Drag Race S937: Madonna & 'Snatch Game' Do-Overs

Nathaniel R stepping in for Chris Feil, our usual lipsynch queen, who has the weekend off which gives yours truly a chance to funk with his "current rankings" in Drag Race's 9th season. [Insert evil cackle here].

I didn't know when I offered to sub that I'd be paired with the do-over of the Madonna runway. Since Madonna is my all time favorite celeb and the last episode devoted to the Queen was arguably Drag Race's most embarrassing (how could they allow their entire cast to act like the big M had only ever come up with 4 looks when she popularized giving yourself a makeover every single damn time you showed up to werq? [You can't see me but I'm stroking the chip on my shoulder. Shhhhh baby. There, he quiet now.]

No mini-challenge and no Pit crew again? May I suggest a mini-challenge...

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Paul Verhoeven Sticking To Dark Habits, Making Erotic Nun Movie

Paul Verhoeven is a walking, talking trigger warning; it’s not difficult to imagine him sitting behind an Inside Out-style control center smashing his fist on every red button in sight, cackling with perverse glee as he crawls under your skin like a psychologically disturbed porcupine with a bad case of rabies. Fresh off the especially spiky heels of last year’s Elle – his infamous “rape revenge comedy” that catapulted légende française Isabelle Huppert onto the stages of American awards ceremonies, better late than never – Variety reports that the Dutch provocateur plans to grind out a 17th century nunsploitation flick entitled Blessed Virgin as his next feature, replete with Sapphic undertones and hellish visions of religious erotica; a series of descriptors that should surprise approximately no one when it comes to all things Verhoeven.

After all, this is the same director who obliterated the military-industrial complex with giant man-eating space bugs, exposed the American entertainment industry with pole-licking showgirls, and, yes, drove a hatchet through the contemporary French bourgeoisie with a number of problematic sexual assaults.

Based on the book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy, Blessed Virgin tells the sordid true tale of Sister Benedetta Carlini’s subversive exploits as the Christ-communicating, same-sex bedding abbess of an Italian nunnery. Going straight from one hyper-religious sister to another, Elle star Virginie Efira is set to reteam with Verhoeven to play the lead. Do Paul Verhoeven’s (intentionally) problematic visions delight or disgust you? 

Q&A: JLaw at the Top, Chris Pine's Future, Trans Characters in Cinema

Bob Fosse on the set of LennyApologies dearest readers about the slow rollout of various columns this month. April is such a weird month, isn't it? What can you do. So you recently asked a bunch of questions and here's 11 answers!  I hope you'll speak out on these same topics in the comments to make this more conversational. I do actually love to hear your opinions, too! xoxo

EDWARD: Have you ever wanted to make a movie?

NATHANIEL: The short answer is "no". The medium answer is I think it might be fun to work on one once, to have the experience (the areas that most interest me in terms of my own potential skills are casting and editing). But my basic feeling is that I love movies too much to commit to one only for years on end as so many filmmakers seem to have to do. The long answer is that I have fantasized about it but usually only in the context of becoming a great director of modern movie musicals since Hollywood so desperately needs someone who is inspired by / committed to that genre specifically. We need a new Fosse/Minnelli/Berkeley/Donen  roughly a billion times more than we need a new Scorsese/Spielberg/Tarantino/Malick/Kubrick/Whomever. There are always people trying to be that latter group of guys!

MARK: If you could bring back any movie star deceased back in a Peter Cushing Rogue One style cameo who would you choose.

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OTD: Babs, Shirley, and "Cool" from West Side Story

On this very gay day (4/24) in history as it relates to showbiz...

1873 Silent film director Robert Wiene, best known for The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) born in Breslau (Note: other online sources disagree with the IMDb on this birthdate but it's always fun to think about Caligari)

1927 Oscar winning cinematographer Pasqualino de Santis born in Italy. Classics include Romeo and Juliet, The Damned, Death in Venice, and L'Argent

1930 Richard Donner, superstar director/producer of the 1980s, behind films like The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, and the first two Supermans. Apparently retired after 16 Blocks (2006) with Bruce Willis

1931 The Public Enemy starring James Cagney and Jean Harlow was enjoying its opening weekend at movie theaters. It was a big hit, ending in the top ten of its year. Variety claimed it was "low brow material" attempting to be high brow by its craftsmanship. If only critics knew in the moment -- they almost never do even now -- that "low brow" genres regularly produce classics.

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Tweetweek: Sequel Culture, Current Kidmania, Moonlight Kiss

Stop 👏 trying 👏 to 👏 make 👏 cinematic 👏 universes 👏 and 👏 focus 👏 on 👏 making 👏 great 👏 standalone 👏 films.

— Zac Thompson (@ZacBeThompson) April 5, 2017

Preach. Sequels used to happen because of love for a standalone. Now they're built into it like everything is a prologue.

Lots more after the jump including Twitter's current Kidman obsession, Disney villains, Tab Hunter, and more...

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