Two Secret Lovers, Wagner & Me

Although Kleber Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent was one of my favorite movies out of last year it's not the September 2026 Criterion release that got announced today that I am the most thrilled about, for one simple reason -- we already knew that Criterion was releasing this film on disc. That news had been spoiled months ago. But I don't think it takes a brain surgeon to figure out why I'm nevertheless beginning this post with that picture of The Secret Agent's leading man Wagner Moura. I think we all got it! I am a simple man. Anyway this will release be on 4K, it comes out on September 22nd, and this movie is probably pretty much an undistputed masterpiece -- if you haven't seen it yet do, and then just buy the damned disc. Or blind-buy it. I really doubt you'll be unhappy you did. It's one of those rich feasts of movie that we hardly ever get anymore. Moving on to more feasts...

... the September release that has not just knocked my socks off but shot them right across the room is the box-set of three Leos Carax movies! Fuck yeah and yes please! If we were just talking about his first film, Boy Meets Girl, which I only just saw for the first time a couple of years ago and fell deeply madly and completely in love with upon first sight, that'd be enough here. But it also includes his two Binoche!-starring follow-ups, Mauvais Sang and The Lovers on the Bridge -- amongst Juli's best roles, which is really saying something when you're talking about the world's greatest living actress says me. These two are magnificent showcases for her and for what magic Carax is possible of making. He's one of my number one movie-makers, and this set will give you a clue why. (I wish Criterion would go ahead and put Holy Motors in the Collection already but I'm sure it is inevitable.) 

And then we've got another two-fer of 2025 flicks coming in hot -- there's Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague, which as far as Richard Linklater movies go I kinda of liked? Out of the two movies he made last year it's a goddamned masterpiece at least, compared to the unbearably shrill Blue Moon which I couldn't fucking stand. I thought all of the actors were terrific as the French New Wave Gods they were tasked with playing in Nouvelle Vague at least, and Linklater's adoration of characters who won't shut the fuck up for five seconds at least made sense when dealing with a person like Jean-Luc Godard. The other 2026 title is Sergei Loznitsa's "Kafka-esque thriller" Two Prosecutors, which I really wanted to see (I will watch anything described as a "Kafka-esque thriller") but somehow slipped through the cracks. I will consider this release my chance to fill up said crack, then. Any fans? Is it indeed a "Kafka-esque thriller" or is this just Criterion suckering in Lit-major dopes like me who always fall for that descripotion? 

I'm gonna plow through the last three titles coming out in September a little quickly now because 1) I don't have a lot to say about any of these and 2) I should be working on my ongoing Tribeca reviews but I am allowing myself a brief break so the site doesn't sit here silent as the grave all day. Here goes. They are upgrading Sidney Lumet's classic 12 Angry Men to 4K; they are dropping the massive nine-hour-long Holocaust document Shoah (which means that I will definitely finally watch Shoah, one of the long overdue experiences I've admittedly been terrified of experiencing all these many many years); and they are releasing Satyajit Ray's beloved 1970 film Days and Nights in the Forest, which I have not yet seen either. Ray also represents a massive hole in my film knowledge -- I believe I've only ever seen Pather Panchali? So many damn holes and cracks to fill, damn damn damn. 

Punch-Drunk Druggies Cross Delancey

Criterion Announcement Day sneaked up on us again -- and it was technically three days ago! They're late even and I didn't notice. Gosh it's almost like there are distracting things happening in the world? Well let's not focus on those, and instead focus on the movies that Criterion is releasing onto 4K blu-ray this upcoming February of the year 2025... yeah we're especially going to need some distractions right then I wager. Argh. Anyway! Criterion! First up is Gus Van Sant's 1989 druggie drama Drugstore Cowboy starring a very pretty Matt Dillon alongside Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, and James Le Gros. Oh and William S. Burroughs! He's in this too. I haven't seen this movie in a very very long time (like at least twenty years) so it's definitely due a revisit -- I have a feeling I'll have grown to appreciate it more because I was never that much of a fan but it feels like a movie I'll get more now than I did when I was younger. 

Next up we have a pair of movies I've never seen -- Jean-Luc Godard's King Lear from 1987 starring Peter Sellers and Molly Ringwald (wtf) and Joan Macklin Silver's 1988 romance Crossing Delancey with  Amy Irving torn between two fellas in late-80s Manhattan. The Godard sounds bonkers; the JMS sounds sweet and perfect for a Saturday afternoon, and I am excited to watch them both. 

Then we've got three more movies (big month, February) which I have seen before -- there's Nicolas Roeg's brilliant 1970 film Performance with  James Fox and Mick Jagger, there's Guillermo Del Toro's first film Cronos getting a 4K upgrade, and there's Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love also doing the same. Love all three of those -- PDL was my favorite PTA movie for a long time but I can safely say that Phantom Thread has replaced it now. But I also haven't re-watched it in several years since every time I do think about it I think about how it shreds my nerves and I move on to another movie since whose nerves have needed extra shredding lately? Certainly not mine! 

The Time For After Hours Is Upon Us!

One of the most awaited slash demanded Criterion titles of all time has finally been announced! Martin Scorsese's 1985 downtown NYC masterpiece After Hours is hitting 4K and blu-ray on July 11th! Just in time for my birthday -- huzzah! You can check out the list of special features at the link but it's the usual parade of awesomeness. Sometimes I think this is my favorite Scorsese movie? It's the one I've watched the most, even more than The Age of Innocence (the other one in the running for my favorite). It's so my perfect vision of my home -- take from that what you will, if you've seen the film. Those of us who love this nightmare hellhole love it with fierce devotion and nobody got it better than Marty. 

The other movies hitting Criterion in July are gonna have a hard time competing with that, but let's try to hype them up to -- Carl Franklin's 1992 small-town race thriller One False Move starring Bill Paxton is an ace little flick and that's making its debut on 4K blu-ray on July 25th. I only caught this a year or so ago when Criterion had it on their Channel and was shocked I'd never even heard of it before then. Then there's a big boxed-set of five Western films from director Budd Boetticher and starring one Mr. Randolph Scott. Sounds like the perfect Dad Gift for next year's holiday season. (Who doesn't love sneaking a closeted homosexual into their Dad's stash?)

And then rounding out the month there is Cheryl Dunye's fabulous 1996 lesbian classic The Watermelon Woman, and a 4K upgrade of Gordard's Breathless, all's so you can stare at this gorgeousness...

... as crisp as f'ing possible. G'bless you, Criterion!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Pierrot le Fou (1965)

Ferdinard: I'm a huge question mark

dangling over the Mediterranean horizon.

Godard est mort -- vive Godard!

Good Morning, World

Well not so good a morning I guess, since I'm using this space to say RIP Jean-Paul Belmondo, who passed away yesterday at the still-too-too-young age of 88, as I am sure you're aware by now. If not I apologize for bearing such unutterable news! I hate it, I hate it. If I had my way he'd be around forever. But then he's one of the greatest movie stars the movies will ever have, so in his way he will be around forever -- his gentle stroking of his perfect lips in Breathless seen up top will outlive you and me, no doubt about that, and that's the way it should be. You can climb on yonder through MNPP's extensive JPB archives at this link -- there's a ton of visual pleasure to be taken in it, if nothing else. Go watch his movies for something else, more, I can only offer you the outside package -- one glimpse of him in action will transmit the rest. 

If you've never seen a Belmondo film, where do you start, you ask? My favorite is Pierrot Le Fou, but Breathless is probably a better starting point. 1964's That Man From Rio and 1973's Le magnifique are also absolute blasts that don't ask much from the viewer, if the noodling art films of Godard ain't yer bag -- Belmondo could anchor something like Jean-Pierre Melville's Léon Morin, Priest and then go totally goofy in a series of overheated actioners -- such was his forever charm, and we're better off having gotten to experience it.

Please tell me your Belmondo loves in the comments!

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10 Off My Head: Siri Says 1965

It's somehow been four months since we've done one of our "Siri Says" posts! And that's a darn shame. I know y'all enjoy them, and I do too, so let's reboot the season this week (although no promises we'll keep any momentum going given how I've got several film festivals lining up real quick for our immediate future) with a look at the Movies of 1965, after the lady who lives inside my telephone whispered the number "65" in my ear when I asked her for a number between 1 and 100.

One, I am surprised I hadn't done 1965 yet -- there are still good years left scattered about, although the pickins have admittedly gotten as slim as Jean-Paul Belmondo's waist. And Two, I was surprised by how many damn good movies there are from 1965 when I got to digging; movies I truly adore. So instead of our usual five movies I chose ten faves. And it's almost all foreign cinema? Foreign or genre film, anyway. The 1960s have all sorts of gems to offer once you escape Hollywood's bloated lameness.

My 10 Favorite Movies of 1965

War and Peace 

(dir. Sergey Bondarchuk) 

-- released on July 1965 --

Darling

(dir. John Schlesinger) 

-- released on August 3rd 1965 --

Pierrot le fou 

(dir. Jean-Luc Godard) 

-- released on November 5th 1965 --

Juliet of the Spirits

(dir. Fellini) 

-- released on October 19th 1965 --

The 10th Victim

(dir. Elio Petri) 

-- released on December 2nd 1965 --

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

(dir. Russ Meyer) 

-- released on August 6th 1965 --

Doctor Zhivago

(dir. David Lean) 

-- released on December 22nd 1965 --

Gamera the Giant Monster

(dir. Noriaki Yuasa) 

-- released on November 27th 1965 --

Planet of the Vampires

(dir. Mario Bava) 

-- released on September 15th 1965 --

Repulsion

(dir. Roman Polanski) 

-- released on May 19th 1965 --

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Runners-up: Die! Die! My Darling! (dir. Silvio Narizzano), The Nanny (dir. Seth Holt), My Hustler (dir. Andy Warhol), Invasion of the Astro-Monster (dir. Ishirô Honda), Bad Girls Go To Hell (dir. Doris Wishman), The Sound of Music (dir. Robert Wise), War-Gods of the Deep (dir. Jacques Tourneur) 

Never seen: Sandra of a Thousand Delights (dir. Visconti), Who Killed Teddy Bear (dir. Joseph Cates), What's New Pussycat (dir. Clive Donner), Simon of the Desert (dir. Bunuel), Up to His Ears (dir. Phillipe de Broca), That Darn Cat (dir. Robert Stevenson), Cat Ballou (dir. Elliot Silverstein), The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (dir. Martin Ritt), Help! (dir. Richard Lester), The Naked Prey (dir. Cornel Wilde)

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What are your favorite films of 1965?

Criterion is Made at Night

So I just fiiiiinally got the Criterion Channel a couple of weeks ago and it's truly an astonishment, more content than I could ever come to grips with. My list grows by bounds every day, until finally, one eve, it will topple and crush me and I can't imagine a finer fate. Anyway that's my way of prefacing a complaint, imagine that, that they don't have more Frank Borzage films! It could be a rights thing -- I think a lot of Borzage's movies were for Fox and now Disney owns Fox and we all know how that is going. (Insert barf emoji here.) But what it comes down to is I really want an American boxed-set of the Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell films...

Watched a collection of Old Hollywood paparazzi footage on TCM that included blessed footage of my man Charles Farrell on a red carpet pic.twitter.com/e3or9JwX52

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) January 2, 2021

... all twelve of them! Besides The Devils on blu-ray it's the Movie Thing I want the most of all. And I feel like Criterion is the place where I could get that, at least most respectfully. I do have a foreign set (not this out-of-print one unfortunately, which looks like an absolute dream) that includes a couple of the films -- Street Angel and 7th Heaven, which were in particular directed by Borzage -- but my ass is greedy. Anyway I thought of all this today, here on the grand occasion of our monthly Criterion Announcement Day, because Criterion is indeed releasing a Frank Borzage film on disc. It's not one that stars Farrell & Gaynor though...

... it's the 1937 adventure-romance History is Made at Night, starring Jean Arthur and Charles Boyer. Have any of you seen it? I have not but it sounds grand, and I've never disliked a single Borzage film yet of the several I've seen, even the ones that don't star Farrell & Gaynor, so I've got high hopes for this one. It's also on the Channel right now, it appears, so maybe I'll watch it this weekend! Here's how it's described:

"Suffused with intoxicating romanticism, History Is Made at Night is a sublime paean to love from Frank Borzage, classic Hollywood’s supreme poet of carnal and spiritual desire. On the run through Europe from her wealthy, cruelly possessive husband, an American (Jean Arthur) is thrown together by fate with a suave stranger (Charles Boyer)—and soon the two are bound in a consuming, seemingly impossible affair that stretches across continents and brings them to the very edge of catastrophe. Lent a palpable erotic charge by the chemistry between its leads, this delirious vision of lovers beset by the world passes through a dizzying array of tonal shifts—from melodrama to romantic comedy to noir to disaster thriller—smoothly guided by Borzage’s unwavering allegiance to the power of love. "

That sounds right up my alley. A disaster thriller! Yes please. You can pre-order it (and see all of the usual reams of extra bonus special features) over on Criterion's website. And per usual that's not all Criterion has on tap for the month of April -- they're also dropping a no-doubt gorgeous restoration of Bong Joon-ho's probable-best flick Memories of Murder, they're also also dropping Olivier Assayas' grandly weird Maggie Cheung vehicle Irma Vep, and they're also also also dropping Jean-luc Godard's Masculin Feminin, and they're also also also also dropping Anthony Mann's grand 1950 Western The Furies starring our queen Barbara Stanwyck! This is a fantastic line-up of features...

And They Call Him Ferdinand Griffon dit Pierrot

Grab your primary-colored sticks of dyn-o-mite cuz my favorite Jean-Luc Godard film 1965's Pierrot le fou hits blu-ray today as part of the esteemed Criterion Collection yes this very day today -- not to be missed, funky cats and kitties. 

Starring a never swanker Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina as a pair of lovers turned criminals on the run it's really a dissemblage of that idea and movie concept -- shit gets real meta's my point. There was one question I really wanted answered that the Criterion edition's special features -- which are good otherwise! -- doesn't touch though, and that was...

... why did the promotional material materials for the movie pretend JPB was shirtless in the bathtub gun-play scene when he's defiantly not, as seen on the right? False advertising, yo! somebody get me Godard on the phone, I demand answers. (At least we'll always have this photo.) Anyway I dare y'all to prove the following tweet untrue:

Watching this now and obviously looking like Belmondo helps but I don't know if there's a movie I love the men's clothes in more? The mid-60s were just perfection, absolute perfection pic.twitter.com/RBUWxDBx8D

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 27, 2020

Good Morning, World

I'm not even sure what movie the above Jean-Paul Belmondo moment is from but I'm having me one of my many Belmondo moments after re-watching Godard's masterpiece Pierrot Le Fou yesterday -- as I told you recently it's hitting Criterion on October 6th and I can now report the disc is top notch -- and so here we are. Anybody know the film? I got the gif off Tumblr and it wasn't labeled. Anyway if y'all follow me on Twitter you could probably already sense a lil' Belmondo tsunami was imminent...

Belmondo, fox pic.twitter.com/eSJBke5gHP

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 27, 2020

You Know Who He Is!

The 2020 edition of the New York Film Festival has just revealed their poster for this year's fest and HOLY BALLS it was designed by my patron saint John Waters and it's the greatest thing I have ever in my entire long long too long life ever seen. (click the image above to embiggen) The "Fewer Films Than Toronto!" is cracking me the hell up, as is every corner and line. "Wait in line with intellectuals!" LOL. You can buy the poster right here. Here's Waters talking about the design:

"Since none of my films were ever chosen to be in the New York Film Festival, I was thrilled to be asked to design this year’s poster. I always knew I’d get my ass in there somehow! What better way to show my respect and irreverence for this prestigious event than to bring along Globe Poster, Baltimore’s famous press that promoted the best rock-and-roll shows all over America for decades? Trashy? Classic? Maybe it’s all the same in 2020 when we have to reinvent moviegoing itself.”

The NYFF also has JW program a double-feature for their Drive-In screening series, and sure enough it's a fuckin' wonder to behold:

We also asked John Waters to program his dream drive-in double feature, and he did not disappoint.

Get ready for Art Movie Hell at the Drive-In, featuring Gaspar Noé’s CLIMAX and Pier Paolo Pasolini's SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM. Screening details coming soon. #NYFF pic.twitter.com/SnyAWIL0Vk

— New York Film Festival (@TheNYFF) September 3, 2020

Poetry is a Game of Loser Take All

.

I only realized too late when I took half of last week off for my birthday that I'd be missing my favorite mid-monthly occurrence -- New Criterion Announcement Day! So we're doing it a few days late this month -- avert your eyes if this is so horrible for you! Per usual the announcement is for the films that Criterion will be releasing three months from now, meaning we're into October for these ones. First up is Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 masterpiece Pierrot le fou starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina, otherwise known as Probably My Favorite Godard Film? I've never really tried too hard to rank Godard since there are so very many I've never seen, but it's either this or Breathless because him filming Belmondo in the 60s is basically what heaven looks like to me, but I think I slightly prefer the Pop Art look of Pierrot.

Just an absolute Dream Team, that. Anyway you can check out all the Special Features on Criterion's site -- looks like good stuff! Moving on also on tap for October is Bong Joon-ho's Oscar winner Parasite -- even though I didn't love Parasite quite as much as the rest of the world I will says it's so weird and wonderful to call it an Oscar winner, and I think that's a win for the ages, one that will hold up real well. I also really very much dig the cover art Criterion came up with:

Very nice. The other titles that Criterion's got on hand for October are Diahann Carroll's Oscar-nominated 1974 romantic-comedy with James Earle Jones called Claudine, Gregory Peck in the brooding 1950 Western The Gunfighter, and then last but hardly least Stephen Frears' stylish UK gangster caper The Hit with Terence Stamp outrunning Tim Roth in sun-dappled Spanish locations from 1984. I have not seen any of these but if y'all would like to recommend I do, do that, in the comments please. The Hit sounds especially up my alley as I love me some hardboiled Terry Stamp, but Gregory Peck's Gunfighter mustache is also yee-haw a'callin' my lil' doggy...

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1962

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Last week's edition of our "Siri Says" series -- where I ask my phone to give me a number between 1 and 100 and then list my five favorite movies from the year that corresponds to that number -- was a tough one, sending us tumbling into Silent Film, so I was relieved this week when, after about a dozen or so tires (the years we've got left are getting scarcer and scarcer) Siri plunked us down into a decade I've seen many more movies from, the 1960s, with the number "62." And then I started looking at The Movies of 1962 and I realized that my likes from that precise year -- which featured both the height of the Cold War and the birth of Spider-man -- tend towards outside-the-mainstream. Meaning that there are big beloved movies from that year that I feel very little towards! 

It's a terrific year of movies but an odd inconsistently-matched batch, including big swings between challenging international cinema which was booming, bargain-basement cult oddities from the likes of Roger Corman & Co, and of course the smooth pretty product line that was rolling out of Hollywood. The latter's where my interest wanes, and so as I skimmed through all the titles for the year I found myself wanting to (mostly) highlight the weirder stuff at the expense of the more popular titles.  But then the weirder stuff is my brand! As is, apparently, the black-and-white in the time of color stuff...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1962

Knife in the Water

(dir. Roman Polanski)

-- released on March 9th 1962 -- 

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?

(dir. Robert Aldrich)

-- released on October 31st 1962 -- 

The Manchurian Candidate

(dir. John Frankenheimer)

-- released on October 24th 1962 -- 

Carnival of Souls

(dir. Herk Hervey)

-- released on November 2nd 1962 -- 

The Exterminating Angel

(dir. Luis Bunuel)

-- released on May 16th 1962 -- 

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Runners-up: La Jetée (dir. Chris Marker), Dr. No (dir. Terence Young), Cape Fear (dir. J. Lee Thompson), Day of the Triffids (dir. Steve Sekely), L'eclisse (dir. Michaelangelo Antonioni), Jules and Jim (dir. Truffaut)...

... Panic in the Year Zero (dir. Ray Milland), Lolita (dir. Kubrick), Long Day's Journey Into Night (dir. Lumet), Vivre sa Vie (dir. Godard), Lawrence of Arabia (dir. David Lean), To Kill a Mockingbird (dir. Robert Mulligan)

Never seen: The Music Man (dir. Morton Dacosta), The Miracle Worker (dir. Arthur Penn), The Longest Day (dir. Andrew marton), All Fall Down (dir. John Frankenheimer), A Kind of Loving (dir. John Schlesinger), Billy Budd (dir. Peter Ustinov), Cleo From 5-7 (dir. Agnes Varda)...

... The Intruder (dir. Roger Corman), How the West Was Won (dir. Henry Hathaway), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (dir. John Ford), The Trial (dir. Welles), Cartouche (dir. Philippe de Broca), Days of Wine and Roses (dir. Blake Edwards)

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What are your favorite movies of 1962?

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