For the past week PopMatters has been presenting the best of 2006's visual entertainment. Last week was the best , and of 2006. This week look for genre picks and best performances from a range of our staff critics.
On tap today: 
. A promiment figure in Australia's burgeoning genre scene, Mark Savage is more or less unknown in America.
Now, thanks to a stellar DVD overview of his two decades behind the camera, he's finally poised to take his place among independent cinema's standouts. A look inside a typical European derby, where hooliganism acts as a form of support. Chris O'Connell remembers a very personal and poignant conversation with political essayist, journalist, and rock critic Ellen Willis.
Robert Altman's films often reveal in dreams the strangeness of being alive. This more than anything sums up the timeless greatness of Altman at his best, and starts to convey what s lost when cinema is thought of as commodity rather than art. The Real Dirt on Farmer John combines home movies, archival footage, and recent imagery to consider the far from simple life of a flamboyant farmer.
PopMatters interviews filmmaker and subject. Though James Brown's body was lying in state at the Apollo Theater, on the streets of Harlem, his spirit seemed to be everywhere. The humanity of the man -- with its funky and messy flaws and frailties -- could never sustain the myth, so much so that the image of the man who gave Black Power its soundtrack became a harsh reminder of its fractured legacy.
If you've seen Brian Borcherdt on stage this year, chances are it was as a member of the noise-freak supergroup Holy Fuck. But it's in the quieter-but-equally-intense songs of his solo project, the Remains of Brian Borcherdt, that the singer-songwriter's talents appear in full force. PopMatters presents the best music of 2006 in a two-week series that began last week and has included the , the and numerous genre top 10s.
Can Duncan Sheik -- assisted by a fleet of 100-year-old horny German teens -- save the rock musical from itself? The Film Forum has programmed a full-scale Woody Allen retrospective titled "Essentially Woody" featuring all the movies you've already seen. So, Buening provides a brief guide to all the Woody Allen films you didn't know existed.
Roaming North America like David Carradine, delivering kung fu and gravity-resistant swordfights, UCLA's second entry in its outstanding "Shaw Brothers' Heroic Grace" series brought its Iron Fist technique to New York's BAMcin matek. The latest Surround Sound installment tackles a hodgepodge of kids movies, TV shows, indie flicks, and more. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Woodstock each did their stint as a lonely Mexican cowboy, it seems.
These and other things you didn't know about A Charlie Brown Christmas. Bedtime Beats is a mega-mellow classical music CD designed to put listeners to sleep. Sound boring?
Well, that s the point. Here, a look at the science behind soporific sounds. Michael Richards's racist outburst made him a scapegoat, but not in the way those who regard him as the "real victim" think.
Does the short film have a reputable future beyond stupid human tricks on YouTube? Emily Haines goes solo, but she doesn't leave her friends behind. It seems like she likes people.
At a time when we're led to believe iTunes and file swapping will eventually bring about the death of the album, why is it that more and more artists seem to be bucking that system by releasing lengthy works that demand prolonged attention? Eschewing gentle, ambient electronics for disruptive, non-musical noise, these albums turn the intimacy of bedroom folk against itself. As our inner Helen Lovejoy knows full well, Christmas Is For Thee Children.
So what on earth can we pick up for our kids from Wal-Mart that'll fit into an SUV laden with goodies from the Pottery Barn and beyond? Well, DVDs. Obv.
And why not start with the Christmas Classics? The DJ understands the need for telling a story and making a statement. With his live sets, a new release, a radio station, and a book, he's finding plenty of opportunity to do so.
Hardcore punk has sought to reject inevitable impact of influence, regarding it as sellout conformity. But anxiety over influence conforms with a longstanding poetic tradition of rejecting artistic heritage. As New Orleans struggles to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, one of the great casualties of the storm is starting to emerge: the loss of the documents and ephemera that chronicled New Orleans' distinctive musical life.
Audacious, angry and all-encompassing, the music of The Clash transcended categorization to represent the best of British punk. But they were much more than some simple, three chord thrash, as a new box set focusing exclusively on their 45rpm single output proves. How exactly did a cheerleading assassin of the undead become a Rocky Horror cult musical hit?
Tori Amos is a fascinating person and she will always be, among other things, the classically trained pianist who rebelled against her preacher father; sought inspiration from witch doctors and their drugs; made zany, unmediated statements in interviews; and proved that pianos are as liberating as guitars. With the release of their first collaboration, jazz musicians Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau talk to PopMatters. This American Life is the best thing on radio.
In fact, This American Life might be the best reason to even own a radio. As a songwriter, musician, and producer, Jay Bennett has every right to be who we think he is. But he isn't.
As the band delivers its best record yet, at least one member wonders if there's something more to do. Women remain the victims of choice. This clich indicates a lack of imagination visible throughout the festival's themes, characters, and plots.
Leaving little but ashes in New York, the CBGB 'phoenix' may rise, again, like it or not...
in the desert. Cast aside synthetic substitutes, junk food for the soul, and take a bite of the pungent, organic mushroom offered up by the man from Oyster Bay, Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. Few artists can attest to recording an album in eight days but Solomon Burke is unlike other artists.
He's not just the "King of Rock and Soul", he's also a singer who's still learning how to perfect his craft, with a passion that fuels boundless creativity.
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