Cinema - Reviews by Dr Doom

Cinema - Reviews by Dr Doom

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 27th Dec 2016		Cinema Deadfall (1993)	Rated 8/10 'So bad that it's good' is a bit of a cliché but it certainly fits this film. The chances are your jaw will drop several times in the 90 odd minutes of it's duration. It would be fair to be perplexed by the balance of the A-list Hollywood cast vs C-list production values. And then you learn the directors surname is Coppola and that Nicolas Cage is his brother. Surely only family ties and a repayment of favours can explain why so many great actors were involved in this wild turkey. Don't get me wrong, I love this film as entertainment but it is ultimately a load of rubbish. Nicolas Cage's performance in this film has to be seen to be believed. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 27th Dec 2016		Cinema Il Tuo Vizio è Una Stanza Chiusa E Solo Io Ne Ho La Chiave (Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key) (1972) (1972)	Rated 7/10 A gloriously over the top giallo(ish) horror, very loosely adapted from Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Black Cat' An impressive fluffy black cat called 'Satan' is indeed one of the absolute stars of the film. The other star being Euro beauty Edwige Fenech playing a 'bad girl' for the first time in her career. That said the whole cast are great. It's not quite clear who are the goodies or baddies or indeed which of them are sane! 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 16th Dec 2016		Cinema This Year's Love (1999) (1999)	Rated 3/10 I remember going to see this in the Cinema in Camden Town (where the film is mostly set) after reading a very positive review in Time Out magazine and being massively let down. I really hated it at the time but perhaps my expectations were too high?! IMDb members give it a reasonable 6.3 so perhaps I need to watch this agin to see how it's aged..... 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 9th Dec 2016		Cinema The Fundamentals Of Caring (2016) (2016)	Rated 6/10 Ben Benjamin (Paul Rudd) takes the job of caregiver for teenager Trevor (Craig Roberts) who is suffering with Duchenne muscular dystrophy which leaves him tied to a wheelchair with a daily routine of treatment and medication. A modest life expectancy is the cherry on a particularly sh*tty cake. Trevor is an understandably troubled and cynical teenager but what becomes apparent is that Ben also has his demons and the pair quickly form an uneasy bond. Halfway through the film turns into a kind of Road Movie, dragging in several more broken characters they meet along the way. At it's worst the film dips into the well of Hollywood clichés but overall it stays on the right side of the cheese line. The cast are good and for a TV movie (albeit of the modern 'Netflix' kind) it has high production values. If anything I think I would have preferred a slightly slower pace and a bit more character insight into Ben and Trevor's mother Elsa. Another 30mins running time may have transformed this into a great film but as it stands I'd rate it 'good'. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 19th Nov 2016		Cinema The Flesh And Blood Show (1972) (1972)	Rated 6/10 This film could never quite live up to the striking opening shot of blood dripping down a decaying English seaside pier but overall it's a very enjoyable watch. It has to be said that after the opening, the emphasis is very much on Flesh rather than Blood. The female cast often appear topless for no apparent reason whereas the murders are surprisingly low key. One thing that isn't so low key is the acting. Patrick Barr steals the show as the lonely Major Bell. If you enjoy thespians being bumped off then this makes a nice and sleazy companion piece to the camp horror classic Theatre Of Blood 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 9th Nov 2016		Cinema Recluse (1981)	Rated 7/10 It's hard to review this without spoiling it for a first time viewer but let's just say that it's an engaging short film which deals with the anxiety of change and ultimately the refusal to deal with it. The film is based around true events and what is even more remarkable is that the filmmakers were able to use the actual location and actual physical 'props' from the time. Often short films feel too short to really delve into the characters involved but I think in this case that it's such a simple tale that it makes sense. The ending is suitably abrupt too. Worth 27 minutes of any film buff's time. 8 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 6th Sep 2016		Cinema Elysium (2013) (2013)	Rated 6/10 Set in the mid 21st Century where the earth has become so unpleasantly overpopulated, polluted and crime ridden that the rich live in an off-Earth utopia named Elysium leaving the proles back on earth to fend for themselves and keep working like slaves to keep the rich in the style they've become accustomed to. Without giving the story away too much Matt Damon finds himself in a do or die situation that may overthrow Elysium's equilibrium. The parallels with current politics help to make this Science Fiction vision quite believable. Matt Damon could have been working for Sports Direct (minus the radiation poisoning) and the chilling treatment of immigrants by Jodie Foster as Secretary Delacourt screams Trump. What's less believable are the Laptops and USB cables inserted into the brain. I think if we can believe that you can download knowledge/data from the brain then we can make that jump that it wouldn't have to be via cable! So overall it looks good, speeds along at a gripping pace and has surprisingly leftist politics but it's also somehow pretty lightweight and I'm not sure I would watch it again but it's a decent watch for an hour and a half. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 17th Aug 2016		Cinema Lawrence Of Belgravia (2011) (2011)	Rated 9/10 An amazing and affectionate portrait of cult musician Lawrence who fronted a different band roughly every decade 80s (Felt), 90s (Denim) and 00s (Go-Kart Mozart) - This was quite certainly thought out in detail but like most of Lawrence's plans things don't work out quite as well as he'd hoped, leaving him forever to be a 'Cult Hero' rather than the Pop-Star he longs to be. The documentary was shot over 8 years and it's pretty much driven by Lawrence's amazing charisma and self deprecating wit. If you want a detailed biographical timeline of Felt/Denim/Go-Kart Mozart then look elsewhere. I'm sure you could watch this documentary without knowing anything about these bands and still enjoy it enormously, it's very funny, sometimes even when it's not supposed to be. The film doesn't really go into Lawrence's darker history (mental health issues and substance abuse) but you are left with the overall message that Lawrence is an artist in the purest form. He has struggled for his art for decades with no great financial rewards but is ever optimistic and creative. He's a cult hero but he's also a hero full stop. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 8th Aug 2016		Cinema The Messenger (2009)	Rated 8/10 As in 'Don't shoot the messenger'. Ben Foster plays a young soldier (recovering from combat injuries and hailed as a hero) given the unwanted task of informing the next of kin of soldiers killed on duty. His mentor is Captain Tony Stone played with suitable intensity by Woody Harrelson who approaches the task as if he were going into combat. I really enjoyed this film. Nearly every character is 'broken' in some way, in denial and trying to keep up appearances. This applies to the civilian characters just as much as the military. It's nice to see such an understated film dealing with the aftermath of warfare. No crazy plot, no action (the one fist fight happens off-screen) - it relies purely on good acting and the drama of human lives. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 30th Jul 2016		Cinema Frank (2014)	Rated 6/10 The trials and tribulations of a leftfield band of misfits fronted by a singer who permanently wears a Frank Sidebottom Papier-mâché head. When this came out in the cinemas I thought it looked like a terrible idea. It looked far too wacky and annoying for my liking so I chose not to go and see it. Since then friends have recommended it and possibly my expectations went from too low to too high as I found it a bit of a let down. I did enjoy Maggie Gyllenhaal as Clara, the angry electronics wizard.... 'Don't touch my f**king Theramin!!!' Despite being slightly underwhelmed I think I could watch this film again and get a bit more out of it. It could be a grower! 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 30th Jul 2016		Cinema Staten Island Summer (2015) (2015)	Rated 5/10 Pretty much Caddyshack set in a swimming complex rather than a golf club. Many, many deja-vu moments leading to an overall feeling that you've seen all this before, done better. It's not terrible by any means though and if you are in need of 90mins of undemanding puerile comedy then this does the job. It did for me! 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 20th Jul 2016		Cinema Black Joy (1977) (1977)	Rated 7/10 IMDb have this down as a comedy and although there are some laughs it really is a black comedy in more ways than one. The plot echoes another notable black cinema work - The Harder They Come with a naive country boy arriving in the big city and getting ripped off right, left and centre. I have no idea if this film represents an accurate view of Brixton in 1977 but even if it doesn't it provides an amazing contrast with the Brixton of 2016 (average price of a flat £439,843) Norman Beaton plays Dave King, an absolute snake of a man but played with such manic energy that you can't help but love him a little. The energy of his character pretty much runs through the entire film. In that way the title makes a lot of sense. Bad sh*t happens in this film but the characters find a way of making the best of a crap hand. Black Joy indeed. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 18th Jul 2016		Cinema The Body Beneath (1970) (1970)	Rated 5/10 A real underground UK cult item here. Quite an original take on the vampire film with much discussion of bloodlines and some inter-vampire politics thrown in at the end. There are some real stand alone highlights to this film - Green faced female vampires, underground lairs in Highgate cemetery, horrific knitting needle murders and best of all an incredible performance by Gavin Reed as Rev. Alexander Algernon Ford. Surely a blueprint for Reece Shearsmith's main character in The League Of Gentlemen - but overall it's not a great film, mainly due to the pacing, despite a modest running time it feels like it lasts for hours. It couldn't possibly live up this amazing trailer.... [YouTube Video] 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 17th Jul 2016		Cinema Nightbirds (1970) (1970)	Rated 6/10 A weird and bleak film. A blonde seductress (Dee) comes to the rescue of a young homeless man (Dink), stopping him in the street when he is literally puking his guts up. She brings him back to her seedy East End attic flat and introduces him to a world of sex, sloth and poverty. Sex being the winner of course. As he so eloquently puts it - 'Before I met you all I ever did was masturbate' This must have been pretty shocking stuff at the time. The film has an air of 'wrongness' right from the start. Quite a lot is left to the imagination but there are strong hints are that you should imagine your worst. It's a film I'll probably never watch again but equally I don't think I'll forget it. The main actor in this has dirt under his fingernails. That pretty much sums the film up. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 4th Jul 2016		Cinema This Is My Street (1964) (1964)	Rated 7/10 A well made and acted 'Kitchen Sink Drama' set around a bleak tenement house in Jubilee Close, London (There's one in Harlesden but I don't think that's where this film is set). Three young women seek to escape the inner city area they grew up in and this being 1964 it's all to do with who you marry! Marge married Sid. A dependable but boring choice. She now feels trapped as Sid's life revolves around beer and darts and making ends meet. Her head is turned by their playboy lodger Harry who gradually breaks down her resistance and finally seduces her. Of course he's such a cad that once he's 'conquered' her he moves onto the next target, her sister Jinny, with inevitably tragic consequences. A sub-plot involves the flirtatious and cynical Maureen who plans to marry the richest man she can. This pretty much goes the same way. Yup, it's pretty bleak stuff all in all but very watchable. It feels both dated and timeless at the same time. Things may be a bit more equal for women nowadays but basic human cruelties and weaknesses certainly haven't changed. One to file under 'Minging London' rather than 'Swinging London' 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 6th May 2016		Cinema Cosmic Zoom (Zoom Cosmique) (1968) (1968)	Rated 8/10 A simple and very charming short film made by The National Film Board Of Canada. It opens with a boy rowing his little wooden boat across a Canadian lake with his trusty dog on board. It then zooms in and out to show that this boy is simultaneously virtually nothing and virtually everything in this universe of ours. It does have 'Cosmic' in the title after all. You could do all this with computers now but it just wouldn't be the same. The animation is wonderful and the accompanying music fits perfectly. Worth 8 minutes of anyone's time. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 23rd Apr 2016		Cinema Clockwork Orange County (2012) (2012)	Rated 7/10 A simple but very entertaining documentary about a small club called The Cuckoo's Nest in deepest California which became a hotbed of the West Coast Punk scene and a major part of the emergence of Hardcore Punk and Slam Dancing. A Country and Western club open straight across from it led to the inevitable Punks vs Rednecks battles and this along with the club's popularity attracting a more violent Skinhead crowd eventually led to Cuckoo's closure but not before an amazing roster of bands had graced it's stage. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 9th Apr 2016		Cinema Vampyros Lesbos (1971) (1971)	Rated 5/10 I've enjoyed the soundtrack LP to this film for many a year but having finally watched the film I can sadly report that it doesn't live up to the music. There are some great shots and imagery (the scorpion in particular) but overall it's somewhat inept. Some of the tracking shots are so shaky that even budget restraints can't be an altogether convincing excuse. The worst thing is that even though the film only lasts 90 minutes it seems to last much much longer. I actually fell asleep on my first attempt watching it! Soledad Miranda is of course beautiful and her tragic story along with the excellent Psychedelic soundtrack will forever make this film a 'Cult Classic' but really it's probably better projected onto a nightclub wall as background entertainment rather than actually watched in a cinema. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 8th Apr 2016		Cinema Junior Bonner (1972) (1972)	Rated 7/10 Much to my surprise it turns out I hadn't seen this until last week. It feels quite slight compared to some of Peckinpah's more visceral works but I have a nagging feeling that I'll want to watch it again in a couple of years - it's a grower! As close to a 'feelgood' Western as you can imagine Peckinpah making including a great bar fight scene where there are no blood, bullets or slow motion death scenes. Although there's a hint that a Rodeo star's life has it's fair share of danger, alcoholism and desperation it prefers to dwell on the wild and free 'Cowboy' aspects. Every town has another bar and another pretty cowgirl (In this case the stunning Barbara Leigh) 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 28th Mar 2016		Cinema Wat Zien Ik (Business Is Business ) (1971) (1971)	Rated 5/10 Apparently this is the 4th biggest (homegrown) box office hit in the Netherlands but I wonder if anyone remembers it fondly? To me it seemed to have dated poorly and the slapstick elements jarred badly with the serious themes of domestic abuse and prostitution. The extras on the DVD claimed that Verhoeven didn't want to just make a cheeky sexploitation caper and instead interviewed many working prostitutes with a view to showing what their lives were really like. I have to say that to me it seems like he failed and it is indeed a cheeky sexploitation caper (with subtitles). 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 20th Mar 2016		Cinema Blue Blood (1974)	Rated 6/10 This obscurity is like a muddled mix of The Servant and Rosemary's Baby. Oliver Reed is the domineering butler Tom who seems to have a hex on his employer (Jacobi) leading us to question who really is master of the house. Of course Lucifer may be the true master of the house although I'm still not sure whether the satanic elements of the film were supposed to be real or just a depiction of the nanny's (Owen) inner mind. All in all it's an enjoyably ludicrous romp with Reed as watchable as ever. Even the terrible accent he's attempting can't spoil his performance (South African? Australian? or was he just drunk?) 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 15th Mar 2016		Cinema Crossplot (1969) (1969)	Rated 6/10 This film feels like an overly extended episode of The Avengers or some other Pop-Art espionage candyfloss TV show. From the opening Psychedelic credit sequence to the traditional Bond ending of Roger Moore seducing the leading lady it has every swinging spy cliché in the book. The plot concerns a gigolo advertising executive (Moore) who hires the not very convincingly Hungarian model (Lange) for a campaign and gets caught up trying to save her from a fascist underground sect who want her dead. The fascists, led by Aunt Jo (Hyer) think she knows of their plot to infiltrate the hippy protest group M.F.P. (Marchers for peace) and assassinate a visiting head of state creating enough unrest for them to seize control of Britain. Hmm. The M.F.P. are hilarious hippy stereotypes led by Lord Tarquin (!) who ride around in an open top jeep (Blow-Up!) and have parties where people play songs on acoustic guitars. Lois Lane treats us to this particularly cringeworthy lyric - " A shadow fell on his face and a teardrop fell for the human race" Roger Moore pretty much holds this film together. His minimal acting style is the antidote to the ludicrous plot and painful script. Take for example his first meeting with Marla Kogash the Hungarian model at the centre of it all. Moore: "Miss Goulash?" Lange: "Goulash is a Hungarian dish" <Moore actions the famous "Eyebrow"> Moore: "Goulash it is then" Classic Moore I'm sure you will agree. This was his first major film role and it would be another four years before he played Bond. Other bits to looks out for... The baddies in a Rolls Royce chasing the goodies in a mini - How English can you get? Gabrielle Drake (Nick's sister) in a bit part as Moore's P.A. Dudley Sutton (Tinker from Lovejoy) as a baddie with awesome fuzzy sideburns. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 14th Mar 2016		Cinema The System (The Girl-Getters) (1964) (1964)	Rated 7/10 Ollie Reed and his gang work the summer season in the fictional seaside town Roxham and have a "System" for picking up girls. They drive around in an open top Rolls Royce and Ollie is the King of the pack. The film is very much a product of it's time and features quintessential English pastimes such as taking the piss out of German tourists and complaining about trains running late. Not the most progressive of 60s movies. Reed is stuck between a rock and a hard place, he feels superior to the holidaymakers he mocks and calls grocks but he feels inferior and awkward with the upper class holidaymakers who also frequent the resort. An interesting timepiece and well worth a watch for Oliver Reed's terrible dancing if nothing else. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 13th Mar 2016		Cinema Once Upon A Time In The Midlands (2002) (2002)	Rated 5/10 Hailed at the time as Shane Meadows big breakthrough film this actually turned out to be a major disappointment. Perhaps the pressure got to him or perhaps it just couldn't live up to the title. Whatever the case this is certainly my least favourite Meadows film and I think his too! Thankfully things got back on track with his next feature Dead Man's Shoes 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 22nd Feb 2016		Cinema Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) (2008)	Rated 5/10 After seeing a few clips from this I was put off watching this due to Sally Hawkins hugely irritating character Poppy. Being a Mike Leigh fan and the fact that huge chunks of it were shot in my old neighbourhood in North London I couldn't avoid watching it forever and so it has come to pass that I gritted my teeth and sat through it. I can report that Poppy is just as annoying as I'd feared and if you combine that with Eddie Marsan playing a simmering racist it's really not an easy watch. I watched the extras and was amazed to hear that Poppy is a character who you are supposed to fall in love with, her eternal optimism shining through. Perhaps my East coast of Scotland dourness made me immune as I found Poppy excruciating from start to finish. It gets a respectable 7/10 on IMDb so maybe it's just me?! 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 18th Feb 2016		Cinema The Most Dangerous Band In The World: The Story Of Guns N’ Roses (2016) (2016)	Rated 4/10 This documentary comes across as a missed opportunity though I suspect having read a biography of GnR that to have the film made at all was probably an ordeal. It certainly tells us nothing new about the band and if it wasn't for the excellent archive footage then there would be very little reason to watch it. The 'talking heads' quotes are on the whole pretty tame, I suspect everyone involved was wary of an Axl Rose lawsuit hitting them if they really started dishing the dirt. The film starts and finishes with fantasy sequences themed around Alice In Wonderland. I personally thought they were dreadful and Youtube comments would suggest I'm not alone in this. Even more annoying for me is that the film failed to mention the tortuous process leading up to the (massively anti-climatic) release of the last GnR LP 'Chinese Democracy' : 10 years of recording and re-recording with an estimated $13million budget. It's a fascinating train wreck story that hopefully will be told properly some day in the future........ 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 12th Feb 2016		Cinema Powder Blue (2009) (2009)	Rated 7/10 A cast of L.A. strangers and misfits at their wits end whose random encounters change some of their lives dramatically. Although I really enjoyed watching this it was quite annoying at the same time. Some of the events were pretty hard to believe and setting the film on christmas eve feels like an emotional tug too far. It's also pretty hard to believe that women as attractive as Jessica Biel and Lisa Kudrow are so desperate that they can only manage to form relationships with suicidal losers ; ) The whole film comes across as a seedy, slightly dumbed down riff on Robert Altman's Short Cuts but with a cast this star-studded it's hard to go too far wrong. Special mention must go to Patrick Swayze's 'Velvet Larry' - a ridiculous character who looks like a bizarre mix of Siegfried & Roy and Mötley Crüe. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 1st Feb 2016		Cinema Hi, Mom! (Blue Manhattan) (1970) (1970)	Rated 4/10 Worth watching just to see Robert De Niro and Brian De Palma's early efforts but in truth this film has dated rather poorly. The scenes with the guerrilla Improv theatre group are particularly painful to watch. I suspect if it wasn't for De Niro/De Palma then this film would be long forgotten, possibly for the best! 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 22nd Jan 2016		Cinema Joshû Sasori: Dai-41 Zakkyo-bô (Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41) (1972) (1972)	Rated 8/10 If Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion could be considered an unusually artistic 'Women In Prison' genre film then this follow up is 'Women In Prison On Acid'. Meiko Kaji as Matsu is even more mesmerising than the first film and delivers even less dialogue. Her hard stare surpasses even Paddington Bear. There's still enough gore and sadism for this to be appreciated by the B-movie crowd but there's also such amazingly beautiful surreal sequences that it works equally well as an Arthouse film. My favourite scene is just after half an hour when they meet an old woman (or witch?) who proceeds to sing the tale of 'the 7 sinful girls'. This seems to open the doors of perception in this film and they never really get closed again. The state of Psychedelic delirium continues right up until the final eye-popping sequence set on a rubbish tip! 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Dr Doom SUBS 🍰 22nd Jan 2016		Cinema Joshû 701-gô: Sasori (Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion) (1972) (1972)	Rated 7/10 Nami Matsushima's first love is a crooked narcotics agent in league with the Yakuza. He deceives her and she ends up in prison and then the mayhem really starts. It's easy to see why the 'Female Prisoner Scorpion' films have found such a cult following (Tarantino found them inspirational for his Kill Bill films). They follow a familiar pattern of the uncommunicative anti-hero seeking revenge on all those who have cheated or betrayed them but adds a whole new level of the bizarre. The high levels of nudity and downright Kinkiness probably don't harm the films popularity either. If your fetish is female Japanese prisoners digging holes, filling them up again and then digging them again then this could be the crime/sex/gardening x-over film you've waited for all you life. ; ) 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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