A Long Way Down (2014)

A Long Way Down begins with a potentially promising premise before it falls, well, you know, <gestures vaguely towards title>. For a film that opens with a suicidal quartet meeting atop a London skyscraper on New Year’s Eve, it demonstrates little actual interest in examining suicide, despites its half-hearted feints at undergraduate psychology. Instead A…

Aaron Paul in Need for Speed (2014)

Review Roundup – Eco- and Auto-Warriors

Yet again, here’s some write-ups to spruik! Rise of the Eco-Warriors is an Australian documentary about deforestation. I had the chance to interview its director Cathy Henkel for the 500 Club, and also wrote a review of the film. Another film being released today is Need for Speed, which is about as disappointing as you…

Breaking Bad – “To’hajiilee” (Season 5, Episode 13)

“To’hajiilee” is an example of how Breaking Bad plays its audience like a musical instrument. The bulk of the episode stretches its viewers taut like a finely-tuned violin, ratcheting up the tension inexorably, whether it’s subtle bits of (potential) foreshadowing like Saul wearing pink (and a bullet-proof vest), Pinkman enacting a fugazi portrait of death…

Breaking Bad – “Blood Money” (Season 5, Episode 9)

“Then, maybe your best course would be to tread lightly.” Man. That was satisfying. Breaking Bad has always been primarily about plot, with some compelling characterisation carried along in the wake of amazing storytelling. And the strength of that storytelling is on display in a taut, tense premiere that’s a welcome return to Albuquerque. Perhaps…