Reviews

Intensely felt melodrama collides with saccharine world view in this tale of an Irish immigrant family who attempt to begin life anew in an '80s Manhattan filled with friendly junkies and hackneyed racial stereotypes (see Djimon Hounsou's savage-but-wise African artist). Top performances from Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton are undercut by director Jim Sheridan's squishy screenplay.

Andre 3000 and Big Boi's early clips are superior but fairly routine 'hood dramas, all booty calls and gaudy pimpmobiles. But around their ATLiens album, the day-glo psychedelic X Files wig-outs begin creeping in, reaching a peak in the sexofunkatronic freakerama of "Bombs Over Baghdad". Also lushly cinematic is the stormy Deep South pastoral of "Ms Jackson" and, of course, the multiple Andres of last year's super-catchy retro-futurist soul fantasia "Hey Ya". Pure pop genius.

Debut from Norah Jones' former band, with obligatory guest appearance

Fiercely cerebral Radiohead-loving jazz star kicks back

Marvellous second album of irresistible Anglophile strangeness from Albuquerque oddballs

Debut from Elvis Costello-endorsed Liverpudlian

As with most supergroups, Air Force roared in tight and punchy and staggered out again sprawling and paunchy—and not a little junk sick. When it blows its stacks, this album is very, very good. Harold McNair and Chris Wood are on blistering form on flutes and saxes, and the presence of Graham Bond brings more than a little holy magick to the table, particularly on "Early In The Morning" and "Aiko Biaye".

Familiar US Thanksgiving fare in digicam style

A silent classic from the halcyon days of German expressionism, Der Letze Mann is FW Murnau's dreamlike melodrama of hubris—a big-budget 1924 masterpiece of light, shadow and set design. Restored to a crispness that's worthy of '40s film noir, it stars Emil Jannings as a shambling, walruslike doorman who's demoted to the hotel lavatories. Slow and emotionally laboured but fluid and spectacular to watch.

Slow-burning, eventually gripping Canadian study of gambling addiction starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. His bank clerk commits massive fraud to fund high-roller trips to Vegas and Atlantic City, while girlfriend Minnie Driver's left in the dark. As comeuppance looms nearer, Hoffman's a junkie for one more roll of the dice. Well worth a flutter.