u/Pale_Possibility5083

I rewatched the other day, I've loved this film for a long time, but it really hit me with this Alec Baldwin scene and made me stop. "Is this the greatest monologue I've ever seen in a film?"

This is like if writing were Special Effects. You have this muddle of guys, working schmoes, they're chitchatting going about their day. Between that and the hub bub of small talk you have the constant rain making everything kind of a droning muddle.

And Alec aka Blake, just CUT through all that. Suddenly his voice singulary commands attention. Youre sharp suddenly focused on the intent of what he is saying.

Every word that ensues begins to paint a picture of these mens future, Alec is the unrelently certain fate that will befall each of them if they don't change course, manifest in flesh. He is every fear theyve had every doubt in their mind they have horbored about themselves being spoken out loud.

After he is finished you hate Blake, he's disgusting, a soulless yuppee who has no compunction letting these boys know he's better than them. What's even uglier is clearly got their through family connection which these men don't have.

But what's so damning is Blake is so ugly but so right also and thats what really stings. He's right more or less about these men in many ways, they likely didnt challenge themselves and ended up here and now have to come face to face with it here with him.

The speech literally leaves me not only wanting to go punch Blake but also step up and go push myself further, out of anger and spite toward what he said. To show him and anyone else who doubted you.

I don't know I just am not sure I've seen a speech so clever and effective at getting you to feel so many emotions at once. Rage, anger, ineptitude, fear and so on.

What did you think?

Alright so I'm rewatching the show and we've reached the part where Kim is outside of Saul's office smoking, where she meets Jessie.

I literally could have SWORN in this scene that when Jessie asks Kim "If he's good" Her reply was "When you need a Criminal Lawyer? You get a CRIMINAL Lawyer." indicating Saul.

I could have sworn on my life she said this because I remember even thinking it was hilarious how the one clever thing Jessie ever said was later revealed to be stolen from Kim thus retconning that Jessie even came up with that which is what made it so funny.'

Did I completely dream this up?

Rewatching Better Call Saul and we get that big reveal that Gus essentially lives in a stealth fortress. Ghost houses, security cams, armed men the whole nine.

But the funniest detail is how, first- we see the reveal that he wears a lightweight bullet proof vest and ALSO carries a snubnose in velcro strap on his left leg.

Watching this it made me run back to the episode where Walt makes up his mind to shoot and kill Gus at close range with an unmarked pistol.

Now seeing thism it becomes clear how exactly that scenario in Breaking Bad that was so overarching would actually have played out:

Based on the reveal, Walt would have drawn on Gus, presumably while seated- and Walt being unpracticed would have gone for the chest the easiest target.

That shot would have hit the vest and allowed Gus enough time to react and reverse draw on Walt. I have no doubt he has practiced this meaning Walt would have been dead within the next few seconds.

It's just funny to realize after much speculation, the allowing itself to confirm to audiences what exactly was really at play.

Imagine thinking you're taking out Hector only to trigger the activation freaking Lalo Salamanca....

Though I’d share a funny story from something I experienced way back when I got to see Modest Mouse back in the day.

I had older friend who were really into college radio so i was pretty up on smaller indie bands back in the time before it was anything mainstream.

My friend was really into MM at this point though in their career they had reached lonesome crowded west and were critical darlings but man, by this point that was a few years ago and here? There was no new album in sight and they were playing this small club show.

Point being the guys were what 8 albums into their career? A hand full of devoted fans and no new album and just this live show to be honest it felt kinda grim.

Brock was in a terrible mood, someone yelled a song and he said back “I play what’s on the set list.”

Oof.

I looked at my friend and we both looked concerned, they looked like they had hit their wits end as a band honestly I was expecting them to announce a breakup after this.

And yet, about one, two years later? They kick out Good News For people who love bad news and EXPLODE.

It was so awesome to see them kick their career low in the ass and level up in such an impossible way.

Going from dead in the water niche group to blasting through every major radio station that existed and on for years.

A while back I remember Host mentioning how people in the chat kept bringing up Mike and Jewels should have a baby already.

Mike basically responded with “You better hope not Becuase if we ever do that’ll be it. You won’t hear from us again.”

Host basically explained if kid comes along he’ll never attempt to juggle both.

Chula died not long before the show ended which is a whole end of an era if you’ long time pet dies like that.

Makes me wonder if this finally sparked having a kid conversation. Which if true would explain why no show.

I dunno I was chuckling about what an itch this show scratched for me, I've visited so many historical towns many in the North East and love it so much.

But I think part is because I've brushed with vaguely similar things myself.

I once stayed at an Air BnB, it was a Victorian 3 Story cottage a few hours out of town near the coast. Stunningly beautiful, garden, backyward vintage furniture. The whole second floor was rented out to stay. Gorgeous place.

It had a super host style welcome spread with laminated note. There was fresh fruit organic coffee and snacks in the fridge.

And i remember as my partner went to unpack I was alone in the kitchen and picked the note up from the host.

Printed out it- and I'm not kidding-

Hi! Welcome to Shady Grove (i changed the name) hope you enjoy your stay, here. We have fresh farm fruit local organic coffee. If you like, downtown has a list of amazing places you can check out here - see list below.

When you are done with your stay you can place the trash at the front street.

And also one last thing if that's very important:

DON'T OPEN THE DOOR. TO THE STAIRWELL. THAT LEADS TO THE ATTIC.

...

Um, excuse me? We get this really sweet note followed by this insanely cryptic message about a Stairwell? And a hidden attic.

Sure enough in our room there was a narrow door, it sat behind the nightstand next to the bed blocked off and had a deadbolt locked from the outside.

Like...honestly had they never mentioned this it would have never crossed my mind but literally the rest of the trip I'm running through the hidden Stairwell attic scenarios.

"Why is there a deadbolt?" "Is it because of bats?" "Why would they just include that in the message?" "Is there literally a monster in there? Victim(s)?" "What the fuck, seriously"

Yes, I assume it's just a junk/storage closet that isn't guest facing but LOL.

Has anyone else experienced a Widow's Bay esque.

I always loved Breaking Bads commitment to the 5 seasons. Just a rare self imposed artistic limitation that wasn’t really done at the time.

By the end I was betond happy with everything and in some ways the limitations of the show were just beginning to appear.

At the same time I remember things that peaked curiosity so much. It felt like we were just beginning to scratch the surface of the scope of eveerthujg going on.

To be clear I don’t mean add something after season 5 or now, but if they were given one more chapter before the events of season 5 play out what would you add.

so specifically I’m thinking if there was a chapter that played out before any events of Walt getting caught ect what woukd it be?

If I had to I would have pitted Walt against Madrical Electric itself as the big bad before All of the final events played out as they did.

We were teased international level cartel activity and I could see Walt dealing with mad in this real big spectacular way.

What do you think

I’m serious After The Americans my partner and I fell in love with Mathew Rhys, but then we went and watched Perry Mason which is a book accurate reboot of the novels, we realized Matthew really only signs onto stuff he’s deeply artistically invested in.

Perry Mason is a fantastic series on HBO and hes great in in. we waited forever even just for that second season.

After that we were so invested in him when we saw his name on widows bay it was an automatic go despite knowing nothing about the show.

I saw Toy Story 5 a few days ago in the theater. I went, in the movie rolled, and at the time I went in really soft. I was happy to see Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the whole gang back.

In the moment of it all was enjoying myself. The bringing up of jessies abandonment as a theme once again was emotional. The at least initial attack on Ipads and Smart toys was refreshing. But by the last act the films attempts to deliver this sort of sputtering overcooked overwritten apology for technology and comes to some kind of muddled messy conclusion on what it's all supposed to be about, meanwhile selling some toys and drones itself along the way.

I told myself I enjoyed it, I told myself i was in many ways satisfactory.

But then I went back and watched Toy Story (1995) and....

It completely reset my standard of expectations for these movies.

Toy Story while being totally groundbreaking for its time, did something much bigger actually: It managed to play out like a totally adult narrative disguised as a kids film.

Woody is extremely edgy as a protogonist. Almost like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, a classicly beloved actor allowing themselves to play to their darker tendencies.

Woody is a real fleshed out character who is terrified of being rendered iirelevent by evolving technology. He literally attempts to "off" Buzz against even his other friends will.

But scenes where Woody and Buzz go at it i.e "YOU. ARE. A . TOYYYYYYY" and many other scenes play like dialogue from an adult film, refashioned into a kids film.

This is factually the case as much of Toy Stories test animations were based on films like Billy Crystal from when Harry met Sally, an R rated adult feature. The same thing had been done for Aladdin previously.

The point is Toy Stories DNA was founded on a method of taking great actual actors and having them play like they are unaware they are in a childrens film. And the result? A spectacular universal story containing universal themes that any one who is human can enjoy.

The new films have absolutely lost this shtick, instead having the characters pantomime out like a Chat GPT copy paste rendition of the characters we once knew in their best moments.

If Woody and Buzz are so old now (Mind you Woody was already like 50 when we met him so im not sure the aging thing) then play it like it would in an actual movie. Go for grumpy old men, with Walter Matheui and Jack Lemon. Go for the odd couple with a few guys stuck out of time. Play with it! For gods sakes.

Instead what we got was a marble mouthes circle running bizarre condemnation but semi shoe gazing apology for technology that ultimately says nothing.

Anyway I beleive Disney has totally lost the plot on what these films even were in the first place.

I guess for now I'll stick to the original films until the studio or directors crack what made these films magical in the first place.

I've been doing my big rewatch of the Series, for the first time in a while. Watching a few eps each day.

Season 2, Ep 12 "Phoenix" just happened to be the episode for today.

It feels like an Episode designed for Father's Day. Walt, his newborn just coming into the world. Then there is Jane with her Father and their ongoing struggles with her addiction.

Then Walt and Jane's Father meeting in the Bar talking about Fatherhood...

Honestly crazy meditation on all the things that encompass being a parent and father all the good all the bad.

To touch on the Breaking Bad of it all it’s wild that Janes dad talk to Walt influences Walt to be more proactive with helping Jessie adds fuel to Walt’s decision and he - well- makes his decision with Jane.

Millenial here, have had two 2 Gen Z Partners (One more of a Zillenial but they acted Gen z) Both partners were energized by the strangest thing:

This aggresive attempt to "Uncover" wrongdoing by their partner aka myself.

I'll explain further, my first Gen Z Partner them and I began to date, I was very happy and excited about the relationship and have longterm goals in regards to relationships. But soon I began to notice they would sort of graft certain intent onto things, often in a negative light. They would assume hidden agendas, potential wrong doing and take innocent things and apply a different meaning to that thing.

Hey lets get a drink thursday "Why? Because you have a date with someone else on Wednesday?"

I was just on the phone with my producer "Oh? Are you secretly dating them?"

There's just this restless search for some kind of ill will or ill intent that baffles me.

If i had to assume something I would think its they read and consume way to much discourse about negative relationships and theres just so many insanely toxic ideas and things rattling around in their head they can only assume most of these things are happening?

Like truly, I have learned more about the extreme, absurd lenghs people apparently go to cheat FROM these people.

I dont know, I just for 3 times in a row now have experienced this sort of "Bad Jacketing" manuever that happens that results in me not only having to do the right thing like normal but also have to guess where something may be taken the wrong way even if nothing happened.

Has anyone else experienced this?

So there’s a lot of discourse around the state of film at the moment. from some it sounds like movies just “aren’t hitting” right anymore.

Old movie formulas are no longer working, movies aren’t good at least the big ones.

And honestly I had this thought: I beleive audiences are genuinely reaching higher movie literacy IQs now to this point where lesser movies just will no longer cut it.

Case in point I was revisiting a couple old films, classic films, like my all time favorites. They were blockbusters like Jurassic Park and the Dark Knight.

And you know what? I love them, but they no longer feel edgy and adult or challenging. they feel quaint and a little childlike now. And im willing to believe alot of audiences are subcontineclty feeling this way.

I think theres so much discourse and film discussion now, the average viewer gets to say that film is their passion, they understand wayyyy more than casual viewer used to.

And I think studios truly have not caught onto this yet. They keep thinking delivery low IQ brain dead material is what works and I don’t think they get that if they delivered a bitingly smart, punch packing movie that really had a brain to it, they’d be reaping gold.

I beleive we’ll start to see that once it catches on, hopefully it will happen sooner than later.