Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

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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...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

I had a totally different post prepped for this morning but that went fast into the trash-can (okay not really -- I'll post it on Monday) when I saw that Charles Melton was once again melton-ing my face off with a new photoshoot. This time it's for GQ Korea (via) and more of these might be to come, we'll keep our eyes on this particular prize per our usual obsessive behavior. I've probably said this before -- hell I've been doing this for so long I've probably said it a dozen times -- but the best thing to come out of the internet (a list that's actually gotten smaller with time, sadly) is access...

... to incredible edible magazine spreads like this from all over the world -- I mean, remember when we just got plain old regular American GQ and had to be happy with that? No more! Thank you, Al Gore! (Sigh -- even in jest I shouldn't mention his name because he represents the moment the timeline split into shit.) Wait! None of that! Just good, happy, beautiful beefcake-y thoughts! Hit the jump for the full shoot (including a big ol' pile of gifs)...

Is It Getting Bitter In Here Or Is It Just Me

I know I've posted the above poster for Pedro Aldmodovar's upcoming Bitter Christmas -- which has already come out in lots of places on "the continent" but which will be premiering here on "this continent" at TIFF and then NYFF -- before, because I fucking love that poster. That is a good looking poster, and I would like to buy a copy of it. Alas it seems they've switched over to the poster seen down below which is good, it's fine, I probably would've loved it more if I hadn't already seen the above superior poster. Also knowing this movie used to be called Autofiction, a much better title, makes me wonder what's going on with Pedro right now. You okay, friend?

online polls

Anyway while I've avoided any reviews of the film so far I have gotten the vague impression that reception to it has been cool -- have any of you fine folks seen it already? I know you're a worldly bunch. That said I'm pretty excited to be off to a press screening of this movie right this minute, so stay tuned. But if we're being honest the Pedro Almodovar thing I am most excited about this fall is Almodovar Art, the big fancy (and perhaps seriously over-priced) hardcover book that's hitting your local corner book-shop in just a few weeks! I keep checking to see if the price has dropped yet and nope -- it's almost 700 pages so I get the high price-point but come on, some of us Almodóvar fans are poors! I'm going to have to put on a bob wig and large sunglasses and shoplift this bitch under a red trenchcoat like a classic Almodovar character woulda.

10 Seconds In Heaven

Let Jonathan Bailey take you away.

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Dunno if this is a regular feature for Vogue but they photographed Charles Melton and his dog Neya, a gorgeous husky girl, including an interview about their love -- titled Dogue of course. My mom is a husky lover so I've been around a lot of them and man is Neya pretty -- I suppose a man as pretty as Charles would have to have a dog as pretty as Neya. Pretty things roam in packs! A general rule. Hit the jump for all the photos...