Oh Mia, You Devil

My long time love affair from afar with Mia Wasikowska has borne more fruit this week as she's teamed up with Little Joe director Jessica Hausner to make a feircely dark (yet poppy bright) satire of "wellness" bullshit called Club Zero -- I liked it quite a bit and you can read my review over at Pajiba. This movie isn't for the faint of heart -- for those triggered by eating disorder stuff it's basically a repeated stab in the eye -- but it's not making fun of eating disorders; it's making fun of the cultishness that surrounds a lot of liberal nonsense (and please do understand this is coming from someone as liberal as they come). It's just nice to see somebody figuring out how to make fun of our extremes in ways that don't resort to MAGA mouthbreathing or anti-"woke" gibberish. This is very much a "call is coming from inside the house" sort of satire I think and I dug it, especially since it would piss off a lot of people who need to have their nonsense poked at, if they were to ever watch it anyway. It's important to remmeber there is no cow too sacred! Anyway if you've never seen Hausner's movie Little Joe I recommend that one too -- not only does it co-star Ben Whishaw, but it takes the pharmaceutical industry to task in interesting and unexpected ways.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Crimson Peak (2015)

Ogilvie: A ghost story. Your father 

didn't tell me it was a ghost story. 

Edith: Oh it's... it's not. It's more a story with 

a ghost in it. The ghost is just a metaphor. 

Ogilvie: A metaphor? 

Edith: For the past.

I love how Guillermo Del Toro just lays that out there in Crimson Peak -- a smack upside the head to reorient our expectations going into the movie, and yet so many people were like, "It's not scary enough!!! The ghosts are funny looking!!!" after watching it. This movie remains so underrated! Blergh, people. Anyway no blergh to Guillermo, who's celebrating his 59th birthday today! A very happy blergh-less day to him!

Christopher Abbott is My Safe Word

I know you know what Christopher Abbott fans we are here at MNPP -- I never would've guessed it when he was on Girls, where I hated him, but then I never would've guessed I'd be so hot for Jon Bernthal when he was stinking up The Walking Dead either. Took some time to glom onto their particular charms, but Abbott's proven himself an extremely risky fella, taking interesting and daring projects on time and time again. And here he comes again!

Sanctuary premiered at TIFF but only in person so I didn't get to watch it then (I covered TIFF virtually), so I've spent the last six or so months salivating with want -- thankfully it's out on May 19th and I've already RSPV'd for my press screening, thank you very much. That said it's kinda weird how very very similar this one seems to a movie Chris already made -- I speak of Nicolas Pesce's 2018 film Piercing of course, which was about Abbott meeting up with a prostitute (Mia Wasikowska) in a hotel room and the power dynamics shifting wildly from moment to moment between them. (Piercing was one of my favorite movies that year -- seek it out if you haven't seen it!)

This new one stars Abbott as a masochist who meets up in a hotel room with a dominatrix (Margaret Qualley) and, uhh, the power dynamics shift wildly from moment to moment between them. This is a kind of odd niche to carve out for one's self!

But I do think we've probably got ourselves a killer double-feature in the future. I'm admittedly a bigger fan of Wasikowska than I am Qualley, but she looks great here. Anyway see for yourselves -- Neon's gone done and dropped the trailer for Sanctuary today!

Sanctuary is out on May 19th.
What do you think?

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Stoker (2013)

India: Have you ever seen a picture of yourself, taken when you didn't know you were being photographed, from an angle that you don't usually see when you look in a mirror, and you think: "That's me... that's ALSO me."

Happy 10 to director Park Chan-wook's fantastic stab at making a movie here in the States, Stoker -- who could have foreseen that ten years later we'd be finishing up yet another Oscar season where Park Chan-wook made a movie deserving all of the awards and ended up left high and dry yet again? I mean, I could've -- he's too good for the Oscars, and yes that's also intended as the slightest of digs at his South Korean contemporary Bong Joon-ho, whose movies are far less thorny and more digestible than Park's when it comes down to it. I said what I said! PS here is a thing I wrote about how good Mia Wasikowska is in this movie a few years back. And here is a post on the film's most perverse scene (which is clearly saying a lot), pictured below:

The Element of Criterion

If you're an avid physical media collector like I am then you'll know the pain of this only too well -- you'll see that a movie is hard to own and so you'll scour the international sellers for it and find a reasonably priced copy and buy it for only then like a week later to have a new U.S. edition be announced. It's happened to us all. Which brings me to today, where I have ended up now owning two copies of Lars Von Trier's 1984 film The Element of Crime just as Criterion has gone and announced a brand new fancy U.S. edition. A few months ago that movie was on the Criterion Channel and so I watched it and I loved it. 

Watched Lars von Trier's first film THE ELEMENT OF CRIME today (it's on @criterionchannl) and it's got enough mind-blowing shots contained therein for the careers of ten directors pic.twitter.com/CN1kuMtjco

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) August 6, 2022

I loved it so much that immediately went and bought the out-of-print Criterion DVD. And then I realized, "Oh wait! I should see the other movies of the trilogy, shouldn't I?" So I went and I bought a foreign DVD boxed-set of the entire trilogy, which includes his 1987 film Epidemic and his 1991 film Europa. And now here we are and it's literally six weeks later and Criterion has announced they're putting out a boxed-set of 4K restorations of the trilogy come January. Argh, et cetera! Anyway my ultimate point is -- hey anybody wanna buy some Lars Von Trier DVDs?

Yes, all of that nonsense aside today is indeed Criterion Announcement Day! They've dropped word on the five titles they're putting out in January of 2023 (well four movies plus the above trilogy) and per usual, all gems. Besides that Lars set the one I'm most thrilled about is Mia Hansen-Løve's 2021 film Bergman Island starring Tim Roth, Anders Danielsen-Lie (mmmmm), Mia Wasikowska, and the great Vicky Krieps -- gimme all the Vickys! All of 'em! I'm not the biggest fan of the Hansen-Løve films that I've seen so far -- I tend to like them fine, but not love -- but Bergman Island is far and away my fave of the bunch. It's the Vicky component obviously. That woman is hypnotic.

The other three January titles hitting Criterion are as follows: there is Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese's 2019 film This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, which is the only one of the batch I've never seen. I have heard incredible things from people I trust though -- have you seen it? Then there's John M. Stahl's classic 1934 adaptation of Imitation of Life with Claudette Colbert -- I will cop to liking the Douglas Sirk version more, but what can I say? I am gay. And finally there is the 4K version of Terry Gilliam's 1988 classic The Adventures of Baron Munchausen -- I have to admit I am kind of surprised they're jumping into the mine-field that is this movie at this moment in time, as Gilliam's proven himself to be a total dick with his hysterical "anti-woke" screeds, all while Sarah Polley has spent the past couple of years going on the record saying what a traumatic nightmare experience this set was for her as a child actor. That said I've never been a huge fan of Munchausen -- if we were talking Brazil or Time Bandits or Twelve Monkeys here I'd be more conflicted. 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Jane Eyre (2011)

Jane: Am I a machine with out feelings? Do you think that because I am poor, plain, obscure, and little that I am souless and heartless? I have as much soul as you and full as much heart. And if God had possessed me with beauty and wealth, I could make it as hard for you to leave me as I to leave you... I'm not speaking to you through mortal flesh. It is my spirit that addresses your spirit, as it passes through the grave and stood at God's feet equal. As we are.

Cary Fukunaga's (already classic if you ask me) 2011 adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's (definitely classic no matter who you ask) 1847 novel premiered here in new York on this very day 10 years ago. Have you watched it lately? Last July I had myself a little miniature one-day swoon-fest with this movie, Thomas Vinterberg's Far From the Madding Crowd with Matthias Schoenaerts and Carey Mulligan (and you might consider this blasphemy but as much as I love John Schlesinger's film with Julie Christie and -- speaking of swoon -- Alan Bates I definitely prefer the newer version), plus Andrea Arnold's gorgeous and wildly underrated take on Wuthering Heights. And that my friends was a goddamned good day -- I highly recommend all of you replicate it sometime.

Now thinking of doing a triple feature today of Eyre, the Far From the Madding Crowd re-do, and Andrea Arnold’s seriously under-appreciated Wuthering Heights pic.twitter.com/rbnWifN7K7

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 3, 2020

Good Morning, World

Good Monday and Happy Morning, one and all! Hey, eyes down here. Yes this morning seemed a good time to finally share some "Christopher Abbott in Possessor" love -- took me damn long enough. I reviewed the movie weeks ago (right here) and as we all now know movies only get discussed for one to two days now and then they're done! Finito! Well I apologize -- last night I was watching Christopher's next conversation starter, called Black Bear and co-starring Aubrey Plaza, and...

#NowWatching BLACK BEAR and you guys... my thing for Christopher Abbott has gotten really really real in the past twelve months or so; he sure is something pic.twitter.com/QQECuCsly3

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 16, 2020

... that got me thinking about Chris. He really is something, right?  I'm trying to think of what did it -- you know, "it", turned the tide, or in the parlance of this here website you're on right now: what was "The Moment I Fell For..." Christopher Abbott? It was Piercing I think? A combination of Piercing and Catch-22. I mean I'd thought he was good before that -- I thought he was good on Girls way back. 

Oh and (sorry I am looking through his IMDb as I type this) there was Hello I Must Be Going with Melanie Lynskey of course! How could I forget that? What a wonderful movie. (PS it's on Amazon Prime right now.) His resume really is scattered with gems. The only major one that I haven't seen is James White and I'm just gonna admit I am afraid of James White. I am afraid it will destroy me, emotionally speaking, and so I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it. Some day I'll be in the mood for that but given the way of the world for the past few years those days have been in short supply. Anyway...

... I hadn't shared the trailer for Black Bear, Chris' new movie which inspired this entire post, before, so there that is. And I will definitely, definitely have more to say about it when it comes out on December 4th. To get us through the next two to five minutes of that wait here after the jump are a handful of prized Possessor gifs, and believe me you'll dig...

One Stacked Weekend

Although I've got a pile of New York Film Festival screeners to watch and reviews to write this weekend (slash for the next two weeks) I'm actually impressed I got as much done this week as I did, because this week revealed itself to be a doozy, new-release-wise. Not just movies either, what with three television series of note all premiering -- Luca Guadagnino's We Are Who We Are arrived on HBO on Monday, while Ratched hit Netflix...

... (and hey there Corey Stoll in sock garters) and PEN15 hit Hulu today -- but primarily in movies, and I managed to share some thoughts, fast or otherwise, on everything I intended to! So let's do a quick round-up...

WHAT TO SEE, OR NOT SEE, I DON'T OWN YOU

Earlier today I reviewed Sean Durkin's The Nest, starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon, right here. It is good!

I reviewed Antonio Campos' The Devil All the Time, starring every young actor on the planet plus Jason Clarke tugging it to street trade, right here. It is... okay?

I whiffed the fact that they switched the release date for Miranda July's latest called Kajillionaire to next week and went ahead and reviewed that anyway, right here. That'll be out a week from today! I will surely re-remind you then.

The gay horror flick Spiral starring the ridiculously handsome Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman from UnREAL (sidenote: I miss UnREAL), hit Shudder earlier this week and I shared my thoughts on that right here. Bonus as an aside in that review I mention the horror flick Antebellum, out on VOD today, but sadly not worth that much of my (or your) time.

On top of all of that I also got my first of many to come NYFF review out with my thoughts on Steve McQueen's Lovers Rock, which just opened the fest -- read that over at The Film Experience. I'll have more up over at TFE over the weekend and through the next couple of weeks for the fest, so stay tuned!

Your biggest priority out of all of these things would be... well it's PEN15, isn't it? Honestly if I was home right now and not trapped at my office desk I'd be re-watching the second season of PEN15, which is absolutely everything, just everything. I very much liked the first season but the second season takes the whole show to glorious, surprising heights -- the show is a classic now. An all-timer. For real. Watch PEN15 dammit!

I was totally jazzed when my beloved Michael Angarano showed up on #PEN15 in the new season but I had no idea until right now that he and the show's star Maya Erskine are a real life couple!!!! NEW FAVORITE COUPLE ALERT pic.twitter.com/T6oapEQ1n0

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 12, 2020

Devil Needs a Deep Breath

Antonio Campos new film The Devil All the Time (out on Netflix today) is a heckuva big meal -- a feast, really. Based on the 2011 novel by Donald Ray Pollock and narrated by him too, it feels it -- novelistic, I mean. Each scene -- and the space between them especially -- hums with the breeze of a dozen pages flapping in front of your face, introducing another character, another angle on this small brutal town and its small brutal inhabitants; nobody can just sit and eat a pie like Rooney mara in A Ghost Story in The Devil All the Time; it's right there in the title! All the time! Not just a little bit of the time, some devil.

And like a feast you get too much of some good things and not enough of others. I complained earlier this week about not getting enough Mia Wasikowska -- the same is very nearly true of all the female characters, save Eliza Scanlen and maybe Riley Keough, although the latter's character remains a festering question mark. Which is okay -- most of these people don't seem to know themselves (who does) and a movie that knows that isn't not doing its job. It knows better.

I'm surprised to see that Pollock's book (which I have not read) only runs three hundred pages because given everything packed into this film's two-ish hours I could've easily seen the book busting out into twice or thrice that territory. Even as a feast it's the rare occasion of a Netflix thing being maybe not being enough, maybe leaving us wanting -- might this have been better as a miniseries? I could've stood another hour, actually sat with these folks, gotten to know 'em a little better. Maybe made and eaten a pie or two.

That said everybody's wrestling with their own gods in their own ways, and some of the dishes began to seem redundant, piled on top of each other as they are -- so many fishy preachers, all to the same ends. If you want me to see generations falling under the spider-faced spells of the same madness I need to feel the time pass a little better, otherwise it begins to blend, a pile-up of flavors and Robert Pattinson Accent taste sensations -- I just wanna savor the ham, Antonio Campos! Let me savor Rob's ham!

My main complaint, which is only half a complaint, is everybody's doing good work here -- I believed in this place, even as it stuffed itself to the gills with gothic melodrama, and I wanted to spend more time in here rifling around. I wanted some patience, a slow burn, but I got a loping forest fire instead. I'm sure Pollock could've told everybody involved if you let a fire breathe, give it some oxygen, it'll light up even prettier. He seems the type to know.

Queen Mia, Queen of Queens

Around this house we stan Mia Wasikowska and we stan her hard, and so when over this weekend I watched Netflix's new thriller The Devil All the Time -- it's out on Friday, I'll review it before then I promise -- and saw how itty bitty Mia's part ended up being, well, I decided that wasn't good enough. I had to get some more Mia in my timeline! So I re-watched Park Chan-wook's 2013 flick Stoker right after and gifted myself with Mia, more more Mia! And then I wrote it up for this week's "Great Moments in Horror Actressing" post over at The Film Experience, click on over to read it!

I should want y'all that I find myself on the precipice of a "re-watching all of Park Chan-wook's movies binge" so there might be a lot of Park talk around these parts over the next couple of months. I have been hankering real hard for The Handmaiden and Thirst and I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay -- everything except the "Vengeance Trilogy" as of right now, but once I re-watch all of these I presumably won't be able to help myself and I'll end up re-watching the "Vengeance Trilogy" for the umpteenth time. I did just get the whole thing on blu-ray recently...

The Devils of September

(click to embiggen) Guess we can already go ahead and call it a big day for Netflix drops -- that right there's the poster for Antonio "Christine" Campos' The Devil All the Time, which stars Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, Haley Bennett, Bill Skarsgard, Mia Wasikowska, Riley Keough, Eliza Scanlan, and Jason Clarke, and yes I just copy and pasted that list of names from our last post which shared the movies trailer -- I am not typing out all those damn names every time! TDATT hits the streamer on September 20th. There are a lot of big things hitting in September it feels like, doesn't it? I feel like I've had to be extremely boisterous with harassing people for September screeners. I still don't have my greedy paws on this one yet but I am working on it, have faith!

I Saw The Devil

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As forecasted earlier this past week when the first poster (here) and the first photos (here) from Antonio Campos' film The Devil All the Time appeared -- this is the Netflix movie starring (real deep breath now) Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, Haley Bennett, Bill Skarsgard, Mia Wasikowska, Riley Keough, Eliza Scanlan, and Jason Clarke, that's out on September 20th -- we have now gotten the first trailer! Watch it here:

First thought is yes, yes I would follow Robert Pattinson as a snake-oil selling preacher-man, I would follow him anywhere. Don't you see how grimy everybody else is? He's got that beautiful powder blue suit and ruffled shirt? To hell and back, Rob.

Other thoughts -- is this another movie where Riley Keough is terrorized? I love Riley but I think I've hit my breaking point, after Under the Silver Lake and The Lodge and Earthquake Bird and especially especially The House That Jack Built... I am for the time being over, of seeing her get terrorized. This might be especially keen for any of y'all who follow her on Instagram where her very real grief for her brother, who you might be aware just committed suicide this past month, has been ongoing -- I just really need only good things for Riley Keough for awhile now.

I love her so much. And I'm sure those of you who've read the book already are shaking your heads for me as I type -- this will not be the movie for good things for Riley Keough, that much is clear. Anyway it looks like a movie worth seeing -- like I keep saying, that cast that cast THAT CAST. Holy hell that cast. We will see on September 20th.

The Devil in Poster Form

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Netflix smartly chose to play up that endlessly killer cast they've wrangled for Antonio "Christine" Campos' latest flick The Devil All the Time with its first peekaboo that's-who poster -- scan down and you see Tom Holland, Bill Skarsgard, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Sebastian Stan, Haley Bennett, Eliza Scanlen, Mia Wasikowska, and pulling up the rear (insert "pulling up the rear joke" here) Robert Pattinson. I don't know about you but sandwiched between Spider-man and Batman seems a fine place to be! TDATT premieres on Netflix on September 20th -- seems safe to assume that we'll get a trailer this week. See some photos from the movie at this link here.

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All of Them Devils

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Today is proving to be a very exciting day when it comes to our first looks at upcoming movies, who'd have thought it? Earlier we saw Tilda in Almodovar's new one, and now here is the first batch of photos of the truly unbelievably get-outta-here knock me over with a feather for how deep this cast runs cast of The Devil All the Time, which is hitting Netflix on September 20th. I mean...

... you've got four pictures here, pictures just of faces, each one makes me more excited than the one before it, and they don't even include names like Sebastian Stan (who replaced Chris Evans) or Haley Bennett or Eliza Scanlen or MIA FUCKIN' WASIKOWSKA. But we do see Robert Pattinson and Bill Skarsgård and Jason Clarke and Riley Keough...

... and Spider-twink Tom Holland bringing up the rear. See our previous posts over here -- the film (which was directed by Antonio Campos, director of the stellar Christine) is based on a 2012 book (I believe some of you have read it) about a serial killer in a small town or something -- honestly I'm trying not to know a lot of details, I wanna keep myself as pure and virgin-like as I can for this one. Speaking of...

Hey Tom. Anyway I guess we'll probably get a trailer for this soon since it's only six weeks away, and I'll probably spoil myself by giffing that once it's here, but for now, let's pretend I know nothing. Ha! Pretend. Rich, that. (click the pics to embiggen)

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Pantys '19: Performers, Part Two -- Actresses

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Earlier today I shared with you my ten (well really twenty, with the runners-up included) favorite performances from actors in 2019. Now the time's come for my ten (well twenty really, with the runners-up) favorite performances from actresses coming out of 2019. That's how things work, see? Amazing. 

And no, sidenote, I don't really know anymore why I'm splitting these things up by gender in the year that is 2020 (not to mention even using the word "actress"), except it gives me a good way to split this into two lists and thereby include twice as many names -- I try to do my "Actor to Actor" series when I can manage my time well enough since it sidesteps all this, but this year we're falling to the old standby due to time constraints. So Actors and Actresses it is. Yadda and yadda, in no particular order I give you...

My 10 Favorite Actresses of 2019

Elisabeth Moss, Her Smell

Fatma Mohamed, In Fabric

Lupita Nyong'o, Us

Florence Pugh, Midsommar 

Yeo-jeong Jo, Parasite

Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Dolemite is My Name

Marietta Subong, Ode to Nothing

Adèle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Alfre Woodard, Clemency

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

10 Runners Up

Isabelle Huppert, Frankie

Octavia Spencer, Luce

Mia Wasikowska, Piercing

Taylor Russell, Waves

Mary Kay Place, Diane

Julianne Moore, Gloria Bell

Noémie Merlant, Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Aisling Franciosi, The Nightingale

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, In Fabric

Molly Shannon, Wild Nights With Emily

What were your favorite Actresses of 2019?
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Pantys '19: Fave Films, Part One

.

By my count I saw 253 new movies in 2019, which works out to about 7/10ths of a new movie every single day for you Rain Men out there. I don't know if that's high or low because I don't usually keep track of how many movies I watch in a year, I just happen to have that number in front of me. But it seems like a high number! And keep in mind this is not counting all of the pre-2019 movies I also watched, which surely brings that number into the billions. 

Point being I watch movies instead of going outside. Have you been outside lately? I do not recommend it. I mean yes, inside also sucks now, since the internet brings the outside inside with us. But shutting out the horrible wailing sounds of the outside world with a big beautiful glorious brand new baby of a film? Now that's the sweet stuff. That I recommend. But maybe you don't have time for 253 new movies like I did? Well hey what a coincidence, that's just exactly what I'm here for. I'm gonna narrow that gigantic number down to the absolute and finest of the very best ones, according to me. Starting... now.

My Favorite Movies of 2019: 25 - 11

25. Parasite

(dir. Bong Joon-ho)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: Peach Fuzz

24. The Mustang

(dir. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: Prisoners run free

23. Transit

(dir. Christian Petzold)

Indelible Moment: A ship departs

22. Us

(dir. Jordan Peele)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: The house next door

21. The Irishman

(dir. Martin Scorsese)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: Hug in the backseat

20. Piercing

(dir. Nicolas Pesce)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: Blood games

19. To Dust

(dir. Shawn Snyder)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: Bodies in the ground

18. Atlantics

(dir. Mati Diop)

Indelible Moment: Ghosts at the disco

17. This Is Not Berlin

(dir. Hair Sama)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: Art Performance Art

16. The Nightingale

(dir. Jennifer Kent)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: First Kill

15. Invisible Life

(dir. Karim Aïnouz)

Indelible Moment: So close at the restaurant

14. Peterloo

(dir. Mike Leigh)

Indelible Moment: The horses approach

13. Waves

(dir. Trey Edward Shults)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: Father Daughter Talk

12. High Life

(dir. Claire Denis)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: The Fuck Box

11. Pain and Glory

(dir. Pedro Almodovar)

-- read my review here -- 

Indelible Moment: A little boy faints

Oh wait I also felt pretty “seen” when Little Gay Pedro passes the f out upon seeing the hot guy naked pic.twitter.com/Kl9VEOaRfj

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) January 5, 2020

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Coming up later this week: My Top 10 Films,

plus all the rest of our 2019 Pantys. Stay tuned...

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