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.

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

The Hangover Part III (5/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime

Not for children.

The Hangover was 2009’s breakout hit, a huge surprise. Peopled by nobodies, at least nobody of whom the world had ever heard, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, and Zach Galifianakis, director Todd Phillips whose record up until then had been decidedly mixed having directed rubbish like Starsky & Hutch in 2004 but getting better with School for Scoundrels in 2006, suddenly produced an R-rated screwball comedy for the 21^st-century. The Hangover was a worldwide phenomenon with a gross of $467,483,503. With numbers like this a sequel, The Hangover II, was quickly produced in 2011. Despite the fact that it was one of the more agonizingly horrible films I’ve ever had the misfortune to have to sit through, it actually had a higher worldwide gross, $586,764,305, than the original. The difference in the quality of the two films can be explained by the fact that the first was written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, whereas the second was written by Scot Armstrong, Craig Maizin, and Phillips himself. But for the first, this would’ve died a quick death and a sequel would have been unthinkable.

Unfortunately apparently Phillips was blinded by the monetary gross and couldn’t see the difference in the quality between the two films, so he brought Maizin back and cowrote this script with him. It’s not close to being as good as the first, but it’s not nearly as bad as the second. In fact, it would be almost impossible to write a film as bad as the second. The fact that it might be better than the second doesn't mean it's not still dreadful.

While Helms, Bartha, and Galifianakis haven’t achieved any level of movie stardom, Cooper has gone on to enormous success, winning an Oscar® nomination for his role in last year’s Silver Linings Playbook. As a result, he is not on screen nearly as much in this film as he was in the last two, looking as if his appearance in this film is just filling out a contractual obligation.

Galifianakis is the one who is given the responsibility of carrying this film but the story looks like what it is, something that was quickly whipped out to take advantage of the enormous grosses of the first two films.

The story is ridiculous, something about Mr. Chow (Ken Leong, just as annoying as he was in the first two) stealing $21 million worth of gold bars from John Goodman, a gangster who targets Cooper and his buddies to get the gold back for him. The locations are Mexico and Las Vegas. The language is still filled with f-bombs and other profanities.

The production notes indicate that this is the last of the trilogy. One can only hope this is true.