With AMC’s award-winning series Mad Men returning Sunday night, I recently had the chance to participate in a roundtable interview with January Jones.  Since the cast is always guarded when talking about upcoming storylines, most of the interview covered the way Betty Draper (Jones’ character) has changed over the five seasons, the big storyline of last season, how even the actors don’t know what’s coming up on future episodes until they get the script, her costumes, her thoughts on Don and Betty getting back together, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to what Jones had to say.

Though the clips featured in the latest Mad Men promo from AMC all come from last season (because as we all know, creator Matthew Weiner keeps an iron grip around most of the promotional material), the message is still clear: moving forward, things are still not going to get easier for Don Draper (Jon Hamm).

The show has also released a telling poster that highlights Don’s internal struggle as he tries to move forward with his life but keeps getting pulled back into his old ways.  There have also been a few glamourous promo photos that tease the show’s movement into the 1970s.  For the latest TV trailer and a few thoughts on the upcoming season, hit the jump.

Though the 2013 Sundance Film Festival certainly hasn’t been lacking in coming of age stories or tales of ennui over the past week, the fest also played host to a peculiar western called Sweetwater.  Directed by Logan and Noah Miller, the film stars January Jones as a woman in the 19th century west who runs up against a flamboyant and dangerous preacher (Jason Isaacs) and a rambunctious sheriff (Ed Harris) when her world is thrown into chaos.

I had the chance to speak with Jones in Park City earlier this week in anticipation of the film’s premiere, and she talked about keeping her character grounded opposite the colorful performances by Isaacs and Harris, the ambiguity of her character at the beginning of the film, and what influenced her performance.  In addition, Jones talked about her non-involvement in the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past and the evolution of her character Betty on Mad Men over the past five seasons.  Read on after the jump.

I am a huge fan of the Western genre.  So between me and the filmmakers behind the Western Sweetwater, that makes one of us.  Writer-directors Logan Miller and Noah Miller are far more interested in half-constructed ideas based solely on what seems cool.  The film rolls along without any urgency even though the audience can tell the story from start to finish, and probably tell it better.   The filmmakers somehow managed to rope in great actors like Ed Harris and Jason Isaacs to play campy stock characters, but never had any idea how to fully take advantage of their talent.  Cinematographer Brad Shield even gives the movie the look of respectability.  Despite some pretty shots and entertaining performances, Sweetwater always feels lackadaisical and half-hearted.

Director Matthew Vaughn’s period superhero pic X-Men: First Class was a sizeable hit with both audiences and critics when it was released in 2011, and fans are very much looking forward to the Bryan Singer-helmed sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past.  We know that the follow-up will be a melding of the cast from First Class and the previous three X-Men films, with Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, and Hugh Jackman already confirmed to appear alongside James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence.

I had the chance to speak with January Jones earlier today at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival about her upcoming western/thriller Sweetwater, and with production getting ready to begin on Days of Future Past, I asked her about the return of her character Emma Frost from First Class.  Jones revealed that she hasn’t been contacted about reprising that role in DOFP, saying that she doesn’t think she’s in the sequel.  Hit the jump for what she had to say.

It’s a good day to be a Mad Men fan.  Early this morning we learned that season six of the celebrated AMC drama series is poised to kick off on April 7th with a two-hour premiere, and now the network has released a batch of elegant images of the cast from the upcoming season.  Naturally, everyone is drinking and smoking and laughing.  It’s a fine way of easing fans back into the world of Mad Men, and the images are pretty revealing in that we can see that (spoiler alert) Pete has sideburns!  Shocking stuff.

Hit the jump to check out the images, which feature Jon Hamm, January Jones, Jessica Pare, Kiernan Shipka, Elizabeth Moss, John Slattery, Christina Hendricks, Vincent Kartheiser, Aaron Stanton, Rich Sommer, and Robert Morse.  Season six of Mad Men premieres on AMC on April 7th.

Twin filmmakers Logan and Noah Miller have locked down two fairly high-profile stars in Ed Harris and January Jones to anchor their sophomore effort, the revenge drama (God, there’s a lot of these nowadays) Sweetwater. Jones will step into the role of a 19thC widow who joins forces with Harris’ local sheriff to take down the “brutal sheep rancher” that killed her husband. I’m sure a man who ranches sheep can be absolutely vicious, but I can’t even think the phrase “brutal sheep rancher” without giggling. Production will begin this July in New Mexico. Hit the jump for more, including a look at the Miller brothers’ interesting road to success.

With the upcoming release of American Reunion, the first three American Pie films have been put to Blu-ray, all offering both theatrical and unrated cuts. The films follow Jim (Jason Biggs) and his best friends Oz (Chris Klein), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott) as they quest to get laid. In the first film, Jim is just looking for sex, in the second he finds love, and in the third he gets married. Alyson Hannigan, Tara Reid, Jennifer Coolidge, Mena Survari, Shannon Elizabeth, January Jones, Natasha Lyonne, and Eugene Levy also star. And our review of the American Pie trilogy on Blu-ray follows after jump.

In preparation for the two-hour season five premiere of Mad Men on March 25^th, AMC has rolled out some new marketing. It’s a tricky thing to do, and do well, when your popular show centers on the men and women of an ad agency, but as usual they’ve nailed it. With all the color and clutter of New York City’s skyline vying for your visual attention, these clean and minimalist billboards are refreshing, eye-catching and iconic. We’ve also got the first promo video for season five which ties in nicely to the rest of the marketing. Mad Men, starring Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser, returns to AMC on March 25^th. Hit the jump to check out the marketing.

The first US trailer and poster for the thriller Seeking Justice have been unveiled. The plot concerns a happily married man who enlists the help of a dangerous underground vigilante operation when his wife is brutally attacked. He soon finds out that he’s in over his head, as the vigilante syndicate has bigger plans in mind as part of his repayment for their services. The trailer is pretty much what you’d expect from an action-thriller starring Nicolas Cage. There’s nothing particularly new or interesting here, and January Jones is quickly becoming the go-to actress for the part of “traumatized wife.” Time will tell if Guy Pearce’s charisma is enough to carry the film, but based on this first look I’m not entirely sold that Seeking Justice is worth checking out (though Cage’s facial hair makes a strong case for the contrary).

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Harold Perrineau, Jennifer Carpenter, and Xander Berkeley. Seeking Justice opens March 16th.

New clips and images have gone online for Roger Donaldson the action-thriller Justice starring Nicolas Cage, Guy Pearce, and January Jones.  The movie centers on Will Gerard (Cage), a man whose wife is violently attacked, and Will inadvertently requests “justice” from a group of vigilantes, and then refuses when they ask him to do some street justice in return.  Originally titled “Hungry Rabbit Jumps“, the movie has sat on a shelf for some time now, but has landed distribution in the UK and Ireland.  Judging by the clips, the movie is generic but not horrible (although I think it’s high time we stop putting magnetic letters on our refrigerators because they’re only used to leave threatening messages).  The clips also serve as a reminder that we’ve perhaps leveled an unfair expectation of Nicolas Cage.  While we know that he can go nutso in a movie, he shouldn’t always have to.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  Justice opens in the UK and Ireland tomorrow.

You may recall that back in August 2010, we showed you the first image from a crime thriller named Hungry Rabbit Jumps starring Nicolas Cage and January Jones.  If you don’t recall this, don’t worry: it is not important in any way.  But if you had this project on your radar and were dismayed at its appearance, fear not.  The film has resurfaced with a new, far more generic and forgettable title: Justice.  The film also has plenty of new images and a trailer that does a good job of explaining why the movie sat on a shelf for over a year.  The premise is what if Don Corleone, instead of being wealthy and powerful and having people come to him for favors, trolled the waiting rooms of hospitals offering vigilante service but “Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me…”  Cage inadvertently requests “justice” from a group of vigilantes and then is surprised when they ask him to do some street justice in return.

The movie doesn’t look god-awful as much as it looks painfully forgettable, which I’m sure everyone involved is hoping for.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer and the image.  Justice opens in the UK on November 16th.

It’s hard to catch the heat of a “out of nowhere” hit film, but Taken was massively successful, and so Liam Neeson has become an action movie star. But if taken worked because of its simplicity, few films he’s done since have captured that magic. Unknown stars Neeson as Dr. Martin Harris, who’s in Germany with his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) when he forgets something back at the airport, and ends up in a car crash with his driver Gina (Diane Kruger). When he wakes up, there’s another Martin Harris (Adian Quinn), and even his wife doesn’t seem to know him. From there the plot thickens. My review of Unknown on Blu-ray follows after the jump. 

How much do we expect from superhero movies?  Do we ask that they be faithful?  Do we demand they be grittier so we can argue that they’re more mature and therefore better?  Or do we ask that they be fun, disposable entertainment?  That answer probably depends on the property, although the tone and plot of the most famous superhero comics have varied so widely over the years that there’s no single answer.  Keeping this in mind, Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class forges its own path, not just in terms of the X-Men franchise, but in the superhero genre.  The film is stylish and exhilarating, but it’s also darker, more intense, and all the better for it.

With director Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class opening this weekend, I recently attended a press conference in New York City with January Jones, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Kevin Bacon, Zoë Kravitz, Lucas Till and Rose Byrne.  While some press conferences are filled with awful questions and boring answers, the cast was in great spirits and I found the almost thirty minute conversation quite interesting.  They talked about why they wanted to be in the film, how they prepared to play their characters, what it was like to go back to the 60′s, the costumes, what they first thought when they found out they’d been cast, their reaction to seeing the finished film for the first time, what have the fans been telling them, and so much more.  You can either read the transcript or listen to the audio after the jump.