Pics of the Day

Looks like there's some sexy Y Tu Mama shit going down on the second season of The Night Manager, if these just dropped photos via Vanity Fair are anything to go by. That's the series' lead Tom Hiddleston on the left with actress Camila Morrone in the center and our boy Diego Calva on the right, and do note how he's getting a little manhandled by Tommy. You can see Diego clearer in the photo below. Any fans of the first series of this show? I liked it a lot but I will probably have to go back and re-watch it, I remember very little except for Tom Hollander trying to eat Tom Hiddleston's dick inside a restaurant. You don't forget that sorta thing.

Leo Woodall Five Times

Last week a reader sent me a message asking how many posts it takes for an actor to get a tag here on the site, and it was specifically in reference to our boy Leo Woodall here -- I answered what I usually answer with that question, i.e. that it takes several photoshoots and some buzz. But it didn't occur to me in that moment that we'd immediately be barraged with Leo photoshoots (see also yesterday's shoot) thanks to his One Day show on Netflix, and so -- ta-dah, I give you the post that earned Leo his own tag here on the site. These are for Interview Magazine, where they have him chatting with his White Lotus co-star Tom Hollander (you might remember Tom getting fucked by his "nephew" Leo on that show), and you can hit the jump for the lot...

And The Award Goes To... Queens!

News today has been coming hot and heavy and I've been straaaaaining to keep up -- I haven't even gotten around to that news about a new season of Feud being directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Tom Hollander as Truman Capote alongside Naomi Watts, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockheart, and Diane Lane as the high society ladies he spurned when he wrote that tell-all back in the 1970s! And I'm not getting to it now either! (Really I just said all that needs to be said though, didn't I? Until we see the damn thing. anyway.) No this post here is to wham-bam out today's announcement from the LGBTQ critic's guild I belong to that we have awarded our TV Awards -- the Dorian TV Awards from GALECA are here, and you can read our entire slate of winners over at The Hollywood Reporter. No I don't have time to get into it too much, but I will say I think we did real good -- especially in the acting prizes, which went to Melanie Lynskey for Yellowjackets and Jennifer Coolidge for The White Lotus, in Lead and Supporting respectively. Queens, deserving queens, all of them queens!

And God Created Adam

I keep hesitating to do individual posts for every cast announcement that the second season of The White Lotus drops because I have a feeling we'll be getting several of these in a short span of time as the series ramps up towards filming and so forth, and so we have -- last week we heard about Michael Imperioli and Aubrey Plaza, and today comes word of four more. But the chance to post the above photo of one of those names, an actor named Adam DiMarco, pushed me over the edge, for uhh extremely visible reasons. Previously seen on a bunch of shows I have never watched -- namely The Order on Netflix and The Magicians on SyFy -- THR in their announcement actually has details on the character he's playing, alongside details on who the other three actors announced today (F. Murray Abraham! Tom Hollander! Haley Lu f'ing Richardson!) will be playing, but I'll refrain from sharing in case y'all wanna go in fresh. I will spoil one thing -- the new season will apparently be filmed somewhere in Italy! Seriously so jealous that Mike White has figured out a way for paid vacations like this, while inviting men like Adam here along, but given all Mike White has gifted us with over the years it couldn't have happened to a more deserving fella. On that note below, from Mr. DiMarco's Instagram, I gift you some more content of note:

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adam DiMarco (@adamdimarco)

A Man For All Kingsmen

.

I always feel as if I'm letting on a horrible secret about myself when I admit I love the Kingsman movies -- as if loving watching Taron Egerton flounce about in tight suits is a sin or something! -- but I do, I love every absurd ounce of them and I don't care who knows it! And so even if the prequel The King's Man won't have Taron I'm still excited... I mean let's be honest, it's not like Beach Rats star Harris Dickinson isn't going to look just fine standing in for him. And hello Djimon Hounsou while we're at it...

Casual reminder that Djimon is 55 fucking years old, y'all. Anyway the movie, which co-stars Ralph Fiennes and Gemma Aterton and Matthew Goode and Stanley Tucci and Daniel Brühl and Tom Hollander and supposedly Aaron Taylor-Johnson although we don't see him anywhere in the trailer...

.

.

... isn't out until Valentine's Day 2020, so we've got a bit of a wait on this one. Just think by then we'll have seen all of the Oscar movies  and be so sick of talking about them -- the Oscars will have aired 5 days previous, on February 9th -- that this will feel like sweet goofy relief. In that vein, of sweet relief, hit the jump for a couple more gifs of Harris & Djimon duking it out in just their high-pants...

Six Six Six Scary Movies in 150 Words or Less

.

I've gotten woefully behind on reviews again (the eternal drum-beat!), nowhere moreso than with a pile-up of horror flicks I've tried to catch up on as the year of 2018 ended. So here are six (natch) quick takes on six (natch) horror or at least horror-adjacent flicks...

The House With a Clock in its Walls -- It's really strange to realize that Eli Roth has now directed a film starring Cate Blanchett, isn't it? And I say that generally as a fan of Eli's work, a stalwart defender of both Hostel films. Do you think Cate sat down and watched Hostel II at some point to familiarize herself with her director? Maybe she's a secret Torture Porn enthusiast! I could totally see that being true. As with all of our great actors she's got a hint of madness in her eyes - it's not too far a stretch to picture Cate getting stoned and cackling as the infamous leg shaving scene happens in Cabin Fever. Does it seem as if I'm avoiding talking about The House With a Clock in it Walls? Yeah you ain't mistaken. Snooze, next. 

Unfriended: Dark Web -- Don't ask me how this franchise turned out actually pretty good, but here we are two movies in and the Unfriended movies have legit burrowed under my skin two times now. (Here's my review of the first one.) This one, as ever the case with horror sequels, feels the need to expand outward from the first one - speaking of Hostel II it kind of has the feeling of that, with a vast conspiracy of crazies (or... you might say... a Dark Web) turning tech on its dumb-dumb users. But conspiracies of crazy people are almost always fundamentally scarier to me than demon possession or ghost infants and this army of hooded google ghouls (Goo-Ghouls?) shiver me timbers. It's clever and mean enough to make you need the lights on later.

The Housemaid -- Jump-scares don't normally get me but there are a couple of fun jump-scares in this atmospheric South-Korean-directed Vietnam-set ghost flick that got me; mostly though it reads as kind of a wan mash-up of The Handmaiden and Ju-on. It's also comically unsexy when it thinks it's being sexy - there are a whole lot of humping scenes in here that're about as hot as swamp butt on a first date. It also suffers from hot fits of non-sensical plotting a la Karyn Kusama's Destroyer that only make sense at the end of the film, but which un-do the viewer's goodwill before the time you get there. You're so irritable at people doing what seem like dumb things at the time that it's hard to work up a care once their actual motivations get unfurled.

New Year, New You -- Not as glimmeringly unnerving as director Sophia Takal's 2016 film Always Shine with Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald was (here's my review of that) but, well, that starred Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald, after all. But Suki Waterhouse fares better here than she did in The Bad Batch I thought, and Mr. Robot's Carly Chaikan as her former teen tormentor turned lifestyle blogger is insidiously awful (thats a compliment - she's meant to be). Best in show is probably Melissa Bergland as the malleable hanger-on willing to go full psycho for web sensation status. Still I was a little turned off by the pile of dead lesbians by film's end, and the constraints of its format - this is a 90 minute episode of a Hulu anthology series Into the Dark - stay felt.

.

New Fetish: Michael Sheen Crazy Old-Timey Preacher pic.twitter.com/5bEicL3TAC

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 28, 2018

.

Apostle -- Starts out weird, gets way weirder - it's always a treat to see Michael Sheen (full stop) getting his nuts on (fuller stop) and his gig here as an old-timey preacher-man gone full woodland cult psychotic is a bonanza of bearded bug-eyed fun. The presence of Dan Stevens confusedly skulking about brings with it a whole meat-sack of reminders of his superhero TV series Legion though - these're both projects that often get lost up their own gobbledygook, and the more out-there their shenanigans the less invested turned my attention. Still it's kind of Baskin lite starring movie stars and, uh, that in itself is so crazy you can't help but be a bit impressed. 

Bird Box -- Our culture's become so infinitesimally fractured that we leap at any opportunity for something approaching a shared experience - anyway that's the only reason I can come up with for why this silly un-scary mash-up of ten things better things before it became such a meme generator and topic of conversation. Once we knew Netflix's numbers we grasped for what we could! Sandra Bullock does what she can - she is Sandra Bullock for a reason, after all - and there are lots of names here I have no doubt that Netflix's algorithms know we love watching (John Malkovich being John Malkovich! Tom Hollander being Tom Hollander! Trevante Rhodes... call me!) but like that SUV in Sarah Paulson's fickle hands it all just sort of crashes into the sky.
.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Gosford Park (2001)

Lady Sylvia: Mr Weissman.
Morris Weissman: Yes?
Lady Sylvia: Tell us about the film you're going to make.
Morris Weissman: Oh, sure. It's called Charlie Chan
In London. It's a detective story.
Mabel Nesbitt: Set in London?
Morris Weissman: Well, not really. Most of it takes place
at a shooting party in a country house. Sort of like this one,
actually. Murder in the middle of the night, a lot of guests for
the weekend, everyone's a suspect. You know, that sort of thing.
Constance: How horrid. And who turns out to have done it?
Morris Weissman: Oh, I couldn't tell you that.
It would spoil it for you.
Constance: Oh, but none of us will see it.

I was thinking about Ivor Novello a few days ago and as always that thought process leads me to Jeremy Northam playing the homosexual movie star in Robert Altman's Gosford Park -- it has been far far too long since I've sat down and watched Altman's down-up masterpiece and so I was pleased as liquor punch to see that our beloved Arrow Video was putting out a beautiful brand new blu-ray this week stuffed to the stiff collar with brand new extras, from a new restoration of the film on down. Have you seen Gosford Park lately? I do wonder how it plays in a post-Downton world. Anyway if you'd like to see the full list of Special Features on the blu-ray hit the jump...

Pics of the Day

.

So who's watching Taboo? I'm watching Taboo and I am really liking Taboo, you guys. It's goofy as fuck but it clearly knows it - even as it grunts and dives into the muck it is always grinning while doing it. It is the sort of show that could take itself too seriously and ruin what it's doing but it never does - it's got flash and flair and Tom Hardy telling Tom Hollander to ejaculate... it was made for me.

These are some pictures of Tom testing out his body make-up (via) on the set - if you'd like a better look at the make-up (not to mention every goddamned inch of Tom Hardy's body, top to bottom) then I recommend you click on this old post where he was caught skinny-dipping. But if anybody's watching the show, do share your thoughts in the comments!

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... getting two hands full of Hiddles.

Sorry for the presumable spoilers for a series that's not airing here in the US yet, but I could hardly ignore this moment from the BBC series The Night Manager (which will start airing here in the US in just a few weeks) to sit there out in the world unremarked upon, now could I?

Hiddleston's the main draw of this scene, of course, but the molester to his molestee, Tom Hollander, is a favorite of mine too, ever since he slinked around with peroxided menace in Hanna a few years back (second Hanna reference of the day, people). We love him!

And we love him with a fistful of Hiddles even better.

In other Hiddleston news there's yet another trailer for High-Rise out, but before you sigh and say no more do place your eyeballs upon the above image, which comes alongside it, and sigh no more. Well not an irritable sigh, anyway. A sexually satisfied sigh, sure. You can watch that trailer over here but I went ahead and giffed all the important sexy parts, and you can see those along with some randomness (mostly half-naked Tom in High-Rise & Manager, but I do love this shot of Luke Evans) after the jump...

Tom Hiddleston's Good Night

.

I didn't realize this had snuck up on us already -- apparently director Susanne Bier's John le Carré adaptation The Night Manager, starring the kick-ass cast of (deep breath) Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, Russell Tovey, Elizabeth Debicki, Tom Hollander (yay) and Hugh Laurie, amongst others, starts airing on the BBC this weekend. 

The first two episodes premiered at Berlinale the other day to what seems to be, at quick glance, good notices. The show will air here in the US come April on AMC (not that I'll be waiting that long). These two pictures above of Tom & Russell (via) certainly seem promising, as does this shot from the trailer...

The plot is described thusly: "A night manager of a European hotel is recruited by intelligence agents to infiltrate an international arms dealer's network." You know, as happens. Anyway I am fully infatuated with every single person in that cast and Bier's a wonderful director, so this sounds like must-watch TV.
.

Good Morning, World

.

I rewatched Joe Wright's fantastic movie Hanna last evening (my review) and besides rewinding and watching Eric Bana come out of the water in his dripping wet long underwear four or five times I was reminded of my weird yet insatiable crush on Tom Hollander, running around in his tennis whites therein.

And then I remember these pictures of him and Hugo Weaving in 1998's Bedrooms and Hallways.

I haven't actually even seen this movie yet, but it's on Netflix Instant so I will most certainly find the time soon. You might know or recall that it's also the movie with the hotness that is James Purefoy getting all gay with his Rome co-star Kevin McKidd as well. Any fans?

See a bunch more after the jump.

Little Girl Bossed

.

There are a lot of things that I want to share my love for with regards to Joe Wright's Hanna - Cate Blanchett's teeth-sucking mama goblin; The Chemical Bros' ear-jangling score; the surprising revelation of Eric Bana in dripping wet long-johns (which yes, the moment I can screen-cap this spectacle believe me I will be all up on it); Tom Hollander's Fassbenderian little piggy performance which overjoyed me at every turn - but for once instead of jumping all over the side-shows I want to give center-stage its due. 

Cuz ya know what? Saoirse Ronan is the real deal. I know, I know, where have you been, JA? She's been knocking it outta the park since day one. It's not that I've ever disliked her in anything - she's terrific in the horrible Atonement, and centered the mess that was The Lovely Bones as much as she could with palpable heartache. But what she gives us here is so different, so odd and playful and terrifying, and yet so still and very very sad all at once, that now I'm paying attention where before I was sort of indifferent. Where this could've easily drifted off into the facile camp of Kick-Ass she and Wright keep it grounded even amongst the Grimm-riddled oddities. Who'd have thought that the middle section, relatively action-free, with Hanna getting to see what a real family unit is like would end up the highlight, the passage you don't want to let go off? And yet of course that's what it ought to be. (Having Olivia Williams at the center certainly helps making it something to yearn for.) 

Alright so let's get back to the fun freak-show stuff, of which this movie indulges itself mightily. Why do I adore Tom Hollander so much? I do, I just do! Ever since he romped around in his red underpants in In The Loop I've been nursing a crush on him and now he had to go and add an insane queer creep who hangs out with hermaphrodites and costumed dwarfs in some underground club that would've scared Rainer Werner Fassbender away and dresses in Funny Games tennis whites (looking quite dashing in them short shorts too, I might add)? I'm putty in his tiny creepy hands.

And then there's Cate Blanchett, looking like the most gorgeous prop skeleton you've ever wanted to play dress-up with, flicking her teeth with her tongue and striding with haughty purpose in pencil skirts, her Southern drawl licking the consonants of her German... oh what a monstrous joy worthy of seventeen run-on sentences of this sort.

And then there's Eric Bana, who gives a fine sturdy performance as Hanna's pops but god I don't want to talk about that, I just want to swoon over the sight of him undressed, multiple times. Multiple! And yet they keep us in the dark about such matters. I had no clue going in! Don't you think I would've been there first thing if I had? All these wasted days without such sights burned into my brain. Shameful.

.

Bonus 2009 Grautity

I don't know if I'm completely alone in my crush on actor Tom Hollander or what, but I found it an unexpected and welcome treat when I watched In the Loop yesterday and he showed up in his shirt, tie, socks, and little red underpants, so I figured I'd document it in case anyone else liked the little man as much as I do. I just think he's totally adorable.

As for the movie itself, I'm a little more "meh" about it than most people seem to have been, but I think it's one of those examples of watching the wrong movie at the wrong time whilst in the wrong mood. I'm feeling like I might be getting sick and I was irritable and all their fast-talking-in-accents sometimes felt like a jackhammer to my face. I should probably give it another chance some day. It did make me laugh some...

"I am not a monster."

.