TiVoPlex
By John Seal
May 9, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 5/10/11
8:15 AM Showtime
Spoken Word (2009 USA): A recovering addict falls back into bad habits in this solid if unspectacular drama from Ulee’s Gold director Victor Nunez. The man in question is Cruz (Kuno Becker), a San Francisco poet who returns to his native New Mexico to spend time with his dying father (Ruben Blades). Unfortunately, that’s not all that awaits him in the Land of Enchantment: the siren song of booze, pills, and hard living beckons him, and before you know it, Cruz is having a hard time waking up in the morning. This character study may tread familiar ground, but Spoken Word is very well acted and benefits from a fine supporting performance by Persia White as Cruz’s girlfriend back in Babylon by the Bay. Also airs at 11:15 AM.
6:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Rocking Horse Winner (1949 GB): Before Equus, there was The Rocking Horse Winner. No, nobody gets naked or stabs any farm animals in the eye, but this Anthony Pelissier-helmed fantasy - based, perhaps unsurprisingly, on a story by D. H. Lawrence - has some deeply disturbing undertones nonetheless. Ten-year-old John Howard Davies plays Paul Grahame, a young lad whose shopaholic mother (Valerie Hobson) gives him a rocking horse for Christmas. A strange gift for a ten-year-old, you might think, but Paul soon puts the toy to good use, and discovers that the act of riding it helps him divine which gee-gees will cross the finish line first at the local racetrack. When servant Bassett (John Mills) discovers his talent, he and Paul begin placing bets - but money can buy neither love nor happiness, and the youngster begins to descend into a state of feverish madness whenever he mounts he steed. If you were considering buying your own child a rocking horse, this eerie fantasy will convince you to stick with a Playstation.
Wednesday 5/11/11
5:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Destination: Gobi (1953 USA): Let’s all go to the Gobi, let’s all go to the Gobi, let’s all go to the Goooobi, and get ourselves a treat! In this wacky World War II adventure, Richard Widmark plays Sam McHale, a U.S. Navy Petty Officer tasked with commanding a weather station located in the torrid wastes of the Gobi Desert. Sam soon whips the station into shape, but when Mongol warlord Kengtu (Murvyn Vye) drops by and warns them of an impending Japanese attack, it’s time to down windsocks and prepare for war! This thoroughly enjoyable adventure was directed by Robert Wise and co-stars Ross "Alvin & the Chipmunks" Bagdasarian, Martin "Adam-12" Milner, and Daryll "Don’t Call Me Dwayne, he’s my brother" Hickman.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Scarlet Street (1945 USA): Edward G. Robinson headlines this Fritz Lang noir classic. Eddie plays Christopher Cross, a working-class stiff who shoots to the top of the charts after he pens an MOR hit. I kid, I kid - he’s actually a sad sack cashier whose lack of upward mobility has left his wife (Rosalind Ivan) unsatisfied and put a serious dent in his ego. Whilst ruminating upon his lousy life one lonely evening, Chris saves gorgeous Kitty (Joan Bennett) from a beating at the hands of thuggish boyfriend Johnny (oily Dan Duryea), invites her for a drink, and proceeds to spin a fantasy yarn about his "successful" career as a painter. Kitty and Johnny decide Chris is an easy mark who’ll help them make some quick bucks, and before you know it our hero’s porkies have ensnared him in a web of lies and deceit from which he cannot escape. Robinson is at his best in Scarlet Street, which also features great black and white photography by Academy Award winner Milton Krasner.
8:45 PM Sundance
Fish Tank (2009 GB): No, it’s not a film about an aquarium - it’s a kitchen sink drama from Andrea Arnold, whose previous effort, Red Road, featured some of the rawest depictions of sex I’ve seen in an, ahem, "legitimate" film. Fish Tank is neither as bold nor as blunt as Red Road, but it’s also no walk in the park, either. Essex girl Katie Jarvis stars as troubled teen Mia, who lives a hellish existence on a working-class estate somewhere in East London. Mia’s mum (Kierston Wareing) ignores her, the local boys think she’s a slag, and she’s been expelled from school, leaving her plenty of time to get drunk and act up. When mum brings home new man-friend Connor (Michael Fassbender), however, things begin to change, and a holiday in the country sees Mia and Connor’s relationship go in a rather inappropro direction. Fish Tank won the 2010 BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, and though far from easy going will satisfy anyone who’s ever enjoyed a Ken Loach film.
Thursday 5/12/11
Midnight Flix
Fall: The Price of Silence (2001 USA): I haven’t seen this film yet, but there’s little else of note airing today so I’ll give it a brief mention on the strength of its star, Michael Madsen. Madsen is a familiar feature of countless contemporary crime dramas - you may remember him as Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs or as Sonny in Donnie Brasco - and always delivers a good performance, so even if this tale of a thief in a witness protection program sucks, you can count on him to be good. Fall: The Price of Silence also features Daniel Baldwin, Chad McQueen, and Joe Mantegna.
Friday 5/13/11
8:45 AM Encore Westerns
Gun Brothers (1956 USA): Regular readers of the TiVoPlex know that I don’t care much for westerns, but every now and then I find one that piques my interest. Such is the case with Gun Brothers, an obscure, independently-produced oater about brothers at odds over a cattle ranch. The brothers are Chad (Buster Crabbe) and Jubal (Neville Brand), and the two must settle their differences when Jubal’s crooked partner Shawnee Jack (Michael Ansara) tries to cheat them out of their land. The cast is the major attraction of this shot in Simi Valley feature, and also includes Slim Pickens as a guy named Moose.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Snapshot (1979 AUS): Better known by its U.S. distribution title, The Day After Halloween, Snapshot is an extremely odd, impossible to pigeonhole feature from Down Under. Chantal Contouri (previously seen to great effect in Aussie vampire thriller Thirst) stars as Madeline, a woman who convinces youngster Angela (Sigrid Thornton) to take up a career in modeling. Angela looks good in a swimsuit and the camera loves her, but she soon finds fame has a darker side - much of it personified by an ominous ice cream truck. Though marketed as a slasher, Snapshot isn’t one, and it’s not exactly a horror film or a crime drama, either. In fact, it sort of drifts from one genre to the next, making it a somewhat unsatisfying viewing experience. That said, it’s quite well acted, with particular kudos to Thornton’s performance as the naive, winsome Angela.
Saturday 5/14/11
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Tarzan Triumphs (1943 USA): Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) takes on nasty Nazis in this decent series entry, which also marked the point at which the franchise moved from posh MGM to grubby RKO. Jane is now living in London, so the T-Man has a new companion in the distaff form of Zandra (Frances Gifford), a jungle princess who warns him of the looming threat posed by the Third Reich. Boy (Johnny Sheffield) and Cheetah are still around, though, and it’s pretty clear that Zandra and Tarzan’s relationship is a platonic one - besides, they’re too busy fighting Germans to get distracted by base animal desires.
Sunday 5/15/11
8:45 AM Starz E
Sugar Town (1999 GB-USA): Directed by Border Radio’s Allison Anders and Kurt Voss, Sugar Town is an ensemble piece about those who rock and roll all night and party every day - and those who aspire to do so. Amongst those with dreams of stardom are Gwen (Jade Gordon), a young woman hired by a Hollywood production designer (Ally Sheedy) to help keep house. The vigilant Gwen, always on the lookout for career opportunities, proceeds to steal her employer’s boyfriend, who happens to have music biz connections. Meanwhile, an aging movie star (Rosanna Arquette) discovers her boyfriend (Duran Duran’s John Taylor) has a child from a previous relationship - a little hellion named Nirvana who is anything but! Sugar Town favors grit over gloss and co-stars John Doe (X), Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet), Michael Des Barres (Detective), and - in her first screen appearance - Bijou Phillips as an autograph seeking groupie.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Generation (1955 POL): Polish director Andrzej Wajda’s (Ashes and Diamonds) tribute to his homeland’s wartime underground makes its TCM (and perhaps American) television debut this evening. Tadeusz Lomnicki headlines as Stach, a young Pole who, along with his friends, commits minor, unfocused acts of resistance during the Nazi occupation. After being versed in dialectical materialism by a Marxist shop steward (Janusz Paluszkiewicz), Stach decides it’s time to agitate, educate, and organize. Unfortunately, he also finds that the partisans and his Communist Party mentors are united both by hatred for the Germans and suspicion of each other. Wajda does as good a job as can be expected balancing the "party line" requirements of Communist dogma with the more personal, ideology free aspects of his story - and watch out for Roman Polanski, who pops up as one of Stach’s rabble rousing buddies.