It's the most wonderful time of the year ....[AKA Awards season!]

Every year, I make it my JOB to watch all Academy Award nominated films for Best Picture, as well as all the films that have nominated actor/actress & supporting actor/actress...

This year, being back in LA (doing this in Portland was tough!), I've already done a pretty good job. Here is my list, and below ratings, and eventually some thoughts on each film. (I will update as I go.)

- The Revenant ✔️  
- Joy ✔️
- Room
- Spotlight
- The Danish Girl
- Brooklyn ✔️  
- Trumbo ✔️ 
- 45 years
- Ex Machina

- Creed

- Steve Jobs ✔️

- Carol ✔️

- Mad Max ✔️ 

- Bridge of Spies ✔️

- The Martian ✔️ 

- The Big Short ✔️

-  The Hateful Eight... It's over 3 hours...Do I have to? I may have to forego this one. In my defense, I started watching the first 5 minutes...and really could not go beyond the 3 minute long opening where all you could see was snow and more snow...

Others:
- Star Wars ( I did NOT see if yet, don't judge me)
- Inside Out
- Straight out of Compton ✔️  

- Sicario ✔️ 

One I really don't want to see:

There are no words.

I am still in shock. I can't believe my country is mourning again. 

How is it that less than 10 months ago, I was in the newsroom bathroom trying to contain my tears during our coverage of both the Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher market attacks. 

How is it that today I am again, trying to keep it together after reading terrible words like "they are executing hostages one by one at the Bataclan." 

I have opinions about foreign policy, how France should handle national security, and what that also means for the United States. 

But I can't get into that now. Not today. I can't help but put myself inside the victims shoes. On the floor among the blood in the theater, sitting on the chairs at Le Petit Cambodge, running out of the Stade de France. I admire the victims courage and "sang froid" amidst the insanity, the hellish environment, the never-ending and torturous feelings they must have been feeling.  

Je suis tellement atriste. J'en suis malade. Je suis de tout coeur avec vous, mes compatriotes. 

How Sony Will Still Get Their Money Back

I've been meaning to write about the #SonyHack scandal ever since it started. Of course, here I am now with days of new information, culminating to today's biggest blow of all: Sony gives in and cancels the release of "The Interview" from theaters.

Before Sony actually pulled the trigger, starting yesterday, they gave the option to theater owners like Regal, AMC to opt out of showing the film. One after the other, they decided not to put up "The Interview" on their screens. The domino effect was so predictable, and so quick, by 2pm, Sony put out a statement officializing the cancellation of the film across the board.

Since this morning, I've been saying that this could have been the best thing that could have ever happened to this movie. Seth Rogen + James Franco, it's a hit or miss. You don't make a silly film as good as "This is The End" twice! The word around the [Hollywood] streets was that the film wasn't so great in the first place either, I remember Variety's hilarious headline (which has now been edited since) which said something along the lines of "North Korea can rest easy, The Interview is an act of terrorism on film". Talk about a bad review! Nonetheless the Sony hack [unwanted] publicity could have definitely been welcoming for the box office numbers. People always end up wanting to see what the fuss is all about!

By noon, I was convinced they were going to find a way to release the film on VOD as fast as possible in order to make a gigantic profit of the scandal that way. People would have flocked to to their living room couch to watch the film from the comfort of their own home, safe from any potential terrorist attack. But then by evening, Sony released another statement saying they have absolutely no plan to release the film on VOD or in any other alternative format.

Quite frankly, THAT's a mistake. While I can understand why they couldn't take the risk to  become associated with putting viewers at risk in a public area...what's shaky about releasing it online?

Why decide to completely give in to the North Koreans? Gee, this sure is starting to feel like the plot of "The Interview 2". I started thinking...By showcasing to the best of their ability that they can't 'safely' release the film (not releasing it on any platforms would do that), they can then hit up whoever their bonded with insurance-wise for a much bigger claim. Think about it, when Paul Walker tragically and unexpectedly died before finishing The Fast And The Furious 7, Universal claimed what is right now considered one of the largest Hollywood-insurance-claims in history - A whopping $50 Million! In order to capitalize as much as possible and guarantee to recoup on the film, Sony must do whatever it takes for an even larger insurance pay-out. Not to mention writing the production and Publicity/Advertising  as a loss when filing for taxes! Is this truly Sony's plan? I don't know but, I think it's a valid explanation for now.

And in the mean time, let's all watch Team America...that'll piss off Kim Jon-Un.

From Laugh Out Loud To Reaching For The Remote

Last week's Saturday Night Live featured James Franco and to my grand surprise it was quite a show! Honestly, when you think James Franco these days, you can't ever seem to let go of the horrendous job he did while hosting the 2011 Academy Awards. You gotta have some balls to host the most prestigious entertainment industry award show while high out of your tuches. I guess now with last week's SNL and his performance in "This Is The end", I may just finally be able to move on and give Franco a clean slate.

His monologue was well executed. Of course his bff Seth Rogen showed up, you know to help promote the reason why Franco probably got to host in the first place: promoting their new film "The Interview". I found myself laughing out loud through most of the skits, something I can only find myself doing every once in a while these days when watching the show. The Star Wars parody featuring old-farts-characters was a must. How come no one had thought of this before? Just brilliant. I enjoyed the VH1 (or was it MTV?) skit; it's hard to miss when the cast does impressions, but I always love those. Even though, I have not yet (and probably never will) seen NBC's "Peter Pan Live", the Christopher Walken Hook that Franco portrayed was so awesome, that I decided I needed to master my own Christopher Walken impression. Hell, I even enjoyed the pervy troll skit! But my favorite remains "Jeremy's Brain". Yet, another skit with impressions, but like I said, they are always bound to work! How can you say no to Jay Pharoh's Fresh Prince rendition? I think I even enjoyed the ever-annoying Nicki Minaj, even when she was Kim Kardashian in Weekend Update!

@jamesfrancotv's Christopher Walken is terrifyingly good. #boo #SNL #PeterPanLive #CaptainHook

A video posted by Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:19am PST

Twas definitely a good episode....So what the hell happened this week? You'd think there would be obligatory witty writing with a British host like Martin Freeman hosting. Alas, no. Oh, if you don't know who Martin Freeman is, he is the hobbit, in....The [recent] Hobbit movies. And if you are like me, who thought that Elijah Woods was still playing the main character (woops) in the prequel (?) franchise...well please let me know and make me feel less uncool about my lack of JRR Tolkien knowledge. I actually fast-forwarded several times throughout the episode. The only 2 redeeming skits of the night for me were the cold open with the #TortureReport psychologists (the comcast & self-check-out jokes were amazing) & The Office: Middle Earth. It was well made and quite enjoyable, even though I'm not a fan of either.

Saturday Night Live seems to be having trouble keeping up great content on a regular basis. I think they struggle recovering when they have back to back episode. Hopefully the Amy Adams episode will be good. Go to sleep SNL writers, get some rest and give us some of that je-ne-sais-quoi for Amy....she deserves a good show!

SNL Digital Short era sans the Lonely Island

Saturday Night Live has been a part of my life since the 9th grade. I've probably seen 80% of the episodes aired from the year 2000 to today.

Their digital shorts are one of my favorite things during the show. [NOT to be confused with the early 2000s "TV Fun house cartoons".] Most of the greatest digital shorts are songs and can be watched over and over again. Perhaps a great production ploy with for goal to put out the catchiest tune possible so you run to youtube and share it with all of your friends.

When Samberg, the face of the Lonely Island, left last season, I was definitely worried. Was I never going to see another quality digital short again? Would SNL be able to produce similar and up to par short form content without the Lonely Island present? Thankfully this past week, they aired "Boy Dance Party".

Phew! Guess it is doable after all! 'Boy Dance Party" definitely made up for the rest of the show, which was for lack of a better word "Meh". At least one thing is clear, there is hope for digital short survival post Lonely Island apocalyptic era.

Until the next installment, here is my top 10 from the past 8 years:

10.
Lazy Sunday

SNL - Lazy Sunday by steveo_russianspy

9.
Iran So Far Away

Saturday Night Live - Iran' so far sur WAT.tv sélectionnée dans Humour

 8.

I'm On A Boat

7.
Mother Lover

6.
Like A Boss

5. 
Laser Cats

4.
People Getting Punched Before Eating

3.
Jizz In My Pants

2.
Dick in A Box

1.
Jack Sparrow

What else left but an ode to one of the greatest shows on Television: Breaking Bad

I just binged watched the ENTIRE #BreakingBad series. I know I am not the only one. Thousands of other audience members like myself decided to give themselves backaches in front of their screen (woohoo Netflix!) and breathed fictional blue meth for countless hours, days before and after the show's series finale. As a new die hard Breaking Bad fan, I cannot help but feel so unbelievably guilty for not watching this before. Hell, since I'm unloading here, I actually watched the first episode over a year ago and didn't keep going. Not because it was bad, absolutely not, I just forgot, didn't have the time, you know the story. Thank God I came to my senses, and thank God for peer and social pressure! In a way, I wish I was part of the original band wagon; the same way I was for the show Scrubs for example. Perhaps, in that alternate universe, I would have gone to a Breaking Bad series finale party, and watching the last episode would have felt differently, maybe more nostalgic in a way. But when I really think about it, having had the the ability to watch everything continuously, and by continuously I mean I-almost-gave-myself-UTIs-not-going-to-the-bathroom-I-wanted-to-keep-on-watching-continuously, was absolutely incredible. I can't even begin to think of the anxiety original fans must have felt over the last 5 years waiting for their DVRs to fill up on Sunday night. Luckily, I got to enjoy every next chapter of this insane adventure by just waiting for the 14 or so seconds to countdown on my Netflix account at the end of each episode.

Unlike other shows, and perhaps because I binged watched all at once in the span of 1.5 - 2 weeks, I truly felt the darkness these characters were living in. It's almost as if I equated whatever dilemmas or qualms I had in my life and brought them into that similar intense and somber world. Even though the story-line is as FAR away from your regular day to day (hopefully for you), you somehow related back and felt so close to everything going on.This darkness I speak of, is a really strange feeling; and even though this darkness in question is no "unicorns & rainbows", it was okay by my standards. Mostly, because the fact that a television show was able create this sensation, it made it all worth it. Worth it in such a fabulous way, especially as a producer.  I was discussing my Breaking Bad feelings with one of my fellow producing friends yesterday, and we both agreed, if I could make something half as good as Breaking Bad in my lifetime as a producer, man! I'll die happy. The brilliance in direction, writing, acting, production design (did you see that insane purple in the Schrader house!?!), the cinematography, the makeup, it is pure artistic genius. I may have even bumped a certain celebrity on my fiance-approved (right hunny?) laminated top 5 fantasy list to make room for Aaron Paul. And any of my friends will tell you, I don't say that often.

Of course to play devil's advocate, I wanted to present the very minuscule problems I had in some of the episodes. And if you are reading this Vince Gilligan, Bryan Cranston and other associated producers (dream on, Sarah!) just skip to the next paragraph - I love you don't hate me. Nothing is perfect. Just like any human being on this planet, no one is flawless. Same thing for a television show or a movie. Imperfections leave room for more discussion, meaning more Breaking Badness and that's okay with me! So here are the 3 (only 3 among the 4390259827984242 amazing things about this show) things I merely slightly on such a small dosage disliked: a) I do feel like that plane crash was a little far fetched. b) The episode "Fly" was a little rampant for my taste (but forgiven because you get to see lots of Aaron Paul eye-candy). c) I wished I would have found out more about that mysterious romantic? connection you see in between Walt & Gretchen (AKA forever in my mind Susan, the lesbian wife of Ross' ex on Friends). THAT'S IT!

****Spoiler Alert****
What is so satisfying about the last season of Breaking Bad is how everything single loose end is tied. I have never seen any show do such an amazing job at this before. Jesse finds out Walt poisoned Brock, Walt Jr. finds out the truth, Hank finally handcuffs Heisenberg, Todd gets killed (Hellz YES!), Lydia will die of Ricin poisoning, Ricin is finally being put to good use, Walt's family will get its money (the original goal), the whole world finds out Walt is Heisenberg, Saul gets away by starting a new life, Gomez & Schrader's bodies will be found, Jesse is free (and most likely will be taking care of Brock), and Walt finally dies in peace.
***More Spoilers***
Hank's death was also part of tying the loose ends. But it was by far the most intense moment for me in the entire series. There were several episodes were I thought he was finished, but the character lived on all through the 5 seasons. And for him to die the way he did was just a stab in my heart. At that moment, I felt for the entire family and for their tragic loss. Even though I saw Hank as a villain of some sort, his death was very difficulty to take. And I know why! Because I couldn't help but root for Walt despite his monstrous actions (crazy what good writing can make you feel), I felt the traumatic pain he portrayed on his face when Hank got shot. For me, that was the most intense of scenes and therefore the best episode of the entire series. Way more powerful than the finale on some levels. I really felt like I needed a moment to recuperate, almost a moment of silence for DEA Agent Schrader. At that moment, you knew it was all over for Walt.
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END OF SPOILERS

If you have time on your hands, or contemplating starting a new show, I beg of you! Consider Breaking Bad. I usually don't obsess over hour long dramas but man this is worth every minute. As I just mentioned, I have become obsessed with everything Breaking Bad. Since I watched the finale, I've been glued to my computer watching every YouTube video I can find. From "Talking Bad", to late night interviews of cast members, Emmy acceptance speeches, you name it. PS -Do yourself a favor and watch Jimmy Fallon's Joking Bad if you haven't already.

One of the questions that everyone keeps asking Vince Gilligan is "What do you hope the legacy of Breaking Bad is". He usually answers by comparing his love for 60+ years old Twilight zone and how unborn children will still be watching it in the future. He knows that may not be the case with Breaking Bad in 60+ years, but here is what I think the legacy is: Because of my profound affinity for the show, I have been trying to find every excuse in the book to talk about it. My fiance [who has not watched it yet] wants to kill me, as I've joked multiple times that if all goes to hell his PhD science background could go to good. (I AM SO KIDDING by the way). Every time I see an old looking trailer in someone's driveway, I automatically assume meth has been cooked there. I have already naturally integrated in my daily life new vocabulary like "fat stacks", great expressions like "I am the one who knocks" or attributed "Heisenberg" as an adjective. I am also guilty of yelling "Yo" and "bitch" WAY too often these days. And without fail, I ask EVERYONE I meet if they have seen Breaking Bad in hope that they have or with luck started watching it so we can discuss. And I know I am not the only one doing this (see the article in my previous post as an example). The pretty large portion of american and other fans around the world are now swarming in this awesome Breaking Bad culture, and that for me is the ultimate legacy.

Heisenbergs

I am still in process of watching #BreakingBad. Just finished S5E2 so no spoilers please.
If you have pondered whether you should spend the time watching Breaking Bad, stop tiptoeing. If you have the time, do it. Not only is it a wonderfully written and acted show, but it is also a great documentary in itself. Think of it as Drug and money laundering 101.

If you are one of the many fans who spent the 54 or so episodes on the edge of your seats, take a look at this great article. It is an inside look at the congruent EDM & Molly cultures. Although this is not meth we are talking about, it is still part of the drug world we live in.

http://www.kissmyangeles.com/view/story/finding_molly

To quote the author "Breaking Bad is Real". Scary but probably not far from the truth. Maybe nothing like the good ol' chemistry teacher gone bad, but a somber story of similar nature for sure. There are probably quite a bunch of Heisenbergs out there, don't you think?