WCBE 90.5 FM: "Serenity," "Thumbsucker," "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"

WCBE#238-FINAL
It's Movie Time
Co-hosts, writers & producers: John DeSando & Clay Lowe
For WCBE 90.5 FM

Reviews: "Serenity," "Thumbsucker," "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"
Taped: 1:30 pm, October 5, 2005
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, October 7, 2005
Streaming live on the web & back shows being archived at:
http://www.wcbe.org .

The Script:

John
"Serenity" is Star Wars and Star Trek worthy . . .

Clay
"Thumbsucker" is about a teenage boy with a digital addiction . . .

John
"Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" will give a stop-motion Corpse a run for box office gold . . .

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 ("Serenity")
Clay, Joss Whedon’s Serenity is the bastard child of Star Wars and Star Trek: Sardonic, world weary, childlike, universal, didactic are some of the adjectives shared by all three.

A band of rebels aboard the spaceship Serenity is transporting a brain-tampered young girl with strange visionary powers and recently-acquired martial-arts skills. The problem is that the Alliance (something similar to righteous US neocons dominating the universe) wants her, and the Reavers (cannibal bandits similar to contemporary terrorists) have an interest as well.

Whedon, like George Lucas, doesn’t trivialize his film with his often tossed-off wisecracks; he uses them to add to the ironies inherent in a good film.

The Star Trek parallel kicks in at the thematic level, where Whedon explores such topics as the pursuit of a moral universe at the expense of personal freedoms, currently played out in the US with fundamentalist Christians and neoconservative politicians legislating morality.

It’s a thinking person’s sci-fi.

HIT CD: “THUMBSUCKER,” ESTABLISH, THEN UNDER FOR:

Clay ("Thumbsucker")
Well, folks, in “Thumbsucker” morality is relative and “whatever works for me” is the deepest thought you’ll find. Set in an upscale west coast suburb filled with teenage angst (think American Beauty, Donnie Darko, or Elephant) and you’ll get the picture. Everyone has everything, but no one has a clue.

Young Justin (Lou Taylor Pucci) plays the shy teener who just can’t stop sucking his thumb. Vince D’ oh-NO-frio plays the macho Dad who’s ashamed of his son, and Tilda Swinton plays the coddling Mom who wants some coddling of her own. Neither as dark nor violent as those classic Mendez, Kelly, Van Sant films; Thumbsucker’s first time writer-director, Mike Mills, settles for answers most bland.

Nevertheless, the cast is colorful, the settings pleasant, and the teen age sex scenes are mildly titillating. But best of all, the movie does at least raise the question as to whether or not drugging kids to increase their academic performance is, or is not, a good thing to do.

CD: “THUMBSUCKER,” UP, THEN SLOWLY DOWN AND OUT

John ("Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit")
In the stop-motion British animated comedy "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, " Wallace, eccentric owner of the “Anti-Pesto” pest control firm and his mute dog, Gromit, deal daily with veggie lovers, British peerage, and morning wakeup mechanics worth the price of admission.

Big hands, big teeth, Brit cheeky self-deprecation and self-satisfaction are the stuff of this brilliant satire. We are cursed with the genius of a were-rabbit whose big sin is to love vegetables. It’s a Whole Foods celebration.

E.V. Lucas spoke convincingly of the latent amusement in Brits, saying, “In England, it is a very dangerous handicap to have a sense of humor.” It’s the reluctance to be funny that makes this film and England itself a rich source of satire.

Clay ("Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit")
John, the rural countryside of ruddy old England does come to life in "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Reminding me, of course, of the night we found ourselves stranded on a country road in Cornwall somewhere between Lands End and St. Ives. All rolling moors, rustic farms, and hewn stone pubs filled with natives seemingly humourless and droll.

Wallace & Gromit, however, is so full of sight gags, Rube Goldberg contraptions, and outrageous situations that you’ll soon be laughing along though the humor is dry. You’ll also soon find a place in your heart for the poor rural villagers, who in this movie as well as so many others, always seem to find themselves on the victim end of some kind of monster.

What with The Corpse Bride and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the funky and clunky old technique of claymation is proving it can hold its own with the slicker technique commonly refered, less affectionately, as CGI.

But enough of thumbsucking serenity and rascally Were Rabbits, John, because it’s grading time.

HIT DRUMS, THEN UNDER FOR:

John
Hooray!

"Serenity” earns an A because it ADDS to the greatest in the sci-fi canon . . .

Clay
"Thumbsucker" gets a “C” because CHANGING your addictions is not as good as CHANGING your CIRCUMSTANCES . . .

John
"Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" earns an A because crawzy wabbits are AMERICAN as well . . .

Clay
"Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" gets an “A” because ARCHAIC techniques are sometimes more human than modern . . .

DRUMS DOWN AND OUT

John
Clay, If you could put thumb sucking together with your public snoring, who knows how many more national awards we could win.

I'm outta here.

Clay
Better a thumb in the mouth, John, than other places you might put it.

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