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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 4/20/10

2:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
A Tattered Web (1971 USA): I definitely have a thing for made-for-TV movies, especially those produced during the 1970s, as I morphed from cartoon-obsessed kiddy into movie-obsessed teen. In retrospect, of course, they’re generally a pretty dire lot (and got worse towards the end of the decade), but a select few were actually pretty good and stand up well to repeated viewings. So where does A Tattered Web fall on the spectrum? Well, I haven’t seen it in well over thirty years, but I remember it fondly. Lloyd Bridges stars as Ed Stagg, a policeman who accidentally kills his son-in-law’s mistress, then tries to pin the crime on skid row bum Willard Edson (a perfectly cast Broderick Crawford). The film has (sadly unrealized) noir pretensions, but a decent script and solid supporting cast of familiar faces, including Ellen Corby, John Fiedler, Whit Bissell, and James Hong render it a solid if unspectacular crime drama.

6:30 PM HBO
Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country (2008): Normally, I list the country or countries responsible for a film next to the year of release. In the case of this documentary, however, I’m refraining, as a whopping eleven different nations contributed towards its funding—surely a TiVoPlex record! As for the film itself, it’s a revelatory look at a little known episode of recent history: the monks’ uprising that briefly threatened to topple Myanmar’s military government in 2007. Utilizing illegal footage shot by an outlawed journalism group, Democratic Voice of Burma, the film paints a much-needed picture of one of the world’s most repressive and secretive regimes, albeit one that draws little attention due to its lack of oil resources or nuclear ambitions. Nominated this year for a Best Feature Documentary Academy Award, Burma VJ airs again at 9:00 PM and throughout the month.

6:30 PM Sundance
Encounters at the End of the World (2009 USA): And purely by coincidence (I think), here’s another losing Best Feature Documentary nominee, albeit from a year earlier. A ‘nature’ film that only Werner Herzog could produce, Encounters at the End of the World is the director’s visually stunning salute to the continent of Antarctica. Herzog, of course, has never considered himself a ‘friend’ of nature (more admiring adversary), and the film reflects his awestruck ambivalence towards planet Earth. It’s a remarkable, not to be missed film, and also airs at 10:00 PM.

Wednesday 4/21/10

8:10 AM More Max
Colors (1988 USA): Or as I prefer to call it, Cu-Cu-Cu-Cu Colors. It mayn’t be anyone’s idea of a classic, but Colors is a thoroughly enjoyable cop drama cum gangsta rap movie starring Robert Duvall as Bob Hodges, an old-fashioned peace officer who knows when to play by the rules and when not to. Bob’s new partner, Danny McGavin (Sean Penn), is a gung-ho youngster who wants to kick some ass, and it’s up to the wily vet to set the new man straight. Back in the day, this film was considered groundbreaking in its recognition of the basic humanity of its ‘bad guys’, but that freshness has long since worn off. Nonetheless, it’s a decent character study featuring a superior hip-hop soundtrack and an excellent supporting cast, including Maria Conchita Alonso, Don Cheadle, Seymour Cassel, Jack Nance, and Tony Todd. And remember, the gangs of L.A. will never die—just multiply!

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