TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday, November 20, 2007 through Monday, November 26, 2007
By John Seal
November 19, 2007
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 11/20/07
1:20 AM The Movie Channel
The Inheritors (1998 OST-GER): Set during the 1930s, this pastoral political allegory takes place on an Austrian farm, where a group of ten workers have unexpectedly inherited the wealth of Hillinger, a landowning plutocrat. Hillinger was a swine in life who raped female staff and terrorized male laborers, but his will is surprisingly generous towards his workers, granting them control of his land and livestock. Alas, the peasants are not up to the task, and their proto-collective comes apart at the seams after they find themselves completely at sea and at odds with the neighboring oligarchs. Shot in the subdued tones of an 18th century landscape, The Inheritors is a well-developed character study with elements of black comedy and Marxist polemic thrown in for good measure. Also airs at 4:20 AM.
5:10 AM More Max
John and Jane Toll Free (2006 IND): If you've ever felt uncomfortable receiving South Asia-based customer support from your favorite airline or ISP, John and Jane Toll Free is about to make you feel a whole lot worse. Shot in Mumbai by director Ashim Ahluwalia, this documentary takes a look at this unfortunate business practice, wherein Indian call center employees surrender their cultural and racial identity in order to satisfy the bottom lines of their American and European corporate masters. Ahluwalia focuses on six such wage slaves, who have been dipped in American pop culture, assigned new Anglocentric names, and deposited on the graveyard shift when most US based customers will be calling. It's utterly depressing stuff, but remember - your call is very important to them.
12:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Great Gildersleeve (1942 USA): A huge radio hit in the 1940s (and arguably the first ‘spin-off' in American cultural history), The Great Gildersleeve got the second-feature treatment from RKO in a series of four extremely entertaining films, all of which air in chronological order today. The titular Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve was depicted brilliantly by Harold Peary, who created the character on the Fibber McGee and Molly Show and parlayed it into a lifetime gig that later took in product endorsements as well as radio and film. He's a bloviating windbag deeply impressed with himself, and widely regarded by friends and neighbors in the small town of Summerfield as, well, a bloviating, egocentric windbag. The films are all worth watching, though for my money the best is 1943's Gildersleeve on Broadway, which airs today at 2:30 PM. In this episode, our hero goes to the big city in an effort to convince wealthy Mrs. Chandler (Billie Burke, marvelous as always) not to close down her late husband's wholesaling business, which Summerfield's pharmacist Peavey relies upon for stock. Mrs. Chandler is an eccentric millionairess with an even more eccentric brother (Hobart Cavanaugh) who has a William Tell complex, and the task will not be an easy one! It's also the most transgressive film in the series, as the fey Peavey (Richard LeGrand) gets to dance with Gildersleeve in a hotel nightclub and also dons womens' clothing for the final reel. Watch for Leonid Kinskey in a delightful cameo as a window washing, would-be Lothario who learns some valuable lessons from Throckmorton. It's preceded at 1:15 PM by Gildersleeve's Bad Day, in which Gildy does his civic duty by serving on a jury; and succeeded at 3:45 PM by Gildersleeve's Ghost, wherein Throckmorton encounters a mad scientist, an invisible gorilla, and some spirits from his family tree.
11:00 PM HBO Signature
Padre Nuestro, la Ultima Cita (1985 ESP or 2005 CHI): Now this doesn't happen often! I wasn't going to include this film this week because I hadn't seen it yet, but when I checked out the HBO website to get more information, it soon became obvious that even HBO isn't quite sure what they've got on their hands. The plot synposis listed is for a 1985 feature starring the great Fernando Rey as a high-ranking Catholic clergyman whose illegimate offspring are coming home to roost, but the credits listed are for another, more recent Chilean comedy from director Rodrigo Sepulveda. It's probably worth a look either way, but I'm rooting for Rey!
Wednesday 11/21/07
1:30 AM Fox Movie Channel
Mickey Spillane's Margin For Murder (1981 USA): Spillane's Mike Hammer character made a surprising comeback in the early 1980s thanks to a new TV series starring Stacy Keach as the testosterone-oozing private dick whose gun was quick. This TV Movie of the Week doesn't feature Keach, but was indirectly responsible for the new series, and even earned small screen vet Calvin Clements Jr. an Edgar nomination for his teleplay. The film features future Knot's Landing star Kevin Dobson as Hammer, this time trawling the mean streets of Manhattan in search of the man (or woman) who murdered his best friend. Also along for the ride are best girl Velda (here depicted by Cindy Pickett), who does her darndest to introduce Hammer to feminist theory, and Charles Hallahan as Police Captain Chambers. For my money, Dobson makes a better hard-boiled lead than Keach, and the film wisely avoided the series' mistake of relocating things to sunny Southern California, a locale which, though it may have suited the producer's budget, simply didn't suit the character's temperament.
6:00 PM Sundance
Lower City (2005 BRA): The friendship of two Brazilian men comes apart at the seams when they fall for the same woman in this gritty working-class drama helmed by Madame Sata director Sergio Machado, who got his start assisting the great Walter Salles on Central Station. Set in the coastal province of Bahia, the film stars Alice ‘niece of Sonia' Braga as Karinna, a feisty lady of the evening who fancies sailors Deco and Naldinho (Sata's Lazaro Ramos and Wagner Moura, respectively). The jolly jack tars spend most of their days hauling freight along the Brazilian coastline, but when along-for-the-ride Karinna finds herself with a bun in the oven, business takes a backseat to possessiveness and jealousy, with predictably violent results. The film does little to damp down stereotypes of fiery Latin love affairs, and Ms. Braga seems willing to drop trow at any and all opportunities, so if you like a little sizzle with your steak, give Lower City the once-over. Also airs 11/24 at 8:30 PM.
10:00 PM Sundance
State of Fear (2005 USA): There was a time in the 1990s when Peru's Maoist revolutionary army, the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), almost acquired a patina of radical chic, with luminaries such as Rage Against the Machine's Zack de la Rocha giving complimentary shout-outs to philosophy professor and Path leader Abimael Guzman as he fought to bring down the corrupt governments of Fernando Terry, Alan Garcia, and Alberto Fujimori. Shining Path won some converts in the vast Peruvian hinterlands by summarily executing landowners, merchants, cattle thieves, and other assorted rotters, but soon began to alienate peasants by forcibly enlisting them in the revolution and killing those who wouldn't go along for the ride. This excellent documentary takes a look at the last four decades of bloodshed, during which 50,000 civilians lost their lives to overzealous security forces and bloodthirsty Maoists, who also had a profound hatred for homosexuals, which is probably a point de la Rocha wasn't aware of at the time he shot the video for RATM's Bombtrack. I hope. As for State of Fear, it's a terrific film that also draws some uncomfortable parallels between power-mad Peruvian President Fujimori and our own Dear Leader, who has a bit of a terrorism obsession himself.
Thursday 11/22/07
9:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Crowd (1928 USA): It's not King Vidor's greatest - that honor would probably be reserved for 1926's The Big Parade - but The Crowd is still one of the most memorable films of the silent era. It's the story of a born-on-the-Fourth of July Everyman, Johnny Sims (James Murray), trying to adapt to the hustle and bustle of modern life circa the Roaring Twenties. The film avoids most of the dramatic cliches you might expect – it's not the typical rise and fall story of a man driven to succeed - and features a subtle performance by Mrs. King Vidor, Eleanor Boardman, as Johnny's wife. Bolstered by marvelously evocative location work in New York City, The Crowd garnered only two Oscar nominations, but has aged better than most of its contemporaries.
Friday 11/23/07
5:00 PM Sundance
Muhammad Ali, the Greatest (1969 FRA): Not to be confused with the more familiar 1977 docudrama The Greatest, this is a rarely seen feature from expatriate American director William Klein. It's a documentary that places Ali in a broader cultural and political context, from his humble upbringings in the racially segregated South to his counterculture status as a symbol of ‘Black Power' who preferred jail time to service time during the Civil Rights era. Filled with amazing footage of the turbulent ‘60s, Klein's film deftly intertwines the media image of Cassius Clay with the reality of Muhammad Ali, who gamed and beat the system designed to milk him for whatever he was worth. Not to be missed.
Saturday 11/24/07
2:25 PM Showtime Extreme
Born to Defense (1986 HK): Young Jet Li (in only his third picture) plays Jet, a Chinese soldier subjected to the scorn of his countrymen after the Yankees come to town and lend a hand in the waning days of World War II. Jet can't get any respect from the local Tsing Tao villagers, who sneer at his battalion whilst heaping praise upon the glamorous Americans - but when a Yank officer runs over an elderly man with his tank, they rapidly change their tune. Jet soon finds himself trying to bring the killer to justice, and utilizing both traditional martial arts and western boxing techniques to do so. Born to Defense also marked Li's debut behind the camera, and though it's clearly the work of a beginner, is reasonably entertaining if a bit rough around the edges.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Movers & Shakers (1985 USA): This is not a good film, but it is an interesting one, especially when you consider all the talent involved. Purportedly a comedy about the machinations of Hollywood, Movers & Shakers was a vanity production for actor Charles Grodin, who spent years shopping his screenplay before United Artists took the bait. Grodin cast himself as Herb Derman, a down on his luck writer (what a surprise) who joins forces with producer Joe Mulholland (Walter Matthau) and director Sid Spokane (Maude's Bill Macy) in order to bring a sex manual entitled Love In Sex to the big screen. Unfortunately, the foreplay is better than the climax, and instead of following the (fictional) film through various stages of production, the (real) film bores us with uninteresting stuff about the personal lives of the characters. That said, Movers & Shakers is still worth a look for its cast (which also includes Vincent Gardenia, Tyne Daly, Gilda Radner, Steve Martin, Penny Marshall, and Luana Anders) and its crew (led by Beach Party director William Asher). It's currently unavailable on home video and makes its widescreen television premiere this evening.
Sunday 11/25/07
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Green For Danger (1946 GB): Alistair Sim headlines as Inspector Cockrill in this extremely good murder mystery about the killing of a postman, apparently at the hands of the medical staff tending to him at a hospital somewhere in rural England. Cockrill is investigating the death of Higgins, a Royal Mail carrier whose wartime injuries cause him to be wheeled into the operating theatre alive and wheeled out dead. Nurse Bates (Judy Campbell) suspects foul play, but she, too, ends up a victim, and it's up to Scotland Yard's finest to solve the case. Was it Nurse Freddie (Sally Gray), in the theatre, with the anaesthesia? Or was it Dr. Barnes (Trevor Howard), also in the theatre, with the scalpel? Or perhaps it was a dose of MRSA delivered by a doctor with dirty hands. Directed by Sidney Gilliat and produced by Frank Launder, Green For Danger is equal parts shaggy dog tale and murder mystery, with as much pleasure coming from watching Sim go through the motions as from trying to figure out who the killer is. Look for the big screen debut of an unbelievably young-looking Hattie Jacques.
9:00 PM Sundance
Lady Vengeance (2005 ROK): The third and final film in director Chan-Woo Park's loosely related trilogy of ‘revenge' stories (the first two being Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy), Lady Vengeance stars Lee-Young Ae as Geum-ja, a beautiful woman who is also the confessed and convicted murderer of a five-year old child. Geum-ja has done her time, though, and like villains the world over has found a modicum of peace via religious conversion, in this case to Christianity. But she's also harboring a secret - an obsession with her old high school teacher Mr. Baek (Min-sik Choi), who has a few skeletons of his own in the closet. It's thrilling, deeply dark and disturbing stuff that will leave you feeling a little queasy - even if you've already experienced Park's frequently gruesome set pieces in other films.
11:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Age of Consent (1969 AUS): After the critical hammering that greeted Peeping Tom, director Michael Powell found himself on the outs with mainstream producers, and ended up briefly relocating to Australia in order to get a job of work. After directing the engaging immigrant-out-of-water comedy They're A Weird Mob in 1966, Powell went on to helm this semi-autobiographical drama about an over the hill artist (James Mason) who relocates to a remote island, where his muse is rekindled by the love of a sexy young thing (Helen Mirren in the buff!). Shot on the Great Barrier Reef, this lesser (though thankfully less pretentious) Powell feature makes its commercial-free American television debut this evening.