TOP 10 LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

1) Laura Marling 05.09.2015
2) Pokey La Farge 09.10.2015
3) Laura Marling 25.04.2015
4) Derren Brown 20.05.2015
5) Blonde Redhead 26.03.2015
6) Sylvia Guillem 09.08.2015
7) Antigone 12.08.2015
8) Mark Thomas: Trespass: A Work in Progress 16.08.2015
9) Martin Carthy 23.02.2015
10) Nick Cave 28.04.2015

TOP TEN FILMS OF 2015

1) Carol (Todd Haynes 2015)
1) 52 Tuesdays (Sophie Hyde 2013)
3) Chuck Norris Vs. Communism (Llinca Calugareanu 2015)
4) Hard to be a God (Aleksey German 2013)
5) The Dance of Reality (Alejandro Jodorowsky 2013)
6) A Girl at my Door (July Jung 2014)
7) 13 Minutes (Oliver Hirschbiegel 2015)
8) The Tribe (Miroslav Slaboshpitsky 2014)
9) Amy (Asif Kapadia 2015)
10) Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (Alex Gibney 2015)

TOP 100 ALBUMS 2016: IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER: TOP 10 INDICATED IN RED: 

Adam And The Ants, Kings Of The Wild Frontier 

Alabama 3, Exile on Coldharbour Lane 

Blonde Redhead, Misery Is A Butterfly

Jeff Buckley, Grace

Tim Buckley, Dream Letter: Live in London 1968

Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club  (1)

Grant Lee Buffalo, Fuzzy

Calexico, The Black Light 

Chumbawamba, Jesus H. Christ 

The Cocteau Twins, Treasure

Crystal Castles, (II)

Crystal Castles, (III)

Dark Dark Dark, Wild Go

Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis, Sketches Of Spain

Dead Can Dance, Aion

Dead Can Dance, The Serpent's Egg 

Dead Can Dance, Into The Labyrinth 

Depeche Mode, Violator

Depeche Mode, Songs Of Faith & Devotion 

Toumani Diabate, The Mande Variations 
Nick Drake, Bryter Layter

Bob Dylan, Highway 61 revisited

Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks (9)

Duke Elington, New Orleans Suite

Ibrahim Ferrer, Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer

Ibrahim Ferrer, Buenos Hermanos

John Frusciante, Shadows Collide With People

John Frusciante, The Will To Death

John Frusciante, Curtains 

John Frusciante, The Empyrean

John Frusciante, PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone

Beth Gibbons And Rustin Man, Out Of Season

Ruben Gonzalez, Introducing

Ruben Gonzalez, Chanchullo

Grimes, Visions 

Grimes, Art Angels 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced? 

Iron & Wine, The Creek Drank The Cradle

Iron & Wine, Kiss Each Other Clean  (6)

Iron & Wine, Ghost On Ghost 

Iron & Wine, Archive Vol. 1

The Jesus And Mary Chain, Psychocandy 

Lemonheads, It’s A Shame About Ray 

Mariza, Fado Curvo 

Laura Marling, I Speak Because I Can  (3)

Laura Marling, A Creature I Don't Know

Laura Marling, Once I Was An Eagle (4)

Laura Marling, Short Movie

John Martyn, London Conversation

Massive Attack, Blue Lines 

Cerys Matthews, Tir 

Mazzy Star, She Hangs Brightly 

Mercury Rev, Deserter’s Songs

Van Morrison, Astral Weeks 

Nirvana,  Nevermind

Nirvana, Unplugged In New York

Orchestra Baobab, Specialist In All Styles

Orchestra Baobab, Made In Dakar

Josh T. Pearson, Last of the Country Gentlemen

Pink Martini, Sympathique

Pixies, Surfer Rosa

Portishead, Pnyc: Live At The Roseland Theatre 

Radiohead, The Bends 

Radiohead, O.K. Computer

Rage Against The Machine, Rage Against The Machine

Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik  (5)

Red Hot Chilli Peppers, By The Way

Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Stadium Arcadium

Lou Reed, Transformer 

Lou Reed, Berlin

R.E.M., Unplugged: The Complete 1991 & 2001 Sessions 

Rodriguez, Cold Fact (10)

Gil Scott-Heron, A New Black Poet - Small Talk at 125th and Lenox

Nina Simone, At Town Hall

Nina Simone, Live at Carnegie Hall 

Nina Simone, Wild is the Wind (2)

Nina Simone, Sings The Blues 

Nina Simone, Recorded Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 1968 

The Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream 

The Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness 

Soul Asylum, Grave Dancers Union 

C.W. Stoneking, King Hokum 

C.W. Stoneking, Jungle Blues 

The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses  (7)

Suede, Suede

Suede, Dog Man Star 

System Of A Down, Toxicity 

Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque

Timber Timbre, Creep on Creepin' on

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate, In The Heart of the Moon

Tricky, Maxinquaye  

The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground

M. Ward, Transistor Radio

M. Ward, Post War (8)

The White Stripes, De Stijl

The White Stripes,White Blood Cells

Amy Winehouse, Back to Black

Neil Young, Harvest 

TOP 100 FILMS 2016: IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER: TOP 10 INDICATED IN RED: 

About Schmidt (Alexander Payne 2003)

Alien (Ridley Scott 1979)

All About My Mother (Pedro Almodovar 1999) (6)

All The President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula 1976)

Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu 2000)

Apocalypse Now (Frances Ford Coppola 1979)

Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari 2010)

Badlands (Terrance Malick 1973)

Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku 2000)

Beetlejuice (Tim Burton 1988)

The Big City (Satyajit Ray 1963)

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky 2010)

Blancanieves (Pablo Berger 2012)

Blue Velvet (David Lynch 1986)

Bubba Ho-Tep (Don Coscarelli 2002)

Buena Vista Social Club (Wim Wenders 1999)

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene 1920) 

Carol (Todd Haynes 2015)

Chinatown (Roman Polanski 1974) (4)

Christiane F. (Ulrich Edel 1981)

Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore 1988)

City of God (Fernando Meirelles 2002)

A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick 1971)

Confessions (Tetsuya Nakashima 2010)

The Conversation (Frances Ford Coppola 1974)

Danger: Diabolik (Mario Bava 1968)

The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan 2012)

Dead Man’s Shoes (Shane Meadows 2004)

Deep Red (Dario Argento 1975)

The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino 1978)

Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick 1964) (2)

Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker 1967)

The Double (Richard Ayoade 2013)

Enter The Dragon (Robert Clouse 1973)

Enter The Void (Gasper Noe 2009)

Eraserhead (David Lynch 1977)

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry 2004)

The Exorcist (William Friedkin 1973)

52 Tuesdays (Sophie Hyde 2013)

Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson 1970)

Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach 2012)

Garden State (Zach Braff 2004) (9)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev 2009)

The Godfather (Frances Ford Coppola 1972)

The Godfather Part II (Frances Ford Coppola 1974)

Goodbye First Love (Mia Hansen-Love 2011)

Gregory’s Girl (Bill Forsyth 1981)

Hard to be a God (Aleksey German 2013)

Harold & Maude (Hal Ashby 1971)

Harvey (Henry Koster 1950)

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (John McNaughton 1986)

Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski 2013) (5)

Inception (Christopher Nolan 2010)

Julien Donkey-Boy (Harmony Korine 1999)

The Killing (Stanley Kubrick 1956)

Killing Zoe (Roger Avary 1993)

Kind Hearts & Coronets (Robert Hamer 1949)

The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick 1955)

Leon (Luc Besson 1994) (10)

Lost Highway (David Lynch 1997)

Love Exposure (Sion Sono 2008)

Marathon Man (John Schlesinger 1976)

Mars Attacks (Tim Burton 1996)

Matador (Pedro Almodovar 1986)

Mullholland Drive (David Lynch 2001)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick 1993)

Odd Man Out (Carol Reed 1947)

Oldboy (Park Chan-Wook 2003)

Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan 2011)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman 1975) (1)

The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni 1975)

Paths Of Glory (Stanley Kubrick 1957)

Peeping Tom (Michael Powell 1960)

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock 1954)

A Room With A View (James Ivory 1985)

Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski 1968)

Searching For Sugarman (Malik Bendjelloul 2012)

The Shining (Stanley Kubrick 1980)

The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar 2011)

Star Wars (George Lucas 1977)

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner 1980) (8)

The Sting (George Roy Hill 1973)

Stoker (Park Chan-Wook 2013)

The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone (Shane Meadows 2013)

Submarine (Richard Ayoade 2010)

Susperia (Dario Argento 1977)

Tabu (Miguel Gomes 2012)

Talk To Her (Pedro Almodovar 2002) (3)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper 1974)

The Third Man (Carol Reed 1949) (7)

They Live (John Carpenter 1988)

Tomboy (Celine Sciamma 2011)

2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick 1968)

What Have I Done To Deserve This? (Pedro Almodovar 1984)

Where The Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze 2009)

The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy 1973)

Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson 1987)

V For Vendetta (James Teigue 2005)

Volver (Pedro Almodovar 2006)

Zodiac (David Fincher 2007)

Film Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2D) (12A) (U.S.A. 2015) (Director: J.J. Abrams), VUE (OMNI), Screen One, Edinburgh, Wednesday 30.12.2015, 19:10

This is excellent fluff. The pacing, visuals and story telling are all fine. The film is slightly too referential to the 'Classic Trilogy' and the actor playing the main baddie doesn't quite fit right. These are minor quibbles. It was lovely to see that, in a way unlike ever before, the new central hero to the Star Wars world is a woman. When she took control of a lightsaber and began behaving as a badass, it got to me. It was certainly far better than I had any right to expect it to be and slips by easily.

Rating: 10/10.    

Film Review: Carol (15) (U.K./U.S.A./France 2015) (Director: Todd Haynes), Filmhouse, Screen One, Edinburgh, Saturday 12.12.2015, 18:10

This is a film I was initially very sceptical about as do not generally like Cate Blanchett or her work and the only previous film I've seen of Todd Haynes, 2007's 'I'm Not There' I found to be a horrifying experience in the worst possible sense. I went to see this as it was getting so much positive buzz and the subject matter should be within my ballpark of interests. 

I'm delighted to report, having just seen it, that I too regard this to be one of the finest love story's I've ever seen in film. The acting of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara is sublime and the film is simply perfect in every possible way. I am delighted that I put my scepticism to the side and went to see this masterpiece. Bravo!

Rating: 10/10. 

Film Review: The Lobster (15) (Ireland/UK/Greece/France/Netherlands 2015) (Director: Yorgos Lanthimos) (English and French with English Subtitles), Filmhouse, Screen One, Edinburgh, Monday 30.11.2015, 20:30

This is an incredibly absurd work of art, though not as absurd or as good as his previous film 'Alps' (2011), which is almost impossible to distil down to an essence which could adequately convey the complexity and breadth of the piece. Having said this, I laughed from the first scene (I think I was the only one to laugh at the first scene in a packed cinema) and remained engaged throughout. 

This is a surreal film that is based upon the idea that everyone has to be in a couple. If a person's relationship disintegrates for whatever reason, they have to go to a hotel where they have a set period of time to find a new 'mate'. If unsuccessful, they are turned into an animal of their choosing. The lead character played by Colin Farrell, chooses to become a Lobster, hence the title. 

I have to agree with what I have heard various critics say about it loosing it's focus once the action shifts from the hotel to the escapees in the forest. Though it is only in this part where it also becomes clear that the film is also about how most people misunderstand what empathy is. 

Although not perfect, it is great that films like this exist. Although I have more time for 'Alps', I feel it would be a lot easier to introduce people to the director's work via 'The Lobster', which is more accessible. 

Rating: 09/10.