TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex
By John Seal
June 5, 2007
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 06/05/07
3:45 AM Encore Mystery
The Witches (1967 ITA): It's not really a great movie, but this romantic comedy anthology does feature Clint Eastwood on the cusp of stardom. Presumably shot in Italy after Clint finished his work with Sergio Leone on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Witches consists of five segments directed by Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Vittorio de Sica, and Franco Rossi. Clint appears as a bored husband in de Sica's episode, Una Sera Come le Altra, and whilst his performance here is nowhere near as riveting as his performance as The Man With No Name, its fascinating to see him developing his skills as a comedic actor. Not sure how this qualifies as a candidate for the Mystery Channel, though!
10:00 AM Showtime 2
Britannia Hospital (1982 GB): Lindsay Anderson's acerbic commentary on the state of Britain's National Health Service - and, by extension, of Britain itself - makes its widescreen television debut this morning. Anderson regular Malcolm McDowell stars as Mick Travis, a reporter shooting a documentary about the eponymous Hospital, now celebrating its 500th anniversary and playing host to Britain's beloved Queen Mum, who is coming to dedicate a new surgical center. Unfortunately for the royals, the Britannia is also experiencing industrial action, as its left wing staff are unhappy about the presence of an African dictator ensconced in a private ward, whilst elsewhere on campus unsavory experiments are being conducted under the auspices of brilliant but twisted Professor Millar (Graham Crowden). Scathing in its indictment of contemporary Britain and equally critical of sacred cows both right and left, Britannia Hospital is brilliant satire that, thanks to its uncompromising take-no-prisoners approach, is also far from being a light-hearted popcorn movie.
Wednesday 06/06/07
3:10 AM Starz Edge
The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005 USA): Long-time king of outsider music Daniel Johnston gets his due in this excellent documentary from director Jeff Feuerzeig. A diagnosed manic-depressive, Johnston spent decades recording his special blend of quirky pop music on cassette tape, but began to attract a wider audience thanks to the efforts of admirers Kurt Cobain, Thurston Moore, and others during the early 1990s. Initially signed to the Homestead label and now marketed on the net, his off-kilter oeuvre continues to fascinate the hip-eoisie, and he's now considered the equal of Wesley Willis, Wild Man Fischer, and Tiny Tim. With a story both tragic and uplifting - its subject has spent as much time in mental institutions as in art galleries - Feuerzeig's documentary draws on an apparently limitless well of archival footage shot by the obsessive compulsive (and Christian fundamentalist) Johnston clan. Whether or not you enjoy Daniel Johnston's songs, this is a fascinating film that examines the life of a 40-something man-child who still lives with mom and dad.
8:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Bowery At Midnight (1942 USA): Bela Lugosi plays Frederick Brenner, a criminal mastermind masquerading as a kindly soup kitchen philanthropist, in this low, low budget thriller from Monogram Pictures. Brenner uses his kitchen cover as a front for an assortment of nefarious activities, and when two-bit hood Frankie (Detour's Tom Neal) happens by for a bowl of charity one night, the signs seem propitious for a new round of underhanded monkey business. An enjoyable poverty row feature spiced up with a dash of horror, Bowery At Midnight also features an un-credited Bernard Gorcey as a star-crossed shopkeeper.
1:10 PM Starz In Black
Make It Funky! (2005 USA): Released shortly after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans, Make It Funky! documents the rich musical history and heritage of the Crescent City. The film's centerpiece is a 2004 concert featuring a plethora of rhythm and blues stars, including Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, and Snooks Eaglin, amongst others. Fellow Meter Art Neville provides narration and tells the story of mid 20th century Big Easy music, from Lloyd Price and Fats Domino to Dr. John and Robert Parker. If you love R'n'B, you'll definitely want to get down with Make It Funky!
Friday 06/08/07
7:00 PM Showtime
The Weather Man (2005 USA): Nicolas Cage's career has steadily been going down the crapper, at least artistically, but every now and then he manages to reclaim a little of the gravitas he displayed back in his glory days. Admittedly, the man has always courted popular success as well as critical acclaim - for every Birdy, there's been at least one Moonstruck - but of late a fat paycheck seems to be the major determinant in Mr. Cage's decision making process. Of course, success and acclaim aren't mutually exclusive things, and The Weather Man is a reasonably successful effort to blend the two. Directed by Gore Verbinski, the film features Cage as David Spritz, a television 'meteorological personality' trying to balance his family and work lives, and coming up short in both. It's the perfect metaphor for the actor's career, which probably explains why I quite like it, and is making its widescreen television debut this evening. It re-airs at 10:00 PM.
9:00 PM IFC
Creepshow 2 (1986 USA): This inferior sequel to George Romero's Creepshow makes its letterboxed debut this evening on IFC. This time the episodes involve a cigar store Indian who comes to life and doles out an ass kicking, a group of pot-smoking juvenile delinquents who come to a gooey end whilst on a rafting trip, and a hit and run driver whose victim refuses to go quietly into that good night. The stories - apparently cobbled together at lunchtime by Romero and Stephen King - are pretty stale, but you can't argue with a cast that includes George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Lois Chiles, and Tom Savini. Also airs 6/9 at 12:30 AM.
Saturday 06/09/07
3:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Great Train Robbery (1979 GB): An unknown Michael Crichton film would seem to be an oxymoron, but The Great Train Robbery is the one that got away, and deserves a much wider audience than that which it found on its initial release. If you enjoy caper flicks, you won't want to miss this set-in-Victorian England adventure featuring Sean Connery as a master criminal out to, well, rob a train - a train that happens to be carrying a safe full of gold. It's reasonably suspenseful, flawlessly shot by cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, features a good supporting cast, including Donald Sutherland, Michael Elphick, and Andre Morell, and airs in wide-screen this afternoon on TCM. All aboard!
Sunday 06/10/07
1:15 AM Sundance
R Point (2004 ROK): Sundance's Asia Extreme series is now deep into rerun territory, but of all the films aired during that estimable series, this is the one most worthy of a second look. Set during the Vietnam War, R Point follows a platoon of South Korean soldiers sent to rescue a group of missing compatriots who have come a cropper at the eponymous strategic location. As the soldiers search for their comrades, strange things start to happen - and an overgrown graveyard of French colonial soldiers starts to wield a strange influence upon them. Genuinely creepy, beautifully shot, and featuring some of the best sound effects I've ever experienced in any film, R Point is a brilliant spook fest that will raise a few goosebumps on all but the most horror-inured viewers.
6:00 PM IFC
Kill Bill Volume 2 (2004 USA): If you've been a regular reader of this column, you know I'm far from being a fan of Quentin 'I Have An Opinion About Everything, So Focus the Camera On Me Because I'm Damn Well Going to Share It With You' Tarantino. Consider this strictly one of my informational listings, then, as Kill Bill Volume 2 makes its widescreen television debut this evening (Volume 1 popped up in its correct aspect ratio ages ago on Starz). Also airs 6/11 at midnight.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Shop On Main Street (1965 CZH): According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, this was the Best Foreign Film of 1966. I'm not quite sure I'd agree with that analysis - I probably would have opted for Kwaidan, if given a vote - but it is a heckuva film nonetheless. Set in World War II Slovakia, the story revolves around Tono (Jozef Kroner), a dirt-poor peasant hired - in a roundabout fashion - by a little old lady (Ida Kaminska, whose performance earned her a Best Actress nomination) to help run her sewing business. Unfortunately, she's also a little old JEWISH lady, and when the authorities decide it's time to get rid of the local Jews once and for all, Tono is faced with an impossible dilemma: should he turn her in and claim the remains of her business, or keep quiet and run the risk of endangering his own life? Filmed during the brief Prague Spring of the mid '60s, The Shop on Main Street was co-directed by Jan Kadar, who came to the United States with Kaminska in 1970 to shoot the less-successful fable The Angel Levine.
Monday 06/11/07
3:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Utopia (1950 FRA): Laurel and Hardy's career as a comedy team came to an inauspicious end in this unjustifiably obscure fable about the boys' adventures on a remote Pacific atoll. Whilst traveling to collect an inheritance, Stan and Ollie (as well as their cook and two stowaways) are shipwrecked on an uncharted island, where they proceed to set up their own utopian government. There's just one problem: the island is rich in uranium, and soon the world's superpowers come a-calling to get their hands on it. Utopia has plenty of funny moments, but L & H had aged considerably by this point and don't look entirely happy with the proceedings. Nonetheless, it's a unique footnote to their splendid career, and well worth a look.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Strange One (1957 USA): A film about homosexuality that dares not utter the 'h' word, The Strange One features Ben Gazzara as the aptly named Jocko De Paris, a slimy cadet leader at a military academy in the Old South. Jocko enjoys abusing his authority, and gets plenty of opportunities to do so with an effeminate student named Simmons (Arthur Storch). The school's headmaster (Larry Gates) doesn't like the sadistic De Paris, but finds himself outmaneuvered by the younger man, who uses his sycophantic buddies Koble and Gatt (Pat Hingle and James Olson) to get the goods on his superior. Based on a play by Calder Willingham and originally intended as a showcase for James Dean, The Strange One dances clumsily around its un-stated homoerotic theme, but remains an absolutely fascinating period piece from erstwhile director and Holocaust survivor Jack Garfein, who went on to direct the equally outrageous (but ultimately superior) Something Wild in 1961. Extensively cut on release to lessen the taint of its homosexual subtext, The Strange One is yet another film crying out for DVD restoration - assuming the off cuts still exist in someone's library.