NickSchaden

‘Mad Men’s’ amazing season 5 →

06.01.12 | ∞

Matt Zoller Seitz, wrapping up his recap of Mad Men’s “The Other Woman”:

I want to go on record saying how flat-out amazing this season has been…Something Sgt. Peppers-level major is happening on Mad Men this year, a seismic creative flowering comparable to season one of The Sopranos and season three of Breaking Bad. Every season five episode is a creative experiment that draws on the cumulative power of every episode that preceded it. We’re nearing the point where everything on Mad Men seems to connect to everything else — not just from episode to episode within season five, but backwards, as if the new episodes are somehow unfurling tendrils into the past, fusing the whole run of Mad Men into a fiendishly intricate mega-story. It’s just extraordinary.

Damn right. I rarely get those “on the edge of my seat” moments when watching TV. Yet it happened with the The Wire, season four. Breaking Bad, season three onward. And now I can clearly add season five of Mad Men. We’ve had a few so-so episodes (e.g. “Hare Krishna” from last week), but many extraordinary ones: Signal 30, Far Away Places, and now The Other Woman.

Critical distance: ‘The Avengers’ →

06.01.12 | ∞

There’s been a lot of critical breakdown of The Avengers success, but The House Next Door’s Ted Pigeon really nails it:

As you might guess, just about every plot turn is recycled from other fantasy or superhero stories…But it’s worth noting that Whedon, to his credit, never pretends that the story arc is particularly significant. He instead supports it from the bottom up, with solid structuring and careful characterization. For example, despite a weak plot, Whedon gets all the mileage he needs out of Hiddleston’s exceptional performance. He bellows phrases like “Kneel before me!” about as convincingly as an actor can, and his demonic smile works to great effect when beaming through that metal-horned helmet of his.

How often do we see such a strong directorial hand or style in a $300 million plus summer blockbuster? Exactly. Without Whedon, The Avengers would have been merely average.

Battleship Pretension: film scores →

06.01.12 | ∞

I’ve already plugged the excellent film podcast Battleship Pretension enough here, but this week’s episode was awesome. It’s all about film scores with deep analysis and extended audio clips.