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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 12/19/06

My Summer of Love (2004 GB): Thanks to a weeklong bout with the shingles that left me less than productive column-wise last April, I overlooked the American television premiere of this well-regarded drama from director Pawel Pawlikowski. It returns this morning and comes strongly recommended to those who enjoy quality acting, intelligent and sensitive writing, and lingering shots of the Yorkshire Dales. The film features the unheralded Emily Blunt as Tamsin, a well-to-do schoolgirl who meets working-class Mona (Holby City's Nathalie Press) over the course of her summer hols. The two fall in love and, in a fashion reminiscent of Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (though with much less deadly consequences), engage in a series of guerrilla actions against Tamsin's adulterous father and Mona's holy-roller brother (Paddy Considine, excellent as always). A film festival favorite that took home half-a-dozen awards from an assortment of cinema soirees, My Summer of Love also airs at 4:10 AM.

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Bad Seed (1956 USA): A prime example of Hollywood hysteria about our out-of-control children, The Bad Seed is an absurd but highly entertaining piece of hokum about a murderous little girl. Why, if only little Patty hadn't been indulged by that nice Mrs. Daigle, none of those murders would have happened! Spare the rod and spoil the child! Well-cast, with little Patty McCormack (still active on the convention circuit) as the child of evil, Nancy Kelly as her bewildered mother, and Henry Jones as the malevolent groundskeeper whose suspicions take a tortuous turn, The Bad Seed is a faithful adaptation of the novel by William March, and was directed by the great Warners vet Mervyn LeRoy.

Wednesday 12/20/06

7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Age of Innocence (1934 USA): Not to be confused with Martin Scorsese's bloated adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel, this is a much earlier and leaner version produced by RKO and starring Irene Dunne and John Boles. Dunne plays Ellen, the Countess Olenska, a social outcast who has left her husband and become persona non grata on the Manhattan social circuit circa 1875. After childhood chum and adult admirer Newland Archer (Boles) suggests she divorce her husband, the anguished Ellen decides to preserve family tranquillity at the expense of her own happiness. A melodrama that looks more trite than tragic in light of all the social changes that have since transpired, The Age of Innocence is, nonetheless, worth a look for Dunne's quality performance, and it's certainly amusing to see Lionel Atwill playing a paramour for a change.

Thursday 12/21/06

11:30 PM IFC
Children of Heaven (1997 IRAN): Another wonderful example of Iranian neo-realist cinema, Children of Heaven tells the story of a brother and sister who must share a pair of shoes. That sounds like a recipe for overcooked doom and despair, but the film offers much more than poverty and depression, and is perfect viewing for parents and children alike. The protagonist is the well-meaning but ill-fated Ali, who loses his sibling Zahra's shoes whilst running an errand for their mother. Terrified at the prospect of their parents discovering the loss, the two hurriedly cook up a scheme to cover it up: Zahra will wear her brother's sneakers to school in the morning, run home, and switch off with Ali, whose classes meet in the afternoon. Needless to say, complications ensue, including a footrace that Ali must lose in order to make amends for his carelessness. Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award in 1999, Children of Heaven would give even the coldest-hearted neo-con pause before flipping the red switch. Maybe.

Friday 12/22/06

6:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Make Me A Star (1932 USA): The siren song of Hollywood gets skewered in this rarely seen Paramount comedy from director and TiVoPlex hero William Beaudine. The forgotten Stuart Erwin stars as Merton Gill, a small town grocery clerk who dreams of becoming a cowboy star on a par with his screen idol, Buck Benson. Discouraged and ridiculed by everyone in town except erstwhile screenwriter Tessie (Helen Eddy), Merton ups sticks for Tinsel Town and sets his sights on Majestic Studios, where Benson rides the celluloid range. Rejected by the casting office but with his confidence unshaken, he finally lands a role as a comic straight man thanks to the machinations of actress Flips Montague (gorgeous Joan Blondell). Trouble is, Merton thinks he's been cast in a serious role, but when the film's premiere reveals otherwise, tears and recriminations are the order of the day. Make Me A Star also features ZaSu Pitts, silent comic Ben Turpin, and a host of bigger Paramount stars in 'on set' cameos, including Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, and Fredric March.

5:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
True Lies (1994 USA): It's not a great movie by any means, but True Lies is a reasonably entertaining if thoroughly bloated Hollywood blockbuster - and it's making its widescreen television debut this evening. Governator Ahnuld Schwarzenegger plays Harry Tasker, a super-duper super-secret agent who pretends to be a computer salesman in order to conceal his activities from wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis). Helen, who presumably is thicker than a tree stump, doesn't suspect a thing - but when she finds herself involved with a sleazy car salesman (Bill Paxton), her daytime routine becomes entangled with that of her husband and his partner and buddy Gib (Tom Arnold). As with all James Cameron films, there are tons of explosions, lots of shooting, and enough plot holes to fill the Albert Hall. Clocking in at a bladder-busting 144 minutes, True Lies airs again at 7:30 PM and 10:00 PM.

9:00 PM IFC
Yakuza Wars 4: Police Tactics (1974 JAP): Yakuza mayhem continues at a frenzied pace in the fourth part of Kinji Fukasaku's epic cycle. It's now 1964, and Japan is preparing to host the Olympic Games - a major accomplishment coming only 19 years after the devastation of World War II. Eager to present the best possible face to the world, the authorities unveil a massive crackdown on criminal activities. With hundreds of yakuza being rounded up, an opportunity arises for our anti-hero Hirono (Bunta Sugawara): the elimination of his long time rival, Boss Yamamori. Perhaps the bloodiest entry in the series, Yakuza Wars 4: Police Tactics is also my personal favorite.

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Dementia 13 (1961 USA): This early Francis Ford Coppola thriller hasn't been seen on the small screen since TNT's 100% Weird ran its course way back in the 1990s. It's a low, low budget effort that makes up in atmosphere what it lacks in coherent storyline. Shot in Ireland, it tells the tale of the Haloran family, and the intrigue surrounding who will inherit the vast wealth of the family matriarch, who isn't actually dead yet. Grasping Louise (Night Tide's Luana Anders) decides she can't wait forever, and embarks on a plan to drive Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunn) bonkers - but murder intervenes to put a stop to her plans. A first rate cast, including William Campbell and Patrick Magee, and a full complement of AIP folk behind the cameras (producer Roger Corman, second unit man Jack Hill, and composers Ronald Stein and Les Baxter) provides Dementia 13 with a patina of quality, but the film is very slow and quite muddled at times. Still, it's essential viewing for genre fans - as well as anyone wanting to see how Coppola got his groove on.

Saturday 12/23/06

4:50 AM Encore Dramatic Stories
All the King's Men (1949 USA): Here's the original, superior film version of Robert Penn Warren's classic novel of political corruption in the Deep South. Broderick Crawford plays Willie Stark, a fictional stand-in for populist governor Huey Long of Louisiana, who rode roughshod over legal niceties and ethical proprieties during the Great Depression as he brought schools and roads to the rural populace of his backwoods state. Determined to do good for his neediest constituents, Stark soon finds himself just as corruptible as the machine politicians he has replaced, and the film plays out as 20th century Greek tragedy. Co-starring John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, and Joanne Dru, All the King's Men took home three Academy Awards, including Best Picture - which is far more than this year's much touted version can hope for.

7:00 PM Cinemax
The Ringer (2005 USA): Going out on a limb big-time here, but this Johnny Knoxville 'gross-out' comedy is actually one of the most politically correct motion pictures of recent years. Knoxville plays Steve, a guy whose gambling debts have him on the run. When his weasel of an uncle (Brian Cox) cooks up a scheme to have Steve masquerade as a mentally challenged competitor in the Special Olympics, the desperate young man grabs the brass ring - only to find himself falling for mentor and coach Lynn (perky Katherine Heigl). What's most refreshing, however, is that the film doesn't marginalize its truly 'special' characters to the comic sidelines: The Ringer surely employed more mentally disabled actors than ever before in a mainstream Hollywood pic, and they acquit themselves more than adequately. Yes, the film occasionally crosses the line, and yes, it's a bit sugar-coated - but in presenting its characters respectfully and affectionately, it breaks a little bit of new cinema ground. Also airs at 10:00 PM.

Sunday 12/24/06

12:50 AM More Max
Cry of the City (1949 USA): A terrific police procedural, Cry of the City stars Victor Mature as Candella, a police lieutenant locking horns with a pal from his old neighborhood, cop-killer Martin Rome (Richard Conte), now trying to squirm his way out of an appointment with the electric chair. He's willing to throw anyone under the bus, including his girlfriend Teena (Debra Paget) and his sleazy lawyer Niles (Barry Kroeger). Candella and his partner (the always fine Fred Clark) are determined not only to put a stop to Rome's reign of terror, but also to keep Martin's younger brother Tony (Tommy Cook) from straying off the straight and narrow. Directed by Robert Siodmak and co-starring Shelley Winters and former Charlie Chan Roland Winters, Cry of the City is a fine blend of noir and procedural, with exceptional cinematography by Lloyd Ahern (Miracle on 34th Street) and a stirring Alfred Newman score.

Monday 12/25/06

9:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
The Dancing Masters (1943 USA): Look what Santa left under the tree for us - a very rarely screened Oliver and Hardy feature. Admittedly, it's not amongst their best - by the 1940s, the team were pretty tapped out - but it's still Stan and Ollie, and for that we can be truly thankful. This time they play the masters of a struggling ballet school who cross swords with a gang of insurance racketeers, as well as Marx Brothers foil Margaret Dumont. Look for a young Robert Mitchum, who appears as a plug ugly (but without attribution) in one of his first screen roles.

6:00 PM Showtime 3
Evil Dead 2 (1987 USA): One of the greatest horror films of all time, Evil Dead 2 returns to television tonight in widescreen. You don't need me to recount the plot, which is basically a remake of Evil Dead anyway, but suffice to say that this is the film that made Bruce Campbell a household name. Er, SHOULD have made Bruce Campbell a household name.