How This Got Made: Hollywood’s Greatest ‘Disaster’

Bad movies are a waste of time and money. But really, truly, exceptionally bad movies can be great entertainment — and, in their own way, transcend to high art. After all, passionate fans of truly terrible movies tend to be intelligent, or at least knowledgeable about pop culture. Such fandom requires us to be smarter […]

Lone Survivors: The Stubborn Old Men Of ‘Nebraska’ & ‘All Is Lost’

Some movies are tougher sells than others. Certain films are almost willfully difficult to sell. How about a nice uplifting movie called All Is Lost, which features exactly three instances of dialogue — some voice over in the beginning, a distress call spoken into a malfunctioning radio, and one expletive shouted to the heavens. (If […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Series Finale: “Felina”

“I did it for me. I liked it.” And so it ends. Can I now safely say that Breaking Bad was the best TV drama there ever was? Not without watching a whole lot of other TV dramas I haven’t caught up with yet, and not without stirring up a heated debate. There are a […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Granite State”

“Why don’t you just die already?” For once, the Sunday night television conversation was centered around a different series last night — Dexter, and how utterly disappointing the finale was. I’ve only seen the first season of Dexter, but I know that the show has disappointed fans for the past few seasons, and it’s for […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Ozymandias”

“The reaction has begun.” Leave it up to Breaking Bad to kill off one of the four leads in an episode and have that not be the scene everyone is talking about. Last week’s “To’hajiilee” was, for me, a mixed bag. A mostly good bag, but with a few questionable items mixed in. I didn’t […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “To’hajiilee”

“Baby, I got him.” There isn’t a single episode of Breaking Bad that doesn’t advance the story and the characters in intriguing, insightful, and surprising ways. This show does not waste any of our time. For so long Breaking Bad has teased us in the most delightful manner, often dawdling when it comes to the […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Rabid Dog”

“Mr. White’s gay for me. Everybody knows it.” Possibly the biggest question mark surrounding the second half of Breaking Bad‘s fifth season pertained to Walt and Jesse’s relationship — it’s been a tense one over the years (or months, if we’re using the show’s timeline). They’ve been friends and enemies, back and forth — from […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Confessions”

“He really did a number on you, didn’t he?” Hoo boy! The final season (okay, half-season) of Breaking Bad is officially underway. There have been two pretty solid episodes so far, “Blood Money” and then “Buried,” both of which gave us scenes (and moments of hand-to-face contact) that have been a long time coming. This […]

Spectacular ‘Spectacular’: Not Another Teen Movie

Teen movies tend to fall into different camps, just like teenagers in teen movies. The nerds, the jocks, the princesses, the outcasts — there’s a cinematic equivalent to each, which is why Can’t Hardly Wait and Superbad and Friday Night Lights and Donnie Darko and Clueless all have precious little in common. Still, they all […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Buried”

“Am I under arrest?!” We had no idea what we were in for with the final half of the final season of Breaking Bad. Well… we had a pretty good idea of a few things we’d see — Hank confronting Walt about his meth-making, Marie learning the truth about her brother-in-law, Jesse pulling further away […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five Part Two Premiere: “Blood Money”

“Tread lightly.” One episode into the new season (okay, technically, new half-season) of Breaking Bad, we’ve already got our latest lingo from AMC’s stellar series, the one I’d claim is the best currently on television. The series occasionally gifts us with such turns of phrase — “I am the danger,” “I fucked Ted,” “the one […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five Part One Finale: “Gliding Over All”

Well! There have probably been at least five episodes of this show that left me thinking, “Well, now Walt’s really evil.” Just when you think our antihero has crossed every line he could possibly cross, he goes just a little bit further. Or, in the case of this week, he goes a lot further.