Rating: Summary: Riveting! Review: I'd heard the rave reviews about the series; but hadn't had an opportunity to catch it on TV. --I purchased the boxed DVD set 2 days ago, and have already watched the first 10 episodes. I'm hooked.Absolutely riveting! The characters are so well developed and truly "human." From the manipulative Livia, to the murderous yet likeable Tony... Landmark television!
Rating: Summary: You gotta git it! Review: Lemme keep this short....these tapes did wonders in keeping my roommates and I from studying for finals. It's so good that when you get done with one episode, you've gotta watch another. A definate good buy if you're looking to kill about fourteen hours or so.
Rating: Summary: A definite "Desert Island DVD" Review: This box-set is very engaging, and I found myself sitting episode after episode the first night we received it. The presentation quality of the set is excellent, with a good deal of bonus material and the HBO episode recaps and promo pieces. Even if not a fan, I'd still recommend this as an engaging series for its strong production values and to understand the inherent wrinkles within each of the characters. Truly a classic!
Rating: Summary: Some of the Best TV has t offer Review: I do not have HBO, but I make it a point to "appear" at my parents house and it just "happens" to be on! Not for Children under 13, this adult drama is realistic, identifiable if your from NY/Northeast, and has some of the best acting ever for TV. The "Mother Patriarch" is at times hilarious, and I watch my own mother cringe since she says "she reminds me of SO MANY in my family!". On the DVD side, having 14 episodes, in their entirety, no commercials, DVD sound and vision quality, in an attractive fold out case, Emmy winning, the best show in its class...on and on.. and you can watch the whole first season progress with no interruption, or missing part or two. If you can afford it, like superlative drama, and like "dark" comedy, go for this. Its a MUST have. '**'
Rating: Summary: Fabulous! Review: Viewed it all in one day. Amazing! HIGHLY Recommended. If you loved Good Fellas and The Godfather (I,II and or III) you'll love this series. Can't wait for second season on DVD!
Rating: Summary: One of the Best Things TV has Ever Done Review: . I watched all 13 episodes of The Sopranos: First Season, in the course of two days. I hadn't seen any of the episodes before, and I'm glad I hadn't, because as one gigantic movie the effect is bigger than the sum of its parts. The characters and scenes weave in and out, and they're not interrupted by an artificial one-week pause the way you'd see the serial on HBO. I think the outstanding person in the cast was Lorraine Bracco as the psychiatrist; she has a clipped way of speaking that is positively riveting. There was nothing phony about her psychiatry even if it was a bit on the Freudian side, because at least she put forth her hypotheses and let her patient, Tony Soprano, react to them. I think James Gandolfini was fine in the lead role--better than DeNiro in a similar role in The Analyst--though just a tad not menacing enough. Why am I being picky--the entire cast was good, which is another way of saying that it was a brilliantly directed serial by a director who knows actors and how to get the most out of them. Some lines in the show are uproariously funny--better than any sitcom humor, and thank God for no laughter track. The sets and cinematography is first class, so this really amounts to a six-hour movie that has the look of a multimillion dollar Hollywood feature. And as an investment, I would say that the DVD is something you'll want to see again and again over the years, show your friends, and keep as a real treasure.
Rating: Summary: Addictive, and re-watchable... Review: I was able to get HBO until a month ago, so I missed out on most of the first two years of this show (other than the infrequent episode caught on hotel-room TV's while on business trips. In the last month I've managed to catch several of the first season episodes on TV, and I'm hooked. When I got the DVD collection, I sat down to watch one episode. Half-way through I realized I'd caught the second half already on HBO, but I had to keep watching - the picture quality is amazing - I have an HDTV set but no HDTV HBO feed, so it really was quite something to see the show in its wide-screen glory. That this is the best show on television is evidenced by the fact that three hours later I was still watching, even having already seen a couple of the shows. This is definitely one of the few television shows that I would be willing to watch more than once, and it feels a lot more like a movie than like a TV drama. Technical issues: the video is quite good, with lots of dramatic use of contrast that plays quite well on a widescreen TV in a darkened room. Sound quality is also quite good, with good use of the discrete rear channels. The menus are a bit annoying - you have to hit "enter" between episodes (at least on my player).
Rating: Summary: Great Series Review: I saw for the first time two episodes of The Sopranos in it's first season on HBO last night, and I was floored. They were entitled "College" and "Pax Soprana", and they were both layered and brilliantly written, with witty dialouge and great multi-faceted characters. The acting, as well, was across the board perfection, particulary Marchand, Falco and Gandofini. But most impressive, it did something that television rarely does: it made me want to see the next episode, right then and there. Each had it's miniscule flaws, but with television this good, there excusable. Both episodes: A-. Can't wait to see more episodes and buy the complete first season!
Rating: Summary: Absolutely fantastic! Review: I'd been hearing about The Sopranos all last year but honestly, I just never have time to catch a series every week. I just don't watch TV with any regularity and I'm not crazy about missing episodes or seeing them out of order when I know there's continuity. When I saw that whole first season of The Sopranos was coming out, I figured that would be just right for me. I wasn't disappointed. Matter of fact, I was blown away. It's a great show, at times hysterical, at times very dark. The characters are sometimes over the top but they stay close to basic story, unlike a lot of shows where, struggling to fill 60 minutes and having run out of any sensible ideas, they'll have doctors from an ER show caught in an improbable plane crash in the Andes or whatever. The most interesting thing for me is the way they've used Tony Soprano's sessions with his therapist as a way to stitch everything together and let you get inside Tony's head. The actors playing both Tony and the therapist turn in remarkable and very believable performances. This set is also a heck of a bargain. You get 13 episodes, four per DVD, plus some bonus materials, which is a lot of viewing time for the money. I recommend this set as easily the best DVD purchase I made all year (this from someone who buys nearly everything that comes out.)
Rating: Summary: Very Poor Transfer to dvd Review: On a regular size tv I guess it looks ok but on a widescreen 64 inch it looks like crap. fuzzy, pixulation, looks like they just tried to get to much on each dvd. It is watchable but doesnt even get close to a quality dvd.
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