Breaking Bad: Our Thoughts on the Finale

jJpB8laWARNING: The following article contains spoilers to all five seasons of “Breaking Bad.”

With Gustavo Fring dead, thanks to the wits and desperation of Walter White, “Breaking Bad” begins at a time where Walter is pretty much the only potential heavyweight in the crime world. Fring was in fact the king of the castle for decades and Walter worked with the man to ensure delivery of his special meth as well as battle for his life. Over the months preceding Fring’s death, Walter’s use became less and less a necessity to Gustavo and soon Walter decided that he had to shoot first or find himself dead and buried.

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The Room (2003)

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My love for The Room has not been an easy road. It took months of fine tuning, refinement, some conformity and skipping doses of my meds to get down to the level of Tommy Wiseau and his unmitigated cult masterpiece. Whether you’ve seen the movie in its true form, whether you’ve seen it play on the April Fool’s Day airings on cable television here in America, whether you were there during the great tirade of Wiseau on online critics, “The Room” and its charms are almost impossible to ignore. It’s a movie so bad, so inept, so unbelievably painful, it’s almost impossible to comprehend anyone thought it would be great on-screen, “The Room” is a film I constantly quote to this day–ohai Mark!

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Ichi (2008)

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I guess you can refer to “Ichi” as part of the official Zatoichi canon since the story of Ichi is one the reflects the effect Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman had on the people of Japan during his travels. Though not a remake or a reboot of the Zatoichi series, “Ichi” is an unofficial spin off that takes from the film series and creates its own branch off of an epic story about a beautiful young Goze who is taking a journey to find her savior before finally lying down to die. Haruka Ayase is incredibly beautiful and fierce as the Goze Ichi who spends most of her life wandering around from village to village trying to survive one more day while on a search for something in her life that’s kept her motivated to fight ever since she was a child.

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Blind Fury (1989)

blind-fury-posterOne of my first introductions to the Zatoichi series was through the 1989 samurai action film “Blind Fury” which established the blind samurai to American audiences through actor Rutger Hauer. Since Hauer was king back in the eighties, this is one of the rare instances where he plays not just a hero, but a hero with an immense ability for good who is unbelievably charming. ‘Blind Fury” is a modernized and altered adaptation of the seventeenth “Zatoichi” film entitled “Zatoichi Challenged” which is in many ways fixed for the eighties set pieces, but possesses some of the same moments from the original film series. Including the moment where Zatoichi’s young ward tries to pass off a rock as a piece of candy to Zatoichi who surprises him by spitting it back in his face.

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Rise-of-the-Planet-of-the-APardon the cynical thought process but I imagine “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is only the first in what Hollywood will soon turn in to a series of three, maybe four films. Which is a shame, because ideally I wish “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” would be a single entry prequel in a classic science fiction film series. I say that not because it’s a bad film but because the writing wraps the entire film in to one clever self-contained little cinematic entry that it’s just too good to see ruined with a follow-up. While “Rise” is essentially about the emergence of a primitive ruler in a cruel world, there are so many Easter eggs included within the narrative that includes foreshadowing, winks to the audience, and a pretty great nod to the original “Planet of the Apes,” all of which are so subtle only the most eagle eyed genre geek will catch on to what the film is leading in to.

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Thelma & Louise (1991)

I can fondly recall in 1991 when “Thelma and Louise” stormed theaters how beloved the film initially was and how influential it’s been ever since its release. As a film it’s one of the templates for many rip-offs and wannabes to come years after it won over mostly female audiences. After watching it finally after so many years of hype and unbridled love, I’m still pretty horrified to see “Thelma & Louise” as such a violent and disturbing film that defines the notion of double standards in popular culture.

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Judgment Night (1993)

judgementnightbanI don’t quite remember if in 1993, “Judgment Night” was a hit at the box office. If not, it surely deserved to be. Watching this movie is like a show, and it presents audiences with its ups and downs of cinematic action that you’ll remember for a while. Emilio Estevez is an unlikely hero, Denis Leary is a surprisingly horrifying villain, and Cuba Gooding Jr. with his constant gaping jaw, shivering flared nostrils, and quivering dialogue delivers a performance that’s so over the top it’s as if the director has a gun trained on him throughout the entire production.

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