Yorgos Has a Bugonia in His Bonnet

I had heard about Yorgos Lanthimos' next movie a full month ago but when new news on it dropped yesterday I realized I never posted about it -- I guess I was in the thick of the Tribeca Film Fest and forgot to. Anyway, said news -- his next movie is titled Bugonia and it is apparently a remake of the super psychotic 2003 South Korean eco-comedy Save the Green Planet! made originally by director Joon-Hwan Jang and starring the adorable Shin Ha-kyun (of Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance fame). I haven't seen that movie since it came out but I remember it being incredibly over-the-top and bizarre...

... it tells the story of a couple who kidnap a big fancy businessman, convinced he's an alien set out to kill the human race. From the description of Yorgos' take it sounds like some stuff's been changed -- the "couple" are now "two conspiracy obsessed young men" (no word on them being a couple or not) and the CEO is now a woman. And since Emma Stone is one of the two cast members we know about, it's probably safe to assume that will be her. The other name is Emma's Kinds of Kindness co-star Jesse Plemons, who's great in that movie (my review) and fits right into Yorgos-land so I'd expect them to work together often in the future. Anyway we also have a release date for the film -- November 7th 2025. So awhile! That'll be a big break in between Yorgos movies, given how piled on top of one another Poor Things and Kindness seemed to be. Anyway any new Yorgos is good news, huzzah!

I'll Show You My Kindness If You Show Me Yours

In case you missed this on my socials over the weekend here is my review of Yorgos Lanthimos' latest Kinds of Kindness over at Pajiba -- or, if you listen to the people leaving comments there, not review. Just a collection of words I guess because I didn't say "Gawrsh I liked the score" or some shit. I know, I know -- I shouldn't even be reading comments on the other bigger sites I write for, much less letting them stick in my craw like this. But I worked especially hard on this review and I was extremely pleased with and excited by what I wrote, and then it kinda got met with a vacuum of silence and I've been feeling a bit frustrated about it all weekend. Newsflash: sometimes the internet can be frustrating! Who knew? Anyway I'll try to care less about what I write in the future and just plop out a bunch of poster-prepped exclamations. "Emma Stone is the actress of her generation!" There do I get a goddamned cookie now? (Thank goodness I have this very private website where I can rant like a whiny little bitch and nobody will notice, right?)

Jon Hamm Five Times

Jon Hamm is looking mighty fine for the cover shoot in The Hollywood Reporter this week -- I guess he's gunning for awards attention for his role on Fargo this season? I actually wrote an entire piece at Mashable back in January about how great he was on that, read that here. That dickhead he played really brought out his best work in ages. Indeed the entire theme of this article seems to borrow the center of my piece, which is Jon Hamm should really only play dickheads. It's really where he shines. That said he comes across as perfectly lovely in the chat -- he gives a shout-out to Julio Torres, for goodness' sake. (I also love that it's Emma Stone who told him to keep an eye on Torres -- Stone is proving world-class in sussing out talent early.) Anyway I'm sure you're just here for the photos, so let's do the photos, after the jump...

The Kings of Kindness

That there is the first official poster for Yorgos Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness, designed by the great Vasilis Marmatakis who's done most of Yorgos' previous posters -- and like with all the other ones I'm gonna end up buying this beauty too! Anyway along with that they dropped a new teaser for the movie, you can watch it down below. I have not watched it myself -- I watched the first teaser about five thousand times and now I am done watching things until I am watching the movie on June 21st. In similar news no I haven't watched the trailer for Ti West's MaXXXine yet and I don't think I shall! I decided I will watch it after I watch the movie in full. I don't need trailers for these movies -- I just need these movies dammit! 

Kinds of Awesomeness

One assumes that one and all have already witnessed the teaser trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos' new movie Kinds of Kindess this morning, before one clicked over here to this website -- and yet we post it. We must. It's given us goosebumps, it has! It does exactly what a teaser should do -- tease us, give us no idea of a plot, just a bunch of ridiculously alluring and disturbing images, an idea of the outrageous cast (Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley,  Hunter Schafer, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, and Joe Alwyn) and some goddamned Annie Lennox. What else does one need? Granted I was sold on this movie before insemination so perhaps I don't speak for one and all. But I speak for the people who matter. Watch:

Kinds of Kindess will be out on June 21st.

Kinds of Yorgos-ness

This is yesterday's news, literally, but I'm gonna be real annoyed with myself in a few weeks time when I go searching to see where the post is where I shared the announcement of Yorgos Lanthimos' new movie and remember that oh right you took that day off to play hooky and go see Dune Part Two in IMAX. Anyway we've known about Yorgos' next movie for awhile now (here is my last post about it) -- it used to be called And but perhaps they realized that a movie called And would be lost unto the search engines forever (which I figured was part of the joke) so they have now officialled retitled the film Kinds of Kindess. And they have also given it a release date -- June 21st. (98 days to go!) And they have also announced a big chunk of the cast -- of course Emma Stone because I don't know if Yorgos and Emma are ever going to make another movie without each other at this point. 

I do believe they already have two more lined up after this one! But then there's Willem Dafoe (again), Joe Alwyn (again),  Margaret Qualley (again), plus the supremely talented Yorgos-newbies Jesse Plemons, Hunter Schafer, Mamoudou Athie, and Hong Chaun and god we love Hong Chau. Almost as much as we love a director who has a repertory of players. I do wish he'd work with Rachel Weisz or Colin Farrell or Ben Whishaw or Olicia Colman again. Or Mark Ruffalo. And also I have a list of about ten thousand actors he hasn't worked with I'd like to see him work with. Point being Yorgos don't you dare ever take a break!

It's Asters & Screams All Over

I have spent the past couple of hours fully immersed in pounding out a review (more on that later this week) so I missed until now some pretty big rounds of casting news that hit a little earlier today. Like A24 officially announced Ari Aster's next movie and its cast! It's called Eddington, it's a "contemporary western," and it will star "Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Austin Butler, Deirdre O'Connell, Micheal Ward and Clifton Collins Jr." among presumably other people with lower name recognition. That's one hell of a cast though, especially with Stone fresh of her Oscar win and Pascal fresh off his bottoming-western with Pedro Almodóvar. All they say is "Coming Soon" but I can't imagine "Soon" equals any sooner than 2025 at the soonest. Not sure if the image of the clapboard they also shared means it's starting to shoot right now or if it's been shooting:

Either way, whee new Ari! Three features down and the man can do no wrong from where I stand. But wait that news ain't all the news that broke whilst I was actually off "doing work" (yawn I know). It looks as if the shitbags who operate the Scream franchise these days have fixed one of their two recent major blunders -- our Sidney Prescott herself Neve Campbell is officially back for Scream 7 after bowing out of the last one when the bastards refused to pay her properly. She posted on Instagram a very sweet note about how much she loves playing the character yadda yadda the girl got paid and good for her. 

But it's not just that -- original Scream writer Kevin Williamson is taking over directing duties of the film! Which I guess makes it official that the directors of the last two movies, aka Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (aka Radio Silence as they liked to be called), are gone -- there was of course a huge dust-up (bringing us back to the other recent shitty blunder I alluded to above) when the studio canned nü-Scream star Melissa Barrera for making pro-Palestine comments on social media, leading to her co-star Jenna Ortega saying peace-out in solidarity. Anyway since I don't know all of the specifics of who's running things on the movie at this point but I'm keeping myself even-toned on all of this because it's bullshit that they fired Barrera and I'm somewhat hesitant to woop-woop up this Neve news if it means I'm supporting those free-speech-murdering fascists. Even though... I love my girl Sidney forever and ever. So we'll see. I will just decide how I feel later dammit!

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Eat Me, Disney

A terrible awful no-good rumor popped up on Twitter last night and the worst part about it is that it seems to be coming from a person who would know, and therefore it's not a rumor but a fact that we just haven't gotten further confirmation upon -- a dude who works on the making of physical media says that not only will Disney only be putting Yorgos Lanthimos' Oscar-nominated Poor Things out on blu-ray only (talk about a movie that demands 4K attention!) but Andrew Haigh's not-Oscar-nominated masterpiece (my number one movie of 2023) All of Us Strangers isn't getting any kind of physical media release at all. Is that the real difference between getting a nomination and not getting one? Do we have tangible proof now? And don't come at me with that box office jibber-jabber -- I don't speak box office. I do speak physical-media though and if AOUS isn't getting a blu-ray because it didn't get Oscar nominations you're about to see somebody start caring about Oscar nominations. And for that a hearty fuck you to Disney. Fingers crossed that Haigh's movie gets a release outside of the U.S. since I have a region-free player -- I should add that technically all of this is personally moot since I got an awards screener of the film mailed to me a few months ago so technically I own the movie already, but those crappy watermakred DVDs don't really count. What a shitshow. 

... this title will sit alongside other Searchlight and 20th Century titles like 'A Haunting in Venice' and 'The Bookeyman' with no 4K release - Blu Ray only. The recently acclaimed Searchlight, #AllOfUsStrangers will not be getting a physical release at all.😭

— Adam J. Yeend (@AJYeend) February 13, 2024

The Sounds of Miss Bella Baxter

I tried to hold off on collecting vinyl for as long as I possibly could because I know myself and I knew the habit would become as obsessive as my VHS to DVD to blu-ray to 4K journey has been. Alas I finally broke down a couple of years ago, and I've got just under 400 records now -- not the world's largest collection by any means but when actual living space is at such a premium, given that I live in a New York City apartment with another human being, well, all of this collecting is straining toward a breaking point. Thankfully that day is not today though, because Waxwork Records -- the best in the biz for those of us whose vinyl collecting tends toward the movie soundtrack genre -- has today put the soundtrack for Yorgos Lanthimos' new movie Poor Things onto pre-order on vinyl. Grab your copy here if you're so inclined -- I haven't really posted about vinyl releases much here (hence that preamble) so I don't even know if any of this interests any of you! But that's not a thing that's stopped me from rambling before and I'm not going to let it stop me today. 

Poor Things is coincidentally (I doubt it was a coincidence) hitting theaters today! It is very very good, one of Yorgos' best movies (which is saying a lot since I don't think the fellow has made a bad movie to date) -- here is my review from NYFF. Emma Stone gives probably my favorite female performance of the year? I haven't actually mapped that question out yet but I think that's true. Anyway the score from composer Jerskin Fendrix that's on the above-mentioned record is definitely one of my favorite scores of the year. And I'm not just saying that now -- I tweeted it weeks ago! I have receipts.

Also cannot believe the score for POOR THINGS is the first movie score that musician Jerskin Fendrix has ever made? It's bonkers good #poorthings

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 6, 2023

Haulin' Ass to the Holiday

Shortened day today as we head into the holiday -- MNPP will be closed up for new sexy business until Monday the 27th. It's kind of a slow week for new releases, weirdly -- usually Thanksgiving gets a heap for people to run from their relatives with? But all we've got is Ridley Scott's Napoleon (which I wrote a little about here) and Disney's animated Wish (which I haven't seen) and Dream Scenario with Nic Cage which I have seen and have not written about -- it's fine? It should have been far better, I had high hopes for it because its main idea is a great one. It just decides to lose itself in ideas I didn't find very interesting instead of the ones you do, given its concept. It's not terrible or anything though, and I say that as someone deeply skeptical of Cage. Perhaps youi'll dig it more. All of that said there are a couple of movies from last weekend that are still out that I do highly and deeply recommend -- my pervert lover Saltburn is expanding into a bunch more theaters so more of you will finally be able to see what the fuss about, which makes me happy given it's one of my favorites of the year. Here's my review if you missed it. Same with Todd Haynes' May December -- here's my review of that wonderful weird movie. 

Guess I'm not going to have time to fully review THANKSGIVING which is a shame so here's a brief one: GO FRIGGIN SEE IT, it's so much fun, an old-school slasher blast of hilarious and relentless nastiness that should play like gangbusters with an audience #ThanksgivingMovie pic.twitter.com/BX2EgWXtWB

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 17, 2023

And Eli Roth's Thanksgiving is still in theaters! As stated in the tweet seen above I never properly reviewed that but there are my thoughts -- I'm actually dying to see it a second time and so I might go over the holiday myself. And given what a goddamned hermit I've become that's really saying something. Oh and the new Hunger Games is still out and it's better than it has any right being -- here's my review of that. Other than that I have heaps upon heaps of awards screeners that've been piled up in my inbox so I'm hoping to catch up on things I haven't yet seen this year.. either that or I'll just watch Saltburn, All of Us Strangers, and Poor Things on a loop for five straight days, because all three of those arrived in my inbox yesterday and they're really all I want to watch anyway. But if y'all see something interesting, tell me about it in the comments as always!

Oh and now for one more thing of total self-interest (what's new) -- if you do any Black Friday shopping at Amazon why not do it through this link here, which tosses a few pennies our way? Consider it a tip for me keeping you in Paul Mescal Ass all year long! Or you can buy some of the rad shit I have for sale on eBay right now -- and I add things weekly to my store because I lack self-control and buy lots of things and then decide I don't want or need them and list them on eBay. It'll probably expand exponentially over the next few weeks too as awards merch comes in from the studios that I have no desire to own (I just got a box full of stuff from the movie Air and uhh yeah that's very clearly not my jam). So do continue to keep checking there. Or if you care to (i.e. if you love me) just donate to MNPP via PayPal, which you can do at that link or via the one in the right-hand column. It's the holidays! Love me some dammit!

Seriously though have a great holiday, everyone.

We'll see you next week!

Poor Hot Awesome Things

Who's feeling manic today? I am, I am. So I am posting this photo of zen-master Mark Ruffalo standing in a field to find my center. (And Mark Ruffalo can find my center, if you know what I mean, wink wink.) Ahem. Actually I'm posting this photo of Mark Ruffalo for less prurient and/or spiritual reasons -- I'm using it to grab your attention to alert you to the fact that my New York Film Festival review of Yorgos Lanthimos' new movie Poor Things, which stars Ruffalo alongside Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youssef, can now be read at Pajiba right here. And not just now -- it can be read ten minutes from now, or tomorrow, or after you see the damn movie even! That choice is up to you and it's up to whoever keeps the internet machine running (Al Gore?). See, I told you -- manic. Anyway I'm here (as in "on the internet") for the rest of the day after a two-some of NYFF screenings this morning, so let's see what trouble we can get ourselves into for a couple of hours, mmm?

Poorerer Things

This is the third poster for Yorgos Lanthimos' movie Poor Things that's been released, and I do believe they're saying this is the final one -- the film premieres in Venice fairly soon, and then I'll be seeing it at NYFF at the end of the month. Anyway all the posters have been great and this one's no exception, but I think I prefer above all the second one... which I'm shocked to realize, after a search, that I never posted? WTF. I'll add it down below. (And here is the first poster.) Actually since we're here and I'm distracted with computer stuff why don't we make a poll? That oughta keep you busy.

online polls

5 Off My Head: It's NYFF 2023, Baby!

My beloved New York Film Festival has today announced its Main Slate for this the year 2023, and included are the three movies I am most looking forward to for the rest of the year -- and we'll get to what those are in a second, although if you listen to my rambling even just once in awhile you can probably guess. (Since Luca Guadagnino's Challengers moved itself to unknown pastures because of the SAG strike we have to count that one out for the time being.) But per usual it's a tremendous gathering of potential, given the filmmakers included -- Wim Wenders, Catherine Breillat, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Marco Bellocchio, Agnieszka Holland, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Alice Rohrwacher... and that's ignoring the Opening and Centerpiece and Closing night films which were already announced, those being Todd Haynes' May December, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, and Michael Mann's Ferrari. Check out the entire line-up at this link or down below, but first as I do every year here are the five movies from the Main Slate that I'm most excited about...

The 5 NYFF Main Slate Movies I Want Right Now

Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos

Yorgos is a man I will follow to the ends of the earth and further at this point, so this should come as no shock -- the only thing that's shocking is it's not my most anticipated movie of the year, but there's one below that's beating it by an inch. The trailer (seen here) makes this look like everything Yorgos does best wrapped in one psychedelic package, and a big-time showcase for Emma Stone's strangest impulses. Bring it on!

All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh

I just shared that first image from the film yesterday the second it dropped, and I've been all over news of this movie since minute one. Weekend director Andrew Haigh with a maybe-gay movie starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal? Of course I have. 

Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet

This won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this spring and its story of a riddle-like murder mystery sounds right up my alley anyway, but it's the fact that it features what is by all accounts an astonishing turn from German actress Sandra Hüller that's got my attention. Like most people who saw Toni Erdmann I have been Team Hüller ever since, and she's wowed me every chance, and this sounds like her biggest showcase since that marvelous earlier film.

The Beast by Bertrand Bonello

Bonello hasn't made a movie I've loved as much as I loved as Saint Laurent since Saint Laurent, but Nocturama came close. And this one stars George MacKay, so hope remains alive. Set in three distinct time periods it's about a woman (Le Sedoux) who discovers her existence has been forever intertwined with MacKay's character. Would that we are all so lucky!

The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer

This is my most anticipated movie of the year, just beating out Yorgos as mentioned above, and probably only because Glazer works so infrequently that we must properly pop the champagne whenever he shows up to keep encouraging the man to keep making his wondrous movies. Add on the facts that this also stars Sandra Hüller (from Anatomy of a Fall above), it has a score from Mica Levi, and it sounds like it's working on a very Michael-Haneke-type of register -- it focuses on a family of Nazis living an idyllic life right outside of a concentration camp -- and how could I not be all in on this?

-----------------------------------------

Passes for NYFF are on sale right now -- single tickets go on

sale on Sept. 19th. Hit the jump for the entire press release...

The Poor Things Cometh

There is a big interview in Vogue today with Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos on their forthcoming film Poor Things -- you will be clearly want to check it out right here. Not only do they share the above poster for the first time, but they share several new images from the movie (and the making of) which I will share below. Poor Things isn't out until September, but you can see some of it thanks to the teaser trailer...



... which I inexplicably hadn't yet posted? I think it dropped when I was out of town. That's the only explanation! I did post a few previous photos from the movie right here, though. And now I will share a few more, after the jump...

Pics of the Day

Maybe I lucked out and you haven't been on the internet today before this very second, and you happened to open your browser and MNPP was already there because you'd fallen asleep looking at those hot half-naked pictures of Jason Momoa yesterday. (Hey I get it, no judgement.) In which case we'll be the first place to show you these images from Yorgos Lanthomos' new movie Poor Things, which have been all over the web since this morning. That'd be neat! I like being first. To be honest I'm fine with sloppy seconds. Or dirty thirds even. I am not picky. Point being golly I am excited about this movie! 

I first told you about it last March when Willem Dafoe got cast (and yes that's him all scarred up in the above image) -- it's him and Emma Stone and Ramy Youssef (seen in the other photos released today) and Mark Ruffalo and Christopher Abbott (let's hope those two make out some) and Margaret Qualley (god is she in everything?) and Jerrod Carmichael, and it's based on the book by Alistair Gray, which I own but have still not read. Anyway Searchlight is releasing this on September 8th and here is their official plot description:

"From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation."

Pics of the Day

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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:

And Joe Like That...

We have an update on Yorgos Lanthimos' next movie called And -- yes, just And -- and it's a nice one! No not nice news here! Nothing but the nicest! I told you about a month ago about this movie, how it was fonna star Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley. Well today they have added pretty boy Joe Alwyn to the cast. Alwyn has already worked with Yorgos, and Emma Stone for that matter, as he was in The Favourite...

... playing the pretty-boy cuck that Emma Stone's character used to beat-off her way back into a royal title. He was good in that movie. And he was also good in Claire Denis' new movie Stars at Noon, which coincidentally co-starred Margaret Qualley. This is all getting so incestuous! Anyway I saw Stars at Noon at NYFF and didn't ever write about it but I liked it, it's worth seeking out. Which won't be too difficult starting tomorrow when it hits Hulu. Here is the trailer if you haven't seen it yet:

Also worth a look is this photo of Joe on the set:

Yorgos And Emma And And

Okay I really need big news like this to stop breaking today, I have other things to get to! But how could I not immediately share the word that Yorgos Lanthimos, director of Dogtooth and The Lobster and The Favourite has lined up his new movie! And not even his next new movie -- he already has one in the can called Poor Things, which I've talked about previously. (Still no word on when that one is being released though.) No this one is set to be titled And (yeah that won't be a pain to search for when the time comes, dude) and it is set to star Emma Stone and Margaret Qualley and Willem Dafoe, all of whom are in Poor Things, as well as the great Jesse Plemons. We don't have any more details really but feel free to click on over to Variety for all the official blather. 

Yorgos is the GOAT

Feels weird to post the trailer for a short film, but when the short film marks Yorgos Lanthimos' first film-work in three years since The Favourite and when the short film stars his Favourite actress Emma Stone, well, we post the trailer for the short film. It's called "Bleat" and besides Emma it also stars he-of-the-face Damien Bonnard and it's premiering in Greece with live musical accompaniment in May -- you can read all about it here, if you like. Emma is also starring in Yorgos' next film Poor Things, which I told you about previously right here -- it's an updated retelling of Frankenstein, but with a lady (Stone) in the Monster role, and also stars Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, and Ramy Youssef. That said here's the trailer for the short film Bleat!

Mark Ruffalo Winks Into Existence

We have a Yorgos update! Collider is reporting today that the actor and fur-monster Mark Ruffalo has joined the cast of Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos' next film, opposite Emma Stone in the film's lead. Now I reported back in March that Willem Dafoe was starring in this with Stone so when I read this I got worried that Ruffalo had replaced Dafoe, but I think that's not the case -- there are actually several prominent male roles in the film, I see now. (Collider does a good job summarizing the story, although it's maybe too much information, so I'm not cutting and pasting.) Anyway how could Ruffalo replace Dafoe anyway? I mean really. I love Mark but he's never gonne be Willem. That said another role in the film, as I reported a few weeks back, is going to Ramy Youssef -- this is a good cast, I think. I still haven't read the book on which the film's being based though, but I suppose I have some time -- they aren't even beginning to film this until "sometime later this year" with the intention of it releasing in 2022. I can read one book by then, I think. Maybe. Probably. Maybe.