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It's 1960, a world of cigarettes, martinis and highballs, where
successful businessmen have wet bars in their offices, mothers don't worry about
seat belts for the kids, and married men treat flirtation with secretaries and
waitresses as a God-given right. Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the suave, successful,
supremely confident creative director at a Madison Avenue advertising firm,
should be on top of the world. As one character in "Mad Men," the best new TV
show of 2007, puts it: "Who could not be happy with all this?" Draper, for one.
The ostensibly happily married family man is having an affair (and begins
another before the season is over) while his wife (January Jones) is on the
verge of a nervous breakdown because she can't figure out why the security of
her home and family leave her so empty. Created by "Sopranos" veteran Matthew
Weiner for AMC, the series serves up the '60s on the cusp of change as seen from
a number of perspectives: a young working girl from Queens (Elisabeth Moss) in
her first professional job; an arrogant young junior executive (Vincent
Kartheiser) who keeps bumping up against Draper; the queen of the secretarial
roost (Christina Hendricks); and more. John Slattery is brilliant as Draper's
boss, and Maggie Siff, Rosemarie DeWitt and Robert Morse co-star. While the
fashion and design details are dead on, this is no exercise in nostalgia, but a
richly drawn look at the social roles, sexual identity, and disenchantment with
the façade that is the American Dream. The times are a-changin' faster than
these Madison Avenue ad execs can fathom.
Each episode features at least
one commentary track (many have two) by various combinations of actors, writers
and directors. Creator/writer Weiner is not as engaging a speaker as many, but
his solo track on the pilot episode is filled with essential insights on the art
of turning ideas into drama and the written word into a fully realized world.
And he brings out the best in others when he teams up on other tracks. For the
big picture, the hourlong documentary "Establishing Mad Men" tells the whole
story in great detail with input from practically every creative member of the
production. Also includes the featurettes "Scoring Mad Men" and "Advertising the
American Dream," and the interactive gallery "Pictures of Elegance." Four discs
in a metal case shaped like a giant cigarette lighter (right down the hinged
cover) contain 13 episodes. Another of Lionsgate's high-concept cases, it's not
exactly efficient and it can be tricky to slip the discs in and out, but it is
awfully clever.
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| The Closer: The Complete Third Season |
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Kyra Sedgwick is back for a third season of the original
made-for-TNT series as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a driven detective
with tenacity, talent and a mind so focused on her cases that she almost lets
her private life slip away. Just ask her long-suffering and remarkably patient
FBI boyfriend (Jon Tenney). She may not be the easiest boss to work for, but
she's a closer, a bull in the squad room and a mastermind in the interrogation
room, where she closes cases with a confession. The sharply written crime drama
has wit, personality to burn, and a terrific cast that includes J.K. Simmons (as
her boss), Robert Gossett (as a rival detective with a tendency to sabotage her
cases), Corey Reynolds, Michael Paul Chan, Gina Ravera and Raymond Cruz (her
loyal crew). Four discs in a box set of two thinpak cases contain 14 episodes
(including the feature-length season finale), plus the featurette "The Art of
Interrogation," deleted scenes and a gag reel.
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| 'Til Death Do Us Part: The Complete First Season |
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Film director and cult icon John Waters does hosting duties on
this darkly humorous twist on the true-crime drama, which plays like "Love,
American Style" meets "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." The series takes real life
cases of marriages that end in murder and spins them into morbidly humorous
half-hour portraits of jealous husbands, bitter wives and extreme solutions to
relationship problems. One can assume that the creators take a little dramatic
license in the transformation from crime blotter to macabre melodrama. Waters,
in his role as the Groom Reaper, provides commentary with his usual sardonic
flair. Three discs in a digipak contain 13 episodes. Also features interviews
with Waters and the show's creators and new introductions with Waters.
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| TekWar |
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Before his resurrection as a cagey self-parody and an
Emmy-winning comedy actor, William Shatner cashed in on his sci-fi credentials
by penning a series of science fiction novels and executive producing the
subsequent television adaptation. The cover proclaims it "William Shatner's
Cyber Masterpiece," but this Canadian production (which played stateside on the
USA network) is just another cheesy sci-fi show with the usual action TV clichés
and a futuristic face-lift. Greg Evigan stars as a special agent on the trail of
a highly addictive and dangerous cyber-drug called Tek, and Shatner is the head
of a private security organization who puts up with his maverick ways. Eugene
Clark and Natalie Radford co-star, and Maria del Mar joins the show halfway
through the series. The 18 episodes here are technically the "complete series,"
as long as you don't count the four TV movies that came before this hourlong
incarnation. Three discs in a standard case. No supplements.
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| Anglo Saxon Attitudes |
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Richard Johnson and Tara Fitzgerald star in this 1992 British
miniseries, adapted from the Angus Wilson novel by screenwriter Andrew Davies
("Pride and Prejudice"), about a retired historian reflecting back on his life,
including a controversial historical discovery that may not be as it seems. The
BAFTA-winning drama also stars Douglas Hodge, Elizabeth Spriggs, Daniel Craig
and Kate Winslet (in one of her earliest screen performances). Two discs in a
box set.
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In addition to his regular contributions to MSN Movies, Sean Axmaker is a
film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a DVD columnist for MSN
Entertainment. He is also a contributing writer for GreenCine.com, Turner
Classic Movies Online and Asian Cult Cinema, among other publications.
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Get Smart! Please!In honor of bumbling Maxwell
Smart, a brief history of our favorite clueless detectives On the RocksWith 'Iron Man' and 'Hancock' featuring
heavy-drinking protagonists, we reflect on the most memorable drunks in movie
history UnclassicsThough they may be listed among the
greatest films of all time, these 10 movies deserve to be
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