Coffin Surfer

Entertainment Weekly is normally shit, but one of their writers nailed it. For those expecting complete closure with a ribbon on top, what show have you been watching all these years!? All the major arcs were wiped up, and the final shot it is of Tony smiling. I can live with that, and again I think having Meadow sit down would have somehow robbed the scene of it's power. It doesn't strike me as a cowardly cop out at all, but a masterful film making decision. Would you really want to see the family gathered together and happy to end yet another season, or something more shockingly abrupt and finale to puncutate the show? And I believe Chase has done stated that Tony doesn't get whacked.

"1408" is one of King's better stories thanks to an unsual amount of subtleness on his part but I got a bad feeling from the trailers with the new daughter storyline which looks pretty goofy and cliched. Why can't Enslin just be an arrogant prick that gets what's coming to him? Oh well, I'll still be seeing this if only to see Cusack and Jackson do their thing.

"In the same vein, I remember hearing A Perfect Circle's bleak, dreary cover of "Imagine" on the radio years ago and wanting to punch something. I can't actually think of a single cover of a solo-era John Lennon song that hasn't annoyed the crap out of me, come to think of it." That version was just trying too damn hard and ended up being over the top to the point of self parody as I recall. The original "Imagine" is actually pretty dark(though not exactly bleak) but for some reason people always seem to miss that and go for the sap when covering it so I think Perfect Circle had the right idea; they just laid it on way too thick. As far as "Jealous Guy" goes, I don't even like the Lennon version that much; it never struck me as one of his more sincere efforts. Though outside of a few gems, I don't much care for anything past the Plastic Ono solo debut.

Good to see Hatton win, I don't think anyone saw that body shot coming. Hopefully, it will finally set up a Hatton/Mayweather meeting. Yeah, Foreman/Lye is my favorite heavyweight fight ever; and it's a shame it doesn't get more attention. Simply unreal with both guys clubbing away while being out on their feet. Frazier/Quarry I is another great forgotten brawl from the 70s. " back when heavyweight boxing was the best thing ever." Eh, I think heavyweight boxing is better now than it's been in some time.

Yeah, like I said in the other thread "Planet Terror" is fun but way too self aware and ironic for my tastes; a problem I have with a lot of Rodriguez's stuff save most of Sin City which is due in large part to Rourke and Willis treating their over the top characters and dialouge with dignity. Overall, "Grindhouse" was a great experience though and the two movies contrast and compliment each other nicely.

There's a whole double album of bad John Lennon covers out right now. Sadly, Greenday's absurdly sappy, bitterless version of "Working Class Hero" is one of the better highlights. Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, The Swans, Diamanda Galas, and yes Elvis to name a few off the top of my head all have an extended resume of great cover songs. Jazz is also always good for unique twists on standards and covers.

Just to echo a few thoughts: 1. Black Snake Moan 2. Knocked Up 3. 300 4. Grind House Not exactly the type of movies the oscar hands out awards to. Shrek and Pirates were pretty disappointing. I didn't like Hot Fuzz too much, odd since I loved Shaun of the Dead and Dalton will forever rule.

"I got turned off on Michael Moore to a point after watching "Bowling" and seeing how he totally baited Charlton Heston into doing that interview. Yes, it was a little amusing, but it's not really fair when you interview someone who is completely not prepared for your topic, and is basically more of a figurehead than a real expert anyway." Especially when you mutilate said interview in post-production to create whatever impression want as was believed to happen here.

This interview is from http://www.spscriptorium.com/SPinfo/050926CharlieRose.htm Trey: I mean, nuno, it was really um, ah, that was a personal thing for me, anyway, because he, he actually called us when he was making the Bowling For Columbine movie, and he said um, he said "I'm making this movie about gun control; will you make an animated thing for it?" and we said "ah, no, sorry, we're busy. I have a gun, actually, you know, so uh, I'muh, I'm not really interested." But then he said, to Matt, he said "Well, we're going to interview, uhuh, we just want to interview you about Littleton, ask you about Littleton," and that seemed like a, you know, a fine thing, so Matt went and did an interview about Littleton, and then- Charlie: [to Matt] And that's all you talked about. Littleton. Matt: Yeh- Naw, we talked about a lot of stuff, and I said, uh, he interviewed me and he didn't misrepresent me in the movie at all, I mean, I think I, ...you know, it's not like I'm mad about my interview or anything, um, he didn't mischaracterize me, but he did do an animation that was surprisingly South Park-like. He had somebody else do an animation, and most people that see- Charlie: Ahh, so he ripped off South Park... Trey: Well, and what happened wa- Matt: ...yeah. Trey: He actually ripped off a film I made while I was in college. It was... South Park-looking Matt: It was called "American History." Trey: It was called "Ameri-" my movie was called "American History," and this thing ripped that off, and, they put it right after Matt's interview to make it look like we did it. Charlie: Ohhh Trey: So then, everyone started coming up and goin' "hey man, love that thing about, you know, glad you hate guns too!" and I'm like "I don't hate guns," you know, and it's like "hey man, the cool thing you did," and I was just like [blank stare, his eyes flit back and forth] and then people came out and started saying "well you know, Michael Moore, he just, he's a manipulator and he changes things to make things look some way," and I'm like "Yeah.I'm, I was p-a personal victim of that." It's totally true. [Matt laughs] So I made him a fat piece of ham in my movie and I blew him up. [gloating a bit] I I, I'm fine. I I feel fine now.

The cartoon is what did it for me. At first, I thought "well, he has some poits, but he's a bit misguided." Then I saw the cartoon part of it, and thought "no, he's full of shit." I believe he asked Matt Stone to do the cartoon and he flat out refused; so he just had someone copy the Southpark style and tried to imply they did it. Very sad, and yes the cartoon was pretty fucking off.

What pissed me off most about "Bowling" was that his solution to the gun problem was harrassing a senile Charlston Heston and than cutting up his speeches and dialouge. Fucking disgraceful, and a not so smooth way to blow off the complexities of the issue by trying to draw all the attention to an "evil mastermind."

To Jingus: Watching Meadow sit down would pretty much kill all the building tension, given the build it would be a pleasant relief to the viewer, making the final cut pleasant and final; I don't think this is what Chase intended at all. He obviously wanted the show to end with an incomplete vibe, like it or hate it. As far as closure goes, most of the major storys arcs have been resolved anyway with the surviving characters in a more stable place emotionally, well except for maybe Junior and Janice who serve as a reminder of everything Tony fears of becoming and seemingly avoided; especially Junior.

I agree with most of this statement. It was to show that Tony will always have to be suspicious of anyone that walks into a room that he is in. He won't be able to have anyone close in his life anymore. The execution could have been done better the sudden cut to black could have been a slower fade but overall I thought this was a great ending. After re-watching the episode last night, I'm not sure Tony is as paranoid of the other customers as the viewer is. Tony is watching the door, because he's expecting his family; especailly his daughter. I don't believe we really see him awknowlegde any of the threats that we the viewer are shown to suspect. He briefly glances at the guy walking past him to the bathroom, but that's really it as I recall. The camera dwells on other people in the restaurant, all the while we see Tony seemingly looking down and paying little attention. I get the impression that the suspense from Tony's perspective is whether or not Meadow is going to make it safely, while the viewer is left wandering if he's going to get offed or busted in the final minutes. The last shot is of him raising his head and appearing to smile when the door opens, implying it's her. My thoughts on the sudden black out is that there will never be complete closure on the family's fates and saftey. There will always be a possible conviction, terrorist attack, or enemy waiting to make his move, and the only thing the Sopranos can do is try to go about their lives. This makes sense considering how much the show has always centered on paranoia of some sort, the threats aren't going to go away but the characters seem to be dealing with it better now. Tony isn't watching himself either. It's merely an odd cut, but it does give the scene a very creepy surreal feel and I still wouldn't rule out the last scene being a dream. However, if that's the case one has to wander if Tony ever even woke up from his coma in the first place(the Sil thing is very odd, perhaps implying that it's Tony who never woke up); we saw that Tony was possibly on the verge of hell, I can't see why this final episode can't be seen as some sort strange accent to peace of mind, heaven or whatever. Surrealness aside, I'll stick with my original above mentioned theory. Great episode overall, and I can certainly live with the final shot of Paulie laid back and relaxing as the cat enters the frame and does the same.

"act" dumb?

Always good to see Paulie involved in some sort of possible supernatural wierdness. I was disappointed that the invincible Russian never returned before the finale, you could make an entire show about that.

True but I think whether or not he dies or is even picked up by the feds is insignificant. It was the viewers not the writers that emphasized "Tony dead or alive" for the finale. The contrast with Phil, is that if Tony is going to go out it's not going to be hiding in fear at some old gas station, he's going to be enjoying the moments he does have with his family when the inevitable comes.

Again, I believe the threat in the restaurant was most likely imagined by Tony, a look at the paranoia or risk he's now facing to be out in the open with his family. I don't believe it is meant to be literal at all, besides one doesn't have to know who these characters are to know they are menacing in the first place.

"What?! He was scared about going to trial! That's not what they were going for. If I interpreted it correctly, they wanted the viewer to get a sense of what Tony's life now feels like. He has to watch over his shoulder constantly. There is always that slight feeling of doom in the pit of his stomach. Always around him, there could be that mobster trying to finally kill him or the FBI agent waiting to swoop in and make the arrest. There is never a safe moment -- there will always be a sense of worrying. You could see this on Tony's face as he continued to snap his head up towards the door every time he heard the clink of the bell. His family might be oblivious to the danger but he's not. David Chase wanted viewers to feel the doom that Tony feels. I get that." Exactly. The point is that he didn't let it stop him from being with his family. If they didn't establish a sense of danger and Tony's awareness of it or perhaps even imagination of dread, there would be no point. This is a closure of the theme.

Again, everybody is missing the point. Eh..... The theme of the show was laid down in the first pilot and this was a fitting way to close it.

The whole point of the series was Tony overcoming the fear of death and losing his family. "No More Hiding" At the end, we see Tony in a public place enjoying himself with his family. It doesn't matter if he died or not(or was possibly even busted or went to jail); he's not scared or worrying anymore. Or at least that's how I see it. The same goes for AJ and his paranoia this season.

"Well, cool. I seem to be the only guy on the planet who felt this way, but I hated Planet Terror and loved Deathproof, so I certainly wouldn't mind a DVD of just one and not the other, as long as it's still got all the trailers on there. Also, NC-17 cut of Kill Bill? Hell, all they'd have to do for that would be turn the black & white part of the tea house massacre back into color." Your not the only one. "Planet Terror" was too ironic for my taste and seemed to drag on for way too long. "Deathproof" felt like a real homage with a Tarantio spin.

I will hopefully catch Zab/Cotto on the cable replay. By most accounts, it was an exciting fight. In other news, a sluggish Tarver was essentially outworked by much smaller hand picked opposition during a bland fight, got a gift majority decision and spent the entire post fight crying and whining while he was booed out of the building. Yeah, this makes me want to see Dawson/Tarver.....The nuthugging showtime announcers kept trying to play it off like it was Robinson/LaMotta or something with Tarver dominating a relentless tough guy, please. Tarver ate some nasty body shots, got backed up repeatedly, ran for most of the fight, and his "exciting" flurries rarely landed anything of note. The slow motion replay of Tarver's "power shots" was hiliarious with most of the punches clearly zipping over the guy's head or being blocked.

"Odds are the hardcore psycho fanboys have already decided this film will suck without even giving it a chance just because they changed the color of the main character. " I'm weary of this project because of the names attached. A film staring Smith and the director of Constantine has big budget action all over it, and I would prefer to see the story get the melancholy treatment it deserves. The Price version tried to somewhat capture the right tone but it's still incredibly campy; while the "Omega Man" is bizarre 70s fun that has little to do with the Matheson story. I like both movies for what they are but the real story has potential for so much more. Anyways, the only Matheson story I would like to see get remade would be a serious NC-17 rated version of "Hell House" but that will obviously never happen.

I think the Suns have it more together than the Mavs. Dallas won a shitload of games but they've struck me as a vunerable mess all season; weak in the post, no true play maker, it was only a matter of time. If anybody is going to make some adjustments in the off season it should be them; give up Terry or Harris for a real point guard I say. And what killed the Suns(aside from the weirdness) was a fresh Ginobli leading offensive outbursts from the bench everytime the starters rested. As for the topic at hand, Spurs 4-2. Though I'll be rooting for the Cavs in vain.

"Not faster than the average game in the 80's. They used to get a good 10-15 more fga up than they do today. In the 70's and 60s, they used to chuck that fucker up like 20-25 more times a game (which is why you see so many inflated rebound and assist numbers honestly)" Overall maybe, but when Kobe went nuts like that I doubt he could possibly get off any more shots and touches in a single game; he was firing like it was a 70s game. I do believe he would probably have big numbers more often and we might be looking at Jordan's 36 per game numbers give or take but than again, Kobe was never as consistent a big scorer as Jordan was and has far more off games. But I don't think he could top Wilt's numbers in any era. "I think you would be hard pressed to say that the 86' Celtics were a better defensive team than the 07 pistons honestly." Hard to say since we've never saw the Pistons prove themselves against offenses that were as incredible as Showtime or even true monsters like the Twin Towers. I think Showtime especailly would score at will. Your just not going to shutdown offenses that efficient, they will get their points no matter what. The Celtics and the Pistons did about as good job as your going to do. "And on the inside, i dare say that the combination of Prince, Wallace, Mcdyess is just as tough to score on in the interior as the Bird, Mchale, Parish trio. If not morseo(Prince has the type of length that bird didn't have and the athletisim, and Rasheed has the wingspan of a guy 7'3...Mchale was long, but he wasn't that fucking long)" They are more physically imposing outside of Parish, but I don't think their nearly as smart or consistently hard working as the Celtic interior. This is also a team that would kill people before giving up a rebound, I can't see them just giving up and letting a single guy run off 25 straight final points; they didn't even let Jordan do that in THE game. Plus One also has to consider that they did in fact hold one of the all time greatest offensive forces at his most determined and single minded to just 63 points in overtime during the faster paced games of yesterday. It's not much but it could have been far worst and they did hold him to 19 in the next game and 20 earlier in the season as I recall. Bird is such a mind fucker that I could honestly see him schooling the hell out of the seemingly fragile James, though he does seem to be getting more confidence now. Duncan and Nash may very well be the only NBA stars of late that strike me as being as head strong and clutch as the Magic, Bird, and Jordan types; though I'm not saying that will change with James. But yeah will never know, hopefull it would end up looking like Dominque/Bird shoot outs in a best case scenario. " I do think the "its not like he scored 63 against the '86 Celtics" crowd is downplaying how amazing that game was for Lebron and I say it is on par with the Jordan Celts game. Except Lebron won because the Pistons can't score like the 86 Celtics. " It's going to get downplayed because of the bigger picture the media is trying so desperately to paint. It was a great performance but it doesn't make him Jordan or Magic just yet (with the constant use of such analogies already wearing thin on most people's patience after duds like Carter and now maybe Wade), and because a good but disappointing Pistons team don't have the aurua of a legendary Bird Celtic team. That's just the way it is. "Plus I got to reference Scot Wedman, and I have a feeling that I am the only one that actually remembers him. So I am happy." The Perfect Game!!!