tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3283338096792894528.post5587726915484589975..comments2023-09-17T08:58:33.875-07:00Comments on Metro Classics - Seattle's 4th (or 5th) Most Popular Repertory Film Series: Pre-Game Warm-Up: Mad MenMikeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08400927064697543220noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3283338096792894528.post-19064129745536858912009-09-26T01:38:21.286-07:002009-09-26T01:38:21.286-07:00Are you similarly perplexed by The Great Gatsby?Are you similarly perplexed by <i>The Great Gatsby</i>?Sean Gilmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16124894627028920508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3283338096792894528.post-35199217456981544422009-09-23T00:43:58.507-07:002009-09-23T00:43:58.507-07:00I don;t even know who you are anymore.I don;t even know who you are anymore.Sean Gilmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16124894627028920508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3283338096792894528.post-33402753582264637702009-09-22T20:26:11.686-07:002009-09-22T20:26:11.686-07:00After months of people pestering me, headlines pro...After months of people pestering me, headlines proclaiming its greatness and a billion Emmys bestowed, I just finished Season One of Mad Men. May I politely inquire as to what the hell the big deal is with this show? Sure the sets and costumes are great, some of the supporting cast is a delight (Bryan Batt in particular) but that's about it. The intersecting plots manage to be both obvious and entirely unbelievable, many of the relationships I don't buy for a second, and frankly the other half of the cast is not good at all (I'm looking at you January Jones). If it's a soap opera with great production design that I'm looking for I'd rather watch an Almodovar movie. <br /><br />Most of the subplots barely hold my attention because there is no one on the show that I can honestly say I sympathize with or root for. Draper's allegedly sordid past, which the series built up over several episodes, isn't entirely earth-shattering (and yet to have the whole thing waved away by Cooper when Campbell tries to blackmail Draper feels like a betrayal, why did we devote so many scenes of Draper/Campbell agonizing over this crazy secret to just dismiss it three episodes later?)<br /><br />Speaking of, Pete Campbell is at best a one-note villain and most of the time I find him simply annoying on a visceral and aesthetic level. Great slimeballs manage to pull off being creeps you love to hate (i.e. Farnum on Deadwood) but Campbell just exists to make me roll my eyes. His incessant pettiness is so over-the-top that I cannot manage to suspend disbelief long enough to provide myself the appropriate dosage of emotional investment to give a hoot over what conniving he has gotten himself into. <br /><br />I don't need clear cut villains and heroes but I just don't give a shit about what happens to any of these people. So you slept with someone that wasn't your wife, who cares??? Also I simply fail to see the density that the show is purported to have. One episode of the Wire has more ins and outs than this whole season. Hell, an episode of Arrested Development has more twists and turns... and its twenty minutes shorter. I know it's a tad unfair to have such high expectations but they were thrust upon me by the show's rabid fanbase. <br /><br />Like Wes Anderson's films before it, what pray tell am I missing from Mad Men??Mikeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08400927064697543220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3283338096792894528.post-55593260461814186492009-07-25T14:44:57.068-07:002009-07-25T14:44:57.068-07:00Addendum: A Talk of the Town piece in the latest N...Addendum: A Talk of the Town piece in the latest New Yorker follows the advertising staff at AMC who supervise the Mad Men commercial blitz. It's interesting to see the contrast between the two advertising worlds.Mikeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08400927064697543220noreply@blogger.com