"Flow" and the Year of the Cat

by Cláudio Alves

FLOW | © Janus Films / Sideshow

As Nathaniel mentioned in his rundown of new Oscar trivia, records, and similar stats, Flow was the first film about a cat to win the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. This victory for cat people everywhere couldn't have happened to a better movie or to a more fitting cinematic year. After all, 2024 was positively full of felines on the big screen, and even some on the small. They ranged from heroic protagonists to supporting scene stealers, animated to live-action, Hollywood stars to world cinema revelations, from cute to cuter to cutest. There was even a robot kitty for those who love sci-fi. Let's look back on a year of cats…

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RuPaul’s Drag Race: “Heavens to Betsey!”

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Another week, another stellar episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17. I’m really enjoying the show this year, even though I probably preferred the overall cast performance of seasons 15 and 16. Not sure if it’s a triumph of production or editing or the queens, mediocre though some of their work may be at times. It helps that they have great chemistry and a tendency for mess that’s more akin to the series’ origins than its later years. That said, “Heavens to Betsey!” featured a high level of craft from our contenders, with only two queens flopping. Moreover, the challenge was a delight, made even better by this week’s extra special guest judge, fashion designer Betsey Johnson. She was sweet and inspiring, she got emotional and did the splits as she always does. What’s not to love?

NICK TAYLOR: The sheer quality of the guest judges has been lovely this season. It’s not an essential component, but you can feel the lack of it when it’s missing...

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Drag Race RuCap: “The Wicked Wiz of Oz: The Rusical!”

THE WIZARD OF OZ looks...different.

NICK TAYLOR: Can you believe our luck, going from a disappointingly mid Snatch Game to a snappy, entertainingly performed, bizarrely conceived Rusical? With a fabulous runway and a lip sync for your life where both queens are actively serving? That’s just about everything one could ask for on this show, with my one caveat being the least deserving finalist got the win this week. Even so, I loved this episode of Drag Race, which threw so many portents and standbys at me that I somehow convinced myself this episode’s somewhat inevitable elimination could surprise us with an unexpected victory. There’s so much drama, all of which is organically felt and most of which is seamlessly edited into the rhythms of the episode. Were you as big a fan of this episode as I was? 

CLÁUDIO ALVES: The only thing that would make it better would have been Onya messing up another girl’s outfit. But I guess we need to wait ‘till next week for that…

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Drag Race RuCap: Time to play the "Snatch Game"

Alyssa and this talking buttplug were more entertaining than some of the season 17 queens.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: Last week, we had the “Let’s Get Sea Sickening” ball. This week, the season 17 girls face another classic RuPaul’s Drag Race challenge in the form of Snatch Game. Sadly, the results weren’t as strong across the board, even if the cast stayed clear of an outright disaster à la season 14. And even if, in an unprecedented move, someone was told they bombed the thing and still placed on top. Madness, Rigga Morris, favoritism the house down boots. No wonder they invited Alyssa Edwards to guest-star! That said, this was still a fun hour of reality TV. These bitches keep bringing the drama and old-school messiness, keeping the whole thing feeling more alive and vital than it has in years.

Do you agree, or do you feel that I, like Suzie Toot, have been possessed by Joella’s delusional spirit? Do we need to call the exorcist? 

NICK TAYLOR: I can’t believe Joella turned out to be the physical manifestation of season 17’s vibes. The girls are clearly talented, but even beyond sheer artistry, they have the indefatigable sense of their own supremacy that makes competitive reality TV so good. This doesn’t translate into being good at competing, but they know how to make a spectacle of themselves, and we love that...

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Drag Race RuCap: “Let’s Get Sea Sickening Ball”

This week, the role of Dakota Schiffer will be played by Hunter Schafer.

NICK TAYLOR: We’ve arrived at one of Drag Race’s mainstay challenges: The Ball. Do you think production expected there to be fewer girls by the time we reached this episode? Arrietty’s certainly lucky to be here, after being saved from going home by the second lever of the Badonkadunk Tank, but I think the show (and the audience) are even luckier for her to be here and give us such a complete package. Other queens delivered on drama and entertainment, and the judge’s panel delivered some of their most astute critiques of the season, even if I wasn’t expecting them to pick the tops and bottoms they did. But as a culmination of a six-episode arc for one queen, and the first challenge without a safety net, it’s a damn good episode of television. Were you as taken with this as I was?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: I loved this episode, from challenge performances to werk room drama, from guest judges to mini-challenge tomfoolery. Mama Ru is coming off that Emmy loss full of piss and vinegar, ready to prove Drag Race naysayers wrong. I know we’ve been saying this a lot, but season 17 feels like the old days of the show returned, with all the marvelous messiness that entails…

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