In defense of the movie, TV series also retconned and changed some stuff along the way.
But yeah, Silvio and Paulie being the same age. Janice looking younger than her brother. Tony being older than he's supposed to be... All that felt rather jarring.
In defense of the movie, TV series also retconned and changed some stuff along the way.
But yeah, Silvio and Paulie being the same age. Janice looking younger than her brother. Tony being older than he's supposed to be... All that felt rather jarring.
The retcons during the series were pretty minimal as far as I remember. Nothing more than the usual retcons that occur during an ongoing series when the creator decides to flush things out more later.
Silvio being the same age as Paulie is idiotic. The series made very clear that Tony, Jackie Aprile, Silvio, and Ralphie were all the roughly the same age and contemporaries of each other. They (other than than Ralphie) all made their names together as hotshot kids robbing Feech La Manna's high stakes card game.
Just saw it, it was kind of hard to follow. I did watch the series about 8-10 years ago, so I caught some of the references.
The ages did seem odd since I expected Tony and the crew from the show to be a similar age. They all seem 10years older in this
I did think Stroll was good as Junior probably the highlight for me.
The side story didn't really make sense to me with Harold, unless they plan on making a sequel focused on Sopranos crew stopping them. I don't remember any black mafia crew in the show so it seemed added for a sequel.
My first thought was, "Damn, all because he laughed at you busting your ass on the steps?" but then I realized that Junior had deeper motives than that and was jealous of Dickie's role in the family. It was a snake move but I don't really hate Junior for it because Dickie was a bastard too.
The actor who portrayed Silvio was terrible. Literally terrible. SNL impressions are better than this. It was a total and complete caricature. The fact that Chase and Taylor allowed that is laughable.
Secondly, the actor they got to play Silvio is 38 years old. Silvio is not much older than Tony Soprano, and didn't they grow up together? This continuity makes no sense.
Yeah, he really was the weak link. Paulie wasn't that much better either but he had a significantly smaller role than Silvio in this so it was less noticeable. I kinda had a feeling they were going to be caricatures when this still was released:
My interpretation with Junior was the laughing thing was like the straw that broke the camel's back. He had let a lot of things slide, but eventually he had had enough and snapped. That said, was it petty? Yes, but these are men who hold petty grudges.
There was humanity to Dickie, but at the same time I have a hard time feeling empathy for any of these dudes. My empathy was for the most part that they were mostly a product of their environments and this was their lot in life for the most part. Not that it excuses any of the more reprehensible behavior and acts.
Agree with you all about Silvio. Him being so much older than Tony was distracting for me. Also was Bonpensiero supposed to be that much older as well? I thought he was another member of the crew that mostly grew up with him.
Steven Van Zandt was born in 1950, which would make him 48-49 at the time of the show's first season. So yeah, they should have gotten an actor in his early-mid 20's to play Silvio here. I can only assume that Chase loves writing for the character, given his scene with Dickie towards the end, and that's fine. He still could have fulfilled that same role as a younger character.
My first thought was, "Damn, all because he laughed at you busting your ass on the steps?" but then I realized that Junior had deeper motives than that and was jealous of Dickie's role in the family. It was a snake move but I don't really hate Junior for it because Dickie was a bastard too.
My interpretation with Junior was the laughing thing was like the straw that broke the camel's back. He had let a lot of things slide, but eventually he had had enough and snapped. That said, was it petty? Yes, but these are men who hold petty grudges.
There was humanity to Dickie, but at the same time I have a hard time feeling empathy for any of these dudes. My empathy was for the most part that they were mostly a product of their environments and this was their lot in life for the most part. Not that it excuses any of the more reprehensible behavior and acts.
Steven Van Zandt was born in 1950, which would make him 48-49 at the time of the show's first season. So yeah, they should have gotten an actor in his early-mid 20's to play Silvio here. I can only assume that Chase loves writing for the character, given his scene with Dickie towards the end, and that's fine. He still could have fulfilled that same role as a younger character.
Is Ray Liotta’s character the first criminal in The Sopranos that actually takes responsibility for the person he is and makes no excuses for who he is and why he’s in prison? I think that’s what was so refreshing and interesting about his character. There was no BS.
I think you also have to look at the “inconsistencies” and remember the story is being told by a very unreliable narrator, Christopher Moltisanti. He says Neil Young walked on the moon in the movie for God’s sake lol.
Just finished this. Overall i liked it. I liked the vibe and the direction but the script felt SO messy and unfocused. Felt kind of reminiscent of Casino but not as refined as that movie. I feel like this movie was probably originally like 3 hours long and probably got cut down to the bone in editing.
I cant see this doing well in theaters with general audiences at all, i think people are gonna be bored outta their minds but i personally very much liked being in this world for the 2 hours we got. I just wish the script was tighter and focused.
Also, I had to do a double take, i wasnt seeing things right? Ray Liotta
plays two characters, Hollywood Dick and his brother locked up in prison? That kinda threw me for a loop.
Even with low expectations, this was still a disappointment. That being said, it’s not awful but I literally got nothing out of this that I couldn’t have gotten with any episode of the show. This felt kind of aimless, with no sense of flow or momentum and some plot lines felt utterly extraneous. Worse enough, it lacks a lot of what made The Sopranos unique and interesting. It’s just a generic gangster flick with no stand-out twists on the genre. If you want a better version of this just go watch Goodfellas or Godfather. This was utterly mediocre.
Taylor’s direction is competent, but it never rises above that, and the cast is mostly solid except for the ones that are clearly doing SNL caricatures(I’m looking at you actor who plays Silvio, you were terrible). Yeah I just finished watching this flick and I’m already barely recalling what happened in the movie. Which goes to show you how much this was able to keep me engaged.
5/10. Just go watch the show again. You’ll be much better off.
I'm about half way through and so far its been a disappointment given the high quality of the TV show. Solid acting by the non Silvio crew, But other than the brief look at the numbers racket in school and out there has not but much in the way of actual crimes, which was for me the highlight of the series.
One part I thought was odd was
Hollywood Moltisante's death and subsequent cover up. Why not leave him in the garage and blame his head trauma on the crash? Say he lost control of the car and leave it at that. Or dump his body in the street during the uprising. Going to his place of business and lighting a match seemed like overkill.
Hollywood Moltisante's death and subsequent cover up. Why not leave him in the garage and blame his head trauma on the crash? Say he lost control of the car and leave it at that. Or dump his body in the street during the uprising. Going to his place of business and lighting a match seemed like overkill.
Military was also all over the streets even thought they didn't stop him and search the car. The one guy was standing right by passenger side and didn't seem to care to see Hollywood was slumped. His place of business was out of the way and not active so he would be clear.
I don’t know if anyone cares about box office for this film, but the movie pretty much bombed this weekend with a dismal 5 million opening(opening around in 6th place in the box office) and it was beaten by Shang-Chi even in its third weekend. Now one could pretty much blame the HBO Max release, but it seems audiences weren’t really warming up to this film since it has a C+ Cinemascore so I don’t know if it would’ve done too hot even if it was a theaters only release. In retrospect, perhaps it would’ve been the smarter move to make this a mini-series as opposed to a movie. Especially since gangster movies don’t have the same allure to audiences that they did in the 70’s.
I wasn't expecting this to light up the box office but going up against Venom did it no favors at all. It's not even their fault since they had the October 1st release date long before Venom moved there.
But aside from that, The Sopranos is a highly revered and popular show but its following was never as huge as what HBO would later see with Game of Thrones. A prequel movie with Alessandro Nivola as the main star with more well-known actors in much smaller roles doesn't exactly scream "blockbuster".
I think if James Gandolfini was still alive and had a part, he’s really the face of the franchise. If it was like a sequel movie or a Godfather Part II thing, probably would’ve been pretty huge. But alas!
I think if James Gandolfini was still alive and had a part, he’s really the face of the franchise. If it was like a sequel movie or a Godfather Part II thing, probably would’ve been pretty huge. But alas!
I came with 0 expectations since the trailers didn't grab my attention and still came out disappointed what was the direction with Young Silvio cant believe they allowed that once they seen how he was playing him the whole Twist with Ray Liotta character was just dumb I completely tuned out after. Hey I got hbo max do no big deal I feel for those that paid to see this
I don't get the criticisms of this. This was a very good movie. 8/10. It has its problems, but they have more to do with directing and referential choices than the script which was strong.
Dickie is just as bad, if not worse than Tony, maybe because Dickie is more lost than Tony was whether through life circumstances, the time period, or by his own doing. There is an element of tragedy where maybe these people are just born into a situation they never had any control over. On the other hand, he's his own worst enemy.
Dickie begins this story
killing his own father and ends killing the wife to his father
. There's that classic Chase psycho undercurrent but also the Sopranos has always been about people trapped in the cycles of their own lives from their own choices who won't do better despite having the choices to do so. Dickie is caught in eternal suffering because of his "wanting" yet he never does anything real to change that. He knows he wants to do good but doesn't. And it ends in the only way it could end for someone like that. And it's done in classic Chase irony of
Uncle Jr. being behind his death. He really was always a true bastard with now a dirty secret in the show. It's a brilliant bait and switch. Of course Dickie Moltisanti gets killed because Jr. felt emasculated by Dickie, and his girlfriend not having sex with him was the straw that broke the camels back. It wasn't Harold who did it. Harold was more there as a representation of changing America, someone who actually changed his destiny yet unlike his white counterparts, is punished for it in Newark. Ironic Dickie is killed not for reasons of trying to change.
Dickie's fate ripples to Tony who is in search of a parental figure of Dickie, but since that's the best he can do, yet either way, it seems like Tony may have always been destined for his future life. Tony may have always been screwed. Or not. Maybe
if Dickie was alive
, Tony at some point could have gone into furniture. It's the what if, the unknown that makes it tragic. Gandolfini is excellent as young Tony, the often spoken about caring kid who never had the support he needed. Him trying to get his mother help to how it ends was just great.
This isn't "The Sopranos Movie" with all the bells in whistles of that. It's how David Chase does it. The show was as influenced by European cinema and French New Wave and it's no different here. Stories driven by the characters choices than plot, randomness, ambiguity, irony, fate, the surreal. And it's mixed in with Chase's interest in talking about America as he is with the characters. All the characters arrive to nowhere in some way.
As for the problems with it, the direction is lackluster. Not bad, it's fine, it just comes off like more of a TV movie than something more cinematic. Taylor did a great job on the show, but he isn't up to it here. This movie ironically may have needed a more outside vision, like a European or South Korean or Hispanic director. It needed more style, something to balance out Chase's script, to which those sensibilities fit better in the first place.
And some of the references are too on the nose. *****'s name being announced, Carmela's name reference. Except the Haltson's thing was great. It seems to be the point of fate for Tony Soprano. Was he sitting in the same bar stool the guy with the Members Only jacket was sitting?
I can't decide if the guy who played Silvio took it too far. Silvio is such a cartoonish character and you need to be careful. The guy was spot on and it was a riot, but character wise, was it the right choice? Probably not. I don't buy Silvio always acted like that.
Other than that, that's really it. I think time will catch up to this story. Not without its flaws, even if it cheapens it a little, they by no means debilitate the narrative and Chase spins a really satisfying one.
Of course this thing tanked at the BO. Venom or not this absolutely not the kind of movie that audiences flock to. It KINDA wants to be Goodfellas but it doesnt have Scorcese’s energy and style. I liked the movie but people are gonna be bored outta their minds with this. This felt like a tv movie and not something you’d release in theaters.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
