This week we had the good fortune to be a Club Cumming (Alan Cumming's bar here in Manhattan) when Miss Natalie (formerly of Broadway's Kinky Boots) performed. She's an incredibly dynamic live performer, with a huge voice and screen-ready comic timing. I expect big things. After an amazing 80s medley, she performed this hilarious original which might well be our choice for 'Song of the Summer' or, at the very very very least, an essential song for everyone's Pride playlists.
• Oscilloscope Musings Interesting piece about Zach Snyder's Suckerpunch and how it reflects various old movies, especially the musical Gold Diggers of 1933 • Cartoon Brew on the making of a new animated feature Big Fish & Begonia, now in select cities • DeadlineJumanji (2017) broke a long held record just barely toppling Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) to become Sony's all time biggest domestic hit
lots more news and entertainment tidbits after the jump including Omar Sharif, Glenn Close, Melissa McCarthy, Anika Noni Rose and Keiynan Lonsdale...
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars has brought one of its most embattled seasons to an appropriately controversial conclusion. This season has been rife with drama onscreen and off that has made championing the show come with several asterisks and addendums. The show has dug itself into a hole of too many twists, an overestimation of its need for drama to excite us, and a mounting disinterest in the art of drag itself. And yet it remains one of the biggest platforms to showcase the glorious breadth of the queer experience, blessed with an audience that demands it approaches its own shortcomings.
And this week’s finale brought a twist that may have broken the fandom’s resolve in how much they can accept: the final four would be whittled down to 2 by a deciding vote of a jury of the eliminated queens. Once again, subjectivity became the season’s foremost battleground and unsurprisingly this makes for frustrating television when a competition is involved. How would a consensus shake out when every queen has already shown a different perspective on what makes a competitor worthy of the crown?
Each day a new 'year in review' countdown. Here's Nathaniel...
Ah the music video. The only reliably viral genre of short film, though they're rarely include in short film collections, festivals, awards, or whatnot. What follows is a semi-random collection of terrific music videos that debuted this year with the caveat that there could only be one per artist. Which means no "Little of Your Love" by HAIM even though it's directed by the great auteur Paul Thomas Anderson in somewhat rare joyful mode. Other music videos worth checking out that we couldn't find room for were the sci-fi pop glam of "Venus Fly" by Grimes feat. Janelle Monae, "Burning Star" by Their Name and its intergalactic fleshy nonsense, the interactive humor of "Words Hurt" by Naive New Beaters, and finally a video that's prominently featured in a lot of such lists due to its meta resourcefulness -- "Wyclef Jean" by Young Thug for its meta resourcefulness.
They're not as acclaimed but why not also give a shout out to "Beautiful Trauma" by P!nk for its playful pastiche and giving us Channing Tatum in movie musical mode again. And though Lady Gaga's recent music video output isnt as thrilling as it once was there's something about "John Wayne" that almost makes it hyper garish cuisinart cut overkill feel like a parody of music videos that are trying way too hard... though it's doubtful that that's what it was.
Okay enough talking. On to the singing and dancing...
17 WHAT ABOUT US (P!nk) I adore P¡nk in Earnest mode and there's something about the helicopters and police lights circling that inchoate desperate "us" dancing on the lonely edge of town that totally works. Anthemic energizing anguish. Directed by Georgia Hudson and choreographed by the Goldenboyz
Wednesday, June 19, 2019 at 6:30PM 
