After all those Frasier years of watching David Hyde Pierce be such a deadpan delight tweaking the anal-neurotic snobbery of his therapist character, Dr. Niles Crane, it's a kick to watch the four-time Emmy winner spice mirth with real menace in The Perfect Host. Pierce plays Warwick Wilson, a Hollywood bachelor prepping dinner for friends. When a burglar (Clayne Crawford) rudely disrupts his best-laid plans, Warwick gets sweet revenge that turns, well, horrific. Aussie writer-director Nick Tomnay can't build a solid thriller out of the lightweight materials at hand. Still, the dialogue is witty and spiked with delicious malice. At least it is when Pierce delivers it. It won't spoil the plot to say that he is pricelessly good at taking you places you don't see coming.

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“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.