Reviews

Utterly predictable slapstick-laden festive fare as Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) prepares to spend an old-fashioned non-stop domestic disaster of a Christmas with his extended family (including Randy Quaid and an extremely young Juliette Lewis). If you'd like to see Mr Chase being hit repeatedly over the head, this could be the movie for you.

From 1992, good guy Brad Pitt and bad guy Gabriel Byrne are transported to another dimension (which just happens to be a Ralph Bakshi cartoon) where they vie for the affections of an animated version of Kim Basinger. It's Roger Rabbit without the jokes: dumb, dull, dire, and a criminal waste of money.

William Friedkin's original was dazzling, intelligent and scary; John Boorman's train wreck of a sequel is none of the above. Richard Burton is at his hammiest as the priest investigating the death of Father Merrin at the end of the first movie, Louise Fletcher plays Regan's psychiatrist, and the screenplay is one of the worst ever committed to paper. Avoid.

Marvellous third album from Swedish jazz trio

Affectionate Emmylou Harris tribute from her former guitarist

It could have been so different. Back in 1988, Weatherall and Paul Oakenfold were at the cutting edge, dancing like loons in fields to Italian piano riffs and speeded-up Soul II Soul beats.

Blood-curdling rock'n'roll oddities

Shane's grinning Death Angel and his (fairly good) Nashville country album

Three lessons in future-beat history

Bleak British comedy from Dogme defectors is brave and affecting