Viewer Discretion Advised: 5 May, 2007

By
/ 3 May 2007

This is the sound of one hand clapping, or a tree falling face first in the woods and no one around to pick up its plop. Let’s be honest – it’s all about the arachnid this weekend as Spider-Man 3 opens to less than enthusiastic reviews. Of course this means the movie will make $469 ka-trillion before all is said and done. But what it also means is that very few film fans will be sitting around at home waiting to see what HBO or Showtime has to offer. So it’s fairly brave of the major cable outlets to present such positive fare. Maybe they believe in the need for counter-programming, or perhaps they’re gambling on word of mouth being as caustic as the critics’ opinions. Whatever the case, the Saturday night selections are all pretty good (one Friend based offering excluded), including SE&L‘s selection for 5 May:

Premiere Pick

Monster House

Starz strikes paydirt for the second week in a row, offering up what was easily 2006’s best CGI flick. Reminiscent of the classic adventure tales from decades past, Executive Producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis gave director Gil Kenan free reign to reinvent the 3D animation genre, and his efforts are outstanding. Concentrating on character first, spectacle second, the first time feature filmmaker delivers a wonderfully moody and mysterious tale, a motion picture overloaded with creative concepts and inventive ideas. Sadly, it wasn’t the massive box office hit the studios look for, and lost the Academy Award to the lesser, if still lovely Happy Feet. If you’re not racing to your local B&M to pick up a copy of this classic after partaking of this weekend’s pay channel premiere, there is something definitely wrong with you. Animation doesn’t get much better than this. (5 May, Starz, 9PM EST)

Additional Choices

The Break-Up

We here at SE&L have a strict anti-Jennifer Aniston policy, so it really pains us to mention this mediocre comedy from last year. Apparently, no one sent director Peyton Reed (Down With Love) the popcorn movie manifesto. He tried to turn an awkward A-list vehicle into The War of the Roses in a condo. Audiences didn’t care for either idea. (5 May, HBO, 8PM EST)

X-Men: The Last Stand

Brett Ratner has nothing to be ashamed of. His installment of the famous comic book franchise was imminently watchable. If anything, he proved once and for all that Bryan Singer is one of the most overrated auteurs in all of cinema. What has he really done to warrant such praise? The geek fiefdoms opinion aside, Ratner’s adaptation of the material results in a solid action flick. (5 May, Cinemax, 10PM EST)

.

Bad News Bears (2005)

Parlaying some of his success after School of Rock into a regular mainstream gig, Indie icon Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused) decided to destroy the memory of this ’70s sports satire. In its original form, the Walter Matthau version was a slam on sports obsessed adults living their lives through their kids. This new version is all PC potty jokes. (5 May, ShowCase, 9PM EST)

Indie Pick

My Left Foot

Daniel Day Lewis was a hardworking British actor when he agreed to take on the role of Irish author Christy Brown, a choice which would win him worldwide acclaim (and a well deserved Oscar). But imagine the shock of filmgoers, used to seeing Lewis as prim and proper in your typical Merchant Ivory drama, suddenly shifting into a handicapped scribe stricken with cerebral palsy. In a brave performance that avoided pathos and schmaltz, the star discovered the inner dignity of the man, and never let that feeling go. Director Jim Sheridan surrounded his lead with amazing supporting talent, including Brenda Fricker, Fiona Shaw, and Cyril Cusack. But it’s young Hugh O’Connor that steals the show as an adolescent Christy. Lewis has often said it was the lad’s interpretation of the character that inspired his work. The results speak for themselves. (8 May, IFC, 9PM EST)

Additional Choices

Boom!

TiVo Alert! TiVo Alert! Fire up those DVRs and get ready to have your minds blown by this notorious adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore. Featuring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and more misguided counterculture conceits than any one film can fathom. The result is something so bad it’s ridiculous. Right up there with Jackie Gleason’s Skidoo for best camp cult crap. (6 May, Sundance, 5:45AM EST)

The Ground Truth

The debate over the War in Iraq always seems to be missing a certain voice – that of the troops who’ve already served. In this stunning documentary, they finally get a chance to have their say – and what they expose will haunt your dreams for days to come. While most came back in one piece, almost all have had their psyche scarred forever. (7 May, Sundance, 11PM EST)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

John Cameron Mitchell is a genius at capturing both the glamour and the horror of kitsch, and his brilliant rock and roll musical is his perfect presentation of same. As the title character, the filmmaker will have you laughing, clapping and cringing – all at the same time. While some may balk at the transgender elements, the amazing score filled with memorable songs will more than cover such discomfort. (9 May, IFC, 10:55PM EST)

Outsider Option

A Hard Day’s Night

The impact of the Beatles on popular culture can never be diminished. While the ’90s saw several scholarly attempts to downplay their importance – some even going so far as to suggest that they were nothing more than the ’60s version of a boy band (yeah…RIGHT!) – they remain a formative fixture in music. If you want proof of their importance, look no further than this amazing motion picture by former UK commercial director Richard Lester. Capturing the youth craze known as Beatlemania at the very height of its hysteria, this movie more than anything else cemented the band’s myth as amiable ambassadors of the emerging counterculture. With songs so timeless they sound fresh and inventive 40 plus years later, and attitudes that exude charm and charisma, it’s no wonder the Fab Four remain the gold standard in sonic significance. (8 May, Flix, 8PM EST)

Additional Choices

The Born Losers

The TCM Underground strikes exploitation gold this week as Tom Laughlin introduces the world to his emotionally wounded Vietnam Vet Billy Jack as part of this standard revenge flick. Featuring a femme fatale who defines ‘asking for it’ and a lot of proselytizing about how good kids can go bad, this is one baffling biker epic. And of course, our viewing would not be complete without a little Laughlin butt-kicking. (4 May, Turner Classic Movies, 11:15PM EST)

The Christine Jorgensen Story

While it can’t compare to Let Me Die a Woman, this supposedly serious take on the world’s first publicized sex-change candidate is sufficiently surreal. Granted, Woman director Doris Wishman gave audiences actual surgical footage to seer into their brains, while this 1970 sudser is happy just to suggest and imply. John Hansen is especially good in the title role. The rest is freakish fun. (8 May, Drive-In Classics/Canada, 10:45PM EST)

The Postman

Talk about your revisionist history. Audiences and critics couldn’t ladle enough hate onto Kevin Costner’s failed follow-up to his Oscar winning turn behind the lens, Dances with Wolves. This post-Apocalyptic Western about rebuilding the US mail service as a means of jumpstarting civilization was long, boring and overrun with artistic arrogance. Now, some find it to be a forgotten masterpiece. Yikes! (10 May, TNT 1AM EST)
TAGS