TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday, November 4, 2008 through Monday, November 10, 2008
By John Seal
November 3, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 11/04/08
2:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Roseanna McCoy (1949 USA): Fair warning: this week's column is going to be heavily biased in favor of Turner Classic Movies. Yes, even more so than it usually is, but that's the nature of the TiVoPlex from time to time - and as much as we appreciate the efforts of the programming folks at Flix and IFC, the lay of the TV land is still very much in the Cinemax/HBO/Showtime mainstream. Which is all well and good and perfectly understandable from a business perspective, but a little boring. Anyhoo, on to our feature presentation! Produced by Sam Goldwyn, Roseanna McCoy brought the legend of the Hatfields and McCoys to the big screen for the first, and so far only time, assuming you don't count that 1975 TV movie of the week that had Jack Palance in it. Goldwyn's feature stars Raymond Massey as the patriarch of the McCoys, who engaged in a 20-year feud with the Hatfields over land on the Kentucky/West Virginia border. The film unfortunately tries to shoehorn a fictional romantic plot into the proceedings, with Farley Granger's Johnse Hatfield trying to crossbreed with Joan Evans titular maid o' the mountains. It's numbingly predictable and lacking in excitement, but in addition to Massey's fine performance, we also get plenty of Aline MacMahon and some terrific cinematography from Lee Garmes.
10:50 PM HBO Signature
Radio Corazon (2007 CHI): I haven't seen this film, and frankly the IMDb synopsis ("three fun, sexy and romantic short films based on true stories as told by the show's listeners to 'Rumpy', an unparalleled radio host") doesn't sound all that promising, but this is the first time I've ever had a Chilean film to write about, so I'm still (marginally) excited. Apparently, the delightfully named Rumpy is a popular figure in Chile, and his radio show is South America's rough equivalent of the Penthouse letters column. Additionally, Radio Corazon was co-produced by someone with the first name of "Cake", and I do love my sweets.
Wednesday 11/05/08
4:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Astonished Heart (1949 GB): An only partially successful attempt to mine the same vein of forbidden love that made Brief Encounter such a huge success a few years prior, The Astonished Heart stars Margaret Leighton as the woman who steals Noel Coward from Celia Johnson, now, in one for the "turnabout is fair play" department, the spouse at the receiving end of an adulterous affair. Coward's part was originally intended for Michael Redgrave, who backed out at the last minute, and it's a little hard to accept the avuncular raconteur as a prize women would fight over. It's all veddy, veddy British and extremely stuffy, but Coward lets loose with a few zingers and it's always interesting to watch a pre-Hammer horror Terence Fisher film.
11:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Take a Hard Ride (1975 ITA-USA): A late in the game pseudo-spaghetti western, Take a Hard Ride makes its widescreen television debut on Fox this morning. Directed by jack of all trades Antonio Margheriti and shot on the Canary Islands instead of Almeria, the film stars former football star Jim Brown as Pike, a cattle wrangler transporting $86,000 in cash to the widow of his now deceased boss (Dana Andrews). Naturally, there are other folks who'd like to get their hands on the stash, including bounty hunter Kiefer (Lee Van Cleef), but Pike has some tough guys on his side, too, including Jim Kelly and Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. It's not pure spaghetti, but it's pretty good fun watching three black action stars putting boot in ass in the Old West. It was the second of three picture the trio made together, and a worthy follow-up to their much loved actioner Three the Hard Way.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Fire over England (1937 GB): Frock flick alert! Frock flick alert! If you're allergic to historical costume dramas, just skip this paragraph and move on to the next entry in this week's column. If, on the other hand, you don't mind the occasional bustle (the kind that doesn't show up in a hedgerow) or periwig, than this film might be for you. Raymond Massey and Flora Robson star as Philip of Spain and Elizabeth I of England, and naturally enough there's a bit about the Spanish Armada, too. Add in Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and Leslie Banks, and a very young James Mason, and you have another quality effort from Alexander Korda's London Films. As an extra added bonus, Korda snagged cinematographic genius James Wong Howe to shoot Fire over London, the first of three pictures Howe shot in Britain in 1937.
Thursday 11/06/08
7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Boy of the Streets (1938 USA): Adorable/incredibly annoying youngster Jackie Cooper stars in this long forgotten Monogram drama about a street tough trying to muscle his way into big city politics. He plays Chuck Brennan, the son of a shiftless ward boss who isn't the big man his son believes him to be. Chuck also has a thing for Norah (Maureen O'Connor), daughter of a tubercular neighbor, and is determined to use his old man's supposed clout to make life easier for her. The film is enlivened by Marjorie Main as old mother Brennan, but like almost all Monogram productions, its low budget is painfully evident, rendering this of primary interest to fans of its two leads.
1:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
First a Girl (1935 GB): This gender-bending musical comedy from Gaumont-British stars Jessie Matthews as Elizabeth, a seamstress with aspirations to tread the music hall boards. Her first casting call doesn't go well, but when she meets female impersonator Victor (Matthews' husband Sonnie Hale), things suddenly perk up on the theatrical front. Victor's mooted to get a particularly juicy role, but when he develops laryngitis, switches places with Elizabeth, who assumes the part of a man playing a woman. First a Girl was a remake of a 1933 German film entitled Viktor und Viktoria, which in turn would later be remade as a big budget Hollywood feature by Blake Edwards, and the three films surely would make for a great triple bill on TCM sometime. Hint, hint, Robert Osborne! It's followed at 3:15 PM by I Thank You (1941), an amusing if threadbare comedy featuring British superstar Arthur Askey as a would-be stage producer trying to secure funds for his latest really big show.
6:00 PM IFC
Edmond (2005 USA): Here's another opportunity for William H. Macy to portray an eccentric everyman, and once again he delivers the goods. This time he plays Edmond Burke, a businessman who finds his life turned inside out and upside down after he stops by to get the word from a storefront fortune-teller. When the seer informs him that he's "not where he belongs", Edmond cashes in his chips, gives up his marriage as a lost cause, and goes on a quest to find, er, the place where he DOES belong, I suppose. Based on a one-act play by David Mamet, Edmond steers dangerously close to Falling Down crypto-fascist territory, but Mamet wisely uses the story to point the finger back at the audience and avoids the visceral white power subtext of Joel Schumacher's repulsive film. Ably directed by horror specialist (and, believe it or not, long time Mamet collaborator) Stuart Gordon, Edmond is yet another reminder that Macy is one of America's greatest living character actors.
Friday 11/07/08
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Trip (1967 USA): Roger Corman's salute to psychedelic drugs makes its TCM debut tonight. Peter Fonda stars as a square TV director trying to understand what it's all about, man. Luckily for him, groovy guru Bruce Dern is on hand to offer him some LSD therapy, and Fonda is plunged into a series of increasingly disturbing fantasy sequences. Though The Trip is, at heart, an exploitation film, Corman famously dosed himself with acid as part of his preparation for the production, and it features one of the greatest musical scores of all time courtesy The Electric Flag. Just remember, kids - it's a Lovely Sort of Death! The Trip is followed on 11/08 at 12:30 AM by Psych-Out (1968), an equally entertaining, if less mind-expanding, look at San Francisco flower power runaways. Dern, Susan Strasberg, Jack Nicholson, and Dean Stockwell all feature, as does the music of the legendary Seeds and the not quite legendary Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Saturday 11/08/08
5:00 PM HBO
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 USA)
versus
7:00 PM Cinemax
Juno (2007 USA): I'm trying something a little different with this entry. Here we have two films, both of which were critical and popular hits last year, each making their American television debuts this evening on different channels. One is a musical, a genre I generally dislike, but one that also features one of my favorite actors (Johnny Depp) and some marvelously gruesome slaughterhouse set pieces. The other is a teen comedy, a genre I also generally dislike, featuring an award winning screenplay from a former sex worker (Diablo Cody). Neither film is airing in their original aspect ratios, a disadvantage that works more against Sweeney Todd than Juno. Which shall I recommend? Okay, enough phony suspense - although I really don't care for the Stephen Sondheim songbook, Sweeney Todd wins hands down. I found Cody's screenplay impossibly arch and completely unbelievable and Ellen Page's one-note performance tiresome after the first ten minutes. In fact, I HATED Juno, especially the bits featuring Jason Bateman, an actor I usually LIKE. Sorry for stringing you along, and this brings the first (and probably last) TiVoPlex smackdown to an end. Maybe we'll have a cage match next week...
Sunday 11/09/08
9:00 PM Sundance
One Missed Call 2 (2005 JAP): Phone calls from the future are STILL killing Japanese young adults in this unremarkable sequel to Takashi Miike's hugely successful 2004 hit. This time, the friends of Kyoko (Mimura) are dropping dead one by one after receiving robo-calls from the John McCain campaign—er, sorry, phone calls from some hellish supernatural force - and it's up to feisty femme journo Takako (Asako Seto) and cop Motomiya (Renji Ishibashi) to finally put the curse to rest. Folks, things would just be a lot easier if you stuck to a landline.
Monday 11/10/08
1:30 AM Cinemax
The Caveman's Valentine (2001 USA): This is not a great film, or even a very good one, but it's making its widescreen television debut this morning and does feature a strong lead performance by Samuel L. Jackson, who's almost always a treat to watch. He plays dreadlocked street person Romulus Ledbetter, a mentally ill musician who's trying to convince the police that a death in the park was not accidental or a suicide, but was in fact the result of homicide. Needless to say, they're not entirely convinced by the bipolar detective's theories. There's also some silly stuff about Romulus re-connecting with his family, but you're really tuning in to watch Jackson get his twitch on. Director Kasi Lemmons tends to pile the sentiment on a little heavily, but it's still worth a look. Also airs at 4:30 AM.
3:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Doctor Faustus (1967 GB): Dick Burton and Liz Taylor star in this fantasy film about the legendary Faustus, who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for a 24-year lease on minion Mephistopheles (the memorable Andreus Teuber), be incredibly wealthy, and gain the love of Helen of Troy. It's been a very, very long time since I've seen this film, but if memory serves, there's a whole lot of dry ice in evidence. Based on Christopher Marlowe's 16th century play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, this was apparently a labor of love for Burton, who co-directed the film with Nevill Coghill and hogs most of the screen time for himself.