Critics' Choice

Film

Andrew O'Hagan

quote An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance quote

2012 Theatre

Fiona Mountford

quote The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C quote

Blood Brothers Music

John Aizlewood

quote The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed quote

Muse

Reader reviews

Theatre

Rachel Dalziel

quote I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play quote

Gilbert Is Dead Restaurants

Raja, London

quote I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food quote

Babbo Music

Katy, London

quote Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW! quote

Muse

This week's DVD reviews

By Steve Morrissey 16.04.09

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Hunter S Thompson: found fame but lost his mojo

This week's DVD releases include Gonzo: The Life and Works of Dr Hunter S Thompson, Chocolat and The Red Riding Trilogy.

Gonzo: The Life and Works of Dr Hunter S Thompson
(Optimum, cert 15, retail)
Neither straight biog nor phantasmagorical evocation, a slightly cute portrait of the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas who found fame but lost his mojo.

Chocolat
(Artificial Eye, cert 15, retail)
From Claire Denis' 1988 Chocolat, about the sexual tension building between a French colonial madame and her Cameroon houseboy. Potent stuff.

Letter to Anna (Joiningthedots.tv, cert 15, retail)
Susan Sarandon revoices this German tribute to brave journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose persistent criticism of Putin led to her murder.

Ahlaam
(Dogwoof, cert 15, retail)
Amazing that it was even made at all, Mohamed Al-Daradji's debut, about three patients in a Baghdad asylum, is a meaty counterweight to Hollywood hand-wringing.

The Wind Will Carry Us
(Artificial Eye, cert U, retail)
From 1999, when Iranians films were hot, a scorcher from Abbas Kiarostami, a low-key meditation on life and death that's funny, accessible and beautiful too.

Box Set of the Week

The Red Riding Trilogy
(Optimum, cert 18, retail)
Like Life on Mars with the humour drained away, a trio of relentlessly grim yet gripping TV dramas about murder and police corruption in 1970s Yorkshire.