Hollywood\u2019s eating its big-time blockbusters and tent poles because it can\u2019t afford to shove them out when only four humans are going to the movies.<\/b>
\nHollywood\u2019s eating its big-time blockbusters and tent poles because it can\u2019t afford to shove them out when only four humans are going to the movies. However, Meryl Streep \u2014 may her tribe increase \u2014 is starting a newie: \u201cPlaces, Please,\u201d about the made-up life of a Broadway star. It films in NYC this summer. Director Michael Cristofer and Streep have worked together before. And, loving their craft, the subject is a valentine to the profession. Meanwhile, George Clooney and Julia Roberts \u2014 previously together in the \u201cOcean\u2019s Eleven\u201d franchise \u2014 are together again in \u201cTicket to Paradise.\u201d Originally a 1936 film starring Wendy Barrie, now gone, and made by Republic Pictures, now gone, it\u2019s got a subplot of amnesia and a main plot about a divorced couple who work to prevent their daughter from making the mistakes they did. It shoots later this year in Bali, which is where my Indonesian godchild is till COVID isn\u2019t. Something else we can look forward to is going backward. A fabulously exciting reheated menu is creeping our way. On TV\u2019s griddle are adaptations of ancients \u201cFatal Attraction,\u201d \u201cFlashdance,\u201d \u201cThe Italian Job,\u201d \u201cGrease\u201d and \u201cThe Godfather.\u201d Great. Maybe next a replay of Truman\u2019s acceptance speech. And, for a special bonus, a new \u201cBeavis and Butt-Head\u201d movie is in the works. Trumpet sounds out of Mar-a-Lago: Dominate GOP. Do not run in 2022. Lose Rubio. Back Florida\u2019s Gov. Ron DeSantis in a primary for Rubio\u2019s Senate seat. Have rallies nationwide opposing enemies. Dump McConnell for Lindsey Graham. Lose House minority leader Kevin McCarthy for Ohio\u2019s Jim Jordan. For NY gov, warriors want loyalist and a so-what congressman named Lee Zeldin. Grab control of the party, ride each hobby horse, strike up the carousel\u2019s band and 2024 around and around we go. Comes now a city hoo-ha. The Athena Film Festival. Athens is a long bike ride from NYC but, listen, this is all about \u201cWomen and Hollywood.\u201d The 11-year-old all-female thing\u2019s run by Melissa Silverstein in partnership with Barnard. It\u2019s all this month. All female stuff. Like \u201cWomen in STEM,\u201d \u201cResilience Through Uncertainty,\u201d \u201cImagining a New Future,\u201d a doc about a trans icon, a look at 24-hour child care, etc. So, watch. New docuseries coming. About Victoria\u2019s Secret\u2019s rise and fall \u2014 which is certainly what went on with whatever was inside its scanty panties… Half this month\u2019s best sellers are also Netflix shows \u2014 \u201cThe Queen\u2019s Gambit,\u201d \u201cBridgerton,\u201d \u201cFirefly Lane.\u201d \u201cBridgerton\u201d had five novels listed for four weeks. \u201cFirefly Lane\u201d hit No.1 three days after its premiere. \u201cThe Queen\u2019s Gambit,\u201d published 38 years ago, stayed 11 weeks in the Top 10… Need something else to read? This month, Britain\u2019s Tatler magazine is all baronesses, countesses, princesses, marchionesses, viscountesses plus a few leftover ladyships. Washington types with the rubber-soled dress shoes and creases ironed into their suit sleeves say no money for the \u201cArts.\u201d Say that the American people just can\u2019t afford that. BS! Revenue raised by that industry feeds half of rural America.2009 to 2019, arts, entertainment and recreation jobs grew 42 percent. Nowhere\u2019s a deeper array of venues, museums, places and entertainment than New York. COVID closed businesses. Employment collapsed. People in arts, entertainment and recreation had been employed by 6,250 NYC establishments. Total wages were around $7.4 billion. Gone. No place elsewhere\u2019s like it \u2014 not even in downtown \u2018Oumuamua. So, to those DC types with the rubber-soled dress shoes: You know where you can stick your edict! Baseball coming back reprises the immortal words of Yogi Berra, who said one season: \u201cWe can win the pennant. All we have to do is win 10 out of our last five remaining games.\u201d Only in New York, kids, only in New York.<\/p>\n