Wrappin' It Up

As seen down below this week o' mine is pretty crowded with screenings and so I'll be checking out early basically every day  -- last night was the fancy-schmancy premiere of David Lowery's Mother Mary (I saw both Julio Torres and Patti Harrison in the lobby afterwards!)  while tonight I'm off to see the new version of The Mummy from director Lee Cronin. And when I tell you I have avoided all information on The Mummy so I could go in fresh I mean it -- I didn't even know until I decided to look up a picture of it for this post that everybody's favorite shitty boyfriend slash dick-flasher Jack Reynor of Midsommar fame is in the thing. Aww we've missed him. Anyway this is me saying bye, I gotta run. Or rather I gotta "wrap it up" hardy har get it cuz The Mummy... sigh...

Good grief my screening schedule this week is BONKERS (and this isn't even counting the Herzog 3D movie and JOHN WATERS LIVE on Saturday!)

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) April 13, 2026 at 2:20 PM

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Scream 2 (1997)

Cici: Drink with your brains, 

that's our motto.

A happy 49th birthday to the legend Sarah Michelle Gellar today! Yes it's true our beloved Buffy will be turning 50 next year -- I would say don't that make ya feel old but SMG is only a couple of months older than I am so let's just shut up and not think about any of that right now. Jinkies. Let's just celebrate this lady we love so very. Picking her role in the second Scream movie might feel a little random for this post but I maintain that her stellar work at humanizing the character of Cici in such a short window of time is part of why I actually (controversially?) prefer Scream 2 to the first movie. A recent re-watch of the original I Know What You Did Last Summer gave me the same impression -- SMG does Herculean emotional lifting with her screentime in these two 1997 slashers. She's so good! And yeah it blows that the Buffy reboot fell apart but let's hope that now that her kids are raised and she's ready to work again we'll be seeing lots of her shortly. The people demand their Smidge fix!

Highway to Heck If I Know

What have I told you a million times? I have told you a million times, "Don't watch horror movie trailers!" And what have I said simultaneously a million times? "Oh by the way here's a horror movie trailer. Which you should not watch!" Hey whaddya want from me -- if I don't type up a post I'm just sitting here staring at the news and nobody wants that. We allow my brain a shark's forward momentum or panic takes hold. And hey -- speaking of panic! (King of the transitions, this guy right here.) One of my favorite horror movie directors André Øvredal has a new one coming out! Let's hope it's better than his last, the mediocre Dracula riff The Last Voyager of the Demeter, which had its moments but felt studio-mangled and suffered from some bad CG. Otherwise he's the director of Troll Hunter, Scary Stories in the Dark (underrated honestly), and his to-date crowning achievement The Autopsy of Jane Doe, aka one of the Great Horror Films of the 21st Century. All I know about Passenger is it stars a bunch of people whose names I don't recognize plus Melissa Leo and I think it's about  somebody making the mistake of picking up the wrong person while driving. Other than that I saw Bloody Disgusting quote the director as saying he thinks this is his scariest movie yet, and that there's a bunch of stuff this trailer does not give away -- that's nice but I'm still not watching. But y'all feel free!

Passenger is out on May 22nd.

All of Them Staches

Years and Years luvvahs Russell Tovey and Dinoe Fetscher were reunited (both be-stached!!) at the Olivier Awards in the U.K. this past Sunday night -- Dino posted this picture on Instagram alongside several more pictures of himself looking studly in formalwear natch). I always want to re-watch Years and Years when I see these two reunited but then I remember how goddamned sad and scary that series is and my brain moves right along... one day it'll hopefully make for an easier re-watch! But that day is not today!

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Happy Tyriq Tuesday!

Did y'all see this video below? LOL.

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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

The Captain: My government murdered Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Bobby Kennedy, and John F. Kennedy.. My government overthrew good, honest, democratic leaders of the people in Chile, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, and Bolivia. Along with Britain, we carved up the Middle East, creating artificial geographical boundaries and installing puppet dictators. War itself became our most lucrative industry. Every bomb that's dropped, somebody makes a million dollars. You don't have to know where those bombs are exploding. You don't have to see the grieving mothers and the mangled bodies of their children. Eugene Debs gave this speech in Canton, Ohio, in 1918: 'Throughout history wars have been waged for conquest and plunder... The master class has always declared the wars. The subject class has always fought... They've taught you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command... When Wall Street says war, the press says war.'"

Well that speech hits home in 2026, huh? Anyway a happy birthday to the great Swedish director Ruben Östlund today! I was super sad when I read that his next movie The Entertainment System Is Down wasn't ready for Cannes this year so he's holding it off for an entire year for Cannes 2027 -- what, you're too good for another festival, Ruben?? The supposed reason is he's gunning for a third Palme d'Or -- which would break the record -- but, and I say this as a big fan, this feels terribly presumptious, Ruben. I mean you can think this sort of thing inside of your head but maybe don't let that narrative out into the world -- that shit draws the knives all on its own, my man. That said with a fantastic-seeming cast including Kirsten Dunst, Keanu Reeves, Julie Delpy, Tobias Menzies, Daniel Brühl, Lindsay Duncan, Nicholas Braun and Connor Swindells, and a right-up-his-alley micro/macrocosm class-warfare story about a bunch of people trapped on a long flight where the entertainment system goes down and they all presumably lose their minds, I'm expecting good things. Which is why making us wait an extra year is deviant behavior!

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Charles Melton Six (Plus) Times

You know I am just sitting here innocvently at my desk, just got to work, I start eating my breakfast cereal and I open up instagram and WHAM I am almost choked to death on a Cheerio by these photos of Charles Melton for Men's Health magazine suddenly smacking me upside the face. Obviously this is a rhetorical question and either way the answer is a defiant NO...

... but wasn't almost murdering us with that slutty i-D magazine photoshoot enough, Charles? I'm not getting any younger and there;'s only so much my heart can take. But I belabor a stupid argument -- obviously this is the good sort of surprise. Charles is making our Mondays brighter! Hit the jump for all the photos we've got so far (I do assume more will come because they always do)...

Good Morning, World

I don't really write about music very much here at MNPP unless it's Radiohead-related or it has something to do with a member of Radiohead making a movie score -- I am exaggerating a little but honestly not a lot! So when I got a press release that Claybourne Elder, the Broadway actor and hirsute hunk formerly of Gilded Age fame, was putting out a record of his takes on the "Great American Songbook" (including some from my nemesis Steven Sondheim) I took note of the hot picture of Claybourne on the album's cover and I scooted myself right along. So very much not my thing! But the man has been unloading some all-timer gratuitous press photos of himself in the weeks since -- the stache! -- to the point where I really could no longer ignore. Where I no longer want to ignore! So you win, Mr. Elder. You have dominated me. (No but really... just saying.) Hit the jump for a bunch more...

Please Dacre, Don't Hurt 'Em

Consider this a mea culpa to Dacre Montgomery since I wrote that I wasn't enamored with his performance in this weekend's horror movie Faces of Death in my review -- he is clearly having a whole lot of fun with his big performance and there are a couple of shots of him wearing a skin-tight body-suit thing (just from above the waist) where he is twisting and writhing and he looks super hot. That's not nothing! But I thought he was much better in last year's surprisingly terrific Gus Van Sant crime flick Dead Man's Wire, which I'm ashamed I never reviewed -- I haven't expected much from a GVS movie in awhile but that one reminded me how wonderful a director he can be. Straight-forward, low-key, thrilling and perfectly performed by Bill Skarsgård and Dacre -- if y'all never checked that one out I say do that! It's ace. Okay -- have a great weekend! I'm out. (pics via) 

Today's Mood

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)

Sgt O'Neil: Reminds me of a dog that I once had. It was a mangy old thing. And I am a cruel bastard, so I would whip it every which way. I'd beat on him just for looking at me. So, I figure if you hate on something for long enough, well, he just comes to love you anyway, just for those few moments when you don't.

You might think that quote is a weird one for me to choose as a "life lesson" to celebrate Charlie Hunnam's 46th birthday today with, to which I tell you -- we're talking about Charlie Hunnam. And Charlie could treat mt like a dog and whip me every day and I would love him anyway. I watched his King Arthur movie ffs. This stopped being a hypothetical long ago. Happy birthday, Charlie!

Pics of the Day

Rose of Nevada is the new "horror" film from Enys Men director Mark Jenkin -- if you've seen Enys Men then you probably understand why I put "horror" in quotes; it's because his movies are more surreal and uncanny than they are straight-up horror. They want to destabilize you in a way that's starting to feel wholly unique to Jenkin, two movies in -- I am a fan of them both, having seen Rose at NYFF last fall, and not just because this new one stars Callum Turner and George MacKay as ship-mates who look like they look in the photos seen here (via) from the set. The movie is hitting the UK on April 24th -- it comes out here in the U.S. in June so I'll try to say more then. Until then just spend some time today imagining being these boys' bunk-mate -- it's absolutely what I'm doing!

Billy Magnussen Three Times

Awww we're so proud of Billy, getting his own big feature in The New York Times -- read it here (thx Mac). He's talking his buzzy new series The Audacity, which sees him playing a tech-bro asshole to supposedly great effect -- the reviews I've seen have been great! We've been rooting for great things for Billy since forever so this all makes us happy, and I guess I will watch this show even if spending time with tech-bro douchebags doesn't really sound like a thing I wanna do in the year 2026. I said the same thing about finance assholes before I started watching Industry and obviously that turned out to be dumb on my part! Anyway these photos aren't as slutty as the ones in EW earlier this week (to get back to the important things) but he looks lovely as ever. ETA oh and here's a gif from a little video too:

The Walking Man

The horror video-game adaptation Exit 8 is out in movie theaters today and as I said back when I shared the first killer poster and trailer for it -- this movie rules, go see it. I really dug it, but I am admittedly an easy mark for liminal horror -- I have a feeling the upcoming and similarly-vibed Backrooms movie will very much be my jam as well. Anyway Neon, the studio releasing Exit 8, have a small collection of Exit 8 merch available on their site as of today and I'd be remiss if I didn't point you in the direction of the limited edition poster seen above -- you can grab it over at their store for pre-order right now. It's fantastic! Love it. This is turning out to be one of those movies where I'm wanting to collect all the posters -- they all kick ass. They also have a bag and a t-shirt in their store so click around if you're so inclined. And go see Exit 8! And tell me what you thought! Well tell me if it's anything other than, "Your stupid and have terrible opinions," I'd prefer if we put a pin in those comments for 2026. There's a lot going on, in case you hadn't noticed. Aim that vitriol somewhere else please and thank you!

Leslie Vernon Rises From the Grave!

If you've been visiting MNPP since its early days... good grief we're all so old now right? Wait that wasn't the point I was making. My point is I started this site in 2005 (good lord) and in 2006 a little meta-horror flick called Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon came out, and I was obsessed. I wrote about it a ton. I have the action figure; I have the poster. (And here is my original review.) Its hottie leading man Nathan Baesel even has a tag here on the site -- one that hasn't been added to in a decade, which was the last time I whined about wanting a sequel. 

Well here it is twenty years after that film dropped and at a screening this week to celebrate that milestone the film's director Scott Glosserman dropped the news that we are in fact now getting a sequel! And everyone involved is returning! Holy shit! I really thought this day had passed. Not to be rude (ti's hard to get movies made!) but Glosserman somehow turned the hot buzz off the original into a whole lot of nothing -- he made an MTV horror movie in 2011 called The Truth Below that went nowhere and that was all she wrote on his career apparently. 

I haven't actually sat down and watched Leslie Vernon in a very very long time, but weirdly, a couple times over the past couple of years, it's popped into my head and I've been thinking about revisiting -- well here's the nudge I needed. If you don't remember what it's about or if, hell some of you weren't even born when this movie came out (good grief) -- the movie tells the story of a journalist named Taylor (Angela Goethals) who decides to make a documentary where she follows the titular slasher killer Leslie (Baesel) on his stalking and killing rounds. Obviously this project is a doomed one. It's very good, or at least I remember it being very good -- we'll have to see how it's aged. But I remember both of the leads being really solid and it being genuinely unsettling. Anybody watch it recently?

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Sufjan Turns Water Sports Into Poetry

No the above image is unfortunaely not the cover of a new Sufjan Stevens album -- god, imagine! That would make my millennium. No, this is new old news instead -- via Stereogum comes the story that apparently when Sufjan was in college at the New School in the 90s he wrote a little chapbook of poetry that included poems he wrote every time he had to pee, alongside a photo of the place he peed. This came via a person who knew him in college and is now a professor at Penn State -- he showed the book to his students and obviously, they took this wonderful news to the internet to share lightning quick. There are more images at the link up top but I think the one below really sets the scene best. This is so him. He needs to reprint this book immediately. I know I'd rather die than let anyone read all the poetry I wrote in college (did y'all know I graduated with a Minor in Poetry? Can't you tell from my exceptional use of da English language?) but this is something different. This is History!

Good Morning, World

Russell Tovey should feel flattered this morning... I mean he probably should feel flattered every morning because a lot of gay men just spent their night having dirty dreams about him. But specifically he should feel flattered this morning because last night I posted a couple of these photos from Behind the Blinds magazine on Bluesky convinced they were leftovers from his 2022 photoshoot for BTB mag (posted here). But they're not! They are brand new! In other words I apparently think he hasn't aged a day in four years. 

That's nothing to spit at, Russ! I think I've aged about fifty years in the past four but I'm not holding it against me -- it's the goddamned world. It's a conspiracy! Anyway so yeah they are indeed new photos (via),  and this being Behind the Blinds magazine there will surely be dozens more to drop before we're done. But today, this Friday, this morning, we're posting what we have. Hit the jump for that...