TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for June 15 2010 through June 21 2010
By John Seal
June 13, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 6/15/10
5:15 PM IFC
Benny and Joon (1993 USA): It’s whimsical and rather hokey, but who can resist a film featuring Johnny Depp as the reincarnation of Buster Keaton? Such is Benny and Joon, a romantic comedy-drama in which the young Depp—fresh off his star-making turns in Edward Scissorhands and 21 Jump Street—portrays Sam, a quirky fellow who meets semi-cute with Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson), a schizophrenic who works through her issues by painting. Joon lives with brother Benny (Aidan Quinn), who loses at poker and, in lieu of cash money, must provide bed and board for a relative of the game winner. That relative is, of course, Sam, whose otherworldly ways immediately impress Joon. Love and family dissension inevitably follow. Co-starring a veritable cornucopia of indie film talent, including Dan Hedaya, C.C.H. Pounder, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, and Oliver Platt (what? No Patricia Clarkson?), Benny and Joon airs again 6/16 at 2:05 AM.
5:30 PM Sundance
Addicted to Plastic (2008 CAN): I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Plastic. First synthesized by an American scientist 101 years ago, it's now one of the most common substances on the planet, and this National Film Board of Canada documentary takes a look at how this eco-unfriendly invention earned its ubiquity. The film takes us to the beautiful refuse lagoons of the Pacific Ocean, where thousands of old water bottles huddle together for warmth, and also examines how plastic is now as much a part of the food chain as baseball, Mom, and apple pie. Especially that slice of apple pie you got at the supermarket that came individually packaged in a clear plastic container. Also airs at 8:45 PM.
Wednesday 6/16/10
9:45 AM HBO Signature
Sultanes del Sur (2007 MEX-ARG): A gang of robbers transport their ill-gotten gains from Mexico to Argentina in this flashy but predictable crime drama. Screenwriter Tony Dalton stars as Carlos, one of a group of miscreants trying to exchange stolen dollars for pesos in the land of the pampas. When their parking-lot transaction goes sour and the loot is stolen by a mysterious third party, the gang get busy—if they don’t relocate the dollars, money launderer El Tejano (Celso Bugallo) will be very unhappy indeed. Sultanes del Sur is more style than substance, and frankly overlong even at ninety minutes, but this will probably be your only opportunity to see it.
5:35 PM Sundance
Wendy and Lucy (2008 USA): Or, A Girl and Her Dog. Michelle Williams, here looking totally different than she did in her Academy Award-nominated Brokeback Mountain performance, stars as Wendy, a young woman whose car breaks down on the way to her new job at an Alaskan fish cannery. To make matters worse, her only travelling companion, canine Lucy, soon goes missing when the doggie chow runs out. Stranded and alone in rural Oregon, Wendy attempts to locate her missing pooch whilst sleeping rough and trying to get her car fixed. For those who enjoyed director Kelly Reichardt’s previous film, Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy offers similar rewards: quality writing, excellent acting, and a hint of neo-realism. Also airs at 11:00 PM.
7:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
10 Rillington Place (1971 GB): Richard Attenborough stars as bespectacled serial killer John Christie in this excellent period piece directed by Richard Fleischer. A Yorkshireman living in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood, Christie was also a World War I veteran (and poison gas survivor) who strangled at least six women—including his wife—over a ten year period. The bodies weren’t discovered until after he moved out of the ground floor flat at 10 Rillington Place, but Christie was rapidly apprehended, tried, and executed at Pentonville Prison in the summer of 1953. As for the film, Attenborough delivers one of his finest performances as the killer with the mild-mannered exterior, whilst John Hurt offers superior support as fellow tenant Timothy Evans, whose involvement (or not) with Christie’s crimes remained a contentious issue for decades. Also on hand: Judy Geeson (as Evans’ wife Beryl), Robert Hardy, Sam Kydd, and Andre Morell. Oh, and should the more ghoulish amongst you try to visit 10 Rillington Place on your next visit to London—don’t bother. The building has been torn down and the street renamed and remodeled.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Onion Field (1979 USA): Crime night continues on TCM with the widescreen premiere of The Onion Field, the movie adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh’s hugely popular book of the same name. James Woods essayed his first role as an uptight psycho with his performance as Greg Powell, an ex-con who recruits two-bit street hood Jimmy Smith (Franklyn Seales) as his partner in crime. When the dysfunctional duo get pulled over for broken brake lights by a police cruiser, Powell panics and kidnaps the coppers (John Savage and—yikes!—Ted Danson), one of whom is subsequently murdered in the titular lea. Later apprehended, Greg and Jimmy spend the balance of the film ina Rashomon-stylee, trying to shift responsibility for the crime back and forth. Based on an incident that took place in 1963, The Onion Field co-stars Ronny Cox, Christopher Lloyd and Michael Pataki. It’s followed at 1:15 AM by the incredibly obscure Columbia programmer The True Story of Lynn Stuart, a 1958 tale of an average housewife who goes undercover to help the fuzz smash a dope ring. You go, girl!
Thursday 6/17/10
12:30 AM More Max
The Limits of Control (2009 USA): Jim Jarmusch’s most recent picture flew in and out of theatres before I had a chance to see it. It didn’t receive a warm critical reception, but I’ve been fond of the director’s more recent output, and The Limits of Control reunites him with alumni such as Isaach de Bankole (Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai), Tilda Swinton (Broken Flowers) and Bill Murray (Coffee and Cigarettes). Plus it was shot by the great Christopher Doyle—how bad can it be?
5:00 PM Sundance
Adulthood (2008 GB): Fans of the recently revived Doctor Who will be relieved to know that actor Noel Clarke didn’t drop off the planet after his character, Mickey, was written out of the series. Instead, Clarke plowed his earnings into a film entitled Kidulthood, which he wrote and starred in in 2006, and into this sequel, which he also directed. The likeable Clarke plays the somewhat less warm and cuddly Sam, newly released from prison after serving time for crimes committed in the previous film. Determined to get a fresh start, he quickly finds out that old beefs must be resolved before he can truly put the past behind him. Clarke’s writing is clumsy—his female characters are especially one-dimensional—but he’s a joy to watch on screen, suggesting that his decision to leave the Tardis was the right one. Also airs at 9:50 PM.
Friday 6/18/10
12:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Before Midnight (1934 USA): Edward Arnold (not the actor, but a character portrayed by William Jeffrey) lives in an old dark house with an old dark secret—to wit, family lore suggests he is going to be murdered in the same fashion as his beknighted grandfather. One dark and stormy night, he pops his clogs, but Doc Marsh (Arthur Pierson) claims it was just a case of good old-fashioned heart failure. Police Inspector Trent (Ralph Bellamy) is not so sure, however, and his suspicions are proven correct when an autopsy finds poison in Arnold’s system. Could his death be related to his decades-long sojourn in the mysterious Orient—or did the secretary (Claude Gillingwater) do it? This thoroughly entertaining Columbia second feature was directed by Lambert Hillyer (The Invisible Ray, Dracula’s Daughter), and has atmosphere to spare.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Around the World Under the Sea (1966 USA): …but not in eighty days. This rather pallid science-fiction adventure features Lloyd Bridges as scientist Doug Standish, in command of a submarine travelling the ocean blue in search of earth tremors. It all adds up to an incredibly predicatable, Neptune Factor-style tale, complete with boring romantic subplot and copious nature footage. The supporting cast (including Shirley Eaton, Gary Merrill, David McCallum, and Keenan Wynn) however, offers reason enough to watch.
Saturday 6/19/10
7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Angels in Disguise> (1949 USA): The Bowery Boys investigate a murder. Again. In this, the fifteenth chapter of the series, Hollywood nearly-man Mickey Knox (he turns 89 this coming December) stars as mobster Angles Carson, whilst pin-up girl Jean Dean clocks time as tootsy Vickie Darwell, who (you may be relieved to know) looks nothing like Jane Darwell.
12:45 PM Sundance
Still Walking (2008 JAP): Another contemplative and maudlin examination of the aging process and mortality from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda (After Life, Nobody Knows), Still Walking will remind cineastes of Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story. This time, however, the tables have been turned: the children have travelled to reunite with the elders to celebrate the memory of a deceased sibling, and find that things have, ever so subtly but indelibly, changed over the years—and that some old wounds still haven’t healed. If you’re a Koreeada fan, his most recent effort, Air Doll, is just now beginning its U.S. arthouse run.
11:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
Suspiria (1977 ITA): Dario Argento’s legendary thriller gets a rare widescreen television airing this evening on Fox. It’s the story of an American student (the perfectly cast Jessica Harper) attending a dance academy in Italy, and the strange, bloody things she finds there when she isn’t practicing her échappés and pliés. One of the strangest (and certainly one of the LOUDEST) films of all time, Suspiria doesn’t always make sense (a trait it shares in common with most Argento films), but if ever a film deserved the appelation grand guignol, this is the one.
Sunday 6/20/10
9:00 PM IFC
Gothic (1986 GB): I run hot and cold on director Ken Russell’s output, sometimes within the course of the same film (though Tommy is awful from first frame to last). Such is the case with Gothic, Russell’s paean to the infamous quartet of Lord Byron, Dr. Polidori, and Mary and Percy Shelley, who (at least according to the film) dreamed up Frankenstein during the course of one sexed-up, drug-addled night in the country. It’s basically the Brat Pack set in 19th century England, though Timothy Spall (as Polidori) is never going to be anyone’s idea of Judd Nelson. If you can live with Russell’s apparent conceit that too much is never enough, you’ll at least appreciate the visual qualities of Gothic.
Monday 6/21/10
4:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
His Kind of Woman (1951 USA): Robert Mitchum stars as a gambler up to his ears in loan sharks in this above average RKO crime drama. Bob plays Dan Milner, who accepts a job offering him a cool $50,000, with which he plans to pay off his debt. It’s easy money, too, or so it appears—all he has to do is spend a year in Mexico in a fancy resort. Of course, things aren’t as simple as they appear: he’s actually a victim of identity theft, as mob boss Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr) is going to pretend to be Dan in order to gain admittance back into the United States. Trouble ensues. Co-starring Jane Russell as a sexy songthrush and Vincent Price as a failed Shakespearean actor (shades of Theatre of Blood!), His Kind of Woman was directed by John Farrow and features a score by Leigh Harline.
6:00 PM HBO
GasLand (2010 USA): This brand new HBO documentary played Sundance in January but is only now getting wide exposure. I haven’t seen it yet, but it deals with ‘hydraulic fracturing’, a method by which natural gas is removed from the ground across a wide swath of the Eastern Seaboard. Director Josh Fox, whose family was offered a deal for the gas beneath their property, decided to travel throughhout the region to see what effect ‘fracking’ has had on other communities. Apparently, it ain’t good. Also airs at 9:00 PM.