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

Saturday 12/11/10

3:15 AM The Movie Channel
Moonlighting (1982 GB): Not to be confused with the TV series that made Bruce Willis a star, Moonlighting is a typically mordant drama from expat Polish director Jerzy Skolimowksi. Taking place in and around West London during a chilly Christmas season, the film stars Jeremy Irons as Nowak, a foreman in charge of a team of Polish workers sent to Britain to supply illegal labor for a government official, who wants his flat refurbished on the cheap. When the political situation at home deteriorates and martial law declared, the English-speaking Nowak finds keeping the news from his comrades an increasingly tricky proposition, but goes to get lengths to do so, including intercepting their mail and keeping them away from television news. If you enjoy the occasional Ken Loach film you’ll definitely enjoy Moonlighting, which airs again at 6:15 AM.

7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Bowery to Bagdad (1954 USA): In which the Bowery Boys get hired by Blackwater and get killed in an incident near Fallujah. No, actually, they find Aladdin’s lamp and hilarity ensues! As the film’s tagline ballyhoos, ‘The BOWERY BOYS Run RIOT As HAREM HOT-SHOTS With BABYLONIAN BABES In The Land Of ENCHANTMENT And DANCING GIRLS!’ Not to mention Chemical Ali and Doctor Germ.

1:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Silent Call (1961 USA): An independently produced kiddie feature, The Silent Call will appeal to fans of Benji and other lovable movie mutts. When Pete the German Shepherd is left behind after his master’s family move from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, he takes matters into his own paws and takes off in pursuit. This heartwarming family drama clocks in at 63 minutes, is airing in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and features erstwhile Stooge Joe Besser, stuttering Freaks star Roscoe Ates, and gaunt character actor Milton Parsons as a man named Mohammed. In other words, it’s essential viewing.

10:30 PM Showtime Extreme
Man Friday (1975 GB): Based on Daniel Defoe’s classic tale of castaway life on a desert island, Robinson Crusoe, Man Friday stars Peter O’Toole as Crusoe and Richard Roundtree as native companion Friday. Life on their uncharted desert isle is less than idyllic, and after Crusoe kills off Friday’s friends and family the two spend the rest of the film exchanging witty barbs and catty remarks. Though O’Toole and Roundtree are good, Adrian Mitchell’s screenplay (based on his own stage play) tends to preach and delivers its message in screamingly unsubtle terms. It’s a classic example of too much heat and too little light, but still recommended for admirers of either actor.

Sunday 12/12/10

7:00 PM Sundance
Red Riding 1983 (2009 GB): The final part of the Red Riding Trilogy arrives on Sundance this evening. In this chapter, the Ripper has—supposedly—been captured, but the murders continue. Detective Jobson (David Morrissey) is now on the case, whilst lawyer Piggott (perennial movie sidekick Mark Addy) lends a hand in the ongoing battle against police corruption.

9:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Intolerance (1916 USA): D. W. Griffith’s Intolerance, the great man’s magisterial apology for Birth of a Nation, airs tonight only weeks after TCM screened that controversial paean to the wonders of the KKK. Subtitled Love’s Struggles Through the Ages, Intolerance consists of four interwoven stories taking place thousands of years apart: in ancient Babylon, in Palestine during the time of Christ, in France during the late 16th century, and in modern America. Starring Mae Marsh, Douglas Fairbanks, Constance Talmadge, King Vidor, Lillian Gish, Wallace Reid, Erich von Stroheim, and (literally) a cast of thousands, Griffith’s plea for peace, love and understanding was an expensive failure at the box-office and bankrupted the director’s production company, but did go some way to restoring his reputation. It looks like TCM will be airing the digitally restored print of Intolerance, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2007 and is (I believe) unavailable on home video (many other versions, however, are widely available).

Monday 12/13/10

11:30 AM Starz in Black
Hunters of the Reef (1978 USA): Sharks endanger a salvage vessel captained by Michael Parks in this ridiculous but entertaining NBC Movie-of-the-Week. Peter Benchley supposedly "created" the film’s characters, but my guess is NBC simply paid the Jaws-man a chunk o’ change so they could attach his Selachimorphas scent to their movie. Heck, they probably also pay him royalties for SNL’s candygram-delivering Land Shark.

Continued:       1       2       3