TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday, November 11, 2008 through Monday, November 17, 2008
By John Seal
November 10, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 11/11/08
4:00 PM Sundance
Body of War (2007 USA): Phil Donahue makes a movie! The TV talk show host who lost his job because of his opposition to the invasion of Iraq gets a measure of revenge via this outstanding documentary about the war's effects on paralyzed army veteran Tomas Young. Donahue's film juxtaposes scenes of the congressional War Authorization debate with scenes of Young's mental and physical rehabilitation, as well as his transformation from happy warrior to anti-war activist. Inspirational and infuriating in equal measure, Body of War won the National Board of Review's Best Documentary Award in 2007.
Wednesday 11/12/08
1:00 AM Sundance
The Proposition (2005 AUS): This extremely bloody Australian Western was written by rock musician Nick Cave, who also provided the film with its outstanding, ethereal score. Set deep in the outback, the film stars Ray Winstone as police officer Captain Stanley, in determined pursuit of the villainous Burns brothers, who have been robbing and raping their way across Queensland. When Stanley captures half-wit brother Mike (Richard Wilson) and handsome brother Charlie (Guy Pearce), he blackmails Charlie into helping him capture gang leader Arthur (Danny Huston), still on the loose and willing to do anything to stay out of the law's clutches. Not a film for the squeamish, The Proposition features superb performances from all concerned (with special kudos for Huston) and magnificent cinematography - in burnt hues of brown and orange - from DP Benoit Delhomme. After initially airing in pan and scan on Encore Dramatic Stories in January, it's making its widescreen television debut this morning.
3:20 AM HBO Signature
Run Granny Run (2006 USA): Just a few minutes of watching empty suit Judd Gregg mouth the standard platitudes about Wal-Mart and Iraq during New Hampshire's 2004 senate debate was enough to make this viewer almost throw up in his mouth. Thankfully, Doris 'Granny D' Haddock was also at the contest to give better than she got! This wonderful documentary about a great American citizen is inspiring, hilarious, and depressing in equal measure. After all, how could over 434,000 voters watch that debate and then pull the lever for George Bush's loyal apparatchik? Regardless, Ms. Haddock connected with well over 200,000 New Hampshire residents - and seems well poised to oust her callow young opponent come the next election cycle, should she choose to run again.
12:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Spy Ship (1942 USA): Craig Stevens stars in this neat little second programmer from Warner Bros. He plays Ward Prescott, a newspaper columnist at odds with isolationist aviatrix Pamela Mitchell (Irene Manning). Ward's in love with Pamela's sister Sue (Maris Wrixon), and is having a hard time convincing her that her sibling is acting on behalf of the Axis powers — until someone takes a shot at Ward and some Nazi submarine attacks strangely coincide with Pam's radio broadcasts. Will Sue come around — or will it take a dastardly bombing attack on a mainland American city to shake her from her complacency? Spy Ship is followed at 1:30 PM by Nazi Agent (1942), in which Conrad Veidt plays twins — one a loyal Nazi, the other a real American hero determined to break up a German spy ring.
10:30 PM More Max
Heartbeeps (1981 USA): One of the worst films ever made returns to the small screen this evening. Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters star as Val and Aqua, two robots trying to start a family together and encountering all sorts of difficulties along the way. What, did someone pass an anti-robot marriage law or something? Stuck in a robot repair facility along with smoking hot automaton Catskill (voice of Jack Carter), the pair decide they're compatible models and pledge to escape the building and reboot together. But they haven't reckoned on the presence of biological life forms Max and Charlie (Kenneth McMillan and Randy Quaid), who work in the building and are determined to recapture the escapees. It's all depressingly unfunny and terribly disappointing, especially when you consider the director (Allen Arkush, fresh from Rock n Roll High School) and the remarkable supporting cast (Dick Miller, Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, Kathleen Freeman, Christopher Guest, and — gulp! — Jerry Garcia!). Quality pedigree and fun guest cameos aside, Heartbeeps really is as bad as its reputation, and no matter how hard you try to move it to your recycle bin, its memory will stain your hard drive for years to come.
Thursday 11/13/08
3:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Bigamist (1953 USA): Not sure how I failed to recommend this film last time it was on TCM, but sure enough and yes I didn't. Directed by Ida Lupino, The Bigamist stars Edmond O'Brien as Harry Graham, a man with a wife in every port, or at least, TWO ports. He and wife number two (Joan Fontaine) are planning on adopting a baby, but Harry gets nervous when agency representative Jordan (Edmund Gwenn) starts digging through the skeletons in his closet. Needless to say, Jordan turns up wife number one (Lupino), and the whole sordid story is revealed in a flashback style. All things considered, this was quite a daring picture for the button-down '50s, and Collier Young's screenplay is surprisingly subtle and sympathetic. Still and all and this being 1953, however, the Production Code was still in full force, and Harry gets taught a serious lesson just in time for the final credit crawl.
Friday 11/14/08
1:45 AM More Max
Unfaithfully Yours (1948 USA): Unfaithfully Yours, I said to myself as I browsed through the movie listings. Unfaithfully Yours. Can't say I've heard of that one before. Sounds like a musical, or a romantic comedy. Can't be much good, can it? Better do some research, I suppose. What?!? It was written and directed by Preston Sturges? How have I NOT heard of it before? AND it's got Rudy Vallee, from Sturges' Palm Beach Story, in it? Rex Harrison, okay, that's not too exciting — but Lionel Stander? Edgar Kennedy? Kurt Krueger? Sign me up! And it got REMADE in 1984? How come I don't even remember the remake? It had Dudley Moore and Nastassja Kinski in it. And Betty Shabazz. BETTY SHABAZZ? Mrs. Malcolm X was in a crummy Dudley Moore comedy?!? Just when you feel like you know a lot about the movies, something like Unfaithfully Yours comes along and bites you on the keister. Hard.
9:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Hairy Ape (1944 USA): William Bendix delivered perhaps his greatest screen performance in this fine adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's play of the same name. Bendix portrays Hank Smith, a ship's stoker who finds himself enamored with Mildred Douglas (Susan Hayward), a society gal well above his station. He's in competition with fellow engineer Tony (the slightly more attractive John Loder), but Mildred rejects them both, setting up a potential tragedy (see: the original play) that evolves into an existentialist statement about the dignity of labor (see: Robert Andrews' neutered but still powerful screen adaptation). Bendix was as adept at playing big soft-hearted lugs as he was rough hewn working men, and he's in top form here, building on his portrayal of an all too human German sailor in Hitchcock's Lifeboat, released only six months earlier.
4:30 PM Showtime
a.k.a. Tommy Chong (2005 USA): The REALLY stoned half of the Cheech and Chong comedy duo, Tommy Chong got in big trouble with the feds, who busted him for selling — cough, cough — "smoking accessories" in early 2003. This enjoyable puff piece, which stems from the joint efforts of writer-director Josh Gilbert and his crew, plants seeds of doubt about the efficacy of the War on Drugs. Caught in the snares of Operation Pipe Dreams (I kid you not!), Chong was found guilty of selling drug paraphernalia and ended up serving a nine-month stretch in a minimum security prison. That's not the worst thing that can happen to someone, I suppose, but if there's one thing the Bush administration has enjoyed so much over the last eight years, it's putting the prosecutorial boot in, unless your crime is torturing people on behalf of the American people, in which case you get promoted. They couldn't track down either Osama bin Laden or the Weapons of Mass Destruction ™, but hey, they found some bongs. Also airs at 7:30 PM and throughout the month.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Suspiria (1973 ITA): Dario Argento's operatic horror classic makes its widescreen television debut tonight on TCM Underground. Jessica Harper stars as Suzy, an American youngster enrolled at the Tanzacademie, a West German ballet school. Arriving at the academy on a dark and stormy night, he's greeted by headmistress Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett) and befriends fellow student Sara (Stefania Cassini), but a shower of maggots suggests all is not well on campus — and things rapidly get much, much worse. Everything about Suspiria is big: from the incredibly over-amplified (in a good way) score by art-rockers Goblin, to the copious blood-letting and the florid performance by Bennett, this is one film unafraid of embarrassing itself with the unsubtle gesture. As a result, it's one of the most memorable films of the period and a true landmark of horror cinema, and it made Argento a household name. Well, in MY household, at least.
Saturday 11/15/08
10:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Glory Alley (1952 USA): Ralph Meeker was basically Aldo Ray with acting chops. Perhaps that's a little unfair to Ray — who was a decent character actor who simply drank too much — but Meeker generally offered better, more nuanced performances. In this Raoul Walsh-helmed drama, he portrays champeen boxer Socks Barbarossa, who develops cold feet on the eve of the big fight and disappoints would-be father-in-law Judge Evans (Kurt Kaszner) by hanging up his gloves. He tries to redeem himself by joining the Army and taking a combat tour in war-torn Korea, but the Judge isn't mollified until Socks' tale of childhood trauma soothes the savage legal eagle's breast and wins him the hand of sweetheart Angela (Leslie Caron). It's not a great film, but I really like Meeker, and Louis Armstrong puts in a memorable cameo appearance.
Sunday 11/16/08
9:00 PM Sundance
Dirty Carnival (2006 ROK): This hardboiled South Korean crime drama features In-sung Zo as Byung-du, a low level gangster trying to take care of his ailing mother on his meagre foot soldier's pay packet. Determined to ingratiate himself in the eyes of big boss Sang-chul (Yoon-jae Moon), Byung-du offers to take on the tricky task of eliminating a corrupt D.A. in exchange for an appropriately generous reward. At the same time, filmmaking buddy Min-ho (Min-nam Koong) is hoping to get some inside footage of the Mob, complicating matters considerably, but providing Byung-du with the opportunity to re-unite with old high school flame Hyeon-ju (Lee Bo-yeong). This is an above average genre pic on a par with the best Johnny To features, and comes highly recommended.
11:00 PM The Movie Channel
Farewell, My Lovely (1975 USA): A late in the day moment of glory for the great Robert Mitchum, Farewell, My Lovely stars the doe-eyed bad boy as Raymond Chandler anti-hero Philip Marlowe. The same story had been filmed in 1944 as Murder My Sweet, with Dick Powell as Marlowe, but this is the truer adaptation if not the better film. Marlowe is searching for Velma (Charlotte Rampling), the gone to ground gal pal of mob goon Moose Malloy (Jack O'Halloran, subbing effectively for Mike Mazurki), but there are plenty of obstacles in his way, including suspicious police detective Nulty (John Ireland). The film nicely recaptures the seediness of back alley Los Angeles circa 1940 and Mitchum is perfect for the role of Marlowe. Also airs on 11/17 at 2:00 AM.
Monday 11/17/08
11:00 AM Sundance
Genesis (2004): A French documentary about the evolution of life on planet Earth, Genesis tends to be a bit New Age-y in style, but still makes worthwhile viewing, especially for youngsters. Directed by the team who gave us the remarkable insect-eye's view feature Microcosmos in 1998, Genesis attempts to explain the birth of the universe and the development of life via the narration of West African griot Sotigui Kouyaté. Though the mystical musings of Kouyaté occasionally grate, the film does a decent job of summarizing this complex chain of events, and ultimately supports evolution and the Big Bang Theory without once mentioning the oxymoronic "Intelligent Design".