I Think I'll Go For a (Spider) Walk Outside Now

Even though I'm as ever superhero agnostic I'll always share a trailer for a Spider-Man movie --everybody loves Spier-Man and I am not immune to this. Not when they keep finding adorable twinks to fill out the skin-tight spandex and yes, Tom Holland is somehow still falling, against all odds of age, under that metric. Plus it's fun to see Jon Bernthal's sexy-ass Punisher from Daredevil showing up to order him around (and by "fun" I mean "deeply erotic" obviously) -- and speaking of Daredevil, is this him:

I'd love Charlie Cox to come along for the ride! (And feel free to impose all the filthy puns into that phrase as you see fit.) That said this teaser is... a little underwhelming. He's fighting ninjas? Okay. If you say so. Watch:

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is out on July 31st.

Good Morning, World

I did start watching the HBO series Task before I got swallowed up by NYFF duties but it's fallen by the wayside for the past few weeks -- that doesn't mean all of my Spidey-senses didn't start a'tingling once our dear House of the Dragon hunk Fabien Frankel was seen to take his top off however (thx Mac). Swoon! Nobody spoil anything for me please but if you'd like to tell me generally if the show is worth picking back up once I'm not so busy again I'd like to hear it. I wasn't sold on the first couple of episodes save Fabien and Mark Ruffalo looking like adorable little fur-baby brothers that had me screaming "Make out!" every time they shared the screen. 

Mark Ruffalo Twelve Times

Did anybody watch the premiere of Mark Ruffalo's new HBO series Task last night? From the creator of Mare of Eastwood, or so I'm told. I did not because I'm in the middle of a Foundation binge and everything's on hold while I catch up on that show (just started the second season and saw Lee Pace's naked fight!) but I have ever intention of jumping on this show once that's done -- anyway Mark's promoting the thing by busting out ye ol' reliable man-fur for Flaunt magazine today and we sure as hell say huzzah over that! Hit the jump for the full shoot...

You Can Count on Criterion

Y'all know it drives my OCD nutty to post a photo with that much text scrawled over it but how can I deny a photo of vintage shirtless furball Mark Ruffalo? One that I don't believe I'd ever seen before at that??? (And you know I tried to find a copy without the text. Alas.) Anyway it's the perfect way to introduce us to the new batch of Criterion Collection movies that were announced yesterday, to be dropped come July -- I'm doing a lot of catching up today so I assume this won't be new news to most of you. But I'm hardly going to let news of the masterpiece You Can Count on Me entering the Criterion Collection in 4K pass us by, dammit. And that's just one title of their July slate...

... which also includes (all of them in 4K!) Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat, Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, and (most excitingly for me) Francois Truffaut's two-decade-long quadrilogy of Antoine Doinel movies. The latter, which all star actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, began in 1959 with The 400 Blows and stretched to 1979's Love on the Run -- I've only ever seen the first movie and have been WAITING for this collection to right that wrong. Criterion always saves us!

Parker Posey Island Hop

The cast for In Bruges and Banshees of Inisherin writer-director Martin McDonagh's next movie is shaping up and it's a good one -- this past week Parker Posey and Steve Buscemi both joined the already-cast Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich in what's being called Wild Horses Nine. Buscemi is replacing Mark Ruffalo (and I feel like that's the first and only time that sentence has been or will be uttered) and the movie will shoot on Easter Island of all places later this month. I have to admit I sort of feel like Sam Rockwell is a harbinger of doom as far as McDonagh movies go -- he starred in my two least favorite movies from the director previously. But maybe their third time together will be a charm? And Posey's presence more than makes up for anyone else. Our queen! I'm slightly curious what y'all are thinking of her work on The Whote Lotus but also hesitant to ask because just know I vehemently disagree with any complaints, of which I know many are going around. I think she's hilarious AND I think she's nailing the accent. So there!

 

The Way To My Heart is With Cox

It's Friday! Thank Cox. I hate how hard I wish weeks by these days, given the amount of weeks I have less in my life... well it feels like the hourglass is fatter on the bottom now. But the world's just too much of a disaster and I need my two days of shutdown more than ever. And just think -- it's only 80 days until Memorial Day and then I get my three-day weekends again! Yippee! And then after that it's practically 2028 and we'll have a new President. Well, probably. Ugh and with that my stomach dropped -- see why I just need to be offline and on the floor for two full days?? 

Glad I don't have to review MICKEY 17 because it's like ten movies at once and only half of them are working but it's also really fun at times (I LOVE THE CREEPERS SO MUCH) and there is this shot of Robert Pattinson's ass that is absolutely to die for so consider yourself somewhat educated

[image or embed]

— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) March 7, 2025 at 1:14 PM

Aaaaaanyway there are two count 'em two movies of note out this weekend -- one is Bong Joon-ho's Mickey 17 which I wrote the world's briefest review of above. It probably deserves more effort than that but... see everything I said at the start pof this post. I'm fucking spent, man. The other movie out this weekend is the horror film The Rule of Jenny Pen and I actually wrote a proper review of that one! But [insert 'womp womp' sound effect here] it's not going up onto Pajiba until tomorrow I believe. So you'll have to wait 24 hours for those thoughts. Will the wait be worth it? Probably not! I have nothing interesting to say! And that's why now I'm going home to collapse. Goodbye!

44 Until 17

Just as I can't seem to remember the number in the title of Bong Joon-ho's new movie -- every time I'm like, "Is it Mickey 18? 19? 12?" -- I certainly can never remember its release date because it's basically had 17 of those. But here with this new poster release let's look it up like a proper "reporter" and do y'all a solid -- as of today, January 22nd 2025, Mickey 17 is scheduled to release in theaters in the United States on March 7th. That's 44 days from today. Maybe they can go back in and photoshop Robert Pattinson's head a little bit better on this poster in that time? That is one awkward giant head floating on a tiny disembodied body. 

Mark Ruffalo Eight Times

I mentioned this new photoshoot of Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo for GQ yesterday when I was "complaining" (not really) about there being more new photoshoots than I could handle in one day -- well I was able to rifle up a scrim's thickness worth of patience and save this one for today. Go me! If Mark wins the Oscar I'm sure he'll dedicate it to me after this feat. That said I'd love for Mark (or DeNiro, who gave my favorite performance of the nominees) to win since I think Robert Downey Jr. is the weakest part of Oppenheimer but that statue's pretty much sewn up right? A shame. Mark is so funny (and sexy) in Poor Things! Reinvigorated my crush, it did. Hit the jump for the whole shoot...

Eat Me, Disney

A terrible awful no-good rumor popped up on Twitter last night and the worst part about it is that it seems to be coming from a person who would know, and therefore it's not a rumor but a fact that we just haven't gotten further confirmation upon -- a dude who works on the making of physical media says that not only will Disney only be putting Yorgos Lanthimos' Oscar-nominated Poor Things out on blu-ray only (talk about a movie that demands 4K attention!) but Andrew Haigh's not-Oscar-nominated masterpiece (my number one movie of 2023) All of Us Strangers isn't getting any kind of physical media release at all. Is that the real difference between getting a nomination and not getting one? Do we have tangible proof now? And don't come at me with that box office jibber-jabber -- I don't speak box office. I do speak physical-media though and if AOUS isn't getting a blu-ray because it didn't get Oscar nominations you're about to see somebody start caring about Oscar nominations. And for that a hearty fuck you to Disney. Fingers crossed that Haigh's movie gets a release outside of the U.S. since I have a region-free player -- I should add that technically all of this is personally moot since I got an awards screener of the film mailed to me a few months ago so technically I own the movie already, but those crappy watermakred DVDs don't really count. What a shitshow. 

... this title will sit alongside other Searchlight and 20th Century titles like 'A Haunting in Venice' and 'The Bookeyman' with no 4K release - Blu Ray only. The recently acclaimed Searchlight, #AllOfUsStrangers will not be getting a physical release at all.😭

— Adam J. Yeend (@AJYeend) February 13, 2024

Mark Ruffalo Four Times

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you the first batch of these photos of Mark Ruffalo going Full Furry Hulk Daddy for Perfect magazine -- well here are some more and I would say that no, they do not disappoint. On a sidenote a congrats to mark for his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Poor Things! He's very very funny in the movie (here is my review) -- I saw somebody some time ago seriously making fun of his accent, apparently unaware that the accent is supposed to be ridiculous? You can't take morons anywhere. Anyway! Let's all ceberate Mark's achievment by ogling his belly fur after the jump...

Mark Ruffalo is Perfect

This is a slightly cropped image of Mark Ruffalo on the cover of Perfect magazine -- don't get too excited, I didn't crop out the southern end, I cropped out the northern end where the magazine's title goes. See the whole thing here -- there aren't any more photos yet unfortunately, but they do have a quote from Mark saying (rather ridiculously), "I'm 55 now, so... like, the sex scenes - am I too old to be doing that kind of stuff? Does anybody want to see that?" I can reassure, Mark, yes. yes they do. Yes WE do. Keep on truckin', my furry dude.

Anyway in related news I was just reading a terrific interview in Filmmaker mag with Poor Things costume designer Holly Waddington on designing the costumes for the movie and she had this to say on making Ruffalo's costumes in particular:

"Duncan was based on satirical drawings of the period. So these very establishment men, very upper class, very self-important, often had this pompous body language, like pumped out chests and slightly curvaceous bottoms. It’s a really arrogant posture that was very fashionable and sexy at the time. So we were playing with that more than anything. In the fittings, we made him a chest pad and gave him pants with very round buttocks added on. We even made him a phallus to wear in his pants. He asked for that. We made him a calf padding. We corseted him to try and give him this silhouette that fell straight out of one of those satirical drawings As the camera tests evolved, those shapes were a little extreme, so we had to calm it all down. But all those ingredients were there."

ETA and Perfect magazine has added a

 few more photos, hit the jump for them...

Great Moments In Movie Staches

While Mark Ruffalo rocks a delicious cad-stache across the entirety of Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things (finally out in theaters today, here ius my review!) it's this more rumpled and less mannered photo taken in a trailer during the making of the film -- that he shared on his Insta today, in the middle of a bunch of other set photos -- that really takes the hot daddy cake. And then sets that cake on fire. I think I lost my metaphors there but you get the gist. Ha cha cha!

The Sounds of Miss Bella Baxter

I tried to hold off on collecting vinyl for as long as I possibly could because I know myself and I knew the habit would become as obsessive as my VHS to DVD to blu-ray to 4K journey has been. Alas I finally broke down a couple of years ago, and I've got just under 400 records now -- not the world's largest collection by any means but when actual living space is at such a premium, given that I live in a New York City apartment with another human being, well, all of this collecting is straining toward a breaking point. Thankfully that day is not today though, because Waxwork Records -- the best in the biz for those of us whose vinyl collecting tends toward the movie soundtrack genre -- has today put the soundtrack for Yorgos Lanthimos' new movie Poor Things onto pre-order on vinyl. Grab your copy here if you're so inclined -- I haven't really posted about vinyl releases much here (hence that preamble) so I don't even know if any of this interests any of you! But that's not a thing that's stopped me from rambling before and I'm not going to let it stop me today. 

Poor Things is coincidentally (I doubt it was a coincidence) hitting theaters today! It is very very good, one of Yorgos' best movies (which is saying a lot since I don't think the fellow has made a bad movie to date) -- here is my review from NYFF. Emma Stone gives probably my favorite female performance of the year? I haven't actually mapped that question out yet but I think that's true. Anyway the score from composer Jerskin Fendrix that's on the above-mentioned record is definitely one of my favorite scores of the year. And I'm not just saying that now -- I tweeted it weeks ago! I have receipts.

Also cannot believe the score for POOR THINGS is the first movie score that musician Jerskin Fendrix has ever made? It's bonkers good #poorthings

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 6, 2023

Poor Hot Awesome Things

Who's feeling manic today? I am, I am. So I am posting this photo of zen-master Mark Ruffalo standing in a field to find my center. (And Mark Ruffalo can find my center, if you know what I mean, wink wink.) Ahem. Actually I'm posting this photo of Mark Ruffalo for less prurient and/or spiritual reasons -- I'm using it to grab your attention to alert you to the fact that my New York Film Festival review of Yorgos Lanthimos' new movie Poor Things, which stars Ruffalo alongside Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youssef, can now be read at Pajiba right here. And not just now -- it can be read ten minutes from now, or tomorrow, or after you see the damn movie even! That choice is up to you and it's up to whoever keeps the internet machine running (Al Gore?). See, I told you -- manic. Anyway I'm here (as in "on the internet") for the rest of the day after a two-some of NYFF screenings this morning, so let's see what trouble we can get ourselves into for a couple of hours, mmm?

Poorerer Things

This is the third poster for Yorgos Lanthimos' movie Poor Things that's been released, and I do believe they're saying this is the final one -- the film premieres in Venice fairly soon, and then I'll be seeing it at NYFF at the end of the month. Anyway all the posters have been great and this one's no exception, but I think I prefer above all the second one... which I'm shocked to realize, after a search, that I never posted? WTF. I'll add it down below. (And here is the first poster.) Actually since we're here and I'm distracted with computer stuff why don't we make a poll? That oughta keep you busy.

online polls

5 Off My Head: It's NYFF 2023, Baby!

My beloved New York Film Festival has today announced its Main Slate for this the year 2023, and included are the three movies I am most looking forward to for the rest of the year -- and we'll get to what those are in a second, although if you listen to my rambling even just once in awhile you can probably guess. (Since Luca Guadagnino's Challengers moved itself to unknown pastures because of the SAG strike we have to count that one out for the time being.) But per usual it's a tremendous gathering of potential, given the filmmakers included -- Wim Wenders, Catherine Breillat, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Marco Bellocchio, Agnieszka Holland, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Alice Rohrwacher... and that's ignoring the Opening and Centerpiece and Closing night films which were already announced, those being Todd Haynes' May December, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, and Michael Mann's Ferrari. Check out the entire line-up at this link or down below, but first as I do every year here are the five movies from the Main Slate that I'm most excited about...

The 5 NYFF Main Slate Movies I Want Right Now

Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos

Yorgos is a man I will follow to the ends of the earth and further at this point, so this should come as no shock -- the only thing that's shocking is it's not my most anticipated movie of the year, but there's one below that's beating it by an inch. The trailer (seen here) makes this look like everything Yorgos does best wrapped in one psychedelic package, and a big-time showcase for Emma Stone's strangest impulses. Bring it on!

All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh

I just shared that first image from the film yesterday the second it dropped, and I've been all over news of this movie since minute one. Weekend director Andrew Haigh with a maybe-gay movie starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal? Of course I have. 

Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet

This won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this spring and its story of a riddle-like murder mystery sounds right up my alley anyway, but it's the fact that it features what is by all accounts an astonishing turn from German actress Sandra Hüller that's got my attention. Like most people who saw Toni Erdmann I have been Team Hüller ever since, and she's wowed me every chance, and this sounds like her biggest showcase since that marvelous earlier film.

The Beast by Bertrand Bonello

Bonello hasn't made a movie I've loved as much as I loved as Saint Laurent since Saint Laurent, but Nocturama came close. And this one stars George MacKay, so hope remains alive. Set in three distinct time periods it's about a woman (Le Sedoux) who discovers her existence has been forever intertwined with MacKay's character. Would that we are all so lucky!

The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer

This is my most anticipated movie of the year, just beating out Yorgos as mentioned above, and probably only because Glazer works so infrequently that we must properly pop the champagne whenever he shows up to keep encouraging the man to keep making his wondrous movies. Add on the facts that this also stars Sandra Hüller (from Anatomy of a Fall above), it has a score from Mica Levi, and it sounds like it's working on a very Michael-Haneke-type of register -- it focuses on a family of Nazis living an idyllic life right outside of a concentration camp -- and how could I not be all in on this?

-----------------------------------------

Passes for NYFF are on sale right now -- single tickets go on

sale on Sept. 19th. Hit the jump for the entire press release...

The Poor Things Cometh

There is a big interview in Vogue today with Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos on their forthcoming film Poor Things -- you will be clearly want to check it out right here. Not only do they share the above poster for the first time, but they share several new images from the movie (and the making of) which I will share below. Poor Things isn't out until September, but you can see some of it thanks to the teaser trailer...



... which I inexplicably hadn't yet posted? I think it dropped when I was out of town. That's the only explanation! I did post a few previous photos from the movie right here, though. And now I will share a few more, after the jump...

Pics of the Day

Maybe I lucked out and you haven't been on the internet today before this very second, and you happened to open your browser and MNPP was already there because you'd fallen asleep looking at those hot half-naked pictures of Jason Momoa yesterday. (Hey I get it, no judgement.) In which case we'll be the first place to show you these images from Yorgos Lanthomos' new movie Poor Things, which have been all over the web since this morning. That'd be neat! I like being first. To be honest I'm fine with sloppy seconds. Or dirty thirds even. I am not picky. Point being golly I am excited about this movie! 

I first told you about it last March when Willem Dafoe got cast (and yes that's him all scarred up in the above image) -- it's him and Emma Stone and Ramy Youssef (seen in the other photos released today) and Mark Ruffalo and Christopher Abbott (let's hope those two make out some) and Margaret Qualley (god is she in everything?) and Jerrod Carmichael, and it's based on the book by Alistair Gray, which I own but have still not read. Anyway Searchlight is releasing this on September 8th and here is their official plot description:

"From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation."

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Mary: Adults are, like, this mess of sadness and phobias.

This masterpiece was released 19 years ago this Sunday!

Try not to turn to dust realizing it's almost 20 - too late for me.

I am dust, typing this out with my dust fingers.
Well here's this gif to cheer us up:

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

The Humans (2021)

Erik: It's snowing out there.

Richard: I think someone from a

higher floor just emptied their ashtray.

I hope this movie doesn't end up totally forgotten -- I really loved it but it seemed to entirely slip through the cracks during awards season last year. One of the casualties of late year glut. I say definitely seek it out if you missed it. Anyway a happy birthday to Steven Yeun today!

The former Walking Dead star is turning 39 -- I don't know whether it was his decision to leave TWD or the producers but whoever made it as gross and awful as it was in its moment it ended up being the best decision ever! Because 1) it gave him the freedom to become a movie star, which he's pulled off with great aplomb, and 2) it finally cut the cord with me (and many many other viewers) from that show -- when they killed Glenn I never went back and never missed it for a second. Did any of you stick with it? 

Anyway Yeun has several projects lined up after this summer's successful team-up with Jordan Peele and Nope -- the most important one appears to be that he's re-teaming with Okja director Bong Joon-ho for Mickey 17 alongside Robert Pattinson, and I can't believe I hadn't posted that teaser trailer above yet. That's not even out until March of 2024 but listen to the cast -- Yeun and Pattinson and Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo and Naomi Ackie (who's playing Whitney Houston in her biopic out this weekend). It's based on Edward Ashton's sci-fi novel Mickey7 -- wonder why they added ten to the title -- about a clone employee sent to colonize an ice planet. It sounds like Severance meets Edge of Tomorrow.