Cinema - Comments / Reviews by Dr Doom

Cinema - Comments / Reviews by Dr Doom

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Dr Doom SUBS 11th Aug 2016		Cinema Idaho Transfer (1973) (1973)	Full movie [YouTube Video]
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 8th Aug 2016		Cinema Don Van Vliet: Some Yo Yo Stuff (1994) (1994)	Full short film for Beefheart fans... [YouTube Video]
Dr Doom SUBS 30th Jul 2016		Cinema The Black Cat (1993)	[YouTube Video]
Dr Doom SUBS 30th Jul 2016		Cinema Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (Vampire Over London) (1952) (1952)	[YouTube Video]
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 27th Jul 2016		Cinema Pass Of Arms (1972) (1972)	Annoyingly although the Sandy Denny tracks from the (rare) soundtrack EP have been remastered and reissued on CD the film remains elusive. No-one even seems able to confirm whether the film was a short or feature or whether it was shown theatrically. BFI page for Pass Of Arms
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 20th Jul 2016		Cinema Crazeologie (1954) (1954)	All six minutes of Louis Malle's debut film.... [YouTube Video]
Dr Doom SUBS 20th Jul 2016		Cinema Vie Privée (1942)	[YouTube Video]
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 2nd Jul 2016		Cinema Permissive (1970) (1970)	[YouTube Video]
Dr Doom SUBS 23rd Jun 2016		Cinema Hero (1982)	This film seems to be hopelessly obscure. Only our second Scottish Gaelic Language entry which according to IMDb was only screened in cinemas in East Germany 7 years after it's 1982 completion. The premise sounds interesting. Medieval fable of sorcery and witchcraft in a remote corner of the Scottish highlands. Does anyone remember this film? Channel 4 part financed it so perhaps it was shown on that TV channel in the 80s. Or perhaps it is lost waiting to be rediscovered by the BFI........ EDIT: One more bit of information from Wikipedia After two years' preparation he directed Hero (82 minutes, 16 mm Eastmancolor) for Film Four in ancient Gaelic with actors drawn from a Glasgow youth gang. Hero was an official entry at the Venice Film Festival.
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 6th May 2016		Cinema Cosmic Zoom (Zoom Cosmique) (1968) (1968)	[YouTube Video]
Dr Doom SUBS 23rd Apr 2016		Cinema In The Wall (2007) (2007)	[YouTube Video]
Dr Doom SUBS 23rd Apr 2016		Cinema Il Profumo Della Signora In Nero (The Perfume Of The Lady In Black) (1974) (1974)	[YouTube Video]
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 18th Apr 2016		Cinema Les Yeux Fermés (The Eyes Closed ) (1974) (1974)	The Terry Riley soundtrack was released on album two years earlier. It's here
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 18th Mar 2016		Cinema L'isola Delle Svedesi (Island Of The Swedish Girls) (1969) (1969)	Original Italian title translates as 'Island of the Swedes'
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 14th Mar 2016		Cinema Ironside (1967)	[YouTube Video]

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