Reviews

Like Damien Jurado or David Ackles, Toronto's Rutledge is a master of gothic understatement. This wintry debut—shrouded in slow-tempo melancholy—is slyly addictive. Against spare backdrops of folk-country guitars, mandolin, piano and the odd banjo, Rutledge sounds weathered beyond his twentysomething years. An array of talent is on hand, not least of which is the reclusive Mary Margaret O'Hara (woefully underused on just one track, "A Letter To Heather"). Otherwise, Rutledge judges the balance perfectly.

Irish-born singer's impressive solo debut

Charmless Gallic prank-fest falls flat on its ass

Sam Fuller's explosive pulp classic, a red-menace thriller, pitched near hysteria from start to finish. Richard Widmark's lone-wolf pickpocket winds up caught between the Feds and the Reds when he unwittingly lifts stolen microfilm from Jean Peters, a hooker being used as a courier by a Soviet spy ring. Thelma Ritter's loveable stool-pigeon suffers one of the great movie deaths. Definitive Fuller, definitive noir.

Directed at mercilessly cool, wickedly tense pace by René Clément, the original 1960 French adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley pisses from on high all over the Anthony Minghella remake. As Ripley, the ambiguous sociophobe planning to steal dissolute playboy Maurice Ronet's life in a blazing Mediterranean, Alain Delon has never looked so much like a saint made of ice. Delon versus Matt Damon? Where's the contest?

A decade ago, Heather Nova burst forth as a kind of female Jeff Buckley. She's never quite fulfilled the promise but is a hugely popular live act. Her understated backing band are superb, but it's her soaring vocals that grab the attention at this show dating from September 2003, which concentrates mainly on material from her most recent album, Storm, and suggests she's toned down some of her earlier jagged edges.

Germany's industrial music pioneers at their most uncompromising, from 1980-1982

The '80s albums which made them the most successful duo in US chart history

Halifax, Nova Scotia's answer to The Beach Boys

Enjoyable debut by 'female Dizzee'