Scarjo the Scapegoat

Kee-rist there's a lot of big awesome movie news dropping today! I already told you that both Jennifer Kent (here) and Charlie Kaufman (here) announced their new movies -- well let's make it a triple cuz now we've got word on Ari Aster's! He's back with A24 for his Eddington follow-up because of course he is, they good people who don't toss him in the trash because that movie lost a lot of money -- perhaps it's the fact that he's bringing a little somebody named Scarlett Johansson along with him? At least some studios are still in the business of banking on stars -- will this be her first movie with them since Under the Skin? Anyway of course we know nothing about the plot, but we do have the title -- it'll be called Scapegoat. I dare y'all to come up with what you think the plot of an Ari Aster movie called Scapegoat starring Scarlet Johansson might look like in the comments. I'm going to be away for a week so that gives you time...

Movie Posters Ahoy

Mubi Notebook published their annual list of the year's greatest movie posters today -- see it right here -- and I can't argue with anything! Especially since I ran out and bought a couple of the ones they listed the minute they went on sale or were available. Unfortunately (as far as I'm aware) the above poster for Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia (from noted genius Vasilis Marmatakis) has not been widely printed -- I have the one that was and I love it but I love this one even more. Same goes for Desi Moore's gorgeous poster for Mike Leigh's masterpiece Hard Truths, seen down below -- I've been looking for a couy of that since last fall to no avail. The other ones I have from that list are the original Eddington poster (which I prefer to the one they cite), Daniel Clowes' poster for the Telluride Fest this year (I didn't go to the fest but I had to own that poster) and the one for Hong Sangsoo’s movie By the Stream, which is a visual I completely fell in love with on first sight. I'm also super close to biting the bullet on the poster for Radu Jude's Dracula because it's made out of meat! How can you not be in love with meat? Anyway -- Yay posters! I love them so. Do y'all have any faves not mentioned?

John Waters Rams 2025 Down Our Throats

Fuck off, National Board of Review -- the only Top 10 Movies of 2025 list that matters is here to fist us in our brains! Head on over to Vulture to read John Waters' ten favorite movies of 2025 -- it's got everything from Ari Aster's latest to the new Final Destination movie, and those are just his first two choices! Also per usual his list is like 50% stuff I haven't seen even though I see so many fucking movies every year -- John always sees more! The new Bruno Dumont movie and the one called Room Temperature both sound like must-finds to me. Anything stand out to you people?

Austin Butler's a Healthy Man

A gratuitous Men's Health photoshoot is the ultimate test of my willpower and so I I think I can finally say with full throated truth today that -- Austin Butler? Does absolutely nothing for me. I've been saying that for the past few years but these sweaty half-naked gray-sweatpanted photos really seal that deal -- he's never gonna do anything for me if these photos are stirring jackshit this morning.

I mean clearly his body is ripped. Shredded, even! I'd give anything to be in this kind of shape just once in my life. But it's not jealousy. It's more... bafflement. I just don't get the appeal. I saw someone on social media say something the other day about him emitting this crazy charisma in person and... okay? I find his entire persona off-putting if we're being honest, which is why I found Ari Aster casting him as a cult leader in Eddington very funny. Because what an empty vacuum to find one's self sucked into.

Which is to say I think he was used well by that movie; I also think Jeff Nichols used him well in The Bikeriders, where his macho man-of-few-words posturing concealed absolutely nothing -- a child. That's also why I don't think he was good in Elvis or Dune Part Two -- those characters needed to actually be more than a blank facade. (Then again with Baz who knows.) Feyd-Rautha though needs to transmit insanity and menace and Butler always felt like a kid playing dress-up. To me. (That said -- Sting wasn't much better. That role has never been cast right.) Anyway! This is all stuff I've said before and I don't mean to stop anyone from enjoying these photos if he stirs something in you. I'm seeing Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing next week so maybe... something will stir there. For now hit the jump for what we've got so far...

Quote of the Day

Interview Magazine got writer-director Ari Aster to sit down and chat with Babygirl writer-director and former actress Halina Reijn, which isn't a combo I would've thought of but apparently they're friends. That said exactly what I wanted to happen happened in the course of their conversation, which is Aster brought up Paul Verhoeven because Reijn acted in Verhoeven's masterpiece Black Book. Anyway both Aster and Reijn both say a lot of great things about Verhoeven but this quote from Ari seems especially important to me in the wake of Eddington, a movie a lot of people definitely misunderstood:

"[Verhoeven]’s always risking being misconstrued. He has this really impish, ironic sensibility where he genuinely loves the genres that he’s working in. So he’s making these films that function absolutely as just straight genre films, and then at the same time they’re incredibly politically subversive. Satire is harder and harder to come by because people don’t really have the nerve for it. They end up wanting to just explain themselves to make sure that they’re understood, which is not how satire should work. It should risk being misunderstood. There have been a lot of films of his that were not understood upon release, and that must have been painful for him. But he never learned the wrong lesson from that. If anything, he doubled down."

As I off-handedly admitted in my review of Eddington I had to go back the movie a second time before writing my review because I could tell it was going to be an entirely different movie a second time through, and sure enough the tone that was knocking me off balance the first time fell completely into place on view two. After the above quote Aster brings up the confused initial reception to Starship Troopers, and I think that's a perfect comparison for Eddington -- basically I think people are going to be embarassed in twenty years for not seeing Eddington's brilliance, and I'm glad I squeezed myself through to the right side of history!

Home, Home on the Rage

It's time for the second review drop of today, and once again it's me bucking up against the system, dropping truth bombs outside the mainstream, baby! Click on over to Pajiba to read my thoughts on Ari Aster's latest, the COVID-era Neo-western Eddington starring Pedro Pscal and Joaquin Phoenix, which got a cold pretty shoulder in Cannes but which I loved. I will admit it took me two viewings to find my way to that love -- it was a rough sit on my first go-round and I thought I might have hated it at first. But I couldn't stop thinking about it and that second view spun me right around. It's dry dark comedy at its absolute cruelest, with a shit-heap's worth to say about the madness of right now. Anyway we love a good challenge and hoo boy is Eddington one of those. Go see it this weekend!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Beau is Afraid (2023)

Mona: You let things happen to you. 

Do you think that makes you innocent?

Happy 76 to Patti Lupone today! I rewatched 

this movie a few weeks ago and my god it holds up. 

Oh and since we're here I guess I should share this:

That's the teaser for Ari Aster's next movie Eddington, which reunites him with Beau star Joaquin Phoenix while adding to the mix Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler, Clifton Collins Jr., and most importantly my beloved Deirdre O'Connell who's been in everything but recently tore it up as Colin Farrell's sick-headed momma in The Penguin. I'll just admit it right now -- I have not watched this teaser and I still have no fucking idea what Eddington is about, and I plan on keeping it that way for as long as possible. I don't need to know! Just put the fucking thing in front of me already. Unfortunately I'll probably learn more between now and its release date of July 18th. (Probably when it screens at Cannes and all of the fancypants who go to Cannes start jabbering on, sigh.)

It's Asters & Screams All Over

I have spent the past couple of hours fully immersed in pounding out a review (more on that later this week) so I missed until now some pretty big rounds of casting news that hit a little earlier today. Like A24 officially announced Ari Aster's next movie and its cast! It's called Eddington, it's a "contemporary western," and it will star "Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Austin Butler, Deirdre O'Connell, Micheal Ward and Clifton Collins Jr." among presumably other people with lower name recognition. That's one hell of a cast though, especially with Stone fresh of her Oscar win and Pascal fresh off his bottoming-western with Pedro Almodóvar. All they say is "Coming Soon" but I can't imagine "Soon" equals any sooner than 2025 at the soonest. Not sure if the image of the clapboard they also shared means it's starting to shoot right now or if it's been shooting:

Either way, whee new Ari! Three features down and the man can do no wrong from where I stand. But wait that news ain't all the news that broke whilst I was actually off "doing work" (yawn I know). It looks as if the shitbags who operate the Scream franchise these days have fixed one of their two recent major blunders -- our Sidney Prescott herself Neve Campbell is officially back for Scream 7 after bowing out of the last one when the bastards refused to pay her properly. She posted on Instagram a very sweet note about how much she loves playing the character yadda yadda the girl got paid and good for her. 

But it's not just that -- original Scream writer Kevin Williamson is taking over directing duties of the film! Which I guess makes it official that the directors of the last two movies, aka Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (aka Radio Silence as they liked to be called), are gone -- there was of course a huge dust-up (bringing us back to the other recent shitty blunder I alluded to above) when the studio canned nü-Scream star Melissa Barrera for making pro-Palestine comments on social media, leading to her co-star Jenna Ortega saying peace-out in solidarity. Anyway since I don't know all of the specifics of who's running things on the movie at this point but I'm keeping myself even-toned on all of this because it's bullshit that they fired Barrera and I'm somewhat hesitant to woop-woop up this Neve news if it means I'm supporting those free-speech-murdering fascists. Even though... I love my girl Sidney forever and ever. So we'll see. I will just decide how I feel later dammit!

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MNPP's 20 Favorite Films of 2023

Since I leave for Sundance in a couple of days -- have I mentioned that I'm going to Sundance enough yet? I'm going to Sundance! -- I have decided that it'll be the best for us all if I just go ahead and drop my favorite movies of 2023 list right now without a lot (or more, anyway) hemming and hawing on it. Lord knows I could put this off for a few more weeks as I try to get around to some outstanding movies, and rearrange this list every single day as my erratic mood shifts like the breeze, but I think I'll prefer to just not have this hanging over my head as I start reviewing 2024 films. 

Anyway as I've stated already I think last year was a marvel of a year for movies -- excellence abounded. And while I'm cool on several of the ones that seem to racking up a lot of the established awards out there (Barbie is fine and The Holdovers is mediocre at best) there's a lot to love even on the mainstream stages, and several movies in my Top 20 will probably have Oscar nominations come Oscar nomination time. Hell I even like the Nolan movie -- it's only a runner-up on my list and my least favorite thing about it (Robert Downey Jr.'s performance) seems to be the thing marching straight to Oscar gold, but since we're talking one of my least favorite, most overrated filmmakers, this is something!

Yadda yadda I've put off the list as long as I can with my rambling

so let's just do it. Here are my 20 favorite movies of 2023!

20. De Humani Corporis Fabrica

(dir. Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel) -- my review

19. La Chimera (dir. Alice Rohrwacher) -- my review

18. Showing Up (dir. Kelly Reichardt) -- my review

17. El Conde (dir. Pablo Larraín) -- my review

16. Passages (dir. Ira Sachs) -- my review

15. Godland (dir. Hlynur Pálmason)

14. Past Lives (dir. Celine Song) 

13. Rotting in the Sun (dir. Sebastián Silva) -- my review

12. Beau is Afraid (dir. Ari Aster) -- my review

11. Godzilla Minus One (dir. Takashi Yamazaki) -- my review

10. Killers of the Flower Moon (dir. Martin Scorsese) -- my review 

9. Asteroid City (dir. Wes Anderson) -- my review

8. May December (dir. Todd Haynes) -- my review

7. Poor Things (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos) -- my review

6. Saltburn (dir. Emerald Fennell) -- my review

5. Skinamarink (dir. Kyle Edward Ball) -- my review

4. Afire (dir. Christian Petzold) -- my review

3. The Eight Mountains

(dir. Felix van Groeningen & Charlotte Vandermeersch) -- my review

2. The Zone of Interest (dir. Jonathan Glazer) -- my review

1. All Of Us Strangers (dir. Andrew Haigh) - my review

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Runners-up: The Killer, Anatomy of a Fall, Oppenheimer, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Eileen, A Thousand and One, Infinity Pool, You Hurt My Feelings, Silver Dollar Road, Will-o'-the-Wisp, Fallen Leaves, Full Time, Bottoms, Priscilla, Return To Seoul, Robot Dreams

Time To Listen To John Waters Again

I was wondering just the other day what was going to happen to legend and icon John Waters' annual top ten list now that ArtForum shat the bed -- well the smarties at Vulture snatched him up, that's what! His favorite 2023 movies are listed right here -- can't believe John Waters loved Oppenheimer, but here we are! That said per usual he always picks a couple I haven't seen, no matter how hard I try and there are three this time. I tragically missed Catherine Breillat's movie when it screened at the NYFF, and I hadn't even heard of the Éric Gravel or Ulrich Seidl movies. 

That said I did actually see the one he goes out of his way to say nobody will have seen -- Pierre Creton's deliciously bizzarre gay gerontophilic romance A Prince, which played for a hot second at NYFF, and he is correct -- it's ace. Everybody should seek it out, at least if you've got a taste for strange.

And he's also doing good work when he says that Sigourney Weaver is giving "the best performance of the year" in Paul Schrader's Master Gardener -- I really don't understand why this work isn't getting more love! I thought she was phenomonal here; it's her best and most complicated work in some time. Here is my review of that movie, which I really dug. Anyway check the whole list to see what Mr. Waters has to say about all ten of his faves. Of the seven I've seen there's not a rotten apple among 'em -- although my feelings on Oppenheimer are more mixed I do think it's Nolan's best work in a long time.

5 Off My Head: Toni My Queen

It's Toni Collette's 51st birthday today and you could knock me over with a feather upon the just-now-made realization that I have never done a list of my favorite Toni performances before. Not even for her 50th last year? What the hell was I thinking? Well there's no time like the present. I don't think this list will surprise anybody with my choices given what a vocal supporter of her I've been since I saw Muriel's Wedding way back in '96 and it became basically my number one favorite movie of all time...

... I think the only thing that will surprise is that I didn't up the number to ten or fifteen performances! Because I coulda! And I purposefully decided to leave T.V. performances off because that coulda doubled it again (but seriously, The United States of Tara forever). The fact that I got to hang out with her for a couple of drinks while she was doing press for Hereditary will probably always remain the greatest perk this gig has ever gifted me. That brag aside, here's my list!

My 5 Fave Toni Collette Movie Performances

Sandy, Japanese Story

"To say goodbye."

Annie, Hereditary

"I never wanted to be your mother."

Muriel, Muriel's Wedding

"Why can't it be me? Why can't I be the one?"

Lynn, The Sixth Sense

"Do I make her proud?"

Mandy, Velvet Goldmine

"It's funny how beautiful people look

 when they're walking out the door."

Runners-up: In Her Shoes, The Hours, Knives Out, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Velvet Buzzsaw, Krampus, Little Miss Sunshine, About a Boy, Clockwatchers, Emma... and all the rest!

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What are your favorite Toni Collette performances?

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Beau is Afraid (2023)

Beau: I accidentally drank mouthwash Friday night. 

You can't get stomach cancer that way? 

Therapist: Not from one time.

Beau: I drank a mouthful a couple of weeks ago too.

Therapist: I'm sure it's fine.

A happy 74th birthday to Stephen McKinley Henderson today! I had to look him up on Wikipedia to make sure that he hasn't been hiding in plain sight all along and it was me being a fool for not having taken notice of him before Lady Bird in 2017 -- it seems as if he started getting attention for doing a couple of August Wilson plays on Broadway over the past two decades. So it makes sense that I've only been familiar with him for a few years now, then. 

Anyway it's been a pleasure, over the past six years, every time he's popped up in anything. And nowhere more than his turn in Ari Aster's latest film (reviewed here) -- since that movie's such a ride I can't really talk about my favorite parts of his performance without spoiling it and I'm not at all convinced that all of you have seen it yet; just know that SMH is very very very funny in it, and I hope he keeps getting these chances like that to shine. Happy birthday to him!