Stage and screen veteran Kristin Chenoweth plays a hard-charging, high-powered executive in the dark
Stage and screen veteran Kristin Chenoweth plays a hard-charging, high-powered executive in the dark indie comedy “Family Weekend” — a wife and mom who’s too busy for her husband and kids. Teenage daughter Emily (Olesya Rulin) finally has enough of the neglect when everyone blows off her big jump-roping competition at school. She rounds up her selfish, scattered relations for a long and tortured intervention — which includes tying mom and dad (Matthew Modine) to chairs, duct-taping their mouths shut and detailing their years of offenses. Chenoweth was nice enough to take the time to pick her own favorite movies about families. Here she is, in her own words.
v “National Lampoon’s Vacation” (1983): It’s a classic dysfunctional family with Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo. It’s so over the top but yet you buy it. In some ways, our film “Family Weekend” has a similar dysfunctional family.
v “The Sound of Music” (1965): It’s about a fractured family that comes together with the new stepmom who wins them over in the end. This is a good family film.
v “RV” (2006): It’s a family film that I was in which is about what it’s like to go cross country with your family. I absolutely love this one. Robin Williams cracks me up.
v “Steel Magnolias” (1989): It’s a family film about relationships between the women and even the husbands are involved. Being a Southern woman, I get and know all of those women.
v “Gone With the Wind” (1939): It’s about relationship of a girl and her land. It’s family oriented and about loss.
“GAME OF THRONES” (9 p.m., HBO): The bloody Battle of Blackwater Bay may be over, but the brutal power plays continue in the third season of still-addictive epic fantasy series. As the saga resumes, the dysfunctional Lannisters maintain their hold on King’s Landing, though new challenges for the Iron Throne may rise up from the most unexpected sources. Meanwhile, keep an eye on Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), whose trio of dragons are growing in bulk and firepower.
“Call the midwife” (8 p.m., pbs): “Call the Midwife” returns for Season 2. That, of course, means more nuns on bikes and more cute little babies. Oh, and there’s also a blossoming romance.
“the walking dead” (9 p.m., amc): “The Walking Dead” brings a close to its ultra-intense third season and we have questions: Will the body count go up? Will Andrea (Laurie Holden) survive the torture chamber? Will Michonne (Danai Gurira) ever smile?
“mr. selfridge” (9 p.m., PBS): Forget Ari Gold. Jeremy Piven takes on a very different character in “Mr. Selfridge,” a grand new offering from “Masterpiece Classic.” Piven plays Harry Gordon Selfridge, the upstart American who built the renowned London department store bearing his name.
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YSU jazz concert
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University Jazz Ensemble 1, directed by Dave Morgan, will have a free concert at 8 p.m. April 8 in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center. For information, call 330-941-3636 or visit web.ysu.edu/fpa.