‘House of Gucci’ and Top 5 Ridley Scott Movies

‘House of Gucci’the review

House of Gucci 2021

Adapted from Sara Gay Forden's 2001 book. Lady Gaga as Patrizia, Adam Driver as Maurizio, with Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Salma Hayek. The group reads it as a high-class, in-on-the-joke soap opera: Gaga setting the over-the-top tone, Driver playing the restrained center, and Leto's near-unrecognizable Paolo as the sad, broken heart of the thing. Ridley almost made it in 2006 with DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie, and again in 2016 with Wong Kar-wai directing Margot Robbie.

The Ridley Scott experiencethe man, the motor, the filmography

The Last Duel 2021

His other 2021 film: American cast doing a mid-transatlantic quasi-English accent, versus Gucci's American cast doing Italian.

All the Money in the World 2017

Another portrait of rich, empty people in the European countryside; Kevin Spacey was originally Getty before the reshoots with Christopher Plummer.

A Good Year 2006

Ridley shooting a movie down the road from the Provence house he owns. Amanda tried hard to make it a top-five pick and couldn't: 'it's not good.'

Exodus: Gods and Kings 2014

One of his least successful, but Sean owns the Blu-ray as part of a personal project to map a century of American studio movies, and to give it another chance someday.

Robin Hood 2010

The 2010 outing Sean and Chris saw together: the seed of an early, since-lost Ridley Scott podcast they recorded in a Park Slope basement.

1492: Conquest of Paradise 1992

One of his famous bombs, from the 1992-96 stretch when he didn't release a film.

Top 5 Ridley Scott Movies each host's five, worst to first (No. 1 and No. 2 agreed by all three)

Picked by All three

Alien 1979

No. 1, unanimous. Only his second film; a spare, terrifying workplace drama that everyone's tried and failed to reproduce for 40 years.

Picked by All three

Blade Runner 1982

No. 2, unanimous. Forty years old and still looks like it was made yesterday: a whole visual language invented in a handful of shots.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Gladiator 2000

No. 3. A monoculture moment he could get behind: Russell Crowe is Maximus and always will be.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Matchstick Men 2003

No. 4. A hardcore black comedy con movie with Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell, editing that mirrors Cage's compulsions; Ted Griffin script at his Ocean's Eleven peak.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

The Counselor 2013

No. 5. A preposterous Cormac McCarthy script and a cast chewing scenery. Ridley happy to serve someone else's material and still shoot it beautifully.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

Thelma & Louise 1991

No. 3. Ridley finding the comedy and warmth in a friendship movie with dark themes, plus one of the most famous shots in movies.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

The Martian 2015

No. 4. 'Apollo 13 on Mars': a warm, competent problem-solving movie, an unusually crowd-pleasing turn for a director whose early work is about how humans suck in space.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

House of Gucci 2021

No. 5. Exactly what she wants Ridley spending his money and movie stars on: beautiful people in Italy wearing Gucci.

Picked by Chris Ryan

Kingdom of Heaven 2005

No. 3, the director's cut specifically: 'full Kubrick,' great battle sequences, Edward Norton as a masked leper king. A regular rewatch for Chris and his mom.

Picked by Chris Ryan

Black Hawk Down 2001

No. 4. His modern war film: Tony Scott-style handheld chaos where you always know where you are, and a cast packed with future stars (there's Tom Hardy, three lines).

Picked by Chris Ryan

Prometheus 2012

No. 5, a twofer with Alien: Covenant, late-period Alien entries Chris thinks are drastically underrated for being box-office 'failures.'

Picked by Chris Ryan

Alien: Covenant 2017

No. 5, paired with Prometheus. Chris revisited it for the pod and was blown away: the first hour scarier than almost any horror movie.

Chris Frierson on ‘DMX: Don't Try to Understand’Sean's conversation with the director

Chris Frierson on

DMX: Don't Try to Understand 2021

The Music Box installment following Earl 'DMX' Simmons across a year after his 2019 release from prison. Frierson on earning DMX's trust by never asking about rap, letting his life unfold without talking-head interviews, and finishing the film before his death.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Ridley's filmography, in passing HannibalG.I. JaneBlack RainBody of LiesNapoleonGladiator II

Casting and comparison points Red SparrowThe Little ThingsBlade Runner 2049LincolnThe DepartedShe's All ThatEternalsA Beautiful MindUnhingedAvengers: EndgameLawrence of ArabiaSaving Private RyanApollo 13Ocean's Eleven

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV The Shrink Next DoorGirlsRaised by WolvesSquid Game

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