Ache

Written by Joel Schumacher, Car Wash traces a day in the life of the Dee-Luxe car wash in smoggy downtown LA circa 1976. Part blaxploitation comedy and part Altman-esque ensemble drama, the huge cast includes Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas and, in a brief cameo, Richard Pryor. Norman Whitfield's score is a trash classic, but the story's muddled and full of dated caricatures.

A soothing stroll down Germany's less travelled electro boulevards

Bizarre and beautiful trio of tragic love stories from Hana-Bi director

Memphis power pop is such an ever-expanding genre that Big Star's Alex Chilton, the godfather of the scene, must wish he'd taken out copyright. The Scruffs are one of several pre-Replacements acts who tapped into that antsy girls-on-my-mind mood and pursued the blend of melancholia with added rock'n'roll rush to a logical conclusion. Fronted by Stephen Burns, this second Scruffs album (recorded in 1978/9) contains band staples like "Go Faster", "Alice, Please Don't Go" and the post-Flamin' Groovies blood-letting of "Treachery".

Upbeat debut from Chicago-based four-piece

The reunited US college rockers get startling heavy at what may be their final UK appearance

Respected Texan troubadour's eighth album

Lee's lofty adaptation of gritty 24-hour crime novel takes on the shadows of 9/11

Brilliant comedy about snobbery and class, set in 1947: with food rationing (and the black market) still in operation, chiropodist Michael Palin and his piano teacher wife Maggie Smith discover the only way to climb the social ladder is to steal a pig. Great cast, but Alan Bennett's screenplay's the real star.

Ingenious, high-concept thriller sees Joel Schumacher back on top of his game