Monday, January 12

7:30am / 6:30am – IFC – The Seventh Seal
One of Ingmar Bergman’s better-known films, though I don’t like it as much as some of his others. I guess the image of a medieval knight playing chess with Death is an image that’s hard to get out of your head, though.
(repeats 12:35pm EST)

9:15am / 8:15am – IFC – American Splendor
Paul Giamatti burst on the scene with this film about unconventional comic book artist Harvey Pekar. It’s an appropriately offbeat, funny, cynical, and yet warm film.
(repeats 2:35pm EST)

Tuesday, January 13

2:00am / 1:00am (14th) – TCM – Annie Hall
TCM’s playing this, one of Woody Allen’s best, a lot lately, and that’s not a bad thing. Must See

Wednesday, January 14

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – The Apartment
Also a frequent TCM film, but always worth another look. Tonight it’s part of a Jack Lemmon-Billy Wilder marathon. Must See

10:15pm / 9:15pm – TCM – Some Like It Hot
But if you only see one Jack Lemmon-Billy Wilder film, see this one. If you only see one Marilyn Monroe film, see this one (or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but I digress). If you only see one Tony Curtis film…you get the idea. Must See

Thursday, January 15

12:30am / 11:30am – TCM – Double Indemnity
And if you only see one Billy Wilder film, see THIS one. :) Still one of the most iconic and definitive film noirs ever made (seriously, when people ask you “what is film noir, anyway,” you could almost just say Double Indemnity – almost). Also provides Barbara Stanwyck another chance to be AWESOME. Must See

2:30am / 1:30am (16th) – TCM – Shaft
The original black private eye who got all the ladies. There was a huge wave of African-American-centric films in the 1970s (so-called blaxploitation films), and Shaft is one of the first and one of the best.

4:15am / 3:15am (16th) – TCM – The Big Sleep
I think I’ve already highlighted this one a few times since I started this post series. I don’t care. This is one of my favorite movies, the best hard-boiled detective film ever made, one of Humphrey Bogart’s best roles, and the best pairing of Bogart and Lauren Bacall. It’s full of win any way you look at it. Must See

Friday, January 16

6:15am / 5:15am – TCM – Thousands Cheer
There’s nothing particularly special about Thousands Cheer, a fairly routine 1943 war-time musical, except that it ends with a spectacular revue of MGM stars including June Allyson, Frank Sinatra (both in probably their first or second screen appearance), Virginia O’Brien, pianist Jose Iturbi, Judy Garland, and the actual stars of the picture, Gene Kelly and Kathryn Grayson.

6:20am / 5:20am – IFC – Fanny and Alexander
One of Ingmar Bergman’s later films; I haven’t seen it yet, but hopefully this will be the time that my DVR decides not to randomly delete it before I watch it. I know it’s about a couple of kids, which is an unusual subject for Bergman, but I’ve heard so many good things about it I can’t wait.
(repeats 12:25pm EST)

8:30am / 7:30am – TCM – National Velvet
Being as how I grew up loving old movies AND horses, I probably don’t need to state that I pretty much wore out my tape of National Velvet. It’s one of the greatest kid-friendly films in existence, with a young Elizabeth Taylor and an exciting horse race. Ah, good times.

Saturday, January 17

4:00pm / 3:00pm – TCM – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Paul Newman and Robert Redford in one of those late 1960s revisionist westerns that managed to simultaneously revitalize a genre whose traditional values were out of step with the times and kill the genre for future filmmakers. Well, that aside, Butch Cassidy is a great film any way you cut it.

8:00pm / 7:00pm – TCM – Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
What do you do when you’re seven brothers in the backwoods and need wives? Why, go kidnap them of course! Patriarchal values aside, Seven Brides is one of the most entertaining movie musicals ever made, and I defy anyone to outdo the barn dance/raising scene.

8:00pm / 7:00pm – IFC – Raging Bull
It’s a huge black mark on my cinephile record that I haven’t seen Raging Bull, widely acclaimed as a high point (or maybe THE high point) in the careers of both Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Situation will hopefully soon be rectified.
(repeats 1:30am EST and 11:30am EST on the 18th)

Sunday, January 18

6:00am / 5:00am – TCM – Arsenic and Old Lace
The Brewster sisters are kindly old ladies – even if they are poisoning lonely old gentleman callers. As an act of kindness! Such is the premise of one of the screwiest of all comedies, which never lets up on the hilarity. Cary Grant turns in one of his most sustained comic performances, and even the usually quite serious Peter Lorre gets in on the fun.

10:15am / 9:15am – TCM – Notorious
One of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films (and if you know how I feel about Hitchcock, that’s saying a lot), and one of the greatest spy films ever. Spy Cary Grant recruits Ingrid Bergman because of her relationship with suspected enemy spy Claude Rains – but how far is she willing to go? Simply fantastic on every level. Must See

12:35am / 11:35am – TCM – The Cameraman
Buster Keaton works as a cameraman on a film to try to get closer to the attractive leading lady. I’ve seen this years ago, and remember enjoying it quite a lot. Plus, any chance to see Keaton is a chance worth taking.

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.

I went ahead and threw some films on the IFC and Sundance channels this time. Just because I don’t get them (yet) doesn’t mean other people don’t, and they show some quality stuff. (Right now, I’m mostly salivating over Sundance’s Live from Abbey Road music series, though…)

Monday, November 3

4:00am EST / 3:00am CST – IFC – Blue Velvet
I’ll be honest, this is my least favorite David Lynch film. Sacrilege, I know. There are a lot of things I like about it. The unsettling take on suburbia, the gorgeously disturbing photography, the kids playing detective, the severed ear, you know, the normal Lynch stuff. But then it just gets to be too cruel for me. Still, it’s a Lynch classic, and you oughta see it once, if only to say you have.

11:05am / 10:05am – IFC – The New World
I’ve said multiple times how much I love The New World. If there’s any doubt that you can put poetry on film, Terrence Malick diffuses it completely.

Tuesday, November 4

12:00pm EST / 11:00am CST – TCM – The Desperate Hours
In one of Humphrey Bogart’s last films, he plays the leader of a group of escaped convicts who takes a suburban family hostage in their home to try to preserve their freedom. Fredric March matches Bogart’s intensity as the father of the family. It’s not a total classic, but it’s a solid suspenser. (An earlier reaction is here.)

5:00pm / 4:00pm – TCM – Psycho
Hitchcock’s classic. Do I really need to say more? I didn’t think so.

3:15am / 2:15am (5th) – TCM – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Go vote, and then watch Frank Capra’s ode to a simpler, gentler political climate. Idealistic Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) is elected to Congress as a bumpkin foil for his co-senator Claude Rains. When Smith decides he really wants to accomplish something instead, he mounts an historic filibuster. And journalist Jean Arthur is right there to capture it all. It’s Capracorn, but it’s quality Capracorn.

Wednesday, November 5

3:00pm / 2:00pm – TCM – Rope
Hitchcock is well-known for his formal experimentation. In Rope, he shoots everything from a single camera position – on top of the chest containing the body of the boy that John Dall and Farley Granger killed before inviting several people over for a party. It’s also meant to appear as one take, though the ten-minute max reel length of the time forced him to fudge a bit on that. The story is based on the Leopold-Loeb murder case, where two young men killed an acquaintance just to see if they could pull it off.

Thursday, November 6

10:00am / 9:00am – Sundance – Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
Sophie Scholl was a German student who, along with her brother and some friends, distributed pamphlets against Hitler during World War II. Not a healthy activity, and the group was captured and interrogated. Even though it’s not difficult to guess the end of the story, Scholl displays such faith and strength against her interrogators that at times she seems infinitely more powerful than they. Great performances and a strong script made this one of the best films of 2005.

2:45pm / 1:45pm – TCM – The Awful Truth
One of the films that defines “screwball comedy,” The Awful Truth follows couple Cary Grant and Irene Dunne as they decide to divorce, then make each other’s lives miserable until they finally decide they can’t live without each other. All in hysterical hilarity. Grant is often remembered as a dapper, suave leading man, but truth be told, he’s much more at home in comedic roles like this one. And Dunne, who often played leads in romantic melodramas, proves herself a gifted comedienne.

5:00am / 4:00am (7th) – TCM – West Side Story
The Leonard Bernstein/Steven Sondheim all-singing, all-dancing, all-street-fighting version of Romeo and Juliet. It’s not perfect (Natalie Wood is gorgeous, but hardly Latin, and Richard Beymer might be made out of wood), yet it has remained near the top of my list of favorite films for years. I’m a sucker for heavily stylized dancing? Guilty. And Rita Moreno and George Chakiris more than make up for the lead actors’ deficiencies.

Friday, November 7

6:30pm / 5:30pm – Sundance – A Woman Under the Influence
Okay, honestly, I have no idea what this film is about. But it is directed by John Cassavetes, one of the first independent filmmakers emerging in the 1960s, and he’s currently on my short list of “people whose films I need to see.” So I thought I’d point it out.

8:30pm / 7:30pm – TCM – Annie Hall
This is usually touted as Woody Allen’s best film. I personally prefer Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen Anne Hall. Maybe this will be the time it finally reveals itself to me as his absolute masterwork. If nothing else, it gave Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn a modern-day masculine-wear counterpart in Diane Keaton’s fashion choices.

11:00pm / 10:00pm – TCM – A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the films I’m most embarrassed to say I’ve never seen. I even have it on DVD somewhere! So, yeah, I’ll probably watch that version rather than the TCM one, but still. Here’s your chance to see it before me, if you haven’t already.

1:15am / 12:15am (8th) – TCM – La Jetée
Let’s throw some avant-garde in here, shall we? La Jetée is a short film (28 min.), told in a series of still photographs with narration and sound. I always forget the exact details of the plot, but basically a man is sent back in time to try to stop an apocalyptic war. Instead, he courts a girl and ends up discovering the terrible truth about an event he had witnessed from afar as a child. (The film Twelve Monkeys is based on La Jetée, so if you’ve seen that, there you go.)

Saturday, November 8

4:00pm / 3:00pm – Sundance – Avenue Montaigne
Sometimes you’re just in the mood for an unassuming, heartwarming little French film. Avenue Montaigne fits the bill well, following a waitress working on the titular Parisian avenue (an arty area with art galleries and a concert hall nearby) and the people she interacts with. There’s not a LOT of substance here, but the French can carry these slight things off with a great deal more panache than we Americans can, and Avenue Montaigne is likely to put a smile on your face. (An earlier reaction is here.)

Sunday, November 9

6:00am / 5:00am – TCM – Grand Hotel
This 1932 Best Picture Oscar-winner is honestly pretty creaky around the joints these days, but if you wanna see how they used to do ensemble pictures in the studio days, this is it. Greta Garbo, John and Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, etc. are all hand. Personally, as ensemble pictures go, I prefer 1933′s comedy Dinner at Eight, which has largely the same cast, minus Garbo and Crawford, plus Harlow and Marie Dressler. But we’ll get to that when TCM plays it.

10:15am / 9:15am – TCM – The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Preston Sturges’ highly irreverent but hilarious film tells of Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton), who may or may not have married a soldier (whose name may or may not be Ignatz Ratzkywatzky) in a drunken whim before he shipped out, then finds herself pregnant with only her hapless suitor Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken) to save her reputation. Sturges uses his zany wit and superb stock cast to great effect, even if I’m in the minority in thinking Miracle a lesser film than his The Lady Eve and Sullivan’s Travels.