It's been about three weeks since Creed III hit theaters but thankfully we're not done getting to stare at fresh photos of Jonathan Majors and Michael B. Jordan being sexy glistening boxing beasts in it -- the photographer Eli Joshua was kind enough today to share a big batch of set photos he took via his Instagram (thx Mac) and they are everything the last three weeks have been missing. (Jonathan Majors' oiled-up pecs, is what I mean specifically.) Ahhhh I can breathe again. They are all of just Jonathan save the above photo, but that one got top placement for obvious, homoerotic reasons. Hit the jump for the rest...
Now this, this is some news! Deadline is reporting that Jonathan Majors is in talks to star in Spike Lee's next movie! Or rather that Spike Lee is in talks to direct Jonathan Majors next movie, which seems like a big leap forward for Majors as far as H'wood power goes but then that place is nutty. Not that this news doesn't make perfect and exciting sense either way it works. Lee worked with Majors already on Da 5 Bloods, of course -- a movie that knew what it had in Jonathan's biceps before basically any other had figured that out.
This new collab will be called Da Understudy -- and clearly they're gonna have to make a "Da" trilogy together now, at this point -- and it tells the story of "life imitating art when the understudy of a Broadway production finds a role he’s willing to kill for." So it's All About Eve with dudes and murder, I guess. That brief description is also giving me the vibes of one of those great 90s thrillers a la The Hand That Rocks the Cradle or whatever, you know what I mean. Or that's what I want out of this, anyway. A trashy thriller. I bet Spike could direct the hell out of one of those. I mean Spike Lee will direct the hell out of whatever Spike Lee is directing, but I wanna see this in particular.
This set photo of Jonathan Majors in his bodybuilder bikini for the upcoming movie Magazine Dreams just popped up into my timeline, blessing us all this depressing Monday afternoon -- here is my review of the movie from Sundance. He is typically fantastic in it! I imagine they realized that the weekend when Majors took over the box office with Creed III and the latest Ant-Man adventure was the right time to drop this beauty. Not sure when Magazine Dreams will get a release but my guess is this fall, when they can push for awards attention. Did anybody see Creed III over the weekend? I said a little bit about it on Friday but man Majors was good in it right?
Creed III is out today and our bud Kyle at The New York Times got to sandwich himself in between Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors -- at least that's how I would have conducted the interview anyway -- to ask them some questions. Check it here. The pictures, which I'm sharing here, are worth looking at! They're worth looking at several times. But the chat is good too -- they really seem to've hit it off, Jordan & Majors, and say they plan on working together again. Said Majors:
"Two alphas? No, bro, we both cannot survive. Somebody’s got to die. That’s the game I thought I was entering into, and he just kept saying, “I got you, bro.” I was like, “Boy, all right.”"
Anyway it doesn't look like I'll be reviewing Creed III so here are some quick thoughts -- it's actually terrific? I infamously couldn't stand the first Creed movie, so much that I never even bothered seeing the second one. But what bothered me so much about the first movie -- all the Daddy Issues nonsense got on my last nerve -- was nowhere to be found here, and I found the relationship that Jordan and Majors craft between two old friends pretty riveting. I cannot say how much of my opinion was formed by how hard I am in the tank for Majors right now -- there answer is hard, real real hard -- but I'm usually bored out of my mind by boxing movies and I was totally into this one from start to end. And that's not to say it's anything we haven't seen before -- it's not exactly rewriting the genre. But it's a solid entry built on real character work. Y'all should go see it. And y'all shouldhit the jump for more of these hunks...
"We went to different acting schools, but we had the same teacher, Ron Van Lieu, who was a huge, formative figure in our lives. We really bonded over that and our experiences in theater. I think that shared vocabulary can help bridge the gap between these very different styles that are in the same movie... I hadn't met him before. But he was actually more familiar with my theater work. It was really cool. I've been watching his film work; I remember seeing The Last Black Man in San Francisco and was just like, "Who is that?" He has this presence and this ability to use stillness to draw the audience in. He uses that to great effect as Kang."
I could listen to Corey Stoll lavish praise on Jonathan Majors all day long. I could watch Corey Stoll lavish all sorts of things on Jonathan Majors too, and for much longer than just days at that, but we won't get into that right now. Anyway that comes via GQ where they chatted with Corey on his return to the MCU in Quantumania (thx Mac) so check it if you care. I didn't like the movie very much (Majors escaped unscathed, because of course he did) and I really didn't like what they did to Corey, but I'm not angry at thoughts of Corey bonding with Jonathan so at least some good has come out of it. They should play boyfriends in something. Like, immediately.
Nothing about any of this is "Morning" related beside the fact that I first saw these thing morning, but who cares -- the new issue of Vanity Fair is their great big "Hollywood Issue" and they've gifted us with hot Steven Klein photos AND videos of both Aaron Taylor-Johnson AND Jonathan Majors! There are other people but I didn't notice them -- I only have eyes for muscles and these two are letting their exhibitionist flags freak out here, bless 'em.
That said whenever I have a two-some like this I feel the need to ask the impossible question, and I'm not gonna stop myself today...
Sorry to do that to all of you but I am a sadist. But I'll make it up to you by posting a video of each of these hunka hunks after the jump, how about that? Aaron's video is in particular a good time...
Yesterday I posted some very fine photos of Jonathan's Creed co-star and director Michael B. Jordan and said that I should try to give Mikey some attention too, since it's technically his movie but all I do is post about Jonathan... well I'm back on my bullshit less than 24 hours later! Oh well! I can't help it that The Cut went and dropped these four fine-ass photos today, alongside an interview where Jonathan says his way of flirting is to text invite someone over and then "only wear sweatpants." HOW DARE HE. PS I saw the new Ant-Man movie last night and, uhhhhh, well maybe I will review it properly in a bit. I can report that Jonathan is good at least. Anyway hit the jump for the photos...
My coverage of the third Creed movie has obviously favored Jonathan Majors, since I (like I gather many of you) tend to favor Jonathan Majors. In just about everything. Like I am 100% seeing the Ant-Man sequel tonight because of him. Well and Michelle Pfeiffer. But mostly him. Anyway that doesn't mean we won't give a moment of time to the Creed franchise's leading man Michael B. Jordan, who's showing off his own impeccable pecs in the new issue of Rolling Stone. Just about two weeks and we'll see all of these greased up pecs slamming into each other! Cinema! Hit the jump for the whole shoot (with a few outtakes I dug up too)...
What, you think I am going to leave a single shot from Jonathan Majors' photo-shoot for Ebony magazine (see the rest here) un-posted? Think again, suckers! This behind-the-scenes gif comes to us via this video shared by the shoot's stylist (thx Mac) -- my second favorite thing about it (my first thing is Jonathan, duh) is the awe-struck expression on the stylist's face as he stares at Jonathan's back (which we all know is as stunning as his front), which I had to turn into its own gif because it is both priceless and profoundly relatable:
Three Jonathan Majors posts right in a row? Yes, I did that. You gonna complain? I can't help it if the press has wised up... i.e. he's the major villain of several Marvel movies to come, including one out next week, and so the media-conglomerates (i.e. The Man) are putting their money behind him at last. Whatever it takes to get ten bunches of photos of Jonathan Majors in shorty shorts I will take it. Unlike yesterday's Ebony shoot there's only one shorty-short shot in this batch of photos from Mr. Porter, but that's okay -- it's Jonathan! We'll take anything. Yes even the weird baggy shit he wears on red carpets. That little red beanie he wears with everything. I actually like his personal style? Because it genuinely feels like "a personal style." It feels like him. I'm also, as a teenager in the 90s, personally inclined towards bagginess my self (no matter how much I scream about short-shorts) so I understand where he's coming from. Anyway I'm rambling but that's what happens these days when Jonathan comes up. Hit the jump for the photos before I keep going...
See -- my impatience has its virtues! Because now I get to do two Jonathan Majors posts in a row using his new eye-scorching Valentine's photo-shoot for Ebony magazine. Win, win, we all win. When I posted the main thrust (heh) of the photos earlier right here I mentioned that my review of Jonathan's Sundance movie Magazine Dreams would be forthcoming; well, like all of us looking at these photos, it came. Click right here for my thoughts on the film, which sees JM playing a bodybuilder (and all that entails, hubba hubba) whose emotional mentality is lagging somewhat behind his triceps. Needless to say I was a fan.
What might end up being my last review out of Sundance this year -- my review for the Jonathan Majors-starring bodybuilder epic Magazine Dreams -- will be going up at Pajiba in a couple of hours. So really I should wait to post these new photos of Jonathan Majors in Ebony magazine until then. But... are you looking at these photos? You want me to sit on these photos? Okay probably not the finest word choice, as I will most definitely be sitting on these photos, in the literal sense, at some point...
... as I will be upholstering my entire home with them. Pillowcases, curtains, wallpaper. Maybe I will sew these photos into the linings of all of my garments like Daniel Day-Lewis sewed his little "secrets" into his dresses in Phantom Thread, so I will always have these photos pressed against me. That's really the only future I see for myself. And there are worst futures to imagine for one's self! This isn't like that playground scene in Terminator 2, for god's sake -- this is a future I can deal with. Hit the jump for all of the exquisitely sexy photos...
The international poster for the third Creed movie starring Michael B. Jordan again and introducing Jonathan Majors as his opponent (watch the trailer here) is very very sweaty and very very focused on their torsos, and we are very much here for that (click to embiggen). I can't believe I'm posting about a Creed movie -- I did not like the first one and entirely skipped the second one -- but so goes my love for Jonathan Majors. It's unstoppable!
As far as Marvel movies go I have enjoyed all of the Ant-Man movies -- they've been nicely their own thing, not too dependent on the bulk of the rest of the MCU to appreciate. And yet I have continued to need to remind myself that I care about the next one all the same -- call it just general superhero malaise at this point. But the new trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania reminded me -- dude shut the fuck up, this is the one where Jonathan Majors finally gets to blow the lid off of everything as Kang. Indeed the new trailer...
... is like 50% Kang! He's even the still they use to promote the trailer itself, as seen above! And I wouldn't have it any other way. My beloved is really and truly a Movie Star now, isn't he? Or at least he's really and truly about to be with this and the third Creed movie, anyway. Couldn't be happening to a more talented (and hotter) dude, I say! I mean you know you're a Movie Star when the Marvel movie finds an excuse...
... to rip the sleeves off of your super-villain costume. You can just hear the bros in Kevin Feige's office being like, "Dude... did you see that issue of Men's Health though?? Shredded!" I don't know about you but when I am working out it's Majors I have in my head now, not Chris Hemsworth anymore. Sorry, Thor! Time for the next gen! Aaaaanyway this movie is out on February 17th, so rip off your super-villain sleeves and get in line! Now for the rest of us I have made a dozen Jonathan Majors gifs -- basically a gif of every shot of him in the trailer! -- so hit the jumpand let's look at him...
I usually complain that the photos that W Magazine chooses for its annual "Best Performances" issue are too weird, but this year they're kind of boring? Not at all the tacky mess they tend to go for. The Michelle Yeoh ones are fun though (see my tweet about those here) and you can see them all at this link to make up your own minds, but for here at MNPP I obviously had to snatch the Jonathan Majors ones -- he is our cover boy this week, after all.
Read the chat with Mr. Majors right here -- he's being recognized for his fine work in the Korean War film Devotion, which I seemed to have liked more than most people (this honor today notwithstanding). But then I guess I probably can't be entirely trusted when it comes to Jonathan these days as I'm over-my-head infatuated! But a big part of that is his talent! It's not just his traps. Not just. (PS Devotion is now streaming on Paramount+ -- watch it!)
The line-up for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival was announced today and you can see the entire thing here -- I'm still scanning through it but first things first there is a movie called Magazine Dreams about an amateur bodybuilder starring Jonathan Majors and above is the first photo so clearly this just became the most important movie of 2023. Is that shortsighted? Perhaps the most important movie of all time? Well we'll hold off I suppose. Anyway I'll post more about the line-up soon once I've gotten through it and sussed out what I will be seeing -- I am covering it again; thank goodness for the continued possibility of remote coverage! -- but I just had to, you know, give this photo its due right away.
There is very nearly too much out this week for me to even keep a handle on, but lemme try real quick, before I take off for the evening. I always say before a holiday that I might pop back on here to update things and then never do -- of course now that I have said I never do I probably will because there's nothing I love better than proving myself foolish. Well that's not entirely true -- I also really love being lazy. So it's a battle between those two to see which wins out!
Anyway -- lotsa movies is my point! Many of which I have already reviewed or will have reviews going up for sometime this week. But let's start with a movie that falls into neither of those categories -- Rian Johnson's Knives Out sequel Glass Onion, which I saw last night (see down at the bottom of this post for some video of Johnson and a choice friend introducing the movie) but which I have no plans to review. It's hitting some theaters this week and y'all should go, it's fun. I'm not these movies most enthusiastic fan but they're fun enough. I thought the endless cameos in this one were a little much, but I am after all joyless and dead inside so your mileage will probably vary.
Seeing Jack O’Connell’s cock at this point is like having an old friend pop by for a spot of tea
Oh and another movie out this week that I have seen but don't plan on reviewing is the new Lady Chatterly's Lover with Jack O'Connell -- even though I'm not writing about it doesn't mean it's bad, though. I liked it well enough. And not just because what I tweeted above. Although, you know, that never hurts. Literally never.
As for movies that I have already reviewed that are hitting theaters this week -- most importantly there is Luca Guadagnino's cannibal romance Bones and All, obviously. Here is my review of that. I think it's awesomely good and think you should see it. It got some Indie Spirit nominations today which surprised me -- I really think the film will be too weird for awards. But good for the Spirits. (Also I might have a piece coming on this exact subject hitting some time soon as well.) And then also out this week -- although only here in NYC, I think -- is Noah Baumbach's White Noise, which I reviewed right here. It's also terrific! Greta Gerwig, baby! They dropped a trailer today, too:
As for movies that I have reviews posting later this week -- keep your eyes trained on Pajiba for my takes on the films Devotion with Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, as well as Steven Spielberg's autobiographical fable called The Fabelmans. Maybe I will pop back in here and share those links this week when the links arrive... maybe not. It's the most exciting thing that will happen all week, this guessing game! Make sure you hold your breath! Even when you're eating mashed potatoes. Especially when eating your mashed potatoes. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! (And don't forget to use MNPP's Amazon link to do your holiday shopping with!)
Due to the (ongoing) pandemic it's been somewhat muted, my star-fuckery over the past couple of years -- you tend to not go to tons of live events when there's a raging illness suffocating thousands of people per week. But I've been making my way slowly back into the world in dribs and drabs -- this year's New York Film Fest really got that ball rolling -- and so last night I found myself at a screening and Q&A for the film Devotion, out next week, starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell. I have talked about this movie some here! Just some, haha. I'd already seen the movie (just last week) but knowing those two were going to be there for the screening last night got me back -- I'll review the movie next week, but for now I just wanna share some photos.
Since I risked the plague and all I might as well get some "community engagement" out of it! Also there was actor Thomas Sadowski -- who is apparently married to actress Amanda Seyfried, and she was there and introduced the movie, which you'll see below -- and director JD Dillard. After the screening and Q&A there was a reception and I stood closely, awkwardly, near both Jonathan and Glen at the bar without talking to them, aka my usual creep routine. It was great! Anyway I took a bunch of photos and a few videos, and if you hit the jump you'll see all of it...
It feels weird for me to be excited about a Creed movie! I was not a fan of the first film -- so much so that I never even bothered seeing the second one. And yet you add Jonathan Majors to the mix and wham bam thank you Jonathan Majors I'm all over that shit. Or at least...
... I'm all over making gifs out of every single gratuitous shot of Jonathan Majors contained in the first trailer for the movie, which dropped this morning. Much like I did with that truly outrageously thorough Men's Health workout video last week (if you missed that I really recommend clicking the link) and much like I did those photos of Majors working out on the beach when they were shooting this film. I am thorough, in this one respect anyway!
I don't really seem to be alone in this though -- I feel like this trailer is 75% Jonathan Majors? Looks like Michael B. Jordan, directing his first movie here, has a good eye! If the movie is as focused on his muscles as this trailer is then it's giving me a run for the money. Anyway the film's not out until next March but for now, we got this:
"I too quit smoking (2013) AND find this type of pictures cool. Also, PSA: if you're feeling like you want to start smoking again, just remind yourself "I do not want my body and house to stink like stale horseshit", then go drink one more glass of water to entertain your hands and lips. Congrats, btw."
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