DVD Review: Bossa Brazil (2008)

"Viva Bossa-sa-sa! Viva Bossa-sa-sa-sa!" When Caetano Veloso yells that, you know he's on to sumthin' cool. Even at it's most third-rate and cruddy, Bossa Nova is still a million times cooler than just about anything else. As a kid, one of my most cherished LPs was this crappy MFP release called 'The Beatles, Bacharach and Bach Go Bossa'. It was barrel scraping Bossa with sleeve notes that said "if your party is sagging in the middle, then play this album!" It was awful. It was exploitative. I loved it.

Of course, Bossa Nova isn't merely the soundtrack to lava lamps and avocado bathroom suites and women in high waisted loons. Bossa Nova is the exact big bang point in Brazilian music when they discovered what happened when you mix samba and jazz. In essence, take two really cool styles of music, throw them in a melting pot and whatever comes out is bound to be great... and it was. It was Brazil's identity, rising with their glories on the football pitch and soundtracked Cinema Novo and... hell... it shook everyone up without ever going beyond a hypnotic whisper. So does Bossa Brazil: Stories of Love - The Birth of Bossa Nova do Brazil justice?

Review: Joy Division (2008)

One of my earliest childhood memories is being dragged into Manchester by my parents - and being ever-so-slightly scared by the decaying warehouses and factories, the disused Manchester Central railway station and the concrete monstrosities that made up the actual centre. It was grim beyond belief. But that decaying, depressing and hopeless environment produced one of Manchester's most iconic bands and the basis of this self-titled documentary - Joy Division.

Yes, with Control barely out of the cinema, here's another Joy Division story to replace it. But if you are a fan of the band, this is one you really need to see. Why? Well, it's all about the detail.

Joy Division documentary showing in London - plus Stephen Morris & Jon Savage Q&A

If you are a fan of the band, you might want to get yourself down to the Curzon Soho in London for a screening of Joy Division.

Joy Division looks at the band through never-before-seen live performance footage, personal photos, period films and newly discovered audiotapes, with contributions from Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, as well as the late Tony Wilson, Factory Records graphic artist Peter Saville, photographer/filmmaker Anton Corbijn and Belgian journalist Annik Honoré (speaking for the first time about her relationship with Ian Curtis) the film is described as a 'fresh visual account of a unique time and place'.

If that's not enough, Joy Division drummer Stephen Morris and writer Jon Savage will be on hand to take questions. It's on Thursday 24th April, starting at 6:30pm.

Find out more and order tickets at the Cuezon website

Via Retro To Go

Coming soon: Martin's Scorsese's movie on the Rolling Stones - Shine A Light

Movie history is littered with movies about or featuring the Rolling Stones, but that's not stopped uber-director Martin Scorsese from adding to the collection with Shine A Light.

It could be good, it could be bad. In essence, this is a live show on film, with Scorsese capturing the band in a small venue in New York - in essence, trying to film the 'electricity' of the band's live performance, mixing it up with background, interviews and history. Which sounds great, but for the fact that the band are well past their peak (though still a decent live act), not to mention that the gig seems to have various walk-on 'special guests' who probably contribute nothing to the event.

But I'll wait until the film's release in April before I pass judgement. In the meantime, check out this trailer for the movie for a taster.

Via Electric Roulette

Win Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who on DVD

Just out in time for Christmas is a two-disc DVD set of The Who's finest moments coupled with rare footage of the band and band members - Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who and Six Quick Ones. And we have three DVD sets to give away.

Directed by Paul Crowder, Amazing Journey tells the story of the band through the music, footage, new interviews with the band, celebrity fans and musicians, plus recently-discovered concert footage, kicking off with I Can't Explain and ending with the band's most recent tour and recordings. There's also an additional Six Quick Ones disc, which focuses on each individual band member, the mod scene, the pop art movement and more rare footage - including film of the band as the High Numbers at the Railway Hotel - the earliest footage of the band known to be in existence.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning a set, just enter your details at our sister site Modculture, following the link below. The winners will be drawn just before Christmas.

Enter the Who competition at the Modculture website

Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same heads to DVD

The brief reformation of Led Zeppelin was initially pitched as a one-night tribute to Ahmet Ertegun. But over time, it's shifted rather uncomfortably into a huge marketing exercise (and pre-Christmas push) for Led Zep's back catalogue.

The latest release is the band's 1976 movie The Song Remains The Same, which is reissued on Monday 19th November on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray. The movie features classic tracks from a three-night stint at Madison Square Garden in July 1973, now available with improved sound and picture, along with six songs not on the original release - Black Dog, Over The Hills And Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, The Ocean and Heartbreaker.

There's also more than 40 minutes of added bonus material, including interviews, TV footage and rare performances. And if that's not enough, a collector's set throws in a collectible vintage t-shirt with original album artwork design, soundtrack CD, lobby cards, reproductions of original premiere invites, tour schedule, and more.

Find out more about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Coming soon: The Who - Amazing Journey on DVD

Out on November 5th 2007 is a two-disc DVD set of The Who's finest moments coupled with rare footage of the band and band members - Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who and Six Quick Ones.

Directed by Paul Crowder, Amazing Journey is the lead feature, telling the story of the band through the music, footage, new interviews with the band, celebrity fans and musicians, plus recently-discovered concert footage, from I Can't Explain to the band's most recent tour and recordings.

The Six Quick Ones disc focuses on each individual band member, with a fifth part looking at the mod scene and the pop art movement and a final segment where legendary filmmakers The Pennebakers film the band in the studio recording material for the Then And Now album.

Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who (2007)

Music biopics and documentaries seem to be popping up all over the place this year and one of the new music documentaries currently getting rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival is Murray Lerner's Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who (2007). The film was authorized by The Who and it's being called "the definitive" film about the band. The documentary runs two hours long and features lots of archival footage, as well as insightful interviews with the surviving band members.

The film has only gotten a limited theatrical release so far, but Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who is being released on DVD in North America on November 2nd and it will be released on DVD in the U.K. on November 5th. For more information visit the film's official website and check out the trailer below:

- Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who - Offical Film Site

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Flame (1975)

Films about the rock biz are pretty thin on the ground and you won’t have to take your shoes and socks off to count the British variety. After the shiny-shiny Cliff Richard and Beatles vehicles that populated the early to mid 60s the new decade ushered in a new breed of rock film to match the increasingly darker, ‘party’s over’ mood.

Conventions shifted as we witnessed star-in-the-making, Jim MacLaine’s rise and rise and fall over two convincingly executed movies in That’ll Be The Day (1973) and Stardust (1974). Convincing in that the warts, sleaze, muck, highs and lows of pop stardom were so glaringly, lovingly presented, augmented by realistic never-bettered performances from David Essex and Adam Faith.

The production company behind these films had previously brought us rock excess masterpiece, Performance (1970) and in 1975 they transposed the hard knock grittiness of these movies into a new film, Flame. Starring the kings of cock-rock Glam, Slade, basically playing themselves, starting from wedding gig roots to stadium concerts via band fall outs, car crashes and the machinations of agents, managers and music big wigs.

I'm Not There Trailer

One of the most anticipated movies of 2007 has to be Todd Haynes' upcoming Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, which is scheduled to be released later this year. The film features six different actors in the role of Bob Dylan who play him at different stages of his life including Christian Bale, Marcus Carl Franklin, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere and even Cate Blanchett.

The official trailer surfaced last week and the films already getting mentioned as a possible Oscar contender. You can view it for yourself below:

- Kimberly Lindebergs

Stax 50th anniversary movie at the cinema

Something to look out for at your local cinema, the  Stax 50th Anniversary Documentary and Concert - Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story. It will be showing all over the UK (at 23 cinemas) throughout August and September, with two special showings in Manchester and London:

London - Odeon Covent Garden, Tuesday 14th August at 19.00, with Sam Moore from Sam & Dave attending for a Q&A. Tickets £15.

Manchester - Odeon Printworks, Wedneday 15th August at  19.00, with Sam Moore from Sam & Dave will be attending for a Q&A. Tickets £12.50.

Watch the Blow-Up remake

OK, this isn't a Blow-Up remake as such, it's a project by visual artist Christoph Draeger, who re-created the famous Ricky Tick club scene, where the Yardbirds play Stroll On to a bunch of statuesque scenesters.

Personally I think it's pretty good. And the band playing The Yardbirds are called The Paisley Riot.

Cult Clip: Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

I'm not sure why, but Magical Mystery Tour is the Beatles' film I always go back to. Is it the nonsense plot? Is it the music? Or is it the presence of Ivor Cutler?

Probably all three - and here's the opening to get you in the mood to stick it in the DVD player.

The 8th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival

If you're in the Los Angeles area you won't want to miss attending the fabulous 8th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival which runs July 13th - August 1st at the Egyptian Theatre. The festival will be playing a terrific collection of concert films, documentaries and movies. It will also feature live appearances by many special guests.

The festival's opening night extravaganza features a Beatles vs. Stones Cinematic Shoot-out Double-Feature that includes screenings of a rare 1964 Beatles documentary called What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA followed by The Rolling Stones' controversial 1969 concert film Gimme Shelter. Both movies were directed by the Maysles Brothers.

Other highlights from this impressive three week long event include the July 15th showing of Three Cult Films of Swingin’ London which features Peter Whitehead's Tonite Let’s All Make Love In London (1967) along with his short documentary about Pink Floyd recording the music score for the film called Pink Floyd In London 1966/1967. These will also show with Robert Amram's short documentary Dollybirds! about London's groovy chicks of 1966.

Cult Clip: Groupie Girl (1970)

I sold my copy of Groupie Girl some years back - but as it's just come back out as a budget-priced DVD (with completely inappropriate cover), I might have to pick it up again. It's a strange film, a slightly daring (for its age) film about a young girl's ups and (more usually) downs as a groupie with a string of English pop bands).

The film is entertaining, but certainly no classic. What it does have is a fantastic soundtrack featuring bands I've never heard of - and may never have existed outside this film, as well as some Alan Hawkshaw incidental tunes. But if you're a fan of late 60s British psych pop, it's one for the list. In the meantime, enjoy this rather rough clip of the film's intro and theme tune.

Cult Clip: Wattstax (1973)

I previously mentioned the great musical documentary Wattstax in my review of the new book The Notorious Ph.D.'s Guide to the Super Fly '70s. Wattstax is one the best concert films made in the seventies and if you enjoy good funk and soul music it's a must see movie.

Wattstax was an all-day concert put together in 1972 by the Stax record label. It was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots and hosted by Reverend Jesse Jackson. Over 100,000 people attended what would later be known as the "Black Woodstock," and they got to enjoy some amazing live performances by artists like The Staple Singers, Isaac Hayes and Rufus Thomas.

This terrific clip from Wattstax features The Bar-Kays performing Son of Shaft for an audience of thousands. It's one of my favorite moments from the film. If you'd like to see more of Wattstax it's currently available on a special NTSC Region-1 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD at Amazon.

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Riot On Sunset Strip (1967)

11 years after forming and having almost set the blueprints for exploitative filmic subgenres, production company AIP aimed their sights firmly on the burgeoning love generation. American International Pictures had, of course, brought to vivid life, the work of Edgar Allen Poe with such elaborate classics as The Masque Of The Red Death and The Pit And The Pendulum and went on to shlock it to the max with further horror fare, Sci-Fi, Beach and Dragstrip/Hotrod movies and then into late 60s teen culture with the infamous Hells Angel films.

Coming out in the same year as The Trip, Riot On Sunset Strip tackled the true and relatively recent troubles centred on the famous LA teen hangout. The plot buzzed loosely around the story of the clashes with the police and a fictional account of errant young thrill seekers on the rampage. Don’t bother with the plot as this film belongs to the 60s proto punk bands strutting their stuff at uber-club, Pandora’s Box. The Standells, The Enemies and the ever-fantastic Chocolate Watchband pout and posture whilst snarling their songs to the wigged out crowd.

The year after, Psych-Out (covered elsewhere on this site) plugged itself into the hippy scene proper and then AIP, not one to break the habit of a lifetime, threw itself with aplomb into the Blaxploitation phenomenon….gor bless ‘em!! Here’s my fave scene featuring a band that, incidentally, I’ve actually had the great fortune to dj with….ooh get me!

Mark Ellis

Psych Out (1968)

“They’ll ask for a dime with hungry eyes, but they’ll give you love for nothing!” ran the sensational blurb on its release. Psych Out was easily the most successful movie depicting San Francisco during the legendary “Summer of Love” although lets not get too excited here.

While the world watched on in varying degrees of intrigue at the antics of the love generation, few filmmakers ventured out to catch the lightning on Haight Ashbury’s streets, leaving Psych Out as the sole dramatisation of the period. Psych Out’s producer, TV pop impresario Dick Clark, was evidently keeping a watchful eye on the hippy phenomena, and despite his Hollywood leanings, he managed to lift a sizeable chunk of ambience from the hippy hangouts of San Francisco.

The cast took a young Jack Nicholson, by then on the cusp of moving from Biker B-flicks to the mainstream, and Susan Strasberg, whose innocent beauty was enough to secure a fair amount of love interest on screen. The plot concerns Strasberg’s deaf alter ego arriving in town in search of her renegade brother. With nowhere to stay, she’s picked up by Nicholson and his band of musos, who act as her guide and mentor around San Francisco. With her elusive brother playing an intricate game of hide and seek, she ends up being dosed with STP, a concoction known to fry even the wackiest of brains. Although this all might sound a trifle sensationalist, there’s little to offend here.

AIP, the film’s producing agent, had been badly burned after their previous effort, The Trip, ran into all manner of problems with the censors due to its veiled promotion of LSD. As a result, Psych Out held back on any obvious drug promotion or slap and tickle. Visually, there’s fair bit of visual vox pop from the Haight, while The Seeds and Strawberry Alarm Clock offer up some psychedelic intrigue for the soundtrack. Within a year, Nicholson would lift off into stardom, leaving behind the likes of Psych Out to be picked over by historians of the period.

(c) Simon Wells 2007

More about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Trailer for Control (2007)

Following on from Kimberly's piece about the forthcoming Anton Corbijn movie Closer, here's the extended trailer for the film.

As someone who grew up as a Joy Division fan, I'm intrigued about the movie - but as these things tend to disappoint, I'll hold back on a view until I've seen the full film.

Win a set of 60s Beat Classics DVDs

Over at our sister site Modculture, we're giving things away again - in this case, three sets of 60s Beat Classics DVDs.

There are three titles in the series - Catch Us If You Can, Pop Gear and Gonks Go Beat.

Catch Us If You Can is a band vehicle for the Dave Clark Five, but a decent one directed by John Boorman (who later directed Deliverance). Pop Gear is a band showcase from 1964/65, highlighting some of the leading bands of the day, while the real lost gem in the series is Gonks Go Beat - a tale of two warring musical islands - Beatsville and Ballad Isle. And with a guest appearance from hip 60s band The Graham Bond Organisation.

All three are released on June 4th 2007, but if you want to get three for nothing, head over to Modculture, enter your email address and you'll be in the draw.

Enter the Beat Classics competition at Modculture

The Frankie & Annette MGM Movie Legends Collection

Surf's up in July! MGM will releasing a new Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello Movie Collection on DVD just in time for summer. This impressive new movie Box Set will feature eight different romantic comedies that the two popular teen idols made together in the sixties, which is sure to please surf movie enthusiasts.

The new DVD set will include 4 Region-1 NTSC Discs with two films on each Disc. The eight different movies included in the collection are Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), Ski Party (1965), How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), Fireball 500 (1966), and Thunder Alley (1967). All of the films will be presented in widescreen. I haven't been able to find any information about possible DVD extras, but if I do I'll report them here.

Besides beach parties, surfing contests and rowdy motorcycle gangs, these entertaining films also feature lots of musical numbers performed by Frankie & Annette. Many popular bands and musical artists from the period also appeared in the Frankie & Annette films such as Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Lesley Gore, Dick Dale and The Del Tones, The Kingsmen, The Pyramids and Fabian. The Frankie & Annette films also seemed to attract horror legends who wanted to try their hand at comedy such as Peter Lorre, Vincent Price and Boris Karloff.

Cult Clip: Blast-Off Girls (1967)

Blast-Off Girls (1967) is directed by by B-movie legend Herschell Gordon Lewis. Lewis made a lot of low-budget horror movies and exploitation pictures in the sixties, and I think Blast-Off Girls is one of his best films.

The movie is about a greasy low-life band manager named Boogie Baker (Dan Conway) who tries to turn a small-time garage band called The Big Blast into an overnight sensation. Boogie Baker uses every sleazy trick he can come up with to promote the band including pot parties, blackmail and the cute Blast-Off Girls who are willing to do just about anything to help support the band. Unfortunately Boogie Baker has alternative motives and pockets much of the money that The Big Blast earns for himself.

Blast-Off Girls is a fun look at the sleazy side of the music business. The band in the movie is played by the relatively unknown real-life Chicago garage band called The Faded Blue and the movie also includes a cameo from Colonel Sanders who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food chain.

The movie is available on NTSC Region-1 DVD from Something Weird Video. The DVD also includes the Herschell Gordon Lewis' teen rebellion flick Just for the Hell of It. For more information about the DVD please Amazon and you can check out the trailer for Blast-Off Girls below:

DVD Review: Pop Gear (1965)

The final instalment (for now) of Optimum's 60s Beat Classics series is a film in name only  - essentially Pop Gear is just one long music show.

Hosted by Djing legend and all-round strange bloke Jimmy Savile (the first man to DJ with two decks too if I remember correctly), it's a music showcase from 1964 and 1965, bookended by two live (and edited) performances by The Beatles, who chip in with She Loves You and Twist and Shout to the usual gaggle of screaming teens.

The rest is not dissimilar to an early Top Of The Pops, with bands of the day introduced by Jimmy, plus some cringeworthy dance troupe performances thrown in for good measure (and probably to make up the minutes). But as this was a cinema production rather than TV, it's not grainy black and white footage - big and bold colour is the order of the day. Which means Jimmy's hair in all its yellow glory.

DVD Review: Gonks Go Beat (1965)

Gonks Go Beat has achieved near-mythical status - despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that no-one has seen it. Unless you count the odd clip on YouTube. Well, now we have the chance to see the movie in all its remastered glory, thanks to a reissue as part of Optimum's Beat Classics collection.

Let's be honest, it's never going to be as good as you imagine. But it's still an interesting piece of mid-60s silliness. Written by Robert Hartford-Davis (known more for exploitation horrors such as The Fiend and Corruption) and inspired by Romeo and Juliet, it's essentially a tale of two rival islands - Beatland and Balladisle. Yes, one loves beat music, while the other prefers a nice ballad. And each is populated by appropriate acts of the day, including, rather bizarrely, hip hammond combo The Graham Bond Organisation.

Both groups of musicians stay on their separate islands (guarded by police on Lambrettas - nice touch), but meet up once a year to battle it out for the Golden Guitar - which entitles the winner to a world tour and get a spot on TV. The losers - well, they lose their equipment. Because of this, there's growing animosity, so an alien (Wilco Roger, played by Kenneth Connor) is sent to earth to sort out these differences. His solution? Bring the two sides together through the love of two people - one from each isle. And throw in some music of course.

DVD Review: Catch Us If You Can (1965)

History hasn't been too kind to the Dave Clark Five and their brand of sixties beat/pop. Indeed, you'd be knocked backwards if the band was ever name dropped by one of the bright young things of today's music scene. But they were responsible for one of the better pop flicks of the day - Catch Us If You Can, reissued as part of Optimum's 60s Beat Classics range.

The usual formula for this kind of movie involved squeezing a few recent chart hits into a light hearted plot and keeping the dialogue to a minimum. After all you're dealing with pop stars, not actors. Strangely, that's not the case here. In fact, there's absolutely no miming to the band's latest tunes or indeed the pre-requisite gaggle of screaming girls.

That could be down to the choice and influence of the film's director, John Boorman. Yes, John 'Deliverance' Boorman and indeed the man behind oddball sci-fi movie Zardoz. In conjunction with writer Peter Nichols, they produced a plot that revolves around a stuntman running away with the face of the meat marketing board in search of a small island, encountering hippies (a good two years before they became newsworthy) then hiding out with a lecherous older couple in fancy dress before a particularly downbeat finale. It's not exactly a Cliff Richard sing-a-long.

The Future Is Unwritten: Joe Strummer (2007)

At cinemas from from 18th May is a biopic of the Joe Strummer, courtesy of longtime friend Julien Temple - The Future Is Unwritten: Joe Strummer.

Temple's movie - billed as a celebration of the man - contains never seen before footage of Joe Strummer including studio sessions, archive and early childhood footage, interviews with Strummer fans, including Martin Scorsese, Bono, members of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, plus friends and family and of course, former members of The Clash.

Scott Walker: 30th Century Man (2007)

Scott Walker's career is very much the career of extremes - from 60s chart pop to serious solo star through to uncompromising artist - you might not like all his work, but it's always interesting. Which should make Scott Walker: 30th Century Man very interesting viewing.

The film features contributions from the likes of Brian Eno, Damon Albarn, David Bowie, Johnny Marr and Alison Goldfrapp, plus a rare and candid interview with Walker, as well as exclusive footage of him recording in the studio. In fact, just about everything you could ask for as a fan.

It's getting a limited release around the independent/arthouse circuit from this week. If you're in London, you can catch it on Thursday 26th April at the Curzon Cinema, followed by a Q&A with director Stephen Kijak. Tickets are £10 or £7 (concessions).

Curzon Cinemas website

Film website

Coming to DVD: Catch Us If You Can (1966)

If you were anyone in the 1960s, the hit single and album was followed by the cash-in movie. These were quick cash-ins, not intended for longevity or as a cinematic masterpiece. But 40 years on and most of them around, with Catch Us If You Can (known in the US as Having A Wild Weekend) the most recent to get a reissue.

I used to own this Dave Clark Five vehicle on VHS - and in truth, it's certainly not the worst of the bunch. Directed by John Boorman (yes, the man behind Deliverance and the wonderfully insane Zardoz), it's the story of the pressures of show business - in this case, the face of Britain's Meat Marketing Board, played by Barbara Ferris.

She runs off with Steve, a stuntman played by Dave Clark, heading towards an island she's thinking of buying, pursued by press, agents and managers  - while the advertising executives use the publicity to sell more meat.

From that, you probably get an idea of the depth of the movie. But it's still decent entertainment - and very much of the era. You can pick it up on DVD in the UK from 28th May.

DVD Review: The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini was the last film in AIP’s “Beach Party” movie series and the corny jokes, bad acting and poorly plotted scripts were starting to wear on audiences. The studio decided to spice things up a bit by bringing in horror legend Boris Karloff along with Basil Rathbone, and having the beach party take place inside a spooky mansion with a pool, but the results are a mixed-bag.

The movie begins when a cute ghost in an invisible bikini named Cecily (Susan Hart) returns to earth to help her recently deceased lover Hiram (Boris Karloff) get into heaven. Hiram spent his life making money by swindling people in the carnival business and now that he has died, he must perform a good deed in order to pass through the pearly gates to spend an eternity with Cecily.

Hiram soon realizes that his money hungry lawyer Mr. Ripper (Basil Rathbone) is planning to steal Hiram’s hidden fortune for himself, so Hiram & Cecily come up with their own plan to stop him so that the rightful heirs to Hiram’s estate can get what’s coming to them.

Big Screen: Love Story (2006)

Love Story - the documentary film of the legendary Los Angeles band Love - is doing a tour of independent cinemas, kicking off with a showing in London.

Love Story covers the band from the beginning through to their disintegration in 1968 following the completion of the band's masterpiece Forever Changes. Filmed in 2005 & 2006, it features the last ever interviews with band leader Arthur Lee, plus interviews with all surviving original band members - Johnny Echols, Michael Stuart, Alban ‘Snoopy’ Pfisterer and unseen footage of the late Bryan Maclean.

Also taking part are Elektra Records boss Jac Holzman,Producer Bruce Botnick, arranger David Angel, The Doors' John Densmore, Bobby Gillespie & Mani from Primal Scream, John & Mick Head from Shack and (oddly) Ken Livingstone.

For full details of the screenings, read on after the turn. And if you want to know more about the film, visit the MySpace site.

Top five cult movies based in Manchester

After reviewing The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue (and with so much interest in vintage Manchester with the success of Life On Mars), I thought I'd throw together a list of my top five cult movies with a Manchester setting. If you can add to it (or indeed, strongly disagree), feel free to comment below...

1. Hell Is A City (1960)

A real lost gem, with Stanley Baker as the hardened Inspector Martineau, trying to track down an escaped con who has robbed and killed since his break, whilst trying to keep his family life together. American film noir - with a northern landscape.

2. Mrs Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter (1968)

Manchester beat kids Herman's Hermits have a dog - Mrs Brown - and it could win Herman Tully (Peter Noone) and his mates (The Hermits) some cash - if they can raise the cash to enter her into a race. So off they head from Manchester to London to make some cash as a band. Yes, it's a 60s band vehicle - but an entertaining one all the same.

Clubbed - Two Tone movie to go into production

We covered the only cinematic document of the Two Tone scene last week with Dance Craze. But now we hear that it could be joined by a new movie featuring the 80s hybrid ska scene.

The film goes under the title of Clubbed and will star Shameless actress (and fellow Boltonian) Maxine Peake, with direction from Neil Thompson, along with Shameless creator Paul Abbott as executive producer. Details are still vague, but according to IMDB, the movie is inevitably set in Coventry and is described as "an underworld drama set in the early 1980s, about a lonely factory worker whose life is transformed when he becomes a nightclub doorman".

The soundtrack could make or break the film you would imagine - and the man behind that is (oddly) the M-People's Paul Heard, although it's said to feature a variety of 80s ska, Northern Soul and R&B. You do wonder why Jerry Dammers isn't doing the job though.

The movie is set to be released in early 2008.

Cult Clip: Suburbia (1983)

Suburbia (1983) was one of my favorite movies when I was a teenager in the 1980s growing up in California. While lots of other kids my age were watching the latest John Hughes comedy, I was enjoying films like this.

Suburbia was directed by Penelope Spheeris and she made the movie right after finishing her legendary music documentary The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) which chronicled the early Los Angeles punk scene. Suburbia follows the lives of a group of angry young runaways and misfits until an unexpected tragedy rips them apart.

The movie features real kids from the area which gives the film an authenticity that similar movies often lack. One of these untrained young actors is Flea, better known now as the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It also features lots of live performances from popular west coast bands at the time like DI, T.S.O.L. and The Vandals.

Suburbia is available on NTSC Region-1 DVD from Amazon and it's well worth a look if you're interested in what life was like in Southern California during the early 80s. Enjoy the original trailer for the film below:

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Bob Dylan's Don't Look Back gets DVD reissue

Up there with the best rock documentaries, Bob Dylan's film of his his 1965 tour of the UK - Don't Look Back - is set for a DVD reissue.

The new version will be called Don't Look Back: '65 Tour Deluxe Edition and as the name suggests, there's pl