Quote of the Day

"He had no knowledge of tennis going into this.

And I think he had only a vague interest in certain tennis

specificities. He was more interested in the bodies and sweat."

That's actor Mike Faist speaking on his Challengers director Luca Guadagnino to Empire magazine, and triple-underlining why Luca remains the film director that I most identify with. I know a little bit about tennis since I have played tennis and it's one of the few sports I can stomach watching, but I also would direct a sports movie completely uninterested in the sports of it and more focused on the spectacle of beautiful bodies in motion. Also of note is this bit from the same article:

"In Challengers, it’s capturing that physicality and emotion that matters most. “What Luca’s really good at is finding sensuality and desire,” says Zendaya. “There’s so much in just glances. The tension builds. Not having the release is a good thing sometimes.” All of which is to say that, the action here is largely kept to the court. “The tennis is the sex,” explains O’Connor. “Those moments are so sexy. The film is dealing with the tension before and after. The sex they’re all desperate for is on the court.”"

This is definitely their way of telling us to expect less explicit sex than the trailer (watch it here) hinted at -- a criticism that's been heaped on Luca's shoulders ever since he (rightly) panned out the window in Call Me By Your Name, a criticism I have been calling bullshit on ever since. CMBYN remains one of the most intimate and sensual movies ever made, but y'all keep crying that you didn't see get to see explicit penetration and that makes me sad. Looks like we'll get to rehash that conversation all over again here!

RIP Paul Reubens

I usually avoid doing these since I'm fairly terrible at memorializing pop-culture figures that I cared about in proper (which is to say non-selfish) ways. But I'm going to be doubly terrible at this one because I am fully and utterly devastated right now. To say that Paul Reubens, the man behind Pee-wee Herman, was influential in creating the weirdo typing before you today, is like saying I'm made of molecules. Paul imprinted his sly little smirk onto every single one of those molecules and he sent them on their merry way, from as far back as I can remember. I was 9-years-old when the Playhouse started airing -- I've written about that show a billion times here at MNPP and I wrote a big piece on it for Mashable last fall for its 36th anniversary -- but I'd surely already seen Tim Burton's 1985 movie by then. Whichever came first the takeover was complete and immediate, and even though I didn't get it at the time I surely do now -- in Pee-wee I was seeing something so personal, so aimed straight for me and little boys and girls exactly like me. Those of us who didn't fit in, whose giddiness was a little over-the-top, who day-dreamed and dressed peculiar and found ourselves stuck in ways we couldn't comprehend at the time. Paul saved my life at a transformative moment, showing me how to stay bright and have humor and slip by the bullies even if you couldn't beat them up -- I finally got who I could be, as a person; that there were ways to survive it all and really actually get to be a person. 

And I'm crying too much right now to really do any of this justice -- I'll just add that I wrote a little thing that said some of this stuff when Pee Wee's Big Holiday came out in 2016 and somehow, I have no idea how, Paul saw it. And he sent me a lovely note saying thank you. And I think maybe I died instantaneously and everything since has been hell? It was late 2016 after all! It all makes sense! But for real he wrote that note and then he put me on his Christmas card list and he texted me every year on my birthday to wish me a happy one and to say that this was something I ever came close to comprehending would be deeply false. I have had moments where I felt like I have accomplished things in my life, where I have written something I was proud of or met someone I was a fan of and geeked out about it, but these were the greatest of all of them. I never did and will never wrap my head around the fact that, even in this tiniest of ways, Paul Reubens reached out and made me feel special. After he'd already done so very much for me already. An absolute king, my hero, a wonderful kind and funny man. I love you, Paul. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pee-wee Herman (@peeweeherman)

Give It Up For Red Rooms

My first two reviews from the 2023 edition of the Fantasia Film Festival went up over the weekend -- the first one I already told you about, that being the Kinnman-n-Cage starring Sympathy For the Devil, which I reviewed right here. That movie also came out on demand over the weekend so maybe you watched it already and can tell me whether I should've been nicer and/or meaner to it. Please do let me know! I love that.

The other movie though, that's one I very much want you to pay attention to -- it's Quebecois serial killer thriller Red Rooms from director Pascal Plante, and I wrote it up for Mashable. It's fan-freaking-tastic -- deeply unnerving and with a killer lead performance from Juliette Gariépy, who plays a model who becomes (too, too, too) obsessed with a murder case.

I say this in my review but it's very much a modern giallo, but without being obsessed with repeating ad naseum the whole explicit "giallo" thing like a movie like The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears wherethey're trying to make it feel like a movie transported out of the 70s. Red Rooms is very much a movie of right now, and yet it's about a fashion model slash tech whiz slash murder detective! It scratches that giallo itch while adding something new and now. Also Gariépy kills it -- this is very much a movie I could see getting remade here in the U.S. (and hopefully they wouldn't water it down), and it's a role that any smart edgy actress should consider murdering her competition to get.

But don't listen to just me -- Red Rooms took home several of the top prizes at Fantasia over the weekend (even though the fest doesn't end until August 9th they already handed out their awards, I don't know) including Best Film, Best Screenplay for writer-director Plante, and Best Actress for Gariépy. I still can't get over the last act of this movie -- it's bonkers. And I can't wait to watch it again. See all the Fantasia award winners at this link, and stay tuned for several more reviews from yours truly, coming soon. 

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

So who's up for a morning dip with Alexander Skarsgård?

Sympathy for the Sweatpants

That photo of Joel Kinnaman rocking some gray sweatpants (swoon) is not from the movie he has out this weekend called Sympathy For the Devil -- I actually have no idea what that photo is from. (Maybe Altered Carbon?) But aren't we all glad that it's the photo I decided to sue for this post? Yeah I thought so. And now that photo will be sitting there on the top of this site for four straight days -- I do right by us all, I swear. Anyway yes indeed it's Thursday, which in Summer Terms means the start of my weekend, and I'll be off-blog until Monday. But to step back for a moment to that movie I mentioned -- Sympathy For the Devil (which sees Joel Kinnaman terrorized by Nicolas Cage and which just premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal last weekend (while I was there, whaddya know) before hitting actual movie theaters this weekend) I have seen and Sympathy For the Devil I have reviewed... but the link's not live yet. I'll update this tomorrow when it is. I know I say that all the time but I mean it! Pinky swear or whatever. I'll also have some other Fantasia reviews going up over the next several days but I'll post those links next week when they happen. So basically watch this space! And by "this space" I mean Joel Kinnaman's gray sweatpants. I'm pretty sure they're moving...

ETA see I told you, here's the link to my review of Sympathy
For the Devil at Pajiba. Never doubt my pinky swear again!

Gary Cooper, Enduring Hot

One of my favorite celebrity coffee-table books that I own is the 2011 edition of Gary Cooper: Enduring Style, which is basically a beautiful book of photos of Gary Cooper being super hot, the end. There are words or whatever but I'm a picture person and this one's got the goods. A gorgeous book, but it's been out of print for awhile and it goes for a couple hundred dollars now (not quite enough for me to retire on dammit). But lo, behold, awesome news -- it's being reissued! Out on August 8th and selling on Amazon for a measly fifty bucks, you can pick up your copy here if "Gary Cooper being super hot" is a thing that's up your alley. Which really, really oughta be.

Too High, High, Hush Hush, Eye To Eye

I kind of hate that they're using that as the promotional image for Talk To Me, A24's new horror flick which I saw -- and reviewed! -- at Sundance earlier this year. That image is such a blatant callback to the 2022 horror flick Smile, which I thought was crap, while Talk To Me is much better. But Smile was inexplicably a hit so I guess they feel the need to latch their horses to that vibe, even though A24 tends to know better. The image of the creepy hand prop that's on the film's posters is much more effective is you ask me. Which you did when you clicked here onto my site, duh. Anyway here also is the trailer if you missed it -- this is a totally solid creepfest! I think some of the praise I've seen the past couple of weeks has gone maaaaybe a whiff overboard, but it's not some Smile level bullshittery so I'll allow it. Ugh Smile. Now I am annoyed again.

Finally caught Smile and it is bad! Bad bad bad! How has this dull derivative It Follows wannabe dreck caught on? Boo

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 16, 2022

Hunter Doohan Eight Times

I somehow still haven't watched Wednesday, so I don't know anything about actor Hunter Doohan except he was on that show, and now that he just posted these photos of himself modeling for Calvin Klein yesterday. So a total of two things, but that's enough for a post, right? Sure. Of course. It's more reasons than I have for 75% of my posts to be honest. Hit the jump for the photos...

Quote of the Day

“He played Stanley, and there are several moments where he takes off his shirt and it was electric,” she said. “The ladies in the audience were very vocal, and we were like, ‘I think we’ve found our guy.’”

That is Gladiator 2 producer Daria Cercek telling Variety (via) how Paul Mescal got cast without an audition in Ridley Scott's sequel, and I love her for it. Stunning brave honesty! Seriously though -- was it only ladies yelping? I have my doubts. Anyway I'm surprised at how little photographically we got of Mescal in Streetcar -- I posted a few photos right here, which includes the one above, and as far as I know that's it? That's all I have seen. If you've seen more please share in the comments!

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Pics of the Day

I have no idea if this picture is new or old but I saw it floating around on social media today and it's new to me -- that's Harris Dickinson, Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Stanley Simons in Sean Durkin's next movie The Iron Claw, about a pro-wrestling family of brothers -- I just did a search and apparently I somehow have never posted about this movie here even though I've been very much aware of it for many many months? I don't know. Anyway what got my attention immediately was Durkin -- I will follow the director of Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest anywhere (and yes I think The Nest, which unfairly fell through the cracks during the early portion of the pandemic, is equally fantastic -- here's my review). Next of importance was Dickenson, who I will also follow anywhere at this point. Then there's Efron -- the important point was the "pro-wrestler" bit with him...

... of course. Blessings if he surprises us, but I don't look to him for "performances." Anyway when I'd first heard about this movie way back I hadn't watched The Bear yet so I didn't know -- I didn't know! -- how I'd come to feel about Jeremy Allen White. But I have now watched The Bear (well everything except the finale of the 2nd season so no spoilers, I didn't have time to finish it before my trip) and now I know how I feel about Jeremy and it ain't nothing!

Yeesh! As for Stanley Simons I have no idea who he is but I am open to finding out on Christmas, which is when The Iron Claw is set to come out (via A24). But since we're here let's, uhh, share two more pictures of Jeremy out running around L.A. last week:

Good Morning, World

Lakeith Stanfield is on the cover of the new issue of The Standard's EM magazine talking about his role in Disney's Haunted Mansion movie (god what have we done to cinema) -- I have never been to a Disney theme park (that's some "gold star gay" shit right there) so I know nothing about this ride, and have no desire to, so I skipped all that. But I did like this part of his interview:

"He considers it a ‘beautiful luxury’ to be able to explore different shades of masculinity, and has long since given up worrying what people might think about his more flamboyant fashion choices. ‘I could show up in a suit, I could show up in a cowboy hat, I could show up in fishnet socks, it doesn’t matter — somebody’s gonna have something to say!’ he shrugs. ‘Most of the people who have something to say are nekkid flipping through the channels, or online in their drawers! So what difference does it make? Everybody has an opinion, so you might as well just do whatever feels right.’"

Lakeith has had some of the wildest photo-shoots over the years (check our archives to confirm this truth) so believe it when he says it. Funny enough though this photo-shoot (photographed by Petra Collins) is extremely tame, by his standards -- that's not to say he's not looking fine per usual. Just he's wearing regular button-down shirts and no elaborate wigs. Not a single wig! Hit the jump for it... 

Valley of the Doll

Okay so I lied last week -- I never updated Wednesday's post with a link to my review of Greta Gerwig's Barbie. So here, here it is, here is my review of Greta Gerwig's Barbie. I had mixed feelings which I made pretty clear, and they remain mixed even here in the wake of Barbie-mania -- did I ever think I would feel mixed feelings about Greta Gerwig helming a massive blockbuster and breaking a bunch of box office records? Well if I had had the wherewithal to even consider such a thing a possibility back when I fell in love with Frances Ha then yes, I think even then I would've known the concessions that would've come with such a feat, and seen such mixed feelings were ahead. Still there are far far far worse movies in the world and I don't be grudge anybody loving Barbie. There is fun to be had within it, and anyway who the fuck cares -- I'm just one person and it wasn't really for me and the news that Mattel has plans for everything from Polly Pocket to a fucking Uno movie now just fills me with preemptive exhaustion, what can I say? Obviously more, since here's a Twitter thread from just this morning:

These past couple weeks of Greta Gerwig keep reminding me of the San Diego passage in FRANCES HA - how under the black + white mumblecore city girl quirk Frances was really a suburban girl who goes to church and gets along with her parents

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 26, 2023

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

(via) Does it sometimes strike you how lucky we are to have openly gay celebrity men in the world now? Specifically ones who look like Cheyenne Jackson? Specifically Cheyenne Jackson? It strikes me sometimes. Specifically times like right now. Specifically right now. I mean JFC. Aaaanyway -- eyes down here, y'all -- hello! I'm back. Sort of. I'll be back this afternoon. I have a screening this morning -- yes that's right, I am back from a film festival and going immediately to a movie screening. That's because I'm a fucking professional. A professional what I don't know -- a leerer? I am leering right now, I tell you what. I'm not even looking at what I am typing, that picture of Cheyenne is too distracting. So enjoy it! Enjoy it for these couple of hours until I insist on posting new things, new things much less interesting, moving it down the page. It can't be helped!

Pink Fantasia Ahoy

The weekend of the cinematic summer has arrived, as Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer movie -- the great Barbenheiming, as foretold in the old books -- stand imminent. My review of Barbie will be popping up at Pajiba tomorrow I believe, and I will update this post with a link when it has. As for Oppenheimer I have seen it but I haven't figured out what or where or if I am saying something. But stay tuned! I might! And won't that be a thrill for everybody? Until then, as I foretold y'all last week, tomorrow I am leaving for the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, aka the maple syrupy land of Xavier Dolan and, like, mimes? I don't know. Follow me on my socials (probably especially my Instagram) if you want to keep stalkerish track of my every move -- I might post stuff while I'm away since it's technically a "work" trip, but I also might not since I am a lazy piece of shit. I mean I will have several reviews from Fantasia going up over the next couple of weeks, but we'll get to that once we're there. For now y'all just go see some movies this weekend, and support the fine artists who have worked hard to entertain and terrify you. And I will be officially back here in a week!

Boyd Holbrook Four Times

Didn't expect today to be double-dipping on the Boyd Holbrook content (see him here in his tighty-whities from this morning) but I ain't mad about it! No sir eeeee bob. Interview Magazine is chatting him up (well technically they had Michael Shannon do it) since he's on the new run of Justified episodes (not to mention his turn in the last Indiana Jones a couple of weeks back), and these photos came along for the ride. We've been fans of his for a very long time -- click his name above and behold the splendor of our Boyd archives, but specifically check out this post, this post right here, for the goodest goodies of all, i.e. his salad days as a male model mostly) -- and we expect to continue being along for this ride for as long as he'll have us. Hit the jump for the rest of the photos...

Quote of the Day

"There’s no untangling the film from what it is... It is a film that is very open about the place of sexual experience in our lives. And to shift that now would be to create a very different movie... To make an interesting sex scene is not easy. Each of the sex scenes to me is a chapter in the film. It has a story. And I wanted each one to have its own relevance and have its own details and be interesting to the audience. I think making interesting sex scenes is the hardest thing…What I tried to track here was to not look at sex, but to look at intimacy, not constructed through editing and avoidance... We hunger for movies that are in any proximity to our own experience, and to find a movie like this, which is then shut out, is, to me, depressing and reactionary. It’s really about a form of cultural censorship that is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist.”

That is Passages director Ira Sachs talking to the Los Angeles Times on the NC-17 rating the MPA just tried to drop on his movie, which stars Ben Whishaw and Franz Rogowski as a married couple whose relationship spirals into chaos because Franz runs off to boink Adèle Exarchapoulos a bunch. I saw and reviewed the film out of Sundance, right here -- there is indeed a lot of sex in the movie, and it is all very hot, and I am very happy that Sachs and MUBI are sticking to their guns and releasing the movie unrated. Go subscribe to MUBI, y'all -- cancel Netflix and subscribe to a streamer that gives a shit about its artists! And go see Passages when it hits theaters on August 4th. You can watch the trailer right here. 

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Somebody tell me I can watch the new Justified episodes

without having seen any old Justified episodes, please.

And Good Night, World

I gotta go watch a movie about a bomb now.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Starship Troopers (1997)

Rasczak: All right, let's sum up. This year we explored the failure of democracy. How our social scientists brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talked about the veterans, how they took control and established the stability that has lasted for generations since. You know these facts, but have I taught you anything of value this year? You. Why are only citizens allowed to vote?

Student: It's a reward. Something the federation gives you for doing federal service.

Rasczak: No. Something given has no value. When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force my friends is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.

I still can't believe that there were lots and lots of people who sat down and watched Starship Troopers in 1997 and didn't get that it was a deeply and hilariously funny anti-fascist satire. It felt like ages before people took this movie seriously! I mean... do people even take it seriously now? Do I just live in a bubble of my own making where this movie is one of the great films of our age? Well people should think that dammit! One day we will realize that Paul Verhoeven...

... (who's celebrating his 85th motherfucking birthday today!) has been one of The Greats. One of the most important filmmakers of our age. Someone able to make wildly entertaining popcorn flicks that were able to sneak deeply serious thoughts in between all of the great big beautiful tits and gore. A legend! Somebody smack that man on the bare rear and say thanks from us today...