The Sopranos prequel - The Many Saints Of Newark

[Keebleman]

Why are all the guys slathered with make-up?  No wonder Vito turned out that way!

[El Unicornio, mang]

New trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Em4ckh878&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Pictures

[QDRPHNC]

AV Club rates it a

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C

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I wonder if the negative reaction is due to it not being what was expected from a Sopranos prequel. Not trying to sound like a Chase apologist, but phrases like this arrhythmic, diffusive mess of narrative makes me think it might be better appreciated later, after more than one viewing, removed from the very understandable hype.

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Or it could be a mess. I mean...

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Christopher narrates from beyond the grave? I winced a little reading that.

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[Deliciousbass]

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"It's telling that one of the movie's most electrifying moments is when the churning synth bassline of "Woke Up This Morning" blasts out over the end credits"

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oof

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yikes

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[QDRPHNC]

This comment on the AV Club review made me laugh:

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[We see the aftermath of a horrible car crash from above, with a man standing next to the driver's side window of a smashed-up SUV. We slowly move in and recognize Tony Soprano as he holds his hand over Christopher Moltisanti's nose and mouth, and watches as Christopher suffocates.]

[Cue "Baba O'Riley"]

Christopher [in voiceover]: Yup, that's me! You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.

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[colacentral]

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"It's telling that one of the movie's most electrifying moments is when the churning synth bassline of "Woke Up This Morning" blasts out over the end credits"

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oof

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yikes

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If the reviewer enjoyed that fan service wankery, I feel like they might just have horrible taste. Will have to wait and see. The AV Club grade means nothing to me anymore.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Their point is that a bit of lazy fan service wankery in the last few minutes of the film is supposed to be some sort of cool highlight. It's not a recommendation.

[13 schoolyards]

Calling it "one of the movie's most electrifying moments" does sound a little like the AV Club's reviewer enjoyed the lazy fan service wankery.

From what I've read Chase was fairly keen to make something that stood at least some distance from The Sopranos, so it'll be interesting to see if the reviews also make that distinction or just gripe that a movie doesn't have the layered characters and impact of a series that went for 60 hours or so.

Then again, maybe it is full of fan service? Fingers crossed there was a time wormhole in the Pine Barrens

[Vitalstatistix]

Erm, this "electrifying moments" opinion is nowhere to be seen in the aforementioned AV Club review.

It's actually from this Hollywood Reporter review.

Disappointed to see A.A. Dowd so down on it as I think, despite AV Club's dogshit website, he's a fantastic reviewer and someone who I nearly always agree with. I really hope this is an exception.

[colacentral]

I get the feeling from the few reviews I've read that critics that going in with expectations and being disappointed they're not getting them, eg expecting some big revelation that casts the show in a new light, or expecting Tony's life story,  even though Chase has made it clear that he isn't the main character.

It sounds a little bit like the disappointments people had with the series while it was airing - expecting major plot twists every week and a Scarface style ending.

I'm trying to stay optimistic and judge it for myself, though admittedly, a few things I've read are off putting. The comment in the AV Club review about the wall to wall songs on the soundtrack is something that induced a groan in me. David Chase has carved his own style out, he shouldn't need to be reverting back to an imitation Scorsese.

[chveik]

maybe it's just dogshit. it wouldn't be that surprising

[Chollis]

i have very low expectations going into this, possibly because of the trailer, or because i don't really know why they made a Sopranos prequel. so it'll probably be great!

[Ham Bap]

Love The Sopranos but think i'll skip the cinema for this. Save it watching at home at Christmas or something.
Im sure it'll be fine but nothing great.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Love The Sopranos but think i'll skip the cinema for this. Save it watching at home at Christmas or something.
Im sure it'll be fine but nothing great.

It'll be available from Oct 1st as it's getting a simultaneous cinema/HBO Max release.

The reviews seem to be mostly "it's OK" and a few "it's good", haven't seen any downright negative ones or any saying it's a masterpiece. Pretty much as expected, really.

[bgmnts]

I reckon it's going to be Star Wars levels of 'hey it's that guy'.

You're basically watching it to see characters from the show as young 'uns, or characters mentioned. I doubt many give much of a shit about racial relations in New Jersey.

[non capisco]

I reckon it's going to be Star Wars levels of 'hey it's that guy'.

There is a fair bit of that, although it makes perfect sense for all of them to be there the way they're introduced in a few instances is in quite a mugging to the fanbase fashion.

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Silvio's actual hair

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is a very daft touch.

Just seen this and didn't go a bundle on it, sad to say. Similarly to El Camino for Breaking Bad you couldn't call it terrible but it doesn't really add anything to the legacy of the show. Bookending it with

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Christopher narrating from beyond the grave

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is actually quite an irritating touch and it's full of twaddle like

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Baby Christopher crying the house down when he's near Tony as if he can psychically tell that's who ends up murdering him. They then ram this home when one of Olivia's mates immediately gives it all the "Ooh, they know things from the future sometimes, babies." Oh, NOW I see! Cheers, David!

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.

The main Dickie Moltisanti plotline is pretty generic stuff you've seen in a dozen other Italian-American gangster movies, I don't think Ray Liotta in dual roles worked at all and they don't really do anything that interesting with the race riots angle. The more I think about it the more down on this I am, actually. The last episode of The Sopranos felt so wonderfully final and I can't really see why a slightly shonky prequel was deemed necessary all these years later.

[An tSaoi]

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Silvio's actual hair

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is a very daft touch.

Is he baldy in the film? There's a guy with a silly combover in the publicity pics, I hope that's not him. Argh, if that's the case, then it spoils the fun a bit. I always wondered if the wig was meant to be playing real hair. They acknowledged Ralph's wig, but not Sil's. It's like Deckard being a human or a replicant; they should have gone the Blade Runner 2049 route and not answered the mystery one way or the other.

[Old Nehamkin]

Yeah it's like Columbo's glass eye.

[An tSaoi]

In the episode "A Trace of Murder", Columbo asks the killer to help him him look for something, and says "Three eyes are better than one".

So there.

Edit: According to this site, someone with one eye would not be allowed into the police. PLOT HOLE.

[Rev+]

Whatever happened with that hairdo.

This sounds like something on the level of El Camino or the second X-Files film.  A thing that exists without needing to.  Everyone who watched the Sopranos will get around to watching it at some point, but it won't stick in their minds, it'll just be a thing that passes through.

FOURTEEN FUCKING YEARS since the last episode though?  Nut done right in.

[Rev+]

Also he doesn't die at the end.  He has a blackout, because he's stopped seeing Dr Melfi, and it ties back to the first episode.  Cheers.

FIHGT!

[non capisco]

This sounds like something on the level of El Camino or the second X-Files film.  A thing that exists without needing to.  Everyone who watched the Sopranos will get around to watching it at some point, but it won't stick in their minds, it'll just be a thing that passes through.

Yeah, that about sums it up. El Camin-OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[The Mollusk]

Spoiler alert

Baby Christopher crying the house down when he's near Tony as if he can psychically tell that's who ends up murdering him. They then ram this home when one of Olivia's mates immediately gives it all the "Ooh, they know things from the future sometimes, babies." Oh, NOW I see! Cheers, David!

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.

Struggling to believe that this isn't a joke. Fucking hell.

[frajer]

Also he doesn't die at the end.  He has a blackout, because he's stopped seeing Dr Melfi, and it ties back to the first episode.  Cheers.

FIHGT!

Haha, there's only no way to solve this - fiiiiight!

Despite all the naff-sounding bits I've read, and its fundamental lack of necessity, I'm still keen to see Saints. But I do have that creeping feeling of "I know it will shit on my favourite telly series, I just hope it doesn't shit on it too much." If it's on an El Camino level of being basically "fine" I'll be happy with that.

[colacentral]

The baby thing sounds shit, but the show did have weird stuff like that peppered throughout - Paulie seeing the Virgin Mary, the reflection of Pussy in the mirror, the hints that Livia's ghost literally haunts the Sopranos house, and the stuff with Paulie seeing the psychic and all the stuff with Chris seeing a vision of hell. The show flirted with Round the Twist territory more times than people might realise.

[jake thunder]

Film was an enjoyable mess. It's hair was in the toilet water. Disgusting. Basically A Bronx Tale with some shoehorned Sopranos characters and tropes.

Anti-climax worked brilliantly in the series but in a 2 hour movie? Get the fuck outta here.

[QDRPHNC]

The baby thing sounds shit, but the show did have weird stuff like that peppered throughout - Paulie seeing the Virgin Mary, the reflection of Pussy in the mirror, the hints that Livia's ghost literally haunts the Sopranos house, and the stuff with Paulie seeing the psychic and all the stuff with Chris seeing a vision of hell. The show flirted with Round the Twist territory more times than people might realise.

Those are some my favourite bits of the show, but at the same time they don't have a character look at the camera and tell you what it means.

(The bit with Christopher the baby crying was at the very end of Trailer #2 if you want to see it).

[badaids]

The baby thing sounds shit, but the show did have weird stuff like that peppered throughout - Paulie seeing the Virgin Mary, the reflection of Pussy in the mirror, the hints that Livia's ghost literally haunts the Sopranos house, and the stuff with Paulie seeing the psychic and all the stuff with Chris seeing a vision of hell. The show flirted with Round the Twist territory more times than people might realise.

So basically there are loads of cheap call backs (or call forwards if you prefer), no different to the Ghosbusters film. Was hoping it would avoid this type of jam.

[lb99]

There's no such thing as a decent prequel film. Godfather 2 worked, but that was only a half-prequel.

[Rev+]

The show flirted with Round the Twist territory more times than people might realise.

About half a series of Kevin Finnerty, too, which despite it having what you might call a technically grounded explanation, was a bit of an excuse to go a bit mental really.