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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 12/13/05

1:50am The Movie Channel
Something to Scream About (2003 USA): Since the dawn of motion pictures, buxom women have been screaming their lungs out in the face of adversity. This documentary examination of scream queens sadly overlooks the dames who made the hearts of Baby Boomers skip a beat or three back in the day, concentrating instead on the pneumatically-enhanced ladies of more recent vintage such as Debbie Rochon, Julie Strain, and Brinke Stevens. Nonetheless, it's a fun look at a group of women who seem to be having the time of their lives pretending to be in grave danger. Something to Scream About also airs at 4:50am.

2:40am Encore West
Dracula (1979 USA): The overlooked stepchild of bloodsucker movies, 1979's Dracula deserves a bit more recognition than it's had in the past. Featuring Frank Langella as the Count, this Dracula is a reasonably faithful rendering of Bram Stoker's novel, here adapted for the screen by none other than W. D. Richter (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Big Trouble in Little China) and featuring an estimable cast, including Laurence Olivier as Van Helsing, Donald Pleasance as Doctor Seward, and Kate Nelligan as Lucy. Though there's no grand opening in Dracula's castle - the film picks up the action shipboard and bound for Whitby - the Cornish location photography more than makes up for the absence of the rising damp of Transylvania. Dare I say this is, on balance, a better film than Universal's 1931 Lugosi version? I think I might.

6:40am Encore Mystery
The Big Fix (1978 USA): Richard Dreyfuss stars as private investigator Moses Wine in this satisfying mystery/comedy from director Jeremy Kagan, whose previous feature Heroes (1977) was touted in this column only a few weeks ago. The Big Fix was Kagan's next film, and it's a pretty good one, with Wine on the tail of a counterculture revolutionary (F. Murray Abraham) on behalf of some dishonest politicians, one of whom is played by a young, but already unctuous, John Lithgow. Also on hand are Bonnie Bedelia as Moses' former wife, long-time character actor Fritz Weaver, and Susan Anspach. Unavailable on home video, The Big Fix is further proof that Kagan deserved a better career than the one he spent toiling in the barren fields of network television.

6:30pm Showtime 3
Live Forever (2003 GB): Whilst on my annual holiday visit to the old country in 1995, I allowed myself to get caught up in the legendary Blur vs. Oasis chart battle that saw both heavyweight bands releasing a single on the same day (That day also happened to be my birthday). Not since the Beatles and the Stones - who, incidentally, never directly challenged each other - had such a battle been waged for the hearts and minds of British pop pickers, and I foolishly anted up for one of each release. Thing was, Blur had the smarter marketing plan, and ended up releasing THEIR single (a since-forgotten jingle entitled Country House) as a two-CD set, both of which counted as separate sales chart-wise. Oasis countered with the grindingly dull Roll With It, truly one of the worst efforts from that tedious band. The result was an unsurprising win for Blur, and three less-than-special CDs added to my overstuffed collection. Yes, those were the halcyon days of Britpop, when shaggy-haired rockers rubbed elbows with future war criminals like Tony Blair in a squirm-inducing rite of political passage. Those less-than-golden memories are recaptured in this pleasant if inconsequential documentary, which features interviews with the swaggering Gallagher Brothers, a bitter Damon Albarn, and a befuddled Jarvis Cocker, amongst others. No sight of Menswear, though.

9pm More Max
Bad Education (2004 ESP): I don't care much for Pedro Almodóvar films, and I haven't seen Bad Education, but it's making its American television premiere tonight. If you fancy the idea of pretty-boy star Gael Garcia Bernal in drag, this one's for you.

Wednesday 12/14/05

3am Turner Classic Movies
Silent Shakespeare (2005 USA): This fascinating assortment of silent shorts collects seven early efforts to bring the Bard to the big screen. Collected and restored by the British Film Institute, this omnibus includes 1899's three-minute King John, featuring legendary stage actor Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in the title role, a 1916 Midsummer Night's Dream with a young Dolores Costello, and silent takes on King Lear, Richard III, and The Tempest. It's followed at 6 am by a silent 1922 German version of Othello with the great Emil Jannings in the title role and Werner Krauss as a particularly loathsome Iago.

10:15pm Turner Classic Movies
Othello (1966 GB): In case you thought Jannings was a less than ideal Othello, here's your consolation prize: a rare broadcast of the Laurence Olivier version filmed with the full cooperation of Britain's National Theatre Company. It's a little distressing to see Olivier in blackface and the film is determinedly stagy, but one can't fault the performances, four of which (Olivier, Frank Finlay as Iago, Joyce Redman as Emilia, and Maggie Smith as Desdemona) were recognized with Academy Award nominations. Buried deep in the cast listing is a 25-year-old Michael Gambon, now known to millions as Professor Albus Dumbledore.

Thursday 12/1505

9:40pm Starz!
The Last Shot (2004 USA): I missed The Last Shot during its theatrical run, and part of the blame goes to its atrocious marketing campaign, which involved a one-sheet that made the film look like the distaff cousin of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Now don't get me wrong; I actually quite like that silly and overlong 1963 comedy, and the poster accurately represented The Last Shot as a madcap ensemble piece, but it just seemed so...well, old-fashioned. Turns out the film is actually pretty funny, so if you also gave it a miss at the local ‘plex - and I have a sneaking suspicion most of you did - give it a look now that it's in heavy rotation on Starz!. The story revolves around FBI agent Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin), in charge of a sting operation designed to snare a crime boss (Tony Shalhoub) who's been dabbling in the movie business. Devine needs to set up a fake production to get the Mafioso's truckers involved, and he finds aspiring filmmaker Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick), an artist so desperate for film fame that he agrees to relocate the desert shoot of his Arizona-set road movie from the southwest to Providence, Rhode Island. The Last Shot works best for hardcore movie fans who will appreciate all the in jokes, so if you enjoyed The Player and The Big Picture, don't hesitate to make time for this frequently hilarious film. Also airs 12/16 at 1:40am.

Friday 12/16/05

7am Fox Movie Channel
Born to be Bad (1934 USA): Not the more well-known Joan Fontaine noir of the same title, this Born to be Bad is a fairly obscure Cary Grant weepie about the trials and tribulations of unwed mother Letty (Loretta Young) and her son Mickey (Jackie Kelk). Designed to circumvent the newly-implemented Hays Code, the film is an uncomfortable effort with a jumbled story and a main character that can't decide whether she's a saintly mom or a hardboiled confidence trickster. Primarily of interest to fans of Young, who is predictably good here, Born to Be Bad also features Henry Travers as the kind-hearted Samaritan who tries to set Letty on the straight-and-narrow path to moral righteousness, as defined, of course, by Will Hays and Joseph Breen.

6pm Sundance
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973 USA): Jesus Christ! Superstar! Who in the Hell do you think you are! Are those the actual lyrics to the song, or are they simply the naughty words we sang at recess? I honestly don't know, but perhaps if I watch Norman Jewison's film version of the incredibly popular stage musical I'll finally find out. Ted Neeley, whose career crashed and burned almost immediately after making this film, plays Jesus, and future disco diva Yvonne Elliman appears as a syncopated Mary Magdalene. Filmed on location in Israel, this is cinematic cheese of the ripest variety, and only suitable for those with a high sense of camp or with a fondness for the over-emotive slush of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Also airs 12/17 at 2am.

Saturday 12/17/05

9pm Sundance
Diary of a Porn Virgin (2005 GB): Yet another leering look at the sleaziest of sleazy professions, Diary of a Porn Virgin was produced as part of a series of sex exposés for Britain's Channel 4 Television. This one does what it says on the label: it interviews several newly-inducted members of Britain's burgeoning porn industry, including a 38-year-old mother, a corporate hotshot, and a young Muslim woman, who perhaps not too surprisingly doesn't appear in chador. Though it can't decide whether it's a celebration of freedom or an admonition to keep your clothes on, this is never less than captivating.

10pm Flix
Crawlspace (1986 USA): One of the rare American features to star movie madman Klaus Kinski, Crawlspace is a video nasty about a sadistic ex-Nazi doctor (guess who) who keeps women captive in his attic. The only thing that elevates this film above run-of-the-mill slasher status is Kinski, an actor who repeatedly channeled his own worst instincts through the frequently repulsive characters he portrayed. Directed by Puppet Master creator David Schmoeller - who went on to produce a short subject entitled Please Kill Mr. Kinski in 1999 - Crawlspace is appearing in wide-screen format this evening.

Sunday 12/18/05

9pm Sundance
Overnight (2003 USA): If, like me, you spent far too much time playing on the Hollywood Stock Exchange around the turn of the last century, you might remember considerable fuss surrounding a little film called Boondock Saints. It was going to be a big hit for Miramax Pictures, who invested $15 million in the project and inked writer/director Troy Duffy to a production deal. When the project went into turnaround, things went sour fast for Duffy, and his film ended up earning pennies at the box office and basically went straight to video (No one bothered to rent it, either). Overnight explores the genesis, birth, and slow death of this film, which foundered on the inflated ego of Duffy, whose journey from bartender to filmmaker and back again was not a happy one. Miramax lost a lot of money on Boondock Saints, and if you maxed out on it on HSX, so did you, but at least your "H bucks" weren't real.

Monday 12/19/05

6pm Sundance
The Corporation (2004 USA): Are corporations people? Most of us would probably say no, but the Supreme Court says otherwise, and who are we to argue with the highest court in the land? Starting from this premise - that Enron, Wal-Mart, and General Motors are flesh and blood, just as you and I - this endlessly fascinating documentary explores the mental health of such "people". Its conclusion - that corporations are inherently psychopathic - may have you ready to mount the barricades in the battle against globalization. My reaction was to go out and buy some carpet from Atlanta-based Interface, Inc., but you'll have to watch the film to find out why.