Breaking Bad: “Say My Name” Review

Walt prepares for a stand off in Breaking Bad

Beware of big spoilers below for the entire episode!!

“Shut the F**k up and let me die in peace”

Breaking Bad season 5 has explored many different aspects of Walter White’s ever growing power serge and constant goes at being top dog. “Say My Name” one of the best episodes this season focused on loneliness. Walt is practically the lone wolf in his story now with his wife Skyler scared for her life, Jessie seeing through his lies and abandoning ship, and the fact that Walt killed Mike. Walt is pretty much alone now and on his slow and steady decline, as the series continues to go into more and more interesting places.

Let’s start with Mike. First off I’m sad to see Jonathan Banks, yet another fantastic supporting figure on this show, being eliminated from the show. His work will be missed, a lot. Second of all what a way to go; Mike’s death was an absolutely beautiful sequence that highlighted the best aspects of the show. The exchange between Banks and Cranston was fantastically acted, gorgeously shot and gut wrenchingly tense. It was an interesting sequence indeed, and one of the shows best emotional death sequences. Mike is constantly calm to the grave and it’s Walt who truly cracks in the end, as he apologizes for his mistake and goes more into shaky old Walt mode rather than cocky Heisenberg mode. It’s truly a fantastic sequence that is one of those sequences that outlines in great detail why Breaking Bad is currently the best show on television.

Gushing aside, let’s head to the third part of the sequence that I would like to talk about and that is the big potential leap in logic that lead up to the scene. Out of all the possibilities in the world (including Jessie who could have gone in and out the same way Walter did) why the heck would Mike let Walt go and get the bag? Saul wasn’t budging which seems fine to me (this is where the A team needed to make another magic appearance), but Mike was so protective of Jessie in that sequence it seemed silly. Why get the guy who doesn’t like you and has reason to kill you to get the bad that will lead you to potential safety. It all depends if one interoperates the scene as a viable character move or a plot skip step that was used to get from point A to point B. The situation is much like the Joan sequence from this season’s Mad Men episode “The Other Woman”  where Joan gives herself to the Jaguar boss for a night in order to potentially get the account; you either by it or you don’t, plain and simple. I bought the Mad Men jump because it felt like it fit the situation, I’m not so sure on this one as I think it was a quick writer’s loophole to try to make the step of killing Mike, but it was well disguised enough and was executed well enough that I didn’t care. Things may be different later on but for now it was executed well enough that I bought it just enough to be satisfied.

Back to the greatness of the rest of this fine episode… The show again nailed the opening sequence with a great stand off for the ages. No guns, no force, just two guys and a lot of great dialogue. Greatness as usual from the almighty Brian Cranston who’s Walt oozed total confidence and control. This ladies and gentlemen is how a standoff should go down. Two guys, a lot of money on the line, and a lot of threats made for one fantastic standoff that’s for sure. Best of all it climaxed with the fine line of,

“Say my name”

“Heisenberg”

“You’re Goddamn right.”

So great, so very, very, great.

Let’s finish with Walt and Jessie’s great fight midway through the episodes. Jessie, after all this time, has finally caught up to Walt’s ways of lying and manipulating and won’t get sucked back in by it. Jessie is out, done and done, and there probably may potentially never be a way that he may come back to it (but probably, before the season is done, he might). It was another great scene of just two characters having a verbal battle to the max, and it was fantastic.

So where does this lead us? Walt is now alone with next to no one on his side anymore (save maybe Todd); his kids are out of the house, his wife wants completely out of his life emotionally and his meth partner (and surrogate son of sorts) is fed up with the lies he’s been spewing. Oh and Mike’s dead because of his confusion, recklessness and overall incompetence. All that’s left is the new operation and knowing the show it’s all downhill from here.

Other things:

• Hank’s interesting hunch to follow the wired lawyer was a great hunch (completely coincidental or not) and finally worked something out for the now in a little bit of deep water Hank (to attached to the case of course)

• Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on you, Hank should feel ashamed for letting Walt use the same trick on him again, this time to get the bugs away this time. Fake crying always works I guess.

• A world without Coca Cola would be a lot more Pepsi dominated I guess

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?

The Newsroom: “The Blackout” Part 1 and 2 review

Maggie and Lisa looking defeated in The Newsroom

Brief note, I was going to do a recap of the three episodes before these episodes as well, but the season finale is next week and I will be doing a season review afterwards so I thought that would be redundant. I thought two of the first episode of the three was bad and the other two were quite good. This review from this point in will solely contain very brief reviews of the two part storyline called “The Blackout”. So here goes…

So after a bit of a role “The Newsroom” presented us with the “The Blackout” an interesting set of episodes because they were close to polar opposites quality wise. The first part continued the streak of goodness and was the best episode since the pilot while part 2 was a mess featuring all of what Aaron Sorkin and this series does worse, providing one frustrating hour of television. Overall there is a mixed feeling going into the finale that can either go so right or very, very wrong.

Let’s start with the good; “The Blackout part 1” was one of the best Newsroom episodes this season, perhaps the best since the pilot. It was well paced, presenting non preachy political commentary, eliminated the clumsy romantic comedy, and didn’t make the female characters do dumb and inferior. Mac was in control the entire episode as she attempted to keep with the path as Will and Charlie wanted to cover dumb stories, those being Casey Anthony and Anthony Weiner, for the sake of ratings. Meanwhile Will was being a jerk, and finally acknowledged for being a jerk, because he got the person Mac cheated on him with to write the story about their new style of news. Soon, right as the crew was pre tapping a stupid Weiner interview, the power goes out, setting up part 2…

Part 2 was an atrocious mess of an episode of which most of the episode fell completely flat. Mac went from seeming really right to downright crazy as she, at least a couple of times, broke down into insane shouting sessions. Will was back to being the greatest guy on earth according to the show as he again was a jerk with no real consequence. Then there were the romantic comedy portions that were just downright cringe worthy and absolutely awful. Case and point I like Jim, but at this point why must Sorkin drag on the whole stupid love square (Jim, Don, Maggie, Lisa) any longer. I even liked the Jim and Lisa exchange from a few weeks ago (good short and actually kind of sweet) but man do we need to get pelted in the face by Lisa that Maggie and Jim should be together. The other problem is that at this point (despite being a little better throughout these two episodes) Maggie is the most annoying character on the show making it near impossible for me to root for Jim to end up with her (it’s all so heavy handed and poorly done I don’t care about it anyways). The bad relationship syndrome also carried over to Will and Mac again as Will after all this time (apparently due to his father’s betrayal at an early age) still can’t forgive Mac and so the monotony continues…

Then there was the debate which was one of the preachiest moments on the Newsroom (even if I agree with what Sorkin is trying to convey). Will doesn’t get the debate because the dirt bag young assistant to Will’s longtime friend in the republican party won’t settle for the type of questioning being thrown out in Will’s mock debate. It goes back to the whole Newsroom problem of ramming stuff down our throats in a very preachy manner. This is the kind of political commentary that the show fails at and should stop trying to do; but it’s Sorkin so you never know…

Some other thoughts:

• The well done version of commentary on the show was in Part 1 when Don breaks down how Nancy Grace keeps modern day ADD audiences glued to larger than life sensationalized stories. Good stuff there.

• Why is a group of internet trolls such an interesting story again? It’s about as bad as Bigfoot and is being pegged as a legit story. While my question was answered this week and it’s a BAM PLOT DEVICE! Sigh…

Slightly shorter review this week but don’t panic next week is the finale so we’ll have plenty to talk about then (for better or for worse).

That’s just me though… What did everyone else think?

Breaking Bad: “Buyout” Review

Dinner from hell in Buyout.

As the curtain closes on the first act of the half season, the second act is kicked into high gear; all in the same episode. For the first time in a while Breaking Bad had some pacing issues that threw this episode for a bit of a loop. It’s understandable though as Vince Gilligan has only eight episodes this year and he usually takes two to wrap up a season (see “Half Measures” and “Full Measures”, and “End Times” and “Face Off”). This was the first time this season that the eight episode factor really made a difference as content that in a 13 episode season would have been two episodes was jammed into one so we could have that we could a two episode final act. While it definitely left “Buyout” feeling like the individual parts were better than the whole it also could be a necessary sacrifice in order for the endgame of this year’s chunk of the season to work. Only the next two weeks will tell.

That being said there were some great individual moments in this episode. “Buyout” had a great precredit scene which featured the group of Walt, Jessie, Mike, and Todd disposing of the body of the kid they shot last week in the way they have since day one on Breaking Bad, disintegrating the body in strong acid. The scene was heart breaking with only the music and great reactions from all four actors to carry it. Great stuff!

Then the next scene featured the decision whether to keep Todd or not. This was one of those things that in a 13 episode season might have taken a whole episode of arguing and mopping about (in that great way that Breaking Bad allows these characters to do so) but with the shortened episode frame we got it in about five minutes. This was one of those points of the episode that felt a little rushed as the transition between the aftermath of the child killing and the rest of the episode was so quick and a little choppy. We never got those truly great aftermath moments that we usually get on this series because it had to make way for the back half of the episode.

Speaking of in the back half of the episode we got the revelation that everyone except Walt is out! After getting tailed by the DEA for a long period of time Mike says that it’s time to exit and Jessie follows him because of the child shooting. Their plan is to rid of the methylamine by selling it to another manufacturer in Phoenix for a total of five million dollars each. Of course, due to his crime addiction and large involvement in the lifestyle, Walt hates the idea. Unfortunately for him the manufacturer will only do the deal if he gets all of the methylamine including Walt’s share.  So the problems begin.

Another great individual sequence in the episode was Walt, Jessie, and Skyler’s awkward dinner. First off I forgot that this was the first time since episode two of season one that Jessie and Skyler had an interaction, period. This one was no less strange and awkward that the first; perhaps it was worse. The scene started with Walt telling Jessie that he didn’t want to give up the opportunity to have a great investment like he did with Grey Matter. Then Skyler arrived and the dinner from hell commenced. Poor Jessie had to try and make small talk in between the cold stalemate of Walt and Skyler. Then yet again, after Skyler storms out, Walt tries to manipulate Jessie by telling him that the meth business is clearly all he has left (which in a way is true). Again this scene was fantastic but suffered from the fact that it didn’t connect well to the beginning of the episode and further more felt a little choppy.

The last scene was the Mike trying to force Walt to go along with their plan only to have Walt MacGyver his way out of Mike’s makeshift restraint by using wire to burn it, and himself to free himself. So Mike freaks and Walt has a plan that he says will get them out of this whole (but as we know probably won’t) so everyone is happy. This probably won’t end well, just saying.

“Buyout” was good individual parts of an episode plagued by the fact that this really should have been two separate episodes, but due to the final season’s format was only one episode. Despite this I’m confident that Gilligan and crew will provide a spectacular one, two punch final act that the series has been so great at in the past.

Some other thoughts:

• Great acting from Cranston as usual as he had two semi failed attempts to manipulate Jessie and great acting as usual for Paul at the dinner from hell.

• Saul’s Back!

• Ana Gunn does a great job in the scene in which Marie (curse her big mouth) tells her what Walt said about the affair. Great mix of emotions throughout the scene as it went from “I’m a horrible parent” to “Wow that was a pathetic way to get out of telling Marie things Walt”.

• No Flynn this time. I’m sure there is still plenty of angst left from losing his bacon (oh and his parents too)

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?

The Expendables 2 Review

 

Gearing up for battle in the Expendables 2 

The Expendables 2

B-

 

 A review by Frederick Cholowski

Stallone, Statham, Willis, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, and Norris amongst many others have all been piled in to one of the biggest 80’s action hero fest ever, the Expendables 2. The Expendables 2 is big, bloated, and stupid featuring many gun fights, explosions and bad dialogue. However, The Expendables 2 has going for it what other recent films like it don’t; it’s a whole boatload of fun. It’s self referential, oddly satirical, and one of the single most fun movie experiences I’ve seen all year; despite it being big, bloated and stupid.

Barney (Stallone) and his rag tag group (including Statham, Couture, Lundgren, Li, Crews, and Hemsworth) have set out on another mission. This time it’s to help Church (Willis) and Trench (Schwarzenegger) stop the villainous, get this, Vilain (Van Damme) from using lots and lots of weapons grade plutonium. Also Stallone and company pick up a female for the ride this time, a CIA agent named Maggie (Nan Yu), who, like the rest of the crew, gets to beat people up and explode things as well.

If you’re looking for plot, character development, or great dialogue you’re walking into the wrong film. The Expendables 2 is all about action, action, action, and lots of self referential one liners. For the most part it doesn’t get tedious because of a few spots. At the beginning it starts to get tedious after a while…. Then Chuck Norris comes and makes the best extended cameo I’ve seen in a long time (I mean he gets to come in only to make a Chuck Norris Joke, be amazing and then leave. Plus The Good, The Bad and The Ugly music doesn’t hurt either). The middle gets a little tedious and then Schwarzenegger comes and steals the show. It just somehow works despite there being no character (throughout the movie I constantly forgot each character’s name and just went by the actors name), no real plot (just excuses to shoot more people and blow more things up), and dialogue that make the Star Wars prequels look like Shakespeare (seriously when *minor spoiler* one of the group dies near the beginning of the film he literally says “I’m dying”).

Also if you’re looking for good acting, you won’t find it here either. Most are terrible at delivering terrible dialogue and overall just add to the laugh factor (this time not on purpose). The standouts (if you can call them that) are Norris, Lundgren, Van Damme, and Schwarzenegger who manage to provide light to the screen when they appear. The worst of the crew is Bruce Willis who is so very, very wooden whenever he tries to speak his lines (which may be no fault of his own considering how bad the dialogue is). Even so this is just old action stars having fun and the bad acting is just all part of the fun of spoofing the old movies. Plus this film never takes itself seriously so the acting never really gets in the way.

The meat and potatoes of this film are the action scenes and this film definitely delivers on the promise of being big and loud. Lots of fist and gun fights and explosions are to be had here with most of the scenes feeling very much like the 80s. It’s all over the top and ridiculous, like the rest of the film, and provides some great moments of pure entertainment (*minor spoiler* when Vilain kills the Expendable who gets killed he spin kicks the knife from his henchman’s hand into said expendables heart, totally unnecessary yet so awesome). All the sequences are nicely shot (good direction from director Simon West) and work well as individual scenes that are big and loud.

Not much more needs to be said about The Expendables 2. It’s big, bloated, stupid, and a whole heck of a lot of fun. It seems like all the actors are in on their own joke, and they constantly make witty jokes about their older movies, and about bad 80s action movies in general that make the film more than barely watchable. If one goes in with the right mind set The Expendables 2 (and likes to laugh at amazingly bad dialogue) is defiantly one of the most entertaining movies of the summer; despite being big, bloated, and stupid.

Breaking Bad: “Dead Freight” Review

Jessie Plotting the great train robbery in Breaking Bad

 

What a fun episode of Breaking Bad! It was an amazing train robbery episode that had its feet directly in Spaghetti Western waters. Beautifully shot with lots of tension and dramatic greatness. A fun victory at the end as a great way to end a greatly entertaining episode…

….then an innocent kid gets shot and killed.

In one of the single most jarring and frightening moments in Breaking Bad history henchman Todd, after being told to not allow for any witnesses during the great methylamine train robbery, shoots a kid who saw the end of it. Good god that punch to the gut still hurts. After about 47 minutes of the greatest Breaking Bad caper ever told we get a rude awakening that we are now in season 5 and this isn’t about fun anymore, the end is near and things will go down. So the innocent spider hunting kid from the pre credits sequence gets shot and killed all for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. My goodness…

The episode starts with our business partners, Walt, Jessie, and Mike, trapping Lydia in a dark underground place to discover why she put the tracers on the methylamine. Turns out that she didn’t and that the DEA of another state clumsily put it on in an attempt to do a quick job to try and catch I don’t know somebody (which Walt finds out by playing Hank more on that in a second). Lydia then pleas again for her life by claiming that they can rob a train in a dead zone and end up with as much methylamine as their heart’s desire. So begins the caper of how to find a way of robbing the train without being seen (Ps another great plan by Jessie in this episode).

In between all of this is the fantastic scene in which Walt fake breaks down to Hank about how his wife doesn’t love him anymore so he can plant a microphone/taker into Hank’s computer while Hank get’s him Coffee. Also Walt and Skyler continue to banter about their future as Walt Jr. (or Flynn as he is now called again after several seasons) get’s sulky and angry about his parent’s behavior. This all was a great stuff that helped again raise the stakes higher for Walter as time slowly yet surely ticks down.

Then back to the great train robbery. Walt, Jessie, Mike, and Todd all get together (along with one of Saul’s ever trusty members of the “A-team”) to perform one of the greatest heists in television history. A truck will stop the train and then Walt Jessie and Todd will pump methylamine out of the train into a giant tank and then they will pump water into the train so the weight of the train remains the same. The whole sequence is fantastic and is the most beautiful Breaking Bad has ever looked. The whole train sequence was stunning from beginning to finish providing some of the best direction ever for the show. Not only that but the sequence was so much fun as Walt seemed was shot as if he were an old fashion Western villain. Also the sequence was very intense providing moments of great doubt in their plan (i.e. a guy who had a pickup truck managing to get the truck off the tracks a little too early).  It all seemed like an amazing feat of victory for Walt and company…

… Then Todd shoots and kills the innocent spider kid and we are back to square one all over again.

What an amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing episode. One of the single best in series history.

Some other thoughts:

• Not to go back to that final scene again but man Breaking Bad has managed, despite somewhat of a high body count, has managed to make every last kill impactful and jarring. That final scene brought me back to the big ending to “Half Measures” in season three. Congratulations to Breaking Bad for keeping it this way as this is a sign of true maturity on a television show.

• Poor Walt Jr. getting his bacon taken away last week and now his parents are neglecting him. When is the guy ever going to get a break.

• The murder of the kid probably means Jessie will have a more prominent role in the final parts of the first half season. Any use of Aaron Paul is great on this show and it will be nice to hopefully see him back in a more prominent role.

Ok time to go recover from that punch to the gut. My goodness…

So that’s my opinion… What did everyone else think?

The Bourne Legacy Review

"I surrender my movie isn't all that good" in the Bourne Legacy

The Bourne Legacy

C+

 A Review by Frederick Cholowski

So a complete trilogy wasn’t enough was it? After seemingly wrapping things up in the Bourne Ultimatum Universal has reopened the Bourne franchise for another go around. The difference this time… No Jason Bourne! Yep that’s right; Jeremy Renner steps in as a new hero with similar problems, i.e. running for his life while the CIA and other government agents attempt to kill him. The big question is can a Bourne film actually work without Jason Bourne? Unfortunately the Bourne Legacy doesn’t prove that it can as the film is simply a mess that feels more like a quick, redundant cash grab than a true, well thought out successor.

So after Jason Bourne seems to be on the loose… again, guess what it’s time for? Clean up time that’s what! So new player Eric Byer (Edward Norton) must set out to take out every one of their “projects” so nothing more can possibly go wrong. Cue Aaron Ross (Jeremy Renner) an agent who is training in the arctic and is on two pills, one that improves his mental stamina and one that improves his strength and physical stamina. Sadly he’s run out, and the CIA is out to get him. So begins the chase across many parts of the world and involving many different characters, including tortured and targeted female character Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), who will try to help him on his quest for survival.

Seems simple, right? The Bourne Legacy seems to be determined to make the film seem deep and complex by constantly having unnecessary exposition dialogue that attempts to explore the various complexities of the plot. Unfortunately this never works as it constantly slows down the pace of the story and adds elements that are really unnecessary and uninteresting. The other thing the dialogue seems to feel like it’s always spelling out everything in the film. It’s inefficient and turns the movie into a close to emotionless romp.

Speaking of, one of the other problems that the film has is that it feels like there is something missing at the emotional level. Everything here feels so cold and calculated and never reaches a level where one can get involved with the film. At least in prior films Bourne had an interesting hook to it as well as just surviving and that was finding out who he is. Here the only ulterior motive is to just get more and more pills. It just seems static and boring especially throughout the middle which relies way too much on unnecessary exposition through dialogue. It’s an overlong mess that never succeeds in being captivating or interesting, and for an action spy movie that is one of the largest sins possible.

The other gaping hole in the film is the lack of Jason Bourne. This wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that pretty much the whole film revolves around him.  Bourne is referenced throughout the entire film but never makes an appearance, not even a brief cameo, in the film. As a result the film feels unfocused and messy because where the film wants to go is unclear. It wants to be a Bourne movie (without Jason Bourne in it) and it also wants to be an action-chase movie starring Jeremy Renner. What we get is a film with a gaping hole in the middle surrounded by a whole lot of misdirection.

The performances are quite solid here. Jeremy Renner does well as Aaron Cross, and despite never filling the Matt Damon sized hole he manages to be solid in his role as a strong yet despite spy on the run. Edward Norton is good here as a worthy opponent to the spy and is good all the way through the film. Rachel Weisz is also strong here and providing an interesting (and rushed) relationship with Cross, which she for the most part sells very well. The supporting CIA agents are all believable and overall nothing to complain about in the acting category.

It’s about the same for the action scenes and the technical aspects of the film save for one glaring example, the last action sequence. The sequence lasts for about fifteen to twenty minutes, i.e. about ten to fifteen minutes too long, and ends the film on a complete anticlimax. Other than that though, the action scenes are realistic and visceral giving the film the gritty edge that the other three films managed to capture.  It also seems that director Tony Gilroy has found a tripod for the series so that the action scenes can be enjoyed on a better level than some of the others in the series.

On the subject of the technical elements, the cinematography manages to do a good job of capturing a sense of darkness and realism that the other films in the franchise have by sticking to a mix of still and handheld shots. It’s not amazing but for what it is it works well here. The score is serviceable and like so many films lately it doesn’t seem to add or detract from the film. So in other words it’s a pretty generic spy soundtrack.

The Bourne Legacy is plain and simply a mess. It’s overlong, unfocused, anticlimactic and a little soulless. It feels like a film that Universal cranked out to line their pockets for the summer instead of the spiritual successor to the Bourn trilogy. It has its moments at times, but the film leaves an empty feeling at the end that can’t be escaped, making it a summer movie that is very hard to recommend.

Breaking Bad 3 episode review: Waiting for the Cancer to Return

Heisenberg Hat in "Fifty-One".

[Reviewer’s note: Due to some life interferences (i.e. being busy) this review (along with the Newsroom review) will contain brief reviews of the two episodes missed as well as a more fleshed out version of the latest episode. Hopefully we shall resume a normal weekly schedule after this mega review]

So where were we…? After the first episode of the season things seemed pretty clear; Walt was on top, for now. Something (as hinted by the premiere’s opening scene) is going to go wrong and Walt’s world is going to come crumbling around him.  That inevitable feeling of dread continues to grow larger and larger as the episodes go by as the bowling ball begins to take aim. The second and third episodes begin the aiming and the fantastic episode four marks the beginning of the pins being knocked down.

Some brief thoughts on episodes two and three before we get to the fourth episode. First off Mike is the man, period. In the second episode Mike goes around and takes care of business before deciding that the only way to regain some of the money that he lost in the DEA’s cessation of Gus’s accounts is to join the ticking time bomb that is Walt in his quest to get back into the meth business. In the process Mike has to kill one of his guys because of the emotionally unstable Lydia, a former supplier in Gus’ regime, who wants to take out all of the guys left on Mike’s list. Mike doesn’t want this because they won’t talk to the police, but of course Lydia won’t listen and it ends up in Mike having to shoot one of his guys. This was a very good episode and a great Emmy episode for Jonathan Banks who is fantastic throughout the episode.

Episode three was the meth lab setup episode. It seems that the best way to cook for the new operation is to use homes that are having pests removed from them. When the house is covered they go in, cook, and leave, simple as that. Other than that tensions begin to arise between Walt and Mike, and Walt ends up manipulating Jessie to break up with Andrea; so Jessie ends up breaking up with Andrea, for better or for worse. It’s another very solid episode of Breaking Bad.

Now on to the most recent episode…

Wow!

“Fifty-One” was one of the single best character building episodes the show has ever done, period. Time is ticking down for Walt, Skyler, and the rest of the characters and the fourth episode of the season made this very evident. First off Lydia panicking as always (crazy mismatched shoes and screams into pillows amongst other things) decides to try and scare Jessie away from getting the methylamine by planting a tracker and telling him it’s one from the DEA. Of course Mike (who was already about to kill her in the second episode) wants to get rid of her and calls Jessie sexist for trying to keep her alive; But production must continue and apparently means so does the life of Lydia, and that’s that.

The meat and potatoes of “Fifty-One” came in the confrontation between Walt and Skyler. At this point Skyler is practically the only one who isn’t drinking out of Walt’s kool aid of lies and thus is the only one who has her eyes open to what Walter has done and what he is capable of doing. So she tries to get the kids out of the house civilly by suggesting a few ideas to Walt, and when that doesn’t work… She tries to drown herself in the pool. The pool sequence is one of the most hauntingly beautiful scenes that has ever come out of the show. The sheer joy and serenity that Skyler feels under the water is almost liberating… Until the Jaws like Walt comes in a snatches her out.

Her plan kind of works though as Hank and Marie are so mortified they agree to take the kids for a night or two. This starts an amazing back and forth dialogue between Walt and Skyler in which Skyler tries to find ways of getting the kids out and Walt keeps on shutting her down. This builds until the ultimate reveal that Skyler is just simply waiting.

“Waiting for what?”

“Waiting for the Cancer to come back.”

Walt is still drinking out of his cup of lies though and still believes that Skyler will come back his way referencing Jessie who has now given him a watch for his birthday after just recently (and rightfully) trying to kill him. The episode ends with that same watch ticking down implying that the time for these characters is rapidly running out leaving only cataclysmic consequences.

That’s just me though, what does everyone else think?

Beasts of the Southern Wild Review

Searching for the ocean in Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild

A+

 A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Every summer there always seems to be the film that is a small shinning light in a dark abyss of mid level blockbusters. Earlier this summer we got the fantastic Moonrise Kingdom that had color and fantastic quirkiness. Now comes Beasts of the Southern Wild a triumphant indie that sparkles with magical images and a heartfelt relationship between a neglecting father and his six year old daughter. Beasts of the Southern Wild is an ambitious, emotional roller coaster ride and the best film of the year so far.

 The story is fairly simple, a six year old girl named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) and her father Wink (Dwight Henry) live, along with a crew of strange inhabitants, in what is only described as the Bath Tub. Life is simple in the bath tub everyone is self sufficient and basically pays no real attention to anyone outside of it. Wink especially resents the outside world and even after a storm levels the place and leaves it underwater (as well as the fact that Wink is also fatally ill and refuses to acknowledge it). The few people left in the Bath Tub deal with their struggles while the outside world slowly creeps in.

Beasts of the Southern Wild’s plot is unique because each thought is not a full concrete idea. Things happen in waves that, well linear, feel different than the normal film story structure. The plot works through stages of Hushpuppy’s feelings of what’s going on around with her relationships with her father and the world around her (as shown through some strange, yet interesting wild animal analogies). It all manages to work surprisingly well as a whole and never deteriorates into just a set of ideas that don’t flow together. For a first time director Benh Zeitlin does a fantastic job of doing ambitious things (such as the analogies and structure) while keeping it simple and direct. This is absolutely admirable.

On the subject of great things, young actress Quvenzhané Wallis is absolutely perfect in her role as the emotionally lost six year old Hushpuppy. Wallis is such a powerhouse in the role and she steals every second she gets on screen.  Dwight Henry is also great as the stubborn, ailing father who tries to stay tough in order to try and be there for his kid. Their relationship is top notch and is consistently the emotional centre of the film. The rest of the supporting cast, as they come and go, do a very good job of keeping the atmosphere and vibe of the setting going at all times.

Beasts of a Southern Wild, for the most part, is shot handheld. Going into the film I was skeptical of the idea but right away it managed to hook me. The handheld style allows for the film to have a more up-close and personal feel that allows for the film to be about the character’s view on their land instead of the land itself. It’s in a way the anti Tree of Life in the cinematography department. The score comes and goes (again a little anti Tree of Life) and is doesn’t do anything to improve or detract from the overall experience. Overall the film does an amazing job capturing what it needs to capture with the use of its technical elements and the small budget never makes this film feel like an indie.

Small yet emotionally big and powerful Beasts of the Southern Wild is an absolute marvel. For a first time effort Zeitlin delivers a wonderfully ambitious tale that combines a wonderful story linked together by some interesting analogies. Best of all all of the ideas work together and never feel messy or misused. Overall Beasts of the Southern Wild is a great accomplishment and the best film of the year so far.