Movie The Many Saints of Newark (Sopranos Prequel Movie)

IDAFC21

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Also, did I forget Dickie's dad was a twin? Was that mentioned in the show?

I dont ever remember that either.

I was going to post my initial reaction, but I've had some time to process everything while I've been typing this up :LOL: so I actually feel good about what my thoughts are. Your opinion is going to depend all on how you actually view this movie. And there's a couple different ways you actually have to think about it while you're watching it. There were a lotta nods in there that only real sopranos fans are gonna pick up on, and it did have a "sopranos vibe" to it, if that makes any sense. When you pick out just the soprano bits and pieces, I actually kinda thought it was great, but there are other elements that are probably not so great depending on what you're expecting from this movie. I cant really say much more without going into spoilers, so.....

First we NEED to talk about that reveal ending. Because THATS the real meat of this movie. Finding out it was Jun who had Dickie whacked makes you rethink EVERYTHING that happens in the sopranos, because Tony never knew that. And that also brings tons of questions in about when Tony gave Christopher the info about the cop that killed his dad, and let Christopher kill him. All the details were right in this movie according to what Tony told Chrissy. He was clipped outside his house, while carrying some TV trays, EXCEPT the guy that got him in the movie did not appear to be a cop. At least he wasnt wearing a uniform, which I believe Tony says he was when he told the story. BUT there's a few ways to look at that. Since Tony never finds out it was really Jun, who knows what stories he was told about how Dickie got shot and maybe Tony really did think that was the guy. So either that cop died for nothing, OR, I always took it as Tony was just lying to Chris to get him to off that cop for his own reasons, so he told him a story. But it was still interesting how so many of the small details lined up.

So I think that alone actually made this whole thing worth it. But still, there were other things like

The ENTIRE storyline with Harold, which goes absolutely nowhere and has absolutely nothing to do with any events or characters in the Sopranos. And thats where you really cant look at this movie as a "sopranos prequel", because it's really not. This is really more like Sopranos: A Moltisanti Story. And in case its not obvious, moltisanti is actually italian for "many saints"

I did think Michael Gandolfini did a decent job playing Tony, but to be fair, he didn't have a whole lot to work with in this movie. But there were a few moments he did nail. As far as everyone else, I think Vera Farmiga was great as Livia and Corey Stoll NAILED Junior. Paulie was mildly amusing, but Silvio and Pussy....Ehh.

Other random thoughts

I did love that they put the scene in there where Johnny shot Livia's beehive :LOL::LOL: That was actually pretty hilarious, tho when Janice tells the story I think she said it was Jun and his g/f in the car with them, not Dickie like in the movie. But still that was pretty great and one of those hilarious nods that only Sopranos viewers will really appreciate

What I wish the MOST, is that they woud have spent less time on the Harold shit, and then at the end, they could've done a time jump after Tony is standing over Dickies casket to when Tony and Jackie had their crew together and robbed Feech's poker game. Because THAT was the moment that really cemented Tony's path and it's something I have always wanted to see and really would have been a great way to close out the movie and tie in to the series. I don't think there's going to be a sequel to this, but if there is, THAT needs to happen.

So thats what I got out of this. I didn't hate it, but it wasn't great, but it did have a couple great moments, one of them HUGE imo.
 

Mook

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And I strongly disagree that they nailed certain sopranos aspects. Everything just felt cheesy.

The ending... I dunno. Does it really add much to the story? Would it have really changed anything had Tony known? It fits Junior's character but when the moment happened I didn't care.
 
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FESTER665

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Watched it and agree with Mook Mook on itā€¦.. Most of the story serves no purpose, went nowhere, some of the stuff is different from this movie to what happened in the show, and some of the characters were terrible.

The guy who played Junior was good, and Gandolfini can likely do another one if they wanted to bridge from the end of this to the show, but overall it was meh from me.

The guy who played Sil was terrible IMO. They didnā€™t need him to have all those same mannerisms and it came off as cheesy to me.

As part of the Sopranos story, terrible, and even as just a mob type move terrible.
 
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Mr Baytchos

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Pretty much my reaction. Not as terrible as I was expecting but not great either.
 
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IceCreamAssassin

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Soā€¦ it was a movie. I feel like imbd rating for a 1992 space movie is higher. Sil was by far the worst forced acting ever. Paulieā€™s character was actually played well I thought, but still because of the shit writing ā€¦ felt forced. So many big names in here and it just was soooo meh Iā€™m not sure what to think. To say Iā€™m disappointed is an understatement. As a movie in general, if it didnā€™t have any ties to sapranos and small things that made me chuckle because of that connection, it would just be a big ole piece of shit.
 
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Mook

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So APPARENTLY this movie (despite bombing in theaters), has caused HBO to consider a new Sopranos series, most likely following up the events of the movie and following Tony in his 20s.

ā€œWeā€™re thrilled with the results of ā€˜Many Saints,ā€™ā€ Sarnoff told Deadline. ā€œYes, the box office was not quite as big, but back again to the demographics of whoā€™s going to theaters. On the other hand, you see ā€˜Sopranosā€™ pop into the top 10 of the most viewed series on the service. Itā€™s given it an entirely new life. Weā€™re talking to David about a new series ā€˜Sopranosā€™-related on HBO Max. [The movie] literally lifted the ā€˜Sopranosā€™ franchise in a new way, so you canā€™t measure it in and of itself in the box office.ā€

Chase has already gone on record saying any new ā€œSopranosā€ story would be set in between the events of the prequel film and the original series. ā€œMany Saintsā€ ended with many fans anticipating some kind of standalone young Tony Soprano project, and star Michael Gandolfini has already gone on record saying heā€™d love to come back to the role and play Tony in his 20s.

ā€œI think if thereā€™s an interesting part after this movie, before the show, that we can explore something about Tony that hasnā€™t been explored, in his youth, in his 20s,ā€ Gandolfini told Uproxx. ā€œAfter that, weā€™re getting a little too old.ā€
 
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