Pillion Reaching Completion

It's been a long hard ride for Pillion and the people who love it -- the dom-com starring Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling edged us all fall awards season long (I saw and reviewed it at NYFF in October) only to wait until February to give us a U.S. theatrical release proper. The Oscars ignored it (because of course they did, they're lame) and I put it in my top five movies of the year, and now after all this time, it's finally coming... out on blu-ray! A24 dropped the pre-order earlier today -- grab it at this link. I don't really understand why it's not 4K but at least they're promising the "unrated  theatrical cut" which... I have no idea what that means to be honest. I saw it like three times but they were all in the fall during festival and awards screenings -- I never could really suss out what cut was what after that. I guess I'll know when I sit down and watch this after it ships out in July. Just in time for my birthday! Bend me over a picnic table and give me my present, Alex! 

Pics of the Day

Rose of Nevada is the new "horror" film from Enys Men director Mark Jenkin -- if you've seen Enys Men then you probably understand why I put "horror" in quotes; it's because his movies are more surreal and uncanny than they are straight-up horror. They want to destabilize you in a way that's starting to feel wholly unique to Jenkin, two movies in -- I am a fan of them both, having seen Rose at NYFF last fall, and not just because this new one stars Callum Turner and George MacKay as ship-mates who look like they look in the photos seen here (via) from the set. The movie is hitting the UK on April 24th -- it comes out here in the U.S. in June so I'll try to say more then. Until then just spend some time today imagining being these boys' bunk-mate -- it's absolutely what I'm doing!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)

Prosecutor Nusret: Ignore Naci. He's just 

a handful of bees, as my mother would say. 

All noise and no action.

I have such a vivid memory of watching this film at the New York Film Festival in the fall of 2011 -- you know how some images imprint themselves onto your brain? It's not just a specific image out of this gorgeous stream of images that director Nuri Bilge Ceylan assembled here, either -- it's a flow of images, of cars moving down dirt roads across distant hills and fields in the night-time, with the screen and the audience I was watching the film with itself included in the memory. It was as if we'd all be lifted and transported to this place where we hovered over on the next hill over, watching this drama unfold in the distance. 

It was a magical experience, one of those "this is why we go to a movie theater" religion of cinema things, and that's why we're wishing the great Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan a happy birthday today. Go watch his movies! All of the ones I've seen since have had the same sort of magical transportative quality to them. 

Once You Go Kontinental...

The trailer for one of my favorite movies from last fall's NYFF has arrived -- Romanian maniac Radu Jude's Kontinental '25, which I reviewed right here, was actually the more sane of his two NYFF films. But given that the other one was his deranged A.I. riddled schlockterpiece Dracula (also reviewed at that link) it's not saying much to call Kontinental '25 the "sane" one. It's still fully a Radu Jude flick -- political, provocative, hellaciously strange. Oh and speaking of the trailer...

... look who shows up in it! Tis me! Nope, I'll never get tired of it. I do a little dance at my desk every time I get blurbed. Dignity is for the dead. Aaaanyway Kontinetal '25 is about a "well meaning" cog in the machine of modern living who's convinced she's a good person only for Jude to show us, through her, how we're all monsters thriving on the status quo of exploiting everybody else so we can maintain our own comfort. Oh and it's exceptionally funny about it -- I should lead with that. Anyway, trailer-time:

Kontinental '25 hits theaters on March 27th! Don't miss it. 

Putting the Supreme in Marty

Before I scurry away from the computer for a week and a half like it's injecting poison into my fingers with every button push (and really do we even have proof that computers don't do this?) I do have some stuff to share with you! Awww. I'm a peach. But really, it's not nothing -- there are a heap of movies hitting theaters over the holiday and I reviewed a couple! Starting with, you guessed it, the biggie -- click on over to Pajiba to read my thoughts on Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme, starring one Timmy C. I know y'all have soured on him given the comments I get every time I post about him but he's absolutely top-notch in the movie and I'm rooting for him to get that Oscar y'all. The other options are, what -- Leo already has one (although I do think he's better in One Battle After Another than he was in the role he won one for) and if they give Ethan Hawke a statue for his limp-wristed shrieking in that Richard Linklater movie I am so fucking done. Timmy's legit giving the performance of his career to date in Marty Supreme and all this talk of a hype backlash is bullshit. The boy's doing his job, getting eyeballs on his movie! In 2025 Hollywood ya gotta fucking hustle, man. This is a two and a half hour movie about an asshole playing ping-pong ffs. And it rules. 

The other review is one that's been around for a bit since I saw it at NYFF, but Jim Jarmusch's wonderful Father Mother Sister Brother is hitting theaters tomorrow and it's one of my favorites from him, so you should go see it. But don't let me here convince you -- let me over at Pajiba convince you where I wrote about the movie in actual depth. Jarmusch is hit-or-miss with me but this is a real hit from where I stand. I tend to like it most when he does funny. I think he and I have very similar senses of humor. 

Smoke Em If Ya Got Em, Brandon Sklenar

I cannot speak personally pro or anti this weekend's thriller film The Housemaid because I had to miss my screening of it when I fucked up my ankle a couple weeks back -- all I've heard are mixed things though, and those mixed things trend toward the "It's not nearly as campy as it needs to be" so I'm not exactly running out to see it myself. But when it hits streaming? Sure. Probably. I love Amanda Seyfried (who gives a tremendous performance in her other Winter 2025 movie The Testament of Ann Lee). And this marks the third photoshoot (via) of noted hunk Brandon Sklenar that we've posted here at MNPP (see here and see here) so clearly he's in the plus column as well. Anyway it probably won't be as much torture as I found the latest Avatar movie (the other movie out this weekend) to be, so there's that. 

Oh and I guess Bradley Cooper's Is This Thing On? is also out today but I have nothing to say about that movie -- less than nothing. I saw it during NYFF and it left zero point zero percent of an impression on me. Completely forgettable hetero nonsense that totally wastes Laura Dern. Blergh! All that said you might wonder why I'm running through all the movies out this weekend here on a Thursday... well it's because I just found out right this very minute that my office will be closed tomorrow. So it's looking like a three-day weekend for moi! Huzzah! And then next week's a two day week, and then I'm off for nearly two weeks! I'm not saying this to rub it in your face... I'll leave it to Brandon to rub things in your face. Happy weekend!

Wagner Moura Two Times

The Secret Agent, the ace new movie from Bacurau and Aquarius director Kleber Mendonça Filho, is out in theaters today! (Check this link for tickets near you.) And its sexy slash super talented star Wagner Moura has been on the awards trail in support of it, which has been a big boon to those of us who like looking at Wagner Moura. Especially since it is a movie that treats him very much as a Movie Star, and makes him look about as fine as he can -- just take one look at the main still from the movie and tell me you don't want to watch two hours of that! But beyond starriness Moura gives another world-class turn in the film -- he shot immediately onto my radar in 2013 in Neill Blomkamp's otherwise forgettable Elysium (he'd already been working, mostly in Brazil, for 15 years before that) and it's been a real pleasure watching him fulfill that promise year after year. TSA is definitely his best work to date, and it'd be awesome if he manages to score an Oscar nom for it -- that said I'm also rooting for Lee Byung-hun in Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice and I foresee AMPAS being stingy when it comes to giving away slots to non-English language performers. They'll usually go for one, not two. So if I had to bet I'd give the edge to Wagner -- this movie isn't as tonally tricky as Park's movie; as dark as it gets, it goes down easier. Anyway I'm rooting for the both of them, and Wagner if you need a date to the ceremony I am (sorry boyfriend) available... (pics via)

Must Be Funny in a Rich Man's World

Well it only took me two weeks and one day from the fest's last day but I have finally dropped my last review out of this year's New York Film Festival -- please clap! It normally doesn't take me this long but you try to write about Park Chan-wook's gleefully deranged satire of capitalism while on an entire fistful of cold pills and tell me how you fare mkay? Anyway I did finally birth something, and that something is a review of director Park Chan-wook's latest movie No Other Choice at Pajiba, and you can read it right here at this link. I was incredibly lucky to be able to see the movie a second time last week, which brushed aside some of those sick day cobwebs and affirmed some ideas I had had way back when I'd seen it weeks earlier. Shorter version: terrific movie! See it!

The Jarmusch Don't Die

My feelings on the movies of writer-director-hairdo Jim Jarmusch have long been all over the place -- some I like, some I hate, but I can't say I've ever deeply loved anything he's directed. Night on Earth is probably the closest that comes to that. I'm also a fan of Broken Flowers and I seem to be one of the few who really liked his zombie comedy The Dead Don't Die. Anyway that was all true until I saw his latest at NYFF a couple of weeks ago -- click over to Pajiba to read my thoughts on Father Mother Sister Brother, the director's "rumination on the unfamiliarity of family" as I put it, which seems to've immediately become a personal fave from the white-haired iconoclast. A triptych of unrelated stories about three very different families who have had some issues connecting, the film stars Charlotte Rampling, Vicky Krieps, Cate Blanchett, Tom Waits, Adam Driver, et cetera et cetera -- Jim Jarmusch can get whoever he wants and he usually does. Krieps gives my favorite turn in the film but then she often does -- thank you Paul Thomas Anderson for the gift of Vicky! FMSB is out in U.S. theaters on Christmas Eve; here's the recently dropped trailer:

Good Morning, JAW

I was wondering when we'd start getting our Jeremy Allen White awards season PR push and I guess it makes sense that being today since his Springsteen movie is apparently out on Friday! I didn't even realize. I saw the film at NYFF and... it's fine? Actors have won Oscars for worse musician bio-pics and yes I am speaking directly to you, Rami Malek. I imagine it will make Springsteen people happy -- having never been one of said people I learned some stuff I didn't know but I can't say I was blown away by anything I witnessed. This is why I didn't write a review! I really have nothing to say about it. But Jeremy Allen White flashing dem abs and digging around in his jeans crotch for Interview Magazine today? That I could write ten thousand words about. Half of it would take the form of one of those "Man From Nantucket" rhymes sure but hey it's something. Anyway he's a sexy af short king and we love this shoot and good morning, hit the jump for all of it...

Criterion Gives Birth This January

Put another checkmark in the "Fucking finally!" column because one of the great movies that hasn't gotten a proper release since the days of DVD is getting an upgrade on January 27th, 2026 -- yes obviously I speak of Jonathan Glazer's 2004 masterpiece Birth, as that enormous visage of Nicole Kidman's face with the word "Birth" scrawled across it probably let on already. (Sidenote: Birth is coming out on my mother's birthday? How fortuitous.) I'd have a hard nigh impossible time ranking Glazer's films because he's made nothing but masterpieces in his directing career -- one wants to call his a "brief" career since he's only directed four features, but those four features are spread across 25 years (beginning with Sexy Beast in 2000) and that's the opposite of brief. But depending on the day Birth might be my favorite of his. The next day it'll be Under the Skin and the day after that's it's The Zone of Interest, and so it goes. But this is triuphant news nonetheless -- a 4K disc, including a new doc on the movie's making -- now can we get Alexandre Desplat's now-legendary score released on vinyl please??? No, it's never enough. You get one thing, you need another, and then you die. And are reborn in a little boy to go stalk Nicole Kidman!

And as if Birth wasn't chilly enough -- Criterion is definitely leaning into the January-ness of January -- we'll also be getting Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man and John Huston's The Dead hitting 4k that month. I don't think I've seen either of these before? I may've seen the Huston ages and ages ago but I was certainly too young to get it and should revisit. As for Dead Man I'm hit-or-miss when it comes to Jarmusch and I'm not exactly crawling over broken glass to watch Johnny Depp movies these days, but I did really love Jarmusch's latest at NYFF so I can probably be convinced. Opinions on either?

Next up there's Jia Zhangke's tremendous latest Caught By the Tides, which I haven't seen since NYFF 2024 so it's been awhile, but it's a film that flits across my consciousness often -- Zhangke shot the film over 23 years (!!!) with actors Zhao Tao and Li Zhubin and watching them age in real time, watching China change around them -- it's an incredible experience. I suppose it must've been annoying for him when Richard Linklater beat him to the gimmick with Boyhood but I'm very much Team Zhangke on this one. It's an incredible accomplishment. And then there's the latest entry in Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project series, which honestly has long intimidated the hell out of me. I'll dive into them one day! 

And so we come to the months'f inal three releases (big batch!) -- the second more vital drop this month to my eye is their re-release of Edward Yang's Yi Yi in 4K, which I've talked about a few times since seeing it for the first time just a few months ago; an astonishing film, one of the greats. Then there's the 1985 film of Kiss of the Spider-Woman starring Raul Julia and an Oscar-winning turn from William Hurt. I should probably give this one another chance -- I remember not being nuts about it when I saw it in my 20s. And then to bring us home there's Errol Flynn's best movie says me, the enormously entertaining 1935 swashbuckler Captain Blood. Love this movie; Errol is Peak Errol here.The big sword fight on the rocks is unmissable classic cinema. 

Good Night Oscar

Have you seen the photos of Oscar Isaac taken at the Los Angeles premiere for Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein last night? Here are two of them but he looks so handsome in every damn picture I recommend you search around (or just check my Bluesky where I posted more) -- they're worth losing yourself in! Kinda wild how he just keeps getting better looking -- I actually saw him coming out of a screening of Richard Linklater's new movie at NYFF last week and stood two feet from him and it ain't photoshop y'all. The man's a dream. Anyway let these photos hold you tight cuz I sure ain't gonna -- I'm off to see the new Yorgos Lanthimos picture! Yay me! Bye!

Two By That Rascally Radu Jude

I like to think that my MNPP readers are cinematically astute ones and that y'all have heard of Romanian director Radu Jude and seen at least one of his movies. But if you haven't... hoo boy, have you got some treats ahead for you. Well they're treats if you're an adventurous movie-watcher, that is -- if you like your movies to go down smoothly he probably isn't the man for you. I only became familiar with him with 2021's Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (here is my review) but since then I've very much gotten on-board with his cinema of aggression -- "provocation" doesn't even seem adequate, his movies are actively aggressive -- and so I had to review his two, yes TWO, movies that are screening at this year's NYFF -- click here to read my thoughts on both Kontinental '25 and his version of Dracula (!!!), which is truly something to behold. They both are, but Dracula is particularly unhinged. Kontinental '25 is the better Film film, if you know what I mean, but Dracula is something you'll never forget watching. Experiencing. Here's the (NSFW) trailer for it which only gets like 1/5th of its madness across:

Alexander Skarsgård, Leather Queen

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A post shared by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams)

As you may or may not have heard (although all signs point to "have") I'm in the middle of New York Film Festival duties right now, and for the most part (save yesterday but don't ask) having a grand old time. You can see what there is of coverage so far right here, with the caveat slash promise that lots more coverage will be coming. Anyway I figured I'd share the above photos and videos that I took over the weekend of Pillion writer-director Harry Lighton with his star Alexander Skarsgard at a non-NYFF-specific screenng of that movie -- which I reviewed here -- because there's never not a right time for the Skarsgård. And speaking of Sir Alex -- we've been deeply enjoying the BDSM-flavored outfits he's been rocking on the red carpets for Pillion so far, and it seems like a poll would be fun. Right? Right. Pick your favorite master...

Talk To Me, Ben Whishaw

This one won't be for everyone but I quite liked Peter Hujar's Day, Ira Sachs' new film starring Ben Whishaw & Rebecca Hall, at NYFF -- click over to Pajiba to read my review today! It's a hangout movie where a lot of the hanging out is banal but I think that's part of its point? Anyway as I say over there -- who the hell wouldn't want to just hang out with Ben Whishaw & Rebecca Hall for 76 minutes? It was like heaven to me. (I previously shared the trailer right here.)

And Now My Pillion Review is Here

Pillion Week continues! First we got the posters, then we got the trailer, then we got Alexander Skarsgard maybe coming out as bi, and now my review! Click on over to read my thoughts on the film, starring Alexander Skarsgard as the dom to Harry Melling's happy sub, at Pajiba right here. This is my first review of several to come out of NYFF 2025 -- first because twas the easiest to write. This is a movie to just fall in love with! Just so lovely...

Yes It's the Pillion Trailer

Yesterday I shared the first pair of posters for Pillion with you and now -- yes a few hours late but whatever, I'm busy! -- we've got the trailer! The responsible portion of me feels the need to say what Pillion is about every time I post about Pillion but I've posted about Pillion a billion (heh rhymes) times now and I think y'all know that this is the movie where Alexander Skarsgard takes Harry melling on as his sub boy. Anyway as I also said yesterday my review of this from NYFF is incoming and I'll link to that when "incoming" has actually "come" but for now, do watch:

I'm actually surprised A24 already dropped this trailer since the movie's not in theaters until February, but hey -- nobody's gonna complain about some of Alexander's cum-gutters hitting any ol' day, I think. Not here on this website anyway.

A Pair of Pillion Posters

A24 dropped two posters for their forthcoming Gay BDSM Romance Pillion today -- one featuring star Alexander Skarsgård seen above and one featuring star Harry Melling on, you know, the bottom. Heheh see what I did there? Sso clever. So naughty! That's me in a nutshell. Aaaanyway they're also promising the first trailer will drop tomorrow so I imagine you should stay tuned. And you should likewise stay tuned because this movie screens at NYFF this Thursday and Friday and there might just be a review from yours truly dropping shortly. Just saying! Get your nutshells ready. 

One Masterpiece After Another

Being a man of mystery (ha) I don't usually let on to my opinions on movies until I drop my full review of them -- the whole "spit out twenty words on social media the second the screening ends" thing is just not for me. I need to marinate in what I just watched -- especially when it's blown my mind. But this time there was enough of a break between the first time I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another and when the social media embargo broke on it that I'd fully formed my opinion that it's a masterpiece (something a second viewing before I wrote my review only underlined) and so this time I did indeed jump on the "screaming my opinion in a few words on social media" bandwagon, as seen down below. (And that post is in actuality an entire thread so click on to read it all at Bluesky if you care for the Cliff's Notes version of my review.) That said my full on review of the film dropped yesterday -- READ IT HERE. There could still be some surprises down the road with movies I haven't seen yet but to be honest I can't imagine anything knocking OBAA off the top of the year right now. It's astonishing filmmaking from PTA. Urgent, funny, political -- if this is the movie that finally gets him on the Oscar stage I don't think anybody could possibly be angry about that. Well except for Republicans. They'll be angry. But when aren't they angry? Fuck those dirty diaper people.

I don't like doing miniature social media "reviews" when embargoes break but ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is so mind-blowingly good I'm breaking my own rule - I felt like I was levitating upon leaving the theater. As the end credits came up I almost started whooping "CINEMA FUCK YEAH!" at the screen

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) September 9, 2025 at 10:47 AM

Twas Only a Moment For You

Okay yeah that's it, I'm off to NYFF screenings again. As I said last time I scampered off keep an eye on my socials, you'll be able to find me there (especially Bluesky). By the time I'm back... uhh Thursday morning... I'll have seen new movies by Claire Denis, Richard Linklater, Pietro Marcello, Lucretia Martel, Noah Baumbach, Bi Gan, Luca Guadagnino (!!!!) ... and Alexander Skarsgård's gay leather romance Pillion! I love the movies. Oh and as an aside keep an eye on Pajiba because my review of Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another will also be dropping soon and that -- the movie and my review -- is not something you're gonna wanna miss. Anyway bye til later! And don't forget to celebrate this:

HAPPY 30 TO SHOWGIRLS

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) September 22, 2025 at 9:36 AM