Essential November '11

Essential viewing this November:
One of the most surprising and well working American films this season is 50/50. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the 27 year old who gets diagnosed with cancer and Seth Rogen (who also produces) as his friend trying to deal with the news. There is also strong support in Anna Kendrick and Angelica Huston. Written by Will Reiser, as an autobiographical script, there is a great balance between the laughs and tears and a tremendous performance by Gordon-Levitt makes this very moving stuff that will stick in your memory for a long time.

Another movie this month that plays well both for laughs and emotions is It's Kind Of A Funny Story. Based on the novel by Ned Vizzini and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, this very entertaining story comes out of nowhere and makes an immidiate impact. Starring newcomer Keir Gilchrist and comedian Zach Galifianakis, this is one of the finest independent cast pairings in a long time. Galifianakis is superb and Gilchrist delivers a very impressive and subtle performance in a role that could easily have slipped the wrong way in more showboating hands. Boden and Fleck do a nice job with balancing the themes and conflicts of the story, and manages to keep this more than interesting throughout, despite being restricted to a single building location. A terrific surprise that hopefully will find a large audience on DVD.

The return of a Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant creation has to be considered one of the biggest television events of the year. The creators of The Office and Extras this time strike upon BBC2 and HBO with a mix of their two previous series with Life's Too Short. Warwick Davis plays himself, and we follow him through his days of running his "Dwarfs For Hire" agency and random encounters with celebrity. Three episodes in it is still too early to compare this to the duos previous work, but their sense of humor and style still runs fluently. Davis can be said to be the comedic find of the year, and every show so far has got more laugh-out-loud moments every other minute than any American sitcom running these days has in a lifetime.

Essential listening this November:
Bruce Springsteen's trusted E-Street guitarist Nils Lofgren has always had a slightly overlooked solo career running while touring the worlds largest stadiums with The Boss. Surely, there have been a few hits and missses, but with this months Old School, his first solo album since Sacred Weapon (2006) the rough voiced and guitarlickin' Chicago boy is back with a bang. There is a strong groove throughout, and the quality in Lofgrens playing is undeniable. It is also a treat for any Springsteen fan used to only see Nils joining in on the odd chorus have twelve tracks all to himself. And he let's it rip! A very pleasant surprise.

After their superb The King Is Dead album earlier this year, indie folk darlings The Decemberists are having a change of heart, by releasing the EP Long Live The King. It is a lovely companion piece, and with six precious tracks it is a short and worthy treasure. Lead singer Colin Meloy has to be rising fast in the polls over Americas finest folk voices. The EP has a well paced rhythm and moves along quickly, making you instantly want to listen again after the lovely Sonnet finishes the record off.

Earlier this year R.E.M. called it a day, and the release of the compilation Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982 - 2011 is a fitting, though perhaps a bit limited farewell. 40 tracks, including 3 new ones, automatically makes you think that some of your sweethearts must be missing, but the mix of songs still satisfies fairly decent. The early era probably deserves more space, but this is a democratic and balanced collection. The bands conclusion was one of the big surprises in the musical year, making this the most essential compilation of band music of 2011. And if their final single We All Go Back To Where We Belong does not bring a single tear to your eye, you were never really a fan.