Thug life

Hagiography of gangsta rap's most potent icon

Excellent documentary examines a lost chapter from the dawn of hip-hop

Though it lacked a clear favourite in the official competition selection, and offered some weaker entries in the rival Critics Week and Directors Fortnight sections, this year's Cannes Film Festival still delivered some interesting movies. Nothing blew anyone away, mind -- which would have been tricky after last year's amazing 60th anniversary celebrations. But there was confirmation that the newer wave of Cannes discoveries were following up on early promise (Belgium's Dardenne brothers and Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan both scored on awards night, with script and directing gongs respectively). Indeed, the field was so wide open that even the favourite to win, the Israeli animated doc Waltz With Bashir, didn't drop too many jaws when it not only failed to win the Palme D'Or but anything at all. Instead, top-dog honours went to The Class by Laurence Cantet, a superb fly-on-the-wall drama about a teacher coming to terms with his downtrodden students.

And shared "Rio Song"

Death puts the Men in Black in sombre, elegiac mood.

Fifth LP in two years from the mysterious London soul collective

Glorious grooves on long-awaited double-header

Isolation, consumption and Eton are the targets of the abrasive post-punk duo’s latest LP

Last of the vault-rummaging trilogy put together by Eddie Kramer, John McDermott and Janie Hendrix

Fine aural companion to 2013 memoir of the same name