Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies Now Playing guide for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)
I love making connections between contemporary and classic films that share similar characters, themes, and stories. So, in honor of TCM's "31 Days of Oscar" this month's picks have been inspired by the 9 films nominated for Best Picture of 2012.
Amour
2/10, 5:45 PM - Cocoon (1985) - In most respects, these two films couldn’t be more different. While Amour is a deliberate and realistic drama, Cocoon is a lightly comic, sci-fi story. However, both films deal with elderly people confronting their own mortality and
feature veteran actors. Cocoon’s 77-year old break-out star, Don Ameche, won the Best Supporting actor award that year.2/11, 8 PM - Little Women (1933) - If you feel that the subject matter of Amour is too bleak, you may appreciate the warmth of the March family in Little Women. Little Women shows a family facing tragedy with optimism and making sacrifices for love.
Argo
2/2, 8 PM - Casablanca (1942) - Whether you’re flying out of Tehran or Casablanca, you can’t beat a tense scene at the airport!
2/12,10:15 PM - Notorious (1946) - If there’s one classic star who Ben Affleck reminds me of, it’s Ingrid Bergman. Not really, but I’ve chosen another Bergman movie because this one, co-starring Cary Grant is spy story with a terrific sense of suspense.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
2/7,11:30 AM - My Life as a Dog (1985) - Transport Beasts’ Hushpuppy, her father, and their community of eccentric bayou-dwellers to rural Sweden (and switch the main characters’ genders) and you might get My Life as a Dog. Lasse Hallstrom earned his first Best Director nomination for this film about the adventures of a sweet and spirited boy who is sent away from home when his mother falls ill. Both films excel at portraying life from the point of view of a child and the way children try to make sense of a confusing world.
2/23,8 AM - The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) - Dr. T takes the child’s point of view to an extreme creating a fantasy world in which a boy’s disagreeable piano teacher becomes a supervillian out for world-domination.
Django Unchained
2/4, 2:15 AM - The Wild Bunch (1969) - Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch took movie violence from simply serving the plot to a visual motif in and of itself, a concept that Quentin Tarantino has eagerly adopted and taken to new heights (or lows, depending on your point of view).
2/5,5:30 AM - Friendly Persuasion (1956) - In stark contrast, the Quaker family in Friendly Persuasion rejects violence. However, they find their values tested when their town is threatened by a band of Confederate raiders.
Les Misèrables
2/12, 6:15 AM - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) - If the persecution and despair in the streets of Paris depicted in Les Misèrables has you hungry for more, check out this other adaptation of a Victor Hugo novel.
2/18, 5 AM - Pennies From Heaven (1981) - Much of the Les Misèrables publicity has been about the director’s choice to film the actors singing live on set, rather than using vocals recorded in a studio. If you feel that this live-singing thing isn’t your bag, Pennies From Heaven may just be the musical for you. Like Les Miz, Pennies features prostitution, murder, and homelessness; however, it uses only pre-recorded tracks, with the actors lip-synching to popular recordings from the 1930s.
Life of Pi
3/2, 7 AM - The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1954) - The most famous shipwreck survivor may still be Robinson Crusoe; however, I suspect that these days The Life of Pi is more widely read than the classic novel by Daniel Defoe. The two stories are somewhat different, but both are anchored by the trials of a man, alone, struggling to survive.
2/10, Flight of the Phoenix (1965) - Watch this film and play a game of “would you rather”...Would you rather be set adrift at sea or crash land in the desert?
Lincoln
2/8, 8PM - Wilson (1945) - President Woodrow Wilson may not be as present in popular culture as Abraham Lincoln, but he is just as pivotal a figure in history. This rally-round-the-flag biopic, made as the world was engaged in World War II, focuses on America’s reluctant, but necessary entrance into World War I and Wilson’s subsequent struggle to establish a lasting international peace through the League of Nations.
2/11, 10:15 PM - Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) - Before Daniel Day-Lewis donned a beard and wart and wrapped himself in a wool blanket, Raymond Massey was the definitive Lincoln, playing the president on stage, in films, and on TV and radio. Abe Lincoln in Illinois centers on Lincoln before his ascent to the White House: his early romance with Ann Rutledge, his eventual marriage to the ambitious Mary Todd, and his famous face-off against Stephen Douglas. 2012’s Lincoln serves as a fitting sequel, continuing the story of his life to it’s conclusion.
Silver Linings Playbook
3/3, 8 PM - Annie Hall (1977) - The neuroses of Annie and Alvy may not compare to the mental problems experienced by Pat and Tiffany in Silver Linings, but both films are offbeat romantic comedies about two people coming together despite themselves. Diane Keaton won an Oscar for her performance as the quirky and wholesome Annie and this year Jennifer Lawrence has a good chance to follow in Keaton’s footsteps for her role as the mercurial Tiffany.
2/12, 4:15 PM - The Enchanted Cottage (1945) - The Enchanted Cottage is a touching story about love’s power to transform. This film is completely earnest, with no trace of Silver Linings dark humor. But if you give it a chance, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Zero Dark Thirty
2/16, 2:30 AM - Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) - Zero Dark Thirty has come under much criticism for its depiction of torture tactics used by the CIA during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bad Day at Black Rock also deals with a controversial chapter in American history: the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
2/3, 12:15 PM - The Nun’s Story (1959) - I could say that Maya, the CIA analyst at the center of Zero Dark Thirty, was so consumed by her job that she was, in effect, living like a nun; but the real connection I see between these two films is their heroines. They are determined women frustrated by the restrictions imposed by male-dominated organizations. For Maya, it is the CIA; for Audrey Hepburn’s novice nun, it is the Catholic church. And each woman is unable to shake the inner feeling that she is right.
2/12,10:15 PM - Notorious (1946) - If there’s one classic star who Ben Affleck reminds me of, it’s Ingrid Bergman. Not really, but I’ve chosen another Bergman movie because this one, co-starring Cary Grant is spy story with a terrific sense of suspense.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
2/7,11:30 AM - My Life as a Dog (1985) - Transport Beasts’ Hushpuppy, her father, and their community of eccentric bayou-dwellers to rural Sweden (and switch the main characters’ genders) and you might get My Life as a Dog. Lasse Hallstrom earned his first Best Director nomination for this film about the adventures of a sweet and spirited boy who is sent away from home when his mother falls ill. Both films excel at portraying life from the point of view of a child and the way children try to make sense of a confusing world.
2/23,8 AM - The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) - Dr. T takes the child’s point of view to an extreme creating a fantasy world in which a boy’s disagreeable piano teacher becomes a supervillian out for world-domination.
Django Unchained
2/4, 2:15 AM - The Wild Bunch (1969) - Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch took movie violence from simply serving the plot to a visual motif in and of itself, a concept that Quentin Tarantino has eagerly adopted and taken to new heights (or lows, depending on your point of view).
2/5,5:30 AM - Friendly Persuasion (1956) - In stark contrast, the Quaker family in Friendly Persuasion rejects violence. However, they find their values tested when their town is threatened by a band of Confederate raiders.
Les Misèrables
2/12, 6:15 AM - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) - If the persecution and despair in the streets of Paris depicted in Les Misèrables has you hungry for more, check out this other adaptation of a Victor Hugo novel.
2/18, 5 AM - Pennies From Heaven (1981) - Much of the Les Misèrables publicity has been about the director’s choice to film the actors singing live on set, rather than using vocals recorded in a studio. If you feel that this live-singing thing isn’t your bag, Pennies From Heaven may just be the musical for you. Like Les Miz, Pennies features prostitution, murder, and homelessness; however, it uses only pre-recorded tracks, with the actors lip-synching to popular recordings from the 1930s.
Life of Pi
3/2, 7 AM - The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1954) - The most famous shipwreck survivor may still be Robinson Crusoe; however, I suspect that these days The Life of Pi is more widely read than the classic novel by Daniel Defoe. The two stories are somewhat different, but both are anchored by the trials of a man, alone, struggling to survive.
2/10, Flight of the Phoenix (1965) - Watch this film and play a game of “would you rather”...Would you rather be set adrift at sea or crash land in the desert?
Lincoln
2/8, 8PM - Wilson (1945) - President Woodrow Wilson may not be as present in popular culture as Abraham Lincoln, but he is just as pivotal a figure in history. This rally-round-the-flag biopic, made as the world was engaged in World War II, focuses on America’s reluctant, but necessary entrance into World War I and Wilson’s subsequent struggle to establish a lasting international peace through the League of Nations.
2/11, 10:15 PM - Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) - Before Daniel Day-Lewis donned a beard and wart and wrapped himself in a wool blanket, Raymond Massey was the definitive Lincoln, playing the president on stage, in films, and on TV and radio. Abe Lincoln in Illinois centers on Lincoln before his ascent to the White House: his early romance with Ann Rutledge, his eventual marriage to the ambitious Mary Todd, and his famous face-off against Stephen Douglas. 2012’s Lincoln serves as a fitting sequel, continuing the story of his life to it’s conclusion.
Silver Linings Playbook
3/3, 8 PM - Annie Hall (1977) - The neuroses of Annie and Alvy may not compare to the mental problems experienced by Pat and Tiffany in Silver Linings, but both films are offbeat romantic comedies about two people coming together despite themselves. Diane Keaton won an Oscar for her performance as the quirky and wholesome Annie and this year Jennifer Lawrence has a good chance to follow in Keaton’s footsteps for her role as the mercurial Tiffany.
2/12, 4:15 PM - The Enchanted Cottage (1945) - The Enchanted Cottage is a touching story about love’s power to transform. This film is completely earnest, with no trace of Silver Linings dark humor. But if you give it a chance, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Zero Dark Thirty
2/16, 2:30 AM - Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) - Zero Dark Thirty has come under much criticism for its depiction of torture tactics used by the CIA during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bad Day at Black Rock also deals with a controversial chapter in American history: the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
2/3, 12:15 PM - The Nun’s Story (1959) - I could say that Maya, the CIA analyst at the center of Zero Dark Thirty, was so consumed by her job that she was, in effect, living like a nun; but the real connection I see between these two films is their heroines. They are determined women frustrated by the restrictions imposed by male-dominated organizations. For Maya, it is the CIA; for Audrey Hepburn’s novice nun, it is the Catholic church. And each woman is unable to shake the inner feeling that she is right.
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