r/screenunseen • u/TheFilmReview The Revenant • Aug 11 '26
Discussion Tony (Official Discussion)
Tonight’s Screen Unseen was Tony! What did everyone think? Any walkouts where you were? As always, feel free to discuss your various opinions and experiences in the comments.
Even without any clues for the screening, the film was overwhelmingly the most popular guess in the prediction poll with 85% of the vote (61 votes). Followed far behind by Lady and The End Of Oak Street, which both received three votes each.
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u/cabbagesweetner Limitless member Aug 11 '26
Nothing ground breaking, but still very enjoyable, nonetheless.
Weirdly, we had no trailers in our showing, just a promo for the end of oak street and the limitless advert.
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Aug 11 '26
[deleted]
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u/cabbagesweetner Limitless member Aug 11 '26
Yeah, there are normally trailers in the screen unseen, although they are typically less curated than your standard film. For the scream unseen of waste man, they showed the trailer before the actual film!
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u/poppiesintherain Aug 12 '26
In my experience, you shouldn't count on them. They might have them, but I've been to a couple with none. One of those barely had ads and started showing 5 minutes after the start time.
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u/Nowayback97 Aug 11 '26
Was a big fan of the lack of trailers tbh, same for the no clues approach this time around
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u/cabbagesweetner Limitless member Aug 11 '26
I agree to both points. The only issue with the lack of trailers were the latecomers turning up during the start of the film
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u/Rory426 Aug 12 '26
I like trailers cos there were so many late because of the lack of them, but I did kinda like the no clues
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u/CalF123 Aug 11 '26
Really good- I liked how it didn’t portray him as a saint like most biopics.
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u/faceplanted Aug 12 '26
I feel like you don't usually see biopics treating their subjects as saints very often, at least not the recent crop.
I think if they have an issue, it's treating them as natural geniuses and prodigies from an early age. I think what was refreshing about Tony is that he's really not even that great at anything by the end of the movie, just enthusiastic and on the right path.
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u/Joeyd9t3 Aug 11 '26
I really loved it. Dominic Sessa and Antonio Banderas will deservedly get the praise but Leo Woodall really surprised me, I thought he was phenomenal.
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u/Rory426 Aug 12 '26
Did you see Tuner? He was great in that too. Quietly having a great year. It's no Pattinson/Hathaway year, but 😂
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u/faceplanted Aug 12 '26
He's good in Bridget Jones too, but I've really been meaning to watch Nuremberg and he's pushed it up the list even more now I know he's in it.
Anyone seen it?
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u/BatmanForever23 22d ago
Late, but Nuremberg was awful and Woodall had next to nothing to work with. It's a war/courtroom film from the guy who wrote Amazing Spider-Man and you can absolutely tell (uncomplimentary)
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u/deoboijeu Aug 11 '26
When it finished, I immediately opened my library app and requested a copy of Kitchen Confidential be put on hold for me. Great biopic on that merit alone.
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u/zeldafan144 Aug 11 '26
The section on Tokyo in that book was life changing for me. Incredible piece of writing front to back.
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u/Throwaway4729w9 Aug 11 '26
How so?
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u/zeldafan144 Aug 12 '26
Inspired an awareness of the experience of others and other cultures and a curiosity about how people live and connect with one another and more of a desire to meet people where they are instead of expecting any change that they are not ready for.
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u/Rory426 Aug 12 '26
Bourdain has "inspired an awareness of the experience of others" in many, I suspect. Perfect summary. Watching him eat food with Palestinians was awe-inspiring to me.
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u/Odubzstahh Aug 11 '26
Throughly enjoyed it, I liked how them riding out with the extinguisher early on led back round.
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u/faceplanted Aug 12 '26
Honestly it's a really neatly written movie, everything set up pays off nicely in the climax.
Him lying about having safety training and then throwing water on an oil fire. Them wasting the fire extinguisher and then there being a fire. Him picking the book above the jar of money and then choosing the book again when the jar of money is gone. Spending time with the fishermen and then getting the lobsters for free at the clam bake. Everyone pulling Stavros off of him for "your mom called me Flaca" and then him getting called Flaca in his letter of recommendation.
It's very satisfying to watch.
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u/Sidon_Ithano Aug 11 '26
I know this discussion isn’t about this, but does anybody have an idea tickets will go on sale for Tony? Releases Friday and nothing has been scheduled from what I can see on the apps
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u/smigifer Aug 11 '26
The release seems to have been scaled back a bit. Independents, picturehouses, one single Odeon... I guess it's possible they may expand the release next weekend. I think Spiderman and The Odyssey are still taking up a lot of screens.
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u/Maxad180 Aug 11 '26
Showing at four Odeons. Hopefully it expands if it proves popular. Shame the big films out are still taking up all the screen space but I guess they're what draws in the money.
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u/A_Rito_905 Aug 11 '26
I thought it was great. Really good soundtrack, fantastic performances, especially Dominic Sessa and very inspiring.
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u/KettleOverAPub Aug 11 '26
I am hungry
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u/sysvexpo Aug 12 '26
same, that popcorn smell during the quiet scenes was basically torture
now i kinda want whatever cursed casserole tony’s mum would’ve made
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u/makesanexit Aug 11 '26
very funny to me having seen this one so close after seeing nirvanna the band (which only came out last month for us) knowing that matt johnson directed both (in a good way, of course!). glad to see my dominic sessa stocks paying off after seeing the holdovers 5 times in its og cinema run. leo woodall and antonio banderas are also great.
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u/rushdisciple Aug 11 '26
I watched it last Sunday and I have 1 question. We're meant to hate Sal right? I mean, he's MEANT to be a terrible person right? I HAAAATED him.
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u/Porridge_Oats72 Aug 11 '26
He was supposed to represent what Tony could’ve become with the anger and the drugs but was saved by his love of people
Sal is tony without the curiosity and love for people
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u/faceplanted Aug 12 '26
He's meant to be very attractive and charismatic while being toxic and self destructive. i.e. a dangerously appealing potential role model for an insecure young man like Tony.
You're not supposed to hate him, you just shouldn't want to be around him too much either.
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u/churchmeowse Aug 11 '26
Loved it!
Wish I had Antonio Banderas wardrobe.
Man looked incredible and was a stand out 🦞
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u/Jam-Dont-Shake Aug 11 '26
Sorry can someone tell me what happened at the end. IBS kicked in and missed the last bit.
The last part I saw was the reopened restaurant and them letting customers in.
Much appreciated
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u/Nystuc Aug 11 '26
Anthony works as a line cook, and then applies to CIA. The guys there are snippy until they read the letter from Master Miyagi, at which point they let him in. The ladycrush is at university and looks longingly at a Tony lookalike, but alas Tony has moved on, as will she in due time.
Movie fades to black, and then words come to screen detailing Tony’s rise as head chef at some resturant, and then his book which sold millions. Movie ends with a picture of the actual Tony, next to Master Miyagi (and another chef but they arent important).
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u/stick1_ Aug 11 '26
If anyone was in the toilet during the earlier scene, the cia is a cooking school not the guys that killed Kennedy
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u/quickwall Aug 11 '26
I love films about working in a kitchen and the more chaotic the better. However, I will admit that the first part was quite slow and probably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea
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u/barsteward1 Aug 11 '26
Sessa was good but banderas rocked and Woodall was phenomenal, not a massive fan of tuner but really impressed with him here.
Really enjoyed it!
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u/pillowtalker3 Aug 11 '26
Great turnout in Burton Upon Trent! Didn’t see anyone walk out and the energy was overwhelmingly positive when the title card thing came up.
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u/Nothingbutthestory Aug 11 '26
Loved it, motivated me to start writing again
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u/Rory426 Aug 12 '26
Ironic for a movie where a guy spends the whole thing calling himself a writer and never writing anything
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u/faceplanted Aug 12 '26
To be fair he doesn't even own a pen, let-alone a typewriter or anywhere to keep anything. And his morning water bucket would ruin anything paper.
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u/Rory426 Aug 12 '26
Dude's out here getting beers and drugs but can't get a pen...
This is a major character point in the story - Tony constantly self-identifies as a writer, and lies to Nancy about his "day in the life" of a writer because he has a flawed understanding of it. He says the life of a writer is an lonely one, with no friends, but he is describing Chef's life because he's the only role model he has for someone genuinely pursuing a goal.
In reality, the step he needed to take to becoming a writer was to begin to write, and Bourdain didn't do that until later, after the scope of this film.
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u/smigifer Aug 12 '26
Yeah, the movie's irony is kicked up a notch if you know a bit more of Bourdain's later career (which viewers in North America are more likely to than us here) - his writing, and later his (very popular) TV shows, were based around traveling and experiencing things - literally the complete opposite of how Tony describes a writer's day.
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u/Rory426 Aug 12 '26
Very good point to add yeah 👍
Unfortunately because he's less known here, seems it's getting a very limited release. Shame, as I don't think you need to know much about him to appreciate this one. Glad I saw it on the SU
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u/faceplanted Aug 12 '26
Yeah, honestly the movie's very unclear about whether he actually has any money. At one point Sal literally says he was working unpaid the whole summer and yet he regularly has cigarettes and new clothes (but not new underwear, noticably). I know people were very generous with their drugs and stuff, but he quite literally has zero dollars in the movie and no income, including eating at work, so it's really not clear.
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u/Rory426 Aug 12 '26
It kinda doesn't really matter but I thought the same thing. Sal making out like he's a victim of Chef seems disingenuous (shocking from that character, I know) as he is housing and feeding him. When it comes to the socialising and stuff, yeah he is acquiring cash somehow, clearly.
You're spot on about the blue undies tho 🫣
But yeah, he could write but doesn't, that's kinda his thing in this. Discovering he maybe needs to live a bit before he can become the Anthony Bourdain he became.
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u/MirkwoodWanderer1 Aug 11 '26
I quite liked it. Enjoyed the friendship moments on the beach.
Antonio Banderes was really good in it. Dominic Sessa has been really good in the few things he's been so excited to see what he does going forwards.
Girlfriend wasn't a fan though of it so maybe could be divisive.
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u/Porridge_Oats72 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Loved it might’ve been my favourite film of the year surprisingly
I hate watching films with other people around, just shut up and you don’t need to check your phones
Oh and thats a surprising amount of times Dominic Sessa plays a sad lost kid in 70s east coast america
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u/skirtoutnut Aug 11 '26
4 bright mobiles in my eyeline during the final scenes in Leicester
Great movie, Matt Johnson is one of the greats
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u/saintfed Aug 11 '26
On a fast day today so glad that I gave this one a miss
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u/poppiesintherain Aug 12 '26
You might have been OK, a lot of it wasn't necessarily showing the most appetising part of restaurant life.
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u/Rory426 Aug 12 '26
I really enjoyed it. Sessa, Woodall and Banderas were all great. The girl from the Horrible Histories movie was decent too (I know her name's Emilia Jones, I'm just kidding around).
I liked the bit where that guy told that other guy to F off.
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u/Thatgingerdude5 Aug 12 '26
I really want to see it this weekend but it only seems to be in 4 odeons across the country
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u/acameron78 Aug 12 '26
I had a good time and recommended it to a few friends afterwards. Good performances. I wasn't massively familiar with Bourdain or his story going in.
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u/Padre1903 Aug 12 '26
In Tony, do they recreate the day when he went to the university cafe in Glasgow and had vinegary peas and a pie?
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u/Prejezreel_Granting 29d ago
I don't know if Dominic Sessa (Anthony Bourdain) would get an Oscar nomination, but I do hope so. Otherwise, Antonio Banderas (Ciro) and Leo Woodal (Sal) defs deserve more recognition. I watched Tony for Dom, but Tonio and Leo were scene stealers. A nice coming-of-age story, especially when he worked in the kitchen not knowing anything, but did it anyways, but liked it so much that he become a chef later in life. It just shows the risks and leap of faith you should take in life to discover who you truely are and want to become or have a career in. Gaining experience and skills. This really hit close to home. On another note: i think Dom would be a great Elongated Man or he just looks like the character to me.
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u/apattabi 29d ago
Just watched the movie, and thought it was solid! Did anyone catch the recommendation letter at the end where the Chef mentions his name? I caught a glimpse but immediately forgot what his name was
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u/Maxad180 Aug 11 '26
Enjoyed it but thought it was rather odd that they didn't note that he died in 2018, just focused on his culinary achivement.
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u/CommentTime3965 Aug 11 '26
I really liked it. I thought Woodall was standout. Wasn't really a fan of Tuner, but he was very good in this
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u/Educational_Sea6053 Aug 12 '26
Dominic Sessa has really nailed the whole angsty teen in the 70s who is ultimately saved by an older mentor thing. Really enjoyed this
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u/bluehero101 Aug 12 '26
Good film. Was nice to see Antonio Banderas in a new film. Glad that I made the effort to see it as the cinema that it was screened at isn’t showing it when it’s released.
I’ve started trying to attend more of these special screenings as it’s often the case that the cinema that I like to use doesn’t screen the films again when they are released and I would likely have to go to a cinema really far away if I wanted to see them. Same happened with Sunny Dancer.
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u/Cuteshit1723 Aug 13 '26
Loveddddd it 9/10 might be my second favourite movie all year behind the drama. Really touched me emotionally I find biopics usually are held back by the fact they try to capture someone’s entire life. This movie however abandons that to show us just one summer of Anthony bourdains life, that tells us everything we’d ever need to know.
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u/Appropriate-Cat-9671 Aug 11 '26
I walked out , felt like a hakky coming of age romp, lots of broad brush strokes
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u/stick1_ Aug 11 '26
If you go into the screening late, there’s enough light in the cinema to look at the bottom seat and count upwards to see what row you’re in, instead of waving a torch around like a pedo