Breeder Me

Are any of you watching the show The Shards, Ryan Murphy's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' book? I am watching it but it's sort of a hate-watch -- I think all of the young actors who make up the main cast are fairly awful. (How is that nepo-baby supposed to be Richard Gere's son??? I refuse to believe they are even related.) That said the older actors playing the adults on the show are pretty much the exact opposite, a delight to watch to a tee; I would much rather be watching a show about them. And when Glee actor Dot-Marie Jones showed up in an episode that I watched this past weekend playing a porn director that went triply true. So much fun. And seeing her also reminded me that I saw and loved a horror movie called Breeder earlier this year at Tribeca that she's the villain in -- and well whaddya know the trailer for Breeder just dropped today and who do you think...

... was quoted? Me, that's who! And that my quote drops over DMJ getting her face absolutely tongue-wrecked by one of her adorable doggies is very very funny to me because that's one of my boyfriend's triggers -- he finds it absolutely repulsive when people let dogs lick their face haha. That gif's for you, sweetums! Anyway Breeder is extremely fucked up and has far more disgusting things in store for y'all than some face-licking, but you can find out all about that when it lands in theaters on October 16th. Here's the full trailer:

Jack O'Connell Seven Times

I was just earlier putting Danny Boyle's upcoming movie Ink into my calendar -- it's hitting some theaters on December 11th and then lands on Netflix in January -- and then wham, suddenly this cover-shoot of the movie's leading man Jack O'Connell dropped at Variety. Kismet! Sexy kismet. It's a long chat and I haven't read it yet, feel free to join me over lunch and do just that at this link. This is the movie (based on the play) about Rupert Murdoch's takeover of The Sun  tabloid -- Murdoch's played by Guy Pearce while Jack is the editor Larry Lamb; also joining the boys is Claire Foy as a reporter. The movie will premiere at Venice so I guess we'll know then if any of these extremely under-appreciated actors will be in the awards conversation but that'd be nice, as they're all overdue as hell. (Jack should have a statue for Sinners and Guy should have a statue for The Brutalist dammit.) Until then hit the jump to stare at pretty little Jack some more...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Pillion (2025)

Colin: You know I love you, right?

Ray: ... Yeah.

Colin: But what?

Ray: That's not what this is, Colin. 

That's not the point.

Colin: Isn't... love the whole point?

Ray: Of what?

Colin: Everything.

It didn't feel right to've not wished Alexander Skarsgård a happy 50th birthday yesterday, but (again) we got all overwhelmed by Dolly's passing and everything else fell to the wayside -- thankfully that never-before-seen photo from Pillion's set popped up today (via) and reminded me to step back to our favorite Swedish sex-bot and wish him the best. (If you missed my forever-ago Pillion review click here. Phenomonal movie.) Did y'all see the list of people joining Muderbot for its second season? Everybody's running to rub on Alex's Ken crotch and we get it! 

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... giving Tom Hardy a little prick.

I know the comments on this post might devolve into the pro versus anti tattoo thing but that's not really why we're here so let's focus on why we are -- those bulging mini-trunks of Tom's of course! I stumbled upon these photos yesterday (via) and freaked out and immediately wanted to share them, but it felt right to leave Dolly at the top of the page for rest of the day -- now we can and should get back to distracting ourselves from the sewer of the world with beautiful things again. It's what Dolly would have wanted. So hit the jump for several more photos...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Please somebody tell me there are more photos of this.

RIP Dolly

Truly -- what am I going to say that we're not all, every single one of us, feeling already? Dolly Parton hes left us at the far too young age of 80, and nobody will ever replace her. She radiated goodness and humor and intelligence -- for years she's felt like the one remaining bridge between everybody. We're all mourning today. Click here and you can donate to her Imagination Library program, which puts books in the hands of kids -- it'd be cool if we can give her life's greatest work a great big boost in her honor. Now if you excuse me I am gonna go listen to her cover of "Stairway To Heaven" (the greatest cover of all time) a dozen times and cry for a bit. And feel free to tell me in the comments what Dolly meant to you.

The Darko Night Rises

You kind of have to hand it to Richard Kelly -- the writer-director of Donnie Darko, Southland Tales, and The Box never does anything halfway, which... has basically crippled his movie career for decades. The Box came out in 2009 and he's been promising new work for every single one of the seventeen years since then, usually as some off-shoot of one of those earlier projects because the man is an obsessive one. I find that admirable, even if frustrating -- probably because I find it deeply relatable. Anyway either way the promises he's been making have finally come to something -- an 800+ page "sequel" novel to Donnie Darko called The Philosphy of Time Travel that you can actually pre-order right this very minute. It has a release date of December 15th though so, given our history, I'm waiting until the thing is in my cold dead hands before I really believe it's true. Here is a description of the book (and yes the influence of Mark Frost's Twin Peaks "dossiers" is obvious to me too):

"On October 4, 1988, a derelict jet engine falls from the sky over Los Cerritos, California, and crashes through the bedroom of sixteen-year-old Donnie Darko, killing him instantly. For his family, the tragedy should end there. It doesn't. Assembled entirely from recovered government transcripts, secretly recorded conversations, and early email correspondence, The Philosophy of Time Travel reconstructs the eighteen months that follow through the eyes of Donnie's mother, Rose Darko, as she and her husband Eddie, a senior CIA analyst, are drawn into a widening investigation that reaches from the Oval Office to the Mojave Desert. FBI surveillance teams, FAA officials, USC professors, and a mysterious circle of trackers and financiers all converge on the same impossible discovery: a strange "celestial fluid," a set of unexplained artifacts, and a forbidden book, Roberta Sparrow's own Philosophy of Time Travel, that appears to predict the exact circumstances of its own recovery."

Dead Or Alive You're Coming With Me

I think it's safe to assume that an Amazon Prime series version of Paul Verhoeven's lacerating 1987 anti-capitalism anti-police-state satire Robocop will not be nearly as lacerating as Verhoeven was. If they prove me wrong I will happily fellate Dan Stevens, the just-announced star of said series -- okay I'd do that either way and it probably wouldn't be punishment for anybody involved. I mean I don't want to sing my praises, but... ahem. I got way off-track fast on this one! It's just that bleached-buzzcut and slutty mesh shirt that Dan is wearing in the photo he used to share this information has me feeling some kinda ways. I'd make an Eminem joke but Dan deserves better than that. Anyway they tried the Robocop thing once before with Joel Kinnaman and my god that did not work -- if the people making this show were smart they'd throw all the money at Verhoeven and let him go wild; I bet he'd do it! He could finance his long long long gestating Jesus movie with that cash and it'd be a net win for us all. Alas we'll have to wait and see if they have balls. This project demands balls. Okay yeah I started looking at the photo of Dan again, I will stop myself now before this goes too far. ("Before"??)

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Having never watched Ted Lasso, I still haven't seen Brett Goldstein actually act in anything -- well I guess there was that stinger at the end of one of the Thor movies where he briefly played Hercules; what happened to that? But yes it's true I did not rush out to see a Jennifer Lopez rom-com in the year of our atheistic presence 2026 -- I know you're all shocked. I assume the first thing I see him in will be The Sheep Detectives because I am totally going to watch that come some bored Saturday afternoon soon as I've only heard good things. But speaking of wooly things -- look at that chest! And everything below it! To quote that horny cartoon lady in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, "A man!" This is what we're talking about. Always. This is what we're literally always talking about. Anyway Brett was kind enough to strip down for Men's Health UK (and thanks to our pal Richard for alerting us) and nourish us with lots of Vitamin F (for fur, duh) this Tuesday morning, so hit the jump and get a mouthful...

Thankfully, It Does

If only the new horror movie It Ends was a great as that poster is! Thing is I think that poster is an unofficial one made by somebody online -- the film's official poster is fine not special (like the movie). But the poster above? Killer. Anyway we've got a big case of the second watch blues with It Ends -- I originally saw this movie last year at 2025's "Scary Movies" series here in NYC and it would've been better for the movie had I reviewed it out of there since I remembered liking it. But then I re-watched it for this past weekend's actual release to theaters and... I did not like it nearly so much. Click here to read my review at Pajiba if you care to. I haven't had my opinion on a movie switch this much between a first and second viewing since Cronenberg's Cosmopolis. And that was in the opposite direction -- I went from hating it to loving Cosmopolis. Although I can't say I "hate" It Ends -- I look forward to seeing what writer-director Alex Ullom does for a second film. This one just very much suffers from First-Film-itis. 

Quim Gutiérrez Thirteen Times

When I found out that Spanish actor Quim Gutierrez was finally going to be in a Pedro Almodovar movie I mentioned that I should post more of him since there's a downright horrific absence of him here on the site -- well me being me I immediately went and forgot I said that until this past week when I saw the new Pedro Almodovar movie, with Quim therein, and I was ashamed. Besides that link above there is only one other set of photos posted on here even though I've long been an admirer...

... of his (aka I saw those pictures of Quim flapping his dick around on a public beach years ago and got myself to admiring). Anyway with Almodovar's Bitter Christmas about to play NYFF and then to open in the U.S. on November 13th it seems like a fine moment to share this photoshoot (via) with you, and hopefully this will burn into my brain to keep up with the Quim content! Hit the jump for the rest...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Christine (2016)

George: We all have these different versions 

of ourselves competing to be the real us.

This brilliant and disturbing movie, featuring what remains probably still the best work by actor Rebecca Hall, is turning ten in a couple of months -- but that's not why we're here! We're here because it's the birthday of this film's brilliant (and possibly disturbed) director Antonio Campos, of whom I am a big ol' fan. This movie alone would've made that the case but he's also gifted us with the movies Simon Killer and Afterschool as well as the true-crime series The Staircase... I only saw Afterschool recently when Vinegar Syndrome put it out on blu-ray and if you can get past the Ezra Miller of it you'll discover a harrowing little thing that claws at some of the same lurid media-adjacent impulses that both Christine and The Staircase do -- you can see that fascination threading through all of his best work, actually. Hell...

... it's not impossible to believe that the same man who made Christine also directed a whole bunch of The Punisher episodes. As well as the uneven Pentecostal theatrics in The Devil All the Time -- Hary Melling pouring a jar of spiders on himself to delight a bunch of churchgoers fits right in among all of this work. That Campos produced Martha Marcy May Marlene also makes so very much sense, and one supposes that he would have brought the same level of enchantment with humanity's pathologies to the canned Batman spin-off series Arkham, a woulda-been perfect fit. None of his characters are calm in the head, but man can Campos ever laser in on the ineffable sloppiness of our worst instincts. He's not someone I've seen people make a case for as an auteur with the same fascinations bubbling up over and over again, yet it's very much there -- anyway he's a very underrated filmmaker and you seek his all of his work out if you haven't already.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Pics of the Day

If you follow actor (and let's just drop "genius" at this point) Richard Gadd on Instagram then you know he's been unloading reams of behind-the-scenes photos from the set of his second stunning series in a row Half Man for the pasts everal weeks, all of which has been a joy to this person who 1) loved Half Man very very much, and 2) loves staring at Richard Gadd and Jamie Bell. Anyway I could have shared many shots previously (and actually did share a couple; see some very good ones here too) but this morning I am sharing these shots of the boys rolling around shirtless and kilt a'flappin' because duh. It's such a crime that Jamie Bell didn't get an Emmy nomination, urgh! Why must he go conitinually underappreciated??? Speaking of geniuses. And sexy geniuses at that -- the best kind!Anyway go watch Half Man, you owe it to yourself. It's brilliant. Even better and thornier than Baby Reindeer, I believe!

Good Morning, World

Poor Tyriq Withers! Withers-ing on the vine! When I spoke on Thursday of some poor soul getting shunted aside for the latest Charles Melton Spread (mmm Charles Melton Spread) it was Tyriq here, who'd already given us so much that week via VMan magazine and yet the second Charles gave us the go-ahead, we, uhh, went ahead. But hey the Monday spot is an important one -- we're all Garfielding hard right now (did I just make up a verb?) and need that Monday morning pick-us-up, so take it away, Tyriq. Hit the jump and you'll find what you're looking for...

Theo James Eleven Times

I am having a real stare at the wall blankly unable to conjure a single solitary thought kind of day, which kinda sucks since I've got shit to accomplish but whatcha gonna do when the dumb strikes you but ride the wave and hope your brain comes back to you. I'm sure one of these times it won't and honestly I say bring it. Don't you just get tired of thinking so goddamned much? Yet the stick up the ass of it is when a day like today comes along and I cannot for the life of me think anything of substance I'm not able to enjoy that and veg out, blissfully ignorant -- no I'm just sitting here beating myself up. So that's what I want to go away -- the caring! 

Anyway none of this has anything to do with this new photoshoot of Theo James for GQ obviously -- I am not trying to make any sort of commentary on his intelligence rather yea nor nay. I am just rambling. It's my blog and I'll ramble if I want to! That said, I would like to stop rambling now. So yeah, have a great weekend, try to turn your brains off but maybe not all the way, and hit the jump for all there is to be had of our sweet golden boy Theo...

Thursday's Ways Not To Die

Soulm8te (2026)

I considered throwing the disgusting half of this scene behind a page-jump but you know what? The site's been too yuck-free lately -- we needed to bring some yuck. I miss the yuck. So there's the yuck! Enjoy! Anyway -- speaking of not yuck -- the minute I learned that my Daredevil crush Arty Froushan was in the M3GAN spin-off Soulm8te I knew I would be watching Soulm8te...

Oh I guess the M3GAN spin-off SOULM8TE got dumped onto streaming amzn.to/4fU7kcz so obviously it's high-quality! That said I will probably still watch it because hey look Arty Froushan

[image or embed]

— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) August 3, 2026 at 1:11 PM

... and you know what? I'm glad I did. As far as 2026 movies reveling in the "crazy girlfriend" trope I'd rather watch this trash than I would the critical and box-office hit Obsession -- at least Soulm8te doesn't pretend to be something it's not. Still, as much fun as I had with this incredibly dumb movie, I do feel a responsibility to point out that the "that bitch" genre of bro-horror is tip-toeing itself back onto the scene and we should all do our part to shoo that shit back into the Aughts. Shoo, misogyny, shoo! Okay now that we have solved sexism, hit the jump for links to the previous ways not to die...