RPDR All Stars 3: E5 - Can-aroon!

by Chris Feil

Drag Race fans got a mega-serving of the ever popular show this week with an All Stars design challenge followed immediately by the announcement of the season 10 cast. The big tenth season will be following the ongoing All Stars season without a break, so in 2018 the Race is a marathon. We’ll briefly look at the new contestants, but first we have to unpack (oops) the season’s first dud episode.

Last week Shangela played up the drama for a middling Snatch Game and gave once expected frontrunner Trixie Mattel a major fakeout, ultimating sending the beloved but stuck-in-first-gear Chi Chi DeVayne. The first agenda once back in the workroom was to lay the Notegate drama to rest...

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Tweetweek: Turkish cats, Billboards legacy, Kidman repurposed

Tee hee. The Best Picture nominees are still very much in the air in this week's tweet collection after the jump. Subjects include but are not limited to: Black Panther, Lady Bird, Best Picture time frames, and a visual reminders of what Three Billboards is good for. Plus a visual reminder why the cat documentary Kedi had such wonderful "characters"... 

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Mike Leigh at 75: "Secrets & Lies"

By Salim Garami

What's good?

Timothy Spall's character Maurice Purley in Mike Leigh's 1996 Palme d'Or winner Secrets & Lies is a photographer and every scene we see him at work involves his usually-successful, sometimes-not-as-much attempts to amiably convince his clients to take a big smile before he takes the photo. Sometimes it's a direct appeal and sometimes it's just by making an off-hand joke that catches them. Usually it's preceeded by a very slight window of sadness implying a long and exhaustive story on the subject's part. It feels like a very reflexive move on Mike Leigh's part: Secrets & Lies, like most of Leigh's works, is a humanist tale of some very messy and sometimes sad parts of a large story but Leigh imbues it with a sense of delicate compassion, sometimes injecting a sense of humor about the situations, but always wanting the best for its characters.

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Review: "Game Night"

by Chris Feil

An enjoyable, modest studio comedy is a rare breed these days, each entry trying to out-stunt or out-horrify the other for shock laughs. Some miss the mark entirely. Enter Game Night, a formulaic comedy unconcerned with one-upmanship, and quite enjoyable all the same.

Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman star as Annie and Max, a couple struggling to conceive. They're united by their competitive streaks which get full reign over their weekly get-togethers with friends. When the usual gathering gets overtaken by Max’s more successful and handsome older brother Brooks (played by Kyle Chandler), a harmless mystery role playing game is overtaken by an actual violent kidnapping. The group must save Brooks from his kidnappers, and maybe nurse Max’s bruised jealousy in the process...

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The Smackdown is Coming. Meet the Panelists

It's almost time for another Smackdown. As is the brief tradition, we'll be looking at this year's nominees for Supporting Actress in our February edition (just as we did last year). We'll be talking Octavia Spencer, Laurie Metcalf, Lesley Manville, Mary J Blige, and Allison Janney. The Smackdown and its companion podcast will arrive this coming Monday, February 26th.

It's time to meet the panelists. Please welcome...

FIRST TIME PANELISTS

Andrew Carden
Andrew Carden is a contributing writer at GoldDerby and writes about all things Oscar on his blog, The Awards Connection. When he's not on Twitter, lamenting Thelma Ritter's 0-for-6 record in Best Supporting Actress, Andrew works in Massachusetts politics.

His #1 of 2017: Mudbound
[Andrew on Twitter]

Candice Frederick
Candice Frederick is a freelance TV/film critic living in New York City. She has written for Vice, The Daily Beast, The Mary Sue, /Film and others. You can find more of her work here.

Her #1 of 2017: Wonder Woman
[Candice on Twitter]

Erica Mann
Erica is a writer and film critic based in New York. Creator of The NYC Film Chick blog in 2012, she has covered film festivals such as Tribeca, New York Film Festival, and TIFF. When she is not working, tweeting, or fighting the patriarchy, she freelances as a film coordinator and producer.

Her #1 of 2017: Mudbound
[Erica on Twitter]

RETURNING PANELISTS

Though we never repeat an exact panel, we do like to welcome voices back. The following two men have done smackdowns before (the 2016 fivesome and the 1995 brilliance, respectively) so we're welcoming them back.

Chris Feil
Chris Feil lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a contributor to The Film Experience. You can easily beetlejuice him into your conversations by talking about soundtracks (shameless plug for his weekly column Soundtracking), RuPaul's Drag Race (further shameless plug for his recaps), and WALL•E. He is remembering to notice the collateral beauty around him. Chris has also written for Paste and Decider.

His #1 of 2017: Lady Bird
[Chris on Twitter]

Kevin O'Keeffe
Kevin O'Keeffe is a writer, editor, and RuPaul's Drag Race herstorian. Currently, he writes about that show, as well as other film and TV, for the LGBTQ+ magazine INTO. He's still mad Tiffany Haddish wasn't nominated this year.

His #1 of 2017: Call Me By Your Name
[Kevin on Twitter]

... and your host

Nathaniel R ... but you know me already.

The Smackdown will be up on Monday. And if you'd like to get started early on your viewing for future smackdowns we're doing 1970 and 1994 sometime in the spring after a wee Post-Oscar break. Stay tuned!