TiVoPlex
By John Seal
October 12, 2009
Friday 10/16/09
Midnight Starz Comedy
I Served the King of England (2006 CZH): Just in case you missed it the first time, here's what I wrote about this film in August: Prague Springer Jiri Menzel stuck his head above the 21st century parapet with this most welcome comedy-drama about the life and times of a Czech everyman. Ivan Barnev and Oldrich Kaiser split the role of Jan Dite, a waiter who lucks into ownership of a hotel during the Nazi occupation and then ends up imprisoned for 15 years by Czechoslovakia's post-war Communist regime. His episodic adventures are related herein, including his dalliance with an enthusiastic Nazi (the wonderful Julia Jentsch) and his dabbling in the world of philately. Menzel has actually remained active ever since his heyday 40 years ago, but most of his post-Closely Watched Trains films never got released in the US. Thankfully that changed with I Served the King of England. That's fairly fulsome praise, but after a second viewing, I feel like I undersold it — and if you're still awaiting your first viewing, you're in for a real treat.
Saturday 10/17/09
12:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Terrorvision (1986 USA): Any film starring Gerrit Graham is going to get a thumbs up from me, and here's one of the beady-eyed funny man's most amusing efforts. Graham and co-star Mary Woronov play the Puttermans, a suburban couple not entirely dissimilar to the one featured in Woronov's classic Eating Raoul (1982). They live in a ranch-style home with annoying 12-year-old son Sherman (Chad Allen) and crotchety patriarch Grampa (Bert Remsen), and own one of them new fangled satellite dishes - a contraption that turns out to be the garbage chute for a civilization in a distant galaxy. Amongst the space junk sent to Earth is a beyond absurd sock-puppet monster that proceeds to eat the adults and the neighbors, leaving the fate of the world in the hands of young Sherman, who must convince the authorities that something's not quite right at the end of the cul-de-sac. Helmed by Subspecies auteur Ted Nicolaou, this black comedy - still missing in action on DVD – appears on television in its correct aspect ratio this morning.
6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Dick Tracy (1937 USA): We're getting near the end! This week's chapters are numbers 13 and 14, also known as The Fire Trap and The Devil in White.
5:00 PM HBO
Slumdog Millionaire (2008 GB): Director Danny Boyle finally earned the acclaim he's long deserved at last year's Academy Awards thanks to box office hit Slumdog Millionaire, a bracing blend of neo-realism and Bollywood boot-strap musical. Dev Patel is superb as Jamal, a young man whose unlikely success on India's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? earns him a beating in a police station and earns us some lengthy flashback sequences. Jamal's childhood is revisited, supplying us with clues to his impressive quiz show performance and casting light on his relationships with troubled brother Salim and beautiful girlfriend Latika. Shot by the great Anthony Dod Mantle and impressively scored by A. R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire is amongst the best and most deserving of recent Best Picture winners. Also airs at 8:00 PM and throughout the month.
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