The Room Brings Down the House - Hyde Park Picture House - 22/10/2011

An air of excitement hangs over a crowd of students gathered around the entrance of Hyde Park Picture House. Expectant faces burst into wide grins as talk turns to the film they are about to see. Favourite scenes, quotes and characters are discussed lovingly, laughter bouncing noisily off the houses lining the adjacent Queens Road. The atmosphere could be compared to that of a smash-hit blockbuster, an Oscar contender or an old Hollywood classic, but the late-night feature this sell-out crowd have gathered to see at Leeds’ premier art-house cinema is none of those. As Andy Moore, the 24 year old film administrator at Hyde Park Picture House, says, Tommy Wiseau's The Room is: "probably one of the worst films ever made and yet every time we show it tickets fly out of the door.”

Little Fish – “Wonderful” (Single) Review

Wonderful is the new single from Oxford three-piece Little Fish. It is a bold and powerful song sung with gusto by frontwoman Julia Sophie Heslop, known to her fans as Juju, whose hoarse, low vocal in the verses renders us unprepared for the hurricane of a chorus on the horizon. Indeed, it is her flexible vocal range that makes Wonderful so mighty.

Beirut – “Santa Fe” (Single) Review

Uplifting, inspiring, additive: Beirut’s latest single Santa Fe is all of those things and more. It is one of those late summer songs that force us to recollect the last few months, sigh sadly and wish we had just a few more playful days in the sun before winter creeps in. Not that Santa Fe is a sad song, in fact it is the very opposite, but whether it means to or not it does manage to press the right buttons when it comes to reminiscing about the sun-soaked days of yesteryear.

Andy Burrows – “If I Had A Heart” (Single) Review

Sometimes it’s brilliant to be surprised, and this single from Andy Burrows is a truly welcome one. The former Razorlight drummer and I Am Arrows frontman seems to be on a mission to prove his worth as a songwriter and this little gem does nothing but add weight to that objective. If I Had A Heart is a great pop song, albeit a sad, reflective one - but aren’t they sometimes the best, and the most accessible?

The Loving Palms – "Runaway" (Single) Review

The casual listener could be forgiven for assuming that Runaway, the latest single released by The Loving Palms, was written and recorded on some sunny coast of Hawaii, but look a little closer at the liner notes and you’ll find that this eclectic, lazily-cool tune was forged in a decidedly chillier collaboration between Yorkshire, Scotland and, thanks to sublime slide guitar playing courtesy of Christine Bougie, Canada.   

Miles Kane – “Colour of the Trap” Album Review

Miles Kane is a productive lad. In only a short few years he’s gone from playing guitar in The Little Flames to piloting The Rascals, collaborating with Arctic Monkeys, and co-fronting The Last Shadow Puppets with best mate Alex Turner. It’s safe to say that Miles Kane has his fingers in a number of musical pies.

Stereogum Presents..."A Tribute to Is This It" Album Review

It’s hard to believe that ten years have passed since the release of The Strokes’ debut album Is This It. A surge of great singles in the early noughties from bands like The White Stripes, The Hives and The Coral saw indie guitar pop re-enter the public consciousness in a way not seen since the mid-nineties, but there was one group scaling the heights of popularity like no other. They were The Strokes, five immaculately dishevelled New Yorkers armed with an arsenal of instant pop classics.

Crystal Stilts – “In Love with Oblivion” Album Review

Brooding Brooklyn-based quintuplet Crystal Stilts made waves in 2008 with their debut album Alight of Night. The group attracted acclaim from critics who complimented their downbeat lyrical subject matter, brusque guitar sound and reverb-heavy production. But not everyone was convinced of the group’s modest greatness, with some critics condemning the band for borrowing too heavily from classic lo-fi bands such as The Velvet Underground and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Futurama – Season Six – Episode One: “Rebirth” Review

Futurama’s return to UK screens was something of a mixed bag.

Shameless U.S. – Season One –Episode Five: “Three Boys” Review

What a relief it was to find Shameless U.S. back on top form this week. After last week’s average outing, Veronica’s fake wedding and Frank’s health scare at the doctor’s resulted in a welcome return to Aunt Ginger levels of quality entertainment.

Dexter - Season Five – Episode Six: “Everything Is Illumenated” Review

Season five finally found its feet with Everything Is Illumenated, and didn’t it feel good to be back in the midst of a genuinely gripping chapter of Dexter Morgan’s story? Not since My Bad have the stakes felt so high. That episode had audiences screaming at their screens with frustration as Dexter’s reaction to Rita’s death threatened to expose his secret life. Everything Is Illumenated teased fans of the show like no episode has before and it was exactly what we’ve been craving for since the season began.

Falling Skies – Season One – Episode Three: “Prisoner of War” Review

Tom’s determination to rescue his son increases tenfold after he discovers that the harnessed children are performing manual labour for the Skitters, zombie-like and grassy-eyed. Back at camp, the arrival of a doctor claiming to be able to safely remove the harnesses from the children brings fresh hope to the survivors but he needs a subject to perform the risky new procedure on.

Carnivale - Season One - Episode Three: "Tipton" Review

Carnivale rolls into Tipton, Missouri this week but Samson and the gang’s arrival in town isn’t appreciated by the local sheriff. Elsewhere, Brother Justin is making progress with Chin’s, but a complication with the building threatens to ruin the preacher’s plans for his new church.

Dexter – Season Five – Episode Five: “First Blood” Review

Dexter’s attempts to persuade Lumen to return home are met with granite-like resistance from the troubled young woman, but her presence in Miami is a distraction Dexter can do without and her departure becomes his top priority.

Shameless U.S. – Season One – Episode Four: “Casey Casden” Review

It was disappointing to find that the writers of Shameless U.S. had chosen to rehash the plot of an old UK episode again this week. The series took a huge, progressive leap forward with the surprisingly original Aunt Ginger, and although Casey Casden was still highly watchable, this near-exact recreation of the original UK episode stirred up an unwanted feeling of déjà vu.

Falling Skies – Season One – Episode Two: “The Armory” Review

The Armory was a big improvement over last week’s Live and Learn. Although the alien presence in this series is undeniably intriguing, The Armory benefitted from a concentration on the humans in Falling Skies’ story, which was a relief after the less than favourable first impression left by the survivors in episode one. For the first time, there was an air of validity to their situation, something which had felt missing previously.

Carnivale – Season One – Episode One: “Milfay” and Episode Two: “After the Ball is Over” Review

For viewers with a penchant for brooding mystery, look no further than Sky Atlantic’s Carnivale to give you your fix. Set in the 1930s, the show follows two threads of corresponding storyline: the path of Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown) who is convinced that God has bestowed upon him His designs for mankind and the journey of young chain gang fugitive Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl) as he adapts to life as a carnival roustabout. These opening episodes provide us with enough enigmatic characters and situations to satisfy even the most stubborn of mystery lovers, and those who are already hooked will agree that the rabbit hole is destined only to go deeper.

Dexter – Season Five – Episode Four: “Beauty and the Beast” Review

Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) has almost always had things under control. He is the king of cool when it comes to tricky situations and no matter how close to being exposed he has come, Dexter has always recovered, and usually with style. But that all changed when he came into contact with Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow), a man with thirty years experience in the act of murder.  He should have been Dexter’s prized kill and for about an hour he was, but, that all changed when Dexter found his wife, Rita (Julie Benz), in a bath of her own blood, murdered by Mitchell hours before Dexter took his opportunity to add Trinity to his blood slide collection.

Shameless U.S. – Season One – Episode Three: “Aunt Ginger” Review

There was a very strong feeling of real grit and soul in this third episode of Shameless U.S.  Aunt Ginger was the first time the series has felt truly authentic, like we were watching a real family with real troubles and problems. This being a comedy, the underlying tongue-in-cheek qualities of the first two episodes continued to wash over the drama, but we now seem to have settled into the world of the Gallagher family; we aren’t simply watching actors caricaturing their U.K counterparts anymore.

Falling Skies – Episode One – "Live and Learn" Review

The opening scenes of Live and Learn, the first episode in FX’s new alien invasion series Falling Skies, were exciting and well executed. Children narrate their tales of the invasion, which has seen mass devastation across the globe, while painting pictures of their experiences. We pan out to reveal a child who confesses that he doesn’t know whether his dad is dead or not. “Where is he?” asks the woman looking after him. “He’s fighting,” he replies. Cut to an explosive opening sequence.  We see the state of things since the aliens invaded, we see the aliens themselves, we see explosions and we see death. It’s fantastic stuff which sets high expectations for what’s to come, which is why it came as such a disappointment that the majority of the rest of the episode was fairly mediocre.

Spartacus: "Gods of the Arena" - Episode Three - Paterfamilias

Paterfamilias finally introduced us to Quintus Batiatus’ father Titus, and the old man’s return to Capua sends shockwaves through the ludus.

Spartacus: “Gods of the Arena” - Episode Two: Missio Review

An exciting, excellently-plotted second episode of Gods of the Arena ended with possibly the most gut-wrenching moment in the Spartacus saga. Shocked and repulsed, we watched as, for the entertainment of a high-powered magistrate, Gannicus was forced to have sex with Melitta, the wife of his best friend, Oenomaus.

Spartacus: “Gods of the Arena” - Episode One: Past Transgressions Review

The world of gladiatorial bloodsport returned to UK television screens this week with Starz's prequel series to its acclaimed Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Gods of the Arena, debuting on Sky1. As a huge fan of Blood and Sand, I have been anticipating a return to the ludus for some time and was not disappointed by the blood-soaked hour of television that followed.

The Strokes - 'Angles' Album Review

It is inevitable that The Strokes' latest offering, Angles, will be picked apart by critics and fans alike who can't accept that the band's sound has evolved since Is This It. Which is a shame because Angles is a fantastic record.

An Adventure Worth Taking - 'Adventure' - Television Review

Television's second album, Adventure, was released just one year after the critical success of their debut, Marquee Moon, and marks a notable change in musical direction for the four-piece. The New Yorkers were at the forefront of the 'New Wave' musical movement prominent in the late 70s and much anticipation surrounded the release of their second album.

The Flint Street Nativity Review

Christmas: capable of conjuring nostalgic memories dating as far back as first school. We all remember the school nativity where seemingly strong friendships were destroyed over who would be cast as Joseph and Mary and who would be sentenced to play the donkey. The nerve-shattering anticipation of appearing on stage could reduce even the most confident child to a jelly-kneed pant wetter and the less said about the crushing disappointment of being rebuffed beneath the mistletoe the better. Ah Christmas, such a time of joy.

The Coral Live at the o2 Academy, Leeds (14/10/2010)

The Coral are back in Leeds and they're stripped to their bare bones in terms of line-up. At 5 members, they are visually a far cry away from the days when their group consisted of multiple percussionists and Bill Ryder Jones (the band's original guitarist who left in 2008). The same can't be said for the music. The Coral sound as strong and as band member-heavy as ever.

Wide Awake For The Big Sleep - 'The Big Sleep' - Raymond Chandler Book Review

A mystery novel with more twists and turns than a side winder snake slithering through the desert, Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep not only introduced the world to the iconic private investigator Philip Marlowe, but to the author himself whose influence still resonates and grows today.

See The Ghost - 'The Ghost' Review

Watching Roman Polanski's The Ghost, I had a mild feeling of déjà vu. I felt as though I had already seen some of the film's themes explored elsewhere. Polanski's1976 psychological thriller The Tenant darkly explored what it would be like to fill someone else's shoes, to such an extent that you eventually become them.

Networking Its Magic - 'Social Network' Review

It must be an odd sensation to see yourself played on the big screen. In the wrong hands you could appear to be pompous, arrogant, and nasty. But the right actor or actress could elevate your status to near-saintly levels of adulation.

Hard To Hate: 'Viva Hate' - Morrissey Review

Morrissey's debut solo album, Viva Hate, opens with the former Smiths frontman begging his listeners "were you and he lovers?" over a murky soundscape of snaking guitar, moody bass and industrial drum rolls.

Mad Men Season 1 (DVD Review)

"Who is in there?" When Betty Draper poses this question to her sleeping husband she is echoing the thoughts of every person watching the first season of AMC's Mad Men. ...Just who is Donald Draper?

'Aguirre: The Wrath Of God' Review

Based loosely on historical fact, Werner Herzog's Aguirre: the Wrath of God is a very special piece of cinema. As the credits roll you'll be left feeling like you've just watched something quite spectacular.