Bryan Cranston dreams a world after "Breaking Bad"

I've dabbled around the idea of a Greatest Working Actors list for some time now, and as alluring as it is to put them all up on a scale like that, I'd simply never know what to do with the actors who have their feet firmly planted in television. With all the shows moving towards their finishes, I am intrigued to see what Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, John Noble, Anna Torv, Jasika Nicole, and Aaron Paul are to do once their respective shows are up. The bell is chiming for Jon Hamm, Elizabeth Moss, John Slattery, and the rest of the "Mad Men" gang as well, and Jared Harris has already been let off the leash for a promising future in the business.

One actor who isn't laying down while waiting for his television check to ring in is Bryan Cranston, headliner on AMC's "Breaking Bad", headed now towards its fifth and final season. For every year Cranston has performed in the pivotal character of Walter White, he has taken home an Emmy for Best Actor. He is quite likely to make it four this fall, and with the splitting of the final season into two eight-episode stretches, the possibility is not merely alive for two more, but it's a certainty for after the show's completion. Cranston is in very good hands with showrunner Vince Gilligan at the helm, though has not been laying steady while the end approaches.

Box Office Update: "Hallows" Kills It

Well you can't say that the highest grossing motion picture franchise in history wasn't going to go out without making a huge dent in our wallets. This was inevitable since Friday, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has broken The Dark Knight's opening weekend record by a clear $13 million. The film did earn most of that from the gargantuan Friday debut, but despite the fall from Friday to Saturday, it held on rather respectfully from Saturday to Sunday. It's to be seen how off that estimate is when the final numbers hit on Monday, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a couple million up or down.

It's a massive accomplishment, but there were other milestones to be had this weekend. For starters, Transformers: Dark of the Moon became the first film of 2011 to bust past that pesky $300 million mark. I'll admit to playing a slight hand in that, as I saw the film a second time last evening. Both Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper held on honestly, as no threatening new comedies entered the market. That'll change when Friends with Benefits swings around the corner next weekend.

The most shocking failure of this weekend was poor Winnie the Pooh, which landed in sixth place with only $8 million. People complaining that their childhood was over after Potter debuted were clearly looking in the wrong place. My favorite success of the weekend, however, was Midnight in Paris, reentering the top ten this week just in time to blow past Hannah and Her Sisters to become the highest grossing Woody Allen film to date. So obviously this weekend at the box office was an improvement (a 46.4% improvement at that) upon last year, when Inception opened to the top spot.

1. Harry Potter...Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (First Weekend; $168.5 million)

2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Third Weekend; $21.2 million)

3. Horrible Bosses (Second Weekend; $17.6 million)

4. Zookeeper (Second Weekend; $12.3 million)

5. Cars 2 (Fourth Weekend; $8.3 million)

6. Winnie the Pooh (First weekend; $8 million)

7. Bad Teacher (Fourth Weekend; $5.2 million)

8. Larry Crowne (Third Weekend; $2.5 million)

9. Super 8 (Sixth Weekend; $1.9 million)

10. Midnight in Paris (Ninth Weekend; $1.8 million)

Box Office Update: "Bosses" Rise Against "Moon"

Forgive me if things have been too silent for your liking lately. Balancing my work online and an actual job is a bit of a chore, and some things rightly take a back seat. I promise that things will pick up considerably after the summer, but you can expect things to be slow around this time of year. Obviously the box office is not one of such things, so that's something I'll always comment on. As for this particular weekend, nothing is truly changed or different. Transformers: Dark of the Moon remains the one to beat for the year, though that could certainly change very soon.

Michael Bay's trilogy capper fell a heavy 52% from its giant debut, and it raises a question of how much higher than $300 million it will reach domestically. Still, the film is performing quite admirably given the constant assault of critical backlash. I realize I never did weigh in on the film, so I'll take just a moment to give my thoughts. It's perhaps the worst film of the entire series, but it's also the most enjoyable, stupidly hilarious, and just plain fun films I've seen in a long time. I enjoyed Revenge of the Fallen more than Transformers, and I enjoyed Dark of the Moon even more. Call me insane, but that's my standing on the matter.

In the meantime, comedic films tried to add an inch of levity to the summer, and somewhat successfully if you look at the money charts. Horrible Bosses, which I hear has received a handful of good reviews, would've reigned champion this weekend if it weren't for Bay's machines. Zookeeper, was the weaker of the two, but give it credit for inching just above the $20 million mark this weekend. Cars 2 is taking smaller drops now, but I'd expect it to end below even Ratatouille, one of Pixar's toughest sells. Rounding out the top five is Bad Teacher, which I saw and was somewhat appalled by on Thursday. Still, it's been holding on well, and could make it to $100 million if all continues as it is. Sure, the weekend was down from last year when Despicable Me placed first, but expect an uptick in good time.

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Second Weekend; $47 million)

2. Horrible Bosses (First Weekend; $28.1 million)

3. Zookeeper (First Weekend; $21 million)

4. Cars 2 (Third Weekend; $15.2 million)

5. Bad Teacher (Third Weekend; $9 million)

6. Larry Crowne (Second Weekend; $6.3 million)

7. Super 8 (Fifth Weekend; $4.8 million)

8. Monte Carlo (Second Weekend; $3.8 million)

9. Green Lantern (Fourth Weekend; $3.1 million)

10. Mr. Popper's Penguins (Fourth Weekend; $2.9 million)

Box Office Update: Under Light of "Moon"

It seems like the box office is thriving, with another major hit having taken a huge chunk of the earnings this weekend, be it one that we expected. To be honest, I would have expected bigger numbers from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but I guess the weak(er) start had to do with the general anger towards the second film. As most know, I quite enjoyed the second film, and I quite enjoyed the third film for the same basic reasons. It's big, loud, stupid, hilarious, honest, and quite obviously beautiful. Every artist has a certain style, and Bay's is with the degenerate and flashy. You can't simply watch this film and lump it in with the crowd of failing blockbusters.

Cars 2 took a massive drop from last weekend, by far the largest drop of any Pixar film, but there's no surprise there. Larry Crowne failed on impact, not making a huge dent with the opposite demographic of Transformers. Monte Carlo also didn't make a big impact, but it did well for what was expected of it. That's the main thing you can say about it, is that it did exactly what it was expected to do, and that's fine. In the scheme of total grosses, Bridesmaids passed the $150 million point, which I'm quite happy about. Pirates 4 passed $1 billion worldwide, which I'm not at all happy about. It certainly puts Alice in Wonderland in perspective in terms of quality.

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (First Weekend; $116.4 million)

2. Cars 2 (Second Weekend; $32.1 million)

3. Bad Teacher (Second Weekend; $17.6 million)

4. Larry Crowne (First Weekend; $15.7 million)

5. Super 8 (Fourth Weekend; $9.5 million)

6. Monte Carlo (First Wekend; $8.8 million)

7. Green Lantern (Third Weekend; $8 million)

8. Mr. Popper's Penguins (Third Weekend; $6.9 million)

9. Bridesmaids (Eighth Weekend; $4.4 million)

10. Midnight in Paris (Seventh Weekend; $4.3 million)

The Weekend Report: The Ol' Flash and Bang

I almost entirely forgot to give this a proper write-up, but figured that it's better late than never. This week has been an exercise in leisure and relaxation, but it's time to get back to business. The box office isn't showing many signs of decay or slowing down, but after seeing so many films go by without passing $100 million in the first three days, I can't help but be a little pessimistic. I hold out hope that that will change with Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but there's never any real guarantee. Audiences are naturally still pissed after being so disappointed with Revenge of the Fallen, but I didn't think the effects would be so adverse.

The film has only managed to pull in nearly $65 million in the first two days, which its predecessor pulled off in just a day. It'll be interesting to see how the film plays over the long weekend, but it's apparently been playing really well with audiences. It may have some sort of unexpected staying power in the coming weeks, but rest assured that it will die quickly upon Harry Potter's arrival. So what of the other two releases? Well I had completely forgotten that Larry Crowne even existed, so much as to miss posting a clip from it earlier this week. I didn't forget Monte Carlo, but then again, how could you? It's the sort of thing that demands attention, but not for the better.

Dread Locks: July 2011

It's usually at this point that I get a substantial amount of dread for just how many horrible films are on their way in the coming month. I had a tough time narrowing it down to three films for July, because there are many that are likely to disappoint, and others that truly have no hope for the slightest quality. I ended up settling upon the current three based on just how juvenile they are, and therefore how much mass appeal they're likely to have. Monte Carlo barely missed the cut, but don't take that as anything close to a recommendation.

First up is Larry Crowne, which is sadly enough Tom Hanks' directorial debut, placing him amongst the ranks of Ron Howard. I know there's only a few ways you can go with this sort of material, but Hanks could have picked something more ambitious than a dumb comedy like this. I'm sick of people defending it, because there isn't a single bad joke that you've heard better somewhere else. I won't even talk about the good jokes, because there aren't really any. Then, a week later, there's Zookeeper, which I have a high level of disdain for. It exceeds being simply disappointing, and is genuinely painful just to sit through a piece of marketing for it. Talking animals have never looked more self-indulgently stupid.

Finally, capping off the month of July is The Smurfs, which I kind of wish I wasn't even slightly interested in seeing. It has Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother and Jayma Mays from Glee, so you automatically get the idea of a purely comedic venture. Don't look for any heart, because you won't really find it. The sort of thing that Disney did with Underdog and its ilk is exactly what is happening to The Smurfs. If the writers have no real ideas, they send their characters to New York, because what's not funny about that? Any of these three films seems potentially harmful to my sanity, so vote in the sidebar for which one I should see next month. There's no clear frontrunner yet, so it's really anyone's game.

Theatrical Trailer: Larry Crowne

So it turns out that Tom Cruise has the acting capabilities of Ron Howard. Unfortunately I'm talking about the Ron Howard that brought us The Dilemma, and not the Ron Howard that brought us A Beautiful Mind. His directorial debut, Larry Crowne, looks to have the same premise as Community, except with less clever writing and characters. This looks predictable, not all that intelligent, and quite honestly boring. See for yourself and comment below.