Surprise Podcast! Nick & Nathaniel reunite to talk Campion, Zola, and *much* more

Since several of you have asked over the past couple of years, Nick Davis, who was once a weekly regular on both our podcast and his own site (haha) is fine! We spontaneously jumped on the phone to talk last month and recorded it. Apologies for waiting so long to share but you know how December is. So "Happy New Year!"

94 minutes
00:01 Reunited and it feels so good
01:40 Jane Campion's return with The Power of the Dog
13:35 The brilliance of Rebecca Hall's Passing which Nick has taught in book form for years
23:00 C'mon C'mon 
29:30 Quick feelings on King Richard, Dune, and  Licorice Pizza
40:12 Titane's anger and the atmosphere of The Humans
53:15 We split on The Worst Person in the World 
1:08:00 Quick feelings on tick tick BOOM!, Belfast, Prayers for the Stolen, and The Velvet Underground
1:14:00 Hating on Spencer together. We really dislike it, okay?
1:24:45 Loving on Zola together. Get into it, bitch!
1:31:30 "Deleted Scene" House of Gucci

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify or right here, attached...

Power of the Zola

For "The Humans" to Err is Human and to Forget Divine

by Jason Adams

Erik (Richard Jenkins), the patriarch of the Blake family, stands staring out a dingy window into the gray light of the alleyway -- excuse me, the "interior courtyard" -- behind his daughter's unfurnished and water-logged Chinatown apartment. His thoughts are clearly elsewhere, new worries freshly lining his already lined face, as something catches his eye, and then another -- is that snow? It's lovely, in its way, but distressing all the same -- having traveled into the big city for this Housewarming slash Thanksgiving dinner from the wilds of distant Scranton he's got to think about getting everybody home at a decent hour, and a snow-storm would have them trapped here, nary a bed in sight. (Having lugged a Mary figure there as their Housewarming gift the soft Biblical allusions to "no room at the Inn" seem let's say non-accidental.) He brings up this his most recent distress to Richard (Steven Yeun), his daughter's boyfriend, who doesn't see snow at all, instead offering the thesis that someone on an upper floor has just emptied their ashtray.

Snow to ash, and just like that beauty to death, a recurring happening in Stephen Karam's Tony-winning play turned A24's darkly funny and emotionally cataclysmic awards-season contender The Humans, out this week...

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Oooh, "The Humans" has finished filming!

by Nathaniel R

Did you know they were making a movie of 2016's Best Play winner The Humans? Jayne Houdyshell, a brilliant stage actress (pictured center top above), actually got to reprise her Tony-winning role for the film. Imagine not being replaced by Meryl Streep in a Tony-to-Oscar hopeful transition project! Her Tony winning co-star Reed Birney (also a wonderful actor) was replaced though... 

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Tony Winners for 2016

A lot of us needed that awards show last night - a celebration of passion, talent, and love for community - given the horrific events of the weekend.

In the opening number the musical acting nominees joined James Corden on stage (from left to right: Benanti, Corden, Krakowski, Miranda, Goldsberry, Levi, and Danielle Brooks

The Tonys were particularly defiantly joyous Sunday evening with an exuberant production, which featured a fun curveball of having each performing cast do a miniature version of a classic showtune outside the theater before or after they performed their shows number onstage inside. Other highlights included: Audra McDonald doing a high kick while pregnant; James Corden's bit with the Tony accountants; Frank Langella being more concerned with the tragedy in Orlando than his Tony; and a hilarious view of the nominees through the prism of their guest star work in the Law & Order franchise. Poor Danny Burstein! Or, rather, 'well employed Danny Burstein' who guest starred on Law & Order so many times it was like watching a man age in time lapse photography...

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