Since Breaking Bad concluded its run with the incredible "Felina" last September, Monday night's broadcast of the Primetime Emmy Awards was the show's final chance to take home some of the golden girls. Typically, Breaking Bad did not disappoint. Having already won a Creative Arts Emmy Award for outstanding editing for "Felina" (yay for Skip MacDonald, who also worked on Buffy back in the day), Breaking Bad took home Emmy Awards for Best Drama Series (the second in a row), Best Lead Actor in a Drama (Bryan Cranston, winning his fifth!), Best Supporting Actress in a Drama (Anna Gunn, taking home her second in a row), Best Supporting Actor in a Drama (Aaron Paul, taking home his third), and Outstanding Writing (Moira Walley-Beckett for the amazing "Ozymandias"). Vince Gilligan did not receive the Best Directing award, which I think is a shame - do they think "Felina" directed itself? Still, it's unseemly to complain with those results. (And yes, Walt, we know. You won. Really, you did.)
AMC continues the "binge broadcast" every Sunday night beginning at 5 pm and going until 1 am - check that out if you can handle that much depravity in an evening! AMC has thoughtfully provided companion material for binge watchers!
Speaking of companion material, Ensley F. Guffey and I are scheduled to do another signing down at the South Carolina coast - come see us at the North Myrtle Beach Books-A-Million on Saturday, September 13 beginning at 2 pm! We'd love to see you, talk Breaking Bad and even give you a taste of the blue! Tell your friends and spread the word!
And, since Ensley already posted the hysterical "pawn shop" skit with Cranston and Paul (click here for that post), let's take a moment to remember how things could have ended . . .
Well, Breaking Bad did just fine with last week's Emmy nominations and is in the running for thirteen of the golden girls. In addition to seven nominations in more technical categories (such as sound editing and makeup), Bryan Cranston (who's having an amazing year!), Anna Gunn, and Aaron Paul are all nominated in the acting categories, the show is in the Outstanding Drama category, Moira Walley-Beckett is nominated for Outstanding Writing for the absolutely blow-your-socks-off episode "Ozymandias," and Vince Gilligan his own bad self is nominated for Outstanding Directing for the final episode "Felina." A special shout-out to Michael Slovis, who is nominated in the Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series category for the episode "Granite State" - Mr. Slovis kindly agreed to be interviewed for Wanna Cook? and we were so pleased with how that interview turned out - it's a gem in the book, seriously. (That's him checking light levels for the episode "Peekaboo" [2.06] at the top of the post, by the way.)
Ensley mentioned the upcoming book signing over on his blog (you read both of our blogs, right?), so I'll just briefly remind you - we'll be at the Gastonia, NC location of Books-A-Million on Saturday, July 26 beginning at 2 pm (that's a change from the original 5 pm start time, so make a note!) to discuss Breaking Bad, sign copies of Wanna Cook? and generally pontificate and speculate on all things Gilligan-related. The store is located at 3710 East Franklin Blvd. in Gastonia and you can call them at (704) 824-0221 for more information - hope to see you there!
In other exciting news, a group of dedicated BrBa fans decided that Duke City needed its own convention to celebrate Breaking Bad and they're making it happen! On November 8, the Albuquerque Convention Center will be home to the first annual Breaking Bad Fest and it's looking sweet! While we won't be able to attend this year, we certainly hope you will if you're nearby. Check out their site here, buy tickets here, and remember that you can also follow the latest con news on Twitter or Facebook.
The Breaking Bad cast has been busy lately! Bryan Cranston is both trotting the Broadway boards as Lyndon B. Johnson and has Godzilla coming out in May. Aaron Paul is starring in Need for Speed, which I wrote about in the previous post - I adore Paul, but the film is lousy. I can sympathize with his desire to do something goofy and ridiculous after years of playing Jesse, but . . . then again, Paul has a role in the upcoming Ridley Scott film Exodus, so I'll hold out hope.
Meanwhile, we're working with our publisher, ECW Press, on some fun events leading up to the May 1 release of Wanna Cook? and we should know more about the official launch event soon.
I'm already picking out my author outfit. What do you think about Kawaii's Breaking Bad for the opening event? (It's pictured at the top of the post.) She runs an Etsy store that you can access here and she's got some lovely, creative ideas. The green is only one of four in her limited Breaking Bad collection - here's a picture of the whole cook!
The first few months of the calendar year can be considered the "dumping ground" of new releases. That's not to say that all films released in the first quarter are bad (Lego, anyone?) - that's simply not true and certainly the rest of the year has its share of dogs. But there is a certain concentration of so-so movies galloping around loose in mid-to-late winter.
Case in point -Need for Speed. I'm honestly not going to say much here - Aaron Paul played Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, a show you know I hold in high esteem and Paul's ability to find the vulnerability in Jesse was a large part of that. So maybe the director (Scott Waugh, far better known as a stuntman) is an old friend or maybe Paul's a lousy poker player and had a bad night in Reno. I have no idea, but this movie is bad. As in "don't bother renting it to snark your way through" bad. As in audible groaning in the theater bad. And I like bad movies - with the rise of the teenager as a target audience in the prosperous 1950s, pretty awful movies aimed at teenagers were a distinct subgroup of the industry and those old B&W can be fun to watch for their sheer awfulness. (Disposable income plus the car culture of America led to the drive-in, a venue that screamed its need for fresh creature features every week, thus leading to by-the-numbers awful movies like Teenagers from Outer Space, a bad movie that nevertheless has a certain charm because it seems to know that it's nothing more than This Week's Flavor.) Need for Speed takes itself too seriously, relies on too many cliches (both in characterization and dialogue), and ignores the reality of street racing. (Just one example - Paul's character, Tobey, goes to jail for participating in an illegal street race that kills his "little brother," in part because the rich cretin who actually caused the death crash has friends lie for him. Really? None of the dozens of other motorists who swerved, stomped on brakes, and often crashed their own cars avoiding you jerks could count to three to report the number of souped-up illegal-in-this-country-yet-still-registered-to-the-rich-cretin cars in this race?) Seriously, if not for the movie show, I'd have left the theater on this one, and I never walk out. (By the way, Dominic Cooper plays the villain in this one. You know him as Howard Stark, Tony's dad, in the first Captain America movie. He's reprising the role in Winter Soldier, which is out in a few weeks.) Best part? Catching a glimpse of Aaron Paul's "No Half Measures" tattoo on his right arm in a shot. Take your ink's advice - wait for better material. You're worth it, and heaven above knows I don't deserve this sort of schlock.
Fortunately, I also saw Mr. Peabody & Sherman this weekend. As a fan of the original Rocky & Bullwinkle series, which gave the world Frostbite Falls, Cold War intrigue, Dudley Do-Right, and Fractured Fairy Tales, in addition to the super-genius dog and his boy, I wasn't sure. 1950s charm has a hard time translating to our more cynical time. It's a tough sell - kids today have no clue who these characters are, so the filmmakers had to relate to them as well as to the folks who took the kids to the movie in the first place. I have to say, Mr. Peabody has a certain charm to it, as well as some solid vocal talent designed to delight the older fry among us. The original Jay Ward shorts never really focused on the father-son relationship here; Mr. Peabody was a dog who had a boy and that was that. However, in this version, that relationship is really at the heart of the movie and that provides us with the "hook" to get into the puns and the history and the fast pacing of the original shorts. A few slightly crude jokes regarding the behind of the Sphinx, sewer gas, and Trojan Horse droppings might make you cringe, but at its core, Mr. Peabody is a family film that just might cause a kid or two to pick up a book. I doubt anything is gained by seeing it on the big screen, but if your choices are Mr. Peabody or Need for Speed - go see the dog cartoon and do a good deed and buy a ticket for any poor schmo who's in line for the other.
It's worth noting that next week (on Feb. 24!) Netflix will begin offering the final episodes of Breaking Bad through its streaming service.
Not sure if you care? After all, you say, you were just a casual fan; doesn't really matter to you. Heresy, I say, but I suppose it could be true. (But really - a casual fan of Breaking Bad? I've yet to meet one. Rather like a basilisk.)
To get you in the mood, here's one opinion on the best scenes of the show. Keep in mind, there are (naturally) spoilers contained within and other opinions may contain different scenes. Still, it'll remind you of how much good there is in this show!
Or, if you just want to have your jaw drop, watch this clip. Aaron Paul appeared on The Price is Right back in 2000 and he told his secrets to another contestant. Then it was just a matter of digging through the clip archive . . .
Whew! "Granite State" provided us with a bit of a breather between the nonstop, hold-your-breath action of "Ozymandias" and the sure to be action-packed "Felina" this Sunday. Behold - there will be some spoilers in this post, but not until after the picture, so if you want to stay (like Jesse's last cook) 96% pure, just read until the pic, then stop.
First off - yay for Breaking Bad at the Emmys! Anna Gunn took home the Best Actress in a Dramatic Series award and the show took home the Big Kahuna Prize for Best Dramatic Series. Obviously, I'm pleased that the show won this very public acknowledgement of its quality, but I'm also delighted that Anna Gunn, who has faced some truly dark, nasty, mean, and downright misogynistic twaddle, is able to raise Emmy high and say, as only a winner can, "Go jump. All of you." (And by splitting the final season into two parts, Breaking Bad will be eligible for Emmy consideration again next year. No doubt that had something to do with the decision to broadcast the final season in this way.)
Also - if you're behind in your Breaking Bad viewing, you can call in sick for the next few days (not that we here at Unfettered Brilliance advocate that sort of thing) and binge-watch on AMC. Beginning tonight (Wednesday) at 8:00, the network is airing Breaking Bad from the beginning, nonstop. That's 61 episodes of Breaking Bad, with the finale left to go. I'm not sure I suggest actually live-watching that much of it - for one thing, sleep is good. Second, this show gets seriously dark and at some point, you're going to need videos of kittens and baby otters to balance it out.
Speaking of balancing . . . "Granite State" after the picture.
So - "Granite State" explains to us how Walt got across the country to New Hampshire and what draws him back to the Land of Enchantment at the start of Season 5A in "Live Free or Die" (the state motto of New Hampshire, by the way). What struck me most about this episode is that Walt really hasn't learned a thing. Yes, he's feeling sorry for himself that he's stuck in the middle of nowhere in the New England winter and yes, cancer treatment in an isolated hunter's shack is uncomfortable, but . . . this is his choice. He chose to run (Saul told him to face the music and take the burden off his family, remember, but noooo - Walt's gotta save his skin.) and, by so choosing, he chose to be alone. And he's headed back because Gretchen and Elliott publicly downplayed his contributions to the incredibly-successful Gray Matter. You remember, the company Walt claims they stole from him, although G&E generously offered him a job and gold-plated health benefits that would have easily covered his cancer treatment. Pride goeth before a firefight.
Just look at that. Mr. "Everything I did, I did for my family" has lost it all. He has to pay some stranger $10,000 for an hour of playing cards, his family has lost the house to the Feds (RICO took it as part of an "ongoing criminal activity"), Skyler's going by her maiden name, Junior is now officially "Flynn," and Walt can't even give his blood money to his family. His loving son, who always believed that his dad hung the moon, angrily asks him why he's still even alive - the odds are good that "Felina" does not include a father-son pancake supper.
And Jesse. Yikes. Poor, beaten, brave, stupid Jesse.
There's gonna be a body count next week - and I'm not willing to speculate on who's going to be left standing.
