Reviews

Various Artists – Sound System Rockers: Kingston Town 1969-1975

Golden age of Bunny Lee-tinged rockers make perfect hot weather music

Reborn In The USA

Hollywood remake borrows names and Minis but that's all

The Daytrippers

The promising 1996 debut by Greg Mottola, The Daytrippers is the epitome of early-'90s Sundance syndrome, where fulsome character and sharp dialogue take precedence over narrative logic. Thus, on the whim of daughter Eliza (Hope Davis), the entire Malone family (including indie queen Parker Posey) take an entertaining but essentially unjustifiable day trip to Manhattan.

Alice’s Restaurant

Arthur Penn's follow-up to Bonnie And Clyde, based on Arlo Guthrie's blues hit about his arrest for littering and how it led to him being rejected for service in Vietnam. Penn's movie follows Guthrie as he wanders the US from draft board to college to commune, providing a time capsule of the dreams and rituals of late-'60s drop-out America; and one that, with its lingeringly downbeat ending, now looks prescient.

The Color Purple

Lengthy adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about poor black folk in Georgia during the first half of the 20th century was Spielberg's first 'serious' film. The territory is admittedly dark (incest, domestic violence) and, despite its faults, it succeeds thanks to visual skill and a sterling cast led by Whoopi Goldberg.

Fountains Of Wayne – Welcome Interstate Managers

Disappointing return for literate New York quartet

Eva Cassidy – American Tune

Sixth posthumous release for Songbird star

Dopplereffekt – Linear Accelerator

Magnificent machine symphonies from shadowy electro boffins

Un-Cut – The Un-Calculated Some

Manc trio's pick'n'mix of urban music

Frank Black And The Catholics – Show Me Your Tears

"Thirteen big, salty tears," blurbs Black. "Like 13 little black dogs just born... ready to howl at the world"
Advertisement

Editor's Picks

Advertisement