'Press Play With Madeleine Brand': Gangsters, Princesses, Killers and 'Ash'

I was pleased to be on KCRW alongside Alison Willmore to discuss this weekend's movies. I like Misercordia and Ash. I do not like The Alto Knights and Snow White. Hear all of our thoughts down below.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: 'Gemini Man,' 'Parasite' and 'El Camino'

On this week's episode, we dispense with Gemini Man rather quickly so we can focus on two good (and very different) movies: Bong Joon Ho's Cannes-winner Parasite and Netflix's El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Dive in below.

'El Camino' Review

Is it TV? Is it a movie? Is it Netflix? Whatever it is, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie is very, very good. I wrote about the whatchamacallit for MEL.

Sticking Up for 'Triple 9'

Unhappy with the lukewarm critical consensus around Triple 9, I decided to plead the movie's case over at The New Republic. It's a well-acted, smart, snarling little thriller, and it reminds me of Killing Them Softly and The Counselor, which I consider a good thing. Read all about it.

'Triple 9' Review

If you can survive the macho overkill of Triple 9, it's a fun, nasty little crime thriller with one heck of a cast, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Casey Affleck, Kate Winslet and Aaron Paul. Like Heat, but without the delusions of grandeur, this is B-movie pulp done right. My review is live at Screen International.

'Need for Speed' Review

Aaron Paul has several movies on the way, including ones directed by Ridley Scott (Exodus) and John Hillcoat (Triple Nine). But his first post-Breaking Bad film is the unfortunate Need for Speed. Funny enough, I think I may like it more than most people, and I don't like it much at all. I reviewed the film for Paste.

'Breaking Bad': "Felina" Review

(NOTE: Obviously, don't read this if you haven't seen the Breaking Bad series finale, "Felina.")

So after all the speculation, Breaking Bad goes out the way it always was: fiendish, gripping, unexpected. But most of all, the finale was logical and practical, the show's most underrated qualities. Vince Gilligan didn't subvert expectations so much as surprise us by how straightforward and methodical his ending was. The ricin was used on Lydia, the guns were used on the Nazis -- which a lot of people guessed -- but I'm not sure how many prognosticators would have imagined how deeply satisfying the comeuppance would be. (I can't remember -- and I'm not sure I want to -- the last time I so unabashedly enjoyed a bastard being killed as I savored every second of Jesse strangling the life out of Todd.)

It's worth noting that Walt's master plan for his return to Albuquerque wasn't one of his most brilliant, which I think was part of Gilligan's point. The show has consistently wowed us with Walt's mind, but for "Felina" we never really forgot how mortal he was: almost getting caught in New Hampshire; duping his old Gray Matter partners with an admittedly hokey gambit; gingerly reaching for those car keys while no one was looking, knowing that everyone's fate hung in the balance. The finale had its share of predictability and implausibility -- if you're Uncle Jack, why don't you kill Walt as soon as he sets foot in the house? -- but such shortcomings can be forgiven a bit because of the slowly building sense of destiny that hovered over the stripped-down proceedings.  

And in the end -- how about that? -- Walt did get some sort of redemption. There is greedy, prideful and flawed, Breaking Bad ultimately seemed to say, but they're not the same thing as evil. The white supremacists were evil, and Walt's outsmarting of them wasn't just clever but also seemed oddly right. After everything that's happened, the moral universe suddenly seemed put back into alignment, at least for a brief moment. As for Jesse and Flynn and Marie and Skyler and Holly, I hope they all have long, happy lives. You can't say they haven't earned them.

'Breaking Bad': One Episode to Go

Breaking Bad's finale airs on Sunday. For Playboy, I looked at how the show's final run has focused on the nature of evil. As we've learned in recent weeks, if you try to have a conscience or start showing personal growth, you're a dead man. Here's my article.

(Update: I talked with my old buddy Will Leitch for his Sports on Earth podcast to discuss everything Breaking Bad. If you missed our first conversation, that's right here.)

(Update 2: The Huffington Post's Mike Ryan surveyed a group of non-TV-critics for their predictions for the finale. My take, along with everyone else's, is here.)

'Breaking Bad' and Being a Man

As you probably know, Breaking Bad ends its run of episodes starting this Sunday. For my Culture Club column at Playboy, I wanted to write about how the show tackles masculinity. My thesis is that just about every guy on Breaking Bad is caught up in his own obsession about being "a real man" -- and that such a hangup quite often proves fatal. Hope you enjoy.

(Update: Will Leitch and I chatted about Breaking Bad at length for the Sports on Earth podcast. You can hear it here.)