TiVoPlex
By John Seal
May 13, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 5/14/13
1:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Masculin Feminin (1966 FRA): If you’re an admirer of Jean-Luc Godard in general or his mid-60s films in particular, but have never seen Masculin Feminin, you’re about to be very happy. If you’re not a Godard fan – and I admit, his films can be heavy sledding at times - you still might like this one. Jean-Pierre Leaud headlines as Paul, a young man who’s recently completed his national service and is now trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. In addition to spending too much time navel-gazing, he’s also engaged in an on-again off-again relationship with aspiring ye-ye girl Madeleine (Chantal Goya). It’s the ol’ battle of the sexes fought on the playing fields of Left Bank Paris, with Leaud terrific as an idealistic twentysomething who’s also, well, a bit of a pretentious asshole. As with all Godard films, the story doesn’t follow a linear route and Marxism is never very far away, with Paul’s interest in left-wing politics clashing with Madeleine’s loyalty to the trappings of pop culture.
9:30 AM Flix
Breezy (1973 USA): William Holden and Kay Lenz star as lovers in this unlikely May/December romance from - of all people - director Clint Eastwood! Lenz plays hippie chick Breezy, who escapes an over-amorous admirer by hiding from him on the property of Frank Harmon (Holden), a cranky old businessman cut from the same cloth as most contemporary Eastwood characters. The two slowly begin to fall for each other, raising the inevitable question: can a hippie and a straight find true love, or is it just a one-night stand? Slightly marred by a cloying conclusion, Breezy is nevertheless considerably better than you might think, especially if you can overlook Lenz's penchant for sunny optimism and New Age glad-handing.
Wednesday 5/15/13
Midnight Encore Action
Fireball (2009 THA): It’s been a while since we’ve had a Thai movie in the TiVoPlex, and while this one isn’t going to work its way onto any Best Of lists, it’s still good fun. If you can imagine a martial arts mash-up of BASEketball and Rollerball, this is the result! Preeti Barameeanat essays the double roles of twin brothers Tai and Tan, the former a newly released convict, the latter a Fireball star hospitalized after suffering serious game-related injuries. Tan needs an operation to recover, so it’s up to Tai to be his ringer and win big money playing the game, which involves beating the living crap out of opposing players once a basket has been scored. Really, it’s that simple! This is genuinely one of the weirdest, wackiest, and most violent sports films you’ve ever seen or could ever imagine, and co-stars some guy named "9 Million Sam." Highly recommended for manly men and 13-year old boys.
5:00 PM Encore
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966 USA): Over the last decade or so, almost every Elvis movie has aired on TCM in widescreen. This isn’t one of them, and, sadly, I doubt that Encore will be screening Paradise Hawaiian Style in its original aspect ratio tonight, but you never know. In this paint-by-numbers outing, The King plays Rick Richards, a helicopter pilot running his own business in America’s 50th state. The dramatic complications are, of course, strictly routine, primarily revolving around Rick’s inability to be a responsible adult and his lack of respect for business partner Danny (James Shigeta). As for the songs...oh boy, they’re amongst the worst in the Presley canon (Queenie Wahini’s Papaya, anyone?). So what’s to like? Well, Hawaii always looks great, the supporting cast - including Suzanna Leigh, Irene Tsu, and Marianna Hill – is quite attractive, and...did I mention that Hawaii looks great?
Thursday 5/16/13
12:45 AM HBO Signature
3:34 Earthquake In Chile (2011 CHL): Everyone enjoys the vicarious thrill of a good disaster movie – at least until they experience a major disaster themselves. Then a comedy looks pretty good. As for 3:34 Earthquake in Chile, it’s at the top of the heap of the shake and jiggle genre, noteworthy not only for its vivid onscreen recreation of the Great Quake of 2010 but also for the producers’ offscreen decision to donate all proceeds to rebuilding efforts.
11:50 AM Encore Action
The Eliminator (2004 USA): This isn’t a good film, but we’re cutting it some slack due to the presence of Michael Rooker. One of America’s finest character actors, Rooker had a juicy role for several seasons on AMC’s The Walking Dead, and is cast here as an insane millionaire with more money than sense (which I guess explains the "insane" bit). He’s Miles Dawson, who brings together a group of other insane millionaires to bet on a Most Dangerous Game-style throwdown between competing tough guys – including Dawson’s hand-picked (and kidnapped!) entrant, Dakota Varley (Dutch Mixed Martial Arts champ Bas Rutten). If Fireball struck you as being too innovative and daring in its approach to the action movie genre, The Eliminator is a cozy, entirely predictable straight-to-video affair. Rooker is solid, but there’s not a whole lot more to recommend it.
Friday 5/17/13
12:40 AM Encore Dramatic Stories
Illtown (1998 USA): If ever there were an American Indie prom – or if there had been one in the 1990s, at least – its king and queen undoubtedly would have been Michael Rapaport and Lili Taylor. Together for the first time in Illtown (they would be reunited twice thereafter), Rapaport and Taylor play Dante and Micky, a married couple peddling drugs in Miami Beach. It’s easy money thanks to the cooperation of corrupt policeman Lucas (Paul Schulze), but things get tricky when one of their teenage runners ends up dead – and when Dante’s old buddy Gabriel (Adam Trese) shows up after finishing his prison sentence. Illtown doesn’t add much to our understanding of the dynamics of drug dealing, but Rapaport and Taylor are always worth watching – especially when they’re together – and an interesting supporting cast, including Tony Danza and Isaac Hayes, provides additional value.
5:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Thirteenth Chair (1937 USA): Not to be confused with either 1919’s or 1929’s The Thirteenth Chair (the former is lost, the latter one of Tod Browning’s more obscure efforts), this is a very entertaining MGM second feature starring Dame May Whitty as Madame La Grange, a medium hired by the police to assist in a murder investigation. How does she help? Why, by holding a seance, of course – one to which a number of suspects and red herrings have been invited so that Inspector Marney (Lewis Stone) can ferret out the culprit. Instead of solving the crime, however, the seance muddies the waters, as one of the participants ends up dead when the lights unexpectedly go out. A wealth of familiar faces enliven the film, including Elisa Landi, Holmes Herbert, and Henry Daniell.
Saturday 5/18/13
4:15 PM HBO
Moonrise Kingdom (2012 USA): Despite rave reviews and a long engagement at the arthouse a mere five blocks from my house, I neglected to see Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom earlier this year. Was I put off by the effusive praise the film earned? Did the presence of Bruce Willis temper my enthusiasm? I’m still not sure what kept me away, but I’m definitely planning on playing catchup now that the film has arrived on HBO. Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bob Balaban, Tilda Swinton...what on Earth was I thinking (or not thinking)? Also airs at 7:15 PM.
Sunday 5/19/13
11:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Late Autumn (1960 JAP): TCM Imports has been on a bit of a Yasujiro Ozu tear over the last few months –both Early Spring and Early Summer have made recent Sunday evening appearances – and here’s another of the director’s seasonally themed flicks. A little lighter in tone than some of Ozu’s earlier work, Late Autumn stars Setsuko Hara as Akiko, a widow trying to find a suitable husband for daughter Ayako (Yoko Tsukasa). What Akiko doesn’t anticipate is the interest potential suitors start showing her during the process! A subtle and intelligent dissection of Japanese cultural mores and the generation gap, Late Autumn won the best Film prize at 1961’s Asia-Pacific Film Festival.
Monday 5/20/13
10:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Carry On Spying (1964 GB): The Carry On series has, by and large, remained a distinctly British phenomenon. The films were aimed squarely at the British working class, and were popular enough to turn a profit without the benefit of being widely released in foreign territories (though I imagine they also did well in Australia and South Africa). Filled with ribald double entendres, scantily clad Cockney women and horrendous puns, the films were lowbrow laughfests that simply didn’t register with American audiences. That said, Carry On Spying was one of the series’ more ambitious efforts, parodying the James Bond films to decent effect whilst hewing closely to the classic "Carry On" recipe. Kenneth Williams – who probably wouldn’t have been cast as Bond if he were the last man on Earth – plays Desmond Simpkins, a secret agent tasked with the recovery of a top-secret formula stolen by the baddies of STENCH (Society for the Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans). He has help, of course, in the form of fellow agents Bind, Carstairs and Crump (Charles Hawtrey, Jim Dale, and Bernard Cribbins) – but with help like that, who needs enemies? If you’ve never dipped your toe into the deep Carry On filmography, this is as good a place to start as any. It’s a little less Brit-centric than most of the films in the series and a little funnier than most, as well.