Arts & Entertainment Reviews
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Jim O'Rourke: Simple Songs
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
On Simple Songs it’s very much a case of having one eye on a wryly lyrical pop song whilst the other is on a big studio sound. -
Shamir: Ratchet
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
Shamir’s outsized but sweet personality is the perfect antidote to the faceless house divas that have populated the world of electronic music for so long. -
Mad Max: Fury Road
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
When it comes to seeing this Big Action Movie, you should check your expectations at the door, because it’s nowhere near as dumb as you might think. -
The Tallest Man on Earth: Dark Bird Is Home
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
The good news is that while Dark Bird Is Home similar in sound to its predecessor, it shows a better sense of balance. -
Torres: Sprinter
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
This second album takes the blueprint of the first - bruised, searingly honest rock and roll - and adds new textures and bold experiments that make it an improvement in every way. -
Alabama Shakes: Sound & Color
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
Compared to many of their rock contemporaries, Alabama Shakes are on another level entirely. Sound & Color suggests that they know and that they’re fully prepared to make the most of it. -
Forest Falls: Hounds EP
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
You might think that Melbourne band Forest Falls are just another group of out-of-time folkies, but refreshingly there is a lot more to the band’s sound than just acoustic guitars and pretty harmonies. -
Blur: The Magic Whip
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
This record is no retread or attempt to recapture the sound of that band's glory days. -
Speedy Ortiz: Foil Deer
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
Foil Deer is engaging, fascinating and actually quite original, but maybe next time a little bit of restraint wouldn’t go astray. -
While We're Young
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
While We're Young is a smart and funny piece of comedy-drama with a slightly subversive edge that often recalls prime Woody Allen. -
The Age of Adaline
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
The Age of Adaline, stars Blake Lively who remains 29 years old for almost eight decades. When she falls in love she questions if she should stop running. -
Waxahatchee: Ivy Tripp
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
Waxahatchee's third album Ivy Tripp is uneven and impenetrable, but still has moments of greatness. -
It Follows
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
In a genre beset by remakes and tired concepts, It Follows is well and truly a breath of fresh air. -
Testament of Youth
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
It almost seems impossible to argue that this film adaption by screenwriter Juliette Towhidi and director James Kent could be narratively flawed - it's a true story, after all - but adapting a story like this for the screen is not simply a matter of transposing, but retelling. -
Black Sea
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
The film stays true to its thriller heritage with suspenseful music and tense standoffs but loses the audience with its predictability. -
Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
Now, those who have now been waiting ten years for a "proper" follow up to the massively acclaimed and still brilliant Illinois finally have it. -
The One Day of the Year
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
With the 100th anniversary of the Anzac campaign coming up next month, the revival of The One Day of the Year feels vital. -
Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
Courtney Barnett's debut full-length album is, to date, the most pristine representation of her enormous talents. -
Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
Not content to rest on his laurels, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly is a major political and personal statement from an artist with a lot to say. -
Samba
Arts & Entertainment Reviews
Although the opening scene of Samba begins with dancing in a grand hotel, in this joyous French film Samba is the name of the central character, an undocumented immigrant in Paris and the scene soon moves through the hotel, into the kitchen, past …