No Coco for us, thanks

Our film critic Alistair Harkness is equally unimpressed by all of this week's big cinema releases - dire remake The Taking of Pelham 123, shallow biopic Coco Before Chanel, awful comedy Land of the Lost, and immigration drama, Crossing Over.

So what does he think you should go see this weekend? How about Rumba, a droll, often ingeniously staged comedy about Latin dance competitions, which Alistair gives a four-star thumbs up. Here's the trailer...

The Fringe of fragments

Ten-minute plays, scratch nights, works in progress... theatre has been split into fragments at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. Is it simply a case of the recession hitting, or a sign of a radical, positive change in how theatre is made? On today's arts pages, Joyce McMillan talks to some of the people reinventing the Fringe for the Twitter generation. Read her feature online here.

On the subject of the Fringe, the Scotsman's new look festival website, www.edinburgh-festivals.com, is now up and running, and is the best place to find all our festival coverage this year.

This blog will be getting a makeover for the festival too, relaunching on Saturday 8 August - coinciding with our first daily Festival magazine - as the Scotsman Festival blog. A whole host of festival performers will be blogging for us, alongsider regular Scotsman contributors, and we'll be publishing the best bits of the blog in the daily magazine.

Sax appeal

On today's arts pages, Jim Gilchrist talks to Fife-born saxophonist Joe Temperley about Duke Ellington, Robert Burns and his appearance at this year's Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival.

Also today, Kelly Apter pays tribute to the life of legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham, who died this week, and Kenneth Walton tells the story of one of the greatest classical music hoaxes of all time.

RIP Merce Cunningham

First Pina Bausch, now Merce Cunningham. The dance world has been left reeling by the death of two legendary choreographers in the space of a month. The passing away of Cunningham, peacefully in his sleep at 90 years old, was less of a shock than Bausch's, but it is still a great loss. Read tomorrow's arts pages for a tribute by the Scotsman's dance critic, Kelly Apter.

Steven Campbell's last paintings reviewed

Scottish painter and 'New Glasgow Boy' Steven Campbell was creating fascinating new work right up until his death in 2007. On today's arts pages, Susan Mansfield reviews Wretched Stars, Insatiable Heaven, an exhibition in London that offers an insight into what was going through his head in the last two years of life.

Also today, Duncan Macmillan explains why John Burningham's children's illustrations are works of art worth treasuring.

A-ha and Aisling's Children

Here's the new single from 1980s pop idols A-ha. Sounds quite a lot like Keane, doesn't it? That's because, as our recent Saturday magazine interview explains, the Norwegian trio have been quite an influence on the likes of Keane and Coldplay. This is not necessarily an endorsement for their new album, out this week - read Fiona Shepherd's review on today's arts pages.

Also today, read our critic Joyce McMillan's verdict on Aisling's Children, the multimedia show that was the climax to the weekend's Gathering 2009 event in Edinburgh.

An unconvincing proposal

Do we really need another box-ticking romcom implying that a successful, independent woman isn't really a complete person until she's found a man who can look after her? Sandra Bullock deserves better, and so do we, says Alistair Harkness in his film of the week review.

Also today, read Alistair on Lars Von Trier's unpleasant and crushingly boring new film, Antichrist.

Leads triumph in twin tragedies

They may be a little rough at the edges but new productions of Richard III and Macbeth, at Glasgow's Bard in the Botanics festival, both benefit from tremendous leading performances. Read Joyce McMillan's latest theatre column here.

Mercury Prize nominations

Let the arguments begin. The shortlist for this year's Mercury Prize is now out. Read our pop critic Fiona Shepherd's first reaction here, and Scotsman reviews of some of the albums at the links below.

Glasvegas - Glasvegas
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
The Horrors - Primary Colours
Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
La Roux - La Roux
Florence and the Machine - Lungs
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew
The Invisible - The Invisible
Led Bib - Sensible Shoes
Sweet Billy Pilgrin - Twice Born Men
Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy

Also on today's music pages, David Pollock talks to Nile Rodgers of Chic ahead of a rare Scottish gig this weekend, and Jim Gilchrist celebrates 40 years of the Battlefield Band.

The eyes have it

Goya, El Greco and Picasso are at the heart of The Discovery of Spain, the National Gallery of Scotland's new show about Britain's love affair with Spanish art, but there's more, including a significant Scottish contribution. Read Duncan Macmillan's review online here.

Also today, Susan Mansfield on the Lighthouse's retrospective of the work of space age architect John Lautner.

Strum of a preacher man

On today's arts pages, Fiona Shepherd is unconvinced by the new album from Reverend and the Makers. Plus the rest of the week's album reviews.

A trip to the moon

Moon is enjoyably trippy, brain-bending stuff, a return to the notion of science fiction as a genre fuelled by big ideas rather than big special effects, says Alistair Harkness, in his round-up of this weekend's movie releases. Read his review online here.

Also today, read our verdict on Duran Duran's show at Edinburgh Castle.

Nip nip hooray

On today's arts pages, our theatre critic Joyce McMillan explains why Pitlochry Festival Theatre's musical version of Whisky Galore is a five-star treat, as well as offering her verdict on the Tron's revival of Lee Hall's Cooking With Elvis.

You can read Joyce's weekly theatre column online here.

A feast of Steven

On today's arts pages, star pianist Steven Osborne talks to Susan Nickalls ahead of his headline appearance at the Music at Paxton festival. Read the interview here.

Also today, our pop critic Fiona Shepherd on making her debut as a T in the Park performer.

Today is visual art day

As Antony Gormley's Fourth Plinth installation continues to celebrate nothing in particular in Trafalgar Square, Duncan Macmillan pays tribute to Scots sculptor Alexander Stoddart, whose subtle, neo-classical statues in Edinburgh and Glasgow celebrate real achievements and ideals worth striving for.

Also in today's Scotsman, Susan Mansfield reviews I Am A Camera at Sorcha Dallas in Glasgow, an exhibition which traces the links between early artists' films from the 1950s and 1960s and the video work of contemporary Scottish artists.

Lasses 1, lads 0

The male acts at this year's T in the Park tried very hard, bless them, but they were comprehensively upstaged by their female counterparts, notably Lady Gaga, who treated the festival as her very own headline gig.

To read Fiona Shepherd's verdict on the whole event, click here.

Instinctive ears

In today's Critique magazine:

Of course it's art! Children's author and illustrator Catherine Rayner talks to Lee Randall about her ongoing battle against snobbery

"My temperature rises and my ears go red" - thriller writer MJ Hyland tells Tom Adair how she knows when she's onto a good thing

A few good men - Stephen Applebaum on the video journalists risking their lives to smuggle out the truth about Burma

Power of one - why rising synthpop star Dan Black had to go solo to make it

Better than Borat? Ich don't think so

Is Brüno as funny as Borat? Well... no, not really. But Sacha Baron Cohen's über-camp fashionista is still good for a few laughs. To read a review of his first big screen outing by our film critic Alistair Harkness, click here.

Also in today's film pages, Alistair talks to the young stars of the soon-to-be-concluded Harry Potter franchise, and asks them "what next?"

Stereotype in the ointment

In today's Scotsman, our chief theatre critic Joyce McMillan is hugely impressed with a new production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at Pitlochry, which she describes as "a model of seriousness, professionalism and insight". Her only gripe? Helen Logan's portrayal of the titular schoolmistress, which she feels descends into cliché. You can read the full review here.

Award-winning singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie has managed to wind up not one but two US presidents with her tireless campaigning for aboriginal rights. As she prepares to release her first new album in 15 years, the former Sesame Street star discusses her remarkable life with Fiona Shepherd.

Eastern Promises

In today's Scotsman, our classical music critic Kenneth Walton reports from this year's East Neuk Festival. The event was such a success that the organisers are already making plans for next year, including performances of the complete Britten Quartets in "three churches by the sea" and a concert in an old airfield cinema near Crail. Click here to find out more.

Elsewhere, David Pollock talks to American musicians Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips about soundtracking Andy Warhol's famous Screen Tests - video portraits of a host of 60s icons - and Jim Gilchrist interviews Scots Jazz legend Jim Mullen.

Why we love Swiss bankers

Since the global economic apocalypse kicked in, the word "banker" has become something of a dirty word. But they're not all bad. Geneva money man Jean Bonna, for example, is a lovely chap. He's spent 20 years and lots of his hard-earned cash amassing a world-class collection of drawings, by masters from Raphael to Renoir, and now, in an act of admirable public-spiritedness, he's chosen to put them all on display at the National Galleries Complex in Edinburgh. Read Duncan Macmillan's review of the exhibition here.

Equally impressive are the antics of Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal, who spent 31 days in Chicago gallery where visitors (and online viewers) could fire paintballs at him any time they liked. Video footage of his installation, Domestic Tension: Shoot an Iraqi, is part of an exhibition of Iraqi art at Edinburgh's Roxy Art House. To read Susan Mansfield's review of the show, click here.

Today is music day

"A fearless lass with a massive voice" - that's how Fiona Shepherd describes primal screamer Florence Welch in her review of the hotly-anticipated debut album from Florence and the Machine. Click here to read more.

Also in the paper today, our classical music critic Kenneth Walton reviews pianist John Tanner's new recording of a series of short works by Scots composer John McLeod and Tim Cornwell talks to the Melrose solicitor taking part in sculptor Antony Gormley's new fourth plinth installation in Trafalgar Square.

20 top T tips

You know about Blur and the Killers, but the real treats at T in the Park next weekend might just be on the smaller stages, or further down the bill. In this weekend's Critique magazine, our writers pick 20 to catch, while Scotsman pop critic Fiona Shepherd talks to bright pop hope Florence and the Machine.

Also in Critique, Russell T Davies on life after Doctor Who, and an exclusive short story by Kate Atkinson.

Gangster rap

Charismatic and ruthless - and an American folk hero for robbing the banks many thought to be to blame for the Great Depression - John Dillinger's life ought to make a great movie. Sadly Public Enemies makes for oddly unengaging viewing. Read our critic Alistair Harkness's review in the newspaper today, and online here.

Remembering Pina Bausch

On today's arts pages, Mark Brown pays tribute to Pina Bausch, the hugely influential choreographer, who died on Tuesday. You can read Mark's feature online here.

Also, Joyce McMillan reviews The Taming of the Shrew at Glasgow's Bard in the Botanics festival, Good Things at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, and Thriller Live! at the King's Theatre, Glasgow.