STACK Nov #133

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COMING SOON Hitting the JB shelves in December
Fantastic Four
This dark and downbeat
update of Marvel's
fab four didn't win any
fans at the cinema. But
it deserves a second
chance on DVD. (Dec 9)
M:I - Rogue
Nation
Ghost Protocol
is a hard act to
follow, but this new
Mission achieves the
impossible. (Dec 10)
Southpaw
The chameleonic Jake
Gyllenhaal bulks up
to play a beleaguered
boxer in this gritty
drama that packs a hefty
punch. (Dec 23)
The Man from
U.N.C.L.E.
Guy Ritchie switches
from gangsters to
spies for this stylish
adaptation of the '60s
cult series. (Dec 16)
MAD MEN:
SEASON 7, PART 2
DISC of the month:
This tall, brooding,
charismatic San Diego-
born actor is currently best
known as Lena Dunham's
self-absorbed boyfriend in
HBO hit series Girls, but
come December 2015,
everyone will know his
name. Driver is playing
Kylo Ren, the bad guy in Star Wars: Episode
VII - The Force Awakens , a role that will bring
worldwide recognition, his own action figure,
and sci-fi convention demand. Although
muzzled by the cone of silence surrounding
the film, Driver has described his induction
into the Star Wars universe as "surreal".
Driver joined the marines at 18, but
a mountain bike injury prevented him
from shipping out to Iraq. He received an
honourable discharge and pursued acting at
Julliard in NewYork, working on the stage
prior to securing a regular role in Girls which
brought him to the attention of some of
Hollywood's heavyweight filmmakers. For a
relative newcomer to the biz, he's worked
with some prestigious names: Steven
Spielberg (Lincoln), Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar),
the Coen Bros. (Inside Llewyn Davis), and has
just completed a film with Martin Scorsese,
Silence, in which he plays a 17th century
Jesuit priest.
He can also be seen in Noah Baumbach's
Frances Ha and recently reunited with the
writer-director for While We're Young, as
a NewYork hipster who helps Ben Stiller
through a midlife crisis. His other film roles
include Bluebird, What If, This is Where I
Leave You and Tracks, in which he played
the photographer who befriends Mia
Wasikowska's adventurer in the Australian
desert. In addition to Star Wars, he's just
completed the sci-fi film Midnight Special,
alongside another Aussie: Joel Edgerton.
Despite having attracted a legion of
female admirers as the frequently shirtless
Adam Sackler in Girls, Driver shrugs off the
'heartthrob' tag. "I'm like a sight gag," he says.
"I have a really big face... I don't totally get it."
Girls (2012-2016)
Tracks (2013)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
While We're Young (2014)
Star Wars: The Force
Awakens (2015)
ADAM DRIVER
visit EXTRAS DVD&BD
It's time to bid farewell to the team at
the New York advertising agency that's
had as many takeovers, mergers and name changes
as hotshot ad man Don Draper has one-night stands.
Well, maybe not that many!
In the last seven episodes of a split final season,
Sterling Cooper & Price are absorbed by global ad giant
McCann Erickson, which leaves the core characters
– Don, Roger, Peggy, Joan and Pete – at odds with
the new office dynamic. Don, in particular, can't abide
boardroom pitches by committee and hits the road to
find a waitress he's become obsessed with, which
ultimately turns into the journey to self-discovery this
conflicted guy has needed since we first met him. Jon
Hamm finally received a well-deserved and belated
Emmy this year for his portrayal of one of TV's most
fascinating alpha males, and fittingly, it's Don Draper
who is the primary focus of the final episodes.
That's not to say the others don't receive a suitable
send-off – chain-smoking finally catches up with one
of the characters in the form of terminal lung cancer;
an unexpected romance blooms; and new and exciting
opportunities await some of our favourite employees,
all of whom deserve some kind of happiness –
including Don. And it's not a spoiler to reveal that the
final episode will leave you with a smile on your face,
and wanting a Coke.
We'll miss the sixties' decor and fashions, the
rampant smoking, drinking, sexism, crazy campaigns,
silver fox Roger, and Don's womanising ways. But
most of all we'll miss one of the most stylish and
memorable series on TV.
034 NOVEMBER 2015