What the corpus says about The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The 47 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 (13)
- [Blank Check — Patreon · 2022 MARCH MADNESS UPDATE 2 PRESENTED BY THE CHIP REPORT · 0:37:57 · unknown (0.30)] The Wizard of Oz ↔ Oz the Great and Powerful · programming · If Oz won the Patreon bracket, they'd time the series around Oz the Great and Powerful. · "if Oz were to win, we would want it to be done around the same time as Oz the Great and Power."
- [The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 0:11:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ After Hours (the host's read) · lineage · Dark-side-of-the-yellow-brick-road version; Dorothy walks into black and white instead of color, with 'surrender Dorothy' graffiti and Marcy's Seconal tie to Judy Garland. · "it is like very much a Wizard of Oz kind of homage, and it's like if Dorothy instead walked into the black and white darkness"
- [The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:11:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ Wild at Heart (the host's read) · lineage · Wild at Heart is a homage to the Wizard of Oz. · "kind of a blanket homage to Wizard of Oz"
- [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."
- [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 · 0:03:55 · 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"
- [The Big Picture · Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! · 0:46:39 · unknown (0.30)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ Poor Things (the host's read) · craft · The black-and-white film turns to color once Bella discovers sex in Lisbon. · "the movie turns to color once she knows about sex. So Wizard of Oz."
- [Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:46:51 · Griffin Newman (0.30)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read) · craft · The training-sequence song joke riffs on the Tin Man and If I Only Had a Heart. · "If I only had a heart is what it's."
- [Blank Check — Patreon · 2022 MARCH MADNESS UPDATE 2 PRESENTED BY THE CHIP REPORT · 0:37:35 · unknown (0.30)] Planet of the Apes ↔ The Wizard of Oz · verdict · Apes are dominant against Oz: strong and many, while Oz is just a guy behind a curtain. · "Oz is just a guy behind a curtain."
- [The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture · 0:29:35 · James Gray (0.90)] The Wizard of Oz ↔ It's a Wonderful Life · industry · Both flopped financially and TV let audiences rediscover them. · "People don't know that the Wizard of Oz, and it's a wonderful life, we're both catastrophes financially."
- [Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:58:45 · unknown (0.30)] The Wizard of Oz ↔ The Wiz · industry · The Wiz is now on Criterion in 4K, a big week of news. · "The whiz is now on criterion?"
- [Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:11:18 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ The Wizard of Oz · magic alchemy · Nightmare has a magical, alchemical quality that falls into Wizard of Oz territory. · "It just, it falls into like, like Wizard of Oz territory."
- [The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:11:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Diane Ladd ↔ The Wizard of Oz · lineage · Diane Ladd plays something like the Wicked Witch. · "playing kind of like the Wicked Witch in some ways"
Films put beside it more than once (2)
- [pairs] The Wizard of Oz ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · said 2 times in 2 episodes
- [pairs] The Wizard of Oz ↔ Avatar · said 2 times in 1 episode
One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (26)
- [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 · 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 · After Hours · 2:18:42 · unknown host (0.35)] After Hours ↔ Dallas Buyers Club · programming · Dallas Buyers Club would pair with After Hours as an AIDS-era double feature. · "It'd be a great double feature with after hours."
- [Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · 1:50:06 · unknown (0.30)] The Last Temptation of Christ ↔ It's a Wonderful Life · theme · Jesus dragging himself back to the cross after seeing the life he wasn't given plays like the wonderful-life reversal. · "also a very kind of like it's a wonderful life scene."
- [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 · 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 · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 3:12:46 · unknown (0.40)] Yellowbeard ↔ After Hours · programming · Cheech and Chong in Yellowbeard and After Hours are reserved for future Mel Damski and Scorsese series. · "we'd want to save that for Martin Scorsese and Mel Damski series."
- [Blank Check — Patreon · The Game · 0:50:34 · David Sims (0.40)] The Game ↔ It's a Wonderful Life · theme · Calls the film Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. · "Kafka's it's a wonderful life."
- [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 · 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 Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 1:14:08 · Bill Simmons (0.60)] After Hours ↔ Pee-wee's Big Adventure · programming · Tim Burton left After Hours the same year he made Pee-wee; both are about a manchild in a strange world finding salvation going home. · "about a manchild, thrust into a world he doesn't understand, seeking something he can't get, and eventually finding salvation by going back home."
- [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 · 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 Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 1:31:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] After Hours ↔ Bright Lights, Big City · programming · Bright Lights, Big City is a big one from this era that nobody talks about. · "Bright Lights Big City is a big one from this era too."
- [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 · 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 Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 1:40:40 · Bill Simmons (0.40)] After Hours ↔ Bringing Out the Dead · programming · Another nighttime Scorsese movie. · "Another nighttime Scorsese movie bringing out the dead."
- [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:55:09 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Dances with Wolves · theme · Avatar belongs to the interloper-story family but is not like Dances with Wolves or The Last Samurai. · "something like Dances with Wolves, Last Samurai, whichever one of these movies you want to throw out there. Interloper 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 Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 1:40:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] After Hours ↔ Into the Night · programming · Sean's double-feature pick: the LA version of the same energy, made at the same time. · "I think it would be funny to see New York, LA, same kind of version energy."
- [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 1:07:47 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Galaxy Quest · theme · The human-looking avatars are compared to Galaxy Quest's aliens who look like convention fans. · "There is a version of this story"
- [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 · After Hours · 0:33:22 · unknown host (quoting Minion) (0.35)] Joseph Minion ↔ After Hours · lineage · Minion wrote it under the spell of Kafka, Welles' The Trial, Mamet plays, Henry Miller and Mailer. · "I was under the spell of Kafka. I was obsessed with Orson Welles as the trial."
- [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 1:13:28 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Buddy-cop films · theme · Neytiri, not Jake, kills Quaritch, unlike films where the white lead gets the kill. · "This is a movie where Natiri is the one who ends up pumps him full of arrows."
- [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"
- [Blank Check · After Hours · 0:34:18 · unknown host (0.40)] After Hours ⇒ The Night Before (the host's read) · lineage · After Hours is the template for modern one-crazy-night New York comedies, none of which reach it. · "It is one of those movies that kind of is like unofficially remade every 5 years."
Who said it, by their latest sketch (3)
- [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] 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] James Gray · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture · Loves classical, big-canvas cinema: Coppola, Lean, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Fellini, Scorsese. Believes in the communal theater experience and the 90 to 120 minute feature. Wary of testing-driven, branded product; admires directors who build a name as a brand. Respects TV (Sopranos, Breaking Bad) but calls it a different muscle. · stances: Films should be personal, not formula; audiences catch up later; Failure is the norm; stay Zen and keep trying; Theatrical viewing is better than a phone or computer; sad about its decline; Movies are not beholden to literal historical fact; Wants to keep making features rather than go to TV
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 The Wizard of Oz (1939) 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 The Wizard of Oz (1939) 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 — Patreon · 2022 MARCH MADNESS UPDATE 2 PRESENTED BY THE CHIP REPORT · 0:37:57 · unknown (0.30)] The Wizard of Oz ↔ Oz the Great and Powerful · programming · If Oz won the Patreon bracket, they'd time the series around Oz the Great and Powerful. · "if Oz were to win, we would want it to be done around the same time as Oz the Great and Power."
[The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 0:11:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ After Hours (the host's read) · lineage · Dark-side-of-the-yellow-brick-road version; Dorothy walks into black and white instead of color, with 'surrender Dorothy' graffiti and Marcy's Seconal tie to Judy Garland. · "it is like very much a Wizard of Oz kind of homage, and it's like if Dorothy instead walked into the black and white darkness"
[The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:11:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ Wild at Heart (the host's read) · lineage · Wild at Heart is a homage to the Wizard of Oz. · "kind of a blanket homage to Wizard of Oz"
[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."
[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 · 0:03:55 · 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"
[The Big Picture · Best Picture Power Rankings and a ‘Poor Things’ Deep Dive. Plus: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes! · 0:46:39 · unknown (0.30)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ Poor Things (the host's read) · craft · The black-and-white film turns to color once Bella discovers sex in Lisbon. · "the movie turns to color once she knows about sex. So Wizard of Oz."
[Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:46:51 · Griffin Newman (0.30)] The Wizard of Oz ⇒ RoboCop (the host's read) · craft · The training-sequence song joke riffs on the Tin Man and If I Only Had a Heart. · "If I only had a heart is what it's."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2022 MARCH MADNESS UPDATE 2 PRESENTED BY THE CHIP REPORT · 0:37:35 · unknown (0.30)] Planet of the Apes ↔ The Wizard of Oz · verdict · Apes are dominant against Oz: strong and many, while Oz is just a guy behind a curtain. · "Oz is just a guy behind a curtain."
[The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture · 0:29:35 · James Gray (0.90)] The Wizard of Oz ↔ It's a Wonderful Life · industry · Both flopped financially and TV let audiences rediscover them. · "People don't know that the Wizard of Oz, and it's a wonderful life, we're both catastrophes financially."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:58:45 · unknown (0.30)] The Wizard of Oz ↔ The Wiz · industry · The Wiz is now on Criterion in 4K, a big week of news. · "The whiz is now on criterion?"
[Blank Check · Wendell & Wild · 2:11:18 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] The Nightmare Before Christmas ↔ The Wizard of Oz · magic alchemy · Nightmare has a magical, alchemical quality that falls into Wizard of Oz territory. · "It just, it falls into like, like Wizard of Oz territory."
[The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 1:11:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Diane Ladd ↔ The Wizard of Oz · lineage · Diane Ladd plays something like the Wicked Witch. · "playing kind of like the Wicked Witch in some ways"
[pairs] The Wizard of Oz ↔ The Nightmare Before Christmas · said 2 times in 2 episodes
[pairs] The Wizard of Oz ↔ Avatar · said 2 times in 1 episode
[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 · 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 · After Hours · 2:18:42 · unknown host (0.35)] After Hours ↔ Dallas Buyers Club · programming · Dallas Buyers Club would pair with After Hours as an AIDS-era double feature. · "It'd be a great double feature with after hours."
[Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · 1:50:06 · unknown (0.30)] The Last Temptation of Christ ↔ It's a Wonderful Life · theme · Jesus dragging himself back to the cross after seeing the life he wasn't given plays like the wonderful-life reversal. · "also a very kind of like it's a wonderful life scene."
[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 · 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 · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 3:12:46 · unknown (0.40)] Yellowbeard ↔ After Hours · programming · Cheech and Chong in Yellowbeard and After Hours are reserved for future Mel Damski and Scorsese series. · "we'd want to save that for Martin Scorsese and Mel Damski series."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Game · 0:50:34 · David Sims (0.40)] The Game ↔ It's a Wonderful Life · theme · Calls the film Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. · "Kafka's it's a wonderful life."
[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 · 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 Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 1:14:08 · Bill Simmons (0.60)] After Hours ↔ Pee-wee's Big Adventure · programming · Tim Burton left After Hours the same year he made Pee-wee; both are about a manchild in a strange world finding salvation going home. · "about a manchild, thrust into a world he doesn't understand, seeking something he can't get, and eventually finding salvation by going back home."
[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 · 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 Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 1:31:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] After Hours ↔ Bright Lights, Big City · programming · Bright Lights, Big City is a big one from this era that nobody talks about. · "Bright Lights Big City is a big one from this era too."
[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 · 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 Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 1:40:40 · Bill Simmons (0.40)] After Hours ↔ Bringing Out the Dead · programming · Another nighttime Scorsese movie. · "Another nighttime Scorsese movie bringing out the dead."
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:55:09 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Dances with Wolves · theme · Avatar belongs to the interloper-story family but is not like Dances with Wolves or The Last Samurai. · "something like Dances with Wolves, Last Samurai, whichever one of these movies you want to throw out there. Interloper 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 Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ · 1:40:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] After Hours ↔ Into the Night · programming · Sean's double-feature pick: the LA version of the same energy, made at the same time. · "I think it would be funny to see New York, LA, same kind of version energy."
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 1:07:47 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Galaxy Quest · theme · The human-looking avatars are compared to Galaxy Quest's aliens who look like convention fans. · "There is a version of this story"
[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 · After Hours · 0:33:22 · unknown host (quoting Minion) (0.35)] Joseph Minion ↔ After Hours · lineage · Minion wrote it under the spell of Kafka, Welles' The Trial, Mamet plays, Henry Miller and Mailer. · "I was under the spell of Kafka. I was obsessed with Orson Welles as the trial."
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 1:13:28 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Buddy-cop films · theme · Neytiri, not Jake, kills Quaritch, unlike films where the white lead gets the kill. · "This is a movie where Natiri is the one who ends up pumps him full of arrows."
[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"
[Blank Check · After Hours · 0:34:18 · unknown host (0.40)] After Hours ⇒ The Night Before (the host's read) · lineage · After Hours is the template for modern one-crazy-night New York comedies, none of which reach it. · "It is one of those movies that kind of is like unofficially remade every 5 years."
[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] 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] James Gray · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture · Loves classical, big-canvas cinema: Coppola, Lean, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Fellini, Scorsese. Believes in the communal theater experience and the 90 to 120 minute feature. Wary of testing-driven, branded product; admires directors who build a name as a brand. Respects TV (Sopranos, Breaking Bad) but calls it a different muscle. · stances: Films should be personal, not formula; audiences catch up later; Failure is the norm; stay Zen and keep trying; Theatrical viewing is better than a phone or computer; sad about its decline; Movies are not beholden to literal historical fact; Wants to keep making features rather than go to TV
[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 The Wizard of Oz (1939); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend The Wizard of Oz (1939) 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.