Dustbowl Disco: For anyone who was nostalgic for 80s and 90s indie music, but also disappointed by that genre's general lack of Mariachi trumpets, Merseyside's Red Rum Club have arrived at last. Debut album Matador offers ten artfully crafted rock songs, all of them intriguingly augmented with the under-appreciated brass instrument. This isn't pure gimmick.… Continue reading Red Rum Club – Matador
Author: James Robinson
Vice
REVIEW: Veep Pies – Christian Bale beefs up his gut but nothing else in this thin political satire that is hitting screens ten years too late . Maybe their job offers got mixed up in the post, because it seems like a real missed opportunity that Christian Bale didn’t pile on the pounds to… Continue reading Vice
Mary Queen of Scots
REVIEW: The Queen's Nose: The cast are upstaged by their own make-up in this soapy historical melodrama from theatre-director Josie Rourke. The pedants have had a field day picking holes in Mary Queen of Scots, a revisionist take on the famous 16th Century rivalry between British monarchs. With its lavish vistas of dramatic Scottish countryside… Continue reading Mary Queen of Scots
Stan & Ollie
REVIEW: A fine mess – Stan & Ollie struggle to capture the old magic in John S Baird’s gloomy recreation of their early 1950s tour of Britain & Ireland. It seems to be the fate of all dead comedians, if they are remembered at all, to be remembered for their failures. Stan & Ollie is… Continue reading Stan & Ollie
The Favourite
REVIEW: Greek absurdist Yorgos Lanthimos makes a characteristically idiosyncratic push for the mainstream in this bizarre period comedy Compared to Yorgos Lanthimos' dystopian previous films, which include The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, it might seem at first that by swerving into that most genteel of genres, the period comedy, the usually… Continue reading The Favourite
The Last Waltz
The Sixties sink into the abyss in Scorsese's seminal concert film: It’s a common refrain of the serial gig-goer, particularly among those who were around in the 1960s and 70s: 'you had to be there, maaaaan.’ Although probably nothing could match the experience of having a ticket to the Band’s legendary farewell concert on Thanksgiving… Continue reading The Last Waltz
A Northern Soul
Bringing the Beats Bus to Brexit Britain: A Northern Soul opens on the faces of a group of primary school kids in Hull. Off-screen we hear their teacher introducing a special guest: a man has come to teach them how to write songs. The kids stare at him wide-eyed, stunned to be in the presence… Continue reading A Northern Soul
Items I Have Pushed Up My Bum – by Ernest Hemingway
IGUANA The Iguana is a truly noble lizard. Only lizards are truly noble, just as only man is truly brave and just as the bravest men are bullfighters. Juanito Bonjela was a fine bullfighter and a fine man. He was entertaining me in the Cafe Royal after an afternoon with the bulls in Salamanca.… Continue reading Items I Have Pushed Up My Bum – by Ernest Hemingway
The Pessimist’s Guide to Online Dating
It’s up for debate whether the internet has made dating more like applying for a job or applying for a job more like dating, but nowadays both involve seeing something you like, putting a lot of thought into an application and then not receiving any response. But relationships, like jobs, are a necessary evil, and… Continue reading The Pessimist’s Guide to Online Dating
New Music August/September
The latest short reviews setting the UK's regional press on fire: Black Delta Movement Preservation 8/10 Anyone with an ear for honest-to-God rock’n’roll won’t fail to be knocked sideways by this infectious collection of barnstormers. Of the many influences worn brazenly on the Hull-based group's sleeves, there’s a clear Jesus & Mary Chain/… Continue reading New Music August/September
James JW Robinson 