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brilliant from start to finish a modern masterpiece
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Bought this set of DVDs for my husbands birthday - he says they are brilliant- was really pleased with them so now i will buy the other series for Christmas. Great price- great value - would recommend if its "Your Thing" (Its not mine!!!).
Not until the series reached it's 4th season, that I got hold of the Boxset (Season 1). From the first few bars of music I was totally hooked. The plot of the series is about a 'mob boss' Tony Soprano dealing with situations caused by his 'work' and how it impacts with his family. If you liked the Goodfellas am sure you will enjoy this Boxset. Due to an inherited condition, the stress of his work and family cause him to have a minor breakdown and force him to go see a psychiatrist, through a series of flashbacks the characters unfold. Very well written drama the characters are very believable, and they will remind you of some people known to you in real life. The main plot of the series is how Tony Soprano deals with his uncle, Corrado (Junior) Soprano, who eventually becomes 'head of the family'. Excellent sub plots which keep the program moving so when it finishes, you're gasping for more. Acting is first class, along with the soundtrack it just keeps you glued to the screen. If you are already familiar with the film, and are about to add it to your personal collection, consider buying the Complete Boxset Seasons 1 to 7 (Not sure if it is available at the time of writing) , it may be more cost effective.Read full review
The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get. Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed. The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive, and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings.Read full review
I bought this because I lent my own copy to someone and they didn't take care of it. I hadn't watched it for a number of years and just felt the urge to do so again. It is original; production values are sky high; the writing is superb and the acting just brilliant. I'm a fan of gangster movies, from the early Warner Brothers stuff up to Goodfellas and beyond, so I am a little biased. It can be viewed on so many levels: as a violent mob story, an everyday family drama or soap, a psychological thriller, and so on. Whatever way you look at it, it doesn't disappoint. I'm so glad I bought it again - now I've got to carry on watching all the other series (7) until I get to the end. If anything, it's even better second time round!
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