2006 Horror remakes aren’t necessarily bad; witness John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” David Cronenberg’s “The Fly” and Zack Synder’s “Dawn of the Dead.” But if you have nothing new to bring to it, why bother? This summer’s redo of the 1976 classic “The Omen” deserves such questioning. Although aping the original’s story of a […]
OKG Archives
Posted inMusic
Long Distance Runner-The Fire of Cumulative Hours
Existential Sounds Perhaps the best argument for the melding of man and machine since Steve Austin went bionic is “The Fire of Cumulative Hours” EP from Long Distance Runner. Essentially a one-man show starring Portland-based K. Briggs, “Cumulative” marks a masterful DIY debut of breakbeat electronica, both imaginative and playful, like the best of DJ […]
Posted inMusic
My Chemical Romance-The Black Parade
Reprise Taking a page from the Green Day playbook in a transparent bid for critical and commercial validation, New Jersey-based punk-poppers My Chemical Romance have unleashed the ambitious, somber “The Black Parade.” Overdosed on Pink Floyd and Queen to a spectacular degree, My Chemical Romance spend much of their third full-length album providing a nation […]
Posted inMusic
John Legend-Once Again
Sony Urban Soulful vocalist and ubiquitous music-video fixture John Legend follows his acclaimed debut “Get Lifted” with “Once Again,” an equally mellow sophomore album and one which doesn’t alter his proven formula so much as stretch it in subtle new directions. Legend is understandably more visible this time around and his terrific first single, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Big Love: The Complete First Season
2006 HBO continues to search for the answer to that nagging question: What will the cable network do once “The Sopranos,” David Chase’s sprawling criminal saga, calls it quits early next year? An array of comedies and dramas are vying to be the savior and while “The Wire” and “Entourage” are leaving their marks, HBO […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Reds: 25th Anniversary Edition
1981/2006 A grand cinematic achievement and one which remains disquietingly relevant, Warren Beatty’s magnum opus “Reds” stands as the last of a now-vanished breed: the intelligent, costly and compelling Hollywood epic “? to think that studios once cranked out films that not only dazzled with lavish locations, but also put words worth considering in actors’ […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection
Various/2006 Here’s another collection from Universal, which seems determined to mine its reputation for Thirties to Fifties science fiction and horror for all it’s worth. This set contains five goofy sci-fi flicks from the Fifties, including one gem (“The Incredible Shrinking Man”), one near-miss (“Tarantula”) and three that are so silly, you’ll grin for […]
Posted inMusic
Sean Lennon-Friendly Fire
Capitol I’d imagine being of Beatles stock is both a blessing and a burden’ on one hand, you’ve got an impeccable pedigree; on the other, there’s not much margin for error, which would explain why John Lennon’s sons have stepped cautiously into creative arenas. Sean Lennon, whose debut record, “Into the Sun,” dropped way […]
Posted inMusic
John Ellis-By a Thread
Hyena Records This is some solid jazz. When he’s not been collaborating with guitar maestro Charlie Hunter, saxophonist John Ellis has found time to start recording albums with his own quintet, lately for Hyena Records. On “By a Thread,” his second album for the New York label, Ellis and his crew weave elements of […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Putney Swope
1969/2006 Very much a film of its time, Robert Downey Sr.’s anarchic satire “Putney Swope” plays now like less of an incendiary social commentary and more of an antiquated goof “? bizarre affectations, such as Downey dubbing all of his leading man’s lines, lend the film an even more dated air. The plot is […]