The Films:
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
The "Best Of" 2006

I've been going through various 2006 "best of" lists and found that a few of my favorites have been neglected...

If you haven't yet than check out these 2006 albums:
Fugu - As Found (Myspace page)
Fugu (a one-man band) were introduced to me by Shy Nobleman and I've been awaiting a new release by them for a while, their second album delivers the good.

Muck and the Mires - 1-2-3-4 (Myspace page) (Live Video)
Saw these guys opening for The Woggles in NY, they were explosive - Great energy, great look, how can you resist a band that opens their set with a song titled "With a little twist"? This is one of the best Garage releases of 2006.

Speaking of The Woggles - Be sure to look for their new album in 2007 on Wicked Cool Records. It's a great one - Some tracks are available on their Myspace page.

Another exciting 2007 release is the new album by Mary Weiss of the Shangri-La's.



My favorite film is one that I saw at SXSW (and is elegantly dismissed from any list) - THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE (shot in 2005, released in 2006). Here is what I wrote in my FIR recap of the festival:

"Mary Harron’s THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE is the story of the most famous pin-up girl in history who vanished from the public eye after finding religion. Gretchen Moll stars as Page, a bizarre casting choice that so perfectly pays off it is hard to imagine anyone but her in the role. Harron, working with cinematographer Mott Hupfel, created the classiest of films. Predominantly black & white - the visuals are so perfectly shot and lit to imitate a vintage film, it may as well have been excerpted from one (in an interview for The American Cinematographer, Hupfel cites Sam Fuller’s PICK-UP ON SOUTH STREET as a main influence). The color footage… well… Bunny Yeager should be proud to see film images that resemble her photography with such love and dedication. Not only is Mary Harron among the founders of PUNK magazine, and the first person to interview the Sex Pistols in America, she is also a great director – a visionary."

(Two other from the festival that deserve more attention than they got were TALES OF RAT FINK and TV JUNKIE).

And a special mention goes to Blue-Underground, my favorite DVD distribution company - the criterion of Exploitation films. With releases this year of films like The Big Racket, Street Law, The Heroin Busters, 99 Woman, Daughters of Darkness and more, all getting excellent transfers and a slew of special features.

And head over to Bookgasm's excellent 2006 round up of pulp fiction books.

- Oren.

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posted by Oren @ 8:04 AM  

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