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Joni Mitchell—Woman Of Heart And Mind

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It doesn't matter whether you're a fan. This study of Mitchell is a model of musical biography in DVD form. Over two hours we get her life story in perfectly matched words, music and images. The interviews with Mitchell are candid, the recollections from the likes of James Taylor, David Crosby and Graham Nash are fascinating, and the musical excerpts, which cover her entire career, are luminous.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a fan. This study of Mitchell is a model of musical biography in DVD form. Over two hours we get her life story in perfectly matched words, music and images. The interviews with Mitchell are candid, the recollections from the likes of James Taylor, David Crosby and Graham Nash are fascinating, and the musical excerpts, which cover her entire career, are luminous.

Who’s Been Talking?—Johnny Thunders In Concert

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Recorded during a series of gigs in Japan with his band The Oddballs two weeks before he died of a heroin overdose in April 1991, Who's Been Talking offers a voyeuristic insight into the twilight world of Thunders. Gaunt and deathly pale, the wonder is how he played at all, for he'd been immediately hospitalised on arrival in the country. He summons a chaotic-narcotic energy during a set of more than 20 songs. But there's a ghoulish irony to hearing him sing "Sad Vacation", his Sid Vicious tribute.

Recorded during a series of gigs in Japan with his band The Oddballs two weeks before he died of a heroin overdose in April 1991, Who’s Been Talking offers a voyeuristic insight into the twilight world of Thunders. Gaunt and deathly pale, the wonder is how he played at all, for he’d been immediately hospitalised on arrival in the country. He summons a chaotic-narcotic energy during a set of more than 20 songs. But there’s a ghoulish irony to hearing him sing “Sad Vacation”, his Sid Vicious tribute.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds—God Is In The House

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A booted and suited Cave looks disarmingly like a door-to-door evangelist in this live French show from 2001. The intensity of his earlier work has of late been tempered by a more pensive, hymn-like calm and it's the latter which is to the fore in a set that concentrates on the No More Shall We Part album. Yet it's older material such as "The Mercy Seat" and "Saint Huck" which provide most of the highlights.

A booted and suited Cave looks disarmingly like a door-to-door evangelist in this live French show from 2001. The intensity of his earlier work has of late been tempered by a more pensive, hymn-like calm and it’s the latter which is to the fore in a set that concentrates on the No More Shall We Part album. Yet it’s older material such as “The Mercy Seat” and “Saint Huck” which provide most of the highlights.

The Banger Sisters

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Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn ham it up energetically in this surprisingly perceptive, punchy comedy about where groupies go when younger rock chicks muscle them out. Hawn wants to keep headbanging in leather, Sarandon's primly settled in beige, Geoffrey Rush is a celibate writer caught in Goldie's slipstream. No more syrupy than Almost Famous.

Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn ham it up energetically in this surprisingly perceptive, punchy comedy about where groupies go when younger rock chicks muscle them out. Hawn wants to keep headbanging in leather, Sarandon’s primly settled in beige, Geoffrey Rush is a celibate writer caught in Goldie’s slipstream. No more syrupy than Almost Famous.

Orlando

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Sally Potter's supremely vivid take on Virginia Woolf's tale of a 400-year search for love and freedom. Tilda Swinton switches centuries and sex with enormous serenity, while Quentin Crisp proves an inspired Virgin Queen A visual feast with few equals.

Sally Potter’s supremely vivid take on Virginia Woolf’s tale of a 400-year search for love and freedom. Tilda Swinton switches centuries and sex with enormous serenity, while Quentin Crisp proves an inspired Virgin Queen A visual feast with few equals.

State Of Grace

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Rattle & Hum director Phil Joanou escaped the U2 camp to direct this uneven saga of Irish mobsters on the loose in early-'90s New York. Sean Penn makes for a reasonably authentic Oirish lead and Gary Oldman blows the roof off as an unwashed homicidal loon, but this sporadically brilliant flick belongs to Ed Harris. His incandescent performance as malevolent mob boss Frankie Flannery will stick in your head weeks after the credits roll.

Rattle & Hum director Phil Joanou escaped the U2 camp to direct this uneven saga of Irish mobsters on the loose in early-’90s New York. Sean Penn makes for a reasonably authentic Oirish lead and Gary Oldman blows the roof off as an unwashed homicidal loon, but this sporadically brilliant flick belongs to Ed Harris. His incandescent performance as malevolent mob boss Frankie Flannery will stick in your head weeks after the credits roll.

Chicago

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So it's a musical, it won many Oscars, and it's got Catherine Zeta-Jones in it. But that doesn't mean it sucks! Anything that's influenced by Bob Fosse is bound to have a dark undercurrent, and this crowd-pleasing tale of man-murdering molls and the common craving for publicity is witty and slick. R...

So it’s a musical, it won many Oscars, and it’s got Catherine Zeta-Jones in it. But that doesn’t mean it sucks! Anything that’s influenced by Bob Fosse is bound to have a dark undercurrent, and this crowd-pleasing tale of man-murdering molls and the common craving for publicity is witty and slick. Ren

Jesus Of Montreal

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Written and directed by the perennially underrated French-Canadian Denys Arcand, this engrossing 1989 fable sees Lothaire Bluteau as an actor playing Jesus who's caught up in conflict with the church. His problems begin to echo those of the Biblical Christ. Oscar-nominated, the dry, ironic style gives it a wry resonance more effective than any breast-beating.

Written and directed by the perennially underrated French-Canadian Denys Arcand, this engrossing 1989 fable sees Lothaire Bluteau as an actor playing Jesus who’s caught up in conflict with the church. His problems begin to echo those of the Biblical Christ. Oscar-nominated, the dry, ironic style gives it a wry resonance more effective than any breast-beating.

Near Dark

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"The night has its price," mysterious blonde Jenny Wright tells Adrian Pasdar's hapless Oklahoma farm boy before giving him a love bite and dragging him off on the road with her Mansonesque 'family' of white-trash serial-killer vampires?headed by a fantastic, dead-eyed Lance Henriksen. Kathryn Bigelow's genre-bending mix of horror, western and Southern gothic drags blood sucking into the modern world. One of the best horror movies of the last 20 years.

“The night has its price,” mysterious blonde Jenny Wright tells Adrian Pasdar’s hapless Oklahoma farm boy before giving him a love bite and dragging him off on the road with her Mansonesque ‘family’ of white-trash serial-killer vampires?headed by a fantastic, dead-eyed Lance Henriksen. Kathryn Bigelow’s genre-bending mix of horror, western and Southern gothic drags blood sucking into the modern world. One of the best horror movies of the last 20 years.

The Killer Elite

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Handsome widescreen digital transfer for one of Sam Peckinpah's most underestimated films, 1975's angrily prescient satire on corporate America, whose ultra-cool surface belies the roiling fury at its bleak and bitter heart. James Caan and Robert Duvall are cynical operatives for a San Francisco-based intelligence agency, doing jobs too dirty even for the CIA. Early on, Caan is crippled by gunfire in a bloody double-cross and 'retired' from the company. At which point, The Killer Elite becomes a meditation on familiar Peckinpah themes of loyalty, betrayal and revenge. Following Caan's long rehabilitation, the film's second half features a series of brilliantly filmed and edited set-pieces, including a Chinatown shoot-out, a dockyard face-off and a grand climax aboard a mothballed battleship in the US Navy's graveyard fleet in North Bay, where Caan and grizzled sidekicks Burt Young and Bo Hopkins take on a small army of ninja assassins.

Handsome widescreen digital transfer for one of Sam Peckinpah’s most underestimated films, 1975’s angrily prescient satire on corporate America, whose ultra-cool surface belies the roiling fury at its bleak and bitter heart. James Caan and Robert Duvall are cynical operatives for a San Francisco-based intelligence agency, doing jobs too dirty even for the CIA. Early on, Caan is crippled by gunfire in a bloody double-cross and ‘retired’ from the company. At which point, The Killer Elite becomes a meditation on familiar Peckinpah themes of loyalty, betrayal and revenge.

Following Caan’s long rehabilitation, the film’s second half features a series of brilliantly filmed and edited set-pieces, including a Chinatown shoot-out, a dockyard face-off and a grand climax aboard a mothballed battleship in the US Navy’s graveyard fleet in North Bay, where Caan and grizzled sidekicks Burt Young and Bo Hopkins take on a small army of ninja assassins.

Bad Lieutenant

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Abel Ferrara's excoriating study of how a man wallowing in his own filth at rock bottom finds the way to salvation. In an utterly naked performance as the corrupt, drug-addled, self-loathing New York cop unwillingly turned around by the rape of a nun, a desperately committed Harvey Keitel goes all the way. Then keeps going.

Abel Ferrara’s excoriating study of how a man wallowing in his own filth at rock bottom finds the way to salvation. In an utterly naked performance as the corrupt, drug-addled, self-loathing New York cop unwillingly turned around by the rape of a nun, a desperately committed Harvey Keitel goes all the way. Then keeps going.

Undercover Brother

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Funnier than it has any right to be (and co-written by the Austin Powers chaps), this gives Eddie Griffin a chance to shine as a superhero who's "funky, sexy and proud to be black". A cross between Shaft and James Brown (who cameos), he'll save the world from The Man as long as it doesn't mess with his afro. Denise Richards distracts him as White She Devil. Get on up.

Funnier than it has any right to be (and co-written by the Austin Powers chaps), this gives Eddie Griffin a chance to shine as a superhero who’s “funky, sexy and proud to be black”. A cross between Shaft and James Brown (who cameos), he’ll save the world from The Man as long as it doesn’t mess with his afro. Denise Richards distracts him as White She Devil. Get on up.

Tape – Chelsea Walls

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Two Ethan Hawke films. In Richard Linklater's Tape, Hawke's a drop-out, returned to his home town to confront arty high-flier Robert Sean Leonard over old girlfriend Uma Thurman. Confined to Hawke's motel room, it's a pressure cooker. Hawke directs the digitally-shot Chelsea Walls, set in the timeless New York hangout. A good attempt at apeing the kind of meandering independent movie that appeared in the late '60s?but just as trying. Great cast of chums, though, notably Little Jimmy Scott (singing "Jealous Guy") and Kris Kristofferson (trying to be Hemingway).

Two Ethan Hawke films. In Richard Linklater’s Tape, Hawke’s a drop-out, returned to his home town to confront arty high-flier Robert Sean Leonard over old girlfriend Uma Thurman. Confined to Hawke’s motel room, it’s a pressure cooker.

Hawke directs the digitally-shot Chelsea Walls, set in the timeless New York hangout. A good attempt at apeing the kind of meandering independent movie that appeared in the late ’60s?but just as trying. Great cast of chums, though, notably Little Jimmy Scott (singing “Jealous Guy”) and Kris Kristofferson (trying to be Hemingway).

Solaris

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Shaving a hefty 75 minutes off Tarkovsky's original (and ponderous) 1972 sci-fi classic, director/writer/cinematographer/editor Steven Soderbergh delivers a tight, punchy fable about a crippled space station, a glowing planet, a terrified crew, a lonely psychiatrist (Clooney) and the memories of loss that bind them together. The moods here are both melancholic and thought provoking, while Soderbergh regular Cliff Martinez's lightly tintinnabulating score is utterly beguiling.

Shaving a hefty 75 minutes off Tarkovsky’s original (and ponderous) 1972 sci-fi classic, director/writer/cinematographer/editor Steven Soderbergh delivers a tight, punchy fable about a crippled space station, a glowing planet, a terrified crew, a lonely psychiatrist (Clooney) and the memories of loss that bind them together. The moods here are both melancholic and thought provoking, while Soderbergh regular Cliff Martinez’s lightly tintinnabulating score is utterly beguiling.

Bleeder

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Though opening with a rocking Trainspotting-style intro and plenty of Tarantino-type cult film buffery, Bleeder gradually morphs into a truly horrifying psychodrama. Kim Bodnia delivers a stunning performance as reluctant dad-to-be Leo whose frustration begins a cycle of sickening abuse and ingeniously cruel revenge on the grim and seedy streets of Denmark.

Though opening with a rocking Trainspotting-style intro and plenty of Tarantino-type cult film buffery, Bleeder gradually morphs into a truly horrifying psychodrama. Kim Bodnia delivers a stunning performance as reluctant dad-to-be Leo whose frustration begins a cycle of sickening abuse and ingeniously cruel revenge on the grim and seedy streets of Denmark.

City By The Sea

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Inexplicably coolly reviewed, this Michael Caton-Jones thriller boasts Robert De Niro's best performance in years. As a New York detective estranged from his son, he's distraught when his boy (James Franco) is prime suspect in a case he's breaking. Frances McDormand's excellent as Bob's girlfriend; Long island is a lost Atlantis. A fine film. DVD EXTRAS: Commentaries by writer and producer, Caton-Jones short Mark Of A Murderer.Rating Star

Inexplicably coolly reviewed, this Michael Caton-Jones thriller boasts Robert De Niro’s best performance in years. As a New York detective estranged from his son, he’s distraught when his boy (James Franco) is prime suspect in a case he’s breaking. Frances McDormand’s excellent as Bob’s girlfriend; Long island is a lost Atlantis. A fine film.

DVD EXTRAS: Commentaries by writer and producer, Caton-Jones short Mark Of A Murderer.Rating Star

Spider

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Depressing study in madness, memory and murder from David Cronenberg, with Ralph Fiennes, recently released from a mental institution, setting up home in a halfway hostel in London's East End close to where he grew up, and the scene of a massive childhood trauma. Despite some typically creepy Cronenberg moments and universally impressive performances, the plot's predictable, and the relentless bleakness wears after a while.

Depressing study in madness, memory and murder from David Cronenberg, with Ralph Fiennes, recently released from a mental institution, setting up home in a halfway hostel in London’s East End close to where he grew up, and the scene of a massive childhood trauma. Despite some typically creepy Cronenberg moments and universally impressive performances, the plot’s predictable, and the relentless bleakness wears after a while.

About Schmidt

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In Alexander Payne's wickedly mordant satire, newly-retired Warren Schmidt is forced to acknowledge the sheer empty horror of a wasted life that has left him with a ghastly marriage to someone he no longer recognises as the woman he fell in love with, a neurotic daughter who's about to marry an hilariously useless water bed salesman and a past he can't remember because in all the years now behind him he did little of merit and nothing of note. Dysfunctional families are currently all the rage, but About Schmidt has a dark individuality and coruscating comic edge that makes it uniquely compelling. As the titular Schmidt, Jack Nicholson is by turns baffled, angry, lost, fearful and, finally, heartbreaking. Among the excellent supporting cast: Hope Davis as Schmidt's daughter, Dermot Mulroney as her gormless boyfriend and the great Kathy Bates as his outrageously doting hippie mother.

In Alexander Payne’s wickedly mordant satire, newly-retired Warren Schmidt is forced to acknowledge the sheer empty horror of a wasted life that has left him with a ghastly marriage to someone he no longer recognises as the woman he fell in love with, a neurotic daughter who’s about to marry an hilariously useless water bed salesman and a past he can’t remember because in all the years now behind him he did little of merit and nothing of note.

Dysfunctional families are currently all the rage, but About Schmidt has a dark individuality and coruscating comic edge that makes it uniquely compelling. As the titular Schmidt, Jack Nicholson is by turns baffled, angry, lost, fearful and, finally, heartbreaking. Among the excellent supporting cast: Hope Davis as Schmidt’s daughter, Dermot Mulroney as her gormless boyfriend and the great Kathy Bates as his outrageously doting hippie mother.

Short Cuts

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Madman or genius? Both sides of Lee "Scratch" Perry are on display in the recent interview and live performances captured on In Concert?The Ultimate Alien SECRET FILMS . For a brief time, Gene were hailed as the best of "the new Smiths" and looked set to lead the Britpop class of '95. Rising For Sun...

Madman or genius? Both sides of Lee “Scratch” Perry are on display in the recent interview and live performances captured on In Concert?The Ultimate Alien SECRET FILMSRating Star . For a brief time, Gene were hailed as the best of “the new Smiths” and looked set to lead the Britpop class of ’95. Rising For Sunset SNAPPERRating Star is the DVD of a live album of the same name, and is a bittersweet reminder of what might have been. Yet it fails to explain why they turned out to be such underachievers. Are Ocean Colour Scene the world’s most boring band? The videos and live tracks on Filmed From The Front Row UNIVERSALRating Star offer supporting evidence. But it’s the 40-minute interview with Gary Crowley that provides the proof. Two-tone fans will rejoice over The Selecter?Live From London SECRET FILMSRating Star , although it’s not the band in their early-’80s heyday but a more recent performance. Never mind, for Pauline Black still sounds sexier than Gwen Stefani. Recorded on the same night at the same venue, there’s more classic ska from Desmond Dekker on Israelites?Live In London SECRET FILMSRating Star . Compiled by sometime Uncut contributor Paul Morley, Stuck In The Middle?15 Classic ’70s Videos UNCUT DVDRating Star is an enjoyable if incoherent mish-mash of the decade that ranges from 10cc and Sparks to The Boomtown Rats. Take the likes of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Stephen Stills and stick them in a disused west London factory for two days in 1969 to jam with Roland Kirk, Buddy Guy and the Modern Jazz Quartet and what do you get? A bloody mess if Supershow?The Last Great Jam Of The 60s EAGLE VISIONRating Star is anything to go by. Historic, perhaps. But no wonder the tapes have sat on the shelf till now. BB King?Blues Summit Concert UNIVERSALRating Star finds the great man in fine form back in 1992, duetting with Ruth Brown, Robert Cray, Albert Collins, Lowell Fulsom, Buddy Guy and Irma Thomas. Sin

Welcome To The Jungle

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In these post-cold War days, it's easy to forget just how contentious The Deer Hunter once seemed. The film caused a huge outcry at the Berlin Festival, where the Soviet delegates complained, "The heroic people of Vietnam are insulted, something which is particularly impermissible now at a time when...

In these post-cold War days, it’s easy to forget just how contentious The Deer Hunter once seemed. The film caused a huge outcry at the Berlin Festival, where the Soviet delegates complained, “The heroic people of Vietnam are insulted, something which is particularly impermissible now at a time when the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is being subjected to barbaric aggression from China and is fighting a just battle for its freedom and its independence.” When the festival refused to withdraw the film from its programme, most of the Eastern bloc countries walked out. Back in Britain, the film was pilloried by John Pilger in the New Statesman. He accused Cimino of “sifting the ashes of one of history’s most documented atrocities in order to repackage it and resell it as a Hollywood smash that will make them fortunes”.

Politics, though, were never uppermost in Cimino’s mind. He wanted to show the effect the war had on his protagonists?three small-town, Pennsylvanian steel workers who had the misfortune to be thrust into it. From their perspective, it was a hellish experience. Even so, Michael (De Niro), Steven (Savage) and Nick (Walken) don’t question why they’ve been sent to Vietnam. Late in the film, when the old friends sing “God Bless America”, there’s no sense of sarcasm or anger.

Certain sequences are macho and simple-minded. Whether seen on the hilltops hunting deer or jumping off a helicopter, De Niro’s character sometimes behaves like a blue-collar answer to Nietzsche’s Superman. The moment midway through a game of Russian roulette when he turns the gun on his sadistic captors and frees his two friends wouldn’t look out of place in a Rambo movie. “A hunter… a friend… a leader… a soldier… a hero… a man,” was how the studio publicity described Michael. But De Niro is far too thoughtful an actor to lapse into clich