TiVoPlex
By John Seal
July 20, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 07/21/09
4:20 AM More Max
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954 USA): By happy coincidence, I happened to scope out a big screen, 3-D revival of this beloved creature feature just a few weeks ago, and whilst I enjoyed the pic as much as ever, it's quite remarkable how much the 3-D process has improved since the 1950s! Anyhow, 3-D probably won't be an issue on More Max tonight. The story - of scientists exploring a remote portion of the Amazon basin in search of clues proving the existence of a strange creature from the Devonian period - is simplicity itself, but the execution is what makes Creature From the Black Lagoon a worthwhile venture. Well shot by William Snyder and more than competently directed by Jack Arnold, the film also benefits immensely from its uncredited score, apparently a collaborative effort by Henry Mancini and Hans Salter. The underwater photography is exemplary, as is the performance of Ricou Browning, who donned the Creature's outfit for the sub-aquatic sequences - but let's not overlook the film's biggest attraction: lovely Julie Adams, perhaps the first woman I ever had a crush on (at the age of ten, I believe). Will there be room in the forthcoming remake for cameo appearances by Julie and Ricou? Probably not, but we can hope...in the meantime, here's an excellent opportunity to reacquaint yourself with an old, if rather damp, friend.
6:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Secret Partner (1961 GB): This somewhat disappointing Basil Dearden thriller is still worth a look, especially if you're a Stewart Granger fan. Granger plays John Brent, a shipping company employee being blackmailed for earlier sins by - his dentist (Norman Bird)! To complicate matters, when 135,000 pounds sterling go missing from the company vaults, Brent is immediately suspected of the crime, and it's up to redoubtable Detective Inspector Hanbury (Bernard Lee) to track him down and slap on the cuffs - presuming, of course, he's guilty. Dearden's reputation rests on socially conscious pictures such as Sapphire, Victim, and All Night Long, and what's perhaps most disappointing about Secret Partner is its inability to engage an issue. If you can temper your expectations and settle for a rather rote thriller, however, you'll enjoy it.
7:00 PM Sundance
Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home (2008 USA): How much trash can one All-American family generate over the course of three months? That's the uncomfortable question posed by this amiable if pointed documentary from filmmaker Andrew Nisker. Nisker focuses on the MacDonalds, a family of five who gamely start to gather their increasingly gamey garbage in the garage. The film also takes some side journeys with other folks' rubbish to see what happens to it after it leaves the driveway. It ain't pretty.
Wednesday 07/22/09
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951 USA): I really shouldn't be encouraging anyone to watch a subpar horror film like Son of Dr. Jekyll, but sometimes I'm like The Troggs and can't control myself. Louis Heyward stars as the titular offspring, unaware of Dad's unsavory reputation until he inherits his estate, which comes complete with some rather outré chemical recipe books. Jekyll fils is determined to prove Jekyll pere wasn't insane and was actually on to something good and useful, and, well, you can pretty much fill in the blanks from there. It's about as good as you can expect a 1951 horror movie to be, which is saying very, very little indeed.
1:30 PM Sundance
This is England (2006 GB): My favoritest film of all 2007, Shane Meadow's study of working class adolescents in 1980s Britain makes an encore appearance on Sundance tonight. Young Thomas Turgoose stars as Shaun, a small-for-his-age kid trying to find a place for himself amidst the Nottingham yoof scene. He befriends some of the local (multi-racial) skinheads, gets a crop and braces, and hangs out in the neighbourhood caff. Things change for the worse, however, when hard man Combo (Stephen Graham) comes home after doing a stretch in HM Prisons, flexing his street cred and dragging his easily manipulated pals to meetings of the racist National Front. Meadows avoids the predictable good/bad, black/white paradigms, and though Combo is a deeply unpleasant fellow, he still has enough shades of grey to make you sympathize with him — to a point. The film's Falklands War coda doesn't completely gel with what has gone before, but this is still a very powerful, superbly acted coming-of-age drama. Here's hoping Meadows' latest, Somers Town, gets a big screen American release soon - so far, it's only made it to a couple of Stateside film fests.
8:00 PM Sundance
My Winnipeg (2007 CAN): Cinema gadfly Guy Maddin takes the semi-autobiographical route in My Winnipeg, his most recent theatrical release. This being Maddin, however, things are apparently far from normal in backwoods Manitoba, where a soap opera entitled Ledge Man - featuring a man contemplating suicide in every episode - has just been cancelled after a good 50 year run. But don't worry: there's plenty of hockey, ice-skating, and horse-head eating, as well as Detour-star Ann Savage's first screen appearance in 20 years! Also airs 7/23 at 2:30 AM and 7/26 at 1:00 PM.
Thursday 07/23/09
1:05 AM HBO Signature
El Bano del Papa (2007 URU): I must plead ignorance regarding this film, but c'mon...you know you want to see a Uruguayan movie! It's a drama about Pope John Paul II's South American tour in 1988, and scooped up almost a dozen awards at various and sundry Latin film festivals. Apparently, the title translates into English as "The Pope's Toilet", which doesn't make it sound all that enticing, so I think I'll keep calling it El Bano del Papa.
5:00 PM Sundance
Comedy of Power: (2006 FRA): Japan has Takeshi Miike, Spain has Jesus Franco, and France has Claude Chabrol. I'm talking about filmmakers who just keep churning the stuff out, ad infinitum and sometimes ad nauseam. Sundance is offering a Chabrol double bill tonight, featuring two of the busy director's most recent features. Chabrol is revered for his crime films of the ‘70s, many of which have earned recent US home video releases, but his 21st century fare doesn't have a particularly good reputation. Comedy of Power, however, is a reasonably sprightly affair, and features Isabelle Huppert as a fearless magistrate out to nail some white collar miscreants, including shameless CEO Humeau (Francois Berland). Success comes at a price, however: her marriage starts to suffer and company goons threaten to let the air out of her tires. And there's a mole involved, which is more than you can say for most French films! Comedy of Power also airs 7/24 at 1:00 AM, and is followed at 7:00 PM by Chabrol's very next film, Girl Cut in Two, about a TV weather woman (Ludivine Sagnier) being wooed by two very different men.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Of Mice and Men (1939 USA): Okay, maybe it wasn't Hollywood's greatest year (my money's on 1957), but 1939 WAS pretty decent. Here's one of that sainted year's classics, but one that tends to be overshadowed by Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, amongst others. Based on John Steinbeck's novella of the same name, the film stars Burgess Meredith as George, the unofficial caretaker of simpleton Lenny (Lon Chaney, Jr.). George and Lenny dream of striking out on their own - but unfortunately, they're employed in near servitude on Whit's (Noah Beery, Jr.) ranch, where their run-ins with foreman Slim (Charles Bickford) complicate matters considerably. Though rightfully not as well-regarded as 1940's Steinbeck adaptation, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men remains a deeply moving - if deeply manipulative - character study from director Lewis Milestone.
Sunday 07/26/09
3:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Pier 5, Havana (1959 USA): Whilst the aforementioned Jesus Franco is in a class by himself, Miike and Chabrol are loafers in comparison to legendary director Edward L. Cahn. Cahn, who came to a tragic early end in 1963 no doubt resulting from overwork, churned out seven features in 1959, including this low-rent crime drama. (Unsatisfied with his lackluster work ethic, Eddie managed to put ten in the can in 1960, with a further eleven following in 1961.) By and large, these are run of the mill second features, but many of them have redeeming qualities - for example, Invisible Invaders obvious influence on the work of George Romero, and The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake's utter and complete nuttiness. As for Pier 5, Havana, it offers Cameron Mitchell, 50-Foot Woman Allison Hayes, and Creature From the Black Lagoon's Nestor Paiva in a tale of Cuban intrigue revolving around an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro. It's followed at 4:30 AM by Personal Affair, a completely unrelated British feature from 1953 that I've never seen, starring Leo Genn as a school teacher who becomes romantically entangled with one of his students (Glynis Johns).
6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945 USA): Jack Benny spent the rest of his career bemoaning his appearance in this Warners comedy, but truth be told, it's nowhere near as bad as Benny made out. In fact, I really like it, which is more than I can say for most Hollywood comedies of the period. Jack plays a minor league trumpet player who falls asleep on the job and subsequently dreams he is Athanael, the angel chosen by God to blow the Last Horn signalling the end of the world. When Athanael misses his deadline, two other angels decide to steal his trumpet in order to extend their stay on Earth, and the game is on. Produced by the great Mark Hellinger, with music by Franz Waxman, and co-starring Alexis Smith, Guy Kibbee, and Mike Mazurki, The Horn Blows at Midnight was arguably the last of the great screwball comedies and comes highly recommended.
6:00 PM IFC
Platoon (1986 USA): I can generally live without the collected works of Oliver Stone - though I must acknowledge that JFK is the greatest propaganda film since Triumph of the Will - but I'm reasonably pleased to report the widescreen television debut of Ollie's autobiographical Vietnam War drama. It's no Full Metal Jacket, mind, but it's certainly an improvement on The Doors or Natural Born Killers. Also airs 7/27 at midnight.
Monday 07/27/09
6:00 PM HBO
Yes Men Fix the World (2009 USA): For those who enjoyed 2004's muckraking documentary The Yes Men, here's a sequel, in which the Gilbert and George of crony capitalism take aim at those who profit from others' misfortune. The focus this time: Dow Chemical, owners of Union Carbide, whose chemicals have brought unending misery to the people of Bhopal, India, for the last quarter century. The Yes Men also get their licks in against perennial environmental whipping boys Exxon, as well as the many contractors hoping to make a quick buck in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Heckuva job, boys! Also airs at 9:00 PM.