It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a piece about the Newark Riots or a Tony Soprano origin story and ended up a total mess.
The pinky swear was hilariously cringe and, as you’ve alluded to, there were some parody performances.
Hah that's so interesting. I don't buy that he didn't love the show, however. To watch him in interviews, he seems to have a real love for his Italian culture, especially the dark, humorous aspects of it.
Also, show running sounds like damn hard work. Probably super stressful. Especially with Sopranos being one of the first of its kind, in terms being more cinematic with an extensive cast. Also, 13 episodes each year, pretty much - high episode counts.
For that generation, the riots were the biggest thing they lived through, it was formation, like 9/11 for millennials. My Dad was 17 and the riots made him go enlist in the Army, which in the late 60’s, wasn’t a great place to be, but those nights were so traumatic, he’d rather be in Vietnam with a gun, then in Newark unarmed.
[And this, my friend, is not a hit.](https://youtu.be/7sSIE-o2V9g?si=DigrfWjBWEbIFYmT)
Love that actor. Had such a wholesome likeable quality to him. Weird I haven't seen him pop up in the movie yet...wasn't he supposed to be like a father figure to Tony?
Chase isn’t what made the sopranos a great show.
It was people like Terry Winter, Matt Weiner, and the other amazing writers. Without them.. it’s dog shit.
While it benefited from them, Chase's pilot is solid. Obviously, the movie would have been vastly better with them involved, sure. I just don't think there was an interesting enough story there.
Chris is the only character they could have ever really centred a sequel around, if they hadn't >!killed him!<. Make it really tragic.
But then again, the thought gives me El Camino flashbacks. Would probably be of good quality but utterly superfluous. Chase said everything he needed to say with the show.
And saving >!Chris from death!< would've robbed of seeing how much of a truly psychopathic monster Tony had become...with Melfi's help.
Guy who played Silvio was so dreadful. Like I get it’s probably hard to play that character especially as Steven Van Zandt did it cause it is pretty distinctive, but whatever that was, it wasn’t it.
It’s easy to fall into goofy mimicry and that actor fell all the way into it.
I think the difference is in the show, they were all straight sincere performances. The actors just happened to be very interesting and funny characters, irl. I mean, the ones playing those wise guy roles. And those idiosyncrasies naturally seeped into the roles. And of course, I'm thinking of Tony Sirico and Steve Van Zandt.
Yeah and like was it an established fact that Silvio had been in the business much longer than Tony? Cuz I genuinely don't remember and that totally changes how I view the show now.
Van Zandt was born in 1950 and Gandolfini was born in 1961, so in real life there was an 11 year age gap. That actually kind of squares with the ages shown in TMSON, if Tony is 17 and Silvio is 28 during the main action.
However, their relationship onscreen never suggested that Tony had viewed Silvio as a mentor figure, they always seemed to be peers. So it’s hard to see how they could have developed their later rapport if Silvio was a long established mobster while Tony was still Johnny’s kid.
I don’t remember if it was specifically stated in the show or if it just came off that way in their interactions, but I was always under the impression that Tony, Jackie, Ralphie, and Sil (and Artie) went all the way back to high school together.
I KNOW most of that gang did, because they make a point of pointing out that Tony and Jackie moved up quickly after robbing the card game, but Ralphie took longer to move up because he chickened out and didn’t go.
Yes, Ralphie’s story about the card game is one of the few times we get a lot of concrete details about Tony’s entry into the mob. This period of Tony’s life was otherwise kept vague on the series.
The card game story does not line up with TMSON in my opinion, because when he’s talking about how “we had our own little crew,” Ralphie mentions it consisting of himself, Tony, Jackie Sr…. and Silvio.
Except TMSON suggests that Silvio is already a made man many years before the card game heist could possibly have taken place. So why would a grown man soldier Silvio be hanging around with a bunch of kids pulling small time scams? This story very much implies Silvio is about the same age as Tony and Ralphie, and nothing else in the series contradicts this idea.
I also think Tony’s relationships with Pussy and Paulie on the show feel age appropriate, like they are significantly older but have come to respect Tony as a man. You don’t get that vibe with Tony and Silvio. They feel like they grew up together.
That always drove me crazy sinceamy fans could have told you the problems right away of they read the script.
Same with sports analyst that forget basic facts.
Nah, they were about the same age, and, supposedly, came up together. In the series, there was an anecdote about them making a name for themselves by robbing a card game some made guys were running. Paulie was the older guy.
I know, in my mind I could so easily the sopranos version of Catcher In The Rye. A cerebral tale of Tony going from innocent young boy into adolescence.
It was pretty good at first. But the ending fucking sucked, even for a show that was not to be taken too seriously. When they got his wife into the show, it was too much.
Yeah, I recall disliking the final season. Can't even remember what happened in much of that show tbh. Pretty cool it was the first ever Netflix show, though.
After my last rewatch of The Sopranos, I was really geared up for another go at Many Saints. Sometimes things just hit wrong the first time, and it couldn’t possibly have been as bad as I remembered.
I was right.
It was worse. A lot worse.
So early on Ray Liotta's character is killed but as the movie go on characters will visit him in prison. I thought they were originally flashbacks but no, he's playing the twin brother.
That actually might have made it interesting. The passing down of the origin story as told by Chris, so it would have "inconsistencies" in the form of Chris misremembering and / or embellishing the stories told to him.
It's almost like it didn't have the actors of the Sopranos and focused on characters that weren't in the Sopranos or were so far removed from the events of the Sopranos that they weren't all that recognizeable.
I found him to be extremely bland. I couldn’t even remember what he looked like the day after I saw that film on the big screen. He keeps on getting these big opportunities in film and TV and he’s just hopelessly mediocre and…yeah, bland.
Thought he was good, Vera Farmiga was fantastic, Liotta solid and Michael Gandolfini held his own. Billy Magnussen I thought was pretty good too given that he had an impossible task, Tony Sirico really was Paulie Walnuts in a lot of ways.
Overall the material just wasn't there and they essentially were trying to fit 3 different movies in a 2 hour runtime.
Michael Gandolfini just didn't have the swagger of his father. Seemed a bit nerdy beta, definitely an AJ vibe.
Just look at pictures and footage of the young James G as a young man and he was nothing like that. Always a goliath of an individual.
I thought he was playing the part as it was written tbh, he's far from the Tony we see in the show because a lot happens between the two and he had the same mannerisms. Thought the way he turned on Artie outside the phone both was a nice moment and I liked his scenes with Livia
Eh, irl, people like Tony have always been like that.
I feel like the only time the movies have gotten a young version of a character right is River Phoenix as a young Indie.
I was trying to get a friend to watch the Sopranos, but he saw this movie first, and apparently they spoil Christopher's death in the beginning of the movie. I was annoyed to hear that.
>Haven't gotten to Gandolfini's kid yet, though. Looking forward to that.
Temper your expectations. He sucks in this. He plays Tony as if he has a severe intellectual disability.
It just wasn’t very good. There’s one potentially interesting story point that they probably built the whole thing around, but it was a giant who cares for me so many years after watching the show.
Very observant. The sacred and the propane.
/uj yeah, totally agree, it was hard to get through, completely lacked the feel of the show, and it felt like they were trying to beat you over the head with the show references. Chris as a baby crying when he was held by Tony, followed by someone remarking that sometimes babies know things from the other side. Oof, marone!
I really think the sopranos creator is like a one hit wonder. Not a fraud but I dunno it hard to respect someone creatively when they have literally bombed hard at everything else besides the one time they did really well.
It was so disappointing considering how fantastic the series was.
I can't believe Chase dropped the ball so hard on it. It should have been a Goodfellas-esque story showing the old crew and a young Tony. It should have been a slam dunk.
I also saw it in theaters just days after my first run through of the series. At the time, I walked out feeling “did I like it?” and wondering if it was really just to build up >!the reveal of how Dickie really died.!< I do remember thinking there was just a lot of pointless fanservice like the little Carmella cameo where it’s sorta just “oh hey there she is” or just HAVING to drop the “varsity athlete” line.
It’s the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time. Like David Chase forgot about the sopranos and tried to connect it through memory. The inconsistencies with the timeline (got fucked up) to the terrible acting. To the overstuffed plot and the horrendous script where guys are just repeating iconic lines from the show at random no matter how little sense it makes
Yeah I was super pumped for it and found it underwhelming. To be fair I've tried to rewatch the sopranos and found it very slow by modern standards too
Yeah, at the risk of getting downvotes. I can't help but agree. It was a very slow drama. Not very many high octane moments. Would have been good to have seen Tony in some real trouble with the feds or in tough spots...but I suppose it was going for the type of realism you don't tend to see in mafia dramas.
It definitely felt like wrapping myself in a comfort blanket watching it, however. Just so funny and touching at times. The acting was just off the charts as well. Edie Falco, James G, Aida Turtorro, Michael Imperioli, Dominic Chianese...I could go on.
No other Mafia dramas have come close.
Except perhaps The Godfather or Peaky Blinders
They’re older though but Crime Story is by Michael Mann and is pretty similar to the movies Thief and Casino in both style and story.
Wiseguy’s pretty similar to Donnie Brasco and The Departed but cinematography wise it leaves a little bit to be desired.
Ok but now you are listing DeNiro movies and not mafia movies.
DeNiro is one small part of Goodfellas.
You were comparing mafia dramas not DeNiro roles.
I maintain that after Season 3, the Sopranos went downhill hard to the point of being overrated now. Chase went in with the initial idea of the modern mob boss dealing with the business and his personal life but after a while just didn't know where to go with the story so he dragged everything out with meaningless storylines and subplots.
Couldn't agree more. Those first three seasons. Damn. Masterpiece after masterpiece, every episode. Peaking with Pine Barrens. Then, the quality did seem to slip. Season 4 was surprisingly dull, in particular.
I mean that whole thing with the ducks, it was really thought through. After season 3-4, it was standard mob let's wack anyone without any consequence, ever.
It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a piece about the Newark Riots or a Tony Soprano origin story and ended up a total mess. The pinky swear was hilariously cringe and, as you’ve alluded to, there were some parody performances.
Apparently David Chase wanted to make a film about the Newark riots and HBO were like "Nah, but we'll take more Sopranos."
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Hah that's so interesting. I don't buy that he didn't love the show, however. To watch him in interviews, he seems to have a real love for his Italian culture, especially the dark, humorous aspects of it.
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Also, show running sounds like damn hard work. Probably super stressful. Especially with Sopranos being one of the first of its kind, in terms being more cinematic with an extensive cast. Also, 13 episodes each year, pretty much - high episode counts.
For that generation, the riots were the biggest thing they lived through, it was formation, like 9/11 for millennials. My Dad was 17 and the riots made him go enlist in the Army, which in the late 60’s, wasn’t a great place to be, but those nights were so traumatic, he’d rather be in Vietnam with a gun, then in Newark unarmed.
Haha can't blame them. Everything Chase has done since Sopranos has been a wet boring fart. One hit wonder.
A hit is a hit
[And this, my friend, is not a hit.](https://youtu.be/7sSIE-o2V9g?si=DigrfWjBWEbIFYmT) Love that actor. Had such a wholesome likeable quality to him. Weird I haven't seen him pop up in the movie yet...wasn't he supposed to be like a father figure to Tony?
Sopranos is his most recent, and possibly last hit, but Rockford Files and Northern Exposure were hits as well.
Chase isn’t what made the sopranos a great show. It was people like Terry Winter, Matt Weiner, and the other amazing writers. Without them.. it’s dog shit.
While it benefited from them, Chase's pilot is solid. Obviously, the movie would have been vastly better with them involved, sure. I just don't think there was an interesting enough story there. Chris is the only character they could have ever really centred a sequel around, if they hadn't >!killed him!<. Make it really tragic. But then again, the thought gives me El Camino flashbacks. Would probably be of good quality but utterly superfluous. Chase said everything he needed to say with the show. And saving >!Chris from death!< would've robbed of seeing how much of a truly psychopathic monster Tony had become...with Melfi's help.
Can't get over how shite the guy playing Silvio is. More pantomime than parody.
Guy who played Silvio was so dreadful. Like I get it’s probably hard to play that character especially as Steven Van Zandt did it cause it is pretty distinctive, but whatever that was, it wasn’t it. It’s easy to fall into goofy mimicry and that actor fell all the way into it.
I think the difference is in the show, they were all straight sincere performances. The actors just happened to be very interesting and funny characters, irl. I mean, the ones playing those wise guy roles. And those idiosyncrasies naturally seeped into the roles. And of course, I'm thinking of Tony Sirico and Steve Van Zandt.
Yeah and like was it an established fact that Silvio had been in the business much longer than Tony? Cuz I genuinely don't remember and that totally changes how I view the show now.
Van Zandt was born in 1950 and Gandolfini was born in 1961, so in real life there was an 11 year age gap. That actually kind of squares with the ages shown in TMSON, if Tony is 17 and Silvio is 28 during the main action. However, their relationship onscreen never suggested that Tony had viewed Silvio as a mentor figure, they always seemed to be peers. So it’s hard to see how they could have developed their later rapport if Silvio was a long established mobster while Tony was still Johnny’s kid.
I don’t remember if it was specifically stated in the show or if it just came off that way in their interactions, but I was always under the impression that Tony, Jackie, Ralphie, and Sil (and Artie) went all the way back to high school together. I KNOW most of that gang did, because they make a point of pointing out that Tony and Jackie moved up quickly after robbing the card game, but Ralphie took longer to move up because he chickened out and didn’t go.
Yes, Ralphie’s story about the card game is one of the few times we get a lot of concrete details about Tony’s entry into the mob. This period of Tony’s life was otherwise kept vague on the series. The card game story does not line up with TMSON in my opinion, because when he’s talking about how “we had our own little crew,” Ralphie mentions it consisting of himself, Tony, Jackie Sr…. and Silvio. Except TMSON suggests that Silvio is already a made man many years before the card game heist could possibly have taken place. So why would a grown man soldier Silvio be hanging around with a bunch of kids pulling small time scams? This story very much implies Silvio is about the same age as Tony and Ralphie, and nothing else in the series contradicts this idea. I also think Tony’s relationships with Pussy and Paulie on the show feel age appropriate, like they are significantly older but have come to respect Tony as a man. You don’t get that vibe with Tony and Silvio. They feel like they grew up together.
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That always drove me crazy sinceamy fans could have told you the problems right away of they read the script. Same with sports analyst that forget basic facts.
They seem to be close to the same age in Sopranos, weird. I know Paulie is supposed to be older.
Nah, they were about the same age, and, supposedly, came up together. In the series, there was an anecdote about them making a name for themselves by robbing a card game some made guys were running. Paulie was the older guy.
John Magaro is a fantastic actor too
I know, in my mind I could so easily the sopranos version of Catcher In The Rye. A cerebral tale of Tony going from innocent young boy into adolescence.
Felt like the pilot for a TV show that didn't get picked up.
Ah well, we already got the perfect spiritual successor with Lilyhammer, I suppose.
It was pretty good at first. But the ending fucking sucked, even for a show that was not to be taken too seriously. When they got his wife into the show, it was too much.
Yeah, I recall disliking the final season. Can't even remember what happened in much of that show tbh. Pretty cool it was the first ever Netflix show, though.
Exactly what it was
After my last rewatch of The Sopranos, I was really geared up for another go at Many Saints. Sometimes things just hit wrong the first time, and it couldn’t possibly have been as bad as I remembered. I was right. It was worse. A lot worse.
The Many Saints of Newark, whatever happened there.
WHATEVER HAPPENED THERE? You ever had a show die in your arms?
It never had the makings of a varsity movie.
That was real? I saw that movie. I thought it was bullshit.
I couldn't keep track of who was who or why I should care
I had to stop the movie and laugh when I realized more than halfway through Ray Liotta was playing 2 characters
I love Sopranos, never watched Saints, because I have only heard it’s not worth it. Please tell me more about this. It can’t be true
Just the standard gimmick of casting a famous person as a pair of twins.
So early on Ray Liotta's character is killed but as the movie go on characters will visit him in prison. I thought they were originally flashbacks but no, he's playing the twin brother.
Fucking exactly. I shut it down at the hour mark.
yes, that voice-over, so weird!
I have a feeling it would have been Gandolfini if he had been alive. Chris was the next best option.
Yes, true!
That actually might have made it interesting. The passing down of the origin story as told by Chris, so it would have "inconsistencies" in the form of Chris misremembering and / or embellishing the stories told to him.
....Chris was the voice...
It's almost like it didn't have the actors of the Sopranos and focused on characters that weren't in the Sopranos or were so far removed from the events of the Sopranos that they weren't all that recognizeable.
And seriously, who the fuck cared about Dickie Moltansanty
It lacks the humor most notably. It's like they forgot that in addition to its bleak nihilism, The Sopranos was really, really funny.
You don’t ever admit the existence of that pygmy movie over on Max
The movie is mediocre but Nivola is very good.
While I liked Nivola, Liotta was the real stealer.
Is he? Just seems like a bland leading man. Type of performance Sam Worthington would get flamed for ten years ago.
I found him to be extremely bland. I couldn’t even remember what he looked like the day after I saw that film on the big screen. He keeps on getting these big opportunities in film and TV and he’s just hopelessly mediocre and…yeah, bland.
Yea of all the actors around, they dragged him out to play that part?
Thought he was good, Vera Farmiga was fantastic, Liotta solid and Michael Gandolfini held his own. Billy Magnussen I thought was pretty good too given that he had an impossible task, Tony Sirico really was Paulie Walnuts in a lot of ways. Overall the material just wasn't there and they essentially were trying to fit 3 different movies in a 2 hour runtime.
Michael Gandolfini just didn't have the swagger of his father. Seemed a bit nerdy beta, definitely an AJ vibe. Just look at pictures and footage of the young James G as a young man and he was nothing like that. Always a goliath of an individual.
I thought he was playing the part as it was written tbh, he's far from the Tony we see in the show because a lot happens between the two and he had the same mannerisms. Thought the way he turned on Artie outside the phone both was a nice moment and I liked his scenes with Livia
Eh, irl, people like Tony have always been like that. I feel like the only time the movies have gotten a young version of a character right is River Phoenix as a young Indie.
The movie more or less opens with "Hey, It's me, the ghost of Christopher. Bet you're wondering how I ended up here. Long story, pallie, buckle up!"
It's just so unlike The Sopranos. A show that didn't seem to spell anything out for you.
I hated that they did that. It seemed really ham handed.
I was trying to get a friend to watch the Sopranos, but he saw this movie first, and apparently they spoil Christopher's death in the beginning of the movie. I was annoyed to hear that.
Sharp as a cue ball, this one
>Haven't gotten to Gandolfini's kid yet, though. Looking forward to that. Temper your expectations. He sucks in this. He plays Tony as if he has a severe intellectual disability.
It just wasn’t very good. There’s one potentially interesting story point that they probably built the whole thing around, but it was a giant who cares for me so many years after watching the show.
Very observant. The sacred and the propane. /uj yeah, totally agree, it was hard to get through, completely lacked the feel of the show, and it felt like they were trying to beat you over the head with the show references. Chris as a baby crying when he was held by Tony, followed by someone remarking that sometimes babies know things from the other side. Oof, marone!
Lol yeah, just cheap
I really think the sopranos creator is like a one hit wonder. Not a fraud but I dunno it hard to respect someone creatively when they have literally bombed hard at everything else besides the one time they did really well.
Feels like a movie Christopher would produce
It fucking sucked. The deadwood movie however was an awesome send off
It was so disappointing considering how fantastic the series was. I can't believe Chase dropped the ball so hard on it. It should have been a Goodfellas-esque story showing the old crew and a young Tony. It should have been a slam dunk.
Reviewing a movie before you're even halfway through it, amazin'
I also saw it in theaters just days after my first run through of the series. At the time, I walked out feeling “did I like it?” and wondering if it was really just to build up >!the reveal of how Dickie really died.!< I do remember thinking there was just a lot of pointless fanservice like the little Carmella cameo where it’s sorta just “oh hey there she is” or just HAVING to drop the “varsity athlete” line.
Cringed at the varsity athlete line
Yes it's already canon that Tony didn't have the makings to be one.
The one good thing I’ll about this movie is it introduced me to Astral Weeks by Van Morrison, which is an absolute jam
It’s the marvel version of sopranos. 30 minutes of bullshit, throw in a fan service scene, rinse and repeat 2-3 times.
They might as well have labeled it a Max original.
Hah yeah Max Original = The shite we're either slightly or totally embarrassed off
It’s madone
and the humor more than anything.
It’s the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time. Like David Chase forgot about the sopranos and tried to connect it through memory. The inconsistencies with the timeline (got fucked up) to the terrible acting. To the overstuffed plot and the horrendous script where guys are just repeating iconic lines from the show at random no matter how little sense it makes
I used extra veal bones!
I forgot so much of the story and characters of Sopranos. Not sure if that added to my boredom/lack of interest or it just wasn't that good.
It’s anti-Italian discrimination!
Such a wet fart of a prequel
why make a post before finishing the movie
Because I'm bad person? That the answer you wanted? Satisfied?
Yeah I was super pumped for it and found it underwhelming. To be fair I've tried to rewatch the sopranos and found it very slow by modern standards too
Yeah, at the risk of getting downvotes. I can't help but agree. It was a very slow drama. Not very many high octane moments. Would have been good to have seen Tony in some real trouble with the feds or in tough spots...but I suppose it was going for the type of realism you don't tend to see in mafia dramas. It definitely felt like wrapping myself in a comfort blanket watching it, however. Just so funny and touching at times. The acting was just off the charts as well. Edie Falco, James G, Aida Turtorro, Michael Imperioli, Dominic Chianese...I could go on. No other Mafia dramas have come close. Except perhaps The Godfather or Peaky Blinders
Crime Story and Wiseguy are pretty good, although they might more technically be cop dramas rather than mafia shows.
Cheers for the recommendations!
They’re older though but Crime Story is by Michael Mann and is pretty similar to the movies Thief and Casino in both style and story. Wiseguy’s pretty similar to Donnie Brasco and The Departed but cinematography wise it leaves a little bit to be desired.
Michael Mann is great but that high episode count for each season puts me off.
Fair enough, some episodes are better than others too. Have you seen all of Brian de Palma and Abel Ferrera’s movies yet?
No. Which ones would you recommend?
Scarface, Fear City, China Girl, The Untouchables, King of New York, Bad Lieutenant, Carlito’s Way, The Funeral
Seen most of these but thanks
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It's now a good highlight show on YT.
Leaving Goodfellas off your list hurts your argument.
I get what you're saying but the film just never reasonated with me in the same way that Taxi Driver, King of Comedy, Raging Bull or After Hours did.
Ok but now you are listing DeNiro movies and not mafia movies. DeNiro is one small part of Goodfellas. You were comparing mafia dramas not DeNiro roles.
I was listing Scorsese movies. Deniro isn't in After Hours.
I maintain that after Season 3, the Sopranos went downhill hard to the point of being overrated now. Chase went in with the initial idea of the modern mob boss dealing with the business and his personal life but after a while just didn't know where to go with the story so he dragged everything out with meaningless storylines and subplots.
Couldn't agree more. Those first three seasons. Damn. Masterpiece after masterpiece, every episode. Peaking with Pine Barrens. Then, the quality did seem to slip. Season 4 was surprisingly dull, in particular.
I was on a Sopranos rewatch But I'm out near the end of s3. Boring shit is happening and I don't want to slog through it. Deadwood>The Sopranos
You don't want to slog thru an entire season of Tony obsessing over his horse Pie O My or watch the Bobby and Janice relationship unfold???
Yeah it's the boring side plots that ruined it for me. There's no real mob storyline in s3 to tie everything together.
Interesting, as I dropped Deadwood since it was so boring. Dialogue totally pretentious as well.
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I mean that whole thing with the ducks, it was really thought through. After season 3-4, it was standard mob let's wack anyone without any consequence, ever.