-- released on June 29th 2007 --

Bug

(dir. William Friedkin)

-- released on May 25th 2007 --

The Assassination of Jesse James

by the Coward Robert Ford

(dir. Andrew Dominik)

-- released on October 19th 2007 --

No Country For Old Men

(dir. Coens)

-- released on November 21st 2007 --

The Mist

(dir. Frank Darabont)

-- released on November 21st 2007 --

There Will Be Blood

(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

-- released on December 10th 2007 --

Year of the Dog

(dir. Mike White)

-- released on May 11th 2007 --

Once

(dir. John Carney)

-- released on June 15th 2007 --

Black Book

(dir. Paul Verhoeven)

-- released on May 18th 2007 --

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Runners-up: 300 (dir. Zack Snyder), Black Snake Moan (dir. Craig Brewer), I'm a Cyborg But That's OK (dir. Park Chan-wook), 28 Weeks Later (dir. Fresnadillo), Sunshine (dir. ), Superbad (dir. Greg Mottola), Eastern Promises (dir. David Cronenberg), Stardust (dir. Matthew Vaughn)...

... Hot Fuzz (dir. Edgar Wright), Grindhouse (dir. Tarantino & Rodriguez), Michael Clayton (dir. Tony Gilroy), The Golden Compass (dir. Chris Weitz), The Orphanage (dir. JA Bayona), Away From Her (dir. Sarah Polley), Hostel: Part II (dir. Eli Roth), Juno (dir. Jason Reitman), The Darjeeling Limited (dir. Wes Anderson)

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What are you favorite movies of 2007?

Rami Malek Eight Times

Even though we're side-eyeing Bryan Singer's Freddie Mercury bio-pic -- although I've heard they don't want it called a "Freddie Mercury bio-pic ," they want it to be known as a portrait of the entire band Queen, and of course they do because the entire (surviving) band is responsible for the story they're allowing to be told -- kind of hard these days thanks to that tad too glossy first picture of Rami in mustache we are rooting for Rami because we like Rami, so let's look at Rami. We've seen and posted one very fine photo from this photo-shoot before but thanks to this Tumblr (and Mac for sending the link) for sharing these here several more; see the rest after the jump...

NYFF Diaries: Day 1

Okay so I start attending NYFF press screenings today, which means for you people that big chunks of my day, mostly every day, for the next couple of weeks, will be eaten up by me not being here but being inside a theater unable to provide you with your minute to minute updates on what pants Jake Gyllenhaal is wearing today. Oh noes, says the cat hanging off a stick. But instead of just leaving you hanging, which is what I usually do, instead I'm going to share What I Am Seeing Today. (Or try to. We'll see if I manage doing this day in day out.)

I won't actually be reviewing the movies here since I am covering the fest for The Film Experience, and those reviews won't be going up until the fest starts (NYFF runs from September 28th until October 15th). But maybe something I'm seeing will sound good to you and you can try to score tickets to the festival's public screenings if you're in town. Let's share the wisdom...

September 19th

Before We Vanish (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is the director of the 2001 film Pulse (we just posted about that movie when the new fancy blu-ray came out) which ushered in the J-Horror boom as much as Ringu or any other titles from that era. He went off and became a fancy man for a few years with movies like Tokyo Sonata but he's been trending back towards his genre roots again lately (last year's Creepy, for example, although I wasn't a fan of that). Before We Vanish is a sci-fi horror film that sounds a lot like an update on Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Lifeforce - three aliens come down from space and start draining humans of their essences.

Before We Vanish screens on September 30th at 9pm and October 1st at 6pm. Right now both screenings are "Standby Only" but NYFF often releases new batches of tickets at random times or even schedules new screenings later in the fest for movies that sell well so follow the fest on Twitter to keep appraised of that.

And follow me on Twitter

and on Instagram for off-blog updates!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Ginger & Rosa (2012)

Roland: There would not even the possibility of nuclear war, or any war, if millions of men had been prepared to stand up against authority, as I did, and refuse to join the army - refuse to take orders. It's mindless obedience that's the killer. I've broken the rules. All the rules. Because someone has to say no.

I was just going to wish the director Sally Potter a happy birthday today but then our so-called President went and threatened to blow up the world and now this quote seems terrifyingly purposeful. So happy birthday, Sally Potter... may we all make it to see your next.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

A happy 33rd birthday to Kevin Zegers today - his Instagram is mostly pictures of his kids these days with the random "LGBT ally" stuff sprinkled in (there's some nice trolling of Kirk Cameron too) so I had to go aways back through to find these two shots, but they were worth the effort I think. Kevin still works plenty but I do think he should've gotten more and better work post-Transamerica, don't you? He showed a lot of promise in that movie, for the adult post-Air-Bud portion of his career.

Monday, September 18, 2017

We Love You James Marsden

Although he has yet to post a Birthday Suit Selfie on his Instagram today, it is indeed James Marsden's birthday - we're waiting, James. Tick tock. TICK TOCK. Until then we'll entertain ourselves with 1) today's edition of "Beauty vs Beast" over at The Film Experience, which is hitting up Jimmy's role in the much-beloved 2007 movie Enchanted (can you believe it turns 10 in another month?) and 2) a dozen or so sexy adorable pictures of James after the jump...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Donnie Darko (2001)

Rose Darko: Kitty, do you even know

who Graham Greene is?

Kitty Farmer: I think we've all seen Bonanza.

A very happy birthday to the divine Beth Grant today!

The Emmys That Weren't

I had a friend's birthday party yo attend last night so I wasn't able to watch the Emmys -- somebody tell me the most important things I missed so I can seek them out, please. What happened? I know that Laura Dern won but I am waiting to watch her speech until the Internet dubs her so it sounds like she says "Enlightened" instead of "Big Little Lies." Also I think I might be bad luck now because so many awesome people won last night - maybe we watching awards shows is a jinx? In summation, here's some extra gay: