So it’d seem that Charlie Sheen has temporarily gained enough wherewithal to admit he was pretty goddamn insane all of last year, and along with landing a new gig as the lead in FX’s Anger Management, has also gotten a role in Robert Rodriguez’s sequel to Machete.
And what a great president he’d be!
The basic outline of the plot for the sequel is pretty out there. It involves Machete being hired out by the US to find a bad arms dealer guy who plans to launch a weapon into space. Because Robert Rodriguez is an insane person, he’s decided to throw space weapons in a movie about a guy who uses knives as his primary weapon of choice. I know, I know, machetes aren’t knives, but bear with me.
So while the original Machete was over the top example of faux-grindhouse, this looks to up the ante in ways that’ll make the original probably seem downright subtle. In those terms, I think Charlie Sheen is a great casting choice. Who else but Charlie Sheen would give a presidential decree to hire out an insane knife wielding ex-cop Mexican for international arms espionage? Combine that with the returning cast of Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez, (Not a Lohan in sight, thank christ), and I think you’ve got the potential for a pretty great sequel here.
Now as long as Rodriguez is making real movies out of fake trailers, let’s get Werewolf Women Of The SS made already huh? Nicolas Cage as Fu-Manchu? BOX OFFICE DYNAMITE!
For the fans of shlock and crappy horror movies all around, there is no bigger name in the biz than Bruce Campbell. To them the man is a veritable living god, but even hardcore Bruce Campbell fans would have a hard time placing Maniac Cop as one of his better films in his oeuvre. But in it’s own right, Maniac Cop, and it’s two sequels, are all very successful at what they set out to be. All of them are fun, sometimes gory, always entertaining films about a cop, who is also a maniac. Or a zombie. Or half-dead braindead guy who was revived and somehow gained super strength from that. I have a hard time remembering, because I’ve never watched the film sober.
With a tagline like that, could YOU watch it sober? Didn’t think so.
Anyhow, the movie is one of those films that is undeniably cheesy, yet so memorable and enduring, that it manages to retain an audience years after its release. Which leads us to the headline news itself. While initially I thought Nicolas Winding Refn was remaking it, it turns out to be he’s producing a tentative prequel. Which I find a puzzling choice, since we had the identity and origin of the Maniac Cop explained in the original. Now nothing is definitely confirmed, nor is his actual status as director locked in yet, but the likelihood of him deciding to helm it as director is not out of line. Truth be told, I’m hoping he comes around to the idea of just remaking it, since it’s one of the few films I can name off the top of my head, that would really suit to being remade. (The other is Logans Run. Holy crap that would be awesome.)
Nicolas Winding Refn is certainly a very talented director, who since his Pusher trilogy, seems to be finding a niche by very successfully imitating other famous director’s stylistic storytelling, cinematography, and aesthetic design. Valhalla Rising was a modern Ingmar Bergman film to its core, Bronson was a Kubrickian attempt at a bio-pic, and last year’s Drive was a breakout Michael Mann-esque, 80’s action movie through an urban noir filter. If there was anybody who could take a source material as cheesy and borderline laughable as Maniac Cop, and make it GOLD, it’d be Refn. He’s one of the few people to make Los Angeles look new again as he did in Drive, and I’d be very interested to see his take on giving new life to the streets of New York. Factor in the fact that he could pull off the whole mystery subplot of the original Maniac Cop much more competently, and in Drive and Valhalla Rising he effectively pulled off visceral scenes of gore, he’d be pretty much the perfect guy to remake it, and have it actually be really good.
Even if it does turn out to still be a prequel, it’ll at least be interesting to tackle the same ideas the original came from, and have it expand the depth of the franchise, even if it’ll be wildly different in quality from the other three. In a good way, I mean.
So I’m sure the lot of you are just waiting in anxious anticipation of the new season of Breaking Bad to start, and making the wait even worse is the constant trickle of teasers and tidbits that the show runners keep putting out, making us even more desperate for it to be July 15th already. Speculation about the story, and the shows endgame in general, is something that fans have been doing since it first began, and time and time again its defied the odds and expectations alike. Even the shows star, Bryan Cranston, doesn’t yet know the ultimate fate of Walter White, and makes an interesting suggestion that the show could go on, despite this being the final season.
“Vince feels that now we have too much story,” Cranston says, laughing. “We could actually go beyond those 16 episodes…It’s not far-fetched,” Cranston says. “I wouldn’t mind visiting that possibility. And this is coming from a guy who doesn’t know anything of how the show’s going to end. If it doesn’t end up in a total apocalypse, who knows? Maybe we could revisit Walter White a year down the road and see where his life has gone. If he’s still alive, that is.”
So that at least gives us some info that the season will be densely packed, and that the ending is still up in the air. Many show runners change things on the fly, depending on audience reaction, however I don’t think this is the case with Vince Gilligan, who has clearly planned things out from the beginning, and is following them through to the end. Even if that end does extend beyond the current season itself, which I don’t think is likely. I think that they’ll be able to wrap up everything they have planned the show to be. He even touches on those plans, and reveals a few details about the this seasons plot.
“We can look forward to Walt’s ego growing by leaps and bounds for having killed Gus Fring,” Gilligan says, referring to the late, great Los Pollos Hermanos restaurateur. “To this point, Walt’s been able to lie to himself and reason that he’s done all these terrible things for his family. But that’s a lie that’s harder and harder to maintain as this upcoming season progresses and the money piles up and he’s faced more and more with the badness that he’s done.”
“He’s going to be a harder guy to root for, I promise you that,” Gilligan adds. “The experiment of the show has been to take a good guy and have him transform himself into a bad guy. And we’re committed to seeing that through to the very end.”
So while a movie or continuation isn’t out of the realm of imagination, I don’t think it would be necessary. I remember hearing a podcast interview with Vince Gilligan, who was speaking on where the original idea for the show came from, and he mentioned how his intent was to create a show, where we have a protagonist, who is a perfectly normal, entirely nice guy, and over the course of the show watch him become a wholly corrupt, reprehensible human being. That we’d see what events can happen in a mans life, to break him, and make him a bad person. Hence, Breaking Bad. His quote definitely is in line with that mission statement. Personally, I’ve been rooting for Walter the whole time, but I understand how people could definitely start disliking him in the past season, and with his actions as of the finale, it’s getting harder to defend him. Vince Gilligan’s words are intriguing indeed, and I wonder just to what levels Walter White will stoop to now.
It’d seem that this season seems built from the ground up to hammer home that Walter White as we know him, is already dead. All hail Heisenberg, our new meth cooking king.
Tonights Raw opens up on the heels of yesterdays PPV, No Way Out, showing the results of the main event. The results, surprisingly being the “firing” of John Laurinaitis. This was a shock to me, because I thought for sure the conditions of him being fired indicated that Show was to take the win, but of course, I forgot the golden rule of WWE, if it has Cena in it, he is going to win. (unless The Rock is there.) They also, strangely open by showing that Cyndi Lauper, of all people, is going to be “returning” to Raw tonight, which is confusing to me for a whole bunch of reasons, but mostly because she’s goddamned Cyndi Lauper. What the hell? Have I been transported to 1983?
Anyhow, after that, Mick Foley enters the stage, wearing a suit, which was unsettling to see, since plaid and stretch pants have always been his thing, and as much as I’d like to say the guy cleans up well… Not so much. He at first comes out, speaking about his appearance being initially related to the 1000th episode of Raw milestone, but then says that he will be taking an interim position as General Manager, since the Board of Directors are looking for new General Managers, and are temporarily having former ones in place as scabs, so to speak.
I guess that finally resolves the question of the difference between Commissioner and General Manager in the WWE’s history, since Foley used to be The Commissioner of Raw, which I guess was the same job as General Manager all along, even though it didn’t used to be, and but now is. Regardless, they do the same job, so I’ll give them a hand for trying to adhere to continuity, as thin as it may be. Foley then announces a tag team between Kane and Daniel Bryan, and Sheamus and CM Punk. He then ushers in John Laurinaitis, who is here to give his farewell address. Laurinaitis comes out, again in an arm sling and neck brace from yet another Attitude Adjustment from Cena. Laurinaitis hobbles his way into the ring, and has a few words. I am a huge fan of John Laurinaitis, and by now I have his entire self introduction/catchphrase memorized by heart.
“My name is Mr. John Laurinaitis, and I am the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, and General Manager of Monday Night Raw, and Smackdown.”
I’m gonna miss hearing those words, but I expect soon, in the coming weeks, he’ll return in some fashion. A character that good you don’t get rid of entirely, but I can respect them taking him off the shelf while still in his prime. After some crowd play between Laurinaitis and Foley, Laurinaitis ends up insulting and belittling the crowd themselves, and then goes on to say how last night, his final action as GM was to create the main event of tonights Raw. Of course, it’s a handicap match, with John Cena VS Big Show, David Otunga, and Laurinaitis himself.
Sheamus shows up just as Laurinaitis starts to leave, and is quickly followed by CM Punk. They both snicker as Laurinaitis leaves, and get ready for their tag team match. Kane and Daniel Bryan enter, and the match begins.
The match itself was good. Sheamus is slowly growing on me, and he and CM Punk’s wrestling styles complement eachother well in the ring. The same cannot be said for Daniel Bryan and Kane, because Kane’s slow, lumbering strong man act looks especially bad compared to Sheamus’ comparable strength, along with his relative speed for a man his size. I guess it’s just taking me a long time to recover from the 18 second squash he put on Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 28. In the long run though, Daniel Bryan has absolutely prospered the most from it, and has come out the best since that whole debacle. If this match is setting up the seeds of a future feud between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus, I’m all for it, as long as it comes after the Punk/Bryan feud, because that one needs to continue.
At one point, Michael Cole mentions that CM Punks current championship reign, after last night’s defense, is rounding up to 211 days, making it the 4th longest reign in 15 years. The other three being split between John Cena and JBL. All in all this speaks a lot of how often titles switch hands, and how much being a champion actually means in the WWE, if less than 2/3 of a year is considered 4th longest. At least in relative WWE terms it’s quite a boost to Punk’s prestige as champion, and creates more tension with every title defense he now has. It’ll definitely be an entertaining match whenever he does eventually lose the title. The whole crowd was clearly a big fan of Daniel Bryan, with very audible “Yes!” chants the whole match, and shocker of shockers AJ shows up. But she shows up dressed as Kane, and skips around the ring only. Which, was weird to say the least. Kane then follows her, because he’s Kane, and is easily distracted, even if that is a legitimately distracting thing to follow. Punk then puts the GTS on Bryan, and Sheamus Brogue Kicks him, and they obviously, get the win.
Backstage, we see Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger arguing about who is the best between them, (Ziggler is). They’re interrupted by Vickie Guerrero, who says it’s time for her to make a decision, and pick one of them for her to manage solely. She decides the best way is for them to have a match, to settle it once and for all. This is a bummer, because I liked Swagger and Ziggler as a team, (I called them Dack Swaggler), but if it’s what will get us to Ziggler finally getting some major singles recognition, I’m all for it. I can’t say enough good things about Ziggler, the man is seriously one of the best talents the WWE has, and hopefully this is the beginning of a push for him.
We cut to Laurinaitis and Otunga in the dressing room, chumming it up, and generally seeming like two really nice, cool guys you’d want to hang out with, until Big Show enters the room. Show walks in, seeming grumpy, and asks them what’s funny. Laurinaitis explains that what’s funny, is how Cena will be defeated by their powers combined tonight, and that the people will never forget John Laurinaitis’ name. Big Show replies by saying he doesn’t think anything is funny. Ever. At all. Which is coincidentally, kind of funny.
I keep imagining Big Show attending stand up comedy shows, and sitting stone faced during the entire set. Or watching old reruns of I Love Lucy, and getting angry about Lucy’s ineptitude, or maybe even snapping his copy of Young Frankenstein in half, because it wasn’t scary enough. If they were gonna take Show’s character a direction other than “Giant Unstoppable Monster”, then “Awkwardly Humorless Big Guy” is totally suitable.
And thus, Dack Swaggler comes to an end. The two put on a bunch of different moves, all followed with their own in ring taunts and ways to show off. The match actually managed to create a good sense of rivalry between the two of them, and created some early tension by having Ziggler hurt his knee, giving Swagger something to focus on for the match, so we don’t all assume Ziggler has this one wrapped up already. Swagger actually spends a lot of time really tearing into Zigglers leg, even to the point where the crowd began cheering for Ziggler. It’d seem this is a fairly Heel-centric crowd, and things were looking grim until Ziggler turned things around by finally landing a Zig Zag on Swagger, and picks up the three count. Vickie Guerrerro thanks Ziggler with a congratulatory hug, and a very suspiciously long, on the lips kiss, which made the crowd audibly groan, either in surprise or disgust, or both. I found it interesting, because it backs up my theory that she’d been “working” with the both of them “in private”, because she’s a “cougar”. Get it? Working? Privates? Sex. She’s been having sex with them.
Hopefully not at the same time. Though she probably did.
After that, we get a video package from No Way Out, showing Triple H’s speech, about the status of Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman and himself. He effectively removes Heyman from the table, and proposes a match between Lesnar and himself at Summerslam. We cut back to Raw, and see a limousine pulling up, potentially carrying Lesnar or Heyman, who will respond to Triple H’s proposition.
After the break, there’s another video package commemorating the 1000 Episodes of Raw thing, and we get a clip from 1998. In it, Vince McMahon is currently in the hospital after suffering injures from Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Mankind shows up with Mr. Socko to make Vince feel better. He’s unsuccessful at doing so, and leaves. Vince calls for the doctor, who is nobody else but Stone Cold himself, who goes on to pummel Mr. McMahon over and over in his hospital bed, finally bashing a steel bedpan on his skull. I actually remember watching this episode of Raw way back when, and even then I wondered how the hell Stone Cold managed to sneak into a hospital, steal a pair of scrubs, and then sneak into Mr. McMahon’s hospital room, all without being detected as the worlds biggest wrestling star at the time. Regardless, it’s certainly a better Raw moment than f*cking Seth Green showing up for some horrible reason.
Back to the actual show, Paul Heyman enters to big crowd applause, which is refreshing and good to hear. Long Island, NY must be a smark town, because ECW chants were rampant, and so far they’ve all been chanting the internet wrestling communities’ favorites, instead of the usual faces that most crowds cheer. It makes me wish I was there in person. Anyhow, Heyman comes out to speak on behalf of BRROOOOCCKKK LEEESSSNAR, (I love how he says his name), and denies Triple H’s match, and denies dropping the lawsuits that Heyman and Lesnar both have against the WWE. Triple H then walks back in, says some words about Brock being the “face” of Summerslam, lawsuits, and egos. They both trade words about eachother, with Heyman getting the better of Triple H’s own ego, by comparing him to Vince McMahon derisively, daring Triple H to punch him, and finally mentioning Triple H’s wife, Stephanie McMahon. At that point, Triple H grabs Heyman by the collar, choking him, and then punches Paul Heyman in the face, because he does not understand what lawsuits are or what assault and battery is, or how mind games are supposed to work. Paul Heyman-1, Triple H-0
So on No Way Out, Santino wrestled Ricardo Rodriguez, and this and Santino’s previous antagonism towards Ricardo, has created a feud with Santino and Alberto Del Rio, now on Ricardo’s behalf. Expectedly, Del Rio very quickly demolishes Santino, and makes him tap out to the cross arm breaker. Ricardo Rodriguez then exacts a small amount of revenge on Santino, and DDT’s him into the mat. The whole match itself wasn’t longer than 3-4 minutes, but I suppose it’s a step to seeing Del Rio slowly amassing victories again, until he’s back on the top of the roster.
I watch Raw to see weird male soap opera and occasionally some wrestling. Not Cyndi Lauper. So I have nothing to say about her at all. Ever. I’m the Big Show of Cyndi Lauper’s music. Thankfully, Heath Slater comes out and interrupts the bit, points out how dumb it is for her to be there, and starts singing, horribly off tune. He then is interrupted by Rowdy Roddy Piper, who comes in and gives praise for Cyndi Lauper, and presents her with a gold She Bop record. Heath Slater is not amused, and lets out a glorious “OOOHHH MY GAWWWWD, WHO CARES?”, and is promptly eye poked by Piper, and has the golden album smashed over his head by Lauper. Then they all dance. Sometimes I wonder why the hell a segment like this is even on a wrestling show, but then I just take a shot and remind myself to not think about it or else the Mind Gnomes come.
At No Way Out, Titus O’Neil and Darren Young became the #1 contenders for the Tag Team Titles, by defeating Primo and Epico, albeit with Abraham Washington’s help. Titus O’Neil and Darren Young also are finally given a tag team name, The Primetime Players, or Playas, I’m not sure yet. Either way, they’re a good team that has a funny catchphrase(millionsofdollarsmillionsofdollars) and work well together. Even though I don’t much care for Primo and Epico, they’re at least a legit tag team, and is certainly seems that WWE is fixed on revitalizing their pretty stagnant tag team division, one baby step at a time. All in all it was a pretty good tag team match, with a good balance of double team moves and tags, until AW decides to let Epico and Primo win by count out, claiming that they don’t need to win this match, since they’re already #1 contenders. For a heel, this isn’t cowardly, it’s being smart, and as a heel team, it makes sense for them. Why risk a needless match when you’re already guaranteed a title shot? So I’m officially siding with the Primetime Players as my tag team of choice in the future.
Wait, so Chris Jericho was touring with his band Fozzy all this time? BUT WWE, YOU SAID HE WAS ON SUSPENSION BECAUSE OF A BAD THING HE DID IN BRAZIL! WAS HE SUSPENDED OR WAS HE TOURING? WHAT AM I TO BELIEVE?!? ALL IS A LIE! TRUTH IS FICTION. THERE IS NO GOD.
On a side note, how funny is it that Jericho’s band is called Fozzy? You named your band after a Muppet dude. C’mon.
We come back after the break, to John Laurinaitis, giving his farewell speech. He tells us what happened at No Way Out, and calls the fans and the WWE universe losers. It was a pretty great meltdown, and he then introduces the match itself, and Otunga and Big Show enter.
Can we talk for a minute about Big Show’s WMD Bear shirt?
I never really stopped to take a moment and think about it, but if you actually look at it and think about it, outside of the vague context it’s given in the WWE, it makes absolutely no sense. It’s a skull and crossbones, but nobody knows what a bear skull looks like, so they put a roaring grizzly’s head instead. Then in the spaces between the bones you’ve got the WMD letters, which stand for the name of Show’s finisher. It’s hard enough to buy that a single punch to the head should even be a finisher, but he manages to make it work, and if you give a stupid move a big enough lead up and sell, anything will work. The Rock does this with his elbow drop, and Hogan did it with his leg drop, and you’d be silly to think those moves did any more damage than a normal leg or elbow drop, as you would with Show’s head punch. But I digress, since the move is called WMD because it’s as powerful as one, and the bear is there because…. he’s as big as a bear? As ferocious? They may have mentioned why at some point in the past, but now it just stands out as a strange, apocryphal comparison to make, since he really has no bear like traits at all. Add to that the crossbones, and you’ve got the makings of a shirt that is at best, really really weird, and not at all intimidating.
Anyhow, after Show enters, Teddy Long appears ringside, and tears up his My Name Is Teddy Name Tag (nooooo!). Show then mentions his IRONCLAD contract again, and goes on to abandon Otunga and Laurinaitis in the ring, saying how he’s already proven himself to be able to beat Cena on his own. Cena enters, and the match finally starts. Cena then puts pretty big hurt on Otunga, all the while Otunga tries to tag in Laurinaitis, but Laurinaitis keeps refusing to tag. Slowly things start to even out, and Otunga gets the upper hand. Only after Cena is down, does Laurinaitis strip himself of his arm sling and neck brace, and begin stomping on Cena, yelling “People Power” in between stomps.
Laurinaitis tries to tag Otunga back in, but Otunga refuses, and walks away, ditching John to a huge cheer from the crowd, leaving Laurinaitis alone with Cena in the ring. I really hope this is the beginning of a face turn for Otunga, because goddammit I really like him. Cena then gets up, lays the Five Moves Of Doom on Laurinaitis, and then adjusts his attitude three times in a row, at the behest of Teddy Long and the crowd. A quick STF makes Laurinaitis tap out, and Cena wins the match. So as usual, Cena ends up beating someone who is 100% unequipped to fairly face him, and acts like it’s a glorious win for himself and all of The People, and the show ends as we all try to forget those thousands of anti-bullying PSAs that John Cena so heartily endorses, in between bullying tons of people on his show every week. Good Job Cena, go hog wild!
I’ll miss you John Laurinaitis, Former Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and General Manager of Smackdown and Raw. You truly brought power to the people.
ESPN has an investigative journalism news show called E:60, and it covers a gamut of national and international sports stories, all ranging from anything as common place as football or baseball, all the way to professional wrestling. It was by chance I stumbled upon this documentary, since aside from wrestling, sports has never been my thing. After reading an article or two about aging professional wrestling legends, I found myself reading about one of my favorites as a kid, Scott Hall.
Back in the mid-nineties, Scott Hall was one of the biggest wrestlers out there. His attitude, his style, and even his eclectic speech patterns all painted him as a true game changer in the sport. He was one of the biggest heels in then WWF, under his persona of ‘Razor Ramon’, a Tony Montana/Scarface inspired character who spoke in a faux Cuban accent. He later transitioned extremely successfully to WCW, under his real name of Scott Hall. His new gimmick being one of an “invading force” within WCW, ostensibly the WWF trying to take over the roster of WCW, without ever really mentioning the WWF brand name. He and Kevin Nash went on to form one of pro wrestling’s biggest, most successful storylines of all time, along with Hulk Hogan, to form the infamous NWO. It was an idea at the time that was revolutionary, and it brought huge ratings to WCW, and along with WWF’s Attitude Era, the ‘Monday Night Wars’ brought pro wrestling to heights it has since not seen. While it was the collaboration of many talented individuals who brought wrestling to its apex at the turn of the century/millennium, nobody can deny the massive influence Scott Hall had in helping its creation.
Statistically, this should bring back memories for a lot of you.
Any fan of wrestling, who follows it outside of the “story”, probably follows the real wrestlers lives outside of the show as well. Now with Twitter, Facebook, and the internet in general, it’s been made much easier for the curious fan to find out information, or even communicate with their favorite wrestler directly. So it was no surprise to me to find out Scott Hall was still having issues with alcohol and drug abuse, as those problems have plagued him ever since he was first winning over with audiences worldwide as Razor Ramon. So it was with reluctant curiosity I watched this short documentary on where Scott Hall is now.
What I saw was shocking, and heartbreaking to say the least. The documentary begins with a roundtable of sports journalists discussing pro-wrestling today, and one brings up Scott Hall, and his myriad substance abuse issues. He erroneously claims that todays wrestler’s biggest addictions are “Playstation”, which is a load of bunk. Off the top of my head, Jeff and Matt Hardy, of the Hardy Boyz fame have very publicly had issues with drugs, leading to Matt Hardy to retire early for what he claims were personal reasons. However, the documentary goes on to show Scott Hall currently (2011) alive, speaking about his main traumatic life experiences, including killing a man, and suffering a clear case of PTSD from it, despite never being convicted of the crime. He goes on to detail his regimen of drug use at the time, and currently. The difference being then, it was relatively recreational, and now, it’s prescriptions needed to keep him alive.
One particularly hard to watch scene, shows Hall attending an indie wrestling promotion, as fan service, despite suffering heart condition related seizures the night before, and showing up doped out of his mind on painkillers, clearly unfit in his condition to walk, let alone wrestle. We’re treated to clips of him very unsuccessfully trying to execute moves in the ring, and the hired wrestlers being forced to continue the show they were paid to do, and takes half-hearted moves from Hall that could at BEST be considered botches. It was sad, it was degrading, but most of all, it spoke volumes of the money-grubbing promoter who would rather sacrifice a man’s dignity than give refunds.
Towards the end, it picks up a hopeful note, and we see Scott Halls son, Cody Hall, begin training to become a professional wrestler himself, with Hall coaching him. It details the very strained relationship between the two, and one gathers that it’s been a long lifetime of difficult communication between Hall and his entire family. Along with Hall, giving insightful and self-conscious monologues about his past, we also see several other clips of fellow wrestlers speaking about him, all more or less coming to the same conclusion, that Scott Hall is on a railroad towards self-destruction. Hall himself ends the documentary very astutely, with a quote that sums up his lives ambitions.
“All I ever wanted to be was a big time pro-wrestler. I never quit fighting, I might not win but I won’t quit fighting. Life on the razor’s edge, from the outhouse, to the penthouse, to the outhouse, to the halfway house… I dunno. I just laugh as a defense, so I don’t cry.”
Scott Hall was one of my favorite wrestlers when I was a kid. This documentary, while short, is a fascinating look into who Scott Hall really is, and it’s a story more real and more heartbreaking than anything any movie could ever come up with. I only hope Scott gets the help he needs before he dies, which unfortunately, may be sooner than we’d all like.
Here is the documentary available to view in its entirety. If you’re even remotely interested in wrestling, or just like a fascinating portrait of human drama, and past glory lost, it’s worth your 18 minutes.
Unfortunately, after the documentary originally aired last year, Hall’s ex-wife Dana told TMZ, the Father/Son reunion barely lasted a month, and the two are no longer on speaking terms.
Breaking Bad, aka ‘The Best Show On Television’, has been a long and windy road for its lead character Walter White. We’ve seen him come pretty far since his start as a simple cancer afflicted victim who wanted to provide for his family in season 1. Along the way, the show has escalated into places that he, nor anyone else watching could guess. But the ride has been by far the most engrossing and captivating television you could ask for. With the last seasons incredible finish, ending on a very ominous note concerning Walter White’s future moral choices, anyone watching the show is dying to find out exactly what is going to happen next. So it’s with much reluctant joy that I get to share the information that Bryan Cranston himself has confirmed. Breaking Bad: Season 5, the final season, will be 16 episodes long! Which sounds great at first, until you hear that it’s going to be split up into two 8 episode chunks.
Bryan Cranston himself said so, “We’re splitting it. We’re going to shoot the first eight, then take a four-month production break, then the rest will air next year.”
Which makes it sound like we’re gonna have to wait another year to get the ending to our favorite show about methamphetamine. I know there are production budgets, and the crews get tired and need breaks, and there’s certain limitations and planning that comes with making a show, but if the thing is done, SHOW IT TO US AMC! Why make us wait!? I NEED MY FIX MAN. YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND.
It feels like eons ago since we’ve seen this man. He’s since gone full Heisenberg.
Ahem. Anyhow, as for the actual seasons content itself, Bryan Cranston had this to add:
“We pick up right where we left off. We’re cleaning up the pieces from last season’s huge ordeal where Gus Fring was forced to meet his maker. It’s not as easy as Walter thought. And as we’ve discovered over the years, you don’t really know who Walter White is. I’m still discovering who he is and I’m trying to allow myself to be open to him going darker and darker. There’s physical danger to himself and his family, plus there’s the emotional danger due to his anger and hubris. It’s about the evil that men do and where that takes him.”
And what a great president he’d be!
Combine that with the returning cast of Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez, (Not a Lohan in sight, thank christ), and I think you’ve got the potential for a pretty great sequel here.
[Pics from Jessica Alba’s Twitter via Collider via Film Drunk. Boom.]
Grizzly Bomb 