Well today turned into a short day -- got in late, trotting out early! Not complaining! But before I head out lemme link to a pair of reviews I've dropped for this weekend's movies -- click here to read my thoughts on How To Make a Killing with Glen Powell, and click here to read my just-dropped thoughts on the lo-fi sci-fi flick Redux Redux. The latter's great, the former's a stinker, but hey Glen Powell looks like he looks there above so who am I to judge? Well okay yeah with movies, movies I'm exactly the person to judge -- a movie critic. Reputable or not, whatever, I called myself one so it's true. But if Glen wants to come choke me out between those biceps I sure won't argue. Have a great weekend, everyone!
The pervasive sense that the movement of Time has lost all meaning isn't just for our own individual sliding-down-the-shower-wall moments any more! The movies have taken notice! Time Loop Movies might be somewhat more prominent in Japanese cinema right now -- I think it must have been the one-two-punch success of One Cut of the Deadand Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, which were then followed up by River and the upcoming horror flick Exit 8 (and I should note that every single movie I just mentioned is terrific and you should seek them all out). It's not like we haven't had our own love affair with this subgenre blooming in our cinematic margins, though -- look no further than the entire ouerve of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who've moved on up to the Marvel level of filmmaking after making a name for themselves with small-nudgeted mind-benders a la The Endless.
Point being that while these sorts of movies have been around for ages they seem very hot right now if you know where to look, and where you should be looking is for the nearest theater playing writer-director-brothers Kevin and Matthew McManus' new movie Redux Redux, a wham-bammer or a brain-bender that's in theaters today. I missed it at Fantasia last summer but finally caught up with it this week and this should prove a calling-card of cinematic excellence for the filmmakers previously behind the unnerving horror The Block Island Sound.
That movie also starred McManus sister Michaela, and here she turns up again to play our lead Irene, a broken woman who's taken to jumping through wormholes to chase down and murder the man who murdered her daughter -- and yeah okay so this is a multi-verse movie, not a time-travel movie, but it plays out basically the same as the process has becomes no less than a hyper-violent Groundhog Day for her.
As in all of the previous movies mentioned the tech and special-effects are all lo-fi, battered and beaten crapola a la Ridley Scott's Alien freighter -- the focus remains on the way these science-fiction concepts are mangling with the emotions and mental-stability of our characters, and this quest that Irene is on is a doozy of one. Forcing her to re-live her trauma in an endless circle, violence begetting violence until the very idea of revenge reveals itself to be as empty and useless as it truly is. There can be no catharsis when her daughrter's killer inescapably remains in an infinite number of universes -- it's a brilliant way of showing that there is only sense in trying to fix ourselves, and that the monsters that haunt us will forever haunt us if we can't let them go or find some way to move on.
For Irene this comes in a couple forms -- she strikes up a sporadic one-sided love-affair with dreamy dude Jonathan (played by dreamy dude Jim Cummings), and she gets way too mixed up with another one of the victims of her daughter's killer, a young woman named Mia (Stella Marcus) who wants her own revenge. And to the filmmakers' extensive credit absolutely none of this plays out like we think it will -- their script swerves in all sorts of unexpected ways, managing to be an absolute thrill-ride while never losing sight of its profound emotional stakes. I'll just end with this -- if thoughtful genre movies like Redux Redux were what Hollywood was actually churning out right now we'd be so much better off. As movie-lovers, as a species. Go see this movie.
So has Pillion opened in a theater near you yet? Keeping up with this relentless release has been a thorn in my side for months and months and I'm honestly just glad that as of this week or next it will I think finally have expanded as far as it will be expanding and we can move on to the 4K blu-ray with X-rated deleted scenes being released. That's not even me being my usual just-making-shit-up self -- they're the ones who made that shit up for headlines (see here). The only excised footage we've gotten any confirmation on existing is a straight-on shot of Alex's pierced prosthetic and honestly -- it's a fake penis, who cares? I am curious if the version y'all are seeing in theaters is the same one I saw (and reviewed!) at NYFF though. Anyway stay tuned for physical media news on this probably in the near-ish future -- I already told you that the terrific score is being released by A24 on vinyl, check that news here. Until then we've got this new photoshoot (via) of big boy Alex looking very handsome and unfortunately very clothed after the jump...
Pansy: You can't go in or out of a supermarket without being harassed by those grinning, cheerful charity workers begging you for money for their stupid causes. Why they gotta skin their teeth like that? Cheerful, grinning people. Can't stand 'em. Loitering out there, demanding your hard-earned cash. It's a scam. They're scamming people. Can't trust 'em. They want your phone number, your email. I asked one of them - I, I said, "Why do you want my postcode? I might as well just give you my front door key so you can bruk into my house, tief out my things, and kill my only child." And nobody calls the police on them. Police wouldn't come anyway. They're too busy harassing Black boys walking. And him round the corner with that dog. Got it dressed up in a red coat and green booties. Why has the dog got on a coat? It's got fur, innit? It must be sweating under there, stinking. That's cruelty to animals, that is, putting it under all that plastic. I've got a mind to report him to the NSPCG or whatever they call 'em. And her over there with that fat baby. Cold, cold, cold, and she's walking up and down the street with nothing but a big pink bow on its bald head so everybody can tell it's a girl, like I care. Parading it around in the little outfit. Not dressed for the weather. Nah. With pockets. What's a baby got pockets for? What's it gonna keep in its pocket? A knife?
Funny enough the punchline of this rant just came up in conversation in my house like two days ago -- we were so seen by Pansy. So seen. And I don't even have it in me to get into how robbed Marianne Jean-Baptiste was at the Oscars -- not even nominated for this brilliant, funny, heart-rending performance. The Oscars are a fucking scam. Ahem. No not getting into it! Just wishing the legendary Mike Leigh a happy 83rd birthday today. He's got a new movie coming out this year, did you hear? It doesn't have a title yet but per usual four of his previously-used actors are showing up -- Marion Bailey (she's Leigh's partner and has been in many of his movies over the years including All or Nothing and Meantime and Vera Drake and Mr. Turner to name but a few), Paul Jesson (another many-times-used actor), Kate O’Flynn (Happy-Go-Lucky), and then Alice Bailey Johnson who was in Hard Truths -- she was the girl in the furniture store who memorably got yelled at by Pansy. We don't know anything else about it but any year with a new Mike Leigh movie is incapable of being all bad, so thank goodness for this news. We need it.
Running late this morning thanks to a brief and non-life-threatening plumbing emergency at home -- thankfully Jake shared these balcony espresso fantasy dream-shots with us yesterday so I had something prepped to go quick-like! He's always looking out for us.
A lazy pajama-clad late morning with Jake on the fire escape sipping coffee -- now there's the dream. Sopping up an inch of water from an exploded sink -- notsomuch. I'm just gonna pretend Jake was my morning instead! Voila all's better. Happy Friday, everyone.
Just what I needed today (since the high from those Charles Melton pictures I shared earlier had already worn off; I am very needy these days) -- a new photoshoot of my beautiful Parisian boy Lucas Bravo! These come to us via Vestal magazine whatever that is where you can also read a conversation with the Emily in Paris actor, although I forwarn you since I read it hoping there'd be a quote to share -- it's kind of a snooze. Similarly it's not the greatest photoshoot he's ever done but given the competition he's provided for that title over the years -- and given how beautiful he is just naturally, without much effort needed -- who cares. I'll take staring at him over staring at the news anymore today. Hit the jump for the photos...
I have chosen to believe that Charles Melton received career advice from his May December co-star Natalie Portman while making that Todd Haynes masterpiece and that's why he's become the "fashion brand ambassador" for several brands in the past couple of years -- not because I don't trust Charles to make his own choices, but it entertains me whenever I think about those ridiculous Natalie Portman perfume commercials for Dior and it makes me chuckle picturing her taking him aside and saying, "This. Do this." Anyway these new photos for Davidoff (thx Mac) are hot as fuck -- no surprise given it's a topless Charles Melton! I probably prefer the sweatier stachier Coach commercial he did just because I have my own personal fetishes but either way god he pretty. Hit the jump for them all...
I have developed such a crush on the big-donged 6'5" tall Alpha rage-zombie -- properly known as the actor Chi Lewis-Parry -- from the 28 Years Later movie, ever since 1) I really really loved The Bone Temple and 2) he came out as one of us, one of us, on his Instagram...
Anyway he shared the top photo today to celebrate that The Bone Temple is now on VOD -- if you haven't seen it yet go rent it immediately! As I said in my review I consider this the best of the franchise and yes I am including the first film that kicked the entire thing off, and I'm now emotionally invested in there being a third movie. Since this one disappointed at the box office we need to show the people in charge that there's interest in contiinuing...
Alright I know some of you people are watching Ryan Murphy's Love Story series, detailing the tragic but deeply, deeply sexy romance between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette -- I haven't started it yet so tell me what you're thinking in the comments. I'm especially curious (because of course I am, JFK Jr. has a tag on this here website after all) about this fellow seen above's performance, since as incredibly handsome he clearly is I'm still not seeing John-John, at least visually, in the pictures I have seen from the show (as seen below). Oh but there's our boy Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein too -- I'm pretty excited to see that. But what are y'all thinking? I have seen mainly positive reviews so far!
Remember Scream Queens? The Ryan Murphy series that ran for two seasons a decade ago didn't rewrite the television medium but it's one of Murhpy's most entertaining efforts, goofy in a way that embraced Murphy's tendencies toward chaos -- the slapdash quality that sinks so much of his work was there a feature, not a bug. Anyway that was where I was introduced to Glen Powell as the dipshit hunk Chad Radwell, a perfect distillation of the actor's strengths right up front. That character's smugness wasn't meant to be charming... until it was, thanks to Powell's balls-deep performance. Point being I've been rooting for Powell all these years because he charmed me so fully right out of the gate.
But the iteration of Glen Powell Movie Star that we have in 2026 has become a different beast altogether, and the limits of this current rictis-grin persona of Powell's meet and are beat by their match in John Patton Ford's How To Make a Killing (his follow-up to Emily the Criminal with Aubrey Plaza), out this weekend. What this movie -- which is based on the book Kind Hearts and Coronets, previously turned into a very fun movie with Alec Guinness in 1949 -- needs is a real asshole. Somebody who isn't desperately trying to be liked while also murdering his rich-prick relatives in order to get their wealth.
The actor who played Chad Radwell ten years ago maybe could've pulled this off. But Glen Powell V.2026 cannot. The movie works so hard trying to make his character Becket into a good guy -- despite all, you know, the killing shit -- that it deflates any and all of its satire, instead wandering around some unpleasant uncanny valley for two hours. Powell's face is frozen into an action-figure smirk for the entirety of this thing's runtime, and it's impossible not to wonder what an actor who was actually enjoying their slide into depravity might've brought -- an actor with an edge, somebody who brings a real sense of danger. A Jack O'Connell or LaKeith Stanfield could've rocked this.
The character really needs to have some crazy in his eyes; a sense that he's finally finding himself by discovering and embracing his monstrous lineage of rich shits. But both the movie itself and Powell keep backing off of that at every opportunity. There's no sense of developing tragedy or mounting lunacy -- it's just a bunch of stuff that happens, the end. And it's a genuine disappointment because the good version of this movie is so close, so possible, but it's just a series of self-owning stumbles instead. A cowardly trip, man.
Sammy: I've watched you forever, Caden, but you've never really looked at anyone other than yourself. So watch me. Watch my heart break. Watch me jump. Watch me learn that after death there's nothing. There's no more watching. There's no more following. No love. Say goodbye to Hazel for me. And say it to yourself, too. None of us has much time.
RIP to the great Tom Noonan, who gave multiple performances of note across his long and varied career -- Manhunter is one of the few Michael Mann movies I can tolerate and it's thanks to him -- but nevertheless will always be Sammy, sweet sweet Sammy, the man who breaks my heart every single time in Charlie Kaufman's masterpiece. The elliptical way that Kaufman structures the character of Caden's life-long best friend who's always being edged out, always forced to the sidelines, is as brilliant as anything else in the script -- the way Noonan is seen peering out from behind things before Caden's even "met" him, because of course the way a self-centered narcissist would remember his own story would shove someone that isn't himself or one of his temporary love interests into the margins -- is moving in itself. But the way that Noonan plays Sammy, the love and the heartbreak that he channels into that role? It's tremendous, and if anybody had known how to react to Synecdoche in its moment as it demanded and deserved then Noonan would have been, should have been, a Best Supporting Actor contender. It moves me more with every re-watch. Brilliant subtle work. (The way he sort of shrugs as he jumps? My god.)
Tom Noonan should have gotten an Oscar nomination for his performance in Charlie Kaufman’s SYNECDOCHE NEW YORK #ripking
I can't say that I expected to see the little kid from the Quiet Place movies rocking not much more than a black thong on the cover of a magazine on the docket but I guess Noah Jupe wanted us all to know he's a big boy now. And so he has, thanks to Perfect magazine, which put him in a variation of the same Tom Ford slut-outfit that Alexander Skarsgard rocked back in December for Dust magazine -- should I do a "Who Wore It Best?" poll? Well we're here, why not...
Anyway I hadn't even put together the two times I saw Hamnet this past Fall that I knew Noah Jupe already from several kid performances -- he'd already in that film aged up into Hot Young Man so perhaps I'd set up a mental block. I even saw him live in person at a Hamnet Q&A and no dots were connected. It wasn't until I saw this photoshoot and realized I needed to google his age and make sure we weren't being led into a mine-field when I was like, "Oh shit right -- he was in those earlier things." Don't let them ever tell you that a black thong won't gain you name recognition, fellas. Hit the jump for the entire shoot...
Yes I am still doing Sundance reviews! Lucky you people. Over the weekend my take on one of my favorites of the fest dropped -- click on over to Pajiba to read my thoughts on director Rafael Manuel's Filipiñana, a luxuriously filmed class satire set on an extremely hot day at a Filipino country club where the wealth and power disparity between the rich and the poor is baked to a crisp under the sun and the unpsaring glare of the camera. Really great movie and last week it was announced that the folks at Kino Lorber picked it up for a proper release this year so you will be able to see this one eventually! I'll keep my eyes out for it. Terrific flick.
Well -- it happened! Sort of! I don't want to get too spoilery with regards to this past weekend's episode of Industry in case some of you who do watch the show haven't had the chance to watch Sunday's episode, or if some of you who might want to watch the show in the future would rather not know, but what we'd been theorizing based off the trailers for this season with regards to Kit Harginton's character Sir Henry Muck (god I love that name and will continue to repeat it whenever given the chance) happened this week... if not exactly in the way we thought it might in ways that were close and sexy enough to matter and make me a happy little homosexual all the same. God I love this show! Thank you to every one of you who told me to start watching when I was trying to decide before the holidays -- s'paid off. Hit the jump for some sexiness (and some spoilers)...
"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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