Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from: 

Brief Encounter (1945) 

Laura: Fred, dear Fred. There's so much that I want to say to you. You're the only one in the world with enough wisdom and gentleness to understand. If only it was somebody else's story and not mine. As it is, you're the only one in the world that I can never tell. Never never. Because even if I waited until we were old, old people and told you then, you'd be bound to look back over the years and be hurt. And my dear, I don't want you to be hurt. You see, we're a happily married couple and let's never forget that. This is my home. You're my husband. And my children are upstairs in bed. I'm a happily married woman - or I was, rather, until a few weeks ago. This is my whole world, and it's enough, or rather, it was until a few weeks ago. But, oh, Fred, I've been so foolish. I've fallen in love. I'm an ordinary woman. I didn't think such violent things could happen to ordinary people.

Don't Forget...

... the third seasons of both The White Lotus and Yellowjackets are back onn T.V. this weekend! And I have illustarated this news with two photos of Sam Nivola, son of Alessandro, who is on TWL so you don't forget. Of course Arnold Schwarzenegger already did that work for me when he told us all to keep our eyes peeled for his son Patrick's bare ass. What a proud papa!

Congrats to the Dorian Winners!

The winners of the annual Dorian awards have been announced -- voted on by members of GALECA, an orgination of entertainment critics of the queer sort amongst whom I happily count myself -- and we did okay! I only voted for a couple of the winners but I'm not angry that we gave The Substance a near damned sweep -- that's a lot of fun! This ain't your grandma's queer critic's awards show! Anyway Challengers did well too (winning score and screenplay) and we gave our rising star award to Jonathan Bailey! Jonathan Bailey always gets a rise outta me that's for sure. Hit the jump and I'll share the full press release with y'all...

The Future of The History of Sound

Some super fine Friday news landing as Mubi has announced they've snapped up the U.S. rights (while Universal and Focus are releasing it internationally) to Moffie and Living director Oliver Hermanus' gay WWI-era drama The History of Sound, which stars Josh O'Connor and Paul Mescal -- see my many posts to date on this film at this link -- and they plan to release it this year. We need things to look forward to given the state of the world so this is helping! 

May Showers Meet Umbrellas at Criterion

One of the most beautiful and romantic and perfect movies ever made, Jacques Demy's musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, starring Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo as perhaps the most gorgeous couple ever put on-screen, is getting a 4K upgrade from the Criterion Collection in May! We knew this was coming because the restoration of the film played theaters earlier this year but it's still banner news! They have released this film in a box-set of Demy's movies before but I don't think any of us who love it will be able to resist upgrading it to 4K -- if ever a movie was made for 4K it's this one, with its color-scape that will make your eyes explode.

I watch this movie about every six months and never grow tired of it and I could just post pictures from it all day honestly, but Criterion has a busy May release calendar -- they're dropping six movies! Seven actually since one of these is a double-feature! So we should move on and get to the rest of the month. That double feature is Richard Lester's two Musketeers movies from 1973 and 1974, which star Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway, Geraldine and Chaplin among many others -- these movies are a lot of swashbuckling big-cast 70s fun. 

Next up a pair of classics I've been meaning to see for a very long time but still haven't yet -- Charles Burnett's 1978 Los Angeles poetic race drama Killer of Sheep and Abbas Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us from 1999. Killer of Sheep always make the "best movies ever made" lists while the Kiarostami film is sometimes called his greatest achievment and given the competition for that title that's really something. Any lovers of these two out here? 

Then there's Bruce Robinson's two Richard E. Grant showcases Withnail & I and How To Get Ahead in Advertising -- these I know are both fantastic movies since I've seen them both! I'm especially infatuated with the latter, which I only saw a couple of years ago and was blown away by. It feels super ahead of its time and is very very very funny. And then finally the sixth release is a 4K upgrade of In the Heat of the Night, because if there's one thing we need 200% more of in 2025 it's slapping white racists across the face. Gimme!

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Aaron Pierre Three Times

(via)

Good Morning, World

We somehow made it to week even though this week felt one thousand days long and I am extremely on edge this morning -- I almost tore a Stroller Karen limb from limb and threw her baby into traffic at the post office this morning for poking me in the arm and accusing me of cutting in front of her when I very clearly saw her milling about nowhere near any line when I walked in and up to the empty window -- who does that, just pokes a total stranger in the arm? Entitled assholes that's who! -- Ahem. Well we almost made it through this week -- we still have this entire span of Friday to go! And it's seeming like a lot already. Let's hope we can do it without tossing infants into traffic. (I make no promises.) Anyway there's some naked Russell Tovey! If you missed my Sundance review of Plainclothes last night read it here -- that photo is not from Plainclothes, I actually have no idea what it is from, but it's Russell and that's enough. And don't go poking me in the arm for answers!

Cruising For An Emotional Bruising

I've made it pretty clear here on the site that it's been a rough week or so for me and y'all have been very kind in wishing me well, I appreciate it. And I only bring it up now again because part of what was weighing on me was writing a movie review of all things -- sometimes writing is a blessing and frees you of things and sometimes it's hard as fuck and makes you root around in shit you don't feel like rooting around in. And it was more of the latter when I wrote up my thoughts on the gay drama Plainclothes starring Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey this week. The movie is good, mind you! It just stirred things up and this wasn't the best week for that. Anyway click on over to Pajiba to read the review. Some of the stuff that comes up in there I've mentioned in other pieces before so if you're long-time readers it'll sound familiar. Anyway Plainclothes -- terrific and well acted stuff! The end. (For today.) 

And Now, A Joe Keery Beach Break

I can hear the sounds of a thousand clicks and two thousand fingers pinching and zooming on their phone screens ringing through the air by posting that photo above of Stranger Things and Fargo hairdo and fuzzy boy hot-piece Joe Keery -- good grief, Joe! What a show. I'm too lazy (and day-drunk as mentioned in our previous post) to look up where Joe was in these photos, or to even link to the original sources as there were a couple -- let me have this laziness today please, and in return you may hit the jump for a couple dozen more photos of one hot cuppa Joe...

We Have Won the Jacob Elordi Jackpot

Forgot to mention this morning that today was going to be a quiet one because I had a funeral to go to this morning -- loving that 2025! -- but I'm back now, if a little bit day-drunk from the reception so forgive me any typos I miss. Anyway! Last week I told you that On Swift Horses the queer drama that promises to have Jacob Elordi and Babylon star Diego Calva going at it a bunch, has a release date of April 25th. Well lo and be beheld we now have a trailer like cockwork excuse me clockwork. (That typo was on purpose.)

The trailer very much knows what it is selling, and what it is selling is Jacob Elordi being hot and getting gay, and so it's rife with such imagery because we deserve our respites and distractions right now and somebody, bless them, knew that. Here is the trailer:

And after the jump a slew more gifs of note...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

After that one-two hoo-boy hotness punch of our boy Noah Centineo yesterday (see here and especially here) I had to spend some time staring at Noah Centineo instead of, you know, thinking about literally anything else happening in the world -- and that led me to the realization...

... that Noah's Calvin Klein campaign in 2019 went woefully under-reported here at MNPP HQ. I don't know what the hell else I was busy with at that moment, but all it apparently, shamefully, merited were two posts -- here and here -- when there was so very much more love coming from him! 

So today I right this egregious wrong and fling a great big pile of that campaign the attention it deeply, deeply deserved back then. And for serious going through those several videos and making these gifs was as much for me as it was for you, believe you me! Now hit the jump for mounds, literal actual mounds, of the Noah goods...

Noah Centineo Three More Times

Noah Centineo was apparently having none of my "innocent" fan-girling out over his hair earlier -- see how less than two hours later he's gone and turned my filthy mind back up to eleven with an extremely hot  new photoshoot for Behind the Blinds magazine (via)? My goodness, Noah! You scoundrel! We only have a couple of photos right now (I will surely share the rest when we have them) but they're all making me spiral (in the sexy way) so hit the jump to check them all...

Finally Brutalist Vinyl!

I had mixed but mostly positive feelings about Brady Corbet's Oscar-nominated epic The Brutalist -- read my review here -- but one of its absolute tippy-top highlights of the movie is its astonishing also-nominated score from Daniel Blumberg, and I have been screaming at anyone who will listen that they need to drop the vinyl since I saw the movie all those many months ago. And today I got my wish! The pre-order for it just went up, click here and buy it and they will send you a copy on May 30th. Looks like a gorgeous perfectly designed package too -- they did right by it! 2024 was a terrific year for film music -- I think the scores for Challengers and Conclave are just as good and I've had trouble choosing between the three all awards season long. But I really think this one might win. It's so good.

Back Up Mick's Creek

The Wolf Creek horror franchise is so underrated that I don't think most people even think of it as a "franchise" -- the original 2005 film is a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned but I feel as if most people's connection stops there when it shouldn't, since the film's 2013 sequel is a blast and the 2016 series that lasted two seasons is also fantastic. They're all good to great! Every bit of it! Anyway that makes me excited to read the news this morning that they are making another Wolf Creek movie -- horror icon John Jarratt will play the savage Outback serial killer Mick Taylor once again, while being joined by Laura Gordon and slab-o-man Jay Ryan, seen above. (Funny enough I actually went looking for a photo of Ryan to use for this post and realized I'd ogled him here before when he got cast as the older version of Ben in the second film of the It franchise.) Director Greg McLean will only be producing the film, not directing -- Sean Lahiff, whose work has mostly been in editing (he edited Wolf Creek 2 as well as Natalie Erika James' killer 2020 horror movie Relic) will be directing. Oh and its title is Wolf Creek: Legacy. Here is how they describe the plot:  

"Wolf Creek: Legacy follows a family of American tourists who wander innocently into Mick Taylor’s hunting grounds…. when the parents sacrifice themselves to save their children, the kids find themselves alone, lost and hunted in the vast Australian wilderness."

Okay so what I am realizing from reading that is we might not want to get too attached to Jay Ryan's character haha. But Mick versus kids! That already sounds deeply fucked up, given what a horrific sadist that character's been over the years.  I'm in!

Noah Centineo Five Times

I consider Noah Centineo's gorgeous wavy pile of perfect hair to be a balm for the mood -- staring at it makes me feel better and I hope it will work similar miracles for you. Obviously staring at other parts of Noah does the trick too but I am feeling surprisingly innocent today -- I suppose the state of the world has me vulnerable, god forbid! -- so let's be simple, pure, G-rated. These photos are from Sharp magazine (thx Mac) -- there's an interview too, right here -- and you can see them all (with a cameo by his Recruit co-star Teo Yoo!) right after the jump...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Cooper Koch to save the day...

Smoke All of Them If Ya Got Them

Quiet day, I know -- what little of it I haven't spent doom-scrolling I spent working on a really difficult-to-write Sundance review (and yes that photo of Tom Blyth seen there above is a clue) and then suddenly it's 4:30 somehow. Just a hard day all around but don't worry about me -- I'll manage to pull myself out of this gloom eventually so I can get back to distracting y'all from it. We all need a good wallow now and then -- especially these days. Let yourselves wallow! Just promise yourselves it's temporary because we need each other, now more than ever. 

I am having trouble writing, getting up, putting one foot in front of the other. Existing feels absurd

— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 11:09 AM