Positive Movie Reviews ( robincock )
Eraserhead, David Lynch
" Menstruating chickens, big hair, freudian nightmares and a deformed lady in a radiator encouraging you to top yourself. Good movie! "
An American Werewolf In London, John Landis
" "If there was a monster roaming around northern england, I'm sure we'd've seen it on the telly". Gets funny/scary mix perfect. "
The Vanishing (spoorloos), Georges Sluizer
" Clammy, unforgettably bleak dutch psycho thriller whose villain epitomises banality of evil. Ending is stuff of nightmares. AVOID HOLLYWOOD REMAKE! "
Zodiac, David Fincher
" Fincher's most overlooked. Elegant, meticulous police procedural based on real 70s Zodiac killer case. Long, complex, painstakingly detailed, totally engrossing. "
Dog Day Afternoon, Sidney Lumet
" Feel the heat in sweaty, kinetic heist gone wrong classic. Pacino manic and tragic as gay bank robber. Great collars! "
Midnight Run, Martin Brest
" Forget Fockers gurning, this is De Niro's best comic performance. A foul-mouthed, brilliantly scripted, tightly plotted action comedy to die for. "
Sideways, Alexander Payne
" Bittersweet, odd couple road trip. Sometimes desperately sad, frequently hilarious. Great script; mid life ennui caught and bottled to perfection. "
The Mist, Frank Darabont
" Perfect survival horror/folks under siege Steven King adaptation. Bleakest ending ever. Why is this not more famous? Pisses over Green Mile! "
Mad Max 2, George Miller
" Real stunts, razor boomerangs, unmatchable car chases, real leather chaps; masterclass in filming and editing action. Ridiculously entertaining Aussie Apocalypse mayhem. "
Cries And Whispers, Ingmar Bergman
" My first Bergman. Thanks Film Four! Emotionally intense, penetrating, flashback-driven tale of sisterly dysfunction, madness, guilt, death. Brilliant but quite exhausting! "
127 Hours, Danny Boyle
" As with Trainspotting and Slumdog, Boyle makes depths of human suffering look like SHINY EXCITING POP VIDEO! Undeniably entertaining stuff though. "
Red Cliff, John Woo
" Breathtaking epic from action-meister. Chinese legend brought to life in visceral, staggeringly choreographed battle scenes from chopsocky to large-scale mayhem. "
Winter's Bone, Debra Granik
" Insular, meth-cookin' hillbillies prevent resourceful teen from finding runaway dad/saving family home. Bleak, atmospheric drama tinged with moments of crepuscular gothic. "
Positive Album Reviews ( robincock )
Suck It And See, Arctic Monkeys
" Turner bemoaned lack of romance in debut. Here he provides it in wordy swooning indiepop gems. Another departure. Another classic. "
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Neutral Milk Hotel
" Genuinely bizarre, strangely affecting indie folk is kaleidoscopic feverdream of lyrical weirdness and naked emotion. Mumfords-listen, weep and quit. "
Berlin, Lou Reed
" Back when Lou could sing he made this bleak, cinematic concept masterpiece about a very dysfunctional relationship. Scary, beautiful and sad. "
Lisbon, The Walkmen
" Best known for 'The Rat' now on 5th album of tears/beer desperation and catharsis. "Angela Surf City" is incredible song "
Yuck, Yuck
" Yes, it's derivative of Dinosaur Jnr/Sonic Youth etc, but they look great and it sounds amazing with cider and sunshine. "
Be Your Own Pet, Be Your Own Pet
" 100 mph bubblegum cartoon punk, like Karen O after 5 Red Bulls. Song "october, first account" provides beauty among the buzz. "
This Is Happening, LCD Soundsystem
" James Murphy's jaded hipster sad sack dance music gets big dose of Bowie. One Touch and Pow Pow particularly great. "
Catholic Boy, The Jim Carroll Band
" Basketball Diaries author made incredible literate punk sleaze album in 1980. Like Lou Reed and Richard Hell had a baby. "
Hallowed Ground, Violent Femmes
" Creepy, baptist-preacher hillbilly punk-folk. Singer Gano walks line of wide eyed innocent and dangerous stalker. Sacred and profane in equal measure. "
The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths
" Their freshest, jangliest, most arch lacks darkness of debut and Meat/Murder, but brings down monarchy with raised eyebrow and killer tunes. "
Meat Is Murder, The Smiths
" Songs fixated/repulsed by violence; in schools, fairgrounds, family homes and abattoirs. Morrissey rails and laments while Marr discovers incredible new noises. "
The Smiths, The Smiths
" Open wound, torn from diary debut brings morbidity, crippling awkwardness, self loathing and songs about child abuse to the masses. Result! "
Strangeways Here We Come, The Smiths
" Morrissey stops yodelling and debuts his guttural growl in eclectic, ambitious swansong. We won't see their like again, please don't reform! "
Ys, Joanna Newsom
" Like nothing else. Really. Lyrically astonishing, musically intoxicating, inexplicably moving, like medieval beat poetry sung by a sexy harp-playing heartbroken fairy. "
In The Air, The Handsome Family
" Odd couple Gothic country melancholy, like Johnny Cash in the Addams Family mansion. A Beautiful Thing is indeed a beautiful thing. "
A Wizard, A True Star, Todd Rundgren
" Hyperactive 70s prog/pop/psychedelic one man band nutcase makes attention deficit lunatic space rock. Still sounds weirdly modern and utterly bonkers. "
Vulnerabilia, My Computer
" Like peering into the dark, tortured, guilty heart of drug-dealing Manc wastrel and finding soulful electronic epiphany. Criminally overlooked album. "
Heartbreaker, Ryan Adams
" Probably his best. Dylanesque, Neil Youngesque, intimate, booze soaked, late night country melancholy heartbreak. Crack open the bourbon, drink to forget. "
Gallowsbird's Bark, The Fiery Furnaces
" First album from oddball Friedberger siblings. Wonky-pop travelogues, bluesy verbose shanties and drinking songs. Eccentric, charming, musically adventurous, ramshackle and wonderful. "
Love And Theft, Bob Dylan
" For my money the best of Bob's recent purple patch. Like an old man deliriously giggling through his dusty record collection. "
Jake In A Box (best Of), Jake Thackray
" Is it just me? I love this guy! Tongue twisting Yorkshire troubadour created wonderful world of sad and frustrated melancholy silliness. "
The Glasgow School, Orange Juice
" Brilliant singles/b-sides comp from the original purveyors of fey, arch, self-depracating. jangly indie. Smiths, Belle and Sebastion... It all starts here. "
Choochtown, Hamell On Trial
" Like a one man punk band Bill Hicks/Lou Reed/Raymond Chandler hybrid this is hilarious, adrenaline fuelled, pulp classic of an album "
Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits
" Swaggering, staggering, soused, (barely) stand(ing) up, jazzy, snazzy, snickering, sentimental, story-spinning, suburb-hankering, city-slicking, seersucker-suit wearing motherfucker of an album. "
Goats Head Soup, Rolling Stones
" Arse end of their invincible period and all more fascinating for it. 100 Years Ago and ilk unloved gems. Rediscover now! "
Down In Albion, Babyshambles
" Ramshackle, unstructured, chaotic...what would you expect? Instinctive, romantic verve and rock's bona fide dark stuff rattle through these messy tracks. "
Rattlesnakes, Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
" Erudite young Scot, armed with Cohenesque wit and box of Penguin Classics, made perfect bittersweet janglepop bedsitter-blues. Ready to be heartbroken? "
D, White Denim
" Dozen-directions-at-once, psychedelia, prog, Texas boogie. Throw into big pot and stir with a load of weed and sunshine. Et voila! "
Take No Prisoners (live), Lou Reed
" Amazing live album-Reed hilariously confrontational. "Me political? Show me an issue and I'll show you a tissue and wipe my ass!" "
Separation Sunday, The Hold Steady
" Lapsed Catholicism, casual drug abuse, redemption through hedonism, BIG guitars and a man barking fucked-up aphoristic comedy gems into your ear. "
The Sophtware Slump, Grandaddy
" Sweetly tripping through cosmic indie Americana territory, this is a beautiful album of wistful technophobia, lazy falsetto and perfect chord changes. "
Chavez Ravine, Ry Cooder
" Utterly compelling concept album about a Mexican LA suburb in the 50s. Cooder unearths sights, sounds, smells. The whole funky shebang! "
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, The Kinks
" Nostalgia for bucolic neverland from writer tired of churning out hits and barely in mid 20s. Every song a miniature gem. "
The Soft Bulletin, The Flaming Lips
" The Lips turn existential angst into dreamlike disney pop. Strings, drum machines, weird noises, creeping mortality and excess of joy weeping. "
The Madcap Laughs, Syd Barrett
" Legend aside, something here seems touched by genuine, unfiltered strangeness. Playful, tortured, raw, childlike, charming, terrifying. Often in one song. "
Distortion, The Magnetic Fields
" Feedback-drenched sophisti-pop from the urbane and witty Mr Merritt. Like the Jesus and Mary Chain mud wrestling Rufus Wainwright. Nice! "
Cripple Crow, Devendra Banhart
" Warbling like hippy-era Bolan this is sprawling, loose, has room for camp-fire singalongs and weird spooked-Spanish-folk. Unleash your inner freak. "
Smoke Ring For My Halo, Kurt Vile
" Intricate finger-picking folk guitar meets slacker fuzz-rock. Vile's vocals are heavy-lidded, shoulder-shrugging and wry though sound like he means it. "
Strange Mercy, St Vincent
" Catchy and infectious, like a disease; oddball pop with tiny diva playing paint-stripping guitar, weird keyboards, fever-dream lyrics. Pretty damn good. "
Bang Bang Rock And Roll, Art Brut
" Hilarious edge-of-hysteria, spoken word, loser confessionals and ironic manifestos over spiky guitar-wallop indie-punk from cut-price Jarvis, the wonderfully monickered Eddie Argos. "
The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers
" Jonathan Richman's nervy, nasal, suburban geek persona beguiles on this perfect missing link between Velvets and modern indie. Recorded in 1972! "
Heart Food, Judee Sill
" Crystal-voiced hippy mystic delivers hymnal, transcendental hangover music. 'The Kiss' searches for, and finds, elusive heart-swelling, lump-in-throat perfect chord changes. "
No Wicked Heart Shall Prosper, Selfish Cunt
" Controversy-courting titles, hilariously unradio-friendly name,spluttering drum machines, slashing punk riffs, Swiftian state of nation satirical horrorshow lyrics. What's not to like? "
Happiness In Magazines, Graham Coxon
" Criminally underlooked gem from Blur's stripey-topped geek guitar god. 12 indie powerpop treats perfectly balanced between hedonism and morning after blues. "
Arula, M.I.A
" Currently flipping the finger at the Superbowl, MIAs debut is exhilaratingly gobby, world-music infused, sloganeering hip-hop. Strummer would have loved her. "
Blue Jam, Chris Morris
" Ambient soundscapes slither around queasily disturbing blacker than black comedy weirdness from One True Dark Lord of British comedy. Respect! "
Blue Jam, Chris Morris
" Had to put Suicide journalist on because it's genius. However, here's an example of where Morris strays closer to the knuckle. "
Red Roses For Me, The Pogues
" Clattering and raw, this album introduced MacGowan's drunk-savant. At the height of New Romanticism, a true romantic. Listen to pissed. "
Tonight's The Night, Neil Young
" Wrecked and road-weary 3am vibes from an elegantly wasted, hollow eyed sounding Young, making a beautiful noise from gutter to stars "
The Straight Story, Angelo Badalamenti
" Heart swelling soundtrack to David Lynch's (only) gentle movie. Evokes nostalgia for places listener may never have been but feels nonetheless. "
Tenderness Junction, The Fugs
" Original untamed 60s beatniks, poets and freaks mix stoner jokes, radical politics and seeming obsession with wet dreams and spunk. Insane. "
Rabbit Fur Coat, Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
" Lyrically sparkling hipster-country. You want to perch on a bar stool with this woman drinking and arm wrestling to these tunes! "
