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Former Civilian Women Pilots Receive Congressional Gold Medal for Service in WWII; Rural Mississippi High School Cancels Senior Prom Because Same-Sex Couples Planned To Attend
Aired March 13, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A look right now at the hour's top headlines.
Big cut backs are planned at one of America's most troubled school system. Detroit school faced a $219 million deficit and on Monday, officials are expected to announce plans to close 40 schools.
Will Americans choose coffee instead of tea? Organizers of a new group called the Coffee Party say they are holding hundreds of meetings across America today. The coffee party is billed as an alternative to the conservative Tea Party movement.
And students at a Mississippi high school may get a senior prom after all. A Mississippi school board canceled the prom after learning a lesbian couple planned to attend. Well, now a New Orleans hotel owner offered to host a replacement prom.
And Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center. It's a pretty nasty weekend for some parts of the country.
All right. Looks like we are working on some audio problems. We will try to get to Jacqui Jeras a little bit later on as we work that out.
All right. This week, Kansas City school board voted to shut down nearly half the schools in the city's district. A radical painful way to combat a budget crunch. Well, next week we might be telling you a similar story about Detroit. 40 schools on the chopping block there. Here now is CNN's Samantha Hayes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMANTHA HAYES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A startling announcement from the Kansas City, Missouri school district. Nearly half of the district's 61 schools are closing. A move to save money according to the new superintendent.
JOHN COVINGTON, SUPT. KANSAS CITY: We were spreading ourselves far too thin, facing a $50 million deficit.
HAYES: The result? 700 jobs eliminated and hundreds of students moved to other schools.
DENEICIA WILLIAMS, PARENT: I have an eight-year-old and a six- year-old who will be going school with a 12th grader. I find it to be inappropriate.
HAYES: But officials defend the move saying it will allow the school system to focus its resources. Across the country, budget deficits are also prompting cuts. Students and parents in Des Moines, Iowa gathered inside the state capitol building to protest a plan to cut hundreds of teaching jobs, many of them in the music and arts departments.
California's budget crisis neighbors might result in a cut to the state bussing program that provides transportation for minority students in the Los Angeles area. The National Education Association, a union representing educators said the cuts will have long-term negative effects.
DENNIS VAN ROEKEL, PRES., NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSN.: Even though you lay off hundreds of thousands of adults, there is not one less child who needs a ride to school. There's not one less child who needs a healthy breakfast or lunch and there's not one less child who needs caring adults in the classroom with them. So the work doesn't go away.
HAYES (on camera): More cuts are expected to be announced next week in Detroit where the school district is expected to cut 40 schools.
In Washington, I'm Samantha Hayes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. From Kansas City to Detroit, where the school district has a huge shortfall of $219 million. Chastity Pratt Dawsey covers the Detroit school system for the "Detroit Free Press" and she joins us now from Detroit. So are parents encouraged or are they afraid of the possibilities of dissolving the school board a, and possibly the mayor appointing a school superintendent?
CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY, DETROIT EDUCATION REPORTER: Right now that is a huge issue. Parents are really kind of divided about it. There a lot of people who remember 1999 to 2005 when there was a mayor-controlled district here in the city where the state took away the elected board and that left the school district in a huge budget deficit. $200 million budget hole.
And so they are really divided, but what's going right now with a really $335 million dollar deficit projected for the end of this year. Parents know that 40 schools are going to be closed and the district is saying we don't have any choice. We don't have the money.
WHITFIELD: OK. So there is no choice but you know, to close those schools. What about parents and students? What are they saying about that possibility?
DAWSEY: Well, parents are saying if you close my school, I'm going to go somewhere else and that had been part of -
WHITFIELD: And where would they go? What are their options? DAWSEY: If we go back - let's go back 10 years. Ten years ago, Detroit public schools had 175,000 students. 260 schools. Fast forward now. U.S. education secretary Arne Duncan was saying we are here in Detroit. We are ground zero for public education because we have low test scores, low graduation rates and half of our students have left in the past 10 years.
WHITFIELD: Left because they have gone on to charter schools -
DAWSEY: They've gone to charter schools.
WHITFIELD: And private schools, right?
DAWSEY: They have gone to charter schools. We have 50,000 students living in the city of Detroit that go not to the Detroit public schools, but to public charter schools.
WHITFIELD: So then is anyone talking about trying to make more of the public schools, make them more like these charter schools that seem to be attractive to a lot of parents and as well as the students. Or maybe even some private schools in the region. Is that a possibility?
DAWSEY: Well, just last week we saw a new organization that is calling itself Excellent Schools Detroit come out publicly and say we are local leaders, we are philanthropy groups and we have $200 million we're going to raise to pressure the powers that be to close that school and to open 70 new schools in Detroit. And those can be public schools. Those can be charter public schools.
WHITFIELD: And the likely part of that?
DAWSEY: Well, again, this group, we are talking about a wide range of really powerful people in the city who are in this umbrella organization. They are saying look, $200 million we are going to raise in the next 10 years. With that kind of power and influence, things can change.
WHITFIELD: And so this powerful group, are they also saying we have the money to come up with creating all of these schools, would they also have the wherewithal to try to organize these schools, to lead these schools, to equip these schools?
DAWSEY: Well, there in lies one of those details. People don't understand. Detroit would have no authority over these schools that they would essentially help see provide -
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Who? These powerful people?
DAWSEY: We have the Skillman Foundation is a foundation here in Detroit and a couple other local foundations. They are going to raise this money to again help provide seed money to start this. But they wouldn't be over them. They wouldn't have authority. What they're saying if you have a good idea that's modeled on a school that works, you come to us, we'll give you start up money but it has to be something that we know has worked in other places.
WHITFIELD: Chastity Pratt Dawsey, thanks so much, of the "Detroit Free Press." Appreciate that.
DAWSEY: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Of course, this is eliciting a huge response. People have all kinds of thoughts about what's taking place with public schools across the country. Joseph said this on my blog. "To close these schools does not make any kind of sense. You close half the schools and then each classroom becomes extremely over crowded and then less attention to each child and more opportunity to slip through the cracks. What are these people thinking?"
And this from Roger saying "I think it is a good idea to start looking at schools in terms of performance. Everyone must become stake holders in the success of our children - parents, teacher, administrators. No excuses."
Let us know what you think. We are continuing to take your responses on my blog CNN.com/fredricka. And we will get your comments, all that you are weighing in on, on the air.
All right. President Barack Obama used his weekly media address today to announce a plan to overhaul the nation's education system. He wants a $4 billion increase in federal education spending and he wants to replace the Bush administration's no child left behind law with a new plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal. All students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career. No matter who you are or where you come from. Achieving this goal will be difficult. They will take time and will require the skills, talents and dedication of many. Principals, teachers and parents and students. This effort is essential for children and for our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. This week GOP address focused on the health care bill. Democrats are pushing for final passage before Easter. The Senate's newest member, Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts said "that would be a huge mistake."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, I haven't been here very long, but I can you this much already. Nothing has distracted the attention and the energy of the nation's capital more than this disastrous detour. And the surest way to return to the people's business is to listen to the people themselves. We need to drop this whole scheme of federally controlled health care, start over and work together on real reforms at the state level that will contain cost and won't leave America trillions of dollars deeper in debt. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Brown was elected in January after campaigning against the health care bill.
All right. They are calling it the coffee party. Organizers say this meeting in Washington today was one of hundreds across the country. Coffee party supporters say their movement are not aligned with either major political party, but they do describe it as an alternative to the conservative tea party movement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that the toxic dialogue that came out of our politics these days is really what the coffee party is addressing, you know, if we disagree with you or I agree with you, I still will be able to sit down across from a cup of coffee at a table to be able to discuss our viewpoints. And the dialogue really nationwide in a lot of ways has become so bad that you can't sit down with your Republican friends or your Democratic, your independent friends and really have that conversation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems to be an alternative. People are more civil here and of course, everybody wants their issues to be heard. They want their voices to be heard. But I think you can also do it to the forum that is not being uncivil.
WHITFIELD: All right. Some tea party supporters take a view of the coffee party. No surprise there, right? Well, they say it looks like a weak attempt at satire or manufactured response to a legitimate grass roots movement.
Well, he pieces through all the videos, going viral on the web to bring you the latest and the greatest and we can't wait. All the time. Josh Levs has your viral video rewind coming up.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's always my dessert. You know, at the end of the week.
WHITFIELD: Mine too.
LEVS: Yes, sure, we're going to have some fun. (INAUDIBLE) Here's what I will show you today. First off, how to create a video of you playing an instrument brilliantly even if you don't know how to play it at all. Plus the ultimate zen video, Fred, for to you relax to.
WHITFIELD: I need that.
LEVS: She deserves that. Plus this. Look at this. A skill that apparently only two people in the world can do. Look, it's just his fingers. Just his fingers. We are going to you who this man is and how he accomplishes that.
WHITFIELD: Now I saw the fingers. Index fingers. That's insane. LEVS: Coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
WHITFIELD: All right. That's good motivation. It kind of gets us started.
LEVS: We're good.
WHITFIELD: We got plenty ahead, but right now I want you to take a few minutes and have a little fun for this week's favorite videos on the web and fun defined by Josh Levs. Here we go.
LEVS: We have like a skill for this. We kind of wide you up with the funky crazy videos and then we give you zen.
WHITFIELD: And I always look forward to the zen.
LEVS: She looks forward to the zen.
WHITFIELD: Mama needs it.
LEVS: We always make sure. Mama needs the zen.
WHITFIELD: Mama needs the zen.
LEVS: We were just talking about that during the break, being parents of young kids. We deserve a little zen. All right. Let's go to this first one. Because this is daredevil video that everyone is talking about. Watch what this guy does with the snowmobile. Apparently, this is an ice over spillway in Iceland. Watch how he just keeps going and going and going and defying gravity. Look at this.
WHITFIELD: OK. He had the perfect lean forward.
LEVS: You know what, (INAUDIBLE) he must know exactly what to do, exactly when to lean. I still think six more feet he would have never made it. You think that's amazing, let's get to the next video.
WHITFIELD: It sounds like fun.
LEVS: Oh, yes. I wouldn't want to be on that thing. Would you?
WHITFIELD: No, no, no.
LEVS: Watch this guy. Just fingers. Watch what he is doing. Suspends his entire body. A Shaolin monk. This is actually from' 95. This is a form of kung fu. One of these monks that you're seeing there, Si Xingsong, I think you say it. He is said to be only one of two people in the world who can do a hand stand on his index fingers.
WHITFIELD: I was just fascinated with that. And then, boom there he go.
LEVS: Look at that. 19 years old.
WHITFIELD: That's insane.
LEVS: You know, you see these things on the web. Shocking things you didn't know anyone could do. But sometimes you should just really cool things that are impressive, right?
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEVS: And they wouldn't have an audience, otherwise. That's what we are seeing in the next video here. Take a look at these kids.
WHITFIELD: I always go shock and impressed by both of them.
LEVS: Were you?
WHITFIELD: So what now?
LEVS: Shocked and impressed.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEVS: These kids, they're children, so listen to this.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
WHITFIELD: Love it.
LEVS: Check out those jamming fingers on these young children.
WHITFIELD: All this stuff is making me feel really small. This is all exceptional. Insane.
LEVS: We know how to do what we do. But look at this, one of my producers was saying. Here's what to do to keep kids away from too much TV and video games.
WHITFIELD: Where are they?
LEVS: This was shot in 2006. Their names are Molly, Michael and Sullivan Tuddel (ph). And they're playing a song called "El Punbanchero (ph)." Michael that was using the mandolin is eight years old. This was made in 2006. He wanted to play it even faster. They are the children of blue grass performers and teacher Jack Tuddel (ph). And you're saying where, just in San Francisco.
WHITFIELD: Oh neat.
LEVS: Amazing kids.
WHITFIELD: All right. Very inspiring.
LEVS: Sometimes you see the stuff and you think, man, I wish I could play like that. WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEVS: Well, I can't promise you. I'm going to show you a video now that even if you can't play, you can make a video of yourself playing brilliantly. Watch this, this is pretty amazing. This got 12 million views. This guy can't play. His name is Lasse Gjertsen I believe, he is Norwegian. He tries to play the drums and can't play at all. But what does he know how to do? He knows how to edit really well. So skip to the next section of this video, guys and watch what he puts together, purely through editing.
WHITFIELD: Oh, that is cheating.
LEVS: Watch this.
See that.
WHITFIELD: Sounds good.
LEVS: It's him playing brilliantly even though he cannot play at all. By the way, thanks to our viewer Tommy Catalosi for (INAUDIBLE) on Facebook. Love it.
WHITFIELD: That's good cheating though. I'm sorry. That's cheating, but it's good.
LEVS: It is cheating. All right. Here's something that's not cheating, but this may be my favorite video of the week. I almost never talk about iPhone apps on the phone because iPhone is one product, one company.
WHITFIELD: They don't need any more advertisement.
LEVS: Exactly. Exactly. This video kind of blows me away. Take a look at this. This is called the everyday (INAUDIBLE). Listen to what this guy does.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LEVS: He does it for a few seconds, records what he does and it automatically loops it. He just keeps doing something different each time. All the tracks layered and it sounded really cool, isn't?
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LEVS: Edward Jouget. And he has his own web site. And I'm telling you, that guy blows me away. He just keeps it layered.
WHITFIELD: That sounded good.
LEVS: I love it.
WHITFIELD: He's got talent.
LEVS: And it's time for your reward. This might be my favorite zen video for you ever. WHITFIELD: OK.
LEVS: I call it the better than better ambient file.
WHITFIELD: I do like that.
LEVS: Deep breath. Watch it.
WHITFIELD: Exhale. Namaste.
Oh man.
LEVS: Watching the milky way over Hawaii. The video is beautiful, shot by Charles (INAUDIBLE) music is that is why I am on this porch from the movie, "The Village" composed by James Newton Howard. Each shot here was a 30-second interval. This is on top of Mauna Kea, I believe, in Hawaii.
WHITFIELD: I have been there.
LEVS: Have you?
WHITFIELD: Beautiful.
LEVS: This is where the world's largest observatory is. Crystal clear, no lights get in the way.
I'm telling you, you don't need medication. Just watch this and drift off to sleep.
WHITFIELD: Yes. I want to lay right here on the floor now. That's the problem.
LEVS: Well, I don't want to put you totally to sleep. I tell you what. We can rock out on this.
WHITFIELD: You have to bring me back up.
LEVS: We got to bring you back up. So we go to this next video. Give us a little bit. This was sent to me over twitter. This is called "blame it on pop 2009" and mixes all these songs together. And it's just ultra cool. Listen.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LEVS: All the hottest songs of 2009. I really respect the D.J., he's really good. And all the links of all today's videos, they are all up on my Facebook right now. Keep the sound going to show the graphics. CNN.com/Josh. Everything is up right now on Facebook actually. If you want the links right now, go to facebook.com/joshlevscnn and everything is there for you. We promise they are all there right now on Facebook and pretty soon we will get them up on the blog too and on Twitter.
WHITFIELD: I can already see which is going to be one of the most popular ones that people are going to play over and over again. That last one.
LEVS: I know it's really cool.
WHITFIELD: It's good.
LEVS: All the songs of 2009, the hottest ones compressed into one. Got to love it
WHITFIELD: I like it. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: I can rewind if you (INAUDIBLE)
WHITFIELD: Great. A nice escapism we take there on that viral video.
LEVS: I know. Now we have to get back to news.
WHITFIELD: Back to real life. All right. Thanks so much. Now, you can do it without the tie.
LEVS: You think?
WHITFIELD: Just the weekend, cool.
LEVS: All right.
WHITFIELD: All right. Some Hollywood heavyweights make a stop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You know the address. We will tell you why. The White House Press Corps could benefit the most from the visit by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. A look at the top stories right now. The vote count continues in Iraq's parliamentary elections, held nearly a week ago. Preliminary result show prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki's alliance leading in Baghdad where most of the seats are up for grabs. But fewer than a quarter of the votes have actually been counted there. Experts say it's still too early to predict the final winner.
And strong words from secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Clinton said Israel insulted the United States when it announced plans for new construction in east Jerusalem. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim that area as their own. Israel's announcement came just as vice president Joe Biden was trying to restart the peace talks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: And the announcement of the settlements, the very day that the vice president was there was insulting. I mean, it was just really a very unfortunate and difficult moment for everyone. The United States, our vice president who had gone to reassert America's strong support for Israeli security and I regret deeply that occurred and made that view known.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Israel said the decision to authorize 1600 housing units in east Jerusalem was made by a district committee and the public has 60 days to raise objections.
And doctors hope to release Henry Kissinger from a South Korean hospital tomorrow. The former secretary of state was in Seoul for a security forum when he came down with a stomach virus. Doctors say his signs are normal, but they are taking precautions because of Kissinger's age. He is 86.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. We are in the weather center here. Jacqui Jeras alongside me because there is a lot of wacky stuff going on in the northeast. Yes, precipitation, but it means big problems for some places, particularly West Virginia where we are already seeing some flooding and rescues. People missing. What's going on?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, basically we have an area of low pressure that is just sitting there and spinning and stuck. We have been getting some really heavy rain. Temperatures have been very warm and the snow has been melting off in these rivers and have been coming out of their banks. Numerous high water rescues that you mentioned. Firefighters, boat was capsized today while they were trying to help somebody else and one of the firefighters so far hasn't been recovered.
WHITFIELD: Always the fear when folks get in trouble and we got first responders who get there and then something happens to them potentially.
JERAS: I know. So this is a very dangerous situation. This is not just west Virginia. This is much of the mid-Atlantic and the northeast as well. I'm going to take you over to the magic wall this time and kind of explain the weather phenomenon that's taking place. And this isn't just today that we're talking about. This is going to be lasting through the weekend and even into early next week before we finally get this low out of here. And it could bring down an additional maybe two to four inches on top of what you already have.
We got high pressure up to the north here. So a very tight gradient between our pressure systems. That's what drives the wind so the wind reports have been extreme as well. Take a look at some of the wind gusts from the northeast today. These aren't thunderstorm wind gusts. These are incredible winds from that low. 59 miles per hour in Atlantic City, Dover, Delaware 58 as well as New York City- JFK, Philadelphia 55 and 45 in Trenton and New London at 43 miles per hour.
So we have high wind warnings which are in effect across this area as well. There you can see your low pressure system bringing in the torrential downpours. We could see as much as an inch per hour. So if you absolutely have to travel in these areas today, something to think about that you are really going to not want to drive across any of these roads that have water over them. It's just too dangerous. Let's check out some of the winds in this area. You know, there you can see sustained winds, 20 plus miles per hour. There you can see up in the teens towards Boston, Philadelphia. There is Bristol. 20ish miles per hour. And we'll continue to see those gusts reach well beyond that as well.
If you are trying to travel today, not just by the highways, also the airways, big time problems. Those winds make it really hard to try and land these planes. With the runway configuration, you know JFK has the one runaway out in addition to that. So ground stop there. Ground stop at LaGuardia. Chicago, you've got problems almost three hours. Five hours in Newark. That's almost like throwing in the towel there today. And Philadelphia pushing two hours.
So this system is sticking with us and look at all those flood watches and warnings in effect across the area. One other note, this is that same low that is across the Midwest earlier in the week. And they also have those warmer temperatures. So some flooding going on in states like Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin as well. So flooding, the big story now that were turning to these spring months, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. You never know what you are going to get in the spring. It's always so volatile. You're excited about the warmer temperatures but then, you know, these crazy showers or tornadoes always spring up.
JERAS: We've had it all over the last week.
WHITFIELD: We have. All right. Thank you, Jacqui.
A Mississippi high school puts down an unwelcome mat to a lesbian couple who planned to go to the prom, but the owner of a luxury hotel is offering a plan to help the students out. We will tell you all about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A Mississippi high school decided to cancel the prom rather than allow same-sex couples to attend. Now a New Orleans businessman is trying to make sure the students don't miss out on this rite of passage. Camille Whitworth of New Orleans affiliate WDSU explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CUMMINGS, HOTEL OWNER: Hey, kids. The end of your high school experience should not be laced with negativity and public policy decisions and legal skirmishes.
CAMILLE WHITWORTH, REPORTER, WDSU (voice over): The message from Sean Cummings is clear. Prom should go on despite the controversy surrounding it. We met inside of his International House hotel, a possible venue for the high school party.
CUMMINGS: I was just bummed out that the kids were penalize, that she was penalized. WHITWORTH: Cummings is offering it all to students at Itawamba County Agricultural High School in rural Mississippi. The place, transportation to and from New Orleans, and a high school party he says they will never forget.
CUMMINGS: I admire her for standing for something and standing up like she is. She needs to know there a lot of people who support her and the students need to know that there a lot of people who feel like they are being wronged and-and wrongly so.
WHITWORTH: The prom was canceled when the school district found out a lesbian student, Constance McMillen, planned on bringing a girlfriend as her date. In a school memo it states, dates must be of the opposite sex.
CONSTANCE MCMILLEN, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: It's really not fair to the people who are gay at the school.
WHITWORTH: McMillen says she was also told she was not allowed to wear a tuxedo. The American Civil Liberties Union backs her up.
MCMILLEN: I'm not going to pretend I wasn't raised like that. I was raised to be proud of who you are, and I don't think you should have to hide who you are to go to a school event.
WHITWORTH: Cummings agrees, that is why he offered to help.
CUMMINGS: It's a disappointing. And a yesterday.com way of thinking.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The lesbian student's lawsuit is seeking a court order to force the school to hold the prom, and it also asks that McMillen, Constance McMillen be allowed to escort her girlfriend, and wear a tuxedo which the school said also violated policy.
When we come back, a coffee break with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A familiar action star questions a search for WMD on Ira, on the big screen. We learn a new perspective on how single guys actually think. Film critic and host of Turner Classic Movies, Ben Mankiewicz, joins us from Los Angeles with a look at these new releases.
We are talking movies this weekend. People thought for a second we were talking about you. Searching for WMD and a single guy's point of view, and that wouldn't be right.
So, Ben, let's begin with Mat Damon, this film called, "The Green Zone". Let's look and listen first.
(BEGIN MOVE CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think you are doing here? You are off reservation for a reason. What is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came here to find weapons and save lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a little more complicated than that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not to me it isn't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Laura James, "Wall Street Journal". Does it make any sense?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, Ben, I'm digging Matt Damon in just about everything he does lately. Did you like this "Green Zone"?
BEN MANKIEWICZ, FILM CRITIC: Well, I like Matt Damon and I liked him in this a lot more than I liked him in "Invictus". And this is from director Paul Greengrass (ph), who did one of my favorite films of the last decade, really, "United 93".
This movie is terrific for about 56 percent of it, when it's sort of complicated and nuanced about the search for weapons of mass destruction. The last 44 percent it gets very simplistic, very one note, and very ordinary. In the end, I didn't like this movie. It takes what is very complicate, our search for weapons of mass destruction, and then simplifies it in a very, very ordinary way, as if there was just one source who said there were weapons of mass destruction and then the Defense Department, one guy at the Defense Department made up that there were, and that was as simple as it was.
WHITFIELD: Oh, darn.
MANKIEWICZ: That's not what happened. The fact that there weren't any, and the deceit that the Bush administration engaged in was much more complicated than that. In the end I didn't like it. But I liked some of the action and Matt Damon was good. I ended up giving it a C. It is like a B plus for the first part, and F for the second part, and we ended up with a C.
WHITFIELD: Oh, darn, I had high hopes of a better letter grade from you.
(CROSS TALK)
WHITFIELD: What?
MANKIEWICZ: That's good. I'm good. We can stop there.
WHITFIELD: How about "Out Of My League"? I saw the trailer. It looks oh, so funny. You probably saw the whole movie. What did you think?
MANKIEWICZ: I definitely saw the whole movie.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: Of course you have.
MANKIEWICZ: This is-Jay Baruchel is the star of this. I liked this film. Do we have a clip or no?
WHITFIELD: Yes, let's give a listen. (BEGIN MOVIE CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No girl wants to do a noodle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one would ever do a noodle.
WHITFIELD: Oh, I'm sorry I called it "Out Of My League." No, "She's Out Of My League" hence the premise of these guys.
MANKIEWICZ: She's Out Of My League" is something that I'm very familiar with. It is Jay Baruchel and he and his three friends, they all sort of work for the TSA, or two work for the TSA, another guy is sort of an airline ticket agent, and another in ground crew. Who is the woman in this? I forgot her name. Alice Eve, who is quite beautiful as the blond there.
This is a very sort of engaging little movie. It's very funny and incredibly well written. By a couple of guys, Shawn Anders and John Morris who also write "Hot Tub Time Machine" coming out later this year that I'm looking forward to now. This is sort of funny and engaging as always in these movies they have a couple of gross out scenes that I'm not sure they need, but I like this film. It's funny. It's engaging.
WHITFIELD: Oh, good.
MANKIEWICZ: Yes, it's engaging.
WHITFIELD: Are you saying better than the C you gave "Green Zone"?
MANKIEWICZ: Definitely better than the C I gave "The Green Zone".
It's funny because I gave this movie a B minus and then I was talking about it on -- I do a review show called, "What The Flick" that you can get through the youngchurch.com and I was talking about it with a couple of other critics. Matt Achety (ph) from Rotten Tomatoes, and Kristie Lamier (ph) from the Associated Press, as we were talking about it, I was realizing how much I liked it, I think I like it better than the B minus I gave it.
WHITFIELD: Good!
MANKIEWICZ: This might actually be a B. I gave it a B minus, but it might be a B. It's very engaging and it's very easy for these characters to have been sort of stock characters and very foolish guys. But there are a couple of scenes that are really well written and this idea that whatever your number is, like if you are a guy who is a five, you can't date more than two ahead of what you are. If you are a five, you can't date above a seven. This girl, Alice Eve, is a 10. She is literally out of his guy's league. Very smart, very funny. These characters are fully complex. The girl is not a stereotype. I liked it a lot and it's very funny, very surprising and funny.
WHITFIELD: And you know what, Ben, why did I not think of this earlier. The first weekend after the Oscars and you gave us your predictions, and you were so close to being on the money. You were on the money. You talked about "The Hurt Locker", you talked about the director, and are you happy with the outcome from the Oscars?
MANKIEWICZ: Yeah, I was. I was pleased to see "Avatar" not win. I'm not trying to jump on it, but I like -
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: I know since you had talked about you losing, you know, the desire for the movie. Go ahead.
MANKIEWICZ: I'm glad was nominated, but I think "The Hurt Locker" and Inglorious Bastards" were much more worthy movies. And I'm glad that "Avatar" lost some of the momentum and I'm glad "The Hurt Locker" won and I'm glad that Kathryn Bigelow won and I'm glad Jeffrey Fletcher won for screen play for "Precious". I think the basically right decisions were made. I was pleased.
I thought Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin did a nice job.
WHITFIELD: Oh, they were very funny.
MANKIEWICZ: I think most of the hosts have done a good job through the years. I think Chris Rock did a nice job. I thought Jon Stewart did - I thought David Letterman did a nice job. It's a hard job to do.
WHITFIELD: OK, that's true. I could have seen a little bit more of the hosts. Because I felt like we didn't see enough of them. They went away for a long time.
MANKIEWICZ: Yes, they start-they are there a lot in the first hour and then they sort of vanished. That's true.
WHITFIELD: Yes, OK.
Well, when we come back and when you come back, we will talk about DVD releases. That's what you saw, folks, on the screen that popped up a little while ago, "Old Dogs".
I already know what you think about that movie. Because you reviewed it a while back when it was hitting the big screen. Anyway, Ben Mankiewicz, more with you in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: OK, so they didn't take home a statuette for best picture, but two Oscar nominees are now out on DVD. So you can catch them if you didn't see them before the Oscars. Plus an offering of an anti-Oscar kind of film. Are those my words or are those Ben's words?
Film critic and host of Turner Classic Movies, Ben Mankiewicz is back with us now for a look at the new DVD releases out this weekend. Let's begin with "Up In The Air". George Clooney's flick didn't get all the awards they are looking for. But you like this one, didn't you? I think I remember you saying you liked this one.
(CROSS TALK)
MANKIEWICZ: Yes, I definitely liked it. I did. It's like losing the Super Bowl, when you get shut out of the Oscars. You still had a great season and "Up In The Air" is a terrific movie. I thought it might win for a best screenplay Oscar for Jason Wrightman, it didn't. But it has six nominations. I gave it a B plus. I think George Clooney gave a great performance, Anna Kendrick and Vera Formega (ph) gave great performances. It's a terrific movie and those who didn't see it ought to rent it. It's terrific. And certainly worth seeing.
WHITFIELD: "Precious", you mentioned earlier, it's out on DVD. You did mention the award that it got too, but maybe folks missed at this time first time around. Check it out now.
MANKIEWICZ: It won a best adapted screenplay Oscar for Jeffrey Fletcher. Actually that was one of the more emotional speeches on Oscar night. Gabby Sidibe was nominate; she gave a great performance. Monique and Christoph Waltz, from "Inglorious Bastards", I think those were the two best acting performances of the year. Monique was great Christoph Waltz was great. Monique certainly deserved her Oscar. She also had an emotional speech.
Precious is certainly worth seeing. I thought some of it was a little over the top and a little hammered right on the nail, but still certainly worth seeing. Monique's performance is so surprising because you don't expect Monique would deliver that performance considering she is a stand up comedian, and not an actress and this is such an emotional performance.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
MANKIEWICZ: Again, certainly worth seeing. I gave it a B and definitely worth renting.
WHITFIELD: And how did I miss this, earlier, there was Lenny Kravitz. I didn't realize he was in the movie. Now it makes sense to me why he was sitting next to the author.
MANKIEWICZ: Yes.
WHITFIELD: OK, I'm a little slow sometimes. Let's talk about "Old Dogs". John Travolta and Robin Williams in that one. Whoo, I remember you panned that, the movie, a while back. MANKIEWICZ: I'm not normally mean.
WHITFIELD: You were harsh on this one.
MANKIEWICZ: This is just an opportunity to be mean. I don't understand how these two guys who I sort of like, I really don't know how they or their agents looked at the script and said thought, yeah, you know what. Let's do this. I barely even remember the story there. There a couple of single guys and Robin Williams is divorced, and then he had a little fling with Kelly Preston and some twins came out of it. It's so wretched. And I don't know why or how these guys did it.
And I gave this movie an F minus, because it reminded me of a very quick story of my Uncle Joe, who back in the day, was in college and they used to post grades and posted an F minus for him. And he was embarrassed, so he goes to the professor and says professor, it's one thing-I know I didn't do a good job, but why do you post in front of the whole class that I got an F minus. And the professor says to him, Mr. Mankiewicz, I gave you an F minus because the rules prohibit me from giving you a G. I always thought it was a great story. I gave him an F minus because the rules prohibited me from giving it a G.
WHITFIELD: You were being kind in a strange way.
MANKIEWICZ: That's right.
WHITFIELD: Ouch! Ben Mankiewicz, thanks so much. I know what to rent or buy and what not to rent or buy now. Thanks so much for that. See you next weekend.
MANKIEWICZ: Thanks, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: OK. Something is brewing with Tom Hanks and is that Steven Spielberg? Both of them at the white house? Why?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Honored at last, about 175 former civilian women pilots received the Congressional Gold Medal for service during World War II. They were members of the Women Air Force Service Pilots, created in 1942 to fill all types of flying jobs at home, which freed male pilots to go to the frontlines. Fewer than 300 of them are still alive. Dawn Seymour is a proud WASP veteran and one of the very few who flew the massive B17 bomber. She was honored at the ceremony earlier in the week in Washington. I spoke with her about her accomplishments as a World War II pilot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAWN SEYMOUR, FMR. WOMAN AIR FORCE SERVICE PILOT: My best memory of my time is my best landing. I was at Roswell, New Mexico, it had rained and the field was-the runway was still damp. And I came in and leveled off, and pulled back, and I made -- there was no squeak or no noise. The wheels just glided on to the runway and I thought aha, that was it.
WHITFIELD: Was there a moment, at the time, where you felt like you or any of the other women wanted to be in combat? Did you like the idea that you were for the most part training a lot of other male pilots ready for combat, and not getting a chance to be in combat yourself?
SEYMOUR: We were flying the B17 for the gunners who were training at Ft. Meyers, Florida at Buckingham. I remember the first graduation and I thought to myself, was it possible for me to go into combat and fly? I said yes, it was necessary and I could do it. We never had to do it of course, but --
WHITFIELD: What was the lure? About becoming a B17 pilot? Did you feel eager about learning how to be this pilot in the first place? How did you find yourself in this position?
SEYMOUR: Well, it was all by chance and I was asked to be a member of the CPT Organization in Cornell University. There was a program for new pilots and this particular person, Doctor Richard Parmeter (ph) was asked to be director of flight research. He thought there might be some way you could figure out how to avoid pilot training in an airplane, a cheaper method. So I was one of his guinea pigs. That led to Jackie Cochran's program, and I was selected for B17 combat pilot training. I loved it. I just absolutely loved it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Gosh, is she extraordinary or what? She's 92-year- old Dawn Seymour.
Actor Tom Hanks is proving he is as generous a guest as he is an actor. He and director Steven Spielberg held a private screening of the new HBO series "The Pacific" with the first family this week, then he stopped by the White House briefing room to check on an old gift he had given.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM HANKS, ACTOR: You know, because I never served in our military, I will get you another espresso machine. That on is on it's last legs. We have the Pony Espresso, a fine American model. Based on the history of the Pony Express.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you brought this?
HANKS: Well, long ago I would have bought this in probably 1990 dollars. I will see what I can do for the poor slobs in the Fourth Estate here.
(CROSS TALK)
HANKS: Oh, come on. Come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Harsh words. Was he taking a picture of the espresso machine that looked that bad? Hanks sent the espresso machine to the press corps after he and his family took a tour during the 2004 Memorial Day holiday. And he was surprised to find the reporters working there, without a coffee maker. He decided to be generous.
I'm Fredricka Whitfield. In the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM, cities around the country suffering due to the economy. We actually visit one Georgia town where the entire police department has been closed. Don Lemon has the story and the rest of the day's top stories all coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
