WCBE 90.5 FM: "It's Movie Time" - "Spider-Man 2,"America's Heart and Soul," "Fahrenheit 911"

“It’s Movie Time” with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
“Spider-Man 2,” “America’s Heart and Soul," "Fahrenheit 911”
Taped: 3:30 pm, June 30, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, July 2, 2004
Streams live on the web at www.wcbe.org.

John
“Spider-Man 2” is the best American movie so far this year. . .

Clay
“America’s Heart & Soul" is Disney’s answer to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 911” . . .

John
“Fahrenheit 911” is hip and hilarious . . .

HIT MUSIC THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle:
It's Movie Time in Mid-Ohio with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP AND OUT

DeSando
I'm John DeSando

Clay (“Spider-Man 2”)
And I'm Clay Lowe.

HIT CD: “SPIDER-MAN 2” AT 00:05 IN (CUT 1-”VINDICATED”-DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL), ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER CLAY ’S REVIEW

John, critics and audiences alike are being blown away by the return of Tobey Maguire’s angst-ridden hero in “Spider-Man 2.” Not the aggressive-warrior type as played by Brad Pitt in the battle of “Troy.” Nope. Maguire’s "Spider-Man 2" is first cousin to that melancholy knight of the woeful countenance, Don Quixote.

Never mind that the action stops every time Peter Parker and Mary Jane gaze into each other’s limpid eyes. Never mind that the plot screeches to a halt whenever Spider-Man loses himself in heavy-duty self-reflection. Because America needs a thinking-feeling hero who can serve as an alternative role model to those stonewalling tough-guys in Washington.

John
Be careful.

Clay
I know. But, I also know John Kerry’s therapist should NOT take him see “Spider-man 2,” because thinking heroes tend to get lost in thought and forget that they used to be men of action.

MUSIC UP, THEN CROSS FADE TO (CUT 14: SPIDEY SUITE), UP, THEN UNDER FOR

John ("Spider-Man 2")
You'll need a therapist to help find out why you must have slept through the best comic-book adaptation ever made.

Clay
Sorry to disappoint you, I'm sticking with the original.

John
This is the kind of movie American filmmakers excel at with nail-biting action, weepy relationships, and gloriously improbable endings, all complemented by unparalleled special effects and actors such as Tobey Maguire destined to play their roles.

The interesting twist in this second installment is that Spidey loses his powers in conjunction with several other losses in his life, job and love included. That maxim, “With great power comes great responsibility,” still eludes him because he disavows heroic responsibility and hurls himself into an existential funk questioning his purpose in life.

Clay
Oh, funk, funk.

John
Spidey nemesis Doc Ock warns, “I'll peel the skin off your face!” Talk about makeover. His octopus-like tentacles achieve almost character-status themselves; his climbing Manhattan buildings with various female victims in their grasp evoke the great King Kong. Like Kong, Ock has a soft side that makes him less monster and more human.

This is a movie to draw you firmly and forever into its warm web, even more than the original did.

MUSIC UP, THEN DOWN AND OUT

Clay (“America’s Heart & Soul” & ”Fahrenheit 911”)
John, if it’s a warm-web you’re looking for then Walt Disney’s “America’s Heart & Soul” is the movie for you. Full of stock images of breath-taking landscapes (minus our freeways and malls), the movie features a steady stream of interviews with America’s commonfolk who have learned, as did Janis Joplin, that freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.

John
It caught me in its heartwarmth about American freedom but mostly about eccentric Americans, of whom you are a distinguished member.

Clay
John, if American eccentricity and sheer determination have become your inspiration then you’re going to love Michael Moore’s “Fahrenehit 911” which is a nasty, give-em-back-tit-for-tat attack on George W. Bush and those rowdy boys over at the Pentagon.

Ironic juxtapositions rule the day. When America goes under attack, Moore cuts his camera to a shot of President Bush stunned into dumbness. When Donald Rumsfeld tells us our weapons are humane and precise, Moore cuts to gruesome shots of the mangled bodies of those who have just been destroyed by them.

The real theme of the movie, however, is that it’s the rich and the powerful who have taken us to war, but it’s the sons and daughters of the working class, who are more likely than not, the one’s coming home in flag-covered coffins.

John ("Fahrenheit 911")
What did I then learn from Moore's new diatribe that's not directly about the poor? That big oil is supported by oil-related Bushes, even if its roots are dug deep in the ancient Saudi soil and reach to the bin-Laden family.

Though for entertainment, who can deny that Bush continuing to read “My Pet Goat” in a classroom on 9/11 even after he hears the second plane has hit a tower is either hilarious or horrifying, depending on your political or humanistic orientation? Who can’t enjoy watching congressmen scurry away from Moore’s camera, much as Charlton Heston ambled away in “Columbine”?

“Fahrenheit 9/11” is muckraking journalism that keeps a citizenry informed while not offering the defining arguments. But “Fahrenheit’s” Flint, Michigan, mother whose son died in Iraq is a sobering support for those who deserve to criticize a conflicted administration.

Mark Twain could have been describing Moore’s incendiary polemics when he said, “I like criticism, but it must be my way.”

Clay
Well, John, let's do it OUR way because it’s grading time.

John
Hooray!

HIT DRUMS

Clay
“Spider-Man 2” gets a “B” from me because Peter Parker’s woeful soul gets lost in transition . . .

John
"Spider-Man 2" earns an "A" for an AWESOME AMERICAN creation. . .

Clay
“America’s Heart & Soul” gets a “B” because it reminds me how much I miss the wry wisdom of “On the Road” with Charles Karult” . . .

John
“America’s Heart & Soul” earns a “B” for its BIG support of American freedom . . .

Clay
“Fahrenheit 911” gets an “A” because war is ugly and Michael Moore refuses to mislead us . . .

John
"Fahrenheit 911" is an "A" for ATTACKING our APATHY . . .

Clay, I'm out to climb some buildings 'cause I haven't been with my Russian interpreter in over a week!! I'm outta here.

Clay
Well, John, while your climbing the walls, I’ll be helping Spider-man work out HIS demons.

I'm outta here too.

See you a the movies, folks.

HIT CD: “Spider-man 2” (CUT 3: “DID YOU” - HOOBASTANK), ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER FOR

Richelle:
The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus 106.7 FM in Newark, WYSO, etc. Reviews on the web, etc., etc.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright 2004 by John DeSando and Clay Lowe

WCBE 90.5 FM: "It's Movie Time" - "Baadasssss," "Fahrenheit 911"-Tease, "Reality TV & The Documentary," "Monty Python's Life of Brian"

“It’s Movie Time” with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
“Baadassss,” "Fahrenheit 911"-Tease,
“Reality TV & The Year of the Documentary,"
“Monty Python’s Life of Brian,”
Taped: Noon, June 23, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, June 25, 2004
Streaming live on the web at www.wcbe.org.

Clay
Mario Van Peeble’s “Baadasssss” is a love/hate tribute to his filmmaking dad . . .

John
“Fahrenheit 9/11" may crank up the heat on the White House . . .

Clay
Documentary films find new life in 2004 . . .

John
“Monty Python’s Life of Brian” is a passionate parody sure to reheat Christians. . .. . .

HIT MUSIC THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle:
It's Move Time in Mid-Ohio with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP AND OUT

DeSando
I'm John DeSando

Clay (“Baadasssss”)
And I'm Clay Lowe.
John, Melvin Van Peebles found the mother lode of black gold when his “Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song” hit the screens in 1971.

Rude, crude, and full of angry dudes, porno chicks, and mean old red necked cops, Van Peebles rocked the film world when he parlayed his half million dollar investment into a $10 million dollar bonanza. He even got Bill Cosby into the game.

Now, some thirty year’s later Van Peeble’s son, Mario, has brought to the screen “Baadassss,” which tells the story of how his daddy became the father of blaxploitation film.

If you want to know what fueled the anger of black urban America in the early 1970s. And if you want to know what it was like to live in those psychedelic days when Viet Nam was the daily war of horror, then fasten your seat belts and hunker yourselves down because Mario Van Peebles, like his daddy, holds nothing back when the time has come for him to pour out his soul.

John ("Fahrenheit 911")
Clay, Michael Moore's soul has always poured into films such as "Roger and Me" and "Bowling for Columbine," so I'm anxious to see his "Fahrenheit 9/11" put the heat on the neocons for their close ties to Al-Qaeda and oil.

As a reader of “The New York Times,” you know liberal columnist Maureen Dowd bashes the Bushies most of the time. Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” is probably from the Dowd school of satire--Bush-centered and witty, not always objective but larded with facts we haven’t heard or seen spun in just her way.

Moore is always fun to watch, giving the liberals some comfort that not all is lost and the conservatives ammunition for their criticism of fuzzy-headed bleeding, spending hearts.

We'll see if The Cannes Palm D’OR was awarded to Moore for “Fahrenheit” because of his sense of humor or his objectivity.

Michael Moore does muckraking journalism that keeps a citizenry informed but rarely offers the defining argument in the endless debate among fundamentalist political organizations.

Clay (“Reality TV & The Re-birth of the Theatrical Doc”)
So, John, what a year this has been for lovers of documentaries and reality TV. From “American Idol” to “The Osbournes” to “The Swan” the networks have been exploiting their audiences’s need to see real people, doing real things on TV. And from “Control Room” to “Fahrenheit 911” film makers have been trying to help their audiences see more clearly through the fogs of war.

From “Nanook of the North” to “Night and Fog” to “Hearts and Minds” and “The Selling of the Pentagon” documentary filmmakers have traditionally been a cantankerous and outspoken lot. May the controversies they inspire, obsess and possess us forever.

John ("Monty Python’s Life of Brian")
Clay, The recent obsession with “The Passion of the Christ,” resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in box office receipts, means some satirical entertainment should be forthcoming from professional parodists. Or, someone could reissue the ‘70’s classic “Monty Python’s Life of Brian.”

When the three wise men enter the wrong hovel and mistake the baby Brian for the baby Jesus, Brian’s mother doesn’t know what myrrh is; the irony that most of us don’t either is essential Monty Python.

When a fey Pilate berates his centurions for smirking at the mention of his friend, “Bigus Dickus,” the Pythons sustain the humor for minutes beyond what any comedy troupe could ever dare to do.

When scores of hapless victims hanging on crosses sing about how great life is, everyone who suffers under trickle-down theories or preemptive warfare should be amused at the common man’s naiveté.

Here is the antidote to Mel’s madness.

Clay
John, enough of YOUR maniacal madness,it’s grading time.

John
Hooray!

HIT DRUMS

Clay
“Baadasssss” gets a “B” because “it’s a movie about blacks, for blacks, and by blacks” that white folk should see . . .

John
"Baadassss" is an "A" because AIN'T no white man gonna dare give it less . . .

Clay
Guess you didn’t hear me . . .

John
"Monty Python's Life of Brian" earns an "A" because ARDENT ANYTHING is vulnerable to satire . . .

Clay
You know folks, we were out of town during the press screenings of “Fahrenheit 911,” but be sure to tune in next week when WE get to join in on the fun.

I’m outta here.

John
I'm outta here too.

Clay

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT MUSIC

Richelle:

The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus 106.7 FM in Newark, WYSO, etc. Reviews on the web, etc., etc.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Iraq: "The Struggle For Sovereignty" - The Guardian (London)

The struggle for sovereignty

Democracy in Europe grew out of popular action against unrepresentative rule; the resistance in Iraq is part of the same story

Karma Nabulsi
Wednesday June 23, 2004
The Guardian

"The United States and Britain claim to be handing sovereignty to Iraq next week. In fact, the occupying power cannot legally transfer sovereignty on June 30 for one simple reason: it does not possess it. Sovereignty is vested in the Iraqi people, and always has been: before Saddam Hussein, after him, under the martial law of the American proconsul Paul Bremer today.

This fact is reflected in the language of the most recent UN resolution - 1546, on June 8 - as well as previous ones, all of which "reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq". The constant need of George Bush and Tony Blair to claim sovereignty reflects more than a misunderstanding of the laws of war and basic international law. It demonstrates an alarming ignorance of the democratic structures of the very countries they were elected to represent. This ignorance also provides us with some clues as to why they have no understanding either of what they are doing in Iraq, or what is happening on the ground there."

See more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1245135,00.html

Michael Moore Gears For War: "Fahrenheit 911"

"Fact-checking Moore's political broadside"
Philip Shenon/NYT The New York Times
(As featured in The International Herald Tribune")

Viewer finds Moore 'on firm ground'

LOS ANGELES
"Michael Moore is not coy about his hopes for "Fahrenheit 9/11," his blistering documentary attack on President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. He wants it to be remembered as the first big-audience, election-year film that helped unseat a president"

http://www.iht.com/articles/525560.html

Note: WCBE's "It's Movie Time" will review the film at 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm on Friday, July 2, 2004

WCBE 90.5 FM: "It's Movie Time" - "Around the World in 80 Days (2004)," "Around the World in 80 Days (1956)," "Control Room"

"It's Movie Time" with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
"Around the World in 80 Days (2004)." "Around the World in 80 Days (1956), "Control Room,"
Taped: 11:30 am, June 16, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, June 18, 2004
Streaming live on the web at www.wcbe.org.


Clay
"Around the World in 80 Days" is all go and no show . . .

John
"Control Room" is out-of-control good . . .

HIT MUSIC THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle:
It's Movie Time in Mid-Ohio with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP AND OUT

DeSando
I'm John DeSando

Clay
And I'm Clay Lowe.

John ("Around the World in 80 Days")
Clay, When does 2 hours feel like 80 days?

When you watch the remake of "Around the World in 80 Days."

If I were a filmmaker, the only thing I would remake would be my wardrobe because the odds are not in my favor to improve any original film hit. Ask Gus Van Sant about remaking Hitchcock's "Psycho" or, more recently, Frank Oz about "The Stepford Wives." Neither director would welcome your inquiry.

Jackie Chan is better known than anyone else in the film, probably Disney head Michael Eisner's raison d'etre for funding this disappointment, as he did the recent failure, "Alamo". The remake does not even have a memorable melody, as the original famously did (Imagine a remake of "Dr. Zhivago" without "Lara's Theme").

Lord Byron's Childe Harold said, "This made the ceaseless toil of travel sweet." He was not referring to THIS film.

I couldn't wait to get home.

Clay ("Around the World in 80 Days")
John, traveling "Around the World in 80 Days" with Disney and Company was a strictly third rate experience. At least Mike Todd's original (now on DVD) had a distinguished cast who played their parts with MORE than a touch of class.

David Niven as Phileas Fogg is droll, witty, and impeccably urbane. [His mischievous valet, played by the much beloved Cantiflas, teams up with him as they bumble their way across three continents.] But the woman who transforms the uptight Fogg into a fully-feeling human being, is an Indian Princess, who remarkably resembles Shirley MacLaine.

From the all-male private clubs in London, [full of muttonchops and puffs of smoke], to the efficiently run British consulates across the the globe, Mike Todd's "Around the World in 80 Days" is a satirical tribute to the Brits who taught us about empire and the importance about taking time-out for tea.

John ("Control Room")
Clay, When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declares in the early stages of the Iraq War, ''Truth ultimately finds its way to people's eyes and ears and hearts,'' I knew I would like the film "Control Room." .

It is a documentary ABOUT THE ARAB SATELLITE STATION AL-JAZEERA cut to the best advantage of the Arab network and to the obvious discomfort of the 'occupying' coalition forces, especially the US.

Centcom Press Officer Lt. Josh Rushing provides truth , for instance, when he confesses, "Our rule back here is to not spin, but sometimes we catch ourselves doing a little spin on a story. You can't help it." When he sees film of suffering and dead American soldiers, he admits, "It makes me hate war."

Donald Rumsfeld claims about Al-Jazeera, "We are dealing with people who are willing to lie to the world to make their case." Takes one to know one, I always say.

"Control Room's" liberal view of the neocons' great war seems to me, well, believable.

Clay ("Control Room")
John, liberal, conservative? "Control Room" is about making and shaping the news, and it's the same the whole world over, it's the media who gets the blame. [Everyone wants the story spun, but they want it spun their way.] Facts, fictions, motivations, no two people see the same things in the same light, so what can you expect when you set down in front of a TV?

The audience for Fox TV wants it spun the American way. Al-Jazeera's audience would like the world to see it as the Arabs see it. No mysteries here, it's all a part of the game.

[That the Bush administration has effectively demonized Al-Jazeera is all the more reason for Americans to see for themselves what goes on inside the control room at Al-Jazeera TV.]

That Al-Jazeera was banned from covering the recent G8 Summit at Sea Island, and that the U.S. Marine liaison officer featured in the film has been forbidden to comment on it, is continued reason for alarm.

But enough of this gloom and doom, it's grading time.

John
Hooray!

HIT DRUMS

John
"Around the World in 80 Days" earns a 'D" for a journey not worth a DAMN . . .

Clay
"Around the World in 80 Days" gets a "D" because it's so DULL even Jackie Chan can't save it . . .

Mike Todd's wide-screen original gets a "B" because in the fifties BIGGER was BETTER . . .

John
"Control Room" is an "A" 'cause its sure not ALRIGHT with the Bushies . . .

Clay
"Control Room" gets a "A" because Al Jazeera is not AS naughty as Donald Rumsfeld would like it to be . . .

John
Clay, Dick Cheney just called science man Mushalko to ask if it's possible for 3 men to fly a hot air baloon around the world? I wonder what the veep is planning? I'm outta here!

Clay
John, it's only a rumor, but I've heard that one of the 3 is the current chair of Halliburton. Bon voyage.

I'm outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT CD: "AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS"

Richelle:
The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay
Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus 106.7 FM in Newark, WYSO, etc. Reviews on the web, etc., etc.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright 2004 by John DeSando and Clay Lowe

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ALERT: SUDAN

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Sudan: Act now to end the human rights crisis in Darfur

Sudanese boys in a refugee camp in Chad. Copyright by Phillip Cox

The latest evidence from Darfur, western Sudan, reveals a population in crisis. An estimated one million people have been forced to flee their homes. More than 10,000 have been killed. Human rights violations are being carried out on a massive scale by the Janjawid, a government-backed militia, which often operates alongside government troops.

The testimonies collected by Amnesty International all bear witness to what appears to be a systematic campaign of abuse. Men have been killed inside mosques, women raped in front of their husbands and old women killed when their homes have been set alight � all acts designed to humiliate and destroy the fabric of community life, over and beyond the individual atrocity.

"I was at home when the military came along with the Janjawid on horse back and on camels. They surrounded the village, set fire to a number of houses and shot at people, my brother was killed in front of me."

A refugee interviewed by AI delegates, May 2004.
Civilians in Darfur and those who have fled into the neighbouring country of Chad live in fear of further attacks and face a daily struggle to survive due to insufficient humanitarian assistance.

Although governments around the world, together with organizations such as the African Union, the European Union and the Arab League have lined up to condemn human rights violations in Darfur, their fine words have failed to translate into decisive action.

The international community should have the courage of its convictions and apply the strongest pressure on the government of Sudan to rein in the Janjawid and end human rights violations in Darfur.

Take action!

You can write directly to Lieutenant-General Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, President of Sudan:

Your Excellency,

I am writing to urge you to take strong action to put an end to human rights violations being committed by the Janjawid in Darfur.

I have read testimony of civilians being killed, raped and abducted, their homes burnt and possessions looted, and hundreds of thousands having to flee their homes.

Your government has the responsibility to protect all of its citizens from human rights violations. I would urge you to ensure that Janjawid militia members are disarmed and that those individuals responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice. As an immediate step, I urge you to stand by your promise to facilitate rapid access to Darfur for humanitarian agencies trying to judge and respond to the needs of the displaced. Human rights monitors should also be allowed into Darfur as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely


Please send appeals to:
Lieutenant-General Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir
President's Palace
PO Box 281
Khartoum
Sudan

Fax: + 24911 771651/783223/779977
Communications to Sudan can be erratic, if you fail to get through, please try again.

Please let us know if you will be taking this action by sending an e-mail to cc.appeals@amnesty.org.

1 June 2004 - AFR 54/056/2004 - WA 22/04

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

WCBE 90.5 FM: "It's Movie Time" - "The Chronicles of Riddick," "The Stepford Wives," "I'm Not Scared," "Saved!"

“It’s Movie Time” with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
"The Chronicles of Riddick," "The Stepford Wives,"
"I’m Not Scared," “Saved!”
Taped: 4 pm, June 9, 2004
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, June 11, 2004
Streaming live on the web Fridays at 3:01 and 8:01 pm.

John
"The Chronicles of Riddick" is a spoof not meaning to be one. . .

Clay
"The Stepford Wives" has a great cast all dressed up with nowhere to go . . .

John
"I'm Not Scared" is a lie: all 10 year old boys are scared . . .

Clay
"Saved!" is more than just a high school flick that wants us to get right with Jesus . . .

HIT MUSIC THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle:
It's Movie Time in Mid-Ohio with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP ND OUT

DeSando
I'm John DeSando

Clay
And I'm Clay Lowe.

John ("The Chronicles of Riddick")
Clay, remember how the intentional 50’s sci-fi spoof “Lost Skeleton of Cadavra” was awful because it wasn’t funny?

Clay
I’ve already tried to forget.

John
Well, “Chronicles of Riddick,” the sequel to “Pitch Black,” is funny because it isn’t intentionally a spoof; it’s a ludicrous account of convict Riddick, played with Vin Diesel’s patented grunts and garbled elocution, in a galactic war 500 years from now that only he can win for the good guys, who are NOT the Necromongers, an alien race not half as interesting as its graveyard name.

Judi Dench as an “Elemental” helping Riddick is like putting high octane gas in your lawnmower—What the heck is she doing here? And what the h was I doing there other than laughing at laughable lines and hoping for hopeful words for our sci-fi audience. Only if you want to laugh and cry at the same time should you waste your time at this first true “disaster” film of the summer.

Clay ("The Stepford Wives")
John, the remake of “The Stepford Wives” is a cut-and-paste script written by a hunt-and-peck scriptwriter. Not as bad as I had expected but not as good as I had hoped. That’s little enough consolation for the movie’s talented cast who had to work way too hard for the laughs it got at last night’s preview screening.

John, we could have made a better movie. With a handy dandy home editing set-up we could have started out the movie with some of the mad-as-hell scenes from “Network,” added in some scenes of the uptight ladies who starred in “The Witches of Eastwick, and finally capped it all off with the awful closing scenes from Meryl Streep’s disastrous “Death Becomes Her.”

Credit Nicole Kidman for adding class to the movie’s male-trashing moments, and Better Midler for providing the movies’ only comic relief, But, most of all, extend condolences to Glen Close, who has become the undisputed queen of Hollywood bitchdom.

HIT CD: PACHELBEL’S “CANON,” THEN UNDER FOR

John ("I'm Not Scared")
Harry Potter’s adolescent confusion about the appearance of adult rectitude and the reality of a corrupt world run by those models is nothing compared to young Michele’s harrowing discovery and decisions in “I’m Not Scared” when he finds another 10-year-old boy chained to the bottom of a pit in a remote abandoned farm.

This thoughtful Italian import has a “Days of Heaven” eye for the lush waving grain of 1978 Southern Italy and a Poe-like treatment of terrible incarceration.

Italy was plagued by kidnappings in the 1970’s, and boys must grow to be men by making difficult decisions. “I’m Not Scared” adds little insight except cameras floating through grass and boys confronting adults, as they do under any circumstances. But it sure beats the magic out of “Potter” for trying to understand the lives of little boys (not necessarily “altar boys.”)

MUSIC UP, THEN DOWN AND OUT

Clay ("Saved!")
John, the magic in Brian Dannelly’s “Saved!” is more prosaic than tragic.

Captivating in her role as the un-virgin “Mary,” Jena Malone hopes everyone at American Eagle High School will believe that her slow swelling belly is a result of an Immaculate Conception. In strong support of her is her equally erring mom (Mary Louise Parker), a marvelous actress who’s as brilliant on screen as she is on the stage.

Full of the usual high-school-is-tough cliches: mean girls, school misfits, obssessive teachers, and parents who don’t get it, “Saved!” does add a delightful twist by featuring Macaulay Culkin as a wheelchair-bound student who delivers some of the movie’s best one-liners.

Not since “Carrie” has Hollywood so ruined a high school prom night, nevertheless the movie is fast, fun, and frothy. If hypocrisy is high on your list of things you hate you’re going to love this movie.

But put away your “Bush For Jesus” stickers, John, it’s grading time.

John
Hooray!

HIT DRUMS

John
"The Chronicles of Riddick" earns a "D" because Vin DIESEL still acts like a truck. . .

Clay
"The Stepford Wives" gets a “C” because boorish guys from Connecticut just want their wives to have fun . . .

John
"I'm Not Scared" is a "B" for telling the truth about BOYS' fears and heroism. . .

Clay
“I’m Not Scared" gets a “C” because its too perfect camerawork overshadows the performances of the movie’s young actors . . .

And “Saved!" gets an “A” because the mean girls learn a lesson in forgiveness . . .

John
Clay, our four wives (blah)

As husbands we were just too nice. I'm outta here.

Clay
Wrong again, John. God may have shut the door on our past, but he has opened the window of our future.

I'm outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT MUSIC CD: “THE LADYKILLERS” (CUT 12: “YOU CAN’T HURRY GOD”), ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle:
The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus 106.7 FM in Newark, WYSO, etc. Reviews on the web, etc., etc.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright by John DeSando and Clay Lowe, 2004

WCBE 90.5 FM: "It's Movie Time" - "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Bon Voyage"

WCBE
"It's Movie Time" with John DeSando & Clay Lowe
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Bon Voyage"
Aired: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, June 4, 2004
"It's Movie Time" streams live on the web at www.wcbe.org, Fridays at 3:01 pm and repeats at 8:01 pm.

Clay
The new Harry Potter is the Creme de la Creme of his first three cinematic adventures . . .

John
"Bon Voyage" is a good summer voyage to the flicks . . .

HIT MUSIC THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle:
"It's Movie Time" in Mid-Ohio with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP AND OUT

DeSando
I'm John DeSando

Clay
And I'm Clay Lowe.

John ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban")
Clay, like most human beings, 13-year-old Harry Potter is getting plain interesting as he gets older. The newest installment, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," is a testimony to testosterone and tribulation as the wizards meet the threat of mass murderer Sirus Black.

What makes Harry and buds more interesting than ever is that they care more deeply about each other and take more time to figure out their strategies, the way intelligent adults do. The use of time travel to set things right is not just a plot device but more a way of showing the importance of each decision along the way of life, a kind of existential anguish for teens.

The third year at Hogwarts more boldly than ever forces the young teens to confront the challenges of appearance and reality. Harry's life just became more complicated as he moves into the magic of real life in a magical movie.

Clay ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban")
John, Alfonso Cuaron's filmic translation of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is a text book lesson on how to make the written word come alive on the screen. True to the essence of the spirit of the novel Cuaron distills that essence and avoids the trap of trying to too slavishly reproduce the novel in all of its literary detail.

The movie's impressive visual settings also remain faithful to what it is that makes fantasy, fantasy. A surreal landscape of twisted trees, towering castles, and dark groves that sequester fearsome werewolves all combine to help us escape into a world far different from our own. (Unlike "Shrek 2," which took some of the edge off its charm by turning its fantasy village into modern day Rodeo drive.)

The young trio of actors, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and especially, Emma Watson, have grown into their parts, and in this film, fully win their ways into our hearts.

Solid once-upon-a-time storytelling, believable characters, and clever plot twists, that excite rather than confuse, make the latest "Harry Potter" a superior summer entertainment capable of charming the young as well as the old.

John ("Bon Voyage")
Vive la Farce Français!

Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau's "Bon Voyage" includes the usual farcical elements popular for thousands of years, but only the French have made it a sophisticated art form. It lives on in this melodrama set in the early 1940's as Germany is poised to occupy France to its recurring shame.

Viviane (Isabelle Adjani) is a French film actress pursued by a herd of adoring men, most prominent being the Interior Minister (Gerard Depardieu). Rappeneau keeps the action moving without slipping into slapstick, that bane of farce.

None of this is heavy stuff. Love is the prime mover rather than guns, which when used seem foreign, almost repugnant to the romantic French. Adjani's actress is too ditzy and deadly to be loved by a contemporary audience.

However, it is good to experience again the wartime melodramatic moralizing that underwrote "Casablanca" with its insidious German presence, French bipolarity, and traditional love triangle.

Clay ("Bon Voyage")
Love triangle John? Rather more a war-like pentagon, for at least four of the men in "Bon Voyage" are drawn like moths to the flames of Isabelle Adjani's movie-star charms. Actually, that Adjani's character has such an effect on men, has little to do with her charms. Able to seduce any man who merely looks in her eyes, Adjani is a movie star queen whose power comes from instinctively knowing that men WANT to be used and abused and she's more than willing to oblige.

That France is about to suffer defeat at the hands of the Germans doesn't keep the powerful French cabinet minister (Gerard Depardieu), nor the intensely love-struck young, Frederic, nor even Peter Coyote, who plays a delightfully wicked German spy, from being distracted and giving themselves over to her manipulations and enticements.

"Bon Voyage" is a lushly visual tribute to Hollywood's World War II romancers, as well as a latter day salute to Georges Feydeau, the dissolute master of French farce.

But, John, put away your Vichy Water and uncork the champagne, it's grading time.

John
Hooray!

HIT DRUMS

John
"Harry Potter earns an "A" because he's not your AVERAGE teen . . .

Clay
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" gets an "A" because great directing ALWAYS makes a difference . . .

John
"Bon Voyage" gets a "B" for a 40 something BABE BLISSFULLY playing a 20 something BOY BASHER. . .

Clay
"Bon Voyage" gets a "B" because its BRILLIANCE is BARELY able to transcend its far too frantic pacing . . .

John
Clay, I've always admired your MAGIC with young actresses. Maybe it's that BIG . . . radio voice. I'm outta here!

Clay
All the world's a stage, John, but whether or not you choose to make it Big with an actress is entirely up to you.

I'm outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT MUSIC

Richelle:
The Award Winning "It's Movie Time" with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is produced by Richelle Antczak in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus 106.7 FM in Newark, WYSO, etc. Reviews on the web, etc., etc.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

Copyright: John DeSando & Clay Lowe, 2004