Real Talk
Added 2021-04-17 06:05:26 +0000 UTCWe need to talk about the upcoming Sopranos movie. It's a film I've been dreading for a while for a myriad of reasons. What are your thoughts?
Comments
I think you should review the series The Sopranos so that way when you eviscerate the movie you can refer back to what made the series so great. I just started watching the series this past week. I've never seen it before. So far it's pretty good.
Ryan
2021-04-25 19:37:00 +0000 UTCFirst off kudos to the Sopranos for connecting me to you many years ago when I saw your review of it :) Otherwise, I think many of the elements that made the Sopranos special are gone - namely Gandolfini, a world without social media overanalyzing and getting offended by everything, and not knowing what was going to happen. Given we already know the fate of many of the main characters, this isnβt going to be that exciting. Hard to get invested in the generation of Tonyβs parents in 2-3 hours. It took us time to fall in love with the characters and world of the original show. Would have loved a follow up one night only, where they fast forward 15 years and we see glimpses of what everyone is up to with all the surviving original cast, but Chase holds strong and refuses to reveal what happened to Tony. Heβs just not there. Now that would be brilliant π
Zarik Khan
2021-04-23 02:15:53 +0000 UTCI went on Wikipedia and saw this line "Critics praised the character development of Todd, played by Jesse Plemons" for shooting a child. Are you kidding me? He was the most static, least interesting character on the show. Ok, it showed he was sociopath, so what? Marlo Stanfield (The Wire) killed a security guard because he politely asked him not to steal candy. It showed that Marlo was ruthless and would not tolerate the slightest hint of disrespect but you don't hear any think pieces on Marlo's "character development" when people discuss the brilliance of The Wire. I swear some people start with a conclusion -- something is a masterpiece -- and reverse engineer why that is.
Michael Smith
2021-04-19 16:05:23 +0000 UTCSorry but I have to do my obligatory Breaking Bad rant (and bear with me if I mess up some of the details, it's been years since I've seen the show). I thought seasons 1 & 2 were solid, seasons 3 & 4 were near masterpieces, and season 5 was god awful. The moment Gus Fring dies, the show is over and all of the friction of seasons 3 & 4 are gone; we're left with new Neo Nazis villains (that no one cares about) which turns the ending of show into some insipid "cops and robbers" showdown. Once Gus dies, and Walt no longer has cancer, I could no longer suspend my disbelief -- he has no believable reason to continue to cook. "But Mike he's a changed man....he's evil now", sorry guys didn't believe it, I just didn't. And it bothered me that he was showing weakness and flailing towards the end -- even trying to steal his baby from Skylar in desperation. And season 5 got a 99/100 on Metacritic (what a bunch of front-running hack critics)? Seasons 3 & 4 were the real MVPs...I mean the tension of Walt and Jesse having to work for a guy, when they know he's going to kill them eventually, is golden...and season 3 had the GOAT sequence of the show, possibly of any show, (Breaking Bad - 03x12 - "Half measures", ending scene) when Jesse goes to kill the gang members who killed his girlfriend's brother and Walt runs them over and says "run!"...both Walt and Jesse's character development had led up to that point and it was just perfect. I haven't seen El Camino (I just don't care enough right now) but maybe I'll get around to it sometime.
Michael Smith
2021-04-19 15:06:56 +0000 UTCYeah Chase definitely isn't sentimental. But I still like the mystique of not really knowing the past or future. And I worry that the movie is going to tarnish that special feeling I have about the individual show.
Deepfocuslens
2021-04-18 18:30:27 +0000 UTCOh man. I feel like you definitely missed a lot of what makes Sopranos a masterpiece. But to each his own.
Deepfocuslens
2021-04-18 18:29:24 +0000 UTCThe Sopranos never really moved me. It was the first show I binged in the late 2000s and I was really into it since it was a piece of pop culture I had missed when it originally aired. It had style, drama, intense acting, violence, and some more violence. As time moved on I saw shows that were even better (or more to my taste) like The Wire and The West Wing. Those shows touched me on a profound level -- The Wire because of it showed the struggle, chaos, and pain of the inner city like never before, as well as the complexity of how these "thugs", these forgotten people interacted with each other and the "upstanding" society that surrounded them; The West Wing because I saw it the summer before grad school and still have memories of watching with a quixotic viewpoint of an idealistic government that works for the people (we all know this is a fantasy), and the smartest, most honorable people giving their all to make the government work (it also had some witty Sorkin dialogue). I just remember The Sopranos as a Goodfellas ripoff with an asshole racist father (who wants to bang his therapist), an annoying daughter, a weirdo son, and henchmen who embodied every negative stereotype Italians dread. Shows like The Sopranos, Mad Men, and even The Americans have themes that (may go over my head) can be dissected by intellectuals but don't really touch me emotionally and are not memorable.....just not my thing.
Michael Smith
2021-04-17 12:53:19 +0000 UTCLooking forward to it. Sopranos is amazing TV show and will be interesting to see Michael Gandolfini playing a younger version of his father's character.
Oskitello
2021-04-17 12:34:41 +0000 UTCIf David Chase is involved, Iβm not too worried. He hasnβt given me reason not to trust him yet. I donβt think this is going to be some cheesy βorigin storyβ for Tony and his neuroses. He seems more interested in weaving the world of the Sopranos into the story of what happened in Newark in 1967 that led to the riots. My only real concern is why he feels it necessary to return to these characters to tell that story, but Iβm reserving my judgment. At any rate, Chase doesnβt strike me as a guy whoβs sentimental enough to revisit characters for the sake of revisiting them.
Bennett Oliver
2021-04-17 10:52:07 +0000 UTCNobody pays attention to the Sopranos anymore. Lol just a bunch of fat pasta eaters who murder people. ππππ
Tony Moro
2021-04-17 07:47:00 +0000 UTCYeah, I'm concerned.
Deepfocuslens
2021-04-17 07:02:56 +0000 UTCYeah. I love the mystique of not knowing. Kinda like in Breaking Bad. That final shot of Jesse driving away is powerful. Not knowing what will happen to him. Yet now with El Camino...a bit of that mystique is taken away. I don't want to speak too soon but...why can't people leave these masterpieces stand on their own?
Deepfocuslens
2021-04-17 07:02:52 +0000 UTCHehe Sopranos is way better than Mad Men, imo.
Deepfocuslens
2021-04-17 07:01:10 +0000 UTCI've never seen the show but it looks like the main writers and director is involved. However, this director's feature length filmography is sketchy. His last two films are Thor: The Dark World and Terminator Genisys aka the worst films in each of those franchises. Plus, name one movie based on a tv show besides The Fugitive that didn't suck. I wouldn't hold my breath.
Wolfman Brandon
2021-04-17 06:57:51 +0000 UTCI don't understand why it was made in the first place, but I'm still obviously gonna watch it. Maybe it'll have A Bronx Tale vibe, then I'm all for it.
Ronet Jankovski
2021-04-17 06:44:18 +0000 UTCJust randomly googled it and didn't realize Joey Diaz is going to be in it. Now, I can't wait! With that said, some of the other casting choices are "interesting" to say the least, especially the guy playing Paulie Walnuts. Story-wise it looks like it could be heavy-handed.
Stephen
2021-04-17 06:35:14 +0000 UTCIβve never seen a single episode. Itβs been on my HBO Now/Go/Max watch list for at least 5 years and I still have yet to start it. Have I watched Mad Men all the way through 4 times in that same time span? I sure have. Maybe this will be the weekend.
Shaeffer Holt
2021-04-17 06:09:09 +0000 UTC
