TiVoPlex
By John Seal
July 1, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 7/2/13
2:20 AM HBO
Gideon’s Army (2013 USA): Here’s an HBO original documentary I’ve yet to see, but am really excited about. Taking its title from the groundbreaking legal case Gideon vs. Wainwright (which determined that all criminal defendants were entitled to legal counsel regardless of their ability to pay, and in turn spawned Anthony Lewis’ magisterial tome Gideon’s Trumpet), the film offers a salute to the much maligned Public Defender, focusing specifically on the work of three such Defenders based in the Deep South. It’s true there are bad lawyers out there serving indigent and poor clients, but the ones who do the job properly are amongst society’s greatest heroes, and tribute is well past due. I anticipate an uplifting and inspiring 95 minutes. Also airs at 5:20 AM and throughout the month.
Wednesday 7/3/13
3:20 AM Encore Suspense
Frankenstein (2004 USA): You’d think it would be hard to find sufficient inspiration to produce yet another Frankenstein adaptation, but folks keep churning ‘em out. (Indeed, a cursory glance at IMDb reveals that a film entitled I, Frankenstein is scheduled for release in 2014). Yet here’s one from 2004 that doesn’t even bother to include a character named Frankenstein, though it does go to the trouble of naming characters Frye, Harker, O’Conner, and Sloane – go figure! This made-for-television Frankenstein stars Thomas Kretschmann (later to play Count Dracula in Dario Argento’s 2012 chiller Dracula, which I haven’t seen) as Victor Helios, a mad doctor who’s assembled a creature in his laboratory. It seems the good doctor and his sidekick have been alive for the last two hundred years or so, sustaining their existence via some sort of unexplained genetic experimentation which also involves (naturally) killing people. It’s up to Detectives O’Conner (Parker Posey, looking worn out) and Harker (Michael Madsen, doing his thing) to finally put a stop to the centuries’ long madness. A pilot for a TV series that never happened, Frankenstein’s solid cast can’t overcome its not terribly well-written script. This one’s for Mary Shelley completionists and Madsen fans only.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
With Six You Get Eggroll (1968 USA): This family-friendly comedy was a TV staple for many, many years, but hasn’t been seen much since the late 1980s. Now it’s back on TCM and in widescreen to boot, though it never suffered much in pan-and-scan. Doris Day and Brian Keith headline as Abby and Jake, two single parents with a quartet of kids between them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the middle-aged pair find it easier to take care of the rugrats together, setting off the raging debate (fueled by Roger Ebert’s infamous review in which he compared With Six You Get Eggroll to Antonioni’s Blow-Up) about whether or nor Doris Day’s character sleeps with a man to whom she isn’t married. Wonder if anyone’s ever asked Doris about this? Routine but pleasant, With Six You Get Eggroll benefits from appearances by George Carlin(!!), pop rockers The Grass Roots, Barbara Hershey, and Jamie Farr.
Thursday 7/4/13
8:00 AM Flix
Max (2002 USA): A somewhat controversial art-house hit in 2002, Max returns to television in wide-screen this morning. Starring Noah Taylor (who played an ambitious Jewish peasant in 1999's Simon Magus) as Adolf Hitler and John Cusack as his art-dealer friend during the immediate post-World War I years, the film generated critical heat for presenting Hitler as less than the fully-formed monster he was to become by the 1920s. If you missed its week-long run at the local art-plex, here's an opportunity to make up your own mind: is Max a tasteless example of historical revisionism, or a bold statement about the power of art? (I’m voting for the latter.)
5:00 PM Showtime Extreme
Lawless (2012 USA): If you admired director John Hillcoat’s ultra-violent outback western The Proposition, you’ll get equal value from Lawless, his take on Prohibition-era bootlegging. Set in the backwoods of Franklin County, Virginia during the early 1930s, Lawless stars Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy and Jason Clarke as three brothers earning a crust peddling moonshine. This, of course, doesn’t sit well with the local authorities, who sic G-Man Charley Rakes (Guy Pearce) on them to shut down their illicit business. The result: a staggering body count and a lot of smashed stills. Penned (as was The Proposition) by polymath Nick Cave, Lawless doesn’t offer much in the way of insight into the reasons why folk took up the bootlegging business back in the day, but looks great and is well-acted by all concerned.
Friday 7/5/13
12:50 AM Starz
Rust and Bone (2012 FRA-BEL): Wanna see Marion Cotillard swim with the fishes? Look no further than Rust and Bone, a thoughtful and contemplative drama in which la Cotillard plays Stephanie, a woman who trains killer whales for a living at a south-of-France Marineworld knock-off. Safer than making illegal hooch, I guess. When she’s not developing orca talent in the water, Stephanie spends quality time with Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), a single dad with a five-year-old son and a not terribly promising career as a nightclub bouncer. Tragedy ensues, however, when Stephanie loses her legs in an accident, and Ali is left to pick up the pieces, raise his five-year old son, and help his woman recover from a mishap that leaves her unable to work – and to love. Directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet), Rust and Bone dives deep into character study, with both leads outstanding as ordinary folk having to cope in extraordinary circumstances. Strongly recommended. Also airs at 3:50 AM.
3:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Sh! The Octopus (1937 USA): One of Hollywood’s legendary bad films (albeit one with a great title), Sh! The Octopus is a comedy thriller that’s neither funny nor thrilling. Nonetheless, as a prime piece of Le Bad Cinema it’s required viewing, and you can’t fault the film’s cast. Hugh ‘Woo Woo’ Herbert and Allen Jenkins play Kelly and Dempsey, a pair of hapless detectives facing off against both a master criminal named The Octopus and a giant octopus in and around an isolated lighthouse somewhere off the coast of New England (I think). The Octopus is trying to secure control over a radium ray that will help him rule the world; the octopus merely wants to wrap his/her tentacles around whichever hapless victim stumbles across his/her path. The film is completely illogical, incomparably dumb, and poorly made, but irresistible nonetheless.
9:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Bed and Board (1970 FRA): It’s Francois Truffaut month on TCM, and it looks like we’ll have the opportunity to scope out almost all of the great director’s features. I’ve written about many of these in the past, so over the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on those Truffauts that haven’t been seen on American television in the last decade or so. First out of the gate is Bed and Board, the fourth of the director’s Antoine Doinel features. Jean-Pierre Leaud returns, of course, as Antoine, by now a newly married adult verging on early middle age trying to come to terms with his less than satisfying career as a flower dyer (does anyone still earn a living doing this?). Claude Jade also reprises her role as Antoine’s lover-now-wife Christine, an expectant mother and talented music teacher. How does this rank in the pantheon of Doinel films? I’m inclined to vote middle-of-the-pack, but it’s well worth watching regardless – especially as its preceded by screenings of both The 400 Blows and Stolen Kisses.
Saturday 7/6/13
1:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Vanishing Fiancee (1978 FRA): Oh, dear...embarrassment time! Here’s a Truffaut even yours truly has never seen. Reviews indicate the film has a reputation for darkness – not a style we generally associate with Truffaut – which may explain its relative obscurity. I will, of course, be delighted to make The Vanishing Fiancee’s acquaintance.
8:00 PM The Movie Channel
VHS (2012 USA): Ah, the horror anthology. Ever since 1945’s Dead of Night, its been a reliable genre standby, delivering us the great (Dead of Night, natch), the good (1972’s Asylum), and the meh (pretty much anything produced after 1982’s Creepshow). Which brings us to VHS, which has a brilliant concept: require that each of its stories be shot on good ol’ videotape. So how’s the execution? Wellll...could be better, I’m sad to say. Though I do love the idea of shooting six shorts on low-def tape and then mashing them up into an anthology feature, the stories themselves are simply not that interesting or well-written. Designed as a showcase for young filmmaking talent, VHS doesn’t really deliver the goods, though Ti West’s segment (Second Honeymoon) is far superior to what surrounds it. Also airs at 11:45 PM.
Monday 7/8/13
3:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Catalina Caper (1967 USA): Chances are, if you’ve ever seen Catalina Caper, you probably saw it on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Now we get an opportunity to scope it out sans both commercial interruptions and silly robot commentary! Tommy Kirk, fresh off his twin triumphs in Mother Goose-A-Go-Go and It’s a Bikini World, stars as Don Pringle, a clean cut teen who stumbles across an art theft on Southern California’s Catalina Island. Also involved are Lyle "Carol Burnett Show" Waggoner and Little Richard, who gets to croon the decidedly out of character tune "Scuba Party". Catalina Caper was shot by Ted Mikels (The Corpse Grinders and Astro Zombies guy) and directed by Lee Sholem, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about this indie feature’s questionable qualities.
6:00 PM HBO
Gasland Part II (2013 USA): Can’t wait to see this sequel to director Josh Fox’s magnificent 2010 doc Gasland, the film that introduced me to the dangers of fracking. In the years since, of course, we’ve seen fracking explode (sometimes literally!), with the White House giving its stamp of approval as recently as last week. Obviously, no one in Washington has seen Gasland or read the recent Duke University study, because if they had they’d be a lot less enthusiastic about this pollution-increasing, earthquake-inducing, illness-generating industry. But there’s money to be made – and it’s surely no coincidence that the industry has churned out a cinematic riposte, Fracknation, which also happens to be debuting this month, albeit on the less widely available HD Movies Network. Sorry, I’m not going to tell you when it’s screening – you’ll have to do that research yourself! Gasland II airs again at 9:00 PM and throughout the month.