Sopranos

haha, I watched quite a bit of "Oz" and yer insane.

the audacity of shankings

Obama sequel

I just finished the O.J. mini-series, and found out that the guy who played Fred Goldman--uncanny lookalike, but not a good performance--was Joseph Siravo, "Johnny Boy Soprano" in five episodes. Drawing a blank.

― clemenza, Wednesday, August 2, 2017 8:15 PM (four days ago)

wait, you don't remember tony's DAD?

Thanks. Definitely remember the dad, just not the name. (I shouldn't have said "uncanny lookalike," by the way; what I meant was, uncanny makeup job.)

haha, I watched quite a bit of "Oz" and yer insane.

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), 3. august 2017 02:20 (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can't really honestly say that Oz > Sopranos, but it's a really fun version of what a 'prestige' television show could be, all weird visuals and sex and death. There are ways that Sopranos became the prestige template, which, looking back, seem a bit unfortunate to me. David Chase always had a chip on his shoulder about doing 'tv' and really wanted to do a film, but his taste in film seems pretty boring and vanilla, pretty boring nineties indie stuff. The irony is that it was Tom Fontana, not Chase, who ended up having a real influence on modern cinema, as Lars von Trier has admitted being very influenced by Homicide in his nineties stuff like Dogme, which of course then was hugely influential on a bunch of stuff.

I just think today, with peak tv and hundreds and hundreds of tv shows, every success has so many imitators that it's kinda fun to see stuff that people don't really bother making anymore. I miss shows like Oz :( Even though something like Orange is the New Black is probably a better show as well, strictly speaking.

BAD INFLUENCE

Orange is the new black is awful though

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/sopranos-movie-prequel-david-chase-1202721680/

Clearly the lead characters figure to be Tony's parents, Junior, child Tony, and related associates, ie not even the actors who played them in the '60s episodes of the series (cuz they're too old).

My brother made the same observation - I'd forgotten there were flashback scenes tbh

i'm slowly watching this for the first time, i'm early in season 2 now. what is the name of the character who is part of the gang who looks like chevy chase? i feel like he's there and they never say his name and he just hangs out looking like chevy chase

this dude:

https://i.imgur.com/FwUrkqW.png

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Curto

uh but maybe don't read all that (spoilers)

there are a bunch of (usually minor) recurring characters who are only partially introduced when they initially appear

it's funny, I think the wiki entries take a lot from scripts and other sources, cuz that dude is definitely never referred to as "Buffalo Ray" on-screen

(spoilers)

The revelation that he's [** *********] is one of the more fascinating mysteries of the show, since they never really explain when or how or if there's any consequences from it (I'm not sure there ever were? At least not on screen; possible it would have had consequences down the line)

Seitz and Sepinwall have a new book imminent, The Sopranos Sessions. Related a NYC Sopranos film fest that features both The Public Enemy and Barry Lyndon, along with more direct content:

http://www.ifccenter.com/series/the-sopranos-film-festival/

the authors speak:

We didn’t get him to admit Tony died or anything like that. He was saying that the original intention was to have intimations that Tony died, but he moved away from that to something more philosophical in nature. But David would talk about things being intentional without really being intentional. I asked him: Is it possible that a lifetime of consuming gangster films where heroes die at the end left a flavor? And he said, “That’s possible.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/books/sopranos-sessions-matt-zoller-seitz-alan-sepinwall-interview.html

Has anyone here even mentioned Chase's upcoming Sopranos prequel flick?

It centers on Christopher's father, says Mike Imperioli.

the name of that Seitz/Sepinwall book sends me looking for the "irrationally angry" thread

on that movie

https://deadline.com/2019/01/the-sopranos-david-chase-20th-anniversary-prequel-film-tony-soprano-the-many-saints-of-newark-1202530544/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dwk-gKeUUAAiuI-.jpg

was this the best four minutes of telly ever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g77BFazbwkU

im watching this show for the first time right now

it takes a while to get its footing

there's some hilariously un-sopranoish stuff at the beginning. tony and christopher riding after a guy in broad daylight in front of literally hundreds of people and beating him up in a really cartoonish way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IsyuTZq3cw

yeah it's almost like a different show for at least a few episodes

I agree. It's that scene I posted where it switches to great. (don't get me wrong there are great things in season one)

The show was often cartoonish, eg Van Zandt. That's not nec a problem.

btw Chase said his original feature film concept was for deNiro, and Anne Bancroft as the mother

(never mind that she was about 12 years older than RdN)

did you just straight up lift that gripe from the graduate

I’m only on like episode 4 but im already loving it

peaks at ep 5 fyi give up after that

she was 5 years older than Hoffman

and her birth name was Anna Italiano

Stay on for the college episode at least.

^^^def where the show starts hitting it's stride

Skip the episode "A Hit is a Hit."

i unintentionally skipped that episode when i revisited the show last year

what's so bad about it? (I have no particular memory of that episode)

Hesh is good in it. NJ rockband shit is hilarious.

the college episode is the one where Meadow asks Tony if he's in the mafia?

My Sopranos story is that last week I saw a complete Sopranos box-set in a charity shop and bought it immediately. I visited my 83 y.o. mum and left the box there by accident. She phoned me to say that she'd watched six episodes in one night "it's a bit violent but it's a good story", oh my days. She's nearly at the end of season two now.

Ha, that's cool!

Yes and lol

Xp

I think I need to be there to talk her through the last episode when she gets to it (which won't be long at this rate).

Glaswegian Mammy gets into the Sopranos. I wish we had emojis on here, sometimes.

Jim will enjoy that one, i think!