Reviews

A future greatest hits compilation from the hip hop producers with the keys to the kingdom

Second wave hip hop pioneers, unfairly best known for donating a little bit of that hip to Aerosmith

Excellent debut in style of Hartley or Labute

Insane collision of thriller and farce, with a kidnapping plot played at volume 11 and cast by a person on amyl. Kevin Bacon and Courtney Love are the bad couple, Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend the goodies. Charlize attacks Kev with a scalpel hidden down her knickers, but is still less raving bonkers than Courtney. Gloriously dreadful.

Terry Gilliam's epic 1991 fable has both admirers and detractors: it now seems ambitious, unique and charming. The superb Jeff Bridges is a burned-out DJ who's at first irritated then revitalised by oddball visionary tramp Robin Williams and his hallucinatory Arthurian quests. The latter's hyper-babbling (like the director's flourishes) holds because Bridges is so magnificently solid and believable.

Cracking old-school account of the Norwegian resistance's WWII attempts to destroy the Nazi factory responsible for developing Germany's atom bomb. Rousingly directed by Anthony Mann with the visual sweep typical of all his later productions (EI Cid, the first hour of Spartacus). Watch out for the curious sight of Kirk Douglas, in his prime here, acting brooding hambone Richard Harris off the screen.

Belfast cowboy hitches his wagon to legendary jazz label

More cabaret from non-stop electro-neurotics

Down-home comeback by Alabama maverick. Little Feat's Bill Payne guests

Laptop's third album is a synthetic joy from beginning to end. Continuing in the arch electropop vein of Opening Credits and The Old Me Vs The New You, Jesse Hartman's latest illustrates his ability to transcend simple '80s pastiche armed with a world-weary baritone and a clutch of untouchably sexy tunes. With deadpan voiceover and deluded romanticism, the Oakey-cokey melodrama of "Let Yourself Go" is both funny and moving, while "Back In The Picture" and "Testimonial #6" display lurching, Bowie-esque brilliance.