Glen Glistens, We Listen

I apparently missed this photo being released as an official still from Top Gun Maverick (the full version is down below), just like I missed them releasing a similarly gratuitous Glen Powell character poster for the film from this same scene until a couple of days ago -- I done had my head up my ass on all of this? I clearly would have given the film more love in my review-ish thing if I'd known they'd been working so hard to placate my thirst-ful lusts -- oh well! Anyway I know some of you watched TGM over the weekend because it made a bajillion dollars, so feel free to toss some of your own thoughts in my direction, kind of like how Glen Powell's glistening torso threw that football in Jat Ellis' glistening direction during the movie. Actually scratch that "kind of" -- make it just like that, exactly like that, with some extra emphasis on "glisten" and "torso" please. 

Which Is Hotter?

After the year we've had together -- me and Colin Farrell, that is -- I'd be violently remiss not to wish Colin the happiest of birthdays today! He's turning 46 -- one year for every pair of short-shorts he's worn over the course of this pandemic in order to help keep us a little bit more sane. It hasn't really worked, at least not that way, but we pray he keeps trying! I don't know about you guys but those shorts of his have really been the highlight of the plague for me. Anyway with today's other news that A24 is putting out another one of their fancy books this time for Colin's 2015 masterpiece The Lobster from director Yorgos Lanthimos, this seems like a fun moment to poll the following question re: their two collabs...

online polls

Fantaterror Takes Manhattan, Too!

Earlier today I told you about the great big Dario Argento series that FLC is putting on for a couple of weeks across June here in NYC, but that's not the only horror movie series of note that my hometown will be snatching us from the scorching streets and into the air-conditioned cinemas for this month -- at the Metrograph they've got "Fantaterror Español" starting up this weekend, running from June 3rd until the 26th, and it's chockfull of spectacular Spanish oddities that one might commit all manner of atrocities for the opportunity to see on the big screen. (They'll also be streaming via Metrograph's website too!) 

Several of these are films that I've only seen myself in the past couple of years -- I think they've only started making names for themselves outside of the lowdown and dirty cult circuit that birthed them. Like I'm always late to the party, but I'm glad I finally saw Eloy de Iglesia's 1972 freak-out The Cannibal Man (pictured up top) a couple of months ago -- Severin put out a fancy blu-ray that I bought on a lark and it's a flick that immediately become a big-time fascination to me. Actually a lot of Eloy de Iglesia's movies have actually made their way state-side recently thanks to the specialty label boom in physical media and his stuff is super-queer, I recommend you try to seek them out! Metrograph is also showing de Iglesia's 1973 flick Murder in a Blue World, which is described as a twist on A Clockwork Orange, and they're showing two of the Tombs of the Blind Dead movies, a series of films about Zombie-fied Templar Knights (!!!). That and more, hit the jump for the entire press release...

Jiggle Them Gigolos, Jon Bernthal

Our first official look at Jon Bernthal in the American Gigolo series that I have been going on and on and on about ever since we first heard about it has arrived via EW today -- not only are there several photos of the show's cast (which includes people who aren't Jon Bernthal, apparently, who cares), but there's also a teaser trailer, and...

... it's filled with shots like that that are doing the convincing for us, that this should exist. Obviously I don't know that Jon can approximate the effortless suave cool sleazy fuck-boy energy that Richard Gere did in Paul Schrader's 1980 movie, but I will sure watch him try! Here's the trailer:

I still don't see a release date for the series (Showtime just keeps saying "Coming Soon") but I'll keep you notified. For now hit the jump for a couple more gifs from the trailer of note...

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... romping with Billy.

I don't care what car race it was that Billy Magnussen was at when these photos were taken (via) but if you do feel free to click that link and he'll probably tell you -- that's information I don't need to clog up my brain with, not when I can see his nipples just fine and that's all the information I need or desire thank you very much. I love this look on him -- having come of age in the late 80s / early 90s boys in overalls with no shirt on underneath (a la New Kids on the Block) really pushes my buttons. Hit the jump for a few more...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Double Indemnity (1944)

Phyllis: I'm a native Californian.

Born right here in Los Angeles.

Walter: They say all native Californians come from Iowa.

If Sunset Boulevard didn't exist I might have to say that Double Indemnity was the best script ever written. Still number two's not so bad, at least not if you're Walter Neff and it's Phyllis coming in at number one. Admittedly I'm not the world's biggest Film Noir fan -- I like it when I like it but I don't seek them out too often -- and I do know there are others that people love more but for my buck Double Indemnity's the best of them. And whaddya know, the best of them says me is hitting Criterion 4K blu-ray today. Buy it right here!

I've got this baby at home and baby, it's a beauty. (I apologize that I am smackin' my lips like a dame-blind gangster as I'm writing this post, but that dialogue's as infectious as, well, a dame.) Anyway speaking to what matters most -- this is a top five Stanwyck performance to boot. It's not my personal fave (which is probably The Lady Eve) but it's right there, in the top five. She's diabolically delicious. If you've never seen this man are you in for a treat, and if you have seen it man are you in for a second.

Dario Takes Manhattan

Enormous news for New York horror movie fans -- and horror fans anywhere who can get to NYC next month (and I suppose non-horror fans, there are things here for you too, but why can't you just be better) -- as Film at Lincoln Center has just announced a gigantic Dario Argento retrospective called "Beware of Dario Argento" running June 17th through 29th that will screen twenty of the Italian maestro's movies, including SEVENTEEN 4K restoration premieres (!!!), fifteen of those being World Premieres, including  masterpieces like Deep Red, Tenebrae, Opera, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage. And Dario's new film Dark Glasses is having its US premiere!

Oh and Argento will also be here in person for several Q&As and introductions alongside the films. This series more than any other yet is really testing my will as far as not going to public screenings still because of, you know, the ongoing pandemic or whatever. You can check out the whole line-up and write-up over on their site, although I will share the press release with you below -- tickets go on sale for Members of FLC today at Noon and for non-members tomorrow. Hit the jump for the full press release...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

A happy 40th birthday to the terrific Jonathan Tucker today! He's been one of our faves for over half his life at this point -- the first place I would have seen him was playing neighbor boy "Tim" in Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, and then a year later as Tilda's confused gay son in The Deep End, and tell me that two-some's not a stellar way to kick off one's career. A couple of years after that came the better-than-it-has-any-right-being Texas Chainsaw remake on 2003, which is what the above gif is from -- well it's from a making-of video anyway, which you can watch right here and I recommend you do if you're a fan and not just because...

... it's stuffed with that film's hot male cast taking their clothes off. 

But it doesn't hurt! And that's actually actor Eric Balfour seen naked both above and below by the way. I figured as long as we're here we might as well make those gifs, even if I'm talking Tucker. Anyway Tuck mostly does TV these days and he does very fine work there -- see especially his several seasons on Kingdom (although I admit his one-episode sexy gay-ish creep stint on Hannibal remains my fave) -- but when he does pop up in movies he's ever reliable; I don't think that Palm Trees and Power Lines has gotten a release yet, but I saw it at Sundance and he's phenomenal in it. Keep an eye out! Happy 40, Tuck! Here's one more Eric Balfour, let's say celebrating Tuck's birthday with his birthday suit...

Do Dump Or Marry: The Top Gun Boys

 

Popping in over the holiday weekend because this set photo from the Top Gun sequel demanded it -- that's Miles Teller, Glen Powell, and Jay Ellis posing their studly stuff from the immediately... well it might be early to say "iconic" so let's say revered, the immediately revered beach football scene. (Iconic.) I might have had a lot of mixed feelings on the movie (read them here) but this scene went into the "strictly positive" column, that's for certain. You can click that image and make it much bigger, but as you do that why not also hit up the comments below and give me a round of the ol' "Do Dump or Marry" for them three fellas? That's where you pick one fella to have one single solitary boink-fest with (Do), where you pick a different fella to pop out the airlock like poor ol' Goose (RIP Goose) had done to him back in the day (Dump), and one fella that you'd unite in holy forever matrimony with, at least until the Supreme Court outlaws gay marriage again (Marry). Have at it and happy Memorial Day, horndogs!

 

 

5 Off My Head: The Mad Count Chris

The singular legend Christopher Lee was born one hundred years ago today! While I've made no secret about the fact that when it comes to May 27th Horror Legend Birthday Boys I'm more of a Vincent Price (who was born 111 years ago today) than I am a Christopher Lee, that doesn't mean I don't love Lee! I love him loads. Indeed ever since Severina couple of years ago  put out that amazing "Eurocrypt" boxed-set of more obscure Lee titles (which is on sale for a measly 85 bucks right now, by the way) I've found a new appreciation for him -- and also on that note Severin recently announced they're putting out a second set of even obscurer titles (out in July you can pre-order it over here) so I'm sure there'll be even more amazingness to be mined. That said given what a truly epic run Lee had career-wise, working across eight (!!!) decades of the movies, narrowing down one's faves is a fool's errand. But I'm gonna try anyway, because I am nothing if not an epic fool.

My 5 Favorite Christopher Lee Performances

Count Dracula, Horror of Dracula (1958)

Saruman, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Count Drago, The Castle of the Living Dead (1964)

Lord Summerisle, The Wicker Man (1973)

Duc de Richleau, The Devil Rides Out (1968)

-----------------------------

Runners-up: Hugo, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Horror Express, The Whip and the Body, Hercules in the Haunted World, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Corridors of Blood, Star Wars 

What are your favorite Christopher Lee performances?

Definitely Say Gay

Quite hard (emphasis exactly where you think the emphasis should go) to believe but I have still never seen João Pedro Rodrigues' first film O Fantasmo from the year 2000 -- I loved his 2016 film The Ornithologist (Paul Hamy forever) so much you'd think I'd have doubled back, but double back I did not. I was reminded of this fact twice this week -- first when a friend saw Rodrigues' newest latest gay gay gayest movie Will-o'-the-Wisp at Cannes and told me to look out for it...

... as it's apparently it's about ejaculating firefighters and the men who love them. I like all of those things! And second I was reminded of the fact that I have never seen O Fantasma when I saw O Fantasma listed among the movies that my beloved Quad Cinema here in NYC is screening for Pride Month as part of their "Pride Rewind: Queer Cinematic Landmarks and Breakthroughs" series taking place all June. Check out that line-up here.

Mostly the line-up is queer classics like Brokeback Mountain and But I'm a Cheerleader and Fox and His Friends and Stranger By the Lake, movies I adore, am well-acquainted with, and that I would nevertheless love to see on a big screen again. But O Fantasma is not the only one of the movies they're screening that I have never seen -- I also have never seen 1975's Saturday Night at the Baths which is, well, exactly what it sounds like. By which I mean "right up my alley." So have you seen O Fantasma or Saturday Night at the Baths? Tell me about them in the comments please, while my brain wanders off to think about Stranger at the Lake again...

Mads Mikkelsen Thirty-Two Times

I didn't pay a lot of attention to that first photo from the fifth Indiana Jones movie that dropped this week because 1) it's a fucking silhouette, let's not cream our jeans over a silhouette. But also as stated when the news broke I'm not a fan of director James Mangold and if somebody's going to take the reins from Steven f'ing Spielberg I'd rather it be somebody I'm a fan of, ya know? Anyway I only just remembered now with this new photoshoot in Esquire (via) of Mads Mikkelsen that Mads is in the movie, probably as the villain because come on he's Mads. And that makes me more excited. Not that Cate Blanchett could save the fourth movie. Anyway there was other Mads news this week to share -- he's making a sequel to his Netflix movie Polar (and I still haven't seen that first one) and he's reuniting with his Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel to make a Danish Western set in the 18th century (thx Mac). Sure why not. As long as all of this work doesn't interfere with my plans to fund a fourth season of Hannibal by whoring myself out to anybody willing to pay. And I'm cheap, fellas! Hit the jump for this whole shoot...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Anybody have good Memorial Day plans? I don't, except that I am going to take Jonathan Bailey's advice that he gave alongside this photo on his Insta, where he said:

"We need to stop viewing lack of sleep as a sign of strength, a sign of work ethic, a signal that you would do whatever it takes to get the job done. The idea of sleeping less and working more is unhealthy, unproductive, and yes, a bit psychotic. Prioritising good sleep is a good self love!"

Good idea, Jonathan! I'm gonna self-love

 myself for three straight days!

Joel Kim Booster Four Times

There are a few more of these photos over here alongside the interview with the comedian turned star of upcoming queer ass Hulu comedy Fire Island, which we here at MNPP are excited about because.. well 1) I saw it last night and it's terrific. Do I need to keep counting after that? The fact that I can say with actual learned knowledge that the movie is real good ought to be enough! But you should be excited because 1) I say it's terrific (I will review it with more words next week), and 2) it was directed by Andrew Ahn, the already-director of the stellar two-some Driveways and Spa Night and one of the most talented young directors we've got. Watch the trailer for Fire Island over here if you haven't yet, and mark your calendars -- the film is opening NewFest's pride-month edition next Thursday in NYC (last I heard there are still tickets for the later screening) and then it drops on Hulu the next day, June 3rd. 

Yes Sir Mr. Majors

Don't know why I was surprised to see the first teaser trailer for Devotion, the aviator flick starring Jonathan Majors and Glenn Powell that I've been keeping my scope trained on for quite awhile now, pop up today -- when we got those official photos earlier this week I'd mentioned that it made sense, them tagging along with the Top Gun Maverick hype, given the Aeroplane Plus Glen Powell of it all. (And funny enough some of these flight scenes look like they were shot on the same locations to my eye, although I'm probably way off.) Anyway tThis movie is out in October and this trailer makes it look like a grand showcase for the great and deserving-of-a-showcase Mr. Majors, check it out below...