Today 40 years ago

On the day Lisa Grippa turned 16, The Who came to town. When she headed to Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum on Dec. 3, 1979, with her ticket in hand — a birthday gift from a friend — she had no idea 11 of her fellow concertgoers, some as young as 15, were about to die. And she obviously had no way of knowing, either, that Gerry Craven, a young roofer and part-time rugby player from Reading, Ohio, would save her life that night — all before the Who played a single note. This is a story that Gerry — known to all of us in the sprawling Queen City extended family I married into simply as “Uncle Gerry” — has told many times over the decades. It’s a story that Lisa has told, and retold, ever since that infamous night. And as if to pile on the layers of Cincinnati family lore — that my wife, Elizabeth , has heard “a bunch of times” over the years — my then-future father-in-law, Keith Brown, was also at the show. Indeed, the experience and the aftermath of the evening … [Read more...] about They Survived the Who Concert from ‘Hell.’ Now, They Finally Have Closure

Writer-director James Gray has been to the Cannes Film Festival in competition on four previous occasions with We Own the Night, The Yards, The Immigrant and Two Lovers but has yet to walk away with a prize. Maybe the fifth time will be the charm? It certainly would be deserving as Gray comes back to his beloved New York City roots with the highly autobiographical and intriguingly titled Armageddon Time . Lest you think that with that title this is more akin to his previous film, the Brad Pitt-starring sci-fi Ad Astra, think again. It couldn’t be farther apart and reps a return to his more frequent thoughtful character-driven family drama explorations rather than space, though that figures in at least one way. With Ad Astra and the exceptional and haunting jungle epic The Lost City of Z ( my favorite of all his films and one of the best of any kind this century), Gray had drifted from the films that brought him to Cannes. But he is back in familiar territory, … [Read more...] about Cannes Review: Director James Gray’s ‘Armageddon Time’

On a day full of criticism from Donald Trump , political protests , linked arms, players taking a knee or not coming on the field at all during the national anthem, and renewed pleas for unity from the league, NBC and the NFL took a ratings hit on Sunday Night Football . In metered market numbers, the primetime matchup that saw the Washington Redskins beat the Oakland Raiders 27-10  snared an 11.6/20, the worst SNF has performed this season so far. It’s an 8% dip from the early numbers of last week’s game, Atlanta’s 34-23 win over Green Bay . Amid cheers and boos from fans at FedEx Field in Maryland last night, the third week of the SNF season declined 10% from early numbers of the comparable game of last year on September 25, 2016. Sunday’s SNF peaked with a 12.r5/20 during the second quarter from 9-9:30 PM ET. Still, NFL ratings are down double-digits this season so far after taking a similar tackle-for-loss last year. Add to that, Sunday’s game … [Read more...] about ‘Sunday Night Football’ Ratings Down Again On Day Of Player Protests

The hard right’s takeover of the Supreme Court is real, and is having real consequences. But despite that leaked decision that would overturn Roe, this takeover isn’t just about abortion, and it’s not just about the Supreme Court. In fact, Trump-appointed judges at all levels of the judiciary are remaking nearly every aspect of American law, from voting rights to environmental regulations, police accountability to LGBTQ and women’s equality. There are also a lot of these judges. In four years, the Trump administration put a record 226 life-tenure federal judges on the bench. And while these judges don’t make the headlines like the Supreme Court does, they are already transforming our country, a little bit at a time. Perhaps most important, they will be there many, many years. Because Trump’s minions chose the youngest cohort of judges in recorded history, some of these people are in their thirties and forties. That means they could still be on the bench in 40, even 50 years — … [Read more...] about MAGA Law: How the Trump Judges Twist U.S. Justice

Everett Collection The new Chip and Dale movie finds an unlikely villain in adult Peter Pan -- an inside nod to the real-life tragedy of the actor who voiced him years ago ... which has pissed off fans. BTW, spoilers are ahead ... so beware. Anyway, here's what's going on -- everyone's buzzing about the 'Rescue Rangers' flick on Disney+, which has been viewed by many as a spiritual sequel to 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' ... namely, in the fact that toons and humans unite. So #ChipNDaleRescueRangers came out today. Let's talk about the disgusting portrayal of Peter Pan as the villain pic.twitter.com/bZfXqHDimE — QG (@2nd_quick) May 20, 2022 @2nd_quick There's tons of cameos -- most of which are very self-aware and "meta" -- but one, in particular, has gotten backlash ... the boy who never grows up turns out to be the big bad. Pan describes why he turned evil to the main characters at one point, describing how the studio kicked him to the curb as he … [Read more...] about Peter Pan’s Arc in ‘Rescue Rangers’ Compared to Bobby Driscoll Tragedy

Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of Rolling Stone editors or publishers. A few months ago, I became 65 — I, who still thinks and acts like a person in their 20s, am now a senior citizen. All of a sudden, I became eligible for some of the benefits hitting that landmark birthday: medicare, discounts for things like mass transit, rent, the gym, medical cannabis, movie tickets and many others that I never thought of. As I continue to adapt to my new status, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what 65-plus will look like and how it will affect me and my work ethic. I also realized that I’m not alone out there; many of my peers and friends are not our parents at 65 when they were old. We still have a lot to contribute and believe it or not, there are some industries, like cannabis, that welcome our experience and understand the value we bring to the table and being the “adult” in the room. With that in mind, I wanted to give some … [Read more...] about Following Your Passion at 65

SUNDAY AM UPDATE: If there’s still a five-picture plan in place for Fantastic Beasts, clearly after this weekend’s $43M opening for The Secrets of Dumbledore, it’s time to pivot the Harry Potter franchise. That’s the lowest opening ever stateside for a J.K. Rowling Wizarding World movie, and it’s probably not prudent for the studio to go for another low opening record on the next project from the franchise. It was evident Potter fans didn’t like the last movie, Crimes of Grindelwald , even if there was a cliffhanger, and they didn’t want to come back for Dumbledore. With the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger made official on Wall Street earlier this week, this is unfortunately not the best optics for the studio. However, as CEO David Zaslav gets to know Hollywood, he should realize that sometimes greenlight decisions pre-date the studio’s current regime. Who would greenlight a $200M net production on a franchise that wasn’t working? The Fantastic Beasts movies were put into … [Read more...] about ‘Dumbledore’ Opens To $43M U.S., Lowest In ‘Harry Potter’ Franchise; What Now For The J.K. Rowling IP? – Sunday AM Update

From the time he stepped in as chairman of Sony ’s Motion Picture Group in 2015, Tom Rothman has heard the rumors that Sony would eventually sell because it didn’t have a streaming service or the scale to compete with its behemoth rivals. Universal, Warner Bros., Disney and Paramount battle it out with him at the box office, but Rothman’s studio is the only one that hasn’t spent a fortune building a streaming arm that factors into the decisions he makes. Still, Rothman is bullish on his studio’s chances, even before Netflix reports a 200,000-subscriber loss, prompting its stock to drop 35 percent and costing it $50 billion of its market cap. DEADLINE: You’re a Disruptor by being the only major studio head without the cushion of streaming service subscriptions, and you’re making it work. You’re a throwback to a model you used for decades at Fox, a studio that no longer exists. TOM ROTHMAN : So, I’m the Last of the Mohicans? DEADLINE: Why have other … [Read more...] about Sony Chairman Tom Rothman Paddles Upstream To Keep Focus On Traditional Cinema — Deadline Disruptors