What the corpus says about Starman (1984)

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 (26)

[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."
[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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · 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."
[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 · Starman · 1:22:19 · David Sims (0.35)] Starman ↔ Something Wild · craft · The people met along the road each get a world of their own, as in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild. · "I, the thing about it happened when Eddie was thinking about some Jonathan Demi. Something wild? Yes."
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:26:03 · Katey Rich (0.35)] The Martian ↔ Starman · craft · The Martian uses Bowie's Starman and disco in its soundtrack. · "Isn't it in a Martian, though?"
[Blank Check · Dune · 2:57:26 · unknown (0.40)] Starman ↔ Dune · contrast · Starman is political and rooted in reality, an interesting analog for where sci-fi was. · "Yeah. But another interesting analog to like where sci-fi filmmaking is at where like carpenter's very political and is very rooted in reality."
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Starman ↔ Christine · career · Christine was Carpenter's rebound after his big flop, then Starman followed once it was a hit. · "Christine is kind of like a rebound movie, right?"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 0:46:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Fearless ↔ Starman · people · Bridges plays a person one step removed from reality in both films. · "both about people who are a little outside of reality, right?"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 1:14:55 · unknown (0.30)] Fearless ↔ Starman · people · The first thirty minutes of Fearless feel like Starman. · "He does feel like Starman."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:01:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ↔ Raiders of the Lost Ark · people · Karen Allen came off Raiders into Starman, two years later. · "this is 2 years after Raiders"
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:57:23 · David Sims (0.40)] Starman ⇒ Forrest Gump (the host's read) · people · Bridges' hat, check shirt, strange speech and not-quite-a-person quality read as a proto-Forrest Gump. · "there's like a proto-Forrest Gump vibe in this performance in the hat and in the check shirt"
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:02:29 · Katey Rich (0.45)] Starman ⇒ Midnight Special (the host's read) · verdict · Midnight Special is called Spielbergian but really Starman-like; its Adam Driver agent does the benevolent-government-agent role better than Starman's. · "I'm like, God, that's so Starman."
[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."
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:24:23 · David Sims (0.50)] Starman ↔ Night Skies · competing script · Columbia ran focus groups on the two friendly-alien scripts at script stage and Starman won hands down. · "It was Starman hands down."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:26:26 · Griffin Newman (0.45)] Starman ↔ The Terminator · tonal mismatch · Like Terminator's sex scene, Starman's love scene feels like it is from a different movie. · "That's a movie where it's like, when the sex scene kicks off, you're like, am I watching the same movie?"
[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 · Starman · 2:25:44 · David Sims (0.40)] David Bowie ↔ Starman · craft · A host half-expected Bowie's song 'Starman' to play over the film's credits, though it is not that kind of movie. · "Part of me was waiting for it, like, the Starman song to be in the credits."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:17:32 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Starman ↔ John Carpenter · contrast · Starman is one of the Carpenter movies he did not score; its synthy score is more emotional than his usual. · "this is one of the Carpenter movies that he did not score."
[Blank Check · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 3:08:07 · unknown (0.40)] Karen Allen ↔ Starman · verdict · They have said Karen Allen should have won the Oscar that year for Starman. · "I think we both said that we think she should have won the Oscar that year and she wasn't even nominated"
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:09:54 · Griffin Newman (0.45)] Kevin Bacon ↔ Starman · what-if · After Footloose made him a star Carpenter wanted him for Starman and he nearly did it. · "So then Carpenter wanted him for this, and he almost did it."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:11:50 · David Sims (0.40)] Tom Cruise ↔ Starman · what-if · Carpenter talked to Cruise, who instead did Legend. · "But then Tom Cruise ended up doing legend."

Films put beside it more than once (3)

[pairs] Starman ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Starman ↔ Fearless · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Starman ↔ It Happened One Night · said 2 times in 1 episode

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (13)

[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."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:48:14 · unknown (0.40)] Peter Weir ↔ Fearless · programming · A host has not seen Fearless and is obsessed with plane crashes. · "the most intense plane crash scene in a movie."
[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."
[Blank Check · Fearless · 1:11:17 · David Sims (0.50)] Rafael Yglesias ⇒ Fearless (the host's read) · lineage · Weir loved the unpublished-novel first-draft script, adapted by its own author. · "He adapts his own unpublished 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"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 0:50:16 · Tim Simons (0.45)] Fearless ↔ Unbreakable · theme · Both are about a man recovering from an accident that left him untouched; Bruce Willis would have fit, but was not ready. · "sort of a similar idea of a guy who's kind of like, fucking nothing happened to me, like, and who is recovering from an accident."
[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 · Fearless · 1:13:28 · David Sims (0.40)] Fearless ↔ Hero · theme · Hero, the year before, also asks what happens to people who walk out of a crash alive. · "What happens to the people who walk off walk out of a crash alive?"
[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."
[Blank Check · Fearless · 2:28:08 · unknown (0.30)] Fearless ↔ Kickin' It Old Skool · theme · A coma movie where a man wakes into a new reality is joked to be the Fearless of the 2000s. · "kind of the fearless of the 2000s?"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 0:52:17 · Tim Simons (0.40)] Fearless ⇒ Tron: Legacy (the host's read) · craft · The 1993 Bridges look was the reference for the de-aged CGI Bridges in Tron: Legacy. · "I believe that this was the main visual reference for creepy CGI Jeff Bridges and Tron Legacy."
[Blank Check · Fearless · 1:06:54 · David Sims (0.40)] Fearless ↔ Picnic at Hanging Rock · craft · Fearless captures an uncanny mood with invisible craft the way Picnic at Hanging Rock does. · "And it has a little bit of that picnic at hanging rock thing where you're like, what is this mood he's captured?"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 1:14:34 · unknown (0.30)] Fearless ↔ Sully · craft · Sully uses the same crash-in-flashback structure Weir chose for Fearless. · "Sully does basically the same thing."

Who said it, by their latest sketch (3)

[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] Katey Rich · latest sketch, Blank Check · Starman · Loves Jeff Bridges and 80s hunks, Karen Allen's performance, Oscar history and the quiet humanity of Carpenter's side characters. Cannot stand Oscar tribute clips she says she hated. A sucker for her sons' obsessions (Coco, Sing, Rocketman). · stances: Karen Allen carries the movie and is the real lead; Carpenter gives every road character quiet humanity; Starman works because Bridges is both child and adult; The Starman TV show concept is insane

The shows' running bits (2)

[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)

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 Starman (1984) 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 Starman (1984) 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 · 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."
[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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · 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."
[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 · Starman · 1:22:19 · David Sims (0.35)] Starman ↔ Something Wild · craft · The people met along the road each get a world of their own, as in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild. · "I, the thing about it happened when Eddie was thinking about some Jonathan Demi. Something wild? Yes."
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:26:03 · Katey Rich (0.35)] The Martian ↔ Starman · craft · The Martian uses Bowie's Starman and disco in its soundtrack. · "Isn't it in a Martian, though?"
[Blank Check · Dune · 2:57:26 · unknown (0.40)] Starman ↔ Dune · contrast · Starman is political and rooted in reality, an interesting analog for where sci-fi was. · "Yeah. But another interesting analog to like where sci-fi filmmaking is at where like carpenter's very political and is very rooted in reality."
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Starman ↔ Christine · career · Christine was Carpenter's rebound after his big flop, then Starman followed once it was a hit. · "Christine is kind of like a rebound movie, right?"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 0:46:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Fearless ↔ Starman · people · Bridges plays a person one step removed from reality in both films. · "both about people who are a little outside of reality, right?"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 1:14:55 · unknown (0.30)] Fearless ↔ Starman · people · The first thirty minutes of Fearless feel like Starman. · "He does feel like Starman."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:01:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Starman ↔ Raiders of the Lost Ark · people · Karen Allen came off Raiders into Starman, two years later. · "this is 2 years after Raiders"
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:57:23 · David Sims (0.40)] Starman ⇒ Forrest Gump (the host's read) · people · Bridges' hat, check shirt, strange speech and not-quite-a-person quality read as a proto-Forrest Gump. · "there's like a proto-Forrest Gump vibe in this performance in the hat and in the check shirt"
[Blank Check · Starman · 2:02:29 · Katey Rich (0.45)] Starman ⇒ Midnight Special (the host's read) · verdict · Midnight Special is called Spielbergian but really Starman-like; its Adam Driver agent does the benevolent-government-agent role better than Starman's. · "I'm like, God, that's so Starman."
[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."
[Blank Check · Starman · 0:24:23 · David Sims (0.50)] Starman ↔ Night Skies · competing script · Columbia ran focus groups on the two friendly-alien scripts at script stage and Starman won hands down. · "It was Starman hands down."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:26:26 · Griffin Newman (0.45)] Starman ↔ The Terminator · tonal mismatch · Like Terminator's sex scene, Starman's love scene feels like it is from a different movie. · "That's a movie where it's like, when the sex scene kicks off, you're like, am I watching the same movie?"
[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 · Starman · 2:25:44 · David Sims (0.40)] David Bowie ↔ Starman · craft · A host half-expected Bowie's song 'Starman' to play over the film's credits, though it is not that kind of movie. · "Part of me was waiting for it, like, the Starman song to be in the credits."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:17:32 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] Starman ↔ John Carpenter · contrast · Starman is one of the Carpenter movies he did not score; its synthy score is more emotional than his usual. · "this is one of the Carpenter movies that he did not score."
[Blank Check · Raiders of the Lost Ark · 3:08:07 · unknown (0.40)] Karen Allen ↔ Starman · verdict · They have said Karen Allen should have won the Oscar that year for Starman. · "I think we both said that we think she should have won the Oscar that year and she wasn't even nominated"
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:09:54 · Griffin Newman (0.45)] Kevin Bacon ↔ Starman · what-if · After Footloose made him a star Carpenter wanted him for Starman and he nearly did it. · "So then Carpenter wanted him for this, and he almost did it."
[Blank Check · Starman · 1:11:50 · David Sims (0.40)] Tom Cruise ↔ Starman · what-if · Carpenter talked to Cruise, who instead did Legend. · "But then Tom Cruise ended up doing legend."
[pairs] Starman ↔ E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Starman ↔ Fearless · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Starman ↔ It Happened One Night · said 2 times in 1 episode
[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."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:48:14 · unknown (0.40)] Peter Weir ↔ Fearless · programming · A host has not seen Fearless and is obsessed with plane crashes. · "the most intense plane crash scene in a movie."
[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."
[Blank Check · Fearless · 1:11:17 · David Sims (0.50)] Rafael Yglesias ⇒ Fearless (the host's read) · lineage · Weir loved the unpublished-novel first-draft script, adapted by its own author. · "He adapts his own unpublished 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"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 0:50:16 · Tim Simons (0.45)] Fearless ↔ Unbreakable · theme · Both are about a man recovering from an accident that left him untouched; Bruce Willis would have fit, but was not ready. · "sort of a similar idea of a guy who's kind of like, fucking nothing happened to me, like, and who is recovering from an accident."
[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 · Fearless · 1:13:28 · David Sims (0.40)] Fearless ↔ Hero · theme · Hero, the year before, also asks what happens to people who walk out of a crash alive. · "What happens to the people who walk off walk out of a crash alive?"
[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."
[Blank Check · Fearless · 2:28:08 · unknown (0.30)] Fearless ↔ Kickin' It Old Skool · theme · A coma movie where a man wakes into a new reality is joked to be the Fearless of the 2000s. · "kind of the fearless of the 2000s?"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 0:52:17 · Tim Simons (0.40)] Fearless ⇒ Tron: Legacy (the host's read) · craft · The 1993 Bridges look was the reference for the de-aged CGI Bridges in Tron: Legacy. · "I believe that this was the main visual reference for creepy CGI Jeff Bridges and Tron Legacy."
[Blank Check · Fearless · 1:06:54 · David Sims (0.40)] Fearless ↔ Picnic at Hanging Rock · craft · Fearless captures an uncanny mood with invisible craft the way Picnic at Hanging Rock does. · "And it has a little bit of that picnic at hanging rock thing where you're like, what is this mood he's captured?"
[Blank Check · Fearless · 1:14:34 · unknown (0.30)] Fearless ↔ Sully · craft · Sully uses the same crash-in-flashback structure Weir chose for Fearless. · "Sully does basically the same thing."
[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] Katey Rich · latest sketch, Blank Check · Starman · Loves Jeff Bridges and 80s hunks, Karen Allen's performance, Oscar history and the quiet humanity of Carpenter's side characters. Cannot stand Oscar tribute clips she says she hated. A sucker for her sons' obsessions (Coco, Sing, Rocketman). · stances: Karen Allen carries the movie and is the real lead; Carpenter gives every road character quiet humanity; Starman works because Bridges is both child and adult; The Starman TV show concept is insane
[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 Starman (1984); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend Starman (1984) 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.