09.10.12 |
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Excellent extended interview between Indiewire‘s Peter Labuza and Michael Slovis, director of photography for Breaking Bad. The show is already very cinematic with a film-like look, but this little exchange was a surprise:
[Show creator Vince Gilligan] said, “If you want to know where I’m coming from, and where my sensibilities lie, you should watch ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,'” which I’m incredibly familiar with and love as well.
Vince loves that movie so much that he and I, between seasons three and four, made a pitch to Sony and AMC to shoot the series in widescreen like a Leone movie, in 2.35 or what would be called Cinemascope. We wanted to do the whole series in that size frame. The two of us were arguing, saying, “If you want to be noticed, if you want people to see what’s going on, we’ll be the first! Everybody will see!” But they didn’t let us do it.
Breaking Bad in 2.35? The implications of that on TV would have been huge.
09.07.12 |
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(Spoiler warning, this linked video has footage through Season 5’s midseason finale “Gliding Over All”, so don’t watch if you’re not caught up.)
This eight minute tribute to Walter White’s evolution is expertly edited by YouTube user UltraBrawl. I can’t think of a better way to mark Breaking Bad‘s epic four and a half seasons. It only adds to my anticipation for the series finale next summer.
09.06.12 |
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Really interesting discussion over at Reddit on the evolution of long form TV narratives (e.g. The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad) and how they may “challenge” the power of a 1.5 to 3 hour movie.
09.04.12 |
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I’d be remiss of me to not include at least one recap reference to this week’s tense Breaking Bad mid-season episode finale (brief spoilers below). The A.V. Club‘s Donna Bowman says it best here:
The most tragic outcome, it turns out, is not that the world comes apart when you’re at the top. It’s that the soft landing you’ve engineered, after everything has been taken care of and made right, refuses to materialize. It’s that you are your own loose end.
I found the revelation in the episode’s last few moments a bit forced. Yet the idea that Walt’s sheer arrogance sets off his downfall makes a lot of sense.
08.10.12 |
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Speaking of Breaking Bad’s Hank Schrader, check out this 40 minute interview with actor Dean Norris on a recent episode of NPR’s Fresh Air. Excellent and revealing. (As a warning, there are some pretty **major spoilers** for the whole Breaking Bad series very early into the interview.)
08.10.12 |
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Seitz, as mentioned here before, is one of my favorite TV and film writers. He takes a bit of a departure with this week’s Breaking Bad episode recap, focusing more on the big picture and where the series is heading.
More than anything else, I loved this observation (major series spoilers ahead):
Walt’s actions in season two sparked a rampage by the Cousins that ultimately landed Walt’s brother-in-law Hank in a wheelchair and turned Hank’s wife Marie into his stressed-out nursemaid. And yet, perverse as it may sound, Hank’s journey is ultimately an example of positive change coming from trauma…He’s more observant, a better listener, and seems to have lost most of his arrogance. He’s smoother. He has gravitas.
This, more than anything else, makes me think it’ll ultimately be Hank who catches or trips up Walt: There’s an odd but pleasing symmetry to their stories.
07.30.12 |
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There’s been a lot of talk online about how Americans can hack proxies and pull in the full BBC live feed. Yet that’s only part of the story here; pay special attention the opening, filled with screenshots, as dev Colin Nederkoorn breaks down how restricted NBC’s “live stream” coverage really is.
Sad to see cable’s stranglehold on the content and ad dollars in the U.S. market.
07.26.12 |
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Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for Vulture:
“Madrigal” is a housekeeping episode, mainly concerned with setting up future events and clarifying old ones. While it checks in with Walt, Skyler, Jesse, and Saul, its spotlight is on a glorified supporting player, Jonathan Banks’s security guy–hit man, Mike. But I’d still put it on a list of Breaking Bad’s best episodes, because it’s perfect, and because it underlines the show’s distinguishing characteristic: a commitment to clarity.
I couldn’t agree more. Breaking Bad is an already consistently excellent show, but “Magrigal” was a standout, mostly due to Jonathan Banks’s work. Generally I’ve found the episodes near the end of each season to be the strongest, but “Magrigal” is only episode two of this truncated 2012 run. I can’t wait for the remaining six this summer.
07.19.12 |
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Really smart work. Alas, this is probably the first and last time I’ll tag a post for both ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘web development’.
07.17.12 |
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Andy Greenwald, writing for Grantland:
What would it take to turn Mr. Chips into Scarface? What separates Breaking Bad from everything else on TV is this relentless focus. Every season has improved on the one that came before precisely because Gilligan is telling a single story, start to finish. His microscopic glare is as exhausting as it is exacting. In comparison to some of television’s more humanist and highbrow hours, Gilligan’s master class can occasionally seem cold. But it’s a seminar well worth taking. Breaking Bad is more than science. It’s intelligent design.
The season five opening was great. Can’t wait to see how this series wraps up.