WCBE 90.5 FM: "Hustle & Flow," "Bad News Bears," "Donkey Skin"

WCBE#227-FINAL
It's Movie Time
Co-hosts: John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Co-producers: John DeSando, Clay Lowe for WCBE 90.5 FM

Reviews: “Hustle & Flow,” “Bad News Bears,” ”Donkey Skin”
Taped: 2:00 pm, July 20, 2005
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, July 22, 2005
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org .

The Script:

John
Hustle and Flow takes the wraps off rappers . . .

Clay
"Bad News Bears” shifts the scene from pimps to shrimps . . . .

And “Donkey Skin” is a primer on why little girls should NOT marry their fathers . . .

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 (“Hustle and Flow”)
Cut to the current Hustle and Flow, a story of a rapper (Terence Dashon Howard) who was once a pimp and carries that past into his songs, such as Whoop that Trick, which is as misogynistic as 8 Mile is NOT; and It’s hard out Here for a Pimp, in which a HO sings backup for the rapper’s declaration about the difficulties of managing the ladies.

This story seems less stylized, less sanitized than 8 mile, closer to the raw violence and sex that plague rappers but ironically provide them with the material that makes them richer than Gates. The world of pimps and rappers is not without charm and energy, qualities in abundance in this enjoyable although cliched film.

Clay
No doubt about it, this has been the summer remakes and cinematic cliches.

John (“Bad News Bears”)
No one would ever call me a prude, but the cursing kids in the new Bad News Bears are offensive, their stereotyping is uncreative, and the now fully–developed persona of Billy Bob Thornton as a beer-swilling, foul-mouthed, womanizing scamp can be employed anytime a coach is needed, be it for Friday night football or little league baseball.

This updated version of the 1976 The Bad News Bears with Walter Matthau is not a complete loss: Thornton’s coach Buttermaker exemplifies some honorable truisms such as winning is neither swift nor easy and the game is won in the head not the hands. And rarely has a film evidenced so successfully the strategy of reverse psychology.

But I still can’t get over the kids’ gratuitous epithets and off-beat director Richard Linklater’s choice of this vehicle at this time in his career, which has reached the ether with the Before Sunrise/Sunset series.

Clay ("Bad News Bears")
Well folks, one more cliche: WHY”S a nice guy like Richard Linklater making movies like this? Answer: he’s trying to raise money for his next low-key, off-beat film. At least that’s my hope.

Unfortunately Billy Bob Thornton’s beer guzzling, cigar chomping coach and his young team’s fascination with words that have to do with all things anal, cease to be funny almost as soon as the movie begins. And it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to see that Thornton’s attempt to milk his Big Bad Santa persona is going to cause a disaster we’ll be forced to watch as it happens.

Sammi Kraft as Amanda, his abandoned ball playing daughter, adds a much needed human dimension to the film, as does the performance of Kelly Leak as Jeff, the bad boy, bad bear who joins the team just because of Amanda. But the rest of the cast’s fumbling, bumbling efforts on the field, evoke few laughs from the audience and even fewer moments of lasting affection.,

Clay

But, folks, if relief from Hollywood’s re-run season is what you’re looking for, check out Jaques Demy’s French classic Donkey Skin that runs tonight and Saturday night at the Mershon.

Based on the fairy tale originally told by Charles Perreault, Donkey Skin, is a story about a happy king, his beautiful queen, and their ever so lovely daughter (played by Catherine Denueve). However, when the queen dies, the young daughter decides she wants to marry her father,
much to the dismay of the guardians of decency, as well as her equally enchanting, Fairy Godmother.

A musical fable for all seasons, Donkey Skin, is a wanderful change of pace for movie lovers who take their pleasures in delights more subtle and simple.

But enough bad pimps, badder bears, and the skins of dead donkeys, John, because it’s grading time.

John
Hooray!

Hustle and Flow earns a B because BAD BOYS and girls CAN make music . . .

"Bad News Bears" earns a C for CALLOW CURSING . . .

Clay
"Bad News Bears" gets a “C” because . . .

And “Donkey Skin” gets a “B” because it’s BETTER than what Hollywood has to offer this week . . .

John
With the rampant swearing in both films, I am confident our program manager will allow me to say "I'm getting the hell outta here."

Clay
John, we could all use a little less hell, especially our program manager. 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 written and produced by John DeSando and Clay Lowe 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

WCBE 90.5 FM "Fantastic Four," "Dark Water," "Brothers"

WCBE#225-FINAL
It's Movie Time
Co-hosts: John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Producer/Director: Richelle Antczak, WCBE 90.5 FM

Reviews: “Fantastic Four,” “Dark Water,” “Brothers”
Taped: 3:30 pm, July 6, 2005
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, July 8, 2005
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org .

The Script:

John
"Fantastic Four” is by no means FANTASTIC . . . .

Clay
“Dark Water” is a horror film drenched in psychological terror . . .

John
“Brothers” will make you reconsider leaving your brother at home . . .

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 (“Fantastic Four”)
Clay, after solid appearances this year of Sin City and Batman, seeing comic book adaptation Fantastic Four is a fantastic letdown: The general idea is interesting but the execution is loud and repetitive, and the actors are disconnected from their mission.

Fantastic Four takes almost the whole film for the characters, who have been transformed into superheroes by a cosmic storm, come to terms with their new gifts, which include being a human torch, stretching your body like elastic, becoming invisible, and being a rock with its attendant strength.

It's all typically American filmmaking with the accent on stunning graphics and deemphasis on character and story depth. After the villain kills the doctor who tells him his body is changing, he says, "I think I'll get a second opinion." Our listeners will need one as well after I kill off this film at grading time.

Clay (“Dark Water”)
Well, John, even after you’ve seen the movie Dark Water you’ll still not be sure who or who has not been killed by the end of the film. A modern day horror story depending more upon the psychological state of its leading characters than its special effects, Dark Water is one of those rainy night films that oozes atmosphere and infuses its audiences with a sense of dread.

Starring Academy Award winning Jennifer Connelly as a distraught mom, and Ariel Gade as her dazed and confused five-year-old child, Dark Water captures the growing sense of despair that is slowly overtaking this abandoned mom and her vulnerable young daughter.

Grimy apartments, tawdry landlords, and sinister building attendants, are the common everyday stuff that transform this simple domestic tragedy into a ghastly ghost story of the most terrifying kind.

John (“Brothers”)
Clay, 9/11 changed everything, as they say, not just in longer lines at the airport but rather in the lives of those soldiers who return from that far battle to one at home, whose rules have also profoundly changed.

Susan Bier's Danish film, Brothers, has a brother return from Afghanistan after facing a terrible dilemma as a prisoner of choosing his own life over that of a friend. At home, because he was presumed dead, his ner-do-well brother has changed as well and formed an intimate relationship with his brother's wife.

Bier's brilliance shows there is no easy choice at home either, complicated by the soldier's guilt, which has changed for the worse the way he acts with his family. Don't think of this fascinating puzzle as just another screed on terrorism; think of it as an essay on the dizzying choices life throws at us with decisions not made as neatly or easily as in other movies.

Clay ("Brothers")
Well, John, you’re right, the movie Brothers is NOT about terrorism but it IS about the human consequences of that most odious of human endeavors: the waging of war. Taking a page from the story of Cain and Abel, as well as a page from the story of the prodigal son, the brothers in this film manage to somehow dramatically reverse their roles somewhere between the opening of the movie and its closing credits.

In the beginning Michael is the good son, good husband, and good father; and Jannik is the irresponsible younger brother who can’t seem to keep out of jail. But when Michael is called up to serve in Afghanistan, stay-at-home Jannik finally gets himself under control and decides to fill in for his missing brother.

What happens to Michael while a prisoner is devastating, but how it affects his behavior when he returns home is even more devastating for his whole family. It’s one of those costs of war that are rarely calculated in public.

Clay
But enough of fantastic heroes, leaky ceilings, and brothers at war, John, because it’s grading time.

John
Holy Leaking Heroes,Hooray!

“Fantastic Four” earns a “D” for DUMBING DOWN a fantastic comic book . . .

Clay
“Dark Water” gets a solid “B” because it's a well-made, well-acted film, but it's also a little BIT murky . . .

John
“Brothers” earns a “B” for BRINGING home a BAD BATTLE . . .

Clay
“Brothers” gets an “A” because Susan Bier’s films ALWAYS cut to the heart of relationships . . .

John
Clay, It scares me to think a cosmic storm could make YOU invisible, given your ALREADY highly-developed snooping abilities.

I’m outta here.

Clay
John, sometimes I feel invisible when I don’t quite know what you’re talking about, but maybe if I close my eyes you'll go away too.

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