Steven Rea's picks: 'Newsies' and 'Why Acting Matters'

Newsies: An Interactive Movie Screening (Free Library, 1901 Vine St., Thursday, 6 p.m.) Disney's 1992 musical about the 1899 Newsboys Strike, when thousands of scrappy street kids banded together to take on print magnate Joseph Pulitzer, gets a free screening at the Free Library. Learn a little Hollywood-ized history about child labor laws and newspaper monopolies, sing along to a bunch of catchy tunes, and watch Christian Bale, as leader of the hard-luck lads, rouse the rabble. "The World Will Know" and other songs by Alan Menken and J.A.C. Redford. Part of the "One Book, One Philadelphia" series. www.freelibrary.org/onebook.

Why Acting Matters David Thomson (Yale University Press, $25) The ridiculously prolific and perceptive film critic, film historian, and film biographer does some serious mulling about the art and craft of acting, the traditions of British theater vs. American movies, how Brando and Olivier achieved greatness, and then failed to, what made James Dean a star, and how Julia Roberts has grown up from the fairy-tale prostitute she played in Pretty Woman to the hard, hurt woman of August: Osage County. The perfect book to read in the wake of all that congatulatory hoo-ha at the Academy Awards.