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Friday 12/2/11

1:30 AM Flix
Eating Raoul (1982 USA): One of the funniest and most profane films ever made, Eating Raoul stars Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov as Paul and Mary Bland, a conservative with a small "c" L.A. couple with a big dream: running their own restaurant. Of course, you can’t open a fine dining establishment without some money upfront, and that’s the ingredient missing from the Bland’s business plan. So, how to raise the necessary funds? Why, open an escort service, of course, catering to the sick and twisted sexual predilections of Southern California swingers! I once made the mistake of showing this film after Thanksgiving dinner (no, not this year), and you could have heard a pin drop if not for my own raucous (and rather embarrassed) laughter. I challenge you to watch this film without busting a gut.

11:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
They Live (1988 USA): The TCM Underground features a double-bill of John Carpenter’s finest this evening. First up is They Live, in which Rowdy Roddy Piper discovers that America has been invaded by space aliens who encourage consumerism as a way of life (and a way for them to maintain control over humankind). It’s up to the denizens of L.A’s Skid Row to put a halt to the nefarious plot. Besides featuring a fabulously prescient premise, They Live is highlighted by an epic knockdown, drag-out fistfight between Piper and co-star Keith David that never seems to end. It’s followed at 1:15 AM by Carpenter’s 1980 chiller The Fog, in which Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis contend with some bad Northern California weather.

Saturday 12/3/11

1:30 AM Sundance
Accomplices ( 2009 FRA): Set in Paris, Accomplices features Gilbert Melki and Emmanuelle Devos as Herve and Karine, detectives investigating the circumstances surrounding the dumping of a body in the Seine. The clues lead them to male hustler Vincent (Cyril Descours) and his seedy clients and colleagues, including wild child Rebecca (Nina Meurisse), a free spirit who thinks male prostitutes are the bee’s knees. Zut alors! The result is a more than serviceable police procedural.

9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Lost Volcano (1951 USA): Here’s film number three in the Bomba series, in which our hero (Johnny Sheffield) misplaces a gigantic, lave-spewing mountain. Jeez, Bomba, what’s up with that? You need some GPS down there in the jungle or something? There’s some silliness about a kidnapped boy (Tommy Ivo) to spice up the back-lot action and volcanic stock footage.

7:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Instant Love (1964 BRA): I have nothing to say about Instant Love, because I’ve never seen it, had never heard of it before now, and there don’t seem to be any reviews available either. Even the TCM website has no synopsis - no, not so much as a single sentence! So why do we care? Well, it’s from Brazil and has Rosanno Brazzi, Rhonda Fleming, and Neil Sedaka in it. Neil Sedaka?!? That alone makes Instant Love absolutely essential viewing.

Sunday 12/4/11

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Leopard (1963 ITA): Last time I recommended The Leopard it was airing on Fox. Their print, though letterboxed, was dubbed in English, and TCM’s is subtitled and (in my opinion at least) seems to be a little less washed out. The Leopard is not one of my favorite films - it’s awfully long, and awfully talky - but if you’re in the mood for a Burt Lancaster costume epic, this is for you. All others can have fun playing spot the Terence Hill and/or the Serge Reggiani.

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