John Boyega Two Times

Well this was certainly unexpected but welcome -- Star Wars actor John Boyega has always seemed to me a bit (unreasonably) shy when it comes to exploiting himself in this manner, but The Guardian caught him posing for the latest iteration of the infamous Pirelli calendar in just some itty bitty skivvies so I guess he's over his shyness! And thank goodness. I would never have guessed all of this was under that damn Stormtrooper suit! (click to embiggen)

Cowboy Majors & His Merry Band

Just yesterday I shared an interview with you that Jonathan Majors gave to The AV Club and I was lucky what he was talking about was "being built like a brick shit-house" on Lovecraft Country because it allowed me to use a previously-posted photo of said "brick shit-house" stature. Because, I thought at the time, if I'd needed to find a new photo of Mr. Majors I'd be hella screwed, as I've been, or so I thought, relentless in scouring the 'net for every one. But I was wrong! As seen above there's a brand new photo of him -- it's out of The Hollywood Reporter last week, where he was included in their TV Actors Roundtable. Also there...

... our boy-prince Josh O'Connor. I haven't read the piece or watched the video yet -- have any of you? Do Jonathan & Josh flirt with each other, because if they do you need to tell me, I need warning. I need to put down some pillows, and slip into a rubber sleeve. The other people in the Roundtable ain't nothing to sneeze at either -- Regé-Jean Page, Chris Rock, John Boyega. I'll read it over lunch. Anyway! That's not the only reason we're here, if you can believe it. This morning we got the trailer for The Harder They Fall, the forthcoming Western that stars Majors alongside Idris Elba, Regina King, Lakeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz, and Delroy Lindo. Watch!

It looks like a ton of fun, right? No release date yet, just says 

sometime this fall. If you hit the jump I've got a couple photos...

The King McQueen

Every time I do a post about Steve McQueen's "Small Axe" anthology of films I have to re-link like a billion links because I have reviewed 3/5ths of the series already, and I don't feel like doing that again -- I just found out that I have a bonus day off this week, meaning the only day of office-work I have this week is today, and I have suddenly been swallowed whole by a "kid before their summer vacation" mind-set, aka I ain't getting anything done now. It's full-tilt stare-at-the-clock o'clock around here. So here's the deal -- the first part of "Small Axe" is out now over on Amazon, and this is me reminding you to watch each and every single part, starting with this one. They get released every Friday, through December 18th. All everything else that you need to know about "Small Axe" including a trailer and links to all of my reviews you can find in this post that I did last time the subject came up. Voila, done!

 

I lied -- he wears two wigs all at once https://t.co/VJrcznCL3e pic.twitter.com/9oWfMREoKT

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 23, 2020

Steve, Bring Me the Axe

Lots of trailers today! Now comes our best-to-date look at the new thing from Shame and Hunger and Widows and 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen -- it's really hard to choose a single film to attach to his name, I just wanna go with every one of his bonafide masterpieces -- called Small Axe. I have talked about Small Axe a lot at this point but let's recap -- Small Axe is an anthology of five films all set in the same West Indian community of London where McQueen himself grew up, over the course of a few decades. 

The films vary in length and you'll see a cast-member here and there float through another chapter, but they are all (supposedly) standalone films. I say "supposedly" because I have seen three of the five films already, and they all were standalone, but who knows what'll happen in the other two -- maybe all the characters from the three I've seen will show up and have a Battle Royale. (I would so watch Steve McQueen direct a remake of Battle Royale.) 

The first part is called Mangrove and it will premiere on Amazon on November 20th. I reviewed Mangrove when it screened at the New York Film Festival right here. It tells the true life story of Frank Crichlow (a truly phenomenal Shaun Parkes), the owner of a restaurant who finally has enough abuse from the police and fights back. It co-stars, among many, Black Panther's Letitia Wright. it is real fucking good, you guys.

The second part is called Lovers Rock, it premieres on Amazon a week later on November 27th, and I reviewed this chapter right here. This part is also real fucking good. The third part is called Red White and Blue, it premieres a week later on December 4th, it stars Star Wars phenom John Boyega as a police officer in training trying to buck the system from within -- I reviewed this chapter right here and, spoiler alert, it is real fucking good! Sensing a theme?

The last two chapters are called Alex Wheatle and Education, they air on December 11th and 18th respectively, and... I sadly have not seen these. Yet. You best believe I've been refreshing my inbox for screeners. Here is the trailer they just dropped this afternoon:

Point being I recommend you write all of these dates in your little pleather-cased date-books in ripe red ink immediately -- you will not want to miss this, the cinematic event of the year. I've seen some people call these "television" but I'm not categorizing them as such myself -- these are five films, a sort of Cinematic Universe of actual import. Imagine that. If you'd like the official descriptions of all five films hit the jump, I'll share them below:

Axe Me No Questions

'Nother day, 'nother piece of Steve McQueen's so-called "Small Axe" series of films to review from the New York Film Festival -- this time around over at The Film Experience I'm taking a look at the middle segment titled Red White and Blue and starring former-Finn John Boyega in the true-life story of a 1980s police officer and yes, if you're like me then you're saying to yourself hot damn it's about time Steve McQueen worked with John Boyega. Now that's a duo. Okay okay so I still want Steve to work with Michael Fassbender again, but for now this will do. And if you missed my other two "Small Axe" reviews read my thoughts on Lovers Rock right here and my thoughts on Mangrove right here. They are all supremely excellent and "Small Axe" -- when it drops on Amazon in November -- is the cinematic event of the year. I'm dying that I have to wait for the last two thirds with the rest of you normal people!

On a side-note I was so inspired by all this hot sexy Steve McQueen action that I re-watched Widows the other night and hot damn is that a movie. Just an all around banger -- I think I actually liked it even more this second time through. We did that movie wrong in 2018 -- it shoulda gotten all sorts of awards attention. We don't deserve Steve McQueen, we really really really do not.

VIOLA DAVIS' APARTMENT IN WIDOWS THOUGH pic.twitter.com/OpyrRuxUB6

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 4, 2020

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... beasting out with John Boyega.

Oh my god a John Boyega treasure trove! You guys have no idea how hard and for how long I have been looking around for this sort of thing before to absolutely no avail, but all this time if I'd only known about his trainer's Instagram account, which is just non-stop Boyega Gym Porn.

Even better than these photos though are the videos, so I went 

and made a little compilation for everybody! Enjoy!

I mean I was already excited to watch John in Steve McQueen's Red White and Blue segment of his Small Axe anthology this weekend for NYFF (of which I have already reviewed two parts, see Lovers Rock here and see Mangrove here) but this is like an unexpected dessert before the main course.

Lucas Hedges Five Times

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Yesterday the New York Film Festival announced that French Exit, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges, will be their Closing Night film this year -- of course what "Closing Night" means in 2020 is still kind of up in the air at this point; for the most recent explanation of how they're supposedly going to be doing things check out this piece at IndieWire. It involves lots of virtual screenings and working together with the great already-established Rooftop Films here in NYC to do outdoor screenings, basically. 

But I'm getting off topic! French Exit is from director Azazel Jacobs, who made the fantastic film The Lovers back in 2017 (I reviewed it at the Tribeca Film Fest that year) with Debra Winger and Tracy Letts as the typical "old married couple" who're both having serious affairs but who suddenly re-spark to each other. I very much recommend The Lovers. I haven't read the book that French Exit is based on but our pal Nathaniel made a really good case for it over at The Film Experience yesterday -- he says it's short and very darkly comic. I like both of those things! 

He also says the role is a killer one for Michelle Pfeiffer on paper, and that if all goes right she might be dallying with Oscar this year, which is so overdue at this point it's outrageous. Have any of you read the book? In other NYFF news they announced their Opening Night movie will be Steve McQueen's film Lover's Rock, one fifth of McQueen's "Small Axe" anthology that's set to air on the BBC before the end of the year -- see my post on Small Axe right here. 

Two others in the anthology will also be screening at NYFF. The films are mostly loaded with unknowns actor-wise, but a few big names -- John Boyega and Letitia Wright -- do jump out. Anyway the 2020 edition of the NYFF runs, however it runs, from September 25th through October 11th, and we should be hearing the Main Slate of films within the next couple of weeks! Get yourself a sassy turtleneck, go stand in a cornfield, and stay tuned until then! 

The Tight Pants Strike Back

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You may have (but probably didn't) notice I didn't mention seeing Star Wars XXX: The Rise in my Tightpants in my write-up of favorite things I saw over the holidays -- its absence was as deafening as was the crowd's response to the film's final title card at my screening. What a pile of space-poop it was. But at least we'll always have the set of gifs I just posted on our Tumblr of Oscar Isaac wearing Those Pants and snuggling on John Boyega, at least. If you have any thoughts to share on the movie -- even if it's just to reciprocate my space poop! -- y'all feel free to do so in the comments. And with that... that's that for this week, I guess! Let's all go get un-hungover, watch the Golden Globes together with me on Twitter on Sunday night, and be here bright & early Monday to start all over again...

Pics of the Day

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While everybody was busy complaining that they can't buy Baby Yoda merch on Twitter -- y'all know you're falling into (to quote the wise Admiral Ackbar) a trap with that one right? -- EW went and dropped a great big cover story on the next feature Star Wars movie, and gifted us with several new pictures in the process; see all of that here. All I care about is apparent battle going on between Oscar Isaac and John Boyega to see who's wearing the tightest pants in the galaxy. And for the record Oscar is winning -- sorry John. (click to embiggen)

Bring Me The Axe

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Finally some new news on what director Steve McQueen is up to next -- we knew he's making a six-part miniseries for Amazon but now I'm seeing the title for the first time, which is Small Axe, and it's got a bunch of cast to boot. Star Wars star John Boyega and Black Panther star Letitia Wright have joined, as well as several other names you can see at the link... including current ginger boyfriend Jack Lowden, of Mary Queen of Scots. Of course McQueen hiring a ginger not named "Michael Fassbender" always raises the question why they're not working together anymore after making a trilogy of smashing successes that cemented both of their careers, but I'll try to set that aside for the moment since Jack is so goddamn cute.

Pics of the Day

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There is a four-day celebration of all things Star Wars happening right now and besides the most exciting thing (that being Oscar Isaac's current voluptuous beard) the next best are these two newly released pictures of Oscar donning some very Captain Tight-Pants tight pants for the still untitled Episode IX, out in December.

JJ Abrams returns to the directing chair this time around, since all the fanboys crapped their diapers over Rian Johnson's hurtful movie. ETA oh wait literally as I hit publish on this post they announced the title -- it's The Rise of Skywalker. Mkay. And here's the first teaser!
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Quote of the Day

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"Look, it was a little difficult to see my man kiss somebody else, but, you know, you gotta give up control… you got to watch some stuff you don't want to watch some times."

That's Oscar Isaac joking at a BAFTA screening for The Last Jedi about that usurper Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) who busts up the (always ridiculous, but fun nonetheless) fan-theory about a love brewing between his and John Boyega's characters (via, thanks Mac). (The name the fans came up with for this romance is "Stormpilot" in case you needed some random dumb thing to learn today.) Anyway I know I never reviewed The Last Jedi... well, besides this:

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I don't want to have an opinion on Star Wars and you can't make me

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 19, 2017

... but I suppose that if I did have anything to say it would be there was not nearly enough Gay Sex in it! I mean that pan out the window of the Star Destroyer during the rimming scene was SUCH a cop-out.
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Raise your hand if you expected to see it was Finn pushing Poe up against the glass like that #StarWarsTheLastJedi pic.twitter.com/peI398e2iz

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 10, 2017

And I can't believe they digitally erased the testicles of the Sarlacc Pit when they fell out of its short-shorts. What a puritanical damn world we live in.

Who Wore It Best?

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WHAT A PERFECT NIGHT pic.twitter.com/DyMypfBgxs

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 13, 2017

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Some little outer space movie is out in a few theaters tonight and I have heard a couple of people mention it here and there so I figured I'd take stock of the total nobodies who are trying their hands at acting in it since they showed up in ratty tuxedos looking like hobos at its microscopic garbage party the other night, just cuz.
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John Boyega Twelve Times

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I'm all thrown off my game after a frustrating morning - pictures of John Boyega in GQ wearing plaid pants and sitting in front of bookshelves do feel like the universe extending an olive branch though, so I'll accept. Still it's taking me a bit to get properly going so until I can do that let's just enjoy this photo-shoot, which you can view after the jump...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Attack the Block (2011)

PesPest: They arrest us for nothing anyway. 

Moses: No, I reckon yeah, I reckon, the Feds sent them anyway. Government probably bred those things to kill black boys. First they sent in drugs, then they sent guns and now they're sending monsters in to kill us. They don't care man. We ain't killing each other fast enough. So they decided to speed up the process. 

Pest: Believe! 

I need to re-watch Attack the Block again. 

A happy birthday to John Boyega today!

I Am Link

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--- Fantastic Beasts - What a delight it is that The Lobster's turned into a big financial hit (art-house speaking, of course) for director Yorgos Lanthimos ad star Colin Farrell - it should make us getting our greedy hands on their next movie together all the easier, which considering it took like two years for The Lobster to get released here, is a sigh of relief. EW chatted with Farrell about the movie and (spoiler alert) specifically about the film's ambiguous ending, so if you've contemplated that yourself you'll wanna click over.

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--- Blow Me Over - Technically I am excited for Sam Raimi to attach himself to anything to direct, because he's Sam effin' Raimi. That said hearing he's attached himself to a "tornado heist thriller" gives me the briefest of pauses because Sam Raimi plus tornadoes makes me think of his bad Oz movie and I get sad at what should've been. Anyway then that pause passes and then I'm like, "A Tornado Heist Thriller, what the fuck?" and then I get a little giddy thinking what that could actually be.

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--- More Rim To Come - John Boyega is going to play the son of Idris Elba's character in Pacific Rim 2, and if he has half as much sexual chemistry with Charlie Hunnam as he did with Oscar Isaac, well I might break. In related news: Pacific Rim 2 is really happening! I really didn't think it would. Del Toro isn't directing it though - one-time Buffy writer Steven S. DeKnight (he's been working on Daredevil more recently) will be - this will be his first feature film directing gig.
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--- Super Girls - I almost watched Joachim Trier's latest movie Louder Than Bombs this weekend (I still haven't seen it yet) but I got caught up in a mini-Park-Chan-Wook marathon instead; I will watch it soon though, i swear it! Trier's just announced his new film, which will return him to Norway but task him with genre elements for the first time - it's a "supernatural thriller" about a young girl discovering her powers, whatever they may be. It will be called Thelma. And yes we should probably all be thinking of Carrie right now.  
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--- There Will Be Vogue - Everybody lost their shit over the revelation that Paul Thomas Anderson might be reuniting with his There Will be Blood star Daniel Day-Lewis for his next movie but the news all sounds too vague for me to put my heart out just yet - get back to me when these two slow-pokes are actually on set making the thing. Anyway if they do make it it will apparently be set in the fashion world on the 1950s, which is unexpected from these two given how hyper-masc their last effort was, but maybe they wanna flip expectations. It would be nice for PTA to show some interest in girly things again - Boogie Nights and Magnolia seem so far away.
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--- Come At Me Demon - I kind of can't believe that I'm getting both Todd Solondz' new movie, the Welcome to the Dollhouse "sequel" Weiner-dog and Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon before this month is over, but it's true! It's true! What a month! Anyway there's a brand new absolutely gorgeous UK quad poster for the latter over here. (Thanks Mac) And make sure you click to embiggen it - the colors are where it's at.
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--- Sick Boy Sequel - I also had a mini Ewan McGregor marathon this weekend, re-watching both Moulin Rouge and half of Beginners (I fell asleep halfway through it just because I started it too late), and when my boyfriend looked up Ewan on IMDb to see what he was up to next he was flabbergasted, straight flabbergasted, to see that Trainspotting 2 was happening. And happening it is - it's filming right now and The Daily Mail has some pictures of Ewan and Jonny Lee Miller and director Danny Boyle on the set!
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--- And Finally, the best news of the weekend - Gillian Anderson will be on American Gods!!! This re-teams her with Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller, a happier making pair there might never be. Here's word on who she's playing:

"Anderson will play Media, the mouthpiece for the New Gods, functioning as their public face and sales representative, by taking the form of various iconic celebrities. She lives off the attention and worship that people give to screens — to their laptops, their TVs, to their iPhones in their hands while they watch their TVs. Ever the perky spokesperson, and always in control, she spins stories in whatever direction best suits her."

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So how long have we got to wait for Gillian to rake up all of the awards there are anyway? I mean I understand, I under-valued her as an actress for too long myself, but now after having seen her do Streetcar twice I'm convinced she's one of the greatest actresses we have working today, and needs to be respected as such. Thankfully Bryan gets it!
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Farewell for now Blanche DuBois! #Streetcar #BlancheinBrooklyn @stannswarehouse @youngvictheatre pic.twitter.com/VydSi0soZI

— Gillian Anderson (@GillianA) June 5, 2016

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I Am Link

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--- Panther Party - So this is just in the rumor stage and nothing may come of it but Slash says they're hearing whispering that John Boyega of Star Wars and Attack the Block might be joining Marvel's Black Panther movie, putting him alongside Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong'o, aka like a fully fifty percent of every great big up-and-comer of color we have, kind of?Well as long as they're gonna keep going can somebody contact Nate Parker's people? I need to see him in spandex. (His speedo that one time wasn't enough.) (ETA before I even clicked "publish on this post this news was denied by Boyega's rep. Oh well, nevermind!)

--- One Big Bonaparte - Also existing only in rumor-land, but somewhat substantially, is the word that Cary Fukunaga might be making a six-hour miniseries about Napoleon for HBO - and not just any Napoloen, but an adaptation of the script that Stanley Kubrick had been trying to make for a very long time, the one documtned in this very large very expensive coffee-table book I have always wanted a copy of.

--- Two Men Out - I think I knew that Steve Coogan and Paul Rudd were making a movie where they played boyfriends and promptly forgot that somehow, but The Playlist shared the first image of the two and I am already worried on the basis of Paul's sassy scarf that he might be leaning a little hard on the fey. We already have The Birdcage, guys. Anyway it's called Ideal Home and here's what it is about:

"The film centers around Paul (Rudd) and Erasmus (Coogan), a bickering couple with an elegantly curated and care-free life in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Erasmus is a demanding popular celebrity and Paul is his more hesitant partner and sidekick. Life is definitely extravagant for this twosome, especially when during a high class dinner party Erasmus' 10-year-old grandson, who he never knew he had, appears on their doorstep with nowhere else to go. The couple take the child in, but soon find out that they are the worst caretakers ever, making every possible parenting mistake."

--- Fashion Forward - Kate Winslet's film The Dressmaker has been out in the rest of the world for ages now so I was suprised to read the news that it still hadn't gotten picked up for the US yet - well it has, that was the actual news, that Amazon has picked it up for US release finally. So now you can see more of this scene of Liam Hemsworth in his underwear yourselves, what a lark that will be.

--- Square Peggy - It's probably weird how often Force Majeure floats into my brain, but float into my brain often it does, and so I've been wondering what director Ruben Ostland... would be getting up to next. nd here we are! He's making his "most likely" English-language debut with The Square, which will be about an art museum's bad-taste attempts to get publicity for an "altruistically-themed exhibit." And Elisabeth Moss has just signed on to co-star in the movie! That lady is everywhere worth being.

---  I Love Hughes - The first couple official pictures from Warren Beatty's new film, that Howard Hawks movie he's been working on for ages starring Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins, have finally arrived, as well as a title - the movie will be called Rules Don't Apply. The movie is out in November. Beatty himself is playing Hughes in the film, while Ehrenreich & Collins are employees of the man's who fall in love. (thx Mac)

--- Damn Them Demons - Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon premieres at Cannes today (actually whatever time it is in France right now I s'pose it could be premiering right now) and so help yourself to a terribly entertaining interview with the man himself over at Deadline. Choice bit about being wooed by Hollywood:

"I love Hollywood, don’t get me wrong. I love it, I love it, I love it. But it’s important to really understand that Hollywood is like a really, really expensive prostitute. She’s going to promise you everything — you can f*** her in any possible way because she’s there for you. She wants your vision. And it’s very seductive: “Come in here, play with me, do whatever you want.” And then when you start f***ing her, it can potentially be like, “Hang on, I know I said it but I didn’t mean it. No you can’t do that, you can’t do that, you can’t do that.” And in the end, you’re like, “Well, where do I come?” And depending on your ability to perform, they’re going to determine how you’re going to come, and then that’s just a really terrifying journey. So I thought, well, I’ll just stay with my wife, knowing that we’ll have very, very satisfying sex, and then I can go do the films I want to make."

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Do Dump or Marry: May the 4th Bewitch You

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As usual it's kind of difficult to find pictures of multiple male actors being allowed to stand beside each other without the lone girl (yes it's always a lone girl) being forced to run around in between them, deflecting the gay away -- so whoever let John Boyega, Oscar Isaac & Adam Driver sit there like that on that couch clearly got fired. (Has anyone seen Daisy Ridley lately?) 

Anyway happy May the 4th, people! I looked through my archives and discovered that when the new Star Wars came out I somehow never asked you guys to "Do Dump or Marry" the Next Generation fellas, so here we be. Tell me in the comments which of these guys you'd rub Wookies with, which you'd ship off onto a long mission to Alderaan, and which you'd digest in your heart for a thousand years like the Sarlaac of Love?

John Boyega Ten Times

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Ugh I was so excited when I saw the headline that John Boyega, James McAvoy, and Nicholas Hoult were all set to star in something. Then I clicked on the link and found out that they're all doing voice-work for a Netflix / BBC co-adaptation of Watership Down, and talk about deflating that boner fast. Nothing kills the blood-rush to your genitals like adorable dead cartoon rabbits. Oh well. Let's put that sadness out of our heads by hitting the jump for nine more pictures of Mr. Boyega looking fine...

John Boyega Eight Times

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