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: Surge from the "Underworld"

This was a weekend of massive drops that somehow managed to keep up with the pace last weekend had set. The returning films undertook massive drops, as to be expected after a holiday weekend. The greater wealth was spread amongst the films on the opening slate. "Underworld: Awakening" was quite obviously the strongest debut, benefiting from the critics being away at Sundance, and therefore not coming in on a wave of hate. Same can be said for "Red Tails" as well, which did not fare well with critics, but did solidly with audiences. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"s expansion yielded some small gains, but if the film fades out of mind by next week, don't be surprised. It could turn out to get a surprise heap of Oscar nods that push it to greater success, but don't count on it.

For Your Anticipation: From the Front

Hard choice to say exactly which film this week I'm least anticipating, but I have to go with "Red Tails", which looks like all sorts of distracting and annoying. Fun Fact: Director Anthony Hemingway directed an episode of this season of "Fringe", so it really disappoints me that he's not as reserved in everything he does. This looks typical, annoying, and... I don't want to talk about it, really.

Films to See in 2012: January

We're now straight out of 2011, and you know exactly what that means. It means we're stuck with a month of January, which is the most pathetic month of the year. People just stop trying to make good movies, and that's sad. I suppose they're making room for people to catch up with the Oscar films of this year, but for us film addicts, it's not a fun time for new releases. The first weekend of the year always provides us something in the way of awful horror thrillers, this year being in the form of "The Devil Inside". I'm worried that people might actually see it. This seems to have the exact same plot as "The Rite" from last year, except without Anthony Hopkins. I wouldn't know for sure, as I try to keep a general distance from either film.

Is it worth noting that one of the best films coming out this month is a 3D re-release of "Beauty and the Beast"? Not the Jean Cocteau film. The Disney version that was inexplicably nominated for Best Picture. Also releasing that week is Queen Latifah's "inspirational family film", as it's described in the trailers, "Joyful Noise", or more appropriately titled "Just Noise". Add to that a Mark Wahlberg action film called "Contraband" and you might be able to expect a half decent weekend at the box office this month. And I would be prone to saying it drops off from there, but it doesn't quite.