TiVoPlex
By John Seal
September 5, 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 09/05/06
3am Turner Classic Movies
Side Street (1929 USA): A rare crime drama from RKO, Side Street has a somewhat unique cast: it features three brothers playing three brothers! The acting Moores (Tom, Matt, and Owen) play the fictional O'Farrells (Jimmy, John, and Dennis), a trio of extremely Irish New Yorkers who are the apple of their parents' eyes. Jimmy's a flatfoot, John's an ambulance driver, and Dennis...well, Dennis is a big-time gangster, and before you can say erin go bragh he's crossing swords with his elder sibling. Like most early talkies, the action is static and the sound poorly recorded, but the predictable story is engaging and Nicholas Musuraca's cinematography first-rate. Look for future star and honorary wise guy George Raft's uncredited appearance as a hoofer. Also of interest today is what I suspect is the television premiere of another RKO rarity, Panama Flo, which airs at 5:30am and features King Kong's Robert Armstrong as a hotshot newspaper shutterbug.
9:30pm Flix
Girl on a Motorcycle (1968 FRA-GB): This Jack Cardiff-helmed atrocity is probably one of the worst films you'll ever see, but you DO have to see it at least once before you die. Featuring an apparently comatose, leather cat-suited Marianne Faithfull as a wife who abandons her boring husband (the appropriately monikered Roger Mutton) for an exciting new lover (Alain Delon, natch), the film details - excruciatingly - her personal journey, which involves riding her chopper across the Continent. And boy, does she ride it. A lot. Besides the scenery, Faithfull's form-fitting outfit, and Delon's hair, there's very little to recommend here until the very final scene, which will be seared into your brain until you're lowered into your grave. I'm not going to spoil things for those of you who don't know what happens, but let's just say it makes The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield look like an After-School Special. Also airs 9/9 at 9pm.
10:45pm Showtime
State of Grace (1990 USA): More Irish-American mobsters feature in this film, which makes its wide-screen television debut this evening. Starring Ed Harris as the crazed head honcho of a Hell's Kitchen gang of drug-runners, the film co-stars Gary Oldman as his younger brother and Sean Penn as an old friend who has left the criminal life behind and has turned to the Dark Side of law and order. Does this sound familiar? Released to theatres at the same time as Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, State of Grace suffered in comparison, and was a relative failure at the box office. In truth, it's not nearly as good as Scorsese's film, but is a perfectly good gangster flick elevated by a bravura performance by Harris and a chilling turn by Oldman. Amongst the first-rate supporting cast are John C. Reilly, John Turturro, and Burgess Meredith. Also airs 9/6 at 1:45am.
Wednesday 09/06/06
9:30am Showtime
Genesis (2004 FRA): A French documentary about the evolution of life on planet Earth, Genesis tends to be a bit New Age-y in style, but still makes worthwhile viewing, especially for youngsters. Directed by the team who gave us the remarkable insect-eye's view feature Microcosmos in 1998, Genesis attempts to explain the birth of the universe and the development of life via the narration of West African griot Sotigui Kouyaté. Though the mystical musings of Kouyaté occasionally grate, the film does a decent job of summarizing this complex chain of events, and ultimately supports evolution and the Big Bang Theory without once mentioning the oxymoronic "Intelligent Design". Also airs at 12:30pm.
12:15pm Turner Classic Movies
Turnabout (1940 USA): One of the earliest - if not THE earliest - body-switch movies arrives on TCM this afternoon. Independently produced by the legendary Hal Roach (who also directed), Turnabout stars Carole Landis and John Hubbard as Sally and Tim Willows, a feuding couple whose spoken wish to change places with each other is granted by the (Buddhist?) idol they happen to keep in their apartment. Complications ensue as Sally goes off to the office and Tim stays home to lord it over the servants, but order is soon restored...or is it? Co-starring Adolphe Menjou as Tim's befuddled boss, Turnabout is a fascinating exploration of gender roles in 1940s America, and also happens to be quite funny at times.
Thursday 09/07/06
7pm Showtime
Slippin': Ten Years With the Bloods (2005 USA): I haven't seen this documentary about thug life, but it premiered at last year's Tribeca Film Festival and features such amusingly-named characters as Jumbo Chris, Dig Dug Douglas, and Low Down Lamar. They may sound like Garbage Pail Kids, but apparently they're former and current members of the much-feared Bloods street gang. The film fest booking implies quality, but one of the film's directors got his start helming Battlecade videos, so approach with caution, and make sure you're not wearing the wrong colors when you do. Also airs at 10pm and 9/8 on Showtime 2 at 6:30pm.
Friday 09/08/06
12:40am Showtime
Kibakichi (2004 JAP): Takashi Miike, this is not. Instead, Kibakichi is a pretty old-fashioned (and very silly) monster rally with a few new twists for the 21st century. Ryuuji Harada plays the title character, a werewolf samurai who prowls the Japanese countryside and belongs to the Yokai, an organization of shape-shifters and monster outcasts who are actually much nicer than the human characters in the film. Think of them as X-Men with supernatural powers and samurai swords, and you're halfway there. When their existence is threatened by political upheaval in the local Mamoy clan, it's up to Kibakichi to put the kibosh on the clan's new boss, who's newly-acquired Gatling gun has taken the lives of many innocent Yokai. Filled with outrageous costumes and make-up and lots and lots of cartoon-style violence, this oddball blend of horror and Western conventions was a hit at the Japanese box office and even managed to spawn a sequel.
10:05am Flix
Wonderwall (1968 GB): The film that provided Oasis with a song title and the rest of us with further proof that their Beatles fetish went very deep indeed, this unusual art-house flick was quite hard to see until it debuted on DVD a few years back courtesy Rhino. It makes its American television debut this morning, and is recommended to fans of psychedelic cinema, British film, and good soundtracks. Directed by Joe Massot, whose next film was the nearly unwatchable The Song Remains the Same, Wonderwall features pixieish Jane Birkin as Penny Lane(!), a model who draws the unwelcome attention of her next-door neighbor, Professor Collins (Jack MacGowran). The obsessed Collins soon stops going to work, and instead spends his time spying on young Penny through a hole in the wall, and things turn interesting shortly thereafter. Featuring a truly marvelous George Harrison score - George never did a better job of blending Indian and Western styles - Wonderwall also features such familiar faces as Irene Handl, Richard Wattis, and Anita Pallenberg. It's an unusual delight that I highly recommend, though it won't be to the taste of all viewers. Also airs 9/9 at 2:45am.
Saturday 09/09/06
5:50am Flix
Starstruck (1982 AUS): A "New Wave" musical from Aussie director Gillian Armstrong, Starstruck stars Jo Kennedy as Jackie, a young woman who'll do just about anything to make it big in the music biz. Clambering her way from pub gigs to the big time - represented by a fictional TV program called The Wow! Show - Jackie makes the grade thanks to sheer persistence and a willingness to dress up as a long-playing record or a kangaroo. Though the film is hardly a paragon of originality, it features wonderful set design by Brian Thomson - who worked miracles for The Rocky Horror Picture Show's screen adaptation - and a dazzling assortment of costumes. As for the music...well, it hasn't aged terribly well, but Kennedy makes for an appealing heroine, and those in need of a little light entertainment could do far worse than this rags-to-riches primer. Also airs at 1:30pm.
Sunday 09/10/06
11am Showtime 2
Fearless Fighters (1971 TAI-HK): One of the most surprising - and welcome - additions to the ranks of domestic DVD came earlier this year when Image released this truly mind-blowing feature on shiny disc. Fearless Fighters was a grindhouse classic, recut and dubbed for the American market two years on from its original Asian release as Hero of Heroes. It features a character known as The Lightning Whipper whose expertise with the aforementioned tool earns him a gig escorting a government gold convoy through dangerous territory. When the convoy is beset by a breakaway faction of the infamous Eagle Claw Clan, The Lightning Whipper gets an unexpected assist from clan honcho Le Pong, who disapproves of the moonlighting activities of his brother (and clan rival) To Fa. A full-on family feud ensues, with the requisite assortment of over-the-top weaponry and non-stop action. If Kibakichi didn't fulfill your needs for martial arts mayhem, you'll be well sated by the time Fearless Fighters draws to its breathless conclusion. One caveat: it looks like Showtime is airing a pan-and-scan print, which will seriously compromise Fearless Fighters' original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Unless you're like me, though, you probably don't watch these sorts of films to appreciate their use of a wide-angle lens.
9pm Turner Classic Movies
Seven Years Bad Luck (1921 USA): Silent comic Max Linder has long been forgotten by mainstream movie fans, but this hour-long feature highlights a talent that deserves a wider audience. Max plays, er, Max, a superstitious man with too much money and not much sense. When he accidentally breaks a mirror, he takes extreme measures to avoid bad luck, and his unusual behavior threatens to derail an engagement to beautiful Betty (Alta Allen). This was Frenchman Linder's first American film, and though it (and the films that followed) were box office flops - the comic soon returned to Europe - it's stood the test of time and is now rightfully regarded as a forgotten gem of silent cinema.
Monday 09/11/06
8pm Sundance
September 11 (2002 International): Previously aired with commercial interruptions on the now defunct Trio channel, September 11 makes its premium channel premiere this evening on Sundance. It's actually a collection of 11 different segments from 11 different countries, each segment offering its own meditations on or interpretations of the events of September 11, 2001. With contributions from Ken Loach, Mira Nair, Shohei Imamura, Claude Lelouch, and TiVoPlex favorite Samira Makhmalbaf, it's a decidedly cerebral affair and most definitely not for all tastes, and some segments work much better than others. Nonetheless, as this was the first cinematic response to the notorious attack on the Twin Towers, September 11 remains an important and sometimes fascinating collection of film essays. Even better, this one really DOES go to 11.
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