"Peter Hujar's Day" Leads the Spirit Award Nominations

by Cláudio Alves

PETER HUJAR'S DAY, Ira Sachs | © Janus Films

In the past few years, the Film Independent Spirit Awards have come closer and closer to The Academy, taste-wise. For a while, it seemed like they were becoming another station of the cross on the long path to Oscar gold, a precursor like so many others. For those who loved these prizes for their independent spirit, such a state of affairs was… well, dispiriting. This year, there's been a notable course correction. In part, it's a change predicated on a season dominated by American big-budget studio fare and international productions – both ineligible here. Still, when Peter Hujar's Day by Ira Sachs is your nomination leader, you're clearly not trying to live in the shadow of Oscar. Instead, the Spirits are doing their own thing, and that's how it should be.

Come discover the full list of nominees, on both the film and TV front, plus some color commentary, after the jump…

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Drag Race RuCap: "Grand Finale"

No one had a better time at the DRAG RACE finale than Daddy Nurve.

NICK TAYLOR: The seventeenth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race has come to a close, and with it our third year of RuCaps. Sadly, it’s a pretty deflating limp across the finish line. Our repeated comments about this season’s success as reality TV carried by the queens through brute force has proven true via an episode which showcased its contestants as little as possible. No RuGirls from years past in the audience, no group numbers with the cast, paeans to live performance that are 200% per-recorded, it’s all just weirdly hollow. Last week’s LaLaPaRuZa had much better momentum, plus it got to lean on the personalities of the queens in a way this episode simply couldn’t. At least the right queen won in the end, plus we got a lovely tribute to Liza. The Oscars couldn’t fucking do that. What did you think? 

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Meh…

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Drag Race RuCap: "LalapaRuza Smackdown Reunited"

Let Bruno's behind bless you with its beauty.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Like last year, the LalapaRuza Smackdown is a season highlight. The format is simple enough, but it works because it puts drag skills at the forefront while also allowing for a pseudo-reunion that’s more about celebrating artistry in a sisterly way rather than airing out insecurities and the same old mess as before. For season 17, the producers were extra smart, shooting this lip sync extravaganza after most episodes had aired, allowing for growth and the queens’ honest reactions to how they’ve been portrayed and received. If the battles weren’t as spectacular as what we got with Megami, Morphine, and company, the final result was enough to make up for whatever deficiencies the reality TV hour might have had. The right person won, and the entire thing was edited around her journey across three drag duels. So, by the end, you really felt a sense of closure, of victory, of the best that Drag Race can offer.

NICK TAYLOR: It was such a fun episode! You’re not wrong exactly about no one topping last season’s LaLaPaRuZa finale, and nobody brought the drama of a surprise narrative like Megami, but the sheer quality of performance from almost everyone was so delightful to watch. A few of these battles could have been double shantays, which I wouldn’t say about almost any of the season 16 matchups. And fuck, everyone looked great...

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Who deserves Emmy nominations from The Pitt?

by Cláudio Alves

THE PITT | © Max

Have you been Pitt-pilled? I have fallen in love with the Max original series about a single extended shift at a Pittsburgh ER that spans fifteen hours of near-real-time storytelling. It's old-fashioned and not especially high-concept, a bit preachy but balanced with feeling, interspersed character studies within a professional setting that leans on bloody melodrama without ever toppling away from medical and labor realities. A critical and popular hit, the series is well poised to dominate the next Emmy Awards, prompting many questions about what honors it'll get and, perhaps more interestingly, what it deserves. When it comes to the cast, these matters are particularly tough since the show relies so heavily on its actors' ensemble dynamics, from The Pitt's main doctors to patients who only show up for a couple of episodes.

Following Nathaniel's example with The White Lotus, I propose a vote to see what the readership thinks. But, of course, I need to add some commentary of my own…

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Drag Race RuCap: "How's Your Headliner?"

No, your eyes don't deceive you. It seems the Love-Toot feud is over. Everybody say love!

NICK TAYLOR: Mama. This was ass. It’s not just that my beloved girl went home right before the finale when she definitely won the lip sync, though that would be enough to sour the episode even if it’d been better. But the sheer number of moving parts to this maxi challenge that aren’t adequately showcased and the bizarre judging make the episode’s criteria hard to evaluate and the queen’s talents minimally showcased. I have no quibbles with the episode’s winner or the final four we’ve arrived at, yet I’m surprised how much this elimination stunted my invested in seeing who crosses the finish line. I’d argue there’s a clear top 2 of our finishing quartet, yet, for the life of me, I can’t tell who’s facing off against Onya for the crown. Am I getting ahead of myself? Almost certainly, but god, I have such sour grapes about the whole thing. Are you in better spirits than I am, hun?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Glad to know I’m not alone in my grumpiness this week. While I agree that the right girl won and loved the runway lewks across the board, almost everything else about the episode fell short…

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