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I found out an interesting fact about Deborah Ann Wohl who plays Karen Page, her boyfriend is comedian E.J. Scott, who is slowly going blind from choroideremia. Wow, she isnt a shallow girl, good for her! Also found out her natural hair color is blond, I thought it was red.




I never saw Brokeback Mountain, but I wonder if it was like Foggy & Matt on Daredevil?



Oh my gosh! Theres Bromances and the picture definition is Nelson & Murdock.

WARNING: spoilers below
When Foggy found out Daredevil was Matt....oh my goodness he was hysterical crying like a 14 year old girl that Matt had lied to him for all that time! Matt was getting emotional too. I just finished a very loud fight/argument they had with each other, and it actually was fierce like 2 lovers tearing into each other. The characters in the comics and show arent gay, but other than physical intimacy these 2 have covered all other ground.



They have great chemistry, which is why when you mentioned not initially liking Foggy I was like "but him and Matt are so great together! Avocados at Law!" Has your opinion of him changed at all since then?



They have great chemistry, which is why when you mentioned not initially liking Foggy I was like "but him and Matt are so great together! Avocados at Law!" Has your opinion of him changed at all since then?
Yeah and I noticed the second half of season 2 he noticably toned down alot. Hes ok.

I finished all the Daredevils finally.



Daredevil season 1 got a flush
, but Ill give season 2
. I think D'onofrio only being in a few episodes was a noticeable loss, Bernthals Punisher is competent....but hes not magnetic. Not a forceful personality like D'onofrio. The new addition of a beautiful actress playing Elektra that can act minimally didnt help the real appeal to the show.

Ive a pretty strong feeling that its gonna hit the fan hard next season, and it has everything to do with when Matt seeing Wilson in the jail - big mistake. If they follow the comics, big mistake.




After 2 seasons of Daredevil, and watching Captain America: Civil War, Im gonna get into some more normal viewing fare.

Gonna start watching Homeland, only have seen first 2 episodes of season 1, and then ill watch & review Bridge Of Spies.



Screw Homeland, screw Bridge Of Spies, I never got around to them. Instead Im trying to finish The Big Short, keep up with my current tv shows, and writing a MoFo Fantasy Baseball League Update.

Will do a review on The Big Short when Im ever able to finish it. Also wish to announce Im gonna be changing my past review scores in the thread. I scored too high mostly, will readjust accordingly, and will explain why.



I just went thru my review thread and changed all my ratings. Everything I rated lost a full star, except for Daredevil which I only shaved half a star from each season.

Will be doing a Sopranos review, as if anyone needs to read another one of that lol, after Im done in 4 or 5 episodes. Just binged the entire series.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I just went thru my review thread and changed all my ratings. Everything I rated lost a full star, except for Daredevil which I only shaved half a star from each season.
Iro 2.0???


Why take a full star off everything? Feel the need to rate things harder? Why?
__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



Iro 2.0???


Why take a full star off everything? Feel the need to rate things harder? Why?
Well, I honestly am so enthusiastic that I overrated stuff. Was BvsS really like a 4 star movie? At the time I rated it that high, but when I look back at the reviews.....the scores were simply too high. I honestly think I can give a more objective and fair review if I let alot of time pass. Thats not practical if I were a professional film critic, but I stand by the scores I give these movies/shows now. I still give BvsS a higher rating than most
, but I thnk it really wasnt so dismal as everyone described. Ive heard less bad heat surrounding Michael Bay projects, and BvsS was better than 95% of the work Bay has done.





The Sopranos

Season 1-6


So I just finished rewatching the entire series for the 3rd time. What could possibly be said about this show that hasnt? Between the shows backstory, the meaning of the ending, the true mobsters they were loosely based on, and James Gandolfinis death. After finishing the series I immediately went on the internet to read the theories surrounding the final episode. Found great interviews and watched a documentary about the real crime family they were based on. First things first, mobsters are not this rich. Real mobsters are more like the Donnie Brasco variety where theyre scraping for an existence, and there isnt a warmth inside them like existed in Tony.

I dont know if David Chase could ever follow this series up. He originally developed it to compliment his relationship with his mother. This became the backdrop for a mobster series which was made to be as realistic as possible, show what The Godfather universe would be like interacting with the real world, and use profanity & violence shown only in movies before it. He definitely had the setting down, and mirrored certain characteristics from the real life New Jersey DeCavalcante crime family. The boss who owned a legitimate business, a strip club, and the sandwich shop the crew hung out in front of was just 300 yards from where the real crew hung out.

Chase casted it from authenticity. If he hadnt we would not have had Gandolfini as the lead or having this conversation now. He captured the essence of New Jersey only done before in songs by Bruce Springsteen. He made the show immersive first and foremost. It wasnt politically correct, like All In The Family there was bigotry & ignorance, but all rolled up in a very human believable flawed modern day package.


The authenticity stayed in the writing throughout, it didnt taper off after finding a "formula" to work with, the story stayed ever changing. The actors were nervous if their character was going to be killed, nothing was set in stone. This gave a more organic flow that hasnt been captured since. Game Of Thrones is based off novels, The Walking Dead based off of a comic, Breaking Bad had a concrete storyline going-in, but The Sopranos.......the characters dictated the story. A.J. is a perfect example of it, as he could have been a likable character at certain points, and was, then a real life turn made him a mopey mess again. Frustratingly realistic.

As a film and tv nut, I am still in awe of James Gandolfinis performance. Not even Ian McShane in Deadwood showed this much range, and Bryan Cranston simply does not have Gandolfinis presence. Many actors interviewed said it was all in his eyes. There could be a fatherly warmth, a manly sex appeal, a murderous rage, a pitiless inhumanity....he could do it all, and fluidly. What shocked me even further was how different James Gandolfini was compared to Tony Soprano. Yes he was a nice guy, but a giving man with his money and influence. That is even rarer in Hollywood than a hit series of this magnitude. I was saddened all over again knowing he was gone.

Its quite silly, right? I didnt know the guy, but I wouldnt feel this way if McShane, Cranston, or another star from a great series passed. Why him? To a guy, Tony Soprano probably represented what a modern day man wishes he could be, someone that others would want to be their Dad, he was a kid at heart, but could kill you looking into your eyes - Tony Soprano was fear and love all rolled into one. A monstrous everyman. To many women he represented a protective husband, loving father, provider, and was in charge. A real man.


The comedy was brilliant. Truly some of the scenarios that would take place throughout the series had such a random suddenness to them. If all it took was 45 seconds to get the scene across, then thats what it was, and by the time youre done laughing youre already in dialogue for another part of the story somewhere else.

Regarding the ending - I think David Chase wanted to leave his options open.

WARNING: spoilers below
When Tony walked into the restaurant, he sees himself sitting in the middle of it, and then the scene continued with him sitting in the middle of the restaurant. Now he could say Tony was killed, and thats why the screen went black with no sound for so long "I wondr if you hear it coming" is what Bobby said to him on the boat, a scene reinforced. THere are theories that Tony will be paranoid now always looking at the door to see who comes in, but imo Chase wanted to one day tell more Sopranos stories. Why he had Tony see himself in that seat is him playing the scenario out in his mind and realizes he cant sit in the middle of a restaurant anymore. His paranoia would save him and Dr Melfie no longer seeing him as her patient might have pronounced this, and saved his life.


With the cat making an issue of staring at Christophers picture, Sylvio in a coma, Patsys son & Tonys daughter getting together........The Sopranos was originally pitched as a movie. I wouldnt be surprised if Chase had more stuff if he figured the actors wanted to one day revisit it. So where do I think the characters would be now?

WARNING: spoilers below
With Tony killed in front of him Im sure AJ would have dropped the movie making carrot Tony & Carmella laid out for him, and he would have joined the Army. Meadow probably would have married Patsys son being she just lost her Dad, and Carmella would still have a decent lifestyle since Tony did cave in and sign that trust fund to her. Sylvio would be the boss, & Paulie would probably been made consigliere in name only as Patsy would be who Syl would truly confer with. Paulie wasnt the sharpest knife in the drawer.


Salute!

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This looks like a great review. Don't have time to read it right now but i will later and will probably comment on it some. Glad you still love it. I'm still planning on picking up from where i left off, i just got a little burnt out since i've seen The Sopranos an ungodly amount of times. It's still my favourite show and i think it always will be.

Also great pics.





I thought Agent Harris was an interesting character. He came off like such a fed, but was endeared to Tony after having him under surveilance the first 2 seasons, after 9/11 they went on to stop terrorism. Interesting twist by Chase to have Harris a secret fan of Tonys, and this type of surveilance infatuation was touched on more heavily in the series Homeland.



Nice reviews mate.
Thanks Opti

I found this great clip of Tony Sirico 20 years before Sopranos...basically playing Paulie



David Chase Explains What Happened To The Russian In Pine Barrens




I've always hated that explanation, well i hate that it has an explanation at all actually. Pine Barrens is brilliant i love that it is mostly filler; very little connects to the other events in season 3. Tony has his business with the Russian guy (forgot) his name but it isn't a big thing. It's mostly just Chris and Paulie being hilarious; possibly the two characters outside of Tony and Carmela with the best chemistry. Also Tony making fun of Bobby is gold



I've always hated that explanation, well i hate that it has an explanation at all actually. Pine Barrens is brilliant i love that it is mostly filler; very little connects to the other events in season 3. Tony has his business with the Russian guy (forgot) his name but it isn't a big thing. It's mostly just Chris and Paulie being hilarious; possibly the two characters outside of Tony and Carmela with the best chemistry. Also Tony making fun of Bobby is gold
I was surprised to hear they had Steve Schirripa (Bobby) wearing a fat suit the first 2 seasons, he did look humongous, and he did solid job of going from a joke character to a really important recurring character. If you think about it, out of all the mobsters, Bobby was the one that was the most level headed.



Sopranos Home Movies was purely awesome, and I think one of many examples how the writers didnt necessarily know where the story would go, it was up to the characters. Sopranos Home Movies and Heidi & Kennedy (Christopher) were episodes that started at one point, and where it ended was light years from the beginning, no way of predicting the end result. Thats cause the writer didnt know going in, I wish I was that talented. Mind you these are some of the best episodes in the series, and it was in the last season, no steam was lost.

In between season 3 & 4 there was a 16 month wait, and they gained viewers rather than lose them. Then they had a 21 month wait between 5 & 6, and here we are still talking about it today. Even with Gandolfini gone, if they came out with a Sopranos movie, Id see it. I got the feeling David Chase had more story to tell with Tony, Carlo flipping to the feds, Tonys lawyer saying 80-90% chance of indictment, even setting up the little bit between Paulie and the cat, but I seriously doubt they would consider it now.