Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

Erica Ambler wrote:

Never seen the Sopranos. There's that awkward moment with a long-running show where you feel it's too late to catch up.

Plus I don't share the world's fascination with Catholic criminals. Maybe Birmingham getting bombed by the IRA influenced my viewpoint.

It's an 86 episode show that really only needed 50 episodes to tell the same story and be better off quality wise.
The need for filler is really apparent in the last two seasons.
Still, if you find the time I'd certainly suggest watching the first three seasons.

Is Peter Bogdanovich any good in it? I have an interest in the guy, a good writer and once a great director. No idea about his acting, never seen any.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Is Peter Bogdanovich any good in it? I have an interest in the guy, a good writer and once a great director. No idea about his acting, never seen any.

His role is rather small, he plays the therapist who treats Tony Sopranos own therapist.

Amusing blog on the design, philosophy, engineering and management compromises that led to Walter White's appalling Pontic Aztek.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/complete-acquiesence-bob-lutz-reveals-how-the-pontiac-aztek-happened/

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Latest episode may be the best yet. It was also directed by a woman, Michelle MacLaren. Don't think I've ever seen a woman shoot action as well as that before.

MacLaren has just got her first feature gig directing Wonder Woman.

You should open a thread on Wonder Woman, Oppers.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Latest episode may be the best yet. It was also directed by a woman, Michelle MacLaren. Don't think I've ever seen a woman shoot action as well as that before.

MacLaren has just got her first feature gig directing Wonder Woman.

You should open a thread on Wonder Woman, Oppers.

I have been a fan of MacLaren for quite some time.

I'm no feminazi but I do believe she would have gotten a studio movie gig earlier had she been a man. She has been deemed as one of the best (if not the best) directors working on TV for a while now.

Her directorial style also suggests that she is quite fond of westerns (though she does not have QTs utter lack of subtlety in showcasing this).

In that respect, I might have been more interested in seeing a western from her. But that genre is dead (at least within the studio system).

Salomé wrote:

I have been a fan of MacLaren for quite some time.

I'm no feminazi but I do believe she would have gotten a studio movie gig earlier had she been a man.

Oddly enough, I drew the opposite conclusion - that the politics of Wonder Woman requires a female director and that MacLaren is the best action director available given that Kathryn Bigelow is writing her own ticket these days.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

I have been a fan of MacLaren for quite some time.

I'm no feminazi but I do believe she would have gotten a studio movie gig earlier had she been a man.

Oddly enough, I drew the opposite conclusion - that the politics of Wonder Woman requires a female director and that MacLaren is the best action director available given that Kathryn Bigelow is writing her own ticket these days.

I don't rate Bigelow as a director. "Zero Dark Thirty" especially was a monstrosity.

I'm not sure if the politics of Wonder Woman requires a female director. I do know that it's being treated as a third-rate project within the comic book hero genre.

That's probably why the lead is a relative unknown (outside of the fans of the Fast & Furious movies) and the director is a woman getting her first real movie gig.

In short, DC/WB will not be breaking the bank for this.

Salomé wrote:

I don't rate Bigelow as a director.

Nor me, though I seem to recall enjoying Near Dark many years ago. My point is that Bigelow is the most prominent female director outside teenscum and weepies.

I think Wonder Woman has taken on a feminist significance in the same way as the song I Will Survive. (Even though both were written by men.) There would be an outcry if a woman director wasn't appointed.

You sure you wouldn't rather continue this in a WW thread?

Δ

Watched S1 again. It's even better second time around. This really is a superbly acted and written show.

Michelle MacLaren's "4 Days Out" last night. Walt and Jesse are trapped in the desert thanks to a flat battery. A blatant steal from Robert Aldrich's Flight of the Phoenix, but Aaron Paul's performance is very funny, particularly when he suggests they make a dune buggy out of the Winnebago.

Better Call Saul is back today. Possibly the slowest moving picture since Tarkovsky, I've grown to love its sheer craftsmanship nevertheless. Might be time to change into second gear, though...

Also I can't say what a joy it is to watch something that's aimed at adults. Particularly in an age when 50-years-old read Harry Potter and watch superhero movies. Fucking idiocracy.

On the subject of Cranston, I have enjoyed season one and two of "Sneaky Pete". It's not at all comparable to the greatest shows of the Golden Age of Television, but it's entertaining and features a lot of actors from "Justified" (due to the two shows sharing Graham Yost as a showrunner) besides Cranston's turn as the main villain in season one. Including Margo Martindale as the Bernhardt family matriarch.

*edit*

If anyone does give it a chance, please watch more than just the pilot. That was made with the idea that this would become a network show and thus the tonal difference between that stand-alone episode and the rest of the series is noticeable.