Today's Mood

Still can't believe how subversive the video for Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" remains here at 32 years old (!!!) -- a rock god presenting himself as both a fetishized sexual object and a submissive all at once? How often have we seen this in the years since? Bless you, Trent, you foundational pervert. Anyway! Today's a big day for NIN fans as their highly anticipated new record of remixes with Boys Noize, smartly titled Nine Inch Noize, has dropped -- I didn't get to see them on tour this past year where they've been playing these bangers so this is the closest I will get to them. No physical release of the album just yet but fingers and toes and leather whips all crossed in knots that'll happen eventually. (Says the man still waiting for Trent to drop the Bones and All vinyl, sigh.) But maybe it's for the best that this record didn't drop today as I just spent a grotesque amount of money on...

... a scorpion-filled version of the soundtrack for Lee Cronin's The Mummy movie over at Waxwork. (Seeing as how it's already sold out I have a feeling this will be a good investment though.) Oh and I also bought the below gorgeous poster for Steven Soderbergh's film The Christophers via Neon's store, because look at her! She's gorgeous. Oh and this movie P.S. is terrific -- it's a really low-key performance but I would love it if we could manage to maintain some Oscar buzz for Sir Ian until next spring since he's so fucking overdue and he's genuinely wonderful in this movie. I doubt it will happen since it's not a super showy role but I still really want him to be the first out gay actor to get one of those stupid statues. It just feels right. 

Finally Queer in My Hands!

It's sexy boy Drew Starkey's birthday today, the fact of which knocked off a series of comments and clicks by your truly leading me to yesterday's tweet semi-announcement from Sony Music Soundtrack's socials that Trent Reznor & Atticus' Ross' criminally under-appreciated score for Luca Guadagnino's film Queer will really for real be getting a vinyl release! Huzzah! All the info we have thus far are these two cropped images -- presumably from the vinyl's sleeve -- and the small sum-total of what they said, which was "no use fighting it. QUEER vinyl news coming this week 👀" Not sure if this means it will be coming via Sony, or Milan Records (who released the Challengers score), or the Nine Inch Nails website, or A24's own shop -- it could be any or several or all of these locations! But as surely as I'll google gifs of Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey making out at least once a week I'll surely say something more about this news once we have more about this news to say. 

ETA of course five minutes after I write up this post they go and announce more news and pictures from the vinyl -- it still doesn't say where we'll be able to buy it but Sony says the Queer soundtrack is finally going on pre-sale on this Thursday, November 6th. You can see a few more photos on Instagram.  

Congrats to the Dorian Winners!

The winners of the annual Dorian awards have been announced -- voted on by members of GALECA, an orgination of entertainment critics of the queer sort amongst whom I happily count myself -- and we did okay! I only voted for a couple of the winners but I'm not angry that we gave The Substance a near damned sweep -- that's a lot of fun! This ain't your grandma's queer critic's awards show! Anyway Challengers did well too (winning score and screenplay) and we gave our rising star award to Jonathan Bailey! Jonathan Bailey always gets a rise outta me that's for sure. Hit the jump and I'll share the full press release with y'all...

Pure Love Centipede

Heads-up that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score for Luca Guadagnino's film Queer will apparently be dropping on all of the streaming services at midnight tonight! That's the playlist above (via). No word on a physical release yet but let's keep our fingers crossed -- that said this one admittedly doesn't have the pop appeal of their score for Challengers (which we all know got not one but two stellar vinyl releases this year) and so I have my doubts, especially given we're still waiting for proper releases of their music from Bones & All and The Killer. Sighhhhhhh.

Omar Apollo, Queer Boy Supreme

Singer turned actor Omar Apollo only has one scene in Luca Guadagnino's film Queer but it's a scorcher of one, and he's also on the soundtrack with a song called "Te Maldigo" -- on that note (heh get it cuz it's music) a music video for that song has just been released, and it was directed by Luca himself! Watch it here: 

I am hoping that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' entire score for the movie gets a big beautiful release like their one for Challengers just did, but this score is a little less showy than that earlier one so there's a chance it might fall into the Bones & All camp where we're still waiting for a record release. (SIGH.) Maybe this song will help! Go listen to this song a million times so we get a release please! Oh and here is a link to my review of Queer in case you missed that during NYFF. Queer is out in six days!

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Etc

An update on yesterday's news about the Challengers score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross finally getting a vinyl drop -- you can pre-order it right here! There was a bit of a oh lket's be nice and say kerfuffle when I first woke up this morning because Milan Records, the distributor that's pressing the thing, was SOLD OUT when I woke up and natch I freaked out -- they're still SOLD OUT but Amazon still has it, so you're safe. Anyway I think we can all agree that they messed up -- or might I say, they dropped the ball, kersnicker -- not printing the record in tennis-ball-yellow, but we do love those playing cards for our favorite sweaty throuple and the Phil's Tire Town bumper sticker rocks so we'll accept.

Good Morning, World

Odd that I am bringing up Box Office two posts in a row in order to say how I never talk or think about Box Office -- I'd say crown me King of the Hypocrites but I got that crown so long ago it's tarnished and turned green -- but did anybody go and see The Crow re-do this past weekend? I did not, nor do I have any desire to, nor do I have a clue how it did  -- but at some point in the future when I feel like hurting myself I'll definitely watch it at home. (Such moments are not rare.) Anyway as I said last week when I was posting yet another shot of Bill Skarsgård's incredible edible abdominal muscles I was never big on The Crow anyway (except the soundtrack -- I always need to make that qualifier lest my NIN Fanclub Membership gets revoked). My very brief goth period did not coincide with its release. But many thanks to Bill and Bill's trainer (who shared this snippet of video) for everything we see above!

I'm In My "Serve Me" Era

I did not make that mouth-watering gif myself -- I swiped it off of Twitter, a social media platform gloriously awash in Challengers gifs of this sort today thanks to Challengers hitting the online rental spots like Prime right here. Normally I would happily make this gif myself but honestly it's Friday and I'm tired and I am so glad I get to be lazy and just swipe it, just this once. That said I did make the gif at the bottom of this post myself and that's sure something! Anyway go rent Challengers, go watch Challengers, go live Challengers. Here is my review if you missed it. And as previously announced the movie hits blu-ray on June 9th and you can pre-order that right here. The only thing I need now (besides to have Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor making out in my lap, that is) is Trent Reznor's deliciously over-the-top techno score for the film to get a vinyl drop ASAP, and we'll be all over golden. Long live Challengers!

Thwack #Challengers is now available to rent!https://t.co/dQGroswjWS pic.twitter.com/hfYk8BWkqz

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) May 17, 2024

Challenge This!

If you missed my review of Luca Guadagnino's Challengers over the weekend, click here! And yes I know if you scan down this here front page of the site a few posts you'll see my link to that already, but this is giving me an opportunity to share the above set photo of Mike Faist and Zendaya on the set and Mike's thigh muscles are demanding I do so. They are literally holding a gun to my head! Anyway I did also mean to mention last week that the film's unforgettable soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross hit all of the streaming services last week, so if you're a fan (and I know some of you are not fans, but you're incorrect) you should be listening to it, as I did while doing dishes and folding laundry this weekend. It makes everything so intense! Also I can't find the link on Twitter right now but I did see confirmation from either Sony or Milan Records that they are working on a physical release of the soundtrack, which is momentous. Since their gorgeous scores for Bones & All and The Killer are both still unreleased on vinyl I had gotten worried. 

Quotes of the Day

“He started us down a path, saying, ‘What if it was very loud techno music through the whole film?'" “I wish I had his notes... His notes were so fucking funny on what each piece was meant to do.... ‘Unending homoerotic desire.’ It was all a variation on those three words.”

That is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross telling GQ about how Luca Guadagnino wanted them to score Challengers, his tennis movie starring Josh O'Connor, Mike Faist, and Zendaya, that's out in a few weeks. And that is the funniest, most-Luca thing I have ever heard. "Unending homoerotic desire," lol. I'm surprised to hear the movie has "loud techno music" over the entire thing, which is not what I was expecting, although I have heard a few of my collegeues who've already seen the film commenting on the score. Something else to look forward to! 

In the GQ interview the two rock stars turned Oscar winning composers also talk about Luca's first cut of his cannibal romance Bones & All, which I also found interesting:

"On the first film the two men scored for Guadagnino, Bones and All, “we got a cut of that that was nearly four hours long with no music and we kind of thought, Oh, fuck,” Reznor said. “Four hours we sat without a pee break, transfixed. It didn’t need music. And when you watch that you approach it differently.” "

And now I really must repeat a demand I have repeated tenfold since Bones & All came out -- release that gorgeous fucking score on vinyl already, please!!! It's so good. Probably my favorite of their scores to date.

Good Morning, Crow

Squawking at us this morning via Vanity Fair -- where they have a few more images and interview stuff, check it -- is our first look at Bill Skarsgård as The Crow in the new movie version, out on June 7th. Bill is getting a lot of use out of those new carved-in-marble abs huh? (See also here.) We don't mind. Re-use em if ya got em, that's my motto. Anyway I've never been much of a Crow person -- indeed that came up just yesterday when I mentioned on Twitter that it was the 26th anniversary of the other big 90s gothy movie directed by Alex Proyas...

I am very much Dark City > The Crow

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 27, 2024

I don't know if you can take yourself back to the 90s -- hell I don't know if half of you were alive in the 90s (SIGH) -- but superhero movies were considered real fucking goofy. Even something (maybe even especially something) that was taking itself as seriously as The Crow. Now we have to pretend they're not (although, genuine thoughts and prayers, that might be changing back?) but superhero movies were Barb Wire and the original Super Mario Brothers. And yes -- those movies have very much attained cult status now. Mostly because people can't believe there was a time when superhero movies were allowed to be so fucking weird. 

I was the right age for those movies when they were coming out, in my early teens, and I did indeed go and see them, but I was never a person who was taking them seriously. Same with The Crow. It was Hot Topic filtered through Hollywood -- it wasn't nearly as edgy as it thought it was. But I will say that the one excellent thing about it was that soundtrack. I was huge in my Nine Inch Nails phase right then and that soundtrack still rules. But I feel like I'm rambling now. So back to Bill Skarsgård and his gothic abdominals. What do we think? What is our immediate thought?

online polls

I Am Link

.

--- Uniform Fetish The Movie - Openly gay blockbuster filmmaker Roland Emmerich - you kind of don't get to call many people that, so I always want to when given the chance - is making a WWII movie next called Midway, and he's just landed... openly... uh... well... you know... openly Luke Evans to star in it. Luke is playing Commander Wade McClusky, a real dude who did real good during that battle. Also starring will be Woody Harrelson and Mandy Moore. And no doubt also a cast of Dunkirk-lite twinks to wear all those uniforms, which aren't gonna wear themselves.

--- Chucky Rises - It's been a very very long time since I last sat down and watch the first Child's Play film from start to finish - perhaps I should have myself a marathon? I actually prefer the goofier later films if I'm being honest - the only dolls I've ever found convincingly creepy were the ones in Stuart Gordon's 1987 psychotic break called Dolls, so Chucky needs the goofiness to land, I've always thought. Anyway they are rebooting the whole thing and remaking the original film, it appears, with a Norwegian director - my guess is to wipe the franchise's convoluted timeline clean (it seriously has gotten tremendously confusing) and try to be straight-up scary. We'll see. If you're not pouring acid on John Waters' face I don't know why we're even here.

--- It Sings At Night - I don't have the same knee-jerk "Hooray!" reaction that a lot of my contemporaries have when new musicals are announced, so I wasn't bouncing around when I read that Lucas Hedges and Sterling K. Brown have signed up to make one - it wasn't until I saw that the thing was being directed by Krisha + It Comes At Night director Trey Edward Shults with music from Trent Reznor that my interest was piqued. That's a fascinating collection of people.

--- The Deer Hunters - I hadn't heard anything about Observe & Report director Jody Hill's new film in ages, and suddenly it turns out it's hitting Netflix this Friday? Which might not be a good sign. It's called The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter and it stars Hill regular Danny McBride and Josh Brolin as pair of TV deer hunters on a trip with Brolin's distant kid. The movie's got a trailer now which you can watch over here. I guess we'll see, and shortly at that.

--- Duck Ducked Goose - Y'all can stop voting on our poll asking which young actor should play Goose Jr. in the new Top Gun movie - the studio went with Miles Teller, our last-place finisher and the least inspired choice, which shouldn't be surprising since this is the same studio that decided to make a Top Gun sequel in the first place. Anyway I am glad I don't have to see this movie now and that Glen Powell can go make something as funny and great as he is.

--- Beaton It - The documentary Love Cecil, about the pioneering gay photographer Cecil Beaton, is out in theaters now and you should totally seek it out - our pal Glenn explains why today over at The Film Experience. I saw this movie a very long time ago because of a weird connection I've got off-line to the filmmakers - I actually saw one of the very first screenings anywhere for anybody, and it's been eating me up to push the movie but I kind of can't. But it's good! See it!
.

I Am Link

.

--- Like An Animal - We learn a few important things about Magic Mike XXL in this interview with Joe Manganiello - firstly, he'll be stripping to the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer" which... well let's just say that song pushes some happy buttons for me. He also says that Matt Bomer sings in this movie! Which is exciting. And Joe once again insists the movie's "out there," calling it "progressive" and "racy." Let's hope so, since Chocolate City (yes I still mean to review that; let's hope it happens today) shit the bed.

--- The Price of Carol - While we're just sitting around waiting to see Carol and feeling left out - even though we were writing about this movie way before anybody else gave a damn! Here's a post from NINE YEARS AGO where I said that Cate Blanchett should play the lead in a movie version, AHEM - director Todd Haynes has been lining up several new projects and Nat takes a look at them over at The Film Experience. I hadn't heard about Wonderstruck, the children's book adaptation yet and that sounds smashing.

--- Raptor Ready - Just about two weeks until Jurassic World opens - I bought my tickets this past weekend! Whee! I was inspired by all of those new Chris Pratt pictures, of course. Speaking of The Playlist gathered up all of the new images and clips from the movie and there were several I hadn't seen yet. The dinosaurs are starting to (finally) look tangible and less CG, thank goodness.

--- Spot Out Damn - I am not going to watch any of the clips from Justin Kurzel's MacBeth beforehand but hey if you're up for it here's the first two clips of Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard doing their Shakespearean thang. (thanks Mac) I'm also not really going to read any reviews beforehand but I did see a few tweets out of Cannes and they seemed very positive! And here's an interview with Fassy from Cannes - he mentions the movies he most wants to see are Yargos Lanthimos' The Lobster and Carol, so clearly my love for him has been justified all this time.

--- New Boy - I don't watch New Girl but they sure do have plenty of attractive menfolk over there so I know of New Girl, and so I similarly know of Max Greenfield. (See some of him here previously.) Well he's just signed on for what I assume is a small role in the next season of American Horror Story, which Ryan Murphy says will be showing us a Max like we've never seen before. I'm just feeling anxious that we haven't heard anything about Finn Wittrock returning, and since Max & Finn seem really similar to me that's making me more anxious.

--- Night Owls - There was a Twin Peaks fan event this past weekend and original stars Sherilyn Fenn and Sheryl Lee told the crowd that David Lynch (who's back on the new season; did I forget to post about that? I think I might have, somehow) will be directing a total of EIGHTEEN new episodes. Eighteen! And also original composer Angelo Badalamenti, so important in creating that world, will return as well. 

--- Lunch Laddy - A ton of pictures from Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Netflix's prequel series to the cult hit, popped up online over the long weekend, huzzah! Click on over and see all of your favorite characters playing younger versions of themselves ten years later. I was most surpised by how on the money Janeane Garofalo looks since I saw her on the street a few weeks ago and she was practically unrecognizable.

--- Cool Girls - Amy Schumer and her sister (who writes and acts and produces Amy's show) are working on a script sticking a mother and daughter team into an action-comedy where the two women get woefully in over their heads while on vacation. I think it's safe to assume Amy's the daughter -- who would you cast as her mother? In last week's episode of the show having Jennifer Coolidge play her mother struck me as genius so I vote for her.

.

Gone Girl Got Junk

.

David Fincher's Gone Girl is out today and it's been a big topic online all week - I will direct you once again to my review at The Film Experience, but now that it's out for y'all to see I do wanna hear what you think of the movie. There have been a couple of positive reviews I've read that have momentarily convinced me that I might've been overly critical of the film, that maybe my Affleck-loathing had poisoned the well, but... no, I just don't think it's all it could've been. It never comes together - the trap never snaps shut on its Venus fangs.

One sticking point I forgot to mention in my review is, shockingly, the score - I am a Trent Reznor fan from way back, I had a ten foot poster of him on my dorm room wall, I dyed my hair black for god's sake. I loved Trent's music for his two previous Fincher collaborations. And the music itself, on its lonesome, is fine. But it doesn't sit well on the movie at all - it feels stifling and misplaced and not at all what the movie needed.

Also if you wanna see how fast you can get my brow to furrow, mention that you thought Tyler Perry gave anything more than an adequate performance - just because he didn't come in swinging from the rafters and behaved like a human being is not cause for celebration, people. I would love to hear somebody explain to me exactly what he did that was anything special with that part. Maybe an argument could be made that he made a good choice in under-playing a role that could've been hams-ville, especially in his hammy hands, and I might be willing to grant you that. But beyond that I nearly fell asleep when he was on-screen.

Another story that's gotten traction this week - because it's more interesting to talk about than Affleck's dull performance - is Big Ben's exposed genitalia. I enjoyed Rich's piece at Gawker (I even got a shout-out in that one) and Vulture's piece on just how to make sure you don't miss it had me in stitches. Oh and here's an interview with Michael Fassbender's penis on the subject. It's been a good week for cock-talk. For the record it is there, and it does seem impressive. No wonder Jennifer Garner seems so dazed all the time. It hasn't gotten as much attention but Neil Patrick Harris also gives a full-frontal in the film, but I am fairly certain it's a prosthetic for... reasons you'll understand when you see the movie. Still, good on Fincher. American movies need less funny dicks, and more sexy slash straight-dude-threatening ones.

.

Gone Girl Gone Gone

. 

I popped out a review of David Fincher's Gone Girl last night over at The Film Experience, go check it out there. I also posted several pictures from the press conference that followed the screening over at Instagram, if you wanna stare at famous people like Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, David Fincher, Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry.
.

I Am Link

.

--- Cover Girl - Seeing Elle Fanning and Neil Gaiman's names first my eyes were certainly grabbed by this news-story that she's set to star in an adaptation of one of his short stories called How To Talk To Girls At Parties, but it wasn't until I saw that it's John Cameron Mitchell who is directing it that I leapt right off the cliff to OH MY GOD YES. He's only made three movies and they're all pretty much masterpieces, so you'd best believe I'm excited. (Although I hope this doesn't keep him from bringing that Hedwig sequel to life on stage, I've been picturing Future-Me sitting in that audience for awhile now.)

--- Big Heart - It's a Ron Howard movie so I'm prone to pessimism right off the bat (understatement) but here's an eensy unclear first glimpse of Chris Hemsworth in that shipwreck movie In the Heart of the Sea that he lost tons of weight for. It's what the word "bedraggled" was invented for.
.

--- Detect This - Bill Condon's Old Sherlock Holmes movie reuniting him with his Gods and Monsters star Ian McKellen has just started filming and we got the first picture of Ian in character and looking at it all I can think is jeez I want Ian to win a damned Oscar. Has anybody ever won playing Sherlock before? I don't know that they lend themselves to that kind of attention, but if anybody can get Sir Doyle on that train it's Condon, I guess. Oh and Hiroyuki Sanada apparently just joined the cast - you do all have a crush on him right? You should.

--- Universal Horror - It's usually best to adopt an "I'll believe it when I'm buying a ticket for it" attitude with whatever Guillermo Del Toro is spouting off about every day, but this is still a nifty thing to hear - he says that in his downtime from making gigantic robot versus monster movies he's going to make a small black-and-white monster movie with, he hopes, John Hurt in the lead. I would buy a ticket for that!

--- Fresh Scar - I'm currently wrestling with my ability to watch anything with Jonah Hill in it (nope, still haven't seen the 22 Jump Street movie, nope don't have any plans on it til it's on video - sorry Channing) so I'm choosing to ignore his giant face at this link and concentrate on the happy news beside it that Scarlett Johannson is also going to be in the new Coens movie Hail Caesar, the one about 50s Hollywood tabloid hijinks. Think back upon her comedic genius in Don Jon and smile.

--- Everybody's A Winner - I've mentioned the Emmy nominations a bunch today but not properly linked to anybody who actually knows anything about them talking about them so let's fix that - here's the folks at The Wire talking about the good stuff making them happy, and here's them talking about the snubs that make them sad. The happiest thing for me on there is the love for Lizzy Caplan and Allison Janney in Masters of Sex, I think. That show's back this weekend oh my god excited!

--- And finally over at The Film Experience Nathaniel took a look at the under-sung Emmy category of "Outstanding Main Title Sequence," which will probably go to True Detective this year but really should go to the just-mentioned Masters of Sex for its parade hysterical visual intercourse puns. You might notice in the comments of that post I rambled about the titles for David Fincher's Se7en and how influential they are, so here they are to stare at the pretty. God I love them so much.
.
.

I Am Link

.

--- Farewell Spaghetti - By now you've probably read that Quentin Tarantino has abandoned his only recently announced plans to make The Hateful Eight his next movie - another Western with Christoph Waltz - because somebody and he doesn't know who but he's definitely pointing fingers leaked the script onto the internet. Honestly I'm with Nathaniel on this one, I think we dodged a bullet. When this project was first announced I expressed exhaustion at the idea of what sounded broadly like the same movie QT's been making for the past few years - I really hope this tosses him off towards making something unexpected and weird next. 

--- Troubled Waters - Daniel Radcliffe is making a movie about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge called funnily enough Brooklyn Bridge; he's playing a designer in a tail-spin following the death of his father. The thing grabbing my attention here is that I think they're saying Gwyneth Paltrow is playing his wife? Um isn't she liked twice his age? Old pervert.

--- Pine Away - Patrick Wilson's new movie Stretch, from The A-Team and The Grey director Joe Carnahan, was supposed to come out in March but the studio has apparently dropped the film into nowheresville. Something about they don't want to spend all the money they'd have to spend on advertising the thing, they don't have faith it could make its money back. It co-stars Chris Pine so I wonder if the massive bombing of the Jack Ryan movie has something to do with it?

--- Blunder Land - Set your meters to insufferable mugging times a million - Sasha Baron Cohen is maybe going to co-star opposite Johnny Depp in the Alice in Wonderland sequel. And I say that as someone who generally likes SBC; I just foresee this project bringing out his worst instincts. And by "this project" I mean "Johnny Depp" because he poisons everything he touches these days.

--- Industrial Girl - David Fincher is headed back to the Nine Inch Nails well for his adaptation of Gillian Flynn's book Gone Girl - Trent Reznor, Oscar winner (that is so weird!), announced on Twitter that he will be scoring the movie with his partner-in-moog Atticus Ross. I want to be excited about this movie but Ben Affleck, yuck.

--- Second Best - I don't know why I found the geeky math applied to this problem entertaining but check out the chances of a tie happening at the Oscars this year in the Best Picture race over at THR. They are slim.

--- Extra Log - David Lynch has confirmed that there will be something we've "never seen before" on the upcoming Twin Peaks blu-ray, but it's not clear if he means something he shot new, as was rumored, or if he's just talking about deleted scenes and what-not that were never released before.

.

I Am Link

.

--- Ghost Dad - I'm a little surprised that The Conjuring's been getting some pretty solid reviews, since I didn't like it (my review from way back in May is right here), but hey whatcha gonna do, some things tingle others while they don't tingle you, I guess. Anyway The Playlist has a few clips and a whole big pile of pics (they're spoilery though), which remind me of one's of the film's admitted strong points - Patrick Wilson in snug vintage pants.

--- Half Mark - Because of all the running around I'm in the middle of doing I probably won't get around to listing my favorites of 2013 circa the halfway mark until the end of this month (if at all, honestly) - still, who needs me when Nat's doing it over at The Film Experience. Here's the first part of his 2013.5 coverage, with a couple of shout-outs to The Movie That Matters Most. (You know which one I mean.)

--- Double Time - Channing Tatum talked to THR a bit about the second Magic Mike movie, which he says will be "the movie everybody thought the first movie was going to be." I guess we can read that as more ass, full stop, right? That was the main complaint - too much talk, too little ass! Even though I loved all the talking in the first movie, I am down with a more ass-centric sequel, unsurprisingly.

--- Cabin in the Park - Oh my god, there's going to be a Cabin in the Woods maze at Universal Studios in Orlando this Fall. That is SO COOL. I probably won't be able to get to it, so somebody go down there, steal everything, and bring it to me. Thanks.

--- Peak Heat - STYD got some fresh word from Guillermo Del Toro on his next movie, the haunted romance Crimson Peak that's already got Charlie Hunnam, Jessica Chastain, Benedict Cumberbatch and Mia Wasikowska attached - he says it's very adult and definitely R-rated, more in tune with the stuff he's done in Spanish than his American movies. In related news, I bought my tickets to Pacific Rim today! Whoop!

--- Birth Pains - EW is chatting with people they hope might get Emmy nominations, and here's their chat with Sarah Burns, aka Krista on Enlightened, aka oh my god I miss Enlightened so freaking much you guys.

--- Act Well - This goes back to the topic up above, about judging 2013's goodies, but here's Joe Reid's picks for the five best performances of the year, so far. I can fully co-sign two of these! Two of the others I haven't seen. And Emory Cohen... no.

--- And finally, have you seen David Lynch's music video for the new Nine Inch Nails single "Came Back Haunted"? It is deliciously Lynchian, meaning it totally hurt my brain.
.

.

Whisper Tales Of Gore

.

Ever since the first trailer for David Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo kicked in my front door and licked my face back in June I've been whining about wanting Karen O's cover of "Immigrant Song" with Trent Reznor that they used to score it. Word came out over the weekend about the soundtrack's release, and along with it was the full version of that beautifully ear-bursting song. Hear:

.

.

So so good. If the Oscars meant anything we'd have Karen and Trent violating each other with cattle prods on the stage of the Kodak Theater next year, but they don't so we won't. Boo to them.

With the movie coming out in a couple of weeks the hype has been thick - for example, Nat covered the brouhaha about David Denby's embargo breaking review. Hey Sony I will keep my yap shut if you let me see it early! I promise!

I Am Link

.

--- Rubik's Cabin - AICN not only debuted the really cool poster for Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's Cabin in the Woods, seen there to the left, but Harry also got a few hints from those two - emphasis on few - about stuff regarding the movie. I mean, really it's nothing, but it's something too. Ya know? You know! They also joke that the next poster will of course feature a shirtless Chris Hemsworth, but I'm choosing to think of it not as a joke, BUT A PROMISE. Anyway this movie needs to sit on my face already. Unfortunately it's not out until April 13th. Gah!

--- Return To Amity - James Wan, whose career I now follow because of how much damned fun Insidious was, is going back to paranormal investigating for his next movie, but this time it's real - he's setting up a movie about Ed and Loraine Warren, the real-life team who gained notoriety over their research into the Amityville Horror house, which eventually led to all those Amity movies, and Ryan Reynolds looking like this. If only every investigation led to Ryan Reynolds looking like that!

--- Sultan of The New Flesh - Over at The Film Experience, Nat's interview with David Cronenberg is really really good, go and read it. Love the whole portion on how DC would never go back and polish up his old movies and sees them as historical documents of their time.

--- Double Doc'd - Hey, who doesn't want a Watchmen 2 comic not written by Alan Moore, ya know? That sounds like a terrific idea! Just terrific. This is where I need that sarcasm font that doesn't exist.

--- Bieber Fever - Everybody's linking to it but that ain't gonna stop me - John Waters' top ten list of movies he's seen this year. Yes, he brings out the Beiber, which reminds me of this picture. Jinkies.

--- Wicker Two - It's been a long long road since we first heard that Robin Hardy was making a sequel to his 1973 classic The Wicker Man, but here we are and The Wicker Tree is a thing with an actual trailer and a poster for it via BD. It's out in January. Christopher Lee!

--- Girl Song - Slash has some info on how you can get your mitts on some of Trent Reznor's score for David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I just want that Karen O. "Immigrant Song" cover that we heard in the first trailer dammit!

--- Laidless - The Awl talks about the desexing of menfolk in the movies, mainly in comedies and with a focus on romantic comedies - that is, in order to be A Good Man, he must'nt stick his pee pee anywhere near a vagina lest he be spoiled for The Prize Vagina waiting for him at the end. There's definitely something to it but I can think up several examples otherwise - I was reminded the other day of how Jason Segel plows a dozen ladies after his break-up with Kristen Bell in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. And never forget Gosling in Crazy Stupid Love! But in general I agree we're skittish about sex, of course we are.

--- Pill Poppin' - Steven Soderbergh's supposed retirement is holding off even longer as he reveals he'll be making something called Bitter Pill, from a script by Scott Z. Burns who also wrote The Informant! and Contagion for him (not to mention the book World War Z). It is a "potboiler thriller" about "a troubled and depressed woman who is taking serious amounts of prescription drugs to deal with the anxiety surrounding the pending release of her husband from prison." Mkay.

--- A Touch Of Pink - Club Silencio published a gloriously gorgeous and gay gallery of gratuitous beauty from 1971's gloriously gorgeous and gay Pink Narcissus.

--- Linin' Up Liman - Crazy Asshole Tom Cruise is getting his mitts onto another one of my favorite directors, Doug Liman, for his next movie.  It's a Groundhog Day story set in a war where a dude keeps having to fight over and over... so basically it's Source Code 2. But I'll be forced to see another Tom Cruise movie because of the Doug Liman factor, just like I'll have to do in a few weeks with Mission Impossible 4. It is so very very hard to be me, you guys.

.