Good Morning, World

Our beloved French superstar Jean-Paul Belmondo would've been celebrating his 93rd birthday today if he hadn't passed in 2021 (I can't believe it's been that long honestly -- feels like it was last year) so here are a couple of photos of him back in his mid-century prime that I don't believe I've ever posted before with which we can celebrate. And of course if you dig down through our archives you can find many many many more treats with which to do the same. I'm particularly fond of this one myself. Oh Jean-Paul we miss you. What movie of his would you watch to celebrate with?

Criterions of the Flower Moon

How is it after all these many years (cue that old Titanic lady meme) I can still be surprised when the 15th rolls around and it's suddenly New Criterion Announcement Day? And yet here we are and I'm wholly unprepared for it. For real though -- I've got a screening in an hour that I'm cutting out early for so let's see if I can pound this sucker out and still say something worthwhile about them (as if that's stopped me before). The "them" being Criterion's releases for March of next year -- these things always being three mon ths ahead of time always give me this weird tunnel telescoped idea of time; like oh okay we're already living in the spring of 2026! (Is he dead yet? Fingers and toes crossed.) Which brings us to the biggun outta this batch -- Martin Scorsese's 2023 masterpiece Killers of the Flower Moon. Yes I was very much Team This Movie, as my review at the time let on -- I know some people have other opinions but I don't care for those in general. This is a great movie and man oh man is Lily Gladstone incredible in it. 

Next up two I have never seen -- Claude Sautet's 1960 crime thriller Classe tous risques, which stars a post-Breathless Jean-Paul Belmondo as the sidekick to a fugitive slicing n' dicing his way through Paris' criminal underworld -- anybody seen it? Seeing as how Belmondo was at Peak Hotness right here you'd best believe it's just been added to my To Watch list. Then there's the 1995 Hong Kong actioner The Blade from director Tsui Hark about a one-armed sword-maker hellbent on revenge -- I guess this was a flop when it came out but is now considered an expressionist action masterpiece? Now see, when people praise action movies for being "expressionist" I get worried it's some Michael Bay butchered nonsense -- deranged people have used that term for his cinema-barf and poisoned it for me. But we'll see. I'll give it a chance. 

Next up two more 1960s classics with Claude Lelouche's 1966 romance A Man and a Woman starring Jea-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée as widowed single parents falling for one another along the gorgeous Normandy coast, and Luis Buñuel’s deliciously blasphemous 1961 masterpiece Viridinia with Silvia Pinal. I only saw Viridinia a few years ago for the first time and man oh man does it live up to its reputation as So Fucking Good. Wanna know why? Becaue it is So Fucking Good! That Buñuel. Whatta guy. And then, finally, we have the sixth title for the month, another one I have never seen but which sounds incredible and I can't believe I haven't seen this -- Lynne Littman's 1983 film Testament, which stars Jane Alexander as a small-town mother of three surviving the day after a nuclear explosion. I guess Alexander was nominated for an Oscar for this? Any fans? Sounds very intriguing to me!

The Time For After Hours Is Upon Us!

One of the most awaited slash demanded Criterion titles of all time has finally been announced! Martin Scorsese's 1985 downtown NYC masterpiece After Hours is hitting 4K and blu-ray on July 11th! Just in time for my birthday -- huzzah! You can check out the list of special features at the link but it's the usual parade of awesomeness. Sometimes I think this is my favorite Scorsese movie? It's the one I've watched the most, even more than The Age of Innocence (the other one in the running for my favorite). It's so my perfect vision of my home -- take from that what you will, if you've seen the film. Those of us who love this nightmare hellhole love it with fierce devotion and nobody got it better than Marty. 

The other movies hitting Criterion in July are gonna have a hard time competing with that, but let's try to hype them up to -- Carl Franklin's 1992 small-town race thriller One False Move starring Bill Paxton is an ace little flick and that's making its debut on 4K blu-ray on July 25th. I only caught this a year or so ago when Criterion had it on their Channel and was shocked I'd never even heard of it before then. Then there's a big boxed-set of five Western films from director Budd Boetticher and starring one Mr. Randolph Scott. Sounds like the perfect Dad Gift for next year's holiday season. (Who doesn't love sneaking a closeted homosexual into their Dad's stash?)

And then rounding out the month there is Cheryl Dunye's fabulous 1996 lesbian classic The Watermelon Woman, and a 4K upgrade of Gordard's Breathless, all's so you can stare at this gorgeousness...

... as crisp as f'ing possible. G'bless you, Criterion!

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Pierrot le Fou (1965)

Ferdinard: I'm a huge question mark

dangling over the Mediterranean horizon.

Godard est mort -- vive Godard!

Good Morning, World

Well not so good a morning I guess, since I'm using this space to say RIP Jean-Paul Belmondo, who passed away yesterday at the still-too-too-young age of 88, as I am sure you're aware by now. If not I apologize for bearing such unutterable news! I hate it, I hate it. If I had my way he'd be around forever. But then he's one of the greatest movie stars the movies will ever have, so in his way he will be around forever -- his gentle stroking of his perfect lips in Breathless seen up top will outlive you and me, no doubt about that, and that's the way it should be. You can climb on yonder through MNPP's extensive JPB archives at this link -- there's a ton of visual pleasure to be taken in it, if nothing else. Go watch his movies for something else, more, I can only offer you the outside package -- one glimpse of him in action will transmit the rest. 

If you've never seen a Belmondo film, where do you start, you ask? My favorite is Pierrot Le Fou, but Breathless is probably a better starting point. 1964's That Man From Rio and 1973's Le magnifique are also absolute blasts that don't ask much from the viewer, if the noodling art films of Godard ain't yer bag -- Belmondo could anchor something like Jean-Pierre Melville's Léon Morin, Priest and then go totally goofy in a series of overheated actioners -- such was his forever charm, and we're better off having gotten to experience it.

Please tell me your Belmondo loves in the comments!

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10 Off My Head: Siri Says 1965

It's somehow been four months since we've done one of our "Siri Says" posts! And that's a darn shame. I know y'all enjoy them, and I do too, so let's reboot the season this week (although no promises we'll keep any momentum going given how I've got several film festivals lining up real quick for our immediate future) with a look at the Movies of 1965, after the lady who lives inside my telephone whispered the number "65" in my ear when I asked her for a number between 1 and 100.

One, I am surprised I hadn't done 1965 yet -- there are still good years left scattered about, although the pickins have admittedly gotten as slim as Jean-Paul Belmondo's waist. And Two, I was surprised by how many damn good movies there are from 1965 when I got to digging; movies I truly adore. So instead of our usual five movies I chose ten faves. And it's almost all foreign cinema? Foreign or genre film, anyway. The 1960s have all sorts of gems to offer once you escape Hollywood's bloated lameness.

My 10 Favorite Movies of 1965

War and Peace 

(dir. Sergey Bondarchuk) 

-- released on July 1965 --

Darling

(dir. John Schlesinger) 

-- released on August 3rd 1965 --

Pierrot le fou 

(dir. Jean-Luc Godard) 

-- released on November 5th 1965 --

Juliet of the Spirits

(dir. Fellini) 

-- released on October 19th 1965 --

The 10th Victim

(dir. Elio Petri) 

-- released on December 2nd 1965 --

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

(dir. Russ Meyer) 

-- released on August 6th 1965 --

Doctor Zhivago

(dir. David Lean) 

-- released on December 22nd 1965 --

Gamera the Giant Monster

(dir. Noriaki Yuasa) 

-- released on November 27th 1965 --

Planet of the Vampires

(dir. Mario Bava) 

-- released on September 15th 1965 --

Repulsion

(dir. Roman Polanski) 

-- released on May 19th 1965 --

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Runners-up: Die! Die! My Darling! (dir. Silvio Narizzano), The Nanny (dir. Seth Holt), My Hustler (dir. Andy Warhol), Invasion of the Astro-Monster (dir. Ishirô Honda), Bad Girls Go To Hell (dir. Doris Wishman), The Sound of Music (dir. Robert Wise), War-Gods of the Deep (dir. Jacques Tourneur) 

Never seen: Sandra of a Thousand Delights (dir. Visconti), Who Killed Teddy Bear (dir. Joseph Cates), What's New Pussycat (dir. Clive Donner), Simon of the Desert (dir. Bunuel), Up to His Ears (dir. Phillipe de Broca), That Darn Cat (dir. Robert Stevenson), Cat Ballou (dir. Elliot Silverstein), The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (dir. Martin Ritt), Help! (dir. Richard Lester), The Naked Prey (dir. Cornel Wilde)

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What are your favorite films of 1965?

Good Morning, World

Every year on April 9th I think well that's it, I can't possibly find more Jean-Paul Belmondo photos to share for his birthday... and every damn year I'm wrong. I suppose being a French Sex Symbol for... well he's turning 88 today... a lot of years, you'll rack up a damn bunch of photographs. Thank the gods! Several of these (the bathtub ones, mainly) seem to be from his 1964 movie called Greed in the Sun, -- anybody seen it? -- but otherwise after the jump it's just a random assortment of new-to-me ones...

And They Call Him Ferdinand Griffon dit Pierrot

Grab your primary-colored sticks of dyn-o-mite cuz my favorite Jean-Luc Godard film 1965's Pierrot le fou hits blu-ray today as part of the esteemed Criterion Collection yes this very day today -- not to be missed, funky cats and kitties. 

Starring a never swanker Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina as a pair of lovers turned criminals on the run it's really a dissemblage of that idea and movie concept -- shit gets real meta's my point. There was one question I really wanted answered that the Criterion edition's special features -- which are good otherwise! -- doesn't touch though, and that was...

... why did the promotional material materials for the movie pretend JPB was shirtless in the bathtub gun-play scene when he's defiantly not, as seen on the right? False advertising, yo! somebody get me Godard on the phone, I demand answers. (At least we'll always have this photo.) Anyway I dare y'all to prove the following tweet untrue:

Watching this now and obviously looking like Belmondo helps but I don't know if there's a movie I love the men's clothes in more? The mid-60s were just perfection, absolute perfection pic.twitter.com/RBUWxDBx8D

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 27, 2020

Good Morning, World

I'm not even sure what movie the above Jean-Paul Belmondo moment is from but I'm having me one of my many Belmondo moments after re-watching Godard's masterpiece Pierrot Le Fou yesterday -- as I told you recently it's hitting Criterion on October 6th and I can now report the disc is top notch -- and so here we are. Anybody know the film? I got the gif off Tumblr and it wasn't labeled. Anyway if y'all follow me on Twitter you could probably already sense a lil' Belmondo tsunami was imminent...

Belmondo, fox pic.twitter.com/eSJBke5gHP

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 27, 2020

Poetry is a Game of Loser Take All

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I only realized too late when I took half of last week off for my birthday that I'd be missing my favorite mid-monthly occurrence -- New Criterion Announcement Day! So we're doing it a few days late this month -- avert your eyes if this is so horrible for you! Per usual the announcement is for the films that Criterion will be releasing three months from now, meaning we're into October for these ones. First up is Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 masterpiece Pierrot le fou starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina, otherwise known as Probably My Favorite Godard Film? I've never really tried too hard to rank Godard since there are so very many I've never seen, but it's either this or Breathless because him filming Belmondo in the 60s is basically what heaven looks like to me, but I think I slightly prefer the Pop Art look of Pierrot.

Just an absolute Dream Team, that. Anyway you can check out all the Special Features on Criterion's site -- looks like good stuff! Moving on also on tap for October is Bong Joon-ho's Oscar winner Parasite -- even though I didn't love Parasite quite as much as the rest of the world I will says it's so weird and wonderful to call it an Oscar winner, and I think that's a win for the ages, one that will hold up real well. I also really very much dig the cover art Criterion came up with:

Very nice. The other titles that Criterion's got on hand for October are Diahann Carroll's Oscar-nominated 1974 romantic-comedy with James Earle Jones called Claudine, Gregory Peck in the brooding 1950 Western The Gunfighter, and then last but hardly least Stephen Frears' stylish UK gangster caper The Hit with Terence Stamp outrunning Tim Roth in sun-dappled Spanish locations from 1984. I have not seen any of these but if y'all would like to recommend I do, do that, in the comments please. The Hit sounds especially up my alley as I love me some hardboiled Terry Stamp, but Gregory Peck's Gunfighter mustache is also yee-haw a'callin' my lil' doggy...

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1962

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Last week's edition of our "Siri Says" series -- where I ask my phone to give me a number between 1 and 100 and then list my five favorite movies from the year that corresponds to that number -- was a tough one, sending us tumbling into Silent Film, so I was relieved this week when, after about a dozen or so tires (the years we've got left are getting scarcer and scarcer) Siri plunked us down into a decade I've seen many more movies from, the 1960s, with the number "62." And then I started looking at The Movies of 1962 and I realized that my likes from that precise year -- which featured both the height of the Cold War and the birth of Spider-man -- tend towards outside-the-mainstream. Meaning that there are big beloved movies from that year that I feel very little towards! 

It's a terrific year of movies but an odd inconsistently-matched batch, including big swings between challenging international cinema which was booming, bargain-basement cult oddities from the likes of Roger Corman & Co, and of course the smooth pretty product line that was rolling out of Hollywood. The latter's where my interest wanes, and so as I skimmed through all the titles for the year I found myself wanting to (mostly) highlight the weirder stuff at the expense of the more popular titles.  But then the weirder stuff is my brand! As is, apparently, the black-and-white in the time of color stuff...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1962

Knife in the Water

(dir. Roman Polanski)

-- released on March 9th 1962 -- 

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?

(dir. Robert Aldrich)

-- released on October 31st 1962 -- 

The Manchurian Candidate

(dir. John Frankenheimer)

-- released on October 24th 1962 -- 

Carnival of Souls

(dir. Herk Hervey)

-- released on November 2nd 1962 -- 

The Exterminating Angel

(dir. Luis Bunuel)

-- released on May 16th 1962 -- 

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Runners-up: La Jetée (dir. Chris Marker), Dr. No (dir. Terence Young), Cape Fear (dir. J. Lee Thompson), Day of the Triffids (dir. Steve Sekely), L'eclisse (dir. Michaelangelo Antonioni), Jules and Jim (dir. Truffaut)...

... Panic in the Year Zero (dir. Ray Milland), Lolita (dir. Kubrick), Long Day's Journey Into Night (dir. Lumet), Vivre sa Vie (dir. Godard), Lawrence of Arabia (dir. David Lean), To Kill a Mockingbird (dir. Robert Mulligan)

Never seen: The Music Man (dir. Morton Dacosta), The Miracle Worker (dir. Arthur Penn), The Longest Day (dir. Andrew marton), All Fall Down (dir. John Frankenheimer), A Kind of Loving (dir. John Schlesinger), Billy Budd (dir. Peter Ustinov), Cleo From 5-7 (dir. Agnes Varda)...

... The Intruder (dir. Roger Corman), How the West Was Won (dir. Henry Hathaway), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (dir. John Ford), The Trial (dir. Welles), Cartouche (dir. Philippe de Broca), Days of Wine and Roses (dir. Blake Edwards)

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What are your favorite movies of 1962?

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Good Morning, World

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I know. Believe me, I know. I'll give y'all a minute to gather your breath, and to gather yourselves off of the floor, after witnessing that photo. I have spent a dozen years scouring this here internet for photos of French actor Jean-Paul Belmomdo -- you can see the years of posts at this link -- digging into every random nook and cranny, and yet only yesterday did this photo here make itself known to me. That beard! That butt! My god!

The photo is apparently from 1969 and it was supposedly taken by actress Ursula Andress -- did you know she broke up with gorgeous John Derek (who left his wife to be with her) to be with Belmondo in 1965 after they starred together in the movie Up To His Ears. And what a couple they made, my god! Hit the jump for a bunch of photos of them being the hottest goddamn duo under the sun...