'Luck' on HBO - Page 4

And it's not just the mumbling. It's the mumbling with Spanish and Irish accents, not to mention Nolte's gargled-with-gin-and-razor-blades rasp.

I wasn't a JFC fan, but I was a Deadwood one. I enjoy not being spoonfed everything -- within reason - and I certainly know next to nothing about this world. But that's OK. The direction and cinematography are great and will definitely keep me interested in spite of the learning curve. But subtitles would be a plus.

In case people don't know it, the "Delphi" story is true.

As to the inscrutability of the dialog etc., I'm going on the assumption that all will become clear in time. If I was there in person I wouldn't understand any more than I do as a viewer, so it makes sense to me to wait it out and enjoy the ride.

Exactly. With HBO forcing their season down to 9 episodes, there's just no way that all these intertwined stories could be told if time was wasted on explaining lingo and backgrounds or characters. I highly recommend multiple viewings - a lot more will come clear. And all these exact same things were said about Deadwood when it was airing. People can invest the time and effort needed to mine the gold here, or not.

No big surprised that it really happened given the kind of $$$ involved.

Btw, here's a nice recap of episode 2: http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2...ap-episode-two It helped.

larry

It was nice to recap the two episodes. Nothing new here, no explaining needed, maybe because I'm very familiar with that real life "genre."

Regardless, this horse racing thing is only the backdrop for classic story telling. A fantastic backdrop that is generally untapped with a wealth of emotions. The same way the Black Hills gold rush was for Deadwood.

And I didn't like this guy's last line-- The worlds of horse-racing and gambling are still confounding here; fingers crossed that Luck's storylines all eventually congeal into something that, you know, makes sense as a whole; He is lazy.

I find this show to be as much of a "chore" to "understand" as DW was. The advantage I had with DW was coming late (very late) to the party and watching it all on BD. This 3 or more episode at a time viewing makes a world of a difference. Don't have that option right now.

To this guy in that link-- Stick with it and stop your whining. Have a viewing party-- open a can of peaches. Maybe someone in the room can spoon feed you.

Ooooh, ouch.

Hopefully I won't have to reach for the Gerber's now that I've found those recaps.

I purposely added "to that guy in the link" as to be sure that it's understood that it is directed at him, not anyone here You already said you will invest a little more because you are fully aware that you most likely will be rewarded.

And it's worth the read. I just don't understand this guy. He obviously is a Milch fan. Why was a western genre okay to ride out but this one not?

I've only seen the pilot so far, but the scene where the horse broke its leg and had to be euthanized was disturbing. The shot of its leg buckling during the race looked very real, but I assumed it was CGI. Now I read this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16979834

Could that have been the actual injury and killing of the first horse mentioned in the article? Seems hard to believe, but...

Doug

It is most definitely CG.

Not one comment on Ep. 3. That should tell you something.
IMO there is no compelling reason to continue to follow this series.

Some might not have gotten around to it yet, with the Grammy's (that was a waste of time).

I just watched it now. Story and character development episode, not too much excitement but a lot of information and more inside baseball stuff that should have been educational for most of the non horse fans here. There were some lingo thrown around that if you don't know you will probably figure out, like -- "the horse worked a bullet last time" which tells them that the horse is training well, fast.

Still good stuff. Loved Gus telling the young buck, "You haven't met me yet."

OK, I'll go.

An easy to recognize agenda is not in the script.
So far, this is very much like walking in on a set of people you know nothing about and no one is interested in letting you in on their lives. If you stick around long enough, you might learn you're way around. Either hang and earn it or F-Off? Don't know the local lingo? Double F-Off!
Want character development? Here it is. Polar opposite of Californication/House Of Lies.

I could be wrong, but that's my guess

Ace's new about-to-be flunky should add something new. And, I'm pretty impressed how they're developing Nolte's character. Escalante and the vet - there's an odd pair.

larry

Like there's others like myself that record shows and watch them later at their leisure?

larry

I, for one, completely forgot to record the episode! And I don't see it listed for replay. Plus, Cablevision does not include HBO on Demand with your HBO subscription!

imo, so far, watchable... but not compelling.

It's playing several times again before Ep 4 airs next Sunday.

http://www.hbo.com/#/schedule/series/LUCK/PMRS1863

Thanks!

I watched ep 2 last night and the above post pretty much sums up my experience. You can't turn this program up loud enough to catch half of what's said...then there's the language barrier. Nolte is incomprehensible.. I'm going to have a tough time lasting until ep.4 where Filmixer states it will start taking off (or making sense...or something).

Yes, because the success of a shows relies on the traffic on a niche message board.

Great show. I for one love the cryptic writing. It's like nothing else on TV today. Tip for everyone: use subtitles.

Multiple viewings is also a good idea. There's gold in this series for anyone who wants to take the time to find it. If anything, there's too much going on, not too little. Multiple stories are tied together by the events at the track. Not easy to keep it all sorted out, to be sure. The Milch dialog alone will keep me watching.

^^^ Not to mention the introduction of Joan Allen.

From HOTP thread posted by dad1153

TV Sports
Jeremy Lin getting a national TV audience
By Michale Hiestand, USA Today - Feb. 17, 2012

...

Stevens Lucks into new career

Just because Gary Stevens won eight Triple Crown races, don't assume he got his role as a hard-drinking jockey in the intense HBO series Luck because he can ride. In fact, he's not allowed to.

"I have a stunt rider because of insurance," he says. "Paralysis or death would maybe cause problems for the production."

Uh, probably. "And I'm not allowed to ride my Harley Davidson, or jump out of airplanes — which I'd never do anyway."

But then, he'd never planned to go into acting or sportscasting. Stevens says that until the last few years of his career as a jockey — he retired in 2005 — he had "no other ambition to do anything other than train race horses. But unexpected opportunities arose."

Like the 2003 film Seabiscuit, where Stevens also played a jockey — and also wasn't allowed to ride. Stevens was sent to spend three days with an acting coach, who phoned the producers the second day. Stevens figured he was a goner. Instead, he heard the acting coach say: "I'm sending him home. He's ready. I don't want to screw him up."

In 2005, Stevens joined NBC, where he remains a lead analyst on its Triple Crown coverage.

In Luck (Sunday, 9 p.m. ET), a dark drama whose cast includes Dustin Hoffman as a scheming ex-con and Nick Nolte as an owner with a scandal in his past, Stevens' part was created with him in mind. He says he's known show writer David Milch for 30 years. "I rode race horses for him. He loves to play the ponies. … And every Luck character is based on certain personalities at race tracks."

And he trots out lots of racing lingo in his scripts. But cast members, including Stevens, use weekly Monday night Twitter chats —#LuckChat — to help viewers make translations.

...



http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post21658902

It's a good thing I clicked over to the original post w/ the entire article. Otherwise, I might have asked a stupid question like: "What does Jeremy Lin have to do w/ this article or w/ Luck?

Doug

Whatta you a wise guy? I only added the whole article as respect to the original poster and thread even though it's like a non sequitur. But it is a funny headline to see, in the Luck thread-- Lin. I guess the Lin--"insert fancy phrase here" hysteria is popping up everywhere.

Lin is going to guest star...as a gambler at the table with Jerry...on a future episode of Luck.

All Lin....all the time......

BTW--who is the actor playing the Asian guy at the table with Jerry? Don't see him listed on the IMDB site nor is he listed as a main character on the HBO site and I'm having a hard time figuring out where I've seen him before

Edit: Dennis Dun is his name. He was on the "more characters page" of IMDB---I knew he looked familiar---The Last Emperor and Big Trouble in Little China"

4 episodes in... if this series were to suddenly be pulled/cancelled; i really wouldn't care. for me, there is no outstanding plot line that has grabbed me and that i must follow.

will keep watching, but luck seems to not be going anywhere very fast.

Excellent episode.

It's like being in a 5 star chef's kitchen peaking at his 6-burner stove-- each cooking up his own gourmet entree. On one burner there's Ace and his former business partner Mike, played so masterfully by Michael Gambon on that cool yacht. I'm saving up for a pool. That scene was chilling.

And then there's another burner with the expanded Leo Chan gambling action going on and we're finding out that Leo's involved in some broken nose dealings.

And then there's Rosie, stepping inside the room, getting her big break, where the great hall of fame jockey Julie Krone put on her silks -and on and on. There's so much happening here. Love it!

That race was great drama too. Once again, the inside baseball stuff helps the story move along - if you know it- but shouldn't be a speed bump if you don't. For instance, the horse was bleeding as it was running down the stretch. Lasix is usually given to horses for this ailment, nothing to drastic. But it was great-added suspense, especially with Nolte and the handkerchief and the Vet and her relationship with the interesting trainer.

And of course the time of 107 and change is phenomenal. The track record is a blazing 106 and change. The normal "very fast" horse would do 108-109. Compare this to another sport; it's like a baseball pitcher tossing a 100mph plus fastball.

I agree, an outstanding episode and firing on all cylinders. I liked Ace's comment about how honest people don't know how to take "yes" for an answer. It'll be interesting to see how Ace's scam plays out. Owning 51% of the track, he must be planning to wind up owning it outright with the "partners" getting screwed.