#thedwreview

"The less said about Superman IV, the better" is what actor Christopher Reeve was once quoted as saying when discussing his famous film franchise - and its not hard to see why, as you'll be forgiven for watching this picture, not least in comparison with what came before it in the series - and this "What on earth is this?" The plot, as the sub-title alludes to, tries to take an honourable approach where the Man of Steel goes on an anti-nuclear crusade by eliminating warhead weapons that threaten the Earth's existence.  Meanwhile, arch-rival Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) manages to escape from prison with an interest in making profits for arms merchants.  He succeeds in creating Nuclear Man, a blonde bodybuilder-type to face our hero in physical combat, by simply using a strand of his hair. Elsewhere a semi-comical love triangle develops where Clark Kent and his caped alter ego attempts to please both colleague Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), who's in to Superm...

Welcome to somewhere in California!  Where a mother and her three kids, including wheelchair-bound Eric, are crossing the country to move in to their new home.  They're a picture of all-American 1980's with a love for Coca-Cola and McDonalds.  Meanwhile some NASA-type lab has happened to nab a family of aliens from their planet via a vacuum system.  A subsequent explosion leads to their escape, but the youngest alien is separated from his parents and sister in the commotion. Taking solace in the new house, Eric befriends what he dubs the 'mysterious alien creature' (Mac) after the latter saves him from drowning, in a now-infamous moment where Eric rolls uncontrollably towards a cliff and bombs at great height in to a river. In turn Eric takes steps with to prevent Mac from being captured by the FBI, with a view to return him to his own parents, by disguising him in awful teddy bear costumes amidst the longest fast food commercial in history - complete with dance se...

If you've been unaware of the follow-up to 1973's controversial 'The Exorcist' until now, rest and be thankful! The story appears to be set four years after the original.  Following a botched exorcism attempt somewhere in Africa - where the victim convincingly sets herself on fire - Father Lamont (Richard Burton) is assigned by the Catholic Church to investigate the death of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow) after he successfully exorcised young Regan (Linda Blair) back in Georgetown, Washington. Meanwhile the now-teenage Regan is moving on with life, attending therapy with Dr Gene Tuskin (Louise Fletcher) for post-possession trauma and developing as a tap-dancing artist in her school productions. To help with his investigation, Lamont tracks down Regan to question her about the circumstances surrounding Merrin's death, where Dr Tuskin eventually hypnotises Regan to divulge what she believes are repressed dreams the girl holds from the period of her demonic possessi...

 Mansun were a Chester-based indie band primarily made up of Paul Draper (vocals/guitar), Dominic Chad (lead guitar), Stove King (bass) and Andre Rathbone (drums).  The group were formed in 1995 following a two-year period of Draper and King having the idea to start a band after listening to different music and rehearsing together.   This led to the self-financing of recording studio session where they would cut their first single "Take It Easy Chicken", as well supporting a who's who of British alternative acts live such as Cast, Audioweb, The Charlatans and Shed Seven. Their journey would lead them to signing with renowned label Parlophone, famously home to The Beatles and later adopting, among others, The Pet Shop Boys, Roxette, Duran Duran and Blur on their roster.   In 1997, their first album 'Attack Of The Grey Lantern' went to No.1 in the UK album charts, with their follow-up LPs 'Six' (1998) and 'Little Kix' (2000) providing a platform f...

The best known of Edward Wood Jr's surreal attempts at writing, producing, directing and even editing film - and yes, there were more than a few - Plan 9 From Outer Space was an obscure B-pic for it's first twenty years, before achieving infamy in being outed at one of cinema's worst-ever movies. Immortalised in Tim Burton's 1994 big-screen biopic 'Ed Wood', the eponymous film maker was basically Tommy Wiseau 45 years before Tommy Wiseau.  His body of work comprised of Glen or Glenda (1953), Jail Bait (1954) and Bride Of The Monster (1955); quickly giving future film performing arts students how not to make movies, via low budgets and illogical dialogue. As the narrative goes for "Plan 9", spaceships spotted above the west coast skyline arrive on Earth, resurrecting a recently deceased elderly civilian and police inspector - the latter of whom takes a zombie form - with the local force enlisting military help from the Pentagon to stop their attempte...

Hollywood has been pretty well-known for having somewhat of a superficialness to it since the dawning of the modern feature film.  Its industry looks for what's on the surface - essentially one's look - and doesn't think twice about stepping on other's toes to achieve ambitions.  Such is anywhere nowadays that all walks of life can easily follow suit.  As a result, not everything is what it seems, which becomes a central theme throughout David Lynch's 2001 epic Mulholland Drive.  People, plans, actions, emotions; they're all fair game.  Even the introduction is unsettling with the titular street's road sign acting as the de facto opening title whilst the facing camera drives underneath it. The movie kicks off with a car accident, along the winding Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood hills, that sees a young female passenger (played by Laura Harring) solely survive after a period of unconsciousness but suffering amnesia as a result.  After walking through the ...

In early 1998, not long after Oasis topped the charts with "All Around The World" and and Usher did likewise with "You Make Me Wanna", British indie band Cornershop struck big with a remixed version of their previous single "Brimful Of Asha", a lyrical homage to icons of Indian cinema. Cornershop was formed in 1991, led by singer/guitarist Tjinder Singh.  The band was put together in Leicester while Wolverhampton-born Singh worked as a barman for a music venue.  Over the next few years they would gain a following in the alternative scene, touring with the likes of Oasis, Beck and Stereolab.  1997 saw them record their third album "When I was Born For The 7th Time", on which "Brimful Of Asha" appeared. For the longest time I believed that the meaning of the title meant 'a whole lot of music'.  In my research I stood corrected, upon discovering that 'Asha' referred to Asha Bhosle, a singer renowned for her recording of ...

Long before the World Wrestling Federation became a household name within sports entertainment nationally and internationally, the pro wrestling business was divided up across different 'territories' via each American state.  The vast majority of these territories combined under a governing banner in 1948 to form the National Wrestling Alliance.  This was pre-cable television - which would later help Vince McMahon's expansion in the 1980s - so each state had their own local TV coverage, thus became familir with local wrestling talent whom would perform in their area, both on the box and, most importantly, at the live events which the television shows promoted. The NWA territories would recognise one world heavyweight champion who would travel across the country and defend the gold against the top star of the territory he had arrived in.  This was important economically to the wrestling business as the challenger would've been a big draw for his regional box office, so ...

  My word. I got done watching The Room (2003) a fortnight ago and still haven't got over how bad it is. So when this beauty came up I figured I could do with another laugh anyway, so why not.  And yet, imagine my surprise when I discover that Tommy Wiseau from said classic-fame appeared in the 2015 'Cop' sequel.  Somebody could make it up, after all! The synopsis is San Diego policeman Joe, apparently trained in martial-arts swordfighting and fluent in Japanese, is drafted in to the LAPD to help take down an Oriental gang involved in drug activity.  Together with his wiseguy partner Frank, they become embroiled in a number of shoot-outs and physical combat with the aim to stop the posse's reign of terror.  Along the way Joe flexes his muscles both metaphorically and literally, taking part in some horrifically choreographed fight scenes and some cringeworthy female interaction that doesn't age well. From the opening credits, something feels off from a techni...