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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 2/7/12

2:30 AM Showtime
Hobo With a Shotgun (2011 USA): There’s just no way you can go wrong with a film entitled Hobo With a Shotgun - especially when the titular tramp is portrayed by exploitation veteran Rutger Hauer! Hauer plays a homeless wanderer hoping to settle down in a new town, purchase a lawnmower, and start his own gardening business. Alas, garden care opportunities are lacking - and to make matters worse, the locals are a bunch of pricks who don’t treat Hobo with the respect he deserves. Soon he’s locking, loading, and blasting away at anyone who so much as looks at him sideways. If you grew up enjoying ‘80s schlock like The Exterminator (1980), you’ll adore this over the top salute to the grindhouse, which - while not played for laughs - is also grimly funny at times. Airs again on Showtime 3 at 10:10 PM and throughout the month.

12:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Cruel Sea (1953 GB): Is there a better movie about World War II naval warfare than The Cruel Sea? The Caine Mutiny is a candidate but also a stretch, being more psychodrama than action flick. I’m going to assert, then, that The Cruel Sea stands head and shoulders above the rest, with Eric Ambler’s screenplay well deserving its Academy Award nomination. Based on Nicholas Monsarrat’s excellent novel of the same name, the film is set aboard HMS Compass, a Royal Navy vessel assigned the unsexy but critical (and extremely dangerous) task of convoy escort. For those not familiar with the story of the Atlantic convoys, Germany’s U-boats almost won the war in 1942, when they sank hundreds of merchant vessels laden with food and armaments en route from the U.S. to Britain. Jack Hawkins headlines as Compass Captain Ericson, Donald Sinden offers excellent support as first mate Lockhart, and Denholm Elliott and Stanley Baker are also aboard, swabbing decks and hoisting mainsails. The writing is excellent, the acting superb, but most importantly the special effects and second unit work are truly outstanding - you’ll really feel like you’re in the middle of the North Atlantic while you’re watching the film. Wear a muffler and a life jacket, and keep a bucket handy.

Wednesday 2/8/12

12:30 AM Showtime
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead (2009 USA): It’s not every week we get two candidates for "best film title of all time," but between this and Hobo With a Shotgun, we’re really spoiled for choice. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were, of course, peripheral characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, their minor roles in the play expanded upon by 20th century scribe Tom Stoppard, whose hilarious stage hit Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead was in turn adapted (not very successfully) for the screen in 1990. Now comes the zombie variation on the theme, and it’s a hoot. Jake "son of Dustin" Hoffman stars as aspiring theatrical director Julian, who finds himself struggling to stay alive whilst working with a cast full of vampires, including coven leader Horatio (John Ventimiglia), who’s slowly bringing his fellow thespians over to the dark side. The film doesn’t quite live up to the promise of its title (how could it?), but I found it thoroughly amusing. Also airs at 3:30 AM.

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