And Speaking Of Sufjan...

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... firstly, just look at him. Sigh.

Secondly, I can't believe I'll be seeing him live next week! And twice at that! It's been such a horrifically long time since I've seen him in concert. HORRIFIC. So that's exciting.

And lastly (but the only actual point of this entire post, natch) - Stereogum's got video and mp3's of three new songs of his that he sang up in Ithaca (which, you may have heard, is gorges), so you should check that if you love him like you ought to which is a whole heckuva lot.
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Three Too Many

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Why couldn't one of these movies have come out this past Friday? Nothing I wanted to see came out this past Friday so I didn't go to the movies at all. At all! But now suddenly this week there are three movies that I am DYING to see all hitting at once? How dare they not think of ME!

Zombieland - The trailer's fun and word is pretty dang good on the movie. I'll be seeing it for the ladies - I will love Emma Stone forever because of her delightfully dorky performance in The House Bunny, and AbbyBrez, yo! In da house! - and for the zombies, duh. I do not like Jesse Eisenberg and can take or leave Woody Harrelson (although I did see Indecent Proposal and The Cowboy Way more than one time each in the theater on the basis of his skivvies-action alone, so there's that).

Mmm vintage Woody.

A Serious Man - Swung from zero to one-fifty in the space of less than two minutes. That trailer is magic.

Whip It! - Likewise my enthusiasm for this one grew because of the nifty trailer, but I was never not gonna be excited as excited gets on this one. I mean, these are my ladies - Ellen Page! Kristen Wiig! Zoe Bell! Ari "Balls deep" Graynor! And yes, I even often like Drew Barrymore, despite my black and hateful heart that tells me I ought not to. She did produce Donnie Darko and teach me about "Cellar Door" after all.

The horrible thing is I'm not gonna be able to see ANY of these until I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN. I'm out of town this weekend and won't really have time, and next week I'm seeing Sufjan in concert twice (don't give me that side-eye), and then there's the New York Film Festival and my two screenings there - The White Ribbon and Life During Wartime, yay!, and I've also got a wedding to go to! Madness! MADNESS!!!

Ahem. What about y'all?
Excited for these movies?
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Mark Ruffalo Six Times

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Ruffy's been on my brain a lot this week, what with The Brothers Bloom hitting DVD. That there is a movie that ages well in one's brain; I can't wait to watch it again (my very - very - brief previous thoughts on the movie are right here). And I still haven't found sunglasses like he wears in it! Argh! Foiled again!

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The Girlfriend Experience in 150 Words or Less

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I feel like I should say something about Soderbergh's film after watching it but I'm finding myself oddly lost as to why I liked it. But I did like it. It was gorgeous - almost distractingly so; sometimes I was so lost in the way things looked that I realized I'd stopped paying attention to the plot. In my defense the plot's pretty threadbare so it was simple enough to lose. So was the acting as far as I'm concerned - I don't so much get the calls for Sasha Grey to get a nomination beyond what would surely be the stunt-like nature of such a thing ("Oscar goes porn!"). She was fine, good, but hardly spectacular, and there wasn't much in the way of heavy-lifting for her. Everything kept you at a distance, including the entire construction of her character. Which was intentional. And I liked it.
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"That is what we do. That is what people do."

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"They stay alive for each other."

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Quote of the Day

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The premiere of Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are was apparently held last night in Chicago, so real living human beings have now seen the film and I guess that means we can expect to hear more and more reactions over the next couple of weeks, but here's a bit from the first review I've seen, via AICN:

"... a stunning vision of childhood, made with great love and care from everyone involved. The film's opening scenes, as Max attacks his teenage sister's friends with snowballs from an igloo fort, involves you in a way that simultaneously builds character while conjuring up uncomfortable past feelings. Everyone remembers as a child the exact moment when a group game, full of fun and inventiveness, swiftly turns into panic, pain, and intense fear, and when one boy "playfully" smothers Max beneath his collapsed fort, you instantly understand the world that Jonze has fought so hard to suitably realize."

Just sixteen days! Ack!

I am curious if anyone thinks this film might have any Best Picture prospects. I've got enormous hopes pinned on this thing though and if it knocks it outta the park, and the trailers so far are leading me to believe he maybe did, it's easily gonna slide into my favorite films of the year. Easily. I know, I should wait to see the movie before thinking such thoughts but I can't help myself; I've slid into a mania over this film. But seriously, could it make the Academy's now-top-ten list? I'm just being crazy, right?

That image at the top is via a gallery at Vice magazine (via my pal Sean, who does not share my enthusiasm for this film, the scamp) of interpretations of Sendak's creatures by a massive bunch of comics folks, so check that out.
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A Bad And Bloody Rain

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The trailer for Ninja Assassin has been an odd beast, as far as my reaction to it has been concerned, in that I think it looks better - well, "better" isn't exactly the right word, since quality is not what I'm looking for in this movie... more like "more fun" - each new time I see it. Normally I get tired of watching the same trailer over and over again leading up to a film's release, and I actually thought the trailer for this film was just awful the first time I saw it, but slowly, somehow, my mind turned and I'm more enthusiastic about the film than ever before. I was always looking forward to Rain's hot ass covered in blood, but now I'm genuinely interested in some other junk, like how his hot ass gets covered in blood, and how much blood and hot ass is around altogether. You know, other junk.

All that is my way of getting to a couple of quotes from a pair of semi-scathing reviews at Twitch of the film from its screening at Fantastic Fest. Firstly:

"The biggest weakness of this film is the story and the script. This is poor philosophical melodrama territory with atrocious dialog and a weak story. The performances aren't helping the dialog either. Rain, while incredibly handsome, cut to shreds or not, isn't exactly a master thespian, limiting his sentences to two or three at a time while looking all serious and tormented. He moves good though, when you can see it and makes for a convincing action hero."

I love that the big weakness is just, oh, the story, the script, and all of the acting. Is that all, hmm? I guess the camera must stay on the tripod the entire time, at least. But mostly I pinpoint this quote because it cements my belief that Rain's hot ass covered in blood will be an agreeable experience to be had. Yay! And this second review is pretty hilariously harsh. Choice bit:

"Damn this film was poorly lit. I understand the whole thing about Ninjas using the dark and it would have been easy to ask if anyone ever thought about turning on the lights but it would also appear that Ninjas are also master electricians and can eliminate partial city blocks just to carry out their deadly plans. The trouble of course is that McTeigue could use this to his advantage and hide from us that he really doesn't have a fucking clue what he is doing when it comes to framing his action scenes. Perhaps it was so dark he himself couldn't see what he was shooting. That's why it would appear that he got too close to his subjects. Was that it James? Just say yes and I'll forgive you."

It's all downhill from there. So why do I still want to see this movie? It's just one of them things, man... one of them things...

... yeah, those things. Those things right there.
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An Infinite String Of Exclamation Points...

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... could hardly do justice to the enthusiasm with which I greeted this news, via Twitch:

The VENGEANCE Trilogy Is Coming

... this November Palisades Tartan will release the most exciting, impressive and comprehensive Vengeance Trilogy box-set the world has ever seen! Featuring 8-discs and more special features then any other set on the planet (including the Korean version), celebrity essays as well as a few surprises, Palisades Tartan will release Park Chan-Wook's VENGEANCE TRILOGY November 24th in DVD stores across the country.

Now normally this wouldn't especially interest me since I already own the movies on disc, but I actually bought the DVDs as shitty edition imports way before they ever got a proper release here in the US (because I wasn't feeling especially patient where these, three of my favorite movies of the 00's, were concerned) so I'm feeling this upgrade pretty effin' hard. Yay!
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Double Dude Dared

Today is just The Day of me posting about movies that other than slutty purposes I'd otherwise have no interest in, huh? I know, just like every day. But especially today! First I eke out the only thing that matters in The Proposal, then comes Gerry Butler's night-stick rendezvous in Law Abiding Citizen, and now a movie starring Emmy fuckin' Rossum. Shudder. The world might end. See, the name "Emmy Rossum" is a curse-word as far as I'm concerned. I just... I don't acknowledge her.

But now strolls along this thing, this movie called Dare, and goddamn it I might have to see it. Watch the trailer and you'll immediately know why. I took some screen-caps, which helpfully omit all Rossum to be had and illuminate the desirable elements:


Namely, the desirable elements you see are the sexy-times shared between Friday Night Lights star Zach Gilford and "one of the boys that gets his penis bitten off in the wonderful movie Teeth," Ashley Springer. I can't believe I've never given Gilford any love here at MNPP - even though I still haven't seen any of FNL (I know) I have had my eye on him ever since he strolled naked into the snow in Larry Fessenden's The Last Winter.


And, while one of the other guys who got their penis bitten off in the wonderful movie Teeth, Hale Appleman (also someone I can't believe I never gave love to - although the movie did get some Ways Not To Die love back in the day - so here...


... that's better) was more my type, Mr. Springer's looking adorable in this trailer and is certainly a worthy lip-partner for Gilford.


So yes, I guess that I want to watch a movie with... ugh... Emmy Rossum in it. Dammit. You've won this battle, Emmy Rossum! But not the war.
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And Then There's This

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(via PopWrap) I know that the scenes of a naked Gerard Butler being roughed up by cops will probably only last for a minute, perhaps even less, in Law Abiding Citizen. Yet they've played up these images so much in the marketing that I've (predictably) turned this into an entirely different film in my mind then it will end up being. Alas. It happens a lot. I'm still holding out hope that The Stepfather will morph into something altogether incesty, after all.
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Now I Never Have To See This Movie!

Fuck you, The Proposal! Ha ha ha!

Another two hours of my life spared
thanks to the wonders of the internet.

(click 'em to embiggen mightily) Anybody else psyched for Mr. Reynolds on Saturday Night Live this weekend? He's a good comedian even if he's always starring in crap and hopefully they'll get him outta his clothes at least a lil' bit. I mean, he's obviously not shy. Obviously. And he obviously has no reason to ever even consider being shy. Sigh. I hate you, Scarlett Johansson. I hate you so much. (via)
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Get Yer Ghost On

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Earlier I mentioned a bunch of cities that Paranormal Activity is going to start showing in as of this weekend... well click over here to see the details, including links for show-times and tickets, already on sale!

I checked on NYC and they're all Midnight or later showings and I think that's gonna be how it's gonna be, at least for the time being. So chug thirteen gallons of espresso like I did and then have a nervous breakdown all your own! Whee!
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The Magnificent Belmondo

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I appear to be going through with the actor Jean-Paul Belmondo what I went through with Michael Schoeffling last year - a need to document online as much of this fellow as I can possibly manage while my obsession lasts. Not that my obsession with Schoeffling has ended or that I think this current one with Belmondo will either, but these things burn bright for brief periods only to be usurped by some new one's luminescence, and I should strike while the iron's hot. To the benefit of the entire internet, I bring these pictures! It was lacking without them. Incomplete.

So what we have here is Jean-Paul Belmondo in 1973's gonzo Bond-spoof Le Magnifique, where he struts around in enough skimpy swimsuits to give even Daniel Craig's 007 a run for his money.

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