You Couldn't Get Those "Hamilton" Tickets?

by Eric Blume

Good news, as Disney is bringing a filmed version of the Broadway sensation Hamilton to movie theaters October 15, 2021, with the original cast. It will not be a fully-imagined film like this summer's other Lin-Manuel Miranda musical In the Heights.  Instead, it will be a "live capture" of the stage performance, shot in the Richard Rodgers Theater before the original cast started to disband.  

I was lucky enough to see this cast in the original incarnation at the Public Theater, and then again when it moved to Broadway with different actors.  No disrespect to the excellent work of the actors from round two, but there is truly nothing like seeing the original cast of a show...

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TIFF: "Waves" Crashes

by Chris Feil

Writer/Director Trey Edward Shults’ approaches his subjects with raw emotionality, with his first two features Krisha and It Comes At Night using visual acrobatics to reveal the tenser truths festering inside extreme family dynamics. His third feature Waves attempts this dynamic again while pushing the sensory experience extreme territories. Shults somersaults and twirls with florid visual vibrancy here, as aggressive a display of a director demanding we consider them with greater reverence as we have seen since Xavier Dolan. But despite its fevered sensory world and punishing human stakes, Waves struggles to align the two for the truly immersive experience of its ambitions.

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Oprah Brings the HBO Actressing for "Henrietta Lacks"

Chris here. If you thought this week's debut of HBO's Big Little Lies was our sole oasis for actresses acting on the channel, they'll be following its seven episodes with another treat: the adaptation of nonfiction bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. In fact, it has its own big little trifecta: a major role for the acting-shy Oprah, a dramatic role for TFE favorite Rose Byrne, and Renée Elise Goldsberry's follow-up to her Tony-winning Hamilton run.

Directed by theatre genius George C. Wolfe, Lacks's story is one of family, race, and class, providing a human backdrop for for how her cancer provided important discoveries on how the disease is treated. Come Emmy time, HBO is seeking full actress prize domination with this year's slate - but do we think this could get Oprah the acting honors that often eluded her? From the looks of the first trailer, she could be some major competition:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks airs on April 22.