Luck: HBO series: David Milch, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Mann

in the voices of bruce willis + roseanne barr

lolz i had the idea that s2 should be like the movie 'racing stripes' - talking horses all the time

when I first saw the pilot I was kind of annoyed that they had a fatal breakdown so early on. like "really, they had to go there in the pilot??"

but as you watch more episodes I feel like that scene adds tension to every racing scene. you're watching these spindly legs pound the ground and wondering whether one little step is gonna take you back to that gruesome scene from the pilot. I think that's why they put it in the first episode, to show the stakes and make you feel how the trainers feel, that even when things are going great you're one little stumble away from disaster

also presumably bc mann wanted the opportunity to direct the fuck out that scene and not leave it for someone to do in a later episode

the racing scenes are p intense/terrifying

i was thinking about how much work they must be logistically-- like three horses running close together from an aerial shot, then the same three horses in the same formation from a tracking shot, cut to a 2nd tracking shot, etc

yeah they must have to run and film each race multiple times to make the various racing "moves" happen at the right time for the narrative

like "so-and-so drops back early, is boxed along the rail, eyeballs his rival but finally pulls away" ... it's got to be really hard to make a whole bunch of horses end up with a scripted result like that

totally-- it makes the racing scenes all the more exciting to watch imo

the other thing I like about the show is how it represents the rhythms and routines of track life, like each episode starts with people waking up, there's morning workouts, then a big crescendo for the afternoon's races -- maybe you win, maybe you lose, let's go talk it over at the bar and get ready to do it all again tomorrow

always ends with Ace and Gus shooting the shit in Ace's bedroom

is it just me or does it seem like no one is watching this? (not on ILX particularly, but like, out in the world). I don't really hear anyone talk about it.

I think they fucked up by having episode 2 air against the Super Bowl. I know it was already renewed and the ratings are supposed to be ok but doesn't really seem to have much buzz except among critics.

i could def see this being not popular

btw why is ace so intent on sending this kid to annoy his enemy

and ace is kinda big shot huh he mumbles something and the bord moves $50m like nbd

I thought the kid was going to be the go-between he said he needed in episode 2.

refresh my memory if you dont mind

I think John From Cincinnati did a lot to derail the Milch train, tbh. Like, I loved Deadwood and I think Michael Mann is a genius, but I haven't even downloaded this yet, and that's free.

interesting

so many characters on this show are hard to understand

like from one scene to the next you go from the trainer with the difficult Spanish accent (that other characters joke about not understanding), to the trainer who just mumbles shit under his breath and talks to himself, to the guy who stammers

it seems like Milch wants it to be a "thing" (the importance of getting good information vs. all these communication barriers or something)

but with all that + the racing jargon it seems like he's holding the audience at arm's length a bit and almost wants to make it as tough as possible to know wtf is going on

We're also living in the golden age of serialized TV - even the good comedies are serialized, to a degree - and there are only so many hours in the day. My wife and I have been catching up with Community, then we want to see season two of Justified, then we (she?) wants to watch Downton Abbey. And there a whole bunch queued up after that before we can get around the Luck. There are only so many narratives we can juggle at once, I guess.

well be sure and check back in once you watch it

re the difficulty in understanding wtf people r saying, it sounds like its even recorded or mixed weird, bad choice imho

I think John From Cincinnati did a lot to derail the Milch train, tbh. Like, I loved Deadwood and I think Michael Mann is a genius, but I haven't even downloaded this yet, and that's free.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, February 14, 2012 9:58 AM (35 minutes ago)

ha i didnt watch deadwood until watching all of JFC and loving it

best horse racing scene ever filmed btw is climax of 1979 'black stallion'

watch it.

Agreed that Milch is dedicating himself to increasing the incomprehensibility with each show, and that it will probably hurt the audience - I really like the fact that I have to watch all these twice to really figure out what is up, though. (And the show's already been renewed for S2 afaik)

The Ace-Gus relationship (older married couple) seems like a more successful riff on the JfC subplot involving the hit men waiting Beckett-like in that motel and bickering - those scenes just went on forever to no real purpose, whereas the 'and how was your day, dear' codas with Ace and Gus seem really sweet emotionally and help to explain the plot.

I like how Nolte acts totally oblivious to the seething machinations of everybody around him, he's so focused on doing the right thing.

The Sports Illustrated article upthread is great if you want to understand the epidemic of horse breakdowns. I went into the 3rd ep knowing a lot more than I did before I read that

(And the show's already been renewed for S2 afaik)

it has, they're casting for extras at Santa Anita and start shooting at the end of the month

hm, next ep was directed by aussie phillip noyce

ratings dont look great but i dont really know what a sunday night hbo show is expected to do, esp. starting out; plus yeah, up against super bowl, the grammies, oscars in two weeks, they cant expect big #s those weeks

feel like there probably is a small female viewing base for this just based on subject matter

next ep was written by one of our (DRF's) columnists, Jay H0vdey

he's in the end credits of every ep as a staff writer but #4 he got the main credit at the opening

I guess at this point I should just fess up that I've seen the whole season (no spoilers). I was underwhelmed by episodes 2 and 3 after liking the pilot pretty well but it gets much better from here IMO.

i dont really know what a sunday night hbo show is expected to do, esp. starting out

I don't know either but I heard it was getting clobbered by Shameless in the same time slot

I would guess HBO probably takes the long view though, everyone watches these shows on DVR and DVD anyway

feel like there probably is a small female viewing base for this just based on subject matter

― johnny crunch, Wednesday, February 15, 2012 11:36 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yah this is a srs man show

i get to go to the races in AZ next weekend, so stoked

dmr how do i find out who's running on the 26th?

this website is less than helpful: http://www.rillitodowns.com/Racing/Race_Entries_%26_Results.html

sorry i should prob take this to a racing thread

btw i watched 1975 altman movie California Split last nite.

so so so good i immediately wanted to watch it again. not really a horse racing movie but it revolves around gambling in general but has a few horse racing scenes and exists in the same so-cal world as this show imo.

highly recommended supplemental viewing

super dope 4 sure

love that movie

gr80 I answered you on the other thread

thanks, dmr.

Fantastic direction in this latest

slo-mo race scene was kind of weird, mostly awesome

Was wondering why no discussion on this. Best episode yet, I say. The race was beautiful.

Thought the music in The Big Scene was a bad choice (too heavy-handed) but it was still pretty great.

Gary Stevens was awesome in this episode (he is a retired Hall of Fame jockey in real life btw)

The Ray Charles song at the end was cool too

The music didn't bother me. In terms of heavy handeadness it felt far less so than the Sigur Ros in ep 1.

Confession: I watched the first ep and was completely mystified about what ppl were talking about. I guess I don't understand racing/betting-speak , lol. But those fucking horses were beautiful, and I am so in love with Michael Mann I just watched in a happy daze. :/

Yr not alone.

As much as I like the show, I'm really waiting for the DVD so I can watch it with subtitles and start picking up on some of the nuances in the dialogue (hopefully). This is he I watched Zdeadwood after all.

*Deadwood, obvs

i find it v odd that people shout the numbers of the horse when they're watching the race, like "go 8, come on 8" etc...my dad is quite into betting and he brought me to the track tons of times as a kid, you always say the horse's name in my experience.

I can see them changing that to make it easier for the audience.

yeah i figure that's why. it does stick out tho and leads me to my other complaint. i've only watched ep1 but i felt they spelled out some things like this that didn't matter that much, when other parts were way more convoluted and hard to follow, just based on cryptic rapidfire dialogue.

still v much enjoyed the start though, for a first ep that wasn't bad at all.