Review: Thoroughbreds

By Spencer Coile

Thoroughbreds, written and directed by newcomer Cory Finley, was originally intended to be a play. The film follows the twisted relationship of two teens: Amanda (Olivia Cooke), who claims to feel no emotions whatsoever, and Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy), a spoiled rich girl with a history of lying. Friends back in grade school, the two drifted apart, but reconnect when Amanda’s mom asks Lily to be Amanda’s tutor. This all takes a turn for the bizarre when Lily enlists Amanda to help kill her stepfather. All hell begins to break loose.

The film’s rapid fire dialogue makes it very easy to envision a staged production. Fortunately, Finley has just as much skill with directing as he does writing, and so Thoroughbreds becomes a truly cinematic experience. It's absurd, gripping, and deeply uncomfortable...

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ACS: Gianni Versace "Ascent"

by Jorge Molina

Because of the backwards narrative style, the entire second season of American Crime Story has been one big origin story for Andrew Cunanan, his relationships, and the motives that eventually led to his string of murders. The seventh episode, titled “Ascent”, was the episode that we’ve been leading up to all along to fully get a changing point in Andrew’s life.

Last week’s episode (titled “Descent”, in parallels that were evident throughout) was about Andrew losing everything he built for himself. This week we get a peek into how he started putting it together...

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Retro Randomness: Come to the Stable (1949)

by Nathaniel R

Have you ever queued up an old movie no one talks about anymore hoping to discover a gem?

You imagine that it's only been forgotten or is underdiscussed due to the vagaries of when and where movies are available in the ever changing landcape of viewing technologies, Such was my fantasy when I sat down to watch Come to the Stable (1949). This French nuns in New England comedy was my biggest viewing gap in 1949 Oscar history. In fact, I didn't even know it was a comedy.

Alas the fantasy of stumbling upon a forgotten gem didn't last long. Still, Come to the Stable's tagline must have been true in 1949. It read...

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RPDR All Stars 3: E7 - And the Oscar Goes To...

by Chris Feil

It was a rough week for Drag Race fans. Not only has this season had an unending barrage of racism and vitriol in the fandom, but RuPaul showed her ass again this week revealing her exclusionary thoughts on trans queens. The whole enterprise, including the supreme leader, needed a post-Snatch Game Latrice Royale table-slamming intervention. If ever there was a time for the show to make essentially zero waves, now was certainly convenient timing.

Maybe it was just aftermath of both Ru’s ignorance and BenDeLaCreme blindsiding us with a tectonic shift self-elimination, but this week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars was a relief partly because it was so predictable. Call it the least essential of the season but when the weight of drama has become so cumbersome, this felt refreshingly unburdened and unbothered. I blame the restorative powers of Nancy Pelosi arriving in the workroom to brandish a rainbow bracelet just, you know, because.

This week’s challenge was also perfectly timed for the remaining afterglow of last Sunday’s Oscars...

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Stage Door: "My Fair Lady" through the Years

by Nathaniel R

Tony season is (nearly) upon us so we're reviving the Stage Door column toward the end of March. But before we start reviewing shows, a history lesson.

Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Dolittle

My Fair Lady began its classic life in 1956 as a Broadway musical. No, that's not quite right. It began its life as George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which premiered way back in 1913, over a century ago! That play inspired the stage musical by Lerner & Loewe. On March 15th previews will begin for the latest Broadway revival. Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) headlines as Eliza Dolittle, with Harry Hadden-Paton as Professor Henry Higgins, two time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (♥︎) as Eliza's father, and showbiz legend Dame Diana Rigg (The Avengers, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Game of Thrones, etc...) as Higgins' mother. 

This will be the sixth major incarnation of the hit musical. Let's recap...

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