Reviews

From the brief heyday of the Czech new wave, Jiri Menzel's 1968 Oscar winner (Best Foreign Language Film) retains much bawdy charm and a bravely downbeat ending. A young railway station apprentice in a small town, oblivious to the climax of WWII, longs to get laid, finding relief with a comely Resistance fighter. More witty, imaginative and romantic than it sounds.

Possibly Mike Figgis' least-known film, this moody 1991 erotic mystery is like Stormy Monday set in Binghamton, NY. A writer visits his dying mother and uncovers secrets about a 30-year-old murder while shagging his friend's wife. It looks sexy, but the moodiness leads to tedium, and Kim Novak's heinously wasted.

Inflammatory debut from much-vaunted Detroit quintet

Recorded at shows in Verona, Naples and Rome, this is as close to a Morricone live album as we'll get (given he's in his late seventies). The maestro conducts a 90-piece orchestra and 100 vocalists through a dozen selections from his (over) 400 scores. It's as gorgeous as you'd expect. Beginning with, to this reviewer's ears, his finest work—Once Upon A Time In America—it lopes, veers and swoops through themes and purple passages from, among others, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Cinema Paradiso and Once Upon A Time In The West.

Electroclash doyen lost in hipster ghetto

Fresh out of jail, singing songs of freedom

Classic 1964 live recording, long revered by collectors, finally given official release

Harrison's six albums, recorded 1976-1992 on his own Dark Horse label, available individually with extra tracks and as a deluxe box set with bonus DVD

Muddled mainstream chiller from Mike Figgis

Underrated late John Wayne vehicle, a bracing 1971 western with The Duke, in formidable form, in hot pursuit of Richard Boone's gang of colourfully villainous and cheerfully murderous kidnappers. Surprisingly brutal, with Boone a fearsome presence and several very bloody shoot-outs. Much enjoyed by John Carpenter, who appropriated the "I thought you were dead" catchline for Escape From New York.