Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul read Breaking Bad finale Felina

Role Models - Plot Point Breakdown

I didn't think much of Role Models (2008) when I first saw it, but after revisiting the film a couple of weeks ago, it's got some good laughs, decent if obvious character development, and Elizabeth Banks. Paul Rudd's endlessly watchable and he's offset nicely by Sean William Scott who, when his crude humour and brash delivery are utilised well, as they are here, is a very effective comedic actor.

Inciting Incident - Danny (Paul Rudd's) and Wheeler (Sean William Scott) are two energy drink salesmen who go from school to school promoting Minotaur and encouraging kids to stay off drugs. Danny hates the job and soon his dissatisfaction and constant pessimism gets him dumped by his hot lawyer girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks).

Lock In - When his relationship collapses Danny gets depressed and self-destructive, culminating in him crashing the Minotaur company car into a statue in front of a school. To avoid going to jail Danny and Wheeler have to do 150 hours of community service supporting troublesome or disenfranchised kids on the big-brother style Sturdy Wings program. Danny's paired with Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a reclusive nerd who loves a medieval LARP game called LAIRE, and Wheeler's paired with Ronnie (Bobb'e J Thompson), a foul mouthed streetwise black kid.

Midpoint - Augie kills the arrogant King of LAIRE, Argotron (Ken Jeong) but the King denies it. Danny supports Augie and ends up getting into a fight with the King which results in both him and Augie being disqualified from the game forever. Meanwhile Wheeler takes Ronnie to a party but leaves him unsupervised and Ronnie has to walk home on his own.

Climax - Both Danny and Wheeler are kicked off the Sturdy Wings program meaning they can't complete their community service and therefore face serious jail time and shower rape. As a result the two have an argument, break friends and go their separate ways.

Resolution - Danny convinces King Argotron to allow him and Augie to fight in the much-anticipated Battle Royale. Augie kills the King but then Augie's secret crush Esplin kills Augie, becoming Queen. Danny and Wheeler miss their court hearing because they were busy playing LAIRE but don't go to jail because the Sturdy Wings owner Gayle (Jane Lynch) knows the judge and is impressed when she sees Danny and Wheeler really do care for the kids. Paul reunites with girlfriend Beth after serenading her with the KISS song 'Beth'.

The Guard - script

John Michael McDonagh's feature debut is an Irish black comedy with Brendan Gleeson as the titular Guard. Gerry Boyle is an unorthodox policeman who doesn't shy away from confrontation, he's teamed up with Don Cheadle's by-the-book FBI agent Wendell Everett to take down a ring of international drug smugglers.

It's dark and hilarious with a cast of great characters and dialogue sharp enough to draw blood. I found the script here and it's well worth a read - funny, touching and an excellent example of how to individualise your character voices.

Calvary - Film Review

After his critically acclaimed action-comedy the Guard, John Michael McDonagh's second feature is a masterfully sombre drama with glittering thorns of humour and an eccentric cast of unpredictable characters, all grounded by the soulful central performance of Brendan Gleeson.

Teaming up again with the Irish writer/director, Gleeson plays Father James Lavelle, a hard-working priest of small county Sligo, who's life is threatened by a member of his parish during a confession in a hilariously twisted opening.

"I first tasted semen when I was 7 years old." Says the unseen man.
"... It's certainly a startling opening line." Replies Father James .

In the confession booth this anonymous parishioner informs Father James he's going to kill him because he's innocent, "There's no point in killing a bad priest, but killing a good one, that'd be a shock." and fittingly he's going to do it next Sunday.

This reverse whodunnit promises a murder from the beginning and then spends the film working through the line-up of suspects as Father James does his rounds through the coastal town, discussing the citizen's own ethical dilemmas while trying to glean clues as to who his prospective killer might be. As the clock counts down and he visits his parishioners the audience meet an angry community, a pack of frustrated, apathetic and listless wolves. There's the butcher (Chris O'Dowd) and his town-bike wife (Orla O'Rourke), her black lover (Isaach De Bankole), the menacing chief of police (Gary Lydon), the vehemently atheist doctor (Aiden Gillen) and the ludicrously rich businessman (Dylan Moran).

Although we get the sense that Father James always knows who his promised killer is, it matters not because the characters and dialogue effervesce with John Michael McDonagh's Anglo-Irish heritage, his playful love of language and his gallows humour. But even the sometimes absurdist comedy never becomes farcical, and there are moments of deep-seated melancholy, incisive moral contemplation and real courage - not least between Father James and his suicidal daughter (Kelly Reilly). The macabre themes and ominous end that slowly builds is complemented by Larry Smith's excellent cinematography, which perfectly exploits the harsh beauty of the local area, from the brutal flat top mountain to the desolate beach.

Its detective story plot and noirish undertones mean you could argue Calvary's a crime film, rather than a drama, a deliriously funny hybrid of Hitchcock and Agatha Christie. But neither genre does this finely-tuned picture justice. Against the backdrop of the Catholic Church's legacy of abuse, and with mentions of felching alongside the caveats of the Ten Commandments, Calvary emancipates itself from the shackles of labels and categories, and announces itself simply as a very mature, robust and brave film.

Calvary is a stunningly confident follow-up with a sense of humour darker than a pint of Guinness and a brilliantly deadpan and heart-felt performance from Brendan Gleeson that roots John Michael McDonagh's tragicomic tale in hope and humanism.