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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 08/01/06

2am Sundance
An Ordinary Family (2005 ARG): As I've frequently pointed out in recent months, there has, of late, been a ton of Argentinean films airing on premium channels, but this, I believe, is the first documentary that's popped up from the pampas. An Ordinary Family takes a look at the effect of Argentina's 2002 economic collapse on an ostensibly comfortable middle-class family, the Borronis. Forced by circumstance to barter their belongings and unable to pay their mortgage, the family - led by patriarch and oil company executive Oscar - upped sticks and moved to Spain. The film details the excruciating choices the family was forced to make, and the surprising flexibility they developed as matters went from bad to bankrupt. It's a sobering reminder of the thin financial ice we all skate upon, especially here in the United States, where we actually have a NEGATIVE savings rate these days.

10:05pm Encore Mystery
Buddy Boy(1999 USA): Featuring the great Susan Tyrrell as a monstrous stepmother, Buddy Boy is the product of a genuinely independent American cinema, and all the better for it. That's not to suggest that it's a great film - it certainly isn't - but director Mark Hanlon proves it's possible to make a film with attitude, style, and ambition without sucking up to what critic Dave Poland calls the "dependents", faux-independents such as Paramount Classics and Fox Searchlight. Tyrrell plays Sal, a harridan who shares a musty apartment with good Catholic stepson Francis (Aidan Gillen), whose job as a photo developer provides him an escape from the hectoring demands of Mom. He also finds relief by spying on his attractive neighbor (Emmanuelle Seigner), and the film reflects the influence of voyeuristic creep-out efforts ranging from Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) to Todd Solondz" Happiness (1998). If you're an admirer of those films, you'll get your money's worth from Buddy Boy; if not, you can probably give it a miss.

Wednesday 08/02/06

1:20am HBO
Dealing Dogs (2006 USA): This HBO original doc takes a look at an unpleasant reality: the black market that deals in selling animals for medical experimentation. If you've ever found someone's lost pet and posted a notice online trying to find its owner, you've probably been offered inordinate amounts of money for said creature from someone claiming to represent a rescue organization. Dealing Dogs takes an unblinking look at this grim phenomenon, wherein some truly unpleasant people make a living kidnapping people's animal companions for profit. Yuck. Also airs at 4:20am.

8:15am IFC
Passion in the Desert (1997 USA): Speaking of animal companions, here's a film with a rather odd one. An arthouse favorite featuring a man who falls in love with a leopard, Passion in the Desert takes place in 1798, when Napoleon's army was marching through the deserts of Egypt. When foot soldier Augustin (Ben Daniels) and artist Venture (the great Michel Piccoli) get separated from their unit, they stumble across an ancient reliquary guarded by the aforementioned big cat. If you've never seen a man lick a leopard before, here's your chance; apparently, Daniels spent a lot of quality time with three trained leopards before filming his scenes. Based on an atypical story by Honoré de Balzac, Passion in the Desert also airs on 8/3 at 6:30am and on 8/7 at 6:45am.

1:30pm Fox Movie Channel
Che! (1969 USA): Every now and then I must succumb to the "so bad it's good" ethos, and here's one of the leading lights of that cinematic bowel movement. If you want a serious bio-pic of the life of Bolivian bad boy Che Guevara, you'd be advised to check out Walter Salles' excellent adaptation of Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries. If, however, you are looking for a prime slice of Hollywood cheese, you can hardly do better than this train-wreck from the normally reliable Richard Fleischer. The Egyptian-born Omar Sharif is not entirely bad as the famed revolutionary, but you need to see the cigar- and scenery-chewing performance of Jack Palance as Fidel Castro to truly appreciate Che!'s unrelenting awfulness. The film's wrap-around segments - where actors portraying "ordinary" South Americans expound their views on Che - are equally embarrassing. Stubbornly, Fox still refuses to air this in wide-screen and it's still MIA on DVD, so you'll have to make do with their usual pan-and-scan print, but believe me, it's worth it.

Thursday 08/03/06

2:30am Starz!
Junebug (2005 USA): I missed this Southern slice-of-life drama during its theatrical run last year, so Amy Adams' Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination came as a complete surprise to me. I think the only other Amy Adams film I've seen is Psycho Beach Party, and that basically sucked. Anyhoo, Junebug is making its small-screen debut this morning, and I'll be tuning in to see what all the fuss was about...whilst enjoying a big slice of pecan pie, of course. Also airs at 5:30am.

8:45am Turner Classic Movies
Smash Up: The Story of a Woman (1947 USA): Susan Hayward plays an accident-prone torch singer in this somewhat overwrought but rather entertaining soap opera. She's Angie, a siren on the cusp of supper club success until she throws in the towel for a man and a marriage. When hubby Ken's career as a Sinatra wannabe takes off, Angie starts to regret her decision to retire, and begins to suspect that her spouse is making whoopee with his secretary (Marsha Hunt). Alcoholism and tragedy aren't far behind, and Dorothy Parker's screenplay provides a piquant, post-war take on the place of women in society. Hayward's performance earned her a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Actress (she ended up losing to Loretta Young in the insipid Farmer's Daughter), and the film co-stars Eddie Albert and Robert Shayne.

9:45am Starz! Edge
Out of Sight (1998 USA): Steven Soderbergh's breakthrough hit makes its wide-screen television debut this morning. Featuring artistic soul mate George Clooney and based on an Elmore Leonard novel, the film tells the tale of a bank robber (Clooney) and a fed (Jennifer Lopez) locked in the trunk of a car. Sounds like that car could be parked in the same claustrophobic confines as Soderbergh's recent experiment Bubble, but Out of Sight is one of the boy wonder's mainstream efforts, and the trunk is only the starting point for this very smart and assured caper flick. Too bad J Lo's career has since stalled and/or retrogressed, because her work here displays surprising promise. Also featuring TiVoPlex faves Luis Guzman, Don Cheadle, and Catherine Keener, Out of Sight re-airs at 6pm and 8/4 at 1:10am.

7pm Showtime
Enduring Love (2004 GB): Roger Michell's follow-up to his excellent 2003 drama The Mother, Enduring Love is a troubling psychodrama about a fatal accident, and the resultant unexpected fallout that affects witness and university lecturer Joe (future James Bond and all-around excellent actor Daniel Craig) and girlfriend Claire (the equally fine Samantha Morton). When a hot air balloon takes off with a small boy trapped inside it, Joe and other picnickers enjoying a warm summer's day try to hold it to the ground, leading to a fatal airborne tumble for a helpful doctor. Enter Jed (Rhys Ifans), an oddball religious fanatic whose desire to pray at the corpse's side turns into an obsession with Joe's culpability and with his own emotional shortcomings. A difficult but rewarding production that confirms Michell's place in the first rank of contemporary British filmmakers, Enduring Love also airs at 10pm and on 8/6 at 3:45pm and 6:45pm.

Friday 08/04/06

8:35am Encore Mystery
The Brink's Job (1978 USA): Peter Falk plays Tony Pino, a small-time crook with big heist dreams in this pleasant caper comedy from director William Friedkin. When Pino's gang successfully pulls off a $30,000 armored car job, they learn the security firm's measures aren't up to snuff and start planning for something on a grander scale. Along for the ride are a veritable who's who of 1970s character actors, including Allen Goorwitz, Paul Sorvino, Warren Oates, and Peter Boyle, and long-time Falk co-star Gena Rowlands - who previously appeared opposite the actor in John Cassavetes' drop-dead serious A Woman Under the Influence - pops up as Tony's wife. Set in the 1950s and shot on location in Boston, The Brink's Job is a thoroughly professional, if predictable, comic thriller rendered eminently watchable thanks to its superb cast. Also airs at 10pm.

Saturday 08/05/06

5am IFC
Rônin-Gai (1991 JAP): Well, here's something new, literally: instead of another classic from the Golden Age of Samurai Cinema, IFC's Samurai Saturday is opting for a more recent example of the genre, which had fallen out of favor with Japanese moviegoers during the 1970s. To be honest, it's easy to see why the films of the 1950s and ‘60s are held in such reverence, because Rônin-Gai is a pretty pale tribute to earlier, better films. If your thirst for bloody swordplay remains unquenched however, you'll want to give it a look, and fans of cinema bad boy Takashi Miike should note that the Wicked One served as the film's second unit director, assuring that at least the action sequences and blood squibs are up to par. Also airs at 10:30am.

7pm Sundance
Monsterthursday(2004 NOR): Until I saw this film, I had no idea there were surfer dudes in Norway. Turns out there are, at least in the Stavanger region; hence the film's title, a tribute to John Milius' well-regarded 1978 fun-in-the-sun epic, Big Wednesday. Monsterthursday tells the story of surfer Tord (Christian Skolmen), whose marriage to his best friend's ex (Silje Salomonsen) leads to soul-searching, heavy drinking, and a trip to the more welcoming waves of Australia. Scandinavian existential angst never looked so well-tanned, and Monsterthursday earned a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2004.

Sunday 08/06/06

7:45am Cinemax
The Chumscrubber (2005 USA): No, I've never heard of it, either. But who could resist putting in a plug for a film called The Chumscrubber? Sadly, it apparently has nothing to do with the messier details of fishing and everything to do with a character in a video game, but a surprising A-list cast, including Jamie Bell, Carrie-Anne Moss, Allison Janney, Ralph Fiennes, and Rory Culkin make it an intriguing prospect, indeed. Also airs at 10:45am.

9am Sundance
Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977 USA): Almost, but not quite; Beau Geste was filmed again as a British television mini-series in 1982. Since then, nada, making The Last Remake of Beau Geste the most recent BIG screen adaptation of the once popular Percival Wren novel about life in the French Foreign Legion. Directed by, and starring, goggle-eyed British comic Marty Feldman, The Last Remake doesn't wander too far from the popular Mel Brooks template of movie satire, with copious double entendres, bad puns, and Ann-Margret's cleavage on display, and the all-star cast includes Peter Ustinov, Michael York, Terry-Thomas, Burt Kwouk, and many more familiar faces. It adds up to inessential viewing, but good fun if you're in the right frame of mind.

10:45pm Flix
Children of the Night (1971 BEL): More widely known as Daughters of Darkness, this odd Belgian horror film is short on blood and long on mind games. Directed by Harry Kümel, whose next film was the even stranger Malpertuis, Children of the Night features Delphine Seyrig as an ageless vampiric noblewoman who tries to ensnare a young married couple (John Karlen and Danielle Ouimet) on their honeymoon. She uses her servant Ilona (the sexy Andrea Rau) as bait, and soon lures the pair into bed for a night of erotic bloodletting. Perhaps not quite as good as its pre-video age reputation mooted it to be, it's still an atmospheric and quietly chilling tale of sex and dying in Low Country high society.