OUTBURST'S BEST of 2006

MUSIC

Lou Rhodes - Beloved One
Don't shed a tear for the departed Lamb project, because Louise Rhodes covers similar territory but does so in a more organic and beautiful manner.

I Am X - The Alternative
Twisted fun, glamorous and gloomy, so forget the Sneaker Pimps, Chris Corner's newest alter ego deserves your close attention.

Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
Not a return to form. It's a reclamation of their spot as a true alternative monster, unlike many of the cookie cutter hacks clamoring for radioplay these days. They may already be huge, but much of the world won't understand their greatness until they're gone.

Muse - Black Holes & Revelations
Are they at the top of their game or just taking another step up?

Stone Sour - Come What(Ever) May
Too hard for the alternative crowd, too soft for the metalheads, Stone Sour are no flippant little side project.

Tool - 10,000 Days
Music as art. Listen, learn, experience.

Evans Blue - The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume
These youngsters are about to show an entire tired scene how it should be done.

Dropping Daylight - Brace Yourself
A modern rock 'n roll album that's a whole lot of fun.

Faktion - Faktion
Masterful hard rock.

Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards
Three full albums of the strangest music you can't help but love.


MOVIES

The Departed
Okay, I haven't seen it yet, but it still garner's my top film spot nonetheless.

Lady Vengeance
Chan-wook Park is one of the best directors outside the U.S.. While his subject matter is possibly too dark for mainstream America, it's exactly the reason why he should cross over. Only slightly less disturbing than Oldboy, Lady Vengeance is beautifully shot and has a brilliant plot with a talented collection of core actors.

Superman Returns
He's spent 70 years as a worldwide icon and he's now back to big screen goodness thanks to Bryan Singer. He may not issue a single punch in this film but Superman's always been about more than beating the baddies up.

An Inconvenient Truth
It's mostly a summary of Al Gore's worldwide speeches on global warming and its side effects but it's a message that's hard to ignore. Gore has the numbers, the visual proof and the charisma to bend many ears, although tragically few people will see this film.

Lucky Number Slevin
A film with Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu and an appearance by Bruce Willis in a near non-verbal role, what's not to like? The girls will love seeing Josh Hartnett dressed in nothing but a loosely tied towel for 15-minutes while the guys will prefer it was Liu. It may be yet another of the dozens of modern day Yojimbo rip-offs but Slevin at least treats the audience with some respect by not throwing an entirely stupid red herring in our faces.

Silent Hill
It unfortunately deflates greatly towards the end but the beginning is creepy enough to seem original, a rare and valuable thing in a time when more and more films seem to be sad little remakes. Keep the little kids away from this.

MISSES

Borat
Hearing that groups of people appearing in the film are now suing or punching out Sascha Cohen makes for better laughs than what appears in this movie. Although you have to give him his props for doing a disturbingly hilarious all-male nude fight scene.

The Da Vinci Code
Yawn. Tom, you were better at comedy.

Bloodrayne
I fell asleep within the first 15 minutes and was not surprised to learn that Uwe Boll made this stinker.

Lady in the Water
I wanted to like it too but M. Night's trickery has seemingly run out of flash.

Zoom
It could and should have been another Galaxy Quest but it's not even close.