His separation
hasn't been working out. His nephew's fiancé 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.
CRITIQUE
The Sopranos
is flat out great. The stories are just as great in Season 5 as in
the previous seasons. The writers come up with great stuff for the
characters, and the subplots are interesting and involving
dramatically. The acting is right on the money with many great
nuances from the actors portraying these hardcore characters.
Speaking of hardcore, a few times during the season I thought to
myself the characters are pretty messed up in terms of the
violence they inflict and their flaring tempers, for example Tony
Sirico playing Paulie and Michael Imperioli as Christopher. I'm
not saying they are weak, by no means, but it's just that they are
not the most likeable of characters when you really think about
it. In the end though it's a testament to the quality of the
writing and the actors making these characters tough and seem
realistic.
The writing this
season is top notch with several great episodes, including but not
limited to Marco Polo, Unidentified Black Males, and
Cold Cuts. In fact, the second half of the season is a
little better than the first half in terms of moving
ahead/wrapping up with stories and characters. The last several
episodes are very satisfying and simply cool. Also strong is the
directing, the production design and the cinematography. All in
all, The Sopranos is fantastic.
Disc One:
501 - Two Tony's
502 - Rat Pack
503 - Where's
Johnny?
Disc Two:
504 - All Happy
Families
505 - Irregular
Around the Margins
506 - Sentimental
Education
Disc Three:
507 - In Camelot
508 - Marco Polo
509 - Unidentified
Black Males
510 - Cold Cuts
Disc Four:
511 - The Test Dream
512 - Long Term
Parking
513 - All Due
Respect
THE VIDEO
HBO presents The
Sopranos in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors look clean and
well saturated. Print quality is very good, as is sharpness and
detail. Optional subtitles include English, Spanish and French.
THE AUDIO
HBO presents The
Sopranos in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Dialogue is
clear and easy to understand, with the front speakers delivering
noise free audio. The rear speakers are active during the action
scenes, and the sound effects and score are presented clearly.
THE EXTRAS
There are five
audio commentaries available: All Happy Families by
director Rodrigo Garcia, Sentimental Education by
director Peter Bogdanovich, In Camelot by actor-director
Steve Buscemi, Cold Cuts by director Mike Figgis, and
Long Term Parking by actress Drea de Matteo.
The director
commentaries vary in quality from being good to decent. Comments are
sometimes
interesting and relate well to what's happening on screen.
Bogdanovich's comments are scene-specific talking about the
filming of the episode (with a few nice references to Hitchcock),
the acting, and the story. He talks throughout and pauses only a
few times. In the other director commentaries we get comments on
the stories in the episodes, the acting, some off-topic talk, and
other aspects on the show. Some dead air creep in as well, plus
there is lots of praise for David Chase, his team, and the actors
("great working with him or her" and that sort of stuff). After
listening to these I think the directors should've been paired with the episode
writers or at least one of the show's stars to make the overall
tracks a bit more conversational.
Drea de Matteo does a good job talking
over Long Term Parking bringing up some fun tidbits about her fellow
actors and what's happening on screen, and offers thoughts on the show
in general. She's silent in some
spots, but it's a good commentary overall. It could've been cool if
someone else joined her in the discussion such as another actor or the episode
writer (Terence Winter).
Episodes previews
and recaps are available for each episode. Also helpful for
new viewers are recaps of the first four seasons. The menus
are presented nicely in widescreen and are also scored.
And that's all there
is. Where are the deleted scenes? Why isn't there a making-of
featurette of some kind? Perhaps for the sixth season HBO should
hire a documentary filmmaker to capture the making of the season
to be included on the DVD. That would be truly exceptional.
FINAL THOUGHT
Fantastic, great
stuff, except the extras are a little skimpy.
