Pic of the Day

We now here have a second photo of Jonathan Bailey in the forthcoming Jurassic Park film titled Jurassic World: Rebirth -- see the first even bicep-ier one here -- and we're continuing on with the theme of "Jonathan Bailey is going to be so hot in this movie fighting dinosaurs that I am going to drop dead right there in the theater" I see. Here below is the full picture which also has his leading lady one Miss ScarJo included:

This movie is coming to us from director Gareth Edwards, possibly an excellent choice given his Godzilla movie mostly rules and Rogue One is fun (save its leading lady who I just cannot with) and I did love his breathtrough film Monsters back in the day -- the first time we saw Scoot! Kinda weird that Edwards hasn't worked with Scoot again, now that I think of it. Scoot would be great in a Jurassic Park movie. Wonder if anything happened between them. Not, like, sexy -- just negative. Anyway JWR is out on July 2nd making it one of the very few things we have to look forward to, like ever. Optimism! Oh and here's a picture I seem to've missed which I've just spotted on the film's IMDb page -- and yes you should be noting those bulging veins in Jonny's forearm because Cinema:

Hey Look It's a Bob Dylan Movie

Whilst I was scuttled away in an NYFF screening this morning the first trailer for A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic starring our boy Timmy C, dropped -- I'm on the record (probably more than once) in admitting I could give a shit about Bob Dylan, so I'm not the primary audience for this. But that cast is something! Besides Tim-Tim there's Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Scoot McNairy as Woody Gurthie, Ed Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, and Elle Fanning as "Some Girl." (I think she's playing a made-up character? No doubt to show how the great man changes as he becomes great, like usual. God I could write the script for this movie right now, feels like. Anyway this is a trailer for this movie and I am now back at my desk from my morning screening.

A Complete Unknown is out on Christmas Day. 

Thoughts, if you care?

Quote of the Day

Danish director Christian Tafdrup (seen above, what a babe!) who made the 2022 original Speak No Evil -- a film I consider a horror masterpiece (here is my review from when it screened at Sundance that year) -- has spoken out now that he's seen the remake starring James McAvoy, and his words are... incredibly similar to what I said in my review of the remake earlier this week. He was not happy! Now there are spoilers for the endings of both movies in what he says, so if you haven't seen them I suggest not reading this. And also I suggest you go watch the original movie right now -- it's easy to access, it's streaming on Shudder and rentable everywhere else. Anyway a hearty hear hear to all he says:

"I don’t know what it is about Americans, but they are brought up for a heroic tale, where the good must win over the bad, and this version of the film cultivates that,” Tafdrup complained. He went on to say that the changes that were made to the film made it feel “less dangerous,” and more sanitized for American consumption. "When I saw the film yesterday, I could see that they would never succeed with a film where the characters are stoned to death, as they do in our film. These people [in the U.S. version] must fight for their family and defeat the bad guys […] It is a kind of happy ending, and it is so deep in their culture that America must be able to handle it all." Comparing audience reactions, Tafdrup said he witnessed audiences leaving the remake “who were completely over-enthusiastic and clapped, laughed and whooped. It was like being at a rock concert” while he recalled how “people…left my film traumatized.”

Speak No McAvoy

I know you're all very busy looking at that photo of James McAvoy, but eyes down here! I have just reviewed the movie that that photo is from -- the remake of Speak No Evil which hit theaters this past weekend -- and you can read my thoughts right now over at Pajiba. As an enormous fan of the 2022 original (here is that review) I couldn't even pretend that I wasn't going into this one unbiased, so I speak a lot about both films in there -- my gist, or my truth if you will (please don't), is that you should all see the original first and then decide later if you're up for a less fanged version down the road. There's stuff that works in the new one (a great cast in general) but I just found it on all fronts to be the less interesting take at every turn. Well okay not the beefcake take -- James McAvoy had that one in the bag from the moment the first picture was revealed. 

Speak No Clothing

I love that the press people behind the remake of Speak No Evil know that sexy scary James McAvoy is the reason to see their movie (see also the beefcake-riddled trailer) and they're leaning really hard into it -- they released a featurette for the film yesterday and it's like 90% beefcake shots of James; even the scenes of him sitting on set speaking directly to the camera are in his chest-baring lumberjack-wear that's basically a 70s gay porn video come to life: 

We dig it! I do the movie some disservice though, saying it's entirely about James' heaving cleavage that we care -- we do love Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis (Halt and Catch Fire reunion holla!) and the original film is a horror classic in the making (here is my review). And I have heard some stuff about the remake from people in the know that's made me more hopeful than I had been. We will see soon enough -- it's out on September 13th! Here is that new featurette:

Come & Get Me, Mad James McAvoy

Granted it's been a couple of years since I saw the original Speak No Evil (it's not really the kind of movie you're dying to watch over and over again -- here's my review of that one) but I do not recall the character in that film that James McAvoy is playing in the remake being played as the sexiest psychopath motherfucker on the planet... 

... and yet here we are. James Watkins' 2024 remake is leaning in hard -- emphasis on yeah that's right you guess it -- on James McAvoy's big-time sex appeal, to the point where they're making me dizzy. Like this one's on me and my weird fetishes but yesterday they dropped this photo...

This picture is SO HOT https://t.co/l6gBZktrz1

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 23, 2024

... that was hitting all my buttons, with his bloody bulging flannelled up beefcake monster hotness searing itself into my eyes. And now the second trailer they've dropped is like a smorgasborg of said same. James McAvoy rage porn ahoy!

I still think remaking this movie is a goofy ass idea when the original is so darkly terrifying and I don't have the inclination to believe that an American remake will go for it quite so hard, but I guess we'll see when it's out on September 13th. Also... the trailers have given away basically everything at this point, so if you're trying to not know what this movie is about I wish you the best of luck. Just don't watch the trailers? That said... here is the new trailer:

Don't watch it! Indeed I did y'all a favor and made gifs of every shot of James McAvoy being hot in it so you don't have to watch it -- hit the jump and luxuriate in all of the sexy sexy rage...

Behold, The Folk Fuckboi

The first trailer for James Mangold's Bob Dylan bio-pic A Complete Unknown starring Timmy, yes Timmy, has arrived -- I've said this on every ocassion when this film's come up but I just do not give a flying fuck about Bob Dylan and watching this trailer yup, still do not care. That said Timothée Chalamet does fall under my jurisdiction of consideration and sure I guess he's doing a good Dylan here. Big folk fuckboi energy. It's also nice to see Elle Fanning (big Elle fan) and I didn't notice them in the trailer (okay yes my eyes sort of glazed over watching this) but Scoot McNairy and Boyd Holbrook are in the movie somewhere too. Looks like fairly routine bio-pic stuff -- Mangold is not a director that excites me either and this looks very much like his Johnny Cash movie Walk the Line, which I couldn't describe to you a single frame from now. But gawrsh the Oscars loved it and one assumes that's what everybody's hoping for here. 

A Complete Unknown is out in December.

The Answer My Friend is Blowin' in Timmy's Hair

The internet was ablaze -- ablaze I tells ya! -- with photos of TImothee Chalamet out in NYC over the weekend shooting his forthcoming and long gestating baby Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown with director James Mangold. Just google them and you can find more -- I don't care. Y'all know my feelings about Timmy and I'll see this movie but I am not in the slightest a Dylan fan and kind of resent that I'm being made to care about this movie. And now even moreso, because today they've announced a heaping pile (a piling heap?) of actors who've joined the movie's cast and there are several names of import. Mainly the ones that matter to me are Boyd Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, and Gossip Girl hottie Eli Brown...

There's no word on who anybody is playing yet so don't ask. But those three snacks aren't the only names dropped -- there's also "Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Will Harrison (Daisy Jones & The Six) …... P.J. Byrne (Babylon), Nick Pupo (Halt and Catch Fire), Big Bill Morganfield, Laura Kariuki, Eric Berryman (Atlanta), David Alan Basche (Egg), Joe Tippett (Monarch) and James Austin Johnson (Saturday Night Live)." Plus the previously annouced Edward Norton and Elle Fanning. Sigh. At least I'll have nice faces to look at while I suffer through more Dylan mythologizing. And Timmy's hair looks lush. It's the little things! Or in the case of Timmy's hair, the big ones.

Never Knowing Who To Cling To

I probably wouldn't be looking forward to Blonde if it wasn't directed by Andrew Dominik, which I do realize is the straight-bro-film-douchiest thing I could say but I can't help it, man -- you did see The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, right? What other choice do I have? That's not to say that the other ingredients don't intrigue me -- I like Ana de Armas just fine, she has been fun in Knives Out and Knock Knock and especially No Time To Die. I can't say I have felt terribly moved by any work she's done so far, but if it's gonna happen I imagine a Marilyn Monroe bio-pic would be the moment. Speaking of I also love Marilyn and I am like most people who care about the movies still fascinated by her, and on top of that I don't think the definitive movie about her has yet been made. If such a thing can be made.

My Week With Marilyn was fine, Michelle Williams was very good, but that movie evaporated from my memory immediately after that year's Oscars. And I think Nicolas Roeg's Insignificance is a fascinating movie and Theresa Russell does a great job playing "the idea of Marilyn" but I wouldn't call that a definitive take either -- that movie's far too abstract and not really about her, not as a person, anyway. We'll have to see how much Dominik's film is legitimately about the woman then, as the trailer promises to be -- I gotta admit it is one hell of a trailer. Looks ravishing. 

Blonde comes out on September 28th. Thoughts?

I Am Link

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--- Romantic Plots - Photog Autumn de Wilde is making a new movie version of Emma, the Jane Austen tome, which well even besides the perfectly fun Gwyneth Paltrow version will never get a better movie than Clueless made from it; I don't know why they try. Anyway I only bring this up because they have cast Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead which is very fine work, but even better they have cast Callum Turner, perennially underrated hot piece, as well as the great Josh O'Connor from God's Own Country and Rupert "Scudder" Graves to boot! It's a good damn cast they have.

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--- Wicked Means - Colin Trevorrow gets a lot of shit for being a straight white dude who made a for-nothing indie and immediately graduated to blockbuster movies without proving himself, but we really should save some of that same shit for Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who went from The Kings of Summer straight to Kong: Skull Island, which is just as bad a movie as the Jurassic Worlds are, plus he also has the douchiest hipster beard. Anyway that aside I'm fairly interested in his maybe next movie, which might be an original monster movie set in Detroit and starring Michael B. Jordan. I'm always down for monster movies, my curse and a blessing.
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--- Bad Vibes Ahoy - Mark your calendars with a great big red slash and make sure you've got a bottle of Pepto Bismal waiting for you at home that week, The Babadook director Jennifer Kent's next film, the already wildly controversial The Nightingale, has been set for release on August 2nd. We recently posted a clip from the film right here, which stars The Fall's Aisling Franciosi and Sam Claflin in a dark turn that will supposedly wipe all our bad Finnick memories right away.
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--- The New Avenger - I constantly get the actor Macon Blair mixed up with his most frequent collaborator, director Jeremy Saulnier -- they made Blue Ruin and Green Room together -- and so when I read the news that Macon Blair is directing the Toxic Avenger reboot I thought the director of Green Room was directing the Toxic Avenger reboot and I was stopped in my tracks for a second. But all that is unfair to Blair, who did actually prove himself a director worth paying attention when he made a movie starring the goddess Melanie Lynskey. He knows what's up! Bring on the Toxie, then.
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--- Cruel Bummer - I forgot to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Cruel Intentions earlier this month but you know what, I've commemorated the only moment in that movie that really matters so many times over the years that my work here is done. Still if you missed it EW did an oral history of the film speaking to all the folks involved and they got this choice bit of quote from Ryan Phillippe, owner of said "only moment in that movie that really matters," himself:

"I felt okay with [showing] my butt. Everybody has a butt, it’s really not that graphic. [Laughs] So many guys on Twitter are like, 'That’s the moment I knew I was gay.'"

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--- Music Woman - When I reviewed Gloria Bell the other week I talked a lot about its soundtrack, which is a vital piece of what makes it work so well (as it is with all of Lelio's films) -- when I wrote all that I was hoping that one of our pal Chris Feil's "Soundtracking" pieces at The Film Experience would be forthcoming and I didn't have to wait long, click here to read Chris's typically gorgeous take.
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--- Wolff's Pack - While I tend to focus on his Hereditary co-star Toni Collette more we should all be paying attention to what Alex Wolff is up to as well, seeing as how he was also top-tier in that movie -- well here's what's what: he's just lined up a thriller called The Line which has him starring opposite John Malkovich, Scott "Scoot!" McNairy, Jessica Barden (we lovvve Jessica Barden) and the adorkable Lewis Pullman. It is about "the wild excitement of being young and the dangers of living without fear of consequences," so they say.
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--- And Finally it looks like Blumhouse is rebooting The Craft! Well "reboot" is a premature word to use - they might be giving us a sequel of sorts, set in the same world as the 1996 film, we don't know yet. (That link does have some plot details and uses the word "reboot" but... well we'll see.) Anyway even more important is that Blumhouse has actually hired a female director to direct the thing -- who knew there were female directors, right Jason Blum? Zoe Lister-Jones, mainly known as a TV actress (she was on Whitney and New Girl) is writing the thing and directing it. All I know is Fairuza better show or else...
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Pic of the Day

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Matthias Schoenaerts and Joel Kinnaman are currently hanging out, as seen there via both of their Instagrams... well okay they're not just "hanging out" as much as I'd like to pretend that Kinnaman's recent divorce has led to this new relationship -- they're filming the movie The Sound of Philadelphia, which I told you about previously right here. Except when I told you about it then the film didn't have Joel involved -- Matty's co-stars were Garrett Hedlund & Scoot McNairy. They're both still listed on the film's IMDb page while Joel is nowhere to be seen, so I'm not sure if Joel's replacing one of them or if he's another character altogether?  Either way we'll keep our eyes on this for sure. And if a picture of those two plus Scoot & Garrett suddenly appears in the world don't worry, you'll know, since you'll hear me screaming from where ever you are. ETA oh look another:

May We All Nuzzle Matthias Schoenaerts Once

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Last year was too quiet on the Matthias Schoenaerts front - his reunion with his Bullhead director Michaël R. Roskam called Racer and the Jailbird didn't make much of an impression (I still haven't seen it yet, to my chagrin) and Red Sparrow wasn't well received (although I kind of adored it myself). But 2019 looks to be as massive as his shoulders are - he's got a Steven Soderbergh movie, a Justin Kurzel movie, a Thomas Vinterberg submarine movie (watch that trailer here), a Terence Malick movie (!), a movie with Scoot McNairy and Garrett Hedlund (!!!), and he's got a horse movie called The Mustang, which is why we're here right now...

It's about a convict turned horse lover - I already told you about it in October - it's from an actress turned director named Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, it's premiering at Sundance next month, and we now have a trailer. The film co-stars Connie Britton and Bruce Dern. Watch:

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The film is out in theaters on March 15th.

Nic'll Destroy Ya

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I loved Karyn Kusama's film The Invitation the moment I saw it (my review) but that love has only deepened and strengthened with time, and I now count it among the finest films of the decade. It is terrifying, and in its terror has brutal and unnerving things to say about us as humans in this time and this place - like the best horror films always do. Anyway I'd have been excited about Kusama's new film Destroyer anyway given it stars Nicole Kidman and Sebastian Stan (see a pic of him in character here) and Toby Kebbell and Tatiana Maslany and Scoot McNairy, but in the wake of The Invitation this is even more of a desirable object than it might've been. This first official image of Kidman, who's playing a detective, comes via Vanity Fair - click on over for some quotes from Kidman with more specifics on the character she's playing too. Destroyer is out on Christmas.

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Pics of the Day

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The 2012 film version of On the Road starring Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley and Kristen Stewart seems as if it's been kind of forgotten, but I recall thinking it was pretty good (here's my review) and Hedlund in particular. Now that he's being taken more seriously than just as a pretty boy (mostly thanks to Mudbound but the forthcoming Burden is supposed to seal that deal if the Sundance buzz is on point) perhaps the world should reassess? Not that the "pretty boy" part of the equation doesn't factor in here obviously, given I'm sharing these set photographs of him half-naked (click 'em to embiggen) that I'd never seen until yesterday...

But still. Boy's got talent, and this movie's worthy of another look, I think. Kristen Stewart, Kirtsen Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Viggo Mortensen's Penis, Amy Adams, Gay Tom Sturridge... they all agree. Anyway I had Hedlund on my mind thanks to Vulture, which shared this new short film from Take Shelter director Jeff Nichols which stars Garrett alongside Michael Shannon and Scoot McNairy and I suppose I should just shut up now because obviously you're already gone having clicked on the link to watch a short film with all those names attached, as well you oughta... wait, don't go! I will post the movie here for you...
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Scoot! Scoot In a Suit!

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Quentin Tarantino's cast of thousands for his Charles Manson movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has just grown by a Scoot - the one called McNairy, that is. The Halt and Catch Fire actor, who's been in maybe a couple of other projects over the past couple of years (and by 'a couple of" I mean "all the projects, all of them"), has joined the cast to play a fictional person called Business Bob Gilbert, who Deadline describes as "a character in the Western TV show from the time period that is an element of a Pulp Fiction-like tapestry of the summer of 1969 in Los Angeles." (thx Mac) Right now would be a good time to add who else is in the cast but oh my god it's literally everyone, but you can see some of the specific names at the Deadline link though. Anyway this follows up that movie Scoot's starring in opposite Matthias Schoenaerts - it's a good time to Scoot!
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The Hunks of Philadelphia

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He hasn't posted any more videos of himself showering outdoors but Matthias Schoenaerts is still on vacation in Costa Rica according to today's photograph, seen above - well enjoy it while you can Matty because you'll have to be back to work by August says today's news out of Cannes. It was just announced that he's going to star in a mafia movie called The Sound of Philadelphia for relative newcomer Jérémie Guez (whose first movie A Bluebird in My Heart is out this year, but he's also responsible for co-writing the script for the very fine French zombie movie The Night Eats the World, which I just reviewed at Tribeca). The big draw here though, besides Schoenaerts, is who's starring opposite him - his co-stars are Garrett Hedlund and Scoot McNairy! 

Heck yeah. That means Garrett is going straight from wrestling half-naked with Charlie Hunnam on the beach to doing tough-guy stuff with Matthias Schoenaerts, which is kind of the textbook definition of "living the dream." I don't know if I wanna be you, Garrett Hedlund, or if I wanna... y'all can fill in the blank there. I'll let you. (thx Mac)

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True Scoot-tective

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Fresh off flashing his fuzzy bum at us on Godless our sweet boy Scott McNairy is headed back to the tube-that-boobs for the third season of none other than True Detective! You might recall this about me but I fucking hated the first season of True Detective that everybody was so nuts over - I was firmly established in the "Matthew McConaughey sucks balls and not in the good way" camp way before the other cool kids joined me. After that there was nowhere to go but up and I, once again against the communal grain, thought the second season a mite better - its main tragedy was it was kind of boring and to tell you the truth I remember very little about it at this point except for Colin Farrell's sad mustache. 

Aww sad mustache. Anyway despite that sordid history I'm excited about a third season because, well Scoot now obviously, but because the main detectives (Scoot's supporting) will be played by the piping hot two-some of Mahershala Ali & Carmen Ejogo.

And then besides those two gorgeous and captivating creatures in the lead, and besides Scoot, and on top of the also-cast Stephen Dorff who we've always got a wet dick for, the entire show is being directed by the great Jeremy Saulnier, the director behind Blue Ruin and even better says me Green Room. Green Room is the poo, take a whiff, y'all. I be in.

Good Morning, Scoot

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I've been sitting on this one for a couple weeks but I keep forgetting - so who's watched Godless on Netflix? Any series that starts with Scoot McNairy's Butt in its first ten minutes should probably be a friend of mine but I haven't actually gotten a chance to watch it proper-like yet. The first review I saw of the show complained that for a show supposedly about a town without any men it sure does spend a ton of time with men, and so I was skeptical, but then I saw Scoot's Butt and became Less Skeptical. I will probably give it a whirl during the holidays. The show, I mean - Scoot's Butt itself will presumably remain unavailable, for the time being at least. I just like saying that. Scoot's Butt! Hit the jump for Scoot's Butt!

Good Morning, Gratuitous Mark O'Brien

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I hope nobody considers this a spoiler for Halt and Catch Fire (one can never tell) but I was happy to see Mark O'Brien show up on last week's episode if only for a moment - Cameron's off-again on-again et cetera is always welcome, whether it's in khakis or whether it is out of khakis. Always welcome. I guess he's also on The Last Tycoon with Matt Bomer but I haven't watched that yet, and seeing as how it just got canceled with the release of its first full season I don't know if I will? Did any of you? 

Anyway these pictures are from neither of those projects - these pictures are from the 2015 movie How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town, which has an interesting cast including Jewel Staite from Firefly and Katharine Isabelle from Ginger Snaps and Hannibal, and of course Mark sporting the most gorgeous pasty skin / pedo mustache combo of my dreams. And it seems as if a lot of the action involving him takes place in the company of bookshelves? I gotta watch this movie. Hit the jump for oh about forty more gifs (I maybe got carried away)...

There's No Fighting in the War Machine

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They don't make movies like this anymore. That's all I kept thinking while watching David Michôd's War Machine -- they literally don't make sixty million dollar movies about people standing around talking like this anymore. Four hundred million dollar movies about people wearing capes standing around talking on top of buildings that are crashing to the ground, sure. One million dollar movies about people standing around talking about their broken souls, oh yes. But War Machine is all, nothing, either, or, neither and nor. 

So what works best in its favor is thinking these outside thoughts because then you appreciate the movie more than you appreciate the movie on its own modest terms. Knowing that Netflix mustered up this budget and made this movie happen with a stellar cast who we like to see stand around and talk and with a fine director like Michôd makes me want to look for things to like. 

It isn't a monstrous task! The movie's amiable and moves at a brisk enough pace. It has a... nice personality, in other words. A razor sharp satire about modern war... notsomuch. It likes its enemy too much. But as a gingerly step in the right direction War Machine manages to untangle some thorny knots about the absurd emptiness of the "winning" mindset. It should probably be angrier. There's a nice intrusion of anger - delivered genially and shaped like Tilda Swinton - for a hot minute that's worth its weight in Swinton. But the movie's more sad than anything, and I just don't know if "sad" is what any of us are quite looking for right this moment.
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