TiVoPlex
By John Seal
January 10, 2006
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 01/10/06
7:30am Showtime
Incident at Loch Ness (2004 GER-GB): Very few filmmakers have maintained a consistent level of excellence over the course of a long career, but German director Werner Herzog is one of the exceptions to the rule. Though it could well be argued that he reached his creative peak early - there are few films that can match the power and grandeur of 1972's Aguirre, the Wrath of God, for example - he continues to challenge and entertain discriminating audiences with his unique and puckish fare. Of late he's worked almost exclusively in the documentary genre, creating features about memorable oddballs such as My Best Fiend and Little Dieter Learns to Fly. 2005's Grizzly Man was my favorite film of the year, and his previous effort, the cod-mockumentary Incident at Loch Ness - premiering this morning on Showtime - was almost as good and certainly more fun in the traditional sense. It's the film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou should have been, so be sure to have a look. Also airs at 10:30am and on 1/11 at 2:25am and 5:25am.
4:30pm Sundance
I Am Cuba (1964 USSR-CUB): Long impossible to see outside the confines of art museums and film fests, this magisterial Soviet documentary saw a DVD release via Milestone late last year and now arrives for the first time ever on American television. Similar in power and intent to Gillo Pontecorvo's great Battle of Algiers (1966), I Am Cuba retells the story of the 1959 revolution that saw the American-supported Batista regime overthrown by Fidel Castro. Though its propaganda is hardly presented subtly, the film is magnificently lensed by the great Mikhail Kalatozov (The Cranes Are Flying) and is essential viewing. It's followed at 7pm by 2005's "making of" documentary, I Am Cuba, the Siberian Mammoth, which details the film's failure at both the Soviet and Cuban box offices and its resultant decades-long hibernation before being rediscovered at the 1992 Telluride Film Festival. Both films re-air 1/14 at 11am.
5pm Showtime
The Yes Men (2003 USA): More mockumentary fun arrives courtesy The Yes Men, a look at two anti-globalization activists who masquerade as high-powered bankers and infiltrate the closely-guarded confines of trade conferences around the world. Once safely within the castle walls, they engage in all sorts of agit-prop hi-jinks, including giving pro-slavery speeches and coming up with unique (if disgusting) ways to recycle McDonalds burgers. If you think Michael Moore doesn't have enough fun in his films, take a look at The Yes Men. They may not change the world, but they will make you snort in righteous indignation. Also airs at 8pm, on 1/11 on Showtime 2 at 6:30pm, and on 1/16 on Showtime 2 at 6am.
Wednesday 01/11/06
1pm Turner Classic Movies
Dark of the Sun (1968 GB): This excellent action film returns to TCM for an encore presentation this afternoon. It's the apolitical story of grizzled mercenary Captain Curry (a surprisingly effective Rod Taylor) hired to rescue $25,000,000 worth of uncut diamonds from a rampaging army of African nationalists. Sharply adapted by Ranald MacDougall from Wilbur Smith's novel, the film was actually shot in Jamaica, where first-rate cinematography by Edward Scaife (with an assist from director Jack Cardiff) disguised the fact that we aren't actually watching the Congolese countryside go by. A first-rate feature all around, Dark of the Sun also features notable performances by Peter Carsten as a sadistic South African and Kenneth More as a drunken sot. It's also another film that desperately needs the digital treatment, but until that day arrives, TCM's print - which is in great shape - will have to suffice.
4:15pm Sundance
Sunday (1997): A low-key drama about life in a Queens halfway house, Sunday won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 1997. Starring David Suchet and Lisa Harrow as an odd couple who meet not-so-cute and carry on an increasingly bizarre relationship, Sunday also features an amateur cast of real-life down-and-outers. Suchet and Harrow are excellent and refreshingly unglamorous, and this ambitious but small-scale film succeeds primarily because of their fine work.
Thursday 01/12/06
4:45am Showtime Extreme
Winners Take All (1987 USA): If you like to watch motorcycles race around a track, fly through the air, and violently wipe out, this is your film. Even better, it's making its wide-screen television debut this morning, so you won't have to miss any of the airborne debris or so much as a single crumb of dislodged dirt. Though the story is predictable and the acting isn't likely to impress, it's a fun little movie for bike enthusiasts. Also airs at 5:15pm and on 1/15 at 10:50am.
5:30am Sundance
The Mighty Celt (2005 IRE-GB): Robert Carlyle, intense as ever, stars as O, an ex-IRA man who crosses paths with dog trainer Joe (Ken Stott) in this unsurprising but satisfying Irish drama. The Mighty Celt is actually one of Joe's greyhounds, and if he can win three consecutive races, will become the property of teenage kennel worker Donal (under-14 boxing champ Tyrone McKenna). To add further ingredients to the narrative pot, Donal's mum (Gillian Anderson) has an unexpected visitor one day when O, an old flame, returns from the mainland with the intention of leading a peaceful life. Anderson's performance earned her the Audience Award at this year's International Film and Television Alliance conclave. Also airs 1/15 at 1pm.
9:45am Showtime Extreme
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1972 USA): Has there ever been a better film title? Though far from being one of my favorite films, this Warren Oates vehicle with the unforgettable moniker returns to the small screen this month in letterbox format. It's another of director Sam Peckinpah's overrated experiments in screen violence, this time about bounty hunters (the tired-looking duo of Robert Webber and Gig Young) out to acquire the aforementioned noggin on behalf of a wealthy Mexican rancher. Their travels take them to a backwoods bar, where Oates serves drinks and plays piano whilst waiting for his ship to come in. The film becomes a bizarre buddy movie as Oates seizes the moment and spends the bulk of the film speeding his way towards making a very special delivery. Kris Kristofferson, Helmut Dantine, and Chano Urueta round out the excellent cast of this wacko feature, which is definitely not for everyone.
11am Flix
Iphigenia (1977 GRE): Michael Cacoyannis has had a relatively long career but has surprisingly few credits to his name, including some real duds such as the unfunny cold war satire The Day the Fish Came Out. Iphigenia, however, is a highlight. Adapted by Cacoyannis from the play by Euripides, it's a superior rendering of the classic tragedy and recently returned to the boob tube courtesy Flix. The film is shot on an epic scale but is decidedly not a "big" film, with the emphasis placed on the simple story: in supplication to the gods, King Agamemnon (Kostas Kazakos) is compelled to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia (Tatiana Papamoschou), much to the consternation of Queen Clytemnestra (Irene Papas). Kazakos and Papas are both outstanding, but it is the stunning Papamoschou who brings the most interesting elements to the screen, blending the innocence of childhood with the dawning realization that she is the pawn in a political game. Strongly recommended for fans of international cinema.
9:15pm Turner Classic Movies
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 JAP): This week's TCM anime selections include this Hayao Miyazaki science fiction epic and, at 11:15pm, his next feature, 1986's Castle in the Sky, not to be mistaken for 2004's Howl's Moving Castle. I haven't seen either of these, but you should be aware of their arrival on television, subtitled and in wide-screen. So now you are.
Friday 01/13/06
2:45am Showtime 2
Wicked Stepmother (1989 USA): Screen queen Bette Davis made a belated return to pictures in this unsatisfying Larry Cohen feature about a pair of meddlesome witches. It was Bette's last screen appearance, and in all honesty, wasn't the best way for her to go out, and apparently she agreed, as she walked off the set before production wrapped. I'm a great admirer of Cohen, but this was not his finest hour, and it's rather painful to watch the 80-year-old Davis wither away on screen as the witch who shares a body with her daughter (Barbara Carrera). The story is very thin gruel and the special effects are simply embarrassing, but at least Cohen had the wisdom to fill out his cast with other aging professionals, including Lionel Stander and Evelyn Keyes, as well as slightly younger thespians such as Seymour Cassel, Richard Moll, and, erm, Tom Bosley.
12:30pm Turner Classic Movies
Dr. Monica (1934 USA): Fans of Kay Francis will definitely want to make time for this Warner's soap opera about the problems of a lady doctor. Filmed immediately prior to the implementation of the Production Code, the film is a reasonably frank if still quite absurd look at adultery and unwanted pregnancy, as Dr. Monica's silly ass husband (the splendid Warren William) sows his wild oats and then departs on a European jaunt. Directed by William Keighley and featuring fine art direction by Anton Grot, Dr. Monica sent Joseph Breen into a tizzy, and he demanded that it be withdrawn from theatres.
Sunday 01/15/06
4am Sundance
Jane Birkin: Mother of All Babes (2003 FRA) : For those readers born in 1969, there's a better-than-average chance that you were conceived to the orgasmic strains of the legendary Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin 45 Je T'Aime. This film helps explain the genesis of that controversial disc, a massive hit banned on radio stations worldwide. It's a documentary about the elfin Birkin, one of the modeling faces of the 1960s who went on to musical stardom in France when the chain-smoking Gainsbourg took a fancy to her. Though the film is light on biographical detail - it would have been nice to know a bit more about Birkin's parents, one of whom was a renowned stage actress and one of whom was a war hero - it features some very choice ‘60s footage, including an extremely entertaining commercial Birkin made for Cadbury's chocolates. She also proves to be an engaging and intelligent interview subject, and whilst her post-Serge activities may not be of much interest to music fans, she has certainly maintained her artistic and political integrity.
9pm Fox Movie Channel
Taps (1981 USA): George C. Scott stars as the headmaster of a military school in this above-average drama, which airs on Fox this month in wide-screen. Shot on location at Valley Forge Military Academy, it's the story of a group of overzealous students (including Tim Hutton, Sean Penn, and even Tom Cruise!) who seize control of their school after they learn it is to be sold to condo developers. An American variant on Lord of the Flies, Taps fails to reach the dizzying and frightening heights of that masterpiece, but remains a solid, if far-fetched, tale of adolescent anxiety. Also airs 1/16 at 2:50am.
Monday 01/16/06
3:35am Showtime
Futureworld (1976 USA): Its predecessor Westworld shows up from time to time on TCM, but Futureworld has of late been a bit harder to catch on the small screen. That's changing this month, as the film returns to TV, and in wide-screen, no less. Still MIA on home video, it features Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner as investigative reporters trying to unearth the secrets apparently covered up after the amusement park disasters detailed in the original film. The two predictably spend the first reel arguing, and then just as predictably bond so as to avoid death at the hands of the still out-of-control automatons. Only commercially available on a full-frame PAL DVD, this is a rare opportunity to catch this feature in its correct aspect ratio. Also airs at 6:35am.
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