breaking bad
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AMC - Sunday - 9 p.m.
Pencil
Fresh off two Golden Globe wins for its original series Mad Men, AMC is hoping to duplicate that success with the new drama Breaking Bad.
The show centers around Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher who has just turned 50 and is facing a mid-life crisis that has been a long time coming. His son has cerebral palsy, his wife loves him but shows little passion and his students give him no respect. On top of that, he takes a part-time job as a register jockey at a car wash, but is frequently sent out to do the washing, which sometimes includes the vehicles of his students. Not to mention he's just found out that he has inoperable lung cancer.
Walter sees his opportunity for a little excitement when his brother-in-law, a DEA agent, invites him to ride along on a crystal must bust. He finds an even bigger opportunity when he sees one of his former students, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), fleeing the scene. Walter tracks down the dropout and gives him an ultimatum: let him in on the drug business, or he turns him in. So, the pair set up a meth lab in an RV in the middle of the New Mexico desert, using Walter's wisdom of chemistry to cook the perfect batch and Jesse's street smarts to sell it. But, trouble soon finds them, teaching the duo that there's no such thing as the perfect crime.
For a man who scripted 30 episodes of The X-Files, writer/director Vince Gilligan brings an incredible amount of realism to Breaking Bad. A show with this kind of concept could rely completely on gimmick, but instead has fully realized characters and situations. Some are scenarios we might see on the evening news, and others are so intimate that they reflect the complexity of the characters. And, as with any great television series or movie, Gilligan balances drama and comedy with grace and ease, which shines through in his writing as well as direction.
Credit should also go to the actors. Everyone in the cast, right down to the smallest role, hits their notes perfectly. Cranston brings the talent he applied as Hal on Malcolm in the Middle to the proceedings, but in a much more subdued manner, resulting in a powerful performance. He fully encompasses the transformation of Walter's character, so that we go from laughing at him to laughing with him.
Paul also does a fine job portraying Jesse. Though it's never strongly conveyed, you can see Jesse beginning to let his guard down around Walter, illustrating another smart, subtle performance.
While the characters are the strength of the show, they are also its biggest flaw. They display all the
qualities that make them complex and fleshed-out, but lack characteristics that make us care. Often, it becomes more interesting to see what will happen in the situation than what will happen to the people in them. But, in television, these relationships can't be rushed, and Breaking Bad has given its characters plenty of room to grow in the coming season.
Jared Duncan
reviews
cloverfield
A Godzilla-like creature attacks NYC on the night of budding professional Rob's going away party. The action unfolds through the lens of a camera that had been shooting the party. The citizen journalism concept is fresh, but the powers behind Cloverfield weren't ballsy enough to follow through on it, resulting in a movie with some serious identity issues.
The shoddy camera work is believable most of the time, but beneath the disguise of reckless zooming and a shaky frame lays a piece of high budgeted, overly produced crap. Just how bad is it? When the group is about to be attacked by a couple of computer-generated spiders, rising action music begins playing in the background. Later, when the group finds Rob's love interest Beth and pulls an iron rod out of her impaled body, she hops up, and without any noticeable ailment, runs off with her rescuers.
There's more cheating. In a couple of shots during the two final scenes, the handheld camera seems to magically float in the air to capture its target. This shift from first to third person shows that director Matt Reeves was willing to sacrifice legitimacy for a few more seconds of action.
Anyone considering seeing Cloverfield should
mull over the alternatives. For a similarly brainless dose of NYC post-9/11 apocalyptic hysteria, rent The Day After Tomorrow and save a few dollars. To see the home video movie done right, just watch The Blair Witch Project again.
ian Stanford
for more information: Find local movie showtimes at gohollywood.com, 01.24.2008
libertyhall.net & movies.yahoo.com. VOL.5 ISS.17
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