Mad Men at Bloomingdales

Countdown to The Prisoner - Open Thread

2009-11-16T00:00:25Z

Talk about AMC's upcoming miniseries

Season 3 Episode 12 - Open Thread

2009-11-08T20:36:27Z

Talk about Season 3, Episode 12, "The Grown Ups."

Cute Parody: "Milk Men"

2009-11-06T19:55:01Z

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/milk_men_trailer/

The Village Wiki - Looking for Answers From Fellow Employee

2009-11-06T20:23:28Z

The Village Wiki is a collaborative effort to trace the origins, locations and purpose of The Village that appears in The Prisoner. If you know anything or would just like to help piece together the evidence in this online mystery story, you're invited to contribute. The Village Wiki is run by a so-far-anonymous insider ("ConcernedCitizen") who is out to blow the whistle on the place.

In a recent wiki update, ConcernedCitizen unsuccessfully seeks some answers from a co-worker then discovers he doesn't have access to one particular floor in his company. Visit TheVillageWiki.org for more info >>

Share Your Favorite Lane Pryce Quotes

2009-11-06T17:17:08Z

As Sterling Cooper's CFO, Lane Pryce is nothing if not precise whether the topic is dollars or diction. This self-professed "stranger in a strange land" has chastised the staff for overspending, and placated his unhappy wife on more than one occasion. Funny how it all sounds better with a British accent. Have a favorite line from the penny-pinching Englishman? Tell us.

We'll randomly choose one contributor to win a Mad Men poster, a Mad Men Dyna Moe desktop set, or some Mad Men DVDs. Your selection may even end up on the Mad Men website. All submissions should be posted in the comments section below and must include the season and episode from which the quote is taken.

We'll post a list of the prize-winners at the end of Season 3.

Talk Forum and Comments - What You're Saying

2009-11-06T17:00:02Z

AMCtv.com awards the Talk forum commenters quoted in our weekly "What You're Saying" post with prizes like a Breaking Bad hat (limit one per person).

Fans this week were discussing Hank's mental strength, wondering how much more realistic Breaking Bad could get, and sharing what they're doing to sate their Bad appetites between seasons.

"Hank's character had all the bravado he needed when it counted. He was up against a machine gun, and he took cover then got his shot. He also had enough courage and presence of mind to tie that guy's leg seconds after that bomb went off blowing up 3 agents." -- kevin o

"I think it would be an interesting experience to be on this show. While they are somewhat accurate in their portrayal of the worst side of 14-dayer life, there is still much to be 'desired.' Wonder how much realism the audience could handle." -- noone2noone

"TOO LONG TO WAIT. It's like I've been off meth for months now and I need a fix BAD. Actually a good book to read to fill in the time is "Methland" by Nick Reding. Pretty eye-opening look at the entire industry and middle America." -- opiedog

Log onto the Talk forum to join in any of these conversations or start a Breaking Bad topic of your own.

Episode 13 - Predictions????

2009-11-06T15:16:39Z

So here it is teh end of a very dramatic and well written season of Mad Men. What are your predictions as to how it will end - for now? The future of SC ? Don and Betty? Roger and Jane? Peggy and the Duck conspiracy? Where the hell is Conrad Hilton- on the moon?

Short and Tweet - Brief Reviews for Movies Released Nov. 6

2009-11-06T16:00:11Z

• Collapse
Prepare to meet your economic dystopia of a future in this harrowing profile of Michael Ruppert.
For the full review, click here.

• The Box
Richard Kelly's most accessible work yet, a mysterious and compelling Christmas thriller.
For the full review, click here.

• Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire - Searing race drama -- Oprah- and Filmcritic.com-approved!
For the full review, click here.

• The Fourth Kind
A smart-ass mockumentary in the Blair Witch vein, with alien abduction as the conceit.
For the full review, click here.

• Turning Green
Another lazy and underdeveloped coming-of-age movie, this one set in 1979.
For the full review, click here.

Quick Poll - Did Dick Do It?

2009-11-06T14:25:37Z

Those who have peeked at imdb know the young Dick Whitman will return in the season finale. The assumption is that the, ahem, sudden passing of Dick's father will be depicted. Here's the Poll:

Did Dick:
a: directly contribute to Archie's death
b. indirectly or inadvertently contribute to it
c. had nothing to do with it.

The answer will be shown Sunday night. Maybe.

Opening Night - James Marsden, Cameron Diaz and the Playboy Roots of The Box

2009-11-06T15:20:02Z

At the premiere of The Box in New York Wednesday night, as you may have noticed if you follow AMC News on Twitter, we had some laughs. The movie is a thriller from Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly, and it centers around this question: Would you let a stranger die in exchange for a million dollars? That moral dilemma is at the center of this film, and it was a question many on the red carpet were talking about.

The Box is an adaptation of the 1970 short story "Button, Button" by author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) that first appeared in Playboy magazine. Did stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden or the other cast members ever think they'd appear in a movie that had its roots in a nudie magazine? Watch my Opening Night Report to find out.

Takes one to know one, and Don isn't stupid

2009-11-06T12:32:23Z

Don knows Betty too well. He knows she needs attention, needs a man, and for her to tell him she doesn't love him any more must make him wonder. He knows the only thing that would make him not love her any more would be someone who could take her place. He knows this because he could imagine that with Miss Teacher. She's the only one who Don "played house" with.The only one who he actually slept with. He knows Betty has someone she wants to replace him with. Does Don have enough self esteem left, after Betty's discovery of who Don really is,to fight, to change her mind,to care? Or has it left him with enough spite and venom to be mean or cruel, determined find out what or who is behind Betty's change of heart.

Flashback Five - The Ten Best Al Pacino Movies You've Never Seen

2009-11-06T05:01:00Z

The "Scarface" that launched a thousand rap careers, Al Pacino is known as much for his on-screen histrionics and catchphrases as he is for his legitimate acting. Chances are, though, you only really know his biggies: Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon, Heat, and of course the list goes on. Perhaps it's time to broaden your Al Pacino horizons? Read on for a list of the ten best Pacino movies you've never seen.

1. The Merchant of Venice (2004)
Shakespeare's classic tale was given a modern-ish spin, casting Al Pacino's Shylock as a sort of dark anti-hero. Though the movie was a commercial failure, critics thought Pacino brought a unique intensity to the role that, in a certain sense, redefined one of drama's oldest characters. All this, and Pacino isn't even Jewish! Which is why it's called acting, remember?

2. Chinese Coffee (2000)
Here's one you've probably never seen because for a long time, Pacino wouldn't let anyone see it. The movie was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival and not released until years later as part of a forgotten, low-selling box set. He shouldn't have held it back: The movie is a heartfelt night-long conversation between Pacino's character, and the late Jerry Orbach, that plays like an all-male Before Sunrise.

]]> 3. ...And Justice for All (1979)
Pacino anchors an all-star cast in this goofy comedy, in which he plays an idealistic defense attorney opposite talents like Jeffrey Tambor, Craig T. Nelson, and Dominic Chianese. For his (soon to become typical) high-energy performance, he was nominated for the Oscar and the Golden Globe.

4. Scarecrow (1973)
Winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, Pacino turns in one of his most earnest and loosest performances as Francis Lionel "Lion" Delbuchi, a free spirit on the road with an uptight Gene Hackman. A classic road movie, and again, a rare, restrained performance that completely works.

5. The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
Pacino's first major film role, as a heroin addicted junkie, shows that he's an acting force to be reckoned with. It also shows an early determination not to shy away from tough material: The movie is one of the first mainstream flicks to show the graphic injection of heroin into an addict's arm.

Honorable Mentions:

1. The Recruit (2003) - While too much of this movie is spent on Colin Farrell's character -- and the movie does work as a kind of "torch passing" from Pacino to Farrell -- it's Pacino who, as usual, steals the show.

2. City Hall (1996) - Who wouldn't want Al Pacino to be mayor of New York? Well, given that he plays a terrifyingly corrupt mayor in this "ripped from the headlines" movie... Nobody.

3. Two Bits (1995) - "Heart-warming" isn't normally a phrase you'd associate with Pacino, but we'll make an exception just this once, as Pacino turns in a rare sweet and sad performance.

4. The Local Stigmatic (1985)
Deja vu! Pacino held back the release of this movie for years before allowing it to be released in yet another low-selling box set. In another movie that's essentially an extended conversation, Pacino proves that he's just as good being natural as he is going over the top.

5. Me, Natalie (1969)
A must for Pacino completists, this marks the screen titan's first movie role, opposite Patty Duke. It's a small, minor role, but in his few minutes of screen-time, Pacino exhibits the fire hewould display on-screen for years to come.

Mary Robinette Kowal - The Eight Worst Anachronisms in Fantasy

2009-11-06T05:00:29Z

There are two types of anachronisms in fantasy: intentional and accidental. The former -- when a modern item is introduced for comic effect, as when the audience sings "We Will Rock You" at a joust in A Knight's Tale -- often amuse me. The latter type amuse me in a much different way, because many of them could have been solved by having an intern check dates. There's fantasy, then there's just plain forgetfulness. Today we'll look at the eight biggest offenders.

8. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
When Indiana Jones is flying around the world, the lines on the screen show the world as it appears in 1981 when the movie was released -- not the 1930s when it was set. Really? It would have killed someone to take a period atlas and check? I mean, it's not like we don't know that borders got moved around back then. This minor snafu with the movie's travel plot device earns it the eight spot.

7. The Green Mile (1991)
Set in Louisiana in 1935, The Green Mile shows a series of executions in an Electric Chair. It's dramatic and horrifying, and also five years too early. In 1935, convicts were executed by hanging. On the other hand, prisoner Eduard Delacroix (Michael Jeter) has the November 1937 issue of Weird Tales, so maybe 1935 isn't a firm date.

]]> 6. The Ten Commandments (1956)
Let's start with the zipper on the back of Bithiah's (Nina Foch) dress. Then move on to the colors used for the clothing -- all of which require hard core acid-based dyes which weren't available in ancient Egypt. While you're at it, admire the lace on Nefertiti's bra. I don't know which is worse, the lace or the bra.

5. Kate and Leopold (2001)
Leopold, Duke of Albany, (Hugh Jackman) comes from 1876, which begs the question of how exactly he could know the plot for the opera La Boheme when it didn't premiere until 1896. I suspect it's the same phenomenon that allows a U.S. flag with 50 stars on it to jump from a year when we only had 37 states. A trip to the library could really have helped here.

4. 10,000 B.C. (2008)
If D'Leh (Steven Straight) lives in the stone age, exactly how does he keep his beard so neatly trimmed? I know, he's picked up a razor from the Atlanteans. It's not clear where the story is set, but from the sabre-tooth tigers and the terror birds, it ought to be North or South America. Of course, terror birds went extinct 1.8 million years before the movie starts. Horses, by contrast, weren't domesticated until 4,000 years later and didn't reach the Americas until the 1600s. Oh, those pesky archeological records...

3. King Arthur (2004)
We'll skip the question of what the heck Kiera Knightly is wearing, and go straight to the war technology: Barbed wire doesn't get invented until 1874. That's okay, they seem to have access to a modern store since the hilts of their swords are held on with Torx bolts. Maybe they got their swords at Ikea? Still, at least this movie obeys the laws of physics, unlike our next fallible fantasy.

2. Ever After (1998)
The Prince saves the Mona Lisa by rolling it into a tube, which is a pretty good trick since it's painted on wood. Maybe it's a theme, since at one point Danielle says that her stepmother shops like she has "money to burn." There is no paper money for several hundred years, but hey, if you can roll wood maybe you can burn metal. Oh, here's one that's pervasive in a lot of movies: All the shoes are for left and right feet, but that idea wasn't invented until the 1820s.

1. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Where do I start? First, there's this telescope that Azeem (Morgan Freeman) has, which comes in handy. It's too bad that refracting telescopes weren't invented for another couple of hundred years. (I wonder if that makes this movie science fiction?) A more common one, which you see variations of in a lot of movies, is the collection of tan lines that the cast members sport. Sure, tan lines would exist, but the Speedo? That's a pretty distinctive shape, and yet Robin Hood has them. And let's not get into Kevin Costner's American accent, which careens this fantasy into the Number 1 spot.

What's your favorite fantasy anachronism? Let me know in the comments.

Click here to see a full schedule of The Green Mile on AMC

Mary Robinette Kowal is the winner of the 2008 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a professional puppeteer. Her first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, is being published by Tor in 2010.

The Fourth Kind Review - But What If the Third Time's the Charm?

2009-11-06T05:00:28Z

The Fourth Kind's title refers to UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek's "close encounter" scale, leading from observation to physical evidence to contact and finally to abduction. Of course, the title is also an obvious shout-out to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Here you can already see the sort of galling one-upmanship that is The Fourth Kind's m.o.: You thought Spielberg's alien visitation classic was really something? Wait 'til you see this.

That bit of chutzpah and foolishness is impressive enough, but The Fourth Kind's central gimmick is the real doozy: Apparently enamored of the success of various recent found-footage horror movies -- The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, Quarantine -- director Olatunde Osunsanmi decided to do them one better. He would tell his creepy little story of supernatural goings-on in the tiny town of Nome, Alaska not in a simple faux-documentary style, but as a combination of fake documentary and fake reenactment. You know how sometimes, on cable, desperate news magazine shows will use staged scenes with actors to fill gaps in actual footage? Osunsanmi decided to recreate that.

]]> This is manifestly insane -- probably among the dumbest cinematic conceits of all time. But there's more. Osunsanmi doesn't merely create fake found footage and fill in the "holes" with "actors" playing the "characters." Instead, he decides it would be cool if we could watch crucial scenes in split-screen, with the "actual footage" on one side of the frame, and the "reenactment" on the other. Or, if it happens to work better for that particular scene, he might cut back and forth between the two. Or, if for whatever reason only "actual audio" is "available," we could watch the scene with "actors," but hear the "actual" audio instead of the "actors'" voices!

If the above sounds pointless and crazy, imagine what it's like to watch this madness consume a genuinely compelling story. In The Fourth Kind, Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich in the "reenactments"), a psychologist mourning the death of her husband, travels to a remote Alaskan town to continue his work. There, she quickly discovers that much of the town's population is tormented by the same recurring nightmare. Each night, seemingly in a dream, they see a white owl perch just outside their bedroom window. Just before the dream ends, they reach the startling but uncertain realization that there is something very wrong with this owl, and this fills them with paralyzing terror. Things get even stranger after Dr. Tyler puts a few of the sufferers under hypnosis. It seems that something is visiting the residents of Nome at night -- and it's probably not an owl.

The substance of The Fourth Kind is enormously intriguing, and the story has a tantalizing ambiguity that recalls the best of The X-Files. The raw material is so strong that, on one or two occasions, Osunsanmi manages to evoke the sort of bone-chilling cosmic terror that can accompany an encounter with something so alien it appears to be beyond human comprehension. But the movie is so formally inept -- idiotic, even -- that the vast majority of it is a complete wreck.

Much of the problem lies in the sheer, incredible pointlessness of the previously discussed central gimmick. Beyond that, The Fourth Kind's claims to authenticity -- which the movie pushes strenuously, trotting out Milla Jovovich as herself to introduce the movie, and then rolling a good three minutes of where-are-they-now postscripts -- are undermined by the stilted, labored awkwardness of the "reenactments," which are shot mostly in fevered close-ups with dialogue that makes Saw VI play like a model of elegant subtlety.

The end result is a parade of ugly distractions that overwhelms a movie filled with promise. What I want is to commission a remake of The Fourth Kind, this time by someone who is more concerned with storytelling than with showing off.

Daily Scan for 11.06.09 - Emmerich Talks 2012 TV Series, Wheaton Cameos Star Trek

2009-11-06T05:00:16Z

• Roland Emmerich is already talking a televised sequel to his apocalyptic film, 2012, pretty much giving away the ending for everyone in the process.

• A new Japanese trailer for James Cameron's Avatar shows even more alien fauna.

• Geek celebrity Wil Wheaton -- that's right, Star Trek's Wesley Crusher himself -- has a voice cameo in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek.

• The next Doctor Who special, Waters of Mars, will be airing in the U.S. later this year. If you're curious what to expect, check out the three minute sneak peek. I'm going to miss David Tennant.

• Doctor Horrible co-writer Zack Whedon spills on the eponymous mad scientist's secret origin in his new Dark Horse comic series.

]]> • All of the best art of the twentieth century is done on black velvet canvases, so needless to say, quite a few scifi heartthrobs have been given the flea market artistic treatment.

• The best found image of the day: Carrie Fisher and her Slave Leia stunt double bask in the sun on the hot sands of Tatooine.