Some Kind of Heaven review - a Florida retirement community yields its secrets

★★★★ SOME KIND OF HEAVEN Quietly poetic documentary about 'Disneyland for retirees'

Quietly poetic documentary about 'Disneyland for retirees'

In the UK, we usually get a peek inside The Villages in Florida every four years, when intrepid reporters take to their golf carts in the retirement community to test the water in presidential elections among its 132,000 residents. Their views provide a useful guide as to where the silver-haired vote stands.

Blu-ray: Columbia Noir #3

★★★★★ BLU-RAY@ COLUMBIA NOIR #3 Paranoia and betrayal drawn from life

Paranoia and betrayal drawn from life in post-war Hollywood crime spree

Anxiety, injustice and desperate disorder are the themes of these six disparate noirs. In one, The Dark Past, Lee J. Cobb’s psychiatrist draws a crude diagram of the brain with a line dividing the conscious and unconscious, and these films visit the choppy depths under the surface calm of suburban Cold War America, its terrors in the night.

Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation review - genius dogged by disappointment

★★★★ TRUMAN & TENNESSEE: AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION Empathic documentary honours two literary legends

Empathic documentary honours two literary legends

Kindred literary spirits who overlapped in any number of ways make for riveting stuff in Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation. Filmmaker Lisa Immordino Vreeland folds archival footage of the legendary writers together with recitations from their life and art spoken by Jim Parsons and Zachary Quinto.

Album: Sufjan Stevens - Convocations

★★★★ SUFJAN STEVENS - CONVOCATIONS Rich and complex requiem for a dad

Rich and complex requiem for a dad

Sufjan Stevens is not only prolific, multi-talented and wide-ranging in his experimentation, but he never fails to make interesting work. He’s undoubtedly one of the giants of American contemporary music. His originality and creative risk-taking have led to him being one of the most underrated artists of his time.

Mare of Easttown, Sky Atlantic review - Kate Winslet shines in finely-drawn Pennsylvania mystery

★★★★ MARE OF EASTTOWN, SKY ATLANTIC Kate Winslet shines in finely-drawn Pennsylvania mystery

Tangled secrets in a dirty old town

Read our review of the season finale here

Dark family dramas set in unglamorous, unprosperous communities in the north-east of the USA have become a genre unto themselves. One thinks here of the work of writers such as Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) and Dennis Lehane (Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone), and maybe Chuck Hogan and The Town for good measure.

Blu-ray: Straight Shooting / Hell Bent

★★★★★ BLU-RAY: STRAIGHT SHOOTING / HELL BENT  Two John Ford Westerns starring Harry Carey, progenitor of true grit

Two John Ford Westerns starring Harry Carey, progenitor of true grit

There are moments in Straight Shooting (1917), the first feature directed by John (then "Jack") Ford, when its star Harry Carey (1878-1947) exudes a naturalism that the famous Western actors who followed him, most notably John Wayne, strove to emulate.

Promising Young Woman, Sky Cinema review - Emerald Fennell's brilliant directorial debut

★★★★★ PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, SKY CINEMA - Carey Mulligan scintillates in Oscar-nominated romcom-noir

Carey Mulligan scintillates in Oscar-nominated romcom-noir

After winning a couple of Baftas, and with five nominations at next week’s Oscars, Promising Young Woman comes surging in on the crest of a wave. Emerald Fennell, already known for acting roles in The Crown and Call the Midwife and for showrunning series two of Killing Eve, hits it out of the park here as writer and first-time director, and she’s the first British female to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar.

Album: Lady Dan - I Am the Prophet

★★★★ LADY DAN - I AM THE PROPHET Breaking free of patriarchy on Austin country-folk debut

Breaking free of patriarchy on Austin country-folk debut

There’s a line in “No Home”, the staggering centrepiece of Lady Dan’s debut album, that perhaps sums up the project. “Wolves will never be my masters again,” the artist, real name Tyler Dozier, sings as the strings swell, in a voice like the wilderness. “Men will never be my owners again.”

Sound of Metal review - hidden depths behind the decibels

★★★ SOUND OF METAL Absorbing story of hard choices and self-knowledge

Absorbing story of hard choices and self-knowledge

I once went to see Motorhead, back in the days when real men didn’t wear earplugs, and afterwards it was if somebody had completely sawn off the top half of my hearing register. Weird and scary, and the band were putting themselves through that every night.