Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

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Bugonia (2025)

Teddy: We're just leveling the playing field.

It's not torture. Torture is what it's done to us.

I know that Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia got four Oscar nominations -- including one for Best Picture -- but I still feel as if this movie walked out of 2025 somewhat underappreciated. Nobody really thought it was actually going to win any of those awards, after all. I think it's just that Yorgos has proven so consistently excellent and interesting and provocative that he's become a victim of his own awesomeness. Even if I, a person who put Bugonia at #8 on my favorite films of last year, were to rank his films, Bugonia would end up somewhere mid-tier. But that's all just a matter of infintesimal degrees because I am a hossana-singer for every damn one of them. And Bugonia's goddamned great. In fact, you know what, I might re-watch Bugonia this very evening in order to celebrate the birth of the great Jesse Plemons, which coincidentally is also the reason for this post. See -- I told you Bugonia was under-appreciated, because the great Jesse Plemons didn't deservedly get nominated for Best Actor for it. Four noms shoulda been five dammit! In summation go watch Bugonia yourselves and try to tell me I'm not correct on all of this. And then go buy the vinyl of Jerskin Fendrix's score too. That banger was second only to Jonny Greenwood's One Battle After Another music, if you ask me! We might not be lucky in much these days but we're lucky to have Yorgos making movies!   

And the BUGONIA vinyl from @waxworkrecords.bsky.social too! I say “Jerskin” you say “Fendrix” - JERSKIN!

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) March 31, 2026 at 9:03 PM

Alright Here's an Oscar Post

This happens every year I think, even though I block it out -- it gets to be a few days before the Oscars and they're what my movie people are talking about so I "begrudgingly" do a post about them with some of my wishes or whatever. I rightly got called out for being an exhausting hypocrite when it comes to the Oscars the last time I whined about them -- I've tried to explain the attraction / repulsion thing they bring out of me before but really there's not much to it. It's a part of the movies, love it or hate it, so I just want them to do better if they must, so I can not feel attacked while watching the show in order to indulge my fetish for staring at pretty people wearing pretty clothes. Anyway it's probably clear by now who my favorites are -- I shared my own Top 20 List of 2025 back in January, after all -- but I rattled this off-hand on Bluesky earlier so I might as well share this, my ranking of the Best Picture nominees, here on the site itself:

2026 Best Pictures nominees, as ranked by me!

1. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

2. MARTY SUPREME

3. THE SECRET AGENT

4. BUGONIA

5. SENTIMENTAL VALUE

6. SINNERS

7. FRANKENSTEIN

8. HAMNET

9. TRAIN DREAMS

10. F1

No big surprises there! And it's a better batch of nominees than it is worse, so that's nice -- really any of those Top 6 winning Best Picture wouldn't rankle me. Because of the way awards conversations twist everything into shit I do have to keep reminding myself that for the most part I really like Sinners -- nowhere near how much I like its main competetion for this award (and I think we'll all be shocked if it's not either Sinners or OBAA that wins), and some of its champions have gotten real fucking annoying in the past few weeks. But it's a fun movie full of terrific performances and one for-the-record-books sequence. I get why people love it so much. So let's just enjoy the movies and all of those pretty people wearing pretty clothes for a few hours this weekend! The barn's burning down around us otherwise, might as well. Gimme your rankings in the comments!

My Top 20 Movies of 2025

A decade or so ago I was doing gigantic elaborate awards every year here that showcased my favorite movies, my favorite performances, and on and on and on... then the last decade happened and I'm lucky I can even get out of bed anymore y'all. Who has that kind of stamina anymore? Not I. Not I! So yes these things -- The Golden Trousers, as I've been calling them since 2007 -- have considerably narrowed. Tis what its. But I do feel proud that both last year and this year I'm at least getting these locked in before I dive head-long into fresh Sundance stuff, which basically marks the start of the next year of movies. (Apologies to the first three weeks of January releases every single year but you know what you did.) I'm doing Sundance virtually again this year but that still means that I'll be mostly off-line while I do that, so it's likely there'll be no MNPP for you starting this Wednesday, lasting about a week. And so it's best I get this done immediately, before that happens! Otherwise who knows, it could be months knowing me. So let us brush off these 2025 concerns as I head into the future, with one last glance back toward the past with 20 of '25s gifts and wonders....

My 20 Favorite Movies of 2025

20 -- SIRAT

19 -- AFTER THE HUNT

-- Read my review here! -- 

18 -- LURKER

-- Read my review here! -- 

17 -- PETER HUJAR'S DAY

-- Read my review here! -- 

16 -- WAKE UP DEAD MAN

15 -- THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME

-- Read my review here! -- 

14 -- BLACK BAG

-- Read my review here! -- 

13 -- DUST BUNNY

-- Read my review here! -- 

12 -- THE SECRET AGENT

11 -- MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART 1

10 -- SENTIMENTAL VALUE

9 -- GRIFFIN IN SUMMER

-- Read my review here! -- 

8 -- BUGONIA

-- Read my review here! -- 

7-- THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE

6 -- THE HISTORY OF SOUND

-- Read my review here! -- 

5 -- NO OTHER CHOICE

-- Read my review here! -- 

4 -- PILLION

-- Read my review here! -- 

3 -- PEE-WEE AS HIMSELF

-- Read my review here! -- 

2 -- MARTY SUPREME

-- Read my review here! -- 

1 -- ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

-- Read my review here! -- 

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I have like 20 runners-up but fuck it, 

I'm done. Goodbye forever, 2025! 

Movie Posters Ahoy

Mubi Notebook published their annual list of the year's greatest movie posters today -- see it right here -- and I can't argue with anything! Especially since I ran out and bought a couple of the ones they listed the minute they went on sale or were available. Unfortunately (as far as I'm aware) the above poster for Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia (from noted genius Vasilis Marmatakis) has not been widely printed -- I have the one that was and I love it but I love this one even more. Same goes for Desi Moore's gorgeous poster for Mike Leigh's masterpiece Hard Truths, seen down below -- I've been looking for a couy of that since last fall to no avail. The other ones I have from that list are the original Eddington poster (which I prefer to the one they cite), Daniel Clowes' poster for the Telluride Fest this year (I didn't go to the fest but I had to own that poster) and the one for Hong Sangsoo’s movie By the Stream, which is a visual I completely fell in love with on first sight. I'm also super close to biting the bullet on the poster for Radu Jude's Dracula because it's made out of meat! How can you not be in love with meat? Anyway -- Yay posters! I love them so. Do y'all have any faves not mentioned?

No Other Master

Much the way I end up wanting several different versions of posters every time a new Yorgos Lanthimos movie comes out -- and sidenote I can't believe I never linked to the big recent NYT article about Yorgos' longtime poster designer Vasilis Marmatakis, which can be seen here -- I feel the same every time a new Park Chan-wook movie hits. And sure enough his latest No Other Choice has cause for a buffet of movie art beauty. The one seen above is an echo of the main poster, previously posted here -- I already own a copy of that earlier poster but I would one hundred percent also like to buy the one seen here too. Sigh! And don't even get me started on the transclucent one that was being handed out at screenings of the movie in South Korea! I'd kill every person I love to just hold one of those in my hands! Aaaanyway why am I bringing up a movie I have 1) already reviewed out of NYFF right here, and 2) isn't actually out in limited U.S. theaters until Christmas? Because I got some super-powered star-fucking I am super-psyched to mention! I'm about to check another "breathing air with a favorite director" experience off my bucket-list tonight when I see this movie for a third time and it's followed up by a Q&A with Master Park himself! And his leading man, long time beloved hunk Lee Byung-hun, will be there as well! I AM SO EXCITED, YOU GUYS. I'll clearly be posting from it over on my Insta, so keep your eyes peeled there. Did you see my photos of Joel Edgerton and William H. Macy at a screening of Train Dreams last night? They're below if you missed 'em. Tis the busy busy awards-season time of year so expect more star-fuckery to come. 

Some snaps of Joel Edgerton, William H. Macy and director Clint Bentley at tonight’s TRAIN DREAMS screening! #traindreams @Netflix.com

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 11:22 PM

Don't You Forget About Bugonia

Yes this review went up last week when the film opened in limited release but now that it's in wide release I thought I'd remind you that you can read my thoughts on Yorgos Lanthimos' latest film Bugonia at this link if you're so inclined. It's another banger from the Dogtooth man and I hope y'all feel the same. I mean you won't change my mind but it would be nice if we didn't have to be all awkward about it around the Thanksgiving turkey when the time comes. Anyway I hope somebody dresses up as Emma Stone in it for Halloween tonight! I was going to say that "I hope I see" somebody dressed up as her but who am I kidding -- I'm not going out. I am going straight home from work and watching a couple of horror movies and going to bed at a reasonable hour like the pile of dust that I am. In related news -- Jerskin Fendrix's score for Bugonia, also a banger, is now available for pre-order on vinyl thanks to Waxwork Records, you can buy that over here. I heftily recommend, it's killer stuff. I mean Jonny Greenwood should still win the Oscar for his One Battle After Another music -- which you can also pre-order right here if you're so inclined -- but Bugonia is my number two score of 2025 as of right this minute. What scores have you loved this year?

Save the Yorgos Planet!

There is a new movie from Yorgos Lanthimos out this weekend! Maybe you heard about it? Like one of the dozen times I posted about it? Or somewhere else, even. It's called Bugonia and it re-teams the Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness director with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons in a remake of the 2003 South Korean sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet! -- what did I think of it, you ask? Well I thought many things actually and you can read many of them over at Pajiba right now in my review. So click, go, read! You know the drill. 

Emma Stone is Our Business Lady Alien Overlord

As I said last June when it was first announced that Yorgos Lanthimos next movie Bugonia would be a remake of Joon-Hwan Jang's 2003 South Korean comedy Save the Green Planet! it's been a really long time since I've seen the original, so I remember very little save the basic concept -- two worker bees kidnap the queen (in the original film's case king) bee convinced that he/she is an alien set out to destroy humanity. So I can't tell you, now having watched the first full trailer for Bugonia how different it might seem from the original -- what I can tell you however is I fully laughed out loud about a dozen times watching it, and I couldn't be more psyched for this. I shared the gorgeous poster yesterday, see it here; oh and if you don't want to watch a full trailer but want to get a more general vibe you can watch the teaser right here. Or watch this and get psyched a la me:

Bugonia is out on Halloween, with a special limited release a week earlier -- or if you're a fancy-pants person in Venice for their film festival the movie is premiering today. Fuckers. Anyway I'm going to go re-watch Save the Green Planet this weekend, I think. I remember liking it quite a bit at the time.

The Sweet Sweet Bugonia Poster

I have in my movie poster collection like four posters from Kinds of Kindness and as many if not more from Poor Things, and it looks like that trend is going to continue with Yorgos Lanthimos' next movie Bugonia because this here first poster dropping today? Smashing, gorgeous, perfect, I must own it immediately. It's giving me big Peter Strickland vibes actually. There's something very In Fabric about it (see below) -- I guess it's the red and the mannequin-ish head. (Although I do think that's actually Emma Stone under there -- just a bald Emma Stone.) I do think of Lanthimos and Strickland as connected filmmakers, although I'm a weirdo who'd say Strickland is the more interesting and out-there one of the two. Who'd have ever thought that you could call Yorgos Lanthimos the mainstream one? And yet here we are. Anyway we're getting the first trailer for Bugonia tomorrow so stay tuned for that! See all my preious posters on the movie right here. 

Jerskin It

I'm at work so I haven't been able to watch this yet myself but I figure maybe some of you freaks will be as excited about this as I am -- Yorgos Lanthimos has directed a music video starring Emma Stone for a song called "Beth's Farm" off the upcoming album of Jerskin Fendrix, the dude who's composed music for Yorgos' last couple of movies. And that's the exact same music video I posted above! What a coincidence. Fendrix was a musician before he made the music for Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, and Yorgos' upcoming movie Bugonia -- this song's off his second record, which is called Once Upon A Time. . . In Shropshire and out in October. You can pre-order it right here if you like what you hear above. All of this is well and good but will somebody tell me is "Jerskin Fendrix" is a real name or he made that thing up, because I definitely suspect the latter. I wanna be called Jerskin dammit.

6 Off My Head: A 2025 Peek Ahead

Inspired by the Bugonia teaser I just shared (along with the fact that it's Paul Thomas Anderson's birthday today which reminded me he has a new movie out in several weeks) I decided to go ahead and make a list of the movies left to be released in 2025 that I'm most looking forward to. I did this (as with everything I do here) mostly for myself because I've been bad about keeping an eye on what's ahead -- I can be very much in the moment; planning ahead's not my strongest suit! So I will myself probably be referring back to this list often. But perhaps this will help you along the same lines! That'd be nice! So sans further ado I give you...

My Top 6 Anticipated Movies of 2025

Bugonia (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos) -- Oct 24th 

(more here)

One Battle After Another (dir. PT Anderson) -- Sept 26th

The History of Sound (dir. Oliver Hermanus) -- Sept 12th 

(more here)

After the Hunt (dir. Luca Guadagnino) -- Oct 10th 

(more here)

Sentimental Value (dir. Joachim Trier) -- Nov 7th

Pillion (dir. Harry Lighton) -- TBD

(more here)

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(Sidenote: There is no word on Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex and any kind of release date for it yet, otherwise it would very much be listed above.) 

(Sidenote #2 - literally five minutes after I posted this list it was announced that Neon has bought Park Chan-wook's new movie No Other Choice for release and it's premiering at Venice so add that one too!)

Runners-up: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (dir. Rian Johnson), Marty Supreme (dir. Josh Safdie), Hamnet (dir. Chloé Zhao), A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (dir. Kogonada), It Was Just an Accident (dir. Jafar Panahi), The Roses (dir. Jay Roach), Avatar: Fire & Ash (dir. James Cameron), Together (dir. Michael Shanks)...

... Weapons (dir. Zach Cregger),  Jay Kelly (dir. Noah Baumbach), Caught Stealing (dir. Darren Aronofsky), Frankenstein (dir. Guillermo Del Toro), The Mastermind (dir. Kelly Reichardt), Highest 2 Lowest (dir. Spike Lee), A House of Dynamite (dir. Kathryn Bigelow), Die My Love (dir. Lynne Ramsay), The Running Man (dir. Edgar Wright)

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What movies are y'all most looking forward to?

Save the Green Yorgos

We are at the half-point of the year so we're already seeing people make lists of their best movies of 2025.5 -- I'm not doing that, at least not right this second. But I have been thinking about what's left for the second half of the year that I'm most looking forward to, and while there are several examples the number one might just be Bugonia from Yorgos Lanthimos. He hasn't done me wrong yet. So what a coincidence that they dropped the teaser trailer for Bugonia today! Watch:

The film reunites the director with Emma Stone because of course, as well as Jesse Plemons who was so terrific in Kinds of Kindness last year. When this movie was announced and I posted about it EXACTLY ONE YEAR AGO TODAY (how weird is that?) I mentioned it's a remake of a South Korean movie from 2003 called Save the Green Planet! which is about... well exactly the plot laid forth in that teaser. Looks like the only change is the businessman getting kidnapped is now a businesswoman. Feminism! Woke! Anyway this tease made me even more excited -- Bugonia's out on October 24th. I bet it's playing NYFF then! Whee!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Poor Things (2023)

Swiney: We must work. We must make money. 

But more than that Bella, we must experience everything. 

Not just the good, but degradation, horror, sadness. 

This makes us whole, Bella, makes us people of substance. 

Not flighty, untouched children. Then we can know the world. 

And when we know the world, the world is ours. 

Bella: I want that. 

Swiney: Now go and fuck someone and bring me ten francs.

A grand 68th birthday to the singular Kathryn Hunter.

The 20 Best Movies of 2024

I have thought about dropping my year-end favorites list on Oscar Nom Day several times in the past, but timing-wise it just hasn't worked out before -- this year looks to be an exception, however! My reasons for thinking it's a good idea are 1) as stated in my earlier requisite post acknowledging that those nominations happened I just don't care about them and I don't want to spend all day reading people's brain-numbing statistics and theories all of which rob me of a will to live. So this gives me something else to focus on. Also today is the first day of Sundance and while I might not be there in person this year (sigh) I will be reviewing movies virtually, and I'm going to be very busy starting to do that almost immediately. So if I don't do this today it'll be a couple more weeks. 

Also -- I've had the list of movies on a spreadsheet for weeks now, and every other day I go onto the doc and I move them around a little bit depending on my mood, and... I could just keep doing that forever, or I could just say enough! And organize them into their final form, waffling be damned. That said 2024 turned out to be an especially amorphous year with no single frontrunner slam-dunk -- any of my top five on any given day could've been my number one. Which isn't to say I think 2024 was a bad year for movies -- quite the opposite! There's a lot of love spreading around here. But let's just stop our yammering and get to the goods. Here at last are...

My 20 Favorite Movies of 2024

20. Strange Darling (review)

19. Femme (review)

18. I Saw the T.V. Glow (review)

17. I'm Still Here

16. Love Lies Bleeding (review) 

15. Janet Planet

14. A Different Man (review)

13. Flow

12. The End (review)

11. National Anthem (review)

10. Kinds of Kindness (review)

9. Rumours (review)

8. Red Rooms (review)

7. Bird (review)

6. The Substance (review)

5. Challengers (review)

4. Nosferatu (review)

3. Hard Truths (review)

2. Queer (review)

1. Evil Does Not Exist 

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And here are ten runners-up: The Vourdalak, Babygirl, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Hundreds of Beavers, Blitz, Trap, The Brutalist, Memoir of a Snail, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, and Oddity.

Okay -- that's that! Onward and onward!

 Let's get 2025 rolling...