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

Tuesday 6/29/10

9:30 AM HBO Signature
For Neda (2010 USA): Who was Neda Agha-Soltan? We do know she was a young Tehrani woman who died protesting the results of last year’s contentious Iranian presidential election. But is that all there is? Was she also a poster child for the Green Movement, a traitor to the Islamic Revolution, or a convenient chess piece for American neo-conservatives? This brand new HBO original documentary, narrated by actress Shohreh Agdashloo, tries to distill the essence of the real Neda Agha-Soltan, a child of middle-class affluence shot dead by Basij militiamen on the streets of Tehran on June 20 2009. Utilizing interview footage of her friends and family, as well as the infamous video footage of her death, For Neda is a gripping and very, very sad film.

9:00 PM IFC
The Gate (1987 USA): This rather silly horror flick makes its widescreen television debut this evening. Directed by Tibor Takacs (Mansquito, Mega Snake), The Gate features the big screen debut of fourteen-year old Stephen Dorff as Glen, a youngster who discovers a passage to Hell beneath an uprooted tree in his back garden. Left alone with sister Al (Christa Denton) and best bud Terry (Louis Tripp), Glen must find a way to seal the hole and return the Devil’s minions to the fiery pit from whence they came before Mom and Dad return home from vacation. The Gate is pretty tame stuff (even for a PG-13 movie), but if you’re the kind of person who enjoys Ghoulies, Goonies, and Honey I Shrunk the Trolls (okay, sorry, I made that one up), you’ll enjoy it.

Wednesday 6/30/10

7:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Side Street (1950 USA): MGM weren't known for their crime dramas or noirs, but on the rare occasions they made ‘em, they usually did ‘em right. Directed by Anthony Mann, Side Street is an above average thriller featuring Farley Granger as Joe Norson, a mailman trying to make ends meet and keep his family fed. Then one day, whilst earning money for food, up from the ground came a bubblin' crude. By which, of course, I mean that Joe steals some dirty money from scumbags Georgie and Victor (James Craig and Edmon Ryan) and finds it hard to make amends. If you like fifties location footage of New York, flag down a yellow cab toot sweet and take a trip to Side Street.

3:15 PM IFC
2:37 (2006 AUS): Hmm. Is that the time of day, a mathematical equation, or a biblical verse? I’m being a bit disingenuous, because I know the answer, but you’ll need to tune in and watch this Australian ensemble drama to find out for yourself. Set in an Adelaide high school, 2:37 details a difficult day in the lives of six Aussie students. There’s the pregnant girl (Teresa Palmer), the boy with the bad temper (Frank Sweet), the pot-smoking loser (Joel Mackenzie), the nerd (Charles Baird), the tortured jock with a secret (Sam Harris), and the nice girl (Marni Spillane). How much you’ll enjoy 2:37 will probably depend on how much you enjoyed Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, though this film’s (admittedly stereotypical) characters are a little more engaging than Elephant’s emotionless cyphers.

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