Amazon.com: The Sopranos: The Complete Series Gift Set: James Gandolfini, Edie Falco: Movies & TV

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The Sopranos: The Complete First Season-The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.

The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognizable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get.

Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatization of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchmen and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed.

The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr. Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional," perceptive, and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland

The Sopranos: The Complete Second Season-In its second season, The Sopranos sustains the edgy intelligence and unpredictable, genre-warping narrative momentum that made this modern mob saga the most critically acclaimed series of the late 1990s. Creator-producer David Chase repeatedly defies formula to let the narrative turn as a direct consequence of the characters' behavior, letting everyone in this rogue's gallery of Mafiosi, friends, and family evolve and deepen.

That gamble is most apparent in the rupture of the relationship that formed the spine of the first season, the tangled ties between capo Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and monstrous matriarch Livia (Nancy Marchand), whose betrayal makes Tony's estrangement a logical response. Filling that vacuum, however, is prodigal sister Janice (Aida Turturro), whose New Age flakiness never successfully conceals her underlying calculation and opportunism. Soprano's relationship with therapist Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) also frays during early episodes, as she struggles with escalating doubts about her mobbed-up patient. At home, Tony contends with wife Carmela's ruthless ambitions on behalf of college-bound Meadow, as well as son Anthony Jr.'s sullen adolescent flirtation with existentialism--the sort of touch that the show handles with a smart mix of sympathy and amusement.

Without spoiling the surprise of the season's climactic last episode, it's worth noting that only on The Sopranos could we expect a scene that sets up a mob hit with a perversely funny touch of magic realism--a talking fish, lying on a fishmonger's iced display, speaking with the voice of the victim. It's a touch at once morbid and goofy, and consistent with the show's undimmed brilliance. --Sam Sutherland

The Sopranos: The Complete Third Season-"So," Tony Soprano asks analyst Dr. Melfi in the wake of not-so-dearly-departed Livia's death, "we're probably done here, right?" Sorry, Tone, not by a long shot. Unresolved mother issues are the least of the Family man's troubles in the brutal and controversial third season of The Sopranos. Ranked by TV Guide among the top five greatest series ever, The Sopranos justified its eleven-month hiatus with some of its best, and most hotly debated, episodes that continue the saga of the New Jersey mob boss juggling the pressures of his often intersecting personal and professional lives. The third season garnered 22 Emmy nominations, earning Lead Actor and Actress honors for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco for their now-signature roles as Tony and his increasingly conflicted wife, Carmela.

The Sopranos continued to upend convention and defy audience expectations with a deliberately paced, calm-before-the-storm season opener that revolves around the FBI's attempts to bug the Soprano household, and a season finale that (for some) frustratingly leaves several plot lines unresolved. The second episode, "Proshai, Livushka," confronts the death of the venerable Nancy Marchand, who capped her career with perhaps her greatest role as malignant matriarch Livia. A jarring scene between Tony and Livia that uses pre-existing footage is a distraction, but Carmela's unsparing smackdown of Livia at the wake redeems the episode. "Employee of the Month," in which Dr. Melfi is raped and considers whether to exact revenge by telling Tony of her attack, earned Emmys for its writers, and is perhaps Emmy nominee Lorraine Bracco's finest hour. The darkly comic "Pine Barrens"--another memorable episode, directed by Steve Buscemi--strands Paulie (Tony Sirico) and Christopher (Michael Imperioli) in the forest with a runaway corpse. Other story arcs concern the rise of the seriously unstable Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) and Tony's affair with "full-blown loop-de-loo" Gloria (Emmy nominee Annabella Sciorra). Plus, there is Tony's estrangement from daughter Meadow (Jamie Lynn Sigler), his wayward delinquent son Anthony, Jr. (Robert Iler), Carmela's crisis of conscience, bad seed Jackie Jr., and the FBI--which, as the season ends, assigns an undercover agent to befriend an unwitting figure in the Soprano family's orbit. Stay tuned for season four. --Donald Liebenson

The Sopranos: The Complete Fourth Season-Carmela to Tony: "Everything comes to an end." True enough, Mrs. Sope, but on The Sopranos, the end comes sooner for some than others. Though for some the widely debated fourth season contained too much yakking instead of whacking, and an emphasis on domestic family over business Family, what critic James Agee once said of the Marx Brothers applies to The Sopranos: "The worst thing they might ever make would be better worth seeing than most other things I can think of." And in most respects, The Sopranos remains television's gold standard. The fourth season garnered 13 Emmy nominations, and subsequent best actor and actress wins for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco as Tony and Carmela, whose estrangement provides the season with its most powerful drama, as well as a win for Joe Pantoliano's psychopath Ralph. The season finale, "Whitecaps," was a long-time-coming episode, in which Carmela at last stands up to "toxic" Tony, and "Whoever Did This" was the season's--and one of the series'--most shocking episodes.

Other narrative threads include Christopher's (Emmy nominee Michael Imperioli) descent into heroin addiction, Uncle Junior's (Dominic Chianese) trial, an unrequited and potentially fatal attraction between Carmela and Tony's driver Furio, and a rude joke about Johnny Sack's wife that has potentially fatal implications. Other indelible moments include Christopher's girlfriend Adriana's projectile reaction to discovering that her new best friend is an undercover FBI agent in the episode "No Show," Janice giving Ralph a shove out of their relationship in "Christopher," and the classic "Quasimodo/Nostradamus" exchange in the season-opener, which garnered HBO's highest ratings to date. Freed from the understandably high expectations for the fourth season, heightened by the 16-month hiatus, these episodes can be better appreciated on their own considerable merits. They are pivotal chapters in television's most novel saga. --Donald Liebenson

The Sopranos: The Complete Fifth Season-Facing an indeterminate sentence of weeks/months/years until new episodes, fans of The Sopranos are advised to take the fifth; season, that is. At this point, superlatives don't do The Sopranos justice, but justice was at last served to this benchmark series.

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in a not-so-nice mood

For the first time, The Sopranos rubbed out The West Wing to take home its first Emmy® for Outstanding Dramatic Series. Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo also earned Best Supporting Actor and Actress honors for some of their finest hours as Christopher and Adriana. From the moment a wayward bear lumbers into the Sopranos' yard in the season opener, it is clear that The Sopranos is in anything but a "stagmire." The series benefits from an infusion of new blood, the so-called "Class of 2004," imprisoned "family" members freshly released from jail. Most notable among these is Tony's cousin, Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi, who directed the pivotal season three episode "Pine Barrens"! ), who initially wants to go straight, but proves himself to be something of a "free agent," setting up a climactic stand-off between Tony and New York boss Johnny Sack.

Carmela and Tony

These 13 mostly riveting episodes unfold with a page-turning intensity with many rich subplots. Estranged couple Tony and Carmela (the incomparable James Gandolfini and Edie Falco) work toward a reconciliation (greased by Tony's purchase of a $600,000 piece of property for Carmela to develop). The Feds lean harder on an increasingly stressed-out and distraught Adriana to "snitch" with inevitable results. This season's hot-button episode is "The Test Dream," in which Tony is visited by some of the series' dear, and not-so-dearly, departed in a harrowing nightmare. With this set, fans can enjoy marathon viewings of an especially satisfying season, but considering the long wait ahead for season six, best to take Tony's advice to his son, who, at one point, gulps down a champagne toast. "Slow down," Tony says. "You're supposed to savor it." --Donald Liebenson

The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1-The Sopranos, Season 6, Part 1 is the most contentious release yet in the acclaimed series' history. While many fans think it jumped the shark at the exact moment Vito said "I love you, Johnny Cakes" , this season also contains some of the series finest moments and plumbs new depths of character, while continuing to add to the body count. Things get started with a bang, literally, that unexpectedly sends Tony (James Gandolfini) to the hospital and into a coma where he experiences an alternate reality while in limbo. At one point he awakes and asks "Who am I? Where am I going?" encapsulating this season's central theme in a moment of desperation wrapped in a fever dream. But it's not all existentialism. With Tony and Uncle Junior both of the picture, the capos in the Soprano crew try to take advantage of the situation and begin jockeying for position while a reluctant Silvio (Steve Van Zandt), acting in Tony’s place, struggles to keep everyone in check. Things aren’t going much better for Tony’s family, as A.J. (Robert Iler) confesses to Carmela (Edie Falco) that he flunked out of school, and while at Tony’s bedside, swears revenge for his injury. The stress of the situation finally gets to Carmela, who takes up Dr. Melfi’s (Lorraine Bracco) offer to help and finds herself in the strange position of confiding in her husband’s therapist, revealing for once that she feels some guilt over making the kids complicit in how Tony makes his living—plus there’s the issue of whether she really loves him. Christopher (Michael Imperioli) continues to provide much of the comic relief for the series, culminating in one of this season’s best episodes when he flies out to L.A. in a bumbling attempt to get Ben Kingsley to sign on for his fledgling movie (Saw meets The Godfather), and ends up mugging Lauren Bacall for her goodie basket at an awards ceremony. Sowing further discord in the ranks, Vito (Joseph Gannoscoli) finally gets outed as homosexual, and is forced to flee for his life up to New Hampshire where he meets "Johnny Cakes." Finally, even with New York boss Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni (Vince Curatola) in prison, Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) makes plays against Tony and eventually sets in motion a hit against someone on Tony’s crew, and now a larger war with Johnny Sack's crew seems to be looming. Series creator David Chase seems to be saying with this season that character is destiny. If so, then Season Six, Part 1 is taking the necessary time to flesh out who these people really are, and is leaving the destiny part up for Part 2. The fact that the series’ writers have been able to maintain such a strong show with so many interweaving storylines for so long is a feat not to be taken lightly. That said, this season of The Sopranos does deserve some of the criticism it's received: the Vito storyline would have been better served by resolving it in fewer episodes, and the season ending is the most unsatisfying one yet, leaving many fans wanting more. But the bottom line is that this season deserves more praise than criticism, proving that even at its weakest, The Sopranos is still the strongest show on TV.--Daniel Vancini

The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 2-Completing the run of one of the most acclaimed television shows in broadcast history, season 6, part II of The Sopranos will be remembered mostly not for what happened during the season, but for what didn't happen at the very end. Creator David Chase pulled off a series ending that was as controversial as it was surprising and unforgettable, leaving countless fans to look away from the show and to blogs and articles for answers to the biggest mystery since "who shot J.R.?": what happened to Tony Soprano? But before we get to that point, there are nine episodes to digest, and they are some of the best in the run of the show since season 3. As Tony's (James Gandolfini) paranoia and suspicions grow, his family makes choices that are threatening to bring big changes to his personal life, and his other "family" is crashing headlong towards an inevitable showdown with Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) and the New York crew. Episode 1, "Soprano Home Movies," starts off peacefully enough with Tony and Carmela (Edie Falco) enjoying a relaxing summer weekend at Bobby and Janice's (Steve Schirripa and Aida Turturro) bucolic lake house, and by the end of the episode Tony has effectively taken Bobby's soul, proving Tony's ruthlessness and ending any doubt about his will to maintain dominance over his family. In "Kennedy and Heidi," one of the season's signature episodes, Christopher's (Michael Imperioli) drug use continues to spiral out of control, forcing Tony to take matters into his own hands and resolve things with his nephew once and for all.

Inevitably it's all leading up to that big finale, and it's deftly handled over the last two episodes, "The Blue Comet" and "Made in America" (an episode replete with subtle references to The Godfather). Things finally start to get resolved with Phil's crew, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese), A.J. (Robert Iler), and Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), and as for Tony… Cut to black. To quote from another hit HBO show of the same era, "everything ends," even The Sopranos, and while the way Chase chose to end The Sopranos may not be to the liking of fans hoping for a definitive resolution, give the man credit for not stooping to clichés or tired old scenarios for the sake of a closing. As A.J. says in the final scene, quoting his father, "Try to remember the times that were good." Good advice. --Daniel Vancini

Product Description

For six seasons, fans have devotedly watched Tony Soprano deal with the difficulties of balancing his home life with the criminal organization he leads. Audiences everywhere tuned in to see the mob, the food, the family, and who was next to be whacked. Celebrate the show that Vanity Fair called, "the greatest show in TV history", in the ultimate Sopranos collector's edition.

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172 of 178 people found the following review helpful

The Sopranos, repackaged in time for the holidays September 19, 2009

By calvinnme HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Last year HBO released the complete series of this ground-breaking show with the very high pricetag we've come to expect from any HBO original series on DVD. According to the press release, a year later, HBO wants to make this collection more available to consumers with new compact packaging and a lower price point. I continue from the press release:

The new package is still book style, but of a vastly different sort - it opens up from a split down the center in a gatefold fashion, and discs slide in from the side. Speaking of discs, HBO informs us that all of the DVDs from the previous Complete Series set will be included, with all the bonus material found on them. However, the extra soundtrack CD discs will not be packed in with the revised collection. Still, the new list price is a hundred dollars lower, which certainly good news for any fans who perhaps couldn't afford last year's model.

End of press release. The bottom line on this is we are paying one hundred dollars less to give up 2 music CDs and in exchange get packaging that should not enable so many scratched discs. The extra features include an interview with series creator David Chase conducted by Alec Baldwin and two "Supper With the Sopranos" featurettes that will show cast members sitting down for dinner to discuss their favorite episodes.

As for the series itself, if the Godfather saga was the view of the mafia from the executive suite, this series is a complex tale of the mafia from the working man's point of view. If you've never watched this show, you're in for an extended treat. Yes, there is violence and nudity, but it is never gratuitous and is needed to contrast Tony Soprano, the thinking man's gangster, with the reality of the life he has been born to and, quite frankly, would not ever have left even knowing how so many of his associates have ended up. Tony Soprano can discuss Sun Tzu with his therapist, then beat a man to death with a frying pan in a fit of rage, and while dismembering and disposing of the body with his nephew, take a break, sit down and watch TV while eating peanut butter out of the jar, and give that nephew advice on his upcoming marriage like they had just finished a Sunday afternoon of viewing NFL football. Even Carmella, his wife, when given a chance for a way out, finds that she really prefers life with Tony and the perks that go with it and looking the other way at his indiscretions versus life on her own. If you followed the whole thing, you know how it ends. If you didn't, trust me you've never seen a TV show end like this.

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113 of 120 people found the following review helpful

Finally, the whole series in its entirety July 13, 2008

This 33 disc 10 pound set will contain all 86 original episodes as well as an interview with series creator David Chase conducted by Alec Baldwin and two "Supper With the Sopranos" featurettes that will show cast members sitting down for dinner to discuss their favorite episodes. Other features include:
Sopranos Spoofs
2 CD soundtracks on 3 discs
16 page episode guide
56-page collector's album

As the Godfather saga was the view of the mafia from the executive suite, this series is a complex tale of the mafia from the working man's point of view. If you've never watched this show, you're in for an extended treat. Yes, there is violence and nudity, but it is never gratuitous and is needed to contrast Tony Soprano, the thinking man's gangster, with the reality of the life he has been born to and, quite frankly, would not ever have left even knowing how so many of his associates have ended up. Tony Soprano can discuss Sun Tzu with his therapist, then beat a man to death with a frying pan in a fit of rage, and while dismembering and disposing of the body with his nephew, take a break, sit down and watch TV while eating peanut butter out of the jar, and give that nephew advice on his upcoming marriage like they had just finished a Sunday afternoon of viewing NFL football. Even Carmella, his wife, when given a chance for a way out, finds that she really prefers life with Tony and the perks that go with it and looking the other way at his indiscretions versus life on her own. If you followed the whole thing, you know how it ends. If you didn't, trust me you've never seen a TV show end like this.

I'm looking forward to seeing all 86 episodes together over a short time period versus the very annoying long time periods between seasons that we had after the first three seasons. Remember, it took eight years (1999-2007) for the show to go from season one to season six.

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127 of 146 people found the following review helpful

This Generation's Greatest Contribution to Pop Culture July 14, 2008

By Wesley Mullins

Meet Tony Soprano. He sleeps until noon, has a boyish sense of humor, and enjoys old war movies on The History Channel. He has two high maintenance children, a more high maintenance wife, and he grew up with a controlling mother so manipulative he has to see a psychiatrist to deal with his depression and panic attacks.

And in his spare time, he runs a middling outfit of La Cosa Nostra and controls most of the organized crime in North New Jersey.

This is the set-up for the show that superseded all its predecessors and took its place at the pinnacle of television artistry. Creator David Chase's masterpiece follows Tony is his travels through his three worlds: family, work and therapy. The plot arcs are simultaneously short and long-ranging, as resolution is found in each episode and also builds toward season climaxes and long-reaching series payoffs. The end result is a television show with the grand scope of a novel, but one that doesn't forget to keep viewers interested with weekly rewards.

Probably the only series in history with more Emmy nominations (112) than episodes (86), The Sopranos has been called the greatest show ever to appear on television, the pioneer for all current successful pay cable programs and the most influential piece of pop culture over the last quarter century. In this day where novels have lost their broad appeal and 90 minute films paint on a limited canvas, Tony Soprano is destined to be the most studied and analyzed literary figure over the next few decades.

Such critical focus is not unjustified. As much as the series hinges on the many supporting characters, the show IS Tony. Women love him, men fear him and viewers are captivated by all his complexities. James Gandolfini dazzles in his performance as one of the greatest characters ever seen on stage, television or film, a man without faith in god or country, and a man whose own allegiance to both his literal and figurative families is at best tepid. Often, his inconsistent and unpredictable behavior leaves audiences confused until he lays himself open in his therapist's office, scenes that are sometimes uncomfortable to watch because of the degree of vulnerability Gandolfini allows Tony to reach.

The notoriously naughty drama contains the sex and violence consistent with an examination of the mafia, but also provides its share of tenderness. Although a habitual philanderer, Tony aspires to be a great husband, father, brother, and son, but too often he lacks the strength or skills to care about anyone but himself. His longing for a modest normal life leaks into his dreams and therapy and illuminates a man who hates what he sees in the mirror but can't do anything about it.

With a few hundred words, this review does not do justice to the monumental achievement. An entire piece could be written about the show's black comedy, culinary artistry, or exploration of familial roles. The Sopranos routinely tackled difficult subjects like caring for the elderly, Italian-American defamation, religion, homosexuality, terrorism and the many flaws in the federal government. Wrapped together with a soundtrack that's one part classic rock and one part 1960s Las Vegas, the Sopranos achieved the nearly impossible feat of being both the most entertaining/watchable show from its era and also the one that provided the most insight into the human condition and experience. Yes, seeing the loves, hates, desires and deaths of these characters made for great television and very exciting Sunday nights, but the discussions sparked from these 86 works of art will be continued on message boards and in classrooms long after we are all gone.