Blank Check — Patreon: Edge of Tomorrow

Published 2026-05-01; 1:47:31 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “Edge of Tomorrow”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims, Ben Hosley. Guests: none.

Subject films: Edge of Tomorrow (2014).

On the transcript: Transcript is auto-generated with no speaker labels and many sentence-splitting errors; the cold open and tail play the episode intro. Hosts present: Griffin, David, Ben.

Films that came up

Claims (74)

career (career): Edge of Tomorrow → Top Gun: Maverick. Edge cracked a new era of Cruise; Ethan Hunt and Maverick run on what he learned here.
“That Maverick is really running on a lot of this.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:03:24 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Edge of Tomorrow → The Mummy. The Mummy is named as another place the post-Edge Cruise persona shows up.
“The mummy?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:03:29 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Tom Cruise → Magnolia. Before Edge, Magnolia would have been his best performance, a post-modern text analyzing his persona.
“Magnolia is his best performance because it's like the post-modern text analyzing.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:03:45 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Tom Cruise → Eyes Wide Shut. Vanilla Sky and Eyes Wide Shut dissect his persona outside the blockbuster, whereas Edge does it inside a blockbuster.
“like vanilla sky and eyes wide shut, like the ones that are kind of dissecting his persona”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:03:54 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Edge of Tomorrow → Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Bourne, Smith and Edge all had the 'is he ever going to finish' chaos, with actors replaced mid-shoot.
“Bourne and Smith and Edge of Tomorrow all had that thing of like, is he ever going to finish this thing?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:10:45 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Edge of Tomorrow → Groundhog Day. The pitch is Groundhog Day as sci-fi action, and it keeps the loop while adding war stakes.
“Doug Lyman is doing like an sci-fi action movie groundhog day with Tom Cruise”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:11:26 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Edge of Tomorrow → American Made. Edge is the end of the run where Cruise looks like an aged-well human; by American Made he looks 'nuts'.
“This is the end of that run.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:15:00 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Edge of Tomorrow → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. By the time Fallout came out people were saying Edge also ruled; these are modern Cruise's high points.
“these are now kind of his high points for modern Tom.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:16:59 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Edge of Tomorrow → The Grand Budapest Hotel. Edge is better than half of the 2014 Oscar movies.
“I would say Edge is better than half of those movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:17:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Boyhood. The speaker ranks Edge over Boyhood, which is respectable.
“I like this more than boyhood, but boyhood is respectable.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:17:57 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Cocktail. Unlike Cocktail or The Color of Money, Cruise's character does not have all the moves; he has to learn them.
“It's not cocktail, it's not color money.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:20:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → The Color of Money. Same point: the earlier Cruise plays the guy who has the moves; Edge has him work for them.
“not this guy has all the moves.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:20:55 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Christopher McQuarrie → Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. This movie is followed by Cruise handing McQuarrie the directing job on Mission Impossible.
“there's a reason why this movie is followed up by him saying you're the director of Mission Impossible now”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:22:47 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): Jack Reacher → Christopher McQuarrie. At the time, giving the Jack Reacher guy Mission Impossible felt like a step down.
“he's given the Jack Reacher guy, Mission Impossible.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:22:47 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): Tom Cruise → Doug Liman. Cruise and Liman, McQuarrie and Kosinski became Cruise's guys: directors he can collaborate with rather than be pushed back by.
“Cruz did Kacinski, Lyman and Macquarie became just his guys.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:23:45 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Battleship. Most 2010s movie aliens were CGI things in an armored suit like Battleship.
“It was the battleship thing”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:29:02 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Arrival. Edge and Arrival were the two 2010s alien movies that finally went non-humanoid.
“this and arrival were the 2 that were like, what if it's not humanoid at all?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:29:10 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → The Tomorrow War. Tomorrow War has half a good alien design, like a fleshy version of Edge's.
“it kind of felt like it was just like a fleshy version of this”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:29:28 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → Lady in the Water. The mimics look like the scrunts from Lady in the Water, with tendrils.
“They look kind of like scrunts from Lady in the Water”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:29:59 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → District 9. District 9 is good alien design but traditional: bugs.
“I guess district 9 is good alien design.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:30:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Cowboys & Aliens. Cowboys & Aliens has entirely CGI aliens still designed as if putting a suit on a person.
“Like Cowboys and Aliens has the same problem”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:30:37 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → The Matrix. The mimics recall the Matrix Sentinels but do not feel derivative.
“There's a little bit of the Matrix Sentinel.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:31:17 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → Ghostbusters. The Noah Taylor briefing carries the same 'I'm not sure, it might end the world' flavor as Ghostbusters' cross the streams.
“The Ghostbusters thing of like what happens if we cross the streams.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:34:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day's loop is unexplained and mystical (a witch after a bad date); Edge gives a rule-based answer, the aliens' reset ability as competitive advantage.
“the wise decision that Groundhog Day was supposed to be like a witch curses him after a bad date.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:35:06 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Big. Time-loop and magic movies like Big refuse to explain the magic (a fortune-teller machine); Edge justifies its premise.
“Usually it's better to not explain these things.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:35:28 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Edge of Tomorrow → Groundhog Day. Both are about depression and being stuck; Edge adds the stakes that you keep dying, and it stays hopeful.
“Groundhog Day, I would say is also like about depression.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:40:05 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day hits an inflection point where Bill Murray tries suicide and then just lives through it; Edge is about repeated violent deaths and the hope of advancing.
“Groundhog Day hits the inflection point about halfway through where he's like, let me kill myself.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:40:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Edge of Tomorrow → Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Smith is a movie where you feel the Liman chaos; one host does not like it, the other finds it messy and enjoyable.
“It is a movie where you feel the Lymania.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:43:35 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Brad Pitt → Mr. & Mrs. Smith. One host finds Pitt very disengaged in Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
“I just, I find Pitt very disengaged in it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:43:54 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Doug Liman → Swingers. Swingers and the OC pilot are the zeitgeist hits that earned Liman the benefit of the doubt.
“swingers like launched a 1000 ships, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:44:50 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Doug Liman → The Bourne Identity. Bourne launched a lucrative franchise even though Liman did not make the sequels, which kept studios circling back to him.
“Bourne identity launched like an incredibly lucrative franchise.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:44:54 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Brad Pitt → Edge of Tomorrow. Pitt was Liman's first choice for the lead and dropped out; the hosts think Cruise is better.
“I mean, like, I think cruise is better.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:45:54 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Alex Kurtzman → Transformers. Kurtzman and Orci are cast as kings of magic blood, writers of Transformers and Star Trek.
“they were the Kings of magic blood.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:46:39 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Edge of Tomorrow → Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Ghost Protocol had the same chaos, with a hundred writers, which McQuarrie solved by starting to film and figuring it out.
“This was the Macquarie thing, and this is exactly what happened on Ghost Protocol”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:47:12 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): Christopher McQuarrie → Edge of Tomorrow. McQuarrie joined halfway through filming, connected the dots, and became the writer on set; he then got Mission Impossible.
“They hire Macquarie like halfway through filming and he immediately looks at what they have and starts like connecting dots and solving problems.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:47:22 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → Raiders of the Lost Ark. The black blood burning through Cage's face in his first death is 'end of Raiders shit'.
“like end of Raiders shit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:50:43 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Doug Liman → Chaos Walking. After Edge, Liman never got another good one; Chaos Walking went through reshoots and recasting and came out years late.
“chaos walking is going back for its 4th round of reshoots and recastings”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:54:29 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Doug Liman → American Made. American Made is the good, messy one Liman made right after Edge.
“American made, which is good.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:55:22 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Edge of Tomorrow → Locked Down. Liman's post-Edge filmography: The Wall, American Made, Locked Down.
“But then it was locked down, which sucks.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:55:27 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Doug Liman → Road House. Road House is a Liman film the speaker despised.
“Roadhouse, which I really despised.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:55:34 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Doug Liman → The Instigators. The Instigators feels anonymous with none of the Liman crazy.
“where is the Lyman crazy?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:55:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Edge of Tomorrow → Oblivion. Oblivion is the other movie Cruise made in this stretch where he is messing with his persona: a man who looks and acts like Tom Cruise but does not know who he is.
“oblivion, the other movie he made in this time where he's trying shit”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:56:13 · Ben Hosley (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Edge of Tomorrow → Oblivion. Oblivion is sad and quiet; Edge gets the humor Oblivion needed.
“I think that movie needs more humor.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:56:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Emily Blunt → Looper. Looper was when people started to say they liked her; Edge is where she is agreed to be a star.
“Looper felt smart for using her so well.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:57:59 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Emily Blunt → The Devil Wears Prada. Prada plus My Summer of Love is how she was discovered and signed to a two-picture deal.
“they're like, here's a discovery.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:58:42 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Emily Blunt → Iron Man 2. Fox kept Blunt in Gulliver's Travels instead of letting her be Black Widow in Iron Man 2 and the Avengers.
“Then John Favreau was like, I want you to play Black Widow and Iron Man 2”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:58:49 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Emily Blunt → Get Him to the Greek. Blunt dropped out of Get Him to the Greek; Rose Byrne replaced her and entered the Apatow system, leaving Blunt in a middle zone until Edge.
“They replaced her with Rose Byrne, who then gets properly fed into the Appatau system”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:59:36 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Edge of Tomorrow → Jumper. Same director, similar practical-effect obsession; Jumper has a good idea and a bad story, Edge solves it.
“you're like, he figured out this one thing and the story sucks.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:02:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Doug Liman → Jumper. Liman's tactile, cable-pulled approach on Jumper's teleports prefigures the practical exosuits in Edge, a classic Liman obsession that here paid off.
“You're like classic Lyman mistake, except they solve it”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:02:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Edge of Tomorrow → RoboCop. The hosts recorded a RoboCop commentary in the slot where Edge was originally scheduled, and the opening news montage reminds them of RoboCop's.
“I mean, we just saw it with like Robocop.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:05:18 · Ben Hosley (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → Mission: Impossible III. Casting Brendan Gleeson parallels Philip Seymour Hoffman in MI3: the best foil for Cruise comes from a different acting discipline.
“like casting Philip Seymour Hoffman in Mission Impossible 3”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:12:38 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Bill Paxton → Training Day (TV series). Paxton went from Edge to the CBS Training Day series, which he died during.
“He goes from this to the, um, uh, training day TV show and then he dies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:14:53 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Bill Paxton → Nightcrawler. Paxton is in Nightcrawler and is really good in it.
“Really good in that.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:16:15 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Bill Paxton → Big Love (TV series). Big Love was his apex moment on a prestige show, with Emmy nominations.
“he finally got his sort of apex moment on his prestige show.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:16:48 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Bill Paxton → Tom Cruise. Paxton, who worked every position in the Corman system, shares Cruise's 'isn't this great, we're making movies' reputation.
“he had the Tom Cruise thing of like, isn't this great?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:17:27 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Kick Gurry → Speed Racer. Kick Gurry, a J Squad soldier, was Sparky in Speed Racer.
“who, of course, was Sparky in... Speed Racer.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:18:51 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Tony Way → Black Books (TV series). Tony Way, Kimmel in J Squad, plays the clerk in a Black Books episode.
“in black books, there's the episode where Bernard gets locked out of the bookshop.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:19:19 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Edge of Tomorrow → Snabba Cash. Dragomir Mrsic from Edge is in Snabba Cash, the Swedish film that got Joel Kinnaman English-language work and Espinosa the RoboCop remake.
“It's the thing that got Joel Kinnaman in English language productions, and then Daniel Espinoza gets hired to do the Robocop remake”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:20:25 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Charlotte Riley → Masters of the Universe. Charlotte Riley (Nance) plays Queen Marlena in Masters of the Universe this year.
“She plays Queen Marlena.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:21:42 · Ben Hosley (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → Groundhog Day. The choreography of the repeated day (dodging people, counting it off) is what Groundhog Day does.
“It's what Grandhog Day does.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:25:57 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → Monsters, Inc.. The ambiguous final beat mirrors Monsters Inc.: you want to know he goes back to her but no more definitive answer.
“the perfect ending because it's like the Monsters Inc. ending”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:35:37 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Fallout has the same ending as Edge: cut on Cruise's smile with a weird pop-song needle drop.
“Fallout kind of have the same ending.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:36:27 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Edge of Tomorrow → The Bourne Identity. The end-credits pop song sounds like the Moby song Bourne ends with.
“it sort of sounds like the Moby song that Bourne ends with”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:36:44 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Moby → Edge of Tomorrow. The pop song over Edge of Tomorrow's final cut sounds like the Moby song that ends Bourne.
“it sort of sounds like the Moby song that Bourne ends with, which then the later borns all use.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:36:44 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Doug Liman → Dion Beebe. Liman often shoots his own films, but Dion Beebe shot Edge of Tomorrow.
“He's shot a couple of his films, but no, Dion B. shot this.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:36:59 · Griffin Newman (0.35 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Doug Liman → Swingers. Liman shot Fair Game, Swingers and Go himself.
“He did shoot fair game and he shot swingers in go.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:37:05 · Griffin Newman (0.35 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Doug Liman → Tom Cruise. Liman and Cruise announced a film shot in space; it was canceled because Cruise didn't want to owe Trump a favor.
“the space movie is finally like officially fucking canceled”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:37:47 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Doug Liman → Tom Hardy. Liman was working with Hardy on a Mount Everest movie and training to climb.
“Doug Lyman was working with Tom Hardy on a Mount Everest movie”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:38:21 · Ben Hosley (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Edge of Tomorrow → X-Men: Days of Future Past. On the opening weekend chart, Edge opened third behind Fault in Our Stars and Maleficent; X-Men DoFP was still fourth.
“Edge of Tomorrow is number three.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:40:54 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): X-Men: Days of Future Past → Spider-Man: No Way Home. DoFP is in the same zone as No Way Home: not functional, but has really fun stuff.
“I put in kind of a similar zone to uh, uh, uh, no way home.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:41:20 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Neighbors → Judd Apatow. Neighbors is the Apatow track: low scale, high premise, comedians, cheap and opened big.
“The the Appatau track.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:43:08 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Million Dollar Arm → Trouble with the Curve. Two baseball-coded movies from that era: Trouble with the Curve is the Eastwood one, Million Dollar Arm the Hamm one.
“Trouble with the curb is the Eastward one.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:44:14 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Million Dollar Arm → Life of Pi. Million Dollar Arm has the Life of Pi guy in it.
“Million dollar arm has the life of pie guy in it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:44:23 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Bill Paxton → Million Dollar Arm. Paxton ruled the box office one last time in Million Dollar Arm.
“Bill Paxton.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:45:02 · Ben Hosley (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (28)

fun, about Bill Paxton: Paxton's monologue is an 'all the mustard' performance; on first watch it seems too much, but on repeat it becomes an anchor because of its fixed rhythms.
“it's an all the mustard performance”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:01:07 · unknown (0.00 sure it was them)
fun, about Bill Paxton: Science Hill, Kentucky, where Paxton says he's from: nobody knows why it's called that, and Wikipedia cites Edge of Tomorrow.
“It does cite Edge of Tomorrow though.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:01:58 · Ben Hosley (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: A host argues Edge is possibly Cruise's best performance and the first blockbuster that owns what is weird about him.
“There is an argument this is Cruz's best performance.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:02:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise is the 'guy pretending to be Tom Cruise' for the first ten minutes: the movie strips the persona and makes him earn trust back.
“he's a guy pretending to be Tom Cruise”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:04:15 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Ben Hosley: Ben picked the film as a sleepy-time comfort movie to fall asleep to, and says it resonates with his depression.
“this is a comfort watch movie”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:06:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Emily Blunt on Graham Norton: on the worst day, Cruise, always upbeat, admitted he was 'a little trying'.
“And he went like, a little, a little trying.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:09:00 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mr. & Mrs. Smith: On Mr. & Mrs. Smith the agency heads were cast three times; none of the actors ended up in the film, only Angela Bassett's voice.
“Angela Bassett, her voice on a screen”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:11:07 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: The title fight: announced as All You Need Is Kill, retitled with 'Live Die Repeat' as a tagline on a badly laid out poster; on home video they flipped them.
“they flipped them because their takeaway from the confusion was”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:19:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: The Blank Check joke: the show's own scheduling was a time loop, as the episode was pushed three times.
“The day would reset and you'd be like, next week we are recording edge of tomorrow.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:26:08 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: Exposition lands at literally minute 40: Noah Taylor's briefing, timed by a host's time-code check.
“I just did the time code check.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:32:27 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Noah Taylor: Taylor and Brendan Gleeson never leave their one set, avoid the suits and stunts, and get mini arcs; the hosts call it a princess part, a theater term for one big featured number.
“Those 2 guys never leave their one set.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:33:27 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: Cage dies in a close-up of his face melting with black blood, and the audience reacts because Tom Cruise doesn't fail.
“Tom Cruise doesn't fail.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:50:56 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Doug Liman: Hosts call the Liman method 'Limania': chaos production that sometimes comes out masterful, compared to a watchmaker tied upside-down in a crashing plane.
“tied up a washmaker by his feet”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:53:54 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Doug Liman: Liman's agent told him 'you don't always have to be the bad guy'; he has a bedside-manner reputation, tolerated while the movies hit.
“you don't always have to be the bad guy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:54:44 · Ben Hosley (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Emily Blunt: Blunt lost Black Widow because Fox made her do Gulliver's Travels, and Rose Byrne took the Get Him to the Greek role.
“Fox goes, no, no, no, nah, nah.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:58:55 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: On day two, Liman said they had to reshoot everything; the studio nearly fired him and Cruise backed him.
“Lyman was like, we have to reshoot everything we shot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:00:57 · Ben Hosley (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: The practical exosuits weighed 80 to 100 pounds; Liman called making them practical the stupidest thing they did, yet they look great.
“the stupidest thing we ever did was make those practical”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:01:56 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Emily Blunt: Blunt's Smartlist story: she cried the first time in the suit and Cruise said 'come on, stop being a pussy'; it was a joke and went viral.
“stop being a pussy, okay?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:03:21 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: Liman wanted to shoot on the Normandy beaches; the assistant director talked him into a set.
“Lyman originally wanted to shoot this at the beaches of Normandy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:04:22 · Ben Hosley (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Pat Kiernan: The New York One anchor in the opening news montage has a huge film-credit list; the hosts joke he must get a check every month.
“Pat Kieran's got like 40 of the biggest film credits of all time.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:05:51 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: The 'how are we not already dead' question: in the source material the mimics are terraforming Earth slowly.
“they're just eating the earth and poisoning the water.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:07:21 · Ben Hosley (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: A host reads Gleeson's contempt for the PR-man Cruise as a cathartic audience stand-in for how people felt about Cruise then.
“Your time is done.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:10:19 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: The helicopter flown near Big Ben shut down London for about three hours, because Cruise wanted to do it.
“it shut down London for like 3 hours”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:12:27 · unknown (0.00 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: The Louvre as the aliens' hideout: a host jokes it should be a Bulgarian mountain, not under a glass pyramid next to the Mona Lisa.
“Wouldn't you be in like some like mountain in Bulgaria”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:24:58 · unknown (0.00 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: The kiss at the end was improvised, and a host argues it works because it reads as 'we made it', not romance.
“even that kiss at the end was improvised”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:27:22 · Ben Hosley (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: The farmhouse: the hosts agree it lifts the film into masterpiece territory, as it is farmhouse number 100 for him.
“this is farmhouse 100.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:29:55 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Late in the Liman-Cruise era Cruise would not make a space movie because he refused to owe Trump a favor.
“I don't want to owe Trump a favor.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:37:47 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Edge of Tomorrow: Box office: opened third behind Fault in Our Stars and Maleficent, about $100M domestic, $367M worldwide.
“It made 367 worldwide.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:38:55 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Loves Edge of Tomorrow as a masterpiece and Cruise's turn toward weird, low-status roles; likes Oblivion and Looper-era Blunt; likes Liman's chaos when it works. Can't stand Liman's later films like Road House.
David Sims (host): Fond of the Tom Cruise character-actor mode over movie-star mode; reads the film through its production history and cutting. Dislikes Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Road House. Admires the 2014 slate but ranks Edge near the top.
Ben Hosley (host): Producer who picked the film as a comfort watch; read the novel and manga and prepared a research dossier. Loves the practical production design and the farmhouse. Is a sucker for J Squad.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

Lyman / Lymania = Liman / Limania
Macquarie / Macarie = McQuarrie
Kacinski = Kosinski
Brandon/Brennan Gleason = Brendan Gleeson
Cruz = Cruise
Dion B. = Dion Beebe
Kimmel/Kimmel that = Kimmel (Tony Way)
Kim Tony Way / Kickory is Griff = Kick Gurry
Dragomir Mercy = Dragomir Mrsic
Sikora Zaka = Sakurazaka
Appatau = Apatow
Snobakosh/Snapacash = Snabba Cash
Nomeo and Juliet = Gnomeo & Juliet
Paul Betty = Paul Bettany (joke, Da Vinci Code)
night and day = Knight and Day
G kids = GKIDS
washmaker = watchmaker
trouble with the curb = Trouble with the Curve

Blank Check — Patreon: Edge of Tomorrow

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Films that came up

subject (1)

compared (31)

passing (50)

anecdote (22)

dismissed (7)

Claims (74)

Fun items (28)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong