Mad Men: Season One
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Movie Reviews of Mad Men: Season One
Movie Review: Brilliant First Season
Summary: 5 Stars
Mad Men is the first original drama series from the cable network AMC and they hit it out of the ballpark. Set in 1960 and focusing on a fictional advertising agency Sterling Cooper, the show tells the story of ad men in a haze of cigarette smoke and booze. The first episode foreshadows the change in our culture as the firm struggles to find a new advertising campaign for Lucky Strike cigarettes now that the government won't allow them to use testimonials from doctors that cigarettes are safe. The show is fanatical with its attention to period detail. Show creator Matthew Weiner has extensively researched the products, clothes and just about everything else from the period and has created a picture perfect time warp. But that is just a shiny veneer for the deep and dark storylines that include a secret past with a changed identity, depression, heart attacks, infidelity and so many others. The show shoots off in so many directions, yet never loses focus. The anchor of the show is Jon Hamm who plays the main character Don Draper. Mr. Hamm is a revelation and his work is the best of any actor on television this year. The rest of cast is first rate as well and Mad Men is one of the best and most entertaining shows to debut in past few years.Movie Review: MAD MEN.... "Best Show Ever"
Summary: 5 Stars
MAD MEN is awesome and one of the few series TV shows that I think I would watch at least several times on DVD (my wife and I still have all of the ER releases sitting unopened.... outside of a few special occasion nights when you get a bunch of friends together to watch a season of a series as a party event, who has time to watch all of these things?). Anyway, back to the point... MAD MEN would certainly be one series I WOULD WATCH again on DVD and I was so hoping they were going to release it for this Holiday season... it would have been perfect viewing for those cold winter nights between Christmas and spring. I would guess the release of the DVD of the first season will be just ahead of the second season debut on TV next summer (if the writers strike has not gotten in the way of filming!). Probably a marketing decision but I think it would have been better to release season one of this gem of a series for this Holiday so that there would have been opportunities over the "off time" to introduce it to friends and family who have not had a opportunity, as the rest of us have had, to return to 1960 New York City and peek into the lives of these extraordinary characters. To paraphrase the comic book guy on THE SIMPSONS... "Best Show Ever"Movie Review: Classy and Fascinating
Summary: 5 Stars
The world of the early 1960s ad men in New York City is brought to life in this classy and fascinating series. The acting is suburb from every player, the dialogue stays with you, and the cinematography seems like it's from a film of a bygone era. The series focuses on the mysterious life of Don Draper, the head of creative for the fictional Stirling-Cooper ad agency. Don's secrets unfold as this first season goes on, surprising the viewer with each new bit of information. It's a slow burn, but dark humor and subtle nuances in the acting and dialogue make it well worth it. This is quality television at it's best, and very deserving of it's Emmy wins! I'm completely addicted to this show and I recommend it to any fan or person who wants to catch up on the series.
The extras make the DVD set a great value. EVERY episode has at least one set of commentaries (most TV DVD sets only have a couple of episodes with commentaries). In addition, there are a couple of short documentaries that fans of the show will enjoy. The simpler packaging of this set is also preferable to the novelty packaging (in the shape of a big cigarette lighter) that has also been released.
Movie Review: Fun if Fuzzy Flashback
Summary: 5 Stars
I had heard a something about this show in some magazine (Wired?), and then I saw it at the store in a cool enlarged Zippo shaped case. The only reason I purchased it though was because I recognized one of the actresses from Firefly. Once I started watching I really enjoyed the 60's they created. Not sterile but controlled, chauvinistic but poking fun... Lots of lovely ladies, drinking, smoking, and some clever writing. Since it is only the first season, I suppose its only going to get better. I've not listened to the commentaries or watched the special features yet but it's cool that they are there. I will most likely purchase the next season.
One note, as an Ad and Lucky Strike junky, I was very irritated from pilot where they tried to introduce the "It's Toasted" slogan by Don Draper in the 60's. It actually came out in 1917, and was more than likely closely linked to the real granddaddy of advertising Edward Bernays. They might have considered turning his life into a show, but once I started to watch the other episodes the minor deviations from facts for the sake of entertainment didn't seem so frustrating.
Movie Review: A rarely seen era, beautifully reproduced
Summary: 5 Stars
It's no wonder this show is getting so much attention; there's nothing else like it on TV, nor has there been in quite some time. Somebody is doing a fantastic job of art direction, re-creating 1960 right down to the last detail--and let's not forget all those drinks and cigarettes!
They are also right on the money with the frustrated housewives and their unfaithful, dissatisfied husbands; the alpha male world of advertising executives; the barely contained sexual energy of the women who work as their secretaries.
Jon Hamm is spot-on as Donald Draper, the creative director with the seemingly perfect life but a questionable past that he wants to leave behind but cannot; Elisabeth Moss is admirable as his secretary, Peggy, who looks like a pig-tailed school girl but has a tough and secretive side that is slowly revealed.
The actors portraying Betty Draper, Peter Campbell (who knew that a smarmy little buggar could be a cad at the same time?), Roger Sterling, Burt Cooper, and others are an equal match for Hamm and Moss. All of the work from the cast and crew has paid off in a big and well-deserved way.