TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for Tuesday, April 14, 2009 through Monday, April 20, 2009
By John Seal
April 13, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Wednesday 04/15/09
11:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Twonky (1953 USA): This legendary, long unseen Arch Oboler pop-culture classic makes an extremely rare small screen appearance on TCM this morning. Hans Conried stars as everyman Cary West, who's invested in that brand new middle-class status symbol, the television set. At first, the set seems innocuous enough — but when it starts walking, talking, and hypnotizing the neighbors, Cary decides drastic action must be taken. A remarkably prescient social satire, The Twonky has for years only been available as a crummy grey area bootleg, so here's hoping TCM's print will be a step up from barely watchable.
5:00 PM IFC
Night Watch (2003 RUS): Remember when IFC aired the Russian thriller Day Watch last month? At the time I mentioned I hadn't seen it, nor had I seen its predecessor, Night Watch. That film now makes its American television debut this evening, and is followed at 7:00 PM by an encore appearance of Day Watch, which has been resting comfortably upon my hard drive since early March. No truth to the rumor that the still unproduced third film in the series, Twilight Watch, will be airing tonight as well. Night Watch, however, airs again at 11:15 PM.
6:00 PM HDNET
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2006 USA): Alex Gibney's superb documentary takedown of our 21st century robber barons makes its hi-def television debut tonight. As it turns out, however, Enron were more canaries in the coalmine than masters of the universe, as the con game they were running now looks like small potatoes compared to the efforts of Bernie Madoff, "Sir" Allen Stanford, and their capitalist comrades on Wall Street. Enron managed to bilk Californians out of a lot of money, but they were truly only the tip of the iceberg, as we are all currently learning to our eternal regret. As for Gibney's film, it's great stuff, but had the misfortune of being nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Award the same year as the crowd-pleasing March of the Penguins.
10:30 PM HBO Signature
Menor de las Males (2007 ESP): Sad-eyed Roberto Alvarez stars as a Spanish politician with a professional reputation to uphold in this first-rate drama from well-regarded director Antonio Hernandez. Alvarez plays Eduardo, a middle-aged Madrileno who takes a trip to the old Galician homestead to visit sister Julia (Leonor's Carmen Maura). What should be a happy family reunion, however, gets complicated when Eduardo's scantily clad young lover Vanessa (Veronica Echegui) also puts in an appearance — and announces her pregnancy at the hands (so to speak) of her happily married partner in elicit sex. Hernandez' film snagged a trio of awards at the 2007 Malaga Film Festival and makes its American television debut tonight on HBO Signature.
Friday 04/17/09
5:00 AM IFC
Lockdown USA (2006 USA): Recently back in the news after the New York Times touted a new legislative effort to repeal them, the infamous "Rockefeller Drug Laws" are the gold standard for law and order types determined to lock up potheads and throw away the keys. This documentary takes a look at the efforts to roll back these extremely strict laws, passed on Governor Nelson Rockefeller's watch in 1973 and laden with harsh mandatory sentencing rules which require first time offenders be hit with fifteen or twenty year stretches. The film is weakened by its focus on publicity hog Russell Simmons' work on behalf of the repeal effort, but is a worthwhile eye-opener for those otherwise unfamiliar with this aspect of the never-ending War on Drugs.
7:00 Sundance
Good Morning Heartache (2008 ITA): A so-so Italian take on the mockumentary meme, Good Morning Heartache stars Stefano Fresi and Alessandro Averone as filmmakers Giorgio and Eros, who invite themselves into the home of a Roman family struggling to get by on temp work in the near moribund Italian film industry. Wife Lucia (Alba Rohrwacher) promptly falls head over heels for Giorgio, whilst hubby Giovanni (Marco Foschi) simply decides the experiment has gone too far and takes off for points unknown. If you've been paying attention, you'll recognize this as virtually the same plot as that of Albert Brooks' Real Life — highlighted in this very column only a week or two ago — and frankly, Good Morning Heartache really doesn't do much new with it. It's nicely acted and looks good, but that's about the best one can say about it.
7:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
So Long at the Fair (1950 GB): Jean Simmons stars as a woman searching for her lost brother in this enjoyable, well-mounted period piece from Britain's Gainsborough Pictures. Simmons plays Vicky Barton, who's travelled with brother Johnny (David Tomlinson) to the Paris Exhibition of 1896. The siblings check into their hotel, but in the morning, Johnny has disappeared — and no one even remembers having seen him in the first place. Luckily for Vicky, she meets fellow British tourist George Hathaway (Dirk Bogarde), who believes her story and offers assistance in her Johnny quest. If all this sounds familiar, that's probably because the film was remade as an early episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but this is the definitive version. Look for 22-year-old cutie Honor Blackman in the small but critical role of Rhoda O'Donovan, as well as Hammer horror regular Andre Morell as a doctor.
Saturday 04/18/09
12:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Let the Good Times Roll (1974 USA): The baby boomers were already experiencing the first pangs of nostalgia during the early 1970s, when the post-Summer of Love comedown was calling and the "innocent" 1950s began to appear not so bad after all. With Happy Days a huge hit on television and American Graffiti scoring big at the box office, it was clearly time for documentarians to get into the act — hence, Let the Good Times Roll. Featured herein are contemporaneous performances by Bo Diddley, The Shirelles, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Chubby Checker, who sadly avoids the mind-melting psychedelic cuts he recorded in the late '60s in favor of doing the Twist again, like he did last summer...and the summer before that...and the summer before that. The film is horribly dated thanks to the horrendous clothing and hairstyles worn by all concerned, but some of the music still has some juice in it. Extra added plus: Let the Good Times Roll was shot in 70mm widescreen, and makes its OAR television debut this morning.
6:00 PM Starz
You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2007 USA): Adam Sandler in the TiVoPlex? Hey, I don't want you kids to think I'm a total film snob. Though You Don't Mess With the Zohan is no classic, it makes an effort to milk some laughs from what seems to be a distinctly unfunny topic (the 60-year long struggle between Israelis and Palestinians) and actually succeeds, at least intermittently. If nothing else, John Turturro is fun to watch as freedom fighter cum fast food magnate The Phantom. Also airs at 9:00 PM.
9:00 PM Sundance
Them (2006 FRA): An excellent Galllc thriller, Them (Ils) tells a taut, succinct tale of terror in the Romanian countryside. Olivia Bonamy and Michael Cohan star as Clementine and Lucas, a French couple working in Bucharest — she as a teacher, he as a writer. The two live in an impressive rented pile in the provinces, but their peace and solitude is disturbed one night when an intruder — or perhaps intruders? — break in and start doing the Straw Dogs thang. That's about it for the film's entire 79 minute running time — we never get to know the characters too well and back story is minimal — but it's extremely effective and certainly doesn't wear out its welcome. Them earned first time directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud a gig in Hollywood helming last year's utterly pointless remake of The Eye; lets hope they return to Europe for their next effort.
Sunday 04/19/09
4:30 AM Fox Movie Channel
Three Brave Men (1956 USA): Ernest Borgnine plays a navy man discharged from the service for his Communist sympathies in this interesting if half-hearted response to America's red-baiting obsession of the early 1950s. Borgnine is Bernie Goldsmith, a loyal American who spent time in left-wing circles during the '30s and now regrets his youthful indiscretions. That doesn't stop him from losing his job, however, but Bernie won't go down without a fight and hires lawyer Joe DiMarco (Ray Milland) to help him get his job back. Written and directed by Philip Dunne, Three Brave Men defends the nation's honor by arguing that such injustice can always be redressed in the courts, which of course was as far from the truth then as it is now, but it certainly has its heart in the right place. The excellent supporting cast includes Frank Lovejoy, Nina Foch, Dean Jagger, and Mrs Olsen herself, Virginia Christine. Also airs at 11:30 PM, but sadly both airings are in pan and scan.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Munchhausen (1943 GER): This long-lost epic based on the stories of Rudolph Erich Raspe (otherwise persona non grata in Nazi Germany) was produced by Joseph Goebbels as the tide of the war turned at Stalingrad and was designed as escapist fare for increasingly war-weary audiences. The most expensive film of its time, Münchhausen was also produced to mark the 25th anniversary of UFA Studios, Germany's equivalent of MGM. It's an incredibly lavish epic that recently premiered on DVD, and now comes to television courtesy TCM. If your only previous encounter with the Baron was via Terry Gilliam's rather incoherent Adventures (1988), you'll be impressed by the scale of this film, which was shot on location in Venice, features thousands of Wehrmacht soldiers cast as extras, and even involves an elaborately staged trip to the moon.
11:35 PM Starz
Standard Operating Procedure (2008 USA): I'm not a big fan of the Errol Morris school of documentary filmmaking, but his films are never exactly bad and are even, on occasion, quite excellent (e.g., The Fog of War). I'm not sure, however, which is a bigger turn-off for me: his penchant for re-creations or his deadpan approach to the subject at hand. Regardless, the style remains intact in Standard Operating Procedure, Morris' take on the atrocities committed in our name at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. The focus is on the infamous photographs (some featuring America's sweetheart Lynndie England and her loser boyfriend Charles Graner), and Morris relies on these snapshots to the virtual exclusion of all else. Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib are both superior documentaries examining the same topic, but if you really want to spend a lot of time pondering the meaning of those pictures, this is your film. Also airs 4/20 at 2:35 AM.
Monday 04/20/09
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Kelly the Second (1936 USA): Embarrassing confession time: I have a serious crush on old time comedienne Patsy Kelly, so even if this Kelly vehicle were the worst film ever made I'd still be offering it a recommendation. Happily it's a bit better than terrible, and in addition to Patsy also features sassy blonde Pert Kelton, silent comedy veteran Charley Chase, and former boxer Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom, rendering Kelly the Second absolutely irresistible. As for the story, it's a broadly told tale of lunch counter manager Molly (Kelly) who finds herself training aspiring pugilist Cecil (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams). If you can overlook the ubiquitous, teeth-grinding, hurdy-gurdy rendition of The Irish Washerwoman, you'll enjoy this film — though probably not as much as I will.