Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Cassie: I don't get you, Ennis del Mar.

Ennis: I'm sorry. Was probably no fun anyway, was I?

Cassie: Ennis, girls don't fall in love with fun!

Pretty sure that every gay man who's been closeted for any portion of their life has had some variation on this exact conversation with a girl who had a crush on them -- I remember a couple from high school and oof, those memories are excriutiating. My sincerest apologies to all of those women today. It's a fuck-ton of a situation. 

Anyway that scene is just one of many scenes in Brokeback (every single scene actually) that rings painfully true. And it seems kismet to me that I highlight it today since it's Linda Cardellini's 50th (!!!) birthday today and I was just talking (see below) about what a stunning performance she gives in her handful of scenes in this film the other day, when I saw this on the big screen over the weekend for its 20th anniversary. (There's an entire thread at Bluesky surrounding the below post, if you're so inclined.) 

Also justice for Linda Cardellini who never gets talked about giving one of the great performances in this movie but surely does

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) June 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM

Anyway the movie still stuns but I felt downright lousy I'd forgotten Cardellini's wonderful work entirely since the last time I watched the movie (which was probably about a decade ago -- it's hard to re-watch! It hurts!) -- the main foursome's turns just all loom so large. Or if I start thinking about smaller roles I wander off thinking about Jake & David Harbour eye-fucking each other as Anna Faris hilariously blathers on. Good goddamn the sexual tension in that scene is still off the charts...

Let's Do the Brokeback Again

I can't imagine any of my readers don't already know that this year marks the 20th anniversary of Ang Lee's masterpiece Brokeback Mountain and that it's getting re-released into movie theaters for the ocassion -- in case you haven't already bought your tickets and gotten your Jack Twist cosplay prepped here is a link for the former endeavor anyway. And Focus just dropped the above new poster for the occasion as well. I like that Jack & Ennis actually get to touch now here 20 years later, as opposed to the original one-sheet (seen below). That's called progress! Anyway this movie and MNPP itself are pretty inextricably linked -- we just celebrated our 20th anniversary and my writing about Brokeback is what originally got people coming over here to visit. (Notably my pal Nathaniel Rogers at The Film Experience became a fan and so I started writing for him and yadda yadda here we are.) If you click that last link and keep scanning through the many many pages you'll see -- we've been talking these beautiful sad boys for twenty straight (ahem) years. I don't expect that to quit either. Because why? Say it with me! We don't know how to quit them!

Feast On This

Having missed Spa Night when it came out in 2016 I only came around to writer-director Andrew Ahn when I saw his 2019 film Driveways at Tribeca that year. But that movie stirred something deep in me (see my review here) so I've been ecstatic to see bigger name actors running wildly toward Ahn ever since -- in 2022 with his sweet queer comedy Fire Island and now this past weekend his updated re-do of Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet, which on paper feels blasphemous but in practice is turned into a glorious ode to queer family by Ahn. The new film stars Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie-Tran, Han Gi-Chan (seen above, a real revelation in the swoon department), Joan Chen, and Youn Yuh-jung, and as I say in my just-dropped review of the film over at Pajiba -- everybody's great in it but it's Youn who steals the whole thing, giving a performance I immediately fell head over heels for. I love this even more than the performance in Minari that she won her Oscar for (and I loved that movie and that performance). All around another grand success for Ahn, and for the rest of us a soothing super-gay balm in trying times. A warm and funny gift of a film!

A Banquet of Beauties

Since I'm covering Sundance virtually this year there are a few choice titles I am missing out on that I'm extremely -- to put it mildly -- bummed about missing. And right up there at the tippy top is writer-director Andrew Ahn's re-working of Ang Lee's film The Wedding Banquet. I told you about this movie back in April of last year -- it stars Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Youn Yuh-jung, Joan Chen (Josie Packard!!!), and the stunning Han Gi-Chan seen above leaning on Bowen's shoulder but we owe ourselves a better look at him, we do:

Swoon. Anyway Ahn (one of MNPP's favorite young filmmakers who's previously gifted us with Spa Night, my beloved Driveways, and the gay rom-com Fire Island) has remodeled Lee's story for 2025 in ways I won't dive into because everyone should just watch the movie and experience it. But I'm going to trip over that exact statement now by sharing the first teaser for the movie anyway because I live in a constant state of hypocrisy. Just don't watch this thing I am posting if you don't want to know like I said you shouldn't!

Thankfully we don't have ages upon ages to wait for the film even if we're missing out on it right this minute -- it is hitting theaters on April 18th! I think we'll probably survive at least that long (fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc) so let's go add this one to all of our calendars. And you can see the poster and several more images from the film right on here after the jump...

Brokeback Mounts a 4K Edition

We are inexplicably roaring toward the 20th anniversary of Brokeback Mountain next year and just in time to celebrate the film is getting remastered for top-shelf 4K sadness by the wonderful folks over at Kino Lorber -- click here to pre-order the disc, which is out on June 25th. I started this here website in 2005, just a few months before Brokeback came out, and I can sort of credit that movie with starting my "career" (such as it is) since writing about it was how I started making contacts and friends and gaining readers here on the internet. Hard to believe it's almost been two decades of this nonsense! But at least when movies like Brokeback or Call Me By Your Name come along they inspire me to maybe be a little less nonsensical and share something genuine with y'all. Awwww, feelings! G'bless. I haven't watched Brokeback since... well since they last screened it at FLC, I think in 2017? Honestly seeing it on the big screen is such an overwhelming experience and it'd lost none of its power -- it's not a movie I can watch often but I can't imagine this new 4K restoration won't make the big-screen rounds and I expect to be sitting there with my moist tissues all over again. 

A Brand New Wedding Banquet

I sent this news story to myself two nights ago meaning to post about it but so goes my brain, forever distracted by shiny things -- anyway you have maybe heard by now but Fire Island and Driveways director Andrew Ahn (longtime MNPP fave) is remaking (sort of) Ang Lee's classic 1993 queer rom-com The Wedding Banquet! You'll understand why I say "sort of" when I share the plot, but before that -- this news comes along with a stellar name cast: Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Joan Chen, and Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung! There's only one person who hasn't been cast yet and that's the hot Korean guy named Min who's at the center of everything, aka the role that was played by hot Winston Chao in Lee's movie. 

Mmm Winston. Anyway those are a lot of names of actors when the main roles in Ang Lee's original film didn't contain that many characters, which is where the "sort of" with regards to this being a remake comes in -- this version's plot has some extra complications. The plot:

"The plot revolves around Min, whose marriage proposal is rejected by his boyfriend Chris (Yang). Min then convinces his best friend Angela (Marie Tran) to marry him for his green card and offers to pay for the IVF treatment of the latter’s partner, Liz (Gladstone), in return. Although Min and Angela plan a “subtle city hall elopement,” their lives are turned upside down when the former’s grandmother arrives in Seattle to throw them an extravagant Korean wedding banquet."

I think Ahn's making smart choices here, beefing up the life of the female character with her own romance -- the fact that it's bringing legend Lily Gladstone along for the ride is just bonus. Okay it's a really really exciting bonus. Now we just wait to see who Ahn casts as Min... and might I make a suggestion: 

After Past Lives I need all the Teo Yoo I can get. That said I think he's straight (actually I have no idea) and I wouldn't be surprised if Ahn is looking for a openly queer actor. So any suggestions?

Quote of the Day

"Back then, [‘Brokeback Mountain’] had a ceiling. We got a lot of support — up to that much... It has that feeling. I wasn’t holding a grudge or anything. It’s just how they were."

For some reason today IndieWire chatted with Ang Lee about Brokeback's bullshit Oscar loss for Best Picture to a piece of shit in 2005 -- the 20th anniversary's not til next year, guys! -- and he nails the fact that in 2005 they still weren't gonna go that gay yet. Look at all the LGBT actors who've won since then... crickets... anyway at the link he also tells a devastating story (which he laughs about now) about how a stage-hand kept him backstage after winning Best Director because everybody was assuming he was about to head right on back out for the Best Picture statue... SIGH. He might be able to laugh about it now but I am still coping.

Jake is Prime Beef

Oooh okay it's a "two Jake Gyllenhaal posts in a row" kinda day -- I can roll with that, even if it's a Monday. If we can redefine "a case of the Mondays" to mean "non-stop Jake day" then we'll have fixed the world. Anyway I am sure y'all recall that GQ Korea photo-shoot of Jake that I shared last week -- well they posted a video of the shoot over the weekend and unlike this morning when I skimped on making gifs for Aaron Taylor-Johnson, I did not skimp on the gifs this afternoon with Jake. 

It's a gif-o-rama! But gifs are not the entire reason we're here -- there is Jake News too! Well a rumor anyway, but a killer rumor we're hoping comes true. Deadline's reporting that the second season of Beef -- the show that starred Steven Yeun and Ali Wong and just spent all awards season racking up the awards -- is going to be about two warring couples, and those couples might be played by Charles Melton & Cailee Spaeny (so excellent in Priscilla) and... drumroll please... Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway!

Brokeback reunion y'all! And that's before we even get to the "Jake Gyllenhaal warring with Charles Melton" sexiness apocalypse. Funny enough I was just thinking about Jake in relation to his Brokeback cast-mates a few days ago -- specifically I was thinking I wish he'd do something with Michelle Williams again.  I feel like I haven't seen the two of them in each other's company in a long time and was worried there's a rift (as much as I can or should worry about total strangers anyway). He is the godfather to Michelle & Heath's daughter Matilda though. Maybe they just keep their shit private, and more power to them if that's the case! I just miss my Jack Nasty s'all.

Anyway Jake & Anne have of course worked together since Brokeback -- perhaps I should have called this a "Love & Other Drugs reunion"! Now there's a forgotten movie. Which is a shame because Jake is fucking fire in that -- see some memorable photos of said fire here. It's an under-appreciated movie though, and Jake & Anne obviously have wonderful chemistry, and I adore this Beef rumor. Let's make it happen. And let's pretend that we can will it into being by hitting the jump and saying a prayer to the streaming gods right now over all of my beautiful Jake gifs...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Ennis: If you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it.

Today would've been Heath Ledger's 44th birthday.

What a loss. Click here for a good piece on his legacy.

My Babies Be Hitting 4K!

On November 22nd, just in time for them there holidays, Sony Pictures Classics will be releasing a great big fancy boxed-set of eleven movies in 4K UHD, many of them exclusives meaning only available this way in this boxed-set, and the list of titles included has got me running around the room making crazy person noises. Top of tops there's Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name, first and foremost. But there's also Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, there's also Pedro Almodovar's Volver, there's also Orlando and Run Lola Run and The Devil's Backbone and The Celluloid Closet and City of Lost Children and there is also Charlie Kaufman's mf-ing Synecdoche New York! Have I been leaving my body at night to float into another person's body who works at Sony in order to choose this selection myself or what? Is that why I am always so tired? I have a secret flip life making blu-ray boxed-sets??? You can pre-order the set at this link -- for more specifics head over to the fine folks at High Def Disc News, where I found this info first.

Cowboys on the Verge of a Nervous Ho-Down

Later this year Pedro Almodóvar has announced he will be directing a 30-minute Gay Western -- what he calls his "answer to Brokeback Mountain," which he almost made before Ang Lee -- called Strange Way of Life, which will star Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal. Indiewire has an interview with Almodóvar all about it -- he's talked in the past about why he turned down Brokeback, because he knew Hollywood wasn't going to let him make the super sexy cowboy fuck-fest he saw in his head. And Strange Way appears to be his chance at finally making his Gay Western... although if it'll be a fuck-fest we've yet to see. Here's what Almodóvar will share:

"He was reticent to reveal too many details about the storyline, but said that Hawke plays a sheriff named Jake, while Pascal will be the gunslinger Silva, and the characters live on opposing sides of the desert. The pair haven’t seen each other in 25 years. “So one of them travels through the desert to find the other,” Almodóvar said. “There will be a showdown between them, but really the story is very intimate.” Could it even be…romantic? Almodóvar chuckled. “You can guess,” he said. “I mean, masculinity is one of the subjects of the movie.”

He's filming the short in Spain’s Almería region, which is where a bunch of spaghetti westerns were filmed back in the day, but Almodóvar says they aren't an influence on what he's planning. He's filming it later this year before he gets to work on his full-length English-language feature-debut, the one with Cate Blanchett that I told you about previously. Now I suppose we will just wait and see if Pedro Pascal will go and give any interviews about his personal life in relation to this, long sigh inserted here for purposeful effect...

The Early Hands of Ang Lee

Just when you think you've seen every Ang Lee movie, they go and pull one out that you've never seen! Granted the fact that I'd never seen Lee's first film Pushing Hands -- a 1991 immigrant dramedy about an elderly tai chi master (Sihung Lung) moving from Beijing to live with his Americanized son in New York -- was always only an IMDb search away, but now I know and I didn't have to do any work to find it out and that's what really matters. The fine folks at Film Movement are putting the film out onto blu-ray tomorrow, you can buy a copy here and here is the trailer:

Have any of you seen this one? First films by even the greatest of directors can always be a toss-up but I don't think I've ever seen one that isn't at least interesting in the ways it hints at where the director will be going in their careers. And with a director as notoriously genre-hopping as Ang I think you can still sense glimmers of his fascinations-to-be revealing themselves in this. Anyway I only recently filled in what I thought was the last gap in Ang's filmography for me, having watched Eat Drink Man Woman at the start of the pandemic, so I'm happy to have one more early example of the master's work to pore over. I miss this light humanist version of his filmmaking, and wish he'd circle back to small movies again. 

Saddle Up, Movie Lovers

Not that it's ever a good time to not think about Brokeback, but I've definitely had Ang Lee's 2005 gay cowboy masterpiece on my brain more often than not over the past few months thanks to Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog and the awards conversation surrounding that film over the past few months -- so what a wonderful coincidence that we're all about to have the opportunity to see Brokeback on a big screen again! It's the 20th anniversary of Focus Features this year, and they're going to be screening several of their classic films at AMC theaters around the U.S. to celebrate that -- from April 29th through may 5th there will be five dollar screenings of Brokeback, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Atonement, and several more magical motion pictures -- you can check out AMC's site here for more info. And there's a trailer, too!

If you hit the jump I have the full press release...

Quote of the Day

"I’ve chosen a lot of characters through many years to search through things, ideas, feelings. I think expression is life-saving. It breaks my heart that it’s not available to everyone. Ang Lee once said that we pretend in telling stories to get closer to the truth. It’s something that stuck with me and I think about often. I think that’s why we all love watching movies."

Not a big surprise that in the conversation between Jake Gyllenhaal and Lady Gaga that Variety conducted this week the latter dominated the conversation and so there wasn't much quote-wise for me to grab from the only reason I was reading the damn thing (i.e. Jake). But we did get the above bit of loveliness and it ain't nothing. Gaga tried at the end to toss me a bone with her Donnie Darko adoration but, having had to wade through her self-seriousness about killing children with Matt Bomer on American Horror Story for god's sake, twas too late far too little.

Go Kyung-Pyo Eight Times

Today's big news, worthy of its own post really, is the news that Parasite director Bong Joon-ho has just announced his next movie and it will be his first English-language film and it will star Robert f'ing Pattinson. Deadline has all the deets but the gist is its an adaptation of a book called Mickey7 that has not come out yet -- it's a sci-fi novel about space travel and clones that's out in February, read the plot or pick up a copy at this link. Anyway that's the actual news, but whenever I read about Bong it makes me think about my actual favorite South Korean director, Park Chan-wook, and ask myself when the hell are we gonna get his next thing?!? It's been six years since his last film The Handmaiden came out and four since his miniseries The Little Drummer Girl, and it's been a year and a half since his to-be-next project was announced -- called Decision To Leave it stars Lust Caution's great Tang Wei, and the fella you see here named Go Kyung-Pyo...

... and the actor Park Hae-il, who's actually previously worked with Bong Joon-ho a lot (he was in Memories of Murder and The Host). I know the story is about a detective (Hae-il) investigating a widow for possibly murdering her husband -- I wonder if Go (who's a comedian and TV star I think mainly) is playing the dead husband? Anyway IMDb thankfully has this movie listed as "Filming" so maybe we will finally get a new Park Chan-wook movie dammit. That's all I want. Well that's not true -- also I want to look at this photoshoot of Go Kyung-Pyo looking bright and goofy for Esquire. Hit the jump for it...

Quote of the Day

Over the weekend I shared two batches of Jake Gyllenhaal photos with y'all -- right here and right here -- which you maybe missed since I never post on the weekend and you'd be rightly inclined to not visit over the weekend due to that fact. I like to keep ya on yer toes, baby! Anyway the photos were for the Sunday Times but I hadn't been able to read the interview because paywalled -- thankfully some quotes have been snatched up by other outlets, and here's a choice bit from Mr. G on Brokeback Mountain (via), specifically whether he thinks a movie about a gay relationship could be cast with two straight actors today:

"Aaahh. I don’t know. Maybe? Part of the medicine of storytelling is that we were two straight guys playing these parts. There was a stigma about playing a part like that, you know, why would you do that? And I think it was very important to both of us to break that stigma. ... But then again I think that has led the way towards people saying, you know, people of all different experiences should be playing more roles, that it shouldn’t be limited to a small group of people. And I believe that. But at the same time, I was very proud to be in that space and to be given that opportunity. And the reaction from the majority of the gay community when the movie came out, I got this sort of — we both did, everyone in the movie — we got this overwhelming sense of open-heartedness and gratitude.”

I think we all have confused and contradictory opinions on this subject because there is no hard answer -- I think it just depends on the situation, and he's right that it was a huge deal in 2005, these name actors taking on these gay roles. You had to be there. And I wouldn't give up Jake or Heath's performances, or Timothee Chalamet's performance in Call Me By Your Name, for the world. But of course LGBT actors need better, fairer opportunities, and there's not nothing to the lived-in experience that they'd bring to these roles. I mean just think how much better the world would be without having been forced to suffer through James Corden in The Prom? 

Anyway that subject's been talked to damned death, even by me, so let's move on. Jake's new movie The Guilty is playing here in NYC right now -- I didn't go but he did a big Q&A at The Paris Theater (speaking of Call Me By Your Name) this past weekend, which is what the above photo is from -- and hits Netflix on Friday; I reviewed it right here when it played TIFF a few weeks back. He's very good in it, while the movie itself is fine. It's fine. See it for Jake, Jake's biceps, and you'll be happy. On the Netflix front there's yet another chat with Jake at that streamer's new magazine called Queue, which is what the top photo is coming at us from, and I have two more below along with some photos of him rocking his pink tux at the Tonys too!  Hit the jump for them...

Quote of the Day

“Maybe it’s because of my childhood background, which made me distance myself from people,” he says. “Since then, I’ve learned to find something that I really enjoy doing whilst I’m alone. Because you cannot always rely on being with people to feel happy, right?”

The legend Tony Leung was interviewed by GQ magazine this month -- because of his role in Marvel's Shang-Chi movie, and also because he's Tony fucking Leung and don't you forget it. Ever the mystery man the quotes they get from Tony seem kind of few and far between in the piece but I have to admit I found the stuff about his lonely childhood, after his father left, pretty moving and relatable, especially the bit above. Go check it out! And I've got the full photoshoot for y'all after the jump...

Lust AND Caution? In This Economy?

Lust Caution Hive, unite! It is finally our time! Okay I don't actually know if I have a full Hive to celebrate this with me, but if there is make yourselves known! Ang Lee's gloriously underrated 2007 erotic-thriller, which stars Tony Leung and Tang Wei (who should have won all the awards that year) as a pair of lie-tellers with hard-ons for one another during WWII, is getting a fancy blu-ray edition at last. It's one of Ang Lee's best films and did not get the proper attention it deserved at the time at all. Hitting on March 30th -- pre-order it right here! -- the fine folks at Kino Lorber have put together what looks like a premiere U.S. edition, loaded with extras, which I'll share right on after the jump...

And With That, Happy 40 to Jake Gyllenhaal

After a full week of celebrating Jake Gyllenhaal, this is it and it is here, folks -- it's his 40th birthday today! We've come so far! You shoulder never ever underestimate my ability to stretch my Jake Gyllenhaal obsession unto total annihilation for all parties involved. On that note, even though I recapped the entire week as it went along, it just feels right to give us a round-up of everything in one final post. So here be links to all of Jake Week!

Day 1: Jake's Finest Nutters

Day 2: Jake's Best Costumes

Day 3: Jake's Best Nudity

Day 4: Jake's Best Partners

Day 5: Jake's Best Movies, Ranked!

I also included some bonus content in the Twitter thread I kept up all week for this series, so make sure you click over and check that out. There are very important pieces of the puzzle to be seen therein. Very important! 

I truly should have made this holy rectangle of space the site's banner for this week pic.twitter.com/OmHOGO68oa

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 18, 2020

Anyway I live in abject terror every day of my life that my fanboying over Jake will ever be seen by his own big beautiful eyeballs so god forbid he read this message himself, but we here at MNPP truly do wish him the best 40th birthday. He's been my favorite actor for 19 years and counting, and I don't foresee that changing any time soon. He continues to challenge himself and do strong, interesting work, and the projects he's got lined up on IMDb (all of which we've covered in minute detail already, of course) all sound like shit I wanna watch. Good work, and Happy Birthday, You.

And now a bonus! Because I am incapable of ever stopping. And also y'all deserve a treat after all this rambling. I noticed when I worked on the nudity list on Wednesday that Jake has a nude scene I've somehow never posted here on the site, which... well, that is a truly, wildly inexplicable thing. It's from Velvet Buzzsaw, he does the cutest little "hey here's my butt" waddle, and I've got the whole thing giffed right on after the jump...

10 Off My Head: Jake the Top

If you haven't been here all week... what, you have something better to do? You know we are in the middle of a pandemic, right? We're in the middle of a pandemic, it's literally life or death out there, and you still can't come to MNPP before Friday? I mean, I am trying to not be offended here. Trying, but failing. It's fine. It's fine. Whatever. I'll carry on. So like I was saying, if you haven't been here all week to see it, because you've been, I don't know, preferring to stare at the wall then read all my hard work or whatever, then you've missed that I've spent all week celebrating the 40th birthday of the actor Jake Gyllenhaal, which is tomorrow. 

I've been celebrating with lists! Ridiculous lists! Monday I did his best nutbag roles, Tuesday I did his greatest costumes, Wednesday I went lascivious and stared at his bum a bunch, and yesterday I picked his best screen partners. For today, our final day, I figured I'd better go big or go home. I mean I'd love to go home. Did I mention the pandemic? We should all be home. But I digress. Here on our last day of list-making I challenged myself to a most painful proposition. I have decided to not just pick my ten favorite Jake movies... BUT TO RANK THEM. Oh my god this one hurt, you guys. I am bloody, my brains are battered, and all for your entertainment. Enjoy!

My 10 Favorite Jake Gyllenhaal Movies... Ranked!!!

10. Jarhead (dir. Sam Mendes)

9. Okja (dir. Bong Joon-ho)

8. Source Code (dir. Duncan Jones)

7. The Sisters Brothers (dir. Jacques Audiard)

6. Zodiac (dir. David Fincher)

5. Wildlife (dir. Paul Dano)

4. Donnie Darko (dir. Richard Kelly)

3. Nightcrawler (dir. Dan Gilroy)

2. Enemy (dir. Denis Villenueve)

1. Brokeback Mountain (dir. Ang Lee)

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

That number one was obvious from outer space, I'm sure.

Now tell me yours in the comments...