Post: #76

^See Dusty, this is where I'm gonna have to disagree with Tony. Carmella really was a decent wife if you think about it, even though she wasn't that great looking. She did take care of the kids, cooked, and cleaned.

And I think Tony in this scene was just too afraid to say that to her face: the fact that she just wasn't hot enough for him.

Post: #77

All the issues aside, Carm >>>>>>> Skyler. You can never imagine Carm, even in a moment of weakness, threatening to snitch on Tony!

Post: #78

I think it's hard to compare them in that way, Carm knew what she was getting into with Tony. Skylar never expected Walt to become one of the biggest meth producers in North America.

That being said, Skyler is a cunt.

Post: #79

(11-27-2014 01:43 AM)Cunnilinguist Wrote:  ^See Dusty, this is where I'm gonna have to disagree with Tony. Carmella really was a decent wife if you think about it, even though she wasn't that great looking. She did take care of the kids, cooked, and cleaned.

And I think Tony in this scene was just too afraid to say that to her face: the fact that she just wasn't hot enough for him.

I see what you're saying, but I still think Carmella bitched way too much.

I was thinking the same thing when Carmella asked Tony what these other girls have that I don't. Youth! Good looks! Less bitchy!

Also, the actress who played Carmella, she's a good actress, but shit if she didn't look way older than her age. I think when the series started she was still in her 30s, but looked way older with the wrinkles and so on. I think she might be a smoker in real life, because she has those wrinkles around the mouth that smokers get from sucking on cigarettes.

Post: #80

^ Yea she does look way older, and I also love the scene where Tony criticizes her for cutting her hair short at one point (couldn't find it on youtube). Also, how fucked up is it that she let Tony know about Furio? Totally put his life in danger as I believe Tony later put out a hit on him, though we don't know if it actually took place.

It's too bad that Edie Falco went from playing a decent housewife on The Sopranos to a ball-busting, careerist nurse on Nurse Jackie.

Post: #81

Carmela was a hypocrite who loved the luxury Tony gave her but continuously felt guilt for how it was gained.

I would rather fuck Skyler, but I would prefer to marry Carmela.

I never understood the Skyler hate, though I did hate when she rubbed Walt's face in the fact that she fucked Ted. Just painful to watch that scene.

Post: #82

(11-27-2014 04:11 PM)Cunnilinguist Wrote:  It's too bad that Edie Falco went from playing a decent housewife on The Sopranos to a ball-busting, careerist nurse on Nurse Jackie.

Did you ever see OZ? Falco's character is fucking awful in that.



Such a cunty character. And she killed that tall biker dude who was my favorite.

(11-28-2014 04:34 PM)Lucky Wrote:  Carmela was a hypocrite who loved the luxury Tony gave her but continuously felt guilt for how it was gained.

I never watched Breaking Bad, so I don't really know about Skyler but I agree about Carm.





Here is using Tony's reputation to force her neighbor's sister into writing a recommendation.

In retrospect scenes like this are pretty weak, almost cartoony. I can't imagine something like this happening in season 2 or 3.

I know there were some long gaps in filming early on, they must have chosen to move away from stuff like this. They improved the fight scenes a lot too, early scenes had people punching into the camera, which looked ridiculous.

And just because of all of the Richie Aprile love, here is my favorite scene with him. You can skip to 1:30 if you want to save time.





Great scene, Richie really was the scariest mother-fucker on that show. Sometimes I'd be ready to look down at my feet when he came onto the scream, haha.

Post: #83

Richie: "Let him pay me my mun nee!"

Post: #84

Paulie: Hey, you're gonna build Beansie a ramp.

Richie: I'll build a ramp up to your ass, drive a Lionel up in there.

______________________________________________________

Tony: I thought I told you to back off Beansie.

Richie: I did, then I put it in drive.

Post: #85

(11-17-2014 03:42 PM)Dusty Wrote:  Richie Aprile was a great psychopath. The actor was great ( I think he was being considered for the tony role before gandalfini got it).

There's another scene that cracks me up. Tony is chewing out Richie about something, and richie is giving him this psychopathic stare. Tony calls him out on it and calls it Aprile's "Manson lamps."

I think of all the characters on the show, I would be afraid of Ritchie the most. Something about his mannerisms and facial expressions that is chilling.

Post: #86

Phil Leotardo was just as crazy as Ritchie and had more power. Ritchie and Phil both think they were owed something and felt entitled just cause they did time in jail.

Post: #87

Watching Season 6, Episode 8 and I had to pause it to post this scene. It shows the difference between how a true man is supposed to act versus how he is expected to act in modern time, and how we idolize characters in film who embody the true alpha mentality.

Skip to 2:00 for the scene.

Post: #88

Interesting debate on Carm vs. Skyler. One thing I will say about Carmella is that I don't even blame her that much for having a meltdown at the end of season 4. Initially we are told that she has been okay with Tony fucking other chicks. As she starts to demand that Tony not do that Tony fucks up over and over by always bringing home little clues that he's still banging other chicks. I believe once Carmella explicitly said not to sleep with chicks outside the marriage Tony should have been more careful. Tony also fucked up when he beat up the counselor who was banging his ex-mistress and then he banged her one-legged cousin . That chick was mentally unstable from the beginning and called his house drunk a few times throughout the series. That should be a big no-no. I was talking with a friend of mine and we both agreed that despite all her faults and less than stellar looks Carmella does have a good housewife personality overall.

Anyway, Sopranos is one of the best shows ever made and I refuse to believe he got killed in the end even though he most likely did lol. Did anybody catch the creator of the Sopranos flip-flopping recently? He gave an interview saying that Tony was not dead and then backtracked a few days later saying his words were taken out of context.

Post: #89

Anybody watch the Real Sopranos documentary about the New Jersey Mob from which the drama is based.

Post: #90

(12-08-2014 03:51 AM)TheSlayer Wrote:  Anyway, Sopranos is one of the best shows ever made and I refuse to believe he got killed in the end even though he most likely did lol. Did anybody catch the creator of the Sopranos flip-flopping recently? He gave an interview saying that Tony was not dead and then backtracked a few days later saying his words were taken out of context.

This comment lead me to search David Chase on YouTube. I found a great conversation he had on Satellite Radio. I think many people here will enjoy it.

He talks about the ending, he talks about what happened to the Russian in Pinbarrens, he talks about Melfi and Employee of the Month.

Post: #91

"You're entitled to shit."

Post: #92

I know this is a Sopranos thread but I'm re-watching Breaking Bad and saw the episode where Walt allows Jane to choke on her own vomit. This actually has a couple of parallels with The Sopranos scene where Tony nearly saves Christopher's life after their car accident and then at the last second opts to choke Chris out. Walt runs over to Jane with every intention of saving her life, and at the last second chooses to do nothing; his inaction leads to her death.

For many, this was the moment when Walt crosses the Moral Event Horizon, entering truly evil territory whereas before his actions were more ambiguous.

The other scene people point to is when Walt poisons a kid in order to gain Jesse's assistance to defeat Gus. I'm uncertain whether Tony would ever poison a child like that.

In any case, did Tony have a moment for you where he crossed over and became irredeemable? When he killed his best friend Pussy? When he ordered the hit on Adriana? When he killed Christopher?

Also, who do you think is more evil, Tony Soprano or Walter White?

Post: #93

(12-21-2014 05:51 PM)Lucky Wrote:  In any case, did Tony have a moment for you where he crossed over and became irredeemable? When he killed his best friend Pussy? When he ordered the hit on Adriana? When he killed Christopher?

Tony was always a psychopath, whereas Walter became one when he turned 50.

Tony at age 11 witnesses his father chopping off Satrioli's finger, and not only is he not horrified, he likes it. He tells Mefli he got a rush out of witnessing that.

Post: #94

(12-21-2014 06:07 PM)Dusty Wrote:  Tony was always a psychopath, whereas Walter became one when he turned 50.

Tony at age 11 witnesses his father chopping off Satrioli's finger, and not only is he not horrified, he likes it. He tells Mefli he got a rush out of witnessing that.

It's possible he was just telling Melfi he got a rush out of it because he was toying with her or trying to look tough to mask his real thoughts about what he witnessed.

But let's say he was born a psychopath; that doesn't make him an evil person by default. There are psychopaths who behave morally even if that's not their preference.

An in-series example in season 1 is when Tony learns Meadow's teacher was having sex with one of her friends. In this instance, Tony had the capacity to restrain himself and do the right thing.

It seemed like as the series went on, Tony's restraint diminished.

Post: #95

(12-22-2014 05:56 AM)Lucky Wrote:  It's possible he was just telling Melfi he got a rush out of it because he was toying with her or trying to look tough to mask his real thoughts about what he witnessed.

That's a good point. Maybe some false bravado on Tony's part.

(12-22-2014 05:56 AM)Lucky Wrote:  An in-series example in season 1 is when Tony learns Meadow's teacher was having sex with one of her friends. In this instance, Tony had the capacity to restrain himself and do the right thing.

It seemed like as the series went on, Tony's restraint diminished.

One of the big points towards the end of the show was the idea that talk therapy actually makes sociopaths worse. That could explain Tony's diminishing restraint.

I think a lot of that would have to do with the always increasing pressure he faced. He was doing better financially as the seasons went by, but the amount of pressure he was facing from the mob, FBI, and his family seemed to grow each year. That kinda stress could definitely fuck with your decision making, leading to more impulsive moves.

I'm not sure if this has been posted but here is Tony fucking with Janice just for the sake of it. Not sociopathic here but the dude was definitely a prick. I just love the scene. Didn't want anyone to better themselves.





I'm actually rewatching The Wire, it's great the second time around. Tons of sociopaths in that. Marlo and Chris being the most obvious. The Ukrainian dude too.

It's kinda interesting how many great tv shows revolve around sociopaths. Is it just because they're interesting to the general population? I wonder if it's because on some level people are jealous of how cold, calm, and calculating these people can be.

Post: #96

I think it was the first or second episode where Tony is driving and sees some gambling degenerate who owes him money. Tony chases the guy around an office park ( tone is in his car the guy is on foot). Finally T clips him. He deliberately smashes his car into the guys knee leaving him a bloody mess. He gets out of the car and kicks the shit out of him.

You'll notice that he's having a ball terrorizing this guy. He's got this huge smirk/ smile on his face the whole time.

He likes it.

Post: #97

(12-22-2014 11:27 AM)Dusty Wrote:  I think it was the first or second episode where Tony is driving and sees some gambling degenerate who owes him money. Tony chases the guy around an office park ( tone is in his car the guy is on foot). Finally T clips him. He deliberately smashes his car into the guys knee leaving him a bloody mess. He gets out of the car and kicks the shit out of him.

You'll notice that he's having a ball terrorizing this guy. He's got this huge smirk/ smile on his face the whole time.

He likes it.

Yeah this scene, episode one.





That scene is also interesting because of how it was produced. It was filmed 10-months before episode 2 with the intention of being turned into a movie if the pilot didn't get picked up.

I'm not sure of the exact dates but that means this episode was filmed in the Summer of 1997 and season 2 was probably filmed in the Spring and Summer of 1999. A pretty big gap and it really shows with the acting and directing. Some examples...

• James Gandolfini sounds like a totally different person by season 2 in terms of accent.
• Tony would never again by so indiscreet when committing a crime.
• The music choice with the "Wop, wop, wop" at the end was a little corny. Great song, but it doesn't fit.
• The fight scene at 3:30 was poorly filmed, pretty cartoon-like.
• No more voiceovers.
  

Despite all of this it was an amazing episode. It shows how strong the show was that such a gap could even exist.

Also Gandolfini really packs on the pounds, he looked like he was in somewhat decent shape back then.

edit:

The "degenerate fucking gambler" at the end is great. Tony really hates them, probably because of his dad and Satriale. Of course he'd be one in a few seasons.

Post: #98

About his weight, it was kind of eerie that James Gandolfini's death was hinted at in Christopher's intervention. 3:20. 'The way you eat, you are going to have a heart attack by the time you're 50!'

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Post: #99

(12-24-2014 08:32 AM)Pride male Wrote:  About his weight, it was kind of eerie that James Gandolfini's death was hinted at in Christopher's intervention. 3:20. 'The way you eat, you are going to have a heart attack by the time you're 50!'

That's one of my favorite scenes. They were such a trashy crew.

So many great quotes in that though, "woah woah, you killed the dog?", "your hair was in the toilet water...disgusting"

More about Gandolfini did you guys know Ray Liotta was actually offered the part first? He was offered a few more too, turned them all down. Would have been a much different show. Probably a much weaker show. Not that Liotta wasn't capable.





Gandolfini as Tony was probably the best acting I've ever seen though. Maybe that I ever will see. I think it helped that he didn't have an "A-list" history.

I can't think of an "a-list" movie actors who went on to dominate a tv show like that. Maybe McConaughey in True Detective. It helps to have an actor who's image isn't muddled by past roles.

Post: #100

I can't imagine anyone else but Gandolfini in that role. He was just perfect as Tony. Never has there been a better casting decision made in the history of movies/tv.