A post was merged into an existing topic: The Last TV Series You Watched
The Sopranos is a masterpiece. It was so good that it killed the mafia film subgenre - no one made another mafia movie after it came out, knowing they could never top a TV show that had dozens of hours to develop some of the deepest characters ever written. I’ve rewatched it more times than I can count.
@aldo I disagree… they are insufferable but also entertaining. Tony’s reaction to Meadow dating Noah is some of the funniest shit ever… the show actually has lots of hilarious jokes that would not be allowed to exist today. The weakest part of the show is Season 4 imo - the soap opera season, I often skip it entirely on rewatches.
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I’m not saying the writing or performance of ‘Meadow’ is bad, … just that I fecking hate her and that type of supercilious, hypocritical person she represents … She gets worse as the series progresses, taking up causes and helping the needy, which I think is mainly to piss off her openly bigoted dad. Also, her singing in a couple of episodes is notably awful, and made me wonder if Tony strong armed her drama teachers so she could get a solo in the choir ??? LOL 
… but she is one of the very least interesting characters.
My favorite is Uncle Junior … wise cracking and shrewd, and as ‘Johnny Sac’ said, "If there’s any flies on, Jnr, they’re paying fucking rent!’
What I find great is that you can dip into a few episodes from any season and get caught up again in the fun and drama … but I had to take a break from S4 when we get all that crap about Karen’s Ziti
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Yeah… she’s hot though
Go shit in ya hat
Yeah, I love all the seasons except for Season 4. In Season 4, all the drama between Tony and Carmela gets annoying - it’s just boring, which is the worst thing entertainment can be - failing to entertain. There’s too much focus on Tony’s personal life, and during that season, it’s at its most boring.
Season 1 is a personal favorite of mine. It feels like a more comedic 2000s version of Goodfellas. It’s the most charming season. The show was still finding its footing, and I think that’s part of what makes the season stand out. The writing, pacing, deaths - everything feels different from what came after in a good way. That said, it’s the shallowest season, the most repetitive and it’s very slow paced. It’s one of the least rewatchable seasons as a result.
Seasons 2 and 3 are the classic seasons where the show really found its footing. They’re much more polished and well written than season 1. It feels like you’re hanging out with the characters as it perfectly balances the mob stuff with Tony’s personal life, and Tony’s crew hadn’t done anything to make you dislike them at that point - just some funny, charismatic Italian-Americans who are part of the mob.
Seasons 5 and 6 are distinct because they do the opposite of Season 4 - they focus almost entirely on the mob side of things, which I think was a great change after Season 4. They feel like a soft reboot. It became the mob show that a lot of people wished it was from the start. These seasons are a lot darker too - the tone is much more serious compared to what came before, even though it still has some comedic parts.
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Last night, I watched an all-time favourite from 1973…
A film about Police corruption against one man’s moral stand.
I don’t mind admitting that the end of this film really touches me, emotionally…it’s one of the few films that do.
It makes for an even more poignant viewing experience, when you realise that is based on a true story, of one man’s uphill struggle against corruption, bureaucracy, and - ultimately - his own conscience.
The big question that the film asks is: 'What would I do in the same circumstances?
For anyone who has never seen it…please give it a go. It’s one of the most inspirational films that I’ve ever seen. The combination of music, acting, direction, an intelligent script, and gritty cinematography, make this a winner.
Sometimes, standing up for what we truly believe in, costs us dearly…
The music, by Mikos Theodorakis, is emotionally perfect for the film, and compliments the inner turmoil of the main character, superlatively portrayed by Al Pacino (in one of his career’s finest).
The excellent Direction, by Sidney Lumet (‘Twelve Angry Men’), is that of a true master.
I can’t speak highly enough of this film…
Theme to ‘Serpico’, by Mikos Theodorakis
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Last 10
- Franco: Cecilia 5/10
- L’Herbier: L’argent 6/10
- Tiainen: Shadowland (doc) 8/10
- Kassila: Komisario Palmun erehdys 10/10
- Mollberg: Siunattu hulluus 10/10
- Roeg: Walkabout 8/10
- Blystone: Blockheads 10/10
- Raat: The Eight Faces of Lake Biwa 8/10
- Questi: Death Laid an Egg 6/10
- Kaurismäki: Zombie ja Kummitusjuna 10/10
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More from 1950
Ambush (Wood / 7/10)
The Outriders (Rowland / 6/10)
Madeleine (Lean / 7/10)
Highly Dangerous (R.W. Baker / 5/10)
Blackout (R.S. Baker / 5/10)
The Blue Lamp (Dearden / 7/10)
Odette (Wilcox / 6/10)
The Wooden Horse (Lee / 6/10)
The Magnet (Frend / 7/10)
The Man in Black (Searle / 4/10)
Cinderella (Disney / 6/10)
Got hold of Ambush after recommendations here and it was a good watch if not quite up to Devil’s Doorway etc from earlier. I feel that Robert Taylor gets overlooked when we talk about western actors. He was in a number of really good ones in the 50s of which these are just two. The Last Hunt and Westward the Women are two more. Not sure why he doesn’t get the love that Jimmy Stewart and Randolph Scott get for their films of the same period. To a lesser extent the same might be said about Joel McRea but perhaps his films didn’t quite hit the same heights. The Outriders is a good example. A solid western but not exceptional in any way.
Almost all the other films on the above list are British. 1950 was obviously the year that it was felt the audiences were ready for stories looking back at the war and this started a whole genre of films that dominated British production for the next decade. Both Wooden Horse and Odette are pretty good examples but there will be much better in the years to follow. The Blue Lamp is still an enjoyable watch if a bit dated now and really kick-started Dirk Bogarde’s career. Blackout and Man in Black are strictly B pictures and nothing much to mention except the behind the camera personnel of Man in Black reads like a who’s who of Hammer masters. John Gilling wrote it, Anthony Hinds produced, Jimmy Sangster was assistant director. They were all still learning their trade at this time and it’s a pretty poor film but fun to see their names crop up.
David Lean’s Madeleine is not one I had seen before and to begin with I thought it was going to bore me but it didn’t and as it went on it became something of a surprise. Highly Dangerous starred Margaret Lockwood who was a major UK star in the 40s but this isn’t her best.
Cinderella was one for the grand kids but I think was actually a return to form for Disney after some forgettable stuff in the 40s.
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The Girl in Lovers’ Lane (1960)
IMDb has given the film only 3.1/10 stars, but I liked it. I would give it 6 stars. The mentor-tutor relationship between Bix and Danny is great, there’s cute romance in the film and Jack Elam as the town creep is really terrifying.
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Perhaps you should vote for it on IMDB and get the ratio back to a reasonable rating - I haven’t seen or heard of it until now, but I see that it stars Brett Halsey of SW fame
Plus: it’s on Youtube for those interested.
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“IMDb” doesn’t “give” films ratings. Like any other film portal these are aggregated user Ratings (IMDb’s formula is public)
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The last film I watched was Michael Mann’s epic crime drama, ‘Heat’ (1995),’ with Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Natalie Portman, Diane Venora, Wes Studi, etc, etc. Pacino plays Los Angeles police lieutenant Vincent Hanna, who is on a mission to take down career criminal mastermind Neal Macaulay (DeNiro) and his expert crew before they carry out their next robbery. Both men will inevitably confront one another in person and on the streets of LA. Heat has the most badass robbery/gun battle scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie. I can’t think of anything that comes close in second for spectacular mayhem except Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch.
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One of my favorites with Pacino. It’s movies like Serpico that make him my favorite actor 
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I was going to watch the western Hired Hand on Arrow Blu-ray, but my player just refused to play it.
Instead I watched In the Heat of The Night with Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. Really good.
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