TiVoPlex
By John Seal
September 5, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 9/6/11
8:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
I Walk Alone (1948 USA): Younger readers - say, those under 25 - may think this film is named after a Green Day song, but they’d be mistaken. I Walk Alone is actually a screen adaptation of a play by Theodore Reeves, and a good one at that. Directed by action and sci-fi specialist Byron Haskin, the film stars Burt Lancaster as Frankie Madison, a newly released ex-con looking to get his share of the proceeds from the alcohol he sold during Prohibition days. But times have changed, and with the demon rum now legal again, Frankie learns that former colleague Noll Turner (Kirk Douglas) isn’t so keen to stick to their previous 50-50 agreement. With Douglas and Lancaster on screen, you can imagine the amount of leering and teeth-gnashing that goes on. First-rate support comes courtesy sexy Lizabeth Scott, beanpole Wendell Corey, menacing Marc Lawrence, and resolutely unsexy man mountains Mike Mazurki and Brick Sullivan.
Wednesday 9/7/11
5:00 PM Sundance
PVC-1 (2007 COL): Remember that recent news story about an Australian schoolgirl who had a bomb attached to her by someone planning to blackmail her wealthy parents? Maybe the villain had been inspired by this Colombian thriller - which, apparently, was itself based on a true story! Like Robert Wise’s 1949 noir The Set-Up, PVC-1 takes place in "real-time": filmed in a single taut 85-minute take, it relates the terrifying tale of a farmer with a pipe-bomb clamped around her neck. Apparently, director Spiros Stathoulopoulos did endurance training for several months in order to prepare himself for the ordeal of shooting the film in one take. His efforts paid off: PVC-1 is an exciting thriller that clearly benefits from the real-time "gimmick."
9:00 PM Sundance
Hadewijch (2009 FRA): Oh, those naughty nuns! Ever since Jacques Rivette’s 1966 opus The Nun, Brides of Christ have been a popular staple of both exploitation and art-house cinema. Here’s one of the more recent genre entries, a Bruno Dumont-helmed think piece about a young nun (Julie Sokolowski) expelled from her convent for simply being too damn devout. Desperate to get intimate with God, our heroine goes in search of a spiritual experience, and finds it in the form of Nassir (Karl Sarafidis), a Muslim fundamentalist with some rather extreme views of his own. Together, they make beautiful apocalyptic music together! Hadewijch is definitely not easy viewing, but if you’re in the mood for something on the contemplative and/or spiritual side of the ledger, it’s worth a look.
Thursday 9/8/11
5:00 PM The Movie Channel
Giallo (2008 ITA): For those of you unfamiliar with the term giallo, it’s generally used as a genre pigeon-hole for films featuring gloved hands, knives, and deeply confusing and/or illogical plot developments. The style is considered to be the child of director Dario Argento (whose other child is actress Asia Argento) and took its name from a popular series of Italian pulp magazines, distinctively printed with yellow (giallo) covers. History lesson now out of the way, what of Giallo: The Movie? Well, it ain’t great, but it ain’t terrible, as is pretty standard operating procedure for any film headlined by Adrien Brody and directed by...Dario Argento! Brody plays Enzo Afolvi, a police inspector tasked with tracking down a kidnapped woman in Turin. Her sister (Emmanuelle Seigner) is convinced she’s still alive, but Afolvi is not so sure - he thinks she may have fallen prey to a serial killer known as (drum roll please) Giallo! Though far from classic Argento (you’ll have to check out 1973’s Deep Red for that), Giallo is at least entertaining and not quite as opaque as some of the filmmaker’s output. Also airs at 8:00 PM.
Friday 9/9/11
1:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Savages (1972 USA): This week’s winner in the "it’s okay to occasionally like a Merchant-Ivory" film sweepstakes, Savages is one of the oddest and most intriguing entries in the normally hoity-toity producers’ filmography. Set on Long Island during the 1930s, the film explores what happens after a primitive tribe known as The Mud People move into an upscale neighborhood: specifically, culture clash and croquet. To add to the weirdness, the film features a cast you wouldn’t expect to see in a Merchant-Ivory feature, including Susan Blakely, Martin Kove, and Ultra Violet! Perhaps someone spiked the Merchant-Ivory punch with some strong acid during the early ‘70s?
6:30 PM Showtime
Glorious 39 (2009 GB): Ready for a period thriller with a hint of flag-waving? Here’s a British film bristling with old fashioned patriotism - the kind they used to make back in dubya dubya two! Set in the immediate days before the outbreak of the war, Glorious 39 relates the story of the moneyed Keyes family, most notably Anne (Romola Garai), a young actress who stumbles into a world of appeasement, intrigue, and Hitler sympathizers. The story - a blend of elements drawn from Graham Greene and Alan Bridges - is decent enough, but the primary reason to tune in is the film’s exemplary cast, which also includes Bill Nighy, Jeremy Northam, Christopher Lee, David Tennant, and Julie Christie.
8:30 PM The Movie Channel
Les Formidables (2007 ROK): A Korean crime movie...on The Movie Channel? I shit you not! Les Formidables stars Joong-Hoon Park as a policeman taken hostage by a man whose attempts to go straight and open his own restaurant have been stymied by a conviction for a crime he didn’t commit. Complicating matters is a sick child in need of a liver transplant. If you’re looking for a story of redemption with a buddy movie twist, here you go.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Breakin’ (1984 USA): What more can be said about this stone cold hip-hop classic? There’s only one thing better than watching Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp gettin’ down in their parachute pants - and that’s watching them do it in widescreen, which is what will happen tonight on TCM! I was hoping Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo would also be airing, but unfortunately Breakin’ is being followed at 1:00 AM by 1979’s Roller Boogie. Now don’t get me wrong - I’m a Roller Boogie fan, too - but it would have been great to have both parts of the Breakin’ diptych air back to back in their original aspect ratios.
Saturday 9/9/11
8:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Zorro Rides Again (1937 USA): Chapters 6 and 7 of this Republic serial air this morning.
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957 GB): The first of several Tarzan features produced in Britain but shot in Africa, Tarzan and the Lost Safari marks the point where the series began to get its second wind. Filmed throughout the continent (but primarily in British colonies), the film sees Gordon Scott return as the buffest T-man this side of Weissmuller, and revolves around the Jungle Lord’s efforts to guide some plane crash survivors to safety. The film benefits from the presence of Britpic regulars such as Wilfrid Hyde-White and Betta St. John, but plot-wise is fairly hackneyed, not straying too far from the RKO formula of old. Better was about to come, as we will discover in the weeks ahead!
5:00 PM HBO
127 Hours (2010 GB): Danny Boyle’s superb, sun-baked paean to the pleasures of do-it-yourself surgery makes its television debut this evening. Josh Brolin stars as Aron Ralston, a selfish little prick who learns a lot about himself - and the various and sundry uses for a penknife - over the course of a multi-day sojourn in a narrow canyon. Barf bags are recommended for the faint of heart. Also airs at 8:00 PM and throughout the month.
Monday 9/11/11
11:00 PM Sundance
In Their Sleep (2010 FRA): Annie Parillaud stars as a woman in distress in this predictable but never less than watchable French thriller. Parillaud play Sarah, a woman in mourning for her late son, who jumped to his death months earlier in a fit of ennui. When Sarah runs across Arthur (Arthur Dupont), a young man of similar age and mien to the dear departed, she takes him under her wing - not realizing that by doing so she’s placing herself in great danger. Arthur, as it transpires, is fleeing from a very angry burglar (Thierry Fremont) - and that burglar isn’t going to let anything get between him and his beat-down. Written and directed by siblings Caroline and Eric du Potet, In Their Sleep won’t cause you to lose any of your own, but it will keep your attention.