A Call Me By Your Name Mystery

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This post's title has me imagining a series of CMYBN sequel books where Elio becomes a Jessica Fletcher type, solving mysteries around gorgeous rural Italy while fucking peaches on the side -- needless to say I would read the hell out of that series. But the actual 'Call Me By Your Name' Mystery is why the Sony Classics Instagram account posted the above video this afternoon with the caption "Tomorrow..." It's not any sort of CMBYN anniversary -- personally I'm thinking they might be announcing a standalone copy of the film in 4K. It's already gotten a 4K release inside of Sony's great big box-set alongside a pile of other amazing movies, but it is really overdue its own separate release. Maybe even one with a bunch of new special features! That would rule. It is crazy to realize that the movie is turning 10 in January, counting from its premiere at Sundance in January of 2017. A standalone 4K in time for that 10th anniversary makes a lot of sense. But who knows! Could be something else. I have no idea what that would be (a new vinyl of the soundtrack?) but I guess we'll find out tomorrow! I have long given up on a sequel ever happening. Although I did discover, while looking around just now, that a graphic novel of André Aciman's book IS coming out this August, which was news to me. I don't think that's what Sony is posting about but we'll see. Anyway that's out August 11th and you can pre-order it right here. The slutty anime cover-art is sending me lol: 

New Directors 2026 Ahoy

One of my biggest upsets at Sundance this year was missing out on Leviticus, a queer horror film from Australia about conversion therapy and starring Mia Wasikowska -- since I was covering the fest remotely I tried you have no idea how hard I tried to get my hands on a screener but twasn't to be. Anyway I was glad the film was a hit at the fest and immediately got snatched up by Neon, with the intention of releasing it on June 9th, so I didn't have too long to wait -- well now I've got even less time to waste away without it because Leviticus just got announced as the Opening Night Film at this year's annual "New Directors / New Films" festival here in NYC that the fine folks at FLC and MoMA put on together. Hooray for me! The fest, which will run from April 8th through 19th, just this morning announced their full 2026 line-up today and I'll share it down below -- highlights slapping me across the face right off the bat are that and John Early's film Maddie's Secret, which premiered at TIFF last fall and has the comedian satirizing classic Lifetime thrillers and Influencer Culture and could not sound like more my jam. Hit the jump for the full line-up...

Viva Filipiñana's Revolución

Yes I am still doing Sundance reviews! Lucky you people. Over the weekend my take on one of my favorites of the fest dropped -- click on over to Pajiba to read my thoughts on director Rafael Manuel's Filipiñana, a luxuriously filmed class satire set on an extremely hot day at a Filipino country club where the wealth and power disparity between the rich and the poor is baked to a crisp under the sun and the unpsaring glare of the camera. Really great movie and last week it was announced that the folks at Kino Lorber picked it up for a proper release this year so you will be able to see this one eventually! I'll keep my eyes out for it. Terrific flick. 

Good Morning, World

(click to embiggen) It was Moonlight actor Trevante Rhodes' birthday earlier this week and as a gift to the rest of us he shared this selfie yesterday on his Instagram -- good lord almighty can I get an Amen? More like "A Man" when Trevante's involved. "Can I get an A MAN???" Indeed. Anyway I was thinking about Trev before I saw it was his birthday and before I saw this photo because there was a movie at Sundance that was felt Moonlight-adjacent and I now really would like to re-watch Moonlight. It's been ages! Also -- where the fuck is Trevante? Where is my daily pile of fresh Trevante content? More roles for Trevante, you fuckers!

Which is Hotter?

I doubt I'm going to review it at this point but there was a hugely entertaining doc at Sundance called American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez about the activist turned movie-director Luis Valdez that you should keep an eye out for. I didn't know 95% of his story and it's almost Forrest-Gump-ian in the way it weaves through American Latino history... but of course, me being me, my biggest takeaway was a vivid remembering how many times I watched and rewatched his 1987 Ritchie Valens bio-pic La Bamba as a kid because of how extremely hot Lou Diamond Phillips & Esai Morales were in it. Good grief were they a formative pair! (And both of them are interviewed in the doc and they're still, almost 40 years later, hot af.) Anyway I haven't seen La Bamba is decades but as soon as this doc was over I went and grabbed Criterion's recent release and plan on revisiting it, but until then answer me an impossible riddle...

online polls

Good Domhnall Day

Hello and happy Monday, readers. Coming to you mid-afternoon this day one of the week instead of the usual morning thingamajig because I had a screening this morning that I forgot I had until last night (see what it was here!) but otherwise let's just get on with it -- I've got another Sundance review up at Pajiba today -- click on over to read my thoughts on The Incomer, a sweet little dramedy starring Domhnall Gleeson that I enjoyed. As I previously mentioned there wasn't a lot that was "light" at this year's Sundance so I think this one felt like a big needed respite from all of the bad feels. Even as it dealt with suicidal ideation and feelings of isolation. You take what smiles you can find in 2026!

It Ain't Channing's Fault

I would just like to go on the record here upfront that I have been championing Channing Tatum as a talented actor for actual decades now -- I remember seeing him in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints in 2006 and thinking hey, that pretty boy can act. This is all to set off against my pan of his latest movie, the big Sundance winner Josephine, which you can read at Pajiba today -- as of right now I'm one of two negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and by all accounts (other) people really fucking loved this movie so I feel defensive. But I stand by what I said. Which is that this movie is tepid at best. Oh but Chan's not the problem -- he's perfectly respectable -- but since it feels weird to criticize child actors... ahem. I try to step around that as much as possible in my review. I still haven't entirely figured out how to write about what I see as actively bad child performances -- it seems best to lay the blame on those doing the directing and casting and editing when this sort of thing happens. But I'm in a very very very small minority on this one as of right now. This movie won Best U.S. Dramatic Feature AND the Audience Award at Sundance. I don't in the slightest get it but whatcha gonna do... besides post a hot picture of Chan and move it right along.

Sick in Mind and Body and Soul

So far we're three for three in using the word "Sundance" in today's posts at least once -- let's see if we can keep it up all day long! What a fun game that will be. For me. Only me. So my first Sundance (maybe we should all scream like it's the "word of the day" on Pee-wee's Playhouse?) review dropped yesterday -- it's of the erotic-thriller-ish film Night Nurse and you can read it right now at Pajiba. Or maybe you already read it yesterday -- I don't have a camera trained on your backside at all times, how would I know? Anyway it's a weird little movie and y'all know how weird's my bag so I dug it. Good movie from a first-time filmmaker!

It's Always Sundance Here in My Pants

Well that's that, me and Jacob Elordi and hopping in our pants-free vehicle and making our way on up to the virtual mountains of Sundance for the next week! As mentioned previously I'll be off-blog from tomorrow through next Wednesday watching and watching and watching some more movies on Sundance's virtual platform, with some reviews to come thereafter or abouts. If you're curious you too can watch some movies virtually, check their website for info. I can't really say what's worth watching yet because I've only watched a couple of screeners so far, but keep your eyes on my socials -- especially Letterboxd where I'm keeping an ongoing list of what I'm seeing -- as well as Pajiba where my reviews will mostly be dropping. I will surely eventually disseminate that information across all the usual places. And no, addressing the Elordi-shaped elephant in the room (really more of a giraffe if we're talking zoo animals) -- there is no Jacob Elordi movie showing at Sundance this year -- I just liked that picture up top too much not to post it. Have a good week!

I Still Want Your Sex

THR has a great big piece today on Gregg Araki's return to filmmaking after a decade, I Want Your Sex which is premiering at Sundance this weekend -- the film stars Olivia Wilde as a provocative L.A.-based artist and Cooper Hoffman as her young assistant slash sexual conquest, and it'll surely be a button-pusher. I know I am feeling my button pushed by the photo down below of a Cooper & half-naked Mason Gooding hang-out! Anyway I'm trying to not be too bitter that I'm not able to see this since I'm only covering Sundance virtually this year and not in person, but... oh let's say I am not succeeding at that and leave it at that. So let's just enjoy this first batch of photos after the jump...

Alexander Skarsgård Five Times

I've been curious to see how much press Alexander Skarsgård does for his gay "dom-com" Pillion now that it's finally finally finally getting released in the U.S. in exactly one month -- he did so much endless and admirable shilling for it across the fall with the the festivals and then its U.K. release that I was afraid he might be burned out. But he's landed on the cover of Variety today talking the wonderful film -- my review from NYFF can be read right here -- and I think that it helps that he's also promoting The Moment, Charli XCX's movie that's about to premiere at Sundance. It's not overkill -- it's due diligence! Anyway he's Alex, he looks as ever gorgeous, and so we share the photos! Hit the jump...

Good Morning, World

Ransom Canyon and The Long Walk actor Garrett Wareing has proven exceptionally good at getting and holding [ed. I've got something he can hold] The Gays' attention even without a big heap of projects to flesh [ed. did somebody say flesh?] out all this attention -- drop a heap of pictures of yourself at some beach, rinse and repeat every couple of weeks. So it goes with his New Years vacation, which he seems to've spent in a constant state of undress in Hawaii, and g'bless Garrett. That said I should be seeing him in another thing soon -- he's in the new movie from Madeline's Madeline director  Josephine Decker called Chasing Summer which will be screening at Sundance in a couple oif weeks! As a great big fan of Decker's work (and Garrett's furry chest) you can believe I'll report back on that when the time's come.  Until then we'll keep our eyes on the furry prize after the jump...

Cruise This Movie

We're coming up on a year since I reviewed the movie out of Sundance -- read that review right here -- and director Carmen Emmi's wonderful and moving gay drama Plainclothes is hitting blu-ray today. Pick up your copy right here. Russell Tovey plays a cruising dude who cruises into undercover cop Tom Blyth's bathroom stall, catching his eye and all his other body parts, in 1990s Syracuse. And as I say in my review -- it sure is weird to see a period piece made about a time and a place you were a part of! Not that I was picking up Russell Toveys in the mall bathroom... unfortunately. Life would've been way easier had I been! 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Kaboom (2010)

Stella: It's a well known fact that your dreams are

just your brain taking a dump

at the end of the day. They don't mean anything.

It's wild that Gregg Araki's Kaboom turned 15 this year, isn't it? WILD. But that's not why we're here -- we're here (and we're queer) because it's Gregg Araki's birthday today! His 66th if you can believe that shit -- and knowing him (via his movies only, unfortunately) he's probably excited about the whole devil number thing. As excited as any gay man can be about turning 66 I suppose but hey, dude's been looking 20 years younger for decades -- he's winning.

Anyway I've seen stills from the above 1992 interview with Araki (because he looks extremely slutty and hot in it) but never the entire interview, so finding out that somebody uploaded the entire thing onto YouTube is a treat! I'll watch that over my lunch-break and you should join me. 2026 will bring us Araki's first film since White Bird in a Blizzard ELEVEN years ago -- his perfect series Now Apocalypse is sandwiched in between there but it's still a nightmare of an extended break from having Araki-goodness in our lives so let's hope that I Want Your Sex is the start of a fresh cycle of movies.

I was actually forced to delete my post sharing that image from IWYS last week via an actual email from an actual fucking lawyer -- I think it was Sundance freaking out about the image leaking a day early but I didn't leak it! It was everywhere. But there it is now, reposted, now that Sundance has had their EXCLUSIVE (not exclusive) day in the sun with it. Can't wait to see the movie anyway! And in summation, will somebody put Kaboom out on 4K (or even just blu-ray) already? It's another movie of Araki's that's gone totally under-served on physical media -- it's ridiculous how much a pain in the ass they're still making it to watch his movies properly! Thank the heavens for the box-set of his "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy" that Criterion finally dropped after years of my shrieking about it.)

Tom Blyth Eight Times

Just a quick heads-up before I run out the door for that Pillion screening I mentioned this morning that what's probably my second favorite gay movie of 2025, the 90s set drama Plainclothes starring Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey, has gotten a blu-ray drop date! It's hitting physical media on January 6th and you can pre-order it right at this link. And if you need me to make my case on why it's so good that it's worth buying read my review at Pajiba from when it screened at Sundance forever ago. And bonus, this gives me a good excuse to post this photoshoot of the beautifully pillow-lipped Mr. Blyth for Sharp magazine (via) that I missed several weeks back -- everybody wins. Hit the jump for them all...

Quick Me on Train Dreams & Wicked 2

Train Dreams -- It's not often that I have a completely different opinion when I see a movie a second time than I did the first, and so it feels important to note when it does happen. And it very much happened with Train Dreams, Jockey director Clint Bentley's Malick-ified adaptation of Denis Johnson's book and starring Joel Edgerton as an old-timety railroad worker, on Netflix today. I saw it an Sundance in January and got swept up in the current of its lush visuals and lyrical score (from The National's Bryce Dressner), plus its fine clear-eyed close-mouthed turn from Joel Edgerton. It wasn't enough of a love affair that I felt the need to write a review at the time, but I thought my heart might grow fonder down the line. 

This was not the case -- a re-watch a couple of weeks ago was like a gust of tornado winds splitting through its smoke, and all that was left rang hollow; an ash-heap where a forest once stood. It was as if the film rotated ninety degrees and revealed cardboard backing. It's got the appearance of meaning that reveals itself to be thimble-deep, like a video of somebody diving into a gorgeous lake only to break their neck on the rocks mere inches beneath its serence surface. (The score, on its own merits, still rules though.) 

Wicked For Good -- Nobody should be coming to me for opinions of the Wicked movies, since this shit was always gonna be straight-up me-kryptonite from the start. And yet -- wow! This movie is really, really bad! Far worse than the already awful first one, which at least had a sense of humor, best embodied by Ariana Grande's fluffy little performance therein. This one doesn't even have the decency to have a plot, or "things that happen" -- humorless, tuneless, meandering flying-monkey malarkey, it feels like one terrible song about how a character feels piled on top of another one piled on top of another one until every iota of your patience has been crushed to yellow dust for that endless CG stretch of brick road. Bury beneath it and be done with me! In a better world people would be embarrassed. But, in the spirit of giving, I'll end on the one highlight:

There is this one shot of Jonathan Bailey in Wicked For Good, and you'll know the one when you see it, that is utter pornography, just absolute unhinged filth, and it made all of it worthwhile

— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) November 16, 2025 at 4:37 PM

RIP Robert Redford

I'm not gonna lie -- I've never been the world's biggest Redford fan. Note that he doesn't have a tag here on the site (even though he's come up plenty of times given his well-earned prominence in Hollywood history) -- it would probably be fair of me to go back and re-watch the movies of his I saw decades ago wherein I decided he didn't do much for me. Especially All the President's Men, which I have a feeling might resonate with me more today than it did when I was like 18 in the 90s. I did recently see Three Days of the Condor for the first time and... yeah. I still didn't get much from Redford. And let's state the obvious -- in movies like The Sting and Butch & Sundance I was just staring at Paul Newman. And I do want you to know I'm not talking specifically about attractiveness here -- I'm speaking more generally. As a performer he usually left me cold. I realize this is a shitty eulogy for the man, so I admit I nevertheless couldn't understate his importance to the film industry. I am not an idiot! Sundance and what it stood for, how it reshaped the entire industry, is a legacy above and beyond any quibbles I might have with what I personally was getting from him on-screen. He was a titan and more than earned his status. Also -- Quiz Show and Ordinary People are pretty much perfect films. No quibbling on that front. But please, to those of you who felt the Redford love, express it to me in the comments. I want to understand. What performances of his moved you? I'm not being incredulous or antagonistic here in the slightest -- I really do want to hear about it so when I re-watch some of this stuff I can try to find my way to a better appreaciation. 

I ❤️ LURKER

The queer-ish stalker thriller Lurker starring Archie Madekwe and Théodore Pellerin has been out in theaters for a couple of weeks now -- have you been able to see it yet? I dug it a whole bunch when I saw it at Sundance earlier this year -- if you missed my review you can read it right here. Who didn't miss my review? The PR people apparently,. because they went and used one of my quotes in an ad for the movie! We all know I'm a sucker for blurb-whoring so well here we are. This was actually from a couple of weeks ago but I missed it until today when my fellow Pajiba contributor Kayleigh alerted me to it -- their campaign has been clever, using modern technology prompts as advertising tools; here tis:

Archie & Theo 4Eva

A movie I liked very much when I saw it at Sundance earlier this year is out in theaters tomorrow -- it's called Lurker and it stars Théodore Pellerin and Archie Madekwe as a stalker and the singer he stalks respectively. You can read my review right here. I've posted about it a bunch since then -- you can watch the trailer right here -- since it's deeply fucked up in several of my favorite delightful ways and I can't wait for y'all to see it. As for right now why not watch this "deleted scene" that the official Instagram account for the movie just shared of our lead twosome being very intimate? To get yourselves in the mood, of course. What mood, well I suppose that's up to you!

Yessir Mister Plainclothes

Sure enough as mentioned in our last post the trailer for Plainclothes has also arrived today -- the closeted cop drama starring Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey is hitting theaters on September 19th and you can watch the trailer down below. Here is my Sundance review of the movie, which hit me with a whallop given it's set in Syracuse New York in the 1990s aka where and when I grew up and got good and gay. A really special movie, and Tom Blyth and Maria Dizzia as his mom in particular give wonderful performances. Watch it!

Okay here's one more gif, just cuz: