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Saturday 05/30/09

6:00 PM Encore Love Stories
True Romance (1993 USA): It's not often that a Quentin Tarantino-penned feature shows up on the Love Stories channel, but I guess when a film is entitled True Romance, mistakes can happen. Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette star as a pair of lovable losers trying to sling some stolen coke on the streets of L.A., whilst big time drug dealer Coccotti (Christopher Walken) pursues them in hopes of reclaiming his purloined property. Like all things Tarantino, the film doesn't know when to stop, but a Grade A cast - including Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Samuel L. Jackson, and Gary Oldman - make it worth a look. It also makes its widescreen television debut this evening.

6:00 PM Starz
WALL-E (2008 USA): Last week, Kung Fu Panda; this week, Pixar's betreaded, binoculared Wall-E. I still love a good kid's movie, and the first 20 minutes of Wall-E are about as good as either a children's film or an animated film get; the balance of the film makes unfortunate but understandable concessions to both genres that lessen the story's overall impact. Also airs at 9:00 PM and throughout the millennium.

7:00 PM Sundance
Lady Chatterly (2006 FRA): What, no lover? This French rendering of D.H. Lawrence's steamy novel, John Thomas (!) and Lady Jane, is widely regarded as the best; as I haven't seen any other versions, I'll defer to the critical consensus. Originally shot for European television, this is the truncated theatrical release trimmed of almost an hour of material, though it still clocks in at a robust 160-plus minutes. Scrumptious Marina Hands takes the lead as Constance, whose husband Sir Clifford (Hippolyte Girardot) is paralyzed from the waist down and therefore isn't up to snuff in the sack. Lusty Constance needs an outlet for her desires, and finds a willing collaborator in the person of game-keeper Parkin (Jean-Louis Coullo'ch). Cue much flower-picking, nude frolicking, and, ahem, dancing around the maypole. I must admit to being underwhelmed by the results, but it's certainly a gorgeous film to look at and it certainly impressed the French, who bestowed a handful of Cesars upon it.

Sunday 05/31/09

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Winslow Boy (1948 GB): This is the original film version of Terence Rattigan's play of the same name, later turned into a worthy but rather bloodless production by David Mamet in 1999. The story revolves around a teenage boy expelled from school for stealing a postal money order, and the efforts of his family to subsequently clear his name. Neil North portrays accused klepto Ronnie Winslow, whilst Sir Cedric Hardwicke delivers the goods as worn-down Dad Arthur, a Wimbledon gent determined to kick against the pricks of class and authority and prove his son innocent. Based on a true story, the film was directed by Anthony Asquith and also features Robert Donat as the lawyer hired by Arthur to defend his sprog from the long arm of the law. It's followed by another Asquith-helmed feature at 7:00 PM, 1943's The Demi-Paradise, in which Laurence Olivier plays a Soviet engineer working in Britain and coming to terms with its petit bourgeois trappings.

9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The White Sister (1923 USA): Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman are the leads in this lush and lengthy silent melodrama from director Henry King. Gish plays heiress Angela Chiaramonte, daughter of an Italian nobleman killed in an equestrian accident. Cheated out her legacy by her rotten half-sister (Gail Kane), Angela decides to join a convent rather than wait for the return of her betrothed, Army officer Severini (Colman). Can life as a bride of Christ offer as much satisfaction as a life of wealth and comfort? The answer, which involves the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, may surprise you. This big budget independent production was shot on location in Italy, and was a massive box office success in 1923. It makes its TCM premiere tonight.

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