TiVoPlex
By John Seal
March 26, 2012
Saturday 3/31/12
7:30 AM Encore Family
Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1975 USA): Wilderness Family triple feature, y’all! Produced by Pacific International, a short-lived indie house competing with the then highly successful Sunn Classic Pictures, Adventures of the Wilderness Family relates the experiences of a Los Angeles family, who, sick of the rat race and smog, relocate to the great outdoors, where they chop down trees and befriend wild animals. In other words, it’s a fantasy designed to stroke the egos of suburbanites roughing it in the commuter belt. Though completely predictable family fare, it’s enlivened by the presence of George "Buck" Flower as a friendly if slightly off-kilter mountain man. The Adventures of the Wilderness Family was a huge box-office hit and spawned two sequels: 1978’s The Wilderness Family Part 2, which follows at 9:30 AM, and 1979’s Mountain Family Robinson, which airs at 11:15 AM.
6:00 PM The Movie Channel
Grave Encounters (2011 CAN): Last week we had Dead Hooker in a Trunk, a Canadian horror flick directed by twin sisters. This week we have Grave Encounters, a Canadian horror flick directed by ‘The Vicious Brothers’. Whether or not the Vicious boys are also twins, I don’t know, and I haven’t seen their film, but it just seemed so nicely synchronous that I couldn’t let it pass unmentioned. Airs again at 9:00 PM.
Sunday 4/1/12
11:25 AM Encore Action
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971 USA): Wimpy singer/songwriter James Taylor and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson star in this road movie about two unnamed car enthusiasts who drive across the nation looking for automotive kicks in their ‘55 Chevy. Along the way they run into a gearhead named G.T.O. (perennial hardass Warren Oates) and challenge him to a race to Washington, DC, at which point the loser must relinquish his cherished vehicle to the winner (or winners, as the case may be). This existential drama from director Monte Hellman doesn't have the visceral energy of the similar Vanishing Point (also 1971), and Taylor and Wilson aren't much in the acting department, but Oates is great and the location photography - which encompasses highways from California to Oklahoma - is impressive. One caveat: Two-Lane Blacktop needs to be seen in its correct aspect ratio, and it's not clear to me whether or not Encore is airing it in wide-screen this afternoon.
3:30 PM Sundance
Up With Me (2008 USA): ‘Tis the week for indies about Latino youth coping with difficult scholarship situations. Today’s entry is Up With Me, in which Francisco Vicioso plays Francisco, a kid from Spanish Harlem attending a fancy pants upstate boarding school on scholarship and trying to maintain a long distance relationship with gal pal Erika (Erika Rivera). Meanwhile, best bud Brandon (Brandon Thorpe) wants his pal back in the ‘hood and tries to throw as many monkey wrenches as possible into Francisco’s academic and personal lives. The film’s leads are youngsters drawn from the East Harlem Tutorial Program, and the story a refreshing take on a familiar theme.
Monday 4/2/12
9:00 AM Showtime 2
The Bleeding House (2010 USA): Here’s a surprisingly good little thriller with a hint of Southern Gothic. The southern influence is supplied by Nick (Patrick Breen), a gent wearing an ice cream suit cut from O’Connor or Faulkner cloth who unexpectedly drops in one night on a family living deep in the woods somewhere. Arriving at their door in search of lodging, Nick’s good manners and genteel demeanor convince patriarch Matt (Richard Bekins) and matriarch Marilyn (Betsy Aidem) to give him food and shelter, but once across the threshold he unleashes havoc on all and sundry. The Bleeding House is far from perfect - quite why Nick does what he does is never made clear - but is uniformly well-acted and well paced. In many ways, it’s a throwback to the American horror indies of the pre-Texas Chainsaw Massacre-era, which is (of course) a very good thing.
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