Posts by Brent Lorentson

Imagine being arrested, not even finished with high school, and you are tried and convicted of the rape and murder of your high school sweetheart.  Try to imagine being locked away for 19 years in a cell, alone, awaiting your execution by lethal injection.  But then one day, DNA evidence emerges that seems to exonerate you for your crimes, and suddenly you are given your freedom back.  How do you go on?  This is question creator and executive producer Ray Mckinnon explores in the new series Rectify that airs on the Sundance channel.

Daniel Holden (Aden Young) is the man, whose life we follow from day one of his release from a Georgia state prison.  As his family anxiously awaits to see him, the media swarms outside waiting to hear from the newly freed man, all while Daniel nervously prepares to nervously step into the new life of freedom.  The writers made the wise choice not to rush but to allow us to tag along for every awkward moment Daniel has, from not remembering how to tie his necktie, to the feel of grass between his toes, to simply enjoying his first beer.  It’s easy to see how David seems to not fit in our world; after all nearly 20 years passed by without him, with only brick walls and a few other inmates on death row to keep him company.

What’s a girl to do when her bills pile up, her hours at work get cut, and though she’s a promising medical student, life seems to be getting in the way of her studies?  Well, the “easy” answer seems to be, hit the closest strip club and put your natural assets to work. At least that is the direction Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) decides to take.  Though luckily as fate would have it, during her “audition” process an emergency occurs, allowing Mary to put her surgical skills to the test and make a quick five grand.  Was Mary’s decision ethical?  In this film you’ll need to throw out the books on medical ethics, because this is a tale of revenge at its core, but also about giving people what they want, to live the lives they believe they were meant to live.

As Mary comes to term with the procedure she tended to in the club’s basement, word of her handiwork has spread and she begins to get requests for procedures that even the doctors from Nip Tuck would have to reject.  After collecting ten grand for a procedure that transforms a woman to finally resembling a real life doll, Mary’s handiwork is then spread across the web, and she becomes all the more in demand.  Mary doesn’t go into this field of body modification lightly, as she still has aspirations to be a successful surgeon, but unfortunately that all comes to an end after she attends a late night surgeons’ party.  Unfortunately this isn’t your average party; it turns out to be an underground sex club where the surgeons bring girls, drug them, and rape them.  Considering one of the attendees happened to be one of her instructors who she looked up to, the hurt is only worse and is enough to push Mary over the edge to seek revenge.

"Are we in the meth business or the money business?"

With the final episodes about to air in August, this doesn’t only end the run of a great TV show, but it also ends the run of a series that has been a staple in this golden age of television we are in.  I don’t believe you’ll find anyone that could argue against the impact Breaking Bad has made to the television landscape since its premiere in 2008.  For me season 4 of Breaking Bad is hands down one of the greatest seasons of television I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching, and I happily put it in the company of other greats like The Wire, The Shield, Lost, and Justified.  The only problem I have, or foresee, is how do you bring it all to an end?  After all one look at the fan reaction to the conclusion to The Shield, The Sopranos, or Lost, it’s impossible to satisfy the masses.

I wasn’t all too familiar with Al Madrigal’s work before receiving his album to review.  After looking up his web site I had realized it was The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that I had recognized him from, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was a fan.  With comedians, though, going into their act knowing very little about them, most often the experience seems to be more enjoyable; after all, with no expectations it’s hard to come away disappointed.

Six months ago I’m not sure how much I would have been able to relate to Madrigal's set, a set that has a very distinct storytelling style, and his stories for the most part consist of him being a father.  Sure, not everyone has to be a parent to find his set funny, but had I not recently had a child come into my life in the past few months I don’t believe I’d connect with as much of his set as I did.  Whether Madrigal is discussing how he disciplines his children when they talk back or talking about hiding from the kids just to embrace a little alone time, he maintains a narrative that everyone in the audience can appreciate.

I was starting to think the only comedians that get hour long specials any more were the ones with obscenity-soaked acts that were sprinkled with sexual humor (or riddled with just as much).  But then Pete Holmes came along.  Throughout his hour long special that was recorded in Austin, Texas sure, there are a few obscenities and a little sexual humor, but he never uses it as a crutch to carry his performance along.  From the moment he stepped out onto the stage he reminded me of that friend from high school who was that all around good guy that always knew how to make you laugh.  With first impressions set aside and as the act progressed I was happy to see I wasn’t disappointed.

Considering this was an hour long special, Holmes manages to cover a variety of topics and make them relatable to everyone in the audience.  Whether it’s discussing how he used GPS to get out of a bad neighborhood, hating a girlfriend’s friends (or family), to the awkwardness of carrying a dog, Holmes manages to deliver these bits as situations we all could have experienced.

Usually when a kickboxing film comes along you pretty much know what to expect: a bunch of fighting with a paper-thin plot to string all the fights together.  When I got Bunonhan I thought I knew what I was getting into, and really I was just ready to sit back and watch some cool fight sequences.  Instead what I got was a complex story about families and betrayal where the fighting in the ring is just as deadly as the criminals that are willing to betray and kill anyone for money and land.

Bunonhan is nothing more than a little village where the lives of three brothers collide.  Adil is a young Thai kickboxer who’s made a living at the sport.  In a match where it seems he has no chance of winning, a fight-to-the-death match, friends quickly charge into the ring and carry Adil off to safety.  Though their intentions were good, Adil knows that this will only put a price on his head considering the amount of money the fight promoter lost.   The promoter hires a well known assassin to find Adil and kill him; the assassin hired just happens to be Ilham half-brother to Adil.

Ever flip through the pages of a magazine, or perhaps some electronic device where you read your daily world news, and wonder how they got that picture?  Maybe on CNN or Fox News you caught a report from behind enemy lines or in some hellish city where Anderson Cooper or Bill O’Reilly would never be caught without an armored escort.  Instead the stations rely on a group of brave (or insane) individuals to cover the stories and deliver the video and images needed to hit the audience with shock and awe.  What Witness: A World In Conflict Through A Lens delivers is an inside look at the life and risks these men and women take every day so they can capture a moment for the world to see, but unfortunately the world seems to also ignore.

The four-part HBO documentary is cold and unflinching.  What we get is by no means sugar-coated or filtered, and it’s because of this honest look at life in four separate hellish locations that it will be hard for some to handle.  I’m going to come out and say from the start that this documentary not only sobered me to the reality of the world around us, but damn, did it make me feel lucky to be American.