TiVoPlex for Tuesday December 21 through Monday December 27 2004
By John Seal
December 20, 2004
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 12/21/04
2:30pm Turner Classic Movies
Crime of Passion (1957 USA): This independently-produced pseudo-noir gets a rare wide-screen airing on TCM this afternoon. Barbara Stanwyck stars as a newspaper agony aunt who falls for and marries a tough police detective (Sterling Hayden), only to become deeply dissatisfied as a kept woman in her perfect suburban home. Frosty Stanwyck and prickly Hayden would seem miscast as the leads, but they both deliver excellent performances that overcome the worst aspects of Jo Eisinger’s uneven screenplay. Simply put, this is a film carried by its superb cast, which also includes Royal Dano, Raymond Burr, and Fay Wray. Crime of Passion may not be a classic, but it remains a very enjoyable film with a fascinating proto-feminist message and an unspoken but obvious late-‘50s critique of suburban sprawl.
Wednesday 12/22/04
3:15am The Movie Channel
The Care Bears Movie (1985 USA): Finally being aired in its original aspect ratio, the shock and awe-inspiring Care Bears Movie returns to television to offer hope and succour to insomniacs across the nation. Of course, this is one film that really has to be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated, but a theatrical reissue doesn’t seem imminent, so set your timer this morning. The astonishing and imaginative animation is on a par with Hanna-Barbera’s finest, and is matched by David Altman’s masterful cinematography, with each set-up carefully composed to take full advantage of the Panavision lens. Carole King’s deeply affecting songs will bring a tear to your eye (if not bile to your throat) and add extra layers of pathos and bathos to this tale of children protected from harm by those delightful and beloved pastel-tinged ursines. Let your heart be touched by Love-A-Lot Bear and friends; it’s time to rediscover the magic of this timeless classic. Also airs at 6:15am, so be sure to watch it twice!
3:30am Starz!!!
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2004 USA): If you loved The Care Bears Movie, you probably won’t enjoy this extremely funny and loving tribute to the B science-fiction films of the 1950s. If, however, you’re the kind of person who keeps his or her collection of Famous Monsters of Filmland preserved in plastic in a controlled environment (keep the temperature and the humidity low!), this is your film. There’s something for everyone: a scientist and his beautiful wife, space aliens, a radioactive monster, a sultry and mysterious girl-creature, and, of course, the titular skeleton. He needs the rare element Atmospherium to reanimate his creaky old bones, and he’ll stop at next to nothing to get it! Filmed in black-and-white, and utilizing the beloved Bronson Canyon locations of Robot Monster fame, this will tickle the funny bone of all those who grew up watching Shock Theater or the Saturday night creature features. Also airs at 6:30am and on 12/26 at 4:30am and 7:30am.
5:30am Turner Classic Movies
The Nitwits (1935 USA): Another delightful Wheeler and Woolsey comedy, The Nitwits is slightly less anarchic than the boys pre-Code features - surely some of the naughtiest pictures of the era - but still essential viewing for fans. This time the dynamic duo play a pair of songwriters wrapped up in a murder mystery involving extortion, stilt-walking, and a man in a skeleton suit. One of many early bottom-of-the-bill features directed by the great George Stevens, The Nitwits is toned down Wheeler and Woolsey, but that’s still better than the Ritz Brothers at full strength.
Thursday 12/23/04
4:30am Showtime 2
Laughing Times (1981 HK): John Woo first came to Occidental filmgoers’ notice with 1986’s gangster classic A Better Tomorrow, but he’d been directing features in Hong Kong since 1968, including this amusing if suitably maudlin tribute to Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character. The film gets a single very-rare airing this morning courtesy Showtime 2. Dean Shek (Aces Go Places) plays the Tramp, a wanderer who hooks up with winsome Wai Wong, an orphan being abused by the evil Master Ting (Karl Maka). Ting plays Fagin to Wong’s Artful Dodger, and the Tramp soon intercedes, rescuing the boy from a life of crime. This isn’t the Woo American filmgoers are familiar with, but it’s a pleasant diversion nonetheless.
Friday 12/24/04
3:45am Sundance
The Other Final (2003 HOL): If you like to root for the underdog, here’s the film you’ve been waiting for. Filmed during the 2002 World Cup, The Other Final ignores football’s greatest teams to concentrate on a match between two of the worst: Bhutan and Montserrat. If you’ve never heard of those nations, here’s the skinny: Bhutan is a remote Asian kingdom high in the Himalayas (hardly the ideal place to run around a soccer pitch for 90 minutes), and Montserrat is a volcano-challenged British colony in the Caribbean. Ranked as the bottom two teams in the world by FIFA (Federation of International Football Associations), the hapless pair met up in Bhutan’s capital city of Thimpnu to determine, once and for all, which team is most capable of reaching the absolute nadir of football prowess. A pleasant reminder of the essential nature of sporting and games, The Other Final won the Special Mention prize at 2003’s Bermuda Film Festival. Dave Poland loved it! Also airs at 2:30pm.
10:30pm Encore Action
Naked Weapon (2002 HK): I haven’t seen this provocatively titled thriller, but it’s making its American television debut this evening. In a plot vaguely reminiscent of that of the recently aired Beyond Hypothermia, Naked Weapon features an evil mastermind, Madame M, who recruits young women into her stable of trained assassins. The story focuses on two such recruits (Maggie Q. and Anya) who graduate from Madame M’s boot camp after a gruelling six-year training period and have to face off against a CIA agent (Daniel Wu) in hot pursuit of their mentor.
Saturday 12/25/04
11:35am Black Starz!
The Dogwalker (1998 USA): Overly-quirky writing is, typically, the Achilles’ heel of your garden-variety indie character study. The Dogwalker threatens to plod that path but, happily, writer/director Paul Duran is smart enough to imbue his odd characters with a great deal of heart. He was also lucky to be gifted with a superb cast. Will Stewart plays Jerry, a down-and-out hustler who lucks into a job taking care of cranky invalid Alma (Carol Gustafson) and her dog Lucky. He decides to rob the old lady one night with the assistance of his equally desperate friends (Tony Todd, Cress Williams, and Walter Jones), but when they stumble into Alma's senior-citizen bridge party their plans change, and they instead become part of the card-playing circle. Soon their lives become intertwined, with Jerry carrying on an affair with Alma's cold daughter (Stepfanie Kramer), Tony Todd's character becoming a de facto caretaker for elderly bridge partner Ike (John Randolph), and the whole group chipping in to fix up the garden for $7.50 an hour and a case of beer. At the heart of the film is Todd's superb performance as Vietnam vet junkie Mones; Todd is, quite simply, one of the finest underutilized actors in the country, and his work here is worth the price of admission (or rental) alone. Gustafson is also fine as cranky Alma, and Kramer exudes erotic energy as the pretentious and grasping Helene. The film takes some unusual and daring steps as it nears its end, but it never rings false. It's also not for everyone - there's a lot of shooting up in the film, and it doesn't make apologies for its characters' addictions and weaknesses - but The Dogwalker is a surprising, unusual, and at times quite moving little film.
Sunday 12/26/04
1am Turner Classic Movies
The Miracle Woman (1931 USA): This first rate pre-Code drama stars Barbara Stanwyck as the title character, an embittered woman who takes up a career as a phony miracle worker after the death of her preacherman father. Her hugely popular tent shows are staged with the aid of an unscrupulous carny (Sam Hardy), who turns against her when her conscience is pricked by the love of a blind man (handsome David Manners, as ebullient as ever in this film). Directed by Frank Capra and written by Jo Swerling - who went on to pen It’s a Wonderful Life for Capra 15 years later - The Miracle Woman is one of Stanwyck’s finest hours and strongly recommended for those with an interest in early 1930s cinema.
Monday 12/27/04
5am More Max
Runaway (2001 HK): ‘Tis the week for Asian action flicks. This one’s a disarming crime comedy about two low-level mobsters (Nick Cheung and Samuel Pang) trying to get their hands on $200,000 that belongs to their boss (Joe Lee). They pull off the job and jet off to Thailand to enjoy the fruits of their labor, only to fall prey to another equally determined set of crooks. The film displays disturbing signs of the Tarantino Effect - some of the non-linear storytelling is distinctly Pulp Fiction-ish - but overall this is an unpretentious and periodically amusing film. Runaway also features genre fave Anthony Wong, as well as the mysteriously named, Taiwanese-born Anya.
6pm Sundance
Investigation into the Invisible World (2002 FRA): Similar in intent and style to The Fairy Faith, another recent (and equally silly) supernatural “documentary”, Investigation into the Invisible World is strictly from the Hangar 18 school of non-fiction filmmaking; to wit, if your subjects say it’s so, it’s so. This time gullible director Jean Michel Roux gets taken hook, line and sinker by Icelandic mystics, who convince him that ghosts, elves, and other creatures are all toddling around the ether, invisible to our eyes but visible to those who choose to have faith in their existence. This is a fascinating look at the intersections between myth, belief and religion, set against a stunning Icelandic backdrop. It’s all nonsense, but the film looks great.
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