Chain Reactions in 250 Words or Less

Anybody smart enough to sit Karyn Kusama down in a chair and have the Jennifer's Body / The Invitation director talk about horror movies is ace in my book. And cinematic documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe has now done it twice -- first in the terrific Lynch/Oz doc (where she was the stand-out) and now in Chain Reactions, which is about the towering legacy of Tobe Hooper's horror masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre here in the 50th year since its making. (For the record Kusama was also a talking head in Queer for Fear. Bryan Fuller's perfect docu-series.) 

Kusama is once again brilliant to listen to here, but it turns out that everybody Philippe assembled for this film is top notch and, even better, all of them are coming at the movie from totally different directions. Patton Oswalt's the fanboy, the great Alexandra Heller-Nicholas's the critic, Stephen King was Hooper's friend, and Takashi Miike is... Takashi fucking Miike! (Turns out he's an incredibly thoughtful man for being such a maniac.) Fifty years on it's damned near impossible to find new things to say about a film as discussed & dissected as TCM has been, but the terrific Chain Reactions does a bang-up job doing just that. And Philippe's very much got a very specific thing going on with these essay movies, but this is truly his best one to date. I look forward to whatever blast of nastiness finds itself under his microscope next.

Chain Reactions is screening as part of the "Scary Movies" series 

here in NYC this weekend. Check the entire line-up right here.

5 Off My Head -- Scary Movies To Swallow Us Up

To my fellow horror-hounds of the Big Apple, a heads-up -- FLC has brought back their much beloved "Scary Movies" series this year and it kicks off tomorrow!, running through the 21st. You can check the entire line-up at this link but I thought I'd highlight some, uhh, highlights in case you're overwhelmed by the week's worth of creepy cool choices that they've curated -- for real out of the ones I've already seen there's not a bad bugger in the bunch. They do such good work with this series every time. Now some of these I'm planning on reviewing in the next week so I'm going to keep it mostly brief for now. But I give you...

5 Movies Not To Miss At "Scary Movies XIII"

The Wailing (dir. Pedro Martín-Calero) -- A tremendously accomplished and stylish scare flick from Spain (the director's very first feature!) that I saw at Fantasia earlier this month and reviewed right here. It fucking rules. And when I tell you something reminds me of Luca Guadanino's Suspiria you should listen! (And obviously take it as a good thing since Luca Guadanino's Suspiria is revelatory, of course.)

Rabbit Trap (dir. Bryn Chainey) -- a Folk Horror flick from the UK starring Dev Patel? Who's gonna miss that? Nobody wants to miss that. If you're not in NYC for this series you don't have to wait long for this movie though as it's being released in theaters on September 12th. But if you are in NYC treat yourself and see it ASAP. I'll be reviewing it for its theatrical release but it's a definite rec.

Good Boy (dir. Ben Leonberg ) -- Another one I saw at Fantasia and reviewed (right here). My feelings were mixed, it's true, but it's a horror movie starring an adorable doggy -- everyone should still see it even if I don't think it quite entirely works. And I'm fairly lonesome on that island as most people seem to've adored it. Make up your own minds! Support Doggy Cinema!

Chain Reactions (dir. Alexandre O. Philippe) -- The latest essay film from the director behind Lynch/Oz and Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist and several other single subject cinematic studies of note, Chain Reactions is all about Tobe Hooper's masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre here for that film's 50th anniversary. I will also be reviewing this soon so mum's my word til then but, uhh, do go see it. Really superior group of voices gathered.

It Ends (dir. Alexander Ullom) -- This is tomorrow night's Opening Night movie and it's already sold out so just put a pin in this one! Likewise any more thoughts from me on it since I'm planning on reviewing it. But I will say that it's about a group of teenage friends who find themselves trapped on an endless road that winds through the forest forever and god I felt that. 

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They're also screening a couple of classic horror movies like m-f'ing Daughters of Darkness which is never to be missed on the big screen, so make sure you peruse the entire line-up. I'm hoping to check out a couple of the other titles that I haven't myself been able to see, so maybe I'll see you there! Or maybe not! I'm a shy hermit who barely leaves the house, so

Jesse Williams Four Times

Y'all know that big distracting typography irritates my OCD so I usually wouldn't put a cover image up top and first in one of these posts. But I am making an understandable exception for this image of Jesse Williams on the cover of Vanity Fair Italia (via) for reasons that are clear to any person with working sight. But even if you've got great sight  let's zoom in...

... and appreciate him in close-up. What a babe. I'm tempted to type out the entire Wayne's World "babe" puns scene here ("Baberaham Lincoln") honestly. He's worthy! He's worthy! Weird why the hell is all this Wayne's World nonsense stuck in my head? Did I have a stroke? WTF. Aaaanyway the link to VFI isn't actually working for me right now so I had to do some sideways scrounging to come up with these photos; there might be more? If there are I'll add them but for now hit the jump for the babe we got...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Freddy: I didn't steal any money from her! She gave it to me.

Inspector Andre: But she filed this complaint against you.

Freddy: She caught me with another woman. 

C'mon. You're French, you understand that!

Inspector Andre: To be with another woman, 

that is French. To be caught, that is American.

Happy 80 to Steve Martin!

What's your favorite Steve Martin movie? 

Mine's probably this or L.A. Story.

Whose Hunt, His Hunt

Here is what I believe to be the first poster for Luca Guadagnino's higher education thriller After the Hunt, which is the Opening Night movie of the NYFF on September 28th and then opens in theaters on October 10th in limited release, surely hopping about from there. I shared the trailer here. And no joking -- I thought that was a picture of Luca himself in the upper left corner and not Michael Stuhlbarg at first haha. I was like, "Luca I know you're a director, you've got an ego, but come on." Anyway I'm praying there's a scene where Michael Stuhlbarg  gives his "Our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once" speech to Ayo Edebiri in this and she's just like, "Oooookay, ya weirdo." Make it happen!

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

That 9-1-1 show and its spin-offs have been on (and ignored by me) for what seems like several generations. Yet as soon as I give in and watch a couple episodes of the main series the last time I was visiting home since it was what my grandmother was watching, then I suddenly find myself posting tons of the hot menfolk from it. What a weird coincidence, huh? Why it's almost as if there are hypnotizing brainwaves the series emenates that consume your consciousness once you let them in. Or something. Just speculating. Anyway I only talked about actor Oliver Stark over on Bluesky it seems, but I did a gigantic post on Anirudh Pisharody two weeks ago. And now how can I ignore this steamy photoshoot with actor Rafael Silva (via), who's on the Lone Star spin-off? It should be noted that Silva plays a gay character on that show and he is openly gay himself. So the good man really knows what he is doing to us with these photos, and he did it anyway. And for that we give thanks. Hit the jump for it...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

A Different Man (2024)

Oswald: Guy, you're a masterful actor, 

which is why this is so tragic. I really 

don't know what the ethical thing to do is.

Ingrid: The right thing to do is for you to take the role, 

and you still get to play Edward, Guy, just transformed. 

And you don't have to hide your face behind 

that idiotic thing! You- you get more recognition.

Edward: For one scene.

Oswald: But what a scene. The finale.

Edward: No one's gonna believe that Edward looks 

like him and then suddenly he just looks like me.

Oswald: Magic!

Edward: But she loves him for who he is. 

If he changes, then who is he then?

What a perfect movie A Different Man is! Here is my review. Cannot wait to see what writer-director Aaron Schimberg does next. But for now a happy birthday to Sebastian Stan, who would've been my pick for the Best Actor statue this past year if he'd been nominated for this instead of The Appreintice. And yes I admit I say that still having not watched The Apprentice. I mean kudos to any person who can subject themselves to more time spent thinking about our fucking asshole of a President but I simply cannot. A Different Man on the other hand, that shit I might have to re-watch tonight! Monumentally terrific flick.

If There's One Take Away From Weapons...

... it's ALDENSTACHE.

(See more of Alden's set photos here, and 

read my thoughts on the movie here and then 

my follow-up on its questionable gay shit here.)

Tahar Rahim Eleven Times

What's that you say? A new photoshoot of Tahar Rahim looking exxxtremely fine for something called L’Équipe magazine? (via) Yeah we'll bite. Or rather -- since Google Translate tells me that "L’Équipe" means "The Team" in French I guess I'll take one for The Team. From The Team. If The Team is Tahar Rahim. I will take one, several, from Tahar. 

Anyway we're extremely excited that Tahar is in Alpha, the new movie from Raw and Titane director Julia Decourneau -- I don't care that the reviews were mixed out of Cannes! I will make up my own damned mind thank you very much. Tahar's already got us halfway to heaven, as is. Hit the jump for the entire shoot...

Stick It To Me, Thom

I'm never "not listening to" Radiohead -- just sometimes I don't listen to my favorite band as much as others. But for the past couple of weeks I've been knee-deep in my boys again, giving my ol' favorites playlist a good rutting. Which usually means my decades-tuned Spidey-Sense is feeling 'em up to something and lo, behold, this is something! It's not the something we're all hoping for -- i.e. their first new goddamned record in nine years -- but it's something cool nonetheless. Today they dropped a new record of live recordings from their Hail to the Thief tours in the Aughts and you can pre-order their website's exlucive version of the vinyl right here and as pictured below. 

Or get a regular black vinyl, or a CD, or just listen to the thing digitially -- whatever. I just obviously bought the blue one because it's the most special and therefore I'm the most special Radiohead fan in all the land and they will love me the most. Ahem. But seriously -- support these poor poor chaps so they can afford to keep the lights on in the studio and record a new goddamned album already! Coincidentally they also dropped a shit-ton of new merch on their website yesterday from the current art show in the U.K. happening with the band's regular artist Stanley Donwood -- check that stuff out here. No I didn't buy the tea set although you have no idea how tempted I was! And am! Ooooooh look at it...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Don't Go Breakin' My Balls

I'm hit-or-miss with the Safdies -- love love love Good Time, hate hate hate Uncut Gems (except Julia Fox, who's great) -- but the trailer for their latest one, the ping-pong-epic Marty Supreme starring Timothee Chalamet, has me thinking this is gonna fall on the "hit" half. It's a fictionalized telling of the true story of midcentury ball-thwacking wunderkind Marty Reisman and it co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Fran Drescher, Odessa A'zion (who suddenly seems to be everywhere), Sandra Bernhard, Abel Ferrera, Penn Gillette, Tyler the Creator -- basically the usual parade of WTF from the Safdies. 

That said this trailer makes the movie seem on its surface to be incredibly straightforward? This is like Sports Movie 101 stuff. Lively and fun and I'm all over it, but this trailer is very much pitching broad. Knowing Josh Safdie though I'm sure this thing is way wilder than its trailer is letting on. The important question -- do we think Timmy can finally win the Best Actor Oscar for this? Our little ladling is seriously overdue -- Gary Oldman stole his rightful prize in 2018 dammit. I know he's become divisive amongst people because of his whole fuckboi shall-not-be-named-family-dating persona he has off-screen, but we still adore him here at MNPP HQ. Here's the trailer:

Marty Supreme is out on Christmas Day. Here's an adorable image

Timmy shared on Instagram this morning, using the film's tagline:

Good Morning, World

Imagine having this view of Arnaud Valois every morning.

Mon dieu! Good morning indeed. (via)

Manny Jacinto Two Times

I still think he's computer-generated. 

Come prove me wrong, Manny!

Yessir Mister Plainclothes

Sure enough as mentioned in our last post the trailer for Plainclothes has also arrived today -- the closeted cop drama starring Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey is hitting theaters on September 19th and you can watch the trailer down below. Here is my Sundance review of the movie, which hit me with a whallop given it's set in Syracuse New York in the 1990s aka where and when I grew up and got good and gay. A really special movie, and Tom Blyth and Maria Dizzia as his mom in particular give wonderful performances. Watch it!

Okay here's one more gif, just cuz:

Peter Hujar's Day is Coming

It's turning out to be a very gay day today and I wouldn't have it any other way -- I just shared the news that the leather love story Pillion is screening at NYFF and I believe that the closested cop drama Plainclothes (which I reviewed right here) is supposed to get a trailer at some point today. But first we've got the poster and the trailer for Ira Sachs' new movie Peter Hujar's Day, which stars Ben Whishaw as the titular gay photographer alongside Rebecca Hall as Hujar's good friend, journalist Linda Rosenkrantz. The two spent a day talking on the record in 1974 and this film documents that day and conversation. Couldn't be more excited -- it hits theaters on November 7th! Watch:

A Pillion in New York

I always illustrate my Pillion posts with a picture of Alexander Skarsgård so let's shake it up and go with his co-star and leading man Harry Melling today, because we've come to be enormous fans of his over the past few years. Not just the biggun, our beloved Please Baby Please (which is the obvious forerunner to Pillion given that they're both about mousy dudes finding love and lust through leather daddies), but also an extremely underrated turn in The Devil All the Time -- not a perfect movie but he was amazing in it. Really any time Harry shows up we're enthused to watch his riveting face and so Pillion's been on our GIMME THAT FUCKING THING NOW list since it premiered at Cannes -- okay technically well before Cannes because I am On This Sorta Shit and posted about this movie getting made a full year before it premiered at Cannes. Anyway my great wish for NYFF came true -- today they announced that Pillion is indeed in the line-up for next month's fest, huzzah! It's part of their Spotlight Section which also includes the Springsteen biopic with Jeremy Allen White that I mentioned yesterday, along with fresh reveals -- two movies from Richard Linklater, a five-part docuseries about Martin Scorsese, the new one from Paolo Sorrentino and Daniel Day-Lewis' triumphant (one assumes) return to acting in his son's first film. Check the whole list at FLC's site. Let the countdown until Pillion commence!

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?