Posts by Dan Holland

“I heard that if you don’t give him a name, he’ll turn the children into icicles.”

It has been a long time since I have seen a decent psychological thriller, and Altered Minds is a great film to bring me back to this type of film. To give readers a frame of reference, films like Identity or Session 9: they are most certainly part of the “psychological thriller” genre, but you are led to believe there are supernatural forces at work during the film. Then, just when you think the film will have a supernatural climax, you are offered a twist ending that is not supernatural and actually makes sense to the plot. I won’t say that Altered Minds is better than Session 9, but it is definitely on par with Identity in terms of how much I enjoyed myself while watching the film.

Sketch comedy is always something that has brought me joy. While I was introduced to Saturday Night Live and Monty Python’s Flying Circus at a young age, I don’t think I would trade my engagement with the current sketch comedy scene for a dead parrot or samurai delicatessen (hilarious though they may be). As far back as I can remember, I would watch one sketch show after the next: All That in my earliest years, Chapelle’s Show during high school, and Whitest Kids U Know, as well as the more risqué Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! throughout college. Then in 2013, I was introduced to Kroll Show and taken for a rather wild ride. The show certainly does not have the most insane premises I have seen in a sketch comedy show (see Tim and Eric), but it does pack enough charming, playful irreverence to be polarizing.

The show stars Nick Kroll, a L.A. based comedian, most well-known for his interesting array of characters. Most viewers might recognize Kroll from the hit series The League, where he plays the pompous, obsessive-compulsive lawyer, Rodney Ruxin. However, before I knew him in that role, I had the pleasure of listening to his fantastic characters on the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast. Fabrice Fabrice, Bobby Bottleservice, and Gil Faizon are just a few of the characters that Kroll has has put a televised face to through his show. That being said, Season 3 is the show’s last, and while it is a little sad for me to see it go, I eagerly await Kroll’s next big project. My love for this show (as well as Kroll’s comedy) stems from his infectious sense of humor, as well as an amazing ability to maintain consistent comedy through each interweaving sketch.

Anthony Perkins is arguably most well known as Norman Bates, the hotel owner with mommy issues from Psycho. While Hitchcock’s film was groundbreaking for the horror genre (and Hollywood in general), I find it strange that Perkins’s career did not improve with such a commercial hit. He had certainly acted in other projects prior to Psycho, but his name is not one that I see very often. In other words, I have never “happened upon” an Anthony Perkins film, I seek out films in which he has acted. As a matter of fact, I can count those films on one hand: The Trial, and the three schlocky sequels to Psycho. This Blu ray double feature contains two films produced in the late 80s between Psycho III and Psycho IV, towards the end of his career.

I must admit that the first film in the pack, Destroyer, was a little disappointing. It started with an amazing concept: A famous director rents the space of an abandoned prison to film his “women in prison” sexploitation film. The film’s writer (Clayton Rohner) and stuntwoman girlfriend occupy the lead roles, and as the night full of production continues the crew is murdered by an ominous presence kept secret by the ex-prisoners living in the town. The film was competently crafted and well written, but the cover of the disc made promises that it could not keep. For example, when I see a picture of a gigantic, muscular man with a skull-like visage on the cover, I kind of want to see that in the film as well. To be fair, I most certainly got a muscular antagonist: Lyle Alzado, Former NFL defensive linesman of the Cleveland Browns, has a very large and intimidating presence. Now, the film did provide pretty creative ways to dispose of expendable characters, but after watching the “final showdown” between protagonist and antagonist, I felt let down because there was no amazing 80s special effects makeup grafted to the football star’s face.

Daniel Tosh is known for his no-holds-barred approach to stand-up comedy. His latest special, People Pleaser, is no exception: He even admits that he makes a living out of saying outrageous things in the middle of this act. Although he is often criticized for delivering racist and misogynistic humor to the young, white male demographic, Tosh gracefully disagrees through this persuasive performance. Having already seen two of his prior specials, I must admit he hit a beautiful stride in his fourth special that I really wasn’t expecting. There is an impressive retention of attitude and abrasiveness, but he added a large amount of metacognition to his act that forces the audience to really think about his performance.

More often than not, Tosh’s sets start with rather offensive jokes, and from there, he barrels his audience further down into a pit of taboo topics and suggestions. I find this style of performance to be extremely tasteful. Not only does he introduce these taboo topics (such as death, homelessness, being pro-choice, feminism, among other “hot” topics) to make fun of them, but he presents them to the audience in a way that they are forced to think about both sides of the argument. However, Tosh’s presentation is extremely juvenile, as always. I would argue that this practice of performing his material from inside the mind of a 17-21 year old male is the reason his material is so polarizing.

After screening Payback, I did a decent amount of research to find information about the director in an effort to better understand the film from a production standpoint. After searching on the web for a bit, I discovered that there is really not much information about the film outside the fact that it is a Hong Kong production, written and directed by first timer Fu Xi. This is a bit strange, considering the fame of the lead actors Francis Ng and Fan Siu-Wong. Anyone who has a mild interest in the action cinema of Hong Kong would recognize Fan Siu-Wong from Ip Man, Ip Man 2, or my personal favorite, the gore-filled Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky.

Francis Ng plays a lowly, disheveled cab driver (very well, I might add) who picks up a newly released prisoner, Zhang Jin (played by Fan). In typical action-thriller fashion, Zhang Jin becomes the target of an assassination plot to tie up loose ends, and he finds an unlikely ally in the cab driver. Although I’m much more familiar with Fan Siu-Wong’s performances, Francis Ng’s acting in this film is absolutely fantastic. Distraught with the recent murders of his wife and daughter, watching him spiral into insanity both emotionally and physically was quite an enjoyable ride. As a matter of fact, the picture on the DVD sleeve which depicts Ng holding a gun is rather misleading. Throughout the film, Ng’s acts recklessly out of grief, but is believably clumsy in his mannerisms: He is an outraged civilian who happens upon a gun, who takes matters into his own hands without knowing anything about firearms or the repercussions of revenge. I believe this, ultimately, is Payback’s saving grace.

I recently reviewed a cinematic production of a different bible story, Noah’s Ark, and I commented on the fact that I have heard that particular story told time and time again since childhood. Now I have been given the opportunity to review another bible story adapted for screen: the story of Moses. I thought that I had heard the story of Noah a lot, but then I began thinking about how many times I have heard the story of Moses. Whether be it through different adaptations of films or the original tale in the Bible, I believe I have experienced a retelling of the tale of Moses more than any other tale from the good book. Fellow cinephiles might recognize a few of these titles: Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (both his 1923 and 1956 versions), the animated feature The Prince of Egypt, or perhaps the more recent Ridley Scott feature, Exodus: Gods and Kings. The one thing that each of these films has in common is the aforementioned source material.

This specific adaptation, titled Moses, places Ben Kingsley in the lead role. It was his presence that drew me to the film in the first place. However, I was quite surprised to see two other veteran actors, Christopher Lee and Frank Langella (occupying the roles of Ramses and Memefta respectively).  It was a little bizarre that these three actors were the only ones that I actually recognized in the production. Every other actor I had never seen before, creating a strange stage on which Kingsley performs. This strange stage is made even more bizarre with the fact that Lee and Langella are actually minor characters in the film: Although the pharaoh and his heir are the main antagonists in the actual story, the amount of screen time they occupy is incredibly insignificant. As a result, Kingsley’s performance as Moses becomes enunciated, which left him little room for error in my expectations regarding his acting. I must say he definitely delivered on all fronts, but I don’t think I’d prefer him to Charlton Heston in 1956’s The Ten Commandments.

Out of the Inferno is one of the most recent films written and directed by Danny and Oxide Pang. I must admit that I am a fan of the prolific duo, ever since I watched the original Bangkok Dangerous. Whether it be their intense dramatic thrillers such as The Detective or The Eye franchises, or their nightmarish dreamscapes in Sleepwalker or Re-Cycle (my personal favorite from the Pang Brothers). Unfortunately, Out of the Inferno did not come close to surpassing the “bar” of expectations when it comes to my enjoyment of a film from the Pang Brothers. The narrative involves two firefighter brothers who are dedicated to their line of work. One day they are given a choice by their uncle to either stay with their current station, or to come work as consultants for his company that is currently developing new firefighting technology. Naturally, one brother sees the lucrative future in the technology, and the other sees the nobility in the job he is currently working, so they go their separate ways. Years later, we return to the characters: one brother has immeasurable wealth as the head of the new fire technology company, and the other has gained rank within the fire department and is expecting a child with his wife. Due to the extreme heat on this particular day, a fire starts and quickly spreads within the giant building where the wealthier brother just so happens to be hosting a celebratory banquet.

Immediately I am reminded of Backdraft from 1991: two brothers who don’t necessarily get along and lots of fire and backdrafts. In fact, the amount of backdrafts in Out of the Inferno puts the number of backdrafts in Backdraft to shame, or any realistic fire for that matter. For the reader who may not know, a backdraft is a sudden surge of fire that rushes to consume the oxygen that is introduced to the vacuum of a burning room. Fires create vacuums in enclosed spaces, and when firefighters attempt to penetrate these spaces, the force at which the flame rushes outward can be fatal. So here are the ingredients to the mixed drink that is Out of the Inferno: one part sibling rivalry drama, two parts “old versus new” firefighting technologies, and enough backdrafts to singe the hair off of your head three times over. Sounds fun, right? Well, it probably would be if it felt cohesive.

“Tonight’s special is LEG OF LAMB”

I absolutely love stand-up comedy. It is by far one of my favorite forms of entertainment. I would much rather watch a comic’s one-hour special than watch Hollywood’s latest zany summer comedy. I firmly believe that stand-up comedians are a group of modern day philosophers who have taken their analyses of social interactions and created a highly entertaining and intellectual form of art. While I appreciate all comics, currently my favorites are Tom Segura, Todd Glass, Greg Proops, Bo Burnham, and of course, Brian Regan.