Quote of the Day

"We went to different acting schools, but we had the same teacher, Ron Van Lieu, who was a huge, formative figure in our lives. We really bonded over that and our experiences in theater. I think that shared vocabulary can help bridge the gap between these very different styles that are in the same movie... I hadn't met him before. But he was actually more familiar with my theater work. It was really cool. I've been watching his film work; I remember seeing The Last Black Man in San Francisco and was just like, "Who is that?" He has this presence and this ability to use stillness to draw the audience in. He uses that to great effect as Kang."

I could listen to Corey Stoll lavish praise on Jonathan Majors all day long. I could watch Corey Stoll lavish all sorts of things on Jonathan Majors too, and for much longer than just days at that, but we won't get into that right now. Anyway that comes via GQ where they chatted with Corey on his return to the MCU in Quantumania (thx Mac) so check it if you care. I didn't like the movie very much (Majors escaped unscathed, because of course he did) and I really didn't like what they did to Corey, but I'm not angry at thoughts of Corey bonding with Jonathan so at least some good has come out of it. They should play boyfriends in something. Like, immediately.

Alessandro the Big Bad Hunter Man

Ecstatic news for those of us who've been banging the Alessandro Nivola drum for so many years that our beating hands have gone bloody -- he's just been cast as the villain in a superhero movie! Okay okay so playing the villain in a superhero movie is not, contrary to what the movie business would have us believe in 2022, the be-all end-all of movie acting, and as Nivola's proven in two decades of movies like Junebug and Disobedience and Laurel Canyon and on and on he is a seriously talented actor above all else. That said I am damn happy to see him get paid, and this will probably be a lot of fun. For him to shoot, for us to watch -- fingers crossed anyway. Oh right, the movie, I should mention what movie it is -- he's going to be the villain in Sony's Kraven the Hunter movie, and yes indeed... 

.... THAT MEANS HE IS GOING TO BE FIGHTING WITH BEARDED BRAWNY AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON. See all my previous posts on this movie here -- we don't know who Nivola's playing yet, just that he's the villain -- if any of you are nerd enough to name some names that he could be that'd be super. My guess is it will be somebody similar to the character that Corey Stoll played in Ant-Man but that might just be all of my lingering feelings about all those times we saw Corey & Alessandro in the same location for The Many Saints of Newark. I mayyy be projecting. Anyway the movie is being directed by JC Chandor who Nivola worked with before on A Most Violent Year (never forget them tennis shorts); other people who've joined the cast of Kraven within the past couple of weeks include West Side Story breakout Ariana Debose and White Lotus cutie Fred Hechinger! We love furry lil' Fred! Kraven is turning out to be a very furry movie actually, and natch we dig.

Ain't Them Bodies Saints

If any of you watched the Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark this weekend, in theaters or on HBO Max, then perhaps you'll want to read my review of it, which went up today at Pajiba. Hell maybe you'll want to read my review even if you didn't watch the movie? I am pretty awesome all on my own, so that would be understandable. I found the film to be a mixed bag -- in that even calling it a "film" sort of feels like a stretch -- but I also think every single actor in it is terrific, especially Alessandro Nivola in the lead. So flaws aside there are plenty of reasons to watch it, is my point. Even just gratuitously speaking...

Feel as if it is my duty to share this gif of Billy Magnussen in tight mustard trousers in #TheManySaintsOfNewark pic.twitter.com/FobUhHQV8M

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 3, 2021

Jon Bernthal Three Times

Well speaking of actors in The Many Saints of Newark finally doing press for that film since it's out on October 1st -- as we just did with Corey Stoll's big beautiful bald head on the cover of Rolling Stone -- here's Jon Bernthal for Interview Magazine! I wish there were more than three pictures -- multiply three by two thousand and that's maybe ballpark how many I wish for -- but these three are good ones, and the chat alongside them (he's interviewed by Lena Dunham of all people, apparently a friend) is a good one. My favorite thing I learned from it was that Jon loves to say "fuck" and stars, they are just like us. Jon, you can say "fuck" to me, at me, anytime... ETA here's one more photo via Interview's Insta:

The Many Stolls of Newark

The Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark hits HBO Max and theaters on the same day, October 1st, and so we've been getting some press finally -- Rolling Stone has the cast on their cover (or at least their digital cover, seen down below) and today gave us a "Corey Stoll's big beautiful bald head"-centric version, which obviously must be celebrated. You can read the chat with the actor, who plays the younger version of "Uncle Junior" in the film, right here; he also talks for a quick second about Steven Spielberg and West Side Story, which is supposedly out in December. The trailer for The Many Saints of Newark is right here if you missed it!

Just wanna thank whoever posed Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, and Alessandro Nivola together for easy editing pic.twitter.com/czdPxqpIoD

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 1, 2021

Saints, Sinners, and Jersey

We've been waiting for this one for ages -- the poster and the trailer for the Sopranos prequel film called The Many Saints of Newark, which stars James Gandolfini's son Micheal as our teenaged Tony, who we will watch get pulled into the mafiaso allure of one Dickie Moltisanti... and it's not hard to understand why given they're represented by the alluring dimples of Alessandro Nivola (aka yesterday's birthday boy). 

And I did mean those dimples, although...

... we do almost see the other ones in this trailer. And that is also alluring! Basically this movie looks to have everything. Vera Farmiga with a big nose! Ray Liotta cackling terrifyingly!  We don't see him in the trailer but Billy Magnussen supposedly! A flash of Leslie Odom Jr! Oh and Jon Bernthal and Corey Stoll spotted sitting in a car together! 

Like I said: everything. In all seriousness even though I haven't talked about it much here on the site I'm a massive fan of The Sopranos and I think this looks ace, I cannot fuckin' wait. (And I am kind of hoping it ends with a flash-forward to 2007 and we see what happens after the screen cut to black in that diner via a CG Tony avatar who starts flipping around like CG Yoda, just to totally fuck with people -- I'd die of happiness.) The Many Saints of Newark is hitting both theaters and HBO Max on October 1st. Let's see if we can get the under-appreciated trifecta of Nivola / Stoll / Bernthal into the damn Oscar race...

One Stacked Weekend

Although I've got a pile of New York Film Festival screeners to watch and reviews to write this weekend (slash for the next two weeks) I'm actually impressed I got as much done this week as I did, because this week revealed itself to be a doozy, new-release-wise. Not just movies either, what with three television series of note all premiering -- Luca Guadagnino's We Are Who We Are arrived on HBO on Monday, while Ratched hit Netflix...

... (and hey there Corey Stoll in sock garters) and PEN15 hit Hulu today -- but primarily in movies, and I managed to share some thoughts, fast or otherwise, on everything I intended to! So let's do a quick round-up...

WHAT TO SEE, OR NOT SEE, I DON'T OWN YOU

Earlier today I reviewed Sean Durkin's The Nest, starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon, right here. It is good!

I reviewed Antonio Campos' The Devil All the Time, starring every young actor on the planet plus Jason Clarke tugging it to street trade, right here. It is... okay?

I whiffed the fact that they switched the release date for Miranda July's latest called Kajillionaire to next week and went ahead and reviewed that anyway, right here. That'll be out a week from today! I will surely re-remind you then.

The gay horror flick Spiral starring the ridiculously handsome Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman from UnREAL (sidenote: I miss UnREAL), hit Shudder earlier this week and I shared my thoughts on that right here. Bonus as an aside in that review I mention the horror flick Antebellum, out on VOD today, but sadly not worth that much of my (or your) time.

On top of all of that I also got my first of many to come NYFF review out with my thoughts on Steve McQueen's Lovers Rock, which just opened the fest -- read that over at The Film Experience. I'll have more up over at TFE over the weekend and through the next couple of weeks for the fest, so stay tuned!

Your biggest priority out of all of these things would be... well it's PEN15, isn't it? Honestly if I was home right now and not trapped at my office desk I'd be re-watching the second season of PEN15, which is absolutely everything, just everything. I very much liked the first season but the second season takes the whole show to glorious, surprising heights -- the show is a classic now. An all-timer. For real. Watch PEN15 dammit!

I was totally jazzed when my beloved Michael Angarano showed up on #PEN15 in the new season but I had no idea until right now that he and the show's star Maya Erskine are a real life couple!!!! NEW FAVORITE COUPLE ALERT pic.twitter.com/T6oapEQ1n0

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 12, 2020

Finn Wittrock Four Times

Let's just get it out of the way right at the start -- Ryan Murphy's new Netflix series Ratched, premiering on Friday (watch the trailer here), is kind of awful. But it's "kind of awful" in that way so many Ryan Murphy products are, in that I still somehow plowed through all eight episodes without a second thought, and there's enough insanity going on to make you think it's not all that awful while it's going on. Just don't try to make sense of anyone's motivations from scene to scene, episode to episode, beginning to end -- none of it makes a goddamned lick of sense. 

And yet there are bright spots (JUDY MF'ING DAVIS), most especially of the gratuitous sort -- one of them being Corey Stoll spends a lot of time with his pants down in old-timey boxers and garters, and another being our boy Finn Wittrock here looks better than he ever has and the camera takes full advantage of that fact. So just know what you're in for going in and maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised. (The lesbian oysters scene is a classic, I will say.) And if not, Hot Finn. You could do worse. (See more of this shoot back here.)

The Ratched Boys

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Last week when I shared with you the very first photos from Ryan Murphy's forthcoming Ratched series, starring Sarah Paulson as the villainous electroshock-lovin' nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in her earlier pre-Jack days, I was happy save one complaint -- where the hell was Corey Stoll? Well now the trailer's here and my pissiness has been answered, with Stoll, as seen above. Phew! Also...

... I am pretty sure, after years of extensive studies in the subject of knowing every inch of the personage of Corey Stoll from bald head to big toe, that that shot could also be of him, even though we see no face there. I don't need his face to know, dammit! Maybe Corey Stoll in soaking wet boxer shorts is my religion now. (I should add here that a bird in the know has whispered in my ear that we do indeed see Corey in his boxers at some point on the show, so I could be projecting. But I don't think so. I think that's him.)

Anyway from there I suppose, oh do I ever suppose, that an MNPP dissection of this show's first trailer wouldn't be complete without me including a gif of Finn Wittrock half naked on his knees behind bars. I mean we all know where we are right now. We made our choices to end up here. It's just what fits. And Finn appears to be playing some sort of crazy psycho type on the show, which is exactly how we best like our Finn -- Dandy Forever!

Ratched premiere on Netflix on September 18th!

Pics of the Day

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Vanity Fair has been kind enough to grace us with the first photos from Ryan Murphy's upcoming Netflix series about the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest villainess Nurse Ratched, called simply Ratched -- actually I wish it was called "Simply, Ratched" because that would rule. In the film Louise Fletcher won an Oscar for her portrayal -- now comes, in the grand tradition of "Things Ryan Murphy has touched," Sarah Paulson to tackle the role. But more exciting than that to me is the supporting cast, which has Murphy finally getting his actressexual claws into both Judy Davis AND (drumroll please) the queen Sharon Stone!

And not just any ol' Sharon Stone, but Sharon Stone with a pet fucking monkey. This is like that gif of Wendi McLendon-Covey saying she's going to give the gays everything they want, but in a TV show form. Up to an including COREY STOLL BEING ON THIS SHOW, but he's frustratingly not featured in any of these photos. We do see Murphy regular Finn Wittrock though!

On that note there's a second picture that VF says is of Sharon Stone with Finn but I swear to all things holy -- by which I mean "Sharon Stone with a pet fucking monkey" -- that it doesn't look like Finn in the photo to me. The person looks WAY too young! Am I nuts? You decide...

survey solutions

Ratched premieres on Netflix on September 18th, 

meaning we will probably get a trailer soon!

ETA Vanity Fair has updated and confirmed that the picture is NOT Finn Wittrock -- it's Richard Madden friend and actor Brandon Flynn, who's in a single episode of the show.

I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!! Vanity Fair has updated the caption, it is indeed Brandon Flynn (good catch @HiGirlsHiLouise
and @EricWoodsen2) and NOT Finn Wittrock like they'd originally said. Contrary to popular opinion all white boys do not look the same, lol pic.twitter.com/hOtTBhhEPt

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 29, 2020

Cops Rock

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They say patience is a virtue and so I must be the most virtuous piece of shit in the world, given how patient I have been waiting for Corey Stoll to take off. But the next couple of years and thereabouts finally looks to be our long-awaited reward -- we already told you that he's going to co-star  in Steven Soderbergh's film The Report as well as in the Sopranos prequel opposite Alessandro Nivola and well as in Ryan Murphy's Nurse Ratched miniseries for Netflix.

Well today there's even more -- he's going to play "Lieutenant Schrank, the New York City detective charged with quelling civic unrest in his racially-torn precinct" in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake! This role was played by Simon Oakland in the original -- I've only seen the original WSS once and I wasn't nuts about it. I know, I know, send your hate mail to me care of my butt. But I'm perfectly open and willing to watch a Steven Spielberg musical -- written by Tony Kushner for god's sake! -- and Corey Stoll singing at me is making it even easier a pill.
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Also joining the cast today is Brian dʼArcy James as another cop, "Sergeant Krupke, a veteran cop whose beat includes the territories of two warring street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets." Don't ask me to remember anything about the cops in the original, but the name "Sergeant Krupke" has infiltrated pop culture enough that it sounds familiar to me. Which is the bigger part?
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Corey Stoll Two Times

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There's not nearly enough Corey Stoll scheduled for us in 2019 -- he has one film called The Report on the docket, which is being directed by Soderbergh collaborator Scott Z. Burns and co-stars Adam Driver and Jon Hamm (that is a lot of testosterone on one set) --  but 2020 looks better. He's got Ryan Murphy's Nurse Ratched series for Netflix and he's got David Chase's Sopranos prequel with Alessandro Nivola. I hope his roles are substantial! It always feels like we're never getting enough Corey dammit. (Why yes I am looking at you, First Man.) Maybe Corey will do Shakespeare in the Park again this summer and bust out those leather trousers again...

Corey Stoll & Co Sing of The Sopranos

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I watched all of The Sopranos but I watched it late, well after it had aired. That said I agree with the general assessment that even besides the mafia content it's basically The Godfather of Peak TV - it's an astonishing achievement, funny and rich with character and oft absolutely horrifying to boot; it's the Mount Olympus of small screen achievement. Needless to say we're all just a little bit nervous then that David Chase wants to make a prequel film! That's a lot to live up to. But the cast he's been gathering, well...

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ME READING THE NEWS THAT ALESSANDRO NIVOLA IS GOING TO STAR IN DAVID CHASE'S SOPRANOS PREQUEL: pic.twitter.com/7Y8e7gfCLg

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 21, 2018

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... the cast he's been gathering kind of seems like he rooted around in MNPP's archives and picked out all of the gold pieces and said, "Go!" That Alessandro Nivola announcement was back in November (and hey there was a new interview with him just yesterday about it!) but the past week has seen Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Billy Magnussen (!!!) and now, yes, Corey Stoll join the film, which is called The Many Saints of Newark. As we mentioned last night Corey also just joined the cast of Ryan Murphy's Nurse Ratched series, so we are about to be blessed with some Stoll, y'all. Like, right now. Literally. I'm blessing us with more Stoll. Hit the jump for him...

Corey in the Cuckoo's Nest

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I should hold off on writing this post until tomorrow as I'm literally about to run out the door but it's just SO EXCITING I can't help myself -- Ryan Murphy took to Instagram to announce a bunch of Sarah Paulson's co-stars for the Nurse Ratched series they're doing for for Netflix (yes it's a prequel about the much loathed nurse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and the whole list is insane (appropriate, given the source material's location) -- besides former proteges like Finn Wittrock and Jon Jon Briones and Charlie Carver he's got Cynthia Nixon (!!) and Judy Davis (!!!) and Sharon Stone (!!!!) and on the dude hotness tip, he's got Hunter Parrish and yes as pictured above my other bald boyfriend Corey effing Stoll. As Armie Hammer once said, "Good. Ness!" No word on who's who yet but I'll keep you abreast, obviously...
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Good Morning, World

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Has anybody watched the first two episodes of Matthew Weiner's The Romanoffs on Amazon yet? I have not gotten around to it just yet myself, and I've heard opinions varying wildly via the Twitter box, but knowing that there is Half Naked Corey Stoll waiting for me (thx Mac), well, that's putting some pressure on anyway.

Okay okay most of the pressure I am feeling is in my pants, you got me. Whatever. Whatever gets me there! Right, Weiner? Right. Anyway I guess each ep's a stand-alone, and a new one drops every week, so it's not a rush. I can stroll leisurely like I'm Corey Stoll in his boxer shorts. Just like that. Sigh. Hit the jump for more...

Ryan Gosling Nine Times

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Although none of you could successfully accuse me of being a Damien Chazelle fan - both Whiplash and La La Land have good moments but never came anywhere near my favorites of their respective years, and he personally seems kind of insufferable - I've still got my tickets to see First Man this weekend on the biggest IMAX screen in town because I do love me an outer space sequence shot for IMAX. Oh and Corey Stoll. Corey Stoll in IMAX please.

And this guy, this Ryan person here, well I guess he's not too shabby either. These photos are from this month's GQ - I haven't read the story yet, it appears kind of endless. Perhaps we can all read it together over lunch? Deal. But first let us all hit the jump for the rest of this photo-shoot...

Pics of the Day

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Earlier this summer the Shakespeare in the Park bunch here in New York put on Othello with Chukwudi Iwuji in the lead and Corey Stoll rocking some swoon-worthy (and sweaty) leather drawers in the Iago role - far be it from the Globe theater in London to get left behind though, for they're currently staging the same show and they've gone and put dreamy André Holland (who is currently rocking it on TV in Castle Rock as well) in an outfit of pure sex all their own.

Is this the first time a turtleneck's been referred to as "pure sex" in the history of the world? I don't know but André is making it happen. He's also rocking a pretty swank embellished military jacket - there's a whole collection of pictures from the show right here (the costumes are kinda nuts, especially the women's, you should check them out) and a round-up of reviews for the show can be found at Playbill. Somebody fly me to London for this, please...

Your Day in Crotch Shots

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Well the day is young and who knows what we'll see before it's through but for now here first thing this morning I've got a soothing pair of pictures of Actors We Adore putting their best face (not face) forward -- there first is Armie Hammer via this chat with the actor at Vogue. He's talking about the play he's about to perform on Broadway called Straight White Men, we told you about it previously here. That show starts on June 29th and I am praying I can sneak in somehow. And speaking of theater...

... we've got a new shot of Corey Stoll's leather-clad Iago from Shakespeare in the Park's current run of Othello, which the New York Times gave us astride their review. (Thx Mac.) We posted several pictures of Corey in costume the other week - click here to see them. I have seen half of the show - the night I went the second half got rained out. I'm going to try to win the lottery again to go back and watch the rest but I'm waiting for this little heat-wave we're in the middle of to pass... although the sweatier the better to watch Corey in those pants, maybe...

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Pics of the Day

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A bushily-bearded and bald Corey Stoll can currently be seen in tight leather pants on stage several times a week for free here in New York City - he's playing the Iago to Chukwudi Iwuji's Othello for the Public Theater's annual Shakespeare in the Park, as we previously reported here and here. I got to see HALF the show this weekend...

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Started pouring right after the intermission! Literally right as Othello said “Your hand's moist, my lady.” Waiting to see if they start back up #shakespeareinthepark #nyc #othello

A post shared by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams) on Jun 2, 2018 at 7:05pm PDT

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... the second half got rained out, sadly. I'm going to try to win the lottery again when I have the chance but I liked what I saw... which was a lot of Corey Stoll running around in leather pants. I liked it! Anyway you can hit the jump for several more pictures of just exactly what it was that I was liking...

Buzz is the Word

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I still haven't decided if I'm looking forward to Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong bio-pic First Man starring Ryan Gosling - I thought Whiplash was perfectly alright if wildly overpraised but La La Land was straight up nails on a chalkboard to me. That said this movie (you can see more of the first pictures from it over here; thanks Mac) has a super duper cast including Claire Foy as Armstrong's supportive wife and drumroll please (but not like a Whiplash drumroll, please) the real draw here is Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin. 

You can see him fuzzy in the background there - 

I sure hope Corey's got something to do...

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