5 Off My Head: The Dorians of '19

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I'm running late on sharing these with you since they were dropped on Friday when I was off, but the critic's guild I belong to called GALECA, aka The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, announced our Dorian Award nominees the other day, and they're generally pretty darn terrific if I do say so myself! (Spoiler alert: I do.)

Our pal Murtada wrote them all up at The Film Experience in total so I'll just toss you over there if you'd like to see them that way, but I figured before the winners are announced -- voting just ended today -- I'd highlight five of my favorite nominees, aka the sort of recognitions that only a group of us smart queers could come up with. We smart, we queer, get used to it!

5 of My Favorites Dorian Noms for 2019

The Lighthouse for "Visually Striking Film of the Year" -- This was the only nomination my favorite movie of the year received -- I didn't say we did a perfect job! -- so of course I'm going to highlight it immediately. This whole category is stacked though, with nominees also including Midsommar and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. (Read my The Lighthouse review here.)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire for Best Film & Director -- Speaking of, the best LGBT film of 2019 (if you don't count The Lighthouse, which fine don't count The Lighthouse, whatever) got a lot of love from our group, as well it should. I personally would've even given its two leading ladies acting noms over even some of our nominees. (Read my Portrait of a Lady on Fire review here.)

End of the Century for Best LGBT Film -- The best "G" film  out of the "LGBT" (again, if you don't count The Lighthouse...) got a nod, which rules. I wasn't sure how many of my fellow voters had seen this Argentinian gem. (Read my End of the Century review here.)

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Congrats to Taron on his Golden Globe! I think it was our three minute long crazy eyed conversation that really cinched the deal https://t.co/wlmQ81ecdN

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) January 8, 2020

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Taron Egerton in Rocketman for Best Actor -- Thank goodness we nominated Taron since we made the profound mistake of nominating Rami Malek last year! Taron's so much better. (Read my Rocketman review here.)

Florence Pugh for the "Rising Star of the Year" -- I have a dreaded sinking feeling that Pugh's name won't be called out on Oscar nomination morning on Tuesday, but we were smart enough to latch on here at the appropriate moment with this and with her nomination for Best Supporting Actress with Little Women. We can say we got it right at the right time, unlike the Oscars which will undoubtedly wait too long. (Please, prove me wrong, AMPAS!)

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And stay tuned for our winners, 

which will be announced soon...

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Pantys '19: Fave Films, Part Two

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Well, we've done it! Our 2019 Pantys are coming to a close today with this, our favorite 10 movies of last year. I'll do a round-up post later today to help you find links to everything that's come before, but before we get to this specific list let me first summarize what I posted on Monday, my numbers 25-11 favorite films...

25. Parasite

24. The Mustang

23. Transit

22. Us

21. The Irishman

20. Piercing

19. To Dust

18. Atlantics

17. This Is Not Berlin

16. The Nightingale

15. Invisible Life

14. Peterloo

13. Waves

12. High Life

11. Pain and Glory

And now, what we've all -- and by "we all" I mean "me" because thank god I am finally done with this and can move on to the year that is 2020 properly -- been waiting for, it's time for the other 10. One more quick note first, though -- when I gave you My Favorite Horror Films of 2019 earlier this week the Top 4 of that list was missing, because I didn't want to spoil this list. So you'll see a note alongside the four Horror Films on this list where they fall on that other list, as well. That said, here we go...

My 10 Favorite Movies of 2019

10. Little Women

(dir. Greta Gerwig)

Indelible moment: Beth by the sea

9. Knife+Heart

(dir. Yann Gonzalez)
(this is my #4 horror film of 2019)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Cruising Part II

8. End of the Century

(dir. Lucio Castro)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: We met before
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7. Sorry Angel

(dir. Christophe Honoré)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Three in the bed

6. In Fabric

(dir. Peter Strickland)
(this is my #3 horror film of 2019)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Sale at Dentley and Soper's

5. The Last Black Man in San Francisco

(dir. Joe Talbot)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: First and last performance

4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

(dir. Céline Sciamma)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Singing by the sea

3. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

(dir. Marielle Heller)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Bedside Photograph

2. Midsommar

(dir. Ari Aster)
(this is my #2 horror film of 2019)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: A pair of jumpers

1. The Lighthouse

(dir. Robert Eggers)
(this is my #1 horror film of 2019)

-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Fonda Me Lobster

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No doubt there's no surprise on that last one, ye barnacles and deck-swabbers alike, given how I've been calling The Lighthouse my favorite film of the year since I first saw the movie in October -- the marrow-deep love was immediate and complete. But that's given me a lot of time to wonder why this movie about two wacky dudes trapped on one wacky island, out of all the movies of 2019 that speak to our political and cultural moment, was The One for me, above all of the others. 

Well as I argued in my review I personally choose to read and enjoy the film as a a gay male love story -- a fucked-up love story obviously, but love, my loves, is fucked up. In its wackadoodle symbolic way The Lighthouse is, for me, just as specific about what it means for two men, with all that turbulent masculine baggage attached, to make a home together, as is Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread about the same subject just for the straights. I mean I love Phantom Thread and saw all of that in Phantom Thread too, but with The Lighthouse it gets to be all dudes playing out the push pull power dynamics of a long-term commitment. I like that.

But then, like my favorite movie of the entire last decade -- I never officially made that list but do you really think that'd be anything except Call Me By Your Name? -- The Lighthouse is also just a movie that swallows me whole and carries me away from this world, and I like want and need that too. The look, the sound, the dialogue, the sweat and the fervent masturbation -- when I watch these movies there is nothing in the world but these movies. Cinema isn't just an escape, but what a goddamned escape it can be.

Beans Will Be Spilled

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The fine folks at A24 have just shared that thar new poster for Robert Egger's film The Lighthouse this afternoon -- I keep checking their store for Lighthouse related merch, hopefully they'll have something good. Anyway you can expect plenty more from me on The Lighthouse soon, as it opens on Thursday night and I revealed on Instagram last night when I saw Eggers do a talk about the movie at Film of Lincoln Center...

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View this post on Instagram

Director ROBERT EGGERS talking The Lighthouse and such, which is definitely unless something nuts happens my favorite movie of 2019 #roberteggers #thelighthouse #film #robertpattinson #willemdafoe #horror

A post shared by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams) on Oct 15, 2019 at 5:07pm PDT

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... that the movie is indeed my favorite movie of 2019 so far. I really sort of want to see the movie a second time (and a third, a fourth, a twentieth) before writing my review, so bowled over was I by it the first time that I feel the need to really elbow my way down into its innards to capture what I love about it so, but things probably won't happen in that order -- I will probably have a review posted before the end of the week. Not that we'll stop writing about our love for this movie any time soon! Expect a long, long line of such raves...

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I am going to have to find a way to write about this movie without humiliating myself and it’s not going to be easy

— His Name Was Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 2, 2019

Our Suppliant Souls

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"How long have we been on this rock? Five weeks? 

Two Days? Where are we? Help me to recollect." 

I'm far from the first person to mention this but Robert Eggers' film The Lighthouse -- aka my personal favorite movie of 2019 -- sure turned out to be a timely tale, what with us all now locked up in our own individual psycho cabins losing our collective shits. Who'da thunk last Novemby, innocent times then. (Sorry I always slip into mangled old-timey seaman talk when I talk about this movie, I can't help myself.) 

Anyway timely is as timely do, and Amazon is helping us all out by giving our fears slippery sea-foam shape and form, putting The Lighthouse onto their Prime streaming platform in two weeks, on April 16th. (You can rent it now, but it'll be totes free for Prime members that day.) And I had an idear!

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THE LIGHTHOUSE is hitting @PrimeVideo on April 16th!!! I totally feel like we should have a Twitter Watch Party that night #TheLighthouse pic.twitter.com/dviDNdL3CS

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) April 3, 2020

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I can only imagine, with some trepidation, what my mental state is going to be like after two more weeks of this... I might be screaming at Poseidon by then myself. But I know we've got to weather it, and longer even. So having a thing to look forward to might help? So let's pencil it in.

Join me on Twitter for a live  

The Lighthouse watch party & tweet-along!

🦞🦞 April 16th at 7pm 🦞🦞

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Fitzcarraldo: What's he saying?
Don Aquilino: We must be quiet. He says whoever talks
will be swallowed up the evil spirits of the whirlpool. Shh.

Somehow it being Klaus Kinski's birthday on the same day that The Lighthouse is hitting theaters (read my review here) seems totally and tonally appropriate -- men and madness and all that muck. Werner Herzog totally could have made The Lighthouse with Kinski in Willem Dafoe's role 40 years ago, while I could see Robert Eggers making something like Fitzcarraldo now. In that vein I don't suppose it's a coincidence that Eggers also wanted to re-do Nosferatu! Which reminds me...

... that Lighthouse star Dafoe already played that role in Shadow of the Vampire; do you think Eggers would have -- I hate that I keep talking about his Nosferatu in the past tense but he really did seem to be speaking of it in the past tense when I saw him talk the other day -- cast Dafoe as his own Carpathian Count Orlok? 

I digress -- Eggers' well-documented obsessions with getting realistic realistic period details, right down to Robert Pattinson really jerking off again, and Herzog's own grueling obsessions that drove his actors and crew to near madness making Fitzcarraldo  and other films -- watch Les Blank's astonishing doc Burden of Dreams as soon as you possibly can -- do seem a neat fit. I'm glad this random confluence of dates made me think of them together.

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The Lighthouse of Horror

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When TIFF announced its line-up earlier today I mentioned they're screening Robert Eggers' follow-up to The Witch called The Lighthouse, a film we've been following from the split second it was announced -- well somehow in all my following I missed this the first teaser poster for the movie last week, so there's that. (via, click to embiggen a bunch) The Lighthouse stars Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two keepers on an isolated Nova Scotian island in the 1890s who're confronted with, well, I don't know and I don't want to know until I manage to see the movie but it all sounds kind of Lovecraftian. People I trust to get such things went nuts for the movie at Cannes in the spring, so my immediate enthusiasm seems on the right track. I dearly hope this plays NYFF -- it still doesn't have a proper release date.

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Yer Fonda My Lobster

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In ten days you'll be able to rent Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse on Amazon, if you didn't get the opportunity to watch it in a theater... a thought that makes me very sad. I got to see it four times in theaters, the last of which was on the biggest movie screen in the United States at the IMAX at Lincoln Square here in New York. That was fucking something! On that note I can't recall if I shared this here on the site previously...

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View this post on Instagram

Robert Eggers and Willem Defoe talking THE LIGHTHOUSE after a screening in IMAX #thelighthouse #film #roberteggers #wiillemdafoe @a24

A post shared by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams) on Nov 12, 2019 at 6:11pm PST

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Anyway the film is also hitting blu-ray on January 7th, although for some reason Amazon hasn't posted that yet -- I'll surely do a post when they do. Surely, seeing as how The Lighthouse (spoiler alert) remains my favorite movie of 2019. (Here's my review if you missed it.) If you wonder why I'm feeling even more cynical than usual this Awards Season look no further than nobody much finding any room at all for this perfect wackadoodle film -- in 20 years we'll look back on this mostly unbroken streak of ignoring this movie with the deepest of shames.
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But bless A24 for trying -- there's a brand new featurette that they have just released (via). It's probably more about the movie hitting streaming next week than it is them thinking it will get much more awards traction this year, but let's stay positive. it did get a bunch of Indie Spirit nominations at least. They're always so much more interesting than Oscar.... and don't get me started on the Globes. Don't even get me started!

Today's Mood pic.twitter.com/1HcHAvvpWa

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 10, 2019

Any Scantling of Your Soul is Winslow No More

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The above gif is not from The Lighthouse, of course -- it's Robert Pattinson in Claire Denis' film High Life, which is funny enough also a masterpiece starring Robert Pattinson spitting. But seeing as how I'm a little Lighthouse'd out after, as long threatened, live-tweeting the entire movie last night I think you'll grant me a Lighthouse break. Yes indeed, if you missed it you can check out the whole sordid ordeal at this link here, aka under the hashtag #YeOldeLighthouseWatch on Twitter. That link starts at the end of the movie, so you've got to scan down to get to the start of the film... whenever you next watch the movie click on over and you can think of it as your own Commentary Track by a horny moron! What a joy for everyone involved...

"The damp's gotten to the provisions" is exactly what I say whenever I see these images of Rob shirtless in waders #YeOldeLighthouseWatch pic.twitter.com/AvpAA1l1Jd

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) April 16, 2020

And Then There Were Vikings

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At last night's Q&A with The Lighthouse and The Witch director Robert Eggers -- which I just posted some videos from a bit earlier, check 'em out here -- he kept referring noncommittally to a new project he was working on, but he refused to give us any details. I just assumed he wasn't close to realizing it and didn't want to jinx himself -- he made a sly reference to his belabored and perhaps undone remake-to-be of Nosferatu, which made him seem paranoid about such things. But if I'd known his brand new project was going to be announced to the trades today instead of feeling generous I'd have been annoyed about it!

THR is reporting he is next going to make a Viking Saga called The Northman that will reunite Big Little Lies co-stars Alexander Skarsgard and Nicole Kidman, while adding Eggers' Witch leading lady Anya Taylor-Joy, Alex's brother Bill, plus Lighthouse force-of-nature Willem Dafoe on top of that beautiful two-some. THR says specifically:

"Written by Eggers and Icelandic poet and novelist Sjón, Northman is described as a grounded story set in Iceland at the turn of the 10th century that centers on a Nordic prince who seeks revenge for the death of his father."

Last night Eggers talked about loving the experience of working with a co-writer and he made it clear he won't be making any non-period films anytime soon -- he loves doing historical research too much -- so all of these pieces fit. I'm kind of sad he won't be turning his sharp eyes towards the Carpathian Mountains just yet (if ever) -- I really do think he could make something stunning out of Murnau's play-set -- but there's plenty of fertile Viking shit to play around in I suppose. That plus the Skarsgård Brothers being together on-screen is plenty enough to capture my fancy.

Yo Ho Rob

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Two weeks ago Robert Pattinson was pap-snapped beef-caking himself up on the beach and we wondered what he might be needing them pectorals for, work-wise - we couldn't quite figure it out. But maybe now we know - he has joined the cast of The Lighthouse, Willem Dafoe's movie about, uh, a lighthouse, that The Witch director Robert Eggers is directing. We already told you about this movie right here but we've got a lot more info now - THR is calling it "fantasy horror" and it is apparently "set in the world of old sea-faring myths, taking place in Nova Scotia in the early 20th century."

That sounds much more in Eggers' wheelhouse than what I was originally picturing. Anyway now I'm imagining Rob all ripped with old-timey hand-drawn sailor tattoos and I am not mad, I am not mad at all. Since Eggers is all about nailing realism with his period film-making  details I recommend this book to him, a favorite of mine, for this project. It's not specific to what he's doing but it should give him some ideas worth thinking about, anyway.
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Quote of the Day

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"It’s maybe the craziest thing I’ve ever done in terms of movie stuff. I put it on. I remember saying to Matt [Reeves], ‘It does feel quite transformative!’ He was like, ‘I would hope it does! You’re literally in the Batsuit.' You do feel very powerful immediately. And it’s pretty astonishing, something that is incredibly difficult to get into, so the ritual of getting into it is pretty humiliating. You’ve got five people trying to shove you into something. Once you’ve got it on, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I feel strong, I feel tough, even though I had to have someone squeezing my butt cheeks into the legs.’”

How do I get THAT job? I wanna be Rob's butt-cheek boy! That's Rob Pattinson talking to Variety about trying on his Batman costume for The Batman for the first time -- you might recall he was cast back in June, leading to much handwringing from people who are stupid. He's gonna be fine, guys. Although judging by what I'm hearing about his supposedly insanely over-the-top performance in The King with Timothee Chalamet (it just screened in Venice over the weekend) those naysayers are gonna go into full on panic mode once they see that. Something to look forward to!

That photo up top isn't one of the new ones via Variety, this one here is -- looks like Rob is rocking his Twilight locks again now? I prefer his scruffier look up top but I guess somebody's gonna swoon for these so I will share them too down below. But before that in the Variety interview Rob also talks a lot about The Lighthouse and I mostly skimmed those parts since I don't want to know much, but the repeated use of the word "masturbating" popped out at me so of course I had to read that bit -- he jokes that he jerks it in The Lighthouse and that he's been jerking it in all his recent films... which reminds me of the story he himself told about how he had to jerk off for real when he filmed his first masturbation scene for the gay Salvador Dali movie he did, for verisimilitude's sake, and well obviously every screenwriter in town read that interview too and added jerk off scenes to every movie that his name's gotten attached to since. Everybody wants in on the "Rob's jerking off on set today" action! Prepare to see Bruce Wayne jizzing all over the Batmobile. Hit the jump for the rest of those pictures...

The Keeper of My Flame

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If I had all the funds in the world (and perhaps more importantly somewhere to actually go) that's what you'd see me dressed as for Halloween tonight -- Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse chic! And with Willem Dafoe's character it's the perfect couple's costume this year to boot. (If you're a throuple somebody could be the seagull.) You wouldn't want to run into director Robert Eggers though -- he'd start tearing pieces of your costume off if they were in the slightest historically inaccurate. Of course...

... Robert Eggers ripping your clothes off isn't necessarily 

a bad thing. It sure worked out for Rob. 

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Took them long enough to start using this image of Robert Pattinson in THE LIGHTHOUSE press materials #TheLighthouse pic.twitter.com/YWIevl6eDo

— His Name Was Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 31, 2019

Anyway this is my way of wishing everybody a Happy Halloween tonight -- I'd love to hear what y'all are dressing up as! I already did the Vincent Price thing this past weekend (see below) so we're taking it easy tonight, staying in and watching something scary TBD. Have a great holiday, land lubbers!

View this post on Instagram

I finally went full MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH for our Vincent Price Dinner, life is complete #vincentprice #masqueofthereddeath #horror #halloween

A post shared by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams) on Oct 26, 2019 at 7:07pm PDT

Pantys '19: Performers, Part One -- Actors

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Every so often for my Golden Trousers awards I do something I call "Actor to Actor" where I write small scenes up of interaction between one of my favorite actors of the year and one of my favorite actresses of the year. Well I am not doing that this year. This year I'm just going to post my 10 favorites, with 10 runners-up. Keeping it simple! And so here, in no particular order and beginning with the men...

My 10 Favorite Actors of 2019

Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse

Jonathan Majors, The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Tom Mercier, Synonyms

Franz Rogowski, Transit

Géza Röhrig, To Dust

Matthias Schoenaerts, The Mustang

Jonas Dassler, The Golden Glove

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory

Matthew Rhys, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Robert Pattinson, The Lighthouse

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Ten Runners Up

Asier Etxeandia, Pain and Glory

Kelvin Harrison Jr, Luce

Taron Egerton, Rocketman

Song Kang-ho, Parasite

Jack Reynor, Midsommar

Robert De Niro, The Irishman

Shia LaBeouf, Honey Boy

Jimmie Fails, The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Felix Maritaud, Sauvage/Wild

Aldis Hodge, Clemency

What were your fave male performances of 2019?
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