The Many Saints of Newark (don't bother, it sucks)

[The Argonaut]

This was....a weird movie...I'm not sure if I have a lot of thoughts about it....or if I do not

[Ello Sailor]

Thinking thoughts is hard, bro.

[JuanHamm]

I’m about halfway through and there is no point to this.

Just finished it and this is how I'm feeling. Why did they make this movie?

[Mecca]

I’m about halfway through and there is no point to this.

Just finished it and this is how I'm feeling. Why did they make this movie?

David Chase always wanted to make a movie

[JuanHamm]

The guy who played young Silvio should probably just stop acting forever. It was like he wandered in from an SNL skit.

[JuanHamm]

No card game, no Jackie, no Tony B, no panic attacks, barely anything from Puss, Sil, Paulie or even Tony. What the fuck was the point of any of that?

Why did we see so much fucking Harold, when it didn't even go anywhere??

[JuanHamm]

Half of the fucking movie was devoted to a red herring?? WTF

[The Argonaut]

No card game, no Jackie, no Tony B, no panic attacks, barely anything from Puss, Sil, Paulie or even Tony. What the fuck was the point of any of that?

Why did we see so much fucking Harold, when it didn't even go anywhere??

Jackie is in there, I think he's one of the kids in the ice cream truck scene, maybe another. Tony B is mentioned, I believe as a tattle-tale? I don't think the problem is that we didn't get enough fan service, showing us scenes we already know a lot about (like the card game, which comes much later than this movie---Tony is in like ninth grade at the end of this movie). The problem is the fan service. I think David Chase wanted to make a movie about the riots and the growth of black organized crime in Newark but decided to make that movie in the same universe as The Sopranos so he felt the need to pepper all this other stuff in there. But there was too much pepper and the movie became over-saturated and bloated with stuff we didn't need. So much so that it pushes the actual interesting movie (blacks v Italians in Newark) completely off the map.
But the fan service stuff doesn't even make up for the lack of a coherent plot or any any character arcs because it is so bad and unnecessary. I didn't need to actually see the scene where Johhny Boy shoots Livia's hair, I got it already. And Sil is too old. Why did they do that? They must have known that Sil is already cartoonish, to ask a real actor to try to make a real character out of Sil is just cruel and unfair. Just make Sil another of the basically anonymous teen friends of Tony, like Artie Bucco and Jackie were.
And why with the narration? If you've watched the show, you know that Tony killing the son of his hero, Dickie Moltisanti, is another tragic layer to that tragic story. The narration just shoves something in my face that I already knew about.
It turns out that I have a lot of thoughts. I have a lot more than this, too. It's just a weird movie. It doesn't stand on its own if you pretend it isn't a Sopranos prequel and if you treat it as a Sopranos prequel it is phenomenally disappointing.

[JuanHamm]

No card game, no Jackie, no Tony B, no panic attacks, barely anything from Puss, Sil, Paulie or even Tony. What the fuck was the point of any of that?

Why did we see so much fucking Harold, when it didn't even go anywhere??

Jackie is in there, I think he's one of the kids in the ice cream truck scene, maybe another. Tony B is mentioned, I believe as a tattle-tale? I don't think the problem is that we didn't get enough fan service, showing us scenes we already know a lot about (like the card game, which comes much later than this movie---Tony is in like ninth grade at the end of this movie). The problem is the fan service. I think David Chase wanted to make a movie about the riots and the growth of black organized crime in Newark but decided to make that movie in the same universe as The Sopranos so he felt the need to pepper all this other stuff in there. But there was too much pepper and the movie became over-saturated and bloated with stuff we didn't need. So much so that it pushes the actual interesting movie (blacks v Italians in Newark) completely off the map.
But the fan service stuff doesn't even make up for the lack of a coherent plot or any any character arcs because it is so bad and unnecessary. I didn't need to actually see the scene where Johhny Boy shoots Livia's hair, I got it already. And Sil is too old. Why did they do that? They must have known that Sil is already cartoonish, to ask a real actor to try to make a real character out of Sil is just cruel and unfair. Just make Sil another of the basically anonymous teen friends of Tony, like Artie Bucco and Jackie were.
And why with the narration? If you've watched the show, you know that Tony killing the son of his hero, Dickie Moltisanti, is another tragic layer to that tragic story. The narration just shoves something in my face that I already knew about.
It turns out that I have a lot of thoughts. I have a lot more than this, too. It's just a weird movie. It doesn't stand on its own if you pretend it isn't a Sopranos prequel and if you treat it as a Sopranos prequel it is phenomenally disappointing.

To be honest I'm not really sure what I would want out of a sopranos prequel, but it wasn't that.

I actually think knowing who killed Dickie actually makes the series a tiny bit worse.

[The Argonaut]

I'm fine with who they chose, but, again, it only makes sense that the killer is the killer if you've seen the show and you understand the psychology of that character. The way it is set up in the movie is garbage

[The Argonaut]

On the other hand, I think learning that Dickie Moltisanti was not a junkie actually makes the series a tiny bit better. Maybe?

[JuanHamm]

I'd rather Dickie remained a legend. I wish I could erase this movie from my mind.

[The Argonaut]

I'd rather Dickie remained a legend. I wish I could erase this movie from my mind.

You're probably right. The twists and turns of the Dickie Moltisanti story revealed in dribs and drabs throughout the series is way more interesting than this

[JuanHamm]

I think the trailer didn't really help things, either. They made it look like it was going to be a Tony Soprano origin story, when really he wasn't involved that much. That's why I was expecting to see more of Artie, Jackie and Tony B.

I didn't really like the portrayal of his Mom and Dad, either. Neither actor really captured the feel of those characters from the show.

[JuanHamm]

I also watched it with my parents who are a bit chatty, so I may have missed a few bits and pieces. I'm not sure if I really want to bother with rewatching it though.

[The Argonaut]

I'm going to re-watch this one like I re-watched Tenet---to understand why exactly it is that I don't like it. Unlike Tenet, though, I seriously doubt that I'll like it better the second time around.

[Ensign9]

This is not terrible. I give it a B. It should not have been a movie, however. This was in crying need of more airtime to let the story and characters breathe. Minimum six hour-long episodes.

The first half-hour was rough -- they must've used up all the great Italian mobster actors during the series and I'm not sure science can explain what's going on with Ray Liotta's face. Everyone here, early on, came across as if they were doing bad mobster impressions while auditioning for SNL. "Owah!" Silvio and Paulie were horrendous -- thankfully they weren't significant parts of the film.

I'd sign up for a follow-up series but, unfortunately, the best part of the movie

Spoiler: show

(Dickie) and what I'd be most interested in continuing to follow was whacked

.

[Ensign9]

I'm fine with who they chose, but, again, it only makes sense that the killer is the killer if you've seen the show and you understand the psychology of that character. The way it is set up in the movie is garbage

I'm sure there's a subset out there but I have no idea why anyone who hadn't already watched the series would watch this. Obviously a dangerous game relying on your audience having done so but I think they get away with it. It's an item that could've been addressed better with a mini-series format versus a jammed 2-hour movie.

[Ensign9]

No card game, no Jackie, no Tony B, no panic attacks, barely anything from Puss, Sil, Paulie or even Tony. What the fuck was the point of any of that?

Why did we see so much fucking Harold, when it didn't even go anywhere??

That whole focus was indeed bizarre. Much better served as the B plot for an ongoing series (and I wonder if that was the original plan and this got victimized by the decision to go with a movie). As it stands, seems like it serves only as a setup for a sequel or follow-up series. But,

Spoiler: show

since Dickie got whacked

, why would anyone care about the storyline anymore?

[Jorge]

No card game, no Jackie, no Tony B, no panic attacks, barely anything from Puss, Sil, Paulie or even Tony. What the fuck was the point of any of that?

Why did we see so much fucking Harold, when it didn't even go anywhere??

Jackie is in there, I think he's one of the kids in the ice cream truck scene, maybe another. Tony B is mentioned, I believe as a tattle-tale? I don't think the problem is that we didn't get enough fan service, showing us scenes we already know a lot about (like the card game, which comes much later than this movie---Tony is in like ninth grade at the end of this movie). The problem is the fan service. I think David Chase wanted to make a movie about the riots and the growth of black organized crime in Newark but decided to make that movie in the same universe as The Sopranos so he felt the need to pepper all this other stuff in there. But there was too much pepper and the movie became over-saturated and bloated with stuff we didn't need. So much so that it pushes the actual interesting movie (blacks v Italians in Newark) completely off the map.
But the fan service stuff doesn't even make up for the lack of a coherent plot or any any character arcs because it is so bad and unnecessary. I didn't need to actually see the scene where Johhny Boy shoots Livia's hair, I got it already. And Sil is too old. Why did they do that? They must have known that Sil is already cartoonish, to ask a real actor to try to make a real character out of Sil is just cruel and unfair. Just make Sil another of the basically anonymous teen friends of Tony, like Artie Bucco and Jackie were.
And why with the narration? If you've watched the show, you know that Tony killing the son of his hero, Dickie Moltisanti, is another tragic layer to that tragic story. The narration just shoves something in my face that I already knew about.
It turns out that I have a lot of thoughts. I have a lot more than this, too. It's just a weird movie. It doesn't stand on its own if you pretend it isn't a Sopranos prequel and if you treat it as a Sopranos prequel it is phenomenally disappointing.

I agree completely with everything here

The problem wasn't "not enough stuff we recognize from The Sopranos," it was that they lacked a coherent theme, pushed too much Sopranosy stuff to the forefront, and created a weird jumbled mess of a story.