Reviews

Three-CD volume of rare cheater stomp and big noise from Waimea

Third helping of Robert Rodriguez's cod-western guns-and-girls saga

Charting the life of a disfigured Peruvian child

Based on a John Cheever story, this 1968 movie stars Burt Lancaster as a seemingly prosperous and urbane middle-aged man who decides to swim back to his suburban house via all the pools in the neighbourhood. But his journey turns out to be an exposé of his personal downfall. An enigmatic meditation on the American Dream, marred only by a couple of hazy, slo-mo scenes that radiate '60s naffness.

Rowdy late John Ford comedy starring John Wayne and Lee Marvin as Guns Donovan and Boats Gilhooley, brawling Navy veterans who stay on in the South Pacific after the war against the Japanese ("bad, black days"). Contemporary audiences will probably find it crude, noisy and rambling—but it's ravishingly shot, and beneath the slapstick there's a sharp satire on class, race and friendship.

A career highpoint for director Michael Caton-Jones, This Boy's Life also provides one of Robert De Niro's most memorably mannered performances as the parochial bullying stepdad to Leonardo DiCaprio's teen protagonist. With his seething Fargo accent and petty pronouncements ("I know a thing or two about a thing or two!"), he's always fascinating, even when the movie isn't.

Focused and cohesive melodic rock

Silk Degrees man makes obligatory homage to great American songbook

Third album from NYC-based trio

Six CDs of live Runt, previously only available as Japanese imports