the wire

Started by pete, February 14, 2007, 01:40:51 AM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Stefen

Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

squints

"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

Reel

I never got to her part in The Wire, all the more reason to get those dvd's rented.

pete

season 4 is the best season dude.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

squints

seriously i just started on ep 1 season 4 for the fourth time yesterday, Snoop is amazing.
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

SiliasRuby

Just got done watching the series all the way through for the 3rd time. still holds up.
The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

Pas

It is highly rewatchable isnt it.

Alexandro

finished season five last week.
spectacular in all possible measures.
All seasons were pretty neat, though the last one tested my patience with some things.
In any case it is a masterpiece as everyone has said.
I don't get the Sopranos vs The Wire thing. What the fuck is that all about? Both are fucking masterpieces.

diggler

First time through, Season 4 was my favorite. On rewatch, I like Season 2 the best. It's the best standalone season, and the only time where all of the main characters (even Bunk!) are working together on the wire.
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

Reel

getting 'down to the wire' as they say... I'm on the last episode of season 3. My favorite character is Bubz. I haaaaaattttteeeee Carcetti! It's like everytime I see his stupid face it stops all the fun from happening.

Fernando

this article is old, but i dont remember seeing it before...


'Glory,' 'Wild Bunch' Among David Simon's DVD Picks

STEVE INSKEEP, host: We're going to continue now with our occasional conversations that bring you recommendations on DVDs worth renting. This morning, we brought in David Simon. His many screen credits include "The Wire" on HBO; he created it. He also co-produced and co-wrote a mini-series about the beginning of the Iraq war, "Generation Kill." He's been connected with so many other programs, including "Homicide," and he's on the line. Welcome to the program, David Simon.

Mr. DAVID SIMON (Producer and Writer, HBO): Thanks very much for having me.

INSKEEP: You've got a list that you've sent us of movies that you love, and you start with "Paths of Glory." Stanley Kubrick is the director and Kirk Douglas is the star. What's it about?

Mr. SIMON: It's a World War I film, and it's about a French colonel who was confronted by his superior officers with the insistence that he select men and kill them as examples. So, it's from the point of view of middle management, which is a point of view I very much love.

Mr. SIMON: And you know, where the bosses are all bastards and good help is hard to find.

(Soundbite of movie "Paths of Glory")

Mr. RALPH MEEKER: (As Cpl. Philippe Paris) I'm going to have 10 men from each company in your regiment tried under penalty of death for cowardice.

Mr. KIRK DOUGLAS: (As Col. Dax) Penalty of death?

Mr. MEEKER: (As Cpl. Phillippe Paris) For cowardice. They've skim milk in their veins instead of blood.

Mr. DOUGLAS (As Col. Dax): That's the reddest milk I've ever seen. My trenches are soaked with (unintelligible).

Mr. MEEKER: (As Cpl. Philippe Paris) That's just about enough out of you.

Mr. SIMON: What it really is I think is the most important political film of the 20th century. I've come to love not only the film, but the book, Humphrey Cobb's novel from 1935. He was a World War I veteran and wrote, I think, a magnificent piece about a man and institutions, and what happens in the modern world and the post-modern world between individuals and the institutions that they serve or are supposed to be served by them. And I think it's just - I think it's elemental, and I stole liberally from it for "The Wire."

INSKEEP: What makes that film - black and white, not too long, not too epic in scope - the most important political film of the 20th century?

Mr. SIMON: Well, it really is about what happens when institutionalism becomes paramount. And the paradigm becomes, what can you do for the institution? Not what is the purpose of the institution, or how can the institution serve you or serve society as a whole? Now, if you look at everything, from what's going on Wall Street right now to how we got into Iraq, it's the same echo. You know, in season two of "The Wire," one of the characters said, you know, we used to make stuff in this country, build stuff. Now, we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket. That was a stevedore in Baltimore, but he could've been one of the French soldiers.

INSKEEP: Well, now, were you also inspired in your work by another movie on your list here, "The Wild Bunch," 1969?

Mr. SIMON: Yeah. I have to confess; "The Wire" writers had a contest of how many lines of dialogue from "The Wild Bunch"...

Mr. SIMON: We could get into season two of "The Wire," and I think we quit at about 20. I eventually made a tape of all of the moments back-to-back and sent it to Walon Green, who wrote that screenplay, with just a one-word note that said, homage.

Mr. SIMON: But the greatest line, I think, in that movie, and maybe in American film, is the very simple one of...

(Soundbite of movie "The Wild Bunch")

Mr. WILLIAM HOLDEN: (As Pike Bishop) Let's go.

Mr. SIMON: Before the carnage at the end spoken by Bill Holden to Warren Oates. And he doesn't explain it, because the film has explained it, and it's a moment of great restraint by a writer. And when I got to meet Walon Green, I said, you know, how did you manage to not write any more than, let's go? And he told me about these heroic battles to prevent the guys at Warner Brothers from ruining the film with an explanation about why these guys are going to go to their deaths. And so, I not only love the film for what it is; I love it for the writers having fought and won.

INSKEEP: Hm. Fought to not write as much?

Mr. SIMON: Right. Well, I - you know, I can talk to you about films that I think were ruined in the last moments by explaining too much, something "The Wire" was rarely accused of.

Mr. SIMON: But I mean, you know, you look at "The Hustler." I love "The Hustler" as a movie, Paul Newman, '61, but when he's playing pool at the end with Jackie Gleason...

INSKEEP: Jackie Gleason, Yeah.

Mr. SIMON: And he's come back to beat him now - he's grown as a person, and he understands the world; he's suffered loss - he explains winning.

(Soundbite of movie "The Hustler")

Mr. PAUL NEWMAN: (As Eddie Felson) That's the way you always told me to play it: safe, play the percentage. Well, here we go: fast and loose.

(Soundbite of billiard ball falling to pocket)

Mr. NEWMAN: (As Eddie Felson) One ball, corner pocket.

(Soundbite of billiard ball falling to pocket)

Mr. NEWMAN: (As Eddie Felson) Yeah, percentage players die broke, too, don't they, Bert?

(Soundbite of billiard cue hitting balls)

Mr. SIMON: Yeah. But that scene should have been silent. That should have been done with looks, with eyes, with a word here or two, with a gesture. It's heartbreaking.

INSKEEP: So, that's a movie that did not make David Simon's list of recommended DVDs. And there's another movie here that did. Actually, it's a concert film from 1964, "The TMI."

Mr. SIMON: Yeah. It stands for Teenage Music International. It was filmed in Santa Monica in '64. I think the movie came out a year later, was in the theaters for, like, a second and died. Really, what I love about that film is the last 12 minutes, the James Brown Band and James Brown, and the famous names come out. It's the end of his set, it's like "Night Train" - please, please, please, try me - from when he was at his height, from when he was everything.

Mr. SIMON: It is a triumph of American entertainment, of American cultural power, you know, African-American music at its height. It's maybe our greatest gift to the world, is African-American music, never mind baseball or constitutional government. You know, flatting the third and seventh note, and sending it out into the world has probably been - you know, if America's remembered for anything, it'll be for that. And here it is. It's so perfect. And then these scrawny, little, pale-faced white boys have to go on after him, because the Rolling Stones in 1964 are the last act up.

INSKEEP: Ah.

Mr. SIMON: And you can see they're terrified, and what are they going to do to top what just happened? They're derivative of that music, but they're nowhere close to James Brown's authenticity and talent. And they're standing out there, and they've got to play a Chuck Berry song. And in the last analysis, they somehow manage to do it.

Mr. SIMON: It's sort of this moment of what the power of rock 'n' roll was and its transformation by, you know, by sort of young white kids post war. And I just think that - those 12 minutes are, like, everything rock 'n' roll was about.

INSKEEP: Do you find yourself relating to that moment or identifying with it? Because you as a writer, throughout your career as a journalist and as a screenwriter, have dealt so often with African-American characters and tried to put words in their mouths.

Mr. SIMON: That's very clever. I had not thought of that at all until you just said it. I don't know. I mean, I think I identify with it as a kid who played guitar, in bad bar bands and bad garage bands and never really had the talent to - you know, I mean, I'm like every other frustrated kid with an electric guitar in his closet. You know - listen, I think what James Brown does in those - at the end of that film, as far as human endeavor, the equivalent of, you know - I don't know - as far as American endeavor, it's like raising the flag on Iwo Jima or landing on the Moon. It is magnificent. It is a triumph of things that can only happen in America.

INSKEEP: David Simon is creator of "The Wire," among other programs. Mr. Simon, great talking with you.

Mr. SIMON: Thank you. Thanks for your opportunity.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98494970

Brando

If you think this is going to have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.

classical gas

I might be late to the party on this one, but I just found it.  It's pretty silly but it was nice to see some of the actors together again.  Reminded me of Mr Show's "Rap: The Musical":



Feel free to embed the video here.  I don't really know how.

ono



QuoteFeel free to embed the video here.  I don't really know how.
Just surround it by [ youtube ] tags!

Gold Trumpet

Not much to add. More along the lines of joining the chorus, but I finally watched every season and loved it. Different seasons rang true for me different reasons. Some I had issues with and wondered if the story was getting too fictional. However, when I inspected further, Simon had some explanation which actually felt like explanation to "why" instead of rationalization. Have already gone back and watched some episodes again. Show is continually revealing to me and is beautiful in a way I didn't expect television could be.

At this point, the continuation of the journey is in Simon's work. Generation Kill is purchased and awaiting viewing and then I tackle all of Treme. Sucks its last season will only get 5 episodes. However, Simon isn't afraid to say he wants to do a historical CIA show next and has been thoroughly researching a way to adapt Legacy of Ashes. That would be amazing.