Guy Ritchie - The Man from U.N.C.L.E

0:00 So just a few days ago, The Ministry of Ungentlemately Warfare is released. It's not doing it's not blowing up the box office, but there's some good stuff out there. This past weekend, you know, Civil War and Abigail just came out. But it's got an A minus Cinema score, and I, for one cannot wait to see this one. What about you, Andrew? I have been chomping at the bit. This is this is the first movie this year that I'm genuinely psyched to get to go see. Yeah, you've got Guy Ritchie, Henry Cavill, World War two action. What's not to like? Right? Yeah, Guy Ritchie and period piece goes together perfectly. So let's talk about another period film by Guy Ritchie, starring Henry Cavill, his twenty fifteen underrated spy film The Man from Uncle. Hello everybody, I'm Jeff Johnson and I'm Andrew Blakeley, and this is a film by podcast Andrew. I know we talked a little bit about that. We've been talking about Richie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and I am excited to talk about

1:34 this one because I forgot how great this film was. Yeah, same. I'm so glad this came up. I loved it when it came out, and then honestly it's just slipped my mind. I haven't watched it in years, so I love the excuse to get to watch it again and just you know, enjoy the ride. If you like seeing Henry Cavill in a period piece by Guy Richie and it's you know, dealing with the you know, whether it's World War two or the Cold War. This is your right, absolutely, it's I think this is the strongest case yet that Cavill could still pull off Bond. I mean, it's the suits, the sunglasses, everything, it's it fits that. If that's your jam, If early Bond is your thing, I feel like this is right up your ally. I am so happy you said that, because I think Bond is gonna come up more than once as we have this conversation. But before we had the conversation, I do want to say hello, I wanna wanna want to welcome someone out there, Andrew. We have a new Patreon subscriber. Ben Handel has just recently joined the Patreon, so he is getting all that exclusive content. He is clearly a fan of the nineteen eighty six series. He's been dropping some fantastic comments on some of our lost eighty six episodes. I know he mentioned Wisdom out of Bounds and our recent one at Close Range. I know you have been on several of those episodes. So Ben welcome and uh we're excited

3:05 to have you on our on our Patreon and looking forward to hearing from you and and what you like and uh and we'll definitely get some swag out to you. And for those of you that uh maybe want to follow suit, you can check us out at www dot patreon dot com. Backslash a film by podcast you can. We got Andrew, we got the what the seven day free trial get in there just binge all the uh, all the episodes we got right, Yeah, I get weird with it. We got some we got some deep cuts in there. We absolutely do. Uh. I love that we got. We're getting a chance to finish our nineteen eighty six series there where we got like ten ten left and uh, I'm hoping that you're going to join us for one or two of those before before too long.

3:53 Well, I'll tell you what. Let's let's talk. Let's talk man from Uncle Andrew. For for those that have not this film. Give us a little synopsis if you will. Absolutely, I'll try my best to not fall into the in a world voice, but if it happens, it happens. At the height of the Cold War in the early nineteen sixties, CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB agent Ilia Curryeaiken must put aside long standing hostilities to stop a mysterious criminal organization he bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of world power. With only one lead, the agent's race to find vanished German scientist who is the key to infiltrating the organization. In this cool, stylish action adventure from director Guy Ritchie, it is absolutely cool and stylish. I love the aesthetic in this film. Love Yeah, it's it's perfect. I always like if you've mentioned Guy Richie's name, I think of some of his earlier work, the gangster style films, and his style lends itself so well to this like cool six, He's spy vibe. It's everything is so stylish and cool, and that also has a lot to do with the actors in it.

5:06 Absolutely, let's just talk about how this movie opens up. If you didn't get your money's worth in the first fifteen minutes of this movie. I have to wonder what film you were watching. I mean, we got this thrilling extraction. It's god it boast an excellent car chase. I love that Armie Hammer is pulling a T one thousand, chasing after the vehicle and catching a car with his bare hands. Catching a car with his bare hands. She's She's like, he's he's trying to stop the car. And for a second you're like nah, but then you're like, wait, he is stopping the car. Yeah. And it's such a great introduction to Henry Cavill's Napoleon Solo because he plays everything so cool and so methodical in a way that I think we're just not used to seeing from him. And it's so it's so great.

5:57 He's almost too cool under pressure. Yeah, It's it's almost like he's he's enjoying the danger. Yeah. I speaking of that, let's let's just let's just talk about that name, Napoleon Solo. I don't know about you, but I absolutely I love when a hero character has a name that's that's almost too fantastic to be real, you know, Remington Steele, Remo Williams, Beatrix Kiddo, Napoleon Solo. That is just unreal. It is about there. Yeah, it absolutely is, uh Cavill. This is what two years after Cavill does Man of Steel. Yeah, so we are right in that zone where he is. He is at the height of his popularity.

6:43 This is Superman, you know, being James Bond basically. Yeah. I think honestly, at the time it came out, that kind of heard it for me because it's such a departure for him, and he was so like tied to that role of Superman for a while. I think that it kind of tainted my expectations. So to get to see him do this and just absolutely crush it as this cool spy type, I think that really opened doors for him. I think if he didn't do this, he might we may not be getting some of the other stuff you've gotten for him. Since that's an interesting observation, because I wonder. You know, this film famously did not do well at the box office, and I am scratching my head as to why. But you might have just dropped an interesting piece of the puzzle.

7:25 A lot of us loved him as Superman, still love him as Superman. We wanted more of his Superman and then we get a nineteen sixties spy thriller and we're like, no, we we want the son of Krypton. You know what we don't want this right now? Is that? Yeah, lover hate, lover hate the Superman movies. Because I'm sure there's a lot of opinions both ways out there. I think we can all agree he was a fantastic casting absolutely, but yeah, this is this character is not a good person. Napoleon Solo. He's very good at his job, he's not a good person. And I think it's you know, that's such a departure. It might have been a bit jarring for some people. Although that's what you're gonna get with a Guy Richie movie. Yeah, Guy rich you know you're you're gonna have a bit of an anti hero, right, Yeah, a little bit of a rogue, a little bit of a a fiend, if you will. But charming is all hell though. Charming, Yeah, charming to the nth degree, And I think that's what makes you like him, even though there's times you shouldn't like him. But he's definitely Cavil's doing.

8:31 I think this is the closest we're gonna get to him playing James Bond unless the Broccolis are like, you know what, we change our minds. You know, we want a forty early forties bond for the next the next bond, because if we don't get that, then I feel like this is our best shot at it. Yeah, and I mean I think he almost feels a little too on the nose for Bond at this point. Yeah, it's just charming, handsome, strong jawline spy guy. It's just I don't know, maybe that's just me. I want I want a little more of a surprise. I think you're gonna get a surprised you know. They're they're talking about an early thirties bond, you know, which which is unfortunate for him because before Casino Reale, he he has a lock on the roll and loses it to Daniel Craig because and they tell him like, hey, you're you're just too young. And now you know Craig has done his tenure, we're looking for another bond. He is, you know, has always expressed interest in the role. But now they're saying, well, we're looking for a younger bond. You're just a little bit too wold, Like, yeah, I feel like I feel like we're kind of with all with all due respect, I feel like we're wasting Henry Cavill, like we you know, Warner Brothers completely wasted his Superman yep, and wasted a lot of his time.

9:45 As far as I'm concerned, you know, we're we're we're not getting him his bond. We we got him briefly in The Witcher, just like, give Henry Cavill some time to time to cook, is what I'm saying. I'm sure I'll want to talk about this later, but you know, even sequels to this would have been very, very welcome. It's definitely could have spun you know, multiple This is the way this ends. This is a franchise starter, and I you know, well we'll talk. We can talk about that later. But uh, it's a it's interesting. I can't imagine anyone else in this role other than Cavil. But Clooney had the role when it was a Steven Soderberg film. Uh he dropped out ding a back injury. I think he got that. Yeah. Uh. And then inexplicably, Tom Cruise enters talks to take on the role until he remembers, hey, wait, I have my own spy franchise. He drops out so he can go do a mission impossible, Rogue Nation. I just uh, yeah, I'll tell you because I was reading through those names earlier, and you know, I think Soderbergh could have done a cool version of this. It would have been very different than what we got. Yeah. But if I think Sodaberg and uh and Clooney, I'm picturing like the Ocean series. And I'll tell you this kind of gives me Ocean's eleven vibes a little bit, just in the cool, handsome character that's kind of always a step ahead and is a little bit smarter than everybody in the room. I can I can

11:15 see that. I definitely think we got the better version with the guy Ritchie and and Henry Cavill, but I could see Soderberg and Clooney doing something interesting here. It could have been. Uh, I'll tell you something. I'm watching this recently and damned his Cavil just wear those suits. He is impeccably dressed in this film. I love I love his h his clothing in this, and it's hard to do for a big guy like that. I mean he's he's a large man. It's hard to get a suit to fit and look good and move in it, and yeah, he pulls it off. Man. I know we're gonna circle around some names quite often on this conversation, but the suits he's wearing are thanks to British tailor Timothy Everest, who has also outfitted James Bond and Ethan Hunt. So if you're you're thinking, hey, I've seen that's how it looks familiar, there's a reason. Uh, let's talk a little bit about Armie Hammer. Yeah, say it again, give it, give it to me a game one more time. Ilia curryaken Iliah curriaked. Okay, because I knew I was gonna butcher that the only cast member to prepare for the film by watching the original TV series.

12:31 No one else look at it. I've never seen it. I considered going back and giving it a try, but yeah, who's got that kind of time? You know who's got Who's got you know what? I think? It ran like four four years, five seasons over four years. You know, I don't even if it's streaming, but I will be honest, it's uh. Watching this time, it did make me curious about what what the TV series might look like. But uh, I am I'm loving I'm loving Hammer in the role. Yeah, he interestingly he was kind of the nice one, I guess, not necessarily nice. He was very violent man, but more pure hearted than than Cavill's character, which I thought was interesting.

13:18 It was an interesting way of doing it. He's this giant, giant man. I mean, Army Hammer's what like six four sixty five six five. Yeah, it's it's hard to be intimidating standing next to Cavil, but he's just a big dude. But I think he plays it really almost innocent while also being incredibly violent, and that's just a really cool way to handle it. I think it's I think it's fair to say he's his his moments. He has several moments with with Alicia vick Anders's character Gabby where he's he's really soft. Yeah, and there's some of the better scenes as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I mean, he definitely pulls his weight. I think he's had He's had a couple opportunities, and I don't think I mean, I think he first came on the scene in Fincher's uh The Social Network mm hmm, and I think ever since then, like anything he's in, he was always great I just but I feel like nothing ever really blew up.

14:13 You know, it didn't. I you know, I don't want to get into it, but there's you obviously he he was a victim of a cancel culture. He you know, there's some trouble with him. And last I last I read he's he's like selling time shares in South America or something something strange, and I truthfully, yeah, I like, again, I don't. You know, we don't like to sling mud when we're on this show talking about it. But what I read, I was like, Okay, I get it. It's kind of creepy, but is it enough to like completely just abolish this guy and you know, put him on a course of setting time shares in another country? I don't know. I don't know, but yeah, I I I checked because I don't want to put my foot in my mouth. There's no been no criminal charges against him, no criminal charges. Yeah, So I don't I don't get it. I think I think there's a chance for him to come back because he is a a sensational actor. Uh and just like obnoxiously handsome I mean again, alongside Henry Cavil.

15:05 The three leads in this movie are absurdly good looking. Oh absolutely, but I don't mind it, you know, it's yeah, no, not at all. I'm I'm here for it. You mentioned Social Network. I love Hammer's got one of my favorite lines in any movie, Like in Social Network, when they're like, you know, because he plays the the wingle Looss twins yeah, and someone's like, what are you gonna do? And he goes, I'm six five two twenty and there's two of me, Like that is something something like what a Magneto's henchman would say. I love it. It's yeah, he's great. Uh, I think you'll appreciate this. I don't know, you know, I know you, I know you did some research for this one. But if you don't know this, I think you'll appreciate this. He's an accomplished writer, so you know, he does some great motorcycle work in this movie. That's him, you know, yeah, famous, you know. Apparently him and Cavil did a lot of their stunts, so much so that the stuntmen were like, we're hoping to get on on screen at some point. But uh, the bike, Uh, I know you, I know you probably took a look at that bike and was like, I like it. Uh, Andrew, this bike is a limited addition Matisse Desert Racer, and here's the kicker that's gonna put a smile on your face. It happens to be an exact replica of the Mark III that was designed for Steve McQueen. You know, the second you mentioned bike, it was given McQueen vibes. You know it's McQueen. You have the leather jacket. I very much felt Steve mcqueene. That does put a smile on my face. You're not wrong. I'll tell you what puts a smile.

16:37 What's got to put a smile on your face. Let's talk about Alicia the Candor as a as Gabby Teller. She beats out a who's who of actresses including Alice Eve, Amelia Clark, and Felicity Jones. Could you imagine this movie with Felicity Jones? I mean I think she can do anything, so she can probably, yeah, But Alicia mcandor, I will say that's if if gotten to my head had to make a list of complaints about this movie, I think she was underused. I think she is an amazing actress and her character doesn't really get a lot of time to destruct, you know, there's a couple of good scenes and we can talk about here and there. But I think that she was underused. I love I love that her character. I love the turn yeah that her character has, which you know we could say or you know, we could, we could, we can you know, I don't know if you want to spoil it or not, but I mean it's I say, let's keep it. Let's keep it light because it's a spy thriller. There are twists on turns. Just okay, we'll keep watching the light. Yeah. So at Leasta does ex Makina Alex Garland's X Macana in twenty fourteen, okay, and then a year later she's in Man from Uncle. You know, it's one of three movies that she does in twenty fifteen. The other two, you know, I'm not gonna bother with because one I never heard of and the other one I think as a as a garbage move. Anyways, but uh, moving on. I do I love the fact that she holds her own with both of these guys.

18:04 You know, you would think here's Superman and Armie Hammer, who almost was Superman, almost was Batman, you know, was the lone ranger, and she is there with them beat for beat, never letting these two guys kind of push her out of the out of the spotlight. She holds the light. I think, really well, yeah, absolutely she She is incredible, and I mean he said absolutely stunning. There's a scene specifically where she and Elia are pretending to be fiance, says they are through most of the movie and he's trying to refrain from just beating the absolute hell out of these two guys, and she's like trying to talk him down. That it really is impressive. It's like she is with her eyes intimidating this giant man who's clearly got rage in his eyes. And it's actually it's really powerful. I think it's really well done. Can we jump ahead? Can we talk about the playful energy that she has in the dance scene in the hotel. I'll tell you something. Anytime you watch a movie and a guy and a girl in a room and uh, cry to me from Solomon Burke comes on the radio, something's about to happen. It's about to get hot, right.

19:22 I love I love though, how she's kind of playing around with them and then she kind of catches them off guard, smacks him in the face and then you know, it takes a different kind of turn there. You know, she's like, oh, you don't want to dance, you want to wrestle. And man, what a great scene. I mean, that's it's a hot scene too. Nothing nothing even happens. But but it's hot. You know, it's hot, it's tense, it's it's really cool. It fits right in with that guy Ritchie's style. It does. And I'll tell you what really made me smile was the fact that she had she had instigated this whole moment right but she was also shot gunning glasses of vodka, you know, a few minutes before, So right at that moment when you know it's about to happen. I love the fact that she just conks out and goes to sleep. It's a total Indiana Jones move, you know, because he's like, Okay, this is happening. I'm ready for it, and then she just but again back to Armie Hammer, his character just being kind of soft, kind of sweet when you don't expect it. I love that moment where he kind of picks her up and you know, kind of cradles her and takes her, takes her and puts her in bed and tucks her in. At that point, I'm like, I'm digging this Russian I really am. Yeah, absolutely, and it seems like that that just still kills me to this day of this movie bombed because we really should have gotten more.

20:38 What were we doing in twenty fifteen, because this, like I said, this should have kicked off an awesome franchise for us. Yeah, with all three of these characters getting back to to Cavel and Hammer for a minute, their first moment when they realize they're going to work together, and they basically destroy this bathroom. This this this fight scene, I'm gonna ask you something. Let's let's talk Cavil fighting in bathrooms. Is it what? What? What's got your money? Andrew? Is it? Is it this the man from Uncle where they're they're just thrashing the bathroom and taking out stalls, or is it? Is it Mission Impossible Fallout? When him and Tom Cruise are going after the guy and he does the you know, he does the reload on on the on the on the fists. Look, I I love this movie. I do. But the things I love about this movie aren't necessarily the action of the stunts. I think it's a lot of the other things that really stand out, whereas that that is one of the best fight scenes. Just ever, how many years ago is that and people still are asking him like, hey, how do you cocky? You like you wanted a fight and it works so perfectly. It does, and I think that that is iconic. That is iconic fight scene. So I gotta give it to mission impossible. Okay, at a minute, every time you're in a every time since then, when you've wore a dress shirt and you've cuff you've cuffed your your sleeves, you know you're doing that in the bathroom mirror.

22:07 You have to. You have to. I mean, you immediately feel cool. You do what you think. Let's talk about that scene when they finally they're sitting down at the cafe, Jared Hess kind of excuses himself, kind of sizing each other up. I feel like their accents are one hundred percent on point here. This is this is Henry Cavill, you know, British guy doing an excellent American accent. And then you got hammer, Who is is he American? Is he British? I can't remember. He's American. He's American and he's doing he's doing a perfect Russian accent. Yeah, it's his is really I like his a lot. Like watching this, I find myself just accidentally doing a Russian accent. I do that a lot when I watch movies. It's yeah, a person I can't help. But uh, you know, I can't say the how accurate his accent is because I don't know a whole lot of Russians, but I will. I gotta give it to Cavill. Like a lot of Brits when they do their American accent, I can't quite explain what they're doing that's off, but they're doing something off.

23:14 Is If this is all I saw, I would believe he's American, you know what I mean? Absolutely, It's it's like a house, like Doctor House every time I watch Hugh Laurie with it. When I found out he was British or blew my mind. I feel like that would happen if this was my only introduction to Henry Cavill. I'll tell you who I don't believe as American. And I'm not saying it's a bad accent that he's doing, but I just don't buy it. Is Jared Harris, his boss, Adrian Sanders. It's jarring to hear this guy speak with an American accent because I've never I don't know about you, but everything I've ever seen him in he has he's using his his native accent. Yeah, and when you hear him doing this, it just feels wrong. He's got such a unique and a unique voice, it's hard to separate it from the accent. Okay, so it's not just me, it's what I think. Yeah, it's it's that raspiness. It's like even just the way he holds his mouth. I thought on several occasions, I was like, this feels off, but it feels wrong. I know him, I know what his voice sounds. You know. Yeah, what'd you think of the other boss? Uh? You Grant playing Alexander Waverley, He's fine. He doesn't get a whole lot of screen time. I feel like that that gets chocked up to the this being a setup for maybe a franchise where he could have, you know, had a little more room to to stretch. Yeah. This this movie acts as an origin story for the man from Uncle, and I feel like where we were we not denied, this would have been, like you Grant as like

24:44 the like the m character. Yeah, and man, this it's such a fun premise. You know, you've got you've got the you know, commander of the British Navy who is handling a CIA guy and a KGB guy and putting on missions. I needs a fun premise. I get why this show. And the fact that the show came out during the Cold War. Yeah, that's so cool. That's so much fun. Yeah, I think about this. This this movie or the show debuted like I think, like two years after the Cuban missile crisis, yep, so we're still in the heat of it, you know. Yeah, it's such a bold swing and I love that. And you know, I think this got a little bit more fun with it because you don't have to take the Cold War as seriously in twenty fifteen. Yeah, but it you know, it's interesting because that was the source material and they're playing in that space. The name doesn't make a whole lot of sense for the movie unless you know it's the show. So I think that could be one of the minor reasons going back to reasons this movie bombed is I had never heard of it the show before this, and even watching it, I really didn't get any of the references. So I think that that's a detriment to the movie, not because the movie is not good, but because how do you market that? How do you push that?

26:03 Yeah, I'll tell you one one more thing. I know, we got to take a break here real quick. But before we do, before people start googling, you know, or getting distracted by what Uncle stands for, listeners, Andrew, do you know, do you want to tell them? I looked it up and I don't have it. It is the United Network Command for Law Enforcement. Ah, that's that's a liar as it could be. That's about as well. You know what's funny though, it makes me immediately thought of that. I hear that, and then I think a shield. Yeah, how you're just how you're just just cramming words together just to make a regular word. I'm going to have forgotten that by the end of the episode. Absolutely. Well, more on that later. We're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, we'll talk a little bit about the film's background. We got to talk a couple a couple more of these scenes. We are back talking about Guy Ritchie's the man from Uncle.

27:07 You know, we were talking about the TV series Andrew it ran four years on NBC and here's you know, back to back to more James Bond talk. The series itself was partially developed by Ian Fleming. Interesting how about that? Yeah, uh, I kind of dug into this. Turns out Napoleon Solo was initially in his Goldfinger book. He scrubbed it, but but that's where Napoleon Solo began. Yeah, yeah, I guess. I guess either that or he's like, hey, you know what I can I can throw this guy to uh to the TV show. Maybe I like it as a counterpoint to Bond, because you know, Bond's always the righteous, do the right thing. You know, he's a playboy, but he's he's always for God and country and whatever. Where Napoleon Solo is worried about Napoleon Solo.

27:57 It's just as talented, but he's very self serving. And I like that that was a fun counterpoint. I'm wondering if he if he gave away the Napoleon Solo character, and then that's how we got Felix Lighter because Bond always had his counterpart in the CIA, and it's always been Felix Lighter. Yeah, so maybe maybe we have Felix Lighter because Napoleon went to uncle. I don't know. I mean, they're both ridiculous first names that have never heard anybody actually have, So that there you go. Absolutely, this movie takes spends ten years in development, was initially greenlit with Steven Soderberg directing, George Clooney and Emily Blunt. Clooney leaves, you know, we talked about his back injury that he got on Syriana Sodaberg soon leaves after, you know, after Clooney citing budget and casting disagreements, and then Emily Blunt leaves right after Soderbergh because Soderberg left, So yeah, she was pretty upfront about it.

28:59 Yeah. Yeah, that's a good call in her part, I think. So, I don't know if you see it in this movie, but guy Ritchie took inspiration from Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. Huh. Specifically he was using it as a template to blend humor, action and serious moments that I can see. Yeah, yeah, because I mean I love that movie, and there's definitely that like that vibe of like sometimes this is serious and as that emotional beat, but also it's kind of silly and we all accept that. So absolutely, absolutely we mentioned Steve McQueen's motorcycle earlier. The nineteen sixty Hillar helicopter used in this film at the you know, the third act where they're making their skate Andrew, you might have recognized that it was also used in nineteen sixty four's Goldfinger when it was flown by Bond fem fatal Lasi Galore That's Badass, the exact same helicopter. I love that. I absolutely love that. K Kay Ritchie is such a nerd in the best way.

30:06 I mean, he is such a nerd in the best way, and it absolutely is amazing. This Actually, this is his first film he shoots entirely on digital cameras as well, so yeah, it's an interesting transition. I worry about the long term ramifications of that, but we're still in the area where digital looks great. So good it does. I want to talk about the torture scene. Henry cavill Is strapped down with who's it uncle, Uncle Rudy I think his name was, Yeah, he was like the Nazi butcher, based on the Nazi butcher. Yep. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie, not not for what's going on, but for how it ends. Oh, yeah, and you know we I think we opted to not givet spoilers, so I don't know. It is such a scene, and I think this is especially a place where a lot of movies they get to play in the space of like torture scenes or cool spy gadgets and things. So for somebody to be able to give it a fresh take, especially one that there's tension but also so much humor, is really really well done. I was cracking up at the how that scene climaxes. It's just it was. It was the perfect use of of camera angles, of dialogue. The lighting is what does it for. The lighting is what really gives everything away. And it's such a subtle build. It's so gold it's key. All Right. I asked you about the bathroom scene. Let me

31:37 ask you. I'm gonna throw another one at you, all right, So let's talk best torture by a homemade electrocution? Is it rigs in lethal weapon? Is it Rambo and Rambo two? Or is it is it Cavil than the man from Uncle? You know, I think now I might actually give it to Cavil, And I think part of the reason for that is, you know, that's been done so many times that going back and seeing some of those originals start to feel a little bit cheesy. They lose some of their punch. So the fact that this one was able to take it and kind of give it its own unique twist really upstanty for me. I think we've seen it. Yeah, you're right, I think we've seen it enough that I watch I watch these scenes now and I tell myself, well, you know, think about this, Andrew. We've run tough mattern countless times, we have to go through electric shock therapy, We've we've been electrocuted.

32:37 So like you watch these movies and you see these scenes and you're like, I'm totally fine. I could handle that. That that torture, you know. But but Cavels where he's like strapped in, he's got the head gear, and ye, his his looks a little more scary. Like if if I'm taking my pic, you know, you can strap me to like the bed, the bed mattress, the mattress from Rainbow two. I think that one's a little a little more user friendly. But Cavil looks uncomfortable and it's a little a little scary the way they've got him tied down. I will tell you too. Part of the The first thing that comes to mind when you say, like, you know, homemade alecution torture is actually a kiss kiss bang bang. I forgot that one. But the reason for that is, and I think the reason that one is so impactful is because Robert Danney Junior's character in that is he's not a spy. He's not cool, he is not handling it well at all. There's a level of humor there where you know, Cavell is a badass and Rainbow is a bad ass, and you know Rigs is a badass. And so I think that anytime you can put a twist on it, I'm on board. Yeah, good, good callback to kiss kiss bank Man. I left that one out of the conversation.

33:50 That's a good one. Any other scenes you want to you want to talk about you want to bring to uh yeah, I think this uses Uh. There are two that I really want to talk about. The first, which is this happens a few times where it plays on the spy thriller like twist where something will happen and then they'll kind of rewind it a minute or two show you what's actually going on. And I think that it's done well because it's not overused. It's not like, you know, Ocean's eleven or hey, everything we just showed you is fake. So it's a really cool use of that, and it leads to one of my absolute favorite parts of the entire movie, where Cavil realizes he's been drugged and he walks over to the couch straights this lays down on the couch. She's like, what are you doing. He's like, I've been in the situation before and I fell out a hurt in my head quite badly. So it's just so great and so calm. But really, the thing that I remembered about this movie, and the thing that I loved the first time watching it and rewatching it, i thought it was so well done, is near the end of the movie there's a great chase scene with Hammer on a motorcycle cave Will. He's you know, in a in a ATV offered view, I don't know, you call it buggy. Yeah, it's like a dune buggy, and you know, they're on this island and they're all kind of chasing around, and what the camera does is it'll focus on one then zoom out, so you can kind of get a big picture of what the whole island looks like, then zoom in on somebody else. So in a way that these chases usually get

35:21 very hard to follow or the action becomes unbelievable because they're all just ramming each other a bunch. Richie found this really really cool way of showing you the whole picture, showing you what they're doing and where they're going, while keeping the tension of the excitement up. And I thought that was just brilliant. I've never seen something like that before or since. Yeah, he's he's fantastic. I know obviously there's there's gonna be some cgi in this film, but I know he made he made it a point to try and make it as practical as possible. And I feel like when you do that, Yeah, you feel it in this movie because while the chases in the the action sets are set pieces are they're spectacular, they never go overboard like Okay, that's impossible, No, no one could do that. Yeah you know the Kingsman or something, Yeah, exactly exactly. It's it's a little more grounded.

36:12 And I dig the fact that he does that for sure. So I know we're gonna talk about a little bit about his filmography, Andrew, I wanna do something different, you know, instead of giving you like a book report, you know, we usually talk a little bit about who the director is, where they came from. I'm gonna tell you two things about him, and then and then one of his quotes. Okay, we're gonna a little more brief, but lost a little you know, I gotta mix it up every now and then. It's season five. We gotta we gotta change things every now and then. So it turns out Guy Ritchie never attended film school, stating that the work of film school graduates was boring and unwatchable. Talk about shots fired, because like we've talked about I don't know, we're like, yeah, we're like two hundred fifty plus episodes in right now, and we've talked about a lot of directors that went to these prestigious film schools and graduated this university. So yeah, no, I love that. I think that for any kind of art, you have to have variety, and if everybody's taught this is the way to do it, everybody does it that way.

37:27 You know. I want filmmakers that went to film school, just like I want the ones that are making it up as they go. You know. I think that's that's fantastic, and that's why he stands out he does, I'll tell you. And I think he can get away with saying that. He could probably say whatever he wants because number two, he happens to hold black belts in Brazilian jiu jitsu, karate and judo. The guy could clearly take care of himself. Right, Yeah, I'll tell you. The first one did not surprise me. I was like, yeah, that seems like some guy rich you would say that. Second one that's surprises me. Yeah, whoa wait, Okay. A quote when discussing his films and how critics respond to him, he has said, and I'm quoting, I am relatively familiar with getting a good old rumping from the critics. In some cases, the critics just don't like the film. Others I think didn't understand it.

38:22 So even there, he's got a little bit a little bit of sass in his I dig him. I like this guy, man, I really did for sure. Yeah, And I mean I like that he's just honest, like, yeah, hey, some of them just didn't like the film. That's cool. Whatever. All right, I'll tell you what let's take one more break and when we get back, we'll talk about some of his movies. Okay, yep, Andrew will be here all night if we try and cover all thirty one of his films. So I think we're gonna just bounce around a little bit if you're cool with that. Let's talk about the nineteen ninety eight he does lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. This is kind of like his his introduction, right, this is where we know the name guy Ritchie. As far as I'm concerned, Yeah, I'm a fan of this one. I'm sorry I said I'm a fan of this one. Oh I thought you said you were not a fan. I thought, oh no, no, no, no. This is the gold standard for British gangster movies, I think. I mean, Richie keeps setting it, and he's got others that maybe elevated a little bit, but yeah, this movie is a classic. I'm pretty sure this was my introduction to Jason Statham too, because I'm a big stathem. Yeah, I love it. Two thousand he does Snatch, which I think everyone immediately recognizes that movie because of Brad Pitts incoherent ke Yeah, Mickey, that's another one of movies. After I end

39:54 up watching it, I end up talking like that and probably annoying anybody. The sanity it's so cool, but in the funniest way. Yeah, this is uh Stathum's back. You got Brad Pitt, Vinnie Jones, who was it a bullet tooth is who he played? Yeah, almost like an unstoppable guy force in nature, Boris the bullet Dodger. There's just so many like iconic characters that are so this. This really feels like a sequel to Lockstock, even though it's not in any way it's not much. It feels like the next step. Yeah. Uh, it's around this time. He meets Madonna, they get married, he starts doing some of her music videos.

40:35 He does that that movie Swept Away. I'll be honest, I know, I know critics destroyed it. I can't say a word about it because I never saw it, saying okay, let's move on. Here's one Andrew we were talking about Guy Ritchie. I was circling his two thousand and five film Revolver. Did did you see this one? I did? Yeah, what'd you think? It's not as memorable as some of his others. I liked it, but it doesn't. It doesn't grab you. It felt kind of slow to me. I want to see it because this is when I missed. I watched the trailer. The trailer is fantastic, but more so because it's not because of Jason Statham, because his character looks I'm sorry, like Jason Statham with long flowing hair. It just seems wrong. I don't I can't get it. Yeah, but just watching the trailer, it's like the Rayleiota Show, and I'm watching Raleiota in the trailer, I'm like, okay, well, he's fantastic and very intimidating. He's and his full Raleiota like scary, crazy eyes, scary really okay, all right, so you'd recommend it? Yeah, it is good. I don't think it lives up to the the iconic nature of lock Stock or Snatch, but it's still worth a watch, all right? Is two thousand and eight? Would you would you call Rock and Roller a lot worth a watch? You know what. I watched it and I don't even really remember it, so probably not. You

42:06 know. I want to say watch it because I like Guy Richie and you know, I love Jar Butler. But again, I know I've seen it. I just don't remember it, and that's usually a pretty big red flag for me. Yeah, but it's got Tom Wilkinson and Idris Elba. Wait, we should know this movie, right, And every movie he makes, good or bad, has a great cast. The dude puts together a great cast. Speaking of his cast, I like the fact that he We'll see a Zack Snyder film come out, Yep, it'll put someone on the map, and then a year later they're in a Guy Ritchie movie to say, like, you know, talking about rock and Roller, you know, three hundred comes out yep, and then all of a sudden, Jar Butler's in, Uh, you know, Guy Richie film Man it still comes out and hey, here's Henry Cavill and the man from Uncle. So I guess, I guess Guy Richie needs you know, maybe maybe Zach Sinner needs to make some more movies a little bit faster, and you know, we we get our next star for a a Guy Richie film. I know you've got to be a fan of his. Sherlock Holmes movies. Yeah, Sherlock Holmes is one of those characters like they just keep getting made and made and made again, but like it works and you get a good cast, you get Guy Ritchie, you get Robert Downey Junior, Jude Law. It's what's not to like, what's not to love? They keep hinting, Oh, yeah, we're gonna get together, We're gonna do a third one. To get the schedules, but like, please, can someone get these three guys together and and get the film because you know, and I'm not saying there's a rush,

43:37 because like, the great thing about Sherlock Holmes is I think Downy. I think Robert Downey Junior can play at fifty or at sixty or at seventy because it's Holmes, right. Yeah, I mean, maybe not a passion pact. But I have heard that they've had talks about doing the third one without Guy Ritchie directing. Nope, don't do it. It's a hold on. I'm gonna pull up the guy's name because I can't remember it off the top of my head. One of the guys he's in a lot of Richie movies. Uh, Jason Fleming. Jason Fleming, Yes, Uh, guy Richie Staple from All You back in Lockstock. His name was potentially attached.

44:20 Nothing was confirmed last I heard. I don't know. I just I feel like you need Richie for that that flavor of Holmes. Honestly, yeah, for sure. Did you like his uh his King Arthur film he did with Charlie Hunum. I never actually saw it. I don't know why, something, but it just really didn't grab me. I never got around to it. It's it's different, I say, I say, watch it. You know, Charlie Humb's fantastic. He got Jude Law, Jamon Hunsu. It's yeah, it's a good cast. It's a it's a great cast. Eric Bannon is in it. It's one of those situuas where it's like, Okay, this is a great cast, it's great source material, but because it's guy Richie doing his own spin, it feels a little off. So you gotta I think if you're a Guy Richie fan, you're in. If you're like a King Arthur fan, you're probably saying nope, not for me, for sure. Yeah. I could have told you that, not even having seen it. Actual historians maybe avoid that one. Yeah, I would think so probably. I'll tell you when I avoided it. I'm sorry to say it, but twenty nineteen, he does Aladdin, the live action Aladdin.

45:34 I'm not a fan I'm not a fan of these live action Disney movies. I just they don't work for me. I get they're making a bunch of money, but I'm with you, and I mean, it was the same with Lion King. It's John Favarah, He's awesome. It's yeah, it just felt pointless. So yeah, I'm with you. It was You can miss that one unless you're a giant Disney nerd. I did watch it. I don't have any intention to watch it again. I just couldn't get past will Smith Jennie like, I'm sorry, Robert. Robin Williams is the Genie, and I get that life goes on. We gotta we gotta make movies, but some can't do it. Sometimes. It's sometimes that character just becomes too much. You know. It's like, uh, you know, people have always thrown around ideas of recasting and Nanna Jones you can't. That's that's the same with Robin Williams and the Genie. I agree, let's talk about though he did The Gentleman. Though, yeah, I say, let's talk about the Gentleman. Yeah, this one this is you know, whether you liked or loathed Aladdin, guy Richie came back and said, hold on, I got something for you. I'm still Yeah, I'm still Guy Richie.

46:43 You know I brought I brought a lot of my friends. Hannold's back, you know, he he brings him out. Matthew McConaughey. I love this movie. I think this it's so good. Yeah, that one. This one feels like lock Stock and Snatch again, like he's bringing that energy back. I'm surprised it took him this long to work with Colin Ferrell. Yeah, they just it feels so right, like that the right energy, the cool but still really highly talented and badass but fun like Yeah, and this I do. I'm skipping the head. But Netflix just released Guy Ritchie did a Netflix series. He's doing a Netflix series for the Gentleman. I have not watched it yet. It's it's on my queue. You know how hard it is to keep up with with content now, but it's it's high on my list for sure. Yeah, it's it's it's on my list. I you know, I currently you know, Netflix pissed me off, so I got rid of it for a little while. I'm sure when I bran it back, I'll be like, Okay, the first thing I'll do I'll watch is the Gentleman TV series that that that just came out this year. But good so I've heard. I've heard nothing but good things. Uh. Another one. I missed this in the theater and it's in my queue right now.

47:52 The Covenant with Jake Gillenhall he did last year. Yeah, yeah, I I think I got a bad tastement. Before I realized it was Guy Richie, I was like, oh, it's just a war movie. It's Jake Jones jumps at Jake Johnson, It's, you know, a war movie with Jake gill at Hall. I wasn't that on board until I heard it was Guy Richie. I was like, okay, maybe I'll give us a shot. Then I remember watching it is the reason I'm going to give it a shot. Yeah, I remember. I remember watching the trailer and just feeling like, you know what, I I liked it the first time when Mark Wahlberg did it and Loan Survivor. But then but then it says Guy. Then you see Guy Richie's name, and you're like, well, hold on all right now, I'm back in now now I want to watch it again. Yeah, because it could be like a three King scenario. I remember the first time I saw the trailer for Three Kings, I was like, oh, it's just boring war movie and I want but it's so clever and unique and funny, you know. Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's in my cue. Uh. Definitely looking forward to to watching that when when I got some free time. But uh, i'll tell you what the next the next Guy Richie movie I'm watching, I'll be in the theater watching, uh, the Ministry of Ungentleman Warfare, because that's that's out, Like we said, it came out just a few days ago. I feel like this is gonna be one of those, you know, just based on it's the critics loving it, in the audience that has seen it loving it. This is gonna be one of those like a sleeper that's like, oh hey, you know Warfare. It's it's been like six weeks and it's still out there and it's still like in the top three. And now Alan Richardson is so hot right now, Like he's I feel like he's everywhere. I'm seeing his

49:23 face pop up on social media on you know, all this stuff. He's got that Reacher heat. Yeah, I feel like he's bringing that which is definitely helping get some buzz out there. But it's just it looks so cool. It does, and I just I feel like if Alex Garlands Civil War had not just come out, we went and saw a sneak preview, and I'm telling you right now, this is probably gonna be one of the best movies you see this year, and if A twenty four is smart, they will re release it like around November December to get the Oscar talk going yep, because it is just a tour de force film that will have you question things talking. Yeah, Darland is amazing, so I'm not surprised. Yeah, I'm telling you this is I don't want to spoil it. I'll just stop talking about it. But it's it's a mussy, absolutely mussy. Uh.

50:15 But let's talk about what what guy Ritchie has coming up. He is staying busy, Andrew. I've got four projects that he's attached to to direct. Let's le let's go through this lineup because some of this sounds familiar, some of this sounds new and exciting, and some of it sounds like, hey, we just just don't do it. But he's currently in post production on a film called In the Gray tell me if you've heard this one before. Two extraction specialists played by Henry Cavell and Jake Gillenhall try to help a female negotiator escape. He's kind of like the first twenty minutes of The Man from Uncle. No, it's not feeling it feels that way, but I'm sure it's gonna be something completely different. But uh, that one's coming out next year. Looks like it's uh, they've they're they're about done, they've locked the picture and there he's working on editing. But that one sounds fantastic.

51:15 Yeah, I mean a good cast guy, ritchie, high stakes hijinks, like I'm on board. That's that's all you really need. All right, let's the Let's talk about his other one. He's currently in production on a film called Fountain of Youth. Two a strange siblings, Nally Portman and John Krasinski set out to find the legendary Fountain of Youth, using historical clues to aid their adventure. No national bit of that got me. I I love national treasure vibes. Maybe yeah, you're but like, I don't know, something that just feels a little silly, a little bit right, Like maybe he does it though, you know, he's maybe for the the King Arthur fans that he won over. He's like, hey, hey, I'm still fantasy, Guy Ritchie, I got something for you, you know.

52:07 Yeah, I mean it's it. I I generally like his stuff, even the bad stuff is all right, So I may give it a shot. But that one doesn't grab me the same way some of this other stuff does. We'll have to We'll wait for the trailer on that one. Yeah, definitely is he's enjoying TV because he's in pre production on another television show, a crime drama called The Donovans, which is supposed to show two different families, like over the years. Not a whole lot out there other than that, but uh, it could be good, right, Yeah, crime is I feel like Guy Ritchie's wheelhouse, Like that's his sweet spot when it's you know that the CD under belly and the way it all interacts with each other. I mean, that's what makes a lot of his stuff work. So it does. I can see it. And Uh, lastly, and sadly, Andrew, he is in pre production on Aladdin two. Uh, it's it's a it's a sequel. It's a sequel. Uh that Richie says may use elements of the animated sequels Return of Ja'afar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves. Fantastic, but it's mostly but is mostly going to be its own thing. So that's that's so silly. It's circled back around to I kind of enjoy it again. That's terrible. I and I mean I like some Disney sequels, but not almost. Never good. Almost They're never good outside of like some of the Pixar stuff. They're they're never well, let's be I will say, but hot take here. Frozen two is better than Frozen

53:39 one. I've been watching them a lot because I have a two year old at home. Oh yeah, you're yeah, you're you're you're a Disney dad. Now you're going to start watching all those those films. Oh, I have been. It's it's been interesting. That's why. Like I said, I watched the I watched Aladdin. It man, it's not it's not great. Yeah, well, I think I think the I think The Man from Uncle is great. I rented it on Prime. But you got a physical copy, don't you. Yeah, I've just got the DVD. But I was actually looking while I was watching this. Some of the special features and stuff. The Blue Rays got some pretty cool stuff, including a bit about his motorcycle, which I know we talked about earlier. So the original twenty fifteen DVD that I have doesn't have a whole lot of great features, but you can find a pretty good copy out there. If there is a four K Blu Ray out there, I'm going to add to my collection this week probably. Well. Listen, Like we talked about before, I think this is the best look at a guy Ritchie directed James Bond film, and it's probably the closest we'll ever see Henry Cavill play James Bond. So for those reasons alone, I strongly recommend this film. Couldn't agree more. Yeah, well, listeners, what do you think of the man from Uncle? Let us know on social media. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can check out a Film by Podcast dot com for all of our episodes that are streaming free. We're also doing film and TV articles.

55:07 Whole library is there, and you can write to us at a Film by Podcast at gmail dot com with your questions, comments and concerns. We may just read your response on the show and send you some A Film by swag. You can join us tomorrow for our Star Trek themed series Phasers Set to Stun. Wayne, David and Scott are continuing the recap of Discovery on Paramount Plus. Andrew, do you ever watch a film you expect to love and ask yourself what the heck happened when it turns out to be terrible? A few times? Yes, a few times? Right? Well, our friends Jason and Dee over on the Shirley You Can't Be Serious Podcast have asked that question several times as well. Last week I joined them to talk about what went wrong on Jawl's three D, and this week they had me back to talk about what went wrong on Beverly Hills Cop Free. So please please head over to the Sureley You Can't Be Serious Podcast, a podcast for the MTV generation, for what I promise is a fun bunch of episodes. Andrew, always always a blast having you show up and talk talk movies. You're back again next week too, for We're in your wheelhouse too, buddy.

56:30 Oh yeah, twenty ten, the year we make contact more great fake Russian accent. I'm looking forward to. Yeah, John Lithgow Russian John Lithgow. Right, so good? I can't wait for you to geek out and give us all the NASA lowdown on this movie. I'm so excited for it. I truly am man, So I'm definitely looking forward to that. And to all of you out there listening, hitting that like or follow button and subscribing to our Patreon for the exclusive content, we thank you.