What movie is this?
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Five Frames From ?
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Asteroid Straight Ahead
The teaser poster for Wes Anderson's next movie Asteroid City -- as it says right there on the teaser poster! -- has arrived! So I guess we can surmise from the image there that this is going to be Wes putting his particular stamp on Southwestern U.S. culture -- the whole Route 66 roadside-motel Area 51 thing. Kind of like when Tim Burton took to the deserts for Mars Attacks, is what I am picturing. Anyway no way am I listing off every name there on the poster but it's the usual assortment of Wes actors. Excited to see Hong Chau up in there, though! Supposedly we'll get the first trailer tomorrow. And the best news of all is that it's out in June! June 16th to be exact. Mark them calendars!
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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...
... you can learn from:
The Servant(1963)
Barrett: I'm not staying here in a placewhere they just chuck balls in your face.
As I admitted back on Criterion Announcement Day of this month -- I have never seen Joseph Losey's 1963 film The Servant, which Criterion are putting out onto blu-ray for the first time on June 20th, right in the thick of Gay Pride. (P.S. You can pre-order it at Amazon right now.) So whatever specific context there is to that quote above it's lost on me -- that said I think we can all agree it's best out of context. That's some proto-Clueless hilarity! Anyway I'm quoting the movie I still haven't seen today...
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... because it's actor and this movie's star Dirk Bogarde's birthday today -- he was born 102 years ago. I've only just recently become slightly better acquainted with his movies and how ahead of his time he was -- I only saw Victim for the first time around the beginning of the pandemic. I'd seen Darling and Death in Venice of course, but he really was a hell of a gay pioneer -- does anybody know if there is a good biography of him? I can only imagine how much bullshit he had to deal with, and marvel at how incredible it is that he managed to carve out so many legendary roles anyway.
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Alden Ehrenreich Three Times
Today is dead dead dead dead dead dead dead, and I am just staring at the wall willing it to end. Just today, mind you. Not, like, everything. Everything doesn't need me to will it to end -- everything's doing a great job ending itself all on its own. But for now I am good with just today. Anyway in between zoning out about ye olde mortal coil I've spent this afternoon googling around for things to post and come up with a whole lotta zilch... until I found these photos of Cocaine Bear star Alden Ehrenreich that went along with a story in British GQ last month that I totally missed at the time. Phew! More than zilch! That's all we can really ask for. Indeed there's a bonus photo from the photographer's Instagram too, and I will throw that after the jump (making you click the link will take an extra couple of seconds out of our endless lives, and you're welcome for that)...
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Good Morning, Passages
I wasn't at all sure what I could post this morning to kick our day off, and then into my inbox an answer came (that's what she said) -- the first clip from Passages, Ira Sachs' new movie starring our boys Franz Rogowski and Ben Whishaw alongside Adèle Exarchopoulos! Mubi dropped this this morning, along with word that they're releasing this on August 4th -- it's a good summer movie, I think. Hot and sweaty and irritable (I mean that in a good way). Oh yes, right, I have seen it -- I saw it at Sundance and I reviewed it right here at Pajiba. Anyway the clip is brief and doesn't spoil anything that doesn't happen in the first ten minutes so have at it:
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5 Off My Head: Denizens of the Dead
It's the 35th anniversary of one of my lifetime favorite movies, Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. This is the first movie I was allowed to see in the theater without a parent -- I vividly remember my mom dropping me off at the theater and feeling like the biggest grown-up boy in all the land! And even more so whenever they showed Alec Baldwin from the back in those khakis...
Formative khakis! Anyway I've seen this movie more times than I could ever keep track of, and I've posted about it here on the site twice as many, so what is there left to say at this point? Well actually, I found something. This is one of Burton's richest worlds creatively (which is why it remains mind-boggling they still haven't made a sequel) and there's somebody in some small role to fawn over in nearly every frame. We all love Juno and Otho and all the well-known and quoted weirdos -- but what about the bit-parts? Here are five of my faves!
5 Fun Beetlejuice Bit Parts
The dog that kills Adam and Barbara -- Look at that sweet little face! Who'd have guessed that that sweet little face covers up the soul of a cold-blooded murderer? Well that's what the bastard (or perhaps the bitch) is. Just sauntering off as our heroes drown, not a care in the world. I bet that dog leaves a trail of corpses littered in its wake across Winter River, Connecticut. I bet that dog crashed the airplane that killed all those hot dead football players in Juno's office. That dog must be stopped!
Beryl (Adelle Lutz) -- She always makes me think of that picture on the right of a hairless cat. I don't know why. But I hope to pass this brain disease along to as many people as possible a la the curse from The Ring's videotape.
The Devil Hookers -- I mean, obviously.
The Janitor (Simmy Bow) -- The dead janitor in the hallway of Juno's office who tells the Maitlands about the exorcized souls trapped in limbo is played by the same actor who tells Pee-wee Herman the story of "Large Marge" in Pee-wee's Big Adventure. I love that he's kind of an afterlife exposition delivery system for Tim Burton Movies. Sad / weird side-note: he died before Beetlejuice came out so playing a ghoul was his last role.
Old Bill (Hugo Stanger) the barber -- I bet y'all thought I would go with one of the smashed-apart weirdos that populate Juno's office right? The flat guy with the tire-tracks or the fairy woman with the slit wrists. Well nope! I feel like Old Bill deserves his moment. The way he says, "Jus... just trim it a little" always makes me laugh for some reason. He died not long after Beetlejuice came out too. A fitting note to end on!
What are your favorite Beetlejuice bits?
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Take Hope, Fassbender Lovers
While it feels as if Michael Fassbender's "comeback" is taking torturously long to arrive with David Fincher's The Killer not being released until November and Taika Waititi's soccer-comedy Next Goal Wins constantly getting kicked away from us (right now it's scheduled for September) at least there are several projects lined up, ones we'll presumably see at some point. A couple of years ago we didn't even have that. And today comes word of another, and it wasn't until I realized who the director was that I took note -- Deadline is reporting that South Korean director Na Hong-Jin will be following up his 2016 movie The Wailing with a movie called Hope and it will star both Fassy and his bride slash babymomma Alicia Vikander. I had some tonal issues with The Wailing but it's a really interesting movie and I can't believe that Hong-Jin hasn't made anything since then, so that in itself is something. They're also reporting this movie will be in South Korean mainly but that M&A's roles will be in English, so I have no idea what to expect. Here's how they describe the plot:
"The largely Korean-language film will follow the residents of Hopo Port, where a mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of the remote harbor town. Before long, the residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against something they have never encountered before."
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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...
... you can learn from:
The Birds (1963)
Lydia: I wish I were a stronger person. I lost my husband four years ago, you know. It's terrible how you depend on someone else for strength and then - suddenly all the strength is gone, and you're alone. I'd love to relax some time. I'd love to be able to sleep.
When we talk about terrific performances in Alfred Hitchcock movies we really should mention Jessica Tandy in The Birds more -- even though she was only six years older than Rod Taylor as her son I never don't believe her as his mother, and she's so touchingly broken in it. She's a perfect mirror image of Tippi's character and other choices and pathways for women in ways the fascinating film only hints at. Plus Tandy's soundless scream after finding the farmer's pecked-out eyeholes is one of the greatest displays of fear ever put on celluloid:
Anyway The Birds came out sixty years ago today! I've seen it dozens of times and every time I do all I can think of is how angry my mother told me she was once at the ending because nothing happens, lol. Gotta love Hitch at his most experimental! And speaking of -- there's a really good piece over at Inverse today that talks to a few filmmakers, including Skinamarink's Kyle Edward Ball and Tar's Todd Field, about how influential the lack of a score in The Birds was on their work. (I do take issue with the piece's mention of the A Quiet Place movies though, because those are absolutely slathered in obnoxious braying score and that totally ruins them, for me anyway.)
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James Norton Twelve Times
This new photoshoot of actor James Nortonfor Crash magazine is a little too moodily chiaroscuro for my tastes, at least where it comes to James Norton -- not just that I want to see him better (but I do). But also that when I do see him I want to see him like wearing a heavy woolen sweater and a pair of wellies romping along a coastline with a dog, know what I mean? That's the James Norton fantasy. This photoshoot or this photoshoot or oooh this one specially. Anyway obviously as that litany of links made clear he's done those kinds of shoots before so sure, try something new! It's not like it's possible to make him look bad! Literally the opposite. Hit the jump for them...
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Waiting To Inhale
Alright everybody take a deep breath like our friend Austin Nichols there (via), because as promised slash threatened at the start of this week I'm off-blog for the next couple of days for work stuff. Which roughly translates to -- we will see ya back here on Monday. But you can also keep an eye on my socials because stuff will probably be hopping on there! Probably!
Oh and one more thing, since I do have a moment -- you likely didn't notice this because I try to keep Google's ads as invisible as possible here on the site as they're almost always ugly awful blinking obnoxious things. But Google has taken ads down off the site again (they've done this several times in the past) because some of our content reads, you know, a little adult for advertisers. I'm sure you know what I mean, wink wink. Anyway I don't make tons off of ads but I do make a little, so if you have ever felt like donating to the site now's not a terrible time for that! There's a PayPal link in the right-hand column or click here. Every penny is always appreciated! Thanks and have a good weekend, my loves.
Oh and one more thing, since I do have a moment -- you likely didn't notice this because I try to keep Google's ads as invisible as possible here on the site as they're almost always ugly awful blinking obnoxious things. But Google has taken ads down off the site again (they've done this several times in the past) because some of our content reads, you know, a little adult for advertisers. I'm sure you know what I mean, wink wink. Anyway I don't make tons off of ads but I do make a little, so if you have ever felt like donating to the site now's not a terrible time for that! There's a PayPal link in the right-hand column or click here. Every penny is always appreciated! Thanks and have a good weekend, my loves.
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Good Morning, Miguel Again & Again
Hold onto your pants -- all the better to rend and tear them to pieces -- because two outtakes from Miguel Ángel Silvestre's already-mind-blowing photo-shoot for Esquire Spain appeared over the weekend and, uhh, they make the bare-assed in-takes seem positively bashful. These are both NSFW in the way that I would normally throw them behind the jump but as mentioned last week Google already took ads off the site so fuck it -- I'm just posting them right up front because we deserve this. Make sure to click the photos to luxuriate in all of the fine details. Miguel is a hero to all, a villain to none. The best humanity has to offer.
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Five Frames From ?
What movie is this?
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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...
... you can learn from:
Animal Kingdom (2010)
Pope: Bourbon and Coke's not a very gay drink, mate. I think, look, if you're a gay man, if you are, and you wanna make yourself a gay drink, just go ahead and make yourself a gay drink, you know what I mean? That's what I'm talking about, mate. I just want you to tell me things. You know, it kills me to see you living a lie.
He's right, of course -- speaking as representative
of the gays,we drink Bourbon and Ginger Ale.
A happy 54 to Ben Mendelsohn today!
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Play With Me
I have been lousy about linking from here to all of the lists I've been rounding up at Mashable over the past few weeks, so a reminder: you can see all of my Mashable pieces if you click on this link. The above gif of Daniel Craig in Tomb Raider is a reference to my most recent one, where I told all the people of the world "The 10 Greatest Movies Based On Games," see that one right here. It's been a stellar couple of years for people finally figuring out what to do with video-game adaptations in particular -- we'll see if that carries over to the Super Mario movie, which I am seeing tonight! (I have my doubts, and they are shaped like Chris Pratt!) Here's that movie's trailer if you haven't seen it yet:
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Pics of the Day
On Saturday I went to a screening of the director's cut of Midsommar at the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn -- only turns out that Saturday also happened to be April 1st aka April Fool's Day and they pulled a switcheroo on us! Twasn't Midsommar at all, but actually Ari Aster's new movie Beau is Afraid that they screened! I am usually violently anti-prank (to this degree captured here by the always effervescent Chris Farley) but this one was okay with me. And anyway it was not a huge surprise -- one had a feeling this might happen beforehand, especially once I got to the theater and the Alamo's hallways were lined with Beau is Afraid posters haha.
Anyway! As seen above I shared some photos and videos from the Q&A, which saw no less than the actress and delight Emma Stone asking Ari Aster wtf is wrong with him, so check those out. The Q&A has been summed up on various sites, like here. I will be reviewing the movie but not yet, so stay tuned for my thorough opinion closer to the film's release date on April 21st. (And I am totally going to need a second screening myself before that -- let's just say the movie is a lot and leave it at that understatement of the century.) Here's the trailer in case you missed it:
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Diego Calva Two Times
These snaps of the Babylon actor with the purdy mouth are coming at us via Bad Hombre magazine (what a great name for a magazine). The interview's in Spanish but maybe you speak Spanish, and also there are more photos, so if you wanna click over click over. I'm not stopping you.
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Today's Fanboy Delusion
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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...
... you can learn from:
The Butcher Boy (1997)
Francie: You can do one bad thing, can't you, Joe?You can do one bad thing. That doesn't mean for therest of your life everyone's going to say,"He did it! It's him! He did the bad thing!"Joe: No. And even if they did, what we'd sayis that we don't care, we're too busy.Francie: That's what we would say. We'd say,"Excuse us, we're too busy!"Joe: Yeah, and we'd say, "Mind your own business."
Happy 25 to The Butcher Boy!
I really need to see this Neil Jordan gem again.
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Good Morning, World
Saw this gif of Orange is the New Black actor Matt McGorry making the rounds on Tumblr the other day and set it aside for a moment I might need it... and here we are. (It's from a 2015 movie called How He Fell in Love, in case you've got that question.) Coincidentally it's Matt's 37th birthday in a few days so a happy early one to him! Was happy when Matt popped up on Archive 81 recently -- still mourning Netflix canceling that terrific show. Fuck you, Netflix! I put A81 on my list of "Underrated Netflix Shows" at Mashable a couple of weeks ago just to spite whoever made that decision.
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Five Frames From ?
What movie is this?
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