let's check in on the Plot Against America thread in 2025
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:05 (three years ago) link
that said if this ends up not sucking I will redact any and all snark
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8300956/
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:09 (three years ago) link
i still think about show me a hero, which was excellent. maybe that's because i'm a westchester county native.
― boz conspiracy by toby hus (voodoo chili), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:10 (three years ago) link
unfair to begin any comparison of simon vs chase oeuvres in 1999 therefore chopping off homicide life in the streets a bunch of which is as good as the best of the wire
― flopson, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:12 (three years ago) link
I'm definitely more harsh on Simon than I would be if he wasn't such an asshole, I watched and liked SMAH and Treme at the time. but I feel like a) Chase deserves more credit for The Sopranos than Simon does for The Wire and b) Sopranos is at least 5x better than The Wire
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:15 (three years ago) link
I don't really get your point about threads standing the test of time or whatever (the Not Fade Away thread doesn't exactly confirm your "well-liked" thesis), and Treme and The Deuce aren't miniseries.
A Dry Run sounds potentially good -- like everything he does it probably depends on who he collaborates with.
Chase's next projects: a prequel movie to the Sopranos & a series about early Hollywood. I mean dude's 75, so I'm not going to clown him for that, but I don't think he wins any kind of career comparison contest here, or maybe you're a big Northern Exposure fan?
― rob, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:16 (three years ago) link
fwiw both of these shows are by definition overrated and have significant flaws
― rob, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:19 (three years ago) link
I've been revisiting Sopranos lately with ppl who haven't seen it lately and would dispute "significant flaws" tbh
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:20 (three years ago) link
too many latelys but you get it
The biggest flaw that struck me on watching the entire series last year was its frequent male gaziness. I assume fans will dismiss that as the coming from the characters, but they're not operating the camera when Adrianna and Meadow are on screen. The handling of race is also quite bad at times, but for better or worse isn't as much of a feature. Also, Season 4 is a drag :)
― rob, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:24 (three years ago) link
Rot in this revive
Wire is clear of sopranos
― Qanondorf (darraghmac), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:25 (three years ago) link
TIL:
Simon's nephew, Jason Simon, is a guitarist and vocalist for the psychedelic rock band Dead Meadow.
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:25 (three years ago) link
The biggest flaw that struck me on watching the entire series last year was its frequent male gaziness
it's true, you spend much of the series gazing at males
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:26 (three years ago) link
this is a fun convo
― rob, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:27 (three years ago) link
I can't think of a single example of what you're talking about tbh. The most obvious "example" I can think of are the feds leering at Ade while monitoring her during the s3 opener, but that's completely in character for bored cops.
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:28 (three years ago) link
would it be more annoying or more interesting to rerun this poll
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:30 (three years ago) link
def annoying
― rob, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:31 (three years ago) link
annoying when the wire won again
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:31 (three years ago) link
call me foolish but I honestly think sopranos would win
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:32 (three years ago) link
if we’re gonna judge filmmakers/showrunners based on whether they’re good on twitrer, that would be pretty unkind to basically everyone but the safdie bros
― boz conspiracy by toby hus (voodoo chili), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:40 (three years ago) link
AOC would only need to release a 5 minute short to be the best filmmaker then
― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:41 (three years ago) link
xavier dolan should really be doing more with social media
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:48 (three years ago) link
― boz conspiracy by toby hus (voodoo chili), Thursday, January 21, 2021 10:10 AM (thirty minutes ago)
I think about it a lot because I have to deal with city governments and affordable housing stuff for work ... I'm tempted to rewatch, but the ending will make me cry even more now.
Seriously though, the male gaziness of Sopranos is totally ... a lot of it takes place in a fucking strip club ffs but the strippers are just "kinda there". Yes, parts of the Wire also take place in strip club but the women in that context are presented more as actual people and not like literal set dressing. Neither win prizes for feminism though.
― sarahell, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:49 (three years ago) link
that's fair. otoh Sopranos has a much greater number of well-realized female characters than The Wire does
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:58 (three years ago) link
*disputed
― Qanondorf (darraghmac), Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:58 (three years ago) link
(going by memory, anyway)
And also the fact Sopranos is pretty much affluent middle-aged straight white male problems -- like, I watched it, and I enjoyed parts of it, and apparently the actor that plays the nephew who has all the problems -- I forget the character name, but basically the Ziggy Sobotka / Jimmy Darmody character is actually a cool dude who is into No Wave. But still, I don't really have much empathy for or interest in these people, apart from the wife, who was pretty awesome tbh. Idk, it wasn't bad. It was as good as a good season of Game of Thrones, which I did watch to the bitter end. The Wire, however, seriously stands the test of time in many ways.
― sarahell, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:59 (three years ago) link
xpost MeadowAdrianaCarmelaJaniceRosalieAnnalisa ZuccaDr Melfi
― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:00 (three years ago) link
Maybe it's just that the Wire is more relevant to me? I am sure there are ilxors who are affluent middle-aged straight white males who find the Sopranos personally relevant in ways I do not.
― sarahell, Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:01 (three years ago) link
like, I watched it, and I enjoyed parts of it, and apparently the actor that plays the nephew who has all the problems -- I forget the character name, but basically the Ziggy Sobotka / Jimmy Darmody character is actually a cool dude who is into No Wave
different folks different priorities I guess
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:02 (three years ago) link
I'm a middle-aged straight white guy and I'd still vote for The Wire. I thought the exploration of oppressive capitalist systems was more interesting than mob boss goes to therapy.
― DJI, Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:04 (three years ago) link
god im going to be getting tired fingers with all these fps
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:04 (three years ago) link
the wire is didactic doggerel written by middle-aged white men if that will help people be more critical about it
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:05 (three years ago) link
(overstating things, i actually like the wire and rewatched it last year)
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:06 (three years ago) link
also Livia, Ade's FBI handler, Charmaine Bucco off the top of my head
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:07 (three years ago) link
now we're cooking
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:08 (three years ago) link
look on the bright side this is keeping me out of US politics threads
haha
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:09 (three years ago) link
Watched both long after the fact: I liked The Wire, but easily The Sopranos for me.
― clemenza, Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:09 (three years ago) link
imagine if McNulty went to therapy
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:17 (three years ago) link
that reminds me (lol), the acting is quite possibly the main reason sopranos is better
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:18 (three years ago) link
(tbc most of the acting on the wire is at least fine and some of it is great)
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:19 (three years ago) link
except for AJ
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:20 (three years ago) link
AJ is a perfectly awkward and whiny teen boy
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:21 (three years ago) link
having been a doughy white 14 y/o with ill fitting clothes just starting to read books for adults, I thought he nailed it
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:22 (three years ago) link
I thought the exploration of oppressive capitalist systems was more interesting than mob boss goes to therapy.
yeah, the one scene with McNulty and the FBI profilers pretty much captured the heart of that premise the Sopranos spent so much time on.
Honestly, though, in some ways, if you are looking at the two shows from a radical intersectional leftist lens, it's kinda like the shit that went down on election certification day -- cops vs. fascist idiots -- both problematic.
― sarahell, Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:26 (three years ago) link
AJ suffers when he's doing scenes with Gandolfini and Falco, they are giving the greatest performances in TV history and he's just giving nothing back. He looks the part, and he has some good moments, and I think he's better in the last season. But he can be distractingly blank.
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:28 (three years ago) link
he was very much a line-reader only
― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:29 (three years ago) link
his best delivery in teh entire series was "what? no fuckin ziti?"
― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:30 (three years ago) link
i will say his suicide scene in the pool was one of the few times I saw him show legit terror in a believable sense as an actor