Pic of the Day

I don't know how this mo0vie escapes my eyeballs until now -- perhaps it's the fact that this movie isn't even listed on the director Mark Jenkin's IMDb page yet -- but there is apparently a movie called Rose of Nevada being made that co-stars George Mackay and Callum Turner! Two of my most favorite white boys of the moment, smooshing themselves like chocolate and peanut butter deliciousness -- I can hardly wait. The movie, according to The Film Stage where I found this photo, is called Rose of Nevada and it's a time-travel thriller -- if you've seen either of Jenkin's previous films Bait of Enys' Men then you know that prospect is hardly a simple one in his wildly weird hands. Here is their plot description:

"“In a forgotten fishing village, a boat mysteriously appears in the old harbour. The Rose of Nevada, lost at sea with all hands 30 years ago, has returned. For the few who remember, it’s a sign. The Rose of Nevada must go out to sea again, maybe then the luck of the devastated village will turn. Nick (MacKay) takes a job aboard the boat in an attempt to provide for his young family. Alongside him, newly arrived Liam (Turner) joins the crew, desperate to escape his past. They head to sea and after a successful trip return to harbour. But something is amiss. They’ve slipped back in time and the villagers greet them as if they are the original crew.”"

The 20 Best Movies of 2024

I have thought about dropping my year-end favorites list on Oscar Nom Day several times in the past, but timing-wise it just hasn't worked out before -- this year looks to be an exception, however! My reasons for thinking it's a good idea are 1) as stated in my earlier requisite post acknowledging that those nominations happened I just don't care about them and I don't want to spend all day reading people's brain-numbing statistics and theories all of which rob me of a will to live. So this gives me something else to focus on. Also today is the first day of Sundance and while I might not be there in person this year (sigh) I will be reviewing movies virtually, and I'm going to be very busy starting to do that almost immediately. So if I don't do this today it'll be a couple more weeks. 

Also -- I've had the list of movies on a spreadsheet for weeks now, and every other day I go onto the doc and I move them around a little bit depending on my mood, and... I could just keep doing that forever, or I could just say enough! And organize them into their final form, waffling be damned. That said 2024 turned out to be an especially amorphous year with no single frontrunner slam-dunk -- any of my top five on any given day could've been my number one. Which isn't to say I think 2024 was a bad year for movies -- quite the opposite! There's a lot of love spreading around here. But let's just stop our yammering and get to the goods. Here at last are...

My 20 Favorite Movies of 2024

20. Strange Darling (review)

19. Femme (review)

18. I Saw the T.V. Glow (review)

17. I'm Still Here

16. Love Lies Bleeding (review) 

15. Janet Planet

14. A Different Man (review)

13. Flow

12. The End (review)

11. National Anthem (review)

10. Kinds of Kindness (review)

9. Rumours (review)

8. Red Rooms (review)

7. Bird (review)

6. The Substance (review)

5. Challengers (review)

4. Nosferatu (review)

3. Hard Truths (review)

2. Queer (review)

1. Evil Does Not Exist 

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And here are ten runners-up: The Vourdalak, Babygirl, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Hundreds of Beavers, Blitz, Trap, The Brutalist, Memoir of a Snail, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, and Oddity.

Okay -- that's that! Onward and onward!

 Let's get 2025 rolling...

George Mackay Six Times

Well here's a nice distraction. Filmmaker Xavier Dolan photographed actor George Mackay for a new Gucci campaign! And I have the photos! That one above is going right onto the vision-board but they're all hotness so hit the jump and singe yourselves...

Good Morning, World

I know people find Michael Shannon odd, and he is, but I personally am extremely drawn to his kind of odd, so this photo of him laying in bed in the fuzziest pants I have ever seen in the new issue of Interview Magazine -- where he's interviewed by his Bikeriders co-star Austin Butler, sigh -- is to me the coziest thing to greet a week with. I wanna climb in there and spoon so hard! I haven't read the chat yet but I imagine it's mostly about The End, his end-of-times musical with Tilda Swinton and George Mackay that was one of my favorites of last year (here is my review) -- The End is available to rent at home at all the places now so I say do it! It's not the easiest sit -- especially in the year that 2025 has already been -- but I think it's really quite brilliant myself. Anyway happy Monday from me and Big Mikey!

It's The End of the World As We Know It

Any fans of Joshua Oppenheimer's documentaries The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence up in here? I count myself as one, a big one, and so I was cautiously optimistic about his new movie The End starring Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, and George Mackay -- my caution stemming from 1) it's a musical and y'all probably know I approach that genre with repidation, and 2) it didn't get that striking of a reception from critics when it played at TIFF and Telluride earlier this fall. Nor did it this past weekend when it hit theaters -- it sits at around 50% on Rotten Tomatoes right now. Except I liked it! Count me among the glass-full half of that 50% -- my review went upnat Pajiba yesterday and you can read it right here if you like. I mention this in the review but the movie it most reminded me of was The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, another musical that bucked the system and made of me a fan. (Indeed Cherbourg is probably my favorite movie musical of them all so Oppenheimer was clever to aim for those vibes.) Anyway I totally get why reception's mixed but don't be surprised if you see this baby end up inside my Top 10 of the year, is all I am saying. 

Evil Does Not The Beast

If you thought the four killer movies that Criterion announced for a December release last week -- No Country For Old Men, baby! -- were enough then you don't know Criterion. Or more specifically their off-shoot line of Janus Contemporaries releases, which has been dropping its own stellar roster for a year or so now. Today JC has added two more wicked good flicks to the December line-up, including one of my favorite movies of this year (by way of last year -- I first saw it at the NYFF in October of 2023), Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist. The latest from the Drive My Car director is a slow burn but when it lands it's the sort of thing that will haunt you for life -- I've said it several times on social media whenever this movie comes up but this one has drifted into my mind often over the past twelve months, and sends a chill down my spine every damn time it does. It's so good! I'm also deeply and profoundly in love with its poster art (I made sure to snag a copy of the poster when Posteritati had them for sale) and I am extremely happy they used that art for the blu-ray cover. This drops on December 17th.

The second movie getting a December drop (a week before on the 10th) is Bertrand Bonello's somewhat unfathomable The Beast, which confounded me at NYFF last year and yet I have been really wanting to see it a second time and wrestle with its many, many ideas and images and oddnesses. It stars Léa Seydoux and George Mackay (mmm Mackay) as... well, several different people across several different timelines, all weaving and bumping up against one another. It's certainly a singular experience (as most of Bonello's works are) and if any of you have seen it I'd love to hear your thoughts. One day when I have time it'll push its way in front of me again and I'll be able to sort out some of my own. Maybe. Or maybe I'll just enjoy George Mackay being hot and perfect. So many possibilities.

Femme For Home

Excellent news for physical media lovers who also happen to like seeing actors George Mackay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett have lots of gay sex -- their queer thriller Femme, about a drag queen getting complicated (and sexy) revenge on the closet-case who bashed him, is getting a proper beautiful blu-ray release thanks to Vinegar Syndrome! Click here and you can pre-order the movie right now -- VS usually takes a couple of months to ship things so I can't give a proper "release date" but when you get it eventually it'll be worth it as they really do their movies up proper. Here is my review of the movie -- I knew I'd eventually have a movie where I'm quoted in the trailer get onto VS and today is that day! As a rabid physical media nerd this brings me a fresh kind of joy. Anyway this movie is terrific, MNPP recommended!

All Ghosts and Gay Boys

George Mackay giving hot tradie is the theme of the weekend as Femme, the queer thriller starring him and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as haters-turned-lovers is finally finally finally hitting U.S. theaters. It's been a long road, baby, but we made it. I saw the movie at Fantasia last August and I reviewed it for Mashable right here -- then my review got quoted in the trailer right here -- and now it's out for all of you people to see whether you agree with me that it's hot, dangerous stuff. 

But wait! This is actually a crazy thick weekend for good movies. For one Pixar / Disney are re-releasing Luca into theaters -- when it came out at the height of the pandemic it went straight to streaming and I called it "Pixar's best film in years" and that remains true from where I stand; just now you can finally see it on a big screen! So make sure you do. Call Me By Your Name Jr. deserves the love. 

And then there is Problemista -- a movie I adore and yet a movie I have not had the chance to write a proper review of yet. I saw it at NewFest last summer but I haven't had the chance to see it again, which I need to do before I write about it. This has been out in some cities for a couple of weeks but it's going wide this weekend -- anyway once I do see it again don't be surprised if this makes it into my favorite films of 2024 list. Yes it's early, but come on. This thing's a hilarious beauty with some of Tilda's funniest work to date. Here is the trailer.  

And then there is the horror movie Late Night With the Devil also out today! Set in 1977 this found-footage gem is sort of a spin on the great Ghostwatch -- here is the gorgeous poster and the trailer if you missed that. I'm counting my words here because I still might write a review of this. Maybe today even. Stay tuned. it's worth writing about. And going to see!

But yes wait, wait, and keep on waiting -- there is even more. EVEN MORE. Like I said today is truly ridiculous. But don't worry I saved the worst for last. The new Ghostbusters movie called Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is in theaters now and... well I did write about this one. Click on over to Pajiba and you'll hear my thoughts. They are not kind, but they are not as unkind as my words for the previous one, Afterlife. So that's something! The franchise is making incremental mini-steps towards not totally sucking. Maybe if they make fifty more they'll get around to making a good one. 

Femme Is Here To Feed You

If you've been waiting and waiting and waiting for Femme -- the queer thriller starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George Mackay as a drag queen and the prick who gay-bashes him respectively, which I've been jabbering about excitedly ever since it was announced in May of 2022 -- then you've only got a wee little more to wait as we've finally got a U.S. release date! First it's dropping here in NYC on March 22nd, then in Los Angeles a week later, and you know et cetera et cetera from there. I saw this and reviewed it for Mashable at Fantasia Fest last year -- read my review right here -- and hey look I made it into the trailer...

We always love it when that happens! Makes me feel like a professional person. which, believe it or not, doesn't happen very often. Anyway I know some of us are tired of the cliche of gay men being attracted to their bashers (I know because I get comments on it every time I post about this movie) but I really do think Femme twists it into something interesting and ambiguous and dare I say hot. And hey listen, all I can say is I tend to see myself more in people making terrible choices on-screen. Maybe that's just me. Here's the trailer:

Feel free to gimme your thoughts in the comments...

Gays and Lesbians and Drag Queens, Oh My!

A pair of new trailers of note have landed today -- first up above is the trailer for Femme, the knotty queer thriller starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (from the Candyman remake) as a drag queen and our boy George Mackay as the closet-case who gay-bashes him. I reviewed this movie at Fantasia earlier this year right here and I genuinely think it's impressive how it twists itself into uneasy complications that will leave a lot of people annoyed and/or angry. People are complicated! Embrace complicated people behaving badly, please, otherwise we're just going to cursed with nothing but genital-less superhero movies for the rest of our days. And speaking of our complications having complications...

... here is the trailer for Eileen, which stars Anne Hathaway as the fresh femme fatale in town and Thomas Mackenzie as the girl who becomes obsessed with her. This movie is a wily one and never quite what you think it's going to be and I very much dug it at Sundance -- here is that review. Femme is coming out on March 22nd (yo this is an early trailer drop!) while Eileen is coming out on December 1st (phew, much sooner!) and you really must see both, says me.

A Horror Festival Grows in Brooklyn

I doubt anyone noticed but I am not covering TIFF this year, which is happening right now -- my work-load for the past couple of years, where I was in festivals from late July (starting with Fantasia) through the end of October (NewFest) did me in (considering I also have a full-time day-job) and I decided a little bit of a break would be a good idea. And since NYFF is my most beloved fest of them all and TIFF overlapped with that one the most, TIFF got the axe. Maybe I'll try to be that person again next year but I gotta say my brain is thanking me right now. NYFF screenings start next week (I talked about the line-up right here) and (to get to the point) today we've gotten the line-up for my other hometown fave, the Brooklyn Horror Fest which runs from October 12th through 19th (aka right as NYFF ends). Check it out right here. The Opening Night movie...

... is called Kill Your Lover and it's from directors Alix Austin and Kier Siewert and it's described as a body-horror break-up movie and I am down down down. Other highlights out of what I have already seen -- the Centerpiece Film is the deeply disturbed serial killer thriller Red Rooms I reviewed at Fantasia right here; they're showing the gay revenge movie Femme with George Mackay that I reviewed right here; they're showing Booger (a mental breakdown flick about a missing cat that must be seen to be believed) and Satan Wants You (a superb doc on the "Satanic Panic" scare of the 1980s) and Vincent Must Die (a stellar French thriller about a weird rage virus). I have seen all of those and they are all terrific!

And as usual they are including a kick-ass retrospective of older movies -- the Japanese horror Door! The new restoration of Messiah of Evil! An award ceremony for Maniac Cop and director William Lustig! It's gonna be another year of killer frights out in Brooklyn -- here is the link to the full line-up again; badges are on sale right now and individual tickets go on sale on Friday. Oh and here is the just released trailer for the Messiah of Evil restoration: 

Who You Callin Femme

Another one of my Fantasia Fest 2023 reviews was posted over the weekend -- click over to Mashable to read my long awaited thoughts on Femme, the queer thriller starring Candyman's Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as a drag queen who gets gay-bashed by George MacKay, only to then start an oh so dangerous fling a few months down the road. It wasn't quite the movie I wanted it to be when I first heard about that plot -- I was really hoping for some juicy Paul Verhoeven erotic thriller vibes, but Femme plays it far straighter (so to speak) than that, for both good and a little for ill. I had mixed thoughts basically, although this might be an example of my expectations getting ahead of me. Anyway no date on release for this just yet and no trailer just yet but here is a clip that got released that I've not yet posted to tide you over:

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?

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

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