Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

The Many Saints Of Newark 

This film is so much fun but it definitely has its flaws! The Sopranos is one of the greatest television shows in history due to its incredible writing, well fleshed out characters, incredible acting from the cast and a narrative that is outstanding. 

Firstly, that being said when I heard their was going to be a prequel to the Sopranos I definitely felt iffy about it as the show itself is a perfect crime series and so you have to ask how and why would they want to follow that up since the show wrapped everything up perfectly. And one word is why I got interested and that name is David Chase the creator of the show he was the one who thought up the prequel and now he’s the man responsible for the show so clearly the film is going to be good right. Yes and no I’m definitely conflicted for how I feel about this prequel as it’s not a bad film but it’s not great either it’s fine. Now I wanna say this when Vince Gillian the creator of breaking bad did a similar thing and wanted to do a film on Jesse Pinkman of the events after the last episode of the show that had me scared to as you run Into the chance of tarnishing the legacy of the show now that film was amazingly well done because Vince Gillian the creator wrote and directed the film that was the follow up the show he created. David Chase did not direct this film he was a producer and heavily involved in the making of the film as well co wrote the film too but I would feel the film could of been better if David Chase was at the helm of the world he created for a film about his characters he created. For film it’s different because you don’t have screenwriters direct their own films a lot of the time but for TV it’s different usually the creator of the show is very involved in each episode and for this case the film definitely suffers quite a bit due to the narrative. 

The Narrative suffers a great deal and I’ll tell you why. As the film marketed the hell out of the concept that James Gandolfini’s son would be a centre piece to this film playing a Young Tony Soprano as a teenager which I was excited to see. Now the film spends about a full hour almost as him at around 8-10 years old and it’s not really about young Tony Soprano it is more about his family members around him and their lives before the events of the Sopranos. Now it did bug me we didn’t get to spend more time with the young Tony Soprano as they could of gone to so many places emotionally and character wise with him that would answer some questions about why he’s the way he is as an adult. A lot of it felt like the film showing us a huge nostalgia trip and now given the right direction I’m all down with nostalgia and Easter eggs that’s great but it can be done right for sure but their are definitely films that lean into it as a crutch to carry the story which you should never do. That’s what exactly this film does they go hey remember this and oh you guys loved this so here’s this and it’s like okay the first or second time it’s really nice the 5th time it gets annoying. As the film centres more around Dickie the uncle of Tony Soprano and I will say seeing his character arc getting explored was great but I wish they had more time for the other characters to get more screen time. The narrative is definitely okay it’s not great but it’s strong enough that I wouldn’t call it a bad film I just wouldn’t watch it again anytime soon. 

Secondly, The Performances we’re solid for the most part it’s just the cast didn’t get the screen time they should have had. Okay now I’ll say the performances that really stood out first off Vera Farmiga gives a freaking hilarious and truly fantastic turn as Livia Soprano and she’s a massive highlight of this film the way she moves the small mannerisms and to how she delivers her dialogue she fully became the character. I only wish we got more screen time with her as she is in the film quite a bit but she was so good truly perfect casting as Vera gives whatever the role is her 100 percent energy to the performance and she gave the scene stealing performance of the film. Then you have Leslie Odom Jr who gives a captivating performance of a man who once had love for Dickie is swayed to bring him down due to how he is treated so poorly by Dickie as the years go by and he rebels against him. Leslie brings a darkness to him that I haven’t seen in any movie he’s ever done it’s chilling to watch him go to such dark depths emotionally with a character which we haven’t seen him do before onscreen. He’s truly captivating and gives a fantastic supporting turn in the film. Then you have the performance of the whole film that makes this film enjoyable to watch and keep watching which is Alessandro Nivola he is the centre of this film the true centrepiece of the film and he makes the film as a whole as we see his arc from the beginning to the end as a whole arc that is completed I will say that and Alessandro is a fantastic actor who’s incredibly underrated I find and here he throws himself fully into the role as Dickie and gives a incredible performance of emotional conviction and amazing complexity for the character. Overall the best performances of the entire film is Leslie, Vera and Alessandro all giving terrific performances. 

Lastly, The Many Saints Of Newark is a film flawed by its faulty narrative, shallow character depths for a lot of the characters and not nearly enough screen time for all the actors to shine. That being said the film succeeds at giving a great character piece on Dickie the uncle of Tony Soprano led by truly fantastic performances I only wish that We got more Tony Soprano. Overall I will recommend people check this out if your a fan of the Sopranos you will enjoy it I just feel it had the potential to be so much better. 

This film centres around Tony Soprano and his family while showing his upbringing of what made him the man he is as an adult as he looks very much up to his uncle Dickie but should he? 

Rated R :  Sexual Content|Pervasive Language|Some Nudity|Strong Violence

Alessandro Nivola : Nivola gives a strong performance that strengths then shaky narrative! Now this guy has been one of my favourite actors working today as he’s worked on such great stuff like The Wizard Of Lies, You We’re Never Really Here and American Hustle to name a few he’s a truly great character actor and I think this film was a great opportunity to see him front and centre in the leading role. As he is more then up to the task but he takes on the performance of Dickie so well from the cool swagger he shows the joys of being part of that life and the responsibilities of that life to tho and in the first half of the film you see how he takes care of his family and how it means so much to him. After the death of a family member you see the burden and weight really take a toll on him emotionally and his morals starting to really get in the Grey area. Alessandro really commits to the role 100% by showing a depth to him that reminded me of Chazz Palminteri’s role in a Bronx Tale he has that father type quality that he gives to young Tony Soprano to aspire to and much like a Bronx Tale both end in tragedy. As the film progresses and he’s put into more and more pressure due to the burdens of the family and the racial and political situation around him that pressure gets more and more until he eventually becomes cold and brutal and you can see he has lost his soul of who he was as a person. And you can see in many scenes the raw scared look in his eyes of not wanting to do these things but he’s in to deep and he knows theirs no way out. The sheer layers of emotion he peels back from Dickie is fantastic as he has a tragic ending for sure but the sheer Demons he tries to fight back pulls him in two different directions and ultimately his soul is torn in half morally and emotionally and Nivola gives a emotionally charged performance that shows such darkness wrapped in tragedy and it’s a performance that is the best of the film easily and it was incredible to watch him explore so many depths of the character as well. Overall Nivola gives a solid leading performance that I hope gets him more leading roles in the future as he’s fantastic in this film and proves he can carry a film. 

Alan Taylor : What the hell happened Alan?! Now this director has directed episodes of the Sopranos which are solid directed episodes. That being said he also has directed terminator genesis and thor the dark world both films that I hated with a firing passion. As I’ll break down why I am mixed on Alan Taylor as a director. Okay his work on the sopranos is fantastic no doubt about that whatsoever he did a solid job helming those episodes but since then he was granted access to big tent pole movie franchises and totally blew them both to hell and so hearing him direct the prequel to the sopranos yes I was sceptical. As here he got the casting perfect I’ll say that but the execution was eh at the best because he made the story more about Dickie which is fine rather then Tony but then don’t market your film to be all about Tony when it’s not. As it made it seem like it was going to be about everyone involved in the family when it’s really about a man Tony looked up to and his journey and his arc which is well done. That being said it’s not a Tony Soprano tale we were promised tho so that I was upset by and on top of the fact the film could of dug a lot deeper into the characters and their morales as people so then it can fill in the unanswered questions we never got from the show. I felt the film should at least been 2h and 50 minutes because the first hour was setting up him as a kid and we don’t even get to see young Tony until one hour left of the film and it felt rushed by the final act if we had more time I would have loved that. It just felt rushed so we never also got a proper understanding of the young counterparts of these characters we know and love. Alan Taylor did a ok job because the arc he showed with Dickie was very well done but besides that it came across as a let down that’s connected to one of the greatest shows of all time if he slowed down and focused more on the story I would have liked it more.