WCBE 90.5 FM: "Winter Solstice," "My Summer of Love," "George Romero's Land of the Dead"

WCBE#223-FINAL
It's Movie Time
Co-hosts: John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Producer/Director: Richelle Antczak, WCBE 90.5 FM

Reviews: “Winter Solstice,” “My Summer of Love,” George Romero’s Land of the Dead”
Taped: 3:30 pm, June 22, 2005
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, June 24, 2005
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org .

The Script:

Clay
“Winter Solstice” is a quiet movie full of the sounds of silence
. . .

John
"My Summer of Love” is more like a winter of whining . . . .

Clay
“George Romero’s Land of the Dead” is a rip-roaring parable about the have’s, the have not’s, and the ARE not’s . . .

MUSIC UP THEN UNDER FOR:

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

MUSIC BRIEFLY UP THEN SLOWLY DOWN AND OUT

John
I'm John DeSando

Clay
And I'm Clay Lowe

John (“Winter Solstice”)
Clay, in Winter Solstice, widower Jim Winters (Anthony La Paglia) says that Gardens "fall apart pretty quickly, and you have to take care of them." His family needs much care as it recovers from the loss of his wife and the two boys' mother.

In the Seinfeld mode, but without the humor, Winter Solstice is about nothing. It's about getting through without letting mom's death freeze you in sorrow. Older son Gabe says about leaving town and his fine girlfriend,"That's my problem, and I'm dealing with it." They're all dealing with life.

The simplicity of the days, coupled with the minimalist dialogue and plot, characterizes this rich, small movie. About the change in seasons and lives, Shakespeare's Richard says in King Henry VI, Part iii, "I, that did never weep, now melt with woe/That winter should cut off spring-time so."


Clay ("Winter Solstice")
Folks, the title, “Winter Solstice,” aptly describes the long night of darkness that has overtaken the male characters in this film. The awkward silences at the dinner table evidence how the presence of the mother is still sorely missed. And the disappearance of the father and sons into their own shadows of darkness only further evidence that none of them knows how to get on with their lives.

Dominated by the powerful performance of La Paglia, who’s the archetypal strong-and-silent male, we feel deeply for both him and his boys because none of them have a clue about what it takes to replace the love once given to them by the woman who is now missing from their lives.

John, “Winter Solstice” IS indeed a touching movie, but I’ve got to ask you: Are we men really that helpless without a woman?

John (“My Summer of Love”)
Many of you are!

Clay
Speak for yourself, not me.

John
But let’s look at the WOMEN without the wimps. The Yorkshire moors gave us the Bronte sisters with all their creativity and their repression; today in the new “My Summer of Love,” the closest two teen girls, plain Mona and hot Tasmin, come to creativity
is making out with each other while repression still hangs about.

Modern fundamentalist Christianity, embraced with devotion by Mona’s brother, is the repressive influence threatening to take Mona’s freedom and her brother’s sanity.

This film has fashionable, low-key lesbianism . . .

Clay
Whatever that is.

John (continues)

. . . young people’s need to find love and a home, a handheld camera with saturated color, and an improbable story that languishes into nothing. Worst of all, the dialogue is anemic.

I learned more about the challenges of teenage girls from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and those girls didn't have the British Bronte
moors to inspire them.



Clay (“George Romero’s Land of the Dead”)
Folks, George Romero doesn’t need the British moors to inspire his demons. Give him an urban landscape, all lit up at
night in light so blue and cool, and you’ll have done all you need to do
in order to evoke the darkest of his demons so nasty and cruel.

His “Land of the Dead,” however, is not just an exercise in sadomasochistic violence, though that it is too. Standing proud and tall in the city’s skyline is Fiddler’s Green, a bastion of
privilege and power. Far below are the city streets full of the starving people. And standing nearby, across the river, are the living
dead who have finally figured out that they’ve been had, and that they aren’t going to take it anymore.

Well cast, well acted, and directed with uncompassionate power, “Land of the Dead” is a splendid display of cinematic anger at not only this world’s inequities but also, perhaps, of the next.

But enough of Winter, Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall, John, because it’s
grading time.

John
Holy Princess Summerfallwinterspring, Hooray!

"Wnter Solstice" earns an "A" for ATTENDING to the little ACTIVITIES
of living.

Clay
“Wnter Solstice” gets a “B” because Dads and boys left ALONE don’t always do fine . . .

John
"My Summer of Love" earns a "C" because CAVORTING CUTIES do not always a CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION make. .

Clay
“George Romero’s Land of the Dead” gets a “B” BECAUSE it’s a classic
horror film that will never give up and just die . . .

John
Clay, Women with women, men without women, I wish we could just
be the NORMAL NAUGHTY the NUNS loved to hate when I was growing up.

Clay
Whaddya mean me, John? There were no nuns in my life and there are no woman making me do naughty things in my life.

John
Too bad.

Clay
No it isn't. (laughs)

I’m outta here.

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 and 106.7 FM in Newark.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

© 2005 John DeSando and Clay Lowe