WCBE 90.5 FM: "All the King's Men," "The Last Kiss," "Flyboys," "Studio 60 Premiere"

WCBE #285-Final
It's Movie Time: “All the King's Men," "The Last Kiss," “Flyboys,”
Co-hosts, writers & producers: John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Taped: 1:00 pm, September 20, 2006
Air Time: 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, September 22, 2006
Streaming live on the web at http://www.wcbe.org .

John

“All the King's Men" is less interesting than a WHITE HOUSE press conference . . .

"The LAST Kiss" shows young men in their LAST moments of LUST. .

Clay

"Flyboys" takes us back to World War I when the bad guys were the Germans . . .

HIT MUSIC, THEN UP THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle Antczak

"It's Movie Time" in Columbus 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 ("All the King's Men")

Clay, All the King’s Men is ABOUT the interesting and manipulative Willie Stark aka Huey Long (Sean Penn), governor of Louisiana in the ‘50’s but CENTERS on his much less interesting publicist, Jack Burden (Jude Law).

This disappointingly distant and cold adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s novel, previously made into a black and white film classic starring Broderick Crawford, has Burden losing his better angel of idealism to his demon of ambition.

Penn tries too hard to portray good and evil in Stark. Kate Winslet’s Anne Stanton, Stark’s lover, seems lost in the period trappings with nothing to do but look sorry for the trouble she’s causing. Law underplays to successful effect an insider trained to look from the outside but unable to leave ambition just to his pen.

Clay ("All the King's Men" 110 words)

Folks, this most recent film version of All the King's Men fails most of all because it's more of a stage play than a movie.

Too tightly shot, too darkly lit, too dependent upon dialogue, and not dependent enough upon the ambient powers of Willie’s Po Boy South, the movie's director and scriptwriter fail to deliver the novel's most powerful warning: Beware of the politician who would do anything to hold on to power.

Though Sean Penn's Willie is impressive as a ranter and raver who can stir his people into a frenzy, he unfortunately never successfully reveals why he is so willing to betray those people who love him.

John (The Last Kiss)

I don’t know about YOU, but maintaining LOVE amid the pressures of modern society makes ME feel every time as if this kiss were the last kiss.

Clay

Judas would have understood.

John

Will she tire of me? Will marriage lock me in to my future without my control?

Clay

Oh, poor John.

John

These and other contemporary questions are the purview of The Last Kiss, a realistic melodrama that watches the disintegration and sometimes rehabilitation of every relationship in the film.

The Last Kiss does not attempt to glamorize or accessorize the everyday challenges of maintaining love. [As writer Paul Haggis did with Million Dollar Baby and Crash, he fashions reality-like dialogue around common struggles, which he elevates to universals.]

Ibsen crossed with Pinter is the closest I can come to the style and tone. It’s as good an explication of modern romance as we're going to get this year.

Be prepared to face yourself if you have a last kiss.

Clay ("Flyboys" 130 words)

Well, folks, the romance in "Flyboys" is as bittersweet as is the movie's last good-bye, [but when the goings get good it doesn't get any better.]

One of those rock 'em, sock 'em, war movies that Hollywood was so good at making in the black and white forties, this current color version of what it was like to fly and die in the skies during the early days of the First World War is destined to become a genre class.

The sky battles are magnificent. The writing is as clever as it is introspective. And the actors are as handsome as they are charming.

Could it be that war is really all about killing?

HIT DRUMS, THEN UNDER FOR

But enough of navel gazers, political demagogues, and lovers’ last kisses, John, because it's grading time.

John

Holy Heartbreaks, Hooray!

"All the King's Men" earns a “C” for its COINCIDENTAL BUSHWACKING . . .

Clay

"All the King's Men" gets a "C" because it’s both COLORLESS and CLAUSTOPHOBIC . . .

John

"The LAST Kiss" earns a “B” because BOYS DESERVE to be kissed LAST . . .

Clay

"Flyboys" gets an "A" because it's ALL ABOUT what makes war heroes tick . . .

John

LAUGHS . . . Clay, I suspect you may NOT remember YOUR last kiss . . .

I'm outta here.

Clay

Wrong again, John, I remember her sweet lips as well as I remember her kids that kept calling me daddy.I'm outta here too.

But this TV note before I go, last Monday night's premiere of "Studio 60" indicates to me that this it has the potential of being one of the hottest shows of this new TV season.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT CLOSING THEME THEN UNDER FOR
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, Ohio.

MUSIC UP, THEN DOWN AND OUT

Copyright by John DeSando & Clay Lowe, 2006