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Showing posts with label Dominic Chianese. Show all posts

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Good Wife 4.3: "Template Based Link Analysis Algorithm"

Another sassy, technologically hip episode 4.3 of The Good Wife last Sunday, featuring Dominic Chianese, of Sopranos Uncle Junior fame, as an elderly hard-of-hearing judge trying a high-powered case at the cutting edge of social media and how they can operate in our society.

It was a good night for Chianese, with simultaneous appearances in The Good Wife and Boardwalk Empire, both on at 9pm Eastern (see my review of Boardwalk Empire). Chianese was especially excellent as the judge on The Good Wife, turning out to be totally on top of the high-tech courtroom action, signalling his command with a comment about "a template based link analysis algorithm".

The case involves manipulating Google searches to bury adversaries in the search results. Like all the episode on The Good Wife this year, last Sunday's was ripped from the headlines, to borrow a phrase usually used for Law and Order. With Presidential election day just a few weeks from now, last Spring's Republican primary, and the possible ascendency of Rick Santorum in that process, seems long ago. But when Santorum looked to be riding high, a manipulation of Google to give an unpleasant result in searches on his name - a piece of clever, nasty work which actually had been done a few years ago - achieved more than a little attention in some places.

On The Good Wife, Will gets a lesson in what can be done to anyone with a sufficiently technologically sophisticated adversary. Will's not only buys off his clients, but rigs Google so that searches on Will's name bring up a "disbarred lawyer" tag. Not likely to help the firm in its quest to become financially solvent.

Fortunately, Alicia has better results in her personal affairs. Not only does no one have evidence of her and Will's affair, but when an intern claims she slept with Peter, Kalinda gets her to unwittingly reveal that she was lying. This leads to a great next-to-last scene in which Alicia kisses Peter (the last scene was Will searching on his name).

But speaking of reunions, Kalinda and her husband's is wearing thin already. I'd much rather see Kalinda working cases, than going through lame kinky scenes with the husband.

Hey, if you like Dominic Chianese, he's an lengthy video interview I did with him several years ago, about his work on The Sopranos:

transcript of the interview

Monday, October 15, 2012

Boardwalk Empire 3.5: "10 L'Chaim"

A superb Boardwalk Empire last night, with a multitude of sharp lines and situations. But my favorite goes to Eddie Cantor - a real entertainer in our history - who not only speaks Yiddishisms, but serves them with a sense of humor. He tutors Nucky in the toast "L'Chaim" - to life! - and adds that he knows some people in prison serving "10 years L'Chaim".

But there's a dark side to Nucky's relationship with Eddie. Like the Johnny Fontane character in the Godfather (presumably based on the real life Frank Sinatra), the real life Eddie Cantor in Boardwalk Empire is under Nucky's thumb. Nucky wants Eddie to star in a new music with Billie. When Eddie refuses - he doesn't want to renege on a commitment he made to Jerome Kern (another real life musical writer and producer) - Nucky has Chalkie come over and make Eddie an offer he can't refuse.

This is in character for the new, tougher, more violent Nucky that we met at the end of season two last year, when Nucky shoots Jimmy point blank. Nucky's standing up to everyone in this season - refusing not to get his way - including even Arnold Rothstein, who calls Nucky out on his coming up to New York just to see Billie. Nucky retorts to Rothstein: unlike you, I'm not dead below the waist. Good line.

Nucky also tries to take out Rosetti, which, as always with Rosetti, is quite a story in itself. We see Rosetti at play - first in auto-erotic-asphyxia with a woman, then "joking" with a newspaper delivery boy. The joke is actually pretty media savvy - as many Boardwalk Empire lines are. Rosetti asks the delivery boy if the newspaper is new; the boy (about 13-14) assures Rosetti it is; Rosetti then asks, looking at the newspaper, why "all this stuff happened yesterday"? That's indeed the reality of newspapers, and one reason why their circulation has been declining in our Internet age. But back to Nucky: he sends a team to take out Rosettit, whom they find, ropes around his and the woman's neck. Rosetti manages to grab a gun, shooting ensues, and when the gun play is over Rosetti is fine but the woman and the newspaper boy have been shot to death. We already knew it wasn't safe to get involved in any kind of joke line with Rosetti, because he was prone to kill the conversationist. This time, even though Rosetti seems to like the newspaper boy, he dies because of his association with Rosetti and his joking anyway. A chilling O'Henryesque twist.

There are also some good continuing story lines with the fictional Van Alden in Chicago and real life Cabinet Secretaries in Washington. And it was good to see Dominic Chianese again (he had a good evening, with major role in The Good Wife over on CBS). But speaking of real life: was Eddie Cantor really ever forced by a mobster to back out of a part in a musical? I don't know - I'll look into it and see what I can find - but it was an instructive moment in an excellent episode.

See also Boardwalk Empire 3.1: Happy News Year 1923 ... Boardwalk Empire 3.2: Gasoline and the White Rock Girl ... Boardwalk Empire 3.3: The Showgirl and The Psycho

"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

Monday, December 12, 2011

Boardwalk Empire Season 2 Finale: Stunner!

I love being wrong in my predictions about how plots and seasons end on television - it's a large part of what makes television great.

And, yeah, did I get the end of this superb season of Boardwalk Empire - its second season - wrong.

I predicted that Nucky and Jimmy would have a rapprochement. Jimmy had no love for the weaklings in his would-be empire who were out to sink Nucky. Jimmy would welcome Nucky's help in paying Manny back for the murder of Angela. All of that was was true. And yet-

As that seemed to be coming to fruition, Nucky inviting Jimmy to a place out in the rain with Manny waiting, bound, for the slaughter, Nucky kills Jimmy instead, in one of the all-time most stunning endings to a television season.

Before then, the ending was very Godfather-like - Nucky through his agents wrapping up all of his business after the charges against him are dismissed (the judge declares a "mistrial, without prejudice," which means the charges can be brought against Nucky again). But Jimmy certainly appeared to be one of the Nucky's agents - someone who, unlike Eli earlier in the season, had been the recipient of Nucky's forgiveness.

But it turns out, as Nucky says to Jimmy before he fires the second shot into Jimmy, that Nucky does not seek forgiveness. Nor does he forgive. Nucky didn't forgive Eli and he didn't forgive Jimmy. But Nucky knew he could control Eli more than Jimmy, that weak Eli was less of threat to him than was Jimmy. If I were Eli, though, I wouldn't feel too confident about my future, either.

Nucky was probably telling the truth when he told Rothstein on the phone - I love seeing those old phones, hearing them ring - that he had a decision to make. I doubt he actually flipped a coin in the air, as Rothstein suggested - not Nucky's way.   But Nucky realized his future was safer with Manny and no Jimmy than vice versa.

The ending was still like the Godfather in other ways - Nucky smoothly lying to Margaret about his deeds. But Margaret is no Kay after she first married Michael.   So Margaret, though married now to Nucky, deeds the AC land to the Church, the land Nucky gave her for legal safekeeping before the trial. I can only imagine Nucky's response to this - but we'll have to wait until next year to find out.

Did Jimmy know what Nucky intended for him? I guess his coming unarmed to the meeting suggests that. Unable to protect his wife, disgusted with his mother, Jimmy had no reason to live - or, as he says to Nucky, he already died in the trenches overseas. But it's also a little hard to believe that Jimmy wouldn't have welcomed someone else's weapon to shoot Manny out in the rain, and wouldn't have wanted more time with his boy, and wouldn't have wanted to leave her in Gillian's control, especially given her predilections.

A great season indeed - and a shout-out to Dominic Chianese, Uncle Junior on The Sopranos, who played Leander in Boardwalk Empire.   I'm glad he survived the taking care of business of Nucky's enemies this time around.

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The Plot to Save Socrates

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Friday, April 22, 2011

A Conversation with Dominic Chianese, The Sopranos Uncle Junior: The Complete Video

Dominic Chianese talks to Paul Levinson and David Lavery ... mostly about The Sopranos, a little about The Godfather, and his life as an actor ... May 23, 2008, The Sopranos: A Wake, conference at Fordham University

transcript of the interview

see also

The Sopranos and Hamlet

The Sopranos and the Closure-Junkies

The Sopranos, or the Tiger?

The Sopranos Ninth of Nine: The Anti-Ending Ending

The Sopranos as a Nuts-and-Bolts Triumph of Non-Network TV my 2002 article

also -
Sopranos Symposium at Fordham University, May 22-25, 2008: Final Program

The Sopranos Podcasts - listen to reviews and analyses

And coming in Summer 2011: The Essential Sopranos Reader (University of Kentucky Press) ... papers and essays from the May 2008 Sopranos Symposium at Fordham University

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Dominic Chianese on Damages

It was good to see Dominic Chianese on Damages last night.   I interviewed him for The Sopranos Conference I helped organize at Fordham University in May 2008, and it was the centerpiece of the conference.   We talked mostly about Chianese's Uncle Junior role on The Sopranos, and a little about his Johnny Ola part in Godfather II, and it was clear that Chianese is an actor's actor, with a keen intellect that understands the cultural impact and depth of his craft.

Damages this year has really outdone itself with fine starring and supporting acting, the highlights being Martin Short as attorney for the Madoff-like character Louis Tobin (played superbly by Len Cariou) whose money is Patty's target, and Campbell Scott as Tobin's son Joe.

Chianese plays the mysterious and powerful Mr. Zedeck, who apparently has access to millions of dollars Tobin stashed away before his prosecution and untimely demise.   In last night's episode 3.6, Joe and Zedeck intersect, as Joe seeks some proof that Zedeck really has access to the hidden money. But this is likely only the beginning of Zedeck's role. Since Patty's looking for the money, sooner or later she'll come into conflict with Zedeck.

Beginning with Frobisher (perfectly played by Ted Danson) in Season One, Damages has thrived on duels between Patty Hewes and arch-villains.   Zedeck will make a fine addition to this roster, and to Chianese's cast of sinister, memorable characters.

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Friday, January 8, 2010

A Conversation with Dominic Chianese - The Sopranos' Uncle Junior

Here, at last, is a more or less verbatim transcript of the interview that David Lavery and I conducted with Dominic Chianese - Uncle Junior of The Sopranos - at The Sopranos: A Wake Conference at Fordham University in New York City on May 23, 2008. The conversation also includes 24 questions from the audience. Thanks to Giselle Isner for the transcription. (April 21, 2011: Video now posted of the complete conversation - see it here.)

A Conversation with Dominic Chianese - The Sopranos' Uncle Junior
Pope Auditorium, Fordham University, Lincoln Center campus
Conference: The Sopranos: A Wake
May 23, 2008

Chianese: Dominic Chianese
Levinson: Paul Levinson
Lavery: David Lavery
AM: audience members

Levinson: Welcome to Fordham University and our conference on “The Sopranos: A Wake.” For those of you who may not know me, my name is Paul Levinson. I’m Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies. In fact, I’m ending my second and final term as Chair and I can’t think of any better way to end it than doing a conference like this and in fact this very panel that you’re soon going to hear, with the two people seated at the table.

Let me introduce you to probably the lesser known person, [audience laughter] but certainly a very significant person, and actually he is someone who helped put together most of this conference. In fact he was here with me and the other people who put together this conference back in September 2002, when we had a little vest pocket conference on The Sopranos. His name is David Lavery, and he [audience applause]…He certainly deserves a round of applause. He has edited two books about The Sopranos. One of which I am especially fond of because an essay of mine is in there, but the other book is pretty good too. I would say there’s probably no one in the world who knows more about television - not just The Sopranos, but Lost, Buffy, Heroes - than David Lavery. So I am very happy that David is here with us.

And sitting next to David is someone who was born in the Bronx in 1931. Actually I was born in the Bronx too just a few years after that - not that many years after that. He may look familiar to you because in The Godfather II, you may recall that tall sinister figure, Johnny Ola [applause], but of course he’s probably far better known, in addition to that role and other distinguished roles over the years, for the part he played in The Sopranos as Uncle Junior [applause], otherwise known as Corrado Soprano.

And when I was speaking to Bob Milang the other day, when he called me and we were discussing Uncle Junior coming to this conference, I said to him I thought that that character in many ways was the heart and soul of the show. It was such a wonderful show, there were so many important characters, but there was something about the Junior character that brought out aspects of the show that no other character did. Now the actor has a name other than Uncle Junior, and his name is Dominic Chianese, so we are going to have an interview with Dominic ... well, really not so much of an interview, more a discussion in which both David and I will ask questions and I encourage Dominic to answer however he pleases, however short or long because far be it from me to ever tell Dominic what to do, but then, you know, we want to this to be a group experience as well, so we will leave a lot of time for all of you to ask questions. By the way, we do have another member of The Sopranos cast here in the audience, Katalin Pota. You may remember Lilliana [applause]... She played the housekeeper on The Sopranos, so we’re glad to have her here as well. All right, let's then go to the discussion. I am going to sit down right at that table, and I’ll ask the first question and we’ll see how it goes.

Why don’t we start at the end if that’s okay. One of the things that struck me with the final season of The Sopranos was the diminished role that Uncle Junior had on that show, and I was wondering if you could perhaps speak to that. How did you feel about approaching that as an actor? Were you disappointed in that? Did you think the story called for that?

Chianese: You speak specifically about the ending?

Levinson: Yes, we can talk specifically about the very last minutes of the show, and also the whole final season.

Chianese: The final season…well I think the ending is a good indication of, I think of what David [Chase] was trying to write, in my opinion. I noticed that when we read the script, the final script, we were amazed at the quietness of the ending. However, when all the actors read the final script, there was no indication that there would be a blackout for maybe 15 or 20 seconds. We just thought they’d end up having an ice cream soda and onion rings together, and that was it. Finito, complete, you know. Even David said, “Why not?” So we were all surprised when the blackout came. My wife and I thought, of course, we had lost television. But, my daughter pointed something out to me, which I think is very interesting. David – the greater genius that he is – he may put clues sometimes, and we don’t realize it. If you remember, she told me….I haven’t checked on it, but if you go home and check on the jukebox that he was playing at the table, it had a song in it – “Don’t Stop Believing,” or something like that. There was a “B” side to that. Does anybody know what the title of the “B” side was?

Audience member #1: “Any Way You Want It”

Chianese: “Any Way You Want It.” [audience laughter] I think maybe that’s David’s motive or something, his idea or his motive for putting it in, and that struck me as something David possibly would do. Any way you want it. You make the idea. A lot of teenagers come up to me and got mad at me, and said “why don’t you kill him?” What am I gonna say? [audience laughter]

Lavery: Paul started at the end. I would like to go back to start at the beginning. Could you reflect or remember anything about the casting, about how you were actually cast in the show?

Monday, May 26, 2008

Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior) at Sopranos Conference at Fordham University

Paul Levinson, Dominic Chianese, and David Lavery at the high point of The Sopranos: A Wake, a scholarly consideration of The Sopranos, at Fordham University, May 22-24, with more than fifty scholarly papers. (Photo by Kim Akass)

Read the complete transcript of the Dominic Chianese interview!

Complete conference program, with links to reviews and articles about the conference in the media...

And here's another photograph of Dominic Chianese and me at The Sopranos Conference, by Ken Rivers.

"challenging fun"
- Entertainment Weekly

e-mail received from a reader:
Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchildren. Thanks! Tom

I of course happily replied...

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