TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday, April 24 through Monday, April 30, 2007
By John Seal
April 24, 2007
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 04/24/07
5:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
The 300 Spartans (1962 USA): It wouldn't warrant a mention in TiVoPlex most weeks, but with Zack Snyder's homoerotic beefcake epic 300 still in theatres after hauling in an impressive $200,000,000 to date, now is the right time for a little compare and contrast. Whereas Snyder opted for over the top sex and violence to retell the tale of the buffed up Spartan hunks, director Rudolph Mate took a more austere, historically accurate route to Thermopylae - assuming, of course, Herodotus knew of what he wrote, which is itself a questionable proposition. Star Richard Egan plays Leonidas, the king determined to head off Xerxes at the pass and save Greek democracy (which in the fifth century BCE bore next to no similarity to modern-day democracy), and though lacking Gerard Butler's testosterone-enhanced loincloth, his performance is reasonably effective. The action sequences are well-mounted, the cast laden with quality British thesps such as Ralph Richardson, David Farrar, and Laurence Naismith, and the widescreen cinematography - courtesy the great Geoffrey Unsworth - expansive and beautiful. Mate's film is basically a big budget, major studio take on the sword and sandal trope, and though a bit overlong, at least takes itself seriously - as opposed to Snyder's laugh-a-minute effort, which in a few years will be considered a camp classic on a par with Showgirls. Of course, there's value to be had from camp, and The 300 Spartans is determinedly short of that ingredient. On balance, it's by far the better film, but 300 ultimately delivers all sorts of unintentional entertainment value via its blend of florid dialogue and outrageous appeals to the crasser parts of our nature. One day the two films will make a great ‘midnight movie' double bill.
8:00 AM Turner Movie Channel
The New Interns (1964 USA): I generally disdain hospital dramas, but this one is essential viewing, if only for its remarkable cast. It's an episodic soap opera about three young interns finding their way around a big city hospital whilst contending with mental illness, overactive hormones, professional jealousies, and a surfeit of other sudsy problems. The trio of medicos are played by Michael Callan, George Segal, and George Furth, but you're not going to be tuning it to watch those stiffs - the real attraction is the cornucopia of future boob tube stars amongst the supporting cast, including Disney veteran Dean Jones, I Dream of Jeannie's Barbara Eden, Gilligan's Island's Dawn Wells, and The Girl From UNCLE's Stefanie Powers, as well as Telly Savalas, Inger Stevens, Sue Ann Langdon, Marianna Hill, Bob Crane, and TiVoPlex idol Charles Lane. The story isn't terribly engaging, but you'll have fun playing spot the star, and it all happens in widescreen, too.
6:30 PM Sundance
Waste=Food (2007 USA): How's that for an enticing title? Sundance is airing a series of original eco-documentaries this month, and though I'm a little uncertain about the focus of this one, I couldn't overlook the title's potentially unsavoury double meaning. Does Waste=Food refer to our wasteful methods of portion control, wherein we are served too much food which ultimately ends up in the wastebasket? Or does it refer to the, ahem, ‘recycling' of human waste products into something delicious and nutritious? Perhaps it's true, after all, that Soylent Green is people. I'm looking forward to finding out. I think.
Wednesday 04/25/07
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Big Shot (1942): Humphrey Bogart stars as armoured car hold-up specialist Duke Berne in this oft overlooked Warners crime drama, which, surprisingly, makes its TCM premiere this evening. Duke's been trying to go straight, but finding it very difficult indeed, and when crooked lawyer Martin Fleming (Stanley Ridges) offers him a quick and easy way to make a fast buck he succumbs to temptation and prepares for One Last Big Heist. After sweet young thing Lorna (Irene Manning) convinces Duke to quit the job, Fleming goes ahead with it anyway - and the police immediately suspect that Berne was involved with the crime. This was Bogart's last gangster picture, and he once again found himself filling in for poorly advised George Raft, who had already surrendered plum roles in both High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon to Bogie. No one will ever mistake Duke Berne for The Petrified Forest's Duke Mantee, but Bogart invariably delivered a good performance, and his work in The Big Shot is no exception to the rule.
Thursday 04/26/07
3:20 AM IFC
The Agronomist (2003 USA): Jonathan Demme's documentary look at the world's happiest political dissident, Haitian broadcaster and cineaste Jean Dominique, returns to the small screen today. Dominique owned and operated the feisty Radio Haiti-Inter, a Creole language station that spoke the truth to that nation's poverty-stricken peasants in their own tongue. Filmed over the course of ten turbulent years, the film follows Dominique's travels into and out of exile and details his growing disenchantment with the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and subsequent assassination. This marvelous film about a man of principle who refused to take the path of least resistance should be required viewing for all the talk-radio gasbags currently polluting America's airwaves. Also airs at 8:55 AM and 2:30 PM.
5:00 PM HBO
Trials of Darryl Hunt (2006 USA): In 1984, a young African-American man named Darryl Hunt was convicted in North Carolina of the rape and murder of a white woman named Deborah Sykes. His conviction was based on the testimony of an admitted member of the Ku Klux Klan and was delivered by an all white jury. Twenty years on, and following a retrial, Hunt was finally exonerated by DNA evidence. The retrial drew the attention of filmmakers Rikki Stern and Anne Sundberg, who spent the next decade painstakingly recording the details of Darryl's court case - which unfortunately saw him remain behind bars for a further ten years. Short, sharp, and to the point, this powerful indictment of our racially biased system of justice airs again at 8:00 PM.
Friday 04/27/07
6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
A Weekend With Lulu (1961 GB): When I was a child growing up in the North West of England, one of my favorite television programmes was The Golden Shot. A game show with a most unusual gimmick - in order to win the top prize, you had to hit a target using a mechanized crossbow operated by a man in a blindfold - The Golden Shot was hosted by comedian Bob Monkhouse, a second string funny man who just so happens to be the star of A Weekend With Lulu. Poor old Bob really wasn't that funny - in the pantheon of British comics, he's right down there with Ken Dodd, another childhood favorite I've long since outgrown - but there's a lovely nostalgic haze about this film, which features our hero as Fred, an ice cream man whose seaside holiday comes a cropper when the mother of his best friend's fiancee accompanies Fred and his chums on their excursion. Irene Handl plays the fearsome battleaxe determined to put a damper on the youngsters' fun, Leslie Phillips (seen most recently in last year's Peter O'Toole vehicle Venus) portrays chum Tim, and gorgeous Shirley Eaton plays daughter Deirdre - and if that isn't enough for you, the film also features such British comedy stalwarts as Sid James and Kenneth Connor in supporting roles. On an interesting side-note, A Weekend With Lulu - Lulu being the name of the family caravan - is one of the most obscure and out of character productions of Hammer Films, the outfit best known for their ornate series of gothic horrors in the 1950s and ‘60s.
2:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Five Golden Hours (1961 GB): The inimitable Ernie Kovacs went to Rome to star in this oddball comedy about Aldo, a grifter who makes his living hearse chasing and providing aid and comfort to wealthy and emotionally vulnerable widows. Aldo meets his match in the grieving but penniless Baroness Sandra (Cyd Charisse), who takes advantage of his latest sleazy scheme (he's cooked up a way to skim some cream off the top of the New York Stock Exchange), absconds with the proceeds, and leaves him high and dry. After a propitious meeting with fellow con artist Mr. Bing (George Sanders) the two cook up a plan to get revenge on the untrustworthy Sandra - but the double and triple crossing has only begun. This twisted comedy of errors from director Mario Zampi also features Dennis Price, John le Mesurier, Ron Moody, and Finlay Currie, and was shot by the great Christopher Challis (Arabesque, A Dandy in Aspic).
Sunday 04/29/07
4:30 AM The Movie Channel
Waking the Dead (2001 USA): A fascinating and compelling exploration of the power of memory set during the 1970s and very early ‘80s, Waking the Dead stars Billy Crudup as Fielding, an aspiring politician who finds himself thrust back into the past when he sees - or imagines he sees? - his deceased girlfriend (Jennifer Connolly) on the street one day. The idealistic Sarah died helping her compadres in the Chilean resistance, and Fielding finds himself riven with guilt about the compromises he's made in order to smooth his path to political victory. A magical realist fantasy sealed in a succulent shell of romance and nostalgia for lost youth, Waking the Dead co-stars Janet McTeer, Hal Holbrook, and Sandra Oh. Also airs at 7:30 AM.
9:00 PM Sundance
Dumplings (2004 HK): If you enjoyed the first episode in the brilliant Asian horror anthology Three...Extremes, you'll be happy to know you can get a second serving of the same story tonight, this time told over the course of a complete 90 minute feature. Starring the beautiful Ling Bai as a woman whose home made dim sum are packed with rare nutrients that can restore middle aged women to their youthful prime, Dumplings is an exquisitely made fear flick rendered all the more chilling by its matter-of-fact tone and icy atmosphere, whilst conveying in the most believable terms a tale that is as ridiculous as it is disturbing. Dumplings is not for the faint of heart, but comes highly recommended for adventurous viewers with strong stomachs.