DVD Review: Can't Stop The Music (1980)

I've viewed some weird Euro horrors, mad Asian flicks and creepy Brit cult classics in my time, but I have to say that America has come up trumps with something that just might out-bizarre them all - Can't Stop The Music.

Name ring a bell? Yes, it's a Village People tune and this is the fictionalised account of how said group came into being. Of course, it's all a load of nonsense with absolutely no basis of fact, but who cares? This a film, not Wikipedia.

Coming to DVD and Blu-ray: The Doors: When You’re Strange (2010)

Make a note of this date - 30th August 2010 - that's the date for the DVD and Blu-ray release of The Doors: When You’re Strange.
 
Offering up only original footage from between 1966 and 1971 - unreleased, rarely seen and classic clips - Tom DiCillo's documentary captures the band at their height, with Johnny Depp taking up the narration duties, talking through the band's fame, as well as the drug and alcohol excesses. But that's just the sideshow to the main act - classic sounds Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore created in that brief period.

Available to pre-order now, priced from £13.49.

Find out more at the Amazon website

DVD Review: It's All Over Town (1963)

Think of the 60s and specifically, music of the 60s and what do you think of? I'm guessing The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, The Who, classic soul, maybe ska and possibly a splash of psychedelia. You probably don't think of the acts featured in It's All Over Town.

Yes, while we romantically think that the entire teen population was sneaking off to hip hideouts like The Scene and The Flamingo in the early 60s, the reality of what floated the collective teen boat was the easier, more commercial end of the pop spectrum. Which is why the likes of The Hollies, The Springfields, The Bachelors, Acker Bilk and old crooner Frankie Vaughan are featured in the movie. They were chart gold at the time, which made them box office gold. Over 35 years on? Well, let's say the acts haven't aged as well as they could, although the film certainly keeps a novelty appeal.

DVD Review: Permissive (1970)

When the British Film Institute was formed back in 1933, I suspect it wasn't for the preservation of movies like Permissive. But here it is, courtesy of the Flipside offshoot - and I, for one, am glad it is.

Let's keep a tight reign on expectations here though - Permissive is a low budget movie (just £20,000 to film), it has acting that's often amateur at best and the plot is as thin as tracing paper. So why is this groupie flick worth your heard earned cash? Well....

Coming to DVD and Blu-ray: Permissive (1970)

On paper it sounds like a real gem, but so far Permissive (1970) has passed me by. Just as well it's being issued on DVD and Blu-ray by the BFI and Flipside on 25th January 2010.

When Suzy arrives in London to visit an old school friend, she is unwittingly plunged into the ruthless world of the 'groupie'. Fuelled by sex, drugs and jealousy, her new lifestyle fosters in her a cold, cynical instinct for survival.  But tragedy is never far away.