TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for September 20 2011 through September 26 2011
By John Seal
September 19, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 9/20/11
1:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Operation Crossbow (1965 GB): Sophia Loren and George Peppard headline this big budget war flick helmed by Michael Anderson. Though top-billed, Loren’s role is actually a small one - she can thank producer and husband Carlo Ponti for that - and the real action revolves around Peppard, here playing John Curtis, a volunteer sent on a dangerous mission: to winkle out secret information about Nazi long range missiles. To do so he must pose as a German engineer along with fellow volunteers Bradley (Jeremy Kemp) and Henshaw (Tom Courtenay) and infiltrate deep within enemy territory. Based on a true story, Operation Crossbow is not as exciting as it could have been, but will still probably satisfy action-adventure fans, who will especially appreciate the film’s Bond-style finale. An excellent supporting cast, including John Mills, Anthony Quayle, Trevor Howard, Lilli Palmer, Richard Todd, Richard Wattis, Allan Cuthbertson, and many others, provides plentiful distraction from the rather routine proceedings.
5:00 PM Showtime 2
The Tournament (2009 GB): Ever wondered what The Olympics would look like if assassination was considered a sport? Watch the Tournament and find out! Here’s the set-up: once every seven years, 30 of the world’s deadliest and most devious cutthroats gather to match poison-tipped umbrellas and radio-controlled shark bombs in a deadly fight to the finish. This year, the competition is taking place in...Middlesbrough?!? Wow, they couldn’t find a swankier location for such a prestigious event? My great-aunt Lillian and her husband Frank lived in Middlesbrough, one of the crappest towns in Britain. Anyhoo, The Tournament features an array of international film stars - including Ving Rhames, Kelly Hu, and Robert Carlyl - running around the Teeside burg trying to knock each other off. Seems to be Shane Meadows would have been the obvious guy to direct this film, but a chap named Scott Mann drew the assignment instead.
Wednesday 9/21/11
5:00 PM Sundance
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009 ESP): Rinko Kikuchi plays a fishmonger with a deadly secret in this unusual Spanish drama. Kikuchi is Ryu, a woman who flogs fish by day whilst moonlighting as a professional assassin during off hours. Hired to take out hapless foreigner David (the always wonderful Sergi Lopez), she finds herself falling for the big lug - and eager to somehow worm her way out of the contract. Easier said than done, of course! Marketed as a thriller, Map of the Sounds of Tokyo is anything but, and will appeal to fans of cerebral cinema and movie think-pieces. Think of it as Lost in Translation with seafood.
9:30 PM Sundance
The Last Deadly Mission (2008 FRA): Or, as it’s known in its native France, MR 73 - a far more enigmatic title that also sounds a lot less like the title of a crummy chop socky flick. Daniel Auteuil stars as Louis Schneider, a past his prime Marseilles copper looking for one last opportunity to restore his reputation and perhaps come to terms with his drinking problem. Said opportunity arises in the form of Justine (Olivia Bonamy), a woman being stalked by the serial killer (Philippe Nahon) who previously killed her parents - and is about to be released from prison. Uh oh. Written and directed by former police officer Olivier Marchal, this top notch character study/crime drama has broad appeal, and comes highly recommended.
10:00 PM Showtime 3
A Beautiful Life (2011 PRC-HK): I haven’t seen this China-Hong Kong co-production, and frankly I suspect the program guide is incorrect in listing it. In fact, I’d put even money that this will be a broadcast of 2004’s A Beautiful Life, a wretched and cliché-driven drama about down and outers in Los Angeles. Just in case, though, 2011’s A Beautiful Life involves an inebriated woman who barfs all over a cop and then falls in love with him. Really.
Thursday 9/22/11
7:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Deceivers (1988 GB-USA): Here’s another example of the Merchant-Ivory production team thinking a little outside the box. Set (like most M-I pics) in India, The Deceivers is an historical drama about the sub-continent’s infamous thugee sect and the British officer (Pierce Brosnan) assigned the unpleasant task of ferreting them out and crushing them. Before you know it, though, he’s donned body paint and gone native...which can only be bad news for non-thugees in the neighborhood. Not only is this darker subject material than you usually encounter in a Merchant-Ivory feature, the film always struck me as being exceptionally dark: must be Brosnan’s makeup, plus the fact that much of the story takes place during the wee, wee hours of the morning.
10:45 PM Sundance
Nitro (2007 CAN): Ready for a French-Canadian action movie, eh? Wait, how do you say ‘eh’ in French? Before your head explodes pondering that conundrum simply tune in to Nitro, a surprisingly good action flick that powered its way to the top of the Quebec box-office in 2007. The film stars Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge as Max, a nice guy forced by unfortunate circumstance - his girlfriend is in desperate need of a heart transplant - to play footsie with some not quite so nice folks, including old gal pal Morgane (Lucie Laurier). The film relies on some hoary Hollywood cliches but for the most part manages to maintain its north of the border personality, and even won a Jutra award for editing! (The Jutras are Quebec’s equivalent of the Academy Awards: admittedly they’re a bit self-limiting, but still, a gong is a gong.)
Friday 9/23/11
9:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Golden Mask (1953 GB): Van Heflin slums it in this cheapo British feature from poverty row outfit Mayflower Pictures. Van the Man plays Nicholas Chapman, a newshound who, along with a brilliant archaeologist (Eric Portman) and his beautiful daughter (Wanda Hendrix), is searching for the titular priceless relic. Of course, priceless relics have more than academic value, and some slimy crooks (Jacques Brunius and Charles Goldner) are on the job, too. Who will get there first? There’s some second unit Algerian photography to spice up the affair, but much of the film relies on stock footage and process work to convey location. That said, cinematographer Oswald Morris does the best he can on a low budget, and Portman is particularly good.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Five on the Black Hand Side (1973 USA): Before there was Barbershop, there was Five on the Black Hand Side: produced independently, the film was marketed by distributor United Artists as a "blaxploitation" feature but is really more of an ensemble character study. Set in a Los Angeles barber shop, the story revolves around the folks who drift in and out of the life of shop owner Brooks (Leonard Jackson) - not least, his irksome family, including about-to-be wed daughter Gail (Bonnie Banfield), black power advocate and would-be Maoist son Booker T. (D’urville Martin, excellent as always), and put-upon wife Gladys Ann (recently deceased Cosby Show semi-regular Clarice Taylor). It’s episodic and not terribly eventful, but an excellent cast - fleshed out by Glynn Turman, Carl Franklin, and Ja’net Dubois - makes it all worthwhile. I also think this broadcast marks the film’s widescreen television debut - not that Five on the Black Hand Side features much in the way of sweeping Technicolor vistas!
Saturday 9/24/11
8:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Zorro Rides Again (1937 USA): The climax of this excellent serial approaches as chapters 10 and 11 unspool this morning.
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Tarzan’s Fight for Life (1959 USA): Producer Sol Lesser finally hung up his spurs upon completion of Tarzan’s Fight for Life - the 107th film of his storied career, and the 17th of his Tarzan efforts. Gordon Scott returns as the Ape Man, this time trying to convince the natives that modern medicine, as personified by Doc Sturdy (Carl Benton Reid), is their friend. Witchdoctor Futa (James Edwards, the poor guy who served Bogie the strawberries in The Caine Mutiny) begs to differ, and troubles a-brewin’ in Jungleland. Woody Strode puts in his two cents worth as Futa’s tribal ally Ramo.
7:00 PM Cinemax
Hatchet II (2010 USA): I haven’t seen this slasher flick yet, but here are some reasons to tune in:
1.This probably won’t apply to anyone but me, but Hatchet II was the subject of endless and overwhelming promotion by producer Dark Sky Films over the last year or so. As a regular customer of Dark Sky’s DVD product, the "in your face" nature of their Hatchet II advertising campaign really sank in. Quite frankly, the film’s logo is permanently etched into my brain.
2.The film stars Tony Todd. Candyman...Candyman...Candyman...not to mention, he’s playing a character named Reverend Zombie.
3.The film also stars Kane ‘Jason Voorhees’ Hodder - in a double role, no less.
Troma bigwig Lloyd Kaufman makes a cameo appearance as a hunter.
4.Writer-director Adam Green previously played a character named Toothy McHomeless in the immortal 2008 feature Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust.
I rest my case.
Monday 9/26/11
11:00 PM Sundance
The Trial Begins (2007 ITA): Back in the 1970s political corruption was one of Italian cinema’s most popular themes. When the industry collapsed in the ‘80s, however, the theme disappeared with it - but thanks to 2007’s The Trial Begins is now on the comeback trail. Written and directed by Vincenzo Marra, the film stars Michele Lastella as Filippo, an eager beaver young cop looking to make his mark by cracking down on corrupt businessmen and bent politicians. When he meets vivacious (and rich) older woman Caterina (Fanny Ardant), however, he finds himself being pulled into her world of back-scratching and under-the-table deal-making. Marra’s film provides brilliant and searing commentary on the state of Italian governance, and in a country ruled by a profligate oligarch whose hands are in every pot, couldn’t be more timely.