AMC's Best Picture Showcase Part 2 Rundown

The Oscars are over, and now we can finally prepare for the summer season. How angry were you about what films won? Did you bomb your Oscar poll because there was a tie?  Well there's always next year. We highly recommend participating in the AMC Showcase next year to get a grasp on the best picture nominees. Of course the real challenge is watching all the films in a 24 hour period, but as we mentioned last week in our rundown, Javi had a half marathon to run on Oscar Sunday (which he kicked its ass), so we opted for the two day showcase.

Here are our thoughts from part one. And now onto part two!

AMC's Best Picture Showcase Part 1 Roundup

Every year we make the one trip to an AMC theater and sit down for almost a 24 hour period to watch their Best Picture Showcase. This year since Javi has a half marathon to go to the day after the 24 hour marathon, we decided split it up the event over two weekends. We just saw part one which included AMOUR, LES MISERABLES, ARGO, AND DJANGO UNCHAINED. Below are some of our brief thoughts.

AMC Presents Their Annual Best Picture Showcase

With the Oscar nominations out, if you're like me, then there was always one or two of the nominees that you missed in the theatre. For the past few years, AMC Theatres showcase all the films nominated for Best Picture in a marathon. For the past two years, the showcase has been split over two Saturdays because of the number of films nominated. However, they always have a few theatres that show all, whether it's the nine films this year or the ten last year, in one day.

Today their schedule for the showcase went live, and here's the breakdown:

Saturday, February 18:

11:00AM: War Horse
1:40PM: Moneyball
4:10PM: The Tree of Life
7:30PM: The Descendants

Saturday, February 25:

11:00AM: Hugo 3D
1:20PM: The Help
4:00PM: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
7:15PM: The Artist
9:05PM: Midnight in Paris

And for the hard core people, here is the schedule for the all day marathon:

Saturday, February 25:

11:00AM: Hugo 3D
1:20PM: The Tree of Life
3:55PM: The Help
7:20PM: The Artist
9:20PM: The Descendants
11:30PM: Midnight in Paris
1:20AM: War Horse
4:00AM: Moneyball
6:20AM: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

I for one plan on attending this event again. I've gone the past two years, and it's always such a fun time. It's nice to be able to see all the nominees on the big screen before the awards are handed out. The AMC theatre near me always has trivia and prizes during the breaks, and last year there was a contest to see who could each the most large popcorns. I believe the record was six.


Check out AMC's website for all the details.

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Finally, Yo! AMC reaches a deal for season 5 of Breaking Bad

As Javi reported earlier this week, AMC was having difficulty reaching a deal with Sony for the fifth and final season of their award winning hit, Breaking Bad.  There were rumors from cutting the show down to six episodes to the show leaving AMC completely to go to another network.

Thankfully, however, a deal has been reached!

Sony has reached a deal and has ordered 16 episodes, a full 3 episodes more than normal, to air on AMC for the show's final season.  The episodes will be filmed together, but negotiations about scheduling are still up in the air with the possibility of splitting the into two separate seasons.  In true dramatic Hollywood style, the agreement came just in the nick of time:

The deal comes just as the series was facing two deadlines -- its license deal with AMC was set to expire tomorrow and the options on the actors are up on Aug. 31. (via Deadline) 

Nothing like leaving things to the last minute right?  The important thing is one of the best shows on television will be back next year for a full season.  Even if it is split into two parts, we get a full three extra episodes.

Also, if you haven't been watching...what are you waiting for??


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AMC Giving Trouble To Breaking Bad Producers

They want to mess with this guy?

It's amazing how quickly things can go to hell.  A year ago, the cable channel AMC was one of my favorites. They had Breaking Bad, the amazing show starring Bryan Cranston about a drug dealing chemistry teacher, they were coming out with The Walking Dead, a TV show about zombies, and they showed good movies even if they were awkwardly censored. Fast forward to today, where we have Walking Dead show runner Frank Darabont quitting the show, the new series The Killing had a critically despised first season, and now it looks like the last season of Breaking Bad might not even be coming back to the network due to budget issues

Thanks to LA Times, it has been reported that there have been issues with the network demanding the supposedly final fifth season be cut down to 6-8 episodes instead of the regular 13.  Representatives for the show have been shopping around the show to other networks should talks with the network fall through.  What really pisses me off is that the big reason for the budget cuts that are causing these issues is that Mad Men creator Matt Weiner got a really nice (i.e. expensive) deal to stay on with AMC with the show for an additional two season.

I obviously have issues with this.  Breaking Bad is a great show unlike many that we see even through this "Golden Age of Television", but I can't even think how a show that wants just one more season could be successful at another network.  And I can't think of anything more disappointing than this show not having a proper ending.  Either way, what it seems that we have here is AMC putting all of their eggs in one liquored up basket. Either way, with Darabont leaving supposedly because of these budget cuts, and this Breaking Bad business, I'm very worried for the future of both of these shows.  Stay tuned for more information, and let's hope that both parties come to an agreement that lets this show finish on a creative high without network politics messing with it. 

AMC's Breaking Bad airs every Sunday at 10 PM ET/ 9PM CT.
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