(film review) [STREAMING] El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

I feel weird reviewing this.  Reason being, I haven't watched Breaking Bad in sooooo long.
However, I remember how it made me feel once the show was over.  If I wasn't feeling to lazy, I stood up and clapped.  Yup, standing ovation.  If I wasn't too lazy.  The point is, I clapped.  I felt the show was masterful and I really enjoyed it.
Now a lot of people will talk about "hype" and how the show was too hyped to get into it and how it's surrounded by hype, but people often forget they just need to see the show or movie for themselves (if they are remotely interested of course) and leave all that hype, out.  You can learn to appreciate and value a movie or show by yourself and not get carried away with your own inflated expectations from all the hype you have been told about.  But unfortunately, our thoughts can often get swayed by the thoughts and opinions of others.

Anyway, although it has been 6 years or so since the final episode of Breaking Bad, this movie picks up after the events of the finale where we see Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) driving off in an El Camino laughing maniacally and Walter White (Bryan Cranston) laying, presumed dead, on the lab floor.  Jesse has escaped the Neo Nazis that captured him, Todd (Jesse Plemons), and whilst suffering from PTSD, Jesse needs to figure out what his next move is going to be when you are the subject of a police manhunt, wanted for the operation of the biggest methamphetamine production businesses in the state.

I loved the way this movie opened. You are automatically sucked into the world of breaking Bad easily, especially if you are used to the visuals from the show.  There is no recap whatsoever and it is left to you to pick up the clues and hints spread throughout the movie.  The Acting. I mean, Aaron Paul picked up an award for this character, no? So, it goes without saying that Aaron is definitely on point and you felt his pain and torment.  He slides back into this role with ease.  As there isn't much trailers showing much of the other characters in the movie from the show, I wouldn't want to mention different characters spoiling who is and who isn't in it.
Visually, Vince Gilligan did a great job.  there was a sequence in a scene where it is an overhead shot and it was amazing, very clever.  The just before that shot, a gun barrel shot which looked amazing. It's hard to dislike something you watched several seasons of, enjoyed the hell out of it and then they produce a movie, absolutely nobody asked for, but you watched it nonetheless and it was just like watching the show again with all quirks and kinks that made the show great.  I could only imagine that Vince hasn't been able to sleep for 6 years because he didn't resolve Jesse Pinkman's story.

I don't watch 'Better Call Saul', but having seen this, I will get back into that world and start because I really do miss that world, having seen this film.  You will definitely enjoy this if you enjoyed the show.  If you don't and you watched the show, it would possibly be down to you already satisfied with the ending in the finale....call this a 2 hour epilogue. Enjoy!

(film review) - Triple 9

So, I saw the trailer to this and was like, "Oh right, this looks like it could be good!".  We have a dude from one of my favourite shows I am currently watching, The Walking Dead; another dude from an excellent show I applauded once I finished watching it, albeit, 2 years after everybody else, Breaking Bad; Batfleck's (Ben Affleck) kid brother; a white man who couldn't jump (a favourite actor of mine); Captain America's buddy, The Falcon and a dude who was 12 years a slave, not to mention Wonder Woman or the woman who lost DiCaprio at sea in Titanic.  This film was stacked!!! But did you enjoy it though? I hear you ask.  I did.

A bunch of guys perform a bank robbery to obtain an item for a Russian mob boss, however, when said boss holds out on payment, the gang of crooked cops and criminals led by Michael (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his two buddies, Russell (Norman Reedus) & Gabe (Aaron Paul), are required to pull off another robbery before they can finally get paid.  Under pressure by the mob boss' wife, Irina (Kate Winslet) and some skeptical members, whilst plotting how to pull off their next robbery, they devise a plan to pull a 'Triple 9' which will mean every cop will race and attend the scene of the crime buying them time to pull it off.  However, things go awry when gang members are wary of one another, cannot trust one another and each member have their own drive and motivation.  Throw in a new cop partner (Casey Affleck) in there and a Sgt. Detective (Woody Harrelson) trying to solve the bank robbery looking for every bit of clue he can find, we have ourselves a sticky situation.

This film is gritty and hard.  It reminds me of training day, but with more characters and a lot more action.  The pacing of the film is a little off as I found it somewhat difficult to follow and I couldn't figure out who were the cops and who were the criminals (probably playing to the aim of the director) and what the end game was.  I felt like I was in the movie trying to watch my own back, it was somewhat gripping but slow in places.  Not so much the twists and the turns, the film does become somewhat predictable.  I do feel that maybe this film would have been better if Nolan directed it or the Russo Brothers.  I can't explain it, but I felt like it was missing something.

Go and see this film though.  I mean, with such a cast, with not a single person phoning it in, this is a well acted and enjoyable film.  Affleck, Ejifor, Mackie, Winslet...all brilliant.  Even Reedus and Paul were great.  I would like to see more films for them so they can up their game. So for the most part, it's a good movie, have a gander.