Like everyone, I'm prone to enthuse how utterly electric the jiggling phenomenon known as Beyoncé is. Yet the honeymoon's expiring, and those first doubts are creeping in. She is mutating into Mariah Carey, or, worse, Tina Turner. She does one magic single, then we turn a blind eye to three rubbish ones. She has the cold eyes of a mugger. She has another film out, and is tapping into the profitable gospel market.
Also released this month...
Shining like a beacon in the depressing pre-Christmas landscape of mouldy old video collections and dodgy concert films is Jane's Addiction's Three Days SANCTUARY
Filmed by Carter Smith and Kevin Ford on the band's 1997 Relapse tour, it's a fully-realised piece of rock cinema that dramatically transcends the limitations of your average tour documentary.
The 2003 Oscar-winner as Best Foreign Language Film, this sees a German-Jewish family flee to a farm in Kenya to escape the rise of Nazism. Naturally, problems abound as the rural life turns tough, relationships disintegrate, locusts swarm and so do anti-Semites. Viewed through a child's eyes, the importance of each event is intensified, making for a visually impressive and emotionally testing experience.