TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday January 10 2012 through Monday January 16 2012
By John Seal
January 9, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 1/10/12
10:40 AM The Movie Channel
Silent Predators (1999 USA): With a title like Silent Predators, you might be anticipating an Animal Planet-style pseudo-documentary...but (this being the TiVoPlex) you’d be wrong! It’s actually a made for TBS thriller (hey, that’s a step above Sci-Fi, or Scy- Fy, or whatever they call that awful channel these days) directed by Noel Nosseck, best known in these here parts for helming the world’s only movie (non-Big Lebowski division) about bowling, 1979’s cinematic gutter ball Dreaming. In addition, John Carpenter co-authored the script, which details the horrors that unfold when a small desert town is invaded by deadly rattlesnakes! Starring Harry Hamlin (Clash of the Titans) and The Bad Seed herself, Patty McCormack, Silent Predators is actually pretty good Movie-of-the-Week style fare. Also airs at 1:40 PM.
2:30 PM HBO Signature
Retratos en un Mar de Mentiros (2010 COL): A young woman experiences the worst life has to over in this depressing but worthwhile Colombian drama tinged with a hint of magical realism. Paola Baldion plays Marina, a withdrawn teenager whose abusive grand-dad houses her in a dilapidated shed. When the old fart pops his clogs, Marina passes into the care of cousin Jairo (Julian Roman), a cheesecake photographer who "hires" her to help him with his gear, and the two end up taking an episodic road trip as they travel to reclaim grandpa’s legacy. Unpleasant flashbacks to Marina’s tragic childhood ensue. Yep, the good times never end in this one! Known in English as Portraits in a Sea of Lies, this meditation on the 50-year long Colombian civil war - as seen through the grueling experiences of our heroine - won the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 14th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival.
8:05 PM Sundance
The Housemaid (ROK): Here’s a film that was supposed to air on Sundance a few months back but didn’t. I guess the channel’s programmers finally found some spare time for it in between fashion and cooking shows (Sundance is turning into Bravo at an alarming pace, don’t you think?) and it’s been rescheduled this evening. A remake of a 1960 feature I haven’t seen, The Housemaid stars Jung-jae Lee as Hoon, a more-money-than-sense businessman who hires Eun-yi (Do-youn Jeon) to care for his children whilst bored housewife Hae-ra (Seo Woo) spends her time looking at mail order catalogs and the Korean equivalent of House Beautiful magazine whilst preparing to bless the world with a new set of twins. Hoon, of course, can’t avoid the temptation of seducing his attractive new employee, who is soon pregnant herself. Who will win the ensuing battle for household supremacy? Stylishly shot if maddeningly opaque at times, The Housemaid is roughly analogous to those Shannon Tweed erotic thrillers of 20 years ago. Very roughly.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Prince of the City (1981 USA): If memory serves, this top-notch crime drama used to air with some regularity on either IFC or Sundance. If memory also serves - and memory is, of course, becoming less and less reliable with each passing year - the print utilized for those airings was poorly pan and scanned. Now Prince of the City finally arrives on the small screen in its original aspect ratio! Directed by Sidney Lumet, it stars Treat Williams as Daniel Ciello, a mildly compromised NYPD cop approached by Internal Affairs with an offer he can’t refuse: in exchange for clemency, he must rat out the rottenest of the Department’s many rotten apples. It’s hardly an original storyline, but execution is everything and Prince of the City remains one of the best cop movies ever made. Co-starring Bob Balaban, Lance Henriksen, and Jerry Orbach, it’s the one film you really don’t want to miss this week.
Wednesday 1/11/12
12:20 AM STKF
Dragonheart (1996 USA): A great cast and some excellent Oscar-nominated special effects compensate for this family friendly fantasy’s complete lack of substance. Dennis Quaid headlines as Bowen, a professional dragon slayer out to kill the last of the fire-breathing giants (voiced by Sean Connery). Realizing, however, that if Bowen succeeds they’ll both be out of a job, the two declare a truce, with an eye to keeping the ol’ dragon-industrial complex a going concern for a while longer. That’s about it story-wise, but Connery and Quaid get more than able support from David Thewlis (at his lip-smacking, moustache-twirling, villainous best) as Prince Einon, Julie Christie as Einon’s mum, and the late, great Pete Postlethwaite as a man of God. It’s probably too much to hope that Dragonheart will be airing in its correct aspect ratio, but I’ve got my fingers crossed nonetheless.
5:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Tamahine (1964 GB): Super rarity alert! Exotic Asian temptress Nancy Kwan plays a Polynesian hottie disturbing a peaceful boy’s school somewhere in the English countryside. Featuring stuffed shirts Allan Cuthbertson, Michael Gough, and James Fox - as well as the slightly more relaxed Dennis Price - Tamahine hasn’t been seen on these shores for a very long time. DoP Geoffrey Unsworth’s widescreen cinematography was BAFTA-nominated, so you know this one’s quality.
8:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Liquidator (1966 GB): James Bond knock-offs were all the rage in the mid-'60, and here’s one of the best. Directed by Jack Cardiff, The Liquidator features Rod Taylor as Boysie Oakes, a burglar hired by MI6 bigwig Mostyn (Trevor Howard) who mistakenly believes him to be a professional killer. At first, Boysie takes to the job and its fringe benefits - including lovely secretary Iris (Jill St. John) - like a duck to water, but when he’s actually sent on assignment things rapidly take a turn for the awkward. In addition to a witty Peter Yeldham screenplay and a great supporting cast (including Wilfrid Hyde-White, Eric Sykes, Akim Tamiroff, Suzy Kendall, Daniel Emilfork, Richard Wattis, and John Le Mesurier), The Liquidator features a terrific Shirley Bassey theme song and a sassy Lalo Schifrin score.
Thursday 1/12/12
12:20 AM Starz
In a Better World (2010 DEN): 2011’s Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, In a Better World is another impressive notch in the belt of director Susanne Bier (Brothers, After the Wedding). The film stars Mikael Persbrandt (Everlasting Moments) as Anton, a Danish doctor doing the Lord’s work in Africa, where he works assiduously to heal the wounds of war victims. Meanwhile, back at home, 10-year-old son Elias is being subjected to severe schoolhouse bullying which only comes to an end when he befriends new student Christian, a bigger lad not at all reluctant to use violence to protect his pal. The film was misinterpreted by many critics as a simplistic morality play, but it’s original Danish title - simply, Revenge - suggests there’s much more going on in the film, which I found a worthy if surprising Oscar choice. Also airs at 3:20 AM.
6:00 PM HBO
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011 USA): Perfect timing! With the recent release of the West Memphis Three from prison, filmmaker Joe Berlinger was able to append an appropriate coda to this third (and presumably final) documentary about the controversial murder case. To briefly summarize: three boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas in the mid-1990s. Prosecutors charged and convicted three teenage heavy metal fans for the crimes, but as Berlinger suggested in his two earlier films on the subject (also airing tonight - Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills at 8:00 PM and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations at 10:35 PM) the evidence was less than compelling, and other community members seemed even more likely suspects. In other words, a major miscarriage of justice took place, and it took a dozen years-plus to rectify matters. I haven’t seen Purgatory yet, but the earlier films were excellent, and I’m confident this one will be just as good.
Saturday 1/14/12
7:00 PM Showtime
I’m Still Here (2010 USA): The infamous film mockumenting Joaquin Phoenix’s attempted transition from film actor to rap artist, I’m Still Here makes its small screen debut this evening. Directed by Phoenix’s bro-in-law Casey Affleck (the Affleck it’s okay to like!), the film failed at the box office, but a brilliant marketing campaign convinced the world that its subject truly had lost his marbles and traded in his thespian credentials for a degree in hip-hop. The truth eventually came out and Phoenix is about to resume his acting career in Paul Thomas Anderson’s forthcoming Scientology takedown The Master. As for I’m Still Here, it’s a superbly conceived comment on the rapacious state of pop culture and reality television, and airs again at 10:00 PM.
Sunday 1/15/12
6:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951 USA): The title says it all, really: A & C do indeed tangle with an invisible man in this mediocre series entry. To refer to him as THE Invisible Man, however, is a little cheeky, as the character has nothing at all to do with the H.G. Wells’ character immortalized in 1933’s classic creature feature. Instead, he’s a poor schlep (played cheerily by Arthur Franz) who must outwit gangsters with the help of an invisibility serum. The laughs don’t come very often, but a good supporting cast (William Frawley, Adele Jergens, and Sheldon Leonard) render the film watchable, as does Bud’s boxing match with pro pugilist Rocky Hanlon (John Day).
9:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
A Story of Floating Weeds (1934 JAP): TCM rounds up two sets of floating weeds tonight! First up is Yasujiro Ozu’s silent 1934 drama, the tale of an itinerant actor trying to rekindle an old romance. I’ve never seen this version of the tale, but I’m a big Ozu admirer and am really looking forward to it. It’s followed at 11:00 PM by Floating Weeds, the much better known sound remake Ozu filmed in 1959, and one of Roger Ebert’s ten favorite films of all time. Featuring Ganjiro Nakamura as traveling actor Komajuro, newly returned to the town where his love for old flame Oyoshi (Kwaidan’s Haruko Sugimura) still burns bright, it’s a lovely, low-key film, and though probably not on my ten best list, is still well worth your while.
Monday 1/16/12
1:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Vote for Huggett (1949 GB): Bet you didn’t know there was a whole series of Huggett films - and truth be told, until they started showing up on TCM this month, neither did I. This is the only one of them I’d seen previously, and that so long ago that I remember naught about it. It stars Dixon of Dock Green regular Jack Warner as Joe, patriarch of the gently argumentative and mildly humorous Huggett clan, which also includes wife Ethel (Kathleen Harrison) and daughters Susan and Pet (Susan Shaw and future pop star Petula Clark, then only 17 but already appearing in her tenth film). Think of it as Ma and Pa Kettle Go to the Midlands. Also on hand: Diana Dors, Anthony Newley, and Ferdy Mayne.
10:25 AM Fox Movie Channel
The World’s Greatest Lover (1977 USA): I’m not sure if this marks the widescreen television premiere of this rather vulgar farce, but it’s the first time I’ve noticed it on the schedule, so I’ll give it a brief mention. Written and directed by Gene Wilder - then at the top of his game - The World’s Greatest Lover recounts the silent-era Tinsel Town mis-adventures of Rudy Hickman (Wilder), a plain small-town boy who lucks into an unlikely career as a matinee idol. Perhaps this was Wilder’s idea of an autobiographical film. Oh, and Fox Movie Channel… "FXM" sucks big time.