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.

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

Lucy (5/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 98 minutes.

OK for children.

Talk about your superhero movies. This one is really preposterous. It is based on the premise that humans use only 10% of their brains and postulates what could happen if they could access more, or all. But what this film supposes is about as realistic as Moses supposes his toeses are roses. But that song ended with with “Moses he knowses his toeses aren’t roses, so Moses supposes erroneously.” This film ends with a much more unrealistic conclusion than poor Moses’ story.

“Lucy” (Scarlett Johansson) is the name given to the earliest human ancestor that has yet been discovered. I am loathe to tell the story because I think it’s much more enjoyable to see a film in a state of ignorance but it’s impossible to review this film without telling a lot of what goes on.

Lucy gets stuck as a mule with a bag of drugs sewn into her stomach by a really bad guy, Mr. Jang (Choi Min Sik). When the bag splits and the drug invades her body she becomes akin to a superhero because it increases her access to her brain power. As it continues to increase, she gets more powerful.

This is where the film gets truly ridiculous, even more so than other superhero movies. She not only becomes enormously smart, she gets powers that control gravity and other people’s movements.

That’s where it lost me. It just strained credulity to the breaking point. Writer/Director Luc Besson went overboard here and it’s unfortunate. If he wanted to deal with the increased use of the capacity of the brain he should have come up with a story in which Lucy’s superior brain power vanquishes evil. Instead he has her brain turn her into a physical superhero, which is a fatal non sequitur.

Johansson is a beautiful woman and a fine actress, but she’s made some unfortunate choices lately (Under the Skin, Don Jon). In accepting roles like these and in action movies like Captain America and The Avengers that emphasize special effects and ridiculous stories, she denigrates her God-given talent. But I guess that’s where the money is.