Reviews

Astonishingly mature debut from Britain's brainiest new singer-songwriter

Danny Elfman looks like winning big awards for Big Fish, his sumptuous score for Tim Burton's best film. His track record—Men In Black, Good Will Hunting, Spider-Man—suggests they might even decide it's his turn for an Oscar. Supporting his work here is a stream of era-evoking pop songs from Elvis ("All Shook Up"), Buddy Holly ("Everyday"), Bing Crosby, The Allman Brothers and Canned Heat. And—perhaps incongruously—a new Pearl Jam track, "Man Of The Hour".

Gilded, accessible sixth album from avant-rock stalwarts

Genesis and co get the remix treatment

Ninth studio album from underrated Atlanta twosome

Three-CD box lays claim to Ray's status as rock's first star

Brutally compelling study of human trafficking

The original Mamet movie, a bravura directorial debut and a punchy manifesto, 1987's...Games pits frigid psychologist Lindsay Crouse against louche confidence trickster Joe Mantegna in the eponymous Chicago poker joint. Crouse is intrigued, Mantegna applies the charm, but soon the cons escalate and, in true Mametian style, the line between 'shark' and 'mark' disintegrates.

From the brief heyday of the Czech new wave, Jiri Menzel's 1968 Oscar winner (Best Foreign Language Film) retains much bawdy charm and a bravely downbeat ending. A young railway station apprentice in a small town, oblivious to the climax of WWII, longs to get laid, finding relief with a comely Resistance fighter. More witty, imaginative and romantic than it sounds.

Possibly Mike Figgis' least-known film, this moody 1991 erotic mystery is like Stormy Monday set in Binghamton, NY. A writer visits his dying mother and uncovers secrets about a 30-year-old murder while shagging his friend's wife. It looks sexy, but the moodiness leads to tedium, and Kim Novak's heinously wasted.