Kicking off my Fantasia 2025 reviews with one of the buzziest titles that played -- the horror flick Good Boy, which stars a tremendously adorable dog named Indy who finds himself trapped in a haunted house with his sickly owner and like any good boy will do whatever it takes to keep his human safe. Read my thoughts here -- I tried to keep them spoiler-free as much as possible although there might be insinuations I make so, you know, only read it if you don't care about that kind of thing. Anyway keep your eyes peeled (and your tails wagging!) for more Fantasia coverage dropping this week -- there's about to be a lot of it!
Although it's clearly a covered-up tease there's our first semi-look at Jacob Elordi's Frankenstein's Monster for Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming film thanks to a great big piece on the movie at Vanity Fair -- they talk to Oscar Isaac and Del Toro and also the make-up guy a lot...
... for obvious reasons. But I just wanna hear from costume designer Kate Hawley for paragraphs because she's what's wowing me in these photos. Especially all of the spectacular outfits we see Mia Goth wearing. (I imagine Hawley also probably had fun giving Oscar his undone blouse & snug trousers and whatever tattered rags Jacob Elordi sports.) Anywayhit the jumpfor the photos...
Since I've been extremely busy and traveling for the past couple of weeks I haven't had a moment to watch any of the second season of The Sandman (and with the horrors revealed about Neil Gaiman it didn't feel too pressing) but when I saw these two gifs of blond beauty Freddie Fox making the rounds I felt the need to move it up the list. Anybody watched the second season yet? If you're unsure where you know Freddie from it might be The House of the Dragon or it might be Queer as Folk creator Russell T. Davis' hella-gay miniseries Cucumber or it might be this great big gratuitous post I did on him backin 2018 when I mistook him for one of the Dunkirk Twinks. Remember that phenomenon? At least Christopher Nolan gave culture something once. As did Sandman:
Back in May the first three of a series of John Waters' screenplays books were dropped with his movies Desperate Living, Pink Flamingos, and Flamingos' never-made-sequel Flamingos Forever getting the treatment -- I told you all about that and linked them here. Well today I stumbled on the fact that the next three of these books are all up for pre-order now! On October 21st we're getting the screenplay book for Multiple Maniacs -- pre-order that here -- and Hairspray -- pre-order that here -- and the best of the best my favorite John Waters movie of them all with a script that's just one classic quotable line after another, Female Trouble! Buy that one here. Of course you can also support small businesses and buy the books from either Baltimore's Atomic Books (they don't have them listed yet but there's plenty of John merch here) or P-Town's East End Books (right here) and both of those sites promise your copies will be signed by John himself before they ship! So that's certainly an impetus if altruism ain't yer cuppa.
There's a really delightfully dark little comedy called Oh, Hi! coming out in theaters tomorrow that stars Mr. Lerman opposite my beloved Molly Gordon of Shiva Baby and The Bear fame that I recommend you seek out when you get the chance -- I saw it at Tribeca last month but never got the chance to review it and I'm not going to get that chance this week either as it drops properly, so just consider these few scant words all the review you need -- it's a good time, and not just because Mr. Lerman spends 75% of it naked and handcuffed to a bed. (Here is the film's trailer.) Though... not not that either. Anyway Mr. Lerman spoke to Bustle magazine about that movie and other stuff I assume (no I haven't read the interview yet) while getting photographed in some short shorts so natch we're on it. Hit the jump for the photos...
As foretold yesterday when that lovely poster for The History of Sound dropped we now have the trailer! And yes it's giving big Brokeback vibes, just as the poster echoed a famous image of Jack & Ennis -- I am sure there will be plenty of snarky comments about this being 20 years later and we're dealing with another gay love story starring two (nominally) heterosexuals but you won't hear them from me. I love everyone involved with this movie from director Oliver Hermanus on down to all of the cast so saying I'm onboard is an understatement. Especially...
... with all the absolutely gorgeous shots of Paul Mescal & Josh O'Connor in said trailer. I know that the general feeling out of Cannes was one of disappointment, at least from a lot of the critics I trust and admire who saw it there, but I'm remaining enthusiastic despite that because I've loved every single one of Hermanus' movies to date, usually more than many of my peers, and I don't mind a restrained film which seems to be one of the bigger complaints. If they make me feel real emotions that's what matters; I can just use my imagination to picture Josh tea-bagging Paul. It's not like I haven't already!
Anyway I suppose I'll get to know what my actual opinion is soon enough since this movie is actually out in actual theaters on September 12th -- no dilly-dallying with a long festival run for this baby! On the one hand I'm sure people who care about awards prospects will be sniffing at that news pointedly but since I'm not one of those people I just celebrate the non-wait. Gimme! In that vein here's that trailer:
And because it's what I do hit the jump for an assortment of
several more gifs I made of noted moments in said trailer...
There was so much cool stuff that dropped yesterday that I had to pop in on a day off to post some of it -- see the History of Sound and Luca Guadagnino news here -- but I'm glad I waited until today to share the gorgeous poster for Park Chan-wook's latest No Other Choice because the folks at Neon have just unloaded a teaser trailer for the film today. This movie's premiering at Venice and I am keeping all of my assorted limbs knotted up in hope that it'll head to NYFF from there. Master Park is one of the few remaining of my favorite filmmakers that I have yet to be in the physical vicinity of, so say a prayer for me y'all! No Other Choice reunites the greatest South Korean filmmaker alive with actor and great movie star Lee Byung-hun, who starred in a couple of his earliest works (specifically Joint Security Area and Park's short in the Three Extremes anthology movie which, sidenote, is finally getting a blu-ray release!) Anyway here's that teaser! I'm not watching it because I don't need to know any more than I already do which is LBH has a mustache. I'm sold.
This news has been a long time coming -- Bryan Fuller's directorial debut Dust Bunny has given us our first official look and a release date! There you'll see stars Mads Mikkelsen and Sigourney Weaver -- down below you'll see the full image with child actor Sophie Sloan who I believe is the actual lead of the film. Anyway it's definitely serving some Pushing Daisies realness with all of the hyper-saturated pageantry on display, which obviously makes us very happy -- anything that makes us think of Pushing Daisies is gonna do just that. See all of my previous posts on this movie here -- the news had trickled to a slow drip for a long time which I do believe had to do with one studio getting swallowed up by another yadda yadda boring business shit I will not bore you with. All we need to know -- it's hitting theaters on December 12th! Draw a bouquet of flowers on that calendar square because we're getting gifted!
Happy one day work week to all who celebrate! Okay out of all the tens of people reading these words it's probably just me celebrating that, but you should be happy for me anyway. I'd be happy for you! Okay no I wouldn't, I'm an absolute see-you-next-Thursday when it comes to that sort of thing. Whatever. It's this Thursday so we don't have to worry about next Thursday and this will be the only day I'll be blogging this week is my point. (If you don't count the one post I made yesterday anyway, and since I said not to you shouldn't. Christ you're being difficult this morning.) With that said, Claybourne Elder!
(ETA the above video which Claybourne dropped this morning after I'd posted this.) He was enough of a gentleman to invite us into his dressing room for The Gilded Age on his Instagram this week, and why wouldn't we take that bait? This week's episode of that show was a good one right? Good n' frothy, just the way I like... lots of things. (Morgan Spector, you listening?) Ehh let's get this Thursday going and gone, then -- I'm exhausted already.
The entertainment value of The Gilded Age is directly related to the amount of Mrs. Fish in any given episode
Hey everybody! I'm back home but not back back from my trip in the sense that I'm blogging today -- that starts tomorrow. But how could I not hop in here to 1) say hello (Hello!) and 2) share this poster for The History of Sound, Oliver Hermanus' forthcoming WWI-era romance starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor? Swoon, yes, but also -- kinda feel like poor Josh got a little sidelined there? I'm reminded of all the stories of movie stars wrangling for poster billing of olde and wondering if Josh gives a shit. I feel like he doesn't. And there's enough of his pretty closed eyes and pouty lips to make me stir anyway. Anyway! The trailer is apparently dropping tomorrow so we'll cover that when we're back at our desk then. Oh and one more important bit of vaguely related news that dropped today -- Luca Guadagnino's film After the Hunt with Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri was announced as the Opening Night Film of this year's NYFF! This is very exciting for me personally! I shared the trailer for this before I headed out for a week -- check that here. I'm always wrangling for the NYFF Opening Night Party invite but I will lay waste to the earth for it this year, best believe!
[RUNNING AROUND THE ROOM SCREAMING CRYING]
Luca's new movie is Opening Night at NYFF!!!!
@filmlinc.bsky.social
Monsieur Théodore Pellerin would like to welcome us to French-Canadia (I don't know why but it's always "French-Canadia" in my head so it stays) for this year's Fantasia Film Festival in beautiful Montreal, baby! Specifically I'm hoping Teddy will welcome me personally because tomorrow morning I'm hopping on a plane and heading up there for a another week of typically fantastic and scary movies like only Fantasia can do. Don't forget this is where I saw Skinamarink and Red Rooms for the first times! (Cue the incorrect Skinamarink haters in 3...2...1....) The fest kicks off today and it runs for a full three weeks, ending on August 3rd -- obviously I can't do the entire fest given that length of time but I still won't be back here writing for you again until next Thursday. (Or if French-Canadia will have me -- maybe never? Dare to dream.) Anyway you'll be getting reviews from me soon enough from the fest but since I already saw and reviewed Monsieur Pellerin's ace stalker thriller Lurker when it played Sundance I can go ahead and re-share that review as if it's a Fantasia one -- read my thoughts on Lurkerright here. Terrific flick! And I'm hoping there will be another Skinamarink or Red Rooms shaped thrilling surprise ins tore for me this year -- stay tuned, make sure you check out their entire line-up at this link, and if you're a Canadian or traveler who's already planning on attending some of this stuff do make with the bonjours.
It's time for the second review drop of today, and once again it's me bucking up against the system, dropping truth bombs outside the mainstream, baby! Click on over to Pajiba to read my thoughts on Ari Aster's latest, the COVID-era Neo-western Eddington starring Pedro Pscal and Joaquin Phoenix, which got a cold pretty shoulder in Cannes but which I loved. I will admit it took me two viewings to find my way to that love -- it was a rough sit on my first go-round and I thought I might have hated it at first. But I couldn't stop thinking about it and that second view spun me right around. It's dry dark comedy at its absolute cruelest, with a shit-heap's worth to say about the madness of right now. Anyway we love a good challenge and hoo boy is Eddington one of those. Go see it this weekend!
You can tell I'm exceptionally exhausted today -- I was up way past my bedtime last night not celebrating my birthday but rather working on the two reviews I told you are dropping today; the sacrifices I make! -- because it's taken me until three in the afternoon today to mention the huge news on one of my favorite filmmakers that dropped all the damned yesterday! This had actually completely slipped out of my brain until just now (thx Mac for the reminder). So I guess that was opfficially the birthday where the old age has set in. Sigh! Anyway here's said news -- Robert Eggers is looking to reunite with two of his Nosferatu stars for his next film, the werewolf movie Werewulf that I told you about in January. Specifically Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp. No word on who they'll be playing or what the movie is about beyond what we originally learned in January. Lycanthropes and the 13th century. And Olde Enligh I think. As for ATJ, I know many people thought he was actively bad in Nosferatu but it might be my favorite performance he's ever given? I think he's wonderful in it anyway. As of LRD she generally got very good reviews for the movie and I agree with that consensus. True I'd love to see Eggers get back in the Anya Taylor-Joy business, but having seen how well he and Depp worked together I won't be mad about it this time like I was when Anya had to drop out of Nosferatu.
As foretold this morning my review for the latest installment of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise has arrived -- click on over to read it at Mashable. And what can I say except -- spoiler alert -- I liked it just fine! It's weird and it seems to actually like its main characters and (most importantly) it goes out of its way over and over and over again to properly honor the icon that is Helen Shivers -- how could I possibly complain? That said I can already tell my opinion's going to be the unpopular one -- I went to add my review to the film's Rotten Tomatoes page and was met by a great big green splat. Oh well. I've been off-brand with all the general opinions on horror movies this year, so this is just another chapter in an ongoing trend. What can I say -- the movie is dumb as hell but I had a good time, and it's got a couple of fan-service cameos that made my toes curl. I'm easy. In summation please also say hello to Joshua Orpin, who I also mentioned in this morning's earlier post -- let's get that pretty boy into my field of vision a lot more often stat.
Speaking of more cinematic excellence getting slotted into the fall movie season, we've now got official word on Plainclothes, the 90s-set gay drama starring Tom Blyth as a closeted cop hunting gays in mall restrooms and Russell Tovey as the hot one he catches and immediately starts humping -- it's hitting theaters on September 19th. I reviewed the movie during Sundance -- read that right here. It hit home since it's literally set where and when I grew up, as I get into in that review, but Blyth in particular is excellent and has probably forever won my heart thanks to his charming and conflicted performance. Also proper love must be given to the great and always underappreciated Maria Dizzia who plays his mom. This movie is definitely far too small to eke out big awards attention I think, and that's a shame -- both of their performances will very much be amongst the best of the year according to me. Anyway we don't have a trailer for this yet but I expect we will soon enough so stay tuned.
When I mentioned Luca Guadagnino's next next movie on Monday when Cooper Koch was cast in it I forgot to make any reference to Luca's immediately next movie, his higher education thriller After the Hunt starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edibiri, Chloë Sevigny, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Well now consider it mentioned -- more than mentioned because the trailer's just dropped and it looks absolutely killer. Obviously I was sold on day one but this trailer has me extremely excited. Watch:
I've got two count 'em two big reviews dropping today and I will link to them when they're live, but on that tip I figured I'd finally get around to sharing the trailer for the latest I Know What You Did Last Summer movie (out on Friday) since that's one of the two movies I'm reviewing and this movie is practically throbbing with hot dudes all around. Throbbing! Above is Tyriq Withers who I posted about previously when the trailer for the football horror movie Him dropped a few months ago -- after watching him on-screen I one thousand percent understand why he's about to be a big thing. His sauna scene glimpsed in the trailer and in the above gif is brief but will do for the current generation of youths what Ryan Phillippe's shower scene in the original movie did for people my age. But beyond Tyriq there's also Jonah Hauer-King with a breathstopping abs reveal, Austin Nichols playing a weirdly sleeveless pastor, Daddy Billy Campbell, and The Fisherman's first victim (not much of a spoiler since the trailer gives the entire scene away) the utterly gorgeous Joshua Orpin. This movie is horror hunkery at its finest!
"I too quit smoking (2013) AND find this type of pictures cool. Also, PSA: if you're feeling like you want to start smoking again, just remind yourself "I do not want my body and house to stink like stale horseshit", then go drink one more glass of water to entertain your hands and lips. Congrats, btw."
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