Give This Piece a Chance

I'm trying to will the care-free mood seen in this photo of Charles Melton into my own existence today -- spoiler alert: it ain't working. I don't know if my partner was punching me in the side of the head all night long as I slept (no this is not a cry for help) but I woke up feeling like I didn't sleep a single second last night, and I be draggggggging my ass this Thursday. This is pointless information for anyone who isn't "me" I know but it's good that I remind myself that this site is just a stupid fucking blog sometimes and I don't have to feel bad about insubstantial content. Tis my prerogative! Is it weird that typing that word out always makes me want to eat pierogies? In summation -- aren't you glad you just wasted one minute of your life reading this post? You're welcome. Any time. 

ETA Just got word my office is closing tomorrow so I am officially giving up for the long weekend. Hands in air, Jason don't care. I'm headed to a screening in half an hour (Backrooms baby!) and then I'm off until Tuesday. I should add since we're doing Accounting Of My Time here that NewFest and Tribeca Fest stuff start plaguing / entertaining me next week so my schedule's about to get nuts again -- on the positive side Summer Fridays at my day-job also kick off... well tomorrow now, I guess. Which means four-day weeks through Labor Day. Yes I am rambling! Let me ramble! I have half an hour to kill and need to stop fussing over my Tribeca schedule, which is much of what I've been working on this week. Anyway stay tuned -- coverage of those fests and lots more to come! Probably including me choking to death on my own bile! Have a great holiday weekend! Think of me like this (if you think of me at all):

Pretty Pictures For Pride

The line-up for the 2026 Pride Edition of New York's NewFest has been announced today -- they're screening Gregg Araki's new movie! The one called I Want Your Sex starring Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman (as well as Mason Gooding whose fine visage I have included above) which I have talked and talked and talked about with great vigor and enthusiasm. No I have not seen it yet, and yes I think this will be my first chance. (It's hitting theaters on July 31st.)  The line-up also includes Leviticus, the queer horror film that I have seen and heartily recommend -- last time I mentioned it here was when I was complaining about my inability to write about it just yet, and as you can see I haven't done that yet. That's out much sooner -- that hits theaters on June 19th. But if you're in NYC NewFest is beating that by a few weeks! Tickets are on sale right this minute so go buy some, New Yorkers! And as a reminder the "Pride Edition" of NewFest that happens at the beginning of June is the smaller version of the festival -- the larger one happens in October. But if you'd like to see everything they are screening besides the two aforementioned titles (including some Heated Rivalry goodness) hit the jump...

Gonna Go Blue, Baby

I guess that I did a lot of posts yesterday that were placeholders for today -- there was the Charlie Cox thing I just shared and now here we have the trailer for Blue Film, which I posted the poster for and said then that we'd be getting this trailer today. And here we are. Full of trailer! Blue Film stars Boots actor Kieron Moore (seen, seen, and seen again for good measure above) as a cam-boy who finds himself spending the night with an older gentlemen (Reed Birney from House of Cards) when... well I only have a vague idea of where the movie goes and I'm keeping it that way, meaning that no, I have not watched thei trailer. I scanned through it for thirty seconds to make the above gif and then stopped. Because I don't wanna know! But here, if you do, said trailer:

Blue Film is out on May 8th. We will be watching. You?

I'm Blue, Da Ba Dee Da Ba Di

I've been fairly whiny about wanting to see Blue Film -- writer-director Elliot Tuttle's thriller-of-sorts about a cam-boy (Boots star Kieron Moore) and the old dude (Reed Birney) who's obsessed with him -- for months now, ever since I missed it at NewFest in the fall. But my whine, on this single solitary subject mind you, has an expiration date -- the movie is out in theaters on May 8th and as seen above we've just gotten the first poster. And it came with a promise that the trailer's dropping tomorrow, which I will surely be posting about when it does.  For now let us just appreciate that poster, and the Kieron in tighty-whities contained therein. 

Newfest Is Calling From inside The House

Yesterday when I shared the line-up for the Brooklyn Horror Fest here in NYC I mentioned that the next several weeks are about to get psycho-nuts on me with that fest, NYFF and NewFest all barreling toward me -- well here we are less than 24 hours later and NewFest has dropped their line-up, proving my point. But thre's no saying no to any of these fests as they cover all sides of me -- fancy-man movie-lover with NYFF, horror hound with BHFF, and fag supreme at NewFest. I am a rich tapestry! Anyway you can check all of NewFest's line-up right here but as I did for BHFF I'm gonna narrow it down, simplify simplify simplify, and give you the titles I personally got ants in my pants about.

5 NewFest Movies To Get My Gay On

Night Stage -- Per usual you'll always get me at "queer erotic thriller." And the last time I saw one was Femme and that worked out great! This one from Brazil is about a rising politician with a penchant for public sex. TELL ME MORE.

The Chronology of Water -- Written and directed by Kristen Stewart! This premiered at Cannes and I didn't hear much about it but then I tend to ignore Cannes as much as possible. It stars the great Imogen Poots (who I just saw in person last night at that Hedda screening) in the true-story of a swimmer who fell in love with literature. Yes, books! It's crazy! (The movie also co-stars Tom Sturridge, yum.)

Blue Film -- I mentioned this movie on Bluesky a couple of weeks ago when I first read about it as it screened in Edinburgh; by all accounts a deeply provocative film about a camboy spending the night with an older man (Reed Birney) with pedophilic fantasies this movie sounds legit dangerous in a way movies (and art) should be more often. Can't wait for this.

Only Good Things -- Another Brazilian movie! Bless the Brazilians. This one's from Dry Wind director Daniel Nolasco, which is all I really needed to know -- Dry Wind was terrific (and very very sexy). This one's a love story set in the 1980s. (And looks very very sexy.) 

Fucktoys -- The only one of these movies that I've posted here at MNPP about already, when back in March I shared the teaser trailer for it because it co-stars François Arnaud looking like that above. It debuted at SXSW then and everything I read about it made it sound very up my alley. John Waters gets name-checked by its director (and lead actor) Annapurna Sriram a lot! 

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NewFest 2025 runs from October 9th through 21st, both here in person in NYC and also online! So make sure you check their website to see what you can see on this here World Wide Web if you're outta town. And there were many many other titles announced today so make sure you check the whole line-up, top to proverbial bottom. You can buy badges right now; individual tickets go on sale September 15th. 

Tom Blyth Two Times

Speaking of more cinematic excellence getting slotted into the fall movie season, we've now got official word on Plainclothes, the 90s-set gay drama starring Tom Blyth as a closeted cop hunting gays in mall restrooms and Russell Tovey as the hot one he catches and immediately starts humping -- it's hitting theaters on September 19th. I reviewed the movie during Sundance -- read that right here. It hit home since it's literally set where and when I grew up, as I get into in that review, but Blyth in particular is excellent and has probably forever won my heart thanks to his charming and conflicted performance. Also proper love must be given to the great and always underappreciated Maria Dizzia who plays his mom. This movie is definitely far too small to eke out big awards attention I think, and that's a shame -- both of their performances will very much be amongst the best of the year according to me. Anyway we don't have a trailer for this yet but I expect we will soon enough so stay tuned.

Cole Doman One Time

Seeing today this adorable sexy photo on Instagram of actor Cole Doman, formerly of the very fine movies Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (hey Stephen Cone whatcha up to?) and Mutt, reminded me of two things -- one, I don't think that his 2024 movie Haze (which co-stars Sense8 hottie Brian J. Smith and which I reviewed out of Fantasia Fest last year right here) has gotten a release yet, which is a damn shame. It's a good movie! Free Haze y'all! It would've been a smart drop for a streaming service during Pride Month but oh well. Hopefully we'll hear something soon. I'll keep my ears peeled. But this also reminds me that Cole is in the cast of Kelly Reichardt's next movie The Mastermind, which stars Josh O'Connor! That'll probably be Cole's most-seen movie to date and we can't help but root for this cute talented and out indie boy who stood in front of me in line waiting for a movie last year. Oh and this also reminds me that we got a new image of Josh in The Mastermind last week (click to embiggen) and god he looks goooood:

NewFest Pride Coming in Hot

Playing catch-up with some terrific news that dropped earlier this week -- the line-up for NewFest's summertime series "NewFest Pride" dropped and the mini-fest (which runs here in NYC from May 29th to June 2nd) will get include my favorite film I saw at Sundance earlier this year, the gay drama Plainclothes starring Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey! Here is my review of that movie -- granted as I say there this movie was kinda sculpted in my image given it is about being gay in Syracuse in the 1990s and I was all of those things once upon a time. How could I resist? I love it when things are about me, after all! But the entire weekend is stacked with gay goodies -- I missed the Olivia Colman and John Lithgow drama Jimpa when it screened at Sundance and that's the series' opening night film... I do wonder if Lithgow will attend and if he will have to answer for his shitty comments about the whole Harry Potter debacle? He might wanna steer clear of a room full of queers right now. Anyway if you're going to be in town I always recommend going to NewFest events, they're always a great time with an enthusiastic audience and they've got an excellent batch of programmers working for them. And if you wanna see the entire line-up and buy tickets hit that link, or if you just want to see the entire line-up and press release on their own hit the jump for them...

And Speaking of Barry Keoghan...

... his movie with the legendary Andrea Arnold directing, the one called Bird, can now be viewed from the comfort of your couch, or your bathtub, or Jacob Elordi's bathtub even, thanks to the fine folks at Mubi. I love love loved this movie (which also stars our other boyfriend Franz Rogowski) when I saw it last fall -- here is my Pajiba review -- and you should expect to see it on my list of favorite 2024 movies whenever I get around to taking five minutes to write that thing down for y'all. It is magic. (pic via)

Barry Keoghan Flies High

I should have known not to doubt in Andrea Arnold! I went into the Fish Tank director's latest film Bird with a bit of muted anticipation because the reviews I'd seen had been themselves muted, but I ended up love love loving the film when I saw it at NewFest last week -- and now I have written my review and you can read it at Pajiba. Starring both Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski -- talk about catnip to me -- along with newcomer Nykiya Adams, the film isadmittedly a stretch for Arnold, in that it's actually in the end a pretty optimistic movie (imagine that!) and it also wades further out into the realm of magical realism than she ever has before. I mention Alice Rohrwacher's movie Happy As Lazzaro in my review and that movie is very much a sibling to this one; if you've seen that movie then you'll know what I mean. Anyway go read my review and go see this movie when it's out in November! On top of everything else it's got what will inevitably be my favorite scene of the year! Here's the trailer:

It's (Almost) NewFest 2024 Time!

I know I just announced it officially Spooky Season in my previous post, but I don't think I need to differentiate that from Gay Season -- Spooky + Gay is my sweet spot! And it's getting gay now because NYC's premiere queer film festival NewFest has just today announced their full line-up for this year's go-round which runs from October 10th through 22nd. Check it all out right here and pre-order your tickets immediately. A few highlights I will quickly highlight -- the Centerpiece Film is Andrea Arnold's new movie Bird starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski! I've obviously posted about this movie several times already and I was extremely sad to see it wasn't screening at NYFF, so this inclusion made me giddy -- NewFest starts right as NYFF is finishing so I'll switch right on over and get me some Bird there then! They're also screening Emilia Perez,  Jacques Audiard's new film which won a bunch of prizes at Cannes (this one is also screening at NYFF); oh and they are showing a triple-feature of John Waters movies including Female Trouble for its 50th anniversary! But seriously that barely scratches the surface, click on over here to check it all out. Love NewFest every year!

Cole Doman Got Me in a Haze

That is not a photo from the movie I am about to direct you to my review of, but it is a picture of the star of said movie -- it's actor Cole Doman, who you should hopefully recognize from writer-director Stephen Cone's wonderful 2015 film Henry Gamble's Birthday Party, and who stars in the queer thriller called Haze aka the movie I have now reviewed. I mentioned both Haze and Doman back in May when this film screened at NewFest but I wasn't able to catch it then -- thankfully it just screened at the Fantasia Film Fest in Montreal though, and there I did catch it. And if you head over to Pajiba you can read my review of the film, which sees Doman playing a young journalist who heads to his hometown to dig into a shuttered psychiatric hospital that left a trail of suicides in its wake. And if you really need to be sold -- the film also co-stars Sense8's own Brian J. Smith and those two go at it like gangbusters in the movie. Hot stuff!

The Real Gay Cowboys

Before he turned it into a stellar movie starring Charlie Plummer, photographer-turned-director Luke Gilford released a book of photography called National Anthem that set about capturing the queer rodeo scene -- that book's been out of print for awhile, much to my chagrin when I saw the movie and loved it. But now that the movie version is hitting theaters (it's out next Friday, July 12th) the book has been reprinted, hooray! You can pre-order it at this link -- it's out in October. And click here to read my review of National Anthem, the movie, which is really gorgeous and terrific. Or click here to watch the film's trailer. I am very much looking forward to seeing this beautiful movie a second time, and in October getting to see this book for the very first!

Groff Me Off

Jonathan Groff is featured over at Interview Magazine today -- they have a new chat with him about... well whatever they chat with him about, I haven't read it yet. He's doing some Broadway show with Dan Radcliffe right? I suppose it's that then. See I have the time to point you in that direction but not the time to be "specific" or have "particulars" or be especially "useful" about it. I've suddenly realized I am on the edge of a tidal wave of work that I need to get done -- NewFest begins tonight (see my previous post here) and Tribeca starts next week and I have a friend coming into town tomorrow and I have a big day-job-related thing tomorrow and I have a review due tomorrow and I am way way way behind on being prepared for every damned one of these things. Point being! I might take off for the rest of the day to work on that stuff. You understand. You'll see the fruits of my labors later. Speaking of fruits. Jonathan Groff, everybody!

So Proudly We Hailed

The upcoming queer western National Anthem, which stars the great Charlie Plummer (Lean On Pete) and which I saw at NewFest last fall and reviewed right here, will surely end up on my best of the year list for 2024 -- that's how much I loved it and how fondly I remember it and how much I am looking forward to seeing it a second time when it drops in theaters on July 12th. I just want that bonafide out there about the movie quality-wise before I say what I am going to say next -- namely that National Anthem also has one of the screen-scorchingly hottest sex scenes I've seen in some time, which you can glimpse in the just-dropped trailer...

... and which I also am looking forward to watching again, when the time duly arrives. The entire film is sexy as hell but this scene in particular, director Luke Gilford builds all this emotional tension around it, and it's just a dirty explosion of lust when it arrives and -- phew. I'm getting worked up remembering it now. Queer people just know how to do sex scenes, is my point. We're singlehandedly keeping the screen horny dammit! Here is the trailer:

Again, National Anthem is out July 12th. Go see it!

NewFest Pride 2024 Ahoy

New York City's annual LGBTQ+ film fest NewFest became a twice-annual fest recently with an edition happening during Pride Month in June and then the usual fest in the fall, October-ish. And with the June edition rolling up on us fast somehow (what even is time anymore) today they have announced their 2024 Pride line-up and, if I do say so myself, it's looking terrific. The highlight for me is called Haze -- for one it stars actor Cole Doman seen above, who you should recognize from Stephen Cone's terrific Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (because I have been telling you to watch all of Stephen Cone's movies for years and you listened to me, right, RIGHT?) or maybe from last year's movie Mutt (which was also terrific). And for another it is from writer-director Matthew Fifer, whose film Cicada played NewFest a couple of years ago and which I very much dug. (It's on Tubi now if you so desire.) But most of all it's that plot-wise it sounds up my alley:

"A young journalist (Doman) returns home to investigate the unsolved deaths at an abandoned psychiatric center. As he dances with the shadows of his past and a mysterious new man in his life, his family history and the town's secrets begin to converge in this evocative psychological thriller. "

We do love a psychological thriller. Anyway there's plenty more o' highlights -- they're screening Sebastian, which I saw at Sundance and which I loved, and they're screening My Old Ass (with Aubrey Plaza) which I missed at Sundance but got a ton of love from other people. There's a Fire Island doc directed by Sense8 star Brian J. Smith (who PS co-stars in Haze) and they are premiering episodes of Problemista writer-director Julio Torres new HBO series Fantasmas. And there's more which you'll see in the press release down below. NewFest: Pride Edition runs  from May 30th to June 3rd -- and it should be noted that it includes virtual screenings so if you're not in NYC look anyway! And now hit the jump for the full press release...

Pledge Your Allegiance

There is the poster for Luke Gilford's film National Anthem (via),  a truly lovely film that I saw and reviewed at NewFest this past fall -- it stars the wildly underrated actor Charlie Plummer giving what might be his best performance to date (give or take a Lean on Pete) as a sexually uncertain young feller who stumbles on a queer ranch one fateful day and finds his life changed forever. And, as Marge Simpson would say, "With sexy reults." It's much more than just a Sexy Cowboy movie though -- it's gorgeously filmed (it's Gilford's first movie but he's an accomplished photographer) and moving in all aspects. I can't wait for everyone to see it! It feels like we've been waiting for news of it for ages but I imagine we'll get a trailer soon too and I will share it when it drops -- it hits theaters on July 12th. 

How You Dune, Part Two

It's a good weekend for new movies as two excellent ones are dropping -- there's Dune: Part Two of course, which is the biggie. And I am sure most if not all of you will have an opinion on that one so please share once you've watched. I wrote some scattered off-the-cuff thoughts of my own over here a couple of days ago. And yes I'm throwing Austin a bone -- so to speak -- by using his image over Timmy's on this post, since I didn't really love what he does in Dune. Keep at it, Austin! One day you'll be a successful actor!) Please realize that I am making fun of myself in that previous statement, and set aside your scorn. I think most people disagree with me. or will. Per usual. But the movie's great overall and I very much want to see it again as soon as I can (preferably if I can snag IMAX 70mm tickets, but I'm afraid to even check how far in advance they are sold out for). 

The other excellent movie out this weekend is Julio Torres' art comedy Problemista starring Tilda Swinton and himself as a painter-slash-maniac and her new assistant -- I posted the trailer for this way back in July when it was going to come out back then, so watch it here if you haven't already. Or just go see the movie, which I totally adored when I saw it at NewFest last summer. You know TIlda's 2008 thriller Julia? This is kind of that but as a comedy. They remind me of each other for some weird reason. Maybe it's just that Tilda is fucking brilliant in them both, I don't know. Anyway that's that, I am done for the week. Have a fine weekend! Perfectly, adequately fine!

Here Are The Movies of Today

Heads up on the movies hitting theaters today, starting with the biopic Rustin starring Colman Domingo seen above. Telling the long overdue story of Bayard Rustin, the black homosexual who organized the march on Washington back in 1963 but got shoved to the side attention-wise because of the "homosexual" part of that Domingo gives a wonderful performance -- I do wish the movie was a little more lively and surprising though. It very much feels like a movie that will be watched respectfully in high school history classrooms for a long time and seeing as how this is a story that needs to be told that's good and all. It's just told very flat, and visually it's got that whole boring Netflix style. And I wish people would stop hiring Chris Rock to act -- he is a terrible actor. Anyway I would've written a proper review of this one when I saw it at NewFest a few weeks back but I had a nightmare audience experience with people using their phones and being total assholes so I didn't feel comfortable writing about it; all of that might've colored my opinion of the movie. It's worth watching for Colman -- just don't expect to be bowled over by the movie itself, I guess. Watch the trailer here.

Then there are two other movies out today that I have also seen -- first there is Sofia Coppola's Priscilla which I reviewed right here. Terrific movie. And second there is the documentary Subject, which I saw at Sundance but never got the chance to write about -- it interviews the subjects of multiple famous documentaries, specifically real life people from The Staircase, Hoop Dreams, Capturing the Friedmans, The Wolfpack, and The Square. And it digs into what that experience was like -- if they felt like their stories were properly served by the documentrarians' takes, and what the aftermath was like. It's all incredibly fascinating, especially if you're familiar with those films -- I'm not sure it would be if you haven't, but maybe? It does raise several questions of ethics that stand on their own. 

And the fourth movie out today is called Fingernails and it stars three of my favorite currently working actors -- Riz Ahmed and Jessie Buckley and Jeremy Allen White! You cannot go wrong with Riz and Jessie and Jeremy. That said I have not seen it yet and I have kept what it's about to a minimum because I want to be surprised by the movie when I do see it. I know it's being sold as a "sci-fi romance" and it's from Greek director Christos Nikou, who has worked with Yorgos Lanthimos and made the 2020 film Apples which... I heard great things about but also haven't seen. Anyway Fingernails is both in theaters and on streaming today so we'll see it soon enough. Here's the trailer:

Good Morning, World

Several new photos from Andrew Haigh's marvelous All of Us Strangers have been released via Film Updates on Twitter of all places -- this is the first time I think I've ever seen that account get exclusives? I find that account somewhat annoying because they came along and always beat me to tweeting out things because they just tweet them while I make entire posts about things and then tweet links to said things -- I suppose good on them for maximizing the platform but why would you want speed and efficiency when you can have me rambling like this here? 

Exactly. Aaaanyway I'm a hypocrite because I also find their account useful because they catch way more things than I do, and now they get exclusive images of half-naked Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal apparently! (And we are gonna need to talk about Paul's mustache at some point y'all.) Click here if you haven't read my review of All of Us Strangers -- the movie is screening here in NYC at NewFest this weekend and then it's out in theaters on December 22nd. I've been fighting the impulse to RSVP to every single press screening, personally. Between this and re-watching Saltburn and Poor Things over and over again my calendar's filling up with the same three movies!