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Ziggy would be proud
A year after David Bowie’s death, The Flaming Lips have done Ziggy Stardust proud. With the 12-track Oczy Mlody (★★★★) The Lips return with a moody, industrial and hypnotic CD that’s probably what Major Tom would be listening to, sitting in his tin can. The Lips, always psychedelic and progressive, this time follow up their 2013 full-length CD, The Terror, with something lighter, less menacing and more whimsical. How whimsical? How about the use of real frogs croaking? And the presence of Miley Cyrus (on We a Family). But there’s also danger lurking in the psychedelic-laden lyrics – severed eyes, edible butterflies. And if you dream of having sex while riding unicorns: This is the album for you. – Mark Kennedy, AP
Williams reveals new depths
To tell Hidden Figures’ rarely heard story of the brainy Africanamerican women working at Nasa at the dawn of the 1960s, directorscreenwriter Theodore Melfi brought in nu-soul auteur Pharrell Williams to compose, star in and oversee its soundtrack (★★★), cocompose its score (with Hans Zimmer) and produce the film. Rather than shrink at the responsibility, Williams rises high; not just with sweet retrofit R&B appropriate to the Motown era and the optimism of the space race, but with his usual sunny disposition pop-hop, this time tinged with strains of gentle folk and sacred song. – AD Amorosi, TNS
Clive’s charms fail to inspire
Clive Owen essays another flawed father-figure in the middling family drama The Confirmation (★★). This time he’s a down-on-hisluck carpenter, spending time with his estranged 8-year-old son, Anthony (Jaeden Lieberher), the weekend before the boy’s first communion and confirmation. Very much a slice-of-life character study, The Confirmation is a film that’s pleasant enough to watch, but won’t live long in the memory. Owen delivers his usual ramshackle charm, but aside from scrapes with various low lifes and predictable paternal bonding, there’s really not much for him to do. – James Croot
Fear just a keystroke away
Snowden is the best film Oliver Stone has made in at least two decades. The wayward veteran film-maker is defined by technical restraint and cohesive storytelling in this biopic on Edward Snowden, the young insider from the United States intelligence community who turned whistleblower in 2013 and revealed unprecedented mass surveillance. In a movie about endless swaths of information and secret networks, its grip remains tight. – Craig Mathieson, Fairfax