Manuel Betancourt Author Archive
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Manuel Betancourt

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Manuel Betancourt is a Los Angeles–based critic and writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, GQ Style, and Variety, among other outlets. A member of LAFCA and the Peabody Awards board of jurors, he's the author of Judy at Carnegie Hall (2020) and The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men (2023).

  1. overnights
    Lady in the Lake Series-Finale Recap: Where You Gonna Run To?The series finale manages to give Cleo the ending the novel never could.
  2. overnights
    Lady in the Lake Recap: Dream LogicThe series’ penultimate episode takes a pause on the whodunit element of the story to vibe out in the scariest place imaginable: Maddie’s mind.
  3. overnights
    Lady in the Lake Recap: Connect the DotsMaddie is a selfish, bad journalist, but she’s the show’s main character, so she finds herself at the center of all these stories.
  4. overnights
    Lady in the Lake Recap: Clean That UpWe’re going full Silence of the Lambs this week.
  5. overnights
    Lady in the Lake Recap: A Tale of Two MothersMaddie’s exploration of freedom is getting majorly dragged down by her bratty son.
  6. overnights
    Lady in the Lake Recap: Gotta Move, Gotta Get OutCleo and Maddie’s lives descend into utter chaos.
  7. overnights
    Lady in the Lake Series-Premiere Recap: Thanksgiving in BaltimoreNatalie Portman is on the verge of the nervous breakdown in Apple TV+’s latest prestige literary adaptation.
  8. closure
    Nava Mau Brought the ‘Teri Fire’ to Baby ReindeerOn separating the character from her real-life inspiration and her most difficult day on set.
  9. overnights
    Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Series-Finale Recap: EpilogueTruman’s book finally kills him.
  10. chat room
    Feud’s Molly Ringwald Is an Answered Prayers Truther“In the show, she says it was just one thing written over and over and over again. I feel like it might show up in a box somewhere.”
  11. overnights
    Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Recap: Two Deaths and a FuneralIt’s fair to wonder how much story is left after the death of our two central characters.
  12. overnights
    Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Recap: Going Out of StyleTruman sparks up an old feud with Gore Vidal as he spirals further into his vices.
  13. chat room
    Feud’s James Baldwin Was Real to Chris Chalk“If I think of playing it as his imagination, does it become some sort of fetishism? It’s better for me to just play him as a real human.”
  14. overnights
    Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Recap: Ruffled FeathersJames Baldwin enters the narrative to get Answered Prayers back on track, and test the limits of this series’ artistic license.
  15. chat room
    Feud’s Russell Tovey on What It Takes to Play a Baddie“He seemed to move like a glacier, this solid mass of shit moving through Truman’s life.”
  16. overnights
    Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Recap: Pity PartyTruman hopes to get back in the Swan’s good graces, but time is running out for reconciliation.
  17. overnights
    Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Recap: A Visit With Truman CapoteAlbert and David Maysles’s short documentary of Capote proves to be the ideal view into his 1966 masquerade ball.
  18. overnights
    Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Recap: ReciprocityTruman’s cruelty comes back to haunt him (sometimes literally) as the swans close ranks.
  19. overnights
    Feud: Capote vs. the Swans Premiere Recap: Welcome to Swan LakeA jaunt through the decades reveals how Truman Capote cultivated his society swans and then ruffled their feathers.
  20. vulture movie club
    Hollywood’s First Celebrated Film About Drag Is As Flawed As It Is FabulousHere is a statement about the emancipatory power of drag wrapped in a tale of allyship — embalmed as it is in the limitations of the ’90s.
  21. chat room
    Jessica Williams Brought Her Own Spice, and Scrunchies, to ShrinkingPost-finale, Williams talks about her new spin on the “Black lady therapist” trope and her many improvised moments — including that Mariah Carey riff.
  22. close read
    In Praise of Bane, Harley Quinn’s Softboi VillainBesides being a welcome twist on a decades-old character, this irascible Bane is evolving in a way that perfectly captures the show’s strengths.
  23. overnights
    Queer As Folk Season-Finale Recap: Bitch, Fight for Me!The season finale ends where it all began: Babylon.
  24. overnights
    Queer As Folk Recap: I Don’t Know How to Feel About ThisWhen you have a solid bench of queer day players, wouldn’t you want to indulge in all genres and watch them thrive?
  25. overnights
    Queer As Folk Recap: How About Ruthie?The best episode of Queer As Folk so far. Period.
  26. overnights
    Queer As Folk Recap: She Startin’Brodie gets more signs that he should curb his behavior, but you start to wonder if he’ll take the hint.
  27. overnights
    Queer As Folk Recap: An Inclusive Sex PartyQAF continues its exploration of how queer art can respond to trauma without being subsumed by it.
  28. overnights
    Queer As Folk Recap: Wanna Watch Buffy?Is there a better way to bond than over the delicious monsters-are-all-around-us world of Sunnydale High?
  29. overnights
    Queer As Folk Recap: Hello, My Trauma QueensGetting off, as it turns out, is on everyone’s minds.
  30. overnights
    Queer As Folk Series-Premiere Recap: Don’t Be Such a Drama Queen!The reimagining of Queer As Folk shines in showing both the darkness and the light the queer community contains within itself.
  31. close read
    The Phantom Nostalgia of HeartstopperThe YA Netflix series taps into an audience famished for cloyingly sweet high-school stories.
  32. profile
    The Myth MakersVeneno turned a forgotten trans trailblazer into a global icon. Creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo just might be next.
  33. overnights
    Pose Series-Finale Recap: Legendary StatusForever, and ever, you’ll stay in our hearts, and we will love you.
  34. overnights
    Pose Recap: The Beginning of the EndIt’s lovely to see a show so focused on ideas of motherhood diving headfirst into what fatherhood might mean to people like Angel and Lil Papi.
  35. vulture lists
    12 Essential Kate Winslet PerformancesWhether she’s being painted like a French girl or vaping and eating hoagies, Kate Winslet always draws you in.
  36. overnights
    Pose Recap: A Mother ProvidesThis final season feels like it’s racing to the finish line when it should be strutting.
  37. chat room
    Moisés and Mateo Arias Bring Their Brotherly Bond to the Captivating Blast BeatThe actors tell Vulture about putting aside family for the camera, and what it means to be telling an authentically Colombian story at this moment.
  38. overnights
    Pose Recap: HomecomingPray Tell knows how his story ends, and while this episode can’t rewrite his future, it highlights the optimism in the present he’s made for himself.
  39. overnights
    Pose Recap: Thank You, MotherThe best episode so far of this final season takes us on a trip down memory lane courtesy of the legendary Elektra Abundance Evangelista.
  40. behind the seams
    The Making of a Legendary LookDesigner Johnny Wujek breaks down what goes into creating the dozens of jaw-dropping looks that parade down the runway each week.
  41. overnights
    Pose Recap: I’m Not Trying to Be NiceThis episode alone could handily win Billy Porter another Emmy.
  42. overnights
    Pose Season-Premiere Recap: Times Have ChangedThe final season kicks off with Blanca looking ahead with bright-eyed optimism, while Pray Tell seeks survival in self-destruction.
  43. tv timeline
    How TV Stories Have Shaped Our Understanding of AIDSUsing the tools of serialized storytelling, television has both reflected and reshaped our perception of the virus, one fictional character at a time.
  44. overnights
    It’s a Sin Finale Recap: Everybody HurtsWe end this series where we always knew we would, and while it doesn’t feel unexpected, it does feel truthful.
  45. overnights
    It’s a Sin Recap: It’s SpreadingThe series heads toward its ending committed to making one of its central figures a tragic hero while keeping the other a buoyant mood-lightener.
  46. overnights
    It’s a Sin Recap: A Public MenaceWe knew it was only a matter of time until the Pink Palace would see one of their own get this news.
  47. overnights
    It’s a Sin Recap: There’s Nothing Wrong With Boys From LondonThe speed at which It’s a Sin churns through story is frustrating, but the moments when it shows rather than tells still pack an emotional wallop.
  48. overnights
    It’s a Sin Series-Premiere Recap: We Are SecretWelcome to the Pink Palace.
  49. chat room
    We Are Who We Are Made Dev Hynes Think Differently About ‘Time Will Tell’“Wow, this is the first time in my entire life that one of my songs is in my head in a way that isn’t, like, when I’m working on it.”
  50. overnights
    We Are Who We Are Finale Recap: The Love We MakeA glorious season of television comes to a glorious close.
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