TiVoPlex
TiVoPlex for November 6 2012 through November 12 2012
By John Seal
November 5, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 11/6/12
6:15 AM HBO Signature
Lucia, Lucia (2003 MEX-ESP): This film was originally released as The Cannibal’s Daughter, but as it isn’t a horror film was re-titled for American consumption by US distributor Fox Searchlight. Directed by Antonio Serrano, Lucia, Lucia stars Cecilia Roth as the title character, a children’s writer whose husband goes missing at the airport just as they’re about to depart for a Brazilian vay-cay. Shortly thereafter, she receives a ransom call...but all is not as it seems, and she soon finds herself relying on her neighbors (Kuno Becker and Carlos Alvarez-Novoa) to help track down hubby. Though somewhat unfocused (a little magical realism tends to go a long way), Lucia, Lucia is worth watching for Roth’s excellent performance.
7:00 AM Sundance
The Necessities of Life (2008 CAN): This unique French-Canadian drama stars Natar Ungalaag as Tiivii, an Inuit battling one of the diseases gifted to his people by the white man: tubercolosis. Set in 1952, the film follows Tiivii’s travels from the remote interior to urbane Quebec City, where he is sequestered against his will in a sanitarium. As in Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala, the transition is an unhappy one, but a supportive nurse (Eveline Gelinas) intervenes before it’s too late and helps Tiivii by introducing him to bilingual child patient Kaki (Paul-Andre Brasseur). Though that sounds like a recipe for sloppy sentiment, The Necessities of Life thankfully dodges the three-hanky bullet in favor of a more honest and delicate approach to human relationships. Also airs at 12:15 PM.
Wednesday 11/7/12
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Camp on Blood Island (1958 GB): I was shocked to discover this Hammer production still hasn’t seen a Region 1 DVD release. Could that be possible? After the Hammer Icons of Suspense and Icons of Adventure boxes, was there no room for an Icons of World War Two set? Be that as it may, this is a rather infamous Hammer effort, with Andre Morell headlining as a British officer leading a revolt in a POW camp deep in the Malayan jungle. The first dramatic feature to try to convey the depravity of Japanese prison camps, The Camp on Blood Island looks pretty tame now but was considered outrageous stuff 50-plus years ago. For those of you who haven’t already invested in the PAL disc released in Britain in 2010, this airing provides a rare opportunity to see the film in all its Magnascope glory.
2:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Chamber of Horrors (1966 USA): Bring on the horror horn and the fear flasher! No, Chamber of Horrors isn’t a William Castle production, but it does reflect the influence of the King of Ballyhoo. Patrick O’Neal stars as Jason Cravette, a madman with one hand and a collection of detachable weapons he can screw into his stump. The film, alas, is not as promising as this brief synopsis suggests, reflecting its origins as a TV pilot. A firm favorite of ‘70s late night television programming, Chamber of Horrors co-stars Wilfrid Hyde-White, Suzy Parker, Marie Windsor, and the disembodied voice of William “Cannon” Conrad. And watch out for the blink or you’ll miss him Tony Curtis cameo!
11:20 PM Starz
Footnote (2011 ISR): Written and directed by Joseph Cedar (who is not of Lebanon, but of New York City), Footnote is a charming and very droll Israeli feature about a difficult father-son relationship. Dad is Eliezer (Shlomo Bar Aba), a Talmudic scholar of some repute; son is Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi), a pop culture talking head who fancies himself an expert on Jewish lore. Eliezer resents his son’s popularity, which in his mind has come much too easily, and the final blow is delivered when he learns Uriel has been awarded a prize he believes should be his. Resentful and awkward looks ensue. A Best Foreign Language Film nominee at this year’s Oscars, Footnote also airs 11/8 at 2:20 AM.
Thursday 11/8/12
12:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Moby Dick (1930 USA): I must admit I’ve never seen this early talkie adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel (though for what it’s worth I’m a pretty big fan of the Gregory Peck version). Directed by Lloyd Bacon, this great white whale tale features John Barrymore as Ahab and Noble Johnson as Queequeg. Sadly, Wallace Beery does not play Moby Dick.
11:50 AM Starz
Carnage (2011 FRA): (This review was originally published in slightly different form at http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/01/10/big-screen-berkeley-carnage/).
Roman Polanski is not the nicest man in the world. Having infamously raped an underage girl in 1977, he fled the United States to avoid the consequences. Though his victim has since “forgiven” him for his crime, the case continues to fester in the courts, and Polanski has not returned to the U.S. since.
It’s somewhat surprising, then, to report that the great director’s most recent film is set entirely in the United States. Perhaps less surprising is the fact that — other than some very minor second unit work — it was shot entirely in France.
Based on an award-winning one-act play by Yasmina Reza (who co-wrote this screen adaptation with Polanski), Carnage tells a very simple story: as we see during the film’s short (and silent) prologue, two young Brooklyn boys have been involved in an altercation. Their parents meet to settle the matter and decide who will pay the medical bills. The end.
Of course, things aren’t quite as simple as my brief précis suggests. We quickly learn that, despite their quarrel, the boys probably still have more in common than do their parents: middle-class, vaguely new age-y Michael and Penelope Longstreet (John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster), whose son has lost some teeth, and affluent professionals Alan and Nancy Cowan (Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet), whose son did the amateur dental work. Chalk, meet cheese.
Initially, everyone’s on their best behavior, but it’s clear that hurt feelings and wounded egos are not far beneath the surface. Penelope displays fiery flashes of temper while Alan seems both unconcerned and unsurprised by his son’s bullying; it’s left to the avuncular Michael to soothe jangled nerves with his sunny disposition and fresh-baked fruit cobbler. As the story continues, however, the masks begin to slip, and soon all four parents are revealing their less pleasant sides — ugly facets of the human condition with which Polanski is surely familiar.
Reza’s visceral and biting screenplay offers each cast member a chance to show off their chops, and they take full advantage of the opportunity. Reilly, best known for comedic roles, appropriately gets Carnage’s biggest laugh lines, but his portrayal of hardware store owner Michael also allows him to branch out into more dramatic directions. Foster’s character betrays the deepest contradictions, vainly attempting to be understanding and sensitive while holding others to unreasonable standards. Waltz (an actor whose Oscar-winning turn in Inglourious Basterds I missed due to my deep-seated loathing of Quentin Tarantino) is brutally and bluntly acerbic as amoral corporate lawyer Alan; Winslet’s well-coiffed and fashionable Nancy is a wee bit more diplomatic than her husband — until she starts drinking.
Though far from cinematic, Carnage was one of the best films of 2011 and deserved some sort of Academy recognition—sadly, however, the carnage of Roman Polanski’s personal life put the kibosh on its Oscar aspirations. Also airs at 2:50 PM and throughout the month.
9:15 PM Sundance
Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981 USA): Thanks, Sundance Channel – it’s good to know your programmers aren’t complete foreign film snobs. Here’s the Sundance premiere of the second Jason Voorhees adventure, in which the deeply troubled young man slices and dices visitors at a camp adjacent to the now shuttered Camp Crystal Lake. It’s entirely logical to open a new summer camp next door to the one previously stalked by a serial killer, right? It’s not saying a great deal, but this is easily the best of the Friday the 13th sequels and (shudder) re-imaginings, and with any luck will be airing in its correct aspect ratio. Also airs 11/9 at 12:35 AM.
Friday 11/9/12
5:40 AM HBO Signature
Big Fish (2003 USA): Few films divided the BOP staff in 2003 as much as Tim Burton’s weepy paean to an inveterate liar, the Joycean Ed Bloom (Albert Finney). The ailing Bloom has spent his life telling tall tales that drive his family to distraction, particularly son Wil (Billy Crudup), who just wants his dad to come clean and tell the truth about his life before he pops his clogs. I fall firmly into the pro camp for Big Fish and consider it the most moving Tim Burton film since Edward Scissorhands. Filled with marvelous and memorable fantasy sequences, it does, however, require that a full box of Kleenex be readily available.
Saturday 11/10/12
12:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Burn, Witch, Burn! (1962 GB): This effective black-and-white horror film (released in Britain as Night of the Eagle) stars Peter Wyngarde as a skeptical professor who has trouble believing that his successful career is less the result of his own efforts and more the result of the spells cast by his wife (Janet Blair), a member of the local underground witches coven. Based on Fritz Leiber’s novel Conjure Wife and adapted for the screen by Richard Matheson and Twilight Zone veteran Charles Beaumont, this is an excellent and generally low-key fright flick, dependent primarily on eerie atmosphere for the bulk of its chills.
6:00 PM The Movie Channel
Soulkeeper (2001 USA): There are an awful lot of terrible horror movies out there, some of which I write about, most of which I don’t. And then there are horror films like this one - flicks worth a look simply because they have a great cast. Soulkeeper includes Robert Davi, Tiny Lister, Michael Ironside, Karen Black, and Brad Dourif, which for genre fans is the equivalent of hitting the trifecta several times in a row. Is there anything else you need to know about it? Well, okay... it’s a really fun gorefest with plenty of thrills and even some laughs. Joe Bob - er, John - says check it out! Also airs at 9:00 PM.
Sunday 11/11/12
1:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Exterminating Angel (1962 MEX): Set during and after a particularly stuffy bourgeois dinner party, Luis Bunuel’s The Exterminating Angel is a scathing and hilarious polemic about the hypocritical ways of the ruling classes, who are here seen as incapable of breaking away from the herd and physically incapable of leaving the celebration. As the high and mighty begin to descend into a Lord of the Flies style existence, their plight draws the attention of the outside world — but neither the police, the Army, nor even little children dare enter the mansion, which soon becomes overrun by a herd of sheep, a performing bear, and the Devil himself, though not in the form he/she would take in 1965's equally brilliant Bunuel effort Simon of the Desert. One of the greatest films ever made, and also one of the funniest!
2:00 AM Showtime
The Decoy Bride (2011 GB): Romantic comedy alert! I know this is a genre I rarely write about, but any rom com toplined by David “I Used to be Doctor Who” Tennant and Kelly “Remember Me From Trainspotting?” MacDonald is going to get my attention. Tennant plays the husband-to-be of a Hollywood starlet who does a runner at the last minute; MacDonald plays the emergency fill-in hired to satisfy the paparazzi. The Scottish locations add considerable value to this charming, and not entirely formulaic, film. Also airs at 5:00 AM.
Monday 11/12/12
6:35 AM HBO Signature
Igualita a Mi (2010 ARG): Hey, if one rom com a week isn’t enough, how about another one from Argentina? I haven’t seen Igualita a Mi yet, but it apparently involves a middle-aged man who tries to pick up his married daughter in a bar. Yeah, that could cause problems.