Vince Gilligan says, "Walt must be punished for his sins."
Okay, he doesn't quite say that, but you'll never know what he did say unless you click on the link and listen to the interview.
Breaking Bad continues its run as TV's only genuine pulp masterpiece. I love that Walt has become less and less sympathetic to the point where he's almost unlikable now. I'm not sure how else things could be.
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I never wrote about finishing Mildred Pierce. I finished it a while ago. I couldn't sympathize with much of this. The daughter character is insufferable to the point of being annoying to watch. Really, Mrs. Pierce, you deserve what you get when you cultivate spoiled milk as if it's fresh cream.
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Abby watched ahead of me and finished The Killing. I still have about six episodes to go and probably will never finish. I just don't care who killed poor Rosie. I lost the momentum here and now I can't get as worked up as any of these characters.
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I watched an episode of an Australian gangster show called Underbelly Razor. Again, the characters are criminal to the point of being boring and annoying.
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So, why is it that I like Walt being a terrible jerk and can't stand all of these other instances. I think that it's because I loved him first. His fall is painful. It hurts to watch. These other jerks? They're just jerks.
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A couple episodes of Colbert. The "too hot to fish" story was hilarious.
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Robin Hood every Tuesday.
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I'll try to have a Simpsons post in a week or so, but I'll only have about half of season 7 watched unless I have another binge session before the week is over.
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Enough TV. On to some movies...
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Night and Fog is the only concentration camp movie that matters. Talk about assisted dying.
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Everyone knows by now that I watched the Pratchett doc. Choosing to Die. See FB.
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Cold Weather is a marvelous little movie. There's no way to write about it without spoiling it. What's surprising to me is how often I want to compare these "mumblecore" guys to Rohmer. First, Bujalski. Now, Katz. Cold Weather has a definite Rohmerian bent in its chronicling of relationships, but Brandon may be pleased to know that it also takes a surprisingly Truffautian (distinctly not Godardian) leap toward genre mash-up. This is far from Don't Shoot the Piano Player, though. The similarity to Truffaut's work is that genre conventions are filtered through personal and relational sensibilities.
You guys are all nincompoops if you don't watch this.
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If Cold Weather is a fine example of "soft-boiled noir" (I think that I just coined a new sub-genre), then Drive is about as hard-boiled as they come. Brandon's going to hate me saying this, but it reminded me most of last year's The Killer Inside of Me, a film which I begrudgingly respect and think of more often than most other films from last year. It takes pulp tropes and grinds them out methodically and mercilessly until there's nothing but the pure juice of "crime doesn't pay."
I can't agree with Jeff's enthusiastic FB proclamation that Drive is a masterpiece. There's just too much missing information. With no background for our "hero," we understand no motivation except for our imported desires to see a Killer With A Heart Of Gold Waiting For the Right Girl To Show Him How To Stop Killing And Learn To Love. Drive plays with stereotypes, but it never rises above them.
Gosling is the star here. I enjoyed his character's quiet moments. A brief nod. A smile. Gosling's got a good face and knows how to use it.
I'm looking forward to reviews from Jeff and Chris. I'll definitely interact.
(I'm being a little bit negative here. Don't be fooled. I enjoyed the movie a lot. It's the best non-TOL film I've seen from 2011 so far.)
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All caught up. Gotta go.
EDIT: (oh yeah. I almost forgot. Harry Potter and the Conclusion of the Blockbuster Movie Franchise was a complete waste of time. I won't hate on your nerd crush too much. I also can't grumble too much for getting paid to see any movie. Harry Potter. Paul Blart. It's a way to make a living.)
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