Elmore Leonard's first modern fiction novel was originally filmed in 1969 with Ryan O'Neal in the starring role. It flopped. This remake (directed by Miami Blues' George Armitage) fares no better; it drifts aimlessly, while Owen Wilson's small-time crook, drawn into a relationship with the thrill-seeking girl of a local property developer, never engages your feelings. Morgan Freeman, Charlie Sheen and Vinnie Jones co-star.
Already touted as the next big thing, this 26-year-old Idaho native retains the folk-country purr of first album Golden Age Of Radio, and there's an obvious debt to Dylan in the subtle phrasing. Mostly set to quietly rolling acoustic guitar—with Sam Kassirer's Hammond adding an Al Kooper-like undertow—Hello Starling casts Ritter in the same wry glow as early Jackson Browne or James Taylor. Celtic ballad "Kathleen" proves he's fully assimilated the traditional, and the lovely "Wings" was recently covered by Joan Baez.
Veteran Louisiana-born country-soulster runs the gamut of musical styles and moods on her daring and dazzling follow-up to 2001's critically lauded Essence
The first gig since Castlemorton to make front-page news, Fatboy Slim's massively over-attended 2002 beach-front hoedown was greeted as armaggedon by the Daily Mail but, as this film shows in fact consisted of a bald man in a Hawaiian shirt playing 19 records very loud. Watch 200,000 ecstatic bodies moving in unison to "Born Slippy", though, and you'll realise the Mail had a point. Goosebump-inducing.
DVD EXTRAS: Interview with and full commentary by Norman Cook, choice of playing the tracks in your own order.
