Reviews

Former trip hoppers broaden range

Skinny-tied power pop with a whiff of Mersey, Zombies and Chuck Berry

Hard times can't drag down the Zipper

Deeply disappointing follow-up to Gold, Uncut's 2001 album of the year

Lush, underappreciated gem from Simone's wilderness years

Overdue reappraisal of mid-'60s Monk

Tarantino's back. Crouching Uma, spurting stumps...

Metal vocalist's impressive horror debut

Young Adam's David MacKenzie makes an impressive directorial debut with this low-key but unpredictable thriller about two travellers who stumble across a strange community in the remote Scottish Highlands. It benefits from a nice mix of quirky humour and quiet menace, plus a sprinkling of the supernatural for good measure. Bleak, but still well worth the journey.

Potentially ridiculous premise about a cabal of gamblers who harness the power of, er, luck, is admirably sustained by gutsy turns from Leonardo Sbaraglia as a lucky plane crash survivor mentored by lucky earthquake survivor Eusebio Poncela in order to take revenge on casino owner and lucky holocaust survivor Max Von Sydow. Fractured narrative, arty mise-en-scène and punchy pacing from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo also help.