TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for October 9 2012 through October 15 2012
By John Seal
October 8, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 10/912
11:45 PM Showtime Extreme
Pyaar, Ishq Aur Mohabbat (2001 IND): Somehow I think this is a mistake in the program guide - but just in case it isn’t, we’ll give Pyaar, Ishq Aur Mohabbat a brief mention. Here’s the film’s IMDb plot synopsis, written by someone named rAjOo:
“Three eligible bachelors, Yash Sabharwal, Taj Bhardwaj, and Gaurav Saxena, all of them attracted to the one lady, Isha Nair. While Yash is rich, wealthy and influential; Taj's dad is Lord Bhardwaj in Britain; and Gaurav is a student, working part-time. Isha gets to meet, and gets friendly with them all, not knowing that each of them have a motive and agenda of their own.”
Now, does that sound like material for Showtime Extreme? Not so much…but who knows, maybe rAjOo left out some critical details concerning gun battles and torture chambers. We’ll just have to set our DVRs and find out for ourselves.
9:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Reach For the Sky (1956 GB): Kenneth More stars as fighter pilot Douglas Bader in this patriotic tribute to the boys who fought in the Battle of Britain. Bader flew Spitfires as a member of 242 Squadron during World War II and was credited with shooting down 22.5 German planes before being shot down himself and captured in 1941. The most remarkable thing about him? He’d lost both legs in a 1931 accident but was still able to fly. Bader also repeatedly tried to escape from his PoW camp, eventually being sent to Colditz, the Nazi equivalent of Alcatraz Island. As for this biopic, it’s stirring and inspirational stuff, with More delivering one of his best performances, bolstered by a terrific supporting cast including Michael Ripper, Nigel Green, Michael Gough, and Eric Pohlmann.
Wednesday 10/10/12
5:20 AM Encore Action
Solar Attack (2006 CAN): Back in the ‘90s, Mark Dacascos was the poor man’s Jean-Claude Van Damme, a martial arts champion who parlayed his athletic success into a modest feature film career. By 2006, however, he’d been reduced to appearing in made-for-Canadian TV movies like this one (known alternatively as Solar Strike). Dacascos is cast as Lucas Foster, a brilliant scientist tasked by President Gordon (Lou Gossett Jr. ) to discover why the world seems to be heating up. (Here in 2012, this is still a profound mystery, at least if you believe people like James Inhofe and Louie Gohmert). The culprit turns out to be some sort of sun spots, which have caused the ozone layer to spring a leak. Dacascos is terrible (no surprise there), Gossett cashes his pay check, and the only redeeming factor is the presence of Stephen McHattie, who has the uncanny ability of rendering even the worst Canadian movies watchable - well, as long as he’s on screen.
10:10 AM HBO Signature
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!
Thursday 10/11/12
2:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Conspiracy (1939 USA): The coming storm looms large in this decent pre-war programmer from RKO. Allen Lane headlines as Steve Kendall, a maritime radio operator who jumps ship when he discovers his vessel is carrying elicit cargo: poison gas intended for an unnamed and unfriendly nation. Steve falls into the hands of the guerrillas struggling to topple the unnamed country’s fascistic government, but the secret police are close on his trail. Will they get their man - or will Steve, with an assist from beautiful revolutionary Nedra (Linda Hayes), make his escape? Look for Dwight Frye in a bit part as one of Kendall’s shipmates.
Friday 10/12/12
5:50 AM Encore Suspense
Stephen King’s Desperation (2006 USA): Desperation: the feeling you experience when you realize it’s time to watch yet another movie based on Stephen King’s back-of-the-napkin scribblings. Happily, this made-for-TV movie is far from the worst of its genre - it actually earned a couple of Emmy nominations! (Admittedly, they were for technical awards...but still.) As for the story, it revolves around a small town in Arizona, where local sheriff Collie (Ron Perlman, good as always) likes to arrest whichever strangers happen to pass through town. When motorcycle-riding scribe John Marinville (Tom Skerritt) motors into his jurisdiction, Collie hopes to add him to his collection. Marinville, unsurprisingly, has other ideas, but hasn’t reckoned on the sheriff’s Satanic support network. Even at over two hours in length, Desperation is a relatively engaging piece of King hokum, and Perlman seems to be enjoying himself.
3:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Shining Victory (1941 USA): This solid Warners drama doesn’t have much of a reputation, but it’s worth a look. Directed by Irving Rapper, the film stars James Stephenson as Paul Venner, a Hungarian researcher working in Scotland to develop a cure for dementia praecox. Venner’s secretary, Miss Leeming (Barbara O’Neil), displays some characteristics of the condition herself, and the film takes an unanticipated final reel turn that viewers raised on routine Hollywood outcomes of the period will probably find a little surprising. Shining Victory is no forgotten classic, but it’s an unusual piece of work anchored by a solid performance from Stephenson, who died shortly after completing the film.
Saturday 10/13/12
6:30 AM Showtime
A Better Life (2011 USA): The plight of undocumented workers is examined with surprising subtlety by director Chris Weitz (yes, the American Pie guy) in this Oscar-nominated feature. Demian Bichir plays Carlos Galindo, a gardener of Mexican extraction earning a crust in the sweltering heat of Southern California. Carlos is also a single parent, and works feverishly to keep son Luis (Jose Julian) out of trouble whilst keeping his eyes open for ICE. When an opportunity to improve his lot in life arises, Carlos eagerly grasps it - but when his truck gets stolen, who ya gonna call? Certainly not the police, so it’s up to young Luis and his street connections to recover the vehicle and help Dad’s career. Bichir’s performance earned him a well-deserved nod from the Academy, but it’s a shame more people didn’t see A Batter Life in theaters. Hopefully that changes as the film enters its ancillary afterlife. Also airs at 9:30 AM.
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land (1952 USA): Remember when Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) went to Pygmy Island? This time Jim goes to the “Forbidden Land”, where the inhabitants are giants played not by the likes of Billy Curtis but by the otherwise unheralded and long since forgotten Clem Erickson and Irmgard Helen H. Raschke. Really - those are their names, and neither of them ever made another film. Weissmuller, meanwhile, is as wooden as ever, but on balance this is one of the more entertaining films in the series.
Sunday 10/14/12
10:15 AM Sundance
The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006 USA): Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover did not like John Lennon. The lank-haired Liverpudlian was, they believed, a terrible and even dangerous influence on American youth, and Hoover’s FBI worked hard to keep him out of the United States. Lennon, of course, had relocated to the States in the early ‘70s and begun supporting a number of radical political causes, and the Feds desperately tried to deport him on the basis of a British drugs conviction. This fascinating and still topical film is essential viewing for any self-respecting Lennon fan, and anyone who cherishes civil liberties and the right to dissent.
10:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Unknown (1927 USA): Not quite as well known as director Tod Browning's sound films, The Unknown is nonetheless an outstanding example of silent horror, featuring a brilliant performance by Lon Chaney as an apparently armless circus knife-thrower. He wants to win the heart of young Joan Crawford, who has a fervid fear of male appendages (I'm not making this up; only Tod Browning could do that). You won't believe the conclusion.
Monday10/15/12
1:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Contraband (1940 GB): Conrad Veidt crosses swords with Nazi spies in this obscure but very good suspenser from the Powell-Pressburger production team. Veidt plays Andersen, a Danish sea captain whose shore passes are stolen whilst his ship is docked in an English port. And not just stolen: the passes have been purloined by a pair of shady characters (Esmond Knight and Valerie Hobson) who seem to be up to their necks in monkey business. Written by Emeric Pressburger and directed by Michael Powell, Contraband is great fun, and is surely the only film you’ll see in which Leo Genn and Peter Bull play brothers!
4:00 AM Showtime 3
Cracks (2009 GB-IRE): Fans of the sepulchral Eva Green (that’s Green as in “Gren”) will want to check out this rather odd feature about life at a 1930’s girls’ boarding school. Green plays the school’s diving teacher (no budget cuts here, apparently), a young beauty who exerts a strong and possibly unhealthy influence upon the young ladies in her charge. When new girl Fiamma (Maria Valverde) shows up and dislodges team captain Di (Juno Temple, daughter of Julien) from the top of teacher’s pecking order, bad things begin to happen. The film gets a bit silly towards the end, but Green is quite good (and easy on the eyes).
11:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Toward the Unknown (1956 USA): William Holden plays an Air Force officer trying to regain the trust of his men in this handsomely mounted Mervyn LeRoy feature. Holden plays Lincoln Bond, whose Korean War exploits have since been overshadowed by his breakdown whilst being subjected to torture - sorry, enhanced interrogation - after being shot down and captured by the enemy. Now stateside and no longer allowed to fly, Bond has been assigned to assist with testing of a secret experimental aircraft - but not every one on base is happy to see him. The story is engaging, the supporting cast (L.Q. Jones, James Garner, Lloyd Nolan) excellent, and the aerial footage impressive.