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Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Many Saints of Newark (2021) in Movies

Oct 5, 2021

Production design (1 more)

Great cast

Rather disjointed script (0 more)

Sopranos prequel that failed to hit the high note with this Sopranos virgin.

With Bond showing on virtually every screen of my local Cineworld, there were few other choices for movies to go see this week. So even though I've never seen "The Sopranos" TV series, I decided to give this movie prequel a shot.

Positives:
- Like any good mafia story, there's a nicely developed sense of place for the action. The film is set in the late 60's / early 70's, and the score and the production design nicely portray the period. The rise of black factions to challenge the white status quo, even in the crime world, make this a nice companion piece to "Judas and the Black Messiah" .
- Although he's been in films like "American Hustle" and "Selma", I wouldn't have been able to pick Alessandro Nivola out of a line-up. But he did a great job portraying the different sides of Dickie: both caring uncle and psychopathic gangster. And Odom Jnr is again impressive: I've not yet seen him deliver any role that's been sub-par.
- It's also impressive that they had Michael Gandolfini to play the younger self of his late father's role. Although I kept being distracted by how much he looks and acts like a young John Cusack!

Negatives:
- The story is told over many years and the script came across as quite uneven. There are regular cut-aways to Dickie visiting his uncle "Hollywood Dick" (Ray Liotta) in prison, which a lot of the time, to me, felt disconnected from the main plot.
- Whilst most of the ensemble cast do a good job, some of the portrayals felt like forced caricatures of "Goodfellas" characters.
- As a "Sopranos" virgin, I could tell that there were lots of Easter Eggs and in-jokes in the movie (e.g. The baby Christopher crying whenever Anthony talked to him). WIth "Sopranos" regulars Alan Taylor and David Chase in charge, that's not surprising. But I'm afraid all of these went right over my head.

Summary Thoughts on "The Many Saints of Newark": This wasn't a complete bust for me, which it might have been if it had been a sequel rather than a prequel. Indeed there are the occasional flashes of brilliance with certain scenes. But neither did I find it so engrossing that it's going to trouble my top 20 for the year.

I guess is that if you are a "Sopranos" fan, then you would get a lot more out of this than I did. But it's still an interesting way to spend a couple of hours.

(For the full graphical review, please check out #oemannsmovies on the web, Facebook or Tiktok. Thanks.)

Kudos

Merissa (12051 KP) rated Ivy (Blackbird #1) in Books

Dec 17, 2018

Ivy (Blackbird #1)

Dahlia Donovan | 2014 | Paranormal, Romance

8.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

The first thing that I loved about this book is that the main female character has a warmth and depth to her that makes her immediately likeable. She is a young widow (not a virgin for a change) who is still grieving for her husband who died unexpectedly from pancreatic cancer. She is encouraged (bullied!) to leave her flat to go Christmas shopping but whilst she is in the store there is a terrorist attack. She doesn't just scream and flap and wait to be rescued. No, she thinks about the advice her husband gave her and follows it to the best of her ability. And that, is just the start.

This book is amazingly written and it is hard to believe that it is the debut novel. I would have loved more scenes with the three of them as there were quite a few with Ivy, and Ivy and her friends, but not so much with Ivy, Gareth and Steve. Maybe I'm just being greedy but they had such a good connection, I wanted to see more. Hopefully they will be in other Blackbird books, which I am eagerly anticipating.

On the whole, this book has a well-developed plot line which proceeds with a great pace. The characters are all believable and have layers to them. The story itself is funny, warm and romantic. Definitely recommended.