Drag Race RuCap: “Drag Race Vegas LIVE! Makeovers”

Nick Taylor and Cláudio Alves are watching and recapping RuPaul’s Drag Race season sixteen. This week, it’s time for episode thirteen…

Like last week, thank heaven for the hunks.

CLÁUDIO: Like many a makeover challenge over the series’ herstory, the latest season 16 episode is rather lovely up until the judges deliver their critiques. After that, it’s the usual shit-show of inconsistent rulings and baffling decisions, a nonsense cocktail that sours everything that came before and leaves a bad taste in the mouth going forward. As if inverting its predecessor’s trajectory, this season seems intent on decreasing in quality as it reaches its final stretch, each episode a bit more disappointing than the one it follows. At least we have hot men to ogle, eye candy from start to finish, with a spoonful of potential fetish content to make things sweeter. That is the one saving grace of these past few chapters. 

NICK: I’m very sad that my French Vanilla Love Dion fantasy was shot down this episode. Don’t look at me, I’m distraught . . . .

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Robert De Niro in "Mean Streets"

by Cláudio Alves

Fifty years ago today, the 46th Academy Awards took place in Los Angeles. It was a starry night, as Oscar nights often are, and The Sting would end the ceremony as its big winner. The Exorcist and The Way We Were also did well for themselves, illustrating a push-and-pull between modernity and tradition as the industry tried to reckon with the nascent Old Hollywood movement within its ranks. Indeed, that same year, an up-and-coming New York-based filmmaker had premiered his third feature to great acclaim. Amid its cast was an actor who'd become one of his most important collaborators, a creative partnership that lasts till today and has shaped a good part of American film history.

Mean Streets was also the first time Robert De Niro entered the Oscar conversation. Critics singled him out for his turn as Scorsese's Johnny Boy…

Click to read more ...

Dakota Johnson and the Art of Disdain

by Cláudio Alves

There are few things more enjoyable than watching Dakota Johnson take the piss out of one of her movies. It's even better when it's not simply done in the promo tour but within the flick itself. Some might find it disrespectful, but such are the privileges of our nepo baby extraordinaire. She's got enough bad reviews to satisfy those who dislike her approach and even some Razzie nominations to go with them. However, I'd argue Johnson's bizarre deliveries, the projections of disdain for bad scripts, might be a kind of secret weapon of hers. There comes a point where one starts to feel a kinship with the actress or even a sense that she's fixing rotten characterizations by simply not taking them too seriously…

Click to read more ...

TV Review: "Mary and George" Serve Up a Sexy Good Time

No bond is greater than that of a baby gay and Julianne Moore.By: Christopher James

It’s once again the age of the nefarious bisexual twink and his domineering mother.

Starz’s latest prestige limited series, Mary and George, is not your average historical period piece. It’s a sensational tale of sex and deception woven by the most nefarious queer mother-son pairing this side of the English Channel. Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine sink their teeth into all complicated aspects of their titular characters. All seven episodes of creator D.C. Cooper’s drama fly by with gusto and ease. It’s hard not to get caught up in the intoxicating machinations of Mary and George’s rise to power. Still, underneath all the meme-ifying and actress-sexual worshiping, the show presents us with two fully dimensional characters we can empathize with as they claw forward against a harsh world...

Click to read more ...

Immaculate: How to Sell Horror 101

by Cláudio Alves

This Wednesday, April 3rd, a selection of theaters in the US will be selling tickets for Immaculate at the devilish price of $6.66. This promotion, devised by NEON in partnership with AMC, Regal, Marcus, and Harkins Theaters, is another ingenious step in the movie's pitch-perfect campaign. Horror is an easy sell, as the industry seems to re-discover every six months or so, but the Immaculate team has outdone themselves and surpassed most expectations. The Sydney Sweeney vehicle, which also counts with her as producer, has proven a word-of-mouth hit, slashing a bloody streak across the holy season that combines Easter, Ramadhan, Passover and the new Beyoncé release – thank you for the joke, Ramy Youssef…

Click to read more ...