Reviews

Two full German performances from 1976 and 1977, with the master craftsman showing how it's done on acoustic, slide and electric guitars. Caught in his prime, we see him play early favourites—"Pistol Slapper Blues" "Banker's Blues" and "Messin' With The Kid"—alongside later fare usually found on his compilations. And the rock'n'roll jam with a woozy Frankie Miller is deliciously informal.

Leftfield kindergarten singalongs, amazingly

Sumptuous debut from Liverpool octet

Magnificent evocation of life beyond Detroit Rock City

Hip Bard meets Hard Bop on soundtrack

Definitive comp of Windy City vocal-group soulsters beloved of Tony Soprano

The Coens trash an Ealing masterpiece. Thanks, fellas

Affectionate, often very funny Christopher Guest comedy that gently sends up the American folk scene that Dylan fiercely put paid to. It's no Spinal Tap and probably not as hilariously fresh as Best In Show, but Guest and his familiar repertory company—co-writer Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Catherine O'Hara and Parker Posey among them—turn in typically irresistible performances.

This charming but thoroughly odd film from 1970 sees Richard Harris play John Morgan, an eccentric British aristocrat kidnapped by the Sioux in the American Wild West in the early 19th century. Reflecting the liberal concerns of the time, the film is meticulous in its re-creation of Indian customs, particularly the gruesome Sun Vow initiation.

Harold Becker's tale of US Military School cadets squaring up against greedy property developers stars Timothy Hutton and a youthful Sean Penn and Tom Cruise. It's a faintly ludicrous story that works thanks to Becker's understated direction and three strong leading performances, made all the more interesting when you consider that a post-breakthrough Penn and Cruise would have been cast the other way round. Here, Cruise is the hothead and Penn the conscience-stricken man of reason.