Good Morning, World

I am seeing Cole Escola's comic theatrical juggernaut "Oh, Mary!" a second time in a few weeks -- one of my few claims to coolness is having seen it very early, well before it moved to Broadway, because I knew Cole to be a genius already -- because I had to see John Cameron Mitchell play the lead role; this was non-negotiable. I'd have loved to see everyone that's played the role since Cole left but JCM? No way I'm missing Hedwig as Mary. But I will miss seeing Dino Fetscher here in the role of Mary's Teacher (he's doing it in London) which I'm sad about -- not that I won't enjoy seeing Simu Liu in the role, but Dino... Dino is gay hunk royalty. Anyway he talks about that and other stuff in the interview attached to this gay hunk royalty photoshoot at 1883 Magazine, so check it. Or supposedly he does, I haven't read it yet. I needed to take some time with these photos. Phew! Hit the jump to take it all in for yourselves...

He's a Barbie Boy

The internet is coming for me hard today! (Word choice.) I just spent an hour making gifs out of Lee Pace's naked Foundation fight scene, and here suddenly the second I'm done there's a "Just Ken" trailer cut for Barbie, chockfull of Ryan Gosling and the other assorted Kens (Simu!) from Greta Gerwig's film being hot and gay-ish. 

(thx Mac) Well I'm sorry I don't have it in me to spend another hour giffing today so you'll just have to make do with watching the video. The movie's out in a week and a half, you can go watch the movie on the big screen and see...

... all of the sights writ two stories tall, baby!

For now, just enlarge this and pretend:

Barbie drops on July 21st! be there or be... just be there.

Who Wore It Best?

Apparently this outfit has something to do with Beyoncé's clothing brand, but seeing as how I could give a flying fuck about Beyoncé or her clothing brand (gay gasp) I am instead choosing to focus on the "Greta Gerwig's Barbie" connection -- perennial hot-piece Mark Ronson did a song for the soundtrack and Simu Liu is playing one of the many Kens in the movie, which premiered in los Angeles yesterday to generally, from what I saw, positive notices. And they both made appearances in this outfit, so I must (as predicted in my Twitter thread on the subject) now ask...

online polls

I'm a Barbie Girl

The teaser trailer for Greta Gerwig's inexplicable Barbie movie is here and y'all, it's a delight. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a quality 2001 spoof and I feel like it's been awhile, so this delighted me. But I'll shut up before I give away too much -- just watch the damn thing:

Fun, right? I am of course a Greta Gerwig stan from way back and never truly doubted my girl, even though I think we all, even the most stalwart of us, were like, "... huh?" This tease doesn't tell us what the story is that she and Noah Baumbach came up with but it's so funny and the glimpses we see are so colorful and camp (little girls sleeping on prehistoric rocks is camp, don't come at me with your Sontagian definitions) that, of course. Of course they knew what they were doing. This is out on July 21st! Bring it on, baby doll! Thoughts from you people?

Good Morning, World

Simu Liu says wake the fuck up.

Good Morning, World

Simu Liu captioned this Instagram post, "This one's for me,"

but I'm preeeeeetty sure this one's for me, Simu.

Who Wore It Best?

It doesn't seem right that I haven't posted anything yet about Timothee Chalamet's shirtless suit look at the Oscars this past weekend -- if I hadn't been trying to push the Oscars out of my head on Monday I definitely would have gotten to this; just one of the sloppy night's many casualties, I guess. But better late than never, and this poll pitting Timmy against Kodi Smit-McPhee at fashion site Tom + Lorenzo today made me think to take my own spin. Specifically that Shang-Chi star Simu Liu showed up at the Oscars after-parties having lost the shirt he wore to the ceremony proper -- part of me wants to deduct points from Simu because this sort of read to me that he saw what Timmy did and copied it... but I actually like Simu's red suit better, and that strap underneath is pretty hot. So I leave the question to you to decide...

online polls

Good Morning, World

I sort of shit the bed on Vanity Fair's "Hollywood Issue" here at MNPP -- I was busy with other stuff when it dropped so besides a few tweets I didn't fully appreciate it when appreciating it was a timely endeavor. So let's this morning play a whisper of catch-up by sharing four photos of Marvel star Simu Liu in front of and behind the scenes for said shoot -- mainly because that photo up top's made itself known, and I would like to help pass it along further. Most of these photos seen here were just taken by the set photographer, but the bulk of VF's shoot was done by one of my longstanding favorite artists, Maurizio Cattelan (and his co-conspirator Pierpaolo Ferrari) -- I cannot recommend their Toiletpaper magazine more highly! I saw a lot of people complaining that the photos were tacky and to those people I'd just say you should go look at the rest of Cattelan's work -- you have no idea from "tacky." But that's the entire point! I know some people get touchy about Hollywood being played for tacky -- they want glamour, and I get that. But maybe loosen up a tad. The photos were meant to be ridiculous and gaudy and over-the-top. There's room for both. Anyway make like him and hit the jump for more Simu...

Simu Liu One Time

Pretty in pink, Simu!

ETA Just realized this photo is from British Vogue's annual "Hollywood Portfolio" for 2022 photographed by Greg Williams, and there are more photos of other actors to be seen, including this one of our boy Jonathan Majors that I am gladly duty-bound to share:

Simu Liu Two Times

Okay this is it, folks -- I am headed off home now to try and watch a ridiculous number of movies from the Toronto International Film Festival, virtually from the comfort of my couch that is, and posting is gonna get weird for the next few weeks after this, as detailed previously. I've got TIFF for the next ten days, then NYFF immediately after -- shit's gonna be busy, and posting erratic. Okay there's not much to detail -- that's the gist. Still reviews will be popping up, definitely at Pajiba and maybe also here, over the weekend, so definitely follow me on Twitter if you don't and you'll certainly hear about stuff there first. I'm excited! So many good movies to watch! Peace be with all of you! (pics via)

Quote of the Day

“Maybe it’s because of my childhood background, which made me distance myself from people,” he says. “Since then, I’ve learned to find something that I really enjoy doing whilst I’m alone. Because you cannot always rely on being with people to feel happy, right?”

The legend Tony Leung was interviewed by GQ magazine this month -- because of his role in Marvel's Shang-Chi movie, and also because he's Tony fucking Leung and don't you forget it. Ever the mystery man the quotes they get from Tony seem kind of few and far between in the piece but I have to admit I found the stuff about his lonely childhood, after his father left, pretty moving and relatable, especially the bit above. Go check it out! And I've got the full photoshoot for y'all after the jump...

17 Days Til Shang-Chi

Shang-Chi star Simu Liu shared this very fine photo of himself on the set of that Marvel movie to his Insta over the weekend, alongside some righteous fury re: the CEO of Disney calling his movie an "interesting experiment" -- I'm sure this has been written about plenty by now with people with actual skin in the game, and I have no desire to come to the defense of anybody at Disney, like ever...

A great big honking EWW to anyone taking the side of the corporate beast called Disney

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 29, 2021

... but wasn't the CEO's comment specifically about their release strategy for the film, which is theatrical (in the middle of an ongoing pandemic) only? Liu seems to take the comment's meaning as having to do with the film's Asian-ness, and then proceeds to encourage everyone to go to the theater to prove a point in I must remind you the middle of an on-going pandemic. 

I think Simu's been put in a terrible position -- he's not only got a lot riding on the success of this film personally, there's an entire community behind him counting on it, and it's being released theatrically in the middle of an on-going pandemic (why yes I will just keep repeating that phrase); there's no good angle. All I know is I personally really want to see Shang-chi but there's no way I'm going to the theater, and I very much wish they were going the Black Widow and Mulan route, dropping it on Disney+ same day if they must insist on releasing it now. Will any of you be going? Have any of you been regularly going to the theater? I'm just still not there, and most especially not with blockbusters. I'm so worried about Dune...

Good Morning, World

You walk into your kitchen this morning and Simu Liu is standing there in nothing but an apron and a smirk. 

What do you ask him for first?

Simu Liu Nine Times

Very cute new photoshoot of Marvel's Shang-Chi star Simu Liu for Entertainment Weekly has just arrived (via, thx Mac) -- as already stated on several occasions today I'm a pile of mush due to a brutal lack of sleep over the five-day holiday weekend (blasted fireworks!) but Simu's generous smiles here have gotten me the closest I've felt to recovering. So thanks, Simu! Hit the jump for the entire one-man endorphin-parade...

Simu Liu Three Times

And speaking of Interview Magazine (they are on it this month) here are the photos of Simu Liu, future superhero, in their latest issue -- you can read the chat with him over here where he no doubt talks about superhero shit. I've only read the introduction to the chat so far but got annoyed when they said re: his superhero movie, "Shang-Chi features a mostly Asian cast, including Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, and the Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng..." because how do you speak that sentence and not list the name "Tony Leung," who's playing the main villain in the film, and who is TONY FUCKING LEUNG??? You were doing so well, Interview! Come on.

Today's Fanboy Delusion

 Today I'd rather be...

... throwing down with Simu Liu.

It's a big week for Men's Health magazine workout striptease videos! (See also Aldis Hodge, posted yesterday.) This video goes along with the very fine cover-shoot of the Shang Chi star that I posted on Wednesday -- you don't wanna miss that if you missed that. I find this guy incredibly charming so far! I do hope his movie's a blast. 

Good Morning, World

Our Shang Chi star Simu Liu is gracing the cover of the new issue of Men's Health magazine this month -- apparently he's the first East Asian to ever do so, so good on him! --  and I've got the photo-shoot for us this morning. The chat is over here, along with a couple of set videos worth a recommendation as well. If you missed the Shang-Chi trailer I posted it back here; that movie isn't out until September but I imagine Marvel wants to familiarize us with their new star. What a coincidence -- I would also like to do that exact same thing! So let us hit the jump for six more photos to help us on our way...

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...

Good Morning, World

Since the first trailer for Marvel's upcoming superhero flick Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which will be introducing Simu Liu's titular Kung Fu master to the MCU, dropped this morning it seems a good time to check back in with Liu, it's been awhile. Annnnnd yup, still fine. If you follow him on Insta you're perfectly aware of this -- he's generous! But a reminder's  not unwelcome. Anyway the above gif is from a work-out video, which I will share down below, but first let's look at that trailer:

It looks fun? I think it looks fun. But what do I even know anymore. Anyway Tony Leung is in it (full stop). Okay and Simu seems to be shirtless a whole lot (no one flash wonder a la Paul Rudd here), so who can complain? Well yeah I'm sure plenty of people, as is their right. Honestly I find my immersion in the Marvel-verse somewhat inexplicable, I really do, but I've found in the past that it's good to have one mindless soap-opera going at a time as one's mental distraction, and the MCU has picked up that baton, I guess. From like Revenge, and America's Next Top Model, past entries in my soap pantheon. Blah blah there's a little more Simu after the jump...

Simu Liu One Time

.

Our newest Marvel superhero just reminded me with this photo 

on his Twitter that I'm really overdue on doing a post on him. 

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