Reviews ...

Reviews

Chicago – Epic

Sometimes you just have to hand it to the mainstream. Chicago is a riot as a big glossy movie (although I can't vouch for the West End production starring some bloke from Eastenders). Kander and Ebb's songs are a sassy splash of satire, much more scathing and cynical than you might've inferred. Queen Latifah edges in among the Tinseltown divas, and numbers like "Razzle Dazzle" and "We Both Reached For The Gun" rasp with wit and pizzazz.

Entrance – The Kingdom Of Heaven Must Be Taken By Storm

Baltimore freak lets it all hang out

Stephen Jones – Almost Cured Of Sadness

Former Baby Bird man delves deeply into his love/hate relationship with television

Hank Williams – Come September

Portrait of a tragic country genius

Show Me The Money

Two CDs of remixes from the eternally bloody-minded Richard D James

TV Sinners

Schrader returns with lusty temptations of small-screen chancer

The Three Musketeers – The Four Musketeers

Dick Lester's faithful two-part version of Dumas' adventure tale has truly imaginative action sequences, a cracklingly witty screenplay by George MacDonald Fraser, swashbuckling heroes (Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay), OTT villains (Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee), a fantastic supporting cast (everyone from Charlton Heston to Spike Milligan) and a visibly huge budget. Wonderful stuff.

Kissing Jessica Stein

Riding the ever-popular straight-man-gay-world comedy wave (see Happy, Texas, Three To Tango, In And Out), debut writers, actors and co-producers Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen add a distaff twist with their tale of a bi-curious gallery manager and her impulsive fling with a neurotic Jewish copy editor. The lines are witty, the nods to Annie Hall ubiquitous, though the resolution is strangely conservative.

Yes—Yes Years

Yes Years chronicles the band's career from the late '60s through to their '90s reunion via two hours of archive footage and interviews. Greatest Video Hits is more focused and concentrates on the late '70s and '80s when Trevor Horn and Buggles bizarrely joined the line-up. It's easy to scorn Yes' pretension, but Yes Years reminds us that the early material at least boasted some great tunes.

Medium 21 – Killings From The Dial

Young English heirs to The Flaming Lips
Advertisement

Editor's Picks

Advertisement

PAgeskin