While turkeys and the resulting leftovers are still two months away, your premium pay cable channels think the weekend of 22 September is theatrical Thanksgiving. They’re dishing out a depressing collection of half-baked entrees, with nary a satisfying side dish or desert in sight. An obvious reaction to the rising importance of awards season and its continuing collection of proposed available Academy taste tempters, the main movie channels have decided to acquiesce to averageness – at least for now. While one film definitely stands out among the others, the overall pickings are less than rib sticking, and will definitely leave you hungry for more. It will be interesting to see where this kind of counterprogramming eventually goes. If the substandard showcases continue, there’ll be a mass exodus from the idiot box before long. Hopefully, some of this Spring’s bigger titles will find their way into the Saturday premiere collection. Without them, it could be a rather regressive Fall, even with offerings like this one:
Premiere Pick
Stranger than Fiction
They say that every actor wants to be a rock star, and visa versa. Truer still is the notion that every comedian wants to tackle serious subject matter now and again – even if it means the end of their solid slapstick spoils. The latest former funnyman going the quasi-dramatis route is Will Farrell, and he appears to be following in the footsteps of one James “Jim” Carrey to get there. This Truman Show like effort, in which Farrell’s IRS agent Harold Crick begins to hear a disembodied voice narrate his life like it’s a novel, flummoxed fans of his SNL style silliness, while providing diehards attracted to his big screen fare (Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory) with a reason for pause. Overall, the novelty of the narrative helps us past some of the more pat and cloying circumstances, and the supporting cast (including Oscar winners Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman) help round out a remarkable company of characters. Still, the question becomes – do the devoted want to see their jester putting on the realism, or the ridiculousness? (22 September, Starz, 9PM EST)
Additional Choices
The Black Dahlia
Brian DePalma, once a Hollywood heavyweight with his Hitchcock homage style, has fallen on some substantial hard times as of late. This LA Confidential retread, a routine reading of James Ellroy’s novel about the mysterious murder of a Hollywood starlet, is ample proof why. Instead of focusing on the compelling real life case, he goes off on tangents so surreal that even diehards couldn’t figure out his motives. The result was one of 2006’s biggest blunders. (22 September, HBO, 8PM EST)
You, Me and Dupree
If there were such a thing as crudeness copyright infringement, the Farrelly Brothers would be up to their necks in proactive litigation right about now. Still milking the There’s Something About Mary school of basic bodily humor, the siblings Russo (Joe and Anthony) use the overdone concepts of non-erotic male bonding and arrested development to create one of several reasons why Judd Apatow had to step in and save big screen comedy. (22 September, Cinemax, 10PM EST)
Mission: Impossible III
Tom Cruise tempted filmic fate one too many times with the further adventures of Ethan Hunt and his IMF gang. The only individual who actually benefited from this non-charming third time though was director JJ Abrams. While the movie may have been a less than spectacular blockbuster, it gave the man behind Lost enough cinematic stature to take over the Star Trek franchise. Talk about failing upward. (22 September, Showtime, 8PM EST)
Indie Pick
Death Becomes Her
15 years ago, audiences were agog at the brand new CGI stylings of Robert Zemeckis’ brazen black comedy, a film fashioned to take on the superficiality of stardom and the overemphasis on anti-aging. Though the physical effects were also impressive, it was the concept of combining the real with the motherboard rendered that truly impressed audiences. Even the critical community, who found numerous flaws in both the storyline and the casting, couldn’t deny the visuals’ visceral power. After all, you had Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep systematically destroying each other in a baffling biological battle royale. Oddly enough, the last decade and a half have only amplified Zemeckis’ message. And with the prevalent plastic surgery that’s now part of the cultural dynamic, the plot’s focus on an “anything for looks” ideal is even more potent. Why this one time blockbuster has ended up on the independent oriented Sundance Channel is something to take up with their staff. But as an example of how the cutting edge can remain razor sharp, this is a timeless wonder. (23 September, Sundance Channel, 10PM EST)
Additional Choices
Sleep With Me
There’s a gimmick at the core of this 1994 off the radar entry – six separate writers collaborated to create the overall narrative drive. Such cinematic stunts usually don’t work, and for many, the results here were only average. Yet there are ardent defenders of this romantic drama. Be on the lookout for Quentin Tarantino as a boorish party guest who lets rip with a tirade on the obvious homoerotic overtones in Top Gun. (24 September, IFC, 10:30PM EST)
Memories of Murder
South Korean director Joon-ho Bong, got his first big exposure in the West with this sly, subtle serial killer procedural. Apparently, Asian law enforcement is ill-prepared for dealing with such systematic slaughter, and Bong infuses his film with some darkly humorous material, almost always at his bumbling policemen’s expense. While not as universally appealing as his follow-up, the monster on a rampage The Host, this is still an intriguing insight into crime in another culture. (24 September, Sundance Channel, 12AM EST)
Pumpkin
Christina Ricci continues to polish her creative indie cred with this interesting romcom about a sorority girl who falls for a handicapped man. Life lessons are learned and horizons are broadened. For first time filmmakers Adam Larson Broder and Anthony Abrams, the biggest hurdle wasn’t avoiding cliché or maximizing character. It was getting this little seen gem any notice whatsoever. (29 September, IFC, 9PM EST)
Outsider Option
Spider Baby
It remains a strangely satisfying experiment in terror: writer/director Jack Hill hired former fright master Lon Chaney Jr., turned him into a sympathetic caregiver for a collection of craven creeps, and gave the whole thing a freak show veneer of macabre monochrome. Subtitled The Maddest Story Ever Told, no other underlying label ever did a better job of describing a yarn’s intentions. Featuring future human oddity Sid Haig as the repugnant Ralph, and Mantan Mooreland in a minor cameo role, this arguably bizarre family fright night substituted novelty and wit for nastiness and the wicked. Still, it will be hard for newcomers to forget the truly horrific ending. Paired up with another nightmare novelty from the ‘60s (Die! Die! My Darling), we’ve got one of the better double features offered by Turner Classic Movies late night film fest. Here’s hoping that a post-Halloween Rob Zombie can make an appearance as host. He single handedly resurrected Haig’s career, and his comments would be very telling indeed. (28 September, TCM Underground, 2AM EST)
Additional Choices
The War (Ken Burns)
While SE&L normally ignore TV offerings, the latest from The Civil War’s Ken Burns deserves a mention. This time, the talented documentarian takes on another country-defining conflict – WWII – and the results are reportedly masterful. One thing’s for sure – come Sunday night, the DVD player will be pushed aside for what promises to be seven nights of fact filmmaking at its finest. (23 September, PBS, Check Local Listings)
The End
Back when Burt Reynolds was the reigning box office God, he flexed his fiscal reputation on the occasional obscure effort. This remains one of his best, the story of a dying man who enlists the aid of a manic mental patient to commit suicide. This ballsy black comedy defied expectations in 1978 and stands as proof that there was more to the actor’s persona than Smokey and the Bandit. (24 September, Retroplex, 10PM EST)
At the Earth’s Core
Sometime in the mid ‘70s, American International Pictures decided that Doug McClure was an action star. Go figure. The company created a set of schlocky projects for the former TV talent, and along with The People that Time Forgot and The Land that Time Forgot, this Edgar Rice Burroughs bunk ruled the passion pits. That’s okay – no one really knows why, either. (26 September, Drive In Classics Canada, 12:15AM EST)