Thursday, July 10, 2025

A Murder of Bots


I realized a couple of weeks ago that the time when I get right home from work and am feeling my most existentially aghast might be better spent catching up on some T.V. shows than the usual habit of staring into yonder abyss. And so that's how I caught up with the shows Murderbot as well as (finally) Squid Game -- well I'm only halfway into season two of the latter but I plan on binging it through this weekend to catch up. Anyway I'm enjoying both series (save the weird homophobia that Squid Game keeps mucking about with) so I was very happy to hear today's news that Murderbot has officially gotten a second season renewal. Anybody else watching Murderbot? S'good right?

Supes of the Day


There's a scene very early on in James Gunn's Superman that is the best scene in the entire movie. And as good as the movie is -- and it's perfectly good! -- one wishes that one scene had been the template for all of the scenes around it. It's the scene where Clark Kent (David Corenswet) and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) fall into each other's arms in the comfort of her apartment, safe from prying eyes -- we quickly learn that the sarcastic banter the two have perfected at work in the Daily Planet is a cover for their downlow relationship (of three months), and the Lois in this movie is fully aware that Clark is Superman's disguise. She starts ribbing Clark for publishing easy interviews with his alter-ego in their paper, and so he playfully suggests she interview him this time. 

This being Lois f'ing Lane though she chooses to ignore Clark's patronizing tone and snatch at the opportunity to interview the biggest story in the world, relationship or not -- she does warn him, but he's Superman right? We've already seen him at this point take mega-punches from flying monstrosities -- surely he can handle some questions from a mere lady reporter. (That's not me talking -- you can clearly, and to the film's benefit, see Lois bristle at Clark's condescension.)

What follows is a wallop of a scene where we watch two entirely game actors slapping dialogue and actual (can you believe it) ideas back and forth at one another like a verbal Wimbledon -- it's the best action scene in the movie and it's basically two people sitting on chairs the entire time. Corenswet and Brosnahan have mega-chemistry, and what the characters are debating -- the reality of what Superman's god-like powers mean in a complicated world with borders nad laws -- sets the and tone and the story's main thrust for everything that comes after it. Point being: whoever came up with this scene deserves an enormous raise.

If all of Superman had adhered to that emotional and intellectual coherence this film would be a stone-cold insta-classic -- it's sure got a pile of great ingrediants and ideas bouncing around. The cast is pretty much head to toe wonderful -- I'll admit Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder will always be the Clark & Lois I picture when somebody asks me to picture Clark & Lois but the two here are far and away the best iteration of the greatest couple in comic-dom that we've seen since then. 

So it's truly a shame that after this scene the two barely share the screen again for the rest of the film! The Donner films (and a few television series since then) knew that Superman works best as a romance-story --  as much as the villainous Lex Luthor (here played with delightful relish by a spit-flecked Nicholas Hoult) has come to represent Superman's greatest antagonist it's the relationship with Lois, as our cynical but hopeful representative of humanity, that really beats the Big Blue Boy Scout's heart. 

And it's not that Brosnahan doesn't get stuff to do in the meantime. While the hero is off fighting kaiju and slipping into pocket dimensions she's working with what she's got to straighten out the world and it ultimately integral to its saving. And perhaps Gunn didn't want the film to solely define her in relation to Clark & Supes -- I get that. But there's no denying the film feels its most alive and meaningful when all its extra stuff (so much extra stuff) gets swept aside and it focuses on that heart. And one does wish they'd found a way to really anchor the movie around that more consistently.

But still -- a perfectly good time. Whenever the John Williams' theme swept in my tear-ducts spontaneously erupted, and adorable Krypto more than earns his keep. It's not that there's anything absolutely terrible on hand that I can point to here -- well except that maybe a couple of girly girl characters on-screen come off as an eensy bit misogynistic. It's more just a lack of focus that turns out to be Gunn's Kryptonite. How much of that is the no-doubt-suffocating pressure to reboot an entire Cinematic Universe being heaped onto him I'll leave to the business-side pundits -- as for Superman, the movie itself, it's not a fatal glitch in the matrix. But it is a Trojan Horse that splits everything at its seams somewhat. I guess that's just the movies in 2025 though -- nothing can be just itself. Everything's gotta be everything to everybody. Superman most of all.


Five Frames From ?






What movie is this?

Good Morning, World


It's been awhile since Miguel Ángel Silvestre fed us this well so enjoy it while it's here -- the former Sense8er stripped to his skivvies for a new Armani beauty ad and I made us some gifs for our Thursday morning rituals. Hit the jump for all of those plus the video itself...

Wednesday, July 09, 2025

Boys in the Badezimmer


The classic 1980 German queer flick Taxi Zum Klo (aka "Taxi to the Toilet") is celebrating its 45th anniversary this November -- although it didn't hit the U.S. until October of 1981 where it played the New York Film Festival and oh to've witnessed some truly surprised biddies in that audience -- and so they've gone and given it a 4K restoration! And one does wonder why the 45th anniversary is so special but I suppose that's just how it worked out timing-wise.   Anyway! Said restoration will be getting a theatrical roll-out and it's premieiering here in NYC at the Metrograph on August 1st. So we've got that poster above (great poster) and the trailer down below to share. Not sure where it heads after NYC but this link should eventually prove helpful in figuring that out. Can you believe I only saw this movie the first time a few months ago? I'm a very bad gay.


A Penn Badgley Break


I feel attacked.

Five Frames From ?






What movie is this?

Who Wore It Best?


I realize that I ended yesterday with a "Which is hotter?" poll between Superman stars David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult so this is getting redundant but whatcha gonna do when Supes himself posts side-by-side photos of himself and Nicky sporting (generally) the same outfit? Yes he did it as a joke but we still have to ask!


And also, and more importantly, this gives me the perfect excuse I was looking for to post the several more photos of Nicky at the premiere yesterday in his leather pants that dropped. Far be it from me to deny a gallery of such splendor. Hit the jump for them....

Good Morning, World


A picture like this of model and sometime actor Nyle DiMarco (via) almost fools me into thinking that the season known as summer is a good thing -- but then I remember how I spent a few hours wandering the streets in between screenings yesterday willing myself to die from the heat and I snap out of it. But good job, Nyle. You almost had me. (click to embiggen)

Tuesday, July 08, 2025

I'm Just Gonna Leave...


... this photo of David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult (in leather pants!) at the Los Angeles premiere of Superman here for your viewing enjoyment whilst I run off... dare I say like a bird or like a plane? Yeah I'm going to see Superman now. Here is a poll to also help you pass the time until you can hear my thoughts (aka the only thoughts that matter):

Five Frames From ?






What movie is this?

Neon Grey Midnight Green


New Neko Case record alert! I had a feeling this might happen this year since our favorite twangy chanteuse is touring and it's been so so long since her last record -- her latest is titled Neon Grey Midnight Green and you can pre-order it (vinylly speaking) over at her webstore right now. It'll presumably be for sale in all of the other locations as well shortly but I searched Amazon and came up with nil right this second. Anyway I'm seeing her in October on the new tour and hope to have the entire new record (which lands on September 26th) memorized in time! Here is the first single titled "Wreck" for your ears:

Guten Morgan, World


A pleasurable Tuesday morning to one and all -- and if not yet then I hope this post will put some pleasure into it for you. Last night Men's Health magazine dropped one of their patented workout videos featuring a hot piece of ass male celebrity with some current heat (see most recently Jai Courtney) -- this time around it's everybody's favorite Railroad Daddy himself Morgan Spector, and he doesn't disappoint. (As a side note I feel like we should've shortened that nickname to "Rail Daddy" but maybe that's just a hint too filthy? Never, I say. Never too filthy!) 

Anyway as happens every time that horny little devil inside my brain whispered in my ear, "Make a gif or two, Jason!" And then my horny little fingers went and spent two full hours making almost ninety gifs instead. Listen -- out of all my many mental issues I think this compulsion is one of the better ones, so I just indulge it now. That was two hours I wasn't paying attention to the horror-show of the real world! Time perfectly spent, then!

So by the time I'd made all of these gifs and gotten them organized for this post I just decided to save this for the morning -- fascinating stuff, huh? But I think you'll see it rewards the wait. At first glance I worried he was wearing too much but... that stopped being a problem. Rail Daddy knows what he's doing! Anyway yeah hit the jump for eighty-ish more gifs and the video and good morning y'all...

Monday, July 07, 2025

Joe Alwyn One Time



Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

The Lighthouse (2019)

Thomas Wake: O what Protean forms swim up from men's minds, and melt in hot Promethean plunder, scorching eyes, with divine shames and horror... And casting them down to Davy Jones. The others, still blind, yet in it see all the divine graces and to Fiddler's Green sent,where no man is suffered to want or toil,but is... Ancient... Mutable and unchanging as the she who girdles 'round the globe. Them's truth.

A very happy 42nd birthday to writer-director and so-says-me genius Robert Eggers today! As far as I'm concerned, dude is four for four movie-wise -- each of his four feature films were among my favorites of their respective years, or in the case of the movie quoted above my number one favorite movie of its year. They are all so my shit. I cannot get enough. Should I rank them? Okay let's rank them:

4. The Northman (review)
3. Nosferatu  (review)
2. The Witch  (review)
1. The Lighthouse  (review)

Five minutes from now I might change my mind and swap the middle two around, and then five minutes after that I might swap them back. But numbers one and four are set in stone. Which isn't to say I don't adore The Northman -- any movie that ends with Alexander Skarsgård and Claes Bang having a naked swordfight on top of a volcano is about as good as cinema gets if you ask me. So a very happy day to a man who's brought me more pleasure than almost any other working filmmaker. All of these movies have landed in less than a decade y'all! That's wild. Tell me your ranking of his four movies in the comments!


Five Frames From ?





What movie is this?

Good Morning, David Corenswet


Happy Monday or should I say happy four days until Superman comes out -- given the amount of press that WB had dragged David Corenswet and the gang through over the past month and a half I think they've earned that ownership. This latest shoot is all David, for GQ -- I haven't read it yet but you can do so right here. For our purposes this morning though we're more concerned with David looking scrumdiddlyumptious in the pictures! I mean -- a mustache? Be still my Fortress of Solitude. Hit the jump for the full shoot...

Friday, July 04, 2025

Happy 4th


I wanna see Glen Powell's flag at full mast!

Thursday, July 03, 2025

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo Nine Times


When I shared the link to my Jurassic World: Rebirth review yesterday I did it alongside a nice photo of Jonathan Bailey because of course I did -- he's our reigning leading homosexual man right now! But now that that's out of the way let me step over to highlight one of the movie's smaller-roled snacks -- Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, who plays the daddy to a family who gets finds themselves in the unfortunate center of some scary dino-action. Manuel's been in several things I've seen before -- Widows, Murder on the Oreint Express, The Magificent Seven, A Man Called Otto (so many remakes!) -- but this was the first time I took note of him; actors almost always look great in the Jurassic movies since they're always sweaty and dirty and running around. We love sweaty and dirty and running around! And this was exactly that. So here is a 2024 photoshoot of him for GQ Mexico to lead us into another sweaty dirty Jurassic weekend; hit the jump for them all...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from...


Louise: Damn, Jimmy. What'd you do, take some 
kinda pill that makes you say all the right stuff? 
Jimmy: Yeah. I'm chokin' on it.

RIP Michael Madsen. Always such a cool cat.
Obviously his iconic Tarantino work rules the roost 
but I've always adored this performance in T&L too.