The Many Saints of Newark

I personally thought this movie was fine. I liked the casting, and wasn't expecting a YA drama about a teenaged Tony Soprano. My only real complaint is that Joey Diaz did not get nearly enough screen time.

I am grateful - I have said always no matter what they did they will get criticism. Maybe a mini series might of been better because they have so much they to work with. I loved all the Easter eggs. Vera Farmiga as Livia was superb.

Felt the need to add a comment because of all the weird seemingly reactionary reviews of the film. The film is set during the civil rights riots, we knew Tony's formative years were during this time. It's no surprise or mystery that a film that is set in NY/NJ during that time would include this.

When people are saying that half the film is about this, they are ... incredibly wrong. Which is why I am calling them reactionary. Some lay claim that Tony isn't in the first half of the film... when he's in the first scene, and several scenes after that. We even see a recreation of the time when Tony followed his father and Janice to the theme park. We see a recreation of many scenes mentioned in the show of the past. Including Juniors dismissive joke of Tony not having the makings of a varsity athlete.

I thought the film served as a love letter, I really enjoyed it. I thought the cinematography was good, I thought the pacing was perfect, I liked all of the callbacks, and the story was well told. Having Livia look (definitely intentionally) so much like Carmela was a nice detail.

For the people with... a bit of a race problem, not saying you're racist.. but some of yoiu definitely have some things to think about I feel. I will explain the point of the Harold Mcbrayer character, because he wasn't just some "woke" bullshit. The entire point of his character was because the entire film was basically "Who was Dickie Moltisanti really, and who really killed him?" Harold was one of 3 or 4 red herrings, he also served as one of a few examples of how Dickie was just as flawed as his peers, despite how Tony always looked up to him.

Tony grew up to be very much like Dickie, moreso like Dickie than his own father. Which is fitting, he was his role model.

Finally, the film spends less than 10 minutes on the riots (this is including some of the scenes that are actively pushing the main plot forward), and they served as vessel for Harold to detatch from working with the Italian Mafia, and start running gangs. It also serves as a device for Dickie to dispose of his father. Without those, it probably spends 3-5 minutes on them.

My primary complaint for the film is that if it had just 2 more hours, it could have done so much more.

Now I have to rewatch Sopranos. Thank you.

I don't think the movie works if you didn't see the series.

I originally watched this movie before I saw The Sopranos, and then watched the show last year, and finally made my way back around to this. While it was certainly beneficial to have seen the show and know the characters, it didn't really make me like the movie any more. It is a good mob based movie that is a bit slow and a bit long that doesn't live up to the heights of it counterparts (or especially the show).

Rating: 3/5 - 7.5/10 - Worth Watching

There was a lot to like about this movie. The actors did a great job playing the younger versions of some of my fave characters. The styling and fashion were beautiful! It was a great mob movie in a lot of ways. Had all the usual violence and typical storylines associated with a good mob movie. I love that they included more black characters and storylines. Harold was a very welcome addition.

All that said there is a lot to complain about as well. The ending was abrupt and a crap tie in to the original series. It would have been better a little longer or as a limited series.
This movie would have done better completely omitting Tony and trying to tie back into the OG series. It would have been a great story if they had focus on the beef between Harold and Dickie. OR ditch Harold and focus on Tony more - though I prefer the former. Tony’s entire storyline was unnecessary and relied heavily on the viewer feeling the weight of the his history in the OG series versus laying out a good story narrative for his character.

Minor beef- Using a twin Ray Liota was a cheap story point. Baby Gandolfini was a little too green to carry the role.

In Sopranos every scene is funny and interesting, in this movie most scenes are neither. Atmosphere is very different. Too many scenes without music, which use part of Sopranos atmosphere.

I liked it more than some have rated this. It reminded me of how awesome the original series was and how great the cast were. I will now have to rewatch The Sopranos as well…

I can start watching The Sopranos now!

Disappointingly mundane. Love the series, this just doesn't do it justice.