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Scary Movie 5
18 Apr 2013
Lazy, limp and humourless addition to the series
Blame Airplane! It was a fast, funny and inventive piss take of disaster movies. Unfortunately everyone who has tried to rip off the formula in the modern era shoots so low. Admittedly the first Scary Movie (2000) had a few ‘I can’t believe they did…
Spartacus: War of the Damned
18 Apr 2013
The third series of the bloody drama has questionable accuracy but a solid storyline
The goriest, nudiest show on television, Spartacus is set in the world of Roman gladiatorial combat. Packed to the gunnels with blood, guts and sex, it would be easy to dismiss this show as crass and relentlessly macho. But the blood and boobs are so…
21 and Over
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18 Apr 2013
A lazy and conformist comedy that attempts (and fails) to ape The Hangover's success
Having hit the jackpot with their script for The Hangover, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore attempt to repeat their success with 21 and Over. Sadly, the duo’s directorial debut proves to be a gamble that doesn’t pay off. The night before his big medical…
Rob A. Mackenzie – The Good News
18 Apr 2013
Edinburgh-based author's second full collection amuses and provokes
(Salt) The Good News is the much-anticipated second full collection from Glasgow-born, Edinburgh-based Rob A. Mackenzie. Never afraid to tackle big questions (the poet is also a minister in Leith), he gives no coffee table answers. First in the…
Risk!
18 Apr 2013
The storytelling podcast has some celebrity guests, but the real stars are the everyday strangers
This fortnightly American podcast presented by Kevin Allison is ridiculously simple, with its mix of comedians, performers and members of the public sharing true stories. Grouped under themes such as ‘A Slippery Slope’ or ‘Perverse?’, it can sometimes…
Sheila Rock - Punk +
17 Apr 2013
Superb and powerfully put-together photo-history of punk
Sheila Rock’s superb photo-history of the short-lived but aftershock-long punk scene ends with a series of John Lydon shots. It’s 1980 and punk is indeed dead, the ex-Pistols sneermonger now fully ensconced in his new PiL project. Mooching around in a…
Dethscalator - Racial Golf Course, No Bitches
17 Apr 2013
The depraved, baffling and stinkingly good debut album from the Hackney noise rockers
If an album title is a statement of intent, then we’re on upsettingly shaky ground here. Is Racial Golf Course, No Bitches a meat-headed attempt at offensiveness? A satirical statement on the intrinsic bigotry of the golfing classes? Just some…
Quiz Show
17 Apr 2013
Rob Drummond's game show-set drama is thunderingly powerful stuff
That Rob Drummond is a master of illusion will be known to anyone who has heard of his Fringe hit Bullet Catch, let alone seen it. In Quiz Show he flaunts that mastery with grace and articulacy. Here is a simple event. A quiz show called False! The…
High Society
17 Apr 2013
A clever and satisfying production of the musical best known as The Philadelphia Story
Easy on the eye and easy on the ears – despite a plot which exalts the uninhibited flaunting of wealth – this is a witty and effervescent revival of the Cole Porter favourite. High Society hits the stage running. A tightly drilled, black-and-white…
Doctor Faustus
17 Apr 2013
Dominic Hill and Colin Teevan's adaptation meshes the 16th-century poetry with modern day decadence
It turns out that there are several details the Elizabethan Christopher Marlowe left out of his play about the questing academic who sells his soul to the devil. Faustus was raised by a leopardskin-wearing slattern who fed him Haribo as he watched…
Mariana Castillo Deball - What we caught we threw away, what we didn't catch we kept
17 Apr 2013
Works based on anthropological detritus from Mexican artist
Anthropological detritus forms the bulk of 'What we caught we threw away, what we didn't catch we kept', a new body of work by Mexican artist Deball, which was co-commissioned by Cove Park and the Chisenhale Gallery in London, where it transfers later…
Drawn Away Together
17 Apr 2013
Group show including work from Alan Shipway, Paul Keir and Rachel Barron challenges from outset
This group exhibition challenges from the outset. It opens onto what seems to be the back of Neil Nodzak’s ‘Unbuilt’, an installation of constructed wood and painted boards that surround the entrance to the gallery. You are immediately engaged by their…
William E Jones
17 Apr 2013
Film works based on archive documentary footage from Los Angeles-based provocateur
Three film-works by this Los Angeles-based provocateur take notions of power drawn from archive documentary footage, then, by recontextualising each one via collaging, cut-ups and other treatments, liberates them from their authoritarian…
Marilene Oliver: Confusao
17 Apr 2013
Impressive works of the human body based on MRI and PET scan material
In the accompanying literature, Londoner Marilene Oliver provides an impressively idea-packed insight into the layers of conscious metaphor in her work. One line has particular relevance to what she does: ‘playing with disillusioned promises that…
Popshot: an illustrated magazine of new writing
17 Apr 2013
Issue #9 contains pieces by Michael Hitchins and Fabian Acker
With crisp presentation, simple text layouts, full-page illustrations and plenty of white space, PIssue #9 contains pieces by Michael Hitchins and Fabian Ackeropshot – an illustrated magazine of new writing - makes simplicity a virtue, letting the…
Fun. - Picturehouse, Edinburgh, Mon 15 Apr 2013
17 Apr 2013
The New Yorkers' music may sometimes sound contrived, but Fun. bring a, er, fun live show
'You guys are awesome', Fun. frontman Nate Ruess declares, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Given their decibel-raising reception it’s easy to see why he looks ecstatic. The sold-out Edinburgh show felt predictably young, although a contingent of different…
Rachel Mimiec: Plough
17 Apr 2013
Show that blurs the boundaries between community and solo practice
When GoMa's soon to be outgoing associate artist Rachel Mimiec led workshops with children at the Red Road Family Centre Nursery, her own line of inquiry with blocks of colour led to 'Plough', a body of work in which pages from issues of National…
Audrey Niffenegger - Raven Girl
17 Apr 2013
Good narrative and stunning illustrations from author of The Time Traveller’s Wife
(Abrams ComicArts) Despite the dark themes in her bestseller The Time Traveller’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger may not be readily associated with creepy fairytales and body horror. However, the off-kilter beauty (reminiscent of Beardsley and Schiele) of her…
Andrew Philip - The North End of the Possible
17 Apr 2013
Collection of poems of love, place and politics highlights Philip’s considerable formal talents
Salt cements its reputation for fresh contemporary poetry with this much-anticipated second full collection from acclaimed Scottish poet Andrew Philip. Humour and invention are mainstays of Philip’s work, and in both English and Scots, his wit leads us…
Matt Haig - The Humans
17 Apr 2013
Astute, drolly hilarious and beautiful insight into what it is to be human
As Matt Haig acknowledges at the end of this marvellously humane and very funny fifth novel, both The Humans and his writing career originated in a breakdown that became a breakthrough. Recovering from severe panic attacks by reading and crafting…
Mandy Haggith - Bear Witness
17 Apr 2013
Novel of many elements explores reintroduction of bears
(Saraband) In this all-too-human portrayal of the fight for the wild, we follow Callis MacArthur, a bear-loving ecologist, through the aftermath of the shooting of the last wild Norwegian cub. Angered by this violence, Callis endangers both her career…
Fence Gnomegame - Town Hall, Anstruther, Sat 6 & Sun 7 Apr 2013
16 Apr 2013
The Pictish Trail, eagleowl and Golden Teacher all play the micro-festival in Fife
’I know some of you are excited about this next band because we've already sold out of their records,’ declared Pictish Trail Johnny Lynch in advance of eagleowl’s Saturday afternoon set, whichpremiered material from their new album *3this silent…
Glasvegas - King Tut's, Glasgow, Wed 27 Mar 2013
16 Apr 2013
The rock'n'roll quartet perform secret, Beatles-themed gig as The Savage Stage Bells
In 1965, a distressed John Lennon penned the lyrics, 'Help! I need somebody! Help and not just anybody!' over the difficulties of coping with his rapid rise to fame. Over half a century later and in the belly of King Tuts, James Allan, adorned in a…
S-Type - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Sat 30 Mar 2013
16 Apr 2013
The LuckyMe-signed producer shows why US hip hop labels are after him
The Blessings’ Martyn Flyn and Dominic Flanagan and the acts on their LuckyMe label are more familiar with organising and playing at club nights, so it’s something of a surprise to find the duo hosting a gig at King Tuts, a venue better known for…
Jo Caulfield presents... The Speakeasy - Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, Tue 9 Apr 2013
16 Apr 2013
This spoken word/comedy evening presents a more easy-going, relaxed alternative to stand-up shows
‘They don’t like this kind of thing on a Friday night at Jongleurs.’ It’s a statement that could apply to just about every act on The Speakeasy bill, but it’s spoken by Andrew Learmonth, a comedian who has just revealed the story of his prematurely-born…
