Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire on HBO!

I thought this pilot was pretty great. Looked like a million bucks. And Scorsese's sure directing hand was definitely felt. Lots of interesting characters I'm definitely interested in following. People have criticized Buscemi for lacking enough gravitas for his role but I disagree. I think he's different, and believable as a man with an unassuming public face and a corrupt private one...Also, there's one surprise character in his younger days I wasn't expecting, and who hasn't been publicized, but he's certainly worthy of being part of an HBO series. From what I've heard the series gets even better in the next 5 episodes but it's off to a great start. I'm already hooked.
 
I enjoyed the pilot, but it seems a little reminiscent of Deadwood... for reasons both good and bad.

Great characters, great setting, lots of complicated things happening, but no clear, central storyline that is going to keep the audiences hooked week after week, season after season.

I have literally no idea what is going to happen in the next episode, other than more chaos and illegal behavior.

I will watch the next episode, but I'm not at the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens.
 
I'm really psyched on this coming out, main reason being my cousin Bernie Stern is a VFX Coordinator (also worked on "The Pacific"). Looking forward to watching it when I get a chance!
 
Excellent opener. Looks like the series will succeed. Love the period detail, e.g. midget boxing.

Who killed Colosimo? Was it Al Capone?
 
Jordan_S said:
Excellent opener. Looks like the series will succeed. Love the period detail, e.g. midget boxing.

Who killed Colosimo? Was it Al Capone?
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I agree it was excellent. Didn't want it to end.

I'm also not sure about that hit at the end. A little confusing, and I don't know if it's supposed to be or not.
 
Jordan_S said:
Excellent opener. Looks like the series will succeed. Love the period detail, e.g. midget boxing.

Who killed Colosimo? Was it Al Capone?
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It was the guy Capone was in cahoots with, Johnny Torrio. They killed Colosimo because he didn't want to get into bootlegging.
 
"I'm makin' a statement!"...LOL...Somehow I get the feeling Capone is going to steal this show away from the leads. The actor playing him, Stephen Graham, is perfectly cast.
 
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Batutta said:
"I'm makin' a statement!"...LOL...Somehow I get the feeling Capone is going to steal this show away from the leads. The actor playing him, Stephen Graham, is perfectly cast.
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Looks like we're following the same shows (Mad Men). From the last ep, who was the guy that came up on the couple in the car? I'm going to watch again tonight but that ending had me :shocked:...
 
who was the guy that came up on the couple in the car? I'm going to watch again tonight but that ending had me
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One of the guys they hijacked got away, they show him running into the woods. Although I thought Capone killed him.

Great show so far. Did anyone else think the dancer was jimmy's mistress? She looked young as hell.
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Yeah, that totally got me too.
 
Dear god...was that some impressive, lingering 360 degree nudity or what? What a body on that chick.
 
After five episodes I'm not sure this show is going to reach the heights of previous HBO shows. It's good, and I'm not regretting watching it, but it's not great yet. I think the problem is that there isn't that ONE breakout character & actor that puts it over the top. The Sopranos had Gandolfini. Deadwood had Al Swearengen. Rome had Titus Pullo. Mad Men has Don Draper. Breaking Bad has Walter White. None of the leads have that kind of magnetism, and their characters aren't as rich. I only see a spark in Stephen Graham's Al Capone, but he doesn't get enough screen time.
 
Batutta said:
I think the problem is that there isn't that ONE breakout character & actor that puts it over the top. The Sopranos had Gandolfini. Deadwood had Al Swearengen. Rome had Titus Pullo. Mad Men has Don Draper. Breaking Bad has Walter White. None of the leads have that kind of magnetism, and their characters aren't as rich. I only see a spark in Stephen Graham's Al Capone, but he doesn't get enough screen time.
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I'm feeling the same way, it's hard to buy Buscemi as gangster when his presence isn't terrifying so much as jester like. It's all an act with his character, I guess that's the point, but he doesn't feel big enough to carry it. Will stick it out to see if that changes but no one is really carrying the torch right now.
 
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