WCBE 90.FM "Cinderella Man," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"

WCBE#220-FINAL
It's Movie Time
Co-hosts: John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Producer/Director: Richelle Antczak, WCBE 90.5 FM

Reviews: “Cinderella Man,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”
Taped: 4 pm, June 1, 2005
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, June 3, 2005
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org .

The Script:

John
"Cinderella Man” pulls no punches for a winning biography . . .

Clay
“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” is a wonderful movie awkwardly titled . . .

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 (“Cinderella Man”)
Hamlet said, “Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting ,

That would not let me sleep . . . .”

Clay
Now there was a man of conscience.

John
Equally sleepless is James J. Braddock, who lived in the Depression Era and fought for his family’s life while defeating Max Baer for the heavyweight championship of the world in 1935. Ron Howard directs Russell Crowe in Cinderella Man with an affection for difficult times, the fighter, and the actor.

Comparisons to Seabiscuit, both racehorse and film about him, are inevitable and flattering on all sides. Comparisons to “Rocky” go only as far as boxing and the rise and fall and rise again of thoroughly American heroes.

Ron Howard can depict complex characters and times in equal measure while still indulging his taste for sap (see Renee Zellweger as Braddock's whiny wife), Russell Crowe is an actor of enormous subtlety, and James Braddock was a true American hero, a fighter who came back, a symbol of an indomitable America coming back from economic failure.

Clay ("Cinderella Man")
John, only in America could you have an Australian actor (Russell Crowe) convincingly play the son of Irish American immigrants and not be a kissin’ the Blarney when you call him a true American hero. [Harry Golden and Studs Terkel would be proud of you.]

Biff. Bang. Slam. Bam. Little Ronnie Howard continues the man of action tradition he established with his ultra-violent Western, “The Missing.” Once more in “Cinderella Man” he brings to the screen the story of a come-back tough guy, who by sheer tenacity becomes the movie’s hero.

Hooking up again with both the cameraman and the editor from “The Missing,” Howard and his movie making team know how to move in on, and stay with the action. They capture it all.

[They also know how to evoke mood. You can smell the coal dust burning in the tenements. You can feel the burn of the ropes on your hands on the docks. And you can feel every punch that Russell Crowe’s Jim Corbett both gives and takes in the ring.]

“Cinderella Man” is a must see for all those red blooded Americans who have ever found themselves flat on their backs. Let’s hope Donald Rumsfeld doesn’t see this one.

John (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”
Clay: The only magic realism in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is the one, one-size-fits-all pair of jeans worn by the four girlfriends, whose summer adventures bring a dose of realism magical only for insights into life. As a coming-of-age film, this ranks with the best of them for non-condescending, adult-like perceptions, with nary a “like” in the teeners' vocabulary.

The ten rules of the sisterhood are dominated by the logistical one that states, "You must pass the pants along to your sisters according to the specifications set down by the Sisterhood." FedEx does the delivery; the girls supply the specific adventures that echo the anguish and resilience of being a teen .

You will care for each girl; I guarantee it as if it were a pair of Levis, sturdy and malleable, sexy and comfortable. Come to think of it—that IS The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Clay (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”)
John, I like my Levis straight and tight even though my shape has more in common with the movie’s more generously proportioned Carmen (America Ferrera) than it does with her much leaner soccer playing buddy Bridget (Blake Lively). The miracle, of course, is that one size does fit all, including their two other adopted summertime sisters.

Color Bridget’s adventure ‘Golden Brown’ for her summer in Mexico playing soccer. Color Carmen’s story ‘Cul De Sac White’ for her painful visit to see her Dad and his new family in South Carolina. Color Lena’s (Alexis Bledel) summer odyssey ‘Mediterranean Blue’ because it takes place on a romantic Greek island.

John
Just like Corfu.

Clay
Yep, we’ve been there.

But save the color of ‘Discount Red’ for poor Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), who has to stay home and make money.

Compassionate, idealistic, witty and clever, this “Sisterhood” is the best movie I’ve ever seen about coming of age in the summer.

But, John, enough of tight jeans, boxers, and babes playing soccer because it’s grading time.

John
Hooray!

“Cinderella Man” earns a "B" because its BOXING BARELY BEATS Howard's emotional BRACKEN . . .

Clay
“Cinderella Man” gets an “A” even though we have to ARDUOUSLY endure the dullness of Braddock’s domestic life in between fights . . .

John
“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” earns an "A" 'cause it AIN"T like any other teen flick you've seen . . .

Clay
“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” gets an “A” because the only way to get through ADOLESCENCE is by the seat of you pants . . .

John
Clay, I knew you'd like the young girls in "Sisterhood" and the tough guy in "Cinderella Man." Your biography could have this title: "Cinderfella: The Man who Loved Women in Pants."

Clay
John, if you end up writing my bio, call it what you will, but never forget that in my world, as in Norman Mailer’s, tough guys don’t dance and real girls never wear pants.

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 and 106.7 FM in Newark.

MUSIC UP AND OUT

© 2005 John DeSando and Clay Lowe