Emmy FYC: "Mrs. America" for Best Period Costume Design

by Cláudio Alves

The voting period for the Emmy nominations is coming to an end. It's true that, now, a FYC may feel a bit late, but I can't let go of the opportunity to shine a light on one of the most impressive achievements in recent television. While I love to explore the marvels of acting, costume design will forever be my main passion when talking about the performing arts. The Emmys are particularly interesting when it comes to the honoring of costume excellence since, unlike the Oscars, they have categories separating Period, Contemporary and Fantasy designs, not to mention separate prizes for live specials. In theory, that makes it somewhat easier for great costuming to be honored but that's not always the case, especially when the clothes being considered are more subtle than showy. Sometimes, sheer flashiness can blind people, and subtler creations are left unrewarded. 

Hopefully, such an unjust fate won't happen to the wondrous Mrs. America…

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Lady of the Flies

by Jason Adams

Let's take a break from Movie News to take a look at an exciting television project that's just been announced that's gathering together a pair of our favorite people -- Destroyer director Karyn Kusama has worked on TV before, most notably directing some of the finest episodes of the great Halt and Catch Fire, but she's about to Executive Produce and direct the pilot episode of a show for Showtime called Yellowjackets, which sounds like a Lord of the Flies and Alive riff. And taking it from merely exciting to "Put It In My Face Right Now!" is today's fresh word that Friend-of-TFE and Massively Under-appreciated Actress Melanie Lynskey is taking the lead. Says Variety:

"The project tells the story of a team of talented high school girls soccer players who survive a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later.

Lynskey will play Shauna Sheridan, one a handful of survivors of the plane crash. 25 years later, Shauna is on a mission to reclaim her agency — her life — while doing everything in her power to keep her darkest secrets safe."

Funny enough back in July it was announced that Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino was in talks to actually adapt Lord of the Flies itself for a new film -- for a time there was a rumor he was switching genders from William Golding's book, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Still it seems pointed that stories about groups of reasonable people turning savage are the next big thing -- sounds like Life In 2019 to me!

RPDR All Stars 3: Finale - Everybody Say Love! Please!

by Chris Feil

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?

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RPDR All Stars 3: E7 - And the Oscar Goes To...

by Chris Feil

It was a rough week for Drag Race fans. Not only has this season had an unending barrage of racism and vitriol in the fandom, but RuPaul showed her ass again this week revealing her exclusionary thoughts on trans queens. The whole enterprise, including the supreme leader, needed a post-Snatch Game Latrice Royale table-slamming intervention. If ever there was a time for the show to make essentially zero waves, now was certainly convenient timing.

Maybe it was just aftermath of both Ru’s ignorance and BenDeLaCreme blindsiding us with a tectonic shift self-elimination, but this week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars was a relief partly because it was so predictable. Call it the least essential of the season but when the weight of drama has become so cumbersome, this felt refreshingly unburdened and unbothered. I blame the restorative powers of Nancy Pelosi arriving in the workroom to brandish a rainbow bracelet just, you know, because.

This week’s challenge was also perfectly timed for the remaining afterglow of last Sunday’s Oscars...

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RPDR All Stars 3: E6 - Fuck My Drag Race, Right?

by Chris Feil

Last week on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, we were teased that the Handmaid’s revenge twist was finally upon us. Unfortunately this week proved all that build up to the queens returning only brought more of this season’s weak impulses: ignoring the talent and personal stories in favor of going whole hog on dramatics. It’s the rare episode where every queen does well, and yet that goes unacknowledged. It feels so far away from the show we all fell in love with.

For the return, both batches of queens are tasked with auditioning for Ru’s new Spice Girls-inspired Kitty Girls with original songs, characters, and choreography. Before the queens could get into the challenge, they unpacked all of their grievances around the workroom table...

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