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3:40 PM More Max
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991 USA): This is the sort of film that’s been a cable or satellite staple for so long that I never even think about it - then one day, whilst channel surfing, discover its now airing in its original aspect ratio. This, of course, is a big deal for some of us, and the film itself was pretty good to begin with, at least by the standards of the genre. You know what happens - Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lil’ Eddie Furlong take motorbike rides together whilst blowing stuff up - but now you can see it the way nature and God intended it to be seen.

Friday 6/22/12

12:05 AM HBO Signature
The Guardian (1990 USA): Betcha never heard of this William Friedkin film. Produced at a time when his career had just about hit bottom - the man was making a series of deeply unoriginal TV movies-of-the-week ripping off The A-Team, for gosh sakes - The Guardian is a thriller about a baby-sitter with a difference: she’s a Wiccan priestess! Not only that, Camilla (Jenny Seagrove) has access to a super-secret Druid tree where she stashes the infants she kidnaps, presumably saving them up for a rainy day or perhaps an occasional sacrifice if no goats are handy. Camilla’s latest victims are new-to-LA power couple Phil and Kate (Dwier Brown and Carey Lowell), who entrust their child to the care of the witchy woman despite her preternatural beauty and penchant for tree fornication. In sum, The Guardian is not one of Friedkin’s career highlights, but is loopy enough to earn a recommendation.

3:00 AM Sundance
Flame and Citron (2008 DEN-GER): Despite a title that undersells the film (and frankly makes it sound like a romantic comedy), this is a truly outstanding World War II drama about the Danish Resistance. Mads Mikkelsen is code name Citron, an assassin spending the late days of the occupation knocking off Nazi collaborators with his hit squad partner Flame (Thure Lindhardt) and suffering the karmic consequences of his murderous, if possibly righteous, actions. Meanwhile, the hellhounds of the S.S. are on their trail and getting closer every day - especially after the pair knock of a German officer. Tense, believable, and based on a true story, this is genuinely thrilling stuff that will appeal to anyone who enjoyed Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows.

Saturday 6/23/12

7:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Twelve Hours to Kill (1960 USA): Here in the TiVoPlex, we can never get too much Edward L. Cahn. Here’s a brief (but probably incomplete) list of the Cahn films I’ve recommended over the years: Main Street After Dark, Destination Murder, Creature With the Atom Brain, Girls In Prison, Shake Rattle & Rock!, Zombies of Mora Tau, Invasion of the Saucer Men, Jet Attack, It! The Terror From Beyond Space, Invisible Invaders, and now...Twelve Hours to Kill! In this Cahn epic, a young Greek immigrant (Nico Minardos) witnesses a killing, after which he’s sent by the police to a secure pre-trial location. But there’s a bent copper on the force willing to reveal the hideout to the guilty party! Ever so slightly above average (at least as far as Cahn films go), Twelve Hours to Kill features a fairly interesting cast, including Barbara Eden, Gavin MacLeod, and Ted Knight (and no, it wasn’t a pilot for a TV sitcom).

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