Entertainment
Review: Cameron Crowe eulogizes rock’s golden age in charming memoir
Book Review
The Uncool
By Cameron Crowe
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster: 336 pages, $35
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Cameron Crowe’s charming new memoir is an elegy for a lost time and place, when rock ‘n’ roll culture was still a secret handshake and the music press wasn’t just another publicity tentacle for giant corporations to shill their product (excepting the fine writers at the Los Angeles Times, of course). In fact, the “music press” as a concept is vestigial at best now, the internet having snuffed it out, but when Crowe was writing his features in the 1970s, primarily for Rolling Stone, only a handful of print publications allowed fans to glean any insight about the musicians they admired or to even see photos of them.
Crowe was one of those fans. He spent his adolescence in Palm Springs, a town with “a thousand swimming pools and the constant hum of air conditioners,” in a basement apartment near the freeway. A loner and a nerd raised by a former Army commanding officer and a strong-willed, whip-smart mother who had firm ideas about how young Cameron should conduct himself. Any humiliations Crowe might have suffered as an uncertain teen were for his mother merely speed bumps on the journey to self-actualization, ideally as a lawyer. She had a wealth of Dale Carnegie-esque aphorisms to pump up her young charge, such as “put on your magic shoes,” or “Mind is in every cell of the body. Thoughts are everything.”
“She hated rock and roll,” Crowe writes. “Rock was inelegant, and worse, obsessed with base issues like sex and drugs.”
(Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster)
As we have seen in the 2000 film “Almost Famous,” Crowe’s autobiographical account of his early years, young Cameron cared little about sex or drugs, music being his only lodestar. When his family relocated to San Diego, Crowe found himself in a conservative town with virtually no outlets for music except the local sports arena, where he witnessed his first big-time rock show accompanied by his mom: a post-comeback Elvis, knee deep in Vegas schmaltz, bounding onstage “in a glittering white jumpsuit …. striking karate poses.” A week later, mom and son witnessed Eric Clapton, full of fire with his band Derek and the Dominos. “I understand your music,” Alice Crowe finally conceded. “It’s better than ours.”
San Diego had little pockets of cultural insurrection that Crowe sought out like a moth to flame. When his sister Cindy nabbed a job with the local underground paper called the Door, Crowe wedged his way in, not because he had any interest in radical politics: his hero Lester Bangs, the iconoclastic rock critic whom he had read in Rolling Stone and Creem, had contributed work there.
As he does so often in this book, Crowe pulls the reader in with his keenly observant eye that would serve him so well in his second career as a filmmaker. The Door’s editor Bill Maguire “had a healthy girth, an open shirt with a silver pendant, and rippling brown hair. The kind of character Richard Harris used to play, most of the time with a goblet in his hand.” Maguire and his staff are hippie idealists, wary of sullying their political mission with trivialities like record reviews. But Crowe talks Maguire into letting him weigh in on a James Taylor record, and Crowe’s career is launched. He is 14.
Cameron Crowe, who started his music journalism career as a teen, pulls the reader in with his keenly observant eye that would serve him so well in his second career as a filmmaker.
(Neal Preston)
Crowe would encounter no such resistance as he worked his way into Rolling Stone, whose owner Jann Wenner gladly accepted record company advertising to keep his counterculture publication afloat. Crowe had found his professional home, filing long, admiring features with some of the era’s most important acts.
Crowe’s Dec. 6, 1973, cover story on the Allman Brothers was meant to atone for an earlier profile on the band written for the magazine by Grover Lewis, a brutally honest and often unsavory portrait. Crowe’s do-over feature, in contrast, is anodyne and respectful; the band is even given room to refute some of the facts Lewis included in his story.
Far more interesting is the stuff Crowe left out of that piece that he has now put into his memoir. To wit: Shortly after their perfectly lovely afternoon together, Gregg Allman, clearly in a drug-induced psychotic state, calls Crowe to his hotel room and demands that Crowe physically hand over the tapes of their interview, or else face legal consequences. “How do I know you aren’t with the FBI?” Allman asked Crowe. “You’ve been talking to everybody. Taking notes with your eyes.” It’s hard to imagine Crowe’s mentor Bangs not leading with that scene.
Crowe was covering rock music at a time when publicists had not become the human guardrails they are today, insulating their clients from anything that doesn’t celebrate them. There were no record company representatives present when Crowe sat in the lobby of an El Torito restaurant in Mission Hills with Kris Kristofferson, whose wife Rita Coolidge was waiting for the singer with her family in the bar (underage Crowe wasn’t allowed inside). Or when Crowe went long with David Bowie, interviewing him on and off for a year and a half while Bowie was making his 1976 album “Station to Station.”
Camped out with his wife Angie in a Beverly Hills mansion on North Doheny Drive, Bowie is affable and candid, despite subsisting on a diet of red peppers, milk and cocaine. “Over the months, I became acclimated to the normality within his insulated lifestyle,” Crowe writes. “Oh, sometimes there might be a hexagon drawn on the curtains in his bedroom or a bottle of urine on the windowsill.” While showing Crowe the indoor swimming pool, Bowie remarks that the only problem with the house “is that Satan lives in that swimming pool.”
Such weird scenes inside this once-mysterious world have been totally effaced, now that every musician can curate his own image on social media. Reading “The Uncool,” which touches on Crowe’s Hollywood career without delving too deep into it, reminds us of what has been lost, the myths and mystique that fueled our rock star fantasies and gave the music an aura of magic.
Weingarten is the author of “Thirsty: William Mulholland, California Water, and the Real Chinatown.”
Movie Reviews
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Movie Reviews Are In – And There’s One Clear Critics’ Consensus
The first critics’ reactions to Now You See Me: Now You Don’t are finally here, and they largely agree that the Lionsgate threequel is another major hit. After being stuck in development, the highly anticipated Now You See Me Sequel will finally arrive in theaters on November 14, 2025, continuing the story of the iconic Four Horsemen, illusionists and street magicians who are experts in orchestrating elaborate heists.
In Now You See Me‘s third installment, the Four Horsemen recruit three skilled illusionists for another heist involving the world’s largest queen diamond before finding it belongs to a powerful crime syndicate. The hype surrounding the movie is poised to rise after the first wave of reactions had high praise for the project.
Critics who saw an early screening of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t in New York shared their first reactions on X. The threequel received largely positive reactions, with nearly all critics saying that it is thoroughly entertaining and fun.
Film critic Andre Saint-Albin described the film as “a sleight-of-hand masterpiece,” noting that Now You See Me 3 has an “entertaining story” and a “phenomenal diamond heist.” He also teased that the film has an “epic” third act while also praising the new casting additions:
“‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ is a sleight-of-hand masterpiece! The Four Horsemen (Eisenberg, Harrelson, Franco, Fisher) return for their next trick with an entertaining story & a phenomenal diamond heist. Smith, Sessa & Greenblatt plant the seeds as Gen-Z firebrands, clashing with old-school magic. New seeds, old tricks, epic third act! Fleischer’s directs a ride so good fun you’d swear it was sorcery!”
Entertainment reporter Jonathan Sim boldly claimed that Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is a “funny, thrilling heist movie” and teased that it was “filled with surprises:”
“#NowYouSeeMe: Now You Don’t gives us the magic we’ve been waiting for. A funny, thrilling heist movie. The Horsemen are back in action with non-stop fun, tricks, and joy. The new characters are an A+ addition. Filled with surprises and just as dazzling and astonishing as ever.”
While Critics Choice’s Tony Mosello admitted that it’s more of the same, he said that fans will love Now You See Me: Now You Don’t due to its fun “twists and surprises, with elevated stakes:”
“NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T proves the original Horsemen still have “it”, injecting the show with youthful energy via the newcomers and a fun, campy, and villainous Rosamund Pike. Full of twists and surprises, with elevated stakes; it’s more of the same, but fans will LOVE it.”
CinemaBlend’s Riley Utley shared that the threequel made her “smile from ear to ear,” and the movie reminded her why the first movie made her fall in love with films in the first place:
“‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ reiterates with exclamation points why the first ‘Now You See’ movie was one of the projects that made me fall in love with movies. There’s nothing better than projects that make me smile from ear to ear, blow my mind and make it clear why movies are magic.”
That Hashtag Show’s Manny Gomez praised how the latest Now You See entry allowed the original cast to “set the stage for the new magicians to shine:”
“#NowYouSeeMe is a fun addition to the franchise that allows the beloved cast to set the stage for the new magicians to shine. Loved the magic… misdirection… and twists and turns that make going to the movies fun.”
The Direct’s David Thompson was proud to declare that the “magic is back” in the Now You See Me franchise after seeing that the third installment was filled with “some satisfying twists and turns:”
“Happy to report the magic is BACK in the #NowYouSeeMe franchise — loved the new cast, a bunch of fun sequences, & some satisfying twists and turns.”
Film critic and The Film Blerds host Brandon Norwood said that fans of the series will definitely “love” Now You See Me: Now You Don’t because it is “thoroughly entertaining:”
“NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T: Thoroughly entertaining! The younger cast mixes in well with the OGs. Fans of the series, you’ll love this. Really miss mid-budget studio popcorn fare like this.”
Popternative’s Christopher Gallardo enjoyed the latest Now You See Me entry and described it as a “new-gen rivals old-gen story” that has a special flair:
“NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T is an exciting thrill-ride with all the tricks and dazzle you’d want. It’s a ‘new-gen rivals old-gen’ story with a special flair that shines with it’s fun cast chemistry. Sessa, Greenblatt, and Smith especially rock all throughout!”
FandomWire’s PossesSEAN gave high praise to the movie’s “impressively staged set pieces,” calling the threequel a “great popcorn movie:”
“#NowYouSeeMe: NOW YOU DON’T was catnip for me — another exhilarating, funny caper with some of the most impressively staged set pieces of the year. A great blend of old and new that effectively ups the stakes and scale. What a great popcorn movie!”
Ethan Simmie of The Movie Draft Podcast admitted that Now You See Me: Now You Don’t went “full Mission: Impossible mode,” with him celebrating the fact that it was “some of the most fun” he’s had at the movies this year:
“NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T is some of the most fun I’ve had at the movies all year! This entry goes full Mission: Impossible mode and is hilarious, entertaining, and perfectly meta. I could watch one of these every single year forever. We really do come to the movies for magic.”
Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is one of the 12 biggest sequels in 2025. The movie has a stacked cast, including Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco. They are joined by newcomers Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt, Dominic Sessa, and Rosamund Pike. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t will premiere in theaters on November 14, 2025.
Now You See Me 3’s Success Could Lead to Franchise’s Promising Future
Based on the first wave of reactions, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t seems poised for success, which is good for the franchise’s future. Moreover, widespread critical praise could boost the movie’s box office returns.
The long wait for Now You See Me: Now You Don’t could be seen as an advantage because it offers a sense of nostalgia to original fans. The nine-year gap also allowed the movie’s writers to strike an ideal balance, crafting intricate heists while establishing seamless chemistry between the returning cast and new additions.
If successful, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t could lead to future installments or potential spin-offs. With prequel entries to many recognizable franchises like Alien: Earth (read more about Season 2 here) and It: Welcome to Derry finding success in streaming, the threequel’s triumph at the box office could push Lionsgate to explore a spin-off focusing on the younger versions of the Horsemen.
Of all the crazy things to happen in 2025 so far, was anybody expecting two filmmakers with reputations for being melodramatic– Darren Aronofsky and Derek Cianfrance — to branch out of their comfort zones and direct light-hearted films set in the late 1990s with a lot of comic relief?
Last month it was Aronofsky with Caught Stealing, and now Cianfrance gives us Roofman. Inspired by real incidents throughout North Carolina, Roofman is now one of my favorite movies of the year.
In late 1998, Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) is a divorced dad with a military background who is unemployed and can barely afford his kids’ birthday presents. Despite his failures, Jeff is very good on his feet and can come up with a plan and execute it very quickly — such as breaking into McDonald’s and stealing from the register to make up for his mistakes to his family.
But when he’s busted for a kidnapping along with a robbery and sent to prison, Jeff successfully breaks out and secretly begins living in the ceiling of a Toys “R” Us outside Charlotte, NC. Things take an unexpected turn when he becomes friendly with one of the store’s employees, single mom Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst), who is active in the choir and toy drive of the town’s Presbyterian church.
LaKeith Stanfield, Peter Dinklage, Emory Cohen, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Ben Mendelsohn and Jimmy O. Yang are some of the recognizable faces in the supporting cast. Roofman was co-written by Cianfrance and Kirt Gunn, and is the director’s return to the big screen following his HBO mini-series “I Know This Much is True” (2020).
Besides being an funny and charming comedy-drama, the new picture also counters Kogonada’s A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey in reminding us that product placement incorporated into a plot can be easily forgiven, or at least less distracting, if the story and final product are good enough. Though lighter in tone than his usual projects, Roofman does still have the cinematic DNA Cianfrance is known for, and it works well with a fairly modest story.
Tatum remains one of the best leading men of his generation and Dunst, a lifelong favorite actress of mine, delivers the best performance in the movie, even making me cry during a scene near the end. If spooky films aren’t your thing during October, Roofman gets a recommendation from me this month.
“Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc,” the Japanese anime from Crunchyroll and Sony, claimed the top spot at the domestic box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $17.25 million, according to Comscore.
The R-rated movie, based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s popular manga series, follows teen demon hunter Denji, who is betrayed by the yakuza and killed as he attempts to pay off the debts he inherited from his parents. His beloved chainsaw-powered dog Pochita makes a deal and sacrifices his life, fusing with Denji who is reborn with the ability to transform parts of his body into chainsaws.
“Chainsaw Man,” already a global hit, delivered a blow to Disney and 20th Century’s biopic “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” starring Jeremy Allen White, which came in a disappointing fourth place with an estimated $9.1 million.
Based on the 2023 Warren Zanes book of the same name, the film plumbs Springsteen’s life and career through the creative process, during the making of his 1982 acoustic album “Nebraska.”
The Times described the movie as a “thoughtful exploration of the creative process” that runs out of steam by the end, “meandering aimlessly into a depressive period of Springsteen’s, and it never quite regains its footing.”
In its second week out, the horror sequel “Black Phone 2” took the No. 2 slot, earning an estimated $13 million over the weekend, giving the Universal and Blumhouse movie a domestic total of $49.1 million.
Rounding out the third spot is Paramount’s romantic drama “Regretting You,” the latest film adaptation of novelist Colleen Hoover (“It Ends With Us”). Starring Allison Williams and Dave Franco, it opened to an estimated $12.5 million domestically.
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