Monday, April 13

2:00pm – TCM – Kiss Me Kate
It’s hard to improve Shakespeare, but Kiss Me Kate comes pretty close by couching Taming of the Shrew in a backstage show business story and adding Cole Porter tunes.

8:00pm – TCM – The Letter
A cut-above Bette Davis melodrama – great example of Warner Bros. studio style.

10:00pm – TCM – Grand Illusion
You ever get that feeling when you’re watching a film that you’ve somehow become privvy to something wonderful? The sense that being allowed to see such an incredible film is a great privilege. I get it once in a while, and it’s usually on a film that I expected not to like that much – I mean, come on, French prisoners of war? Meh. But Grand Illusion is pretty much the opposite of “meh.” It’s extremely special. Must See

2:00am (14th) – IFC – Before Sunrise
It takes a special kind of filmmaker to make a moving, entertaining, and engaging film out of two people talking all night, and Richard Linklater is just that special. Of course, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy help him out by being highly engaging and entertaining.

Tuesday, April 14

6:30pm – IFC – Garden State
(repeats at 12:30pm on the 15th)

8:00pm – TCM – Gone With the Wind

12:00M – TCM – Singin’ in the Rain
Must See

12:00M – IFC – Trainspotting
(repeats at 4:00am on the 15th)

12:00M – Sundance – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

2:00am (15th) – TCM – Angels With Dirty Faces

Wednesday, April 15

9:30am – IFC – The New World
(repeats at 3:45pm)

11:15am – TCM – The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
I rewatched this the last time it was on TCM, and it’s pretty much just as bizarre as I remember – turn Dr. Seuss loose on Hollywood with Technicolor, and this is what you get. No, seriously, he wrote it. The main character is a kid who hates taking piano lessons, so he daydreams a world in which his teacher, Dr. Terwilliker, is an evil mastermind forcing children to play the piano against their will.

8:00pm – TCM – Double Indemnity
Must See

8:00pm – IFC – Night Watch
The first of a planned vampire trilogy, I wish Night Watch were better – it has so many good ideas and backstory, but it ended up fairly incoherent. It’s still worth watching, and I’m still hoping the rest of the trilogy pulls it out.
(repeats at 2:15am on the 16th)

10:00pm – IFC – Day Watch
The sequel to Night Watch. Haven’t seen it yet, so I’ve yet to discover if my hopes for the remainder of the planned trilogy are realized.

10:00pm – TCM – Swing Time

11:30pm – Sundance – Oldboy

Thursday, April 16

6:00am-6:00pm – TCM – SUPER MONDO CHAPLIN FESTIVAL
TCM is running Charlie Chaplin films all day today, and they are ALL WORTH WATCHING. They’re starting with some early shorts and short features, then moving on to the absolute classics – I’ll highlight the best below with the actual times, but seriously. All worth watching.
(see below for highlighted listings)

8:30am – TCM – The Kid
Chaplin’s Little Tramp persona comes into its own in one of his first feature-length films (and by feature-length, that’s like an hour, here). Add in an adorable kid that the Tramp tries to keep from having to take care of, but of course, he ends up taking care of him.

9:15am – Sundance – The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Luis Bunuel’s biting critique of the bourgeoisie. Quite surreal, so don’t expect anything else.
(repeats at 3:45pm)

11:30am – TCM – The Gold Rush
The Little Tramp takes up prospecting in one of Chaplin’s most enduring films, with great set pieces including the house that’s about to fall over the cliff, and memorable scenes like the starving Tramp boiling and eating one of his boots.

12:45pm – TCM – Modern Times
My absolute favorite Chaplin film has him as a cog in the wheel of a factory, rebelling against the mechanization of the industrial age. It was made in 1936, long after synchronized sound was introduced in film (1927), but is mostly silent. Which doesn’t hurt the film at all. Must See

2:15pm – TCM – The Great Dictator
Chaplin’s first completely talking film, and one in which he doesn’t play his Little Tramp character. Instead, he’s both Hitler and a Jewish man who looks strikingly like Hitler. This obviously creates confusion. Brilliantly scathing satire – always amazes me that it was made as early as 1940.

8:00pm – TCM – Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Friday, April 17

8:00am – TCM – Sunset Boulevard
Recently rewatched this as part of a series at the local repertory cinema, and totally loved it – before I had admired it but it hadn’t quite grabbed me. This time it grabbed me, and most every bit of it is perfect. Still easily the best “dark side of Hollywood” ever made. Must See

8:00pm – TCM – The Maltese Falcon

11:30pm – TCM – Silk Stockings
The musical version of Ninotchka, about a staid, repressed Communist woman who goes to Paris on a mission, only to get loosened up by a Western guy. You’re better off with Ninotchka, honestly, which has the triple-threat of Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, and Greta Garbo behind it. Silk Stocking substitutes Cyd Charisse (who’s really only ever convincing when she’s dancing), Fred Astaire (who’s fine, though a bit on the old side by 1957), and adds Cole Porter music, which is really the major reason to check this version out.

Saturday, April 18

6:00am – TCM – Dead of Night
An omnibus horror film from 1945, set at a country house where each guest tells his or her horror story. The frame story I love (a man is drawn to the house, where he seems to know everything that will happen before it does, though he can’t figure out how); the other stories are pretty varied, a couple of them even comedic. But Michael Redgrave’s evil ventriloquist dummy story is one to watch. It’s quiet horror, but that makes it all the better for me.

8:00pm – TCM – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

10:00pm – TCM – The Graduate

Sunday, April 19

11:00am – TCM – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

3:00pm – TCM – Oklahoma!

6:00pm – IFC – Miller’s Crossing
(repeats at 5:00am on the 20th)

8:00pm – TCM – A Shot in the Dark
Here’s your counter example for the “sequels are never as good as the original” argument. This second film in the Pink Panther series is easily the best, and stands as ones of the zaniest 1960s comedies ever.

12:00M – TCM – City Lights
TCM didn’t get City Lights in on their Chaplin day, but apparently decided to make up for it a couple of days later. This one is from 1931, but is silent. The Little Tramp helps a blind girl get the operation she needs to see again, but doesn’t immediately reveal himself to her. One of the most beautiful and poignant final scenes in film history. Must See

1:45am (20th) – Sundance – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

4:00am (20th) – TCM – The More the Merrier

Sorry I didn’t get last week’s up AT ALL. Didn’t get it done on Sunday, and then wasn’t home for more than ten waking minutes on Monday or Tuesday, and then it just didn’t seem worth it anymore.

Monday, March 30

1:45am – IFC – The Royal Tenenbaums

4:30am (31st) – TCM – Mickey One
I wrote about this film a few months ago when I saw it play at the local repertory cinema as part of a Warren Beatty retrospective. It’s not available on DVD, and I’ve never seen TCM play it before, so you might want to catch it now if you’re at all interested in a pre-Bonnie & Clyde attempt to bring French New Wave styles to American film.

Tuesday, March 31

3:30pm – TCM – Sweet Smell of Success
Ah, the acerbic, cutthroat world of celebrity publicists, back in the days before Perez Hilton and TMZ…Tony Curtis is the hungry publicist trying to get hotshot columnist Burt Lancaster to print his gossip items. It all gets complicated with Lancaster’s sister and her fiance, who Lancaster doesn’t like, and there’s conniving and back-stabbing aplenty, all to the cynically witty dialogue of Clifford Odets.

9:30pm – TCM – Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Classic 1950s sci-fi paranoia, right here. They don’t make them like this anymore, even when they try (2007′s The Invasion).

12:00M – IFC – The Cooler

2:00am (1st) – TCM – Forbidden Planet
The Tempest. In outer space. What else do you need to know?

Wednesday, April 1

6:00am – TCM – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
The silent version of Hugo’s classic, with Man of a Thousand Faces Lon Chaney.

8:00am – TCM – The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
And another Lon Chaney silent horror classic.

9:45pm – IFC – Trainspotting
(repeats 4:00am on the 2nd)

12:00M – IFC – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(repeats 7:15am and 12:45pm on the 2nd)

3:45am (2nd) – TCM – Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Thursday, April 2

6:30am – TCM – The Bridge on the River Kwai

9:35am – IFC – A Hard Day’s Night

6:20pm – IFC – Mighty Aphrodite
Woody Allen’s good at directing women, and here he directs Mira Sorvino to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

8:00pm – IFC – Chasing Amy
Kevin Smith’s third film, not as low-fi indie as Clerks, as goofy as Mallrats, as irreverently genius as Dogma, as self-referential as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, or as racy as Zach and Miri Make a Porno, but perhaps sweeter than all of them – Ben Affleck falls for Joey Lauren Adams, with the only slight obstacle being that she’s gay.
(repeats 2:05am on the 3rd)

10:00pm – IFC – Garden State
(repeats 4:15am, 9:45am, and 4:15pm on the 3rd)

2:00am (3rd) – Sundance – Oldboy
Ultra-violent revenge films don’t get much better than this. Okay, maybe Kill Bill, but that’s a whole other thing. This Korean bloodfest is dark and unrelenting from start to finish. Hollywood’s about to remake it, but they’re gonna screw it up. Mark my words.

Friday, April 3

7:35am – IFC – Miller’s Crossing
The Coens do gangsters, 1930s-style.
(repeats at 2:15pm)

11:30am – TCM – On the Waterfront
Marlon Brando’s signature role, as a blue-collar dock worker caught in a labor dispute. He coulda been a contender, yo. Just sayin’. I need to stop writing these in the middle of the night. I get silly.

1:30pm – TCM – Sayonara
Not as well-known a Brando film as Waterfront or Streetcar, but it’s quite good from what I remember – a sobering post-WWII look at soldiers leaving Japan, including great supporting turns by Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umecki is an interracial couple (both of them won Oscars).

4:00pm – TCM – The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Not my fave Hitchcock film, but any Hitchcock film is better than most other films, right? Right.

6:00pm – IFC – The New World
(repeats 4:00am on the 4th)

8:15pm – IFC – Moulin Rouge!
(repeats 1:45am on the 4th)

2:30am (4th) – Sundance – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

Saturday, April 4

8:00am – IFC – The Seven Samurai

6:00pm – TCM – Shane
Alan Ladd plays the titular cowboy, idolized by the young son of the family he takes refuge with as he tries to escape Jack Palance.

8:00pm – TCM – Take the Money and Run
A very early Woody Allen movie, when he was mostly focused on being funny and absurd, and this film is both. It’s actually my favorite of the pre-Annie Hall Allen films.

9:45pm – IFC – Fargo
(repeats 3:00am on the 5th)

11:15pm – TCM – Best in Show
Christopher Guest brings his patented mockumentary touch to the world of dog shows, and while I can’t really say I’m that interested in dog shows (and would never have thought of them for spoofing), Best in Show is hilarious.

1:00am (5th) – TCM – This is Spinal Tap
The mockumentary that started it all goes to eleven. Tell you what, I can’t stand eighties hair bands, but I love this film to pieces. Should tell you something about how awesome it is.

Sunday, April 5

Nothing!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I apologize for not getting this out on Sunday. I was having eureka moments in programming and it completely slipped my mind.

Tuesday, 23 December

12:35am / 11:35pm (24th) – Sundance – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Another chance at one of the best movies from last year.

Wednesday, 24 December

11:10am / 10:10am – Sundance – Fahrenheit 451
Truffaut’s first English-language film, an adaptation of Bradbury’s famous anti-censorship, anti-passive media novel. Rewatched it recently, and found it better than I had remembered.

6:00pm / 5:00pm – TCM – The Bishop’s Wife
Not one of my favorite Christmas films, but its popularity continues despite my ambivalence. :)

1:00am / 12:00am (25th) – TCM – Meet Me in St. Louis
I forget to count this as a Christmas film, but it is the origin of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” so I guess it is. It’s also just plain great.

Thursday, 25 December

4:00pm / 3:00pm – Sundance – The Constant Gardener
I’d have to check and make sure, but I think The Constant Gardener is sitting pretty right at the top of my Best of 2005 list. Its combination of love story, conspiracy thriller, and human rights drama meshes perfectly, and isn’t hurt by gorgeous cinematography, a moody and contemplative tone, and a terrific performance from Rachel Weisz (which earned her an Oscar).

4:00pm / 3:00pm – TCM – Ben-Hur (1959)
TCM showed the silent version of Ben-Hur a couple of weeks ago; here’s the Charlton Heston version. They’re also doing King of Kings and The Greatest Story Ever Told earlier in the day, if your need for life-of-Jesus epics isn’t satiated.

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – Casablanca
Bogart. Bergman. Witty bon mots. Thwarted romance and nobility. Classic.

10:00pm / 9:00pm – TCM – The Big Sleep
Bogart and Bacall in Howard Hawks’ version of Raymond Chandler’s best detective novel. Can’t get any better than that.

12:00pm /11:00pm – TCM – The Maltese Falcon
Bogart inhabits Dashiell Hammett’s private eye Sam Spade, creating pretty much the definitive on-screen hard-boiled detective. Not mention setting the early benchmark for noirs films.

2:00am / 1:00am (26th) – TCM – The African Queen
I didn’t love The African Queen as much as I wanted to, and I don’t know why. Bad mood probably. I felt like Bogart, despite his Oscar win for this, was phoning it in a little, and Hepburn felt over the top. Anyway, it’s still one you oughta see once, just so you can say you have.

4:00am / 3:00am (26th) – TCM – High Sierra
Bogart’s breakout role as an on-the-run con man who gets involved with the lame Joan Leslie. (No, I mean actually crippled.) He’d been bumming around as a Warner second lead or villain, but with 1941′s double punch of High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, he unequivocally arrived.

Friday, 26 December

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – Lawrence of Arabia
There were a lot of epics made in the 1950s and ’60s. Today most of them are laughable to one degree or another. But Lawrence of Arabia stands as tall as it ever did, refusing to reduce its enigmatic subject into the confines of normal biography or explain his conflicting actions and traits. Plus, the most gorgeous desert cinematography you’ll ever see. Ever.

Saturday, 27 December

8:00am / 7:00am – IFC – The Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai epic usually appears very near the top of any list of favorite/best foreign films. My difficulty with Japanese cinema means it’s not that high for me yet, but I respect it for its influence alone. It’s basically Kurosawa’s take on the Western, and in return it spawned the revisionist Western of the 1960s with its complicated heroes and moral ambiguity.

12:00pm / 11:00am – TCM – The Great Escape
Steve McQueen, cool as only Steve McQueen could be, leads an elaborate escape attempt from a WWII POW camp. It’s a lot more fun than that sounds.

3:00pm / 2:00pm – TCM – True Grit
John Wayne won an Oscar for his role in this. I feel like it may have been a lifetime achievement sort of thing, despite being in a competitive category, but hey – what do I know? I actually haven’t seen it yet.

3:30pm / 2:30pm – IFC – Howl’s Moving Castle
My favorite of Hayao Miyazaki’s fantastic animated features.

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – Woman of the Year
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, together for the first time. And would you believe that this is one of only a couple of their eight films together that I haven’t seen yet? I’ve DVR’d it at least twice, but it keeps getting deleted before I watch it. Third time’s the charm?

10:45pm / 9:45pm – IFC – The Cooler
I mentioned The Cooler as one of my favorite Maria Bello films in my 20 Favorite Actresses post, and in fact, it’s one of my favorite recent indie films, no qualifications. William H. Macy, who’s always worth watching, turns in one of his most sympathetic performances, and Alec Baldwin hones his ironic boss skills before he moved on to 30 Rock.

2:00am / 1:00am (28th) – TCM – Annie Hall
I’ve been denigrating Annie Hall in favor of Manhattan for a long time now, but I just rewatched Annie Hall last week, and wow. It’s way better than I remembered. I still love Manhattan to bits, but it’s at least a tie now between them. Brilliant writing. Brilliant.

Sunday, 28 December

8:00am / 7:00am – IFC – Rashomon
I actually like Kurosawa’s Rashomon quite a bit better than The Seven Samurai, and I imagine that’s due to my love of ambiguous narratives. A woman and two men meet in the woods. One man is killed. But what caused his death is unknown – we have conflicting stories from three witnesses, but cannot judge the truth. Rashomon is the first film to a) have completely unreliable cinematic segments and b) refuse to tell the audience which is true. It breaks the rule that what you see on screen is real, and it doesn’t allow either the characters or the audience any way to figure out what is real. Truly groundbreaking.

5:00pm / 4:00pm – IFC – The Princess and the Warrior
Tom Tykwer’s second film with Franka Potente isn’t as frenetic as the first (Run Lola Run), but has a quieter sort of mesmerizing power all its own. It never gained the traction that Lola did, but it deserves more of an audience than it’s gotten.

3:00am / 2:00am (29th) – TCM – Mr. Hulot’s Holiday
French writer/actor/director Jacques Tati specialized in nearly-silent physical comedy that reminds one at times of Chaplin or Keaton, but with a slightly more ironic French flair about it. In Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, a trip to the seashore turns out to be anything but relaxing.

Though I obviously recommend all these films (or I wouldn’t list them here), I’m going to start putting MUST-SEE on ones that I’d say you, well, must see. That is, if you aren’t able to catch them on TV this week, put them in your Netflix queue. Or buy them. Something.

Thanks to those of you who’ve mentioned liking these recommendations. If you do end up seeing any of them, it’d be fun to hear what you thought!

Monday, 15 December

10:30am EST / 9:30am CST – TCM – My Favorite Wife
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne made three films together, and though My Favorite Wife doesn’t hold a candle to their earlier outing The Awful Truth, it’s still an enjoyable screwball comedy, if you’re a fan of that sort of thing. Dunne returns to her husband Grant after seven years of being shipwrecked and believed dead, only to find him about to be remarried. Oh, and she’s brought fellow shipwreckee Randolph Scott with her.

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – Guys and Dolls
Marlon Brando gets his musical on as charming gambler Sky Masterson and romances straight-laced Jean Simmons as part of a bet – at first. But Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine steal the show as the city’s go-to craps game host and his long-suffering fiance.

9:00pm / 8:00pm – IFC – Trainspotting
Days in the lives of Scottish heroin addicts. Sounds like a downer, and I won’t say it’s not, but it’s also brilliant and searing. Danny Boyle is a director who can take stories that could be routine and make them into something special. His current film Slumdog Millionaire is getting rave reviews, so check that one out, too.
(repeats at 1:00am EST 16th)

10:45pm / 9:45pm – TCM – Hamlet (1948)
Is Laurence Olivier’s moody Dane the definitive Hamlet? I’m not sure, so take a look for yourself and get back to me.

Tuesday, 16 December

11:25am / 10:25am – IFC – Howl’s Moving Castle
Hayao Miyazaki has been a leader in the world of kid-friendly anime films for several years now, and while many would point to Spirited Away as his best film, I actually enjoyed Howl’s Moving Castle the most of all his films. Japanese animation takes some getting used to, but Miyazaki’s films are well worth it, and serve as a wonderful antidote to the current stagnation going on in American animation (always excepting Pixar).

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – Shadow of a Doubt
Said to be Hitchcock’s personal favorite of all of his films – an interesting choice, given the plethora of more iconic films from him, but Shadow of a Doubt definitely has its charms. The ever-great and too often underused Teresa Wright is young Charlie, who idolizes her namesake Uncle Charlie, who we know (though she does not) is the infamous Black Widow murderer.

12:00pm / 11:00pm – TCM – The Third Man
Orson Welles is the elusive Harry Lime in this intelligent thriller from director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene, Joseph Cotten the journalist trying to track him down. From the moody noir lighting to Lime’s ingenious monologue about power and cuckoo clocks, The Third Man is one of the greatest films of all time. MUST SEE

1:00am / 12:00pm (17th) – Sundance – Topsy-Turvy
Gilbert & Sullivan played a large part in the development of the musical comedy, and Topsy-Turvy details their tumultuous working relationship and their stage successes. This film flew under the radar a bit a few years ago, but got a fair amount of critical praise and deserves more play than it’s had.

Wednesday, 17 December

2:45pm / 1:45pm – TCM – The Apartment
Billy Wilder had a knack for combining comedy and drama into bittersweet goodness, and that’s exactly what he does here, garnering Oscars for Picture, Director, and Screenplay in the process. Jack Lemmon lends his apartment to his boss Fred MacMurray for romantic trysts – a situation that gets even more complicated when MacMurray trysts with Shirley MacLaine, who Lemmon happens to love from afar. Everything comes together perfectly in this film, one of Wilder’s best. MUST SEE

5:00pm / 4:00pm – TCM – The Great Escape
I expected to mildly enjoy or at least get through this POW escape film. What happened was I was completely enthralled with every second of it, from failed escape attempts to planning the ultimate escape to the dangers of carrying it out. It’s like a heist film in reverse, and extremely enjoyable in pretty much every way.

10:00pm / 9:00pm – Sundance – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
In case you hadn’t noticed, I pretty much think this film is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Okay, that might be a little much. (Or not, since I’m not really a sliced bread fan. But that’s by the by.) Anyway, I’ve hyped 4 Months just about every chance I’ve gotten, so why should I stop now? See it. See it now. Or, like, Wednesday at 10pm. MUST SEE

Thursday, 18 December

2:00pm / 1:00pm – TCM – Topkapi
If The Great Escape is the greatest example of a reverse heist film, then Topkapi is at least one of the top five actual heist films. I love me some heist films.

10:00pm / 9:00pm – TCM – 12 Angry Men
My dad is fond of pointing out that 12 Angry Men must’ve been one of the most economical movies to make ever, given that it basically only needed one set. And yet, watching and listening to twelve jurors debate the fate of one defendant accused of murder remains a riveting experience, even sixty years later.

Friday, 19 December

9:45am / 8:45am – TCM – Paths of Glory
In this early Stanley Kubrick film, Kirk Douglas argues against implacable military brass for the lives of his soldiers, accused of cowardice in battle because they refused to obey an idiotic order calling for a suicidal charge. I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to, but there are definitely a lot of interesting things going on – I particularly liked the exploration of the disconnect between old military tactics and new warfare reality (which is a particular favorite historical topic of mine, somehow, and likely the source of my fascination with World War I).

7:15pm / 6:15pm – IFC – The Player
I forget what all happens in this Robert Altman film. I remember it being good, except that Tim Robbins for some reason annoys me so I had a difficult time caring about his character, which was kind of a problem. So why did I put it on here? Because it has an amazing opening tracking shot, intentionally meant to beat the record for longest opening tracking shot but also serving as an extremely good introduction to the world of the Hollywood film studio within which the film is set.

9:30pm / 8:30pm – IFC – The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
This is the one Wes Anderson film I haven’t seen. I need to rectify that, because I LOVE everything else he’s done.

Saturday, 20 December

10:25am / 9:25am – IFC – Strictly Ballroom
The first in Baz Luhrmann’s informal Red Curtain trilogy, set in the world of Australian ballroom dancing, which gets shook up when one of the dancers dares to introduce *gasp* his own flavor of Latin dancing into the highly-regulated competition.
(repeats 3:15pm EST)

12:15pm / 11:15am – TCM – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Naive and idealistic James Stewart gets appointed junior senator at the behest of conniving senator Claude Rains, who expects to control the state with Stewart in his pocket. But Rains underestimated Stewart’s drive for goodness and justice, which leads to one of the most famous filibusters in cinematic (or probably real-life) history. Capra favorite Jean Arthur is on hand as the hardboiled cynic warmed by Stewart’s presence. MUST SEE

6:35pm / 5:35pm – IFC – Gosford Park
Murder, intrigue, and understated class strife rule the day in Altman’s foray into British drama, though he keeps his signature ensemble cast.
(repeats 1:15pm EST on the 21st)

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – You Can’t Take It With You
Capra again, with Stewart and Arthur again, this time as a newly affianced couple whose families – one conservative bankers, the other unconventional kooks – clash as they get to know each other.

10:00pm / 9:00pm – Sundance – All About My Mother
I have yet to see all of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s films, but if he had just made this one, he’d go down as a master in my book. A mother loses her son in a car accident, and in the process of mourning him returns to her home town to reconnect with her past. Oh, and there’s a lot of theatre (the title is a take-off from theatre story All About Eve), a pregnant nun, and some transvestites. Par for the course for Almodovar, really, but All About My Mother has such heart and depth that I can’t help falling in love with it every time, due in no small part to a terrific performance by Cecilia Roth. MUST SEE

Sunday, 21 December

6:30am / 5:30am – TCM – The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
As far as I know, this is the only film Hitchcock made twice, directing a remake in 1956 with James Stewart and Doris Day. I actually haven’t seen the earlier version myself yet, but it has Peter Lorre in it, and that’s never a bad thing.

8:00am / 7:00am – TCM – Good News
If you’re the type of person who a) likes people randomly breaking out into song and b) is willing to believe that thirty-somethings June Allyson and Peter Lawford could be college students, you’ll probably like Good News. It’s mindless fun of the type MGM did so well, as braniac Allyson takes on the arduous task of tutoring jock Lawford in French. One of those that isn’t that great a film, but everyone seems to have had a lot of fun making it, and I’m willing to reciprocate by enjoying myself watching it.

1:15am / 12:15am (22nd) – TCM – Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1926)
Everyone knows about Charlton Heston’s Ben-Hur. You know, the one that won eleven Oscars, a record which stood for, like, fifty years? This isn’t that one. This is the 1926 silent version of the same story, with pre-talkie hearththrob Ramon Novarro as Ben-Hur, and an equally impressive (for its time) chariot race sequence. In some ways, I actually prefer this version to the bombastic 1959 version, and it’s definitely worth a watch.

3:45am / 2:45am (22nd) – TCM – The 400 Blows
Ah, Truffaut. Oh, The 400 Blows. Words can hardly describe how much I love this film, and what it has meant to me, cinematically speaking. It was the beginning of my love affair with the French New Wave, one of the first non-English films I whole-heartedly loved, and really opened up a whole world of filmic experience and critical thought to me. Beyond that, it’s a beautiful and unforgettable film in and of itself, a remarkably real, moving, and unmanipulative (okay, maybe a little manipulative) foray into the life of a young Parisian boy on the cusp of adulthood. Don’t miss it. MUST SEE

Pick of the Week

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
There’s absolutely no question about which DVD to highlight this week. Of all the movies from last year, this is the one that blew me away the most. I raved about it then, and my opinion hasn’t changed. Filmmaker Cristian Munjiu has managed to make a minimalist thriller about illegal abortions that will likely remain one of the best films of its or any other year. It’s harsh, it’s heart-rending, it’s sympathetic, it’s unrelenting, and I promise you, whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice (and it’s not a particularly political film anyway), you won’t be able to watch it and remain unchanged by it. Whether you choose to rent it or buy it may depend on how much you want to study Munjiu’s ability to make a film in which there’s so little action so riveting; but please, do one or the other.

Movie Releases

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Of course, this is the big blockbuster release of the week. I enjoyed the film, but then I’m a sucker for anything Indiana Jones. Certainly it’s nowhere near as good as the original trilogy (except maybe Temple of Doom – I really hate that one), but Spielberg and Ford have enough tricks up their sleeve to keep it entertaining. For the most part. Okay, really, the chase scene through the jungle was the best. The aliens? And the atomic-bomb-proof-refrigerator? Not so much. But I digress. If you want to complete your Indy collection, buy it. If you just want a fun, escapist couple of hours, rent it. If you don’t like Indy, it’s got nothing else on offer, so don’t bother. (Also available in a box set with the original trilogy, in a single-disc edition, and on Blu-ray)

Also releasing: Mongol (also Blu-ray), War, Inc. (also Blu-ray), Still Life, XXY, Stuck (also Blu-ray), and Standard Operating Procedure (also Blu-ray).

Classics and New Editions

Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection
Another set of Hitchcock rereleases this week, this time from his British and Selznick years. This box set includes: The Lodger (said to be the first time made a cameo in his films), Sabotage (an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent; not to be confused with Hitchcock’s The Secret Agent, which is not), Young and Innocent (a solid entry into his British canon), Rebecca (his first Hollywood film), Lifeboat (Tallulah Bankhead and others, yes, stranded in a lifeboat), Spellbound (psychiatrist Ingrid Bergman, patient Gregory Peck, and dream sequence by Salvador Dali), Notorious (not only one of Hitch’s best, but one of the best spy films ever made), The Paradine Case (again Gregory Peck, in one of only about five post-Hollywood Hitchcock films I haven’t seen). Only Rebecca, Spellbound, and Notorious are available individually (and are the clear winners in the set), but I’d put in a plug for Sabotage and Young and Innocent as well (which are available individually from previous releases, just not in Premiere Editions).

The New World: Extended Cut
Now, Terrence Malick’s The New World is one of those films I expected to find dull and silly; instead, I found it one of the most beautiful pieces of visual poetry ever put on film, and it now resides very close to the top of my Best Of 2006 list. That said, I’m not sure it needs to be any longer, and this release will add some 30 minutes to the original 135 minute running time. It seemed pretty perfect to me in the theatrical cut, which always makes me wary of potentially indulgent director’s cuts. Still, I do highly recommend the film overall, and now you have extra viewing options.

TV on DVD

The Unit Season 3
Nothing I’m hugely excited about this week, but I just started watching The Unit this season and quite enjoying it. (I started watching it the first season it was on, but the time slot ended up conflicting with something else within a few weeks and I dropped it.) It’s about half covert ops army stuff, following Dennis Haysbert, Robert Patrick, and Scott Foley (and now Nicole Steinwedell) around on missions, and half army wives as this year, their wives get new identities and covers to stay safe from threats against the soldiers’ families. I might go back at some point and watch the earlier seasons. But it wasn’t hard to jump into in the middle, so I might not.

Also releasing: CSI Season 8, Back to You Season 1, Rules of Engagement Season 2, The Sarah Silverman Program Season 2, Vol. 1, and The Partridge Family Season 3.

Click through for reactions to Them!, The War of the Worlds, Superbad, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Assassination of Jesse James, Sunshine, Vanity Fair, Bleak House, Call of Duty 4, and more.

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