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7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Here Come the Marines (1952 USA): Just when you thought it was safe to re-enlist, the Bowery Boys take a trip to the Halls of Montezuma. Conscripted into service, Sach immediately manages to get himself promoted to Sergeant, after which he, Slip, and the gang get involved in the usual guff about unsolved murders and illegal gambling. A few good men, eh? I guess the Corps were a lot less picky in those days.

Sunday 10/3/10

5:00 AM Sundance
Disengagement (2007 GER-ISR): If you liked Liron Levo in Strangers (see above), you’ll probably want to check out this similarly themed Amos Gitai-helmed drama. This time he plays Uli, an Israeli policeman traveling to Avignon, France, seat of his recently deceased father’s ancestral digs. Once there he meets half-sister Ana (Juliette Binoche), who has just learned from Dad’s lawyer (Jeanne Moreau) that her estranged child is living in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. So it’s off to Gaza to reunite the family…right when Uli’s job requires him to assist with the eviction of the camp’s inhabitants. Awkward.

2:20 PM IFC
Blood Simple (1984 USA): The Coen Brothers made a strong impression with Blood Simple, an outstanding neo-noir with a nasty sting in its tail that also happened to be their first film. Dan Hedaya stars as Marty, a saloon owner who knows wife Abby (Frances McDormand) is cheating on him with bartender Ray (John Getz). Marty hires detective Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) to kill them both, but hasn’t counted on the private dick’s awesome backstabbing skills, and the plot soon begins to twist, turn, and take off in unexpected, violent, and grimly humorous directions. For anyone who’s ever enjoyed a novel by James Cain or Jim Thompson (or at least enjoyed a film based on a novel by James Cain or Jim Thompson), Blood Simple is manna from heaven.

Monday 10/4/10

4:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Smiley (1957 GB): The life of a happy-go-lucky 10-year-old boy is the focus of this quirky children’s film written and directed by Anthony Kimmins. Set in the Australian outback, the film features Colin Petersen (later the Bee Gees’ drummer during their late '60s purple patch) as the title character, a cheeky lad trying to save up for a new bike. With an assist from his neighbors, Smiley begins to fill his piggy bank - but drug-running and gambling threaten to undo his efforts. Filmed in widescreen Technicolor and co-starring Ralph Richardson, Chips Rafferty, and Charles Tingwell, Smiley was shot on location in New South Wales, and was popular enough to spawn a sequel, Smiley Gets a Gun. Oh, those wacky Australians.

6:30 AM HBO Signature
Timecrimes (2007 ESP): Ready to make your brain melt? Check out this fascinating but extremely convoluted time travel tale from Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo. Karra Elejalde plays Hector, whose curiosity undoes him after he espies what appears to be the body of a dead woman. Upon investigating, he’s attacked by a masked man wielding scissors…and things only get stranger from there, as Hector begins a loopy adventure through time and space that will see him replicated, Xerox-like, several times over. It’s an excellent film, but be warned: if you don’t pay attention you’re going to get lost very quickly.

5:00 PM Sundance
Sea Point Days (2008 SAF): Cape Town is South Africa’s most segregated city. There is, however, one place in the metropolis where everyone congregates: the Sea Point Promenade and Municipal Swimming Pools. This, naturally, is the focal point of this artsy documentary, which generally eschews talking heads in favor of the old maxim that a (motion) picture is worth a thousand words. It’s a gentler, kinder, but nonetheless still pointed documentary, the polar opposite of a Michael Moore or Robert Greenwald film, but no less effective.

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