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

From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.

Tuesday 08/18/09

3:00 AM HBO Signature
The Nine Lives of Marion Barry (2009 USA): Washington, D.C.'s baddest of bad boys, former city mayor and present city councilman Marion Barry, gets the documentary treatment in this kiss and tell original HBO feature. The film made its premiere last week during my summer break, and I haven't seen it prior to press time, but let's face it: who could resist a film about a corrupt, crack-smoking, anti-gay marriage, family values crank like Marion Barry? The man makes Fritz the Cat look like a piker.

9:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Green Berets (1968 USA): John Wayne's infamous pro-Vietnam War blockbuster returns to the small screen this evening after a lengthy absence. Wayne plays Mike Kirby, a Special Forces Colonel in charge of a super secret mission to kidnap a gook General. Also along for the ride: fellow super patriots Muldoon (Aldo Ray), Beckworth (David Janssen), Petersen (Jim Hutton), and Provo (son of Duke Patrick Wayne). Appalling politics and complete unwillingness to engage with the war's complexities aside, The Green Berets is a pretty enjoyable war movie that ends with one of Hollywood's most egregious errors: the sun setting in the east.

Wednesday 08/19/09

Midnight Starz
I Served the King of England (2006 CZH): Prague Springer Jiri Menzel stuck his head above the 21st century parapet with this most welcome comedy-drama about the life and times of a Czech everyman. Ivan Barnev and Oldrich Kaiser split the role of Jan Dite, a waiter who lucks into ownership of a hotel during the Nazi occupation and then ends up imprisoned for 15 years by Czechoslovakia's post-war Communist regime. His episodic adventures are related herein, including his dalliance with an enthusiastic Nazi (the wonderful Julia Jentsch) and his dabbling in the world of philately. Menzel has actually remained active ever since his heyday 40 years ago, but most of his post-Closely Watched Trains films never got released in the US. Thankfully that changed with I Served the King of England, which airs again at 3:00 AM.

3:05 AM Encore Action
Safari 3000 (1982 USA): Fans of fast cars and cheap thrills might get some mileage out of this auto race adventure shot in Africa. David Carradine headlines as driver extraordinaire Eddie Mills, hired by Playboy reporter J.J. (Stockard Channing) to assist with her coverage of a major African rally. Eddie and J.J. quickly find themselves becoming part of the story, villain Borgia (Christopher Lee) tries to put the dash-30-dash beneath their adventure, and lots of wildlife run around. This is one of many films shot with the support of South Africa's apartheid government during the 1980s and designed to put a shiny gloss on that nation's political situation, so you may feel a bit queasy watching it. Or at least experience a little motion sickness.

Continued:       1       2       3