The first visual evidence from the second half of Breaking Bad’s fifth and final season has found its way to the interweb. And like Walter White’s impossibly pure stimulant, it’s quite blue (y’know, tonally) and will only make you yearn for more of its sweet embrace until your friends and family are all like, “Just shut the hell up about Breaking  Bad already. We get it, it’s awesome; everybody knows now.” But anyway, back to the picture. The scene takes place in the casa de Pinkman, where young master Jesse (Aaron Paul) is visibly shaken. On the couch beside him is his former meth-making partner/life-ruiner Walter White (plus what appears to be that giant sac of money he gave to Jesse in the last episode). It seems as though Walter is trying to talk Jesse down and/or convince him to do something horrible for the greater good of Walter White — an increasingly common occurrence in a relationship that, in the first half of Season 5 (which aired last summer), lost virtually all of its lighter, Laurel-and-Hardy aspects as Walt’s baser impulses ate away those last little bits of his soul. Hit the jump to check out the pic.

In films, alcoholism is rarely treated as the crippling, devastating disease that it is.  It’s oftentimes romanticized or portrayed as some quirk for comedic aspects.  A lot of diseases and mental illnesses are treated this way on screen.  There are some great films about alcoholism that take it seriously, like Lost Weekend and Under the Volcano.  But for the most part films tend to leave out the lies, shame, and heaps of ruin laid on the alcoholic and their family.  James Ponsoldt‘s Smashed manages to find the perfect balance between a romantic comedy and a compelling study of a relationship fueled by booze.  More on Sony Pictures Classics’ Smashed Blu-ray after the jump.

One of the best television shows in history will sadly come to an end this summer as Breaking Bad wraps up its final season on AMC.  The network has released a new featurette for the last batch of 8 episodes that takes fans behind-the-scenes of the show, and it’s a total tease.  The video doesn’t reveal anything at all about the final run of episodes (which is a good thing), but we do see the castmembers talking quite cryptically about what’s to come.  The fifth season was split up into two batches of eight episodes, so I assume this upcoming run plays like the final half of one season rather than an entire new season.

Though we don’t know much plot-wise about the final episodes, we do know that Bryan Cranston directs the first episode back, Looper director Rian Johnson thankfully returns to helm another installment, and creator/showrunner Vince Gilligan wrote and directs the series finale.  Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  Breaking Bad is expected to return sometime in July, so hold on to your butts, folks. 

I’m a sucker for science, so this bit of news pleases me greatly: the ever-interesting Discovery Channel series Mythbusters is planning a Breaking Bad-centric episode.  That’s right, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are set to tackle a couple of experiments inspired by events from AMC’s stellar drama series Breaking Bad.  Moreover, stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will be making an appearance in the episode.  Just what Breaking Bad science will they be testing?  Hit the jump to find out.

DreamWorks’ adaptation of the popular video game franchise Need for Speed has found one of its two leads.  EW reports that Breaking Bad star and two-time Emmy winner Aaron Paul has been set to topline the racing film.  Act of Valor helmer Scott Waugh is set to direct from a script by George Gatins, but very little is known about the film’s story.  Presumably Need for Speed will center on street racing of some sort, though the pic isn’t based on a particular title in the game series.  DreamWorks hopes this is the first in a franchise of films, so this is very big news for Paul.

Paul has shown tremendous talent opposite Bryan Cranston on AMC’s Breaking Bad, but that show will sadly come to an end next year as the final batch of episodes air.  He’ll be seen this fall in the drama Smashed opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead and is also starring in the adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel A Long Way Down, but it’ll be fun to see him tackle the action genre with Need for Speed.  The film is set for release on February 7th, 2014.  Cars, yo!

The 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards were given out last night, and longtime favorite Mad Men had a pretty rough evening.  Matthew Weiner’s AMC drama was shut out in every category in which it was nominated (Christina Hendricks was robbed), denying the series a record-breaking fifth consecutive Best Drama Series Emmy in favor of Showtime’s excellent freshman series Homeland.  The cable thriller nearly swept the drama series category, even landing Damian Lewis a surprising Best Actor win over perennial favorite Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Mad Men’s way overdue Jon Hamm.  It’s hard to complain, though, as Homeland had a positively stellar first season and star Claire Danes gave a powerhouse performance as a psychologically plagued CIA analyst, for which she was awarded Best Actress.

On the comedy side of things the awards were a tad more predictable, with ABC’s Modern Family pulling off another sweep in the genre. Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home the Best Actress award for her hilarious work on Veep, and Jon Cryer inexplicably won Best Actor in a Comedy for his role in Two and a Half Men despite that show not being funny.  Hit the jump to read the full list of winners.

The 2012 Emmy Awards air Sunday at 8pm on ABC during all of your other programming (set those DV-Rs!), so is the show worth watching?  Will there be any upsets?  Or will it just be worth it to sit there smugly as Bryan Cranston wins again for Breaking Bad, turning to your friends, significant other or Siri and saying “I totally called that.”  Hit the jump to see my predictions for who will win and whoshould win Sunday night based on Vegas odds, rumors, secret handshakes, the predictability of Emmy voters, with maybe an upset or two thrown in to keep things interesting.

Filming has commenced on director Pascal Chaumeil’s (Heartbreaker) adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel A Long Way Down.  The story revolves around a group of strangers who coincidentally meet on the top of a London skyscraper on New Year’s Eve where they individually had gone to commit suicide.  The four strangers make a pact to stay alive until Valentine’s Day at least, and the story follows this group of unlikely friends “as they try to pull back from the brink.”  The ensemble cast includes Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, and Imogen Poots, with Sam Neill and Rosamund Pike (Pride and Prejudice) also signing on.

The four central strangers are played by Brosnan, Collette, Paul, and Poots, who are set as a once-beloved TV personality, single mother, failed musician turned pizza-delivery boy and a “sassy teen” respectively.  Hornby is the author behind such great works as High Fidelity, About a Boy and Fever Pitch, so the source material is a solid foundation.  Jack Thorne (How I Live Now) wrote the screenplay and production is taking place in England and Spain.  Hit the jump to read the full press release (which includes a synopsis) and to check out the first image.

The first trailer and poster for the indie drama Smashed have been released.  The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) as a married couple who are brought together by booze.  Things get complicated when Winstead’s character decides she wants to be sober.  The trailer plays things pretty light, and its effective in making this drama about a struggle with alcoholism seem appealing.  That said, Smashed isn’t exactly a comedy.  The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to positive reviews, with Matt noting that Winstead gives the best performance of her career thus far.  Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Megan Mullaly (Will & Grace), Mary Kay Place, and Octavia Spencer round out a promising supporting cast for what looks to be a solid character drama.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster.  Directed by James Ponsoldt, Smashed opens on October 12th.

Since fans of Vince Gilligan’s hit AMC drama Breaking Bad will have to wait until next year for the show’s epic conclusion, we thought we’d share this entertaining intro sequence to help pass the time.  From French graphic designer Martin Woutisseth comes a re-imagined Breaking Bad intro that features motion animation, great Easter eggs from the series and pays homage to a number of cast members past and present.  If you’re not familiar with the show, be sure to get caught up on all of our episode recaps here.  Fan or not, hit the jump to check out the awesome intro from Woutisseth!

Breaking Bad‘s mid-season finale, which aired this past Sunday, was not as explosive as some of the show’s finales in the past, but it was quietly stunning (quite literally).  The series maneuvered everyone’s favorite (or most hated) high school chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin into some of his (and the series’) most serious territory yet — a great setup for what is bound to be an extremely anxiety-inducing final eight episodes next summer.  Series creator Vince Gilligan recently sat down to discuss some of the finer points of Sunday night’s episode, including where Walt might be headed next, as well as the final eight episodes of the series.  Spoilers, of course, you are not caught up on the series — otherwise, hit the jump for more.

Check out our latest casting round-up featuring old veterans, up-and-comers and fresh faces.  Here’s the news in brief:

• Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws) has joined Cas & Dylan, the directorial debut of Jason Priestly (90210).  The Oscar winner will star opposite Tatiana Maslany (Eastern Promises).
• Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) is set to star in the Paschal Chaumeil-directed Long Way Down, along with Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette and Imogene Poots.
• Maria Howell (The Blind Side) is the latest addition to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the Francis Lawrence-directed sequel starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.
• Sasha Barrese will reprise her role from the first two installments of The Hangover in Todd Phillips’ The Hangover Part III.

Hit the jump for details on each project.

When things work out as well as they did in Breaking Bad’s “Hazard Pay” for almost all parties involved (minus Skyler), it’s Vince Gilligan mercifully throwing us a bone.  The violence and intensity takes a break, briefly, and we get a comic interlude that features Badger (Matt Jones) and Skinny Pete (Charles Baker).  Badger and Skinny Pete may be the most underrated performers on the show, actually, and often get some of the funniest lines (the only funny lines?).  Introducing Skinny Pete in “Hazard Pay” with him artfully and flawlessly dancing through a piano melody on a keyboard in the music store was funny, but also deeply sad.  How did this talented and sweet young man turn into the drug-addled and often brainless wisp?  That moment was as good of a “Meth: Not Even Once” campaign as any I’ve seen.  You can imagine Badger always having been a little educationally subnormal, but Skinny Pete?  What a waste.  Hit the jump for the specifics of the episode, and what will make tortillas smell like cat piss.

Breaking Bad has one of the most eclectic and strongest supporting casts on television. Bryan Cranston may carry the show – but without equally strong performers to bounce off, it’s impossible to think the show would be nearly as successful. It almost seems unfair to categorize Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman) as a supporting player. His transformation from complete idiot drug addict to the closest thing this show has for a ‘good guy’ has been revelatory. He’s every bit as integral to the show as Walter White. Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks are equally as formidable as the too-slick cheapo lawyer Saul Goodman and the morally conflicted hitman/enforcer Mike Ehrmantraut. The former providing much needed levity to the uber-nihilism of the show, whilst the latter providing the pathos of a man far beyond broken.

At Comic Con, the entire cast was on hand for a roundtable discussion of the new season, past season and upcoming final season. In today’s edition, cast members Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks and Aaron Paul argue about Walt’s character & motivations and preview the dark path ahead for their respective characters. For the full interview, hit the jump.

There is no show I look forward to more each week than Breaking Bad.  And it’s been a long week since the last episode.  I am so pumped for the premiere on Sunday, that I really had no business being at this panel filled with cryptic teases.  What’s going on in Germany?   What that about gray matter?  And most importantly, what is the context of Jesse’s line “Magnets, bitch!”

Creator Vince Gilligan, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Anna Gunn, Jonathan Banks, R.J. Mitte, and Betsy Brandt were on hand to address these questions without ever actually answering any of them.  Hit the jump for the bullet point recap.