What the corpus says about Wendell and Wild (2022)

What was said about it (26)

1. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:32:50 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · theme · Nightmare has one major objective everyone is on; Wendell & Wild is just so much plot. · "Night before Christmas has like one major objective that everyone's right on."
2. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:16:53 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Beetlejuice · craft · Wendell and Wild are Beetlejuice-like in that the story is really about the human teen (Lydia/Kat) and they are the colorful characters. · "They're Beetlejuicy in the movie in that it's like, well, it's really about Lydia."
3. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:28:33 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Coraline · craft · The kindness shown to Kat, with quiet sadness, is likened to the boredom sequences in Coraline. · "it's it's similar to the sort of the boredom sequences and core line where, uh, Everyone's kind to cat."
4. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:52:28 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Avatar · craft · Big sci-fi blockbusters like Inception and Avatar earn their virtuoso final acts with an hour of clumsy exposition; Wendell & Wild operates the same way. · "And they're things like Inception or Avatar, where you're like, you know what?"
5. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:53:13 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Inception · craft · The whole movie spends its running time on clumsy rules-exposition so the final act can pay off, like Inception. · "the whole movie is Inception style explaining to you, well, this is a kick, and this is a totem"
6. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:12:32 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery · craft · Griffin hoped a second viewing would work like Glass Onion, with setup gaining meaning, but it did not. · "I was curious if watching it a 2nd time, it would have like a glass onion effect"
7. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:22:16 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Beetlejuice · contrast · Unlike Beetlejuice, who is purely malevolent, Wendell and Wild are babes in the wood whose ulterior motive is an amusement park. · "Unlike Beetlejuice who like operates from a place of like pure malevolence, right?"
8. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:31:00 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · contrast · Imagines Nightmare's Halloween Town opening as ten minutes of dialogue introducing each denizen as a plot function, to describe how Wendell & Wild feels. · "It feels like if in the opening, this is Halloween sequence of nightmare before Christmas."
9. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:36:39 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · contrast · Nightmare doesn't open with civic politics, so its underworld needs no explaining; Wendell & Wild front-loads dense plot. · "Yeah, it also helps that like nightmare before Christmas doesn't start with 10 minutes of like the political infrastructure of a small town."
10. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:21:40 · Michael Rianda (0.60)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ Wendell and Wild · career · Selick's newest film is praised as sharpening, not shaving, his edges late in his career. · "you're not shaving any of the edges, any of the edges away."
11. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:14:59 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Incredible Mr. Limpet · people · Making the characters caricatures of Key and Peele is likened to the Mr. Limpet trick of putting the star's face on the animated character. · "Like we have to make the characters caricatures of them, almost like it's the incredible Mr. Limpet or something"
12. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:11:42 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] James and the Giant Peach ↔ Wendell and Wild · verdict · Peach is ranked third over Wendell & Wild because it is more straightforward and rewatchable. · "Peaches third."
13. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:11:43 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Monkeybone · verdict · Wendell & Wild is 4th and Monkeybone 5th in both hosts' Selick rankings. · "Wendell Waldus 4th, monkey bonus 5th."
14. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:59:08 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Mad God · industry · A host voted Mad God first and Wendell & Wild second on the Critics Circle animation ballot. · "I voted for Mad God of the Critics Circle because I was like, well, that's the thing I really think."
15. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:59:25 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Marcel the Shell with Shoes On · industry · With Marcel mostly stop motion, up to four of five animation nominees could be stop motion. · "You could have a good category where 4 out of the 5 nominees were stop motion."
16. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:10:31 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro) · industry · Netflix has two stop-motion films in one category; Pinocchio has the Oscar heat and likely cannibalized Wendell & Wild. · "I get them not wanting to cannibalize against Pinocchio, that they have like 2 movies in this one category in the same medium"
17. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 0:28:36 · David Sims (0.70)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Whale · viewing schedule · David planned to see The Whale right after Wendell & Wild at TIFF but skipped it after the Airbnb ordeal. · "I was supposed to see the whale next."
18. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 0:36:43 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Wednesday · Netflix algorithm · Typing 'Wen' brings Wendell & Wild up because of Wednesday's popularity, though JD Amato says Netflix never recommended it. · "Surely the algorithm's like, hey, you know, you might like Wendell and Wild."
19. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 0:44:46 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Shadow King ⇒ Wendell and Wild (the host's read) · unfinished predecessor · The Shadow King combined stop motion with shadow animation; some of that is used in Wendell & Wild. · "And they use some of that in this film, Wendell and Wild."
20. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:02:01 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Monkeybone ↔ Wendell and Wild · protagonist note · Selick's pattern is to choose an adult / unconventional lead (retired pitchmen, a middle-aged nun) until a producer pushes for the kid. · "Anyway, with monkey bone, I wanted every character to be a 60s, you know, retired pitch man."
21. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:08:37 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Coraline ⇒ Wendell and Wild (the maker said so: Selick's own statement) · technique evolution · Selick turned against slick 3D-assisted look after Coraline and kept seams visible and embraced artifice in Wendell & Wild. · "He said Coraline was maybe a little too smooth, and he wanted to go a bit backwards and show off the artifice with this movie."
22. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:36:33 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · unexplained underworld · Nobody asks who Oogie Boogie is in the spirit world, but Belzer's role is questioned. · "We don't ask these same questions of someone like Oogie Boogie."
23. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:42:42 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Kingdom Hearts (game series) · accept the lore · The hellmaiden rules are like Kingdom Hearts lore: you just accept them because those are the rules. · "Those are the rules because those are the rules."
24. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:00:53 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Coraline · merch · Coraline merch still lines Hot Topic while Wendell & Wild has none. · "You're like, Coreline stuff is still lining fucking hot topic"
25. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 0:53:45 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Jordan Peele ⇒ Wendell and Wild (the maker said so: Selick's account of seeing Key and Peele) · lineage · Selick saw Key and Peele on Comedy Central and realized they were Wendell and Wild. · "then it hit me, Wendell and Wild."
26. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:09:45 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Pablo Lobato ⇒ Wendell and Wild (the host's read) · lineage · Selick picked a flat, cutout caricature style that should not be adaptable to 3D and asked the team to build it. · "Wendolyn Wilde, Argentinian artist, Pablo Lobato, is the big inspiration for the look of a lot of these guys."

Films put beside it more than once (4)

1. [pairs] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · said 5 times in 2 episodes
2. [pairs] Wendell and Wild ↔ Coraline · said 3 times in 1 episode
3. [pairs] Wendell and Wild ↔ Beetlejuice · said 2 times in 1 episode
4. [pairs] Wendell and Wild ↔ Monkeybone · said 2 times in 1 episode

Fun items about it (6)

1. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:08:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell & Wild · fun · Most of the film was animated remotely during the pandemic; animators moved sets into their homes. · "Like animators moved sets into their homes and were in isolation working on their own section."
2. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:24:46 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell & Wild · fun · A hellmaiden's cold open: the car crash, the punk boombox with a bloodshot eye, and X-Ray Spex on the radio ground the first seven minutes. · "She's listening to x-ray specs on the radio."
3. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:40:33 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell & Wild · fun · The undead city council members are skeletons from past centuries, which David finds a clever, laugh-out-loud idea. · "Like, what if you brought back New York's city council from like the 18th century"
4. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:54:25 · Griffin Newman (0.70)] Wendell & Wild · fun · Griffin and Ben saw it at the Quad in a nearly empty theater and walked out invigorated about its social commentary. · "There was one other person in the theater, and we walked out and we were like pretty fucking invigorated by it."
5. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:55:14 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell & Wild · fun · The trans character Raul's identity is handled quietly through context clues, which they praise over self-congratulatory progressive films. · "It's basically like stated only through context clues, you know?"
6. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:00:26 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Wendell & Wild · fun · No merchandise exists for the film, which the hosts find baffling given Selick's merch history. · "No merch for this movie."

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (19)

1. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 1:45:36 · Michael Rianda (0.60)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ The Haunted Mansion (Disney ride) · programming · The film's iconography now powers a seasonal Haunted Mansion overlay. · "the haunted mansion ride is like so amazing."
2. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:09:39 · unclear (Griffin Newman or David Sims) (0.40)] Tadahiro Uesugi ⇒ Coraline (the host's read) · lineage · Coraline's look came from the illustrator Tadahiro Uesugi, whose art Selick brought to life. · "Coraline, we talk about Toddahiro, Use, Uzuki."
3. [Blank Check · Planet of the Apes · 0:02:31 · unknown (0.50)] Planet of the Apes ↔ Beetlejuice · theme · The ape dinner-party scene is the one moment that feels like Burton, like Beetlejuice with apes. · "the scene with all the apes sitting around the dinner table, which is like the Beetlejuice scene with apes."
4. [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:13:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Monkeybone ↔ Monkeybone · craft · Monkeybone is steeped in 90s swing revival, Smash Mouth and chain wallets. · "Yeah, and it's chain wallets."
5. [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:26:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.90)] Edgar Rice Burroughs ⇒ Avatar (the maker said so: Cameron's 1994 80-page treatment) · lineage · Cameron's Avatar treatment drew on childhood sci-fi reading, Burroughs and Haggard. · "drawing inspiration from, quote, every single science fiction book that he had read in his childhood, and also Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard."
6. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:03:55 · Griffin Newman (0.55)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ The Wizard of Oz · theme · The film's cult growth into mainstream pop culture is compared to Oz. · "in that sort of Wizard of Oz conversation of like movies that came out, did okay at the time and are now just like so deeply woven into the tapestry of pop culture"
7. [Blank Check — Patreon · Eclipse · 1:48:38 · unknown (0.40)] The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ↔ Beetlejuice · craft · The mountain-top set looks like a hobby-town model, like the tabletop in Beetlejuice. · "it looks like the, the, the tabletop and Beetlejuice."
8. [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:26:24 · unknown (0.40)] John Carter of Mars ⇒ Avatar (the host's read) · lineage · Avatar reads like a John Carter of Mars style story. · "Yeah, it's very like John Carter of Mars or whatever."
9. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:52:14 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ Henry Selick · theme · Jack's arc is read as the animators themselves trying to make commercial art. · "how much Jack is an analog for these guys trying to figure out how to make commercial art"
10. [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:42:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ Avatar (the host's read) · lineage · Avatar is described as a deep Wizard of Oz homage. · "In case you were wondering, this is a deep wizard of a homage, among other things."
11. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 1:41:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ Toy Story · theme · The first breakthrough film in each form of animation becomes the template: CGI follows Toy Story, stop motion stays creepy. · "And then the CGI becomes so defined by Toy Story."
12. [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:52:25 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Aliens · lineage · Cameron's 1995 pitch for Avatar was much closer to Aliens in tone. · "It was much closer to aliens in tone."
13. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 1:57:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ The King of Comedy · theme · Jack and Santa Claus are read as Rupert Pupkin and Jerry Langford (transcribed Pumpkin/Lanford). · "the relationship between Jack and Santa Claus, excuse me, is just Rupert Pumpkin and Jerry Lanford."
14. [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:53:51 · unknown (0.40)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ Avatar (the host's read) · lineage · Avatar is an original story but inspired by Oz and John Ford movies. · "It's just like hugely inspired by not just the Wizard of Oz, but like lots of John Ford movies"
15. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:31:42 · David Sims (0.40)] Danny Elfman ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · craft · Elfman wrote songs off Burton's story beats with no script, and the script came after. · "Burton is basically describing the story beats, and Elfman is writing songs off of the story beats"
16. [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:53:51 · unknown (0.40)] John Ford ⇒ Avatar (the host's read) · lineage · Same line: Avatar draws on John Ford films and the history of movies. · "lots of John Ford movies and you can see like the history of movies"
17. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:49:28 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Joe Ranft ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · craft · Ranft is counted among the five people credited with shaping the film's story. · "Thompson, Joe Ramped, Elfman, Selleck, Burton, all can be given a fair amount of credit for the shaping of this film."
18. [Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:38:34 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Avatar ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read) · lineage · The robot-waking sequence is beat for beat the first act of Avatar, down to testing the new body's powers. · "It is crazy actually how much this sequence is like beat for beat, the Avatar, right?"
19. [Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:57:59 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ Toy Story · craft · Like early Pixar films, this one squeezes every joke out of its premise (Halloween monsters). · "those early Pixar movies like hit the, the concept of the movie like a piñata until all of the joy fell out of it"

Who said it, by their latest sketch (3)

1. [speaker] Griffin Newman · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Calls Last Temptation his college-era favorite Scorsese; loves Scorsese's smaller 80s and the film's closing transcendence and Gabriel score. Cannot stand fundamentalist outrage at it. A sucker for casting trivia and Tom Cruise-silliness. · stances: Hot take: Last Temptation structurally mirrors New York, New York as a better version; Outrage over the film is stupid; it is respectful to Jesus; Scorsese's smaller 80s work beats his later baroque phases
2. [speaker] David Sims · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Prepares history: novel, casting, budgets, box office. Reveres the film and thinks it reads as a normal ground-level story. A sucker for Hollywood deal backstory and box office game. · stances: Praises Keitel and Dafoe casting; Respects Scorsese's persistence and Corman discipline; The film is now well regarded though not 'canonical Marty'
3. [speaker] Michael Rianda · latest sketch, Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · Loves hand-made animation with visible thumbprints, Ren and Stimpy, The Simpsons, experimental animators and Pixar's manifesto culture. Can't stand CG-printed stop-motion faces and celebrity casting. A sucker for the Willy-Wonka feel of a stop-motion set. · stances: Animators are inwardly little artists chafing at studios; Treat a movie like a jailbreak; Celebrity casting doesn't matter; Hand-made imperfections make stop motion magic

The shows' running bits (2)

1. [bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
2. [bits] Blank Check: The box office game (Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against); The sung theme ("Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it)

The whole prompt

You are a clerk at Video Culture, a video store. A customer just finished Wendell and Wild (2022) and wants to know what to watch next.

Below is what people who love movies said on three podcasts (Blank Check, The Rewatchables, The Big Picture) about Wendell and Wild (2022) and the films around it, one line each. Every line starts with where it came from, in brackets: [show · episode · time · speaker (how sure we are it was them)]. A [pairs] line says how often two films were put side by side. A [speaker] line says what that person likes. A [bits] line lists a show's running bits: a format, not an opinion.

[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:32:50 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · theme · Nightmare has one major objective everyone is on; Wendell & Wild is just so much plot. · "Night before Christmas has like one major objective that everyone's right on."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:16:53 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Beetlejuice · craft · Wendell and Wild are Beetlejuice-like in that the story is really about the human teen (Lydia/Kat) and they are the colorful characters. · "They're Beetlejuicy in the movie in that it's like, well, it's really about Lydia."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:28:33 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Coraline · craft · The kindness shown to Kat, with quiet sadness, is likened to the boredom sequences in Coraline. · "it's it's similar to the sort of the boredom sequences and core line where, uh, Everyone's kind to cat."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:52:28 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Avatar · craft · Big sci-fi blockbusters like Inception and Avatar earn their virtuoso final acts with an hour of clumsy exposition; Wendell & Wild operates the same way. · "And they're things like Inception or Avatar, where you're like, you know what?"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:53:13 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Inception · craft · The whole movie spends its running time on clumsy rules-exposition so the final act can pay off, like Inception. · "the whole movie is Inception style explaining to you, well, this is a kick, and this is a totem"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:12:32 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery · craft · Griffin hoped a second viewing would work like Glass Onion, with setup gaining meaning, but it did not. · "I was curious if watching it a 2nd time, it would have like a glass onion effect"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:22:16 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Beetlejuice · contrast · Unlike Beetlejuice, who is purely malevolent, Wendell and Wild are babes in the wood whose ulterior motive is an amusement park. · "Unlike Beetlejuice who like operates from a place of like pure malevolence, right?"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:31:00 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · contrast · Imagines Nightmare's Halloween Town opening as ten minutes of dialogue introducing each denizen as a plot function, to describe how Wendell & Wild feels. · "It feels like if in the opening, this is Halloween sequence of nightmare before Christmas."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:36:39 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · contrast · Nightmare doesn't open with civic politics, so its underworld needs no explaining; Wendell & Wild front-loads dense plot. · "Yeah, it also helps that like nightmare before Christmas doesn't start with 10 minutes of like the political infrastructure of a small town."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:21:40 · Michael Rianda (0.60)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ Wendell and Wild · career · Selick's newest film is praised as sharpening, not shaving, his edges late in his career. · "you're not shaving any of the edges, any of the edges away."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:14:59 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Incredible Mr. Limpet · people · Making the characters caricatures of Key and Peele is likened to the Mr. Limpet trick of putting the star's face on the animated character. · "Like we have to make the characters caricatures of them, almost like it's the incredible Mr. Limpet or something"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:11:42 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] James and the Giant Peach ↔ Wendell and Wild · verdict · Peach is ranked third over Wendell & Wild because it is more straightforward and rewatchable. · "Peaches third."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:11:43 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Monkeybone · verdict · Wendell & Wild is 4th and Monkeybone 5th in both hosts' Selick rankings. · "Wendell Waldus 4th, monkey bonus 5th."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:59:08 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Mad God · industry · A host voted Mad God first and Wendell & Wild second on the Critics Circle animation ballot. · "I voted for Mad God of the Critics Circle because I was like, well, that's the thing I really think."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:59:25 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Marcel the Shell with Shoes On · industry · With Marcel mostly stop motion, up to four of five animation nominees could be stop motion. · "You could have a good category where 4 out of the 5 nominees were stop motion."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:10:31 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro) · industry · Netflix has two stop-motion films in one category; Pinocchio has the Oscar heat and likely cannibalized Wendell & Wild. · "I get them not wanting to cannibalize against Pinocchio, that they have like 2 movies in this one category in the same medium"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 0:28:36 · David Sims (0.70)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Whale · viewing schedule · David planned to see The Whale right after Wendell & Wild at TIFF but skipped it after the Airbnb ordeal. · "I was supposed to see the whale next."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 0:36:43 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Wednesday · Netflix algorithm · Typing 'Wen' brings Wendell & Wild up because of Wednesday's popularity, though JD Amato says Netflix never recommended it. · "Surely the algorithm's like, hey, you know, you might like Wendell and Wild."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 0:44:46 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Shadow King ⇒ Wendell and Wild (the host's read) · unfinished predecessor · The Shadow King combined stop motion with shadow animation; some of that is used in Wendell & Wild. · "And they use some of that in this film, Wendell and Wild."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:02:01 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Monkeybone ↔ Wendell and Wild · protagonist note · Selick's pattern is to choose an adult / unconventional lead (retired pitchmen, a middle-aged nun) until a producer pushes for the kid. · "Anyway, with monkey bone, I wanted every character to be a 60s, you know, retired pitch man."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:08:37 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Coraline ⇒ Wendell and Wild (the maker said so: Selick's own statement) · technique evolution · Selick turned against slick 3D-assisted look after Coraline and kept seams visible and embraced artifice in Wendell & Wild. · "He said Coraline was maybe a little too smooth, and he wanted to go a bit backwards and show off the artifice with this movie."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:36:33 · David Sims (0.50)] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · unexplained underworld · Nobody asks who Oogie Boogie is in the spirit world, but Belzer's role is questioned. · "We don't ask these same questions of someone like Oogie Boogie."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:42:42 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Kingdom Hearts (game series) · accept the lore · The hellmaiden rules are like Kingdom Hearts lore: you just accept them because those are the rules. · "Those are the rules because those are the rules."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:00:53 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Wendell and Wild ↔ Coraline · merch · Coraline merch still lines Hot Topic while Wendell & Wild has none. · "You're like, Coreline stuff is still lining fucking hot topic"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 0:53:45 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Jordan Peele ⇒ Wendell and Wild (the maker said so: Selick's account of seeing Key and Peele) · lineage · Selick saw Key and Peele on Comedy Central and realized they were Wendell and Wild. · "then it hit me, Wendell and Wild."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:09:45 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Pablo Lobato ⇒ Wendell and Wild (the host's read) · lineage · Selick picked a flat, cutout caricature style that should not be adaptable to 3D and asked the team to build it. · "Wendolyn Wilde, Argentinian artist, Pablo Lobato, is the big inspiration for the look of a lot of these guys."
[pairs] Wendell and Wild ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · said 5 times in 2 episodes
[pairs] Wendell and Wild ↔ Coraline · said 3 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Wendell and Wild ↔ Beetlejuice · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Wendell and Wild ↔ Monkeybone · said 2 times in 1 episode
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:08:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Wendell & Wild · fun · Most of the film was animated remotely during the pandemic; animators moved sets into their homes. · "Like animators moved sets into their homes and were in isolation working on their own section."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:24:46 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell & Wild · fun · A hellmaiden's cold open: the car crash, the punk boombox with a bloodshot eye, and X-Ray Spex on the radio ground the first seven minutes. · "She's listening to x-ray specs on the radio."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:40:33 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell & Wild · fun · The undead city council members are skeletons from past centuries, which David finds a clever, laugh-out-loud idea. · "Like, what if you brought back New York's city council from like the 18th century"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:54:25 · Griffin Newman (0.70)] Wendell & Wild · fun · Griffin and Ben saw it at the Quad in a nearly empty theater and walked out invigorated about its social commentary. · "There was one other person in the theater, and we walked out and we were like pretty fucking invigorated by it."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:55:14 · David Sims (0.40)] Wendell & Wild · fun · The trans character Raul's identity is handled quietly through context clues, which they praise over self-congratulatory progressive films. · "It's basically like stated only through context clues, you know?"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:00:26 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Wendell & Wild · fun · No merchandise exists for the film, which the hosts find baffling given Selick's merch history. · "No merch for this movie."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 1:45:36 · Michael Rianda (0.60)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ The Haunted Mansion (Disney ride) · programming · The film's iconography now powers a seasonal Haunted Mansion overlay. · "the haunted mansion ride is like so amazing."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 1:09:39 · unclear (Griffin Newman or David Sims) (0.40)] Tadahiro Uesugi ⇒ Coraline (the host's read) · lineage · Coraline's look came from the illustrator Tadahiro Uesugi, whose art Selick brought to life. · "Coraline, we talk about Toddahiro, Use, Uzuki."
[Blank Check · Planet of the Apes · 0:02:31 · unknown (0.50)] Planet of the Apes ↔ Beetlejuice · theme · The ape dinner-party scene is the one moment that feels like Burton, like Beetlejuice with apes. · "the scene with all the apes sitting around the dinner table, which is like the Beetlejuice scene with apes."
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:13:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Monkeybone ↔ Monkeybone · craft · Monkeybone is steeped in 90s swing revival, Smash Mouth and chain wallets. · "Yeah, and it's chain wallets."
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:26:06 · Sean Fennessey (0.90)] Edgar Rice Burroughs ⇒ Avatar (the maker said so: Cameron's 1994 80-page treatment) · lineage · Cameron's Avatar treatment drew on childhood sci-fi reading, Burroughs and Haggard. · "drawing inspiration from, quote, every single science fiction book that he had read in his childhood, and also Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:03:55 · Griffin Newman (0.55)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ The Wizard of Oz · theme · The film's cult growth into mainstream pop culture is compared to Oz. · "in that sort of Wizard of Oz conversation of like movies that came out, did okay at the time and are now just like so deeply woven into the tapestry of pop culture"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eclipse · 1:48:38 · unknown (0.40)] The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ↔ Beetlejuice · craft · The mountain-top set looks like a hobby-town model, like the tabletop in Beetlejuice. · "it looks like the, the, the tabletop and Beetlejuice."
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:26:24 · unknown (0.40)] John Carter of Mars ⇒ Avatar (the host's read) · lineage · Avatar reads like a John Carter of Mars style story. · "Yeah, it's very like John Carter of Mars or whatever."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:52:14 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ Henry Selick · theme · Jack's arc is read as the animators themselves trying to make commercial art. · "how much Jack is an analog for these guys trying to figure out how to make commercial art"
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:42:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ Avatar (the host's read) · lineage · Avatar is described as a deep Wizard of Oz homage. · "In case you were wondering, this is a deep wizard of a homage, among other things."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 1:41:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ Toy Story · theme · The first breakthrough film in each form of animation becomes the template: CGI follows Toy Story, stop motion stays creepy. · "And then the CGI becomes so defined by Toy Story."
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:52:25 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Aliens · lineage · Cameron's 1995 pitch for Avatar was much closer to Aliens in tone. · "It was much closer to aliens in tone."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 1:57:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ The King of Comedy · theme · Jack and Santa Claus are read as Rupert Pupkin and Jerry Langford (transcribed Pumpkin/Lanford). · "the relationship between Jack and Santa Claus, excuse me, is just Rupert Pumpkin and Jerry Lanford."
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:53:51 · unknown (0.40)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ Avatar (the host's read) · lineage · Avatar is an original story but inspired by Oz and John Ford movies. · "It's just like hugely inspired by not just the Wizard of Oz, but like lots of John Ford movies"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:31:42 · David Sims (0.40)] Danny Elfman ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · craft · Elfman wrote songs off Burton's story beats with no script, and the script came after. · "Burton is basically describing the story beats, and Elfman is writing songs off of the story beats"
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:53:51 · unknown (0.40)] John Ford ⇒ Avatar (the host's read) · lineage · Same line: Avatar draws on John Ford films and the history of movies. · "lots of John Ford movies and you can see like the history of movies"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:49:28 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Joe Ranft ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · craft · Ranft is counted among the five people credited with shaping the film's story. · "Thompson, Joe Ramped, Elfman, Selleck, Burton, all can be given a fair amount of credit for the shaping of this film."
[Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:38:34 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Avatar ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read) · lineage · The robot-waking sequence is beat for beat the first act of Avatar, down to testing the new body's powers. · "It is crazy actually how much this sequence is like beat for beat, the Avatar, right?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · 0:57:59 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ Toy Story · craft · Like early Pixar films, this one squeezes every joke out of its premise (Halloween monsters). · "those early Pixar movies like hit the, the concept of the movie like a piñata until all of the joy fell out of it"
[speaker] Griffin Newman · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Calls Last Temptation his college-era favorite Scorsese; loves Scorsese's smaller 80s and the film's closing transcendence and Gabriel score. Cannot stand fundamentalist outrage at it. A sucker for casting trivia and Tom Cruise-silliness. · stances: Hot take: Last Temptation structurally mirrors New York, New York as a better version; Outrage over the film is stupid; it is respectful to Jesus; Scorsese's smaller 80s work beats his later baroque phases
[speaker] David Sims · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Prepares history: novel, casting, budgets, box office. Reveres the film and thinks it reads as a normal ground-level story. A sucker for Hollywood deal backstory and box office game. · stances: Praises Keitel and Dafoe casting; Respects Scorsese's persistence and Corman discipline; The film is now well regarded though not 'canonical Marty'
[speaker] Michael Rianda · latest sketch, Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas · Loves hand-made animation with visible thumbprints, Ren and Stimpy, The Simpsons, experimental animators and Pixar's manifesto culture. Can't stand CG-printed stop-motion faces and celebrity casting. A sucker for the Willy-Wonka feel of a stop-motion set. · stances: Animators are inwardly little artists chafing at studios; Treat a movie like a jailbreak; Celebrity casting doesn't matter; Hand-made imperfections make stop motion magic
[bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
[bits] Blank Check: The box office game (Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against); The sung theme ("Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it)

Recommend three to six films, and only films that appear in these lines. A series, a TV film, or a franchise counts too when a line recommends it or pairs it with Wendell and Wild (2022); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend Wendell and Wild (2022) itself. For each one, give one short reason in your own words and say whose reason it is: the show, named exactly as the brackets name it, and the speaker when the line names one (an "unknown" speaker is just the show). If the lines are thin, say so plainly rather than stretching them.

Keep a contrast a contrast. When a line sets two films apart, the reason is how they differ; never turn it into a way they're alike. A line with ⇒ puts the source first and what drew on it second, and one marked "the maker said so" is still the host reporting it: say who said it, and never state an influence as fact.

You know only what's on these lines. Add no fact they don't state: not who directed a film, not what kind of film it is, not when it came out, unless a line says so. Say nothing about the store or how anything rents here.

Talk the way a clerk talks to a customer at the counter: plain text, titles written plainly with no asterisks or other markup, no headings, no lists of more than six, no JSON.