Posterized: Guy Ritchie
Friday, May 12, 2017 at 2:35PM 
The British director Guy Ritchie never finished school and didn't attend film school either but by the time he was 28 he was on his way to making cinematic waves. His short film The Hard Case (1995) attracted the attention of financiers and his debut feature Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) was a scrappy success. Sudden fame for new directors is usually somewhat invisible since it's their names rather than faces that get the publicity. Not so for Guy Ritchie. His rise went meteoric via a marriage to global household name Madonna before people had even really learned his name. They famously wore each other's new products on t-shirts; he pushed her album "Music" across his chest in 2000 as she paraded Snatch, his second film, around on hers.
The marriage soured but his movies got bigger and bigger if not always more successful. Like any regularly working director he's had both hits and misses. His 9th feature King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is now open in theaters everywhere.
Let's look at all his movies via posterized after the jump. How many have you seen?
WHIRLWIND RISE (1998-2002)
BECOMING A BRAND (2002-2009)
POST-MADONNA FRANCHISE FOCUS (2011-2017)
(Sad that his best recent film (The Man From UNCLE) was his biggest flop)
Beyond those features there's his off-feature Madonna work. He directed his then wife to self-deprecating comic heights in the wonderful BMI short film "Star" with Clive Owen and he also helmed her crime spree video "What It Feels Like For a Girl"
What do you think of his filmography?
Will you be seeing King Arthur: Legend of the Sword? Given the violent lad pictures he's so well known for what do you think Disney saw in him when they hired him for their forthcoming live action treatment of Aladdin?
Reader Comments (24)
Seen 'em all, except for the new one, King Arthur.
I've seen four and hated them. Empty style-over-substance exercises. Meh.
I've seen half. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is delicious, and deserved a much better fate (read: B.O.) than it got.
P.S. Stop trying to make Charlie Hunnam happen.
Looking at that roster, I can say authoritatively that I've never had a desire to see a single movie to which his name has been attached, his most recent release not excluded.
Pitty that Charlie didn't got Mr Grey. By far much better and attactive than Jamie "Door" Dornan...
Pitty that Charlie didn't got Mr Grey. By far much better and attractive than Jamie "Door" Dornan...
SWEPT AWAY!! :-) It's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be!
PITY! Sorry;
I love the first Sherlock Holmes movie, the second one isn't awful but not nearly as good. RDJ and Jude Law need to make more movies together. It would be a shame to waste such great chemistry.
I'm rather 'meh' about UNCLE tbh. Although it did show me that perhaps Cavill isn't as much of a block of wood as the Superman films suggest.
I've always been a fan of his style, but I hate the franchise direction. Barrells, Snatch, and Rock N Rolla are 3 that I come back to frequently. The first Holmes and UNCLE were good, but this King Arthur movie seemed like a terrible idea from the start.
I've seen five. Pretty much love one (Snatch), like another (Lock, Stock) and meh on the other three (Sherlock Holmes Series and Man from U.N.C.L.E.), but I generally feel that Matthew Vaughn is a better director (more deliberate, certainly), even in his biggest misstep, as a director, to date, Kingsman.
I'm only sure of having seen two--Snatch and The Man from UNCLE--neither of which had things to recommend about them but they were also overblown films. I recall seeing Sherlock Holmes but may not have finished it, and I'm surprised I can't remember if I've seen Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Getting old.
Overall, he's the very definition of style over substance. His films are not as clever as he thinks they are.
The 60s vibe led me to TMFU, which I loved. The other ones just don't interest me.
Swept Away was horrible. I'm sure Lina Wertmuller wanted to hunt down Guy and Madonna for ruining her masterpiece.
Only three -the two Holmes and the very stylish "Man from Uncle" there is only one King Arthur movie worth watching and that is Boorman's " Excalibur"
I have seen 6. Which is 66% and more than I have usually seen in posterized but none I would recommend. Nothing about the latest King Arthur interests me.
I've seen 5. Not my cup of tea.
Swept Away is AWFUL
I'm with Jaragon on this one. Those same three, plus "Snatch", and "Excalibur" was awesome!
Will probably see "King Arthur" at some point, but.... eh.
Man from UNCLE
Lock Stock
Snatch
Rocknrolla
= worth seeing.
The rest... not so much.
Everything after Rocknrolla just says "director for hire" as if any kind of auteurist vision had to go once his films started flopping.
Swept Way is one of the few films I ever had to turn off half way, another being W.E. - notice a trend?
Can't stand his style. One 'acclaimed' director who I actively avoid.
I find he's a very empty director, although I never saw UNCLE, which most people say is pretty good.
As someone old enough to actually recall the early sixties - and watched the original U.N.C.L.E. series - I have to say that I think Ritchie's movie is downright terrible. Its alleged sixties style is bogus, none of the characters have any chemistry with one another, and it utterly fails to honor the things that made the original series unique and fun. Feh!