I Quit Smoking 18 Years Ago Today

I thought it was funny when the conversation about smoking cigarettes being "cool" again reared its head last week, as I was prepping for this annual post I've been doing for eighteen years now -- if you look it up this conversation pops up about every two years and everyone acts all outraged again. And as I say every year -- smoking is bad for you! I am glad I quit eighteen years ago today! And yet I also think that it's undeniable that it just looks cool -- it's erotic, it's cinematic, it's literally "bad for you" as I just said and I'm of the mind that we'll stop being human beings when we stop romanticizing nihilism. We're always gonna be attracted to the "bad boy" archetype, even when it's Gina Gershon in Bound. (Hell especially when it's Gina Gershon in Bound.) 

Anyway I make some form of that argument every single year so's I can justify this post. Eighteen years of them now! That's wild. And no I don't miss smoking in the slightest, even if I one thousand percent understand the sould-crush that the kids are feeling so they're picking up the cancer-sticks again. I'm not judging anybody -- I get it y'all. The world's on fire -- you might as well lean in and light some drugs up off of it. With that said over the past twelve months I've gathered a ridiculous amount of pictures and gifs for y'all (over 150) so let's get to those. Hit the jump and inhale...

The Only Choice is Consumption

I know that we've generally agreed that the concept of a "snub" at the Oscars is kind of dumb but -- who would I be if I wasn't hating on AMPAS? I don't even know anymore. So fuck them for ignoring Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice, which is better than a good three-quarters of the movies that did get nominations. (Here is my review.) It's as timely and as funny and as gorgeously filmed as the probable Best Picture winner One Battle After Another, and it'll be long remembered after a bunch of the other titles fall away, and that's its own reward -- I'm just sick of Master Park getting the shaft. He's too good for them! But the Oscars aren't why we're here -- if they're ever why we're here you should hit the big red alarm button on the whole "pod person" thing. No we're here because there's news on the No Other Choice physical media front. What we can only assume will be a fancy limited edition 4K blu-ray a la the Oldboy release that Neon put out a couple of years ago has been dropped on Amazon for pre-release -- right here -- which will come out on April 28th. It is pricey as fuck -- $76 as of this writing -- which I can only assume will drop closer to the release date. The Oldboy release ended being fifty bucks I think? (Although I see now on Amazon it's going for truly ridiculous prices, good grief.) The annoying thing is we don't have any info yet on what this limited edition will look like or contain, but I imagine that'll be out soon. I went ahead and pre-ordered it now since I will obviously want this, but I'm keeping my eye on Neon's own shop for the information we're missing as well as a probable lower price. If I see it, I'll share!

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)

No Other Master

Much the way I end up wanting several different versions of posters every time a new Yorgos Lanthimos movie comes out -- and sidenote I can't believe I never linked to the big recent NYT article about Yorgos' longtime poster designer Vasilis Marmatakis, which can be seen here -- I feel the same every time a new Park Chan-wook movie hits. And sure enough his latest No Other Choice has cause for a buffet of movie art beauty. The one seen above is an echo of the main poster, previously posted here -- I already own a copy of that earlier poster but I would one hundred percent also like to buy the one seen here too. Sigh! And don't even get me started on the transclucent one that was being handed out at screenings of the movie in South Korea! I'd kill every person I love to just hold one of those in my hands! Aaaanyway why am I bringing up a movie I have 1) already reviewed out of NYFF right here, and 2) isn't actually out in limited U.S. theaters until Christmas? Because I got some super-powered star-fucking I am super-psyched to mention! I'm about to check another "breathing air with a favorite director" experience off my bucket-list tonight when I see this movie for a third time and it's followed up by a Q&A with Master Park himself! And his leading man, long time beloved hunk Lee Byung-hun, will be there as well! I AM SO EXCITED, YOU GUYS. I'll clearly be posting from it over on my Insta, so keep your eyes peeled there. Did you see my photos of Joel Edgerton and William H. Macy at a screening of Train Dreams last night? They're below if you missed 'em. Tis the busy busy awards-season time of year so expect more star-fuckery to come. 

Some snaps of Joel Edgerton, William H. Macy and director Clint Bentley at tonight’s TRAIN DREAMS screening! #traindreams @Netflix.com

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 11:22 PM

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!

Actually, Another Choice

I prefered the artistic simplicity of the first poster that we got for Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice -- see that one here -- but in the interest of trying to cover all our bases and get a handle on what this movie's tone will be I do want to share this much busier poster for the Korean market that got dropped a few days back and which showcases all of the actors and characters involved. This makes it feel a bit whackier than that first restrained poster? I suppose we'll know soon enough since this is screening in a month or so at NYFF! (It still doesn't have a proper U.S. release date beyond that.) Speaking of NYFF though I had trouble narrowing down the movies I most want to see at that fest to just 10 (which I did do, right here) but I still think it's safe to say that if I did a list of let's say my five most anticipated 2025 movies left to see this would definitely be on it. (One of the remaining movies from that top five I'm seeing on Thursday! I won't name which one but you'll know when you know...) Anyway Neon dropped three more stills from Master Park's film today as well, so let's take a gander after the jump at those...

NYFF Make My Dreams Come True

Just a couple of weeks ago I shared the poster and a teaser trailer for Park Chan-wook's new movie No Other Choice starring his ol' pal Byung-hun Lee and I said therein, and I quote, "This movie's premiering at Venice  and I am keeping all of my assorted limbs knotted up in hope that it'll head to NYFF from there." Well unknot me cuz it came true! NYFF just announced their Main Slate this morning for their 2025 edition and Master Park's movie is up in its business -- as are several other movies I am champing at me bit to gnaw right into. So why not a list? Not counting the Opening Night film (which is Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt and so obviously my jam) here are the 10 movies out of the Main Slate that I'm the most anticipating...

My 10 Most Anitipcated NYFF63 Main Slate Movies

No Other Choice -- dir. Park Chan-wook

There's really nothing I can shriek in enthusiasm about this movie that I haven't been shrieking since it was announced. Park Chan-wook is a god, period, the end.

Jay Kelly -- dir. Noah Baumbach

Normally I try to steer clear of George Clooney vehicles but I tend to love Baumbach movies whatever he throws at me and most importantly he got his gal pal Greta Gerwig acting again. Gerwig seals the deal every time. Plus Patrick WIlson, Laura Dern, Riley Keough, Jim Broadbent, Emily Mortimer, Billy Crudup and Isla Fisher! Also Emily Mortimer co-wrote this! 

The Mastermind -- dir. Kelly Reichardt

Not only is it the never-steers-me-wrong Reichardt behind the camera and not only does the movie star Josh O'Connor but the movie stars Josh o'Connor looking like the raffish lit professor everybody, including the other teachers and parents, are all trying to fuck.

The Secret Agent -- dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho 

Wagner Moura is one of the greatest (and come on, look at the picture, sexiest) on the world stage right now, and his teaming up withthe genius behind Bacurau is white hot shit. Plus Moura won Best Actor at Cannes and Mendonça Filho won Best Director so hopes are obviously big.

Sentimental Value -- dir. Joachim Trier

And speaking of Cannes this follow-up from the director and star of the masterpiece The Worst Person in the World won the Grand Prix at that fest. I will follow these two anywhere, together or seperately, but together tastes best!

Peter Hujar's Day -- dir. Ira Sachs

It's Ben fucking Whishaw playing Peter fucking Hujar -- you think I'm not all over this? Anyway I was extremely annoyed I couldn't see it at Sundance so I'm happy to have been given this second shot, even if I wasted months -- months!!! -- of my life without it. I won't hold it against you, Ben!

Miroirs No. 3 -- Christian Petzold

Since 2012 Christian Petzold has made five straight up masterpieces in a row with Barbara, Phoenix, Transit, Undine, and Afire -- I'm hoping he hasn't broken that streak by daring to make a movie with a title that has more than a single word in it, but I think we might be in safe hands. I mean he's reunited with actress Paula Beer yet again. We're gonna be fine.

The Fence -- dir. Claire Denis

I tend to swing wildly on my opinion of Denis movies, but the main thrust seems to be I like her more recent work while her earlier, typically more lauded works have left me cold. I'm such a maverick! Anyway Denis regular Isaach De Bankolé is her leading man this time, which is always a good sign, but this also co-stars Matt Dillon and Tom Blyth? Mkay.

Rose of Nevada -- dir. Mark Jenkin

Yeah yeah okay it stars Callum Turner and George MacKay

as fisherman, obviously it was gonna make my list. 

That's literally all I know or need to know. Fish me good, fellas!

Landmarks -- dir. Lucrecia Martel

Since The Headless Woman in 2008 

I've been a Lucretia ride-or-die-for-lifer.

Not even reading what this is about. Sign me up.

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Runners-up:  It Was Just an Accident (dir. Jafar Panahi), A House of Dynamite (dir. Kathryn Bigelow), Resurrection (dir. Bi Gan), Romería (dir. Carla Simón), Kontinental ’25 (dir. Radu Jude), If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (dir. Mary Bronstein), Duse (dir. Pietro Marcello)

Just a footnote on the concept of "Runners-up" here -- I literally could have listed every single other movie that didn't make my top ten. The only reason there are runners-up at all is I limited myself to a list of ten. As happens with every NYFF there are titles that come out of nowhere to slam me onto the floor in the best of way, and sometimes the ones I'm most excited about don't totally land. Usually though I always leave NYFF happy, because as I've said before they might not get all of the big exciting world premieres but year after year they do an incredible job curating the movies from around the globe that are the most worth seeing. I love my hometown fest! Click here to buy passes -- general tickets go on sale on September 18th (and earlier for FLC members). The fest runs from September 26 through October 13, 2025. 

Master Park's Choice

There was so much cool stuff that dropped yesterday that I had to pop in on a day off to post some of it -- see the History of Sound and Luca Guadagnino news here -- but I'm glad I waited until today to share the gorgeous poster for Park Chan-wook's latest No Other Choice because the folks at Neon have just unloaded a teaser trailer for the film today. This movie's premiering at Venice  and I am keeping all of my assorted limbs knotted up in hope that it'll head to NYFF from there. Master Park is one of the few remaining of my favorite filmmakers that I have yet to be in the physical vicinity of, so say a prayer for me y'all! No Other Choice reunites the greatest South Korean filmmaker alive with actor and great movie star Lee Byung-hun, who starred in a couple of his earliest works (specifically Joint Security Area and Park's short in the Three Extremes anthology movie which, sidenote, is finally getting a blu-ray release!) Anyway here's that teaser! I'm not watching it because I don't need to know any more than I already do which is LBH has a mustache. I'm sold. 

Park Chan-wook Is Back To Work!

Fifteen full years ago (!!!) in 2009 I posted about Oldboy director Park Chan-wook following up his vampire film Thirst with an NYC-set adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Ax from 1997. The book is about:

"... a middle aged, middle class salaryman loses his job after a downsizing, and after spending the following two years downsizing his lifestyle, he decides to overcome competition in his own personal way: chopping down anyone who gets in the way of his path back into fiscal solvency."

Obviously that movie didn't happen then -- he did come to America but he made the great and underrated Stoker with Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska instead. But it looks like he's come back to the project -- The Film Stage has word that he is beginning shooting his adaptation this week (!!!) and it's to be called No Other Choice now. And that is the teaser poster up top too! The film will be shot in his homeland of South Korea now though, and it will star our long-standing crush Byung-hun Lee!

I've long been surprised that the two of them haven't worked together since Joint Security Area way back in the year 2000 before either one of them were really anybody... 

... so this is an overdue reunion we're thrilled to see finally happen. Also announced in the cast are actors Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, and Yoo Yeon-seok -- Sung-min was in The Good, The Bad, and the Weird with Byung-hun in 2008, Yeom Hye-ran was in Bong Joon-ho's fantastic movie Memories of Murder, and Yoo Yeon-seok played the young version of the villain in Oldboy (that's him then and now below) but other than that I'm not super familiar with any of the cast. Not that I have anything but immense trust in Master Park! (As long as Robert Downey Jr. is nowhere to be seen anyway.) 

Gratuitous Martin Sensmeier

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There was a lot to look at in Antoine Fuqua's 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven, which is hitting blu-ray on December 20th -- there were Chris Pratt's really tight cowboy pants, there were Byung-hun Lee's really tight cowboy pants, there were Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Peter Sarsgaard and Matt Bomer's really tight cowboy pants. The movie in this way is a most faithful adaptation of John Sturges' 1960 film, which boasts the tightest cowboy pants ever put on screen. But even with all them cowboy bulges bouncing around bareback it wasn't a cowboy I kept looking at at all, it was...

... male-model turned actor Martin Sensmeier playing the Native American member of the team called Red Harvest that kept catching, and catching, and catching my eye. I think you can see why. I mean even standing beside a pleasingly beefy Chris Pratt...

... my eye wanders still. And thankfully my eye keep wandering and wandering until it wandered right over to Martin's Instagram account, which is when I realized...

... this post was necessary. Required! My duty, you might even say. The Magnificent Seven remake was not very good (if you're looking for a good update of that story check out Takashi Miike's 2010 film 13 Assassins, which is one of the best action movies of our new century) but I do hope it leads to Martin Sensmeier getting more work. We must encourage Hollywood to cast him more! So hit the jump for over 40 more pictures worth of encouragement...

I Saw the Devil Actor

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As promised (or threatened I suppose you could say if you're some sort of delicate hot-house flower terrified of strangers speaking directly at you, in which case you really need to get off the internet!) I went to the New York Asian Film Festival last night to see the actor Byung-hun Lee in person (and to see his latest South Korean thriller Inside Men, but more on that probably later). And there he was, in person! (Here's another shot on Instagram.)

What a lark! I didn't plan on sitting in the front row but I ended up sitting in the front row, right in front of him, so I managed to score some fine pics. He was charming and humble and very funny - did you know he was the first Korean presenter at the Oscars last year? He told the story of going and how drunk he got to cover his nerves, and how he forced Sofia Vergara (his presenting partner) to rehearse their bit over and over again. He said he even rehearsed walking the red carpet and sitting in his seat!

It was adorable. Anyway he was also asked about his upcoming American movie (besides South Korean classics like I Saw the Devil and JSA and The Good the Bad and the Weird he's starred in plenty of American blockbusters like the Red movies - in which he got mostly naked! - and Terminator: Genisys and GI Joe), Antoine Fuqua's remake of The Magnificent Seven with Chris Pratt and Denzel Washington, and I got his response on video! So here's that:

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As usual thanks to the fine folks at The Film Society 

and the fine folks at NYAFF for setting up the fine event!

Love, Lee

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The New York Asian Film Festival's going on right now and tonight's the night I told you about when the schedule was first released - tonight's the night my South Korean boyfriend Byung-hun Lee will be in attendance, and you best believe I will be there too. He is there to do a Q&A alongside a screening of latest crime-thriller Inside Men, as well as to receive the "Star Asia" award, as well as to get ogled mercilessly by yours truly. And good times were had by all! Stay tuned for updates via my Instagram, probably.

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Byung-hun Lee Twelve Times

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Earlier this week The New York Asian Film Festival announced the guests they've got in town for the festivities (which run from June 22nd to July 9th) and you should've heard the sound that came out of me when I read that Lee will be showing his face here in New York for it. We've been a champion of his since I Saw the Devil in 2010...

... it was only after that film that we realized we'd seen him in several things like of Three Extremes and JSA: Joint Security Area and The Good The Bad and The Weird. Anyway even living in a big city like New York it's pretty rare we get the International Stars, and it always comes as a happy surprise. Never thought I'd see this guy in the flesh! (Mmmm flesh.) He's appearing alongside his new film Inside Men, which is a corporate thriller in which he plays "a one-handed thug." Mkay. Anyway hit the jump for nine more shots...

I Am Link

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--- Sex Clown - Whoever's been in charge of Stephen King's It the past few years is absolutely determined Pennywise the Clown be played by a twink of some sort - a little over a year ago 23 year old Will Poulter was cast in the doomed Cary Fukunaga version, while today we're hearing that Mama director Andy Muschietti, who's directing the project now, has just cast Alexander Skarsgard's younger brother Bill in the role. You might know him from Eli Roth's godawful Netflix show Hemlock Grove, where he perked things up by getting his hot ass out. His brother taught him well. Anyway I kind of don't wanna be attracted to Pennywise so this news is weirding me out.

--- Marvel At That - The big news is coming hot and hard today - within five seconds of reading the previous story did I see this here headline, that The Babadook director Jennifer Kent is one of a couple of names up for the gig to direct Captain Marvel, Marvel's first superhero movie starring a (gasp) female. (I mean, can you imagine? Women don't even have penises, I don't know how they could possibly be superheroes.) And if you missed the news last night the rumor going around is that none other than Oscar winner and darling lovely Brie Larson is maybe probably going to be cast in the lead role. All I have to say about that is...

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EXCLUSIVE FIRST FOOTAGE FROM THE CAPTAIN MARVEL MOVIE pic.twitter.com/bNkH4VZmhE

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) June 2, 2016

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--- Final Forever - Stacie Ponder is requesting your attention, please! She's going to be celebrating her blog Final Girl's anniversary very soon and she'd like you to email her your Five Favorite Horror Movie Moments. Click on over to read exactly what she means, but this is your opportunity to be immortalized on the best blog in the entire world, so probably you should go ahead and do it.

--- Eastern Boys - Over at Pajiba our pal Kristy is using an interview with the actor Jack Choi, in which he legitimately bemoaned the desexualization of Asian men in Hollywood Movie-making, as a jumping off point to offer up many many suggestions of places that Hollywood could start. In other words, sexy men alert! There are several faces familiar to use here at MNPP offered, including our favorite Byung-hun Lee, whom we've gratuitized on several occasions - click here and then here for the especially good posts.

--- Skeleton Crew - It would be lovely if we could get a proper big-budget film from director Andrew Dominik of Killing Them Softly and The Assassination of Jesse James fame, since those are two of the greatest achievements of the new millennium cinematically speaking, but they both flopped kind of terribly so he's making music docs instead - that said I think a 3D concert film about musician Nick Cave grappling with the death of his son might turn out to be something extraordinary.

--- Who's Pure Now - Daniel Craig is making a twenty episode (spread over two seasons) series for Showtime called Purity, which is based on a book by Jonathan Franzen. (thanks Mac) Variety describes the story as "a morally complex story of youthful idealism, extreme loyalty and cold-blooded murder" which totally reminds me of Kramer reviewing that book on Seinfeld. "Unbridled enthusiasm" much? Anyway what this really means to me is that Daniel Craig and Eva Green, the sexiest Bond couple ever, have taken over an entire television network, and now I'm hoping for a cross-over. Daniel totally needs to show up on Penny Dreadful and make out with Josh Hartnett.

--- French Kisses - Alejandro Aja proved himself a fairly deft horror movie director with High Tension and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, and then kind of petered out (although the Piranha remake had its moments). He's got a psychological thriller with Jamie Dornan in the can but it appears he's turning his attentions to a non-genre flick next - it's a period romance called The Marquis, about the "the doomed and passionate relationship between the Marquis Louis Henri de Montespan and his wife Athenais - the ambitious woman who became the mistress of Louis XIV."

--- Peaks Fever - They're really dragging the headlines out on this one but it's worth the hype - David Lynch's new episodes of Twin Peaks will begin to air in "the second quarter of 2017," which means sometimes in Spring, April to June-ish. I suppose eventually we'll have an actual proper date and I will share that too! Speaking of Lynch you should click over to The Film Experience today to consider the opening titles of Blue Velvet, because you literally have nothing better than that to do. I mean it. You don't.

--- Call Coming Later - If I were making a list of the five movies I'm most looking forward to this year JA Bayona's A Monster Calls would most definitely make it - an adaptation of the devastating children's book by Patrick Ness, it stars Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Toby Kebbell, Lewis MacDougall, and the voice of Liam Neeson, and the less I say about what it's about the better. I went into the book fresh and it hit me like a ton of bricks. But you can totally watch the first trailer, which keeps things pretty vague. Anyway the release date just got moved a week further away to October 21st, which is testing my patience. I want it now!
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Matthew Bomer Is Magnificent

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If you'd have told me that I'd be writing multiple posts on another version of The Magnificent Seven in 2015 I'd have, you know, been all, like, "Huh?" But here we are! Matthew Bomer has just joined the cast as the latest chap in a parade of hotness - last Wednesday we'd heard that Byung-hun Lee and Jason Momoa are in it! The week before that it was Brazilian hottie Wagner Moura! Before that it was Chris Pratt! (For some of you Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke probably count as well, but I'm not the biggest fans of theirs.) It's a veritable beefcake fest, and I'm on board. You know what I think? I think that working with Jake Gyllenhaal's nipples on Southpaw made director Antoine Fuqua understand the value of a hot slice of man ass, that's what I think. He's suddenly all up in it, and I am thankful.
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More Than Magnificent

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Sometimes there are moments where I'm convinced that I individually am being trolled by casting people, and this here is one of those moments -- The Magnificent Seven remake from director Antoine Fuqua just added Byung-hun Lee and Jason Momoa to its roster. Byung-hun Lee and Jason Momoa! Jason Momoa and Byung-hun Lee! Oh my. To see why we're obsessed with Lee click here. Or just look above. I mean, really. And we just posted about this movie super recently when Wagner Moura was cast; we also dig him. And and besides those three there's Chris Pratt too. Magnificent is maybe too small a word for all of this manliness. What's bigger than magnificent? What is the verbal equivalent of this? Splendiferous? Make that The Splendiferous Seven.

Re Genysis Trailer

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A quick scan across Twitter showed me a lot of complaints about the new Terminator trailer but it pretty much gave me all I was asking for, plus more! Like Naked Jai Courtney and Scarred Jason Clarke In A Uniform staring into each other's eyes and touching, for instance.

And like more shirtless Jai Courtney.

And like more shirtless Jai Courtney.

Oh and Byung-Hun Lee in a cop uniform!

I mean really, what do you people want?

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Oh and more shirtless Jai Courtney, after the jump.