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 Oh Bryan Cranston, you sure do know how to push our buttons, you marvelous bastard. Earlier today, the Godzilla star sat down with CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield to promote his blockbuster monster flick, as if it needed any more promotion, and he obviously couldn’t get out of the studio without dishing about his most iconic role to date, as Walter White on Breaking Bad. Actually, he’s the one who brought the beloved show up in the first place, as he explained that he almost passed on Godzilla because he was trying to hold any new script to the high standards that he experienced on Breaking Bad. Fortunately, one of his agents talked some sense into him and he ended up starring as Joe Brody. 
 
 But since he brought the show up, Banfield wanted to know about that final scene of the final episode – SPOILER ALERT if you’re months behind on TV or whatever – and if there’s a possibility that things weren’t what they seemed. See how diplomatic and kind I’m being with this spoiler nonsense for all of you people that just started watching Breaking Bad online? So if you don’t want it spoiled, don’t watch the video or read anything else, okay? 
 
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 Cranston, with that devilish grin that made Elaine Benes fall for Dr. Tim Whatley, told Banfield that we “never saw a bag zip up” and when it comes to whether or not Heisenberg is still alive, well, “Never say never.” Obviously, he’s just teasing, but is he? Is he really? Join me tomorrow for 12,000 words of speculation on why he might not be teasing. 
 
 (H/T to TV Line) ||||| It's the big lizard, stupid. 
 
 I say that because someone's clearly lost sight of the obvious when the no-name monsters get more screen time in "Godzilla" than the main attraction. Forgotten is the primary reason we show up in such massive numbers — we actually want to see the big guy go stomping and tromping through cities, crunching skyscrapers like soda cans, breathing fire and sending the fearful fleeing. 
 
 As it happens, "Godzilla's" terrifying towering reptile — the latest in a very long line — is one very cool dude. He's a 21st century Godzilla, eco-conscious and with 3-D side effects that are monstrous in all the right ways. Ironically this big, lumbering movie could have used more, not less. More Godzilla without question, and more emotional content for its very good cast too. 
 
 Keeping the main monster under wraps, using that tension as a tease, is not a bad idea. But director Gareth Edwards lets it go on too long, allowing too many people problems and those other monsters to get in the way. By the time Godzilla emerges in all his gory glory, you may feel more taunted than teased. 
 
 Now to the reasons the beast awakens. Max Borenstein's screenplay brings "Godzilla" into the present day, lots of eco-issues hovering. Basically we have not been taking care of Mother Earth and we're about to pay for it — a good sentiment that sometimes gets lost in a plot as unruly as its monsters. 
 
 The film opens with a grainy old shot of an atomic bomb mushrooming over some remote waters, one of several nods to Godzilla mythology and director Ishiro Honda's 1954 original. Now that was a filmmaker who knew how to handle his metaphors. Edwards, whose attention-getting 2010 feature film debut, "Monsters" — low budget, lots of effects — got him the "Godzilla" gig, is not quite so facile with those. 
 
 The bad things begin in earnest in Japan circa 1999. Tremors rumble through a Tokyo nuclear power plant and unsettle one of its scientists, Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston). Joe and wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche), a fellow scientist, hurry son Ford off to school so they can head right into work and the emerging crisis. CJ Adams plays young Ford. Aaron Taylor-Johnson soon steps in as the grown-up version, the versatile actor proving he's action-hero material. Hunky yet smart, sensitive and self-sacrificing. 
 
 Bryan Cranston voices his frustration and fear in this 'Godzilla' trailer. Bryan Cranston voices his frustration and fear in this 'Godzilla' trailer. SEE MORE VIDEOS 
 
 We're also introduced to two other key players in "Godzilla's" global meltdown — Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe, the "Ishiro" a tribute to Honda) and his associate, Vivienne (Sally Hawkins). Excellent actors who spend most of their time walking around in white lab coats and looking very concerned. 
 
 Like all things "Godzilla," the Tokyo crisis is massive and mysterious. The first wave of lives are lost, the first round of cover-ups commence and the bond between father and son is damaged. 
 
 Flash forward 15 years to the Philippines. Serizawa and Vivienne, still wearing those frowns, are examining fossilized bones. Very big bones. Also uncovered? A deep trench from the site to the sea. Godzilla? Something else? Patience. 
 
 Then it's to San Francisco, where Ford, now a naval officer and a bomb-defusing specialist, is returning home from a tour. Wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) is a nurse, son Sam (Carson Bolde) spends a lot of time watching TV, where "Godzilla" will show up as news footage at strategic moments. The very attractive couple barely get in a hug before … 
 
 The specter of Tokyo rises. Joe is arrested. He's tracking new tremors. After 15 years of obsessing over what happened in 1999, he's more than a little unstable too, with Cranston proving yet again he can find endless ways to play crazy. The film uses the new tremors to reunite father and son and sift through the fallout of nuclear accidents, but not too deeply. 
 
 With the set-up out of the way, we're about to get a serious glimpse of a monster. Not the monster, mind you, but at least this bad boy — dubbed a MUTO, or Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism by the military, though it looks more like a super-sized Florida cockroach to me — will get Godzilla riled up enough to make an appearance. 
 
 Love is in the air and the MUTOs are stirring. As if sensing the trouble in paradise, Godzilla starts some agitated ocean swimming — the better to show off that spiky dorsal fin. The rest of the effects kick in big time as the military, primarily Adm. William Stenz (David Strathairn), try to decide which monster to move on. 
 
 One of Godzilla's appeals has always been the duality of his soul. Though he does destroy a lot of what is in his way, his intent is not evil, rather frustration that the world is so out of whack. Given his size, it's terrifying, and great fun, to watch him working out his anger issues. And as he does, "Godzilla" begins to click. San Francisco takes the biggest hit, and the destruction is a thing of beauty. A shout out to special effects supervisor Jim Rygiel. A three-time Oscar winner for his work on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, he does Godzilla proud. 
 
 When the big guy gets fully ramped up, he goes totally radioactive. And those other monsters feed on the energy grid like Texas in the summer. Sparks fly. People panic. Monsters rage. Weapons of mass destruction are deployed. The big action sequences are where Edwards' way with effects pays off, helped by the film's crack team, which includes cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, Oscar nominated for "Atonement" and "Anna Karenina," and veteran production designer Owen Paterson, whose credits include "The Matrix," ||||| 3.5 stars (out of 4) Check your nerves at the theater door. Take a deep breath while you still can. And then calmly apologize in advance to the person sitting next to you for jumping out of your seat and clutching a stray hand for dear life. 
 
 There. Now you’re ready to partake in some terrifying fun. 
 
 Producer J.J. Abrams is trumpeting his latest Bad Robot project as a sort-of sibling to 2008’s creepy found-footage hit Cloverfield. But this pic is more of a blood relative to the claustrophobic thrills and dark humor of the 1990 classic Misery. And no, you don’t have to be familiar with the mothership movie to fully understand — and appreciate — this sharp and tightly wound winner. 
 
 The scares start before a single line of dialogue is uttered. With ominous music taunting us in the background, we see a twenty-something girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) flitting around in an empty apartment. She walks out in a huff, leaving a diamond ring on a table. While driving on a desolate highway, her boyfriend, Ben, calls her on the iPhone and pleads forgiveness. (Check the closing credits to ID the A-lister who supplies Ben's voice). And then … boom. 
 
 This was a highly clandestine production for a reason: Part of the beauty of the film is that you don’t know what the heck is going on, and you don’t want to know. So plot details shall be kept to a minimum. 
 
 These are just the necessary basics: 
 
 — The girl is named Michelle. She wakes up and finds herself handcuffed to a bed in a cellar, which is part of a large, tricked-out underground bunker. It looks strikingly similar to Desmond's hatch in Lost. (Hey, let's pretend that Abrams, a Lost cocreator, is giving a subtle wink to all the show's fans!). Anyway, Michelle wants out. 
 
 — Her gruff caretaker, Howard (John Goodman), is a self-professed survivalist. He explains to Michelle that she can’t leave because the country is “under attack,” and the air is polluted. She needs to stay in the enclosed space for one year. Minimum. 
 
 — Another person, a good-natured dude named Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), is also staying on the premises. He claims he is there of his own free will. 
 
 As the suspense heightens, the dynamic between the three characters in these ultraconfining surroundings constantly changes. At any given moment, Howard could either be a trustworthy father figure or a deeply disturbed kook. He adores his '60s ditties on the jukebox, which is endearing. He has a thing for Pretty in Pink too. Duckie! Blane! How sinister can he be? Then again, he also has a shotgun and a short-fused temper. Never mind. He’s a lunatic. Right? 
 
 What an inspired choice to cast Goodman as the man in charge. Though not a traditional leading man, the underrated actor has crafted a career by playing a relatable everyman. He has been a good guy (Roseanne, Argo), a loveable goof (The Flinstones), a bully (Revenge of the Nerds) and honed his comic skills hosting Saturday Night Live roughly 33 times. There’s a comfort in seeing him on screen, even when he’s biting off the ear of a goon in The Big Lebowski. We want to believe he’s being honest with Michelle when he laments the loss of his daughter. But only a fool would underestimate him. And Winstead — in a breakthrough performance — does not play scrappy, quick-thinking Michelle as a fool. 
 
 (Winstead's mental strength is a key cog in the triangle. Nobody wants to root for an idiotic damsel-in-distress). 
 
 It bears repeating: Don’t try to outguess the narrative. And, for the love of Google, don’t scour the web for third-act spoilers. Just exult in knowing that an old-fashioned scary movie can still make you squirm, laugh and gasp for air. 
 
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– Bryan Cranston is out plugging his new movie, Godzilla, and if his goal is to generate headlines, then job well done. Except he did it with a reference not to the action flick but to Breaking Bad, notes Time. (Anyone months behind on their Netflix viewing should stop reading now.) During the interview on CNN, Ashleigh Banfield wondered hopefully whether the character of Walter White might have survived in that last episode, and Cranston played along: Banfield: "Your eyes were open and I thought, ‘What if the police just take him into custody, he gets better, breaks out and just goes nuts?'" Cranston: “Hey, you never saw bags zip up or anything." Banfield: “Is he dead?” Cranston: “I don’t know." Banfield: “No movie? No nothing? No Walter White ever again?” Cranston: “Never say never." The transcript comes from the Huffington Post, which notes that Cranston was smiling all the while and "probably just teasing—or maybe he didn’t want to let down Banfield, who is clearly a super fan of the show." At Uproxx, Ashley Burns calls Cranston a "marvelous bastard" who knows "how to push our buttons." Burns also takes note of his grin: "Obviously, he's just teasing, but is he?"