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Reviews

Pollock

Years of Ed Harris' life went into realising this biopic of action painter Jackson Pollock. As director, he's workmanlike, though he does catch the exhilaration of the artist at work. As star, he's superb, avoiding clichés to present Pollock as troubled, selfish and unsympathetic. Oscar-winning Marcia Gay Harden and Jennifer Connelly give layered support. DVD EXTRAS: Commentary from Ed Harris, deleted scenes, Making Of... featurette, Ed Harris interview, filmographies and trailer. Rating Star

The Sum Of All Fears

As Tom Clancy's square-jawed CIA hero Jack Ryan, Ben Affleck's the only man on earth who can prevent terrorists from sparking nuclear showdown between the US and Russia. Not even solid support from Morgan Freeman and Alan Bates can inject life into this dead-on-arrival Cold War throwback. DVD EXTRAS: Commentaries from director, cinematographer and Clancy, documentaries and trailer. Rating Star

Melys – Casting Pearls

Welsh Peel favourites make slight return

Pilot To Gunner – Games At High Speeds

UK release for US emo-rockers 2001 debut

Asian Dub Foundation – Enemy Of The Enemy

ADF have expanded their line-up and brought in Adrian Sherwood as executive producer. However, their energy and principles are the same as those that infused and undergirded 2000's Community Music. Asylum-seekers, post-September 11 politics and the optimism engendered by ADF's contacts with cells of cultural resistance are covered here, with an angry gusto drawn from punk, dub, techno and bhangra.

Tony Romanello – Counting Stars

Paisley meets flannel in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Raveonettes – Whip It On

Danish duo's debut garage-rock blast

Zwan – Mary Star Of The Sea

Ex-Smashing Pumpkin man teams up with David Pajo, formerly of Slint

Blue Orchids

Reissue of rarities, live stuff, Peel sessions, plus unreleased 1993 album

Gil Scott-Heron And Brian Jackson – Winter In America

Introspective seasonal offering from black poet-singer and collaborating pianist
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