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.

To the Wonder (0/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 113 minutes.

Not for children.

It is a tale told by an idiot

Full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing.

William Shakespeare

While this is a line from Macbeth, written in the 16^th Century, Shakespeare’s words constitute a concise critique of this film.

Writer director Terrence Malick is the master of bore, and this is his bête noire. The man who made a bloodthirsty war movie, The Thin Red Line (1998) into a sleepfest has outdone himself here. Starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem, this is a nonsensical, exercise in directorial egotism. While production notes try to explain what it’s about, no story unfolds onscreen for the uninitiated.

This is an incoherent jumble of scenes, each of which is totally unrelated to what precedes and what follows. At times it seems like a cinematographer gone mad as each shot seems to be inserted in the movie just because it is a good shot of scenery, or of a star walking along with his or her reflection in a window, or rushing water, or interesting angles. But the scenes mean nothing and have little or no connection with the story, you should pardon the expression, or the characters. And, of course, since this is Terrence Malick, there are innumerable shots of people thinking…and thinking…and thinking…

Rachel McAdams is listed as a costar, but it’s unlikely that she appears on the screen for more than five minutes. It’s mostly a silent film because nobody says much of anything. In fact, I would bet that there are more words in this review than are spoken in the entire two hour film. Characters suddenly appear that you’ve never seen before and don’t see again. Nothing makes any sense.

I’ve seen a lot of awful movies, mostly in a room full of critics. But this is the first movie I’ve ever seen where the critics were rushing for the doors as soon as the film ended volunteering comments ranging from bad to awful, laughing at the absurdity of it all.

If this is not the worst film ever made, it’s certainly one of the most boring.

April 3, 2013