The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season
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Actor: Aidan Gillen, Clark Johnson, Clarke Peters, Dominic West, Wendell PierceBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 630 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-08-12
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Hbo Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season
DVD Review: I never thought I'd see the Great American Novel of my time...
Summary: 5 Stars
...It just turned out to be a visual one.
Like many people, I came to "The Wire" sideways through the HBO name, after they built credibility with me through "Six Feet Under", "Rome" and other programs. I was, however, under the impression that this show was a cop procedural, and passed it up for some time as a result. I'm actually grateful for that initial misunderstanding, because "The Wire" could knock me out that much harder. It is one of the angriest, most loving and most unafraid fiction I've encountered in any form, and it broke my heart.
I am so damn grateful to everyone who gave it life.
DVD Review: Standard falls off just a bit in this final season
Summary: 4 Stars
This final season of this brilliant series fails to match the heights of the previous years. It's still riveting TV but for the first time I felt as if the plot was becoming a little unrealistic.
I don't want to play the spoiler here so I won't reveal which aspect of the story I felt was far-fetched. But it was pretty central to the action.
Having said that, we do get a penetrating and withering look at the newspaper industry that as a journalist I can attest is all too accurate.
At the Baltimore Sun, the newsroom is decimated by buy-outs to the point that the paper can't cover the news. A young hotshot appears and starts fabricating quotes and then entire stories. His editors, eager to gain a Pulitzer, encourage him. The one veteran voice of reason in the newsroom, trying to maintain ethical standards, is ignored, overruled and finally demoted. It's sad but true.
This series has been a superb examination of one of the most important challenges facing our country -- the sacrifice of an entire generation of young African American males to drugs. The writers looked at the city from every angle and found corruption wherever they looked. Even the police and politicians who try to do good end up corrupted and tarnished. Not a pretty picture, but an important testament.
Congratulations to all concerned.
DVD Review: Steeler Rod's fith season wire review
Summary: 5 Stars
Amazon your'e services were terrific, just like this product,was terriffic
You don't find that combination going hand & hand, these days, in this -
country...Amazon was terrific,the fith season was terrific...
The only down side to this whole experiance is the fact, they brought it -
to a end, and Im left here like a junkie......yes I said it, like a junkie
Holy hamburgers batman......I want to see more.
This is some of the best Television, I've seen ever.
DVD Review: The end of TV's best kept secret
Summary: 5 Stars
David Simon's fifth and final installment of the Wire does not disappoint. Like the previous seasons, Simon adheres to his integrity by the implementation of his following innovations: 1. A Dickensian narrative style that slowly unveils its intriguing plot with every successive episode. 2. A genuine deconstruction of America's failing institutions(Ex. The media in this season) 3. An egalitarian approach of portraying its multiple and diverse characters. 4. Lastly, Simon's absolute zeal in 'keeping it real'. Specifically, Simon resists every urge to submit to a Hollywood formula, thereby generating an authentic depiction of the shattered American Dream and the destruction of the middle class. Although I painfully admit that there were some instances in this show where I would liked to have indulged in some cathartic Hollywood motif (Ex.spaghetti western showdown between two rivals), however, I appreciate Simon's artistic integrity. DVD Review: DISAPPOINTING
Summary: 2 Stars
WARNING : THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW..This great miniseries ended on such a BLAH note. My wife was so upset with the wipeout of Omar she wanted to stop watching. This character should have got the revenge he deserved and then been allowed to go back into retirement. A miniseries could have been created around him alone. As for the demise of the little girl/guy hitman it was appropiate and well done but it should have been done by Omar. As for McNulty he got what he deserved as his drinking on the job and womanizing was really out of hand and discusting. The best story ending was Bubbles having dinner with his sister. To add insult to injury was to see the reporter get a prize for his phony stories. There ain't no justice
Description of The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season
In the projects. On the docks. In City Hall. In the schools. And now, in the media. The places and faces have changed, but the game remains the same. Times are tough for the detail. Mayor Carcetti has slashed the departments budget to the bone. Police are operating without overtime some without cars and radios. Angered, McNulty is off the rails again and headed down a dangerous path of deception and lies that will ally him with an unscrupulous reporter. The drug trade still rules the corners, all you have to do is read between the lines.DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Featurette
A barroom toast to Det. Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), a one-man good cop/bad cop, offered in The Wire's final episode could very well serve as this series' epitaph: "When you were good, you were the best we had." Season five bears witness to this. The 10 riveting, wrenching episodes focus on yet another beleaguered Baltimore institution, The Baltimore Sun daily newspaper, whose staff, much like the police, is forced to do more with less. One editor (Clark Johnson) struggles to maintain the paper's journalistic standards in the face of declining ad revenues, employee buyouts and bureau closures. An ambitious reporter (Tom McCarthy) undermines him by taking a page out of the Stephen Glass/Jayson Blair playbook, manufacturing sensational quotes, and eventually, whole stories, while bean-counter management encourages its rising star and keeps its eye on the (Pulitzer) prize. Meanwhile, on the streets, the year-long investigation of rising drug lord Marlo Sansfield (Jamie Hector) and the 22 bodies found in "the vacants" has been discontinued and police morale is at an all-time low (the money promised to the department has been diverted to the schools). McNulty manufactures a serial killer case that will have far-reaching repercussions in the mayor's office, where Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) is mounting a run for governor a mere two years into his term. "I wonder what it would be like to work at a real police station," McNulty rages at one point. The Wire, as ever, is all about real. It's a gritty and unflinching look at life in one of roughest districts of a "broke-ass city." There is street justice for some characters, and street injustice for others. Some meet sad, sudden, or shocking ends that defy TV convention. Referring to Marlo, McNulty declares early on, "He does not get to win; we get to win." The hard-earned victories are mostly small, or come with a price. Not that The Wire does not offer glimmers of hope. Bubbles (Andre Royo) struggles to maintain his sobriety (Steve Earle portrays the leader of his 12-step program and also does the theme song honors this season), and the final episode features a cameo by Jim True-Frost as the once overwhelmed teacher, "Prez," who now seems to have the hang of the job. The ratings-strapped and criminally Emmy-snubbed The Wire has always been a critic's darling with a passionate fan base. To the show's credit, it did not make itself more accessible in its final season (consequently, its send-off did not receive near the fanfare of The Sopranos or Sex and the City). That should not dissuade newcomers to the show. It is heavy lifting, and if you're just joining The Wire, a visit to the show's official website for orientation is recommended. But buy it, watch it, and be patient. It's so worth it. From the masterful storytelling to the peerless ensemble, it just doesn't get any better than The Wire. But that's not exactly news. --Donald Liebenson
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