A Majors Development!

Looks like Lovecraft Country star and owner-of-my-heart Jonathan Majors doesn't want to get out of the Lovecraft business just yet -- no he hasn't signed on for a second season of that show (nobody has since it hasn't been officially announced yet) but he is apparently on the verge of signing up to star as one half of the title of a movie called Gordon Hemingway & The Realm of Cthulhu. No, sadly not Cthulhu. He'll play this Gordon fellow, and if you're getting tickles in your Indiana Jones places that's probably wise as here's how Variety describes the original screenplay:

"... the film is set in East Africa in 1928 and centers on Hemingway, a roguish Black American gunslinger, who teams up with the elite warrior Princess Zenebe of Ethiopia to rescue the country’s kidnapped regent from an ancient evil."

This sounds to me like Indiana Jones minus the colonialist artifact-raiding streak, which seems a smart way to take Movie Adventurers into the 21st century. Or maybe it's just a big goopy monster movie that will finally give Ye Elder King Cthulhu his movie due. Whatever. Majors' Da 5 Bloods director Spike Lee is a producer on this, while See You Yesterday director Stefon Bristol is directing. Majors isn't confirmed for the role yet, it's just a possibility at this point, but then he's not confirmed for Superman either but I'm still putting that energy hard out into the world...

MY SUPERMAN https://t.co/xE0eF6DyLU pic.twitter.com/fjuJo56Z3A

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 26, 2021

Art Out of Death

If y'all know me at all you probably know I'm a nerd of many colors and that one of the brightest is Art Nerd -- I might miss going to museums even more than movie theaters? And yes, Museums have been open here in NYC for several months now, I've gone a couple of times, and the museums have done a killer job keeping the crowds thinned and making you feel safe... but the process of actually going anywhere is too stressful. Until I'm fully vaccinated I'm just trying to stay off the subway on the weekend slash whenever I absolutely don't have to. Anyway that means I've been missing Art Shows, hard, and so the next best thing has been Art Documentaries! I've watched several over the past year. And hey look a new one's hitting in a few weeks, one I've heard very good word-of-mouth on!

It's called WOJNAROWICZ: F**K YOU F*GGOT F**KER, about the AIDS activist and artist David Wojnarowicz. Wojnarowicz fought back hard against the reigning hateful conservative sentiments of the 1980s, centering sex and death and rage in beautifully aggressive ways until his death of the disease in 1992 -- he's a fascinating figure, and I've heard nothing but great things on this doc, which is hitting Kino Lorber's streaming service Kino Now on March 19th. They've sent along a trailer, watch:

Riz Ahmed Six Times

I don't know whether Riz Ahmed is going to win an Oscar or not for his terrific work drumming-whilst-shirtless in Sound of Metal, but he's definitely already won the award for Most Photo-shoots During This Weird Awards Season, and that's really the prize that matters the most, right? I think so. These photos are for Esquire UK, you can read the chat with him here, or you can hit the jump to just jolly off with his perfect face yet again...

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... snuggled up with Trevante Rhodes.

Lee Daniels' new film The United States vs Billie Holiday (about the Fed's endless siege on the famous singer for drugs and for stirring up racial tensions with her song "Strange Fruit") is out on Hulu today -- if you missed the trailer I posted the trailer right here. Andra Day plays Holiday and does so beautifully (what a voice), while you'll spend a whole lot of time yelling at the screen for the two cops in her life, played by Trevante here and Garrett Hedlund in a stylish stache, to make out. 

But isn't that how any Lee Daniels film is to be appreciated? You can always find things, even when Daniels is at his sloppiest and ooh baby is this movie sloppy. And somehow boring? That's one complaint I've never had to lodge at a Daniels film before but this one's somehow kind of boring. That ol' Daniels razzmatazz just seems to vanish for long stretches, as if he felt a little intimidated by his own material. But then Trevante saunters in in a fuzzy sweater and you forget about all that...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Spider-twink Tom Holland's swing into Big Boy Pants is out this weekend on Apple+ -- Cherry, from Marvel's favorite bro-directors the Russo Bros, has him playing a love-struck teenager (named Cherry, as in pop that) turned Iraq soldier turned heroin addict turned bank-robber, and all in the span of wayyy over two hours. As I said in the comments of yesterday's Tom Holland post -- hey whaddya want I work with what I am given -- the movie's not great (Bob) but Tom doesn't embarrass himself; he's actually very good, despite being in a movie that doesn't really seem to know what it is or wants to say but keeps on talking, and loudly, for way too long anyway. (His other actors, especially Clara Bravo and Jack Reynor, are also notably good.) So he'll be fine. I know, you were worried, but Tom Holland is gonna be okay, you guys. 

On that note as these photos attest this morning his cover story for GQ UK has presented itself, and I've got plenty more where they came from below. But first I feel as if I should quote this semi-long (it's worth it) Spidey-suit exchange from Tom's attached interview, which I read on the subway to work this morning:

"You know, I haven’t got my own suit yet. I could ask for one of those. Good idea. And they have loads of them lying around. Or I could just steal one. I should just go home in one from set and be like, ‘Come and take it off me!’ They’d never find the hidden zips, though.” Hidden zips? “Yes, it’s pretty uncomfortable. A privilege to wear, but uncomfortable.” What does Holland wear underneath his Spidey suit? “I wear a thong. Like a jockstrap thing. I have a thong and a mesh underlay suit and then the Spider-Man suit, made from very coarse material, goes over the top.” Holland pauses for a second, lost in thought. “If I did steal a suit, what would I do with it?” Role play? “I couldn’t put it on a mannequin in my living room, could I? Like a trophy. People would think I was utterly self-obsessed. I was in the costume house the other day and they have a foam model of my body. Like, it’s a perfect replica, accurate to the millimetre.” A bit odd? “Yes. I was looking at it. It’s really weird checking yourself out. I looked at my bum and I was like, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t be doing that...’ But then I realised it was my ass and I could do that. So I had a proper look at it, a proper butcher’s. Yeah, so that’s strange. I wonder what happens to that mannequin once filming ends? Who takes replica me home?”

Tom Holland would like to know who takes him home. Can I get a raised hand? And we just caused a tsunami in Thailand with the brunt of raised-hands winds y'all. Anyway Tom's talked about his Spidey-thong before (we remember such details more than we remember our own childhoods) but the whole "checking out his own ass" thing is new, and appreciated. I like that he realized and took ownership of his own bum. Staked his little bum flag. That's called "Adulting," Tom. Hit the jump for the whole shoot...

The Power of HaShem Compels You

You can't run away from your past. Your past is always there, over your shoulder, like the monster in a scary movie -- spin your head around and maybe you'll just see something out of the corner of your eye, or maybe there will be a wall of fangs straight on snapping back. Luck of the draw, and not knowing which it'll be is what makes us all, each and every one, haunted people.

And like most of the smart and hyper-efficient horror films before it Keith Thomas' shudder-inducing The Vigil knows all of the above, and melts it down into the metaphor of terrifying movie stuff. He's aided by some good old-fashioned folklore, here of the Jewish variety, as the tale he spins centers in on a lapsed Orthodox fella by the name of Yakov (Dave Davis) who, in dire need of fast cash, steps back for a single night into the religious fold he'd abandoned due to a test of faith, to sit shomer over a recently deceased. 

All that means is he needs to watch over the body. Just some old man. Big pay day. The body's barely cold by the time he gets there. No big whoop. Overnight. Dead body. In the dark. With a dead body. What could possibly go wrong, right? Right? Wrong. What could possibly go wrong is more right. Thomas, proving a more-than-fine mastery of twitchy atmosphere and timing, throws every trick in the unholy book at us, with shuddering shadows and stomping feet in all the places they shouldn't be; old ladies making dire pronouncements and skeletons snapping; toenails contort. Old videotapes and candles flicker, quiver, and shake. The Vigil's a haunted house tale of the mind, where every creak comes from an un-sturdy sanity, splintering under foot. The weight of living's a lot, day to day -- some of us can barely stand it. Just wait til it's tested and see.

And that's day to day -- try century to century sometime. Like any folk-horror worth its weight in gelt The Vigil stretches back towards the past, just like the face of its twisted turnip-fingered monster, opening with a flashback reminiscent of the nightmare scene that opens the Coen Bros 2009 masterpiece A Serious Man  (and the connection's taken even further with an exquisitely placed Fred Melamed voice cameo, for the Coen nerds in the back). Dybbuks abound. The past, as the saying goes, is never really past -- it's a'nibblin' on your broom, baby.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Amuse This!

Super news today as the "lost film" of George Romero, 1973's The Amusement Park, is going to premiere on Shudder later this summer! (And how amazing is that poster they came up with?) Romero shot this for the Lutheran Society who wanted to highlight society's disregard for the elderly, but they were so horrified by the horror film Romero that delivered them they never released the footage. Until a couple of years ago, when a print was discovered and got cleaned up to the max -- they screened it at MoMA last January and who was there? I was there! Of course I was there. And down below you can see some video I took of Romero's widow talking about the movie. It's a curious and fascinating little document for sure, and any Romero fan will want to watch it -- you can see the genius-to-be already forming his obsessions.

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Only the Best Men, Continued...

W Magazine has added a few more "Best Performances" to their "Best Performances" issue today, including Tom Holland here for his work as a soldier-turned-addict-turned-bank-robber in Cherry, which is hitting Apple+ this weekend -- you can read Tom's little chat over here; he says his first crush was Hermione, lol. (God I am old.) And if you missed the photos we shared of Hot Actors in this spread yesterday click here for Riz Ahmed, Steven Yeun, and on and on.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Bottle Rocket (1996)

Anthony: One morning, over at Elizabeth's beach house, she asked me if I'd rather go water-skiing or lay out. And I realized that not only did I not want to answer THAT question, but I never wanted to answer another water-sports question, or see any of these people again for the rest of my life.

A happy 25 to the birth of Wes Anderson! I don't mean the director's actual birthday -- dude is not 25 -- I mean the birth of "Wes Anderson" as a filmmaker, a brand unto himself. Bottle Rocket came out on this day in 1996, and Wes was pretty well self-branded right out the gate with Bottle Rocket -- sure it's a little looser, sloppier, than the arch dioramas he makes now, but I still think you go back and you look at Bottle Rocket you can tell it's a Wes Anderson movie. And it's not just the Wilson Brothers. Do y'all like Bottle Rocket? I do very much, but I also recognize it as a starting point -- I think his films have gotten richer with age and, weirdly, with more artifice. 

His Name is Luca

I should stop tweeting out my best thoughts before I write up my posts -- John Waters says that's why he doesn't have a Twitter account, cuz he's not giving away his jokes for free -- but earlier when the trailer for Pixar's new cartoon Luca appeared I tweeted...

Ya know my CMYBN-loving ass made plenty of jokes about a Pixar movie being called LUCA being set in a beautiful Italian village but they seem to be coming right at me bro with that gay gay gay gay gay trailer (yes I cried a little) pic.twitter.com/PrNTEb5hM4

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 25, 2021

... and that's where I'll be coming at as I share Luca's trailer with you today. It's inescapable, watching this thing, how gay it is. (Up to and including the fact that Jack Dylan Grazer, star of Luca Guadagnino's series We Are Who We Are, voices the big-haired kid.) I say that knowing there's a housewife in Idaho clutching her Liberace records (second Liberace reference of the day, it's about to start raining rhinestones up in here) who watches this trailer and sees not a whit of queerness, but me? I watch this? I hear Sufjan playing in my head. 

Granted Sufjan is literally always playing in my head, but you know what I mean. Two young boys discover they share the same secret and together must hide it away from the world, while becoming incredibly close in the process... I'm not projecting anything sexual onto child entertainment here either, but gay kids exist! I know from firsthand experience! We develop crushes on other boys, just like what happens with straight kids, and those ones get OOOOOHs and AWWWWWWWWs in the church parking lots across this country. All we're asking for is it to be admitted, by culture, that we exist.

I mean then we'll have other requests, but ya gotta start somewhere. Anyway this movie's never going to come out (heh) and say anything explicitly, it is a Disney product after all. (Bless Laika for Mitch in ParaNorman.) But the metaphors are clear as Sufjan's voice on a summer day, and hopefully they'll be brave enough to not you know stick that female friend seen in the trailer awkwardly into the middle of what is plainly going on. Fingers crossed. Watch the trailer and y'all tell me your thoughts in the comments please!

You and and Me and Whose Army

I didn't post the poster for Zack Snyder's forthcoming Zombies-in-Vegas movie Army of the Dead last week because I haven't quite decided where I stand on the movie -- Zack Snyder's 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake was far better than it had any right to be and I was his fan for a good long while after it, but diminishing cinematic returns (and his professed love of Ayn Rand, barf) eventually snuffed out that flame. But this thing has got a cast!

The film, which hits Netflix on May 21st, stars Dave Bautista, exhibitionist-Deutsche -twunk Matthias Schweighöfer (see plenty more of him here), the great Hiroyuki Sanada (we love him very much), the great Raúl Castillo (with an admittedly godawful hair-do), the great Garret Dillahunt, and many many more. There are even girls, I suspect!

Anyway I have clearly caved and am posting about the movie today because they released a trailer and it looks like a heap of big dumb Zombies-in-Vegas fun. I spotted both a Liberace and an Elvis in the mix -- it's a shame Zack couldn't get Celine Dion to play herself, but who knows what surprises he's got in store. Watch the trailer yourselves, here and now, and give me your thoughts in the comments:

Good Morning, World

Well, my goodness. Somehow KJ Apa keeps finding ways to top himself, and yes I phrased that sentence exactly that way on purpose, you're welcome. The Riverdale actor just brings out the perv in everybody, up to and including the folks at Interview Magazine this month, which is where he's interviewed alongside this seriously skin-tastic and slutty photoshoot by photog Christopher Sherman. It's giving me some vapors! Add in some Tom Holland and it's too much, I tells ya...

They're good boys pic.twitter.com/6LgFdtIilt

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 24, 2021

And did I mention AJ is interviewed by Demi Moore? I mean, speaking of actors who knew how to use magazine spreads to their advantage. I guess she's in that Songbird movie where KJ shows his butt. Have any of you actually watched that thing? I say no thank you, but I'm happy to hear Demi got a gig. But we're not here for Demi! We're here for somebody else's nipples today, and those belong to Archie dammit! Hit the jump for a dozen-plus more just like this...

Wrong Turn (2021) in 250 Words or Less

Commendable for trying something new for sure, the seventh (wtf how) film in the Wrong Turn franchise is a hard reboot like throwing your Nintendo down the stairs when it started skipping was a hard reboot -- seems they listened to the criticisms about the expired stereotypes of Inbred Redneck Southerners, bless their hearts, and so you won't see a single toothless Bubba abouts. I don't know if that's a spoiler, or better yet I don't care if it is, because that's the only damn reason I watched this movie -- I only know I saw the second Wrong Turn because I see that I posted about it back in 2008, and otherwise I sat out the majority this franchise. Wasn't anything I clamored for. 

But a movie about young (hot) (gay) people taking a mysterious wrong turn in the woods well those I always have time for, so we come to me watching the new Wrong Turn. It's okay? I mean it's goofy without meaning to be, its reach exceeds its grasp, but I'm kind of tickled that we're getting Ari Aster rip-offs in 2021. That (forgive me for using this term) the "Elevated Horror" boom of the past several years has now trickled down to the, you know, less elevated places. It's like Meryl Streep's cerulean speech in The Devil Wears Prada, but with skulls getting caved in in the place of expensive belts. Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Get Out (2017)

Jim: Life can be a sick joke. One day you're 

developing prints in the dark room and the next day 

you wake up - in the dark. Genetic disease.

Chris: Shit ain't fair, man.

Jim: Oh, you got that right! Shit ain't fair.

A happy 32nd birthday to Daniel Kaluuya today! If you haven't seen Judas and the Black Messiah yet you definitely should -- there's a lot great going on in it I thought, especially the performances. And very excited for him to re-team with director Jordan Peele, on some sort of horror thriller that will apparently have the terrific Keke Palmer playing the villain...

BABES NOTHING BUT BABES pic.twitter.com/zIQvls0tS6

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 16, 2021

Murder Me, Fassy

I can't believe none of you who've already seen this news today have called to check on me -- now I know who my real friends are! And they're nobody! Cuz nobody and no one called to tell me tell me to breathe upon reading the news that David Fincher's next movie is another serial killer movie and it will star no less than Michael Fassbender, king among men. "Serial Killer" might be pushing it, it's called The Killer and it's about an assassin. Motive is everything -- I learned that from David Fincher's TV program with Jon Groff! 

Anyway The Killer is based on a French graphic novel (anybody read it?) and the screenplay was written by his Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker -- Fincher's been trying to get this made for something like a decade; at one point Brad Pitt was attached. But no longer! Now it'll be our Fassy boy playing the assassin who "begins to psychologically crack as he develops a conscience, even as his clients continue to demand his skills." I mean can you blame them? You have the money to hire Michael Fassbender, you're gonna wanna keep paying, conscience be damned.

Liam Hemsworth Lunch Break

How nice of Liam Hemsworth, to supply us with some BEEFCAKE for lunch today. These snaps of him and his girlfriend (although given my editing you'll be hard-pressed to find much of her) and their doggies were snapped at the usual Byron Bay down Aussie way yesterday (via) -- if I ever go to Australia you better believe I'm hitting that stretch of beach and just swallowing handfuls of the sand the Hemsworth boys have sweat so much upon. Hit the jump for dozens more for your lunch-time entertainment...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Only The Best Men

Silly me I thought I could get away with just tweeting out a pair of images from W Magazine's "Best Performances" issue yesterday -- there was of course more where those came from, and a proper post is called for. They did a very good job picking the actors they focused on with ONE exception -- you're not going to see those Jared Leto photos below. That movie is terrible and he, per usual, is terrible in it. But the rest of the fellas -- Steven Yeun, Riz Ahmed, Jacob Elordi, Jonathan Majors and Lakeith Stanfield? I mean come on. You can't shake a stick at that line-up? (Or could you?) Ahem. Each actor has a little Q&A which you can find at the link above, but after the jump nothing but snaps...