Posts filed under 'Viewing tip'
March 5th, 2010
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If you have Turner Classic Movies (and really, if you’re a film fan, you should do whatever it takes to get this excellent channel), tune in tonight at 9 p.m. to catch a showing of the 1980 comedy classic AIRPLANE!, which is arguably one of the funniest movies ever made.
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Of course, AIRPLANE! plays constantly on one cable channel or another, so the chance to watch it on TV — even uninterrupted, uncut and in widescreen — isn ‘t that special. What is special, though, is that immediately following AIRPLANE! at 10:45, TCM will show ZERO HOUR, the 1957 movie that inspired AIRPLANE!
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And it’s not just a matter of spoofing the basic plot, either. AIRPLANE! is virtually a remake. Check out this comparison…
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December 31st, 2009
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If you’re staying in this New Year’s Eve, allow me to suggest switching channels from the usual “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” and instead tune in Turner Classic Movies, which is ringing in 2010 with a “Thin Man” marathon.
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Starting at 7 p.m. with 1934’s THE THIN MAN and winding up somewhere around dawn with 1947’s THE SONG OF THE THIN MAN, the marathon features all six films in the series. Based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett, the films star William Powell and Myrna Loy, and are the epitome of Hollywood class and style. Though they’re mystery films, the real pleasure in these movies comes from the witty banter and clever performances of Powell and Loy.
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Here’s a taste of the film’s humor (including the beyond-ancient “walk this way” gag):
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By the way, be sure to catch the second film in the series, AFTER THE THIN MAN. It features a very young Jimmy Stewart in a rather atypical role.
September 18th, 2009
If you have (a) Turner Classic Movies and (b) a taste for wild cult films, you’ll want to stay up late tonight (or at least set your DVR). The classic film channel is showing a double feature of films by Russ Meyer, the iconoclastic director who combined action, sex appeal and a razor sharp editing style to create a career’s worth of movies that look like nothing else.
Tonight’s double bill starts with FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! at 1 a.m. (Saturday morning). Released in 1965, this black-and-white beauty focuses on three Amazonian go-go dancers who race their sports cars in the desert and eventually stumble on a rich old man they intend to rob. Full of offbeat, snappy dialogue and anchored by a jaw-dropping performance by the aptly named Tura Satana, it’s reportedly director John Waters’ all-time favorite film.
That’s followed by Meyer’s MUDHONEY at 3 a.m. Released the same year (Meyer was a busy guy), it tells the story of an ex-con who drifts into a small town and becomes involved (intimately and otherwise) with a put-upon local girl. Full of over-the-top characters and striking, black-and-white visuals, it’s just a notch below FASTER, PUSSYCAT!
Neither of these movies are easy to find on DVD, so if you’ve curious about the work of this cult director, fire up that DVR now. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
And you know, I just realized that both of these movies inspired the names of rock bands. How many other directors can say that?
August 4th, 2009
If you have Turner Classic Movies (and really, you should) and enjoy offbeat spy movies, tune in at 7 tonight for one of my all-time favorites, THE PRESIDENT’S ANALYST.
The late, great James Coburn stars in the title role as a psychiatrist with the most powerful patient in the world. Trouble is, having access to all those secret thoughts makes him a target for every assassin and spy agency on the planet. The only ones he can trust, in fact, are a CIA agent (Godfrey Cambridge) and his KGB counterpart (Serven Darden), two guys who happen to be best friends despite (or maybe because of) the fact that they’re employed by opposite sides of the Iron Curtain.
THE PRESIDENT’S ANALYST is full of oddball characters and scenes, from William Daniels as a gun-packing liberal to an elaborate assassination in a field where everyone gets killed except the intended target. Yes, it’s a bit dated, what with the groovy music and Coburn disguised as a hippy, but it’s also whip smart and endlessly surprising. I highly recommend giving it a look.
Here’s the trailer …
May 27th, 2009
Tonight, be sure to tune in to Turner Classic Movies (that’s channel 608 if you’ve got Comcast) to catch an evening of films programmed by none other than character actor Tommy “Tiny” Lister. If you watch movies, you’ve seen Lister at work — he made his debut in RUNAWAY TRAIN, played Deebo in FRIDAY, played the president (!) in THE FIFTH ELEMENT and was recently seen as the prisoner with a surprising moral backbone in last year’s THE DARK KNIGHT. (Check out his extensive — and I mean extensive — filmography here.)
He also has some intriguing movie tastes. According to the TCM site, his lineup includes ANGEL AND THE BADMAN, SHANE, THE PROFESSIONALS and IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. Three Westerns and a classic screwball comedy — not a bad mix. It all starts at 7 p.m.
May 4th, 2009
If you happen to have Turner Classic Movies on your cable line-up, you can check out one of my favorite movies at 8:30 tonight: 1948’s THE BIG CLOCK.
Set almost entirely in a (then) ultra-modern office building, THE BIG CLOCK is a suspense thriller that delivers plenty of tension and danger but somehow manages to be funny — and fun — at the same time. Ray Milland plays George Stroud, a magazine editor working for publisher Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton). When Janoth kills his mistress and Stroud happens to witness the crime, Janoth (not knowing it was Stroud who saw him) assigns Stroud to track down that man, claiming he must be the murderer. In other words, the movie is all about a man searching for himself while he’s desperately trying to divert all attention away from himself. (If the plot sounds familiar, that’s because it was used for the Kevin Costner thriller NO WAY OUT.)
It’s very entertaining, with plenty of lightning-quick plot twists, quirky characters (including Laughton’s real-life wife, Elsa Lanchester, as a kooky artist), and dark corners you think Stroud can’t possibly back himself out of. Plus it features a young Harry Morgan — M*A*S*H’s Col. Potter — as Janoth’s creepy thug. The movie looks great, with some amazing sets and slick direction from John Farrow (Mia’s dad — Mia’s mom, Maureen O’Sullivan, plays Milland’s wife).
Here’s the amusing trailer:
May 1st, 2009
Here’s a nice write-up of Harold Ramis’ sadly ignored 2005 noir comedy THE ICE HARVEST, which stars John Cusack as a mob lawyer, Randy Quaid as the mobster he rips off, Billy Bob Thornton as the not-friend who helps him and Oliver Platt as the drunker friend who’s married to Cusack’s ex-wife. Oh, and Connie Nielsen as the femme fatale who pulls everyone’s strings.
It’s a smart movie full of quirky characters and great set pieces (especially the scene where Mike Starr is locked in a trunk and tries to convince Cusack that Thornton is going to betray him the first chance he gets). As a bonus, it’s a Christmas movie that, like Kubrick’s EYES WIDE SHUT, makes the most of contrasting all those bright lights with dark backgrounds (and an even darker storyline.)
 Of course, it bombed at the box office (which is why it’s being feature in Nathan Rabin’s “Year of Flops” series), but that doesn’t mean you can’t check it out on DVD. Here’s the trailer to whet your appetite…
April 24th, 2009
If you’re willing to stay up very late tonight (or, to be more specific, early tomorrow morning), you can catch a strange slice of film history on Turner Classic Movies. The cable channel will be airing a pair of vintage exploitation films starting at 1 a.m.
ROAD TO RUIN (1934) is described by the station as “a devastating attack on teen promiscuity,” and ESCORT GIRL (1941) is “full of the kind of stuff no respectable movie would dare touch, sloppily put together, and unyieldingly entertaining.” Both of them are pretty tame stuff in the early 21st century, but they were hot stuff once upon a time, and seeing characters behave badly in such old movies can be a lot of fun. If you have a lot of coffee, a little insomnia or – easiest of all, a DVR — tune in for this antique, oddball double feature.
For more information on the movies, check out the excellent TCM Underground site here.Â
January 9th, 2009
According to Variety (via comingsoon,net), several eagerly anticipated 2009 films will be previewed sometime during the big game…
Confirmed for this year’s roster are high-profile titles like Paramount’s TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, STAR TREK, and G.I. JOE; Sony’s ANGELS & DEMONS, DreamWorks Animation’s MONSTERS VS. ALIENS and Universal’s LAND OF THE LOST and its fourth installment in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise. Disney is also planning to use the game to raise the profile for Pixar’s next toon, UP, while a WOLVERINE spot is likely from Fox.
According to a recent Associated Press article, that MONSTERS VS ALIENS spot could be the most impressive. DreamWorks is giving out 150 million (yes, 150 million) pairs of 3D glasses to watch the 90-second ad, which will also be viewable without the specs. Want a pair? In this age of corporate synergy, they’ll be available at 28,000 grocery, drug, electronic and big box stores as part of a Pepsi/SoBe Life Water promotion.
October 24th, 2008
I’ve been hearing about this 1962 cult movie for years, but never managed to actually see it — mostly because, as far as I can tell, it’s never been released (legally at least) in videotape or DVD. But tonight (OK, technically speaking, Saturday morning) at 1 a.m., Turner Classic Movies is going to air this rare bit of early ’60s insanity as part of its wonderful, weekly TCM Underground series.
I have no idea if SINNER is any good. it could be brilliant or terrible. But it’s bound to be interesting.
 THE WORLD’S GREATEST SINNER is the creation of Timothy Carey, a character actor best known for small roles in two early Stanley Kubrick classics, THE KILLING and PATHS OF GLORY. Carey was a character in real life, too, and singlehandedly brought this story of an ex-insurance salesman turned rock star turned cult leader to cinema life. He wrote it, he directed it, and he stars in it.
Like I said, I can’t really recommend this one way or another, but you can bet I’ll have my DVR set to capture every oddball frame of this forgotten film. If you like offbeat cinema, I’d suggest you do the same.
Here’s a clip to give you just a taste of the film’s crazed energy…
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