Yura To Warhol & Everything Criterion Between

I was just literally thinking, "Hey I get paid today," when an email arrived in my inbox (not a euphimism) that reminded me the smackdab middle of the month also indicates something even better -- it's Criterion Announcement Day! And it turns out that the drop for the forthcoming April is a hefty one -- seven titles strong! The big one being Sean Baker's extremely popular 2024 film Anora, which will assuredly get a bank of Oscar nominations come Oscar nomination morning (whenever that happens, since they keep moving it due to the wildfires). I have my issues with Anora (which I've mostly gotten into on social media) but I think it's a fun, fine piece of entertainment for the most part, and the three leads (Madison, Eydelshteyn, and especially our boy Yura Borisov) are all pretty excellent. Anora hits 4K on April 239th and the disc is loaded with special features, check them all at that link. Also being released from Criterion that same day -- Baker's 2008 film Prince of Broadway, which I've never seen. Any fans of that one? It's actually streaming on Criterion Channel right now so maybe I'll watch it this weekend.

The other big titles from the April releases that I haven't seen are Claude Berri's 1986 double-feature Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring, which adapts Marcel Pagnol's book into two grand and grandly expensive movies starring an incredible French cast including Gérard Depardieu, Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, and Emmanuelle Béart. Nor have I somehow ever seen Kenji Mizoguchi's 1953 film Ugetsu, a wartime-set ghost story that stars  Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō (this one's also on Criterion Channel right now which I know because I've had it on my list for years and never yet gotten to it -- sighhhh). 

Then there are the usual 4K upgrades, which include Won Kar-Wei's masterful Chungking Express -- I have the WKW box-set already so I don't know if I'll get this but it is a masterpiece so we'll see. Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro in 4K is awful hard to resist! Also getting the 4K upgrade is Billy Wilder's comic classic Some Like It Hot. Which, like,  what can I say about Some Like It Hot? It doesn't get better. It's, like, hot.

But wait -- there is one more! And this is my number one pick for the month. We're talking Julian Schnabel's 1996 film Basquiat, starring a maybe-never-better Jeffrey Wright as the famed painter making his way through the NYC art scene in the 1980s. I haven't seen this in literal decades but I remember really loving it, and it's been a difficult movie to get one's hands on for a good long while, making this upgrade extremely overdue. I mean -- David Bowie playing Andy Warhol! Come on now!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Jerry: How can I make your life better?

Marcee: This is humiliating and I'm pregnant and incapable of bullshit. Where is our offer from Arizona? I don't know what you do for your four percent but my husband has a whole plan, an image and when you put him in a waterbed warehouse commercial you're making him common, when you know he deserves the big four: shoes, cars, clothing line, soft drink. I know about the four jewels of the celebrity endorsement dollar. I majored in marketing and so did my husband. We came to play.

A happy 54 to the grand Regina King today!

Today's Mood

Bless you, Alessandro Nivola.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

 

Good Morning, World

I'll try to not post gifs from Queer every single morning from now until eternity now that the movie is available online, but I make no promises! (See also: yesterday.) Tumblr is overwhelmed with them right now and I am not a strong man. Anyway happy Hump Day!

Jonathan Bailey Two Times

There's a Woman, And a Yard...

I know that Blumhouse thinks they're the selling point here so that's why they put their name on the poster but the real selling point behind the upcoming horror movie The Woman in the Yard is the film's director Jaume Collet-Serra, aka the man who gifted the world with Orphan. Also the 2005 House of Wax remake (how many times am I going to mention that movie this January???) and The Shallows and the recent B-movie thriller Carry On with Taron Egerton (which was, in typical JCS fashion, a heap of fun) -- this man does not know how to not make an entertaining picture. (He also gave us the hotness of Alessandro Nivola as a soccer player in the movie Goal so he will forever have my heart.) Anyway the movie also stars the terrific Danielle Deadwyler, so that's also a plus! The plot is pretty much the title -- a scary woman shows up in the yard. We're there! Here's the trailer:

The Woman in the Yard is out on March 28th!

It's Another Red Rooms Post

I think I have posted about Red Rooms about three dozen times now but I don't care -- it's out on Shudder today and I feel proud of my itty bitty role in getting the word out on it! Especially once it started popping up in tons of "Best of 2024" lists. I was there when the Quebecois true-crime-obsession thriller had its North American premiere in Montreal at the Fantasia Film Festival in July of 2023, and I was immediately bowled over by it -- I wrote up my thoughts on it for Mashable right here, and yadda yadda eventually other people saw it come 2024 when it got released and they seem to've agreed with my assessment. My little quote that the movie "out-Finchers Fincher" made it into the trailer and onto the poster and onto the eventual blu-ray release, which turns out was a good move by the PR people -- amazing how a throwaway comment you're not thinking too hard about can be the one that captures people's imaginations and curiosity. Anyway I keep being tempted to post the two most memorable shots in the film (once you've seen it you'll know the ones of which I speak) but I wanna leave them for y'all to disocver if you haven't seen it yet. So go watch it. Or go watch it a second time. Talk about a movie that haunts you.  

Five Frames From ?

Which movie is this?

Good Morning, Queer

Well what are you waiting for? Luca Guadagnino's phenomonal William S. Burroughs adaptation Queer is available to rent and buy ditigally today -- so go do that here! I know the reaction has been mixed towards the film but I personally am anything but -- it''s one of my top three films of 2024; indeed I haven't been able to write that list because my top three keep shifting every time I re-watch them and this one is very much in that mix. Here is my review. 

I admit it's not an easy film to warm to and its wavelength is very odd but if you're on it then baby, to the moon. If you need a "key" to unlock it, for me it reads pretty straightforward as being a film about an impossible disconnect between two people, and everything is in service of amplifying that. Anyway also this:

If I hear one more person say “a movie should work on its own, without you needing you do research to understand or appreciate it” - no maybe you should remember how to be intellectually curious like when you a kid and didn’t get a grown up reference and be delighted by new things to learn!

— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM

Furry Full Moons & The Men Who Love Them

Heads-up and yoo hoo, I've got a half-day today here on this hellscape called The Internet (except for our little corner of horny safe space natch) -- I've got a pair of screenings to attend to, and yes one of them stars the fine fellow seen above. My expectations for I'll just come out and say it Wolf Man have taken a hit given the bad buzz so I did something I never do -- I watched a clip they released! Ever since David Naughton's werewolf transformation awoke something beastly in my own loins I cannot resist one, so I had to watch...

... the video of Mr. Abbott's turn in the hair-sprouting pants-shredding spotlight, and... well yeah, my expectations for this movie unfortunately remain basement-adjacent. Fingers crossed I am incorrect, or they at least see fit give us some good butt like that Kit Harington wolfman movie did. At least give us that to chew on! But in summation here is that bit of tranformation clip to keep you if not "entertained" at least distracted until I'm back tomorrow:

Colman Domingo Two Times

Eat The Night Right Up

Hey oh a new review from yours truly dropped over the weekend -- click here to read my thoughts on the French crime thriller slash family drama slash video game treatise Eat the Night and yes, yes, a thousand times yes, there is too much going on in this movie, but I still mostly liked it anyway. Obviously it doesn't hurt that the film's leading men (Erwan Kepoa Falé and Théo Cholbi) have some really hot sexual relations in the movie -- a funny factoid about them that I mention in the review is that both actors were also in Ira Sachs' film Passages! Which also had its own share of hot sexual relations and complicated characters. Mind you Eat the Night is no Passages but it's got its own thing going on that I found myself drawn to.  

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

I know people find Michael Shannon odd, and he is, but I personally am extremely drawn to his kind of odd, so this photo of him laying in bed in the fuzziest pants I have ever seen in the new issue of Interview Magazine -- where he's interviewed by his Bikeriders co-star Austin Butler, sigh -- is to me the coziest thing to greet a week with. I wanna climb in there and spoon so hard! I haven't read the chat yet but I imagine it's mostly about The End, his end-of-times musical with Tilda Swinton and George Mackay that was one of my favorites of last year (here is my review) -- The End is available to rent at home at all the places now so I say do it! It's not the easiest sit -- especially in the year that 2025 has already been -- but I think it's really quite brilliant myself. Anyway happy Monday from me and Big Mikey!

Pic of the Day

Today has gifted us with a brand new photo of Jonathan Bailey in the next Jurassic Park -- excuse me, Jurassic World -- film, and looking at the way that shirt is hugging those shoulders and biceps of his has me thinking that Jonny is coming for Alessandro Nivola's crown as the The Hottest Dude in Jurassic Land. (Sorry fans but Chris Pratt has been nulled and voided for becoming the king of the douchebags.) I guess we will find out on July 2nd if Jonny is able to flex and woo the Velociraptors so hard that they stop rampaging with hearts in their eyes. or if he has to use those guns for sexy violence instead! (click to embiggen)

Go See This Masterpiece

That gorgeous new poster for Mike Leigh's latest masterpiece Hard Truths dropped earlier this week (via) just in time for the incredible film to drop today in theaters -- click here if you're not in NYC and wondering if it's playing near you. It is hitting several cities besides us today and a heap more next Friday so hopefully you'll get your chance. I reviewed the film in the fall at NYFF right here -- it is fully ludicrous that it's a question mark whether leading actor Marianne Jean-Baptiste will be nominated for an Oscar for the movie because her work in this film blows every other performance of the year out of the water. And there's been some terrific on-screen acting this year! But her turn here towers above the rest, and if AMPAS doesn't nominate her it will once again delegitimsize itself as a gathering of any substance or meaning whatsoever. I mean I personally decided that a long while back but that's not going to keep me from clanging the bell every time they do it again! (I also celebrate good wins -- like the character Marianne plays I am secretly not entirely vitriol. Just damaged!) 

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

What a romantic! Elite actor Omar Ayuso is here to take us into the weekend looking like a 1994 boy-band star. It's like I can hear Boyz II Men's song "I'll Make Love To You" playing in my head, staring at that photo. Specifically that spoken word part. Remember when those songs would have a spoken word section in the middle? And they always gave those to the dude with the deepest nether-shaking voice. Ahhh memories. Anyway that. Happy Friday! (click to embiggen)

And Speaking of Barry Keoghan...

... his movie with the legendary Andrea Arnold directing, the one called Bird, can now be viewed from the comfort of your couch, or your bathtub, or Jacob Elordi's bathtub even, thanks to the fine folks at Mubi. I love love loved this movie (which also stars our other boyfriend Franz Rogowski) when I saw it last fall -- here is my Pajiba review -- and you should expect to see it on my list of favorite 2024 movies whenever I get around to taking five minutes to write that thing down for y'all. It is magic. (pic via)