(TV Review) Breaking Bad- Confessions (8.25.13)

*Spoilers below*

The shine is not only off the rose at this point, but the rose has been run over, doused in gas, and will soon be set on fire. This episode picks up immediately after the last episode. Jesse is being interrogated by Hank, not telling him anything, until Saul pops in and stops it. Walt meets Saul and Jesse in the desert where Walt tries to talk Jesse into skipping town and getting a fresh start. When Jesse breaks down and begs Walt to be honest with him for once and just admit that he needs him out of the way and that the only reason that Walt wanted to meet in the desert was because Walt would kill him if he refused, Walt grabs Jesse and hugs him. Jesse breaks down.

Walt and Skyler make a confession tape and then call Hank and Marie to meet for dinner and discuss their options. When Hank refuses and Marie tells Walt that he should just kill himself to end all of this, Walt and Skyler pop up, leave the confession and walk out like they own the place. As soon as Hank and Marie get home they watch the confession. It is a confession of Walt telling the DEA that Hank has been the mastermind behind it all and Walt was just the cook...and he proceeds to tie every.single.thing to Hank in a neat little bow. Hank is SCREWED. Walt ties Hank to the drugs by calling out the $177K that the Whites paid for Hank's care. Hank tells Marie that by taking that money she has killed Hank.

Jesse agrees to go into hiding and Saul sets up a guy to make it happen. Jesse is told not to take any pot with him when he goes to meet the guy and then bumps into Huell on the way out of the office. Once he gets to the location he reaches to get his pot out of his pocket and realizes that Huell lifted it from him when they bumped into each other. He then goes to crab a cigarette and FINALLY connects the dots. He realizes that Walt DID get Saul/Huell to lift the Ricin cigarette that led Jesse to believe Walt and team up to kill Gus. He looses it. Goes to Saul's office and beats him up until, under gun point, Saul admits that it was all Walt. Jesse goes to the White's home with a can of gas and starts dousing everything. Saul calls Walt who goes to get a hidden gun for protection.


Predictions

- We see Todd leaving a voice-mail for Walt (about the management change) and then telling his Uncle and the other guy (the gangsters) about Walt and Jesse. Todd will now be cooking the meth. I believe that Todd will not be able to make good enough product, that his Uncle will kill him, that they will kidnap Jesse (when Walt goes into hiding) and when we see Walt on his 52nd birthday he is going to use that gun to get Jesse back. I think that saving Jesse is how Walt will die.

- Hank is F***ED! There is nothing he can do now to pin it on Walt without implicating himself. Especially with the info on the disc. He is going to go over to the "dark side" to take care of Walt.

- Watching Walt manipulate Walt Jr was hard.

- Watching Jesse during this whole episode was even harder. He thinks he is going to die, confronts that, gets a false sense of closure with Walt, gets his hopes built up with moving to Alaska, gets his pot stolen and then his reality is brought down around him.

- I still hate Skyler.

(Rental Review) Life of Pi (2012)

First of all, I would like to share my displeasure with the fact that this movie is not about desserts. Do not be fooled by the title. No one eats pie at any point in this movie. Be warned. Also, movies like this are why I absolutely HATE to watch something after it has already received so much praise from others. I have still never seen The Notebook just because everyone told me that I HAD TO SEE IT. Like it was going to break the world in half if one guy didn't watch it. Anyway, people did me the same way with this one. So I finally broke down and decided to watch it. And you know what I found? A guy floating on a raft is not that entertaining.

Storyline:  A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger. - IMDB.com

Ok. So I am sure that you have all either already seen this movie or, at the very least, seen multiple commercials for the film. It is not like I am really going to be spoiling much by talking about it. I, within a few minutes of the shipwreck, knew that he was using this story as a way to tell about the people that survived with him and what happened. So the big heartfelt reveal at the end was not really as big of a payoff as it probably was to some.

On the plus side, the movie was BEAUTIFUL...but all of the beautiful stuff was CGI, so it kind of takes the shine off of some of it. If not for the CGI, you would have been stuck with this. And this looks stupid.

So, what did I think? Eh. It's ok. Long. Very pretty. But ultimately it left a lot to be desired. The story gets so damn convaluted that you have a hard time taking it seriously enough to not laugh. But again, some extremely beautiful shots. 

B-

(Movie Review) This Is the End (2013)

When I think about a movie like This Is the End, I think about Will Ferrell in Elf eating his spaghetti breakfast that is filled with candy, syrup, poptarts and marshmallows. Individually I like all of these things a lot, so common sense tells me that if I combine them that my love for them should grow...yet all that combination does is give you an upset stomach.

Storyline: While attending a party at James Franco's house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse.- IMDB.com

One of the things that most people raved about was that this movie played the appocolypse "straight" and just had a bunch of funny people approaching this unfunny appocaylpsye in a humerious way. I get that. I get what they were doing. But the problem is that the actors are not very funny in the way they approach the apocalypse, so it kind of throws the whole dynamic out the window.

Don't get me wrong. I love that these guys are cool with making fun of the things that movie goers already make fun of them about. That is rare. That would be like Arnold Schwarzenegger agreeing to do a movie about how no one can understand anything he says. But the comedy in the movie never really landed for me. It wasn't what I really hoped it would be.

The only actors that made the movie even slightly enjoyable was Danny McBride and Craig Robinson. They were both great.

C-

(TV REVIEW) BREAKING BAD - BURIED (8.18.2013)

*SPOILERS BELOW*

Things really come to a head pretty quick after last weeks episode. While this episode may seem like a little steam is let out following last week, I think that this is an episode that was pivotal for all of the characters. This is the episode where the lines have been drawn in the sand and sides have been taken. This is where a winning "team" has been made.

Following the showdown in the garage, Walt emerges and tries to call Skyler. When he can't get her on the phone he realizes that she is talking to Hank on the other line. Walt rushes to the Car Wash to talk to her but she is gone. Walt correctly assumes that she is meeting with Hank, but Walt incorrectly assumes that she is taking a "deal".

Walt, knowing that his money is the only thing that ties him to the drugs, has Saul's guys go pick it up for him. Saul suggests to Walt that Walt "send Hank to Belize" (kill him) and Walt tells Saul that it is not an option because Hank is family. Saul's men return with Walt's money and Walt takes it to the desert to bury it.

Meanwhile, Skyler has met with Hank and Hank has foolishly made it clear that he can't do anything to Walt without Skyler telling him everything that she knows. Skyler makes a scene when Hank tries to record her testimony and she runs out of the diner. Later, Marie shows up at the White's home to talk to Skyler (obviously Hank has told her). She begins to grill Skyler about the how long she has known about Walt. When she asks if she knew before Hank was shot, and Skyler says nothing, Marie slaps her and tries to take Skyler's baby. Skyler stops her and Hank makes Marie leave with him.

Walt comes home and colapses after a long day/night of burying the money. When he wakes, Skyler tells him that Hank has told her about Walt's cancer coming back and that Hank doesn't have a case unless they find the money. She tells Walt that he should just stay quiet for now.

In the end scene, Jesse has been taken into custody for questioning regarding his money give away in the last episode. Hank comes down to the interigation room, persuades the investigating officers to let him speak with Jesse alone, and the episode ends with the door closing behind him.


*THOUGHTS*

- With only 6 episodes left, they need to move through the stuff with Jesse a little faster. I hate seeing him having little/nothing to do in these last two episodes. While his performance was wonderful in the last episode, he didn't even have a line in this one.

- Walt, I think, is STILL playing everyone. When Skyler tells him that Hank told her about the cancer, he never admits to having it. He only says "please make sure that our children get this money. Make sure that I didn't do this all for nothing". I can't believe that someone that has been pulling the strings on EVERYONE for so long is not still doing so.

- In one scene it is shown that Lydia confronts her current meth cooks about the quality of the product. They tell her that even thought they are cooking with Walt's notes they are doing their own thing and it is good enough. She reccomends that they let Todd come back in and cook. When Declan refuses, offscreen you here a gun battle. Todd's family has killed all of Declan's men. This shows that Todd is quickly becoming a much bigger player in this story.

- Hank proves that he is just as greedy and selfrightous as Walt in this episode. Knowing that he will be fired as soon as it is revealed that his brother-in-law is Heisenberg, Hank is not taking his suspicions to his superiors yet. Proving that his pride is just as damning as Walt's. This will be Hank's biggest mistake.

- Skyler, when she realized that Hank couldn't touch them without more evidence, imediately did a 180 and sided with Walt. I, honestly, think that she did this for the money. That she feels entitled to that money since Walt put her through so much. I think that greed has infected her just as bad as it has Walt.

- Walt Jr. is still no where to be found. Where the hell is this kid all of the time? For someone with limited mobility, he sure is elusive.

- I think that Marie was wearing a wire when she was talking to Skyler.

(Movie Review) We're the Millers (2013)

After watching We’re the Millers this weekend, I officially want them to adopt me 

           

For someone who has turned in as many good comedic performances as Jason Sudeikis has, I don’t think that he ever really has “broken through” to the audience. He has been on SNL since the early 2000’s, does voice over work for The Cleveland Show, has been one of my favorite guests on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and was absolutely hilarious in Horrible Bosses (2011). But I have never considered him to be good enough to be a leading man in a comedy. Maybe it was because other cast members on SNL were more of a household name, or that costars like Charlie Day and Jason Bateman have embedded followings due to popular TV shows. I can’t put my finger on it, but something has always seemed to be lacking. But his performance as David Clark in We’re the Millers has changed all of that for me. This is the spotlight that a guy this talented really deserves. 

Storyline: David (Sudeikis) lives the dream life (according to some). He works for himself, has no responsibilities, and makes plenty of money at his job. The only problem is that his job is selling drugs. And after an altercation in an alley way he is robbed of his remaining pot and all of his money. This comes as very bad news to the supplier to whom he now owes $40K. Brad Gurdlinger (Helms), the supplier, tells David that he will forgive the debt if David agrees to go pick up a shipment of drugs for him in Mexico. David quickly enlists the help of a stripper named Rose (Anniston), and two younger kids to play the parts of his family as a clever disguise to sneak the drugs back into the US. But when it turns out that Brad has stolen this shipment, and endangered the lives of David and his group in the process, the plan goes off the rails and the family vacation may be coming to a screeching halt…for good. 

Worth the admission? So so worth it! This movie is a pretty “hard R” rating, due to a lot of colorful language and a little bit of male nudity, but it doesn’t pull any punches and keeps the jokes coming during the whole movie. There isn’t a single scene set up where I didn’t laugh. This is easily the most likeable that Jennifer Anniston has ever been. She, contrary to what her recent movies would suggest, proves that she has the ability to actually be funny and gives a really solid comedic performance in this movie. While Emma Roberts (Casey “Miller”) does a fine job playing a foul mouthed homeless teen, it is the performance of Will Poulter (Kenny “Miller”) that is absolute GOLD in this movie. This kid, with a single facial expression, made me laugh in every scene. He was fantastic! Make sure to go check this movie out! B+

(Movie Review) The Wolverine (2013)

The Wolverine is going to be my new term for when too much of a good thing turns out to be bad

For those that know me they who that I am a lover of sweets. Ice cream is my sugary treat of choice. I have often said that I could eat it every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. But that isn’t true. I know me too well. At some point, no matter how great something is, I get bored and am ready for a change. I feel the same way about Wolverine. Jackman has been playing this character for 13 years. He has played the same part in 6 movies. So, while I don’t think that my problem with this movie is Jackman or how he plays the part I do think it is more about how bored I am with the character. Wolverine is getting a little long in the tooth and I think that it is time that they hang up his adamantium claws for a while and focus on a new superhero. Gambit? Cyclops? Nightcrawler? Any of them. Just give ole Logan a break for a while. 

Storyline: Years after the events that led to Logan (Jackman) being forced to kill the woman that he loved, he has retreated into the wild. Living amongst wild animals. Only interacting with humans when he must. When a woman named Yukio (Fukushima) tracks him down to inform him that an elderly man, one that Logan saved many years prior, is on the verge of death and would like to speak to Logan one last time, they make their way to Japan. The dying man tells Logan that he can cure him of his immortality by having it transferred into the dying man, but Logan refuses. After the man passes away Logan soon realizes that his powers to heal himself are gone. He is vulnerable. Faced with the one this that he has wanted for so long, mortality, he realizes that he might have been too hasty in wishing away his gifts.  

Worth the admission? It is, but there is a lot going against it. Almost every trick that they pull with the character has been done before. Ever y look, every catchphrase, every animalistic growl…it’s all old hat. Also, Viper (played by Svetlana Khodchenkova) is the worst on screen villain I can remember seeing in a long time. And the fact that her voice was budded over her scenes (all done in post-production), every scene that she is in is annoying. Parts of the movie seem more like a Nicholas Sparks book than a superhero film, as it is extremely heavy on dealing with love, relationships, etc. But all of that aside, this is one of the only movies that the character has been in that I felt actually helped develop the character in any way and gave you some idea of the struggles that are associated with immortality. It’s the best Logan film so far, but still a pretty weak Wolverine film. I would give it a C+. 

(TV REVIEW) BREAKING BAD - Blood Money (8.11.13)

* THIS REVIEW IS FULL OF SPOILERS - TREAD LIGHTLY *

The end is drawing near, and I don't believe that Mr. White is going to go out with a whimper. This episode was one that I was nervous about. After the GINORMOUS reveal at the end of the last episode, the reveal that Hank had finally put the pieces together, I was wondering exactly how Hank would handle the news. Would he ponder it for a while and then, as he has done in the past, let Walter slip by? The answer is a big fat "NO".

The episode starts with a flash forward (or maybe the whole series is told in flashbacks, who knows) to Walter going back to his home. It is condemned. Graffiti painted. He goes to his bedroom to retrieve the ricin from behind the wall socket cover. On his exiting the house he passes his neighbor who drops her groceries when she sees him. Walter looks a mess. Beard, longer hair, dirty clothes...he just doesn't look good.

We then go back to current time when Hank emerges from the bathroom, his head filled with things that he doesn't want to believe. He quickly grabs Marie, complains that his stomach is upset, and leaves. In mid drive he has a panic attack and crashes his car. Hank, the trusting brother in law, knows who Heisenberg is. He knows, in his gut, that he has been fooled for far too long.

The episode also has some great moments for Jesse. Trying to redeem himself, he tries to get Saul to give away the money that Walter recently dropped off to him. When Saul reminds him that the money will be confiscated by the government, Saul calls Walter to talk Jesse down. Jesse semi-confronts Walter about Mike missing. Telling Walter that he thinks that Mike is dead (due to the lack of retaliation from Mike after all of this men in prison were taken out) and that Walter KNOWS that. Walter spins his old lies, telling Jesse that Mike is alive and well (last he saw), but you can see it in his eyes. Jesse is no longer the fool. He can see Walter for the monster that he is. But Walter pleads with Jesse to believe him and Jesse pacifies Walter with a unconvincing "if you say so". Jesse, later, decides that since no one will help him get rid of the money that he will do it himself. He drives down the street in a poor neighborhood and begins throwing the money, paperboy style, at all of the houses. The look on his face is pretty heartbreaking.

The big climax for the episode comes near the end. Walter, after realizing that his book (the one that he brazenly left out on public display) is missing, runs out to his car to search it. He finds a GPS tracker. The next day he goes to see Hank. Hank can't even look him in the eye and is on the verge of tears the whole time that Walter is trying to make small talk with him. Walter goes to leave, stops, turns to Hank, and calls him out about the tracker. Hanks closes the garage door and proceeds to beat the hell out of Walter. Half crying, muttering about the horrible things that Walter has done, and telling Walter that he hopes he rots in jail over this. Hank tells Walter that he doesn't even know who he is. Walter then, after trying to reason with Hank, tells him "if you don't know who I am, you should probably tread very lightly".

- SERIES PREDICTIONS -

1) I don't think that Walter's cancer has come back (as he has indicated). On the flash forward clips I think that he has faked his death and is on the lam. I do not think that cancer will kill him.

2) If Walter does die, I think that it will be at the hands of Jesse. While some think that Skyler should get the honors, her greed has led to her becoming just as guilty as Walter (lately). Jesse, on the other hand, has been trying to get away from that lifestyle (and from Walter) for a while now. Walter has killed multiple people in Jesse's life (to keep control over him) almost killed his girlfriends son, made Jesse kill others, and manipulated him since the beginning.

3) Walter will not go to jail

4) Walter will kill Hank