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monkeymonster
Reviews
The Airzone Solution (1993)
Not another Mock-tor who
The Airzone Solution is a micro budget thriller aimed at fans of the classic Doctor Who, but asides from the cast which features four former Doctors and one former assistant it bares very little resemblance to the time traveler. Colin Baker, is cuddly comic weather man who is getting slowly drawn into a huge conspiracy plot - along the way Sylvester McCoy tags along to help him, Peter Davidson gets killed and reappears as a ghost and Jon Pertwee lurks in shadows in his trademark natty attire.
BBV, the company that made this film, have made many productions featuring former Doctor Who cast members in very similar rolls to what they where playing on television, but with their character names changed for legal reasons. This production is a step away from their doctor who-a-likes, or Mock-tor Whos as I like call them, and is a genuinely exciting thriller that just so happens to have four former Doctors in it.
The cast don't let the low budget nature of the film get in the way, or effect their performances, all four of the former Doctors shine in rolls that differ quite wildly from their time traveling alter egos.
So I heartily endorse this film and would urge pretty much every one to watch it at least once, but sadly its not widely available. You wont find a copy in HMV, not even the big ones in London, If you are lucky you can pick up a VHS copy second hand on eBay from time to time.
Dance Hall Racket (1953)
See it for Lenny
I saw this film solely because Lenny Bruce was in it.
The whole story takes place on a three wall set made from cardboard which is meant to look like a dance hall, and pretty much everyone in this hall has their crooked fingers in pies.
Lenny Bruce plays Vinnie, a hard man, and takes centre stage as he is clearly the best actor in this film. The other actors stand around, bump into each other and chew scenery while Lenny does his thing of being the star.
Phil Tucker does nothing in the way of original directing often opting to cover scenes with a single master shot and letting the action play out in front of the camera.
The print of this film that I saw (on DVD) was terrible, scratched with a constant blemish on the picture, the sound would often pop in and out and there where large jump cuts where someone has clearly edited out the nudity for some reason.
All this is a shame because in spite of all its faults the movie isn't that bad, yes the plot seems rather padded and some of the rolls could do with better casting (the drunk with the hat stands out in my mind) but i have seen worse, much much worse than this. I would like to see someone buy this film and clean it up, get the print nice and crisp, film some extra insert shots that it feels like its missing and dub over some of those bad actors and then we'll see how really bad this film is.