TiVoPlex
By John Seal
December 21, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 12/22/09
2:00 PM HBO Signature
Aparecidos (2007 ARG-SWE): I've written about quite a few Argentinian films over the years, but I'm fairly certain this is the first Argentinian horror film that's been featured in the TiVoPlex. Written and directed by Paco Cabezas, Aparecidos tells the tale of siblings Malena and Pablo and the spot of bother they encounter when they find a notebook detailing a series of unsolved murders. After reading the book, Malena and Pablo begin to experience visions of the events depicted therein, and surmise that the victims' ghosts have been recreating their violent deaths on a daily basis for more than twenty years. Titled The Appeared in English, Aparecidos echoes the fate of those who were disappeared by the Argentine military dictatorship of the early 1980s, rendering it one of the few overtly political horror films of recent vintage. If you enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth, or prefer your spook-shows chilly and clammy but not particularly gory, this will be right up your alley.
6:40 PM Encore Westerns
Five Savage Men (1970 USA): If you like really obscure westerns, they don't get much more obscure than Five Savage Men, produced and penned by J.D. actor Dick Bakalyan and unleashed on an suspecting world as The Animals in 1970. It's basically a rape/revenge thriller done Old West style, with helium-voiced Michelle Carey portraying victim Alice, who hooks up with equally pissed-off Native American Chatto (Henry Silva!) to dole out justice to the three guys who did the deed. And what a trio they are: there's escaped convict Pudge (Keenan Wynn), sleazebag Peyote (Joe Turkel), and scumbucket Jamie (Pepper Martin), all in good need of a thorough thrashing. It's not a very good movie, but if you like Pina Coladas and being caught in the rain, you should be excited about Five Savage Men's Rupert Holmes-penned soundtrack.
Thursday 12/24/09
10:45 AM IFC
The Last Metro (1980 FRA): Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu headline this Francois Truffaut drama set during the German occupation of France, circa 1942. Deneuve plays Marion, the gentile wife of Jewish theater owner Lucas (Heinz Bennent), who's gone into hiding and left his spouse in charge of operations. Marion is casting the company's next production, a play aptly titled Disappearance, and has selected Bernard Granger (Depardieu) as her leading man - without realizing that he is also a member of the resistance and will likely bring the theatre much unwanted attention. Will Lucas' basement hideaway be revealed thanks to Bernard's maquis moonlighting? A relatively mainstream effort by Truffaut, The Last Metro proved to be a critical and popular success in France and abroad, winning a whopping 11 Cesars as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of 1981.
8:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Chicken Every Sunday (1949 USA): If you're a fan of such turn of the century comedy fare as Cheaper By the Dozen, you'll probably dig this gentle George Seaton-helmed laugher about an Arizona family's experiences in the boarding house business. Celeste Holm stars as Emily Hefferan, the long suffering wife of Jim (Dan Dailey), a kind but foolish soul whose monetary misadventures compel the family to take in more and more boarders beneath their Tucson roof. After decades of difficult lodgers, Emily has had her fill, and is determined to divorce Jim. This being a big studio production made within the parameters of the Production Code, you know that love, marriage, and tradition will ultimately triumph, but it's quite good fun anyway. Also in the cast: Natalie Wood as daughter Ruth, Bill Frawley and Whit Bissell as tenants, and Veda Ann Borg as a woman on the run from a rotten husband.
11:50 PM More Max
Freddy Got Fingered (2001 USA): Terrible film. That said, does anything say "Peace on Earth, goodwill t'ward man" quite so effectively as Freddy Got Fingered? If it's a choice between this and Christmas Eve Midnight Mass...well, let's just say the Pope has a difficult decision to make this year.
Friday 12/25/09 and
Saturday 12/26/09
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Holmes for Christmas: The programming geniuses at TCM have done it again with this unprecedented two day salute to the greatest fictional detective of them all. Timed to coincide with the Christmas Day release of Guy Ritchie's re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes — which I must say looks positively dreadful if the trailer is anything to go by — Holmes for Christmas commences with 1939's eerie Hound of the Baskervilles and continues with a further 16 Sherlockian mysteries, including the entire run of Universal features starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson. Early fruit borne from TCM's recent licensing agreement with that famously hidebound studio, no doubt. Amongst the highlights are (on Christmas Day at 10:15 PM) Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour, a very rare British feature from 1931 starring Arthur Wontner as the great man and Ian Fleming (no, not the author) as his loyal sidekick, and (on Boxing Day at 1:00 AM) A Study in Terror, in which Holmes (future Baron Munchhausen John Neville) crosses swords with Jack the Ripper. Sadly, it's not airing in widescreen, but is still very worthy of your attention, and co-stars Judi Dench (in only her third screen appearance), Adrienne Corri, Frank Finlay, and Robert Morley as Sherlock's brother Mycroft. If you don't have the hard drive space to devote to twenty-four hours of Holmes, these are the two to record, as the Universals are all but certain to be released on DVD sooner rather than later.
Saturday 12/26/09
6:00 PM HBO
Revolutionary Road (2008 USA): I used to think Leonardo DiCaprio was an annoying and talentless pretty boy, but my perceptions began to change with 2002's Catch Me if You Can. Since then he's made a series of wise career moves and has gone from strength to strength, with his performance in Martin Scorsese's The Departed being of particular note. I missed Revolutionary Road when it came out last year, but will be making up for that tonight when it makes its small screen debut. Its trailer made it look like a more expansive take on themes explored by Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven, with perhaps a dash of American Beauty bitterness courtesy director Sam Mendes. Incidentally, why the delay on Scorsese's (and Leo's) Shutter Island? I've been looking forward to that one for a while...
Sunday 12/27/09
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Sherlock Holmes (1922 USA): TCM isn't quite done with ol' Sherl just yet, having saved this John Barrymore version for the much-coveted Silent Sunday Night spot. This wasn't the first screen iteration of Arthur Conan Doyle's creation, but I believe it's the earliest feature - length film to survive (thanks mostly to the tireless efforts of historian Kevin Brownlow), and though far from perfect is still more than just a cinematic footnote. Barrymore is decent if not at his best as the great man, but the real pleasures come from the supporting cast, including Gustav von Seyffertitz as a very evil Moriarty, delightful Roland Young as Doctor Watson, and a young William Powell, here making his very first screen appearance. It's an attractive, enjoyable film which benefits from some rare-at-the-time London location photography.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Bicycle Thief (1948 ITA): This neo-realist classic returns to the small screen tonight after an undeserved and quite lengthy absence. Directed by Vittorio de Sica before he went soft, the film stars Lamberto Maggiorani as long unemployed Roman Antonio Ricci, recently hired to post movie flyers around town. Antonio is overjoyed at his good fortune, but the job requires he provide his own transportation—and when his bicycle is stolen, he and son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) are compelled to go to great lengths to try and reclaim it. A simple but beautifully told tale on a par with de Sica's other unimpeachable classic, Umberto D, The Bicycle Thief was penned by Cesare Zavattini, a Communist who didn't let ideological purity get in the way of this magnificent, humanistic tale of hard-knock working-class life.
Monday 12/28/09
3:00 AM Starz
The Class (2008 FRA): Movies about teachers dealing with unruly students are a dime a dozen, but here's one of the best ones you're likely to see. Aspiring novelist Francois Begaudeau stars as Francois, a Paris teacher charged with the tricky task of making French grammar relevant to his multi-ethnic students. Filmed documentary style, The Class is a remarkable fact-fiction hybrid, with some impressive performances from its young cast members (who, unlike their American equivalents, truly are of high-school age), most notably Esmeralda Ouertani as a particularly sharp and cheeky pupil. Also airs at 6:00 AM.