Infographic: The Final Death Toll in Breaking Bad

This is brilliant…for a way to calculate deaths, but still utterly brilliant.

One of the most popular pieces at TDYLF has been The Death Toll on Breaking Bad, an infographic that I created last September at the conclusion of season 5A of Breaking Bad. When people contact me, the most common request I get- by far- is to update that piece once the series is over. Well, the series is now officially over. And the infographic has been updated. Consider your requests granted.

View original post 166 more words

Trailer Time: Foxcatcher (2014)

Steve Carrell has certainly proved himself as a dramatic actor in the past (watch Little Miss Sunshine if you are dubious), but we’ve never seen him do anything like this.  In Foxcatcher, Carrell plays the schizophrenic murderer John du Pont. The film’s cast also includes Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, and Anthony Michael Hall. The film was directed by Bennett Miller coming off of Moneyball.  Here’s the official synopsis:

FOXCATCHER tells the story of Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum), who sees a way out from the shadow of his more celebrated wrestling brother Dave (Ruffalo) and a life of poverty when he is summoned by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont (Carell) to move onto his estate and train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Desperate to gain the respect of his disapproving mother, du Pont begins “coaching” a world-class athletic team and, in the process, lures Mark into dangerous habits, breaks his confidence and drives him into a self-destructive spiral. Based on actual events, FOXCATCHER is a gripping and profoundly American story of fragile men who pinned their hopes for love and redemption on a desperate obsession for greatness that was to end in tragedy.

The film was set to be released on December 20th, but Bennett Miller needs more time to finish the film so the release date has been pushed to 2014, which kind of screws Carrell out of the Oscar buzz he’s been getting for the performance.  But, fear not, a holiday Carrell fix is still in store when Carrell’s Brick Tamland returning in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.  

Possible Avengers: Age of Ultron Plot Details *Potential Spoilers*

Joss Whedon is hard at work on developing Avengers: Age of Ultron, and  recently the Avengers guru sat down with Entertainment Weekly.  He gave a look back at the first film and how that experience is shaping how he’s developing Age of Ultron.  He also dropped some plot tidbits so if you’re a purist, run away and no one will think the lesser.  Except me.  I’m watching you.  Oh yeah, you.

“When I think of a great film, I think of something that’s either structured so perfectly like The Matrix or made so lovingly like The Godfather Part II. There was haphazardness in the way it comes together—not just the people, but the scenes. I don’t think you’d look at it and go, ‘This is a model of perfect structure.’ You’d go, ‘This is working.’ I like it. I’m proud of it and I like its imperfections. The thing I cared most about—making a summer movie like the ones from my childhood—is the thing that I pulled off.”

“[With Age of Ultron,] I want to be clearer about how I engage the audience, and where I take them. I want more control visually, more time to prep it. Not that I didn’t dictate every shot—I did. But there’s only so much you can do when you’re making a summer film when the ball is already rolling as fast as it was when I got in. Why do it again if you can’t do it better?”

There’s also a new plot synopsis for the film floating around out there and IMDB has attached it to the current Avengers 2 page:

As the US Government creates a force known as Ultron, The Avengers are told they are not needed any longer. But when Ultron turns against Humanity, it’s time for The Avengers to assemble yet again for their most dangerous challenge ever.

I tend to give this plot some credence because it takes care of a few issues in one fell swoop.  The government was clearly not keen on the Avengers at the close of the first film so it makes sense that they would be trying to find an alternative.  Additionally, Hank Pym, the man who creates Ultron in the comics, won’t be introduced until Ant-Man (presumably) which comes out after Avengers 2.

Most people, myself included thought they’d simply make Tony the creator or that maybe it would be J.A.R.V.I.S. hulking out after years of taking Tony’s crap.  The problem with that; however, is that Ultron in the comics has extreme daddy issues with Pym and if they went the same route with Stark, it would mean needing that character in some capacity when Ultron returns (which he will).  Robert Downey Jr. signed for Avengers 2 and Avengers 3 and after that, I’m fairly certain he’s done with Tony Stark.  So this would solve the problem of linking him so centrally to Stark’s character.  Ultron pops up in different iterations over and over again so he’s not a one-movie threat.  At the same time, taking that personal connection to the Avengers away takes a lot of his interest as a character away.  In Whedon I trust.  Joss is the rare director willing to look back and critique his own work even when it made $600 million. That’s why he’ll keep getting better.  Avengers Age of Ultron is scheduled for a May 2015 release

 

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain, Konami Releases First 9 Minutes

Konami has released the first nine minutes of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain featuring Kiefer Sutherland as Snake.  To be perfectly honest, I’ve never played a MGS game.  It’s not for lack of interest.  I’ve always been a Microsoft guy and MS hasn’t gotten the series until recently and now I feel like there’s waaaay too much back story.  Does anyone know a good place to start where I don’t feel like I need footnotes to the story?

Metal Gear Solid V will be available for Playstations 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, but it has no release date as of yet.