Beauty vs Beast: Total Eclipse of the Drunk

Jason Adams from MNPP here with this week's dose of "Beauty vs Beast" fun. The great Kathy Bates is turning 70 on Thursday, giving you a couple of days to craft your love letters to her on Twitter - until then let's celebrate one of her great roles, the other Stephen King one, 1995's Dolores Claiborne. The film was underrated when it was released and the film remains underrated today if you ask me, but I think it's got a diehard contingent of fans - it's top-shelf King, mainly due to its two leading ladies, Bates as Dolores and Jennifer Jason Leigh as her estranged daughter Selena. And now I am the jerk who makes you choose...

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PREVIOUSLY Last week we climbed on the city bus with Keanu Reeves and Sandy Bullock and then we quickly proceeded to run right the hell over Dennis Hopper - Keanu won the Speed poll with 74% of the vote! Those biceps... I totally get it. Said Tom G:

"Jack ends up with Sandra Bullock. He wins."

Beauty vs Beast: Pop Quiz, Hot Shots

Happy Monday! Jason from MNPP here with your weekly "Beauty vs Beast" fix - we're celebrating 1994  leading up to the Supporting Actress Smackdown and I figured I'd focus in on another great big hit from the year today (to compliment the Interview With the Vampire poll two weeks back), namely Jan de Bont's Speed. Which still holds up! I caught it on TV a couple of weeks ago and man, it still revs and roars. It's also got a stellar hero and villain pair - Keanu's buzzcut and biceps were The 1994 Fetish Du Jour, and Dennis Hopper is Dennis Hopper, the end.

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PREVIOUSLY I really thought that Jeff Goldblum's Finest Hour might put a dent in your acctressexual predilections but no, nope, not gonna happen, Laura Dern's Ellie Sattler still triumped in last week's Jurassic Park poll to the tune of 71% of your vote. Said chasm301:

"This movie is basically perfect and I would never pick against Laura Dern."

Beauty vs Beast: Love Among the Dino Droppings

Jason from MNPP here - before I saw Call Me By Your Name in theaters 18 times this past winter the movie that held my personal record of "seen the most times seen in the theater" was Jurassic Park, which I saw in the theater 15 times in 1993. Meaning I can place where I was exactly 25 years ago today, since today's the 25th anniversary. I can also place where I was tomorrow 25 years ago, and the day after that 25 years ago, and the day after that 25 years ago... I saw it every single night for a straight week. It was my Star Wars.

Every progressive sequel's dulled the impact a bit more but that first movie, man I can still feel the tingle up my spine the first time the camera panned up that brachiosaurus and John Williams' music swelled and Spielberg cut to the distant dinos bathing themselves in the sparkling sunlight... it was like the four walls of the house my imagination lived inside of were kicked down all at once. Utter movie magic. Every kid that ever smashed their little dino figures together felt it. And yet the human characters kick ass too. With actors like this around...

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PREVIOUSLY Last week's Interview with the Vampire race stayed tight and vacillated often but it was Tom Cruise's Lestat who crawled out of the swamp and unto victory over Brad Pitt's Louis at the end. Said Jaragon:

"Lestat is a lot more fun and he gets the last bite."

Beauty vs Beast: Queens of the Night

Happy Tuesday, Jason from MNPP here with our weekly "Beauty vs Beast" fun - the year of movies in focus for June is the year 1994 thanks to the Smackdown (Nat just introduced you to the panelists) and so I'm going to take you back to a movie of 1994 for this week's poll... namely Neil Jordan's Interview With the Vampire, which starred Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as his blood heir Louis locked in a battle of diabolical foppery from the story by Anne Rice.

Handily this is also a film that works thematically for Gay Pride Month too, although lord knows it should've been far, far gayer - no doubt the forthcoming TV series rights that wrong. But whose side will you take today? The unrepentant and giddy evildoer, or the sad romantic that looks like Brad Pitt in 1994? As Lestat says, "Don't be afraid, I'm going to give you the choice I never had..."

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PREVIOUSLY Most of expressed feeling bad that you were voting against Christina Ricci in our Opposite of Sex poll from two weeks back but that sure didn't stop you - Lisa Kudrow's Lucia trounced her with almost 80% of the vote. Said James From Ames:

"Have to give it to Lucia. They've both overbearing as hell, but at least Lucia's comes from a messed-up sense of protectiveness, right? One of my favorite movies of all time, and Ricci's best performance in my opinion. I don't remember when exactly I first saw it -- but I never was the same again after that summer."

Beauty vs Beast: Sibling Rivalries & Sexual Reveries

Hello and happy Monday, everybody - Jason from MNPP here with another round of our "Beauty vs Beast" series! This week we're turning our eyes to the 20th anniversary of Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex, which is tomorrow. The film came out on May 22nd 1998, and all good gays (and gay-adjacents) have been quoting Christina Ricci's surly sexpot DeDee and Lisa Kudrow's snide spinster Lucia ever since. But what if I told you you had to choose??? That's not a hypothetical - I am actually asking you to choose. Right now!

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PREVIOUSLY She might not have taken an Oscar earlier this year but Saoirse Ronan can comfort herself that she's now won one of these polls, I guess - her Hanna trounced Cate Blanchett with 70% of your vote. Said Lady Edith:

"Joe Wright gave Saoirse her start and then handed her Hanna which solidified her amazing talents. We get to see the whole range of emotions from her. No disrespect to Cate but I want Saoirse to win this and trounce her evil Mom."