8.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.6 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
Tony Soprano tries to be a good family man on two fronts - to his wife, kids and widowed mother - and as a capo in the New Jersey Mob. The pressure of work and family life give him anxiety attacks, so Tony starts seeing a psychiatrist, which is not the kind of thing a guy advertises in the circles Tony moves in - it could get him killed.
Starring: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Tony SiricoDrama | 100% |
Crime | 93% |
Dark humor | 57% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French: DTS 2.0
German: DTS 2.0
Spanish: DTS 2.0
English, English SDH, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Five-disc set (5 BDs)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Normally my Thanksgiving weekends are spent bouncing between two dysfunctional families, dodging loaded questions about when, if ever, my wife and I will have a second child, watching siblings and cousins struggle to hide their contempt for each other, and taking a brief moment to be thankful for them all in spite of their flaws. But this year I had an opportunity to spend quality time with a third family: The Sopranos. More than a masterfully crafted series responsible for transforming HBO into a legitimate industry player, more than a complex ensemble drama that earned endless water cooler accolades from audiences and critics alike, creator David Chase's disquieting tale of volatile New Jersey mobsters is a powerful, unexpectedly nuanced gangland epic worthy of the high praise it's garnered since the turn of the century. Even watching it now, some ten years after Emmy-winning actors James Gandolfini and Edie Falco left a most memorable mark in our collective pop-culture conscious, I'm amazed by how much the series still resonates, still defies expectation and genre convention. The Sopranos is, without a doubt, one of television's modern classics.
You wouldn't believe the risks associated with waste management...
The Sopranos: The Complete First Season features a notably inconsistent 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer; one that looks substantially better than its DVD counterpart but falls far short of expectation (as well as the quality previously established by HBO's two-stage Blu-ray release of The Sopranos: Season Six). I suspect little was done to accommodate the first season's move to high definition other than to trust in the inherent upgrade the format would offer. Sadly, the only consistent thing about each episode's presentation is the obvious edge enhancement visible in nearly every frame. Colors are more vibrant and stable, but fleshtones occasionally suffer from unnatural hues. Black levels are deeper than ever, but noise is persistent and erratic, delineation is hit or miss, and crush is sometimes an issue. Detail, though greatly improved, can be just as unreliable and unwieldy. The pilot offers slightly crisper textures than later episodes, and even that might be too generous. The next six episodes look a tad softer -- mushy faces and smeared skin litter establishing shots and close-ups -- but offer a somewhat more satisfying appearance. The last five episodes are share a bit more in common with other recent high definition television presentations, but falter due to a variety of prevailing anomalies (color skewing, contrast irregularities, shimmering, aliasing, and intermittent artifacting, among others) that give the image a digitized, over-processed appearance. There isn't a single episode that warrants a high video score.
Is the entire presentation a disappointment? Not quite. As I mentioned before, the transfer is noticeably stronger than the DVD's dated image, and still looks fairly good considering the age of its episodes and the production limitations of the series' first season. As it stands, those who own the DVD set will net a solid upgrade, but newcomers will be underwhelmed with the results.
Matters improve with HBO's faithful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. While it isn't as refined or aggressive as the LPCM mixes that accompany the studio's Season Six Blu-ray releases, most any difference should be attributed to the first season's original sound design, not the technical proficiency of its lossless track. Once again, the pilot comes up a bit short, but the remaining twelve episodes offer fans well-prioritized dialogue, weighty LFE output, and suitably involving rear speaker activity. Tony and Carmela's arguments sound as crystal clear as their hushed conversations, and interior acoustics, though two-dimensional on occasion (primarily throughout the pilot), are on point. Moreover, crowded restaurants, bustling parties, and busy nights at the Bada Bing effectively envelop the listener, injecting subtlety into everything from clanking silverware to blaring club music. If I have any complaint it's that I found myself tapping the volume up and down, typically from episode to episode, but also whenever a chaotic hit would be followed by a mumbled line of dialogue. Still, it's a negligible problem that hardly warrants concern. All things considered, The Complete First Season sounds great and should easily please both fans and newcomers.
The 5-disc Blu-ray edition of The Sopranos: The Complete First Season includes the same slim supplemental package as its DVD counterpart. First up is a "Pilot Commentary" in which filmmaker Peter Bogdonavich (Dr. Elliot Kupferberg in the series) interviews writer/creator David Chase. Unfortunately, it's a dry, underwhelming chat that doesn't go anywhere. Chase seems downright annoyed by some of Bogdonavich's questions, and struggles to elaborate on many of the topics he addresses. A meandering "Interview" between the two (Disc 5, SD, 77 minutes) is a bit better, but covers a lot of the same ground. As is the case with the commentary, Chase is either incredibly uncomfortable with the setup or bothered by the fact that he has to answer so many pedestrian questions. Finally, a pair of awkward EPKs -- "Family Life" (Disc 5, SD, 4 minutes) and "Meet Tony Soprano" (Disc 5, SD, 4 minutes) -- fall flat, offering fans little more than a peppy jazz soundtrack, the thoughts of a smarmy narrator, and a point-by-point overview of season one.
Even though the Blu-ray edition of The Sopranos: The Complete First Season isn't the top tier release I was hoping for, it is a fairly strong, smartly-priced title that bests its DVD counterpart. Yes, the video transfer leaves a lot to be desired and the special features are short and awkward, but the series' opening thirteen episodes are engrossing and HBO's DTS-HD Master Audio track is excellent. Sopranos fans and videophiles won't rave about this 5-disc set, but they won't be entirely disappointed with the overall results either.
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