Reviews

Former frontman of Avalanche and Ennui does it his way

Three varieties of harmonic, overdriven bliss from the West Coast and Maryland

Proto-US hardcore from Jello Biafra and gang

Ill-starred, Badfinger's final album before guitarist/vocalist Pete Ham's suicide was designed to annoy. Made in 1975, it finally saw the light of day in 2000. Given the nature of "Hey, Mr Manager", "Rock'n'Roll Contract" and "Savile Row", the Welsh power poppers practically signed their own death warrant. Creatively, Head First reeks of insecurity and shifting tastes within, but its archly melodic, cynical elements could strike a chord with Super Furry Animals types. A period piece with added demos, this is the tarnished gilt on the '70s mirror.

30th-anniversary reissue for Julian Cope-inspiring prog classic

Clive Donner's 1963 version of Harold Pinter's debut is a faithful, relatively unaltered record of a trio of stunning stage performances from Alan Bates, Robert Shaw and particularly Donald Pleasence (as the splenetic tramp who takes advantage of the mentally crippled Shaw). Four decades on, you can see Mamet's starting point in the furious inarticulateness of Pinter's characters, each trapped in an unobtainable dream.

After a biological warfare research lab goes tits up when a virus gets loose, plucky security guard Milla Jovovich has to fight off hordes of the living dead in this fast-paced adaptation of the video game. No faulting the SFX or the action, but all the dialogue here is irritatingly clunky exposition, and the plot lies somewhere between predictable and brain-dead.

Keanu Reeves stars in this dismally formulaic affair as an inveterate gambler given one last shot at personal redemption when he's asked to coach a baseball team made up of apathetic no-hoper inner-city hard nuts. Based on a true story.

The Weitz brother's adaptation of Nick Hornby's bestseller can't help falling into the sugary-sweet Notting Hill trap. Hugh Grant's genuinely impressive as responsibility-free Will, who strikes up an unlikely friendship with weird 12-year-old Marcus and his troubled hippie mum. It's crucial that the brat isn't annoying: but boy, he is. Hornby's jokes and Badly Drawn Boy's songs add some edge.

Agent 00 soul, licensed to thrill