Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25 years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach. This is the only book that gives a true picture of the character of John Wooden and the influence of his assistant, Jerry Norman, whose contributions Wooden  ignored and tried to bury.

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. The players tell their their stories in their own words. This is the book that UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan tried to ban.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information. Also available on Kindle.

The Hangover, Part II (4/10)

by Tony Medley

Run Time 110 minutes.

Not for children.

Writer/director/producer Todd Phillips hit the jackpot with The Hangover in 2009. The question was, what to do for an encore? He tried Due Date last year, which was a dud, to give it the best of it.

What Phillips decided was to make the same movie over again, almost identical. While in the scintillating original Phillips walked a fine line to keep from crossing over into vulgarity and smut, this derivative sequel explodes over that line and the result is unfunny, profane with abundant f-bombs and worse, and often just disgusting.

The same cast, Bradley Cooper (Phil), Ed Helms (Stu), Zach Galifianakis (Alan), and Justin Bartha (Doug), is back and they are playing the same roles and the same things happen to them. About the only difference is that the location is Bangkok instead of Las Vegas. Phillips didn’t even have the good sense to flood the film with eye-popping scenes of Bangkok.

The language is straight out of the gutter. The only person with any sense is Fohn (Nirut Sirichanya), Stu’s father-in-law to be. He sees Stu to be the nincompoop he really is and makes no secret of it. Yet Phillips paints him as a villain, which gives a pretty accurate picture of the state of Phillips’ values. He glorifies misfits while stigmatizing the only reasonable person in the entire film.

But what really sets this film apart is its appalling poor taste. Phillips is another in a group of new, young filmmakers who substitute shock value for comedy. Examples are beautiful young women with male genitalia, which are displayed for all to see.

The film isn’t completely worthless. There are good performances by Paul Giamatti as a man who appears to be a mob boss, and Mike Tyson, believe it or not. Fans of the ‘90s sitcom Larry Sanders will see a familiar face with an appearance by Jeffrey Tambor. Actually, all the performances are good, considering the script. They made the best of it.

Often films like this, which was filmed on location, make up for weaknesses by beautiful cinematography. Not this one. Instead of presenting the beauty of Southeast Asia, Director of Photography Lawrence Sher concentrates on showing how hot and crowded and dingy Bangkok is. Except for the wedding location, there are no shots that make one want to visit Bangkok or Southeast Asia.

Stu’s profanity-laden finale in front of a well-dressed wedding party which wins over the theretofore reasonable Fohn is a fitting finale for a disgraceful film.

May 24, 2011