Good Morning, World

A happy 42nd birthday to obscenely pretty actor Robert Ri'chard from Coach Carter and the tee-riffic House of Wax remake (yes the one with Paris Hilton -- shut up, it's good!) plus a few episodes of Veronica Mars and then basically a lot of single episodes of many, many shows that you know. We have mentioned Robert here on the site before since you might recall he was the lead in that Magic Mike rip-off Chocolate City that came out in 2015 -- actually I wouldn't blame you if you didn't remember that, it was a pretty forgettable movie. But it gave me a good post full of good gifs at least! I recommend you also check out RR's Instagram account -- he isn't afraid to still bring the gratuity. 

Kyle Gallner, Scream King

My review for this one isn't going to hit until this weekend at the earliest, Monday at the latest, but there's a new horror movie out tomorrow called Strange Darling that stars scream-king and noted sexpot Kyle Gallner alongside Willa Fitzgerald (who was apparently on the Scream series, which I never watched) that will be getting my stamp-of-approval when said review does drop -- so maybe go see it this weekend! If my opinion matters to you at all, that is. Here is the trailer:

It's a nearly impossible movie to talk about, so twisty it be, so I'm happy I am able to delay my review until after its opening weekend -- I'll feel a little less lousy about alluding to its twists and turns once the film's been out for at least a couple of days. All of that said as you can see in the trailer and in these photos for Zoo magazine -- Kyle Gallner, y'all. I never would've guessed that Beaver on Veronica Mars would've grown up...

... to become such a surprising little sex symbol, but consider me enamored. I've actually been feeling it since... maybe it was Dinner in America? I specifically remember watching him in that movie and...

Uhh Kyle Gallner in DINNER IN AMERICA made me feel some stuff, you guys... pic.twitter.com/txaR45bV1A

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 11, 2020

... feeling some stuff I wasn't expecting to feel. (That is a really great movie by the way, if you've never seen it.) But now it's expected -- his frequent tank-top videos on his Instagram always perk up my day when they pop up. And he's on such a roll with the Scream King thing between this movie, the aforementioned Dinner in America, Carter Smith's underrated extended exercise in homoerotica The Passenger, the first Scream re-quel, Mother May I?, Smile... hell it even goes back to him in a speedo getting terrorized by Freddy in the 2010 Nightmare on Elm Street reboot.

 

Point being we love you, Kyle Gallner! Keep up the good horror-loving work. And while we wait for my review of Strange Darling to drop in a few days, and to carry us into the weekend with all the hotness, let's hit the jump for the rest of this photoshoot...

Good Morning, World

And a Happy Friday from Kyle Gallner.

Good Morning, World

Good morning only to actor Kyle Gallner. (via)

Good Morning, World

Does Veronica Mars and GLOW (and Promising Young Woman!) actor Chris Lowell have the single best celebrity Instagram account? I honestly think he might. He's a genuinely talented photographer, and he uses his power for good -- mostly taking hella sexy photographs of himself and his hot friends, including his hot partner Kerry Bishé (Halt and Catch Fire hive holla). It doesn't make up for the fact that GLOW isn't coming back for another season -- nothing ever would -- but at least it distracts me from being sad about that whenever I see him. He's a good boy.

Good Morning, World

View this post on Instagram

Alright guys let’s not beat around the bush.... it’s my damn birthdayyyyyyyyyy! Goodbye 32 hello 33. I’m coming for ya. #happy #birthday #happybirthday #celebrate #celebration #party #old #fun #what #the #hell

A post shared by Kyle Gallner (@kylegface) on Oct 22, 2019 at 8:41am PDT

The actor Kyle Gallner posted the above video on his birthday one year ago today, but I'm sharing it today, on his birthday 2020-style, because it only recently came to my attention -- thanks to the crazy fun film Dinner in America which I watched for the Nightstream Festival a week or two ago...

... that I love him. Oh I'd loved him on Veronica Mars back in the day, but that was... in a different way than I am speaking of now. Where has my mind been all this time? I have been missing the eff out. I really recommend taking a deep dive into his Instagram, which is all tank tops and babies and puppies and him being crazy adorable. Just spend the whole day there. You got something better to do? Yeah I thought so. Happy birthday, Kyle!

View this post on Instagram

Little preview of a Photoshoot I did.

A post shared by Kyle Gallner (@kylegface) on Feb 23, 2016 at 9:52am PST

NYFF & Nightstream's a Wrap!

The two film festivals that've been happily devouring all of my time for the past few weeks have just come to their respective closes -- I've now seen all I'm gonna see from the 2020 editions of the New York Film Festival and the Nightstream Fest (which is what this year's Brooklyn Horror Fest morphed into thanks to the pandemic) and written all I am probably going to write from them as well. I've got this year's NewFest starting tomorrow, after all! So before that takes over, let's look back, with quick easy links to all of my reviews in case you missed them.

NYFF

Beginning -- reviewed here 

Fauna -- reviewed here

French Exit -- reviewed here

Hopper/Welles -- reviewed here

The Human Voice -- reviewed here

Lovers Rock -- reviewed here

Malmkrog -- reviewed here

Mangrove -- reviewed here

Red White and Blue -- reviewed here

Tragic Jungle -- reviewed here

Undine -- reviewed here

Films I watched at NYFF but didn't review -- MLK/FBI, The Monopoly of Violence, Her Socialist Smile, Stump the Guesser; Isabella; Night of the Kings; Days; American Utopia; Nomadland; The Salt of Tears; Zero For Conduct; Flowers of Shanghai; Swimming Out Til the Sea Turns Blue; I Carry You With Me; The Woman Who Ran; Notturno; Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris

Nightstream Fest

Bloody Hell -- reviewed here

Deadline -- reviewed here

Hunted -- reviewed here

Lapsis -- reviewed here

Lucky -- reviewed here

The Queen of Black Magic -- reviewed here

Rose Plays Julie -- reviewed here

Films I watched for Nightstream but didn't review: It Cuts Deep; Dinner in America; Darkness; Survival Skills; The Doorman; Shock Value: The Movie—How Dan O'Bannon and Some USC Outsiders Helped Invent Modern Horror

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If you want my quick thoughts on any of those titles that I didn't review ask here in the comments and I'll share some! I'm especially annoyed that I didn't get the chance to write about Nomadland and Days and I Carry You With Me (all stunning) out of NYFF, and Dinner in America from Nightstream which was great fun, and which deservedly won the Audience Award.

Uhh Kyle Gallner in DINNER IN AMERICA made me feel some stuff, you guys... pic.twitter.com/txaR45bV1A

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 11, 2020

Pic of the Day

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Bounteous gratitude to the actor Chris Lowell (aka Forever Piz) for sharing this photo of himself on the set of the fourth and final season of GLOW, aka the best show on Netflix. Wait is it? I said that without really giving it much thought. What do you think the best show on Netflix is? it's either this or Mindhunter? Am I forgetting something? Anyway thanks for the photo, Chris. I can't wait to see what they do with his character Bash this time around -- his arc's been so unexpected and complicated, never an easy read which is deeply appreciated. He's not a victim, he's often an asshole, but the show keeps its eyes on what's driving him at every turn. More queer characters like this please!

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Austin Stowell, Fantasy Boy

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I feel like as long as I'm posting the trailers for horror movies that have been chasing me around in circles for the past month -- I just posted about Gretel and Hansel a second ago -- I have got to definitely finally post about the trailer for Blumhouse's forthcoming Fantasy Island movie, which turns that old TV show on its head with a tropical torture porn twist, aka what if your Fantasies turned into Nightmares, dun dun dun. Also as seen above the Fantasy Island trailer has a shot of Austin Stowell (who'll also be seen in my beloved Swallow, which I posted the trailer for yesterday) ripping off his shirt, and how can I go without posting that? 

And it's worth noting as well that this Fantasy Island looks gay friendly, as the character played by Crazy Rich Asians' actor Jimmy O. Yang is seen in the trailer repeatedly using up his fantasy juice up on apparating himself some hot dudes in speedos.

That checks, that checks. This is relatable content. There are a bunch of fun actors in this -- we love us some Maggie Q and some Michael Peña and some Michael Rooker and some Ryan "Dick Casablancas" Hansen of course. That said Fantasy Island is from the team that brought us the truly godawful Truth or Dare movie, so we should operate with extreme caution. Here's the trailer:
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Fantasy Island is out on Valentine's Day, haha!

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I Am Link

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--- Monster Smash - The buzz on the Predator reboot seems awfully buzz-less right now, doesn't it? I know we're all a little buzzed-out by reboots but Shane Black is a smart writer director (with a history with the franchise to boot) and it's got a killer cast and I don't care, I am buzzing dammit. (See the trailer here if you missed it.) So I will link you to this batch of new pictures from the movie whether you want them or not - come for clear shots of the monster, stay for sleeveless Trevante Rhodes and Boyd Holbrook in military pants.

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--- Video Killed the Video Store - This piece right over here on what we lost when we lost video-stores is a real deep dive and I will admit I got a little impatient with the passages about Netflix algorithms, as is my wont, but man alive it made me nostalgic for my high school and college days (this would be in the mid 1990s) working at a video-store. I learned so much getting lost in those aisles, picking up piles of tapes every night of things I'd never heard of, of things my co-workers recommended, of things that just looked insane. 

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--- Bye Bye Barbara - I don't want to say that I am personally responsible for the death of Barbara Harris but I forgot to wish her a happy birthday last month like I usually did every year is all I am saying. Kidding aside she was a gem, a true gem, who perked up every movie she popped up in (I really want to re-watch Dirty Rotten Scoundrels now - I can't believe both her and Glenne Headly are gone now) and you should read our pal Nathaniel's piece on her at The Film Experience right now.
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. --- Ghost With Most - This was a nice little surprise yesterday - IndieWire chatted with The Changeling director Peter Medak about that 1980 classic yet deeply underrated horror movie starring George C. Scott. I don't know why they chatted with him but they did and I wish more placed would just randomly call up folks on stuff like this. (ETA Oh wait the interview happened because a new blu-ray of the film came out earlier this month. Nevermind. It's still a nice perk to hear from a veteran once in awhile anyway.) 
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--- Investigation Open - There was an awful lot happening in the news yesterday so perhaps you missed the word that Veronica Mars is being rebooted? I very nearly almost did myself and I am what some might consider, in the parlance of nerd-dom, a Marshmallow. Anyway "rebooted" is probably not the word - revived is the right word - since it will star original star Kristen Bell, as well it should since KB remains one of our most charming and under-utilized actors around. The series will air on Hulu. 
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--- Jazz Hands of July - I had to live vicariously through the Bob Fosse film festival diaries of Difficult People star and fire-headed funny lady Julie Klausner posted at The New Yorker this week, since I crapped out myself and missed all of the films when they screened at The Quad last month. I would've loved to have seen All That Jazz on a big screen, I never have, and there are a couple of Fosse's movies that I still have never seen. Specifically Sweet Charity and Damn Yankees...

Good Morning, World

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Former Veronica Mars star Chris Lowell (that's where we fell for him) is turning 33 today and we're anxiously awaiting the second season of GLOW, which will hopefully feature some more of his ribald money-man Bash. Here's a thing I didn't know - he's been in a relationship with Halt and Catch Fire's magnificent Kerry Bishé for several years now! They both have great taste in partners. Anyway I think I say this every time he comes up but you should follow Chris on Instagram if you don't - he's an excellent photographer.

Good Morning, World

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I wish I could sleep into 12 like Chris Lowell is seen doing here in this scene from the TV show Graves - speaking of Graves I have literally never heard of this show until they let Chris Lowell flash his butt on it (see below) so this was time and money and footage well spent, Graves. Have any of you heard of it? Do any of you watch it? Are you just waiting for me to shut up and get to the butt already? Fine...

Even if I don't know the show I am glad to see Chris Lowell's still around -- I loved him on Veronica Mars (PIZ!!!) and he's tremendously appealing. He's also, in case you don't know this, a fantastic photographer -- you can see a lot of his work on his Instagram, or over here on his official site. We've previously posted some of the gratuitous pictures of himself that he every so often posts but even beyond that, which we are thankful for for sure, his photography is very strong. Good work, hot actor!

Good Morning, Zombie

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A very happy 35 to Alias 

and iZombie star David Anders today!
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This scene was probably my favorite scene of his all season long on iZombie - I don't always get what's his character's purpose is on the show (I expected him to be much more of a villain, honestly) but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy him when he's there! I just think he should maybe be integrated into the stories better. 

And they should probably have gotten him into his underwear before this. (Sark Forever!) Hit the jump for more gifs from this episode...

Good Morning, Gratuitous Chris Lowell II

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I wasn't sure what picture to begin this post with - Chris Lowell's been very kind & giving over the past year or so with this sort of thing, as you'll see - but I figure you can't go wrong with Chris and SNL's Beck Bennett in their underwear holding hands. They're apparently good friends, which for some reason seems nice to me, the idea of them hanging out, it seems nice. They seem friendly.

Friendly. Anyway yes we have done a Gratuitous Chris Lowell Part One before, way way back in the day (the day = 2007) when Veronica Mars was still on the air. That was before we really knew what we were doing; it's a scant post, that. Not this one though!

Lowell's a photographer (you can see a lot on his Instagram) and while I'm not 100% that every shot you'll see here is him, they all seem to be. The asses match. Maybe he's got lots of friends with similar asses, I don't know, it could be how he chooses his friends - seems as good a stick as any.

(Better even.) The real reason I'm posting on Chris today though is I saw him in a play this past weekend! It's called Jacuzzi and if you're in NYC you've only got ten more days until it closes and I actually really liked it, so I say you should try to score a ticket.

And yes okay Chris spends a good portion of the show half-naked in a jacuzzi, it's true. His co-star Chris Thureen, as the creepy ginger-bearded mountain man, he ain't too shabby either.

And there's lots of tension, sexual and otherwise, hanging in the humid air. It's actually riffing on horror movies some, which I didn't know going in, so how could it go wrong with me? Besides the nakedness and the genre-stuff I actually thought everybody was terrific, and it's worth seeing on its own dramatic merits. Plus...

... ya know, the other stuff. Here's a link to the trailer for the show. OK back to Chris - hit the jump to see the rest of the pictures...

I Am Link

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--- David's Girl - David Fincher has gone on the record again that he thinks the second Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movie could still happen, even though everybody on Earth whose name doesn't rhyme with Schmoony Schmara has moved on. Listen I learned my lesson calling things like this impossible when a Veronica Mars movie came out so I'll try to keep my cynicism in check - hell, I wanna see Daniel Craig slip into those impossibly tiny underpants again as much as the next perv.

--- Visiting Mars - I won't whine too much about my pal Jarett getting to go hang out on the set of the Veronica Mars online spin-off Play it Again, Dick with Ryan Hansen and Kristen Bell and so on for this article at Buzzfeed, because he's an even bigger fan of the show than me, of this I have no doubt. But still Jarett, you could've snatched a lock of Ryan's hair for me or something.

--- Grey Period - I think this interview's a few days old, I meant to link to it earlier, but here's Charlie Hunnam saying that it was "a nervous breakdown" that kept him from being able to take the role of Christian grey in Fifty Shades of Grey that eventually went to Jamie Dornan and his incredible edible abs. I think Charlie might be over-stating things a bit, it sounds like he was just over-worked and stressed out some - a full-blown nervous breakdown looks like shaved-head Britney with an umbrella, dude. You stay pretty, though.

--- Forever Destroyer - Marvel is re-working their contract with Drax himself, Dave Bautista, because apparently his character is going to play a big role in the upcoming storyline for the entire Universe, not just the Guardians movies. Dave Bautista is rubbing his firm belly with happiness today. In semi-related news hey did you hear that Chris Pratt is hosting the season premiere of SNL? Cannot wait. Oh and here's a new picture of Peggy Carter and friends; no Dominic Cooper yet though.

--- Bearded Ambitions - While I admire the ultimate conclusion of "More Spider-bum!" in spirit, this article at Buzzfeed begging Andrew Garfield to shave off his gigantic beard is annoying me - at least do your homework, guys; he's grown it for the Scorsese movie Silence, about a 17th Jesuit priest, that he's going to be filming soon. It's like the bitching about the admittedly pasty and puffy and shaved look that James Franco's rocking right now - these guys are, after all, actors. They are not models. They have to look the part, and sometimes the part will be "person I don't want to have sex with." Crazy, but true. In related Andrew Garfield news I haven't read this whole thing yet but here's a new interview with him on a bunch of things, including the disappointing reception to the last Spider-Man movie.

--- Happy Jake - Jake Gyllenhaal seems to have a spring in his step this week; I think the positive critical buzz that Nightcrawler got in Toronto is agreeing with him. Here's a pair of lengthy video interviews with him on that mvoie, as well as a few new pictures. I've decided I'm holding off until I see the movie myself to look at any more stuff on it though, I've passed healthy saturation point.

Good Morning, World

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Touch It, Ryan Hansen

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It's only six days until the CW's online Veronica Mars spin-off thingamajig Play it Again, Dick with Ryan Hansen & Co shows up, and they've dropped some images and a lil' trailer off for us, they have.

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(thanks Mac + TBM) Things we learned: Robert Buckley 

is on this for some reason, and he's wearing a naval uniform:

Don't ask don't tell, indeed. Also this picture:

... is not the same as the picture we posted the other day; in the other shot Jason's arms are raised behind his head. For this, we are blessed. And here is is as a gif!

Doubly blessed. In summation if you don't adore Ryan Hansen then you don't adore life itself. Hit the jump for a few more pictures...

Pic of the Day

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This post is alternately titled, "I love you, Ryan Hansen." The first pictures from the Veronica Mars online spin-off Play It Again, Dick - which will follow Ryan's character of Dick Casablancas as he attempts the private-eyeing business, while also being some kind of meta-thing at the same time apparently - are out and of course Ryan (and co-star Jason Dohring) is there without a top on, because Ryan knows what we crave. Play it again, Dick? More like Lay it again Dick! Am I right? Oh, the humor. See a couple more pictures - and some words too! - right over here.