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Sunday 11/08/09

9:30 PM Sundance
Mad Detective (2007 HK): A wild blend of crime and supernatural elements, Mad Detective stars Lau Ching Wan as Bun, an unorthodox Hong Kong copper who has a sixth sense when it comes to crime-fighting. Fired for relying on his mental superpowers in the cause of law enforcement, Bun is re-hired five years later to pursue villainous fellow cop Ho Ka On (Andy On), a schizophrenic whose multiple personalities are committing a series of crimes. It's all as wacky as it sounds and quite a departure for director Johnny To, whose reputation stems from his gritty, realistic gangster pics. A huge box office hit in Hong Kong, Mad Detective makes its American television debut this evening and is not to be missed.

Monday 11/09/09

1:15 AM MGM HD
Gorp (1980 USA): I've never seen it — and I don't get any HD channels, so I'm not going to be watching it this morning — but Gorp sure sounds like fun. Directed by Joseph Ruben (The Stepfather), it's apparently a summer camp comedy in the Meatballs tradition, but with a Jewish twist. The cast — Fran Drescher, Dennis Quaid, Julius Harris, Rosanna Arquette — are also an enticement. At some point I'm going to have to succumb to temptation and go HD...

5:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Chasing Rainbows (1930 USA): Not to be confused with the bootleg Beatles album of the same name, Chasing Rainbows is a delightfully creaky early musical from MGM. Bessie Love, Charles King and an unbelievably young Jack Benny headline as members of a traveling troupe of all singing, all dancing performers hoofing their way from stage to stage across the US of A, whilst Marie Dressler leaves her mark as a past her prime funny-woman. The film that introduced the now classic Happy Days Are Here Again to Depression-era audiences hungering for uplift, Chasing Rainbows may be quaint, but remains hugely entertaining even 70 years on.

5:00 PM IFC
Bananas (1971 USA): Pinpointing the moment when Woody Allen morphed from funny man into insufferable bore is not an easy task, but the turning point certainly arrived well after Bananas, one of his wackiest efforts. In this outing, Woody plays Fielding Mellish, a typically nebbish Allen character in love with political activist Nancy (Louise Lasser). When Nancy heads off to support the nascent revolutionary movement in the fictional Latin American republic of San Marcos, Fielding tags along — and finds himself deeply involved in the struggle for national liberation. So deeply, in fact, that he becomes leader of the revolutionary junta and declares Swedish the republic's official language! For those unsatisfied by Allen's later serio-comic direction, there'll always be Bananas, which airs again at 11:00 PM.

6:00 PM Sundance
Donkey in Lahore (2008 AUS): I haven't seen this Australian documentary yet, but this quote from an IMDb plot synopsis by Axel Grigor should tell you everything you need to know: Donkey in Lahore tells the real life tale of Brian, an Australian Goth whose skills as a puppeteer takes him on a journey that transcends borders, religion and love. While visiting Lahore in Pakistan to perform at a puppet festival, Brian meets Amber, 17. Ten years Brian's junior, Amber doesn't seem a likely match for this tear-away Goth. She's a devout Muslim and still lives at home with her tight-knit family. Yet in a whirlwind two-week romance during which the pair are never alone together, they fall in love. Now, does that sound like the perfect TiVoPlex, film, or what?

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