TiVoPlex
By John Seal
November 14, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 11/15/11
1:40 AM HBO Signature
Play Misty for Me (1971 USA): In which Clint Eastwood gets stalked. Misty, of course, is the title of a jazz standard by Erroll Garner, whilst Clint is Dave, a Carmel, California disc jockey whose biggest fan is creepy listener Evelyn (Jessica Walter). Evelyn is determined to sink her claws into Dave, but might she also be the mysterious late night listener who keeps requesting Misty in the middle of his graveyard shift? And can Dave’s relationship with real gal pal Tobie (Donna Mills) survive the stress and strain of it all? Co-starring frequent Eastwood helmer Don Siegel, Jack Ging, and the wonderful Clarice Taylor, this memorable '70s thriller set the standard for all future "psycho women stalker" movies, which may or may not be a good thing.
10:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Hurricane (1974 USA): Here’s a fairly mediocre but long unseen TV Movie of the Week with a spectacular cast of small screen stars. Set along the Gulf Coast and featuring copious stock footage of Hurricane Camille (which had pounded the area in 1969), Hurricane is headlined by Larry Hagman, here playing hurricane chaser Paul Damon. Paul is vacationing Gulfside when he starts to suspect a big storm may be brewing. Perhaps he looked at the National Hurricane Center’s website and saw something on the radar? This being the 1970s, it’s more likely he’s just a really good judge of meteorological conditions. Also along for the fun: Martin Milner (Adam-12), Michael Learned and Will Geer (The Waltons), Barry Sullivan, and...Jessica Walter! Don’t worry, though - her character isn’t obsessed with Larry’s.
Wednesday 11/16/11
1:00 AM Cinemax
The Fortress (2008 SUI-BEL): I’m not 100% convinced that this Fortress is the 2008 Fortress - it could just as easily be the 1992 Christopher Lambert action flick of the same name - but just in case, we’ll give it a brief mention. This Fortress is a documentary about asylum seekers awaiting their fate in Switzerland, one of the most zealously anti-immigration countries in Europe. I don’t get it: with European birth rates well below replacement level, the workers of tomorrow have got to come from somewhere. The film won the Golden Leopard at Locarno 2008 (and if this turns out to be the Lambert Fortress, it got nominated for a Saturn!). Also airs at 4:00 AM.
12:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1951 USA): The comedy duo cross swords with a legendary pirate in this colorful and occasionally amusing series entry. Set (I think) in the 18th century, the film features Bud and Lou as Rocky and Puddin’ Head, waiters employed at Ye Olde World Famous Tortuga Inn. Whilst serving customers one day, a piece of personal correspondence gets switched with a treasure map, and the boys find themselves matching wits with the bloodthirsty and greedy Captain Kidd (Charles Laughton, slumming and loving every minute of it). In addition to Laughton, the film benefits from being shot in Supercinecolor - this was one of the pictures Bud and Lou produced independently.
5:00 PM HBO 2
The Bengali Detective (2011 USA-GB-IND): One of the most entertaining and unusual documentaries of recent vintage, The Bengali Detective relates the true life misadventures of Rajesh Ji, an overweight P.I. working cases in the back alleys of Kolkata, India. Rajesh specializes in cases the police are too busy to take an interest in: the black market, unfaithful spouses, and so forth. When a triple murder falls into his lap, however, it looks like he might be ready to hit the big time. The Bengali Detective features almost as much song, dance, and melodrama as your average Bollywood epic, but remember - it’s all true!
8:00 PM Sundance
Three Blind Mice (2008 AUS): It’s Top Gun - Aussie style! Well, not really, but Three Blind Mice does record the misadventures of three hell-raising sailors over the course of one booze soaked shore leave. Sam, Dean and Harry (Ewen Leslie, Toby Schmitz, and Matthew Newton) are preparing to ship out to the Gulf but are enjoying one more night on the tiles before getting exposed to Saddam’s awesome nuclear-biological-chemical arsenal. You can’t blame them, can you? Written and directed by Newton, Three Blind Mice is full of surprising plot developments and top-notch acting - it’s no by-the-numbers character study. Look for Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver and Antipodean legend Charles "Bud" Tingwell amongst the supporting cast. Also airs 11/17 at 3:30 AM.
Thursday 11/17/11
1:20 AM HBO Signature
El Mal Ajeno (2010 ESP): Released on DVD in the U.S. as For the Good of Others, El Mal Ajeno stars Eduardo Noriega (Transsiberian) as Diego Sanz, a doctor desperately in need of a mental health day. The camel’s back is finally broken by a suicidal patient, a young woman (Angie Cepeda) whose boyfriend (Marcel Borras) is not happy with the care she’s getting. So unhappy is he, in fact, that he shoots Diego - an act that has some extremely unexpected and unlikely consequences. Directed by Oskar Santos, this magical realist film is no classic, but Noriega is excellent.
1:30 PM Sundance
When a Man Comes Home (2007 DEN): It’s hard to go wrong when Thomas Vinterberg sets up shop behind the camera, and here’s further evidence in support of that premise. Vinterberg got his start with 1998’s Dogme Manifesto classic Celebration and then moved on to something a bit more mainstream with 2003’s It’s All About Love, his first English-language feature. The aptly titled When a Man Comes Home sees him back in Europe, and tells the story of a world famous Danish artist who returns home to find that things have changed since he went away. The man is Hans Kristian Schmidt (Vinterberg regular Thomas Bo Larsen), an opera singer of considerable renown whose backwater home town holds a surprise for him: namely, a son (Oliver Moller Knauer) he didn’t know about. Though not strictly a Dogme film, When a Man Comes Home hews fairly closely to the formula, and though far from Celebration in terms of dramatic impact is still worth your while.
7:00 PM Sundance
Mad Bastards (2007 AUS): I haven’t seen this Australian drama yet, but with a title like Mad Bastards I’m not about to miss it. Set in the outback (and rumored to feature some terrific widescreen cinematography), the film stars Dean Daley-Jones as a father in search of the son he never knew. Perhaps he should try looking in Denmark? Also airs 11/18 at 4:00 AM.
Friday 11/18/11
4:30 PM Showtime
Four Lions (2009 GB): Set in Sheffield, England, Four Lions introduces us to an amateur terror cell plotting revenge for the British government’s crimes against Islam. There’s hardcore white Muslim Barry (Nigel Lindsay), thoughtful but determined Omar (The Road to Guantanamo’s Riz Ahmed), thick as a brick Waj (Kayvan Novak), nervous nellie Fessal (Adeel Akhtar), and hopeless bourgeois Hassan (Arshan Ali), and though collectively determined to do something - anything - to right the wrongs done to the faith, they’re not quite sure what form "something" should take.
After Omar and Waj return home from a failed attempt to train with the mujahideen in Pakistan, the group busy themselves recording martyrdom videos and experimenting with explosives. There’s still the little question of a target, however, and when zealous convert Barry suggests the local mosque would be suitable (his theory: kill enough Muslims, and the survivors will rise up to overthrow the non-believers), the group balks. When Fessal is accidentally killed during a dry run, however, time becomes of the essence and the four remaining lions settle on a target that (hopefully) won’t kill quite as many of their co-religionists: a charity "fun run" in which they’ll blend in with the crowd before detonating payloads and ascending to heaven. On paper, this all sounds relentlessly grim, but the film maintains a steady flow of low-key absurdities and satirical barbs worthy of an Armando Iannucci film. Strongly recommended. Also airs at 7:30 PM.
Saturday 11/19/11
2:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Her Name Was Ellie, His Name Was Lyle (1967 USA): Her (Lynne Lipton) disease was syphilis, his (John Pleshette, cousin of Suzanne) disease was stupidity. Here we go again: this sexist film blames the woman for polluting the pristine body of an innocent young man. It all takes place in the Big Apple, that smoldering cauldron of sin, and was directed by a gentleman named Lothar Wolff, who’d worked with Fritz Lang in the ‘30s and even earned a short subject Oscar nom in 1965. Her Name Was Ellie is only half-an-hour long, but you don’t have anything better to do in the middle of the night, do you?
11:30 PM The Movie Channel
The Violent Kind (2010 USA): In the mood for something at the grindhouse end of the spectrum? Look no further than The Violent Kind, a horror flick helmed by the aptly named Butcher Brothers (no, they’re not really brothers). Even better, this is a horror flick where the main characters are bikers, and even even better better, it was all shot in my backyard (well, Petaluma and Cotati, California). This throwback to the video nasty era is the sort of grindhouse demi-classic Quentin Tarantino could only dream about producing. It’s absolutely, positively not for all tastes, but will likely slake the thirst of all but the most sick and twisted gorehounds. Also airs 11/20 at 2:30 AM.
Sunday 11/20/11
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Stolen Kisses (1968 FRA): The fourth of six Antoine Doinel features directed by Francois Truffaut, Stolen Kisses sees our hero (played, as always, by Jean-Pierre Leaud) newly discharged from the Army and ready to rekindle his relationship with gal pal Christine (Claude Jade, who would return in Bed and Board, the next film in the series). Christine is happy to see him, and even sets him up with employment through the good graces of her father (Daniel Ceccaldi) - until a chance to work as a private investigator provides a far more interesting opportunity for Antoine. Your enjoyment of Stolen Kisses will hinge largely on your ability to accept Doinel’s transformation from the mischievous troublemaker of The 400 Blows into a gentler, more whimsical fellow.
Monday 11/21/11
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
...and God Created Woman (1957 FRA): Ready for a Brigitte Bardot double feature? No, I’m not talking about her lady lumps, I’m talking about two of her most popular feature films. First up is dirty old Roger Vadim’s ...and God Created Woman, the film that provided the sex symbol her big break back in ‘57. Though not very good, it’s in color, in widescreen, and in Ooh-la-la Vision, too. It’s followed at 11:00 PM by A Very Private Affair (1963), a superior Louis Malle vehicle in which a movie star (Bardot) finds herself engaged in an affair with her mother’s lover (Marcello Mastroianni). Like I said, ooh la la!