Drag Race RuCap: "The Rate-A-Queen Talent Show, Part 1"

Nest week, on DRAG RACE, Isabella Rossellini will be suing Nini Coco for copyright infringement.

NICK TAYLOR: Fuck me, how long has it been since we got a lip sync this explosive this early in the season? Both those divas turned it, and the best queens in the talent show (not coincidentally, the three best lip sync battle performers we’ve seen this season!) made the peaks here worth celebrating. There's a lot of shenanigans leading up to it, and dear god, this better be the worst runway we’ll get all season. Why the fuck was it satin? And while I like shaking up the talent show from a premiere challenge, why not wait until there’s a small enough crowd to cram it into one episode? Not a necessarily great episode of Drag Race, but the Rate-A-Queen judging is fairly just, and it sticks the landing in a way the past two episodes haven’t. Next week’s results might even make this split episode format worth it somehow. Are we in the same boat, or are the valleys pulling you further down?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Splitting an already reduced talent show into two episodes, without on-stage critiques to pad things out, makes this hour feel a tad insubstantial. Even so, it was a whole lot of fun because those girls were at the top of their game. Be it the lip sync, the Green Porno revival, the silliest strategizing this franchise has ever seen, they delivered the goods and then some…

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We Can't Wait: 2026. (Part One: A-F)

by Nathaniel R

Jessie Buckley as "THE BRIDE"

While we aren't done celebrating 2025 yet (more Film Bitch Awards coming soon + Oscar volleys), why not a discussion thread on what's to come in 2026? Here are some titles I'm looking forward to but please add your own in the comments before we start working on those ("April Foolish" Oscar predictions. This is coming to you in three parts due to the volumne, so here is the first batch featuring two Zendayas, two Hathaways, two Blunts, and the one and only Pedro Almodóvar...

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Oscar People at the Grammys - How'd They Fare?

by Nathaniel R

A Golden Globe reunion at the Grammys: Teyana Taylor and Nikki Glaser

Did you watch the Grammy Awards last night? We did. Though it was no match for last year’s pop diva ecstasy –it’s tough to beat a year in which Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, and Doecii all provided jawdropping performances –  it still had a few noteworthy moments. Lady Gaga is, of course, always an event; it was a hoot to see Cher be both very present and absent-minded simultaneous, giving an excellent ups-and-downs of showbiz speech before wandering off without presenting her award. In fact Cher was so memorable in her goofiness around the envelopes that it was almost giving Elizabeth Taylor's "GLADIATOR!" and I love any of you who remember that.; Host Trevor Noah made the most out of Bad Bunny’s contractual obligation to NOT perform (due to the upcoming Superbowl) anything despite winning Album of the Year; and Lola Young (who I would have voted for her in heartbeat in Best New Artist) was “Messy” in the happiest imaginable way. But for today’s post let’s look at how the various Oscar nominees fared during the Music Industry’s big night…

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BAFTA Nominations

by Nathaniel R

Apologies for not posting the BAFTA nominations sooner but they lulled us to sleep. BAFTA was not always a precursor to the Oscars,sometimes taking place afterwards and with less eligibility crossover. But as BAFTA moved to earlier dates and  "Hollywood" went more global, things have long since changed. We did have some forced dissimilarities for a short while when BAFTA starting making the rules quite complex (for equity purposes) but as you'll see things have settled back down to just being very similar to the Oscars even if the multiple ballot procedure (with longlists for each category) suggests at first that they won't be all that similar. One Battle After Another led the nominations with 14...

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César Nominations & Lumière Awards

by Nathaniel Rogers

NOUVELLE VAGUE

(I know I know we need to talk about the BAFTAs but I started this post first. Patience). We like to share the César nominations each year (i.e. the French Oscars) and as in most years there is at least a bit of Oscar crossover -- this year you see it in Best Screenplay, Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Feature, and of course Best International Feature which tends to be the category with the most crossover at any country's own awards. Richard Linklater's delightful black-and-white retelling of the making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, Nouvelle Vague, led the nominations. Their Oscar submission/nominee this year Jafar Panahi's It Was Just An Accident received just two nominations but it's in the top category.

To make this even more interesting we thought we'd compare it to the Lumière Awards which were already held and which I've heard called France's Golden Globes though I don't know about the accuracy of that. Their taste runs quite different this year as they loved François Ozon's The Stranger most which barely shows up at the Césars. Okay ready? Read on for Isabelle Huppert's latest, Jodie Foster's snub, and more...

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