The timeline was always messed up even before this movie and I personally found it quite woke with the underlying black power message where thsi black guy is killing all the Italian guys and getting away with it
I get the criticisms but guys you need to chill 🤣 this movie is not a bad movie what’s so ever . In a age of disappointment this movie didn’t disappoint. It’s just coming from a tv show and now a movie it shows how the sopranos shines the most as a show. Could the movie be better ? Sure but it’s definitely not a horrible movie .this criticism can either break David or make him
"He took the war to them up there... only we're not going to show you that. Or anything else really cool we reference on the show.. like Feech LaManna's card game getting robbed."
The problem with the movie is simple... they had 2 hours to make a sopranos prequel and they decided to spend 1/2 the time focusing on a bunch of periphery characters we don't care about
I would like to see a spin-off series based on the Harold character, but yes, what did he have to do with the original series? Not to mention a lot of the facts that were discussed in the series never appeared in the movie. A TV show prequel would be the only way to do the original series and the movie justice.
@@edd8914 If there is going to be a prequel TV series, there will have to be 'new' characters that never quite made it to 1997. I do hope the Harold character gets his own spin-off series so we can see the main characters 'growing up' into who they were in 1997. I would like to see the ones they killed off early in the series getting some prominence in the prequel series (Ralph and Richie come to mind) to see what they were all about.
@@culcune You’re the only person I’ve seen to want a Harold spin off 😂😂. Like, why? His character was pointless and dull, and didn’t feel like part of the puzzle.
The actor who played Dickie said something pretty intersting on Talking Sopranos. He read all the dickie dialogue without the rest of the script and prepared auditions of all the big scenes and filmed them… It wasn’t til after receiving the full script that he realized he was the main character. That says a lot about the lack of depth and arc.
When Chrissy tells Adriana how Tony and that animal Blundetto used to tease him during their trips to Uncle Pats farm he tells Adriana they were 19 and he was 11. In the movie Tony is already a teenager when Chris is born.
Junior did not ''try'' to have CM killed. If he did, Chris would be very dead. It was a mock execution to scare the shit out of him. Which it did. Junior's message was do NOT fuck with me. The next time it will be real.
@@MegaMkmiller Livia saved Christopher’s life during her conversation with junior by saying he put up her storm shutters and she liked him but Brendon she shrugged her shoulders over. That’s why he was mock executioned and not killed. Junior wanted him dead but even as boss he didn’t go against Livia. Livia the real gangster. Watch that scene.
It was mentioned in the series that Silvio and Tony were childhood friends. The movie made it seem like Silvio was working with the Johnny Soprano crew way before Tony even had the thought of becoming a prospect in the life. In the first half of the movie, Tony was supposed to be about 12, but Silvio seemed to be around mid 20s. That's a pretty big gap in age for them to be childhood friends. Anyone else catch this?
Harolds parts were good, but wtf was the point? Why was he in the movie period? I don’t get any of that.. at all.. why not the New York Family, like Phil, and the rest? Man.. this movie was disappointing, I hope after I watch it again, it gets better.
@@Tgalvan624 and why did Chris mom sleep with Harold? Wtf was that about? That was completely strange, especially for that era.. that was frowned upon, and basically a death sentence, exiled from the neighborhood. Am I crazy? Am I the only one that had an issue with that?
I wish David Chase would just "tell us about the time Tony and Jackie took down Feiche Lemmanna's card game, but that story he don't like to talk about"...
Feiche loved to tell stories about him being a badass or a womanizer but he definitely got butthurt when others brought up times when he got punked. Hopefully this movie turns into a trilogy and brings up this as well when Tony made his bones with Paulie at his side and buried the guy
David Chase probably thinks that would just be fan service. He tends to be a contrarian, and skeptical of doing anything if the only goal is to make the audience happy. What real narrative purpose does showing us that card game heist really serve? We probably already know everything we need to know about it.
The Godfather three was a decent movie from what I remember, although I only saw it once. This movie isn’t even the same dimension. This movie had NO redeeming qualities.
@@LKaramazov Watch it again if you still like it after that more power to you. not everyone is gonna agree Francis Ford Coppola didn't even want to make the 3rd one. they threw an amount he couldn't refuse. maybe if plot between the cousins being lovers was left out maybe it could've been better. The many saints fell short also reminded me of when coming to America 2 came out I was looking forward to it only to be disappointed like i was for this movie. but hey if you enjoyed it that's all that matters.
Exactly! This actor looked older than Stevie did the first few years of he Sopranos. And that’s supposed to be 20 years later or more! I didn’t like the toupee scene. Silvio would never have been caught in a situation where that happens. And of course with Stevies car crash that caused the hair loss and scarring when he was young? Made me feel a little weird.
It was that side plot that got the movie made I believe. David Chase wanted to make a movie on the race riots in Newark and couldn't the project funded, so he made a backdoor movie about the race riots inside a Sopranos movie.....which is why both parts of the movie are shit.
@@anthonyroccosr.5706 you know it actually happen in newark I dont think it was about race its more of the director trying to make an interesting side plot but it failed because it was a big chunk of the movie
I didn’t quite follow the mob story here. Was Dickie a made guy? They open saying that his father was an associate of the Dimeo family but had lots of money. So Dickie was an associate? Johnny Soprano was the capo of the crew? Who was made, who was boss or capo isn’t clear. It was even less of a mob story than the actual sopranos.
Without a doubt this should've been a 13 episode tv series. It's only possible to give complexity and nuance in the writing and properly explore and expand upon the stories in long format storytelling. Let's hope David Chase comes back with a tv series next time.
Chase is not a kid, imagine him dying during the shoot and then the series becomes increasingly more shit because they lost the main brain behind the whole thing, it will be as tragic as his death.
Again, for like the 100th time. David Chase is 76 years old. A mini-series would take 10-15 years to complete. He would have to write 3 sepearte sagas spanning from the mid-60s all the way to the mid-90s which is where the HBO series starts. It's taken Better Call Saul 7 years just to explain 5 years of the Breaking Bad origin with just 1 year within seasons. Knowing HBO, a 3-Saga set of Sopranos Mini-Series would run a huge risk of David Chase dying before it's complete.
@@timstradley5819 Joey diaz part makes no sense to. He is a made man and Dickie punched him, Johnny Boy not even trying to stop Dickie. This movie is complete puke. It had nothing to do with Sopranos or Mafia.
As much as I love Joey, I couldn’t help but be distracted that it was Joey Diaz every time he was on screen. He looked the part well enough, but it took me out of the story completely.
@@tonysoprano3219 well dickie died lol so it’s not like he got away with it. And I’m not talking about the part itself, was just giving Joey his credit. He really did a great job in my opinion.
If TMSoN is intended as a Tony Soprano prequel, they started too early. If TMSoN was intended as a Dickie Moltisanti/Johnny Soprano spin-off, then the starting point was too late. What we got was neither one thing or the other.
@@FactoryDan The riots and the characters associated with it when absolutely no were. I thought it was going to go somewhere but nothing. Waste of time and seems like it was just pandering.
I thought the Sil character was the best part of the movie, but the movie relied too much on “ who can do the best impression” and it got old real fast, like with the woman who played livia.
The question will be, why not just make a mini series instead? Sopranos was, ironically, originally to be into a movie in the 1990s but David Chase saw the potential to make a series. It is all abit strange
Ironically Sopranos would've failed as a movie. As a series, it was brilliant. Here, Chase is allowed to make a film, but it fails because it should've been a series.
It was ok. I expected alot more since the TV show has so many story plots that could have been incorporated into the film. David Chase did not direct the film. and Livia was right to be miserable in the TV series.
Re, Junior killing Dickie - How many times over the course of the series did Junior tell Tony something along the lines of "there's a lot you don't know, my little nephew"?
@Johnny Caruthers Tf you doing in a video's comment section about The many saints of Newark if you haven't watched it? Btw Dickie kills his father and his father's wife.
It was fucking awful. Clunky and overstuffed, dialogue that needed about 15 more edits and a plot that should have been thrown out at the first meeting. It could hardly have been worse than it was.
Laughing At You that being said, it's probably gonna win golden globes , academy awards, and whatever else these self aggrandizing phonies need to keep their egos intact.
Dicky was a psychopath. He killed his own father, took his father's wife for a girlfriend, and then killed her too. In the span of 6 seasons buffered with other details, the character could have been comparable to Tony Soprano on the series, but in the span of a 2 hour movie, he just seems like a psycho killer. Not enough development to see him as an antihero or anything remotely positive or complicated.
Whole movie was about Multisanti curse passed from Dicky to Tony to Chrissy signified by black crow in garage when Dicky kills Hollywood Dick and again when Chrissy geys made with crow at window
Felt like I was watching two different movies at once - and it felt extremely rushed with no plot line development. Ending was also a big “shake my head” moment cause the absolute absurdity.
Absurd because of what should’ve been a complex, fascinating, lightly brewing climax (dickies death) just turned out to be a shoe horn, cheap, lazy plot line in a movie that otherwise had no plot. When they said TV trays I knew the movie was over. Shake my head moment. Cheesy, tacky, cheap, lazy. Terrible movie.
@@Zeta_Reticulian He wouldn't have had someone whacked because they laughed at him when he fell over. Not someone of Dicki's stature at least. It was terrible and added on as cheap fan service, which this whole film comprises of.
@@paulies5407 oh stop yes he would. He wanted to kill tony as well. And if you think it was just because he laughed you weren't paying attention. Which is no surprise in today's day and age.
@@paulies5407 So you missed all of the seeds they planted throughout the movie to build up Jr's disdain for Dickie. Johnny mentioning how Dickie held down the family while he was in jail, the kids gravitating towards D & calling him their favorite uncle, Livia's obvious admiration of him (Jr thinks highly of Liv), and D's rise in the family. This is Jr we're talking about. He had a guy whacked for selling drugs to his tailor's grandson, wanted Chrissy, Brandon, & Tony killed, and had Mikey kill that guy for having "a big mouth". It's not outside his character to be petty, small & jealous.
I thought the movie was ok. I’m a huge Sopranos fan. David Chase really had his hands full trying to make this film. Similar to the Breaking Bad movie. It’s difficult making a follow up to a masterpiece tv show.
@@jimrogers9709 Damn and I was already disappointed with the Breaking Bad film. Not that it was horrible but would be a B- in my book. TMSN I can already see is going to be much more disappointing.
I think they got caught trying to make woke inclusions in this film. Harold was good, but they literally could have made a separate film about that. It should have just been all the mobsters.
I enjoyed El Camino and I think the movie length worked for the story it had to tell, it got that story told and gave us some closure on Jesse. The problem with TMSON is that there is too much story for a movie length. It would be like if Vince Gilligan had decided to make Better Call Saul as a two hour film.
El Camino I thought worked fine because it was just like an extended bonus episode/epilogue. If anything people’s disappointment in it just highlights how crucial a leading man with a giant presence is in carrying a show. Jesse, though likable, was a secondary character. Without Walt it could only be so good compared to the show. I don’t think it can be overestimated how much actors like Bryan Cranston, James Gandolfini, and Michael Chiklis make their respective shows what they are.
It makes no sense how Leslie Odom Jrs character was able to call paulie a racial slur for Italians in front of a bunch of other made guys. That’s one of the biggest rules, Don’t embarrass a made guy. Junior had Dickie clipped for the same thing. They let odom’s character get away with it? Doesn’t make sense considering the racial tensions and discrimination that run throughout the sopranos
It was meant to artificially create some sort of badassery to the character but it played off more as extremely forced and like he had straight up plot armor.
@@sayhello2heaven_ then do it in a film focused on African American gangsters. It didn’t belong; the whole idea of it being black vs. white was just an easy marketing strategy for the movie.
@@leppyslego8587 I know I agree lol. I’m just saying it was meant to make that character look fearless or some shit but it just felt extremely fake and out of character. Paulie is someone who killed an elderly lady for mattress money but let’s someone call him a racial slur and get away with it? Straight plot armor
I feel like the 1st hour of the movie set w/ younger Tony didn't have to be in it and should've just focused on him when he was a teen. The only reason that the 1st half is there it seems is just because of the riots bit that he wanted to include
Bingo. Shoe horned social justice nonsense to placate BLM activists. If you want to do a black power movement set in the 60's, have at it. I'd watch it, but here it's just out of place and done for the sake of it.
@@paulies5407 Except the movie didnt "placate" to any activists because no justice was actual served in the movie. So, wrong. 1. The riots actually take place in the show in the Festival episode when Johnny gets arrested. 2. How do you really expect an accurate portrayal of the CITY THE MOVIE IS NAMED AFTER in the 60s-70s and NOT include the Riots and the racial clashing? You are the same folks as Sophia Coppola who told a whole civil war movie without including enslaved women. Just say you want an all-white viewing of everything and let it go.
@@FactoryDan I never made any statements or assumptions about your identity - at all. And that being your only response here is telling. Just as telling that you would say "thanks" for someone assuming your right (which again, i never did). This is all super telling. Enjoy the laugh
I don't think the problem with Junior killing Dickie is because it was a petty reason or anything, I just think if you have not seen the Sopranos some random side character in the movie for like 10 minutes ends up killing the protagonist feels kind of weird.
Indeed. You needed to see the series to understand all the “in “ jokes and series. I absolutely want more of Dickie backstory etc. great character. I swear I was watching saying “yup Christopher got that from his dad”….but you had to see the series to appreciate it.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the series, doesn’t Christopher kill a newly retired cop who was responsible for killing his father? Is this a flaw in the movie?
There was an overdone, obligatory "OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" too. Forced as hell. It made me put my box of popcorn in front of my face so that I couldn't see the screen until my soul recovered. Man, the movie was awful.
@@sWrd_Master They weren't Black Panthers lmao, they were just gangsters going into business for themselves. They wanted money and power for themselves, and wanted to stop eating shit from the mob.
The only reason to care about any of the characters was knowing them from the Sopranos. The storyline started and ended abruptly. It didn't add anything interesting to the Sopranos. As a stand alone or a prequel, the script was uninteresting.
@@TooLooze none of it was relevant to the sopranos. This was the film: Chris narrates the intro so that you know its a sopranos prequel A black guy works for the mafia as an enforcer type. The black guy goes to a slam poetry night to learn about all the racisms and how he's a victim. The black guy decides to make his own gang to take out the mafia because they are so racist. Paulie turns up, so it's definately a sopranos prequel. Dickie gets angry that the black guy is starting a gang. The black guy attacks. Dickie is angry that the black guy attacked. Tony turns up, so this is totally a sopranos prequel. The black guy spends a long time talking to the Don of the black gangsters. The bad guys (mafia) get hold of the black guys cousin because they want to know where the black guy is. The black guys cousin, after being tortured, is strong enough to fight off a group of grown men while pinned to a table because black people are basically luke cage. Paulie and Silvio turn up, so it's definately a sopranos prequel. Turns out dickies gourmand was just a plot point in the black guys story. The black guy attacks single handedly with a shotgun in retaliation for his cousin. It goes perfectly, he doesn't get a scratch on him and pretty much wipes out every character apart from the main 4 from sopranos and dickie. Carnella turns up, so this is definately a sopranos prequel. Dickie hunts for the black guy Dickie finds the black guy Dickie dies, completely unrelated to the black guy. Jr turns up, so this is definately a sopranos prequel. The sopranos theme tune plays, so this is definately a sopranos prequel. It's not even that I hated it (even though I did). It's not the film they advertised at all. They tricked loyal fans into watching a period blm piece by slapping the sopranos name on it. Now anyone that didn't like it is being called racist, and that they only didn't like the sopranos prequel becauseit has black people in it, when fact is its like 80% about the black guy and the other 20% is fan service cameos and callbacks, like Johnny boy shooting the beehive or pussy turning up for about 25 seconds
@@syndrome5372 that’s all it was. I’m black and they ruined our chance to have one last taste for what? So the writers could show they know who The Last Poets and Dionne Warwick are? This movie was so bad. I just wish that Chase would just come out and apologize! Is it really that hard?
Judging by the comments, it seems there's a lot of criticism among fans of the Harold storyline. I've got pretty mixed feelings about it myself. On one hand, since the movie was set in Newark in the late '60s and early '70s, it makes sense to touch on the race riots and white flight a little bit. And maybe even have a scene or two in which mobsters face off against black gangsters. But on the other hand, the storyline felt overdone and preachy. Especially the part about Harold being inspired to take on Dickie after attending a black poetry slam. Also, Giuseppina sleeping with Harold (with Dickie then killing Giuseppina after he found out) felt incredibly forced and contrived. As did turning Giuseppina (an Italian beauty queen who married a guy more than twice her age to get out of the country) into a quasi-feminist figure. The TV show provided social commentary from time to time. For example, the storyline about Meadow having a half-black boyfriend, or how the show covers the treatment of women at the Bing. But it usually did so in a more thoughtful and less preachy way than what we see in the movie.
Most of the criticism, at least I hope, is not the fact that the Harold storyline was bad, it was not a main priority, so much so that it was considered bad, you have a 2 hour discussion with the creator of the universe, you ask it "What is the meaning of human existence?" and you get intricate visions of how Prokaryotes branched into other microorganisms, plants, and eventually land animals for an hour.
The Harold storyline absolutely RUINED the movie. It wasn't great to begin with, but it felt very forced like someone from the studio said, "hey, we gotta make sure we put some blacks in there because that's what everyone is doing these days". Complete fucking joke.
@@oengland28 Like I was saying, touching on the race riots and white flight wasn't by itself a bad decision, given when and where the movie is set. But the overbearing and moralizing way in which it was done was a mistake, as was the ham-fisted way in which Giuseppina was brought into it. And it all takes up screen time that could've been used to flesh out the backstories of Tony, Sil, Johnny Boy, etc.
@@ej11481 Is it really necessary to flesh out the backstories of Tony, Sil, Johnny Boy, etc? Perhaps Chase felt we know most of what we need to know about their past from the TV show, and decided to give us completely new characters and a new story. Giuseppina getting killed by Dickie was an amazing ending to that storyline imo.
Harold's storyline didnt go anywhere. Thats what annoyed me. They could take him out the movie and it wouldnt effect the storyline. I would almost argue how come harold didnt take out Dickie after that feud (still not sure what the feud was over 🤔) but it could be the same as the build up between richie and tony, only for Janice to take out richie.
It's kinda sad because i feel like Chase&co kinda blew it with this one. This movie is getting TERRIBLE reviews by audience members and critics alike and that doesn't bode well for any future projects. Let me just say i thought the movie was a ok, definitely not great or memorable but it had its moments. I just hope that HBO doesn't jump ship and cans any future Soprano projects because of reception this project is getting. In a time where gangster films are pretty much on the brink of death i would hate to see the genre go out like this. I think i feel the worst for Michael Gandolfini, i thought he did an excellent job on most his scenes and i would've loved to see him get more of a challenge instead of being put in a corner as a side character because Chase was obviously too much of a coward to actually take a chance on this young actor. The pieces were all there but for some reason they just didn't utilize them. I'm crossing my fingers for a sequel and lets hope Chase actually writes it himself this time instead of asking these hacky writers to do it with him. I think it seriously affected the material in a bad way. Some scenes are classic Chase while others are just utter garbage.
I disagree but reinforce your initial statement, one thing rang true to the thing, Dickie, but it's probably even flatter since everything was revolved around a regular mob soldier, who eventually gets whacked.
I wouldn’t say it “wasn’t good” but I also will say it wasn’t “great”. I enjoyed it, couple things I didn’t like but overall I think it added nicely to the soprano story.
@@lk5388 yeah I think they reverted back to the show for that because most episodes of the show had like 3 or 4 stories each. Can’t do that properly in 2 hrs. But I really don’t understand why people hate it so much. Of course you’re not gonna get everything you want to see happen.
A genuinely fair assessment Cineranter, I certainly agree with a lot of what you've covered. I think a Many Saints limited series is a fine, wise concept to pursue, it would really do the writing quality, then the performances, much justice. Nice job 👍
I think the premise of Many Saints was flawed from the start. It seemed like David Chase really wanted to make a movie about the riots and the film wanted to focus more on Harold but had to give screen time to sopranos characters since it was a Sopranos property. Also, I think the narration by Christopher was a bad decision.
I think the same but David Chase said that he is not interested in following the story in a series format. I think that what happened to this movie is that it suffer from Chase’s writing which works better in a longer format but hopefully he learned from this experience and the next movie will have a more cohesive story.
I feel like I’m in the minority in saying Silvio is kinda cool being that much older like it makes all of his advice he gives tony a lot more potent. Maybe it’s just me
It's not about it being "cool" or not for me. It's unnecessarily inconsistent with the sopranos series. That could have just been a different new character and no one would have cared
@Talcum X I’m pretty sure Tony’s suppose to be the youngest in that core 4 group. I’m not saying the movie got it right in any means they look WAY older then they should. But Paulie and puss where supposedly 10 years older then tony, and I always thought sil was around 5-6 years older. I think it’s stated Paulies in his 50s when the show starts but I could be incorrect
Yeah, Harold was meaningless, and the Sil age thing was awful. When Ralphie tells Jackie Jr about the card game, he’s says that they had a little crew, Silvio, Jackie Sr, Tony, and I think maybe Pussy? It was clear that Sil grew up with Tony. And Pussy told AJ at is confirmation that every day after school Tony would visit Pussy’s ill sister after school everyday. It just doesn’t line up. It’s almost like Chase isn’t familiar with his own time line. I guess the other writers had way more control and influence than we thought!
I feel like fans wanted too see who they loved ..the big four Tony, paulie, pussy and silvio.. But they got Dickie moltisanti and a story about a riot in the 60s.
People are focusing on juniors motive. I think Dickie laughing at him when he fell was definitely the nail in the coffin, but I think the other thing was during the dinner at the club when Dukie called Junior out about his gooma cheating on him
That plus Junior's unfavourably compared to Dickie several times. When Junior offers to talk to Tony after he gets suspended from school, Livia tells him he'll only listen to Dickie. Johnny Boy also blows up at Junior and calls him a failure compared to Dickie for allowing non-Italians to live in the neighbourhood. So Junior had built up resentment towards Dickie for years.
Still pretty disappointing. Dickie was a mythical character on the show and his death was a huge mystery. Having Junior be the one behind his death feels like a bit of a cop out.
They just needed to get rid of the "black'" component of the show, which made no sense at all ( apart from Chase wanting an Oscar, hence the 30% mandatory moolinians in the cast )
LOL No wonder why this film was GARBAGE. IT was directed by Alan Taylor. LOL he directed such classics as Thor 2 The Dark World and Terminator Genisys.
The issue is it’s a movie that should’ve of been a whole season. It’s not bad it’s just 2 hours isn’t enough for the story. I enjoyed it but a full 13 episode season would made it a lot better.
I know Harold referred to the problem kid who was robbing them as "Overall" which in the show "Tony made his bones with Willie Overall" "some dead fuckin bookie." It would make more sense if Harold had been that guy. This should never have been a film to begin with if we're being honest, Silvio was not that much older than Tony, idk it really was sort of pointless. It would have made sense to give Paulie the screen time over Silvio, as Paulie always was older and "went back to Johnny and the old days." I did think that the cop who asks Dickie if he thought the protests were funny looked a lot like he was casted because he looked like a younger version of the cop Christopher kills in the show.
I had a issue with everything, wtf was the purpose of Harold? Why was the focus so much on him, and not the actual ppl we want to see.. he could’ve been more of a side character.. like briefly mentioned.. I don’t know, it just felt like something else, but not The Sopranos prequel we all deserve. Maybe somebody will break it all down, and show all the connections- make it make sense.
@@timstradley5819 it kind of felt like it was inspired by Bumpy Johnson’s story, but I don’t get it.. where in the Sopranos series was there a focus on black gangsters, besides that record company part with Hesh? I hope there’s a part two, because this was disappointing.
I agree it was pointless. Tho Dicki was a compelling character, Tony hardly if ever talked about him in sopranos. He talked about his dad mom and uncle more. Tony was a copy of dicky ie being a "good person", spoiling his gummod, being a leader. Tony didn't talk about him much in sopranos so this show seems pointless.
I think the scene where Carmela is shoehorned in is symbolic of the whole problem. Yeah, we'd like to see young Tony and Carmela and how things played out when they were dating. Instead all she does is loan Tony a quarter and if Tony didn't use her name we wouldn't even know it was her. Could have cut her entirely and it would have changed nothing. There are a dozen characters from the series and at least half a dozen new ones and Dickie is the only one that gets an adequate amount of screen time. This needed to be a series.
My personal biggest takeaway was that David Chase wasn’t the genius behind The Sopranos but Terrence Winter, Matthew Weiner, Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess added a lot more to the show. If you look at David Chase post Soprano’s he’s done basically nothing except talk about the soprano’s they all moved on to different things and continued to work.
@@duke9555 I don’t want to say Chase is without talent but I wonder if he’s a good manager/ideas man rather than a straight writer. Alan Taylor has proven he’s a good a director in that he knows where to put the camera how to cut action, comedy and dialogue and get performances out of actors. However he’s also proven he can elevate a bad or mediocre script. So I think him and Chase on a movie was always going to equal a good not great result. Also Chase basically put a miniseries of television into 2 hours so it’s so brief. If this had been over 3 hours it could have played so much better. I would have thought post Sopranos Chase could have gotten some big project made even if it was just a movie or even written a novel. The fact that he had one mini series that was rejected and one mediocre indie film I think speaks to his ideas not being good or him possibly being difficult/arrogant in meetings.
@@wildman1153 I look at how weird and dream like aspects of Mad Men were and how that tone really seemed to hit the Sopranos during the Matthew Weiner years (if I remember correctly). While I’ve never like Blue Bloods I’ve always wondered if the family interaction is part of what the blue bloods writers gave to the show. Chase then as head writer got the best out of everyone.
@@wildman1153 I actually think Mad Men is while maybe not the stronger series is possibly the more interesting one. I find it very interesting how it never got as big a following but yet it’s probably the same level of quality and didn’t managed to impact the pop culture.
The only thing that excited me and gave me goosebumps was the last scene with pinky-swear and sopranos theme song, like young Tony realize he's future...
If they make a trilogy they will have time to expand! It worked fine in movie form, feels like a soprano episode The movie does not stand alone, but is a perfect piece of a bigger puzzle!
I was disappointed. It wasn’t aggressively bad or anything, but it was just very bland to me. It felt like a generic TV mob movie with none of the personality or depth of the show. I understand that two hours isn’t much time, but plenty of other movies have been able to establish deep characters and tell a fleshed out story in that amount of time. A big problem for me was that the plot was incredibly barebones. There were no real stakes to pull the viewer into the narrative. That would have been fine if it had worked as a character piece, but I don’t think we ever really got to know the characters well enough to be invested in their personal struggles and development.
I wondered if the pills Dickie had were to keep for himself. Tony gave him the pamphlet, and Dickie was also going through his own struggles and using alcohol anyway and may have been interested in the anti-depressants himself.
Best Sopranos analysis the internet. As soon as I finished the movie the first thing that came to mind was "thats it?", "This would've been so much more of a financial, commercial and overall success had it been a single 10-15 episode HBO limited series (which is the trend right now). Chase has always been a spiteful, arrogant and greedy writer. Those negative characteristics cost his legacy and his wallet here. This easily could've been an excellent addition to The Sopranos collection. Instead its like to be the end of the greatest television show of all time.
For me, it would depend on the story they were trying to tell, and what point in Tony's life he's trying to portray. I don't think they'll ever have Michael portray tony at the age where his father portrayed him- but a younger, more naive and conflicted tony, I think Michael is an excellent fit. I think he could turn up the rage and violence, much in the same way his father was such a nice, friendly guy in reality but then turned into a terrible, violent monster when acting.
Much like The Breaking Bad prequel, the movie was “fine”, but utterly pointless. The beauty of the TV series was that they could introduce new characters from the past in every season by explaining that they had been in prison or Miami or elsewhere. However, that idea created a rich historical tapestry of what Tony’s youth and the DiMeo family history was like, something every fan no doubt romanticised. Doing a prequel was always going to spell trouble as there was no way Chase & Co. could include every character from the show. Like a lot of other commenters, I was disappointed not to see Feech and Richie and Ralphie and more of Artie and Tony B and Jackie Aprile. However, the most unforgivable thing was the blatant disregard for the age gaps and timelines in the show. Outside of the outrageous Sil debacle, wasn’t Tony supposed to be around 7-10 years older than Chrissie? In the movie a teenage Tony is introduced to a baby Chris, while Sil is already an adult when 11-year old Tony is shown. A pretty dumb movie that was always going to disappoint. Frankly I’m depressed and ashamed.
I don't think it's fair to compare this to anything in the breaking bad universe. El Camino and better call Saul are much more faithful to breaking bad than many saints was to the sopranos imo. Otherwise I agree. Horrible movie.
Wish it was a series so they could tell more of a story. Like the panic attacks, the panic attacks are a big part of the story in the show. That's how the show basically starts is him talking about having panic attacks and getting to the main cause of why he is having them.
Harold tells Newark's story though. He is the only character in the film with the frame of reference to be able to do so. His determination to rise up in the face of a corrupt society meant to keep him down tells the real story of Newark. From Harold's viewpoint the Italian Mob is just another branch of the establishment, hardly the mysterious and violent subculture that arose from "the poverty of the Mezzigiorno." So many fans cried and complained about his character, but you can't tell this story without him.
I said the EXACT same thing walking out of the movie theatre. Many Saints SHOULD HAVE been a TV series, not a film. Some of the best parts of the Sopranos are the scenes where it’s just the guys sitting around and busting balls and we got pretty much none of that because of the 2 hour run time. They need to correct this and release a series.
The official canon is Tony was born in ‘59 and Silvio ‘57. For whatever reason the filmmakers chose to ignore that or completely forgot. Either way it was distracting.
I remember I read in an interview that David Chase wanted to make a movie - only a movie, not another TV show, that he only was onboard this project as this was his movie HBO had promised him. This is also why he was so pissed when they released it on HBO, he was promised "a real movie". Well, we know now that, while being one of the very best TV storytellers out there, he is not good at movies :) I have just few, but major complaints: 1)movie has no focus, so much story lines that it becomes shallow 2)we definitely had no time for new characters like Harold 3)Chase wanted so much to show us those riots that, in order to do so, he had to mess up the timeline and characters' ages. Have no idea why that was *so* important. 6/10 and only for magnificent cast :)
Having watched and enjoyed a number of your videos, I'm just here to say, I thoroughly appreciate your commitment to always referring to him as "that animal Blundetto."
Blacks were portrayed in a certain way in the Sopranos, so I think Chase was trying to make up for it by casting them in a more positive light, which really stole a big part of the whole plot in the movie. We expected to see a mob movie but the characters seemed more like a group of criminals who lacked that organizational structure. I always thought Silvio and Tony were contemporaries that came up together but they made Sil an older guy. This movie was a disappointment.
Is that what you thought? They were trying to cast "blk" People in a positive light? There was nothing positive about it. Seems to me the only reason they put "blk' people in the movie is so they could get in their required racism quota. Calling people the N word and saying things like "Black Men don't have a head for making money" was not putting blk people in a positive light.
Harold shot at "MADE" guys and gets to smirk at a racist neighbor while moving in to his new home in the end. He shot at Dickie and Johnny boy! How did that work for Jackie Jr.? He lives in the end? Harold would've been skinned alive. Woke movie. Glad I didn't pay for the theater. Edit: Was Harold ANYWHERE in the series? Answer: No. So it's woke. Done with Chase. I'm not for being "programmed" by State assets. 🙈💊🦸
I thought it just was alright. I think a mini series would be better. I wanted Michael to have more screen time hopefully it’s not the last time we see him as Tony.
The movie was terrible compared to how good it could’ve been. What did the Harold story have anything to do with the sopranos? It was like watching two movies at once. I feel like they only put a black character in this to please today’s society. This movie isn’t authentic. I thought we were getting a sopranos story but they take half the movie up with some random character they bring out of no where. If this was a tv series it would be acceptable but a 2 hr movie?
You are absolutely correct about the better road not taken, which would have presented this sequel in a series format---same as the Sopranos itself. Each topic, confrontation, conflict could have been explored in depth, which is PERFECT when you have GREAT CHARACTERS. And don't forget the role music placement played in the Sopranos; with a series there'd be room for that. This movie was like trying to shove a seven-course meal down your throat before the bus leaves.
@@VirgilSollozzo924 while that may be true, i don't think you remember the things junior said to his lady friend. nevermind the fact tthat stuff is/was forbidden as a member of a family. there's a reason why the called them fanooks.
I think the film made Dickie too ambiguous a character to be just perceived as "the one good influence Tony could have had". In some ways I think Dickie's bottled up anger and resentment prolly made him more of a sociopath than the loud mouths with their bravados. Dickie after all was the guy who murdered his own father in a rage fit, was very controlling of women through manipulation instead of violence, and ofc literally drowned his mistress again in a rage fit, when he was the one at fault for her fucking with the black dude.
I agree that I always thought that Sil was close to Tony's age. Ralphie told Jackie, Jr that Tony, Ralph, Sil, and Jackie Sr were their own little crew, so maybe Sil was the "capo" of that crew, since he was the oldest? And he may have had asthma/panic issues with that crew, similar to what he had when Tony was in the coma, which is why he was passed by Tony? Another little nugget, I loved the little scene where Artie Bucco said something like "My Dad said I have to take over the restaurant".
This is what I think... after YEARS of thousands of Sopranos clips, the cult following, the breakdowns and reviews, the dissection of characters and storylines, the year long tease of the prequel... I think we built this movie in our minds and hearts to be monumental and as big as the Roman Empire, that any tiny little off detail is a huge sore thumb to us... Outside of that, I fell in love with the movie
I have not seen it but thanks for the heads up. To be honest one can never judge a movie or a series on first watch....for example Goodfellas and the first episode of Sopranos, I was not impressed...and then they aged, and slowly I started to digest the brilliance, leading to a cult following. Tho some movies you see the brilliance in the first 5 mins.
For me, the biggest problem this movie had is Dickie Moltisanti's motives in the first place, and the two Ray Liotta characters. I mean, what was that?! Who the hell is that other guy who looks like his dad?! Is he even real? If so, why is Dickie talking to him now? But the biggest problem I had with the plot was the Harold McBrayer character. Who the hell is Harold McBrayer and how could he have possibly won a turf war with the mob when they would've been at their absolute apex of power and wealth in New York/New Jersey in the 1970s? That's just preposterous. The mob couldn't have lost a territorial power struggle to an upstart if they tried bacK in those days. That's how much of a nationwide superpower Cosa Nostra had become by that point in American history. Meyer Lansky said it himself- The mob was bigger than US Steel in those days! Now, some things I liked.... *I absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, loved Junior killing Dickie.* It made total sense. It was the most Sopranos thing in the world because the characters in the show never got killed for logical plot or story reasons. It was almost always for petty, personal slights that had nothing to do with the main storylines that were going on that pushed guys to kill one another. It was always personal, private bullshit no one was aware of that happened behind closed doors- Livia wanting Tony killed for talking about his mother with a psychiatrist; Janice killing Richie for not being able to bankroll her lavish wedding and bigger house than Tony's; Tony killing Ralph over a horse; Phil Leotardo whacking Doc Santoro for eating off his plate; Christopher killing JT Dolan for not listening to him drunkenly complain about Paulie; Butch ending the war over Phil blowing him off and inconveniencing him by wandering into Chinatown; etc. That part was beautiful. It was perfectly Sopranos. Lastly, it was also 100% in keeping with the TV series to see Tony's reaction to Dickie's death. Five minutes earlier, he was tossing his speakers out of his window saying he wants nothing to do with his uncle ever again, and at his funeral he's shown forgiving him completely and going into "high sentimentality mode" as Melfi would later call it. It had it's redeeming qualities and it's aspects that were in keeping with the series, but it also had way too many WTF moments for it to be completely satisfying at the same time.
It made no sense. No offense, but the entire subplot of the black dude was so forced, unnecessary and embarrassingly unrealistic. Also, No one knew many of the characters they were giving attention to. The movie should have been about Tony and Tony’s dad. Because it was an unnecessary prequel, it should of been strictly fan service playing out all of the history of The Sopranos show.
Well done. And thank you for posting. I said the exact same thing about it needing to be a series. I did see Chase was interested in making a sequel with Tony in his 20's... when Winter was asked about if he'd be interested in it he said "I'd do it in a hear beat". So... Maybe we get a prequel limited series. Keep watching the movie to show them there's money to be made :)
Personally I think the constant delays and cuts really affected the movie. I liked it because I’m a sopranos fan and there’s little moments in the movie that are brilliant but overall I think it’s just ‘good’ and that’s it. If it wasn’t a movie based in the universe I love, I would’ve forgotten about it in a day.
I agree that it attempted to pack a lot into two hours. The beauty of episodic television is how they can use time to their advantage in storytelling. I thought the film was superb on multiple levels, but it does seem to want more than it can realistically pull off. My hope is that this turns into a new series. It feels like a preface to the actual story of how Tony became Tony. This was Dickie’s story and Tony was a minor character. But his life left an indelible impact that would drive Tony as an adult. I liked that we get to see an innocent Tony here and we see the seeds get planted in terms of his relationships to his nuclear family, extended family, and chosen family. I think the Harold and Guisipina subplots could have been reduced. I also agree that more Joey Diaz and the dynamics of the other adult figures would have been a better choice. But I think the film was meant to be about Dickie’s existential crisis (later mirrored by Tony’s). Ray Liotta was the standout. He was the voice of reason. Everyone else was operating off of base instinct and pure id (power, respect, pride, greed and the darkness it introduces when not in balance with love, support, trust, and compassion). Those demons of always choosing to satisfy those instincts is everyone’s downfall-from Dickie, to Harold, to Junior, to Johnny. Even the women growing up in this toxic environment are all casualties. It’s the tragedy of Dickie and how his sins were passed down to Tony. That’s the real gem of this movie. If you want all the banter and the explosive nature of the gang, there’s enough of that on the show, it’s unnecessary to retread that in the film.
Let Down. This cudda been an Episode tbh 😕. To me this is a All U Need to know is Uncle Junior killed Dickie. They nailed it with Livia tho. And I'm sorry....but the original Johnny Boy Soprano & Young Uncle Junior from the Sopranos Flashbacks were WAAAAAY better then these ones in the Movie. Johnny Boy the actor that was picked was a let down.
David Chase: Lower your voice, there's other people watching the movie. CR: Screw your movie audience! WHEN YOU GONNA GIVE THE FANS WHAT THEY WANT! David Chase: WHEN THEY SUCK THE FAN SERVICE OUT OF MY ___! NOW GET OUT OF THE MOVIE THEATER!
The thing with Silvio is that the actor shouldn't have tried to just do a carbon copy the character from the show while young: he was not that person yet. Exactly what they told Michael Gandolfini, when he was playing young Tony but yelling at people like old Tony: he is not that person yet.
Fully agree about young Sil. His affectations were too much. Regarding young Tony, I think he needed to show a little more of older Tony's swagger and bravado, particularly since he grew up in a mafia family. He didn't have to be exactly like older Tony to do that.
They are 100% coming out with a TV series on HBO that revolves around Tony’s youth and getting into organized crime. Scott Burnstein who wrote Phil Leonetti’s book “Mafia Prince” confirmed it a couple weeks ago on his podcast.
To use this as a vehicle to introduce that, is the worst kind of money grab. It obviously is setting Harold up for his own series. They might spin this thing off into infinity li,e they plan to do with Star Wars. They’ve got a whole new generation of young people who didnt see the original and aren’t used to quality products. It will all be hype and pseudo intellectualism. They’ll hype this up and the new kids will go back and watch the originals and it will be on the today show and everybody will make lots of money on the bastardization of an American classic!
Loved the film, personally. Just two things that bothered me... *Spoilers* 1) Giuseppina confessing about her affair with Harold. It seemed uncharacteristically naive to me, and maybe I missed something, but couldn't see why she did it - other than sheer honesty I guess, but come on. She's spent enough time around these guys to know that honesty (and forgiveness) is an alien concept to them, but cruelty is their bread and butter. It leads to the turning point of the movie, so the fact that it didn't really work (for me at least) was a problem. And it felt like a detraction to her character, rushed through for the sake of Dickie's development. 2) As mentioned in the video, the age of Silvio in particular (maybe Big Puss also). That was really weird. It strains credulity that he'd be so subservient and in thrall to the adult Tony, whereas the other guys with a significant age gap (Paulie, Feech, Richie, Hesh) are either habitually disloyal, regularly seethe about his behaviour or overtly test his authority. All traits that you'd expect from people who're under the command of someone far younger. Just looked it up and surprisingly Steven Van Zandt is 11 years older than James Gandolfini (and another five again for Vincent Pastore), but Silvio had been written as a contemporary of Tony, and the way they've shown this relationship in the film really feels like a mistake. Other than those issues, though... My mum's a big Sopranos fan so we saw it together, and haven't spent so long discussing a film afterwards in years. It's loaded with the oodles of subtext, character nuance and foreshadowing/callbacks that made the show so unique. You just don't see this incredible storytelling chemistry anywhere else. I'd missed it - and loved seeing it on the big screen.
Lol, Junior didn't tell Palmice to kill that guy because "he didn't like the way he talked" but because he thought he talked too much and might give secrets away.
*The Sopranos | How Could Carmine Not Recognise Paulie?*
ruclips.net/video/FAtoLykTmu4/видео.html
Did big Pharma Finance the movie? Because for a while it seemed like they were trying to sell pills
After so many years I guess people look different.
Sucked ...I stopped watching it was so bad.
The timeline was always messed up even before this movie and I personally found it quite woke with the underlying black power message where thsi black guy is killing all the Italian guys and getting away with it
I get the criticisms but guys you need to chill 🤣 this movie is not a bad movie what’s so ever . In a age of disappointment this movie didn’t disappoint. It’s just coming from a tv show and now a movie it shows how the sopranos shines the most as a show. Could the movie be better ? Sure but it’s definitely not a horrible movie .this criticism can either break David or make him
Dickie Moltisanti died before we got a chance to see him "singlehandedly take down the new england crew ".
LOU DIMAGGIO... THOSE OLD DOGS CAN STILL HUNT
"He took the war to them up there... only we're not going to show you that. Or anything else really cool we reference on the show.. like Feech LaManna's card game getting robbed."
The problem with the movie is simple... they had 2 hours to make a sopranos prequel and they decided to spend 1/2 the time focusing on a bunch of periphery characters we don't care about
I would like to see a spin-off series based on the Harold character, but yes, what did he have to do with the original series? Not to mention a lot of the facts that were discussed in the series never appeared in the movie. A TV show prequel would be the only way to do the original series and the movie justice.
We got an after-school special about the one dimensional world of the oppressed Black man and the oppressed wife.
The horror, David Chase giving us new characters to care about instead of the same old same old.
@@edd8914 If there is going to be a prequel TV series, there will have to be 'new' characters that never quite made it to 1997. I do hope the Harold character gets his own spin-off series so we can see the main characters 'growing up' into who they were in 1997. I would like to see the ones they killed off early in the series getting some prominence in the prequel series (Ralph and Richie come to mind) to see what they were all about.
@@culcune You’re the only person I’ve seen to want a Harold spin off 😂😂. Like, why? His character was pointless and dull, and didn’t feel like part of the puzzle.
David Chase wanted to do a story about the Newark race riots. Warner wanted more Sopranos. This was the messy compromise.
Yeah I saw an interview where David says the race riots were his main motivation for the film
Well it’s no worse than eating grilled cheese off the radiator.
Very messy. Indeed
That's the best description of the movie I've seen so far.
@@Harry_S._Plinkett Phil spent 20 years in the can icyww
The actor who played Dickie said something pretty intersting on Talking Sopranos. He read all the dickie dialogue without the rest of the script and prepared auditions of all the big scenes and filmed them… It wasn’t til after receiving the full script that he realized he was the main character. That says a lot about the lack of depth and arc.
When Chrissy tells Adriana how Tony and that animal Blundetto used to tease him during their trips to Uncle Pats farm he tells Adriana they were 19 and he was 11. In the movie Tony is already a teenager when Chris is born.
Timeline got fucked up. Tbf, it was already inconsistent even in the Sopranos.
Junior trying to have Christopher killed over a hijacking in season 1 takes on new meaning now too.
Junior did not ''try'' to have CM killed. If he did, Chris would be very dead. It was a mock execution to scare the shit out of him. Which it did. Junior's message was do NOT fuck with me. The next time it will be real.
He did want to kill him though. Livia was the one who didn’t let it happen.
@@MegaMkmiller Take it easy, were not making a western here
@@MegaMkmiller Livia saved Christopher’s life during her conversation with junior by saying he put up her storm shutters and she liked him but Brendon she shrugged her shoulders over. That’s why he was mock executioned and not killed. Junior wanted him dead but even as boss he didn’t go against Livia. Livia the real gangster. Watch that scene.
Yup, I thought the same thing. Junior hated Dickie and Christopher for the same reason.
It was mentioned in the series that Silvio and Tony were childhood friends. The movie made it seem like Silvio was working with the Johnny Soprano crew way before Tony even had the thought of becoming a prospect in the life. In the first half of the movie, Tony was supposed to be about 12, but Silvio seemed to be around mid 20s. That's a pretty big gap in age for them to be childhood friends. Anyone else catch this?
Absolutely right, Sil and Pussy were childhood friends of Tony so it makes no sense they were so much older here.
They are way older tho if you’ve ever seen the pictures that have all their ages and address Silvio is like 8-10 years older
Definitely agree... should've just made it a 10 episode mini series instead of a 2 hour movie
Where was Tony's favorite cousin in the the movie?(steve Buscemi character)
@@pedroenciso9082 Yeah that would’ve been cool if a young Tony Egg would’ve made an appearance at dickies funeral or Johnny boys welcome home party.
Harold's parts made me fall asleep I couldn't care less , I wanna see the legends of the series.
Harolds parts were good, but wtf was the point? Why was he in the movie period? I don’t get any of that.. at all.. why not the New York Family, like Phil, and the rest? Man.. this movie was disappointing, I hope after I watch it again, it gets better.
Exactly
@@MidTierVillain i think they put him in the movie as a red herring to make you think his story leads up to dickies death.
@@Tgalvan624 I can appreciate that, but it was so left field for me. David should’ve gotten help from Scorsese on this project..
@@Tgalvan624 and why did Chris mom sleep with Harold? Wtf was that about? That was completely strange, especially for that era.. that was frowned upon, and basically a death sentence, exiled from the neighborhood.
Am I crazy? Am I the only one that had an issue with that?
I wish David Chase would just "tell us about the time Tony and Jackie took down Feiche Lemmanna's card game, but that story he don't like to talk about"...
Feiche loved to tell stories about him being a badass or a womanizer but he definitely got butthurt when others brought up times when he got punked. Hopefully this movie turns into a trilogy and brings up this as well when Tony made his bones with Paulie at his side and buried the guy
THAT"S how they should have ended the movie..Tony and Jackie planning taking down the poker game
Watch killing them softly
David Chase probably thinks that would just be fan service. He tends to be a contrarian, and skeptical of doing anything if the only goal is to make the audience happy. What real narrative purpose does showing us that card game heist really serve? We probably already know everything we need to know about it.
David Chase dropped the ball on this one, Reminds me of Godfather 3 both highly anticipating but both ended up being Very disappointing movies.
The Godfather three was a decent movie from what I remember, although I only saw it once. This movie isn’t even the same dimension. This movie had NO redeeming qualities.
100%
@@LKaramazov Watch it again if you still like it after that more power to you. not everyone is gonna agree Francis Ford Coppola didn't even want to make the 3rd one. they threw an amount he couldn't refuse. maybe if plot between the cousins being lovers was left out maybe it could've been better. The many saints fell short also reminded me of when coming to America 2 came out I was looking forward to it only to be disappointed like i was for this movie. but hey if you enjoyed it that's all that matters.
In terms of the movie, I feel like Silvio should’ve been seen after Tony was a teen instead of before. Feel it would’ve made a bit more sense.
Silvio was too old in this. It was established that he and Tony were childhood friends in the series. Idk why David Chase does stupid shit like this.
I agree, it made it seem like Syl was 20+ years older than Tony... On the series they look alot closer in age...
The guy in the movie who sounds like Silvio IS silvio?? Wtf
Silvio is 2 years older by seri s canon. They have daughters in school together for fucks sake.
Exactly! This actor looked older than Stevie did the first few years of he Sopranos. And that’s supposed to be 20 years later or more! I didn’t like the toupee scene. Silvio would never have been caught in a situation where that happens. And of course with Stevies car crash that caused the hair loss and scarring when he was young? Made me feel a little weird.
The actress who played Livia stole the show for me
Vera Farmiga was excellent imo
Vera is extremely underrated. She's amazing in everything she's in.
Huge disappointment, lazy story telling mixed with a poor script. Some of the casting was great but others were cheap imitations.
Exactly!
Agreed
Yup. Seemed like they didnt finish writing it.
if only there wasn’t a huge part of the movie wasted on a side plot..
100% correct! Enough with race nonsense already.
It was that side plot that got the movie made I believe. David Chase wanted to make a movie on the race riots in Newark and couldn't the project funded, so he made a backdoor movie about the race riots inside a Sopranos movie.....which is why both parts of the movie are shit.
@@50farmers everything has to be about race now…
@@anthonyroccosr.5706 you know it actually happen in newark I dont think it was about race its more of the director trying to make an interesting side plot but it failed because it was a big chunk of the movie
I didn’t quite follow the mob story here.
Was Dickie a made guy? They open saying that his father was an associate of the Dimeo family but had lots of money. So Dickie was an associate? Johnny Soprano was the capo of the crew? Who was made, who was boss or capo isn’t clear. It was even less of a mob story than the actual sopranos.
True, that was confusing to say the least. If it was stated in the film, it wasn't very clear.
Without a doubt this should've been a 13 episode tv series. It's only possible to give complexity and nuance in the writing and properly explore and expand upon the stories in long format storytelling.
Let's hope David Chase comes back with a tv series next time.
100%
Chase is not a kid, imagine him dying during the shoot and then the series becomes increasingly more shit because they lost the main brain behind the whole thing, it will be as tragic as his death.
Unfortunately it will be about Harold, one of the worst characters in sopranos history.
@Agent 39 it was a straight to DVD mess. Don’t be overly generous. It was god awful!
Again, for like the 100th time. David Chase is 76 years old. A mini-series would take 10-15 years to complete. He would have to write 3 sepearte sagas spanning from the mid-60s all the way to the mid-90s which is where the HBO series starts.
It's taken Better Call Saul 7 years just to explain 5 years of the Breaking Bad origin with just 1 year within seasons. Knowing HBO, a 3-Saga set of Sopranos Mini-Series would run a huge risk of David Chase dying before it's complete.
Joey diaz was really good .I really wanted richie in it.
Agree on both. Coco did his thing for sure and a young crazy richie (or tony b like he said in the video) would’ve added so much
@@timstradley5819 Joey diaz part makes no sense to. He is a made man and Dickie punched him, Johnny Boy not even trying to stop Dickie. This movie is complete puke. It had nothing to do with Sopranos or Mafia.
As much as I love Joey, I couldn’t help but be distracted that it was Joey Diaz every time he was on screen. He looked the part well enough, but it took me out of the story completely.
@@benjamingarland9931 I couldn't follow who he was in relation to the rest of the characters and had to look it up after the show lol
@@tonysoprano3219 well dickie died lol so it’s not like he got away with it. And I’m not talking about the part itself, was just giving Joey his credit. He really did a great job in my opinion.
If TMSoN is intended as a Tony Soprano prequel, they started too early. If TMSoN was intended as a Dickie Moltisanti/Johnny Soprano spin-off, then the starting point was too late. What we got was neither one thing or the other.
All because he wanted to make a movie about the riots part
@@FactoryDan The riots and the characters associated with it when absolutely no were. I thought it was going to go somewhere but nothing. Waste of time and seems like it was just pandering.
All I know is David Chase never had the makings of a varsity filmmaker.
Magaro's Sylvio sounded like Benny doing an impression of Sylvio.
I thought the Sil character was the best part of the movie, but the movie relied too much on “ who can do the best impression” and it got old real fast, like with the woman who played livia.
The question will be, why not just make a mini series instead? Sopranos was, ironically, originally to be into a movie in the 1990s but David Chase saw the potential to make a series. It is all abit strange
it felt like six episodes worth of content crammed into one movie.
They should still do it
David Chase may go for a mini series over another series. Great idea.
Ironically Sopranos would've failed as a movie. As a series, it was brilliant. Here, Chase is allowed to make a film, but it fails because it should've been a series.
@Jay Aleem
He's made other movies. What are you talking about?
Johnny boy from the series was WAY better than movie version.
Yes exactly! And so was Livia!
Absolutely, no comparsion.
It was ok. I expected alot more since the TV show has so many story plots that could have been incorporated into the film.
David Chase did not direct the film.
and Livia was right to be miserable in the TV series.
Yea he was, they made him seem more distinguished in this movie but in the show he was no nonsense
Agree!
Re, Junior killing Dickie - How many times over the course of the series did Junior tell Tony something along the lines of "there's a lot you don't know, my little nephew"?
@Johnny Caruthers Tf you doing in a video's comment section about The many saints of Newark if you haven't watched it? Btw Dickie kills his father and his father's wife.
@Johnny Caruthers dude the thumbnail said spoiler discussion, get the fuck outta here
@Johnny Caruthers It sucked. He did you a favor. I wouldn't even bother watching.
All over laughing at him?
@@andreigemanari6262 He killed her after he had his fun with her
Let's be real. This movie was a letdown in so many ways.
💯
It was fucking awful. Clunky and overstuffed, dialogue that needed about 15 more edits and a plot that should have been thrown out at the first meeting. It could hardly have been worse than it was.
there wasn't a plot, I kept wondering if the whole point was to see the tv trays.
@Laughing At You it would have been even worst the movie was all over the place and confusing
Laughing At You that being said, it's probably gonna win golden globes , academy awards, and whatever else these self aggrandizing phonies need to keep their egos intact.
Dicky was a psychopath. He killed his own father, took his father's wife for a girlfriend, and then killed her too. In the span of 6 seasons buffered with other details, the character could have been comparable to Tony Soprano on the series, but in the span of a 2 hour movie, he just seems like a psycho killer. Not enough development to see him as an antihero or anything remotely positive or complicated.
Whole movie was about Multisanti curse passed from Dicky to Tony to Chrissy signified by black crow in garage when Dicky kills Hollywood Dick and again when Chrissy geys made with crow at window
Dickie's father was played by Ray Liota, but the guy he was visiting in prison looked like Ray Liota also. I'm confused by that.
@@Dagoodnurse that wss his Uncle Sal Dickyd twin brother
Also, in what world would dickie be allowed to take his father's wife as a goomah and have it be socially acceptable by his associates
@@lkb1228 i think thats part of the reason June whacked Dicky or at least could be his excuse for it in a way
One thing I noticed was Dickie and Tony’s meeting was gonna be at Holstens. I guess in the endTony finally met up with Dickie again there.
i thought that was soooo lazy
that black screen means hes dead theory isnt true david chase said it himself
It's actually were Tony TRULY died. Anthony died that day, Tony died that night in Season 6
Tell Tony meet.me there at 9 tommor....Chrissy told Tony 3 o clock
@@mojo88bassandbourbon72 if you go by THR angle Tony’s potential shooter is coming from his 3 O’Clock and I’m just talking about The location
Felt like I was watching two different movies at once - and it felt extremely rushed with no plot line development. Ending was also a big “shake my head” moment cause the absolute absurdity.
absurd how? do you not remember how junior was in the show?
Absurd because of what should’ve been a complex, fascinating, lightly brewing climax (dickies death) just turned out to be a shoe horn, cheap, lazy plot line in a movie that otherwise had no plot. When they said TV trays I knew the movie was over. Shake my head moment. Cheesy, tacky, cheap, lazy. Terrible movie.
@@Zeta_Reticulian He wouldn't have had someone whacked because they laughed at him when he fell over. Not someone of Dicki's stature at least. It was terrible and added on as cheap fan service, which this whole film comprises of.
@@paulies5407 oh stop yes he would. He wanted to kill tony as well. And if you think it was just because he laughed you weren't paying attention. Which is no surprise in today's day and age.
@@paulies5407 So you missed all of the seeds they planted throughout the movie to build up Jr's disdain for Dickie. Johnny mentioning how Dickie held down the family while he was in jail, the kids gravitating towards D & calling him their favorite uncle, Livia's obvious admiration of him (Jr thinks highly of Liv), and D's rise in the family. This is Jr we're talking about. He had a guy whacked for selling drugs to his tailor's grandson, wanted Chrissy, Brandon, & Tony killed, and had Mikey kill that guy for having "a big mouth". It's not outside his character to be petty, small & jealous.
I thought the movie was ok. I’m a huge Sopranos fan. David Chase really had his hands full trying to make this film. Similar to the Breaking Bad movie. It’s difficult making a follow up to a masterpiece tv show.
Breaking Bad movie is The Godfather compared to this atrocity.
@@jimrogers9709 Damn and I was already disappointed with the Breaking Bad film. Not that it was horrible but would be a B- in my book.
TMSN I can already see is going to be much more disappointing.
I think they got caught trying to make woke inclusions in this film. Harold was good, but they literally could have made a separate film about that. It should have just been all the mobsters.
I enjoyed El Camino and I think the movie length worked for the story it had to tell, it got that story told and gave us some closure on Jesse. The problem with TMSON is that there is too much story for a movie length. It would be like if Vince Gilligan had decided to make Better Call Saul as a two hour film.
El Camino I thought worked fine because it was just like an extended bonus episode/epilogue. If anything people’s disappointment in it just highlights how crucial a leading man with a giant presence is in carrying a show. Jesse, though likable, was a secondary character. Without Walt it could only be so good compared to the show. I don’t think it can be overestimated how much actors like Bryan Cranston, James Gandolfini, and Michael Chiklis make their respective shows what they are.
It makes no sense how Leslie Odom Jrs character was able to call paulie a racial slur for Italians in front of a bunch of other made guys.
That’s one of the biggest rules, Don’t embarrass a made guy. Junior had Dickie clipped for the same thing. They let odom’s character get away with it? Doesn’t make sense considering the racial tensions and discrimination that run throughout the sopranos
It was meant to artificially create some sort of badassery to the character but it played off more as extremely forced and like he had straight up plot armor.
@@sayhello2heaven_ then do it in a film focused on African American gangsters. It didn’t belong; the whole idea of it being black vs. white was just an easy marketing strategy for the movie.
@@leppyslego8587 I know I agree lol. I’m just saying it was meant to make that character look fearless or some shit but it just felt extremely fake and out of character. Paulie is someone who killed an elderly lady for mattress money but let’s someone call him a racial slur and get away with it? Straight plot armor
I feel like the 1st hour of the movie set w/ younger Tony didn't have to be in it and should've just focused on him when he was a teen. The only reason that the 1st half is there it seems is just because of the riots bit that he wanted to include
Bingo. Shoe horned social justice nonsense to placate BLM activists. If you want to do a black power movement set in the 60's, have at it. I'd watch it, but here it's just out of place and done for the sake of it.
@@paulies5407 Except the movie didnt "placate" to any activists because no justice was actual served in the movie. So, wrong.
1. The riots actually take place in the show in the Festival episode when Johnny gets arrested. 2. How do you really expect an accurate portrayal of the CITY THE MOVIE IS NAMED AFTER in the 60s-70s and NOT include the Riots and the racial clashing?
You are the same folks as Sophia Coppola who told a whole civil war movie without including enslaved women. Just say you want an all-white viewing of everything and let it go.
@@rasherustewart666 or more Italian viewing
@@rasherustewart666 I'm actually not white, but thanks for assuming that I am, ha ha
@@FactoryDan I never made any statements or assumptions about your identity - at all. And that being your only response here is telling. Just as telling that you would say "thanks" for someone assuming your right (which again, i never did). This is all super telling. Enjoy the laugh
I don't think the problem with Junior killing Dickie is because it was a petty reason or anything, I just think if you have not seen the Sopranos some random side character in the movie for like 10 minutes ends up killing the protagonist feels kind of weird.
Indeed. You needed to see the series to understand all the “in “ jokes and series. I absolutely want more of Dickie backstory etc. great character. I swear I was watching saying “yup Christopher got that from his dad”….but you had to see the series to appreciate it.
Also, Jilly Ruffalo was in the credits. So it seems Jilly is the one that Junior had kill Dickie.
I think most movies would show us why, this one we’re left to make assumptions based on characters and clues lol
@@michaelberry1382 That’s exactly what I told one of my friends. You can watch it fresh, but you really need to be a fan to appreciate it.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the series, doesn’t Christopher kill a newly retired cop who was responsible for killing his father?
Is this a flaw in the movie?
Some of the nods to the Sopranos were cringey as hell. The "varsity athlete" bit was just so contrived-- I'm surprised Chase would pander so hard...
There was an overdone, obligatory "OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" too. Forced as hell. It made me put my box of popcorn in front of my face so that I couldn't see the screen until my soul recovered. Man, the movie was awful.
@@sWrd_Master They weren't Black Panthers lmao, they were just gangsters going into business for themselves. They wanted money and power for themselves, and wanted to stop eating shit from the mob.
The only reason to care about any of the characters was knowing them from the Sopranos. The storyline started and ended abruptly. It didn't add anything interesting to the Sopranos. As a stand alone or a prequel, the script was uninteresting.
It's a film about a black guy starting a gang to take on the mafia because of all the racisms
@@syndrome5372 I can't see how that part was relevant to the original and made The Saints feel even more disjointed.
@@TooLooze none of it was relevant to the sopranos. This was the film:
Chris narrates the intro so that you know its a sopranos prequel
A black guy works for the mafia as an enforcer type.
The black guy goes to a slam poetry night to learn about all the racisms and how he's a victim.
The black guy decides to make his own gang to take out the mafia because they are so racist.
Paulie turns up, so it's definately a sopranos prequel.
Dickie gets angry that the black guy is starting a gang.
The black guy attacks.
Dickie is angry that the black guy attacked.
Tony turns up, so this is totally a sopranos prequel.
The black guy spends a long time talking to the Don of the black gangsters.
The bad guys (mafia) get hold of the black guys cousin because they want to know where the black guy is.
The black guys cousin, after being tortured, is strong enough to fight off a group of grown men while pinned to a table because black people are basically luke cage.
Paulie and Silvio turn up, so it's definately a sopranos prequel.
Turns out dickies gourmand was just a plot point in the black guys story.
The black guy attacks single handedly with a shotgun in retaliation for his cousin. It goes perfectly, he doesn't get a scratch on him and pretty much wipes out every character apart from the main 4 from sopranos and dickie.
Carnella turns up, so this is definately a sopranos prequel.
Dickie hunts for the black guy
Dickie finds the black guy
Dickie dies, completely unrelated to the black guy.
Jr turns up, so this is definately a sopranos prequel.
The sopranos theme tune plays, so this is definately a sopranos prequel.
It's not even that I hated it (even though I did). It's not the film they advertised at all. They tricked loyal fans into watching a period blm piece by slapping the sopranos name on it. Now anyone that didn't like it is being called racist, and that they only didn't like the sopranos prequel becauseit has black people in it, when fact is its like 80% about the black guy and the other 20% is fan service cameos and callbacks, like Johnny boy shooting the beehive or pussy turning up for about 25 seconds
@@syndrome5372 that’s all it was. I’m black and they ruined our chance to have one last taste for what? So the writers could show they know who The Last Poets and Dionne Warwick are? This movie was so bad. I just wish that Chase would just come out and apologize! Is it really that hard?
@@syndrome5372
MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY ‼️
Judging by the comments, it seems there's a lot of criticism among fans of the Harold storyline. I've got pretty mixed feelings about it myself.
On one hand, since the movie was set in Newark in the late '60s and early '70s, it makes sense to touch on the race riots and white flight a little bit. And maybe even have a scene or two in which mobsters face off against black gangsters. But on the other hand, the storyline felt overdone and preachy. Especially the part about Harold being inspired to take on Dickie after attending a black poetry slam.
Also, Giuseppina sleeping with Harold (with Dickie then killing Giuseppina after he found out) felt incredibly forced and contrived. As did turning Giuseppina (an Italian beauty queen who married a guy more than twice her age to get out of the country) into a quasi-feminist figure.
The TV show provided social commentary from time to time. For example, the storyline about Meadow having a half-black boyfriend, or how the show covers the treatment of women at the Bing. But it usually did so in a more thoughtful and less preachy way than what we see in the movie.
Most of the criticism, at least I hope, is not the fact that the Harold storyline was bad, it was not a main priority, so much so that it was considered bad, you have a 2 hour discussion with the creator of the universe, you ask it "What is the meaning of human existence?" and you get intricate visions of how Prokaryotes branched into other microorganisms, plants, and eventually land animals for an hour.
The Harold storyline absolutely RUINED the movie. It wasn't great to begin with, but it felt very forced like someone from the studio said, "hey, we gotta make sure we put some blacks in there because that's what everyone is doing these days". Complete fucking joke.
@@oengland28 Like I was saying, touching on the race riots and white flight wasn't by itself a bad decision, given when and where the movie is set. But the overbearing and moralizing way in which it was done was a mistake, as was the ham-fisted way in which Giuseppina was brought into it. And it all takes up screen time that could've been used to flesh out the backstories of Tony, Sil, Johnny Boy, etc.
@@ej11481 Is it really necessary to flesh out the backstories of Tony, Sil, Johnny Boy, etc? Perhaps Chase felt we know most of what we need to know about their past from the TV show, and decided to give us completely new characters and a new story. Giuseppina getting killed by Dickie was an amazing ending to that storyline imo.
Harold's storyline didnt go anywhere. Thats what annoyed me. They could take him out the movie and it wouldnt effect the storyline. I would almost argue how come harold didnt take out Dickie after that feud (still not sure what the feud was over 🤔) but it could be the same as the build up between richie and tony, only for Janice to take out richie.
It's kinda sad because i feel like Chase&co kinda blew it with this one. This movie is getting TERRIBLE reviews by audience members and critics alike and that doesn't bode well for any future projects. Let me just say i thought the movie was a ok, definitely not great or memorable but it had its moments. I just hope that HBO doesn't jump ship and cans any future Soprano projects because of reception this project is getting. In a time where gangster films are pretty much on the brink of death i would hate to see the genre go out like this. I think i feel the worst for Michael Gandolfini, i thought he did an excellent job on most his scenes and i would've loved to see him get more of a challenge instead of being put in a corner as a side character because Chase was obviously too much of a coward to actually take a chance on this young actor. The pieces were all there but for some reason they just didn't utilize them. I'm crossing my fingers for a sequel and lets hope Chase actually writes it himself this time instead of asking these hacky writers to do it with him. I think it seriously affected the material in a bad way. Some scenes are classic Chase while others are just utter garbage.
I hope they make a tv show. This could work if they have a full season to flesh out the characters and tell a good story.
Yeah a series could tell more of a story. Like the first panic attack. Just something that simple would make sense.
one of the flattest movies i've ever seen. nothing rang true.
I disagree but reinforce your initial statement, one thing rang true to the thing, Dickie, but it's probably even flatter since everything was revolved around a regular mob soldier, who eventually gets whacked.
I wouldn’t say it “wasn’t good” but I also will say it wasn’t “great”. I enjoyed it, couple things I didn’t like but overall I think it added nicely to the soprano story.
I liked it also. Good not great. I thought it was 2 movies blended together and we expected the subplots were the actual plots.
Same for me
@@lk5388 yeah I think they reverted back to the show for that because most episodes of the show had like 3 or 4 stories each. Can’t do that properly in 2 hrs. But I really don’t understand why people hate it so much. Of course you’re not gonna get everything you want to see happen.
It stunk!
Like hell it did.
I was so confused when Silvio looked older in this movie than he did in the show 😂
They got Junior 100% right, this was a totally believable thing he did.
He'd kill someone because he fell over and they laughed at him? Behave yourself
Junior wasn’t 6’4” bro what TF are you talking about.
Yeah he’s so petty
True, but their still made for a stupid story. This movie was a total waste of time. A disgrace.
@@hedgedrisk people sometimes shrink with age...
A genuinely fair assessment Cineranter, I certainly agree with a lot of what you've covered. I think a Many Saints limited series is a fine, wise concept to pursue, it would really do the writing quality, then the performances, much justice. Nice job 👍
I think the premise of Many Saints was flawed from the start. It seemed like David Chase really wanted to make a movie about the riots and the film wanted to focus more on Harold but had to give screen time to sopranos characters since it was a Sopranos property. Also, I think the narration by Christopher was a bad decision.
there should be part 2
Are you sure this crap of a Chinese Sopranos is not written and directed by the Czechoslovakian interior decorator?
I think the same but David Chase said that he is not interested in following the story in a series format. I think that what happened to this movie is that it suffer from Chase’s writing which works better in a longer format but hopefully he learned from this experience and the next movie will have a more cohesive story.
@@spiderdog07 yep the Christopher narration was a nice surprise but it went nowhere. It wasn't needed at all
The actor who played Dickie was phenomenal and I really enjoyed dickie as a character. I agree it should have been a limited series
He reminded me of Richie Aprile
He had the worst "hohhhhhh" ever. Let's not give him too much credit
So proud of Michael Gandolfini he really was great and overshot my expectations completely his dad would be so proud
I feel like I’m in the minority in saying Silvio is kinda cool being that much older like it makes all of his advice he gives tony a lot more potent. Maybe it’s just me
Yeah, I think that too … it was a good imitation
Nah this movie isn’t canon tho ))
It's not about it being "cool" or not for me. It's unnecessarily inconsistent with the sopranos series. That could have just been a different new character and no one would have cared
@Talcum X I’m pretty sure Tony’s suppose to be the youngest in that core 4 group. I’m not saying the movie got it right in any means they look WAY older then they should. But Paulie and puss where supposedly 10 years older then tony, and I always thought sil was around 5-6 years older. I think it’s stated Paulies in his 50s when the show starts but I could be incorrect
Yeah, Harold was meaningless, and the Sil age thing was awful. When Ralphie tells Jackie Jr about the card game, he’s says that they had a little crew, Silvio, Jackie Sr, Tony, and I think maybe Pussy? It was clear that Sil grew up with Tony. And Pussy told AJ at is confirmation that every day after school Tony would visit Pussy’s ill sister after school everyday. It just doesn’t line up. It’s almost like Chase isn’t familiar with his own time line. I guess the other writers had way more control and influence than we thought!
It should have had Hesh and incorporated his story was a music producer
@Talcum X Hesh is Jewish and would not attend a Roman Catholic confirmation. He is mentioned though
That would have been a better way of dealing with the racial tensions and really dig into that area where the mob screwed over young black artists
I feel like fans wanted too see who they loved ..the big four Tony, paulie, pussy and silvio.. But they got Dickie moltisanti and a story about a riot in the 60s.
Yes... Because thats exactly what Chase said it was about, over two years ago lol if people are disappointed because of that, its their own fault
@@RR-lv3tp most of the trailers did not help with not thinking it was a Tony Soprano centered story tho.
@@RR-lv3tp agreed.
@Christian Lopez make your own movie.
Harold was hardly in the trailers. The old bait and switch.
I had zero clue Sylvio was that much older than Tony. Frankly, I'm shocked.
“What happened here”
“Some sad shit David chase said he don’t wanna direct no more killed hisself”
People are focusing on juniors motive. I think Dickie laughing at him when he fell was definitely the nail in the coffin, but I think the other thing was during the dinner at the club when Dukie called Junior out about his gooma cheating on him
That plus Junior's unfavourably compared to Dickie several times. When Junior offers to talk to Tony after he gets suspended from school, Livia tells him he'll only listen to Dickie. Johnny Boy also blows up at Junior and calls him a failure compared to Dickie for allowing non-Italians to live in the neighbourhood. So Junior had built up resentment towards Dickie for years.
@@MobKnowledge The whole thing was piss poor. No real build up to it at all.
Still pretty disappointing. Dickie was a mythical character on the show and his death was a huge mystery. Having Junior be the one behind his death feels like a bit of a cop out.
That plus the power play think when.he said at the funeral when my brother is away everything runs through ME
"Gumara" is the proper way to say it.
I watched it Friday. It’s only “disappointing” that it needed to be at least a five part series and not a movie.
Agree. It tried to do way too much in too short a running time.
There wasn’t a single storyline in that movie that needed to be pursued.
They just needed to get rid of the "black'" component of the show, which made no sense at all ( apart from Chase wanting an Oscar, hence the 30% mandatory moolinians in the cast )
The Making of A Varsity Athlete: A Soprano’s Prequel
Very Allegorical.
Additional varsity athlete reference. Varsity athlete, the makings of, didn't have. Comment varsity athlete.
What was the point of focusing on the Harold character?
Critical Race Theory ........you live under a rock?
No idea but the fact he wasn't wacked was the worst part of the movie.
LOL No wonder why this film was GARBAGE. IT was directed by Alan Taylor. LOL he directed such classics as Thor 2 The Dark World and Terminator Genisys.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Directed by Alan Taylor with a sht racial agenda and a miserable script, but usurping the great name sopranos.
The issue is it’s a movie that should’ve of been a whole season. It’s not bad it’s just 2 hours isn’t enough for the story. I enjoyed it but a full 13 episode season would made it a lot better.
I think we’re DEFINITELY gonna get a sequel. They didn’t show enough of Tony’s story.
Na the ending when Tony pinky promises dickey again then the slow roll of the main theme classic ending IMO
@@sambarrett871 Oh god please don't. This movie was an atrocity.
It wasn’t about Tony that’s why
There will never be a sequel. It took 13 years to get to this point there's no way another will be made. Besides how old is David Chase?
@Gee Boy Haha!
I know Harold referred to the problem kid who was robbing them as "Overall" which in the show "Tony made his bones with Willie Overall" "some dead fuckin bookie." It would make more sense if Harold had been that guy. This should never have been a film to begin with if we're being honest, Silvio was not that much older than Tony, idk it really was sort of pointless. It would have made sense to give Paulie the screen time over Silvio, as Paulie always was older and "went back to Johnny and the old days." I did think that the cop who asks Dickie if he thought the protests were funny looked a lot like he was casted because he looked like a younger version of the cop Christopher kills in the show.
I had an issue with Silvio’s age as well.
I had a issue with everything, wtf was the purpose of Harold? Why was the focus so much on him, and not the actual ppl we want to see.. he could’ve been more of a side character.. like briefly mentioned.. I don’t know, it just felt like something else, but not The Sopranos prequel we all deserve.
Maybe somebody will break it all down, and show all the connections- make it make sense.
@@MidTierVillain honestly, I think it was to show a person of color “beat the system” if you will. I don’t see any other reason
@@timstradley5819 it kind of felt like it was inspired by Bumpy Johnson’s story, but I don’t get it.. where in the Sopranos series was there a focus on black gangsters, besides that record company part with Hesh? I hope there’s a part two, because this was disappointing.
I agree it was pointless. Tho Dicki was a compelling character, Tony hardly if ever talked about him in sopranos. He talked about his dad mom and uncle more.
Tony was a copy of dicky ie being a "good person", spoiling his gummod, being a leader. Tony didn't talk about him much in sopranos so this show seems pointless.
I think the scene where Carmela is shoehorned in is symbolic of the whole problem. Yeah, we'd like to see young Tony and Carmela and how things played out when they were dating. Instead all she does is loan Tony a quarter and if Tony didn't use her name we wouldn't even know it was her. Could have cut her entirely and it would have changed nothing.
There are a dozen characters from the series and at least half a dozen new ones and Dickie is the only one that gets an adequate amount of screen time. This needed to be a series.
It was a dime….. LOL, and it took a minute for me to let Carmella register in my brain. My husband: “Carmella who”.
My personal biggest takeaway was that David Chase wasn’t the genius behind The Sopranos but Terrence Winter, Matthew Weiner, Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess added a lot more to the show. If you look at David Chase post Soprano’s he’s done basically nothing except talk about the soprano’s they all moved on to different things and continued to work.
You're probably right ..."Not Fade Away" wasn't Citizen Kane and now Many Saints appears to be a mediocrity
@@duke9555 I don’t want to say Chase is without talent but I wonder if he’s a good manager/ideas man rather than a straight writer. Alan Taylor has proven he’s a good a director in that he knows where to put the camera how to cut action, comedy and dialogue and get performances out of actors. However he’s also proven he can elevate a bad or mediocre script. So I think him and Chase on a movie was always going to equal a good not great result. Also Chase basically put a miniseries of television into 2 hours so it’s so brief. If this had been over 3 hours it could have played so much better.
I would have thought post Sopranos Chase could have gotten some big project made even if it was just a movie or even written a novel. The fact that he had one mini series that was rejected and one mediocre indie film I think speaks to his ideas not being good or him possibly being difficult/arrogant in meetings.
@@c17sam90 The greatest TV show was his claim tto fame and still is ... he's 77 his magnum opus is behind him ..retirement looms take tip from June
@@wildman1153 I look at how weird and dream like aspects of Mad Men were and how that tone really seemed to hit the Sopranos during the Matthew Weiner years (if I remember correctly). While I’ve never like Blue Bloods I’ve always wondered if the family interaction is part of what the blue bloods writers gave to the show. Chase then as head writer got the best out of everyone.
@@wildman1153 I actually think Mad Men is while maybe not the stronger series is possibly the more interesting one. I find it very interesting how it never got as big a following but yet it’s probably the same level of quality and didn’t managed to impact the pop culture.
You can always spot a Sopranos fan when they say “that animal Blundetto” instead of Tony B. 🤣
The only thing that excited me and gave me goosebumps was the last scene with pinky-swear and sopranos theme song, like young Tony realize he's future...
That scene made me cringe. As many others.
pinky-swear a dead guy in a casket is ridiculous. that was dumb as hell.
It feels unearned … the story wasn’t even about tony uprising
I don’t even get the pinky swear. He pinky sweared uncle dicky that he would be good. So now he’s pinky swearing to be a mobster?
@@jimrogers9709 but him finding out Pussy was the rat bc of a talking fish foodn poison dream makes anymore sense?
If they make a trilogy they will have time to expand!
It worked fine in movie form, feels like a soprano episode
The movie does not stand alone, but is a perfect piece of a bigger puzzle!
I agree!!!!!!
I was disappointed. It wasn’t aggressively bad or anything, but it was just very bland to me. It felt like a generic TV mob movie with none of the personality or depth of the show. I understand that two hours isn’t much time, but plenty of other movies have been able to establish deep characters and tell a fleshed out story in that amount of time.
A big problem for me was that the plot was incredibly barebones. There were no real stakes to pull the viewer into the narrative. That would have been fine if it had worked as a character piece, but I don’t think we ever really got to know the characters well enough to be invested in their personal struggles and development.
2 hours was plenty of time for Donnie Brasco, Goodfellas and A Bronx Tale. That’s no excuse for poor writing.
I wondered if the pills Dickie had were to keep for himself. Tony gave him the pamphlet, and Dickie was also going through his own struggles and using alcohol anyway and may have been interested in the anti-depressants himself.
I thought that but prob were for him and Livia why she said something at funeral he prob would give em to her at Christmas for Tony smh
Best Sopranos analysis the internet.
As soon as I finished the movie the first thing that came to mind was "thats it?", "This would've been so much more of a financial, commercial and overall success had it been a single 10-15 episode HBO limited series (which is the trend right now).
Chase has always been a spiteful, arrogant and greedy writer. Those negative characteristics cost his legacy and his wallet here.
This easily could've been an excellent addition to The Sopranos collection. Instead its like to be the end of the greatest television show of all time.
Young Tony(Michael Gandolfini) was good...but Idk if he could pull off Grown Man Tony
I mean he’s a young guy rn and an actor. I’m sure he’d be able to pull of a grown man Tony in a movie that requires it.
He seemed feminine
It’s his son dude, of course he can.
he comes off as a really sweet gentle guy. not a maniac sociopath.
For me, it would depend on the story they were trying to tell, and what point in Tony's life he's trying to portray. I don't think they'll ever have Michael portray tony at the age where his father portrayed him- but a younger, more naive and conflicted tony, I think Michael is an excellent fit. I think he could turn up the rage and violence, much in the same way his father was such a nice, friendly guy in reality but then turned into a terrible, violent monster when acting.
Much like The Breaking Bad prequel, the movie was “fine”, but utterly pointless. The beauty of the TV series was that they could introduce new characters from the past in every season by explaining that they had been in prison or Miami or elsewhere. However, that idea created a rich historical tapestry of what Tony’s youth and the DiMeo family history was like, something every fan no doubt romanticised. Doing a prequel was always going to spell trouble as there was no way Chase & Co. could include every character from the show. Like a lot of other commenters, I was disappointed not to see Feech and Richie and Ralphie and more of Artie and Tony B and Jackie Aprile.
However, the most unforgivable thing was the blatant disregard for the age gaps and timelines in the show. Outside of the outrageous Sil debacle, wasn’t Tony supposed to be around 7-10 years older than Chrissie? In the movie a teenage Tony is introduced to a baby Chris, while Sil is already an adult when 11-year old Tony is shown. A pretty dumb movie that was always going to disappoint.
Frankly I’m depressed and ashamed.
Lol
I don't think it's fair to compare this to anything in the breaking bad universe. El Camino and better call Saul are much more faithful to breaking bad than many saints was to the sopranos imo.
Otherwise I agree. Horrible movie.
Wish it was a series so they could tell more of a story. Like the panic attacks, the panic attacks are a big part of the story in the show. That's how the show basically starts is him talking about having panic attacks and getting to the main cause of why he is having them.
Harold tells Newark's story though. He is the only character in the film with the frame of reference to be able to do so. His determination to rise up in the face of a corrupt society meant to keep him down tells the real story of Newark. From Harold's viewpoint the Italian Mob is just another branch of the establishment, hardly the mysterious and violent subculture that arose from "the poverty of the Mezzigiorno." So many fans cried and complained about his character, but you can't tell this story without him.
🥱💤
No.
I said the EXACT same thing walking out of the movie theatre. Many Saints SHOULD HAVE been a TV series, not a film. Some of the best parts of the Sopranos are the scenes where it’s just the guys sitting around and busting balls and we got pretty much none of that because of the 2 hour run time. They need to correct this and release a series.
So... Silvio was always old? I've thought he was Tony's friend in their adolescence/early adult lifes.
Yeah the Silvio thing didn’t make sense.
This, Pussy too. This really was one of the things that bothered me the most out of this film.
The official canon is Tony was born in ‘59 and Silvio ‘57. For whatever reason the filmmakers chose to ignore that or completely forgot. Either way it was distracting.
@@jamestrickingtonIII I think Silvio is 1950.
I'm dying to know what part of the movie made David Chase go "I have to make this!" I don't see any reason why this film was made other than money.
I remember I read in an interview that David Chase wanted to make a movie - only a movie, not another TV show, that he only was onboard this project as this was his movie HBO had promised him. This is also why he was so pissed when they released it on HBO, he was promised "a real movie". Well, we know now that, while being one of the very best TV storytellers out there, he is not good at movies :)
I have just few, but major complaints:
1)movie has no focus, so much story lines that it becomes shallow
2)we definitely had no time for new characters like Harold
3)Chase wanted so much to show us those riots that, in order to do so, he had to mess up the timeline and characters' ages. Have no idea why that was *so* important.
6/10 and only for magnificent cast :)
A disappointment? ITS GOTTA GOOOOO!!! Frankly I'm depressed and ashamed.
Having watched and enjoyed a number of your videos, I'm just here to say, I thoroughly appreciate your commitment to always referring to him as "that animal Blundetto."
I can't even say his name
Blacks were portrayed in a certain way in the Sopranos, so I think Chase was trying to make up for it by casting them in a more positive light, which really stole a big part of the whole plot in the movie. We expected to see a mob movie but the characters seemed more like a group of criminals who lacked that organizational structure. I always thought Silvio and Tony were contemporaries that came up together but they made Sil an older guy. This movie was a disappointment.
Exactly right. Too much of the “race” storyline. Typical of what we see today. Took away so much time from the movie. Big disappointment.
Is that what you thought? They were trying to cast "blk" People in a positive light? There was nothing positive about it. Seems to me the only reason they put "blk' people in the movie is so they could get in their required racism quota. Calling people the N word and saying things like "Black Men don't have a head for making money" was not putting blk people in a positive light.
Harold shot at "MADE" guys and gets to smirk at a racist neighbor while moving in to his new home in the end. He shot at Dickie and Johnny boy! How did that work for Jackie Jr.? He lives in the end? Harold would've been skinned alive. Woke movie. Glad I didn't pay for the theater.
Edit: Was Harold ANYWHERE in the series?
Answer: No. So it's woke. Done with Chase. I'm not for being "programmed" by State assets. 🙈💊🦸
@@ip3887 So your problem is really the blk character wasn't weak enough? A bit too strong or your liking?
@@dariangregory6182 no, a bit strong for realism.The mob wouldn't let him just slide
I thought it just was alright. I think a mini series would be better. I wanted Michael to have more screen time hopefully it’s not the last time we see him as Tony.
The movie was terrible compared to how good it could’ve been. What did the Harold story have anything to do with the sopranos? It was like watching two movies at once. I feel like they only put a black character in this to please today’s society. This movie isn’t authentic. I thought we were getting a sopranos story but they take half the movie up with some random character they bring out of no where. If this was a tv series it would be acceptable but a 2 hr movie?
You said the right word, it wasn’t authentic. There wasn’t a damn thing that was real in this movie except maybe dickies dad.
Well you see we have to add a black guy who gets his come upings by hurting whitey bc like racism and crap.
You made very good points. For a show famous for its slow pace, they should not have gone for such a short format, especially with so many arcs.
You are absolutely correct about the better road not taken, which would have presented this sequel in a series format---same as the Sopranos itself. Each topic, confrontation, conflict could have been explored in depth, which is PERFECT when you have GREAT CHARACTERS. And don't forget the role music placement played in the Sopranos; with a series there'd be room for that. This movie was like trying to shove a seven-course meal down your throat before the bus leaves.
Jr's reasoning for killing dickie was just awful
Junior in general was a pretty awful person.
Says a lot about junior doesn’t it. He tried having Tony killed over oral sex with his woman.
@@Krooksbane Tony was also undermining his authority as Boss.
@@VirgilSollozzo924 while that may be true, i don't think you remember the things junior said to his lady friend. nevermind the fact tthat stuff is/was forbidden as a member of a family. there's a reason why the called them fanooks.
he killed him for multiple reasons, 1 that tony looked up to dickie more than him
I think the film made Dickie too ambiguous a character to be just perceived as "the one good influence Tony could have had".
In some ways I think Dickie's bottled up anger and resentment prolly made him more of a sociopath than the loud mouths with their bravados.
Dickie after all was the guy who murdered his own father in a rage fit, was very controlling of women through manipulation instead of violence, and ofc literally drowned his mistress again in a rage fit, when he was the one at fault for her fucking with the black dude.
Felt like a TV movie to see if there was a series in it. Walked out scratching my head. Film was all over the place
I agree that I always thought that Sil was close to Tony's age. Ralphie told Jackie, Jr that Tony, Ralph, Sil, and Jackie Sr were their own little crew, so maybe Sil was the "capo" of that crew, since he was the oldest? And he may have had asthma/panic issues with that crew, similar to what he had when Tony was in the coma, which is why he was passed by Tony?
Another little nugget, I loved the little scene where Artie Bucco said something like "My Dad said I have to take over the restaurant".
Yours is one of my favorite reviews of this movie. Clear, concise, and not just bashing every aspect. Good job and good day, Sir.
This is what I think... after YEARS of thousands of Sopranos clips, the cult following, the breakdowns and reviews, the dissection of characters and storylines, the year long tease of the prequel... I think we built this movie in our minds and hearts to be monumental and as big as the Roman Empire, that any tiny little off detail is a huge sore thumb to us...
Outside of that, I fell in love with the movie
I have not seen it but thanks for the heads up. To be honest one can never judge a movie or a series on first watch....for example Goodfellas and the first episode of Sopranos, I was not impressed...and then they aged, and slowly I started to digest the brilliance, leading to a cult following. Tho some movies you see the brilliance in the first 5 mins.
Yeah But That Woke Shit
Expectations are a dangerous thing
@@aaronzywicki8683 what woke shit?
Nah mate. It sucked.
For me, the biggest problem this movie had is Dickie Moltisanti's motives in the first place, and the two Ray Liotta characters. I mean, what was that?! Who the hell is that other guy who looks like his dad?! Is he even real? If so, why is Dickie talking to him now? But the biggest problem I had with the plot was the Harold McBrayer character.
Who the hell is Harold McBrayer and how could he have possibly won a turf war with the mob when they would've been at their absolute apex of power and wealth in New York/New Jersey in the 1970s? That's just preposterous. The mob couldn't have lost a territorial power struggle to an upstart if they tried bacK in those days. That's how much of a nationwide superpower Cosa Nostra had become by that point in American history. Meyer Lansky said it himself- The mob was bigger than US Steel in those days!
Now, some things I liked....
*I absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, loved Junior killing Dickie.* It made total sense. It was the most Sopranos thing in the world because the characters in the show never got killed for logical plot or story reasons. It was almost always for petty, personal slights that had nothing to do with the main storylines that were going on that pushed guys to kill one another. It was always personal, private bullshit no one was aware of that happened behind closed doors-
Livia wanting Tony killed for talking about his mother with a psychiatrist; Janice killing Richie for not being able to bankroll her lavish wedding and bigger house than Tony's; Tony killing Ralph over a horse; Phil Leotardo whacking Doc Santoro for eating off his plate; Christopher killing JT Dolan for not listening to him drunkenly complain about Paulie; Butch ending the war over Phil blowing him off and inconveniencing him by wandering into Chinatown; etc. That part was beautiful. It was perfectly Sopranos.
Lastly, it was also 100% in keeping with the TV series to see Tony's reaction to Dickie's death. Five minutes earlier, he was tossing his speakers out of his window saying he wants nothing to do with his uncle ever again, and at his funeral he's shown forgiving him completely and going into "high sentimentality mode" as Melfi would later call it.
It had it's redeeming qualities and it's aspects that were in keeping with the series, but it also had way too many WTF moments for it to be completely satisfying at the same time.
Janice killed Richie because he hit her. Was not about money.
Britton
Well said ‼️
It made no sense. No offense, but the entire subplot of the black dude was so forced, unnecessary and embarrassingly unrealistic. Also, No one knew many of the characters they were giving attention to.
The movie should have been about Tony and Tony’s dad. Because it was an unnecessary prequel, it should of been strictly fan service playing out all of the history of The Sopranos show.
Yeah the PC influence is strong on this one. Why the heck are we wasting time on this?
Well done. And thank you for posting. I said the exact same thing about it needing to be a series. I did see Chase was interested in making a sequel with Tony in his 20's... when Winter was asked about if he'd be interested in it he said "I'd do it in a hear beat". So... Maybe we get a prequel limited series. Keep watching the movie to show them there's money to be made :)
Personally I think the constant delays and cuts really affected the movie.
I liked it because I’m a sopranos fan and there’s little moments in the movie that are brilliant but overall I think it’s just ‘good’ and that’s it. If it wasn’t a movie based in the universe I love, I would’ve forgotten about it in a day.
I was just happy to see anything with sopranos in it. Could it have been better, yes, but you’re right, the delays played a huge part.
I agree that it attempted to pack a lot into two hours. The beauty of episodic television is how they can use time to their advantage in storytelling. I thought the film was superb on multiple levels, but it does seem to want more than it can realistically pull off.
My hope is that this turns into a new series. It feels like a preface to the actual story of how Tony became Tony. This was Dickie’s story and Tony was a minor character. But his life left an indelible impact that would drive Tony as an adult.
I liked that we get to see an innocent Tony here and we see the seeds get planted in terms of his relationships to his nuclear family, extended family, and chosen family. I think the Harold and Guisipina subplots could have been reduced.
I also agree that more Joey Diaz and the dynamics of the other adult figures would have been a better choice. But I think the film was meant to be about Dickie’s existential crisis (later mirrored by Tony’s). Ray Liotta was the standout. He was the voice of reason. Everyone else was operating off of base instinct and pure id (power, respect, pride, greed and the darkness it introduces when not in balance with love, support, trust, and compassion). Those demons of always choosing to satisfy those instincts is everyone’s downfall-from Dickie, to Harold, to Junior, to Johnny. Even the women growing up in this toxic environment are all casualties. It’s the tragedy of Dickie and how his sins were passed down to Tony. That’s the real gem of this movie. If you want all the banter and the explosive nature of the gang, there’s enough of that on the show, it’s unnecessary to retread that in the film.
Let Down. This cudda been an Episode tbh 😕. To me this is a All U Need to know is Uncle Junior killed Dickie. They nailed it with Livia tho. And I'm sorry....but the original Johnny Boy Soprano & Young Uncle Junior from the Sopranos Flashbacks were WAAAAAY better then these ones in the Movie. Johnny Boy the actor that was picked was a let down.
Agreed. I thought Vera Farmiga and Michael Gandolfini were incredible. Their interactions were the highlight for me, and made it worth watching.
David Chase: Lower your voice, there's other people watching the movie.
CR: Screw your movie audience! WHEN YOU GONNA GIVE THE FANS WHAT THEY WANT!
David Chase: WHEN THEY SUCK THE FAN SERVICE OUT OF MY ___! NOW GET OUT OF THE MOVIE THEATER!
It was alright. It was too unfocused and created some unnecessary continuity errors. But the character writing felt true to the show.
The thing with Silvio is that the actor shouldn't have tried to just do a carbon copy the character from the show while young: he was not that person yet. Exactly what they told Michael Gandolfini, when he was playing young Tony but yelling at people like old Tony: he is not that person yet.
Fully agree about young Sil. His affectations were too much. Regarding young Tony, I think he needed to show a little more of older Tony's swagger and bravado, particularly since he grew up in a mafia family. He didn't have to be exactly like older Tony to do that.
They are 100% coming out with a TV series on HBO that revolves around Tony’s youth and getting into organized crime. Scott Burnstein who wrote Phil Leonetti’s book “Mafia Prince” confirmed it a couple weeks ago on his podcast.
.....and it was revealed somewhere D. Chase had already signed up 5 year deal with HBO before the movie came out.
To use this as a vehicle to introduce that, is the worst kind of money grab. It obviously is setting Harold up for his own series. They might spin this thing off into infinity li,e they plan to do with Star Wars. They’ve got a whole new generation of young people who didnt see the original and aren’t used to quality products. It will all be hype and pseudo intellectualism. They’ll hype this up and the new kids will go back and watch the originals and it will be on the today show and everybody will make lots of money on the bastardization of an American classic!
This whole film was weird... too rushed too woke too much stuff not even discussed. Embarrassing
Some other people and influences are in this. It wasnt all mr chase.
Loved the film, personally. Just two things that bothered me...
*Spoilers*
1) Giuseppina confessing about her affair with Harold. It seemed uncharacteristically naive to me, and maybe I missed something, but couldn't see why she did it - other than sheer honesty I guess, but come on. She's spent enough time around these guys to know that honesty (and forgiveness) is an alien concept to them, but cruelty is their bread and butter. It leads to the turning point of the movie, so the fact that it didn't really work (for me at least) was a problem. And it felt like a detraction to her character, rushed through for the sake of Dickie's development.
2) As mentioned in the video, the age of Silvio in particular (maybe Big Puss also). That was really weird. It strains credulity that he'd be so subservient and in thrall to the adult Tony, whereas the other guys with a significant age gap (Paulie, Feech, Richie, Hesh) are either habitually disloyal, regularly seethe about his behaviour or overtly test his authority. All traits that you'd expect from people who're under the command of someone far younger.
Just looked it up and surprisingly Steven Van Zandt is 11 years older than James Gandolfini (and another five again for Vincent Pastore), but Silvio had been written as a contemporary of Tony, and the way they've shown this relationship in the film really feels like a mistake.
Other than those issues, though... My mum's a big Sopranos fan so we saw it together, and haven't spent so long discussing a film afterwards in years. It's loaded with the oodles of subtext, character nuance and foreshadowing/callbacks that made the show so unique. You just don't see this incredible storytelling chemistry anywhere else. I'd missed it - and loved seeing it on the big screen.
Lol, Junior didn't tell Palmice to kill that guy because "he didn't like the way he talked" but because he thought he talked too much and might give secrets away.