Yeah just started watching Mad Men too, I like it but am not totally blown away by it like some people are. I guess a lot of people romanticize about being in the late 50's early 60's and Mad Men is a way to recreate that. It's incredibly stylish and authentic to it's era with good acting but to me little seems to happen from episode to episode.
Ok if we can talk about TV, everyone should be watching Game of Thrones. Best show on TV right now. At first I thought it was going to be as good as the first season of Rome but it has started blowing Rome out of the water.
Definitely part of it is the romanticization of that era. I think part of the reason why people like it is that its not an over the top drama as well. Nothing really crazy happens like in Rescue Me (to use a show that I like) or ER or Desperate Housewives or what have you. It stays fairly realistic and it seems like the people who like the show are more prone to enjoy a realistic drama than the over the top dramas which are most common on television. I think some older people like to be reminded of what life was like when they were kids and for all generations its funny to see what kind of stuff is different (i.e. drinking at work, how they treat women, how they treat kids, the legal limit for drunk driving being .15, etc.) Plus if there's anything Trueblood taught us its that if you put enough fucking in a show we'll continue to watch even if the show is lacking in other areas lol. Though Mad Men is a little less graphic in its sex scenes but more racey as far as the situations for the sex.
Speaking of True Blood, it's a pity to see what it's become. The first season was amazing, now it sucks (no pun intended) more than Vampire Diaries.
[video=youtube;c1unL2UxOkU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1unL2UxOkU[/video] Haven't seen this movie but am hearing that it is pretty much a lock for a Best Picture nomination. Early buzz for it has been stellar and if it does get nominated it would be the first silent film to be honored by the Academy in more than half a century. I also hear the Weinstein company is going to make this choice for their yearly Oscar campaign and if you didn't know they ran The King's Speech campaign last year and Shakespeare in Love's campaign when they won.
Two more movies that I want to see. The Trip [video=youtube;VASHg8njdYw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VASHg8njdYw[/video] Early buzz is that this is going to be the funniest movie of the year. Hesher [video=youtube;HXKRKpvv3SU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXKRKpvv3SU[/video] Been described as a heavy metal Mary Poppins.
Fast Five 8/10 Me being a car guy the main thing I always liked about the Fast and Furious series was the cars. This movie really had nothing to do with cars. It focused mainly on a good story line and acting. If you do not care about the car aspect of the series then this is your movie. It had the best acting out of any of the previous Fast and Furious movies, and script, and story line, but it really has nothing to do with cars, and some of the movie is a tad to far fetched for me. Overall good movie, but my favorite will always be the first one. Sure the acting sucks, the script is terrible, but the story line was good and had a lot of racing.
Hooked: The Legend Of Demetrius "Hook" Mitchell- 7.5/10. Good documentary about Hook Mitchell "The best basketball player never to make the NBA". Hook was a legendary streetballer from Oakland who had all the talent in the world but wasted it all due to drugs and street life. Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Antonio Daniels, Brian Shaw, and Drew Gooden all knew him growing up (Payton and Hook were like best friends at one point) and provide commentary about Hook. It was filmed while Hook was incarcerated (2004). Interesting and tragic story and amazing to hear Kidd, Payton, etc. talk about how they could never hold a candle to this guy. Dude is throwing down highlight dunks in his late 30s in the film (he's 5'9). Crazy stuff.
The Hangover II - 8/10 It wasn't as good as the first, but it's certainly the funniest movie I've seen this year, and very well could be the funniest movie that I'll see the rest of the year.
Mulberry Street -- 6.5/10 -- this one is a mixture of rec./Quarantine, Rammbock, and Mimic. Supposedly made with a $60,000 budget, Mulberry Street is well shot and atmospheric. Not a cheap and dirty horror flick. Care and attention went into making this one. You could do worse.
X-Men: First Class - 9/10 Hands down the best movie I've seen this year...also trumps every other Marvel comic adaptation done, and is second only to The Dark Knight in terms of comic book movies as a whole in my book. Definitely a must-see for an X-Men fan/comic book fan/fan of movies.