Pics of the Day

I keep waiting for the actor Matthew Daddario to star in something that I'll wanna actually, you know, watch, because good grief look at him, but that day only came once and it was the remake of Cabin Fever in 2016 and it that was not a good day for anybody. I know he was gay on that Shadowhunters show -- gay with harry Shum Jr. at that! -- but I just couldn't bring myself to press play on that show all the same, it seemed so Tween Hot Topic. Anyway these new photos of Matthew from the second upcoming season of Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry's latest show Why Women Kill have got me thinking...

... maybe I wanna watch Why Women Kill? This old-timey sex-detective look really does things for me, it always has, and IMDb tells me his character's name is Scooter. SCOOTER! I don't know if that's an experience my life can sustain an absence of. So anybody watch that show? I do know that Cherry, as he did with Housewives, always keeps his gay audience in mind and the show is already stacked with hot actors even besides Matthew here. I even did a post during its first season about Veep star Reid Scott finally showing some flesh...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

In the Loop (2009)

Linton Barwick: I can't stand to see a woman bleed 

from the mouth. It reminds me of that Country 

& Western music which I cannot abide.

Just noticed it is the terrific actress Mimi Kennedy's birthday today and even though she works tons -- if you watch the sitcom Mom you're familiar with her -- I can't help it, all I ever picture the second I see her name is her saying, "I'm not a monster" through a bloody mouth to a flustered Anna Chlumsky in In the Loop. Sorry, Mimi! Some moments are just too damn indelible to ever forget. Happy birthday, you no doubt perfectly lovely woman! (Also just noticed she's from my hometown of Rochester, NY!) 

Good Morning, World

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I still don't have any plans on paying for CBS All Access streaming service any time soon -- I am a poor person and I cannot afford all of these goddamned streaming services; something has got to give -- but that's sure as fuck not gonna keep me from posting the above shot of Veep stud Reid Scott in the shower in the trailer for Why Women Kill, the new series from Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry. The show, which premieres on the service on August 15th,  also stars Lucy Liu, Ginnifer Goodwin, Alexandra Daddario, and Sam Jaeger (who was one of the hot pieces on Tell Me a Story), and you can watch the trailer below. It looks kinda fun?

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Reid Scott Five Times

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I really don't understand why we don't get photo-shoots of Veep's Reid Scott more often -- I very much like looking at him (see a big post I did previously right here) and I would appreciate the effort, magazine people. Anyway this one (via, thx Mac) is of course coming to us astride the pale white horse of Veep's final season -- as I'm a couple of episodes behind on the show I'd appreciate nobody saying nothing, thanks. But it's as funny as ever, and I sure am gonna miss it. Let's make ourselves feel a little better after the jump then, with the rest of this shoot...

Great Moments In Movie Staches

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While I'm firmly of the belief that Andrea Riseborough was best in show in Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin (which I finally checked off my Must Watch 2018 Movies list last night) my second place finisher for that honor is easily Rupert Friend as her hapless maniac of a brother Vasily, with his sad wispy imitation of his father's sturdy broom stache doing a lot of the heavy lifting, leaving Rupert to play with the finer funny details.

His eulogistic list of all the international "cubs" that his father, "the warm and mighty bear," left behind was a particular comic highlight, a whiff of Bubba listing all the ways you can fix shrimp to it. "My father was a great social scientist, but we the people of the Soviet Union are not laboratory animals! We are all... but cubs... Russian cubs! Georgian cubs! Armenian... cubs. Lithuanian cubs!" Did Vasily Stalin invent Grindr, you guys?

Good Morning, World

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I was trying to figure out what I actually know Zach Woods from (because I do know who he is) since I don't watch Silicon Valley (his best known showcase) and I decided it must be Veep. Then I remembered he played the tour guide in the Lady Ghostbusters movie. Then I remembered his role as Jesse Plemons' boyfriend in Other People and that was my "A-ha!" (Speaking of, I can't believe I've never posted screen-caps of him in that movie! Let's remember that for another today, then.)

For today we'll just post this goofy photo-shoot the sexy nerd (or, as his girlfriend calls him within the interview here, "Young Lurch") from this month's issue of GQ. It's a fun interview too, I recommend it - I like the part where they talk about his type-casting as a beta male and how he's seen by men (read: straight men, although the writer doesn't clarify that, for shame) versus women:

"I would like to play romantic parts. Like, sexual gods. Corn-fed Midwestern American sex symbols." Men don't really get Woods. They get the funny part, but they don't get the sexy part. They see the spooky features, but not the piercing blue eyes—the calculated awkwardness, but not the sweetness. Much has been made, for instance, of the fact that Woods has a girlfriend. When Woods was on The Late, Late Show, James Corden pounced on him with all the solicitude of my mother: "I find this hugely exciting. You have recently started dating someone," he said by way of welcome. It's "hugely exciting" when someone like Woods is being properly cherished, because he registers as the guy who definitely should get the girl, but usually doesn't. To men Woods is an anti-hero, but to women he's just a hero.

Anyway besides all the stifling fumes of heteronormativity choking me I concur with that assessment. Hit the jump for the rest...

The Moment I Fell For... Andrea Riseborough

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Looking back now I see that I make no mention of Andrea Riseborough's small role in Mark Romanek's 2010 film Never Let Me Go (weird that this is the second time this movie has come up this week; I guess it's due for a re-watch) in my review of that movie, but I vividly remember her and Domhnall Gleeson striking me - these are gonna be somebodies, I thought. Riseborough had already been in Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky at that point, although I don't remember that film well enough to remember her in it. 

Anyway the next year Riseborough became somebody, to me anyway, in the most unlikely of places - she gave a tremendous performance as Wallis Simpson in Madonna's awful 2011 film W.E., making that morally dubious film impossible to entirely ignore as much as one might want to. And from there on every movie she appeared in was made better by her presence, and I'd go out of my way to see things for her. 

It's easy to pretend that Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion is entirely an Andrea Riseborough Film, even with Tom Cruise there running and screaming and running and screaming - by this time I was already regularly singling her out for boundless praise in my reviews - and she might have been the single thing in Birdman I wanted more of. 

But by this time last year when she was popping out of all of two minutes of Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals, the single most joyous and boisterous thing in that dour but beautiful movie,  I was past being ready for more - I was angry. Give this woman her damned due already, Hollywood!

This past year might have been the one where that feeling of Not Enough finally got felt by enough people, I think. Her performance as Billie Jean King's hairdresser turned lovah in Battle of the Sexes was another classic from her, full of all the life and vigor that those of us who've been paying attention expect from her on screen. The romance that she and Emma Stone captured made that movie work - their every scene together was sexy and memorable...

... and once again Riseborough seemed, even to a person who's been paying attention all this time, like a totally different person. I don't know how she does it, but she surprises me every damn time. I finally got to see her in person at a Q&A for Battle of the Sexes this past year and she even surprised me in person, as herself.

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AUSTIN STOWELL & ELISABETH SHUE & ANDREA RISEBOROUGH FOR THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES Q&A -- my teenage ADVENTURE IN BABYSITTING loving self was very very excited to see Elisabeth Shue!!! #battleofthesexes #austinstowell #elisabethshue #andreariseborough #billiejeanking #film

A post shared by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams) on Sep 18, 2017 at 8:04pm PDT

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I still have no idea who this woman is after all of these years, and I cherish that. I think Battle of the Sexes might represent a turning point in her career, but then just a couple of weeks ago we got a reminder of what Andrea's capable of, of the U-turns that she still manages effortlessly, with her absolutely brutal performance in the new Black Mirror episode called "Crocodile," which is the sort of thing that makes people cross the street when they recognize the person they'd seen doing those things she does in this.

I won't go into specifics of the John Hillcoat directed episode because I know some of you have maybe not seen it yet but it's an exceedingly dark hour of TV, maybe even excessively dark, although the fact that it's female-led gives me pause on that charge because we don't usually get to see a woman behave THIS badly and Riseborough's typically go-for-broke and that is a gift, a gift to savor.

Anyway I bring all of this up because Variety put an interview with the actress up yesterday wherein they discuss the FOUR films she's premiering at Sundance this month. Here's Variety on them:

"There’s “The Death of Stalin,” a savage political satire from “Veep” creator Armando Iannucci, in which Riseborough plays Josef Stalin’s daughter. Then she stars opposite Nicolas Cage in “Mandy,” a gonzo thriller that combines romance, carnage, and supernatural creatures. Riseborough also appears in “Burden,” a drama about a man’s break with the Ku Klux Klan that also stars Forest Whitaker and Garrett Hedlund. Lastly, she headlines and co-produces “Nancy,” the story of a disturbed woman who becomes convinced she’s an elderly couple’s long-lost child."

(Sidenote: I posted a picture of Hedlund in Burden on the Tumblr earlier this week.) You can read the entire chat here. I hope one or all of these movies are good great movies and I look forward to them but no matter what I'm about 99% sure that Andrea Riseborough will be great and totally captivating in every one. It's what she does.

What's your favorite performance of hers so far?

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Tom Hardy Likes To Kick & Punch & Kick

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There's too much jibber jabber and not enough "Tom Hardy bouncing around at the gym" footage in this video (via) of Tom Hardy training to play the comic book character Venom in that upcoming movie, (we told you about it right here) but there's also maaaaaybe just enough of "Tom Hardy bouncing around at the gym" footage for me to post it, so here we are.

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We also posted some photos of Tom training (in a unicorn tank top!) previously, see those here. Besides Tommy boy Venom will also contain a truly special cast including Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Michelle Williams, and Reid "I hope he has his beard from that season of Veep where he lost his shit buz that's his best look" Scott.

Is That You, Dear Michiel

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I didn't think that was actually Michiel Huisman in that picture above at first  (he's doing something wonky with his face, his beautiful face) but upon further inspection it's totally him -- there are behind the scenes pictures from the shoot (see down below) and everything. (That's his wife, actress Tara Elders, beside him.) Anyway didja hear he's signed on to make a romance called Irreplaceable You opposite the irreplaceable actress Gugu Mbatha Raw - it's described as a drama about "two lovers who are destined to be together until death got in the way." Okay. And today Steve Coogan and Christopher Walken both signed onto the movie, which is a strange supporting cast for a romantic drama, no? The fact that it's being directed by a Veep director, with these actors, makes me wonder if it might have more wit than it sounds at first glance.

Good Morning, Gratuitous Reid Scott

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It is Veep star Reid Scott's 38th birthday today -- thing I just learned looking at his IMDb page: he and I are only four months apart age-wise (yes, he's younger, sigh) and he grew up in Albany, New York, only a couple of hours from my hometown in Upstate New York. So basically we were best friends but we didn't know it at the time is what I am saying. Where's my invite to the Emmys, asshole?

Anyway I did some scouring to find skin scenes from Reid and save this one instance -- on some short-lived 2013 show called How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest of Your Life); jeez there are more letters in that title than episodes that aired -- they either don't exist or nobody paid them enough mind to put them on the internet. I am fairly certain he's never shown any skin on Veep but it's not that kind of show - the most we ever got there was Christopher Meloni sticking his suit-clad ass in the air but Christopher Meloni has it written into his contract that he musy do something sexual on-screen every time he appears, bless him.

As for Reid, even if he's fully clothed in all of this I still gathered up a bunch of pictures of him cuz why not. It's his birthday! Looking at the shots I convinced myself he could probably play Farley Granger in a bio-pic? Anybody else see it? He's not as adorable as Farley but there's something similar going on, and I think he could channel him. Anyway hit the jump for the rest...

I Am Link

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--- Business In The Front - I mentioned this on Tumblr the other week but it never struck me that Veep's Reid Scott is cute until he had a beard for all of five seconds this season, so now I am paying attention, even to projects I normally wouldn't - he's just signed on for a role in Nancy "Beige Interiors" Meyer's new movie opposite Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway; it's called The Intern and he's "a smooth-talking cocky young businessman," you you know no type-casting going on there or anything.

--- And Speaking of folks I couldn't have cared less about until recently, Gemma Arterton was so great in Byzanitum as a vampire minx that I now could care less - that is, I care. Especially when it's Idris Elba she's gonna be co-starring with. They're making something called One Square Mile which she says is about "love, action, and gangsters." Mkay. Hopefully it's about "Idris, Elba, and Nudity" too.

--- Kill List - I hope y'all have been keeping up with Final Girl Stacie Ponder's Friday the 13th tumblr where she's been drawing every single death from that slasher series on a daily basis. It's golden, I tells ya, golden! Well now she wants to give back, and not a machete in the back either - if you have a Tumblr head over there are re-tumble this post here and you'll be entered into a drawing to win one of her pieces of Voorhees-inspired art-work. I have a couple Original Ponders hanging in my house and believe you me they spruce the place up something spectacular.
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--- Inland Again - I would make this a "Quote of the Day" post but it's kind of too vague so I'm sticking it here and we'll see what comes out it - Laura Dern was asked about her fruitful lifetime collaboration with David Lynch and she had this to say about the future:

"I will be working with David Lynch when I'm 80. He is cooking, he's cooking up trouble, and I will be part of that trouble. He's the consummate renaissance man, he just makes art wherever he can get his hands on it. But film, ultimately, I know is his great love, and I think he will always circle back to it. He's definitely cooking."

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--- Hit It - The other week we were ogling boxer-turned-actor Victor Ortiz as he turned one of our fantasies into his reality by being sandwiched between and molested by Kellan Lutz and Jason Statham on a red carpet for the latest Expendables - well now comes word that his next movie will be Southpaw, Jake Gyllenhaal's boxing movie. I think Victor reads MNPP and he's just straight-up decided to steal my dream life. I have a new arch-enemy you guys! Amanda Seyfried you can relax for now.

--- Phillip To Philip - Apparently Phillip Noyce, the director of Salt (yay Salt) and other pretty good movies, has been trying to get a movie made out of Philip Roth's book American Pastoral for over a decade, and that it was finding a leading actor was what was so difficult this whole time. Well it seems he's finally found his man - Mr. Ewan McGregor will now star as the blonde Jew named Swede. Anybody read the book?

--- 007 Inches Soft - Nathaniel certainly knows how to grabs my attention - he titled yesterday's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" entry for Goldfinger "We Need To Talk About James Bond's Cock." We certainly do! Always and forever. I mean look at this week's banner, for god's sake. Anyway in all seriousness Nat's piece, dissecting Goldfinger as an impotency allegory, is terrific stuff, go read it.

--- Doctor Von Frank - That new Frankenstein movie starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Radcliffe's horrible horrible horrible long hair is now called Victor Frankenstein, and you can read a synopsis of it over here.Danny is Igor and the movie's from his point of view as he meets and watches the good doctor become the mad doctor of lore.

--- Whip It Out - Hey look it's the first incredibly boring picture of Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey movie. He sits in a car at some point in the movie, I guess? And he blow-dries his hair? They really should be aiming more for that Interview shoot of Dornan with their visuals. Just straight up put his dick on the poster, wham, movie sold.

--- Gozer Again - In today's non-news Chronicle director Max Landis will not be directing the third Ghostbusters movie, despite what Nikki Finke is saying, but he does have a really terrific opening scene on hand for the movie which he shared via Twitter. I love it!
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Put On A Happy Face!

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Rocking The Vote

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Oh, to have had...

... the camera-man's job...

... on this week's episode of Veep.

(see more here)

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