Baby Driver (2017)

Baby Driver feels fresh thanks to Edgar Wright's smart and stylish direction. He brings together slick editing to the beat of a sick soundtrack and brilliant choreography. The beginning of the film has a fantastic tracking shot that sets the exciting tone for the rest of the movie. Is Ansel Elgort cool? Wright makes him cool and he makes an extraordinarily fun and enjoyable movie.

Mad Men (2007-15)

Perhaps one of the greatest shows ever on television, Mad Men had excellent writing, phenomenal actors, and glamorous costumes. This is a look inside the rich lifestyles of 1960s-era advertising executives, so called mad men for their Madison Avenue offices. This is a world that I was not very familiar with, but Matthew Weiner painted such a gorgeous and intriguing portrait that you can't help being sucked into this glitzy world of luxury.  Everyone drinks and smokes a ton. They're all having affairs with beautiful people. They eat and drink and stay at the finest restaurants and hotels, fly first class, live on Park Avenue and attend elite schools. The bigwigs show up to work whenever they feel like it and live the life, and yet happiness and satisfaction eludes them.

The sixties was a great era for fashion, and throughout the seven seasons we watch the fashion evolve (that's costumes and hair styling).  The show soars in its use of history as a period drama.  Some of the most memorable depictions are of the milieu of the time, especially when it comes to gender roles, JFK's and MLK's assassinations, and the Vietnam War.  The personal and professional lives of these characters took place in the context of a broader (well-researched) history, a society and culture undergoing change during the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of counterculture.  For many, I suspect this show evokes nostalgia, but for me it is a reminder that we once lived in different times--rotary phones, pay phones, black-and-white television, typewriters--it's actually kind of funny.

Don Draper will go down as one of the best characters ever (and it's a mystery how Jon Hamm, nor any actor from Mad Men, has yet to win an Emmy). He has a very thoroughly fleshed out background that gives reason to his existence as an ad man.  He is complex and brilliant--his Kodak pitch was phenomenal.  Peggy is a lead too, paving the way for herself against the force of sexism as the only female copywriter . She works her way up the ladder and you find yourself always rooting for Peggy.  Amidst all of the affairs, the central relationship in the show is actually Don and Peggy's non-sexual relationship.  It starts out as a mentor-protege relationship, but it evolves as they learn that they are the only ones that really understand each other.  Some of the most important episodes (The Suitcase, The Strategy) thrive with just those two characters in a room together.

The finale provided a very satisfying ending.  The final seven episodes are really one long finale that culminates in the last hour.  All of the main story lines are resolved with room left for some interpretation as to where they will end up in a year's time as they continue their lives.  

The Congress (2013)

Ari Folman's follow-up to his acclaimed animated documentary once again delves into the world of animation, this time using animation as a plot device.  The latter half of the film is animated in a style that is notably different from the cut-out comic book animation style of Waltz with Bashir.  It starts out sort of psychedelic in a Yellow Submarine-esque feel, preparing the audience for a funky ride through cuckoo town.  This is a seriously wacky movie.  Folman animates recognizable figures in pop culture and art--the animated scenes genuinely look like something straight from Cartoon Network.

The premise of the movie is very interesting, but there is simply too much going on.  The first premise of the film is Robin Wright playing a version of herself, an aging actress who is getting less work, and resorts to selling her image.  Her likeness is captured by computers and the computers make movies starring their manipulation of Robin Wright.  In exchange she promises to quit acting, so the computerized version of her can be used in movies.  The movie is a critique of Hollywood and the studio system.  Folman clearly supports actors and their art, which cannot be replaced by computers.  But this is not just mere theory--recently the Hunger Games director decided to not use a computerized Philip Seymour Hoffman in the final film, opting to simply remove him from their unfinished scenes.  Marlon Brando attempted to preserve his head and emotions digitally for use in performance in the future, as detailed in the documentary Listen to Me Marlon.

But this storyline, which could stand alone to make a formidable movie, is seemingly abandoned in the second half of the movie.  The plot gets more convoluted and the movie moves on to explore other issues about denying reality and living in a fantasy of one's own kooky creation.  There's just so much going on, that it is easy to get confused.  But the movie is very interesting and its a pleasure to watch the animations.  Robin Wright is excellent acting live and voice-acting.  She reveals her mastery of her emotions in the scene in which the computer is capturing her range of facial expressions.  This movie is less personal and less powerful than Waltz with Bashir, but it is a brave foray into narrative film.

7 Days in Hell (2015)

In the vein of This is Spinal Tap, this mockumentary details a legendary match at Wimbledon that never happened.  Kit Harrington and Andy Samberg (in a role that just screams Andy Samberg) play two rival tennis players in a ridiculous match that lasts for seven days.  The documentary features clips from the "match," a voice-of-God narrator, "home footage" and talking head interviews with tennis stars and comedians, like a real genuine documentary.  Andy Samberg plays the adopted brother of Venus and Serena Williams in a "reverse blindside"--that is the most brilliant moment in the whole short movie.  Overall, it is so funny because the premise of this match is so preposterous. So long as you don't question anything too much, it is quite enjoyable. And who knew Kit Harrington and all these athletes could do comedy?