Beauty vs Beast: Emma Times Two

Jason Adams of MNPP here with a brand new edition of our weekly "Beauty vs Beast" poll -- it is the 60th birthday of the great Emma Thompson today! And age thankfully hasn't slowed her down a bit -- she's got several projects in the works (I'm pretty excited about her upcoming series called Years and Years with Queer as Folk UK and Dr Who writer Russell T Davies) not to mention I just had a, "Wait, who is that talking...?" moment two days ago when she turned up as the voice of a queenly ape-person in Laika's Missing Link. But for her birthday let's look back at her two great great great Merchant Ivory roles of the early 90s, because who could I put against Dame Emma Thompson for a true contest other than but Dame Emma Thompson herself.

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PREVIOUSLY It's not easy to beat down Divine but Kathleen Turner managed to do just that with last week's John Waters poll -- the Serial Mom herself, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary this weekend, took a full 75% of your vote. Said ?:

"Beverly/Kathleen Turner all the way. Personally I would have given her all the awards for "War of the Roses", but "Serial Mom" was a fun outing for this gifted actress. At least at TFE she is remembered and revered appropriately."

Would You Rather?

It's been awhile since we dove into Instagram. So it's time for a new poll this one starring the usual miscellaneous array of celebs plus a few Chilling Adventures of Sabrina cast members since it's that time again with Season 2 streaming. So...

Michelle pfinds her whip againWould you rather?

• practice self-love with Halle Berry?
• have a swim with Keirnan Shipka and her boyz?
• have a fruity drink oceanside with Jake Shears?
• see Network on Broadway with Keith & Nicole?
• play ping-pong with Gavin Leatherwood?
• boogie woogie down with Robert Downey Jr? 
• see Hamilton with Missi Pyle? 
• do a little whip-training with Michelle Pfeiffer? 
• cat-sit with Richard E Grant? 
• rock out with Selma Blair?
• get a White Walker makeover with Anderson Cooper? 
• experience the ecstacy of poutine with Chance Perdomo? 

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide.

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Links: Madame X, Shelley Winters, and Martha Again

Link roundup starting with NEWS articles...

• NYT The great Swedish actress Bibi Andersson, a Bergman regular (Persona, Wild Strawberries) dies at 83
• Cartoon Brew Rich Moore, who delivered the Wreck It Ralph movies for Disney leaves to run Sony Animation
• Deadline Gabriel Basso (The Kings of Summer, Super 8) nabs lead in Ron Howard's movie adaptation of bestseller Hillbilly Elegy. Amy Adams and Glenn Close co-star.
• The Wrap talks to Ryan O'Connell, the creator and star of the gay & disabled sitcom Special on Netflix

Lots more after the jump including In the Heights, Bond 25, the influence of Big, new albums, declining sex in the cinema, and two must-reads online this past week in case you missed them...

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Yes, Yes, Yes: "Big Little Lies" Season 2

The new trailer for Big Little Lies has broken us. We cannot perform our Yes, No, Maybe So breakdown because we were mouthing 'yes' repeatedly with no sound coming out for all 58 seconds of this trailer, such was the wide-eyed thirst for all of this. That final bit with Meryl Streep? That was an audible YES capped by Reese Witherspoon's perfect micro-stunned reaction. 

Stage Door: What's in the running for Tony nominations this year?

With Emmy nomination voting still two months away, the Awards calendar is now strictly focused on the Broadway stage: it's Tony season!

The 2019 Tony Award eligibility runs May 31st, 2018 through April 25th, 2019. The eligible shows will find out their fate when Bebe Neuwirth and Brandon Victor Dixon announce the Tony nominations on Tuesday, April 30th. A Tony win, even moreso than an Emmy or Oscar triumph, can result in a huge change in the financial fortunes of the nominee/winner. That's especially true if the show doesn't come with a major marketing hook like "based on a popular movie" or "hear all your favourite songs by so & so!" in the case of jukebox musicals. 

So what's eligible this year? It's not time for predictions yet but we've compiled all the titles for you in chronological order because that's more interesting than alphabetical...

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