What the corpus says about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

The 48 lines php artisan corpus:ask hands a model, in the order it gets them, and nothing else. The model writes a clerk's answer from these and only these.

What was said about it (15)

[Blank Check · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 3:27:19 · unknown (0.40)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ↔ Raiders of the Lost Ark · programming · Next week's episode is E.T.; next the Patreon bonus covers Something Evil and Savage. · "I believe it's a movie called ET the Extra Terrestrial."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:08:33 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Ready Player One ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · lineage · E.T. is in the book but was cut from the film by Spielberg. · "I think ET in particular does not appear in the movie and is in the book."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:33:46 · unknown (0.50)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ⇒ Stranger Things (the host's read) · lineage · E.T. has been so imitated, in films and TV like Stranger Things, that the original feels less rewarding. · "so many people have like basically based entire film franchises or television shows Stranger Things off of that"
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:19:05 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Close Encounters of the Third Kind ⇒ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (the host's read) · theme · Close Encounters sets a template for science fiction and for stories about families and divorce. · "It sets a different kind of template for science fiction storytelling, for stories about families, for stories about obsession, for stories about divorce"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 1:07:56 · David Sims (0.40)] Thor ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · theme · For Selvig, Thor is proof of aliens, his own E.T., and the reason he will not let go of him. · "Thor is like his ET."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Pulp Fiction’ (Part 2) · 2:46:11 · unknown (0.00)] Pulp Fiction ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · verdict · E.T. is the other standalone candidate but young people may not have seen it. · "ET was the only one that I was like, well, ET's kind of surprised it ever did."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:33:35 · unknown (0.40)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ↔ Lincoln · verdict · Given a choice, the speaker would watch Lincoln or Last Crusade over E.T. · "I think if I had a choice of what to watch, I'd rather watch Lincoln."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:44:52 · Bill Simmons (0.80)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · verdict · E.T. is among the five greatest movies of all time given how kids still love it 36 years on. · "ET is one of the 5 greatest movies of all time"
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:02:30 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · industry · The poster's blues and lights invite the E.T. comparison and the film strains to say it is about grown-up love. · "But, um, you know, also the the blues, the lights, the ET comparison is right there."
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:24:25 · David Sims (0.50)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · industry · Columbia chose Starman over Night Skies, which Universal turned into E.T., so Starman carried the stigma of the one that got away and then looked like a ripoff. · "Uh, so they let go of night skies and let Universal acquire and turnaround."
[The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 0:21:23 · Bill Simmons (0.50)] Gandhi ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · industry · Gandhi beat E.T. for Best Picture, which the hosts think was wrong. · "something else that was just like so clearly the superior film in our opinion."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:55:03 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Empire of the Sun ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · dark twin · Griffin pairs E.T. and Empire as two stabs at the same childhood material at the front and back of the 80s. · "I do think they're like him sort of like at the front and end of the 80s taking 2 stabs at a similar thing."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Big Chill’ · 1:06:51 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Carol Littleton ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · career · Littleton edited E.T.; Spielberg helped Kasdan along. · "So the editor of the movie is Carol Littleton, who edited ET"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 2:32:29 · David Sims (0.40)] Allen Daviau ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · people · Daviau came to Fearless off E.T. and other Spielberg work. · "Uh, but coming off the fucking ET"
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:26:13 · Griffin Newman (0.45)] John Badham ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · left because of · When E.T. blew up Badham quit rather than follow it. · "that when ET comes out and blows up, Badham quits because he's just like, I don't want to have to follow that."

Films put beside it more than once (1)

[pairs] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ↔ Starman · said 2 times in 1 episode

Fun items about it (1)

[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:33:04 · unknown (0.40)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · fun · The hosts' lukewarm E.T. takes cost them at home; Bill says he reversed after seeing it with his kids. · "I was just reprimanded for my lukewarm take on ET by Amanda."

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (23)

[Blank Check · Starman · 1:20:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] An American Werewolf in London ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · lineage · The transformation sequence is indebted to American Werewolf's practical, show-it-all body effects. · "Yes, which is very like American werewolf in London, where the body is stretching out."
[The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:31:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Close Encounters of the Third Kind ⇒ Nope (the host's read) · lineage · Sean says Nope is as much a Spielberg movie as any he has seen in a long time, with Close Encounters the usual touchstone, and notes the shared theme of looking up and trying to see. · "nope is as much a Spielberg movie as any movie I've seen in a long, long time."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 0:57:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] David Lean ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read) · lineage · Lean asked Spielberg to check on the rights, then lost interest and handed the novel to him. · "He asks Spielberg to check in on the rights for him."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 0:25:32 · Bilge Ebiri (0.90)] Jaws ↔ Lincoln · theme · The slaps in Jaws and Lincoln show the shift from identifying with the slapped child to the anxious parent. · "So it's very much like almost like the humiliation of a little boy who's been slapped."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:27:07 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] It Happened One Night ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · lineage · The hay-bale love scene in an empty train car is called a likely conscious homage to It Happened One Night. · "So it's a, maybe it's an homage."
[Blank Check · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 0:25:05 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70)] Raiders of the Lost Ark ↔ Close Encounters of the Third Kind · craft · The novelization written by Spielberg internalized the story, which Bendis loved. · "it internalizes the story for a young person who's only seeing externalizing it."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:01:53 · Bilge Ebiri (0.75)] J.G. Ballard ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read) · lineage · The novel is darker than the film, which sanitized it and condensed characters. · "There is definitely a lot of sanitizing happening and a lot of kind of condensing of characters and turning them into more of a more of a Hollywoody plot element."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:45:35 · Bilge Ebiri (0.80)] Amistad ↔ Lincoln · theme · Bilge says Spielberg's serious films, from Empire to Schindler, Amistad, Lincoln and Ryan, all turn on people as items on a ledger. · "they all they all become about sort of people as items on a ledger, even saving Private Ryan."
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:08:52 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · lineage · The 1986 show is set 15 years later, about his son, with a recast Starman. · "is set 15 years in the future because it's about his son."
[Blank Check · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 0:25:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80)] Close Encounters of the Third Kind ↔ Walt Simonson · craft · Walt Simonson drew the Close Encounters comic adaptation, whose behind-the-scenes showed directing versus the page. · "Walt Simonson doing the close encounters adaptation, and it is wonderful."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:49:05 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Empire of the Sun ⇒ Tropic Thunder (the host's read) · lineage · Ben Stiller, on the Empire set as a young actor, was inspired by actors playing at suffering to make Tropic Thunder two decades later. · "Which, of course, this is one of this movie's greatest, like, lasting legacies is that this, this is what inspires Tropic Thunder."
[The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:16:11 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Tár ↔ Lincoln · theme · Chris contrasts Blanchett's level of performance with a Lincoln-style historically resonant part, as a box-office draw for older audiences. · "I guess it's not Lincoln where she's like doing this historically like sort of resonant part, but it's in that kind of level of performance"
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:13:16 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ⇒ Sean Levy (the host's read) · lineage · Levy announced a 2016 remake with Michael Douglas on board. · "I learned from Wikipedia that in 2016, Sean Levy was planning to direct and produce a remake of Starman."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:44:48 · Bilge Ebiri (0.75)] War Horse ↔ Empire of the Sun · theme · Spielberg returns to the idea of navigating the rules of a world you do not understand, as Jim does in the camp. · "the idea of sort of trying to learn to live by the rules of a world you don't quite understand."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:42:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.70)] Catch Me If You Can ↔ Lincoln · theme · Both movies are built around one hugely charismatic person wriggling in and out of trouble. · "The movie is built around this one deeply charismatic person and their ability to wriggle in and out of trouble."
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:11:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ⇒ John from Cincinnati (the host's read) · theme · A mysterious odd visitor who solves everyone's problems and parrots dialogue; John from Cincinnati owes a lot to Starman. · "He comes and visits, and he's mysterious, and he's weird, and he solves everybody's problem."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 2:19:11 · Bilge Ebiri (0.80)] Saving Private Ryan ↔ Empire of the Sun · theme · Bilge finds Saving Private Ryan like Empire: incredible first 30-40 minutes, then merely liked. · "is actually not dissimilar to some people's response to Empire of the Sun"
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:19:49 · David Sims (0.50)] Starman ↔ Annette · craft · The baby in the transformation sequence recalls the unsettling baby in Annette. · "There were some real baby Annette vibes in that transformation sequence."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 2:25:00 · Bilge Ebiri (0.80)] Empire of the Sun ↔ Haruki Murakami · theme · Bilge learned about Japan's wartime atrocities in China from Murakami's novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. · "it's really a book about Japan's ignorance of it, the atrocities it carried out in China"
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Two for the Road ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · craft · Carpenter reportedly wanted to make something like Two for the Road. · "I want to make like 2 for the road."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:16:01 · Chris Ryan (0.85)] Empire of the Sun ↔ Steven Spielberg · theme · Unlike his other childhood films, Empire shows adulthood through a child's eyes. · "But this is a film where you are seeing adulthood through the eyes of a child."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:22:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] It Happened One Night ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · craft · Carpenter wanted a road movie of two people in a car getting to know each other, in the mold of It Happened One Night. · "I want to make it happens one night."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 0:30:04 · Bilge Ebiri (0.80)] John Williams ↔ Empire of the Sun · craft · Williams' score is his most classical, with a big motif that is a hymn he did not write. · "One, the biggest motif in it is one that he did not write."

Who said it, by their latest sketch (5)

[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] 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] Bill Simmons · latest sketch, The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ · Loves the Friday series as a communal, rental-era memory and tells childhood stories about the ads and theaters. Likes casting what-ifs and sports analogies for everything. Skeptical of horror at Christmas and of anything that wastes the premise. · stances: Friday the 13th is not the best entry but the origin story had to be told; Friday 2 is a leap over the original
[speaker] Sean Fennessey · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · Loves gory, funny, fast genre movies with craft and confidence, especially 87-minute films that never overstay. Can't stand ponderous elevated horror that fills out its runtime with introspection and sad family history. A sucker for the Carpenter-era lineage, Die Hard homages, and directors who break studio dogma. · stances: Resident Evil is one of the best films of the year; Horror movies have become a drag; fun genre experiences are needed; Short running times are a virtue; Video-game films work best when great filmmakers get creative license
[speaker] Chris Ryan · latest sketch, The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ · A franchise and genre scholar who likes Jason, the early sequels, and Manhattan; attention to trivia, tropes and critic reception. Treats slashers as a canon with tiers. · stances: Parts 1, 2, 4 and Manhattan are the good ones; The series finds its legs at 4

The shows' running bits (3)

[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)
[bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

The whole prompt

As the model gets it, from app/Ai/Prompts/CorpusAsk.md

You are a clerk at Video Culture, a video store. A customer just finished E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 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 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 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 · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 3:27:19 · unknown (0.40)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ↔ Raiders of the Lost Ark · programming · Next week's episode is E.T.; next the Patreon bonus covers Something Evil and Savage. · "I believe it's a movie called ET the Extra Terrestrial."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:08:33 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Ready Player One ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · lineage · E.T. is in the book but was cut from the film by Spielberg. · "I think ET in particular does not appear in the movie and is in the book."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:33:46 · unknown (0.50)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ⇒ Stranger Things (the host's read) · lineage · E.T. has been so imitated, in films and TV like Stranger Things, that the original feels less rewarding. · "so many people have like basically based entire film franchises or television shows Stranger Things off of that"
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:19:05 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Close Encounters of the Third Kind ⇒ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (the host's read) · theme · Close Encounters sets a template for science fiction and for stories about families and divorce. · "It sets a different kind of template for science fiction storytelling, for stories about families, for stories about obsession, for stories about divorce"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 1:07:56 · David Sims (0.40)] Thor ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · theme · For Selvig, Thor is proof of aliens, his own E.T., and the reason he will not let go of him. · "Thor is like his ET."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Pulp Fiction’ (Part 2) · 2:46:11 · unknown (0.00)] Pulp Fiction ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · verdict · E.T. is the other standalone candidate but young people may not have seen it. · "ET was the only one that I was like, well, ET's kind of surprised it ever did."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:33:35 · unknown (0.40)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ↔ Lincoln · verdict · Given a choice, the speaker would watch Lincoln or Last Crusade over E.T. · "I think if I had a choice of what to watch, I'd rather watch Lincoln."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:44:52 · Bill Simmons (0.80)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · verdict · E.T. is among the five greatest movies of all time given how kids still love it 36 years on. · "ET is one of the 5 greatest movies of all time"
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:02:30 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · industry · The poster's blues and lights invite the E.T. comparison and the film strains to say it is about grown-up love. · "But, um, you know, also the the blues, the lights, the ET comparison is right there."
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:24:25 · David Sims (0.50)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · industry · Columbia chose Starman over Night Skies, which Universal turned into E.T., so Starman carried the stigma of the one that got away and then looked like a ripoff. · "Uh, so they let go of night skies and let Universal acquire and turnaround."
[The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 0:21:23 · Bill Simmons (0.50)] Gandhi ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · industry · Gandhi beat E.T. for Best Picture, which the hosts think was wrong. · "something else that was just like so clearly the superior film in our opinion."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:55:03 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Empire of the Sun ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · dark twin · Griffin pairs E.T. and Empire as two stabs at the same childhood material at the front and back of the 80s. · "I do think they're like him sort of like at the front and end of the 80s taking 2 stabs at a similar thing."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Big Chill’ · 1:06:51 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Carol Littleton ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · career · Littleton edited E.T.; Spielberg helped Kasdan along. · "So the editor of the movie is Carol Littleton, who edited ET"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 2:32:29 · David Sims (0.40)] Allen Daviau ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · people · Daviau came to Fearless off E.T. and other Spielberg work. · "Uh, but coming off the fucking ET"
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:26:13 · Griffin Newman (0.45)] John Badham ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · left because of · When E.T. blew up Badham quit rather than follow it. · "that when ET comes out and blows up, Badham quits because he's just like, I don't want to have to follow that."
[pairs] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ↔ Starman · said 2 times in 1 episode
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:33:04 · unknown (0.40)] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · fun · The hosts' lukewarm E.T. takes cost them at home; Bill says he reversed after seeing it with his kids. · "I was just reprimanded for my lukewarm take on ET by Amanda."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:20:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] An American Werewolf in London ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · lineage · The transformation sequence is indebted to American Werewolf's practical, show-it-all body effects. · "Yes, which is very like American werewolf in London, where the body is stretching out."
[The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:31:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Close Encounters of the Third Kind ⇒ Nope (the host's read) · lineage · Sean says Nope is as much a Spielberg movie as any he has seen in a long time, with Close Encounters the usual touchstone, and notes the shared theme of looking up and trying to see. · "nope is as much a Spielberg movie as any movie I've seen in a long, long time."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 0:57:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] David Lean ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read) · lineage · Lean asked Spielberg to check on the rights, then lost interest and handed the novel to him. · "He asks Spielberg to check in on the rights for him."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 0:25:32 · Bilge Ebiri (0.90)] Jaws ↔ Lincoln · theme · The slaps in Jaws and Lincoln show the shift from identifying with the slapped child to the anxious parent. · "So it's very much like almost like the humiliation of a little boy who's been slapped."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:27:07 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] It Happened One Night ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · lineage · The hay-bale love scene in an empty train car is called a likely conscious homage to It Happened One Night. · "So it's a, maybe it's an homage."
[Blank Check · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 0:25:05 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.70)] Raiders of the Lost Ark ↔ Close Encounters of the Third Kind · craft · The novelization written by Spielberg internalized the story, which Bendis loved. · "it internalizes the story for a young person who's only seeing externalizing it."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:01:53 · Bilge Ebiri (0.75)] J.G. Ballard ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read) · lineage · The novel is darker than the film, which sanitized it and condensed characters. · "There is definitely a lot of sanitizing happening and a lot of kind of condensing of characters and turning them into more of a more of a Hollywoody plot element."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:45:35 · Bilge Ebiri (0.80)] Amistad ↔ Lincoln · theme · Bilge says Spielberg's serious films, from Empire to Schindler, Amistad, Lincoln and Ryan, all turn on people as items on a ledger. · "they all they all become about sort of people as items on a ledger, even saving Private Ryan."
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:08:52 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · lineage · The 1986 show is set 15 years later, about his son, with a recast Starman. · "is set 15 years in the future because it's about his son."
[Blank Check · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 0:25:54 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80)] Close Encounters of the Third Kind ↔ Walt Simonson · craft · Walt Simonson drew the Close Encounters comic adaptation, whose behind-the-scenes showed directing versus the page. · "Walt Simonson doing the close encounters adaptation, and it is wonderful."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:49:05 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Empire of the Sun ⇒ Tropic Thunder (the host's read) · lineage · Ben Stiller, on the Empire set as a young actor, was inspired by actors playing at suffering to make Tropic Thunder two decades later. · "Which, of course, this is one of this movie's greatest, like, lasting legacies is that this, this is what inspires Tropic Thunder."
[The Big Picture · The Top Five Movies of 2022 · 1:16:11 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Tár ↔ Lincoln · theme · Chris contrasts Blanchett's level of performance with a Lincoln-style historically resonant part, as a box-office draw for older audiences. · "I guess it's not Lincoln where she's like doing this historically like sort of resonant part, but it's in that kind of level of performance"
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:13:16 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ⇒ Sean Levy (the host's read) · lineage · Levy announced a 2016 remake with Michael Douglas on board. · "I learned from Wikipedia that in 2016, Sean Levy was planning to direct and produce a remake of Starman."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 1:44:48 · Bilge Ebiri (0.75)] War Horse ↔ Empire of the Sun · theme · Spielberg returns to the idea of navigating the rules of a world you do not understand, as Jim does in the camp. · "the idea of sort of trying to learn to live by the rules of a world you don't quite understand."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:42:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.70)] Catch Me If You Can ↔ Lincoln · theme · Both movies are built around one hugely charismatic person wriggling in and out of trouble. · "The movie is built around this one deeply charismatic person and their ability to wriggle in and out of trouble."
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:11:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ⇒ John from Cincinnati (the host's read) · theme · A mysterious odd visitor who solves everyone's problems and parrots dialogue; John from Cincinnati owes a lot to Starman. · "He comes and visits, and he's mysterious, and he's weird, and he solves everybody's problem."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 2:19:11 · Bilge Ebiri (0.80)] Saving Private Ryan ↔ Empire of the Sun · theme · Bilge finds Saving Private Ryan like Empire: incredible first 30-40 minutes, then merely liked. · "is actually not dissimilar to some people's response to Empire of the Sun"
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:19:49 · David Sims (0.50)] Starman ↔ Annette · craft · The baby in the transformation sequence recalls the unsettling baby in Annette. · "There were some real baby Annette vibes in that transformation sequence."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 2:25:00 · Bilge Ebiri (0.80)] Empire of the Sun ↔ Haruki Murakami · theme · Bilge learned about Japan's wartime atrocities in China from Murakami's novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. · "it's really a book about Japan's ignorance of it, the atrocities it carried out in China"
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Two for the Road ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · craft · Carpenter reportedly wanted to make something like Two for the Road. · "I want to make like 2 for the road."
[The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies · 0:16:01 · Chris Ryan (0.85)] Empire of the Sun ↔ Steven Spielberg · theme · Unlike his other childhood films, Empire shows adulthood through a child's eyes. · "But this is a film where you are seeing adulthood through the eyes of a child."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:22:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] It Happened One Night ⇒ Starman (the host's read) · craft · Carpenter wanted a road movie of two people in a car getting to know each other, in the mold of It Happened One Night. · "I want to make it happens one night."
[Blank Check · Empire of the Sun · 0:30:04 · Bilge Ebiri (0.80)] John Williams ↔ Empire of the Sun · craft · Williams' score is his most classical, with a big motif that is a hymn he did not write. · "One, the biggest motif in it is one that he did not write."
[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] 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] Bill Simmons · latest sketch, The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ · Loves the Friday series as a communal, rental-era memory and tells childhood stories about the ads and theaters. Likes casting what-ifs and sports analogies for everything. Skeptical of horror at Christmas and of anything that wastes the premise. · stances: Friday the 13th is not the best entry but the origin story had to be told; Friday 2 is a leap over the original
[speaker] Sean Fennessey · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · Loves gory, funny, fast genre movies with craft and confidence, especially 87-minute films that never overstay. Can't stand ponderous elevated horror that fills out its runtime with introspection and sad family history. A sucker for the Carpenter-era lineage, Die Hard homages, and directors who break studio dogma. · stances: Resident Evil is one of the best films of the year; Horror movies have become a drag; fun genre experiences are needed; Short running times are a virtue; Video-game films work best when great filmmakers get creative license
[speaker] Chris Ryan · latest sketch, The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ · A franchise and genre scholar who likes Jason, the early sequels, and Manhattan; attention to trivia, tropes and critic reception. Treats slashers as a canon with tiers. · stances: Parts 1, 2, 4 and Manhattan are the good ones; The series finds its legs at 4
[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)
[bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

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 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 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.