Poetic Justice For The Life of Brian

Every month I'm caught off-gaurd by it suddenly being the 15th and the new slate of Criterion titles dropping... but not this week! Yesterday I sat around all afternoon waiting for the announcement and it never came. Such is my life! Poor put-upon me -- obviously the worst thing to happen in the world right there, folks. Ahem. Anyway Criterion has released their announcement today, and whaddya know I'm just sitting here again! So let's get to it. These are the April 2026 release and they kick off with one hell of a neat-o box-set of John SIngleton films! They're calling it his "Hood Trilogy" and it consists of 1991's Boyz N the Hood, 1993's Poetic Justice, and 2001's Baby Boy. It still seems so unbelivable to me that we lost Singleton so young, in 2019 at just 51 years old. That man should've had decades more great movies coming out of him. But this set certainly makes for a spectacular tribute. That lands o April 28th.

Next up there's a new addition to Criterion's renewed "Eclipse" box-set series with "Kinuyo Tanaka Directs", a sextet of films from the famous actress (known for working with Ozu) who decided to go behind the camera to make these six films -- Love Letter, The Moon Has Risen, Forever a Woman, The Wandering Princess, Girls of the Night, and Love Under the Crucifix -- in the decade spanning 1953 and 1962. Anybody seen any of them? I have not but they all sound interesting. And then there, bring us up to China and right now, there's a blu of Bi Gan's 2025 film Ressurection, which is another semi-incomprehensible dream-experience from the director of Kali Blues and Long Day's Journey Into Night. I'm susprised he's not getting a 4K with that one -- his visuals are always so swoon-worthy. 

Speaking of swoonworthy visuals next up there is John Boorman's hallucigenic 1967 crime caper Point Blank starring Lee Marvin and this beauty's getting a 4K -- of course it is, since I just bought the blu-ray like two weeks ago lo. That always happens! Because poor me! Anyway I only saw this movie for the first time this past year but it totally lived up to its legend as kick-ass -- hence me running out and buying a copy. But I'll have to upgrade to the 4K because it is SUCH a gorgeous film. 

Next on the 4K upgrade front there's the 1946 classic noir Gilda which turned Rita Hayworth into a star and a sex icon with one flip of her hair, and Ernst Lubitch's 1932 masterpiece Trouble In Paradise starring Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall a a pair of con artists trying to out-do one another in a hyper stylish Venice. Now that's a picture. And last but hardly least we have Monty Python's Life of Brian, which I don't really feel like I have to sell to anybody -- that movie sells itself. To be honest I'm personally not the biggest Python-head -- I've seen them all and they're fun! Don't yell at me. I just don't really re-watch them like some people seem to. That said I do think Brian is probably my favorite of the bunch. 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

The Straight Story (1999)

Alvin: You don't think about getting old 

when you're young... you shouldn't.

Steve: Must be something good about gettin' old?

Alvin : Well I can't imagine anything good about being 

blind and lame at the same time but, still at my age,

I've seen about all that life has to dish out. 

I know to separate the wheat from the chaff 

and let the small stuff fall away.

Rat: That's cool, man. So, uh, 

what's the worst part about being old, Alvin?

Alvin: Well, the worst part of being old 

is rememberin' when you was young.

We lost David Lynch one year ago today. 

The world misses you, my good man.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

I cannot believe there exists a photo left from Tom Hardy's Slutty MySpace Selfie Phase that I had not seen before today, but there one is -- that's definitely circa Bronson in 2008 given the stache and general beefiness. Ahh those were the days! Who knew we'd be longing for the Aughts once upon a day? Good grief.

I See London, I See (Chris Messina in) France

Oh yes this is just the news I can use to get me back into this "writing posts" thing that I've spent the past several hours not doing -- our favorite Chris of them all Chris Messina has just gotten his sexy furry butt cast in the next season of The White Lotus! Bless you, Mike White -- a king, a god, anong us peons. Messina joins the formely announced also-hot-piece Alexander Ludwig, as well as actress AJ Michalka (don't knwo her) and that nutty dame Helena Bonham Carter. I suppose I should ass... okay I meant to type "add" but obviously I'm still thinking about Chris Messina haha. Let's try it again -- I should ADD that both Messina and Carter are still "in talks" but whatever, I'm not a legitimate entertainment reporter, I don't care about "specifics" or "facts." I think we all know what I care about and it's what I just typo'd a couple sentences ago.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Many a time in the past when Men's Health has dropped a work-out video from one of our stable of hunks I've gone through the things frame by infinitesimal frame to make dozens of gifs for your visual and emotional and erotic pleasure -- see this Jake Gyllenhaal post for one particularly notable reference -- but, all apologies to Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams, I ain't got time for that shit this morning. So I made one gif, the one you see above, which is really if I had to pick the number one moment in the eight minute video anyway. But watch the entire thing! It's right below. Find the largest screen you can -- perhaps rent out the Sphere in Las Vegas -- and have at it. And have yourself a very good morning!

Say Good Night Jack

Good Night Jack.

Shut Up The Gays Are Talking!

The time has come for the queers to take it away! (When isn't it that time...) The queer critics guild GALECA (of which yours truly is a member) has announced the nominations for our annual Dorian Awards today, and per usual we did good, better, best than most. As ever, because I'm an old crank, I could take issue with some of the people who did get nominated -- I loathe Ethan Hawke's performance in Blue Moon, for instance -- and I could take issue with some of the people who didn't get nominated -- I can't believe we, a group of queer people, didn't have love in our hearts for the best animated movie oif the year by leaps and bounds Boys Go To Jupiter -- but I'll just shut my yap and clap my paws because overall...

... we did very good. A couple of nominations for Pillion! (Even though as I stated earlier today who could be sure which year A24 wants that movie to fall under with their weird release strategy,) A couple of nominations for Hedda, a movie which should be getting much more attention by the big guys -- I can't believe that Tessa Thompson and Nina Hoss probably won't get Oscar nominations whilst steaming crap like the Wicked sequel will. What a world, what a world, indeed. Anyway congrats to all of the nominees (except Ethan Hawke) and if you want to hit the jump I will share our press release with all of the nominations...

Once You Go Kontinental...

The trailer for one of my favorite movies from last fall's NYFF has arrived -- Romanian maniac Radu Jude's Kontinental '25, which I reviewed right here, was actually the more sane of his two NYFF films. But given that the other one was his deranged A.I. riddled schlockterpiece Dracula (also reviewed at that link) it's not saying much to call Kontinental '25 the "sane" one. It's still fully a Radu Jude flick -- political, provocative, hellaciously strange. Oh and speaking of the trailer...

... look who shows up in it! Tis me! Nope, I'll never get tired of it. I do a little dance at my desk every time I get blurbed. Dignity is for the dead. Aaaanyway Kontinetal '25 is about a "well meaning" cog in the machine of modern living who's convinced she's a good person only for Jude to show us, through her, how we're all monsters thriving on the status quo of exploiting everybody else so we can maintain our own comfort. Oh and it's exceptionally funny about it -- I should lead with that. Anyway, trailer-time:

Kontinental '25 hits theaters on March 27th! Don't miss it. 

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

 

Good Morning, Pillion Trailer

The above quite stimulating gif, isn't actually from the just dropped "new" trailer for Pillion -- I will share that trailer down below, but I don't actually think it's that different from the first trailer they dropped when the movie hit the U.K. to be honest. (They certainly didn't decide to switch it up and use any of the choice quotes I gave them in my review of the movie in it, much to my annoyance.) But speaking of my annoyance -- that gif isn't from the trailer because the movie leaked onto the world wide web this week, thanks to the movie hitting digital in the U.K. where it already came out in theaters at a reasonable date several weeks back. I posted about this on Bluesky yesterday...

Part of me's annoyed PILLION inevitably leaked online now before hitting US theaters because you SHOULD see it in theaters in February. But A24 really mucked up its release & of course the second it hit digital in the UK it's gonna be everywhere. Also our US version might get butchered by MPAA so...

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) January 13, 2026 at 12:49 PM

... so perhaps this whinging will be redundant to you and I apologize, but this seemed an inevitability to me given A24's weird staggering of this wonderful movie's release -- I know because I have heard from all of you many times how annoyed you were that all the press for it was dropping back in the fall but you'd have to wait until February to see the movie here in the States, and believe me, it seemed an inexplicable choice to me as well. On my end -- given I've now seen the movie around four times, unlike you unluckier sorts -- I found the entire thing annoying because I have no idea where to place Pillion for awards consideration. Do I list it as a 2025 movie or a 2026 movie? I'm probably going to go with the former and include it with my Best of 2025 list whenever that drops, but I honestly think this movie could've done better this awards season if A24 had been clearer about all of this. And now the entire movie is out there on the internet if you know where to look. (No I will not be giving you pirating lessons this day, sorry.) Anyway here's the "new" trailer:

Pillion is (inexplicably) out on February 20th. 

Please do go see it then. It rules.

Somewhere Between Mescal & Moura...

... is where I'd rather be.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Enough Said (2013)

Eva: Oh, the Container Store? 

Albert: Yes, yes, the Container Store. 

The store that sells crap so you can put your crap 

in so you can go out and buy some more crap.

Eva: I love that store. I love crap.

A very happy birthday to the icon and legend and queen Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who has quite possibly made me laugh more than other other human being on earth over the years. It's between her and Lisa Kudrow I guess, just given their decades worth of output, but seeing as how I only ocassionally watched Friends I think the title's gotta go to Jules. Also she posted this below photo of herself over the weekend, reminding us all how fucking hard she rules:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@officialjld)

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Hopping Mads

Heads up that one of 2025's best movies that placed on far far far too few lists of such things has hit VOD today -- Bryan Fuller's deeply dreamy and fantastically fun Dust Bunny! You can rent it right here and I really recommend you do -- as I said in my review (probably to Bryan's chagrin since I know he makes these things hoping for a broader audience) this has all the makings of a beloved cult movie to be and I trust it will find its place in the canon in time. Especially as gateway horror for the kiddos -- this should be a movie like Gremlins was for me; one that will breed horror movie fans for life. Watch the trailer back here if you missed it -- and I have paired all of this information with a nice set of Mads Mikkelsen photos (via) because obviously.

Good Morning, Gratuitous Giulio Corso

There was a weird little confluence of events last week where I was wishing for another good vehicle for Toni Collette on Bluesky and then like an hour later the above scorchingly hot photo of Toni's Mafia Mamma co-star Giulio Corso suddenly, randomly popped up on my Instagram timeline. I'm sure it was just the nefarious algorithms communicating with one another but whatever -- it means I went and found us a brand new batch of Guilo Corso photos to ogle, so we showed them haha! 

When Mafia Mamma came out I did a big gratuitous post on Mr. Corso at that time which is well worth the effort to click on over to, but this new couple dozen photos I gathered up this week? I think they're even better. Which means he's getting hotter, which means -- why haven't we gotten a bunch of movies where Guilio Corso has invaded America? I'll take him over Michelle Morrone to be honest (especially given every time I post about Morrone y'all remind me what a dick he apparently is in real life). But the cold hard fact is every cinematic moment in time calls for a Current Italian Stallion Of Note...

... (mmm remember Raoul Bova???) and I don't see why Giulio here can't be the one for now. Toni Collette told us what to do three years ago! We should always be listening to Toni Collette at all times. Have we learned nothing? So let's make it happen. And I will now do my damnedest to convince you why it's the right, good, best idea, with more photos after the jump... 

I Am Jack's Big Bone Temple

Heading off-line a little early today for a second viewing of The Bone Temple -- I really prefer nixing the "28 Years Later" portion of this movie's title; it's just more fun this way. Anyway that means this will be it for today, I'm afraid. Not that getting to stare at Jack O'Connell's gorgeous face above could be seen by any person with sight as a negative. You'll be okay. JFC he's pretty. Anyway if you've been paying attention you know that I've already shared the briefest of thoughts on The Bone Temple right here, which are quite a positive switch-up from my thoughts on the first 28 Years Later movie, which I reviewed right here -- but no need to pay attention to those really since my full review of The Bone Temple will be out before the end of the week. But I will say that I re-watched the first film of this new series over the weekend and it did indeed play slightly better going back after The Bone Temple. Maybe by the time this supposed trilogy's through we'll really have something proper to reckon with, as a whole. Anyway y'all stay safe out there -- I know the world's shit so I'm gonna keep trying to bring you mindless distraction for when you need a break. Case in point: 

Jack O'Connell is the most important suspenders actor we have

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 4:15 PM

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)

Bettie: I'm not ashamed. Adam and Eve were naked 

in the Garden of Eden, weren't they? 

When they sinned, they put on clothes.

Happy birthday to the great Mary Harron today! I'd really been hoping that this tremendous film of hers quoted above was going to finally get an upgrade from its out-of-date DVD last year when it celebrated its 20th anniversary -- but then I realized it's not actually a 2005 movie as listed; it is a 2006 movie! It celebrates its 20th on May 5th! So there's still time! This movie remains so deeply under-appreciated though. But then when you hear the words "deeply under-appreciated" you should probably just go ahead and picture Mary Harron herself. Well we love and we appreciate you, Mary Harron! And somebody give this movie a 4K release in the next four months please and thanks!

Sagar Radia Nine Times

No one's ever accused me of being a patient person, and sure enough after posting a few scraps of Sagar Radia photos on Friday in anticipation of last night's Industry season four premiere an even better photoshoot of the actor dropped today -- well I see no problem in double-dipping. Especially since I can tell you here that because of the Golden Globes last night I have yet been able to watch Industry, much to my impatient chagrin. Argh! Hopefully I can make it through today without getting spoiled -- no this is not an invitation to leave a spoilery comment, you bastards. I am giving you pictures of an attractive man here! (Sidenote: there's also a new Kit Harington photoshoot over on the Tumblr.) Just be grateful. And quiet. Grateful and quiet. And hit the jump...