... not war.
Monday, June 16, 2025
Let's Do the Brokeback Again
I can't imagine any of my readers don't already know that this year marks the 20th anniversary of Ang Lee's masterpiece Brokeback Mountain and that it's getting re-released into movie theaters for the ocassion -- in case you haven't already bought your tickets and gotten your Jack Twist cosplay prepped here is a link for the former endeavor anyway. And Focus just dropped the above new poster for the occasion as well. I like that Jack & Ennis actually get to touch now here 20 years later, as opposed to the original one-sheet (seen below). That's called progress! Anyway this movie and MNPP itself are pretty inextricably linked -- we just celebrated our 20th anniversary and my writing about Brokeback is what originally got people coming over here to visit. (Notably my pal Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience became a fan and so I started writing for him and yadda yadda here we are.) If you click that last link and keep scanning through the many many pages you'll see -- we've been talking these beautiful sad boys for twenty straight (ahem) years. I don't expect that to quit either. Because why? Say it with me! We don't know how to quit them!
Take a Lee Pace Lunch Break
I was a really big fan of Lucio Castro's queer romance End of the Century the first time I saw it in 2019 (here is what I wrote about it) and it's only grown better with every successive viewing. So needless to say I was pretty excited when I saw that Castro's new movie After This Death starring Lee Pace was playing at Tribeca this year! It was probably my most anticipated at the entire fest and it did not let me down -- I absolutely loved it, go read my thoughts over at Pajiba. I tried to not be spoilery but to be honest it's kind of an impossible movie to spoil because it's all about the vibe. Even knowing what's going on plot-wise won't get in the weird way of how Castro tells the story. I was enthused, to put it mildly, to see that he's already finished another movie and it played Cannes last month (and a quick scan of reviews showed me people seemed to like it) so we might get it also this year? We deserve this.
From Flow to Flames, Criterion Turns It Up to 11
Wowza this month flew by -- it feels like just yesterday we were speaking upon the movies that Criterion is dropping this upcoming August and now here's their September batch now upon us! I suppose we did have the announcement of their glorious and gorgeous Wes Anderson box-set in between -- that's a September release too, landing at the end of the month on the 30th. September is loaded to the gills though -- on top of all that Anderson (which also includes individual releases for Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch) there are six more titles being unloaded. I guess they know people are starting their holiday shopping right about then? Aaaanyway let's get into it -- first up there's a Jacques Audiard movie I've yet to see, his 2001 movie Read My Lips starring Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos. He's an ex-con who gets hired as her assistant and who drags her into some sort of Noir-ish scheme -- I am down. I was down as sort as I saw Vincent with a mustache honestly. But speaking of sexy men in Audiard movies...
Next up I am amusing myself by putting these two polar opposite movies beside one another -- on September 16th they're dropping Lizzie Borden's feminist punk masterpiece Born in Flames and also on September 16th they're dropping Rob Reiner's faux rockumentary classic This is Spinal Tap -- what a fucking bizarre pairing! But I love it. Watch them back to back and blow yer minds! I have to admit if forced to choose I'd choose Borden's film, which rules -- I think Spinal Tap is fine but I prefer the later Chris Guest movies if I'm being honest. Don't haze me, please!
And finally (besides the 4K upgrade of Akira Kurosawa's High and Low which sidenote might just be my favorite Kurosawa) we have the animated masterpiece that was last year's apocalyptic kitty cat spectacle called Flow -- this movie is wonderful, transfixing, magical, and I'm shocked how often it comes up day to day in my life? I was just talking about it two nights ago. Weird how often cat-apocalypses can be worked into basic conversation. But then these are weird times!
Quote of the Day
“We had a lot of sex... And then I kissed Daniel and he was so easy with it. And then I was easy with it and we were really easy with each other’s bodies and I thought, oh, it’s just that... God, I built this up and, and we had to lie naked on under the sheet for an hour every night. And it was easy.... He was the perfect [James] Bond because he’s the only person I’ve ever met who is or maybe more comfortable naked than he is dressed. He’s very easy in his body... I used to drag him to showers to make him shave because I got a stubble rash off him,... We used to pinch each others bits under the sheets to make each other laugh.”
I've posted a couple pictures before -- right here ... oh and here as well -- of Jason Isaacs and Daniel Craig performing with each other in the original British stage production of Angels in America, but these quotes from Jason Isaacs reminiscing about the experience (via) on a recent podcast are too wonderful not to share. This is turning out to be a fairly horny Monday morning huh? I guess we're all looking for expressions of life, reasons to keep going, in dark days. Keep it coming!
Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Leather...
... . for Saint Laurent is an excellent start to any week.
(click to embiggen)
Hopefully more is coming...
Happy 65 to Psycho
Happy 65 to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho today! Just a happy movie about fucking the perfection that is John Gavin for ninety minutes. That's all it is right? This is where you find out that I've never made it past the opening scene, haha. Can you imagine? I wonder if that person exists. If you're that person, contact me. I want to mind-meld with you. It seems like a happier, simpler existence to have. Alas! But we can pretend for this post anyway...
Good Morning, World
These new photos of actor Cooper Kochmodeling his gay Calvins dropped last week but I figured I'd save them for our Monday morning, as a lil' treat -- nothing says "Monday Morning Pick-Me-Up" like this specific pretty person with his hands down his shorts to me. Here are the first batch of images that came out in May -- as the rainbow pattern lets on these are the Pride batch which they set aside for June like good responsible old-fashioned corporate overlords of yore. I think we can count on fancy underwear brands to know where their bread's buttered, at least! Anyway yeah yeah happy Monday or whatever; hit the jump for a few more whilst I settle myself in for another week...
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Do It For Captain America
It's proving exceptionally difficult for me to get any work done today with everything happening in this country -- i.e. its quick descent into absolute fascism ya know, no big whoop -- and so looking at the clock I'm tossing my hands in the air and giving up on fighting the tide. A bunch of hateful morons handed the keys to our country to the same man who tried and failed to flush democracy down the toilet four short years ago, and now we're reaping the collapse we deserve for it. I can't write anything entertaining right this moment. I just have to go scream into a pillow, hug the people I love, and prepare to scream myself hoarse at the protest happening on Saturday -- if you missed my earlier post on that click here. As for the movies opening this weekend Celine "Past Lives" Song's latest Materialists starring Pedro Pascal, Dakota Johnson, and this hot slab of America's Ass pictured here is -- despite the attitude I get from commenters on here whenever I've posted about it! -- worth your time. It's not as good as Past Lives was, but it's way more sticky and weird and unexpected than its typical rom-com trailer would have you believe. Anyway that's the sum total of coherent thinking I can type right now. Please everybody be safe, go to a protest this weekend, and fuck up the fascists. America's Ass is counting on you!
Just Say No Kings
The only King I recognize is Derek Jarman's film Edward II (pictured above), and so I'm going to use a slice of its beefcake the way Derek intended -- to grab your attention whilst sneaking in a political message. This Saturday there are over 2000 protests scheduled around the country to combat President Nazi's little limp-dick birthday celebration happening, and I expect my MNPP'ers to represent! Click here for an interactive map where you can zoom in and find the one nearest yourself. I'll be scampering about NYC where no big surprise it'll be massive, but as that map shows you there are ones happening in the smallest of towns everywhere. I was proud to see how many are happening in the red farm-town districts of Upstate New York where I grew up -- there's basically one happening in every other town! It's wild. Anyway going to a protest and being among like-minded and mad-as-hell people is exceptionally good for one's mental health -- we're in this together and this is a great big opportunity to exercize our democratic constitutional rights in the face of genuine fascism. There are so many more of us than there are of these small pathetic creeps. Let's show them.
Good Morning, World
A happy 40th birthday to lil' Davey Franco today -- not so little no more, I suppose, but that's an older picture of him I'm using since it's morning related and I don't believe I've posted it before so Lil' he can stay this particular morning. Have you been keeping up with his Body Horror movie Together co-starring his life-parnter Alison Brie that's out at the end of July? A new poster poped up this week and I think there have been trailers but I have avoided everything because, to quote our beloved Aunt Sassy, I don't need to see that. I just need to see the movie, thank you very much. I figured out what it was about just from the title and the vague description of the plot when I read about it ages ago and everything else they're dropping will just rob me of its presumed pleasures now. I have patience. Except I don't. I'm gonna go email its PR reps right now and find out about screenings, scuse me...
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Nothing Comes Between Me & My Alessandro
I guess there's a little bit of a physical resemblance between Alessandro and Calvin, something I never would've picked up on without this casting -- anyway you slap him in a white tee and jeans and let Alessandro do his thing (his thing being "act real good") and it'll work. And calling this a "gay" role is probably a bit of a stretch that will never meet those expectations because Calvin was of course married to Kelly Klein during this period, and also one assumes his personal life isn't going to be the focus of his scenes. But who knows! Leave it to Ryan Murphy to insist on a scene where Calvin is fitting Marky Mark for his tighty-whities.
Harris Dickinson Five Times
I should be working on reviews today since I'm screening-less but my brain's just kind of begging me for a day of durring it for awhile and accomplishing nothing, so here we are. Thankfully these lovely photos of lovely Harris Dickinson appeared, thereby making my job (or you know my "job") that much easier. I like the shaggy hair on him? Right? He looks lovely. Yes I used "lovely" a third time. Can you tell my brain needs a rest now? Hit the jump for the rest of these yes I said it again lovely photos...
Viva Ponder
One of MNPP's best cyber friends from way way back is the great and legendary Stacie Ponder, who's been running her horror blog Final Girl for... well exactly 20 years today! That's right -- MNPP just celebrated our 20th so Stacie and I started writing on Ye Olde Internet about a week and a half apart in 2005. I don't remember when Stacie and I became aware of each other's sites but it can't have been but a couple years into that and we immediately cyber-bonded as awesome gay people and fans of horror. If y'all know Stacie from Final Girl or from her podcast Gaylords of Darkness or her on-going Twin Peaks podcast "The Detective and the Loglady" then you know she's the bee's knees already -- if not, get aquainted! And it's the perfect time because she's just kicked off a brand new podcast called Final Girl After Dark! It promises to be basically an audio version of her site, and you can test it out because she's already dropped the first episode today. So go wish her site a Happy Birthday and go listen to her new podcast! We adore Stacie and think you will as well. I mean I probably wouldn;'t have ever seen Cathy's Curse if not for her and my life was barren fetid stank without that!
Today's Fanboy Delusion
Today I'd rather be...
... in need of rescue.
Save me, David Corenswet! You're my only hope! My pants have fallen off and only you can do something about it! Pardon me my Superman fan fiction here -- Entertainment Weekly dropped their big Superman issue this week (the movie is out in exactly one month!) and every photo of David Corenswet, in and out (ahem) of costume, was like a slap upside the face with a fistful of kryptonite.
Sight unseen I hope this movie is good and successful because
I need to continue staring at David Corenswet for a very long time.
All About Andrea
In between all of the many, many, many Tribeca screenings I've been to over the past several days I did actually manage to drop a review -- click over to Pajiba to read my thoughts on Dragonfly, the latest tour de Andrea Riseborough. She remains one of my favorite actresses working today and this movie offers plenty more fuel for that fire. Oh and her co-star Brenda Blethyn ain't no slouch! Good pretty solidly fucked up movie.
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