This beautiful documentary by Jeff Feuerzeig focuses on the much missed cult singer songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston, a sensitive and thoughtful portrait of a troubled, gifted soul. Although the director takes a linear, somewhat conventional approach to Johnston’s life, he was absolutely unique, whether drawing comics and painting, or creating his beautiful, brittle music.Continue reading “Overlooked Classics: The Devil and Daniel Johnston”
Category Archives: Review
Film Review: Nope (2022)
When siblings O J and Emerald (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) inherit their father’s horse wrangling business following his tragic death, they are also forced to confront bizarre, ectoplasmic alien entities coming from the clouds, threatening earth’s very existence. What to do? Film it, or it didn’t happen, and put it on ‘Oprah’. They are,Continue reading “Film Review: Nope (2022)”
Album Review: Model/Actriz- Pirouette
This simply has to be one of the best albums of the year. A mash up of so many exciting elements: the dancefloor burn of mid-noughties American artists like LCD Soundsystem; wild experimentation of no wave and sheer filth of glam at its sleaziest. It’s night time music for seduction or moving under neon lights.Continue reading “Album Review: Model/Actriz- Pirouette”
Film Review: The Favourite
Ooh, Yorgos Lanthimos and your batshit, genre -defying film oeuvre. Part Peter Greenaway, part Blackadder, The Favourite is another bonkers example of why his work resonates with so many people. Olivia Coleman is Queen Anne, the bratty, capricious monarch whose devotion only extends as far as her collection of rabbits. People mostly deserve contempt, andContinue reading “Film Review: The Favourite”
Film Review: Maisie
There’s a certain kind of Drag on the UK that doesn’t involve death drops and pole dancing. Instead, it falls within the pantomime, vaudeville theatre and cabaret tradition: think singing the songs from A Chorus Line, rather than lip syncing to Lady Gaga. Lee Cooper ‘s warm and low-key film offers the exemplar of thisContinue reading “Film Review: Maisie”
Film Review: A Complete Unknown
Another year, another music biopic about a problematic genius. James Mangold has of course got previous with Walk The Line. A Complete Unknown isn’t much of a departure from the Johnny Cash film, as it’s also a good character study. Here, the truculent rebel is one Bob Dylan, right at the start of his career.Continue reading “Film Review: A Complete Unknown”
Album Review: LA Witch- DOGGOD
Los Angeles trio LA Witch have been casting sonic spells since their debut album, which came out eight years ago.. Since then, their reputation as a formidable live act has endured. Their doomy, punkish music is as tender as a bruise. This “don’t mess” badass swagger sees them frequently getting a comparison to fellow SuicideContinue reading “Album Review: LA Witch- DOGGOD”
Film Review: The Public Image Is Rotten (2017)
Director Tarrbert Fiiller’s documentary on Public Image Ltd. is downbeat, insightful and strangely touching, poking at the open wounds involved when working alongside the inimitable John Lydon. With rare access to interviews with the imp himself, plus ex-band members like Keith Levene, Allan Dias and Martin Atkins, it’s more intimate and candid than your average,Continue reading “Film Review: The Public Image Is Rotten (2017)”
TV Review: The Traitors US (SERIES 3)
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes”, purrs the ever-iconic Alan Cumming, with that famously impish smirk. Good to see that theatre training be put to good use, the Shakespeare quotes coming thick and fast as the host sashays around Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands. This is where he presides,Continue reading “TV Review: The Traitors US (SERIES 3)”
Film Review: Queendom
Times are truly appalling. With the Orange Menace having been sworn in as president of the United States yesterday, cosying up to tech billionaires and hellbent on promoting “only two genders”, this fascinating, deeply moving documentary film from Agniya Galdanova is a reminder of how art can flourish in the wake of capitalist greed andContinue reading “Film Review: Queendom”