Review

Any worries that by book six/seven (should we count The Great Samuel Pepys Fiasco?) the Thursday Next series would have settled into a rut prove groundless here, as Jasper Fforde delivers another swerve ball. The previous book was set entirely in Bookworld; this time there’s no action in Bookworld at …

All too often, we as gamers read the cries that too many videogames lack originality. However, even if a game has obvious inspirations, that doesn’t mean it deserves immediate rejection. On Nintendo handhelds worldwide, but particularly in Japan, Professor Layton’s anime-infused, Euro-centric approach to puzzle gaming is exceptionally popular, so …

True Blood 5.04 “We’ll Meet Again” (opens in new tab) Episode 5.04 Writer Alexander Woo Director Romeo Tirone THE ONE WHERE Everybody hates Sookie, so she gets drunk; Jason learns something about the death of his parents at a fairy nightclub; Eric frees Pam of her bond to him; Roman …

Primarily set in Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the world’s driest regions, Patricio Guzmán’s lyrical documentary connects archaeology, astronomy, and the search for justice. In this unforgiving terrain, which once housed salt mines, General Pinochet set up a concentration camp for political prisoners; the victims’ elderly relatives continue to sift …

Six teens from a deprived area of Leeds embrace the heartfelt, politicised expression of slam poetry in this gently unassuming but powerful documentary. First-time directors Alex Ramseyer-Bache and Daniel Lucchesi follow the team as they prepare to take the stage at the world championships in Washington DC. Among them is …

Although not Luis Bunuel at his very best (it lacks the bite of earlier eviscerations of polite society like The Exterminating Angel ) this 1972 Oscar winner still finds the Spanish surrealist wielding a mean scalpel as six dinner-party guests are constantly frustrated in their search for the promised meal. …

While occasionally flirting with full-blown fantasy ( The Tooth Fairy ), Graham Joyce more often writes novels that exist on the very edges of the genre, in which elements of the supernatural are delicately woven into the real-world plots like gossamer threads ( Smoking Poppy , The Facts Of Life …

A quest movie with an edu-tainment thrust, Will and Kate Spicer’s doc charts the siblings’ aim to fulfil their Devon-based bro Tom’s lifelong dream to meet Metallica’s Lars Ulrich. Breaching camp Metallica is tricky but Tom’s Fragile X Syndrome complicates it: he struggles with crowds, noise and breaks in routine, …

With all of the carping that Jaws is culpable for the summer blockbuster, it’s often forgotten that this spectacle of the future is also a product of its time. OK, so having cop/family man Brody (Roy Scheider) save the day hardly chimed with the counter-culture ideal, but Jaws , for …

Director Radu Mihaileanu ( Le Concert ) brings his usual feel good humanism to this comedy-drama about Muslim women on love strike. In an unspecified Arabic-speaking village, the wives – who’ve long had the dangerous task of fetching water from a mountain spring – take action, refusing their husbands sex …