The Many Saints of Newark (2021)

There isn't a person who watches TV who wouldn't argue that The Sopranos was one of the all time greatest television shows in history, so a robust 16 years after the series ends, we finally get a feature film prequel to the show of shows!  The Many Saints of Newark (2021) drops us into the tumultuous era of Newark, New Jersey when the DiMeo crime family and the underlying crews that report to them are beginning to splinter under changing times.  Newark itself is increasing divided by racial, economic, and political lines that intertwine with the gangsters who run the city, and at the center of the strife is Richard "Dickie" Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), aka Anthony Soprano's much beloved uncle.  To the young and wildly intelligent teenager, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini's real life son Michael Gandolfini!), Dickie seems to have it all figured out, but what he doesn't let his impressionable nephew know is that he's blending business with personal pleasure a little too often, making rash decisions, like screwing his father's new wife behind his back!  As the 1968 Newark race riots begin to form, the Sopranos crew begins to take sides in what will eventually be the power grab leading young Tony to the top of the crew. This feature includes series originals (albeit played by younger actors) like Junior Soprano (Corey Stoll), Livia Soprano (Vera Farmiga), and capos like Silvio Dante (John Magaro), Paulie Walnuts (Billy Magnussen), and even Big Pussy (Samson Moeakiola).  Lead bad boy Alessandro Nivola provides us with the sole sweet cheeks we need to have us drop to our knees and pray to the alter of The Sopranos yet again!