The Big Picture · Review · Roundtable · Interview
August 21, 2026/ 107 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan
Chris Ryan joins for Matt Johnson's Anthony Bourdain movie and five coming-of-age favorites each, then Johnson turns up to explain smuggling an autobiography into a biopic.
18 films across 3 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.
‘Tony’
Matt Johnson's docudrama about a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) taking a 1975 Cape Cod kitchen job. Antonio Banderas as the mentor chef, Leo Woodall as the line-cook cautionary tale. Co-written with Matthew Miller, Todd Bartels and Lou Howe; Bourdain's full name isn't spoken until the last scene.
The Top 5 Coming-of-Age Movies Sean and Chris, five each, counted down worst to best
No. 5. Gus Van Sant reworks Henry IV and V with River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.
No. 5. Eastwood's road movie: the escaped convict (Costner) and the boy he takes hostage, seen mostly from the kid's side.
No. 4. Boaz Yakin's chess-prodigy drug-runner story; Sean's favorite Samuel L. Jackson performance.
No. 4. Andrea Arnold; a drifting teenage girl and her mother's boyfriend (Michael Fassbender).
No. 3. Peter Yates on Bloomington townies and a bike race; a kid faking an Italian-cyclist persona.
No. 3. Nicolas Roeg strands two kids in the outback; Sean re-watched it for his Criterion Channel Odyssey curation.
No. 2 (paired with The Last Picture Show). Larry McMurtry adaptation; his favorite Newman, James Wong Howe photography, Patricia Neal as Alma.
No. 2 (paired with Hud). Bogdanovich; Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd.
No. 2 (paired with The Squid and the Whale). The artist as a phony young man.
No. 2 (paired with Rushmore). Jesse Eisenberg's would-be prodigy; Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney as the toxic parents.
In conversation
His prior film; screenings played like rock concerts to a fanbase he says is now out of his control.
The model: ambition without expertise, told by an outsider to the subject.
His debut; a source of the heartsick, insecure beats he built Tony around.
His 'last great thing': the Derek Cianfrance film he almost watched on a plane, which he says still counts.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In the cold open Rules Don't ApplyMiami ViceHeat 2CollateralThe InsiderManhunterWeaponsOppenheimerAvengers: Doomsday
Around the Tony review Taxi DriverAlmost Famous
Across the coming-of-age list Pulp FictionBadlandsGood Will HuntingPerformanceAmerican HoneyBirdCry MachoJuror No. 2In the Line of FireUnforgivenThe Bridges of Madison CountyLaws of GravityThe Darjeeling Limited
In the Matt Johnson interview DesperadoAssassinsThe Mask of ZorroThe HoldoversTunerHopeDead Poets SocietyCitizen KaneThe Life of Emile ZolaCoal Miner's DaughterThe Straight StoryMudThe Bike RidersMagic: The Gathering
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV IronheartLandmanParts UnknownThe TasteTop ChefSchitt's Creek
Books Kitchen Confidential
Podcasts The WatchThe Rewatchables
Apps Letterboxd