"The House That Will Not Stand" to become a film

by Nathaniel R

Lynda Gravatt as the widowed matriarch of "The House That Will Not Stand" and her rival played by Marie Thomas

Wanted to make sure you've all heard this very good news. Shadow & Act reports that last year's Off Broadway play The House That Will Not Stand is getting the film treatment. Yours truly was on the Drama League nominating committee last season (the show earned three nominations) and I had the privilege of attending that show early in its run. It was a fascinating play from a time period in history we'd previously heard nothing about...

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Soundtracking: Toy Story 2

by Chris Feil

No one uses music to trigger instant tears with such sudden velocity as Pixar does. The “Married Life” sequence from Up, Coco’s “Remember Me” gaining depth through repetition, the reverence for youth that defined the entire Toy Story series with “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”.

But the first time Pixar went for the emotional jugular in a way that felt like a definitive part of their musical brand was to come in Toy Story 2. The sequel introduces us to Jessie, a cowgirl compatriot to Woody, filling space as a collector’s item instead of being cared for by an adoring child. But the film offers a standalone musical montage of Jessie’s former life as the prized possession of a girl named Emily, one who slowly and painfully outgrows her to the sound of Sarah MacLachlan and “When She Loved Me”.

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Today's birthday suit: Hugh Dancy

Happy 44th to Hugh Dancy today. He's currently onscreens as charming lothario trouble in Late Night (2019). Remember when ginger mom & son Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne had a Dancy sandwich, twelve years back? Good times...

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Watch at Home: Beach bums, doppelgangers, euphoria, and giant little ones...

Nathaniel R giving you the heads up on what's available to you now to screen at home. It's a big weekend all told in terms of titles suddenly available

New on DVD/Blu-Ray/Rental
• Beach Bum -the latest from Harmony Korine. I hated it but Murtada kinda liked it as you probably heard on the podcast
• Giant Little Ones - underseen drama about the confusion of sexual fluidity in the coming-of-age years
• Hotel Mumbai - well reviewed terrorism drama starring Dev Patel and Armie Hammer
• Under the Silver Lake - David Robert Mitchell's bizarrely indulgent noir, equal parts tedious and memorable, his follow up to the incredible breakthrough It Follows
• Us - Jordan Peele's horror blockbuster with terrifically inventive performances from the whole cast.

iTunes deals and streaming roulette after the jump...

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Introducing the Panel for "Smackdown '01"

Thanks for all your last minute votes for the Supporting Actress Smackdown of 2001. The Smackdown and its podcast companion will be up this Thursday so let's meet the panel after the jump...

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