Please Dacre, Don't Hurt 'Em

Consider this a mea culpa to Dacre Montgomery since I wrote that I wasn't enamored with his performance in this weekend's horror movie Faces of Death in my review -- he is clearly having a whole lot of fun with his big performance and there are a couple of shots of him wearing a skin-tight body-suit thing (just from above the waist) where he is twisting and writhing and he looks super hot. That's not nothing! But I thought he was much better in last year's surprisingly terrific Gus Van Sant crime flick Dead Man's Wire, which I'm ashamed I never reviewed -- I haven't expected much from a GVS movie in awhile but that one reminded me how wonderful a director he can be. Straight-forward, low-key, thrilling and perfectly performed by Bill Skarsgård and Dacre -- if y'all never checked that one out I say do that! It's ace. Okay -- have a great weekend! I'm out. (pics via) 

The Real Snuff

For some reason when my cousin and I were scouring the horror aisle at the video-store in my teen years we never bothered to rent the original Faces of Death -- probably because it clearly didn't have any sexy naked people, which is why we kept watching the same Slashers over and over again after all. But I was legitimately afraid of its VHS box too, and even though I now know it was all a bunch of hooey, that legacy of the forbidden remains attached to its title. And director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei (of the fantastic Cam) have done a solid job embracing and expanding that with their... it's not a remake. Reboot, I suppose. Set in a world like ours where the Faces of Death video haunted a generation, Faces of Death (2026 Edition) introduces a serial killer (Stranger Things' Dacre Montgomery) who's viciously reenacting the original's seedy tableaus to gain viral social-media fame. And it's up to a content moderator named Margot (Barbie Ferreira) to track him down and press permanant pause on his reign of cyber-terror! 

Anyway the very real gig where a person watches "content" all day long to flag the worst offenders has been sitting around for several years now outright begging for this treatment -- this movie would make a perfect double-feature with Prano Bailey-Bond's killer 2021 film Censor, which did the 1980s "Video Nasties" version of the same thing (and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the original Faces of Death got name-checked in that). And the team of Goldhaber & Mazzei do make some murderous magic of it, tapping into the very real social-media sickness that's saturated our culture, anesthetizing us to real horror. The film's at its best when its staring into the dead eyes of the normies who don't give a shit about violence for whatever reason, be they benefitting from its monetization or simply part of the parade of empathy husks now found on every corner. 

The actual stuff with Montgomery though, who goes way over the top, is a little less successful -- okay we get it Dacre, you watched Manhunter, you watched Dahmer; maybe dial it down a notch or two. This movie has stellar vibes that all his shrieking keeps swallowing up. As for Ferreira she makes for a likeable presence that we're rooting for. Even if the movie vacillates wildly between her character having superpowered MacGyver-like skills when it needs her to (the way she manages to break out of the killer's cage after being there for all of five seconds while the people who've been locked up for weeks look on -- if I'd been one of them I would've told her to fuck right off) while then having her acting dumb as a box of rocks when the movie needs that. In that same vein this whole new Faces of Death endeavor is both sloppier than necessary while also being smarter than it had any right for. You should be pleasantly surprised, even if your groans sometimes get the better of you. (Although a few points knocked off for Yet Another Dead Gay in a year of too many of those. I would just prefer not, y'all.)

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... bro'ing out with Joe Keery & Dacre Montgomery.

Don't ask me to remember who it was but some producer on Stranger Things shared a series of new-to-me photos of Joe & Dacre on set back in, what, this was the second season? Remember when their characters had their little homoerotic scenes in the gym shower? Because I sure do. Anyway since Stranger Things will be dropping its final episodes over the holidays it seems a perfect time to share these gay ass memories. Hit the jump for the rest of the photos...

Good Morning, World

Dacre Montgomery says howdy.

Good Morning, World

Hey everybody! That there's Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery giving you the tongue (via), which you should actually interpret as my way of saying, "I have another press screening this morning! Sucks to be you!" Sorry. I'll be here come early afternoon, I promise. Just enjoy the tongue! Eesh.

Good Morning, Gratuitous Ludi Lin

Raise your hand if you watched the Mortal Kombat movie over the weekend! I saw a headline that it did good box-office-wise (whatever that means nowadays) so I'm guessing a couple of you did, either in the theater or on HBO Max... and so did I. I have... not much to say about it. There was some fun gore, some hot guys, and it was the sort of mindless thing I was looking for at the exact moment I watched it. I was never much of a player of that game way back when I was still playing video-games (which was when I was a teenager in the 90s) so I don't have much of a connection to the franchise; I never even saw the 1995 film. (That said even sight unseen I feel the word "film" straining to its breaking point there in that usage.) 

But... I did mention "hot guys," and that's why we're here this morning. I could've done a big post for several actors in the movie honestly -- holla out to Joe Taslim, who will surely warrant his own post(s) at some point -- but I only realized after the movie that the dude playing "Liu Kang" in it was someone I'd posted about before! Ludi Lin is the same dude who'd caught my eye in that real porny episode of Black Mirror, and he was also up for the Marvel superhero role of Shang-Chi also circa summer of 2019. (That role of course went to the also super hot Simu Liu; we just shared the trailer last week.) I already had a folder on my computer full of pictures of him ready to go! 

Of course, I am me, so I went and found even more... and then more still. I use the word "gratuitous" for more than one reason! But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Other things you might recognize Ludi from -- he was "Captain Murk in Aquaman (I don't remember who that is and photos aren't jogging my memory) and he was the Black Ranger in the 2017 Power Rangers movie, which I didn't see but which did gift us with this shot of him alongside co-stars Dacre Montgomery and RJ Cyler...

... for which we are very grateful. Coming up he's got a movie called The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu, and one assumes there will be a Mortal Kombat sequel since the box office was pretty good, not to mention the movie is really basically just a prequel for another film. It's all set-up for a tournament that never happens, lol! Total trash, but fun trash, I thought. Anyway back to the real important topic at hand -- all of those pictures I gathered up. And I ain't joking, there's over a hundred of them, right on after the jump...

Which is Hotter?

If I had once known that Stranger Things actor (and frequent MNPP presence!) Dacre Montgomery had been cast in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming Elvis movie -- don't get your hips out of swivel, he's not playing Elvis (that role went to Austin Butler, most recently seen taking a can of dog food to the head for Quentin Tarantino) he's playing Elvis frequent producer sidekick Steve Binder...

... I didn't recall that I once knew it today, when I looked at the film's IMDb page here on the occasion of big bad Baz's 58th birthday. Dacre's not the only PYT on the Presley premises -- there's also the dueling Aussie banjos of Xavier Samuel and Luke Bracey to be had (and I sure hope somebody's hadding 'em). But for Baz's sake today we'll focus right in on the top two-some, as I suspect Baz himself calls them come suppertime...

survey services

Dacre Montgomery Seven Times

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Our favorite Stranger Things sleaze-ball Dacre Montgomery, stache and all, is covering Esquire Singapore this month (via) -- he's got a rom-com called The Broken Hearts Gallery coming out in September that has him opposite Blockers actress Geraldine Viswanathan, so I guess that's why, since there's no Stranger Things on the immediate horizon. I'm surprised he doesn't have more lined up on his IMDb but who knows what wrenches COVID has tossed into young actor's upward trajectories. And maybe I'm the only one obsessed with Dacre? I don't know. I don't get out of my bubble very much. Wow this post went weird fast. Hit the jump for the rest of this shoot...

Good Afternoon, Gratuitous Dacre Montgomery

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No matter how many shots of Dacre in his lifeguard gear and Joe Keery as a gay little sailor that they'd thrown at me in the trailer for the show I hadn't intended to binge the entire third season of Stranger Things this holiday weekend, and yet here we are -- I watched the whole damned thing. I blame it on two things -- one, we finally got a new TV and I needed some candy-colored to appreciate its hi-def visuals (and while Nicolas Winding Refn's spectacular show Too Old to Die Young certainly fits that specific bill that show, as glorious as I think it is -- it's the best thing on TV right now, and I hope you're watching -- is anything but binge-able).

Stranger Things is easily binge-able. Which brings me to my number two reason why I did in fact gobble the whole season up over the course of a couple of days -- the third season is by far the show's best. It doesn't break any new ground really, but it knows what works now and found ways to remix it to its best effect -- the pairings they came up with were inspired and sparked with chemistry -- and the new characters (Maya Hawke as Robin and Priah Ferguson as Erica specifically) made great additions. Notice how those were both girls? Meaning the show finally didn't feel like a miniature sausage fest, either. Girls got shit to do! 'Magine that. 

That said I'm still here talking the sausage -- as many photoshoots of Dacre as I managed to post in the lead-up to the show I still managed to miss several, and so here as a late Monday break for our brains I offer up a couple dozen new pictures of our bad boy Billy, after the jump...

Joe Keery Ten Times

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When I was posting all of those Dacre Montgomery photo-shoots recently I figured it was only a matter of time before his Stranger Things sparring partner started showing up, and sure enough here just shy of the third season dropping (on Thursday!) Joe Keery's shown up in a cover shoot for GQ Middle East (via)...

... if I had to wager a guess I'd wager my guess that we'll be getting even more shoots of Joe soon, because fashion magazines, much like I do, seem to appreciate looking at him right now. But look we shall, at least at what we have for now, right here after the jump...

Dacre Montgomery Seven Times

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Just a couple of weeks until the big banging third season of Stranger Things drops on Netflix for the fireworks-friendly holiday of July 4th, and our bad boy Dacre Montgomery is covering the new issue of GQ Germany to get us all in the mood -- I posted a couple of preview shots of this shoot on the Tumblr awhile back but the entire thing's here now (via) so here we are, following. If you missed this season's trailer you can see that right here. I felt mixed towards the second season -- I honestly don't even remember what happened at this point? -- but if they have more wrestling between Dacre and Joe Keery I could be swayed. Real swayed. Hit the jump for the rest...

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... drowning for Dacre.

For a second I almost said "drowning in Dacre" but I think the idea of throwing myself in a pool and glug-glugging until he rescues me is probably a good start -- we can get to the rest of it right after. (And I mean immediately after. ) Dacre's shot like his mulleted Stranger Things character (who we've seen in the trailer has become a lifeguard in season three) in these shots (via, thx Mac) because H&M is apparently putting out a Stranger Things line of clothes this summer. With that in mind they should know I am going to be very very upset if they don't center an entire campaign around Joe Keery's short shorts. Or David Harbour's cop uniform, for that matter. But to get back on the topic at hand you can hit the jump for a couple more of Dacre...

I Quit Smoking Eleven Years Ago Today

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Like two perfectly straight cigarette sticks we've struck the number 11 this year -- 11 years without a cigarette as of today, May 5th 2019. And as we've done with every anniversary since we've spent the past 12 months gathering up photographs of attractive actor fellas with a fag between their lips so, uhh... 

... to speak. And now's the time to share! If you hit the jump there are dozens and dozens (these things seem to grow bigger every year somehow -- I always think I'll run out but I never do!) of photos and gifs, enough to give you second-hand something...

Which is Hotter?

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I'm surprised that I didn't ask this question when Joe Kerry and Dacre Montgomery had their big homoerotic shower-n-wrestling scenes on Stranger Things last time around but here's to hoping that the third season keeps that vibe going, since it's an integral part of anything from the 80s that Stranger Things so deeply fetishizes. 

survey solutions

Anyway yes these shots are from the new trailer, which looks like a lot of fun -- I'm loving all of the Shopping Mall shit in there, which is taking me right back. If we don't get a Chopping Mall reference though I'll be hella pissed. Here's the trailer:

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Stranger Things returns on July 4th. 

Now with 100% more Harbour Stache!

Dacre Montgomery Eight Times

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Hey everybody, sorry this short week's become a shorter bust -- yesterday and today have been devoured by tech issues on my end and all the stuff I'd planned on getting done are not getting done a bit. Not a bit! But here are some pictures (via) of Stranger Things' resident bad boy Dacre Montgomery to temporarily tide us over. Hit the jump for the rest...

Dacre Montgomery Eighteen Times

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I knew when I shared those two pics of Dacre yesterday more would be forthcoming since they were for a L'Officiel Hommes cover-shoot and cover-shoots typically have more than two photos...

... and sure enough my big fat brain was onto something, and here we are. Lots and lots of something. Hit the jump for all of those plus a few extras scattered in because when in Rome...

Dacre Montgomery Two Times

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(via) For a lot more of the Stranger Things star click here.

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I Am Link

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--- Stranger Than Non Fiction - Note to new actors on how not to talk in an interview: do not jibber jabber a bunch about the social media analytics for your Instagram posts, please. I say this with love, Stranger Things recent gratuity recipient Dacre Montgomery, but your interview with Nylon magazine is kind of excruciating for this. And hey listen I am the world's worst conversationalist so I get it - if somebody shoved a microphone in front of me and asked me to be witty I'd literally dissolve into a puddle of piss right in front of them. Just don't next time. Anyway you look great! 

--- What Was Up Doc - I am really really really very angry at myself for sleeping on the DOC NYC documentary film festival that just concluded here in New York yesterday - I kept meaning to dig through the schedule and it kept getting set aside. In my defense they show SO MANY MOVIES, I was overwhelmed. Anyway I keep hearing titles they screened and getting angrier at myself and this is no exception - I guess they screened the Scott Bowers doc (Bowers wrote a beyond juicy queer tell-all a couple years back about Old Hollywood Gay Stuff that boggles the mind); you can read a review right here. The movie did just get picked up and will be released in April so at least there's that.

--- Sacred Cows - While I think this piece at Film School Rejects is wrong-headed in the negative way it spins its take on the acting of Yorgos Lanthimos' movies I also think it's a pretty interesting introduction of just what is going on with the acting style at the same time. I just don't see it as ultimately empty an experience as the writer does? And I think they're kind of wrong when they say The Killing of a Sacred Deer doesn't function as class commentary.

--- Who You Calling Crazy - There's like next to no details on what the heck it's about but Deadline reported earlier this week that Steven Soderbergh has a thriller called Unsane that he shot on his iPhone coming in March. What we have is this: it stars Claire Foy and Juno Temple (oh plus Blair Witc's Josh Leonard!)  and it "centers on a young woman (Foy) who is involuntarily committed to a mental institution where she is confronted by her greatest fear — but is it real or is it a product of her delusion?" So basically every movie starring women in an asylum ever. But it's Soderbergh, so I'm there.

--- Wander This Way - Reading the description of Toni Collette's new TV show I got a little worried for a second, thinking back through all her previous bad TV efforts and also having flashbacks to Naomi Watts' recent Netflix flop Gypsy - Toni's show is called Wanderlust and it's about a therapist who begins assessing her own marriage through the lens of her clients." But then I saw that the show is written by the playwright Nick Payne, aka the dud that put Jake Gyllenhaal, Morgan Spector and Charlie Cox on stages in front of me in the past couple of years (Jake in Constellations and Charlie + Morgan in Incognito) and suddenly I'm more inclined towards optimism. Which is great because Toni deserves way better than what she's been getting.

--- Be My Michael Tonight - There's an interview with Danny Mcbride over at Yahoo! (and if you were a fan of Halt and Catch Fire I sure hope you can't help but read "Yahoo!" without hearing it in Kerry Bishe's voice cuz me neither!) where he talks a bunch about his script with director David Gordon Green for the new Halloween movie... or at least he talks about it without being specific; we really still have no idea where they're going with this besides it's ignoring everything except the first movie. Anyway I am glad he says there are no jokes, it's straight horror, because I was worried given these two goofballs. Lovable and talented goofballs, but goofballs nonetheless. (thx Mac)

--- Divorce Baumbach Style - Noah Baumbach is lining up his next movie and hoo boy can he get himself a cast in 2017 -- the movie will star Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and drumroll please the goddess and legend Laura "Laura Fucking Dern" Dern. I am actually kind of surprised that Dern hasn't worked with Noah before, they seem like a perfect fit, they just click right into place in one's mind upon hearing their names together. Anyway all we know is the movie's about "divorce" and films in the spring. Maybe I can stalk the set!

--- And Finally knowing what I do about the wonderful folks who read this here blog I figure you've already seen the news that the ever incredible Film Society of Lincoln Center is doing an astonishing series on "Melodrama" here at the end of the year - they're screening over 60 movies through December and early January, stuff from Sirk to Fassbinder to Wong Kar-wai to Almodovar to on and on and on. I plan on spending half my holidays cooped up in there!
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I actually literally just started crying when I saw that @FilmLinc is screening BRIEF ENCOUNTER on Christmas Day pic.twitter.com/35gXSpvD09

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 13, 2017

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Anyway related to Brief Encounter, aka one of my favorite movies of all time, if you're not in NYC but rather in London there is a stage reading of actress Celia Johnson's letters by her daughter that is happening later this month and it sounds absolutely fascinating; you can read about it here, with a ton of insight into Johnson's approach to Brief Encounter specifically. (thanks Mac)
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You're Hired!

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So far the breakout star of Stranger Things' second season seems to be Dacre Montgomery as the creep Billy who can't get enough of his shower time with hair-god Joe Keery - at least he's the breakout star if you ask me and my post of a hundred pictures of him, anyway. I am not alone! GQ talked to him and got his audition tape... which he did shirtless, because why wouldn't he? Why should Dacre Montgomery ever wear clothes? I don't have an answer for you. I do have a video for you, though! Watch:

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Good Morning, Gratuitous Dacre Montgomery

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Although they made it a little difficult to suss out underneath 

all that really terrible 80s hair and denim and skeeze...

... it turns out in the grand tradition of 80s villains that the creep Billy on the second season of Stranger Things is actually played by a really hot piece who goes by the name Dacre Montgomery. Yesterday when I posted all those shots from his homoerotic shower scene with Joe Keery in the fourth episode of the show I really should've paid more attention to Dacre - this is my mea culpa.

Follow him on Instagram here. Dacre's biggest role before Stranger Things was actually pretty big, as far as big roles go - he played the Red Ranger in the Power Rangers movie that came out earlier this year, which did I do believe actually pretty well at the box office. Still it seems like he's getting more attention from this turn, and we welcome him.

We welcome him with about a hundred pictures, 

which y'all can see right here after the jump...