Reviews

The Brothers McMullen

This made Edward Burns' name as an actor-writer-director when it won Sundance back in '95 on a matchstick budget. He plays one of three Irish-American siblings trying to understand each other and the women in their lives. Straight-talking, romantic yet unsentimental, it's the kind of comedy we wish Woody Allen still made. Or, for that matter, Burns himself.

Starsky And Hutch

After all the talk of paying tribute to original 1970s cops David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson throw out any genuine resemblance to those freewheeling dudes and simply take the piss for 90 minutes. There are some canny gags and clever pastiches of buddy-movie clichés, but they give up on it halfway through and just cruise camply.

Slow Dazzle

Treasure-trove of dirge and lullaby over three CDs and one DVD

Altered States Of America

By 1967, rock'n'roll's voracious appetite for new sounds had drawn it unexpectedly close to another countercultural phenomenon: the classical avant-garde. John Cale, a former student of LaMonte Young, was introducing minimalist drone to The Velvet Underground. Paul McCartney was becoming diverted by the musique concrète and collagist techniques that would eventually result in "Revolution 9".

Pop Artless

Typically unadorned, quirky new album from cult hero

Ron Sexsmith – Retriever

Seventh outing from Toronto troub, with Ed Harcourt on piano

Phil Manzanera – 6PM

Master guitarist with all-star guests

Two Brothers

Twin tigers star in coming-of-age parable

Support Your Local Sheriff – Support Your Local Gunfighter

Amiable comedy westerns starring James Garner, from 1969 and 1971. In the first he brings order to a lawless gold-rush town; in the second he's a conman passing off his sidekick (Jack Elam) as a deadly gunslinger. Both are droll delights, with amazing supporting casts that include Bruce Dern and Walter Brennan

Five Minutes To Live

Johnny Cash is the criminal holding a banker's wife to ransom in this extraordinarily low-budget 1961 B-flick. Originally christened Door-To-Door Maniac, Cash is only too convincing as its eponymous gun-waving psycho, a-leerin' and a-sneerin' and even a-singin' the title tune. Look out, too, for an absurdly young Ron Happy Days Howard as the irksome brat who saves the day.
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