2006 Movies about underdog athletes might be inspirational, but rarely are they inspired. Even so, “Invincible” is better than most. It’s stuffed with contrivance, all right, but this tale of gridiron heroics has genuine heart. It helps that the story happens to be true. In 1976, part-time Philadelphia bartender Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg) pursued a […]
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Ghostface Killah-More Fish
Def Jam Scattered Wu-Tang Clan projects are better than none at all. Ghostface Killah’s “Fishscale” was one of 2006’s more accomplished rap records, competing perhaps only with Rhymefest’s “Blue Collar” for the crown of year’s best. Squeaking in at the end of the year, “More Fish” continues the bracing brilliance of “Fishscale,” a paranoid, poetic […]
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17 Pygmies-13 Black Birds
Trakwerx 17 Pygmies have been away for 17 years, but the 10-member 2006 version of the California consortium has returned younger than yesterday to produce its best work yet, a 30-track, two-disc beguiling behemoth. Even if you discount the fact that disc two is 13 versions of the same song, done in wildly differing ways […]
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Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass/Various artists-Whipped Cream & Other Delights Re-Whipped
Shout! Factory Every music collection needs at least one cover sporting a model in a Reddi-wip bikini. Chances are, your grandparents have one in the form of Herb Alpert’s classic 1965 album “Whipped Cream & Other Delights.” But a much more revealing one adorns that album’s 40th-anniversary remix collection, appropriately subtitled “Re-Whipped.” While not […]
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William Orbit-Hello Waveforms
Sanctuary William Orbit is better known for other people’s music than his own. He engineered Madonna’s late-Nineties comeback by producing “Ray of Light,” her Grammy-winning album of plugged-in pop, and when an LP under his own name actually moved units, it was comprised of covers of classical music stalwarts like Beethoven and Barber. It […]
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Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966/2006 A claustrophobic nightmare filmed in razor’s edge close-up, Mike Nichols’ astonishing 1966 directorial debut, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” still shocks you some four decades later. Anchored by the powerhouse performances of then-couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, it’s a visceral adaptation of Edward Albee’s play that pins you to the wall and […]
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Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby ” Unrated and Uncut!
2006 If the idea of interrupting the climax of a film with an Applebee’s commercial or having an urbane, French, homosexual race-car driver discuss the finer points of “Highlander” with a hero who’s dumber than a set of Craftsman tools doesn’t strike you as pants-peeingly hilarious, then “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” […]
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Dane Cook: Vicious Circle
2006 There probably aren’t many who would cop to liking Dane Cook’s intelligent meathead brand of stand-up; after all, this is a guy whose filmography is iffy at best (“Waiting …” and “Employee of the Month,” anyone?) and whose contributions to serial television (the thuddingly dull “Tourgasm”) are barely worth surfing past. Still, Cook exudes […]
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Karen Dalton-In My Own Time
Light in the Attic Records Bob Dylan and Devendra Banhart named her as their favorite singer. Nick Cave lists her among his faves. Enid native Karen Dalton was part of the early-Sixties Greenwich Village folk boom, but played the part of wallflower when it came to recordings, producing only two in her lifetime. Her […]
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Massive Attack-Collected
Virgin Since its start in the late Eighties, Massive Attack has been a leading force in electronic music and DJ culture. Even if you don’t know the band by name, chances are you’ve heard one of its oft-licensed songs. When a commercial, movie or TV show needs some down-tempo trip-hop with an icy chill, Massive […]