Why can’t I wait for this upcoming weekend (August 9th through the 11th)? Welp, it just so happens to be the best pop cultural weekend of the entire year.
“That’s a pretty bold claim Alabama Liberal? How can you back that up?”—-Every loud mouth on the internet.
All right, I’ll tell you…
Friday, August 9th: The opening day for my most anticipated film of the summer, Elysium. The story about wealthy one percenters living in a space station hovering over a polluted, over-populated Earth inhabited by the “regular” folks promises to be the rare sci-fi blockbuster with something relevant to say about society. [On a lesser note, the new animated film Planes opens, and it should be at least as good as Turbo/Cars 2, and the beautiful indie The Spectacular Now expands into a slightly wider release.]
Saturday, August 10th: Okay, but Saturday is usually the achilles heal of most great weekends. I mean, there’s absolutely nothing on TV right? Wrong. This Saturday you’ll actually have to set your DVR to catch two (count ’em, two!) awesome events: HBO’s premiere movie Clear History, and the two-hour premiere of AMC’s underrated Western Hell on Wheels.
Clear History is a celebrity packed extravaganza (Kate Hudson, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Danny McBride all make cameos) about a former car company employee (the always-interesting Larry David playing someone other than Larry David for once) who sells all his stock in a company right before it goes big, and wants revenge on his former boss (Jon Hamm) years later. Hell on Wheels continues the story of the building of the first transnational railroad but this time sees wild-man/soulful-gunslinger Cullen Bohannon as more than just muscle as he tries to manage the project. The AMC promos touting he’s “Outlaw in Charge” promise an excitement that’s perhaps a bit faster paced than the first two seasons.
Sunday, August 11th: And now for the king of them all, the return of Television’s Best Drama: Breaking Bad. The final eight episodes of this sensational drama begin tonight, and I know exactly where I’ll be during them: glued to the couch with the rewind button ready on my DVR. Also, AMC debuts their first new drama in quite a while, Low Winter Sun.
Should be a night to remember, and the perfect way to end a weekend that should be nirvana for pop cultural enthusiasts (okay, TV/Film obsessives…okay, TV/Film nerds if you will).