New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Friday 06/22/07

3:30 AM Sundance
Language Does Not Lie (2003 USA): Oh, that is SUCH a lie! Ever since George Orwell wrote his legendary essay Politics and the English Language in 1946, we've been well aware of the infinite ways in which language can be subverted and perverted for political gain. This outstanding documentary examines the writings of a German Jew named Victor Klemperer (any relation to Werner?), who kept a journal during the Nazi era detailing the language used by Hitler and his pals to control thought and exercise authority. Thankfully, as we now safely reside in Francis Fukuyama's post-history period, we no longer need be concerned about such aberrations from the reality-based past, but it sure makes for an interesting look at the bad old days. Freedom fries, anyone?

10:15 AM HBO Family
Drakmar: A Vassal's Journey (2006 USA): If you've ever spent a few too many hours immersed in the fantasy worlds of Dungeons and Dragons — or, for those of you a little younger, World of Warcraft — you'll want to take a look at this mildly cautionary tale about adolescence and role-playing games. Thankfully, Drakmar: A Vassal's Journey isn't a fundamentalist polemic raging against the dangers posed by pretending to be a level 10 cleric, but a quietly effective look at 14 year old RPG enthusiast Colin Taylor, who spends most of his spare time traipsing around the mythical ‘Kingdom of Terre Neuve', where he tries to come to terms with the absence of his father and his status as chief nerd at a San Diego-area high school. This bittersweet tribute to the angst of adolescence also airs at 5:45 PM.

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Honeymoon Killers (1969 USA): Based on the true story of a misfit couple who took advantage of elderly (and generally well-off) widows, The Honeymoon Killers simply gets better with age and definitely isn't ready to be put out to pasture. Tony Lo Bianco and Shirley Stoler play unlikely lovers masquerading as brother and sister somewhere in middle America. Lo Bianco preys on recently bereaved older women, ultimately marrying them and then moving his "sister" into the household where, after a brief period of marital bliss, she murders the new brides. Starkly shot in black-and-white by Oliver Wood, who has since, erm, distinguished himself with films such as The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990 USA) and The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002 USA), this is a classic example of outsider cinema — director Leonard Kastle STILL hasn't made another film!

Sunday 06/24/07

1:10 AM More Max
El Juego de la Verdad (2004 ARG): No doubt you're familiar with the old bromide about buses: wait an hour for one, and then two come along at the same time. Such, apparently, is also the case with my beloved Argentinian films, which until last week had disappeared from the small screen for several months. Now along comes the second in as many weeks — El Juego de la Verdad, a romantic comedy about a game of truth or dare that gets out of hand and reveals the heartfelt desires and longings of a hopeless loser named Ernesto (Tristan Ulloa). Co-starring Natalia Verbeke (Jump Tomorrow) as Susana, the fiancee of Ernesto's best bud Alberto, El Juego de la Verdad utilises an incorrect cancer diagnosis as its starting point for the game of spin the bottle, which brings chaos into the lives of two young couples. The film doesn't score any points for originality, but is pleasant enough — and it's Argentinian, so you gotta watch!

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Exterminating Angel (1962 MEX): How could I have gone all these years without giving a stand-alone shout out to this Luis Bunuel surreal masterpiece? Not sure how that happened, but if you've never seen this amazing film, make time for it tonight. Set during and after a particularly stuffy bourgeois dinner party, 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!

Continued:       1       2       3