Tag Archives: mad men

‘X-Men: First Class’ gets a C-

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I was pumped to see “X-Men: First Class.” East Grand Forks’ River Cinema played it on three screens at midnight Friday, and it seemed the attendance only called for one. This kinda describes the movie as a whole. Big budget, big premise, disappointing results.

The screenwriter had the same problem as the creators of “X-Men: The Last Stand.” So many awesome characters (that some of us grew up with) and not enough time to do them justice. Continuing the “X-Men Origins” series might be just the ticket. There is the risk of it laming out, i.e. “Daredevil” spinoff, “Elektra,” but we’d get the back story and the action.

Michael  Fassbender did a great Magneto, Kevin Bacon seemed to channel Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds” ) as Sebastian Shaw and Jennifer Lawrence overdid it as Mystique. (To be fair, I’d only ever seen her rocking nuance and subtlety in  “Winter’s Bone.”) “Mad Men’s” January Jones fit right into the 60′s time period, James McAvoy’s general likability made him a great pick for Charles Xavier, and hot, young stars Rose Byrne, Zoe Kravitz and Nicholas Hoult were young and hot.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS CAST

The film did a great job of giving weight to Magneto’s motivation, his relationship with Professor X and the effects of ongoing alienation and persecution. (Spoiler alert) One scene, Magneto shoots missiles back at military men and Professor X says “They’re men with families. They’re just following orders.” Magneto: “I’ve been at the mercy of men following orders. Never again!” (If you’re not keen to Magneto’s back story, he’s a Holocaust survivor.)

I’ve got to cut “X-Men: First Class” some slack. That’s not too bad of a sign when at the end of a movie, I want more. I’ll definitely watch it again and what ever else is released with the “X-Men” stamp.

And no matter how far from adolescence I get, I’m still hoping my mutant powers will kick in.

Here’s the trailer. Click here to read other movie reviews.

Upcoming summer movies

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Have you seen “Thor” already? Are you excited about “Hangover Part II”? Have you read The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and are you pumped for the movie that comes out Aug. 12?

This might be the summer of sequels with all of these releases: “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Cars 2,” “Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World,” “Final Destination 5,” and of course, the much-anticipated “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.” We’re all going to have a lot of movies to choose from.

I’m looking forward to the “X-Men: First Class,” a prequel to the movies. I grew up watching the TV show on Saturday mornings and I was disappointed with the way the movie trilogy ended, but I’m going to give it another go. The prequel has a star-studded cast: James McAvoy, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence of “Winter’s Bone, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, January Jones of AMC’s “Mad Men” and Zoe Kravitz. Here’s the trailer.

X-Men isn’t the only movie based on a comic book that’s coming this summer. “Green Lantern” will be out in theaters June 17 and “Captain America: The First Avenger” out July 22.

In the Herald’s Friday Arts section, we asked for you movie-goers to talk about what you’re looking forward to seeing, what sequels you think shouldn’t be released or how well you predict they’ll measure up at the box office. Here’s your platform. Please feel free to comment. Let’s get a discussion going.

Click here for a list of this summer’s flicks, click here to read a summer movie guide.

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world on TV’s Mad Men

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News that MAD MEN, the multi-Emmy-winning series on AMC, had its fifth season delayed until 2012 is a disappointment for the show’s viewers. I’m catching up with season 4, and it’s as good as ever. (As much as I’d like to delay finishing to tide me over until next year, I don’t think it’s possible.)

In case you haven’t seen it, the show takes place in 1960′s New York City, revolves around an ad agency and focuses on Don Draper (played by actor Jon Hamm). What’ll initially catch your eye is the wardrobe, the incessant smoking, the nonstop liquoring and shameless womanizing. (If you’re trying to quit tobacco, this show won’t help.)

I get sucked into the beauty and allure of the 60′s, New York City, cheap prices for everything. One character goes to an Allen Ginsberg poetry reading, another to a Bob Dylan concert. I’m a bit jelly for their (fake) experiences, but the show doesn’t romanticize the past. It doesn’t hide the civil rights movement, the objectivity of women in the work place and the Cold War paranoia.

MAD MEN CAST

Male colleagues attribute the advancement of a female copy writer’s career with unwarranted quips to her waning virtue, all within her presence. A man draws an obscene cartoon and posts it in a female assistant’s office and plays it off with this stunner: “This is why I don’t like working with women. They can’t take a joke.” (Post-feminist readers, I feel your awe and disgust.) African-American men and women tend the elevators, restrooms and lunch carts, and characters don’t hide their bigotry, which is accurate for the era. A female assistant comforts a newbie in regard to the intimidation of a typewriter by saying “It was designed by a man, and he knew to make it simple enough for a woman to use.” (Arg!) This show also touches on homosexuality in the 60′s, how the discussion is avoided … basically, it’s a repression sandwich.

Click here to “Mad Men” yourself.

MAD MEN doesn’t hide the paralleled difficulties for women and African-Americans to be seen as equal citizens. I don’t want to recommend this show over a history book, but it showcases the small battles, which a history lesson may not always illuminate. Watching this makes me reflect on the opportunities I’m lucky enough to have today, it makes me grateful for the battles won before my time and happy that there’s something on television that makes me think beyond the screen.

Ok, I get that after all that, these characters and this time period may not seem preferable to watch, but there’s so much more to it: superior writing, character development and notable acting (Elisabeth Moss has had me rewinding scenes to applaud her nuanced performance). If anything, the carefully mapped set designs and costumes take you away from the current day, and that’s one of the hallmarks of entertainment for me. You’d be mad to miss it.

Click here to see Don Draper let loose on 30 Rock.

The Adjustment Bureau: under-rated?

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I didn’t expect much from THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, but I knew I still wanted to see it. I’m a fan of Emily Blunt (she killed it in YOUNG VICTORIA and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA), and I think she has a promising career ahead of her. Matt Damon, of course, has star-studded charisma, and I can’t remember a time he’s disappointed me. (I did however, skip his clairvoyant thriller, HEREAFTER, so maybe my perception’s askew.)

ADJUSTMENT BUREAU

So, the film: you buy Matt Damon as a nice guy from the wrong side of the tracks who makes it big and achieves success at a young age … likely because it parallels Damon’s life and his early success as the co-writer and star of GOOD WILL HUNTING. The chemistry between Damon and Blunt is palpable,  MAD MEN’S John Slattery makes his big-screen appearance in duds that resemble his day job’s. (Spoiler alert: But in THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, hats are magical.) As you can guess by the trailer, the movie questions free will, chance and destiny, and I didn’t mind this, it was a break from the usual thrillers or formulaic romantic comedies (which I still love). That’s not to say it’s lacking suspense. (On two occasions, I audibly gasped (*actually yelped.))

My friend, Matt (not Damon), pointed out that some movies with an original idea have an ending that often doesn’t do it justice. This was the case with THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, but I still liked it. In hard times like these, recovering from a recession, this movie is appealing because it’s moral is the higher-ups aren’t always right, questioning authority is sometimes good and fighting for what you want doesn’t always create a negative outcome. I think it’s worth watching if you’re curious.

Monday mix: Don Draper on 30 Rock

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For those of us who suffer from a case of the Mondays, I’m starting a series of Monday posts that feature a clip that might brighten your day. Here’s a clip from 30 ROCK , season 4. If any of you are familiar with Jon Hamm from AMC’s MAD MEN, you’ll really appreciate this because he gets to be goofy, which is very non-Don Draper-esque. So often during MAD MEN flashbacks, I feel like Don Draper smiling is almost creepy because it seems so unnatural for his character. It’s a delight to see Jon Hamm make guest appearances on 30 ROCK because you can tell he’s having fun.

In this clip, Mad man Don Draper, does one heck of a Jamaican accent. And Jason Sudeikis, as always, is comedy gold.