Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

After the Hunt (2025)

Alma: I feel like deep inside I always expected this. 

I expected the rottenness in me to be seen by other people 

right before I managed to expunge it.

Hank: Spoken like a true woman... 

I never felt myself be rotten at all.

Alma: Spoken like a true man.

A happiest of happy birthday to the great and legendary Luca Guadagnino, who is turning 55 today! If you've been on this here site for longer than an hour you know our feelings about Luca, who speaks deep to us in a way that not many other filmmakers do these days -- not just in the obvious one (Call me By Your Name, which I wrote about just a little bit back circa 2017) but everything from his superior Suspiria to Bones and All to yes this one here After the Hunt, a movie which really didn't get a fair shake when it came out. (At least I knew it was good though.) I actually just re-watched it a few weeks ago and it's  shown itself to be even wilier about where the world was headed -- like all his films they're ever so slightly ahead of their time. We'll see what happens with his Sam Altman biopic Artificial soon enough -- I remain convinced he'lll be ten steps ahead of the current conversation -- but for today, let's just show the genius some love! My gift to him (and us) is this gif of Andrew Garfield:

It's a Miasma-piece

Hey weirdos, my beloved weirdos, have I got a movie for you -- well a movie review actually. I reviewed Jane Schoenbrun's Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma this past Friday and you can read it right here. We're playing catch-up, you see, in more ways than one -- I saw this the first time at NewFest and the third time at Fantasia Fest (with a press screening sandwiched in between there) but only just got around to writing about it as it hit theaters this past Friday. But only a few theaters -- NY and LA I believe? It spreads out this week and further after that (you can keep track of that at this link) so I imagine most of you haven't yet had the chance. Anyway I bust out the "m" word in my review -- "masterpiece" that is, which if you know me you know I don't break that word out lightly when a movie is this new. Having seen it three times now though, with it only getting funnier and weirder with every watch, I feel pretty compelled toward that word. It is most definitely one of the year's highlights and not to be missed. 

 

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

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A post shared by Richard Gadd (@mrrichardgadd)

Yes, Richard. Actually. YES.
(Y'all have watched Half Man by now right?
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.)

How Have I Never...

... seen this picture before???

When It's Too Hot For Plaid Pants...

X Marks the Kit

Everything nasty you can say about Bryan Singer deserves to be said but I have to admit that I still have a huge attachment to the first two X-Men movies all the same -- I re-watched them both this past weekend after a very long time and those movies remain aces; they are still, two and a half decades and gazillions of superhero movies / series on, among the very best that the genre has given us. (I can't stop obsessing about the way that Rebecca Romijn's fight-moves as Mystique were choreographed -- like a gravity-defying panther? Just insane and incredible stuff.) Anyway I was never a superhero kid, I never read superhero comics, so it was those movies alone that made me care about the X-Men -- but care I do! So I am definitely paying attention to the rumor-mill booting up on X-Men casting -- today's news is that they've all but chosen Heartstopper star Kit Connor to play Cyclops aka the Jimmy Marsden / Tye Sheridan dude. (What happened to Tye Sheridan anyway? I really like Tye Sheridan!) I am fine with this -- as I've admitted I've never watched Heartstopper but I thought he aquitted himself well in Warfare, which I have seen him in, and also he's very nice to look at. That helps. Plus he's queer! The X-Men are canonically the gayest of all the superheroes...

LOL this scene still rules

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) July 31, 2026 at 8:32 PM

... and yes again I am mainly speaking from my Bryan Singer base of knowledge. But also I have an ex who was huge into the comics and so I have been forced to listen to all the reasons why that's really the case, and he did make a good one. Anyway Kit's good, the [spoiler for the new Spider-Man movie reveal] was also good, and the other possible casting that's on the record -- aka Samara Weaving playing Emma Frost -- is fucking excellent. We worship Samara Weaving in this house. I have long said that she should have Margot Robbie's career, but maybe this will be the spark that makes Margot wish she had a Samara Weaving career at last. 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Safe (1995)

Carol: I'm sorry. I know 

it's not normal but I can't help it.

This week Criterion dropped their 4K of Todd Haynes' 1995 masterpiece Safe -- or do I type it as [safe], I am never sure -- and I plan on re-watching the movie for the gazillionth time via this upgrade this weekend; I find something new every single time I revisit it, as all the greatest films manage. Thinking about what it will look like in 4K though has me thinking about what an astonishingly good looking film it is -- I wonder why it's the only movie Haynes ever shot with DP Alex Nepomniaschy? They accomplished something so spectacular together! -- and so I looked up the movie's budget and they made Safe for one million dollars. One million dollars! I know we're thirty years removed but that's incredible -- I looked up what that works out to in 2026 dollars and it's only about two and a half million now; Safe could not be made for 2.5 million in 2026, that's for sure. 

That's an odd tangent for me to spin off on -- the point is they made a film for one million dollars in 1995 that will look better than 99% of the movies released in 2026, and even assuming one percent might beat Safe in beauty and visual extravagance seems an enormous caveat to make. How we're thirty years removed from this movie and Todd Haynes still remains underappreciated I cannot fathom -- Safe is as far as I'm concerned a Top 5 movie about America. It should be bouncing around at the top of Sight & Sound polls. The original poster for this movie that I own is one of my greatest possessions. Sing a song of Safe y'all! Oh and I really recommend you all go read Walter Chaw's fantastic piece on the film at Roger Ebert today -- when he finds the thoughline to The Birds I just about wept at the perfection of it. 

Everybody is incredible in this movie but it really is a Toni Collette Picture when it comes down to it

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) August 4, 2026 at 8:41 PM

And in related news -- Velvet Goldmine is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel so I re-watched it two nights ago and good god what a movie. That's another one that I find new things with every single view. So besides watching Safe this weekend I will be spending most of my time in a prayer circle, dragging a dagger down the middle of my palm, in hopes we can get that movie a 4K from Criterion soon. I'm basically just counting the days until De Noche, Haynes' gay movie with Pedro Pascal and Danny Ramirez will come out. Please please please be next year. In summation the following randomness made me laugh for a very long time this morning:

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Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Or should I say "Good Afternoon to Alexander Ludwig," who apparently finished his day's workout at 5:29 this morning -- for fuck's sake, man. I guess that's why he looks like that and I'm all...

Dino Fetscher Six Times

Oh my a very Happy Hump Day to us all from actor and current mustache-rider Dino Fetscher, who was generous enough to share these leathered-up and stripped-down photos via his Insta today! Hit the jump for the set...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

I almost posted these photos yesterday of Taron Egerton taking a shirtless run, but decided to save them for this morning, for extra-good good morning feels -- isn't it like blisteringly hot in the U.K. right now though? (I believe he was in London here.) I hope he's staying hydrated. If not -- Taron, I got you covered. Just ask and hydration will be yours -- all you can drink. The rest of youse, just hit the jump for the photos...

Flesh, Fantasy, and Michael Vlamis

Did you know there was a reboot of the Y2K classic series Roswell that ran for fifty-two episodes beginning in 2019? I had no freaking idea. Looking up actor Michael Vlamis here was the first I'd ever heard of it. Why was I looking up actor Michael Vlamis, you might ask? (If you're asking that you probably didn't look at these pictures though as I am but a simple man.) I was looking up Mikey boy because he's in a queer horror movie I just reviewed out of Fantasia Fest -- it's called Corpus and you can read my review right here. And here's another picture of Michael Vlamis for your trouble:

it's a good movie! But of course Michael plays the straight guy in what is otherwise a very queer movie -- I say "of course" because that just about fits my pattern. Makes sense! I mean I have no idea what he does in his private life, but in the movie he is obnoxiously heterosexual and extremely hot while doing that. (Just wait for the gifs!)  I even posted about him on Bluesky like right after watching the movie a few weeks back lol:

Watched a movie co-starring this guy named Michael Vlamis over the weekend and I don't think any of you should be surprised if I start posting about him a lot in the future is all I am saying

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 11:46 AM

Godzilla Takes New York (Film Festival)

Today will have to be a very very good day news-wise to top the news that  Godzilla Minus Zero, the new Godzilla movie from Takashi Yamazaki director of the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, will be having its World Premiere at the New York Film Festival in October. And "very very good days news-wise" are rare enough beasts in 2026 that I'm just gonna go ahead and state that this is the best news of the day. The week. Hell the year probably! The news is super-sized surprising at first, but then you realize that 1) the film hits U.S. theaters on November 1st so the timing is perfect and 2) Godzilla is actually coming to NYC in the film itself, as briefly glimpsed in the very first teaser trailer which you can watch right here. I personally won't be watching any more trailers after that -- I know all I need to know, and now I've got a date for when I'll get to see it all with my Godzilla-loving eyes! NYFF is killing it this year! I haven't mentioned the other announcements that they've made so far but you can keep track of them all on their website. The big expensive passes are on sale right now but individual tickets start going on sale at the end of the month. NYFF runs from September 25th through October 12th! Roar!

Tyriq Withers Six Times

I haven't read the interview yet but our beautiful boy Tyriq Withers is one of the cover-people for Variety's new "Young Hollywood" issue and he is, as he is wont to do, looking like pretty perfection. Swoon. I hope he books some interesting projects though -- the two projects IMDb is showing ahead for him seem pretty low-key -- one of them is a romance between a tennis pro and a basketball player called Love Love? Sigh. Somebody put this stud in something I want to watch, please. Like a new trilogy of Magic Mike movies! Anyway hit the jump for the rest...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Although none of these new photos of Theo James for Dolce & Gabbana rival any of the shots he did in nary a stitch save a wet white speedo for their frangrance brand, he's still Theo James so they're still worth staring at. I could check this but it's before noon and I don't do that -- has anyone heard anything about that George Michael movie Theo here was supposedly going to make? Did he make it already? Is it happening? I haven't heard anything and tbh Theo always seemed a little old for it... although given I know nothing of the project they could be focusing on any part of the singer's life I suppose. And I certainly won't be the one to side-eye the gift of Theo playing gay. If they wanna put him in some pigtails to de-age him, fine by me. Hit the jump for the rest...

Kelvin Harrison Jr. Seven Times

The year or so ahead for the great Kelvin Harrison Jr. looks like a big one -- he's got a role in the next Hunger Games movie, he's starring in a new biopic of Jean-Michael Basquiat (from the director of Luce!), he's in Michael Gondry's upcoming musical about Pharrell Williams life, and -- best of all to me -- he's in the new movie from the Zellner Brothers, the filmmakers behind the glorious weirdnesses of Kumiko the Treasure Hunter, Damsel, and Sasquatch Sunset! That one is called Alpha Gang...

... and it's got an over-the-top killer cast including Cate Blanchett, Dave Bautista, Doona Bae, Riley Keough, Chris Pine, Lily-Rose Depp, and Léa Seydoux, and it's described thus: "Alien invaders, in the form of a 1950's biker gang, are sent on a mission to conquer Earth." SIGN ME THE EFF UP, YO. It's playing TIFF so y'all who pay attention to what's playing TIFF probably already knew about this, but it came as news to me as I checked out Kelvin's IMDb page after remembering I had this photoshoot of him (via) sitting on my computer waiting to be posted. Which has now been accomplished! Checked one teensy thing off the ten mile long list. Hit the jump for them all... 

I Want Your Brainsss

I considered waiting a little bit for another review of mine that is dropping later this afternoon, but what the hell -- not being patient guarantees me another post today and given the case of the Murky Mondays my head's currently swimming in that's not a gift I should side-eye. And linking to two reviews in one post is already a bounty, a bouffet -- then you add on half-naked Mason Gooding and -- I feed you people well dammit. That photo is one Mason himself shared from his behind-the-scenes experience making Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex, which my review of dropped at Pajiba on Friday. Read it right here. Surprising nobody I loved it -- do I wish that one of the many mentioned Grindr hook-ups that Mason's character kept talking about happened on-screen? Duh and durrr. Of course. But then there's a scene where Mason's in short running shorts and a half-shirt and I remember Gregg Araki always feeds us well too. 

The other review of mine that dropped over the weekend was another one out of Fantasia Fest -- click here to read my thoughts on the horror doc Black Zombie, which ingeniously speaks about the undead-genre through the lens of Haitian and American race history. It's a terrific doc about The Movies -- as I say in my review it's yet another one that throws all the money I spent on getting a Film Studies degree in college into a big fire-pit; what I probably spent an entire sememster's worth of thousands of dollars on you can now see in a compact and fun little documentary. No I am not bitter, you're bitter. Great movie though! And as I said at the top -- stay tuned, I've got another Fantasia review dropping shortly...