TiVoPlex
By John Seal
March 26, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 3/27/12
4:20 PM HBO Signature
All She Can (2011 USA): I’m usually not terribly keen on American-made independents, but this one’s a cut above the usual slacker/mumblecore fare. Written and directed by Amy Wendel, All She Can tells the story of Luz Garcia, a Texas high school senior intent on making good at UT Austin, but in desperate need of funds to pay her way. Happily, Luz is a top weightlifter competing for a scholarship offered to the winner of the state powerlifting championship, but a less than helpful suggestion from boyfriend Raynaldo (Jeremy Ray Valdez) threatens to permanently derail her dream. Though a bit on the predictable side, All She Can is in deadly earnest - a refreshing change from the usual run of annoying wink-wink nudge-nudge indie wannabes.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Rampage (1963 USA): There’s musky, two-fisted, hyper-masculine action aplenty in this steamy jungle adventure helmed by Phil Karlson. Robert Mitchum headlines as Harry Stanton, a trapper hired - along with big game hunter Otto Abbott (Jack Hawkins) - to track down and capture some particularly rare big cats on behalf of a German zoo. Stanton and Abbott are as alike as chalk and cheese and instantly get off on the wrong foot, and matters are only made worse by the presence of Otto’s mistress Anna (Elsa Martinelli), who finds Harry irresistible. Shot in Hawaii (in lieu of Malaysia), Rampage was the penultimate effort of Indian actor Sabu, here cast as Talib, head "boy" of the native bearers employed by our pair of great white hunters. It’s not a great film, but Mitchum is clearly having fun and there’s a good score by Elmer Bernstein.
Wednesday 3/28/12
1:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Going Home (1971 USA): After Rampage wraps up, Mitchum fans will want to stay tuned for this rare screening of one of the great man’s more obscure features. This time, the sloe-eyed bad boy plays another Harry, last name of Graham, an ex-con newly released from prison after serving 15 years for the murder of his wife. His return home doesn’t sit well with grown son Jimmy (Jan-Michael Vincent), who witnessed the crime as a child and - unsurprisingly - is not much interested in rekindling his relationship with dear old dad. Harry’s lady friend Jenny (Brenda Vaccaro, outstanding as usual) tries to mend fences, but it’s a bridge too far, and one not easily crossed - especially with parole officer Bonelli (Josh Mostel) breathing down Harry’s neck. Going Home is not quite as good as you’d hope it might be, but there’s enough quality thesping courtesy Mitchum and Vaccaro to make it a worthwhile pick.
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Spanish Gardener (1957 GB): Dirk Bogarde is badly miscast as Jose, the titular horticulturalist in this cerebral Philip Leacock-helmed drama, which is worth a look if you can overlook Bogarde’s woefully inadequate accent. Hired to prune trees and trim the lawn by Harrington Brande (Michael Hordern) - a British consular agent on the Costa Brava - Jose becomes fast friends with Brande’s over-protected and lonely son Nicholas (Jon Whiteley). Brande, however, has intentionally kept Nicholas well isolated from the locals, and - suspicious of the gardener’s intentions - determined to end their relationship by fair means or foul. Co-starring Cyril Cusack and Bernard Lee, this odd film blends subtle psychological themes with broad melodrama, not always successfully. And, oh, that accent.
5:00 PM Sundance
The Man from London (2007 FRA-GER-HUN): Based on a novella by Georges Simenon, The Man from London tells the story of Maloin (Miroslav Krobot), a railway switchman in a remote French coastal town who sees a man throw his suitcase into the sea and then witnesses his murder at the hands of another stranger. Interest piqued, Maloin recovers the suitcase and finds it stuffed with cash, which he promptly hides without telling anyone. His secret, however, soon becomes burdensome, exerting further strains on his already difficult relationships with estranged wife Camelia (Tilda Swinton) and daughter Henriette (Erika Bok). This is not, however, a routine crime drama or murder mystery, but a lengthy study of one man’s troubled conscience. Directed by Hungarian arthouse king Bela Tarr, The Man from London clocks in at a robust 139 minutes, admittedly quite short in comparison to Tarr’s seven-hour long 2004 epic Satantango. Also airs at 11:30 PM.
Thursday 3/29/12
3:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Man Who Laughs (1966 FRA): Super rarity alert! Set the Drudge siren spinning! Based on the same Victor Hugo tale previously (and more famously) filmed by Paul Leni in 1928, The Man Who Laughs stars giallo veteran Jean Sorel as Angelo, a man disfigured as a child by wicked gypsies and employed as an adult as a sideshow freak with a permanent grin. For Angelo, it’s a life of misery and shame - until he’s taken under the wing of the bloody Borgias (Lisa Gastoni and Edmund Purdom), who hire him as their official court executioner. It all adds up to considerably less than Leni’s original, but still is of great interest to fans of European cinema in general and of Italian director Sergio Corbucci - whose next film was the spaghetti western classic Django - in particular.
6:30 PM Showtime 3
The Hollywood Complex (2011 USA): If you enjoyed Camp Hollywood, a 2004 doc about unemployed actors hanging around Tinsel Town in a rundown motel, you’ll get similar mileage from The Hollywood Complex. The set-up, however, is a little different and a whole lot creepier - instead of adults trying to continue (or start) their acting careers, the subjects of this film are parents bringing their underage offspring to Hollywood in search of fame, glory, and big bucks. Worse than the parents, however, are the local leeches who glom onto these hopefuls and suck ‘em dry whilst vaguely pretending to help out. You may want to take a shower after watching this one.
Friday 3/30/12
12:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
With Byrd at the South Pole (1930 USA): If you further need to cleanse your non-fiction palate after The Hollywood Complex, consider this fascinating documentary about Admiral Richard Byrd’s groundbreaking (so to speak) expedition to, and flight across, the wastes of Antarctica. Shot almost entirely on location (and without sound, due to the limitations of early recording equipment), the film follows the good Admiral’s trek from beginning (New York Harbor) to end (the South Pole, not surprisingly). But it’s not just the historical record of the Admiral’s aeronautical achievement: With Byrd at the South Pole is also an artistic and technical triumph, with Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van der Veer’s breathtaking black and white cinematography earning each of them an Academy Award.
Saturday 3/31/12
7:30 AM Encore Family
Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1975 USA): Wilderness Family triple feature, y’all! Produced by Pacific International, a short-lived indie house competing with the then highly successful Sunn Classic Pictures, Adventures of the Wilderness Family relates the experiences of a Los Angeles family, who, sick of the rat race and smog, relocate to the great outdoors, where they chop down trees and befriend wild animals. In other words, it’s a fantasy designed to stroke the egos of suburbanites roughing it in the commuter belt. Though completely predictable family fare, it’s enlivened by the presence of George "Buck" Flower as a friendly if slightly off-kilter mountain man. The Adventures of the Wilderness Family was a huge box-office hit and spawned two sequels: 1978’s The Wilderness Family Part 2, which follows at 9:30 AM, and 1979’s Mountain Family Robinson, which airs at 11:15 AM.
6:00 PM The Movie Channel
Grave Encounters (2011 CAN): Last week we had Dead Hooker in a Trunk, a Canadian horror flick directed by twin sisters. This week we have Grave Encounters, a Canadian horror flick directed by ‘The Vicious Brothers’. Whether or not the Vicious boys are also twins, I don’t know, and I haven’t seen their film, but it just seemed so nicely synchronous that I couldn’t let it pass unmentioned. Airs again at 9:00 PM.
Sunday 4/1/12
11:25 AM Encore Action
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971 USA): Wimpy singer/songwriter James Taylor and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson star in this road movie about two unnamed car enthusiasts who drive across the nation looking for automotive kicks in their ‘55 Chevy. Along the way they run into a gearhead named G.T.O. (perennial hardass Warren Oates) and challenge him to a race to Washington, DC, at which point the loser must relinquish his cherished vehicle to the winner (or winners, as the case may be). This existential drama from director Monte Hellman doesn't have the visceral energy of the similar Vanishing Point (also 1971), and Taylor and Wilson aren't much in the acting department, but Oates is great and the location photography - which encompasses highways from California to Oklahoma - is impressive. One caveat: Two-Lane Blacktop needs to be seen in its correct aspect ratio, and it's not clear to me whether or not Encore is airing it in wide-screen this afternoon.
3:30 PM Sundance
Up With Me (2008 USA): ‘Tis the week for indies about Latino youth coping with difficult scholarship situations. Today’s entry is Up With Me, in which Francisco Vicioso plays Francisco, a kid from Spanish Harlem attending a fancy pants upstate boarding school on scholarship and trying to maintain a long distance relationship with gal pal Erika (Erika Rivera). Meanwhile, best bud Brandon (Brandon Thorpe) wants his pal back in the ‘hood and tries to throw as many monkey wrenches as possible into Francisco’s academic and personal lives. The film’s leads are youngsters drawn from the East Harlem Tutorial Program, and the story a refreshing take on a familiar theme.
Monday 4/2/12
9:00 AM Showtime 2
The Bleeding House (2010 USA): Here’s a surprisingly good little thriller with a hint of Southern Gothic. The southern influence is supplied by Nick (Patrick Breen), a gent wearing an ice cream suit cut from O’Connor or Faulkner cloth who unexpectedly drops in one night on a family living deep in the woods somewhere. Arriving at their door in search of lodging, Nick’s good manners and genteel demeanor convince patriarch Matt (Richard Bekins) and matriarch Marilyn (Betsy Aidem) to give him food and shelter, but once across the threshold he unleashes havoc on all and sundry. The Bleeding House is far from perfect - quite why Nick does what he does is never made clear - but is uniformly well-acted and well paced. In many ways, it’s a throwback to the American horror indies of the pre-Texas Chainsaw Massacre-era, which is (of course) a very good thing.