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9:00 PM Sundance
Them (2006 FRA): An excellent Galllc thriller, Them (Ils) tells a taut, succinct tale of terror in the Romanian countryside. Olivia Bonamy and Michael Cohan star as Clementine and Lucas, a French couple working in Bucharest — she as a teacher, he as a writer. The two live in an impressive rented pile in the provinces, but their peace and solitude is disturbed one night when an intruder — or perhaps intruders? — break in and start doing the Straw Dogs thang. That's about it for the film's entire 79 minute running time — we never get to know the characters too well and back story is minimal — but it's extremely effective and certainly doesn't wear out its welcome. Them earned first time directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud a gig in Hollywood helming last year's utterly pointless remake of The Eye; lets hope they return to Europe for their next effort.

Sunday 04/19/09

4:30 AM Fox Movie Channel
Three Brave Men (1956 USA): Ernest Borgnine plays a navy man discharged from the service for his Communist sympathies in this interesting if half-hearted response to America's red-baiting obsession of the early 1950s. Borgnine is Bernie Goldsmith, a loyal American who spent time in left-wing circles during the '30s and now regrets his youthful indiscretions. That doesn't stop him from losing his job, however, but Bernie won't go down without a fight and hires lawyer Joe DiMarco (Ray Milland) to help him get his job back. Written and directed by Philip Dunne, Three Brave Men defends the nation's honor by arguing that such injustice can always be redressed in the courts, which of course was as far from the truth then as it is now, but it certainly has its heart in the right place. The excellent supporting cast includes Frank Lovejoy, Nina Foch, Dean Jagger, and Mrs Olsen herself, Virginia Christine. Also airs at 11:30 PM, but sadly both airings are in pan and scan.

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Munchhausen (1943 GER): This long-lost epic based on the stories of Rudolph Erich Raspe (otherwise persona non grata in Nazi Germany) was produced by Joseph Goebbels as the tide of the war turned at Stalingrad and was designed as escapist fare for increasingly war-weary audiences. The most expensive film of its time, Münchhausen was also produced to mark the 25th anniversary of UFA Studios, Germany's equivalent of MGM. It's an incredibly lavish epic that recently premiered on DVD, and now comes to television courtesy TCM. If your only previous encounter with the Baron was via Terry Gilliam's rather incoherent Adventures (1988), you'll be impressed by the scale of this film, which was shot on location in Venice, features thousands of Wehrmacht soldiers cast as extras, and even involves an elaborately staged trip to the moon.

11:35 PM Starz
Standard Operating Procedure (2008 USA): I'm not a big fan of the Errol Morris school of documentary filmmaking, but his films are never exactly bad and are even, on occasion, quite excellent (e.g., The Fog of War). I'm not sure, however, which is a bigger turn-off for me: his penchant for re-creations or his deadpan approach to the subject at hand. Regardless, the style remains intact in Standard Operating Procedure, Morris' take on the atrocities committed in our name at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. The focus is on the infamous photographs (some featuring America's sweetheart Lynndie England and her loser boyfriend Charles Graner), and Morris relies on these snapshots to the virtual exclusion of all else. Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib are both superior documentaries examining the same topic, but if you really want to spend a lot of time pondering the meaning of those pictures, this is your film. Also airs 4/20 at 2:35 AM.

Monday 04/20/09

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Kelly the Second (1936 USA): Embarrassing confession time: I have a serious crush on old time comedienne Patsy Kelly, so even if this Kelly vehicle were the worst film ever made I'd still be offering it a recommendation. Happily it's a bit better than terrible, and in addition to Patsy also features sassy blonde Pert Kelton, silent comedy veteran Charley Chase, and former boxer Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom, rendering Kelly the Second absolutely irresistible. As for the story, it's a broadly told tale of lunch counter manager Molly (Kelly) who finds herself training aspiring pugilist Cecil (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams). If you can overlook the ubiquitous, teeth-grinding, hurdy-gurdy rendition of The Irish Washerwoman, you'll enjoy this film — though probably not as much as I will.

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