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From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.

Tuesday 02/19/08

1pm Fox Movie Channel
Lady in Cement (1968 USA): Dean Martin was campy Matt Helm during the late ‘60s, whilst fellow crooner Frank Sinatra took a somewhat grittier path in his brief two-picture Tony Rome series. This is the second of those films, and features Sinatra as Rome, a world-weary Miami private dick who finds the titular femme whilst scuba diving one day. After battling a shark (!), Tony makes his way back to shore and is hired by plug-ugly Gronsky (Dan "Hoss From Bonanza" Blocker) to locate a missing girl named Sandra, who may or may not be the lass in the cement slippers. Soon Frankie is competing against both cops and goons in the race to solve the disappearance and unmask the villain, who could be either Raquel Welch, Martin Gabel...or someone else entirely. A tired-looking Richard Conte co-stars as one of Tony's cop buddies, and Richard Deacon pops up playing to type as an avuncular milquetoast. Getting a rare wide-screen airing today, Lady in Cement is an entertaining if predictable thriller, but remember, Tony Rome'll Get ‘Em If You Don't Watch Out (or watch his movie)!

6:35pm Sundance
Radiant City (2006 CAN): The phenomenon of the exurb is examined in this exhaustive and excellent National Film Board of Canada documentary. Is that enough "ex"s for you? Focusing on housing developments in Alberta, Radiant City argues, unsurprisingly, that the post-war architectural and sociological creation known as "suburbia" is a soul-sucking nightmare that has leeched all the meaning from the word "community". Those of us who live in cities will watch the film and nod knowingly and wisely, while the rest of you will no doubt sigh and bemoan the film as another sneering assault on your cherished way of life. The film's title derives from a concept developed by Brutalist architect and crypto-fascist Le Corbusier, who liked nothing better than a nice row of completely identical buildings. Also airs 2/21 at 9:35pm and 2/24 at 12:35pm.

Wednesday 02/20/08

7pm Fox Movie Channel
The Laughing Policeman (1973 USA): Fox is airing a wide-screen print of this terrific police procedural starring Walter Matthau in best rumpled form as Jake Martin, a San Francisco cop on the trail of a killer responsible for the shooting deaths of a busload of Muni passengers. Isn't having to ride Muni punishment enough? Based on the popular cerebral police novels of Swedes Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, this gritty little film co-stars Bruce Dern, Louis Gossett Jr., and Anthony Zerbe as Matthau's colleagues, and, erm, Cathy Lee Crosby.

11:05pm Starz!
The Lives of Others (2006 GER): Last year's Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winner makes its American television debut this evening, and in its correct aspect ratio, no less. Starring the late Ulrich Mühe as a Stasi agent assigned to listen in on the conversations of a playwright considered a security threat, The Lives of Others is a near masterpiece that should send a shiver of recognition through American viewers disturbed by our own government's efforts to constantly expand its ability to peek into the most private corners of our lives. Don't miss this remarkable and important film, which airs again 2/21 at 2:05am.

Thursday 02/21/08

2:15am Cinemax
I Wake Up Screaming (1941 USA): This amazing Betty Grable vehicle was made years before the film noir was fully developed, but it's definitely one of the precursors of the style. Grable plays Jill Lynn, the sister of a murder victim whose beau Frankie (Victor Mature) is suspect number one as far as Police Inspector Cornell (the great Laird Cregar) is concerned. Frankie needs Jill to help clear his name, but she never liked him much and is less inclined to believe his story now. Will he convince her he's a straight-shooter, or will she end up wrapping him up in a bow for a trip up the river with Cornell? Based on an equally fine novel by Steve Fisher, I Wake Up Screaming transcends its B production values thanks to a solid cast and some first-rate cinematography by Edward Cronjager, a journeyman whose work always looked like it cost far more than it actually did. Also airs at 5:15am.

3:55pm IFC
Requiem (2006 GER): If you thought The Exorcism of Emily Rose was a piece of crap, join the club, and make time to see this German film that basically tells the same story but is, you know, actually GOOD. Based on a real-life incident that served as inspiration for Public Image Ltd.'s song Annelisa (it's on their 1978 debut LP), Requiem features Sandra Hüller as Michaela, a frail university student subject to terrifying epileptic fits that she and her Catholic parents misinterpret as demonic possession. Placed in the "care" of an exorcist, Michaela's condition worsens, leading to a horrifying but inevitable dénouement. The film is determinedly unsensational, and there are no spinning heads or pea soup shenanigans here, just an incredible, real-life horror story recreating events that happened in 1976 in Tubingen, West Germany.

Friday 02/22/08

9:45am Turner Classic Movies
Champion (1949 USA): I always have time for a good boxing movie, and here's a very good one indeed. Kirk Douglas plays Midge Kelly, a flyweight boxer determined to win himself a championship by any means necessary. After a life spent riding the rails with brother Connie (Arthur Kennedy), Midge hooks up with trainer Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart), who transforms him from street brawler to professional fighter. As Kelly's fortunes rise, he leaves a trail of walking wounded behind him, including Haley, wife Emma (Ruth Roman), and a plethora of hangers-on and would-be BFFs. But he can't beat the Mob, and when he wins a fight he was supposed to throw, Midge finds himself at the wrong end of the blackjack. Champion rightfully made Douglas a star (he was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar), and the film features some of the best (and most brutal) boxing footage you'll ever see.

1pm Sundance
Tout va bien (1972 FRA-ITA): Perhaps I'm insufficiently familiar with the works of Jean-Luc Godard - though I'm a huge fan of Breathless and Weekend - but the ostensibly revolutionary Tout va bien plays like a comedy to me. The film satirizes multiple targets: the conventions of film-making, the pompous self-importance of the bourgeoisie, the underdeveloped logic of the lumpen proletariat, and so much more, including Godard himself. Did you enjoy the legendary tracking shot in Weekend? Well, you'll love the multiple tracking shots in Tout va bien, which take place in the offices of a sausage factory (what could be more emblematic of commercial film-making?) and in a supermarket where riot police are doing battle with shoppers. Yes, there's plenty of political content for those so inclined, but for me, this film is akin to Lindsay Anderson's acerbic Britannia Hospital: nothing is sacred. If you can cope with the presence of the eternally irksome Jane Fonda and her horrible ‘70s shag hair-do, Tout va bien is essential viewing.

9pm IFC
The Prophecy (1995 USA): I've never seen this week's IFC Grindhouse headliner, but it's probably worth watching for the cast alone. The Prophecy features Christopher Walken (as the Angel Gabriel), Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Amanda Plummer, and Viggo Mortensen (as Lucifer!!). How bad can it be?

Saturday 02/23/08

12:15am Turner Classic Movies
Equus (1977 GB): Peter Shaffer's "un-filmable" play about a teenage boy who has a very strange relationship with horses hit the big screen in 1977, and though it unsurprisingly failed to set the box-office alight, still managed to attract the attention of the Academy, who graced it with a trio of Oscar noms. Peter Firth plays Alan Strang, a 17-year-old stable hand charged with the blinding of six horses. The local magistrate (Eileen Atkins) calls in shrink Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) to find out why the lad did what he did, and Dysart's probing questions soon begin to reveal some uncomfortable home truths. Firth and Burton were both Oscar-nominated, as was Shaffer for his screenplay. If you're old enough to remember the film's original ad campaign, you can no doubt still hear the histrionic screams of "Equus! EQUUS!" ringing through your head. If you're not old enough, you can hope that Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who recently starred in a West End revival, will decide to bare it all for a big-screen remake.


Sunday 02/24/08

9pm IFC
Cavite (2005 PHI): The Asia Extreme Express finally turns away from Japan and Korea for a quick and much welcome detour to the Philippines. Filipino filmmaking was long exemplified by the ubiquitous presence of Vic Diaz, who snarled his way through countless Roger Corman-produced action flicks shot in the archipelago, usually clad in really ugly floral shirts and wielding a machete. The now-very ill Diaz is nowhere to be seen in Cavite, but fans of those low-budget Corman flicks will not be disappointed by this film. Produced, written, and directed by Ian Gamazon, the film stars - who else? - Ian Gamazon as Adam, the American-born son of Filipino parents on his way back to the islands to attend his father's funeral. Once there, he learns that his mother and sister have been kidnapped, and that in order to save them he must follow a very precise and odd series of demands. The perp doesn't want money, it seems, and Adam finds himself on a wild goose chase through the backstreets of Manila. This isn't a horror or exploitation film; it's a serious and exemplary political thriller, and all the more impressive considering its $7,000 budget. Highly recommended, and a welcome change from long-haired girl ghosts!


Monday 02/25/08

2am More Max
The Black Scorpion (1957 USA): Here's a not-quite-classic 1950s sci-fi entry that hasn't been seen on premium channels in quite some time. Creature From the Black Lagoon's Richard Denning stars as Hank Scott, a geologist investigating the after-effects of a volcanic eruption down Mexico way. When he and assistant Arturo (Carlos Rivas) stumble across abandoned houses, crushed cop cars, and dead peace officers, they know something is very wrong, and soon find out what: the eruption has unleashed a horde of super-sized scorpions! Can Hank and Arturo stop them, or will the attractive Teresa (Mara Corday) distract them from their mission? One of the last films to feature the work of stop-motion pioneer Willis O'Brien (The Lost World, King Kong), The Black Scorpion is nothing special, but great fun for fans of the genre.

6pm Sundance
Deliver Us From Evil (2006 USA): Father Oliver O'Grady seems like such a nice man - but he's actually a serial child molester and the subject of this documentary, which explores the banality of evil through the prism of the Catholic faith. O'Grady spent decades being shifted from parish to parish throughout Northern California, leaving a wake of broken lives and horrible secrets behind him. The Church protected him all the way, and this film asks how this could have happened. Featuring lengthy interview segments with O'Grady, who still doesn't seem to appreciate the gravity of his actions, Deliver Us From Evil is a gut-wrenching viewing experience.