With all of the strong opinions yea and nay, I watched again last night. Got to say I still like it. There were many throw back (throw forward I guess) goodies that pulled the movie and series together. In the interest of not spoiling, I'll not mention them, but anyone who's watched the series will pick up on them, and it made watching enjoyable for me. As with nearly all movies, there are things that could have been done better and I wish they had made this a mini series with maybe 4-6 episodes each featuring some aspect of the characters and the series story line. I think they've left that open though.

Should I re-familiarize myself with the characters before watching this? I have watched the series twice but am terrible with names, I would hate to not know who the characters are while watching

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Should I re-familiarize myself with the characters before watching this? I have watched the series twice but am terrible with names, I would hate to not know who the characters are while watching

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*



I had to do it some. Here is a short list that you should know:

Tony
Christopher Moltisanti (a baby in the movie but Tony's protege in the show)
Uncle Junior (Tony's uncle, boss in the show)
Livia Soprano (Tony's mother)
Johnny Boy Soprano (Tony's father only seen in flashbacks in the show)
Silvio Dante (Tony's consigliere, played by Little Steven in the show)

Other characters in the show are referenced but not terribly significant. These include Paulie, Carmela, Artie Bucco (the chef), Pussy, Janice (Tony's sister), and Jackie April (boss who died of cancer in Season 1.)

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Just when I was getting out,
they pulled me back in!

Nicely done.

Thanks YellowJacket, that helped.

I watched it last night, it was OK. It would have sucked if I had paid to see it in the theater

We saw it today, thought it was a great springboard to a second movie but probably a prequel series.

The casting was exceptional, especially Olivia. Vera Farmiga should get some recognition for this.

Without any spoilers, those who know the series will realize (by the end of this movie) that only one factor really set Tony on course to be in 'the life' for life. In that respect, it really is about Tony and his origin story leading to the series.

C'mon, did you really want it all in two hours and done? David Chase plays the long game. If you have ever seen him interviewed, you already know he does it the way he thinks it should be done and doesn't care if syrup comes to a dollar a sop.

I thought they did a nice job of depicting the Newark riots, as well as the emotions and attitude of the times.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I think this movie did an excellent job of showing just what a piece of work Livia Soprano (Tony's mother) really was all along.

SHEESH, I'm glad I never had a Mom like her

I watched it last night.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Vera Farmiga was excellent as Olivia. I thought she might have been the best part of it.

All in all, I thought the story wandered. In fact, it might be hard to say there was a story. It was about Moltasanti, Sr., mostly, but there were enough side stories to make it unfocused.

It was a little hard to credit that Junior took such offense to Moltasanti's laughing at him that he had him killed. But Junior wasn't always the smartest guy.

It was fun to see the younger versions of the later characters (although I missed young Pauli Walnuts). But the movie was a little aimless. I wished it had been better, but if you are a die hard Sopranos fan, you'll have to watch it. I'd give it a C+, maybe a B-.

******************SPOILER ALERT******************************\\SKIP IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED YET

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:


It was a little hard to credit that Junior took such offense to Moltasanti's laughing at him that he had him killed. But Junior wasn't always the smartest guy.

I took it more like that they wanted to portray Uncle Junior as this hapless goof, but it turns out it's all a facade and he is really running things and is a cunning schemer under that facade.

Think Kevin Spacey's character in The Usual Suspects

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:


The best thing about the movie is that it prompted me to watch The Sopranos again (this will be the third time.) It's soooo good.

Did the same to me except I haven't watched Saints yet, I'm on season 3 of The Sopranos right now, it's only my second time I started watching it when it originally aired.

Drift: I think it is season 4 in the opening credits when they cut out the Twin Towers if I remember correctly.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
FYI; the kid in the trailer who says “Hey, jerkoff!” to Tony was Artie Bucco, the chef/restaurant owner in the Sopranos series.

I thought so too, but it was Jackie Aprile as it turns out.

Artie was the kid in the back of the convertible with Tony (Driven by Dickie, with Christopher's mother in the passenger seat) when they were stopped at the tire shop.