USA Today - 18.03.2020

Check out this list of games that can help keep

you entertained while staying at home. Page 7B

There’s more to board game

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Docudrama busts the myths and explains the

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USA TODAY| WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020 | SECTION B

LIFE

LIFELINE

Top selling titles for week ending

March 15. Full list in tomorrow’s USA

TODAY.

1. Untamed Glennon Doyle


2. The Mirror & the Light
   Hilary Mantel


3. Journey of the Pharaohs
   Clive Cussler, Graham Brown


4. The Splendid and the Vile
   Erik Larson


5. Where the Crawdads Sing
   Delia Owens

USA TODAY

USA TODAY Best-sellers

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The series flashes back a year to the

arrival of artist and single mother Mia

Warren (Washington) and her daugh-

ter Pearl (Lexi Underwood) to Shaker.

Out of a sense of guilt and embarrass-

ment, Elena leases half of the family’s

rental property to Mia and sends her

younger son, Moody (Gavin Lewis), to

befriend Pearl.

The teen quickly takes to Moody

and the elder Richardson children,

jock Trip (Jordan Elsass) and Home-

coming Queen Lexie (Jade Pettyjohn).

Pearl idolizes Lexie and crushes on

Trip (despite Moody’s obvious feelings

for her). Mia, who has experienced

nothing but condescension and rac-

ism from Elena, takes a job as the Rich-

ardsons’ housekeeper to keep an eye

on Pearl, who is increasingly envious

of the family’s affluent, materialistic

life.

Elena and Mia begin to clash, on ev-

erything from their parenting styles –

Mia encourages Izzy’s artsy grunge re-

bellion, while Elena tries to scold her

daughter into wearing pearls – to a

custody fight between a Chinese im-

migrant mother and the white couple

trying to adopt her baby. Mia’s secre-

tive past and Elena’s obsessive need

for answers (she is a part-time report-

er with unachieved ambition) escalate

their conflict far beyond arguments

and harsh words.

At first glance, it feels as if Wither-

spoon has typecast herself into the

role of Elena as a pushy, rich, suburban

mother, like the one she played in

HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” But the deeper

into “Fires” you get, the fewer similar-

ities there are between Elena and

STREAMING PREVIEW

Feel the

heat from

Hulu’s

‘Little Fires’

Kelly Lawler

Columnist

USA TODAY

Kerry Washington and Reese

Witherspoon star in “Little Fires

Everywhere.” ERIN SIMKIN/HULU

See FIRES, Page 6B

Reese Witherspoon and Kerry

Washington are on fire.

Not literally, of course. As far as we

know, the actresses are not sending up

smoke clouds. But both used their con-

siderable talents to set Hulu’s fasci-

nating new miniseries “Little Fires

Everywhere” positively ablaze.

“Fires” (adapted from Celeste Ng’s

2017 bestseller) and its two

producer/stars not only meet but easi-

ly exceed towering expectations.

“Fires” (streaming March 18, eeee)

is the successful meeting of style and

substance, combining great acting,

superb costuming and production de-

sign with sharp scripts that expand on

the acclaimed source material. Set in

the 1990s, every frame, every line, ev-

ery pair of high-waisted jeans burns

with meaning and drama that spans

hyper-serious to soapy, with delicious

aplomb.

“Fires” is about what happens when

the delicate balance in the postcard-

perfect suburb of Shaker Heights,

Ohio, is thrown out of whack by the

clash of two families. At the series’

outset in 1998, we see white, rich,

starkly blond Elena Richardson (With-

erspoon), her husband, Bill (Joshua

Jackson), and three of their four teen

children watching their perfectly ap-

pointed McMansion aflame against

the morning sky. The family doesn’t

know what happened, but the fire de-

partment knows one thing: Someone

set little fires all over the house. The

Richardsons, and the cops, suspect

the family’s rebellious teen, Izzy

(Megan Stott).

When does a divided country come together? When the health of

America’s Dad is at risk.❚ Last Thursday, Tom Hanks revealed on

social media that while in Australia filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis

Presley biopic, he and wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for the

coronavirus (Idris Elba also has announced he has the virus),

which has since brought the entertainment world and most of the

globe to a standstill. The love and shout-outs were immediate,

and Hanks has kept all of us apprised of his recovery, quoting “A

League of Their Own” and thanking “the Helpers” – a nod to one

of his most recent roles, as Mister Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in

the Neighborhood.”

Hanks’ diagnosis made the pan-

demic feel real to film fans, and for

those needing a pick-me-up as self-

isolation and social distancing con-

tinue to be the order of the day, here

are the beloved Oscar winner’s 10

essential feel-good roles.

‘A Beautiful Day in the

Neighborhood’ (2019)

One of the Hanks-iest of Hanks

personas, the actor and Rogers go

together like a well-matched sweat-

er and sneakers. Hanks played the

late kids’ TV icon as a guru of empa-

thy, doling out heartwarming bon

mots to a troubled journalist (Mat-

thew Rhys) who’s tasked to profile

Rogers but is skeptical of the man’s

absolute goodness. Hanks earned a

supporting-actor Oscar nomination

not just because of a pitch-perfect

performance but because he

brought so much of his own calming

aura to the part.

‘Big’ (1988)

Back in the 1980s, Hanks was

aces at playing a man-child – to a

debaucherous degree (see: “Bache-

lor Party”) and quite memorably to a

deeper one in this fantasy in which a

MOVIES

Tom Hanks wears the red sweater and wise demeanor of children’s TV

icon Mister Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”LACEY TERRELL

Give thanks

to Hanks in 10

essential roles

Brian Truitt USA TODAY

Tom Hanks (right, with Robert Loggia) is a whiz at playing humongous

keyboards in “Big.”WARNER BROS. PICTURES

See HANKS, Page 6B

Ryan Reynolds announced Monday
that he and his wife, Blake Lively,
donated $1 million split between food
drive organizations Feeding America
and Food Banks Canada (Reynolds
was born in Vancouver), joining fellow
celebrities in taking action to help
others during the coronavirus pan-
demic.

STEVEN FERDMAN/GETTY IMAGES

MAKING WAVES
$1M FOR FOOD DRIVES

In a moment of levity amid the
coronavirus coverage, news
anchor Chris Cuomo and Gov. Andrew
Cuomo debated who is
really their mom’s fa-
vorite son as they
wrapped up their in-
terview about the pan-
demic on CNN Monday
night. “By the way, she
said I was her favorite,”
Andrew said. “Good
news is, she said you’re her second
favorite son, Christopher.”

N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo AFP VIA GETTY

THEY SAID WHAT?
THE STARS’ BEST QUOTES

CHRIS CUOMO

Queen Latifahis 50. Adam Levineis
41.Lily Collinsis 31.

IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY
WHO’S CELEBRATING TODAY