Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire on HBO!

Another excuse for HBO to air programming of exceedingly high violence to the benefit of huge ratings.
Isn't the formula getting a bit stale: Sopranos, Deadwood, Carnivale, now Boardwalk Empire?

I'm sure it's just me.
 
I just got into Mad Men in the past two weeks and I'm sure HBO is still kicking itself for passing on it.
 
Some really great scenes in episode seven. The sniper shot, the arson. Music is employed to great dramatic effect though Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor was a bit of an odd choice.

If you're headed to AC, you may wish to check out Resorts Atlantic City, which is adopting a roaring ’20s theme to capitalize on the success of the show.
 
I think this was the best episode thus far. I think the use of the sniper shows that Jimmy is being smarter about how he does things. Love the scene before the shot, when he is describing the German in the barb wire. I think the music was the lead in to the silent film. So yeah it was kinda odd when I first heard it, but once the scene cut to the movie it kinda clicked.

Steve
 
The last episode was pretty wild. FBI Agent Nelson is a complex character to say the least. Either he's a total hypocrite, or he feels the need to lower himself to the same level of 'evil' as Nucky Thompson in order to defeat him. Am I the only one who thinks Michael Shannon kind of resembles Richard Kiel, Jaws from James Bond?
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Agent Nelson is fighting a lot of demons and isn't appreciated for his work. His scenes are beyond creepy. The most fleshed-out character on the show, to be certain.

e
 
Of all the sex scenes on the show, the one with Michael Shannon and Paz De La Huerta was by far the most awkward.

Also, on a slightly unrelated side not: I just realized after ten episodes that the guy playing Rothstein is the guy from A Serious Man. This also made me realize that Michael Stuhlberg is one of my new favorite actors. Rothstein is one of the most entertaining characters on the show.
 
^ "I make my living, Mr. Thompson, in large part as a gambler. Some days I make 20 bets, some days I make none. There are weeks, sometimes months in fact, when I don't make any bet at all because there is simply no play. So I wait, plan, marshal my resources, and when I finally see my opportunity and there is a bet to make... I bet it all."
 
bill totolo said:
Another excuse for HBO to air programming of exceedingly high violence to the benefit of huge ratings.
Click to expand...
In Deadwood, the violence (and the frequent use of profanity for that matter*) were both period appropriate and served the story that Milch & co. opted to concentrate on.

*Though many of the expletives are ones in more common usage today than in the late 19th century.
 
I really enjoy the show and think it's starting to come into it's own.

Some great acting for sure and a lot of talent on the show.
 
bill totolo said:
Another excuse for HBO to air programming of exceedingly high violence to the benefit of huge ratings.
Isn't the formula getting a bit stale: Sopranos, Deadwood, Carnivale, now Boardwalk Empire?

I'm sure it's just me.
Click to expand...

I love violence and extremity in film. Works for me. White bread vanilla is for the birds.
 
While the show has been on hiatus, I've been reading Nelson Johnson's book about Atlantic City which Scorsese and Terrence Winter used for reference. Interesting to see where fact and fiction divide and also to learn more details.

Although thoroughly corrupt, the Commodore did quite a lot for the city until then New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson went after him, leading to Nucky Johnson's rise to power. He created telephone and gas companies to lower prices and also helped lower electricity prices. He was very charitable to the African-American community, without which Atlantic City never could have survived, let alone flourished. He built a water line from the mainland. Today to memorialize him, there is one street named Kuehnle.
 
If you like that read the Luciano testament, and the Valichi papers covers the creation and collapse of the mafia... you have to read both to try and pick out the truth from either story it's interesting to hear things from different perspectives.
 
Anyone else find the first two episodes of this season incredibly boring?...In hindsight I think killing off Michael J Pitt's character was a huge mistake. It might not have been obvious but I think he anchored the show and it loses something significant without him there. Also, taking Van Alden out of commission as an agent leaves another hole. The balance is all wrong now. I don't really give a crap about any of the characters that are there now. Not that I ever LOVED the show, but if it doesn't improve I'll probably stop watching.
 
Batutta said:
Anyone else find the first two episodes of this season incredibly boring?...In hindsight I think killing off Michael J Pitt's character was a huge mistake. It might not have been obvious but I think he anchored the show and it loses something significant without him there. Also, taking Van Alden out of commission as an agent leaves another hole. The balance is all wrong now. I don't really give a crap about any of the characters that are there now. Not that I ever LOVED the show, but if it doesn't improve I'll probably stop watching.
Click to expand...

The Wife and I don't get cable, so we have to wait for the discs. The second season seemed a bit 'off', more so for her than me... However, I wondered with the season finale if they had not 'cribbed' some of "Game of Thrones" style kill of major characters... Since the three 'major forces'... Law, New Generation, Old Guard were all killed off or made impotent...

On a more prurient note... I was saddened to see the lesbian go... but I digress...

But in Game of Thrones the 'power vacuum' left by the newly deceased was quickly filled...
 
Spoiler alert. The season and the show are nearing completion with just two episodes left. The flashbacks are illuminating. We see central characters from decades earlier, like the Commodore and Gillian. The fifth episode of this last season was really well done. Van Alden's death occurred during a scene that was both terrifying and hilarious. Chalky went out in style, after getting the last word with Narcisse. Using the needle on the phonograph as the outro music was very effective.

Seems like this was the climax. I see Nucky surviving buy maybe not Mickey (whose humor I never really liked).

What a finely crafted show. Too bad the run wasn't longer.
 
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