On Demand Weekly

Media savant T Tara Turk goes deep inside cable TV to reveal Video On Demand's Hidden Gems so even the busiest of our readers can get the most out of On Demand TV. Tell Tara what VOD shows you think deserves her attention.

How Can Oprah Make OWN All Her Own

By T. Tara Turk

The end of one year/beginning of another is always filled with reflection and then aspirations for the future. And that may happen with a few glasses of the bubbly, a hangover and an inability to recall exactly what wise words you spoke before but a deep seeded knowledge that you did, in fact, speak some wise words. I have a feeling that this happened triplefold over at the OWN offices. My version of events goes something like this:

Oprah: THIS MUST BE the network that saves lives!
Network Exec: You know what would save my life? Decluttering. A show about decluttering.
Oprah: THIS MUST BE the network that shows people they can truly become great!
Network Exec: Is this Korbel or Veuve? No matter. You know who’s great? Steve Tyler. I never know what he’s talking about on Idol and wonder if he even knows he’s on a show. Maybe we should ask him.
Oprah: THIS MUST BE the network that shows people they can better themselves through small acts.
Network Exec: I forgot to send out those Life Journals. Dammit.
Oprah: THIS network just showed me I miss audience members. I hate talking to myself.
Network Exec: You know who I talk to when I miss an audience? Rosie O’Donnell. The people skills that woman has...where’s the bathroom?

OWN

All of us Oprah stans (slang for fans for those of you who haven’t hit

your hip quota resolution yet) were so excited to find out we would

have a network that would finally merge our Oprah with her beloved

Oprah magazinethat literally is read with such intent that it leaves ink

mark on fingers(at least on mine).

Except that didn’t happen.

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: A LONELY PLACE TO DIE (IFC Films).

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE
By Joe Charnitski

If you’re watching a movie and you find yourself asking, “What is going on?” out loud, chances are you’re struggling to follow a confusing, wandering, aimless plot. A story line striving to produce shock but only succeeding in delivering eye rolls and furrowed brows.

On the other hand, you might be on the proverbial seat edge (not usually as precarious as a Scottish mountain cliff), a rapt viewer, your mouth agape, not daring to blink. In this scenario, those are not words of confusion and boredom. It is the question sprung from tense muscles and anxious anticipation. As I watched the indie thriller A LONELY PLACE TO DIE my eyes were not rolling, they stared straight ahead. I sat straight up. My mouth open, and out of it, in hushed tones of suspense, I asked, in the best way possible, “What is going on?”

When you see the title of this film and you watch the opening sequence, you think you know what you’re about to experience. This is going to be a dramatic action picture about extreme mountain climbers, the limits they push, the boundaries they break, etc. That opening sequence is pretty fantastic. Three friends, Alison, Ed and Rob, are carefully climbing a steep mountainside. Soon Ed slips, dangles and panics. Moving from the vast (striking aerial photography) to the specific (the sights and sounds of gloved hands gripping cable, feet securing a place on a rock, breathing, sometimes steady, sometimes rushed) director Julian Gilbey and cinematographer Ali Asad create an exciting sequence, precisely paced and terrifically tuned for maximum thrills. Alison and Rob are able to save Ed, but the greatest danger still lies ahead.

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. I AM.

I AM
Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem
By Kris Scheifele

The 'I am' in this film's title is not a twist on the Cartesian cogito ergo sum. I AM gets its name from a response to a question posed to G.K. Chesterton, a British writer who died in 1936. The London Times asked him to write an essay in response to the question, "What is wrong with the world?" Chesterton's essay was brief; he wrote, "I am." This documentary asks the same question, and the one that logically follows, "What can we do about it?" By posing these questions, Tom Shadyac, I AM's director, enters the conversation about competition, material excess, and separation. He also finds what's right with the world — cooperative community, conservation, and compassion.

This is Shadyac's debut as a documentarian, but you may know him from a few little ditties like ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE and THE NUTTY PROFESSOR. Some years back, Shadyac's blind feasting on comedy gold's robust bounty was interrupted by an accident which left him with post-concussion syndrome. The months of physical and emotional suffering made him notice some things outside his Hollywood bubble. Recuperating at home he says, "I saw AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH again. I see more news about the war in Iraq and I see poverty and I keep thinking that these are not the problems, there's a poison underneath." Shadyac also noticed that all his achievements and monetary success had not brought him happiness. (What's that? Money can't buy happiness?) The way he describes it, his illness forever shifted his priorities and the role he wanted to play in life.

It's hard to be critical of a film with high-minded aims, especially when it's blessed by Oprah. However, despite Shadyac's claim that the film is his story, it really isn't. It's another doc dealing in generalities, albeit noble ones. The story of Shadyac's transformation bookends the film: we get a brief glimpse of the conditions which inspired the film, and at the end, we find out that he traded in his mansion and all his high-end crap for modest digs in a mobile home community and biking to work.

Get the latest information about Movies On Demand from On Demand Weekly. Every week we provide the Week’s Top 10 Movies On Demand (MOD).

The Movies On Demand MOD January Preview of The Indies has arrived. Highlights of the new release schedule for January, 2012 include PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES, DIRTY GIRL, HELL AND BACK AGAIN, THE OTHER F WORD and more. People who missed these highly-regarded titles can catch them on demand in January.

Almost every indie new release listed comes to Movies On Demand either before or the same day as DVD.

Enjoy On Demanding this month!


Indie Titles:

THE GUARD – Premieres January 3
R, Comedy
Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle

Same day as DVD


PERFECT SENSE – Premieres January 6
TV-MA, Drama
Ewan McGregor, Eva Green

Before theatrical release


BENEATH THE DARKNESS – Premieres January 6
PG-13, Thriller
Dennis Quaid, Tony Oller

Same day as theatrical release


THERE BE DRAGONS – Premieres January 10
PG-13, Drama
Charlie Cox, Wes Bentley

Same day as DVD, Weeks before Netflix & Redbox


HIGHER GROUND – Premieres January 10
R, Drama
Vera Farmiga, John Hawkes

Same day as DVD


DIRTY GIRL – Premieres January 17
R, Comedy
Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier

Same day as DVD