5/31/2015

Mad Men, Season 7, Part 2

MAD MEN Season 7, Part 2
A deft balance of happy, sad, and ambiguous endings, MAD MEN’s final arc defied most expectations by putting Don On the Road, not ending up as Dick Whitman, but, brilliantly, finding his 70s mojo. Peggy’s rom-com climax felt off (if inevitable), but overall, an eminently satisfying end to an era.

Super Boys

SUPER BOYS: THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF JERRY SIEGEL AND JOE SHUSTER – THE CREATORS OF SUPERMAN by Brad Ricca (St. Martin’s Griffin)
A staggering amount of research gives new insight to the oft-told tale of the Depression-era teens who created Superman (and thus an entire genre), but reaped little reward. The blame is spread around, but the ultimate, tragic lesson is that in real life, villains often beat the good guys.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

MARVEL'S AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
“Hey, Joss, you know how everybody loved those quips in the last movie? Let’s do a whole bunch more of those and about four more huge action scenes, and at least three new characters. You can kill one. What’s that? You don’t wanna work with us any more? Huh.”

Boyhood

BOYHOOD
More a cinematic exercise than a film, this litany of “moments” filmed over a dozen years is a semi-interesting documentation of physical aging, but offers little in terms of emotional connection or a cohesive narrative arc. Once again, the accolades and adulation elude me.

For much more, see here.