Day: June 9, 2024

This “brat pack” gave Hollywood a youth makeover

In the early ‘80s, people were still making movies for folks who rarely went to movies.
Then, Andrew McCarthy recalls, logic intervened: “Hollywood discovered that: ‘Wait a minute, kids go to see a movie five, six, seven times. Grown-ups see a movie once.’”
What followed was dubbed the “Brat Pack” era; McCarthy’s documentary – arriving Thursday (June 13) on Hulu – is simply called “Brats.”.
That “brat pack” phrase – a variation on Frank Sinatra’s “rat pack” — may be unfair. It was fueled by a toxic article David Blum wrote for New York magazine in 1985, shortly before “St. Elmo’s Fire” (shown here) came out. Still, some of the people involved gradually absorbed it. Read more…

Best-bets for June 11: True basketball tales bring fun, despair

1) “Air” (2023), 8-10 p.m..Tuesday, ABC. As a director and star, Ben Affleck has a neat touch with real-life stories that take quirky twists. His “Argo” won the best-picture Oscar; now “Air” has drawn praise in theaters and streaming. Affleck (shown here in a re-created Nike ad) plays Nike owner Phil Knight, with Matt Damon as Knight’s key man in landing Michael Jordan. Read more…