“I.F.T.” has introduced a new dynamic to Breaking Bad that the writers can utilize to create tension.  Walter and Skyler engage in a battle of wits throughout this episode with each of them trying to gain the upper hand in their respective efforts to get what it is they want.  Walt wins round 1 when the police can do little else but offer a domestic dispute hotline number to Skyler should things turn violent one night.  At this stage in their separation, Walt still has the right to stick around the house and Skyler’s turning to nicotine for comfort is an indication of her heightened stress level and feelings of helplessness.  But by episode’s end, Skyler reigns victorious by using Beneke’s perpetual hard on to her advantage, making Walt feel at once jealous and defeated.  Looking ahead, this doesn’t mean Walter has to leave, opening up the possibility of more conflict coming about because of Walt’s stubbornness and Skyler’s refusal to give in while, at the same time, somehow not turning him over to the authorities.

The scenes with Gustavo, Juan Bolsa (the Mexican kingpin), Tio Salamaca, and the twin assassins help move the story along a bit, but they also provide interesting insight into how intricate and expansive the drug trafficking world is.  Tuco wasn’t directly linked to Gustavo, but there is an ironic and intriguing relationship that exists between Gustavo and Bolsa, which is strong enough for Bolsa to, at least for the moment, look the other way on the subject of Tuco’s untimely death.  It makes for good business for the Gus and Juan to get along, making border wars sound like the stuff of mythologies and media hype.  However, blood might be thicker than money here if Gustavo can’t get his hands on more of Walt’s blue stuff soon.

Jesse continues to be wracked with guilt over the death of Jane.  Historically, Jesse has ignored the past, refusing to learn from his mistakes.  Now he does little but dwell on them.  Internal conflict is ripening here though because Jesse has no experience in an occupation that doesn’t have to do with the selling of meth.  Cooking and distributing is all he can turn to should he want to continue to pay his bills and, like, be able to eat and stuff.  But, as he stands in front of his lab setup in the Winnebago out in the desert, he has difficulty willing himself to work because it is that lifestyle that has caused so much hurt for anyone in his life and, thus, for himself as well.

Grade: B-

On multiple occasions, my co-host and I would boast about who loves this series more. The truth is, we both have immeasurable adoration for this show and hopefully you do, too. While we await the second half of the final season (while filling our lives with fodder shows in the meantime), the show creators and cast have been kind enough to reveal some details for the fans (nothing spoilerific, mind you). 

According to Hollywood Reporter, Vince Gilligan will be writing and directing the finale, which only seems logical since it is his baby and he should be burdened with the task of sending it off and drawing it to its logical conclusion. If I was Vince (we were college dorm-mates), I wouldn’t entrust, nor pressure anyone else to draft the story and direct the final product. It wouldn’t be fair to him and it wouldn’t be fair to us. Whether it makes or breaks what has been thus far one of the greatest TV series ever, it should be him in the driver’s seat.

In an interview with TV Guide, Anna Gunn (Skyler White) revealed that one of the actors were informed that he or she will die before the finale. While that is certainly not so surprising (people tend to die in this show), let me share with you my vision of the ending (this is my blog, after all). A lot of people think that Walt will probably die by the end of the series and while I fault no one in particular for drawing such a boring conclusion, I think it’ll be the opposite. I believe that Walt will survive whatever’s coming towards him, but the rest of his family will suffer one way or another. Whether this means they’ll die or are placed in a compromising situation, I believe it will indirectly effect Walt and he’ll suffer a consequence he cannot bear. I don’t think anybody believes that this series will have a happy ending and this is the most bleak and ironic (I know Vince is a fan of irony) end for him that I could possibly think of; becoming helpless and in mercy of someone else, or losing his family, which has always been the most important thing to him. He’ll be dead in the inside by finale…perhaps he may even be suicidal and become his own executioner, but that would go against my theory so I move to strike it from the record.

Summer can’t come soon.

P.S. Bryan Cranston is long overdue for a Golden Globe. Hopefully, the GG committee will recognize his work because this will be the final time he’ll be eligible for this role.

Written by Daniel Lee

@zombee_F

@2cool4blog 

From The Great Gatsby to Bladerunner, eyes have often been utilized as symbols, historically representing a character’s unique perspective, thus giving insight into their backgrounds, beliefs, and traits.  In Breaking Bad though, Gilligan has punched up that trope because many of the eyes that viewers see do not seem to belong to any character.  However, the first pair of prominent eyes that serve as a symbol in “Caballo Sin Nombre” are indeed Walt’s.

The closeup of Walt’s pepper-sprayed, swollen eyes is as hard to look at as it is symbolic.  He is punished for not using his sense of sight to the best of his ability.  After being pulled over for operating an unsafe vehicle, he gets rather upset with the cop, disobeying orders to stay in the driver’s seat.  Walt takes the officer’s insistence on writing a ticket personally, shouting that he should be exempt from the rules of the road because he was sort of a victim of the plane crash.  This is another indication of the guilt Walt harbors.  He knows he bears some responsibility for the tragedy and does not want to feel any more weight as a result.  So, he lashes out.  But Walt is refusing to take into account that nobody else in Albuquerque is aware of his station in life.  Walt’s dealing with a lot of shit, much more than what Hank indicates to the arresting officer in his successful effort in getting Walt off the hook.  Still, Walt needs to maintain some composure, or else risk giving himself up to any suspicious eyes.  Correlating with all of this is the broken windshield that hinders Walt from clearly seeing the road ahead.  This represents Walt’s lack of awareness of the twin Mexican hitmen who are approaching and perhaps what is in store for him beyond.

The most prominent eye used symbolically is the one that was ripped from the magenta-colored stuffed bear, found in Walt’s pool after the crash.  It was shot quite a bit in those teasers back in Season 2 and has popped up a few times since.  In this episode, Walt notices it peering back at him from underneath the bed of his new, “temporary” residence.  Apparently, Walt went on some booze and popcorn bender after Skyler rejected his admission to his old home.  Walt desperately wants to get back to the life he lived in the past.  He is forgetting the thrills of life as a drug manufacturer (at least for now) and is yearning to exist as just another American, telling Saul, “I can’t be the bad guy” and breaking into the old place just to have a comfortable shower of remembrances.  He might be pretty run down at this point, but Walt also misses his son and is missing out on getting to know that newborn daughter of his.  Later, when the gun and axe-toting killers are waiting for Walt to get out of the bathroom, they are ordered to step down moments after one of them picks up the stuffed bear’s eye that ended up in Walt’s suitcase.  Ultimately, the eye symbolizes Gustavo’s presence and awareness.  He sees all goings on, even if they appear to be independent of his ambitions.  For example, Mike Ehrmantraut entered the fold because he was summoned by Saul Goodman who “knows a guy, who knows a guy.”  But Mike wasn’t keeping an eye on Mrs. White’s disrupted household for Saul, it was really for Gustavo all along.  In turn, it is Gustavo texting the hitmen “Pollos,” saving Walt’s life, which indicates how much Gustavo wants Walt to be back in the fold.  Walt’s blue meth is that good, so good that Gustavo is apparently willing to look the other way on the fact that Walt’s brother-in-law is a DEA agent and that Walt was responsible for the death of Tuco, who, it now seems, was probably some kind of Gustavo peon.  Gustavo is going to have to do some convincing of Walt though if he is going to drag him away from his mission to reprise his marriage and home life of the past.

Even though it is an indication of sheer frustration, one of the funniest moments in the show’s history is Walt’s pizza toss.  It’s hard to accept that the pie didn’t end up on the garage roof by accident and Bryan Cranston’s double-take backs that assessment up.  Regardless, the creative brass at Breaking Bad utilized the pizza as another representation of the fact that someone is always watching.  While strolling upon the White premises, Mike Ehrmantraut notices the conspicuous pie peering back at him from above, just before he plants a bug in the wall of the house.  The White home is wired and everyone from Skyler to Walt to Mike to the Mexican hitmen is being observed by Gustavo.

As Jesse drives through his old neighborhood, his clear eyes are focused on as they look into the rearview mirror of his car.  Like Walt, he is now appreciating the value of the past and maybe even wanting to relive it.  Since getting involved with Mr. White, Jesse’s life has been one of great unrest.  Despite making a lot of money, he’s incurred major financial and emotional stings along the way and has pretty much broken even.  He’s doing about as well as when he was on the street level before White’s blue stuff hit and he’s using the last of the White/Pinkman money to move back into his old house.  At times, Jesse has rejected the past, but the new, clean version of him is sincerely hoping he can be a little more of a straightened arrow, having learned from his mistakes.

Grade: B+

Director: Rob Cohen

Writers: Marc Moss and Kerry Williamson

(Based on the novel “Cross” by James Patterson)

Many have surely written that Season 2 of Breaking Bad ended with a bang.  Two jets slamming into each other, raining debris over innumerable square miles of densely populated land sounds like a helluva way to close things out and ensure viewer anticipation of future airings after a hiatus.  By the end of the sophomore season though, one inundated with black and white teasers that ultimately served as fillers for most of the first 12 episodes, the plane crash felt more like a scam than a climax as the writers risked insulting and alienating devoted followers of the show.  It was a cheap plot twist because they had forced people to look forward to that moment when Walt would finally have to deal with some significant consequences of his choices and actions.  People were going to die, law enforcement was going to begin to build a case against him with evidence collected at the scene, nothing was going to be the same.  And with gnawed fingernails, viewers were made to wait even longer for real conflict and genuine tension.  Instead, it is Season 3 beginning with a bang.

At the outset of “No Mas,” Gilligan and co. make it clear that they are returning to form, renewing their attention-grabbing skills that were on marvelous display throughout the First Season (and then badly ripped off by some malfunctioning clones in the Second).  The crawling Mexicans on their way to the Heisenberg shrine is very odd, spooky, and heightened by the eventual inclusion of the well-tailored, shaven-headed mystery men.  Unlike that fucking stuffed animal in the pool from Season 2, those guys return a few times in this very same episode, creating more questions about them, not answers, and keeping the tension building.

It is now time that Jesse comes face-to-face with the reality that he must be more responsible, at least relatively speaking.  He claims to be done using, but says nothing of quitting the biz.  Jesse has to be a smarter, better-disciplined drug dealer now if he is going to became as elite of a pusher as the product he is (possibly) possessing.

Jesse’s reformation comes on the heels of Jane’s death, which he feels responsible for.  Of course, Walt is the one who could’ve saved her and he must be the one to rightfully bear the guilt (That is, if one ignores Jane’s role in her own death by, you know, shooting heroine.).  And Walt indicates that he does have guilt upon insisting that Jesse not feel blameworthy.

Viewers are also privy to witnessing Walt deal with his guilt in the second most awkward moment in Breaking Bad (second to Skyler singing “Happy Birthday” to Beneke) when he speaks to the students at his high school, while clad in all black, symbolizing that he is Death, pointing out that there is a “bright side” to the horrific tragedy in the sky and that people should simply “move on because that’s what they do.”  That’s easy for him to say.  Walt has been sweeping his shit under the carpet for two full seasons now; however, it wouldn’t be long before he would finally buckle under the pressure.

Unbelievably, Walt admits to Skyler that he has been manufacturing meth only after she has left him.  Given the way the conversation unfolds, with Skyler actually being the one to shine a spotlight on what should have already been a blinding reality, it was a natural moment for Walt to come clean.  The relative timing though is poor.  If Walt thinks his admission will somehow convince Skyler of a reunion, he is mind-bogglingly unrealistic.  No, this is Walt finally giving up, saying “No mas.”  He has lost his family and bears at least second-hand responsibility for the deaths of nearly two hundred innocent people – airline passengers who, in nobody’s mind, were directly involved with drug trafficking.

Save for about a million dollars between them, and each other, Jesse and Walt have nothing – no family, no real homes.  And though a lot of episodes of Season 2 tried to create a doubt in viewers’ minds as to what’s next for the pair, it is at the beginning of Season 3 when that becomes a very real question with a universe of possibilities, including 3 million of Gustavo’s dollars that Walt says he doesn’t want.

Grade: A+

Who tells him the ground rules before granting him three wishes. King Leopold has everything he could ever want. He asks The Genie what he would ask for. The Genie longs for freedom. He mentions people always misuse their wishes. He tells the King to choose wisely.

Read the entire review, http://www.examiner.com/review/ouat-fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree

Frankly the movie isn’t super engaging for 80% of the time. But it’s such an amazing thing that a brilliant ending could make the history. After reading plenty of articles about this movie, I’m really impressive with the rigorous logic in it. Explaining “the truth” in a crime movie isn’t the hardest. What’s harder is that you explain it while corresponding with all the details together.

Kevin Spacey truly deserved the Oscar.

9/10

Season 2 of Breaking Bad (mercifully) comes to an end with “ABQ.”  This string of episodes was not bad by any stretch of the imagination and the series still kicks the shit out of most anything on United States television, which has been reflected in the grades awarded.  The characters are profoundly interesting and layered, which helps to generate equally intriguing relationships. Aesthetically, the show is incredibly well-shot, edited, and directed.  And thematically, it is a rich, classic tale of the corruption of the American Dream.  However, there was not enough guts here for a full 13-episode season.

Many story lines revolve around Walt and Jesse getting into trouble and having to find ways out of it.  Perhaps because there is knowledge of the existence of future seasons, the tension built has felt disingenuous.  Viewers know Walt and Jesse will sidestep their close calls and near misses every time.

Hank’s character has developed a bit, but he has virtually disappeared of late.  Surely, he’ll come back and be more vital to the progress of the plot lines.  Hopefully his traits of honor and belief in pure justice won’t fade, but remain to create future conflict.

By “ABQ,” Jesse looks as though he has reached bottom and might be ready to finally learn from his mistakes.  He tells Walt that he deserves everything that happens to him and Walt can’t exactly argue.  Though Walt feels sorry for Jesse, part of him knows that if they are to, not just coexist, but prosper, Jesse is going to have become more stable and reliable.

Skyler finally gives up on Walter, citing tons of solid-as-granite proof that he has constantly been lying to her.  Though it was noble of her to see Walt’s surgery through, she wastes little time after that in running away from him.  It’s amazing to watch Walt’s resolve and ability to avoid the truth.  Skyler should be afraid to know what that truth is if Walt has taken the steps he has to cover it up.

And the plane crash feels like a big gip after all of those teasers spread across the length of the season.

Essentially, Season 2 has felt like a long buildup to future seasons.  Hank is only babysteps closer to catching Walt, if any at all.  Skyler is just now coming to grips with the fact that she’s in a loveless marriage.  Jesse has to begin to prove his worth to Walt.  And, finally, Walt has learned the drug trade landscape.  He must now tip toe through it as he gains more notoriety.

The emergence of the mysterious Gustavo and Mike Ehrmantraut create viewer anticipation for the future as well.  But that is the overwhelming emotion: anticipation, not contentment with what has already transpired.

Grade: B

“Mandala” translates from Sanskrit to “circle.”  Walt’s circle is pulsating.  Pinkman’s lieutenants are gone, having either been murdered or they’ve opted to skip town because of legal pressures that tend to be synonymous with their respective chosen career paths.  To compensate for the shrinkage, Walt seeks to widen his circle with the help of trusty old Saul Goodman.  By the end of the episode, Goodman’s links to Gustavo (a character who seems to have been somewhat lifted from The Wire) appear as though they’re about to pay off.  But with Jesse on the junk, Walt’s circle just got that much tinier.  Simultaneously though, its diameter is expanding as the birth of his daughter is about to interfere with the drug deal of a lifetime.

Gustavo’s arrival is attention-grabbing.  His character is a curious one and his choice to go against his own better judgement here points to the quality of Walt’s product and persuasiveness.  Gustavo is skittish because of Jesse’s presence, recognizing a weak link in the chain immediately.  Walt is compelled to stick with Jesse because Jesse is trustworthy and that is noble, but, once again, Jesse is failing, making more poor decisions.

Skyler too is making poor decisions, like singing “Happy Birthday,” Marilyn Monroe-style to her boss.  However, after one of the most uncomfortable scenes in Breaking Bad history (She’s nine (that’s 9) months pregnant for fuck’s sake!), she redeems herself by turning her back on Beneke’s slick IRS diversion tactics.  She likes the attention from the silver-haired hunk, but can’t go to jail for him.  It’s a wonder if she’ll go to jail for her bald husband.

Clearly, this episode’s sole purpose is to set up the final two of the second season, so the excitement (one would hope) is on the horizon.

Grade: C+

For 1 Year, 100 Movies, I will watch all of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies list (compiled in 2007) in one year- and will complete a goal on my 2013 Manifesto. Come along on the ride with me- oh, and please pass the popcorn!

Do the Right Thing is a great movie featuring many actors that I know from more recent movies. I have to special mention Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee who I adore as Da Mayor and Mother Sister. I was also pleased to see John Turtutto- whom I recognized from Transformers- give a wonderful dramatic performance as Sal’s son Pino. The movie focuses on love and hate, and racial tensions, throwing together the fate of African Americans, Italian Americans, Korean Americans and Caucasians all on one block in Brooklyn, NY.

The movie is set in the course of one day and starts out (after the “Fight the Power” dance montage) with”Mister Señor Love Daddy” (Samuel L. Jackson) as the local radio disc jockey waking up everyone and noting the stifling heat expected for the day. The tension starts with Buggin’ Out, who lashes out at Sal for the having no ‘brothers’ on his Wall of Fame at his pizzeria, only Italian Americans. On the one hand it is Sal’s restaurant, but the viewer is reminded that on the other hand that this restaurant serves mostly African Americans. The day goes on in a similar fashion. There are many moments with minor decisions that shape the mood of the residents on the block as well as those employed there and the police officers that show up multiple times. The movie climax reaches the point of a riot when Buggin’ Out, Radio Raheem and Smiley enter the pizzeria and demand pictures of African Americans on the wall- which leads to an obscenity and racial slur laced tirade on both sides that leads to Radio Raheem’s  death and the pizzeria being ransacked and gutted by fire.

This movie doesn’t blame anyone or point fingers. If it implicates anyone it implicates us all. It never lets anyone off the hook and invites the viewer to analyze the choices made. Often the choices made were for the right reasons. Of course these decisions- made by all of the people on the block- lead to some terrible results, but we feel hope at the final scene. Spike Lee’s character, Mookie- shares a moment with Sal, his employer. Even though they are both mad at each other after the events that transpired the evening before they reach a place where forgiveness can begin.

During the credits of the movie a couple of quotes scroll across the scene, one from Malcom X, and one that I believe sums up this movie in a very eloquent and hopeful way from Martin Luther King Jr:

In my humble, non-professional, average movie-goer opinion this movie earns:

Regina is the only person who retains their FTL memories.  Henry’s plan to break the curse is given the codename “Operation Cobra”.  He reveals to Emma she’s the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming.  He also tore the papers out of the book.  So Regina wouldn’t discover her true identity.

Read the entire review, http://www.examiner.com/review/the-thing-you-love-most

Named after flat-bottomed Viking ships, this fragrance has been appealing to the dark and sinister side of masculine sexual fantasies since 1982.

V/H/S

This anthology of “found footage” horror, from a crew of indie directors including Ti West (The House of the Dead) and Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs), is clever and smart and very, very scary. But there’s also some absorbing things happening in it contextually: its shifting perspectives toy with our notions of representation and identification, and the first-person camerawork makes the traditional horror movie marriage of violence and sexuality all the more prominent, and unnerving. A rare scary movie that gets both under your skin and into your head.

The Queen of Versailles

Lauren Greenfield’s sharp and perceptive documentary is about as clear-eyed a portrait of the “one percent” as you’re likely to come across. Her subjects are David Seigel, the ridiculously wealthy CEO of Westgate Resorts, and his wife Jackie; the focus is initially on the construction of their new home, the largest single-family house in the country, but that project and their extravagant lifestyle is upended by the financial crisis. This “riches to rags” story is fascinating, infuriating, and enormously telling; few election-year films were more enlightening or timely.

How to Survive a Plague

Director David France looks at the inception and impact of militant AIDS treatment advocacy in this thorough, evocative, and powerful documentary. In tracing the roots of ACT UP and TAG, and following those organizations from early actions to policy impact, France tells an important and often overlooked story; he masterfully conveys the urgency of those early, seemingly hopeless (and helpless) years, and expertly culls from miles of archival footage to simultaneously educated, anger, and inspire.

Pina

Through streaming on Netflix is a vastly inferior experience to seeing it in its intended 3D (yes, this is one of the rare instance where we not only tolerate the format, but endorse it), Wim Wenders’ documentary/performance hybrid maintains much of its punch and beauty nonetheless. The subject is Pina Bausch, the great German modern dance performer and choreographer, but we don’t learn all that much about her, strictly speaking; Wenders is light on dates and personal info. Instead, her dances and dancers speak for her, the work presented in a manner that is exciting and innovative, the camera less a recorder than an active participant. Powerful, intelligent, and (above all else) aesthetically astonishing.

2 Days in New York

Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris was one the past decade’s unexpected delights, a film that seemed a lightweight riff on her indelible Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, and instead established her as a uniquely dizzy comic voice. This 2012 follow-up doesn’t quite match its predecessor — we grow tired of the familial bickering at its center before Delpy does — but its quotable dialogue and prickly sensibility confirm Delpy as a disarming stylist, and her off-beat chemistry with Chris Rock (turning in one of his most relaxed and enjoyable performances to date) is a treat.

The Do-Deca-Pentathalon

The Duplass Brothers, who charmed us so thoroughly last spring with Jeff, Who Lives at Home (itself newly streaming on Netflix), followed it up with a leftover from their micro-budget days: this tricky familial comedy/drama, also concerned with the complicated dynamics of adult brothers. Childhood rivalries and long-held resentments are aired with predictably funny and awkward aplomb, but the filmmakers also get considerable dramatic mileage out of the fragility of marital relations. As with the best of the Duplasses’ work, it’s funny on the surface, and more than a little painful underneath.

Red Hook Summer

Like much of Spike Lee’s fiction filmmaking of late (not his documentaries, though — he’s on a hot streak there), Red Hook Summer is deeply problematic: burdened with reams of didactic dialogue, anchored by a flat and forgettable performance by child actor Jules Brown, and structurally wobbly (this viewer thought its third act turn worked, but I sure seem to be in the minority on that one). That said, even Lee’s weakest films are at least worth a watch; they’re never short on ambition, nerve, or technical prowess, and the centerpiece performance by the great Clarke Peters (aka The Wire’s Lester Freamon) is a real piece of work.

My Trip to Al-Qaeda

Journalist Lawrence Wright (The Looming Tower) and documentarian Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) team for this thoughtful examination of post-9/11 America, which merges performance footage of Wright’s off-Broadway show with documentary elements of the writer at work, and the world he’s investigating. The writer, a thoughtful and passionate Oklahoman, tells some shocking stories, and Gibney adopts a loose, casual approach (the organization is topical rather than chronological) that doesn’t undercut the urgency of the subject matter. My Trip was released in 2010, before the raid on Abbottabad which changed the conversation on Al-Qaeda, but it still offers much to consider, and contemplate, and mourn.

Fresh

Boaz Yakin’s 1994 drama remains an undiscovered gem, its original release muddled by moviegoer exhaustion with so-called “hood movies,” and somewhat botched by Miramax, presumably distracted by the upcoming release of Pulp Fiction (which shares not only Fresh’s producer Lawrence Bender, but co-star Samuel L. Jackson). But the film is less Menace II Society than 400 Blows — with a shot of Searching for Bobby Fischer for extra flavor, courtesy of Jackson’s powerful turn as the protagonist’s chess-playing father. And the film’s draw these days may well be the scorching work of Giancarlo Esposito as the neighborhood gangster, a performance 180 degrees from Gus Fring, but still heightened by the skilled actor’s scary intensity.

Iron Sky

Confession: though the trailers for this one blew our minds last year, we haven’t seen it just yet. But who’re we kidding; it’s the story of Nazis returning to earth in 2018 after fleeing to the moon following their defeat in 1945. You really think we’re not gonna get around to watching that one eventually?

That’s what we’re watching this week — what about you? Leave your own streaming recommendations in the comments!

Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo Fring

Personal information

Number 9 on this list is a citizen of the world. Giancarlo Esposito (1958) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Italian father and an American mother. He moved to the States when he was six and started playing in Broadway shows at a very young age. He won the “Best supporting actor in a Drama” award in 2012 at the Critics’ Choice Television Awards. He is always well-dressed and in this role he had to become a Chilean, which he did very well for a non-native Spanish speaker.

Gus(tavo) Fring in Breaking Bad

Quickly, for those Neanderthals who have not watched this amazing show… Breaking Bad is about a teacher who turns into a meth producer to make the money that is necessary for his cancer treatment and also to support his family. In my opinion, one of the best currently running series.. I can’t wait for the next batch of episodes which will start in the spring of this year. A really cool animated vid with its characters:

A Chilean national and respected Albuquerque restaurateur/philanthropist who owned a successful chain of chicken restaurants, Los Pollos Hermanos, he used it as a cover for an extremely successful methamphetamine distribution network in the southwestern United States. This has got to be one of the psychologically most intimidating figures in recent TV history.

He looks nice, dresses well, is very articulate and a 100% business man. Only thing about him is that he is also a stoned cold killer. Cool, calm, and collected as they would call it. He doesn’t mind killing one of his own to make a statement, or murdering children to set an example. The way he always keeps his cool is what makes him so powerful. When other lose their heads and stress out, Gus is the one who calmly pulls the ropes and plays the right mind games.

The scene that describes his personality the best is when he is being shot at in the desert, and instead of ducking down and looking for cover, he walks towards the gunfire, challenging the ones who are trying to intimidate him. What a chief. Spoiler alert for those who are not up-to-date on the show: his death scene shows what type of man he really is…

The heaviest hitters of the event were of course, “Deception”, starring Meagan Good and “Celebrity Apprentice.” We’ve all seen the billboards, the promos on television and the online buzz. The big question is, will “Deception”, the second show on primetime television with a black woman as the lead role (the first being NBC’s “Scandal” starring Kerry Washington), survive the hardcore critics of American television? Especially with most of them being Caucasian?

The overall response to the panel discussion was a heavy concentration on NBC’s willingness to bring a black woman to the forefront. On hearing that she was cast for the lead role of Joanna Padget Locasto, I asked Meagan Good what was the first thing she did after she got the word, her response was “I cried in my car.”

Asking the same question of her co-star Laz Alonso (Will Moreno), he stated “I picked up the phone and called Meagan,” saying that the “Californication” co-star looked out for him for the role.

Good, who’s real life father is a veteran of the LAPD and stepmother who has time with the FBI, drew from her experience to be an investigative sleuth looking into the murder of a friend.

As for the NBC executives who made the decision to cast Good as the lead, “Meagan Good is a home run.” With race being a front row conversation for the panel, NBC says “Shame on us if we cast 8 or 9 regulars [for a show] and they are all white.”

“Deception” premieres January 7th at 10/9 Central.

@nbcdeception
#Deception

All-Star Celebrity Apprentice

Erica Taylor interviews Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth of “Celebrity Apprentice.”

One of the livelier panels was that of the “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice”. Starting off with a comical promo in which the stars speak on their previous appearances of Trump’s maniacal celebrity charity circus, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth says after her last season on the show, “I just can’t argue anymore,” (with a comedic tone of course). We first learned of the boardroom vixen in the first season when her not-so-sweet personality garnered more than her fair share of frienemies.  “You can’t be concerned about what you look like on reality tv” Manigault-Stallworth says.

While many of the celebs were open about saying “no” and “never again” to another season (at first), celebrity contestant Lil’ Jon, the King of Crunk, says that his main motivation for the show was to fight for his charity, which promotes diabetes awareness. Jon, who’s real name is Jonathan Smith, says that his mother was stricken with diabetes and his famous music friend Phife (A Tribe Called Quest) suffers from the disease. Lil’ Jon says that many successful rappers believe that they are invincible and don’t think about things like healthy eating. He hopes to change that by raising money for his charity, the American Diabetes Association in the “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice”.

On her competition Stephen Baldwin, Omarosa told critics “Stephen Baldwin will stab you in the front….he’s the new villain.”

When asked about the cattiness of the women on the show, Lisa Renna simply stated “women can be bitchy.” That is all.

Apprentice star Trace Adkins spoke on his decision to be on the show despite his personal feelings. “I’m forced to be with individuals that I normally don’t enjoy being around.”

Guess who’s not coming to dinner at the Adkins home?

Adkins says his main motivation for coming on the upcoming season of the show was as clear as day. “My house burned down.” Again, that is all.

The premiere of All Star Celebrity Apprentice is March 3 at 8/9 p.m. Central.

@apprenticenbc
#celebapprentice

Revolution

A quick nod to NBC’s second season of “Revolution” starring Giancarlo Esposito. The show made it’s debut last season with a midseason finale that won its slot for viewers 18-49. The show is based upon the concept of a dark world, with the complete loss of electricity and underlying scandal among the cliques that form to survive. Esposito stars as Lt. Neville, a tough southern military general. On the working of stunts on set, Esposito has “nearly broken a rib and almost broke someone’s nose” as he demonstrates his strength as Lt. Neville. It was stated that many of the fight scenes on set are learned the day of filming.

With the concept of darkness falling across the entire world, Esposito says that the premise of the show has definitely impacted his personal life. For Christmas, he and his four children (ages 9-16) decided to skip the tradition of gift giving in 2012 and focused on family.

Revolution premieres Thursday, January 31st at 10/9 central.

@nbcrevolution
#revolution

Do No Harm

Erica Taylor interviews Phylicia Rashad about “Do No Harm.”

It was a true delight to see star of the Broadway stage and the first black woman to win a Tony Award, Phylicia Rashad, as Vanessa Young in the new show “Do No Harm.” Rashad’s character is the head of neurosurgery who works to understand the mind of main character Dr. Jason Cole (Steven Pasquale) who suffers from a split personality that takes over his life.

Rashad is best known from the hit television show “The Cosby Show” which was the third longest-running American sitcom with a primarily African-American cast. Her character as Dr. Young, however, isn’t all warm and fuzzy like Claire Olivia Hanks Huxtable, Esq. Rashad says that she tapped the expertise of her best friend from college, an OB-GYN, to get in the mind of a high-ranking female physician. Her response, “So she has a like history like I do, she has ancestors like I do, she went to school and had teachers like I had, she has a serious work ethic, and I understand that. There is an heir of detachment, because there has to be, they train that way.”

“You maneuver and hold situations together so that this hospital runs smoothly and stays high in ranking. That’s your job.” Says Rashad. On Dr. Young’s sense of pride, Rashad says “Yes, she has to have that.” “In her personal life, she can’t control those things and the people that are close to her. She’s a very emotional person and she holds it. She is going to hold it. She feels and she feels deeply. She holds it.”

Do No Harm premieres Thursday, January 31st at 10/9 central.

@Nbcdonoharm #donoharm

Smash

The second season of Smash is going to be a big hit with a big voice to match. That’s right. Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson returns to the theater, well, sort of, in her co-starring role of Veronica Moore, a Tony-Award winning actress who serves as inspiration to Kathryn Mcphee’s character Karen Cartwright.

Hudson’s powerhouse voice is a flashback to her “Dreamgirls” spotlight, reminding viewers the real reason why we’re gonna love her in “Smash”.  She has used her experience as a character in multiple upcoming episodes as training for a stint on Broadway.

Also making an appearance is an original dreamgirl, Sheryl Lee Ralph, who, ironically, will star as the mother of Hudson’s character. Surprisingly, her character who’s name is Cynthia is not a performer.

It’s fine, just smile Sheryl. We got you, girl.

“Smash” has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award and is a fan favorite. The second season has been aptly named “Bombshell.” Who doesn’t love a story of reaching and obtaining a dream, betrayal and scandal with a heavy dose of showtunes and sing-a-longs? Not raising my hand.

Co-star of the show, Megan Hilty, replied on working with Hudson “It was incredible to get to hear her. She is a force. Her voice is like no other and she’s a genuine kind person on top of being a great talent.”

Best of luck to Hudson and Ralph in making their NBC spotlights’ successful.

Smash begins Tuesday, February 5th at 9/8 central.

@nbcsmash #smash

The show doesn’t return until March 25 , but here is a recap footage that also contains new post-hiatus stuff near the end.

• Regia

  Rob Cohen

• Cu

  Tyler Perry, Edward Burns, Matthew Fox, Jean Reno, Rachel Nichols, John C. McGinley, Carmen Ejogo, Cicely Tyson, Giancarlo Esposito

• Gen film

  Acţiune, Crimă, Mister, Thriller

Alex Cross, celebrul detectiv psiholog din romanele lui James Petterson, face trecerea pe marele ecran în interpretarae lui Tyler Perry. Neîntrecut în a citi indicii, Alex Cross dă de probleme când în cale îi iese un criminal în serie sadic. Cei doi devin protagoniştii unui joc de-a şoarecele şi pisica, iar curând lucrurile vor deveni extrem de personale pentru detectiv, care va fi împins până la limita moralităţii de şicanele oponentului său. (cinemagia.ro)

Nota personală: 7