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Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Just finished this show for the first time. Read The Corner, watched the miniseries based on that, and then went to The Wire. I loved all of them so drat much. It's depressing as hell, but so compelling that I can't turn away or stop thinking about the street corner life. I've begin rewatching The Wire again already, and I'm glad this thread was made. It looks like I'll get even more out of the show now. This is easily my favorite series I've seen so far on TV.

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Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
God this looks beautiful.

My wife saw this was on and set the Tivo up for me while I slept. Now I have the entire day/night set.

I will buy this on Bluray even if its $200. This looks great.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Well, that was really informative, and slightly depressing.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
For me the 4:3 aspect kept me out of being drawn in as much as I could have been. I constantly noticed it, even in the middle of tense scenes. I'm nearly done with episode 3 and this is just amazing to me.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Yeah, you can google map all those places. Baltimore is really bad. It's probably been said a million times, but go pick up the book The Corner which was cowritten by Simon. I'd consider it a bucket list item.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

Hard Clumping posted:

It's supposed to feel chlaustrophobic, though. Simon has said, here,


and on other articles on that site that he deliberately strayed from a cinematic aspect ratio and kept things more gritty. The Wire's 'era' was a time when most television shows were moving to widescreen. They floated the idea of switching to 16:9 for season 3 and opted not to. 4:3 wasn't a limitation, it was an artistic choice, and they framed the show in 4:3 exceptionally well. The show being in 16:9 now is by no means worse, but neither is it inherently better.

Also I meant to mention this:


I really hope that you mean "pretty" when you say visual, because otherwise this is objectively incorrect. The Wire didn't use constant fancy dolly shots or color grading, and it didn't have a showoff DP, but to say that this show didn't utilize some absolutely meticulous visual storytelling is an insult to the amount of work put into each shot.

It wasn't really an artistic choice, it just didn't make sense to switch formats halfway through. They made the decision it was all or nothing, so they stuck with 4:3.

It's not so much claustrophobic to me, it's just that it pulls you out of the immersion. Because you notice the black bars all the time. I couldn't stand it. If I had a nice big 4:3 tv it would have been awesome and fine and not noticeable, but I don't.

I also think the show IS pretty, the cinematography is absolutely amazing. The first scene of those statues, slowly panning out is really great. The rough underbelly of Baltimore against a pretty backdrop of the city is great to look at and visually appealing. The scene in front of the chicken store with the neon blue contrasting the darkness is great stuff. The orange couch in the pit with D's pastel blue chair. They set a lot of this show up to look GOOD, and it really really shows in HD. I am loving every minute of this remaster as if it were the first time I've seen it.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
I just saw that scene as well, and I honestly didn't even remember it with the first watch through. I was laughing my rear end off this time.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
I'd think anyone who is in the game would fit the definition of a sociopath. Sure, some of them have regrets and morality but not enough to take themselves out of it entirely.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Just finished S2 HD rewatch. God drat, the first time around I remember not liking the whole dock worker thing as much as the rest, but wow poo poo, that season is really really good. Marlos first appearance, too!

I love this show way too much.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

LordPants posted:

I know bunny turns up, but I thought Marlo was Ep 1 S3?

Ohh yeah, I couldn't help myself and watched the first episode of S3 already and probably just didn't register that Season 2 was over when I saw it. Or something.

Philthy fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Jan 20, 2015

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Just got to the part where Bodie goes down. I loved his character, he didn't take any poo poo till the end.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
I'm halfway through the last season again.

I don't want it to end again. :(

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

MoosetheMooche posted:

You probably know this, but heroin is actually marketed like that on the streets. I dunno about actually calling it by name, but the single servings of drugs are branded with stamps ala WMDs, Barack Obama, grim reaper, etc. Look up heroin stamp bags if you're interested. As always the hilarity of the wire is rooted in realism.

Re: The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon and Ed Burn

3Romeo posted:

Simon's weighing in on the Baltimore riots: http://davidsimon.com/baltimore/

I would have to disagree with him here. If change could happen with peace, it would have already. What we're seeing now is when democracy has failed, when civil rights have been lost with no one giving a rats rear end. Those that vote are not in the majority of the crimes being committed against them. I'm not condoning hurting of others, but the idea that peaceful protests will get from point A to B has been done and over with a long time ago.

Philthy fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Apr 28, 2015

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

theblackw0lf posted:

You should REALLY mention that your spoiler is for an unaired episode.

The series is based on a true story. It's like spoilering Titanic. I mean, even the season previews trying to sell the show explained what the show was about and mentioned this.

That said, it's really nothing like The Wire at all other than Simon being involved and it having overlapping social issues.

Philthy fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Aug 24, 2015

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Season 6 got off to a good (depressing) start.

Death, revenge, and police officers getting jerked around.

However, opportunity appears! What will happen next...

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

I think they mean the deuce.

Nah man, The Chi.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

Jerusalem posted:

Yeah it is a good point to remember that Marlo survived the end of season 3 by pure luck, because Slim had his location and Avon was coming with an army to wipe him out when the police raided



Seriously, buy these books and read them.

SERIOUSLY. Buy these books and read them.
[/quote]

Yes a million times yes. I tell everyone I know that The Corner should be on their bucket list.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Finished my fourth rewatch. That last episode is just so great. What an amazing send off.

Gotta say, season 1 was always my favorite, but now it's Season 2.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
I totally forgot about Oz. I gotta rewatch that. I only saw the first few seasons when it originally aired.

Every time I see that car insurance commercial I think tit cancer.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

Stare-Out posted:

I recently started reading the David Simon book Homicide too, which I think is far more like The Wire than Life on the Streets, even though some of the episodes of Homicide are directly lifted from the book. Good read if you dig The Wire.

Homicide was "just" an okay book for me, only because it read more like a textbook for police school. It had a lot of dryness to it.

The Corner, on the other hand, was absolutely brilliant. You will see a few characters from The Wire within this book, and I feel it should be on peoples bucketlist. You will be transported to the streets and live the life of a junkie, a corner boy, a person clawing their way out and more. Simon refined his data and presents it in a more digestible way than he did in Homicide. HBO also made The Corner miniseries, which was the proto-Wire and is sorta worth watching as well. It uses some people from the Baltimore streets rather than actors, so it's a bit rough. HBO has never made it available for streaming and I had to get it from the depths of the internet in terrible low-quality presentation. I would read the book first.

As for the show Homicide, is it streaming anywhere yet? I've been wanting to watch that but could never track it down.

My only real complaint with the last season is McNulty acting completely out of character. It was just wrong, and the news reporter story weaving into it made that wrong. Marlo tho, that saved it.

Philthy fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Apr 29, 2021

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

Strawman posted:

Yeah, McNulty acted completely out of character going along with Lester's crazy bullshit :psyduck:

Well, it was stupid for McNulty to start this idea, and then even dumber when Lester got in on it. It just wasn't who they are. Pain in the rear end, sure, but making up dumb psycho rear end biting serial killer? Meh.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

deoju posted:

Casting news for Simon and company's upcoming series.

John Berenthal, Jamie Hector (Marlo Stanfield), and Josh Charles. Haven't heard of that last guy, but Berenthal and Hector have chops.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/we-own-this-city-hbo-jon-bernthal-jamie-hector-josh-charles-hbo-the-wire-1234976830/

The Wire season 6

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Please read The Corner. It is an amazing book. It's just as dark and depressing as The Wire, but it's all real. It's one of those bucket list books for sure.

On another note, I just started rewatching The Wire for what might be the 6,7,8th time. I forget. But man, every single time I am just in awe how much they pack into the first season. Every episode is just so packed introducing the world you're going to be living in for the next month or so.

Philthy fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Dec 28, 2021

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
I read Homicide a while back hoping for it to be as good as The Corner, but it was very very procedural. Almost like reading a text book. It was very hard for me to work through. It wasn't bad by any means, but I understand why they supposedly make it required reading in some law enforcement schools.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
drat Calvin, you know I got the bingo tonight.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
I watched Oz so long ago when it first aired with a bunch of friends. It was mostly great back then, it seemed like a more 'adult' show alongside shows like South Park making headway into subjects that were sort of unexpected and taboo. It had some amazing characters, and you got to see them everywhere once they left Oz. Every time I see those car insurance commercials I think it's the cool dude who had breast cancer in Oz, or the crazy rear end in a top hat racist has seen some things. When Lost aired, everyone was freaking about Adebisi being in it. They show up everywhere and it's cool.

It says 11 Oz people showed up in The Wire, but I don't recognize them immediately for some reason and I've never really rewatched Oz. I tried, but it just seemed too dated for me. The Wire tho, I'm constantly rewatching it. If there isn't a new episode of X show available, The Wire goes on.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Goddamn, I was all hell yeah HBO SUNDAYS ARE BAAAACK.


nobe

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
I enjoyed it, but it's definitely more documentary than drama. More The Corner and less The Wire. At least, that is my first impression.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug

Syrian Lannister posted:

E. Slim Charles is back as well.

Yeah, got a nice smile on my face when I saw him show up.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
If you liked Homicide, definitely read The Corner. I feel it like it is so much better written, and more identifiable. I tell people I know that it should be on a bucket list or a must read for schools.

Also, Tater still being talked about 20 years later.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Every stinking rewatch. The part with the chicken nuggets makes me hungry for nuggets till i go get some. You think the Wire dude got paid?

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Man, just finishing rewatch of season 2 (My favorite season) and it went by so fast compared to season 1. They just pack so. much. poo poo. into season 1 it's unreal.

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Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
what the fuuuuck

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