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2:15 PM Sundance
Comrade in Dreams (2006 GER): Four folks enamored with the power of cinema speak to the camera in this quirky documentary from German filmmaker (and former projectionist) Uli Gauke. Though scattered across the globe — one is in North Korea, one in Wisconsin, one in Burkina Faso, and another in India — these folks have dedicated their lives to helping other people view films, and have gone the extra mile to provide such access. If you've ever wanted to watch a movie as part of a travelling tent show, it's time to move to India! For those bored with the sameness of the multiplex, this is an eye-opening trip to some extremely unusual venues.

9:00 PM Showtime 3
Farewell, My Lovely (1975 USA): This above average Raymond Chandler adaptation makes its widescreen television debut tonight. Robert Mitchum stars as private dick Philip Marlowe, a hardboiled womanizer who walks the mean streets of World War II-era Los Angeles in search of mysteries to solve and bottles of rye whiskey to empty. In this outing, Marlowe is hired by plug ugly Moose Malloy (former pugilist Jack O'Halloran) to find his lady love, who's disappeared whilst Moose spent seven years in the Big House. If you're at all familiar with Chandler in general or this story in particular, you know that there's nothing straightforward after that, and as with its 1944 predecessor (Edward Dmytryk's Murder My Sweet) it's easy to get lost in the details. My suggestion: sit back and relax, soak up the impressive period ambiance conjured up by art director Angelo Graham, and enjoy another quality Mitchum performance. A superior supporting cast, including John Ireland, Charlotte Rampling, Anthony Zerbe, Sylvia Miles, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Spinell, noir writer Jim Thompson, and Sly Stallone provide added value.

11:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
Terror on the 40th Floor (1974 USA): Believe it or don't: this NBC movie of the week about a high-rise engulfed in flames actually played on the network two months before The Towering Inferno opened in theatres. Sadly, that doesn't make Terror on the 40th Floor the Inferno's better, or even its equal, as all the usual caveats regarding TV movies apply: lousy score (sorry, Vic Mizzy), cheapo production values, and an uninspired cast (though John Forsythe and Joseph Campanella do their best). Set during a Christmas Eve office party, this inferno is all wet.

Friday 01/16/09

7:00 PM Sundance
King of Ping Pong(2005 SWE): Think of ping pong, and you probably think of speed: the speed of the players, who always seem to move in a strange, coiled, swaying dance; and the speed of the ping pong ball, which flies back and forth at impressive velocity. Think King of Ping Pong, however, and you'll have to imagine a deliberately paced Swedish comedy-drama about an overweight table tennis coach. The coach is Rille (Jerry Johannson), who works at a local youth center and has long lived in the shadow of his athletic brother and father. Trouble soon arrives, however, when estranged Pa (Georgi Staykov) returns home to reclaim Ma (Ann-Sofie Nurmi) from boyfriend Vag-Gunnar (Frederik Nilsson). The film stumbles a bit as it takes on a heavier tone in the third act, but it's quite amiable and droll in a deeply Scandinavian way.

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