I caught the first episode of Tulsa King last night, Stallone’s new series on Panorama+ and it was great. I was expecting it to be good because I’ve always thought Stallone was an underappreciated film guy. He’s not in Clint Eastwood’s class as a filmmaker, but he’s pretty damn good. Almost a class of his own.
But of course, when we think of Sly, we think of Rambo, and we all haz feelpinions about Rambo. You might have feelpinions about Rocky, too, but I’d argue that in terms of mass culture Rambo was more important.
Anyway, Rocky-n-Rambo completely obliterates any memories of Stallone’s work on features like Cop Land, a gnarly little crime flick about small-town corruption in which Sly chunked up to play a sad, fat, half-deaf, but fundamentally honest New Jersey sheriff going up against bad cops Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta.
It’s a great, low-budget morality play.
Probably lower budget than the pilot of Tulsa King.
There’s some hella strong thematic convergences, though. In Tulsa King, Dwight Manfredi is a former made-guy, outta the joint after 25 years of keeping his goddamn mouth shut for the boss. Like his beta-cuck Sherrif in Copland, Stallone’s Manfredi is at heart a man of honour surrounded by knaves. He’s flawed, lost and something of an endangered species.
He’s also dangerous, of course. Really dangerous to the innocent gumbies of midwestern Gumbytown, but even worse to the underworld figures he will doubtless clash with over the rest of the series.
I read a couple of shitty reviews of this series, which seemed to be peeved that it didn’t have the Shakespearean nuance of Breaking Bad. But here’s a thing, it’s not Breaking Bad. It’s a completely different story about a completely different character. Its morality is simple and the story arcs run true. Also, it is really fucking funny in a way that the best crime shows often are.
I was looking for an enjoyable, diverting hour or so of teev. I suspect I’m now on the hook for this whole fuckin’ show.
When I think of stallone I think of Judge DREDD and remember the fantastic costumes and art direction. His new Superhero movie on Prime is pretty good too.
I really liked the first two episodes. I even watched them twice which is extremely rare. I find refreshing to see how a guy from the 90s would be confused by all the modern idiosyncrasies. Very funny and touching, which is highly unusual for “tough guy” Stallone.
dammit - heard about this the other day listening to the radio but it is unfortunately on one of the streamings we don't have. I would say maybe we could dump disney once the kids bugger off but i've been watching a lot of disney lately. The buying power is strong with that one. Prime and netflix tend to have a few flagship series and then just litter their catalogue with the 7 weeklys for $7 calibre of movie. Although i was on a kick of watching amazon and all those really crappy 80s horror movies that at some point in the first 45mins you say "was this a money laundering exercise? How did it get made? and who threw money at it thinking it was a good idea? was there a lot of coke involved?"
Nice!! Another one I'm keen to load up. Have you perchance seen the Peripheral? Thoughts if so?
It’s on my watchlist, but I haven’t got there yet
The Peripheral is great. We had to pause and not binge it. Self restraint is not my strong suit.
Binged all the episodes to date. Gripping and funny. Lots of action.
Agreed. Quality sci-fi.
I was just about to mention that myself. So far I’m a fan . Decent sci fi is tough to find .
When I think of stallone I think of Judge DREDD and remember the fantastic costumes and art direction. His new Superhero movie on Prime is pretty good too.
I really liked the first two episodes. I even watched them twice which is extremely rare. I find refreshing to see how a guy from the 90s would be confused by all the modern idiosyncrasies. Very funny and touching, which is highly unusual for “tough guy” Stallone.
Some really great work by the supporting characters too
Ta for the tip, copland was great.
But when are we gonna get the legends of dune on streaming?
dammit - heard about this the other day listening to the radio but it is unfortunately on one of the streamings we don't have. I would say maybe we could dump disney once the kids bugger off but i've been watching a lot of disney lately. The buying power is strong with that one. Prime and netflix tend to have a few flagship series and then just litter their catalogue with the 7 weeklys for $7 calibre of movie. Although i was on a kick of watching amazon and all those really crappy 80s horror movies that at some point in the first 45mins you say "was this a money laundering exercise? How did it get made? and who threw money at it thinking it was a good idea? was there a lot of coke involved?"
But, but my to watch list...... it is already too long.
Based on the preview I'm imagining Lillyhammer (Steve van Vandt) with big hats and no snow. I saw Copland for the first time recently - great flick