Mad Men and Generation Kill
So, lack of inventive titles aside, I've finally had time to watch some tv - and thankfully the series available have been great.
Mad Men
This is odd, but I’m four episodes in and I’m not yet sure if I actually like Mad Men. Fascinated, yes definitely - but like it? I don’t know. What I do know is that I keep wanting to see more episodes, which probably means that I'm warming up to it.
So far the only character I like is Betty, and I’m fascinated by Don. Peggy bores the crap out of me and Peter Campbell makes me want to wash. Now he did get marginally better in "New Amsterdam", but I still have problems feeling sorry for the guy.
That said I think the series is good. The cinematography is wonderful, and they’ve managed to create a feel for the period that encompasses everything. I keep looking at lamps, couches, clothes and other little details like Betty's powder room. It is all so incredibly well done, and it helps to establish the feel of another period. The storyline is also interesting, and with a doze of historical irony that I really like. (Don, who doesn’t like television, is doing the pr for Nixon in the Nixon vs. Kennedy race? *snicker*)
So, if there are so many elements I do like, why am I not sure if I like the series as a whole? Possibly because it keeps reminding me of Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960), which I objectively know is a good film, but which I’ve never managed to like. And if that sounds to snobbish, I'm also plagued by the fact that I constantly want to smack people on the head.
Also sometimes Mad Men comes of as a bit to clever for its own good. For instance Don, who has problems dealing with his family and in episode three, films them through a camera. Yes, he is on the outside looking in. Forever recording, but not participating etc. It’s not that this is a bad scene, and it is entirely possible that I’m just being incredibly grumpy, but it just strikes me as this flashing red light going "Symbolism! Symbolism!" - and then I get annoyed. Cue also Peggy’s scene at the doctor in episode one - she goes on the pill and the doctor tells her not to be slutty. She says she isn’t that kind of a girl. And all I keep thinking is that there will be a pregnancy storyline coming up. But yes, I’m possibly just very, very grumpy today. ;)
Generation Kill
This on the other hand is a show I am utterly, utterly in love with.
I’ve always been fascinated by military films, so clearly there is an appeal there. The writing is clever and often extremely funny - which is always a good thing. The acting is excellent, the cinematography is gorgeous - and so far one of the main factors in the show has been the friendship between two of the main characters - Brad and Ray. As much as I love a good romance story, I love a good friendship story (see my deep fondness for Rome), and Generation Kill has that. Which means that an awful lot of my requirements for loving a show are present.
I have yet to wrap my head around the series, and as of yet I’m reduced to a brief list of what I love:
+ The focus on the relationship between the soldiers, and how even minor characters feel real and believable.
+ The barely noticeable look of suffering on Lt. Fick’s face anytime the superior officers do something stupid.
+ The friendship between Brad and Ray, and how Brad is the first person Ray tells when he hears the troubling news that J.Lo might be dead. Also the whole talk about Brad being dumped by his ex, and the look of sadness on Ray’s face when Brad says “It’s good to have friends” (actually that whole scene killed me)
+ The cinematography. Over half the series is scenes of Humvees riving or inside Humvees, and somehow it never becomes boring.
+ Should have rolled into battle with a sword Brad, that would have fucking rocked.
+ The Grooming Standard and poor, suffering Sgt. Patrick.
+ Espera’s philosophical sarcasm.
+ The whole “the Marine corps is pretty homo-erotic” dialogue.
+ The first gas attack when the reporter displays his ineptitude at these things. I just find that scene hysterically funny.
And just many, many other things.
Mad Men
This is odd, but I’m four episodes in and I’m not yet sure if I actually like Mad Men. Fascinated, yes definitely - but like it? I don’t know. What I do know is that I keep wanting to see more episodes, which probably means that I'm warming up to it.
So far the only character I like is Betty, and I’m fascinated by Don. Peggy bores the crap out of me and Peter Campbell makes me want to wash. Now he did get marginally better in "New Amsterdam", but I still have problems feeling sorry for the guy.
That said I think the series is good. The cinematography is wonderful, and they’ve managed to create a feel for the period that encompasses everything. I keep looking at lamps, couches, clothes and other little details like Betty's powder room. It is all so incredibly well done, and it helps to establish the feel of another period. The storyline is also interesting, and with a doze of historical irony that I really like. (Don, who doesn’t like television, is doing the pr for Nixon in the Nixon vs. Kennedy race? *snicker*)
So, if there are so many elements I do like, why am I not sure if I like the series as a whole? Possibly because it keeps reminding me of Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960), which I objectively know is a good film, but which I’ve never managed to like. And if that sounds to snobbish, I'm also plagued by the fact that I constantly want to smack people on the head.
Also sometimes Mad Men comes of as a bit to clever for its own good. For instance Don, who has problems dealing with his family and in episode three, films them through a camera. Yes, he is on the outside looking in. Forever recording, but not participating etc. It’s not that this is a bad scene, and it is entirely possible that I’m just being incredibly grumpy, but it just strikes me as this flashing red light going "Symbolism! Symbolism!" - and then I get annoyed. Cue also Peggy’s scene at the doctor in episode one - she goes on the pill and the doctor tells her not to be slutty. She says she isn’t that kind of a girl. And all I keep thinking is that there will be a pregnancy storyline coming up. But yes, I’m possibly just very, very grumpy today. ;)
Generation Kill
This on the other hand is a show I am utterly, utterly in love with.
I’ve always been fascinated by military films, so clearly there is an appeal there. The writing is clever and often extremely funny - which is always a good thing. The acting is excellent, the cinematography is gorgeous - and so far one of the main factors in the show has been the friendship between two of the main characters - Brad and Ray. As much as I love a good romance story, I love a good friendship story (see my deep fondness for Rome), and Generation Kill has that. Which means that an awful lot of my requirements for loving a show are present.
I have yet to wrap my head around the series, and as of yet I’m reduced to a brief list of what I love:
+ The focus on the relationship between the soldiers, and how even minor characters feel real and believable.
+ The barely noticeable look of suffering on Lt. Fick’s face anytime the superior officers do something stupid.
+ The friendship between Brad and Ray, and how Brad is the first person Ray tells when he hears the troubling news that J.Lo might be dead. Also the whole talk about Brad being dumped by his ex, and the look of sadness on Ray’s face when Brad says “It’s good to have friends” (actually that whole scene killed me)
+ The cinematography. Over half the series is scenes of Humvees riving or inside Humvees, and somehow it never becomes boring.
+ Should have rolled into battle with a sword Brad, that would have fucking rocked.
+ The Grooming Standard and poor, suffering Sgt. Patrick.
+ Espera’s philosophical sarcasm.
+ The whole “the Marine corps is pretty homo-erotic” dialogue.
+ The first gas attack when the reporter displays his ineptitude at these things. I just find that scene hysterically funny.
And just many, many other things.