Drag Race RuCap: "Snatch Game of Love: Island Edition"

Which one of the Snatch Game boys is your favorite? Don't be shy, share with the class.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: The narrative set forth by the Talent Show kerfuffle continues to unfold in this season’s Snatch Game. In some ways, it feels like Mama Ru is correcting the injustices she (or the broader production team) may have perceived in the Rate-a-Queen results, rewarding those who were thrown under the bus while punishing the conspirators behind Myki’s close brush with elimination. She’s like Eggers’ Northman, intoning to herself: “I will avenge you, Meeks! I will save you, Coco! I will kill you, Dions!” Then again, it’s not like the girls are making her job very difficult. The correct bottom two lip-synced for their life this week, and even if I might have picked a different victor, Ru’s champion is hardly scandalous. Anyway, did you know Athena Dion is Greek?

NICK TAYLOR: I do, though there’s a moment where she’s really pressed by the suggestion to play Greek. Diva, that is your brand!! You did this!! Along with course-correcting the talent show, Ru’s judging feels like a referendum against fictional and mythological characters popping up in Snatch Game. I have questions about the judging, but not complaints, and in retrospect part of my shock at this week’s elimination is from the edit not pushing the possibility as hard as they might have...

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Oscar Volley: High Quality / Low Suspense in "Best Director"

The Oscar Volleys continue with Ben Miller and Nathaniel R talking Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson will FINALLY win an Oscar... for ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

BEN: Welp Nathaniel, this felt like the most boring category of the whole Oscars a month ago. Luckily, there seems to be a bit of flux in this race. Paul Thomas Anderson seemed poised to run away with the statue, but Ryan Coogler can't stop butting in.

Before we get to that, I wanted to know your thoughts on this lineup as a whole. This certainly wouldn't be my personal lineup, but there aren't any Todd Phillips or Adam McKay mucking up the group.  How do you feel about this Best Director lineup?

NATHANIEL: What a lede to entice the readers, Ben. "Most Boring" Ha ha. But true. What I really want to know is WHY do you find it boring?

Please click all that apply...

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Best International Film: And Then There Were Two...

The Oscar Volleys continue. Today, ERIC BLUME and NATHANIEL R discuss the Oscar race for Best International Feature Film. 

NO OTHER CHOICE, Park Chan-wook | © NEON

ERIC:  Hi Nathaniel, I feel lucky getting you all to myself to discuss Best International Film.  I do think the slate is ultimately very strong overall, but before we get to our five nominees and an assessment on the race, can we take one last brief moment to mourn the EXCLUSION of a film in both of our Top 10 lists, Park Chan-Wook's No Other Choice?  It's no easy feat to make a film that's both political and funny, and he really nailed his tiny little bullseye.

NATHANIEL:  Maybe it's a tiny bullseye but I bet if you zoom way in that bullseye is as intricate as the lines in a diamonds or as multi-colored and weirdly patterned as an iris. Which is to say that not only was it my favourite of the submissions but it's quite literally my #1 film of the year. (Why leave everyone in suspense since it takes me so long to post my awards). I really am just obsessed with it and Lee Byung Hun absolutely deserved a spot in the Best Actor lineup too. The Korean superstar is so confident in his gifts that he's able to be goofy and pathetic and sad without ever losing his Movie Star-ness. It's really a miracle performance if you ask me because he does all that while feeling utterly spontaneous in each scene. Anyway I could talk about this movie for days...

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2025 in Review: Nathaniel's "Best" List (Pt 1)

by Nathaniel R

Begonia, Marty Supreme, Nouvelle Vague, and Kill the Jockey were among the best films of the year

PART ONE. One of the greatest and worst things about the cinema is that it is a perpetually overflowing cup. Discourse about Hollywood always leans toward sky-is-falling “end of” cinema/moviegoing due to horrid socioeconomic and public behavioral reasons. Yet at the  same time we can never keep up so it’s a fact that artists all over the world are still making cinema like the artform will never go out of style. There is literally always more to see and more in any given year than can be seen by any person, on any size of a screen. (If you love catching up on older films this pleasure/problem is exponentially more true.)

In that spirit of “overflowing” here are some darlings and honorable mentions before we get to the Top Dozen tomorrow and at least one of the ways in which they surpassed reasonable expectations...

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Oscar Volley: Is Best Adapted Screenplay in the Bag?

The Oscar Volleys continue. Today, EUROCHEESE and ABE FRIEDTANZER  discuss the Oscar race for Best Adapted Screenplay 

Why can't Park Chan Wook get any Oscar love?EUROCHEESE: Excited to chat with you again Abe, though I must admit, this doesn't feel like the most suspenseful category. There's a clear frontrunner, one arguable spoiler and then a few also-rans. It's too bad we get a snoozy 5/5 match with Best Picture when there were so many exciting options. I know you weren't as big a fan of this film, but I really wish we could have made room for No Other Choice here - Park Chan-wook can't seem to get Oscar love in any form. I've seen ads for Pillion leading up to its wide release - what a fresh, provocative script, which received far more love than I expected through the awards season. I was also surprised how charming I found Nouvelle Vague - if only Oscar voters loved it as much as the Globes! I could name several more, but don't want to steal your thunder - any outstanding "wish you were here" honors you'd like to bestow?

ABE: It's true this is a done deal and one of the categories I would be most surprised to see a different winner than the juggernaut we're all expecting. Pillion is a great call that maybe wasn't ever going to click with mainstream American audiences, but I loved it! I did like No Other Choice even if it wouldn't have made my list here, and it's a shame that it was the only NEON international title not to make the International Feature cut...

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