Reviews on The Review

Last year on this page, I reviewed guitarist Stuart McCullum’s last performance for the Manchester Jazz Festival.  That performance was in the festival tent, and he was first on the bill with Trio VD and The Golden Age of Steam.  Then he was performing solo with laptop and electronics. This year, launching his new album, [...]

A few moments before Fleet Foxes took the stage last night, just after 9pm, the lights darkened and ‘Nothing Special’, the opening track from Trees’ 1970 debut, The Garden of Jane Delawney, playing over the PA, was drowned out by applause. Perhaps it was coincidence that the band members lilted into position just after this [...]

Asghar Farhadi’s magnificent directorial debut asks one central question; how is it possible to take decisions and not be selfish, particularly in the family? When Simin (Leila Hatami) wants to take her daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi) abroad for a better life, her husband, Nader (Peyman Moaadi), won’t go. His father to whom [...]