The Many Saints of Newark (The Sopranos prequel film)

[Otomofan]

Nah, if I express an opinion that runs contrary to the popular consensus then people's feelings will get hurt and I'll be banned for causing trouble.

 

[Otomofan]

Well, I will say this about this ghastly abomination of a movie: it got me curious about the original series.

Was it really as good as I remember, or do we all look at the past through rose colored glasses.

I re-started watching season one. Man, I haven't seen these episodes in over 20 years.

Guess what? They're as good as I remember. They hold up. This series was more than just violence, F-bombs, and tits. I think I'm gonna watch 'em all again.

 

[a-dev]

I remember Sopranos as the 'event' television of its time, as Lost and Game of Thrones would later be.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

I remember Sopranos as the 'event' television of its time, as Lost and Game of Thrones would later be.

It changed the way tv shows were made. It was the first premium show made by a network like HBO that really took off in popularity. Of course eventually all the networks started making their own shows in hopes of creating their own "Sopranos". I would say it was the first show to really raise the bar for movie type budgets but it would be disingenuous to not mention Miami Vice in that discussion. Without Sopranos there is no Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, etc.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Yes, the first 3 seasons of Miami Vice were awesome.

I remember The Shield being good in the early 2000s.

The first two or three seasons of Nip Tuck were good too.

The early 2000s had some good shows and films. Some have been completely forgotten.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I think the Soprano's extended family should find themselves intertwined into every movie made moving forward. Every damn one!

 

[Johnny Utah]

I rewatched Nip Tuck during the summer. It was awesome.

 

[Victοr]

Nip/Tuck was the show hormonal teens watched before readily available HD porn. I remember everything from Famke Jensen playing a trans, Castiel from Supernatural wanting a dick reduction, Troy "having" a black kid, a guy ******* couches, the son being turned into a Mime Robber (after being castrated in prison, I think?) and an actual episode about interracial cuckoldry parties. And I didn't even watch it properly, some episodes here and there. Most I remember from online forums and the such. The show was nuts, but in a very stupid way. It did push the network guidelines though.

As for Sopranos, it was THE show. I don't know if I'd compare it with LOST though. Sopranos made tv prestige around the world. But LOST was this internet phenomenon that had everyone hooked on JJ's Mystery Box, before it overstayed its welcome. It's funny, Sopranos ended in 2007 as Mad Men was beginning, and LOST ended in 2010 with GoT starting in 2011. All of these are over and now there's nothing that captures the zeitgeist like they did. Too much choice in entertainment, despite it all being too similar, stops anything from making an impact.

 

[a-dev]

The Walking Dead was an event show in my family for a time - up until the famous Negan head-bashing episode and maybe a couple of episodes after that but then we all started watching it separately and eventually each gave up on it altogether. It got pretty repetitive and we didn't really care about any of the characters anymore.

Other shows of note

24
Spartacus
Black Sails (I came into both Spartacus & this late and they're 2 of my favorite shows of all time)
Halt & Catch Fire (watched this at the start of Covid lockdowns and loved it)

 

[Victοr]

The Walking Dead was an event show in my family for a time - up until the famous Negan head-bashing episode and maybe a couple of episodes after that but then we all started watching it separately and eventually each gave up on it altogether. It got pretty repetitive and we didn't really care about any of the characters anymore.

Strange to think that there was a time when TWD was a juggernaut and now nobody even knows it's on. I watched until Negan and then I just got tired. That was when my entertainment fatigue started setting in. Would you believe me if I told you that it took me literally a decade to finish Deus Ex Human Revolution? I rented it when it came out, and finished it this year. I'm just too tired for escapism these days, weird as it sounds. I've tried to play some videogames from my Steam library and within the hour I've closed it and unistalled it. It all just feels so hollow. Same with series and movies. There are some things that appeal to a certain niche interest of mine, but everything else... I've been trying to watch TNG for a year now. I watch one episode, then struggle with another, and then I delete it all. And the cycle begins again. I can still enjoy some things, Billions, silly as it's become, is an enjoyable hour per week still, and I'm looking forward to Succession. I check out the new movies every week. But my binging days, the time when escapism was cathartic are just gone.

Other shows of note

Honestly, in the last 5 years I watched so many shows that I can't even remember them.

Black Sails (I came into both Spartacus & this late and they're 2 of my favorite shows of all time)

I tried and dropped the other three you mentioned (24 I was watching waaaay back when we had cable, around the time it was airing), mostly because I was burned out on shows. But Black Sails I absolutely loved. It's hands down in my Top 10, maybe Top 5. A lot of people wrote it off but it had some terrific writing and acting, not to mention all the scenery. Maybe it's because I generally like ships and the such, but it was a very memorable show for me. I even made it my mum watch it and she loved it as well, right alongside Mad Men. I'd love some 1/6th figures, at least of Flint & Silver (and Rackham, and Anne, and Vane, and Blackbeard...) but that'll literally never happen.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Tv shows are like fashion trends, hot for a while but then people move on to the next trend. Even great shows like Sopranos had a peak, season 2 or 3. Breaking Bad was the opposite in that it peaked in popularity as it was ending. Unfortunately most shows are like athletes, they don't know when to retire and stick around far too long like TWD. It's embarrassing.

 

[Victοr]

Tv shows are like fashion trends, hot for a while but then people move on to the next trend. Even great shows like Sopranos had a peak, season 2 or 3. Breaking Bad was the opposite in that it peaked in popularity as it was ending. Unfortunately most shows are like athletes, they don't know when to retire and stick around far too long like TWD. It's embarrassing.

True. Back in the day content was less in quanity and in frequency, and the internet wasn't as huge yet. Now there's so much to choose from that nothing really makes an impact. Granted, even the classics fade as time goes on, but the era of a single property having a massive impact on pop culture and the world at large are over, I feel.

As for shows, I don't mind it if they go on, provided they have something to say, or are just fun. Like I said, Billions is now awful from a storytelling POV and they just keep doing the same things over and over again, but it knows that it's just schlocky wealth porn, the interactions remain fun, and generally I still find it enjoyable. But when you have a story driven show, you have to have an endpoint; period. I feel the same goes for games and the such as well. As a kid I was ecstatic about those huge ones with tons of quest. Then I understood they were just filler and nothing more. Milking a franchise is always a negative. You can expand on it, if the foundation's there, but it has to be organic.

 

[Otomofan]

All this talk of prestige television and no mention of Twin Peaks?

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

True. Back in the day content was less in quanity and in frequency, and the internet wasn't as huge yet. Now there's so much to choose from that nothing really makes an impact. Granted, even the classics fade as time goes on, but the era of a single property having a massive impact on pop culture and the world at large are over, I feel.

Stranger Things had somewhat of a big impact on pop culture. It clearly influenced other shows and movies. However, it peaked with the first season. Although, season 3 was popular too. But it's true, with so much content available, it'll be more difficult for new IP to stand out and dominate the zeitgeist.

As for shows, I don't mind it if they go on, provided they have something to say, or are just fun. Like I said, Billions is now awful from a storytelling POV and they just keep doing the same things over and over again, but it knows that it's just schlocky wealth porn, the interactions remain fun, and generally I still find it enjoyable. But when you have a story driven show, you have to have an endpoint; period. I feel the same goes for games and the such as well. As a kid I was ecstatic about those huge ones with tons of quest. Then I understood they were just filler and nothing more. Milking a franchise is always a negative. You can expand on it, if the foundation's there, but it has to be organic.

It usually works for procedural shows, but even those get old eventually.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

All this talk of prestige television and no mention of Twin Peaks?

Love the first season. The ABC should have listened and kept her killer a secret. The show had lots of life left and that killed it.

 

[Rambler]

It was first billed as a story about Dickie, then the news of it being based around the Newark Riots broke out, and it was obvious it was going to be about that. The problem is, it was advertised as an "Origin Story" for Tony, how he got in the Mafia, his realtionship with Cristopha's dad, all that jazz. None of which was actually in it. They wasted Stroll & Bernthal as well. They should be ashamed that they put such a trashfire out.


That's because the Sopranos name was just used as the vehicle to sell the other part.


Same as the Tulsa one in Wokemen.


The age of whitey is finished (Sopranos is over and done with) and the Black King (capitalised, as it should be) is taking his spot in the new era. That scene closes the film instead of the one with Tony, as Harold is now the homeowner tipping whitey carrying his stuff.


No thanks, I wouldn't want to waste more time on such trash. There was 0 fan-service in this, more like fan-kick-in-the-nuts.


This is nothing. It's not a Sopranos prequel, neither in spirit nor in narrative, and it's also not a proper film about the Newark Riots. I have no desire to watch the latter, but if it didn't have to ride on the coattails of the Sopranos and ruin its story, it'd have at least been its own movie.

You know what this reminded of? Subirbicon. This is just like Subirbicon. Same mashup that doesn't work, same politics, same false advertising, same everything.

 

[Victοr]

All this talk of prestige television and no mention of Twin Peaks?

We're mainly talking about the 00s "Golden Age". Sopranos changed TV worldwide. I love TP, and it was the beginning of TV being taken seriously, but it was Sopranos that really blew up.

Stranger Things had somewhat of a big impact on pop culture. It clearly influenced other shows and movies. However, it peaked with the first season. Although, season 3 was popular too. But it's true, with so much content available, it'll be more difficult for new IP to stand out and dominate the zeitgeist.

Stranger Things did have an impact on the pop culture, but it fizzled out quick and it didn't manage to penetrate the zeitgeist. Everyone around the globe, or at least in the West, knew and talked about Sopranos and LOST. When ST launched it was everywhere, but I feel that by now nobody really cares. It was riding the 80s nostalgia wave that comes and goes, and during that time you had a lot of 'synthwave & neon lights' product out. Does anyone even know when S4 is out? I barely managed to skip through S3.

It usually works for procedural shows, but even those get old eventually.

If they're comfy fun they can keep going, but yeah, even those get old at some point.