Drag Race RuCap: “Old Friends Gold”

NICK TAYLOR: Well girl, it finally happened: Drag Race did a Golden Girls themed challenge! The Girl Group challenge - an infrequently repeated challenge that’s more of a fixture on All-Stars and the international spin-offs than the main stage - is the Golden Girls Group this year. It’s also the first challenge of season 15 where I find myself out of step with the judge’s decision-making on several fronts, even if I see why they made their choices. What do you think of the girl group challenge historically, and how does that stack up with today’s episode?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: I really love the girl group episodes, especially on international seasons. If you asked me to replace a mainstay maxi challenge, I’d probably erase the obligatory makeover/family resemblance nonsense with this musical trial. However, I can’t quite say “Old Friends Gold” ranks high amid its girl group sisters. Part of it is the rushed edit, but another big factor is, as you say, the judging. The judges and I were watching two different performances this week...

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11th Annual Team Experience Award - WINNERS

From the team…

The team is just as obsessed with Lydia Tár as she is of herself.
Preferential balloting can do crazy things. It was neck and neck over the course of five rounds, with different films taking the lead at different moments. In the end, TÁR prevailed in the Best Picture race. Overall, the team of Film Experience writers decided to spread the wealth, rather than give Lydia Tár all the awards under the sun. In fact, this year’s Best Picture winner only won two other categories - Best Actress (tied) and Best Original Screenplay. Everything Everywhere All At Once also won three awards - Director, Supporting Actor and Film Editing.

Check out the rest of the winners after the jump...

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Lists! Acting Nominees by the numbers

The Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor Charts are all updated with 'who should win' polls (vote daily) and trivia. Here's a silly little breakdown of "extra" numbers stuff from the four acting categories including a very "fiery" Zodiac coincidence. 

Brendan Fraser in "The Whale"

ACTING NOMINEES BY THE NUMBERS...

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Weekend Box Office: Shyamalan and the Brady Ladies Dethrone Avatar

By Ben Miller

It only took eight weeks, but Avatar: The Way of Water is no longer the top film at the box office.  M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin and the award-winning ladies of 80 for Brady both managed to top James Cameron's sequel, though not with any overwhelming numbers.  Both films managed just north of $14 and $12 million, respectively.  More than anything else, it's just nice to have some competition and new things to watch in theaters.  Studios are releasing less and less these days...

Weekend Box Office (actuals) Feb 3rd-5th 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended /  = Oscar Nominated
WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
KNOCK AT THE CABIN	PATHAAN
1 🔺 KNOCK AT THE CABIN $14.1 *NEW* 3,646 screens	1  PATHAAN $2.6 (cum. $14.2) 683 screens
2 🔺 80 FOR BRADY $12.7 *NEW* 3,912 screens	2 THE WANDERING EARTH II $624k (cum. $4.1) 172 screens

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Vote on Best Actress. (Plus 'How'd they get nominated?')

The Best Actress chart is fully updated for your viewing pleasure with details, stats, and trivia. Here's one curio trivia bit. We believe that this is only the second time in history when all five Best Actress nominees are from different countries! (Usually it's some combo of Americans, Brits, and Aussies). All that plus our semi-annual "How'd They Get Nominated?" breakdown. Before anyone takes offense at the guesstimate percentages (it's all in good fun) please note that these are NOT performance critiques. A truth: You can give the most brilliant performance of all time and still be nominated for other reasons entirely. Awards races, Oscar and otherwise, are meritocracies only in the utopian ideal sense; People are people (including, thus, all voting bodies be they fans, high brow critics, or Academy members) and their reasons for voting in any given way are multiple and varied and heavily influenced by all sorts of things. Plus, it's all subjective too!

Adrien Brody & Ana de Armas in "Blonde" (Netflix)

Let's start with Ana de Armas in Blonde for an example. How'd she get nominated?

67% Role. Awards bodies have always loved Marilyn portrayals which have led to Emmy, Oscar, and Tony nods for various actresses across multiple decades (though not wins curiously enough).
20% Performance. Even people who didn't love the movie admired her work in it.
6% Globe nomination / ceremony shout-outs revived interest in a crowded race.
5% Knives Out + No Time To Die = rapidly ascending stardom (Big stars have a built in advantage in popularity contests) 
2% Early traction! That September release struck while the iron was hot from Venice festival buzz. Blonde was widely seen (via Netflix) before all but one of the major competitors for the nomination arrived (Michelle Yeoh was the exception).

The other four breakdowns are on the Best Actress page where you can vote daily in the "Who SHOULD win?" poll.