Michael "Omar" Kenneth "Little" Williams, Steve Buscemi, and ehhhhh Michael Pitt in Martin Scorsese's BOARDWALK EMPIRE

Could see it successfully sating the Deadwood and Sopranos audiences, if not necessarily the entire Wire one

opening credit sequence is soooooo generic HBO though, can't they craft these things to mesh with the shows rather than other credit sequences?

If the Wire was still around I wonder if there's would be McNulty floating slowly over Baltimore set to the Dream Syndicate

Buscemi is an odd choice for a series lead.

Looks gorgeous but cliched. I'm assuming it'll grow into its own at some point, right now it's a more cuddly Untouchables. I guess they couldn't really do something radical with a massive budget, they're playing it safe, they wanted another Sopranos and they're sort of getting it (Sopranos was much more imaginative coming out of the gate though). That said the cast is awesome.

The Ford book seemed so disjointed coming in the middle of what should have been a gripping conversation about how to deal with betrayal. Why they decided to derail that with a weird historical detail is bizarre!

Please hire somebody who knows typefaces for the historical signage ... was going nuts noticing all the historical inaccuracies. When it counted (closeups) they usually got it right though.

I enjoyed it a lot - like people say, not the most original thing ever but very watchable and funny, and I really like that period. The Al Capone reveal was well done.

Loving the dude who is playing Capone too

Totally didn't clock that Rothstein was Shuberg from A Serious Man

Michael Stuhlbarg is in this, eh

xp

Whole lotta Michaels in this thing. I can already tell i'm going to enjoy this a lot more than Treme even if it is slightly generic.

I'm willing to bet it'll become less generic. Also, Scorsese's sort of allowed to be generic, he's Scorsese and he does it very well.

renewed! after better than expected ratings.

hmmm, that's pretty dicey after one episode.

They were huge ratings. Even with the standard drop off it'll be sustainable. And the press has been huge; it already did its job for the network.

They renewed Treme after one episode iirc, and that seems a lot dicier.

"Generic" or not, this blows Treme away.

did scorsese have any involvement in this beyond directing the pilot? not that this would mean much either way.

don't think so.

Dece pilot, amazing supporting cast makes it worth sticking around for.

scorsese's also an executive producer, just like marky mark

Terence Winter on the extent of Scorcese's involvement:

"He just directed the pilot, but he's also one of the executive producers of the show as well, so he is involved. He reads all the scripts, he weighs in on our casting decisions, he watches all the cuts of the show. Up until the time we wrapped a couple of months ago, he and I had a standing Sunday afternoon conversation where we would just review what went on during the week. He'd watch the dailies, he would have comments and suggestions along the way. So he is definitely involved in the show, but he has only directed the pilot, he got us launched and then went off to do another movie."

He also plans to direct more episodes apparently

The Ford book seemed so disjointed coming in the middle of what should have been a gripping conversation about how to deal with betrayal. Why they decided to derail that with a weird historical detail is bizarre!

i really liked touches like this though. you really gotta inject some levity or oddness in there imo or like you mentioned it is gonna be an untouchables retread. which is why i think i really feel ok w/ buscemi as the lead

this was fun! not totally sold on the guy who i really don't want to describe by referencing dicaprio, but can't help it and i'll def give him a chance. buscemi could work this well i think. i'm a sucker for stuff like the ford book and the little person boxing. so is omar gonna be a full-fledged character? it was about as weird seeing him in this as seeing don in "the town"

i also like seeing lots of people dancing in 20s clothes

Apparently Michael K. Williams is featured a lot more prominently in the second and third episodes.

better than treme but i wasnt thrilled by this. then again, it's a pilot, and pilots often kinda suck, what with having to fit in every character and get everything going

felt bad for kelly macdonald and her terrible plotline. snivel, snivel, snivel, *gets beat up*

I have a feeling she is going to be the Peggy Olsen of this show.

Also would anyone from Ireland like to comment on her accent? Sounded weird off to me, but maybe that's what Irish immigrants sounded like at the time. She's generally pretty good at accents.

Accent wasn't great no. The problem with a lot of actor's attempts at Irish is they go for a sort-of generic "Oirish" accent, rather than attempting a specific regional variation which would sound a lot more authentic. She's actually done one before in "Intermission" which was similarly unconvincing. In this case I don't see why they didn't just make the character Scottish.

pretty tiresome tbh. more like boredwalk etc etc

"i bet the board is spelled b-o-r-e-d" -norm m.

it's a pilot, and pilots often kinda suck, what with having to fit in every character and get everything going

yeah, exactly

im blatantly going to keep watching, there's a hell of a lot of promise, but im not sure what the point of using scorsese was, when it was mostly bam-bam-bam check out these amazing sets, meet all these characters

there were some real nice scenes, like pitt's meeting with the feds, but some bits which over-reached. there was no meaningful parallel between the two murders at the end, so why draw one? felt kinda random and there hadn't been enough time to explain the dynamics between the two chicago guys.

buscemi was fine, but physically not quite right for the part.

ending up liking the first one a lot, but man ep 02 was snoooooooze

Really liked the second ep. Putting pieces in place and developing character. Still don't think it has the potential to rank among the greats, but am enjoying it thus far.

also lol at the midget's annoyed look after the joke.

oh, and where the hell did Paz De La Huerta come from and why is she in things?

also, where is omar little?

looks prominent in the next ep based on the preview

Also would anyone from Ireland like to comment on her accent? Sounded weird off to me, but maybe that's what Irish immigrants sounded like at the time. She's generally pretty good at accents.

NumberNone otm above, it's as bad as it was in Intermission, seems she can't do Irish without adding simpering into the mix.

Enjoyed first ep...bit tedious in parts tho, not sure I am that into this period as a thing. It's a bit stuffy.

oh, and where the hell did Paz De La Huerta come from and why is she in things?

http://nymag.com/movies/profiles/66284/index3.html
She's a bit of a "character"

ending up liking the first one a lot, but man ep 02 was snoooooooze

― sean gramophone, Monday, September 27, 2010 1:19 AM (20 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

troo, feel like the series is gonna be amazing overall tho

Buscemi is an odd choice for a series lead.

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 20 September 2010 14:47 (1 week ago)

buscemi was fine, but physically not quite right for the part.

― l'avventura: pet detective (history mayne), Sunday, 26 September 2010 19:02 (3 days ago)

sfunny cuz the wiki page for the real new jersey crook enoch johnson says '6 foot one inch 250 pound', so u can imagine who turned them down first

thought the first two ep's were fine without suggesting it's going to set the world on fire, tho it'll surely be worth watching

I'm perfectly happy with it being entertaining, quite funny and gorgeous-looking for the time being.

Stuhlbarg is easily the highlight of the series. Too bad the rest (barring Shannon maybe) doesn't live up to him.

i saw gretchen mol in the end credits - who was she?

Jimmy's mother, no?

yes

o

it was weird when she was jumping all over him

agreed, at first i thought he was having an affair.

and please tell me i never have to see another Buscemi cum face again

Lovecraft Country fkn ruled, I loved it start to finish then & now idc what the stupid “consensus” was. And Williams was great in it.

ok cool. it seemed like a lot of people hated it and I just didn't get around to it. will rectify that.

highly recommend!

VG on the money, it was a great show with a few episodes that were absolutely incredible. Williams was just one of the incredible cast members - Jonathan Majors, Wunmi Mosaku and Aunjanue Ellis were all amazing.

yeah i def don’t think everyone hated lovecraft country. it was ambitious and a bit inconsistent but was truly excellent at times. and yeah, mkw’s performance was stunning, same with majors and courtney b vance