sixties

AMC’s Mad Men is one of my favorite TV shows (no surprise there). But now it is really cooking for me as it is summer of 1966. The premiere episode Sunday was really good but what stood out for me were the ladies decked out in such wonderful mod clothes and hair styles. And I don’t mean the lead ones who play Peggy and Joan. They were both outclassed by Don’s new go-go bride Megan, who looking like Yvonne Craig in a slinky long-sleeved black minidress, seductively sang in French to her birthday boy husband at his surprise party in their fabulous NYC apartment complete with terrace; and Roger’s gorgeous wife Jane who looked like she stepped right out of the Valley of the Dolls complete with bitchy barbs thrown with a drink in one hand and her husband in the other.

I can’t wait for more and hope we see lots of Megan and Jane this season!

Warner Bros. just released the trailer to Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows due for release this summer. As the trailer began I was intrigued and then quickly became horrified. Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins looks like a cartoon character trapped in an unfunny farce. However, rewatching it some more I realized that was what Burton was going for. He has turned Dark Shadows into a ’70s Saturday morning cartoon with its fish-out-of-water vampire mingling with the humans in a sea of colorful day-glo. It’s like the Brady Bunch meets the Addams Family animated-style. Or when Sabrina the Teenage witch arrived in Riverdale and spooked Archie, Reggie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Moose, Big Ethel, Midge, and the rest of the gang.

I truly wished Burton would have gone the dark, spooky atmospheric route with Dark Shadows and not have gone for the laughs. However, I do love Johnny Depp in anything and will give it a try. From the trailer though disappointing is Eva Green as Angelique who just doesn’t register evil like Lara Parker did; Michelle Pfeiffer who doesn’t seem to play Elizabeth Collins Stoddard as the grande dame the way Joan Bennett did; and Chloe Moretz as a way too immature Carolyn Stoddard played by the more sophisticated Nancy Barrett in the soap. I did however like Helena Bonham Carter as a droll Dr. Julia Hoffman.

Here’s just hoping that Dark Shadows is better than Burton’s awful Planet of the Apes reboot.

httpv://youtu.be/isjg9O7ifwM

Good news this week that The Poseidon Adventure will finally be released in April on Blu-Ray for its 40th anniversary. Hurrah! Exclusively through Walmart. Boo!

20th Century-Fox is not doing anything special for the movie. Boo! No boxed set or booklet. No deleted scenes. Nothing. So if you have the deluxe DVD that came out a few years ago, might be just worth sticking with it. I am despite The Poseidon Adventure being my favorite movie of all-time.

Cinema Retro magazine though will be doing a special feature on the movie in its Fall issue. Hurrah! Moi has contributed a piece titled “A Nod to Nonnie.” No surprise there that I would write a tribute piece about Carol Lynley and her terrified pop singer character.

httpv://youtu.be/BHOhZrVS1Jk