The Sopranos: The Complete Series Gift Set (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)This 33 disc 10 pound set will contain all 86 original episodes as well as an interview with series creator David Chase conducted by Alec Baldwin and two "Supper With the Sopranos" featurettes that will show cast members sitting down for dinner to discuss their favorite episodes. Other features include:
Sopranos Spoofs
2 CD soundtracks on 3 discs
16 page episode guide
56-page collector's album
As the Godfather saga was the view of the mafia from the executive suite, this series is a complex tale of the mafia from the working man's point of view. If you've never watched this show, you're in for an extended treat. Yes, there is violence and nudity, but it is never gratuitous and is needed to contrast Tony Soprano, the thinking man's gangster, with the reality of the life he has been born to and, quite frankly, would not ever have left even knowing how so many of his associates have ended up. Tony Soprano can discuss Sun Tzu with his therapist, then beat a man to death with a frying pan in a fit of rage, and while dismembering and disposing of the body with his nephew, take a break, sit down and watch TV while eating peanut butter out of the jar, and give that nephew advice on his upcoming marriage like they had just finished a Sunday afternoon of viewing NFL football. Even Carmella, his wife, when given a chance for a way out, finds that she really prefers life with Tony and the perks that go with it and looking the other way at his indiscretions versus life on her own. If you followed the whole thing, you know how it ends. If you didn't, trust me you've never seen a TV show end like this.
I'm looking forward to seeing all 86 episodes together over a short time period versus the very annoying long time periods between seasons that we had after the first three seasons. Remember, it took eight years (1999-2007) for the show to go from season one to season six.

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For six seasons, fans have devotedly watched Tony Soprano deal with the difficulties of balancing his home life with the criminal organization he leads. Audiences everywhere tuned in to see the mob, the food, the family, and who was next to be whacked. Celebrate the show that Vanity Fair called, "the greatest show in TV history", in the ultimate Sopranos collector's edition.

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The Sopranos: Season 6 Part 2 (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)So much of what's said abut the final season of The Sopranos refers to the last five minutes, as people unfortunately overlook the best nine episode string of the entire series.David Chase's last season of television's finest program is full of all the qualities that attracted viewers and critics for the past decade. Characters live in a world where death is a possibility each day, but aren't shown to be gods or royalty. Rather, viewers see in them all of the emotions experienced in every family, as Tony, Carmela, Christopher and the rest of the cast share their memorable loves, hates, dreams, failures...and meals.
Season 6.2 has three distinct parts.The first four episodes are "last moments in the sun" for some of the more important characters. Bobby and Janice retreat for a weekend on a lake with Tony and Carm; Johnny Sack battles a new enemy in prison; institutionalized Uncle Junior spends his last moments of sanity running a card game and mentoring a young killer; and Hesh fears for his safety when Tony owes him money and seems reluctant to pay.
Next, the season moves to the difficulties of AJ and Christopher and how both problems affect Tony. Tony takes a backseat to other characters in the opening episodes of the season, but he's never been more laid bare than in how he deals with his literal and figurative sons. As with the ambiguous nature of the show, Tony at times appears to be a heroic, thoughtful and brave, while other times, he's a monster.
Finally, the last two episodes end in the much anticipated war with New York, as successful and unsuccessful hits are targeted at the show's biggest players. A sense of closure is reached with Tony's relationships with his rivals, his crew, his family and the FBI, but as everyone in America knows, nothing concrete is declared about his future. Does he live? Does he go to prison? Will his crew survive? Those questions aren't answered, Chase`s last gift to his viewers, as people can continue turning this show over in their heads for years.
I wasn't there when The Tempest first played at the Globe, and I didn't see The Beatles at Candlestick Park. But Sunday Nights at 9pm on HBO, I saw my generation's finest contribution to pop culture and to literature, with the final season providing a closing act worthy of such a masterpiece.

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Last year, Tony Soprano cheated death when he was shot by his now institutionalized Uncle Junior. While Tony continues to muse about his second chance at life, he faces a myriad of immediate, stress-inducing crises at home, at work and from the law. Tony's wife Carmela plans for a future she's not sure will arrive, and son AJ and daughter Meadow find that adulthood holds its own surprises. Meanwhile, at work, Tony comes to doubt the allegiances of many of those closest to him -- no one, not Paulie, Bobby, Silvio or even Christopher is above suspicion. The clock is ticking. Time is running out. But on who?

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The Sopranos - The Complete Series (Seasons 1-6.2) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Last year HBO released the complete series of this ground-breaking show with the very high pricetag we've come to expect from any HBO original series on DVD. According to the press release, a year later, HBO wants to make this collection more available to consumers with new compact packaging and a lower price point. I continue from the press release:
The new package is still book style, but of a vastly different sort - it opens up from a split down the center in a gatefold fashion, and discs slide in from the side. Speaking of discs, HBO informs us that all of the DVDs from the previous Complete Series set will be included, with all the bonus material found on them. However, the extra soundtrack CD discs will not be packed in with the revised collection. Still, the new list price is a hundred dollars lower, which certainly good news for any fans who perhaps couldn't afford last year's model.
End of press release. The bottom line on this is we are paying one hundred dollars less to give up 2 music CDs and in exchange get packaging that should not enable so many scratched discs. The extra features include an interview with series creator David Chase conducted by Alec Baldwin and two "Supper With the Sopranos" featurettes that will show cast members sitting down for dinner to discuss their favorite episodes.
As for the series itself, if the Godfather saga was the view of the mafia from the executive suite, this series is a complex tale of the mafia from the working man's point of view. If you've never watched this show, you're in for an extended treat. Yes, there is violence and nudity, but it is never gratuitous and is needed to contrast Tony Soprano, the thinking man's gangster, with the reality of the life he has been born to and, quite frankly, would not ever have left even knowing how so many of his associates have ended up. Tony Soprano can discuss Sun Tzu with his therapist, then beat a man to death with a frying pan in a fit of rage, and while dismembering and disposing of the body with his nephew, take a break, sit down and watch TV while eating peanut butter out of the jar, and give that nephew advice on his upcoming marriage like they had just finished a Sunday afternoon of viewing NFL football. Even Carmella, his wife, when given a chance for a way out, finds that she really prefers life with Tony and the perks that go with it and looking the other way at his indiscretions versus life on her own. If you followed the whole thing, you know how it ends. If you didn't, trust me you've never seen a TV show end like this.

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THE SOPRANOS stars James Gandolfini in a career-making performance as Tony Soprano a Mafia leader who is having trouble dealing with his mother and family and so starts to see a shrink. The terrific supporting cast features Edie Falco as Tony\'s conflicted wife Carmela; Lorraine Bracco as Tony\'s put-upon psychiatrist Dr. Melfi; Michael Imperioli as loose-cannon Christopher Moltisanti; Steven Van Zandt as Silvio owner of the Bada-Bing; and the incomparable Nancy Marchand in one of the great television performances as Livia Soprano Tony\'s conniving controlling mother. This release includes the first five seasons of the show and the second set of episodes from season six.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC:026359795428 Manufacturer No:97954

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The Sopranos: The Complete Fourth Season (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)While the death count has steadily decreased in subsequent seasons, The Sopranos is not going soft, but rather evolving. In the first season, everything was put together. In number two, an emphasis was placed on Tony's business: busting out, poker games, scams, power struggles, traders, etc. In season 3, the series showed it is not prone to repetition. Instead of Ralph becoming another Richie, his ability to make money kept him alive.
Now the fourth and still not the last season. Seemingly every episode ended with an uncomfortable shot of Tony and Carmela alone together, but still apart: In bed with Carmela facing away, in the kitchen with Tony leaning on the couch, in the bathroom with Carmela in the tub. And after all this, Tony bought "Whitecaps", his way of saying that he wanted to keep his family together forever. But Carmela saw it as just "a bigger version of a diamond ring." As Dean Martin sings at the end of the finale, "It's because, my girl's right here."
Then the demise of Ralph, foreshadowed when Jonny Sack comments "I should have let Tony cut your head off last year." Ralph was kept around only because of money and when he hands Tony an envelope and says "At least I'm good for something," Tony can't help but agree. And when Ralph is being `silenced' by Tony in `Whoever Did This', Tony comments "She was a beautiful creature, what did she ever do to you?" It becomes hazy whether he is referring to Pie-O-My or Tracy when he sees her picture at the Bing. The "thousand incidents with that guy" finally catch up to Ralph.
By the end of the season, Tony has a business predicament that will likely be settled somehow in season 5. Tony has conspired with Carmine to kill Jonny Sack, and negotiated with Jonny to kill Carmine. It is unclear by season's end exactly who knows what and who is being set up.
The biggest gripes from viewers seemed to be the oddness of the Carmela / Furio and Janice / Bacala storylines. I think more in depth viewing will help people to understand the subtleness of season 4. And mind you a lot of season 4 storylines will likely carry over into 5. The Sopranos is ongoing, and doesn't play by the national network `close all storylines in the finale and leave one cliffhanger' rule.
My biggest beef was HBO's ruining the finale with posting online that Uncle Junior's would get a mistrial and showing in the trailer a black SUV being shot into. Of course when it aired and a black SUV pulled up, any element of shock was completely ruined.
Season 4 is very deep and intriguing, and has taken me dozens of viewings to understand underlying themes, and will take many more to grasp them all and catch all the jokes (like Tony feeling like the 'Reverend Rodney King Jr.') Hopefully the DVD and its audio commentary will help. Like what was Tony's `Italian Immigrant' dream suppose to mean?

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It's tough times in Jersey for Tony Soprano. The sluggish economy hasn't been good for the family business. His wife Carmela is angling for more financial security. Some longtime lieutenants aren't happy with Tony's recent decisions. A rival boss wants a bigger piece of the suburban pie. A Sopranos is actually heading to trial for the first time in decades. At least one child seems to have lost interest in higher education. And the ducks aren't coming back anytime soon. PROGRAM INFORMATION Number of Episodes: 13 1. For All Debts Public & Private 2. No -Show 3. Christopher 4. The Weight 5. Pie O My 6. Everybody Hurts 7. Watching Too Much Television 8. Mergers & Acquisitions 9. Whoever Did This 10. The Strong Silent Type 11. Calling All Cars 12. Eloise 13. Whitecaps

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The Sopranos: The Complete Fifth Season (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)The death of Carmine, family crime boss of New York, sets up the organizational tug of war that operates through the fifth season. The brutal push and shove between Little Carmine and Johnny Sack provides the dramatic backdrop as tensions mount between the families. Through it all, Tony tries to maintain neutrality but finds himself, as usual, in the thick of things.
On the home front there are several touching and poignant moment between our lovable thug, Tony, and his long-suffering wife, Carmella. Slowly and sweetly, they inch toward each other; each painfully aware of the sensitive issues and the deep divide which separate them. In a grimly amusing scene, Tony may have found Carmella's price.
Without question, this is Gandolfini's finest hour. He gives a performance which portrays not only the ruthlessness and thuggery of Tony Soprano but also the maturity, thoughtfulness, humor and depth of a caring husband father. No humanitarian awards just yet, though, this is brutal gangsterism and intimidation of innocents, after all. Carmella, Christopher, and Adriana also deliver their very best performances to date. Well-deserving of their awards and recognition.
Adriana's episode commentary in bonus features is worth listening to.


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His separation hasn't been working out. His nephew's fiance has become a distraction. His paroled cousin is giving off bad vibes. His business rival is looking for payback. His therapist isn't buying into the "other Tony." It's enough to send any mob boss over the edge. Hell hath no fury like The Sopranos.DVD Features:Audio CommentaryOther

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The Sopranos: The Complete Second Season (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Sopranos is one of HBO's greatest achievements (although I admit that I think it lost some of its momentum and spark with seasons three and four). When I first saw the show, I was hooked. I'd watch anywhere from three to four episodes a day. One of the great things about first watching this show on DVD was that I could watch any number of episodes instead of just watching one per week.
"The Sopranos: The Complete Second Season" has to be my favorite season. As much as I love the first one, this was when things were really funny, intense, dramatic and involving. The season doesn't let us down when it comes to Tony having more problems than ever before. Both in his Mafia Family and his immediate family, Tony can never get a break. His wife gives him grief while his kids keep doing things that upset him. And don't get me started on his ill mother and self-centered sister. Life isn't much better in his Mafia Family when the brother of Jackie is released from prison and is giving Tony a hard time both personally and professionally. Not to mention that his long time friend, Big P. comes back from a long hiatus when he was first suspected of turning rat to the Feds. All of this leads to one incredible and unpredictable season that showcases the show like none other.
For me, this was the most entertaining season of them all. I loved the characters, the constantly changing storylines, and the personal and business life of Tony Soprano, which is superbly balanced in this season. There's still the much appreciated humor in these episodes that were found lacking in the next two seasons. It doesn't feel like a soap opera, but a more enhanced look into the Mafia world. There's plenty of action as well as dramatic storylines that will make everybody happy for the most part.
This season comes in a set of four discs, totaling at 13 episodes. The great thing about the show is that it is presented to us in a widescreen format that is enhanced for widescreen TVs. This really makes the show that more effective because you feel like you're actually watching a movie rather than a show on cable. The picture and sound quality is great and really shows. There are some nice little extras, such as featurettes, brief previews and recaps of episodes, web-links and more.
"The Sopranos: The Complete Second Season" is a bundle of laughs, suspense, drama, action and surprises. You're always on your toes and you never know what's coming next. One thing's for sure; this is the most unpredictable season out of the four seasons (the fifth one looks pretty promising thus far). While you'll want to start with the first season if you've never seen the show before, you'll know that you will have something special to look forward to once you get to the second season. In my opinion, this is where Sopranos is flawlessly at its best. -Michael Crane

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For Tony Soprano, there's no such thing as business as usual. Balancing the demands of his immediate family - wife Carmel, daughter Meadow and son Anthony Jr. - witht the demands of his other family - Paulie Walnuts, Silvio Dante and Big Pussy Bompensiero - means walking a tightrope no self-respecting mobster should have to walk. With his mother and uncle plotting against him, his older sister Janice wreaking her own special kind of havoc, and the very real threat that one of his closest allies is wired by the F.B.I, Tony needs the support of his psychiatrist Dr. Melfi more than ever.DVD Features:Audio CommentaryBiographiesFeaturetteFilmographiesOtherScene AccessTV Spot

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The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1 (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)It's lonely in the ranks that believe that season 6 of The Sopranos was as good, if not better, than the seasons before it, but I am convinced that the first 12 episodes of season 6 are amongst the bravest, best written, and most telling episodes of the series. The Sopranos has long been a show with the most complex, multi-layered characters on television, but by using the mantra of "Who am I, where am I going" as a rallying point, season 6 probed the nature of what drives its family, and gets in intense focus of who each of them is. The problem, I think, was that it did its job TOO well this season - it's not that there wasn't action (the death count this year was as high as any other, and Tony does, after all, nearly die himself), but that because the show wanted so much to get the specifics of the ordinary right, it's easy to overlook the rather consternated implications of their everyday events. What I mean is that in showing each character at his/her essence, we get what really drives them, but we don't necessarily get that explained to us - we, for example, identify with Carmela's sense of longing and uncertainty staring off at the Eiffel Tower, or we register that Paulie is adrift in guilt and anxiety over his actions in life, but we get it in the details of their everyday action and, these characters experiencing these implications alone, get little of that wrapped up for us. To me, that speaks to a level of characterization and examination that doesn't exist in television and barely exists in film - it probes the specifics of its fictional characters so precisely, it winds up speaking to the heart of what drives Americans and the materialism of American culture that makes things like mobs possible. In that, it brings forth insurance agent, real estate claimsmen and salesmen, actors, and (in one unforgettable shout-out) Dick Cheney - comparisons of the same urges. Yet this season does more than critique the impulses, it allows them to exist, allows all of their very real virtues to be present, and lets them arise from its characters distinct, full-bodied personalities - money helps keep AJ out of jail, gets him laid, repairs Tony's relationship with his sister, keeps Carmela from probing too deeply into Adriana's murder, gets Tony reasonable health care, and nearly spares Vito's life and stops a cross-river gang war. I may be alone in the level to which the Sopranos makes me think, but I do think David Chase's intentions are to use his astonishingly vivid characters to go into depth about the American mentality (or, they're not, and it's just a product of three dimensional writing). However, even if it weren't, the season gives you extraordinary moments to savor - Paulie's confrontation with mortality ("The Ride"), Carmela crying at Tony's bedside ("Join The Club"), Christopher's gut-shaking relapse ("Kaisha," with a fearless guest turn by Juliana Marguilles), AJ's inability to carry out his "big plan" against Junior ("Johnny Cakes"), and, unforgettably, Philly's cold stare as his machinations to kill Vito are achieved ("Cold Stones"). They're moments of magnificent acting that fulfill characters even as it surprises you with their humanity and personality. And, in the premiere, "Members Only," it gives you it all in an hour - a suicide, heart attack, and gun shot that seem to tell you everything you've ever needed to know about the mob life, about why they - if not you - do what they do.

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Several crises threaten Tony and his crew; for starters, rival boss Johnny Sack (Vince Curatola) is in prison, and the always-tense relations between the New Jersey and New York families are strained through the unpredictable behavior of Sack?s surrogates. Then there are the inevitable power struggles that ensue when certain family members are eliminated, by natural and other causes.DVD Features:3D Animated MenusAudio CommentaryFeaturette

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The Sopranos: The Complete Third Season (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)The third series of 'The Sopranos' consolidates the brilliance of the first two, rather than taking it in any radically new directions. The characters, their relationships and their environment are so strong; the dramatic irony between our sympathy with and enjoyment of these people, and our knowledge of their brutal and unhypocritically presented crimes, is so complex, that any blatant originality merely for the sake of it would be a betrayal.
But, because the central components are so strong, there is plenty of room for play - in the way narratives are set up to encourage then defy expectations; in the interplay with canonical gangster texts, especially 'The Godfather'; in the consistently creative use of music - for mood and to emphasise character, yes, but also to create ironic distance, to add montages of 'commentary' over the stories, to connect apparently disparate scenes, to add a depth of texture. Because it is in texture that 'The Sopranos' has really developed - the recklessly confident film-making; the layered scripts; the rich dialogue; and the knowing acting combine to create programmes of truly, yes, operatic density.
There are a number of new plot developments in this series - Meadow goes to Columbia University; the FBI (in a supremely funny handful of episodes) attempt to bug the Sopranos; the Russian mafia grow in menacing importance; Janice takes up with a Christian musician; Anthony Jr. becomes increasingly unmanagable at school and at play, but proves an unexpectedly skilful footballer; Ralph (Joe Pantoliano) replaces Richie Aprile as the major made-guy thorn in Tony's side; Carmela feels increasingly guilty about her mob-financed luxury; Tony begins an affair with a beautiful, smart, successful car saleswoman (Anabella Sciorra) who has even more mental problems than he. Most crucial for the series is the role of Jackie Aprile Jr., college-mitching son of Tony's former mob boss and best friend, who wants to see some of the criminal action, and starts dating Meadow as a spectacularly misjudged entree. The major weakness of the second series - the tokenistic continuation of the Dr. Melfi framing scenes long after they've outrun their dramtic usefulness - is corrected by both bringing the psychotherapist (dangerously) closer to Tony's life, and by having Carmela join in the sessions, to comic effect.
There is a brooding, elegiac feel to the series, with Tony thinking not just about his mother, but his dead friends, Pussy's actions in the last series, and the future possibilities open to the younger generation. If nothing else, Series 3 boasts the best-ever episode of 'The Sopranos', directed by one Steve Buscemi, which begins farcically, with Paulie and Christopher accidentally killing an irate Russian, and bungling the disposal of his body in a snow-wasted forest; before turning into a nightmare, as they lose their bearings after the corpse runs off, and they are stranded in the middle of nowhere. Loosened from the secure ties and identity-affirmation of family and Family, the episode brilliantly encapsulates what's at stake in the series, as unforgettably as the immortal 'Seinfeld' episode when the quartet can't find their car in the shopping mall car park.

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Some suburban households have two cars. Some have two houses. But Tony Soprano has two families. This could be why the FBI is going to such lengths to wiretap his home. Why the son of his dear late friend Jackie Aprile is causing him such agita. Why a Russian housekeeper is searching for her missing leg. Why his son is vandalizing school property and his daughter is getting her heart broken. Why his wife Carmela is both consulting a psychiatrist and confessing to a priest. And it's also why Tony Soprano is still seeing Dr. Melfi for his anxiety attacks. It isn't easy heading-up the mob in New Jersey. But that's what puts dinner on the table for the two families of Tony Soprano.DVD Features:Audio CommentaryBiographiesFeaturetteInteractive MenusOtherScene Access

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