THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK | THE GUILTY | A WONDERFUL KINGDOM
Pop Culture Weekly Round-Up 01/10/2021
Hello everyone. It’s October! can you believe that? This is by far my favorite time of the year, I love Halloween and all spooky season things. Anyway, this week’s newsletter has some thoughts on THE SOPRANOS prequel film that I liked but not loved it. The Netflix American remake of THE GUILTY which besides having a great director and an Amazing performance by Jake Gyllenhaal is not as good as the original Danish film. I remind you guys that THE OTHER TWO is hilarious and you should be watching it. And I also take you guys all the way to the north of Portugal and share my thoughts on the beautifully shot documentary about the Douro wine.
Quick thoughts
THE GUILTY - This is an American remake of 2018’s Danish thriller, THE GUILTY, directed by Gustav Möller. It follows Joe Baylor, an LAPD officer played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He has lately been sent to serve as a 911 operator After being investigated for a shooting he was engaged in while on duty. The film is fast-paced, the storyline has a steady level of suspense with plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested. But unfortunately, the film lacks the tension of the original. But it is still worth watching for Gyllenhaal’s performance alone.
THE OTHER TWO - This is one of my favorite comedy shows at the moment and I absolutely loved the second season which just wrapped up. The show follows two wanna-be famous millennials who have difficulties coping with their reality when their younger brother becomes a music phenomenon overnight. THE OTHER TWO is one of the most underrated shows in my opinion. The pop culture commentary in the show is super smart without being too pretentious. I love how it is mocking modern culture around fame and at the same time, doing a great depiction of older millennial disappointments. I’m beyond happy that they will have a third season.
A WONDERFUL KINGDOM - This is a documentary by Carlos Carneiro that showcases the traditional harvest in Portugal’s vineyards of the Douro Valley. When we pick up our wine in a liquor store or supermarket we never think about how it got there. This documentary takes us on an amazing journey of how the world-famous Douro wine is made. It starts with the harvest of the season's grapes. It goes through the crushing process, which is still done by feet. And then the aging and bottling. Carneiro does an amazing job capturing some very hard-working folks creating something with so much passion! The documentary is narrated by English actor Malcolm McDowell, with selected passages from late Portuguese writer Miguel Torga. And you can watch it on Apple TV and Amazon.
61 Days of Halloween - I’m failing so badly on this challenge. By now I was supposed to have watched 30 horror films but I have watched only 20. I blame TIFF for that. The Festival totally distracted me from the challenge. No regrets though. And hey, we are officially on the spooky season and I will definitely be watching a lot of scary movies this month. So I will probably be ending up watching more than the 61 movies that I had first planned to watch. We’ll see.
THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK
HBO's iconic gangster series THE SOPRANOS was the precursor to the prestigious television period. Famously bringing us an era of TV shows with great production standards and cinematography that matched a feature film. The show is still my favorite of all time and probably one of the greatest series ever made.
With all that said, David Chase’s long-awaited prequel movie THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK feels like a very long flashback episode of THE SOPRANOS. This sounds good but is actually a little bit of a letdown. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being in this world again. I felt like a visiting an old friend. However, It wasn’t very clear to me what they were hoping to accomplish with this film. I thought this was supposed to be about Tony Soprano but it ended up being about Dickie Moltisanti. But besides this lack of focus, I enjoyed the film. At the end of the day, it is still a very solid gangster movie. The problem is that I was expecting a Tony Soprano origin story but he ended up being mostly a bystander on the sidelines.
Overall, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK is a nice way to honor THE SOPRANOS’s legacy. And even if you have never seen the show you will still enjoy this film. It's very well written and very well directed. The acting is outstanding and James Gandolfini's son, Michael, who has a remarkable semblance to his father, does a great job playing young Tony.
Top 5 songs
These were the 5 songs on heavy rotation in my house last week. You can listen to them on Spotify and YouTube.