Pop That Cork Cooper Koch

A happy update to share on last week's annoying news that the cowards at Amazon had dropped Luca Guadagnino's movie Artificial, about Open A.I.'s leading piece-of-shit Sam Altman -- the wonderful folks at Neon have supposedly picked the movie up for distribution! That comes via the in-the-know Matthew Belloni on the Nazi-website (via, thx Mac) who says this will be officially announced later this week and the movie is probably going to be out before the end of this year. Huzzah! Make like the film's co-star Cooper Koch here and drink one in praise of there still being some balls in the film world. Anyway I'd actually forgotten all the people in this cast (not that it's surprising given any actor with even half a brain should want to be filmed by Luca's loving camera) -- besides star Andrew Garifled there's Cooper here, there's Anora bald-beauty Yura Borisov, there's Jason Schwartzman (who basically stole Queer from everyone not named Lesley Manville or "Drew Starkey's Nipples Through That One See-Through Shirt), there's Cooper Hoffman and Billie Lourd and Monica Barbaro and Chris O'Dowd and Zosia Mamet and Nicholas Hamilton (the cute gay who played the bully from the It remakes) and Mark fuckin' Rylance (who definitely stole Bones and All with that fucking scuzzy hair-braid of death). Fingers crossed this lands at NYFF! Cannot wait. In summation -- fuck you, Amazon. 

Give 'Em Hell Refn

As if unloading that slutty milk campaign on us Charles Melton admirers wasn't enough for this sweaty end-of-June Tuesday afternoon, Neon has just now unleashed the first full-length trailer for Nicolas Winding Refn's Her Private Hell as well -- and as glimped in the first teaser as well as yesterday's sweaty torso poster it appears to be a real "Imagine Charles Melton in a fetish, any fetish, and voila you got it" fest. Leather, uniforms, you name it Refn is gearing Chuck up for our visual benefits. 

I still have no idea what the fuck this movie is about and oh my god I do not care in the slightest -- as with anything Refn has made in the past decade and a half it's all about the vibes and I subscribe to these vibes. A lot of people don't! And I feel bad for them! There are shots in this trailer that made my eyes pop out of my head. 

Literally. My eyes are sitting on my desk right now, I am typing this blind. Anyway this movie was not loved at Cannes but that only made me more excited -- his two T.V. series (Too Old To Die Young and Copenhagen Cowboy) were similarly divisive and I loved every second of them. I would put Refn in alongside Robert Eggers and Wes Anderson as filmmakers who've alienated a lot of people by going off the deep ends with their respective styles but I'm so here for it from every single one of them. Art, baby!

Her Private Hell is out on July 24th. And hit the jump

for more Charles Melton gifs if you think you can take it...

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... making harder bones with Charles Melton. 

Chuck's got Milk! And he wants you to drink it! Oh those devils at Big Milk, they went and hired Charles Melton to be their new spokes-hunk (via) and I have a feeling the internet is gonna be real thirsty real fast looking at these first five photos they've dropped. I sure am! Lick your lips and hit the jump for the entire batch...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Living (2022)

Sutherland: When a girl like that steals 

your hat, always cheaper to buy a new one.

A happy 45th birthday to the great Tom Burke today! I didn't realize he's been acting for almost thirty years now but it does make sense now that I realize the first thing I ever saw him in was the sleazy Aughts thriller Donkey Punch in 2005 with my beloved Julian Morris -- and repeatedly at that because he's the guy who has the threesome with Julian and a girl and there is a lot, and I mean a lot, of homoerotic tension between the two guys in that scene. 

Needless to say I have seen that one scene more than I've seen any movie on Sight & Sound's Greatest Films list haha. I never really put that together with Burke when he started showing up in classier fare though -- in 2013 there was N.W. Refn's Only God Forgives and then it wasn't until Johanna Hogg's The Souvenir in 2019 that he really grabbed me again. (What a performance that is though.) 

After that I knew who he was proper, so when he popped up in Miller's Furiosa, Soderbergh's Black Bag, and my beloved Oliver Hermanus joint Living as quoted up top -- and I'd say the sequence between him and Bill Nighy is probably the film's peak -- I was always excited to see him. Anyway I think he's become one of our finest actors and I wouldn't be surprised to see him be an awards-magnet for a role in the next few years. Big fan! 

What's your favorite Tom Burke performance?

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this? 

Good Morning, World

Josh Heuston should not be making me think 

about him and the Eiffel Tower -- it's misleading! 

How Dare You NWR

It would seem that somebody on the promotional team at Neon realized that sweaty half-naked Charles Melton was getting the most attention in the Her Private Hell teaser trailer that got released -- and yes, I led that parade -- because both the image touting the movie's R-rating and now this the first official teaser poster for the movie have leaned hard into Charles Melton's sweaty half-naked torso. Just as all of us would also like to lean into. Anyway if I can't find a physical copy of this poster to hang on my wall at some point I might have throw myself into the sea so let's they print some of these babies off. Just saying, Neon! Send me one and consider me purchased for eternity. I am cheap as fuck. Oh and in related news:

I think Anya Taylor-Joy speaks for all of us

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 10:28 AM

Get Ready To Sell Your Souls

This is a less a "day of purchase" than it is a "millisecond of purchase" -- in October Mubi will be releasing a book called The Faust Bible: The Making of F.W. Murnau’s Masterpiece which is, as the title explicates, about the making of Murnau's 1926 silent masterpiece. It's going to be loaded with material that was long thought lost including photographs and such -- they say it'll include around 400 photos, documenting the making of the movie step by step. I can vividly remember watching Faust for the first time in my German Expressionist Cinema class in Film School back in the day -- when it gets to that shot of the devil spreading his wings over the city (see down below) I just about slid off my chair in a fit of ecstasy. Can you imagine what that would've done to your brain in 1927? That's some seeing the Brontosaurus for the first time in Jurassic Park in 1993 level of mind-blowing material. I haven't actually watched Faust in well over a decade -- I keep meaning to catch it on the big screen when it screens here in NYC, which isn't not often, but that link up top says they're planning all kinds of events for its centennial this fall, besides the book itself, so I guess I'll dive back in then. What wonderful news on an otherwise horrific (per usual) day. No word on when the book's pre-order will be up (I will surely let y'all know five seconds after I have secured my own copy) but the book is out on October 17th. 

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, Werwulf

Even though we got our first official still from Robert Eggers' Werwulf last week I did not expect them to be dropping the trailer this soon -- but they did! It's here! Even though the movie's not out until Christmas. I'm sure we'll get longer clips and teases closer to the release but honestly I am fine with this two minute long smorgasbord of gross images flashing by, up to and including... 

... two count them two...

... looks at Aaron Taylor-Johnson starkers mid-transformation. What else do you need? (Apologies that I did not gif Lily-Rose Depp's hairlip even though I know you were shouting "Hairlip, hairlip!") Anyway obviously this is the movie I most want to see that remains in 2026 -- this is always the case when there's a Robert Eggers movie... well unless there's a Luca movie, I guess. But then it depends on subject matter. And Aaron's flexing buttocks do a lot of heavy lifting on they're lonesome. Anyway! It's Monday, I am not awake yet, just watch the trailer and buy your tickets when you can: 

Pick Me Up, François Arnaud

How has Fucktoys not come out yet? What is this world? This movie has been bouncing around film fests for over a year, since premiering at SXSW last March -- I posted the first trailer even before then. I follow the movie on social media and it's constantly screening places -- it's screened here in NYC more than once but somehow every time it did I was otherwise occupied. I feel cheated! At least François Arnaud s out here giving us hope. Hope, and other feelings. Anyway this has been a lazy week for me but somehow, despite me taking it easy in the wake of Tribeca and NewFest back to back, I have fully hit the wall today -- don't be surprised if you're forced to stare at François flexing from now til Monday. Such a sacrifice! I've got a screening of Hairspray to attend tonight -- with John Waters and "guests" in attendance! -- so maybe keep your eye on my Instagram and you'll see some of that there. And I'm seeing John a second time tomorrow when he and Ricki Lake do a Q&A and signing at Barnes & Noble. (This is all to promote Criterion's release of Hairspray and Desperate Living this week, which I told you about on Tuesday.) So... yeah. Have a good weekend or whatever! 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Sonny: Kiss me.

Moretti: What?

Sonny: Kiss me. When I'm 

being fucked, I like to get kissed a lot.

The great Sidney Lumet was born 102 years ago today.

What's your favorite Lumet film that's not this or Network?

I have a real soft spot for Deathtrap but then, you know, gay.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Quote of the Day

Ever since Robert Eggers got endless press for the Naked Volcano Fight between Alexander Skarsgård and Claes Bang in The Northman (even if it did eventually end up going to Austin Powers extremes to keep the dicks hidden) it seems he's gotten the memo to bring up how he's getting his actors naked with every new movie, and here we are. Our favorite goth-freak writer-director talked to Esquire today about his upcoming film Werwulf starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, sharing the above first official look at him, and tossing in this comment just for shits 'n giggles:

"It was kind of unlike anything that any of us on set have ever seen. He spent I-don't-know-how-much time naked in the rain and snow, covered in blood, and doing this intense physical bodywork. It was months of training in prep and throughout production to get it all perfect."

He's talking there about Aaron working with the same movement coach who got Lily-Rose Depp to go to such extremes physically in Nosferatu -- if you know anything about me you probably know that the naked transformation scene of David Naughton in An American Werewolf in London was, uhh, a pivotal moment. So per usual Eggers is speaking my language. Not that I'd expect different. I don't know anything about his personal life but... him and Ari Aster... they both leave me with some questions, I'll just say that. Anyway Werwulf is out on Christmas Day -- I love that Eggers has claimed the counterprogramming slot for the holidays, I really do. The only Christmas Carol movie I will ever watch in the future is if he makes one. Oh and PS Werwulf has an Instagram account now, follow it here. Or just keep checking MNPP since I will post anything and everything the literal second it drops anyway. In related news I posted the following yesterday so obviously I made this interview happen, you're welcome:

184 DAYS TIL WERWULF

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) June 24, 2026 at 4:58 PM

Good Morning, World

I haven't watched it yet myself but Julian Schnabel's In the Hand of Dante starring Oscar Isaac apparently dropped onto Netflix yesterday (after premiering at tribeca, where I missed all the screenings unfortunately) -- have you watched it? Nevermind what the movie is actually about -- this is the movie which not just the above shot of Oscar comes from (a sassy underpants strut past bookshelves -- are you kidding me???) but also that insanely ridiculously gratutious set-photo that I shared a couple of weeks ago was from too; clearly Julian agrees with the entire internet that Oscar is meant for ogling. I've actually really been wanting to re-watch Before Night Falls lately so maybe I should do a Schnabel double-feature this weekend -- I haven't seen that movie since it came out and Javier Bardem in that movie... my god. I feel like Julian is trying to tell us something at this point? (And that "something" is he is hot-cha-cha for Hispanic men, which, you know, get in line, buster.)

Robbie G.K. Two Times

I eventually had to rein it in, the Heated Rivalry content, for y'all's sake as much as for the sake of the actors, who courted and for some probably leapt right passed overexposed. But it's been ages since I posted any photos of Robbie G.K. who has by far (and smartly) stayed the quietest of the quartet, so we're gifting us these two snaps (via) as a lil' Hump Day treat this afternoon. No worries -- I remain excited for the second season. Not excited enough to read the books or re-watch the first, at least until right before we get new episodes. But excited nonetheless. Oh and by the way these are set-photos from Robbie's shoot for (where else) Behind the Blinds magazine, and I feel compelled to point out that I've actually got several of the guys' magazines for sale on eBay if you're so inclined. They're pricey yes, but these guys don't come cheap. Ahem.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Beach Rats (2017)

Simone: Aren't they beautiful?

Frankie: They kind of look the same 

as they did last week, and the week before last, 

and pretty much the same thing every fucking summer.

Simone: Hater.

Frankie: You know, this exact firework show 

happens every Friday at 9:30 p.m.

Simone: I think they're romantic.

Frankie: Fireworks are the opposite of romantic.

I don't pay a heap of attention to Bond casting rumors but I just saw Harris Dickinson's name among the rumored candidates in this article saying that the "next round of auditions" for our next 007 will be happening in August and weirdly I don't think I'd thought of Harris in the role before? And now that I have I think he might be great at it? He'd be different from any Bond before anyway and what other reason is there to keep this shit going if not for that? He's got a reserved quality, an amused intelligence, that would be interesting I think. I'm not saying he'd be my pick -- I'm probably still Team Henry Golding or Dev Patel -- but I wouldn't be angry at Harris being chosen. I mean...

Anyway all that's very much not the reason we're here -- we're here because today is Mr. Dickinson's 30th birthday and we wanna wish him a happy one, where ever he is right now... which is presumably wearing John Lennon drag for Sam Mendes. Going right from John Lennon to James Bond would be quite the story, though! I believe that Harris has got all of that in him. In the parlance of my "The Moment I Fell For..." series of posts I knew the minute I saw him in Beach Rats here that he was destined for big things and he has yet to prove me incorrect.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?