James McAvoy Eight Times

Hilariously I literally let out a "Jesus Christ" when I first set eyes upon the above photo of James McAvoy -- yes I've been on Team Jim ever since he yanked down his yellow shorts and showed us what he's made of in The Last King of Scotland (what, am I not predick-table) but I've been surprised to find myself to be finding him hotter and hotter as he ages. Maybe it's the fact that we're aging together -- we're basically the same age -- or maybe it's the fact that he's really leaned into his inner horn-dog lately. But whatever it is it's working. He's really popping with an, uhh, let's call it a "provocative energy". 

I think I really took note of it circa Atomic Blonde? God he's a horny devil in that sexy-ass movie. But, I mean, LOOK at the last photo I posted of him here on this website! Dude is feeling it these days and so are we. (Anytime, James!) Anyway my projections and stirrings aside (although come on, those are the main basis, the thrust if you will, for this damned forever-running over-sharing website), this new photoshoot pops all on its own thanks to its color scheme -- these photos are for Empire magazine where Jimmy's their cover boy talking his directorial debut, and his long storied career in general, read it here. Or just hit the jump and rollick in the silky daddy smoothness of our favorite Scotsman...

Three Hot Men For the Price of None

I'm not in Toronto right now with all of the other critics but that's okay because the actors on the scene are giving the rest of us a real fucking show -- this weekend it was one hot sexy snap of our faves after another. The menfolk are demanding attention! And we're ready to give it! Even though I shared all three of these pictures on Bluesky already they need to be documented here at MNPP proper. Most especially the above photo of James McAvoy manspreading in a kilt -- that's a look for the record books. You know that line in Clueless about an "unequivocal sex invite"? It's very much that. God damn James, you devil. 

Not that this photo of Chris Evans inviting us to the gun (and pec) show is any sorta slouch! Chris is looking good! (What's new?) Not that I have any idea what movie either him or James are at TIFF for -- I thought for a second that Chris might be reprising his role from the first one in the new Benoit Blanc mystery that premiered at the same time this photo dropped but no, we're not that lucky. (Word on the new Knives Out is semi-ecstatic though so I'm extremely excited.) Anyway finally that brings us to longtime crush Wagner Moura, and we do know what movie he's at TIFF for -- he's there for The Secret Agent, the extremely buzzy new movie from Bacurau director Kleber Mendonça Filho. As a massive Bacurau-head (yes that's a thing) I'm practically foaming at the mouth for this one -- thankfully I only have to foam for a little over week since I'll be seeing it for NYFF next Thursday. Look at that sweet smile! Aww. 

Today's Mood

I'm really feeling this recent photo of James McAvoy this afternoon -- I just finished writing another NYFF review (that'll be up tomorrow) and I'm looking for something, anything, to post here on the site but just kind of ending up glaring at the empty exapanse of the dumb internet with disdain instead. Sigh. And I suppose it's my job to fix this, as a person who posts on the internet -- I should be entertaining us like the little dancing monkey that I am! But I'm not feeling so dancing-monkey today. Anyway all of that said James McAvoy's angry face makes me as the kids say "hot under the collar" so that's also a good reason to post that photo as well.  Va va voom, baby.

James McAvoy Fifteen Times

I won't say that I take back all of my mild-ish criticism of the Speak No Evil remake in my review thanks to this very fine photoshoot that James McAvoy has just gifted us in Esquire Mexico, but... well, I will say thank you, James. You can stay around. (As if anything at this point would change that.) Read the interview here (if you understand Spanish anyway) or hit the jump for the photos...

Quote of the Day

Danish director Christian Tafdrup (seen above, what a babe!) who made the 2022 original Speak No Evil -- a film I consider a horror masterpiece (here is my review from when it screened at Sundance that year) -- has spoken out now that he's seen the remake starring James McAvoy, and his words are... incredibly similar to what I said in my review of the remake earlier this week. He was not happy! Now there are spoilers for the endings of both movies in what he says, so if you haven't seen them I suggest not reading this. And also I suggest you go watch the original movie right now -- it's easy to access, it's streaming on Shudder and rentable everywhere else. Anyway a hearty hear hear to all he says:

"I don’t know what it is about Americans, but they are brought up for a heroic tale, where the good must win over the bad, and this version of the film cultivates that,” Tafdrup complained. He went on to say that the changes that were made to the film made it feel “less dangerous,” and more sanitized for American consumption. "When I saw the film yesterday, I could see that they would never succeed with a film where the characters are stoned to death, as they do in our film. These people [in the U.S. version] must fight for their family and defeat the bad guys […] It is a kind of happy ending, and it is so deep in their culture that America must be able to handle it all." Comparing audience reactions, Tafdrup said he witnessed audiences leaving the remake “who were completely over-enthusiastic and clapped, laughed and whooped. It was like being at a rock concert” while he recalled how “people…left my film traumatized.”

Speak No McAvoy

I know you're all very busy looking at that photo of James McAvoy, but eyes down here! I have just reviewed the movie that that photo is from -- the remake of Speak No Evil which hit theaters this past weekend -- and you can read my thoughts right now over at Pajiba. As an enormous fan of the 2022 original (here is that review) I couldn't even pretend that I wasn't going into this one unbiased, so I speak a lot about both films in there -- my gist, or my truth if you will (please don't), is that you should all see the original first and then decide later if you're up for a less fanged version down the road. There's stuff that works in the new one (a great cast in general) but I just found it on all fronts to be the less interesting take at every turn. Well okay not the beefcake take -- James McAvoy had that one in the bag from the moment the first picture was revealed. 

Which is Hotter?

I don't always take requests -- not because you people have bad ideas, just because I'm lazy -- but when commenter  Spideu137 left the suggestion to pit Josh Hartnett's evil sexiness in Trap against James McAvoy's evil sexiness in this weekend's Speak No Evil remake, well, that's a good idea! Crazy difficult choice! So pit them against one another I shall!

online polls

That said if they want to make a sequel where the two of them wrestle one another for dominance, I think we'd all accept that offer. Anyway I haven't seen SNE yet -- I had to miss the press screening Monday so I will see it (and review it) over the weekend. I will try to be impartial given what a masterpiece the original is but James sure is making it hard (heh)...

Every time I want to get angry about the SPEAK NO EVIL remake they disarm me with a photo of James McAvoy GET IT "DISARM" BECAUSE HOLY F'ING CHRIST LOOK AT HIS ARMS pic.twitter.com/rORDmc3IUQ

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 12, 2024

Lucas Bravo Thirteen Times

Congratulations to French actor Lucas Bravo (I always feel like I am sending in helicopters to a war-zone when I say his name in my head) -- you have fully reached the Michiel Huisman level of "This man is so attractive he makes me angry" attractiveness. As a gay man who deals in objectifying male actors (so to speak, and to simplify) it's always a battle between wanting to be them and wanting to have them. But a select few hit both buttons at once so hard and so violently that I become bewildered, dizzy, verklempt. Lucas has officially unlocked that level.

Anyway I am happy to see on his IMDb that he's got several projects in the pipeline -- several projects that are not Emily in Paris, because I just cannot bring myself to watch that show no matter how much Lucas and Lucien Laviscount hotness it promises me. Two of his projects -- a thriller called Turn Up the Sun with James McAvoy and Merteuil, a Dangerous Liasions prequel series with Diane Kruger -- sound especially interesting. Until then we'll just stare at these anger-inducing photos of his despicable gorgeousness for California Style magazine; hit the jump for them all...

Speak No Clothing

I love that the press people behind the remake of Speak No Evil know that sexy scary James McAvoy is the reason to see their movie (see also the beefcake-riddled trailer) and they're leaning really hard into it -- they released a featurette for the film yesterday and it's like 90% beefcake shots of James; even the scenes of him sitting on set speaking directly to the camera are in his chest-baring lumberjack-wear that's basically a 70s gay porn video come to life: 

We dig it! I do the movie some disservice though, saying it's entirely about James' heaving cleavage that we care -- we do love Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis (Halt and Catch Fire reunion holla!) and the original film is a horror classic in the making (here is my review). And I have heard some stuff about the remake from people in the know that's made me more hopeful than I had been. We will see soon enough -- it's out on September 13th! Here is that new featurette:

Come & Get Me, Mad James McAvoy

Granted it's been a couple of years since I saw the original Speak No Evil (it's not really the kind of movie you're dying to watch over and over again -- here's my review of that one) but I do not recall the character in that film that James McAvoy is playing in the remake being played as the sexiest psychopath motherfucker on the planet... 

... and yet here we are. James Watkins' 2024 remake is leaning in hard -- emphasis on yeah that's right you guess it -- on James McAvoy's big-time sex appeal, to the point where they're making me dizzy. Like this one's on me and my weird fetishes but yesterday they dropped this photo...

This picture is SO HOT https://t.co/l6gBZktrz1

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 23, 2024

... that was hitting all my buttons, with his bloody bulging flannelled up beefcake monster hotness searing itself into my eyes. And now the second trailer they've dropped is like a smorgasborg of said same. James McAvoy rage porn ahoy!

I still think remaking this movie is a goofy ass idea when the original is so darkly terrifying and I don't have the inclination to believe that an American remake will go for it quite so hard, but I guess we'll see when it's out on September 13th. Also... the trailers have given away basically everything at this point, so if you're trying to not know what this movie is about I wish you the best of luck. Just don't watch the trailers? That said... here is the new trailer:

Don't watch it! Indeed I did y'all a favor and made gifs of every shot of James McAvoy being hot in it so you don't have to watch it -- hit the jump and luxuriate in all of the sexy sexy rage...

Joseph Quinn Six Times

I haven't read the interview yet so I have no idea why it's Lupita N'yongo interviewing Mr. Quinn in Interview Magazine -- wait is he in the new Quiet Place movie maybe? -- but it is, meaning I'll read it because I love Lupita even if I'm holding off on the Joe Quinn train until I can see him in more than just Stranger Things. Which he admittedly knocked outta the park. All I know if he shaved his head and immediately turned into a Mini James McAvoy in my eyes, leaving me confused. But anyway he looks hot as hell in these photos from Interview, and that's really the thing that matters most. We'll see what he does in "the Chris Evans role" in the new Fantastic Four -- it's a big ask, even if those FF movies blew chunks, asking me to forget Chris Evans in that skintight blue suit. (I suppose when the time comes we'll be providing a "Who Wore It Best?" poll to settle the sitch.) Until then we wish him luck! Hit the jump for the photos...

Let the Sebastian Go West

The headlines on this one are all about Sebastian Stan reuniting with his Pam & Tommy co-star Lily James to make a horror movie, and that's cool and all (I like the both of them and I liked P&T too) but the headline for me personally is that the horror movie is being directed by the Danish director Christian Tafdrup, whose 2022 film Speak No Evil was truly traumatic to me (my review) and it seems to most anyone who watched it. That movie is getting a remake this summer starring James McAvoy that seems kind of pointless (just watch the original) but whatever Tafdrup is doing next on his own is definitely to be paid attention to and this sound promising. Here's how THR describes the movie, which is titled Let the Evil Go West:

"Let the Evil Go West centers on a railroad worker who discovers a fortune under deeply disturbing circumstances. As horrifying visions and manifestations drive him toward madness, his wife becomes convinced that an evil presence has attached itself to their family."

Speak No Evil of the Speak No Evil Remake

I guess it doesn't matter how many times I write out how Luca Guadagnino's remake of Suspiria almost singlehandedly changed my mind about remakes and how we'll always have the original so there's no reason to fret -- every time a remake is announced my brain immediately shrieks, "FUCK YOU" anyway. It's just the way I'm wired! It's the Gen X in me I suppose. Thankfully it takes me a minute to get one of these posts up and going and in that time I can remind myself to breathe -- that everything will be okay if James McAvoy stars in a remake of last year's pitch-black Danish thriller Speak No Evil. Does that movie need a remake? No, no it does not. Do I think that Blumhouse (who's producing) and James Watkins (the director of the Woman in Black remake) will make a movie that will feel even one-tenth as dark (or queer for that matter) as the original movie does? No I do not. But it's okay! We will indeed still have the original. The original is streaming on Shudder right now actually, and I recommend you go watch it. Here is my review of it from Sundance last year. The movie is one of those horrors about politeness -- two families make friendly on vacation and get drawn into each other's lives way way way past the breaking point, all because they can't seem to bring themselves to break social norms and say fuck this shit. That said, the other three adult roles will make for important casting, so we'll see where the film goes from here. (And also there's a good chance we'll see James naked if they don't chicken out, so there's that.) But seriously. Go watch the original. It will fuck you up all the way. 

James McAvoy Seven Times

Here's your Monday lunch-break read -- James McAvoy for GQ, check it here. I'm about to go grab my own food and plan on doing just that when I get back -- for now I just have the photos for you. Did you notice his toes are painted? I wish that had been my job. Official toe painter to the stars, I dig it. Hit the jump for the snaps...

Good Morning, World

Hello and happy Friday, one and all. It's been awhile, I know, save spits n' fits n' starts that went nowhere -- as explained previously I've finally had the COVID that everybody's been talkin' about (final verdict: not for me!), and that's necessitated a wee break. That said I have made it into my office today for at least part of the Friday, doing a bit of a test-run to see how I'll do, facing the world. And so I'll try to blog at least a little bit. And what better way to mark the occasion than with these James McAvoy photos that have been out for days? I even managed to post some of them on the Tumblr several days back...

... but they're too good to stay relegated unto that dying social media wilderness -- they deserve prime location. These are via New York Magazine's profile of the actor and his super studly new staging of Cyrano out in Brooklyn, by the way, which yes I have tickets to in about a month (hopefully I'll be recovered by then, and the latest COVID wave won't have killed everybody else... fingers crossed!) Hit the jump for them all...

Good Morning, World

I am trying real, real hard to convince myself that "going out into the world" is a thing that will happen in 2022, and so this past week I've bought tickets to two things unthinkable for the past two years -- I am planning on going to both a concert and a play in May! The concert is Tori Amos, while the play is James McAvoy doing Cyrano at BAM and this gif seen above is to thank for that -- it's all the convincing I needed. 

Ohhh Jimmy looking good pic.twitter.com/trIUv6ZWUV

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) January 31, 2022

Deadly pandemic be damned! Our numbers have here in NYC have cratered enough that I'm convincing myself May is far enough away... that said I totally reserve the right to freak out back into my hidey-hole if the tide turns. For now... oh, let's be optimistic (I know, optimism burns) and celebrate actual possibilities, long thought gone! And let's hit the jump for some prime McAvoy action as of late (dude has really been bringing it lately)...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Erik: What brings you to Argentina?

1st German: The climate. I'm a pig farmer.

2nd German: Tailor, since I was a boy.

My father made the best suits in Dusseldorf.

Erik: My parents came from Dusseldorf.

1st German: What was their name?

Erik: They didn't have a name. It was taken 

from them, by pig farmers and tailors.

Matthew Vaughn's soft reboot of the X-Men movies premiered in NYC on this day 10 years ago and let me tell you that everything involving Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy remains golden. 

A lot of the other stuff maybe doesn't work, looking back now -- Jennifer Lawrence seemed incredibly uncomfortable the entire time and never found Mystique's groove, leaving us longing for Rebecca Romijn in a World Class First -- but Fassy & Jimmy made this entire run of movies worth their weight in millions. Especially when you add in all of their press flirtations...

10 Off My Head: Siri Says 2013

So I got a new cell phone this weekend and the set-up was creepily easy -- I just had to hold the new phone in proximity to the old one and... shit like transferred right over? Through the air? Technology truly baffles me, but sure, why not, just let it happen even if it makes me skin crawl. (I was reading up on the things my new phone can do and I found out about the "Facetime Attention Correction" which was the creepiest -- you're basically deep-faking your own eyeballs? Ugh!) 

That said it wasn't until this very moment now when I sat down to do this week's entry in our "Siri Says" series -- where I ask Siri to pick a number between 1 and 100 and then tell you people my favorite films from the year that corresponds -- that I suddenly became worried for the sentient being called Siri that lives inside my telephone. Was she transferred over along with my information? Is this some other lady giving me numbers now? Some imposter? If I can't trust my Siri who can I trust? This is like the start of every 90s Erotic-Thriller, I tell ya.

Anyway I asked this "Siri" for my number today and just like last week "she" gave me a usable number on the very first try -- at this point, having done so many of these posts, getting an unused number on the very first try is an outlier. So my point is whether this is "my" Siri or not "she" is doing a good job so whatever -- cut to the "Siri" on my old phone getting bricked, consciousness trapped forever in some nowhere-world, an episode of Black Mirror if ever there was a really boring episode of Black Mirror. (Or perhaps this has all been Performance Art for Spike Jonze's Her, included below.)

Point being the lady inside my phone, whomever she might be now, told me "13" so we're choosing from the Movies of 2013. 2013 was the year that MNPP's annual awards tradition of The Pantys went a little wonky, because I fell down and broke my arm around the time I was meant to post them, and posting anything became difficult for a few months. I only got around to posting a list of My 15 Favorite Films of 2013 in... March of 2014, lol. And looking back today my list is a little different. Our foundations are quaking, y'all. 

My 10 Favorite Movies of 2013

Frances Ha

(dir. Greta Gerwig)

-- released on May 17th 2013 --

The Bling Ring

(dir. Sofia Coppola)

-- released on June 21st 2013 --

Short Term 12 

(dir. Dustin Daniel Cretton)

-- released on August 23rd 2013 --

You're Next 

(dir. Adam Wingard)

-- released on August 23rd 2013 --

12 Years a Slave

(dir. Steve McQueen)

-- released on November 8th 2013 --

Inside Llewyn Davis

(dir. Coens)

-- released on December 6th 2013 --

Stoker

(dir. Park Chan-wook)

-- released on March 1st 2013 --

The Great Beauty

(dir. Paolo Sorrentino)

-- released on November 15th 2013 --

Her

(dir. Spike Jonze)

-- released on December 18th 2013 --

Stranger By the Lake 

(dir. Alain Guiraudie)

-- released on 2013 --

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

Runners-up: Only God Forgives (dir. Refn), The Heat (dir. Paul Feig), Pacific Rim (dir. Guillermo Del Toro) Enough Said (dir. Nicole Holofcener), About Time (dir. Richard Curtis), A Field in England (dir. Ben Wheatley), Nymphomaniac (dir. Lars Von Trier), Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho), Tom at the Farm (dir. Dolan), The Past (dir. Asghar Farhadi)...

... The Counselor (dir. Ridley Scott), Captain Phillips (dir. Paul Greengrass), Gravity (dir. Alfonso Cuaron), The Act of Killing (dir. Joshua Oppenheimer), Byzantium (dir. Neil Jordan), I'm So Excited (dir. Pedro Almodovar), Fruitvale Station (dir. Ryan Coogler), Oblivion (dir. Joseph Kosinski), The Place Beyond the Pines (dir. Cianfrance), Filth (dir. Jon S. Baird) 

Never seen: The Grandmaster (dir. Wong Kar-wai), What Maisie Knew (dir. Scott McGehee), The English Teacher (dir. Craig Lisk), Ida (dir. Pawel Pawlikowski), Grace of Monaco (dir. Olivier Dahan), Bastards (dir. Claire Denis), Black Nativity (dir. Kasi Lemmons), The Fifth Estate (dir. Bill Condon)

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

What are your favorite movies of 2013?