Almost twenty years after American film critic Roger Ebert gave a powerful kick-start to Steve James’ nascent career by declaring his wonderful documentary ‘Hoop Dreams’ as “one of the best films about American life I have ever seen”, James had… Continue Reading
Award-winning director Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters) has turned his hand to biography in his latest film ‘Life Itself’, a powerful and touching portrait of late American film critic Roger Ebert. To celebrate the film’s DVD release on 23rd… Continue Reading
Song: Eight Miles HighArtist: The ByrdsYear: 1966 With its droning twelve string guitars, hypnotic basslines and overall vibe of lysergic eeriness, ‘Eight Miles High’ is widely regarded as the very first bona fide psychedelic rock song. Though also dubbed as… Continue Reading
Released on Moshi Moshi Records: 16th February Plugging away within the shadows of cult indie rock obscurity for over sixteen years now, Leicestershire trio The Wave Pictures’ marriage of tuneful tweeness and quirky lyrical minutiae has seen them gradually emerge… Continue Reading
Song: In Dreams (Re-record)Artist: Roy OrbisonYear: 1987 While the majority of early rock and rollers were concerned with projecting a masculine image of priapic cool, Roy Orbison instead employed a brooding mysteriousness that set him apart from his peers. Practically… Continue Reading
It was Roger Ebert, along with his partner in film criticism Gene Siskel, whom American documentarian Steve James credits with helping to launch his career as a filmmaker. On their acclaimed and nationally popular film review show At The Movies… Continue Reading
Song: Friday I’m in LoveArtist: The CureYear: 1992 With hits such as ‘The Love Cats’, ‘In Between Days’, ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ and ‘Just Like Heaven’, new-wave, post-punk merchants The Cure were a consistently fine singles band with the majority of… Continue Reading
28th January 2015 While the controversial practice of fracking lies at the heart of ongoing debates regarding welfare of the environment, Jesse Moss’ compelling ‘The Overnighters’ instead looks at the social, political and human interest issues that have arisen… Continue Reading