The Big Picture · Review · Discussion
May 2, 2023/ 69 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan
Sean and Chris Ryan review Guy Ritchie's two 2023 films, then trace the whole British-crime 'garbage lads' lineage from Brighton Rock to The Gentlemen.
67 films across 10 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Guy Ritchie's The Covenantthe one that doesn't fit the genre
Jake Gyllenhaal as a U.S. Army sergeant who returns to Afghanistan to rescue the interpreter who saved his life; both hosts liked it, though Ryan preferred the first-half war movie to the second-half rescue plot, the inverse of most reviews.
Guy Ritchie's zigzag careerthe 14th film from a director who 'doesn't always make what we'll be describing today'
the film that had Ritchie on the show as a guest, in a tweed suit, rewatching Snatch on YouTube with Jason Statham on Zoom.
Ryan calls it "completely misbegotten" and "absolutely dreadful."
"a bit of a return to form."
a Jason Statham crime movie played dead serious, with none of the usual humor.
Ritchie's next film; Fennessey guesses it's a return to "a comfortable place."
the film that revived the subgenre in the late '90s.
Ryan calls it arguably the best film in the whole tradition; he rewatched it with subtitles on for the first time and finally understood every line.
Ryan's secretly favorite Guy Ritchie movie.
one of a few Ritchie films the hosts read as an unofficial Bond tryout.
Ritchie's Madonna-starring remake of Lina Wertmüller's film — "a mystifying choice."
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerrea Bond tryout, mostly for Ritchie himself
Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, and Hugh Grant as the heavy; Ryan liked it less than The Covenant, calling the whole cast down-tempo and disinterested, though he still found it more entertaining than most of what's in theaters.
Garbage lads before Ritchiethe postwar and '70s-'80s bedrock
Graham Greene adaptation with Richard Attenborough as Pinky; Ryan's pick for the first movie in the genre.
Basil Dearden, cited as required viewing for anyone making these films.
Joseph Losey, with Stanley Baker as a criminal who unwittingly robs a rival mob boss and lands in a much worse jam.
Mike Hodges, Michael Caine — a name check that recurs through the whole episode.
Bob Hoskins; where Ryan says the genre "really kind of starts."
Bob Hoskins again, in what the hosts call a near-melodrama with crime around the edges.
Sidney Lumet and Sean Connery as a cop who loses it interrogating a murder suspect.
The '90s edge casesdoes it need to be funny? does it need to be a lad?
Charles Crichton; the hosts count it in even though it's a comedy.
Mike Leigh — David Thewlis's character counts, per Ryan, because "he is a criminal."
Danny Boyle; counts because a body and a suitcase of money sit at the center of the plot.
Danny Boyle again — the hosts rule it OUT of the genre; it's about addiction, and the heist only shows up to end the movie.
Jonathan Glazer's directorial debut, Ben Kingsley and Ray Winstone; the film both hosts keep returning to as the genre's high point.
Layer Cake and the Matthew Vaughn wingRitchie's old producing partner goes his own way
Vaughn's directing debut, with Daniel Craig; got Craig cast as Bond, and Ryan argues it's aged better than the Ritchie films it's imitating.
"arguably the best X-Men movie."
Vaughn's forthcoming Henry Cavill spy film, described from its logline.
Mike Hodges again, 25 years after Get Carter, plucking Clive Owen out of obscurity.
Craig's actual Bond debut — "essentially Layer Cake but with better suits."
The wave after Ritchie and VaughnBronson, Wheatley, and the Kray brothers
Nicolas Winding Refn, with Tom Hardy.
Ben Wheatley's first feature.
Ben Wheatley.
Michael Caine, cashing in on his '70s iconography being back in vogue.
Tom Hardy playing both Kray twins.
Colin Farrell; William Monahan directing, though Ryan wonders how much of his own script survived onscreen.
Martin McDonagh and Ralph Fiennes; Ryan calls McDonagh one of the great what-if garbage lads directors, before he moved fully into American films.
Ben Wheatley's strange turnfrom pagan crime to Meg 2
Danny Boyle — Ryan calls it mind-blowing and says it's underrated.
James McAvoy in an Irvine Welsh adaptation, playing a disgusting cop.
Jason Statham; "certainly not a garbage lads movie" — more garbage shark.
Ben Wheatley directs, a long way from where his career started.
Ben Wheatley's psychedelic period.
Wheatley's COVID-era horror movie — compelling but not exactly entertaining, per the hosts.
Brie Larson and Tom Hardy; Ryan calls it "definitely a garbage lads film."
Wheatley's Armie Hammer remake, done "quite poorly" per Ryan.
Tom Hiddleston, a J.G. Ballard adaptation Ryan found "pretty nifty."
Where the stars get madethis is a how-you-get-discovered genre
James Marsh; Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, and Jim Broadbent as old guys still got it, robbing a bank with Charlie Cox.
Stephen Frears, with Tim Roth in an early role.
an early Riz Ahmed film.
another early Riz Ahmed film.
Jack O'Connell.
an early Gary Oldman performance.
Oldman's directorial debut.
Oldman as a soccer hooligan.
Antonia Bird, with Robert Carlyle as a socialist turned thief.
Jude Law fresh out of prison, reuniting with a daughter played by Emilia Clarke; "40% garbage lad, 60% reuniting with my daughter," per Ryan.
London, Sweeney, and the sign-offa hypothetical trip, plus what Steve McQueen's up to
David Wickes; Ryan's pick for a special London screening, alongside The Long Good Friday and Sexy Beast.
Barry Keoghan, cited as recent proof the tradition still has life in it.
a digression — Jessica Chastain and Lupita Nyong'o, "not good."
Gina Prince-Bythewood, Charlize Theron; another digression on female-led action.
Stephen Graham as a chef — a pure tangent about food, not crime.
Steve McQueen; the hosts debate whether it still counts as garbage lads despite being set in Chicago.
McQueen's four-hour Holocaust documentary.
McQueen's next feature, starring Saoirse Ronan and Harris Dickinson, about Londoners during the WWII bombing campaign.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing American SniperNightcrawlerGoodfellasCasinoThe French ConnectionThe Italian JobGuns of NavaroneWho Framed Roger RabbitGandhiIron Man 3Pulp FictionMean StreetsDog Day AfternoonThe MatadorMan on WireThe RaidUnder the SkinBirthThe Zone of InterestThe Princess BridePaddington 2Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among ThievesKingsman: The Secret Service
Teased for next episode Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Peaky BlindersTop BoyBroadchurchLutherSherlockGangs of LondonThe Night ManagerThe Little Drummer GirlThe Bear
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