Matthew Weiner Movies
- 2007
With the sixth season split into two distinct halves, this episode of HBO’s The Sopranos is for all intents and purposes a season-premier. The action primarily takes place at a lake-house owned by Tony’s brother-in-law Bobby. Tony and Carmella have joined Bobby and Janice for some R&R and to celebrate Tony’s birthday. However, tensions soon begin to rise as Tony passively needles Bobby, pushing his buttons until violence finally breaks out between the boss and his underling. Soprano Home Movies originally aired April 8, 2007. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Tony's growing gambling debt creates tension with a long-time confidante. Meanwhile, AJ proposes to Blanca and Phil Leotardo rises to power in New York. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 2007
A rare original dramatic offering from cable's American Movie Channel, the weekly series Mad Men was the story of a major advertising agency operating from New York's Madison Avenue in 1960. The most successful ad executive at the Sterling Cooper agency was handsome, indefatigable Don Draper (Jon Hamm), who was not only expert at "playing the game" while servicing accounts ranging from cigarette manufacturers to political candidates, but was also an accomplished ladies' man. It was crucial for Draper to always be at the top of his professional form -- there were scores of hungry young executives who were eager to topple him from his perch and become Sterling Cooper's new top dog. The series evoked the manners and mores of the early '60s with pinpoint accuracy: the advertising business, like practically every other business, was completely male-dominated, with an overabundance of WASPs, a minimum of Jews, and virtually no other minority anywhere in sight; women were second-class citizens and sex objects, expected to be both subservient and "available"; honesty and integrity were merely words in the dictionary; and everybody drank and smoked to excess (indeed, so many cigarettes were lit up in the course of each episode that a number of TV critics were turned off by the show, undoubtedly preferring that historical fact be subordinated to contemporary political correctness). Others in the cast included John Slattery as agency CEO Roger Sterling; Elisabeth Moss as wide-eyed novice secretary Peggy Olson; Christina Hendricks as wordly wise head secretary Joan Holloway; Vincent Kartheiser as Don Draper's sharkishly ambitious protégé Pete Campbell; and Maggie Siff as Rachel Menken, a source of anger and confusion to the Madison Avenue macho males not only because she was the executive in charge of a major department store (and Jewish in the bargain!), but also because she refused to let any mere adman tell her how to promote her business. Created by The Sopranos' Matthew Weiner, Mad Men was unveiled by AMC on July 19, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2007
The feud between the Lupertazzis and the Sopranos reaches a boiling point as Phil Leotardo orders hits on Tony, Bobby and Silvio. Meanwhile Dr. Melfi grows disillusioned with her relationship with Tony. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 2007
In the wake of an untimely demise, Tony seeks solace in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Paulie grieves the death of his mother and AJ grows apprehensive about the criminal activities of his friends. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Peggy's colleagues are irked when she's given a new job opportunity; Don's work responsibilities get in the way of his home life; Betty uncovers a surprising secret. ~ Ray Stackhouse, All Movie Guide
- 2007
At an advertising agency in 1960s Manhattan, the creative director has problems coming up with ideas for a tobacco account and crosses swords with the female head of a large department store that she wants to take in a new retail direction. ~ Ray Stackhouse, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Christopher begins using heroin again, after he begins a secret affair with one of Tony's old flames. Meanwhile, much to her husband's chagrin, Carmela's suspicions about the disappearance of Adriana grow. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Christopher and Little Carmine take a trip to Hollywood where they court Ben Kingsley for their movie and have an encounter with Lauren Bacall. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 2006
With Johnny Sack in custody, Tony sees an opportunity. Meanwhile, Bobby is injured in an attempted mugging and Meadow suffers through relationship problems. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 2006
HBO split the sixth and final season of its serial mafia drama The Sopranos into two halves, spaced 10 months apart: the first half (episodes 1-12) aired from mid-March through early June of 2006; a hiatus followed between episodes 12 and 13, before the series picked up again for its final nine episodes on April 8, 2007, purportedly thanks to overwhelming audience demand for an extension. As the season begins, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is plagued by problem after problem at home: though he has made peace with wife Carmela (Edie Falco), and daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) is relatively well-adjusted and happy, attending college and living with fiancée Finn De Trolio (Will Janowitz), Tony's son, A.J. (Robert Iler) is a complete slacker and layabout who has just failed out of college and seems hesitant to accomplish anything of merit. Meanwhile, Tony finds himself saddled with a new captain, Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) who expresses more hesitation over "working" him than his incarcerated predecessor, Johnny Sacks (Vince Curatola). Complicating matters are two employees: Tony's soldier Eugene Pontecorvo (Robert Funaro), who attempts to buy his way out of the syndicate via an inheritance, and the homosexual captain Vito Spatafore (Joe Gannascoli) who comes out of the closet and ends up being spotted in a leather bar - then is knocked off by a member of the family, which leads to the death of a Lieutenant and sparks a tidal wave of mob violence. In another subplot, aspiring screenwriter Christopher (Michael Imperioli), Tony's cousin, devises an idea for a gangster picture which he describes as "The Godfather meets Saw," and heads off to Hollywood to pitch it to Ben Kingsley. The season cliffhanger, however, involves Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese), an elderly man suffering from extreme senility who mistakenly draws a gun and plugs Tony in the stomach, sending him into a coma - leaving consigliere Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt of The E Street Band) to tend to family business. This, in turn, yields several sequences where Tony wanders around in a dream state, and contemplates his own mortality. The second half of the season has Christopher continuing his strenuous efforts to have his epic (which he entitled Cleaver) produced, the absence of Johnny Sack leaving an ongoing void of power in the syndicate, and Tony again coming to terms with aging and mortality, while he struggles (as ever) to balance personal and professional demands. Guest stars in the 2007 episodes include: Sydney Pollack, Tim Daly, Daniel Baldwin and Geraldo Rivera. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, (more)
- 2006
In his comatose dream-world, Tony seeks answers about his identity and receives an invitation to an eerie family reunion. Back in the real world, Silvio struggles in his role as interim boss. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 1999
If it is truly possible to make a bunch of criminals, thieves, and cold-blooded murderers amusing and appealing, then the much-praised HBO serio-comedy The Sopranos did the trick. The title refers not to a gaggle of singers, but to a powerful New Jersey mob family who goes about it's business behind a disarming veneer of suburban respectability. Most of the stories concentrate on middle-aged mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), whose illicit and homicidal activities are treated as par for the course by his wife Carmela (Edie Falco), his college-age daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), and his listless teenage son Anthony Jr. (Robert Iler). Plagued with the usual problems attending his profession, Tony is also weighed down by the travails of his immediate family, not to mention such irritants as his thoroughly venal mother, Livia Soprano (Nancy Marchand), and the overly ambitious Soprano patriarch Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano (Dominic Chianese), with whom Tony is locked in an eternal power struggle. At his wit's end, Tony begins consulting a psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), who is understandably queasy over being privy to the most intimate details of mob activity. The large and ever-changing supporting cast includes Tony Sirico as obsequious mob torpedo Paulie Walnuts, John Heard as "bought" detective Vin Makazian, Michael Rispoli as capo Jackie Aprile, David Proval as Jackie's testy ex-con brother Richie Aprile, Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, Steve Van Zandt as Silvio Dante, Aida Turturro as Tony's sister Janice, Drea de Matteo as Adrianna, Vincent Pastore as Pussy Bompensiero, Joseph Badalucco Jr. as Jimmy Altieri, Michele DeCesare as Hunter, Anthony de Sando as Brendan Filone, Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin, and Kathrine Narducci as Charmaine Bucco.
The series was created by David Chase, who previously served as a writer/producer for such "mainstream" shows as Northern Exposure and I'll Fly Away, and who, born David DeCesare, claimed that a goodly portion of the series is autobiographical (in terms of family interrelationships, if not "the family business"). The Sopranos was almost picked up by Fox, but Chase took a pass when the network insisted upon having casting approval (apparently Fox preferred the best-looking actors to the best actors). The HBO link-up allowed Chase greater freedom in terms of the series' profanity and violence quotient, which provides a realistic backdrop for the oftimes surreal comings and goings of the Sopranos and their various relatives, friends, foes, and business associates. Debuting January 10, 1999, The Sopranos immediately became a popular and critical favorite with the New York Times gushing that the series is "the greatest work of American pop culture of the past quarter century." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The series was created by David Chase, who previously served as a writer/producer for such "mainstream" shows as Northern Exposure and I'll Fly Away, and who, born David DeCesare, claimed that a goodly portion of the series is autobiographical (in terms of family interrelationships, if not "the family business"). The Sopranos was almost picked up by Fox, but Chase took a pass when the network insisted upon having casting approval (apparently Fox preferred the best-looking actors to the best actors). The HBO link-up allowed Chase greater freedom in terms of the series' profanity and violence quotient, which provides a realistic backdrop for the oftimes surreal comings and goings of the Sopranos and their various relatives, friends, foes, and business associates. Debuting January 10, 1999, The Sopranos immediately became a popular and critical favorite with the New York Times gushing that the series is "the greatest work of American pop culture of the past quarter century." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Matt wants to be a writer, but ever since graduating from the USC film school, he has done nothing but sit around watching television and whining while his wife Linda works hard as an architect. Matt has another problem too as he is a compulsive gambler who owes $12,000 to a bookie. This comedy chronicles his attempts to get the money and save himself from the brutish "debt collectors" who pursue him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
