I once read a random, surely well-considered criticism of Mad Men in a website’s comments section that described it as “a boring show that’s just good looking people in classic clothes.”Far be it from me to dismiss someone else’s opinion as wrong–especially when the opinion does most of the work of dismissing itself–but even if I agreed with the “boring” part, which I don’t, I’d still watch for the good looking people in classic clothes. What’s not to love about that?
The new teaser for the final episodes of the series that “put AMC on the map,” in the words of AMC President Charlie Collier, exudes cool sets the mood with the opening to Diana Ross’s “Love Hangover.” Even with something as strictly superficial as this teaser appears to be, there are likely clues as to what’s to come for the show’s swan song. I’ll spare you my speculation (besides the obvious, unfortunate absence of Ginsberg; poor little madman). I’m too busy re-watching this clip and soaking up the 70’s chic to type anything more about it anyway.
It was a big week for Mia Wasikowska. The trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak, which features her as the lead, was released on Monday. She’s also starring in the upcoming work of another macabre visionary, David Cronenberg. His Maps to the Stars dropped a red band trailer this week, and while “red band” + “Cronenberg” might normally equal “watch through your fingers and beware of some gruesome sh*t,” this trailer is pretty low on violence. It’s still Not Safe for Work and disconcerting in its own way, but there’s no Videodrome, “new flesh,” wash your eyes out with lye moments either. So no need to cringe and hide.
On the video game front, two largely colorless trailers dropped dark fantasy action titles. The launch trailer for The Order: 1886 and the official story trailer for Bloodborne arrived on the same day. I get that both of these games are set in grim times where heroes must hunt monsters, and I that criticisms of dominance of grays and browns in “serious” games are all too common. But still, my God, do these look drab. Of the two, Bloodborne at least appears to have some personality to it. The “movement within a photograph” thing always gets a shiver out of me. And it’s hard not to have faith in the folks behind Dark Souls.