Reviews

Bullet The Blue Sky

Return to form for Costner, who directs and co-stars in brutal, blazing western

Pale Horse And Rider – Moody Pike

Brooklynite Jon DeRosa's outfit are deceptive. At face value, PHAR offer little more than a sad shuffle, the odd cracked waltz and scattered flurries of noise. But give it time and these trampled-heart melodies burrow under the skin. Last year's Uncut-endorsed These Are The New Good Times was DeRosa's stoned-slacker take on slo-mo country mores, but here he broadens the palette with the addition of Low collaborator Marc Gartman as co-songwriter and ex-Mercury Rev pedal-steeler Gerald Menke.

Shaun Of The Dead – Island

Not only a Brit comedy that's funny, but an indie-pop soundtrack that's in good taste. Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" and "You're My Best Friend" are here to ensure nobody thinks this is XFM, but otherwise I Monster, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Ash do it for the kids. Grandmaster Flash and Man Parrish do it for the kids with rhythm. Lemon Jelly do it for the parents. The Smiths and The Specials do it for us all. And Ash teaming up with Chris Martin to cover Buzzcocks' "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" is surely done with good intentions and a sense of humour.

Sixtoo – Chewing On Glass & Other Miracle Cures

Latest from sometime Buck 65 sidekick

The Concretes

Smart pop from eight-strong collective of Swedish waifs and strays

The Fall – 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong

Noble attempt to shrink three decades of excellence onto two CDs

Taking Lives

Enjoyable, suspenseful thriller starring Angelina Jolie

The Saddest Music In The World

Curious dreamlike quest for songs, legs and beer

Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

The 1932 and 1941 adaptations of Stevenson's landmark work of horror fiction on one disc. The earlier movie finds director Rouben Mamoulian going heavy on the claustrophobic atmosphere and sexual undercurrents with Frederic Marsh on Oscar-winning form as the doctor and his bestial alter ego. The later version teams Spencer Tracy (transformed via a bad wig and bushy eyebrows) with Ingrid Bergman (putting on an appalling cockney accent). Enough said.

Inherit The Wind

Bafflingly shite title belies one of the great courtroom flicks of all time. A 1960 Stanley Kramer classic based on the true story of a Hillsboro professor arrested for teaching "God-bashing" Darwinism, it features effortless turns from Spencer Tracy and Fredric March as the duelling lawyers, some able support from a de-cheesed Gene Kelly, and a script bristling with one-liners.
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