What the corpus says about Magnolia (1999)

The 55 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)

[The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 0:06:52 · unknown (0.40)] Eddington ↔ Magnolia · lineage · Austin Butler's televangelist recalls Tom Cruise in Magnolia. · "strong shades of Tom Cruise and Magnolia from Austin Butler there"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:44:06 · unknown (0.30)] Magnolia ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The car-accident sequence feels a little like Magnolia, but the film is the anti-Magnolia on connectedness. · "This is sort of the anti-magnolia, which is like Ricky J is saying, like, surely these things mean something."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:22:38 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Magnolia · craft · Both blend European-cinema love with music-video sensibility and lead with musical taste. · "it's basically like criterion MTV. They have the sensibility and the style of music videos"
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:21:43 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Magnolia · career · Each is its director's third film, where they hit both their emotional-trauma vein and big Hollywood budgets; both blessed by Scorsese. · "Magnolia and Tenna bombs were each of their 3rd films."
[The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:28:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.60)] Magnolia ↔ Eyes Wide Shut · career · Both are directors riffing on Cruise's fame and persona, and are his big acting-year pair in 1999. · "puts him in a position to do all of that and also comment on it and play with the idea of Tom Cruise."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 1:21:07 · unknown (0.30)] Eyes Wide Shut ↔ Magnolia · people · The speaker says Magnolia is the only other Cruise movie where reality distorts around him while he clutches at control. · "The only other movie that fits that description for Cruz is Magnolia, which he was filmed right after."
[The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:32:37 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40)] Eyes Wide Shut ↔ Magnolia · verdict · Forced to cut between them, one host expects Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia choice but both stay. · "You're going to make me choose between eyes wet shut and magnolia then."
[The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:39:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Mission: Impossible – Fallout ↔ Magnolia · verdict · Asked directly whether he likes Fallout more than Magnolia, Chris says no. · "Do you like Mission Impossible Fallout more than Magnolia?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Killing · 0:46:12 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Killing ↔ Magnolia · narration · The Killing's ominous narrator recalls the Ricky Jay narration that opens Magnolia. · "it reminds me a lot of the Ricky J narration at the beginning of Magnolia"
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ · 1:20:14 · Bill Simmons (0.30)] Philip Baker Hall ↔ Magnolia · career · Hall's 1999 includes Magnolia alongside this film. · "How about just his 99?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:03:45 · David Sims (0.50)] Tom Cruise ↔ Magnolia · career · Before Edge, Magnolia would have been his best performance, a post-modern text analyzing his persona. · "Magnolia is his best performance because it's like the post-modern text analyzing."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Vanilla Sky · 0:54:05 · unknown (0.40)] Tom Cruise ↔ Magnolia · career · Magnolia, MI2 and Vanilla Sky are three consecutive long-haired movies. · "Magnolia, Mission Impossible 2, and this are all long hair, right?"
[Blank Check · Fargo · 1:18:21 · David Sims (0.40)] William H. Macy ↔ Magnolia · people · Donnie Smith in Magnolia is a harder watch than Jerry. · "Jerry is tough is a tough hang."
[The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:28:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Magnolia ↔ Paul Thomas Anderson · people · Magnolia works because PTA loves Cruise and plays with the idea of Tom Cruise. · "Paul Thomas I understand who like loves Tom Cruise as much as we do"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Species’ · 1:16:29 · Chris Ryan (0.30)] Tom Cruise ↔ Magnolia · what-if · As a cameo, Cruise could be one of Sil's pickups: Cocktail Cruise or Magnolia Cruise. · "Literally, one of the guys she picks up is cocktail cruise. or Magnolia Cruise?"

Films put beside it more than once (2)

[pairs] Magnolia ↔ Eyes Wide Shut · said 3 times in 2 episodes
[pairs] Magnolia ↔ The Royal Tenenbaums · said 2 times in 1 episode

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (29)

[The Rewatchables · A CR Month Mailbag! · 0:57:26 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Tom Cruise ↔ Eyes Wide Shut · programming · If Cruise would answer everything, the Rewatchables pick is Eyes Wide Shut. · "I would do eyes-wise shut."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Vanilla Sky · 1:45:35 · unknown (0.40)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Vanilla Sky · programming · Tenenbaums opened the same week as Vanilla Sky in 5 theaters and averaged $55,000. · "Tenenbaums comes out that very week on 5 theaters and it grosses $276,000"
[The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' · 0:06:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mission: Impossible ⇒ Mission: Impossible – Fallout (the host's read) · lineage · Every later MI film calls back to the Langley drop as a hallmark. · "I realized that they call back to that specific moment every time"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:01:30 · unknown (0.30)] F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · The film is adapted from Fitzgerald's short story, though the speakers say it shares little with it. · "It's quite, it's, it doesn't have too much in common with the film, right?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Barry Lyndon · 0:13:57 · unknown (0.30)] Barry Lyndon ↔ Eyes Wide Shut · programming · These two Kubrick films feel warm to the speaker compared with the rest. · "But Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut are the 2 that feel like they sort of cut through to me on a deeper level, where I feel genuine warmth and affection for them."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:07:20 · Andy Greenwald (0.60)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Pulp Fiction · lineage · Both are 'emptying the cupboard' of their makers' influences and obsessions, introducing a whole cinematic world through soundtrack, look and talk. · "it's like pulp fiction or Grand Royal magazine, where it's just like the emptying of the cupboard of influences and obsessions."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:36:27 · David Sims (0.40)] Edge of Tomorrow ↔ Mission: Impossible – Fallout · craft · Fallout has the same ending as Edge: cut on Cruise's smile with a weird pop-song needle drop. · "Fallout kind of have the same ending."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:42:01 · unknown (0.30)] F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · By the time Roth finished, the film resembles the story in name only. · "By the time he's done with it, the movie has no resemblance to Benjamin Button apart from, it's called Benjamin Button."
[The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 0:24:49 · unknown (0.30)] Eyes Wide Shut ⇒ Babygirl (the host's read) · lineage · The stoned late-night bedroom lecture after the rave echoes Eyes Wide Shut. · "Nice callback to eyes wide shut and lecturing Tom Cruise in the bedroom while stoned out of their minds."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:31:25 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Franny and Zooey · lineage · The movie is a Salinger pastiche; Anderson would need a Salinger adaptation as IP cover today. · "he would have to make Franny and Zooey. Like he would have to make an adaptation of a Salinger novel"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:30:40 · unknown (0.30)] Christopher McQuarrie ↔ Mission: Impossible – Fallout · craft · McQuarrie brings in new tech people and a new cinematographer each time so each film feels like a different director's. · "Like, he always, right, he's, like, brings in a new, uh, new, like, tech people, new, new, new cinematographer."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:43:40 · unknown (0.30)] Joan Didion → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · lineage · A line in the film was something Roth's mother said in the hospital, tied by the speaker to Didion's Year of Magical Thinking. · "Joan Didian's book, the year of magical thinking."
[The Big Picture · Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman Channel Rejection and Anxiety to Make ‘Lemon’ | The Big Picture · 0:04:44 · Alison Herman (0.85)] Eyes Wide Shut ⇒ Juneteenth (Atlanta episode) (the host's read) · lineage · Donald Glover's character describes the party as a Spike-directed reboot of Eyes Wide Shut. · "this is like a spikely directed reboot of eyes wide shut"
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:53:10 · Andy Greenwald (0.50)] Jean-Luc Godard ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the maker said so: Matt Zoller Seitz's book on the movie) · lineage · The mosaic of book covers was inspired by a Godard movie doing something similar. · "he was inspired by, I think it was a Godard movie that did something similar, of course."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 1:58:58 · David Sims (0.35)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ Mission: Impossible – Fallout · craft · Credits that run least to most important, with the star last, as in Fallout, parallel the cast roll here. · "I like it that in the Mission Impossible Fallout, they save Tom for last."
[Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:59:12 · unknown (0.30)] Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video) ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · A host guesses the Stones' giant-scale effects helped Fincher on Benjamin Button. · "Well, and I bet this helped for Benjamin Button eventually."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 0:33:04 · unknown (0.30)] Kirk Douglas ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the maker said so) · lineage · Kirk Douglas claims he handed Kubrick the novella during their Paths of Glory or Spartacus fights. · "Kirk Douglas claims he gave it to him during one of their like shared therapy sessions"
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 1:15:51 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Louis Malle ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the host's read) · lineage · French New Wave directors listed among its influences. · "some of the influences on this movie include films by Louis Maule. Um, uh, Francois Truffaux, Sholu Qadar, the French New Wave."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 3 · 2:18:18 · unknown (0.30)] Iron Man 3 ↔ Mission: Impossible – Fallout · craft · Speaker's anecdote of staying for the curtain call credits applies to Iron Man 3 end credits. · "we can't leave before they give Tom his curtain call."
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:05:56 · Adam Nayman (0.90)] The Killer ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The lonely dinner with Tilda Swinton in a hollow restaurant echoes Benjamin Button's end-of-the-world connection scene, here without sentimental shtick. · "the stuff with Tilda Swinton is very interestingly evocative of Benjamin Button, like this lonely dinner in this big hollow restaurant that feels like it's at the end of the world"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 0:33:21 · unknown (0.30)] Ruth Sobotka → Eyes Wide Shut · lineage · Others guess Kubrick's Austrian second wife may have given him the Austrian novel. · "Maybe she gave it to him."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 1:15:59 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Francois Truffaut ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the host's read) · lineage · French New Wave influence. · "Francois Truffaux, Sholu Qadar, the French New Wave."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:26:08 · Richard Lawson (0.60)] Meet Joe Black ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · Meet Joe Black is Brad Pitt's other epic about death; the speaker rewatched it right after Button. · "Brad Pitt's other somewhat misbegotten epic about death, meet Joe Black."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 0:33:31 · unknown (0.30)] Arthur Schnitzler ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read) · lineage · The speaker says the novel is very close to the film, so close that its plot beats are nearly one to one. · "And it is very similar to eyes wide shut."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 1:16:15 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Magnificent Ambersons ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the host's read) · lineage · Named as a huge influence; rewatching Ambersons shows how much of it is in Tenenbaums. · "it's wild how much, uh, ten bombs or how much Amberson's is in ten bombs."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:35:21 · unknown (0.30)] Being There ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The speaker likens people projecting wisdom onto Benjamin's silence to Chauncey Gardner. · "There's a bit of a Chauncey Gardner where they're like projecting onto his silence."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 0:37:01 · unknown (0.30)] Dream Story (Traumnovelle, the Schnitzler novella) ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read) · lineage · The speakers note the film's credit says inspired by, not adapted from, Schnitzler's novella. · "It's not adapted from Schnitzler."
[The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 12 - 'The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:05:35 · unknown (0.40)] The Catcher in the Rye / Franny and Zooey ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the host's read) · lineage · Salinger's Glass-family stories are the key literary influence. · "Zoe is like the key influence on this film"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Captain America: The First Avenger · 0:17:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Captain America: The First Avenger ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · craft · The skinny-Steve effect arrived only a couple of years after Benjamin Button, which did the head-swap effectively. · "And this is only a couple years after Benjamin Button when they did that so effectively."

Who said it, by their latest sketch (6)

[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
[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] 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] Amanda Dobbins · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · Loves The Strangers' withholding craft and a good tense horror film without gore, but likes fun, communal movies like Mamma Mia. She dislikes supernatural or gory horror, which irritates her more than it scares her. She is a sucker for stars and for Googling a movie mid-recording. · stances: The Strangers is scary because of what it doesn't show or explain; Ending explanation weakens it; no answer would be better; Prefers 'withholding' filmmaking; Defends Mamma Mia as joyful and intentional
[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] 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

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 Magnolia (1999) 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 Magnolia (1999) 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.

[The Big Picture · The 1990 Movie Draft · 0:06:52 · unknown (0.40)] Eddington ↔ Magnolia · lineage · Austin Butler's televangelist recalls Tom Cruise in Magnolia. · "strong shades of Tom Cruise and Magnolia from Austin Butler there"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:44:06 · unknown (0.30)] Magnolia ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The car-accident sequence feels a little like Magnolia, but the film is the anti-Magnolia on connectedness. · "This is sort of the anti-magnolia, which is like Ricky J is saying, like, surely these things mean something."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:22:38 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Magnolia · craft · Both blend European-cinema love with music-video sensibility and lead with musical taste. · "it's basically like criterion MTV. They have the sensibility and the style of music videos"
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:21:43 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Magnolia · career · Each is its director's third film, where they hit both their emotional-trauma vein and big Hollywood budgets; both blessed by Scorsese. · "Magnolia and Tenna bombs were each of their 3rd films."
[The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:28:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.60)] Magnolia ↔ Eyes Wide Shut · career · Both are directors riffing on Cruise's fame and persona, and are his big acting-year pair in 1999. · "puts him in a position to do all of that and also comment on it and play with the idea of Tom Cruise."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 1:21:07 · unknown (0.30)] Eyes Wide Shut ↔ Magnolia · people · The speaker says Magnolia is the only other Cruise movie where reality distorts around him while he clutches at control. · "The only other movie that fits that description for Cruz is Magnolia, which he was filmed right after."
[The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:32:37 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40)] Eyes Wide Shut ↔ Magnolia · verdict · Forced to cut between them, one host expects Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia choice but both stay. · "You're going to make me choose between eyes wet shut and magnolia then."
[The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:39:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Mission: Impossible – Fallout ↔ Magnolia · verdict · Asked directly whether he likes Fallout more than Magnolia, Chris says no. · "Do you like Mission Impossible Fallout more than Magnolia?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Killing · 0:46:12 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Killing ↔ Magnolia · narration · The Killing's ominous narrator recalls the Ricky Jay narration that opens Magnolia. · "it reminds me a lot of the Ricky J narration at the beginning of Magnolia"
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Insider’ · 1:20:14 · Bill Simmons (0.30)] Philip Baker Hall ↔ Magnolia · career · Hall's 1999 includes Magnolia alongside this film. · "How about just his 99?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 0:03:45 · David Sims (0.50)] Tom Cruise ↔ Magnolia · career · Before Edge, Magnolia would have been his best performance, a post-modern text analyzing his persona. · "Magnolia is his best performance because it's like the post-modern text analyzing."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Vanilla Sky · 0:54:05 · unknown (0.40)] Tom Cruise ↔ Magnolia · career · Magnolia, MI2 and Vanilla Sky are three consecutive long-haired movies. · "Magnolia, Mission Impossible 2, and this are all long hair, right?"
[Blank Check · Fargo · 1:18:21 · David Sims (0.40)] William H. Macy ↔ Magnolia · people · Donnie Smith in Magnolia is a harder watch than Jerry. · "Jerry is tough is a tough hang."
[The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:28:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Magnolia ↔ Paul Thomas Anderson · people · Magnolia works because PTA loves Cruise and plays with the idea of Tom Cruise. · "Paul Thomas I understand who like loves Tom Cruise as much as we do"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Species’ · 1:16:29 · Chris Ryan (0.30)] Tom Cruise ↔ Magnolia · what-if · As a cameo, Cruise could be one of Sil's pickups: Cocktail Cruise or Magnolia Cruise. · "Literally, one of the guys she picks up is cocktail cruise. or Magnolia Cruise?"
[pairs] Magnolia ↔ Eyes Wide Shut · said 3 times in 2 episodes
[pairs] Magnolia ↔ The Royal Tenenbaums · said 2 times in 1 episode
[The Rewatchables · A CR Month Mailbag! · 0:57:26 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Tom Cruise ↔ Eyes Wide Shut · programming · If Cruise would answer everything, the Rewatchables pick is Eyes Wide Shut. · "I would do eyes-wise shut."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Vanilla Sky · 1:45:35 · unknown (0.40)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Vanilla Sky · programming · Tenenbaums opened the same week as Vanilla Sky in 5 theaters and averaged $55,000. · "Tenenbaums comes out that very week on 5 theaters and it grosses $276,000"
[The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' · 0:06:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mission: Impossible ⇒ Mission: Impossible – Fallout (the host's read) · lineage · Every later MI film calls back to the Langley drop as a hallmark. · "I realized that they call back to that specific moment every time"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:01:30 · unknown (0.30)] F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · The film is adapted from Fitzgerald's short story, though the speakers say it shares little with it. · "It's quite, it's, it doesn't have too much in common with the film, right?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Barry Lyndon · 0:13:57 · unknown (0.30)] Barry Lyndon ↔ Eyes Wide Shut · programming · These two Kubrick films feel warm to the speaker compared with the rest. · "But Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut are the 2 that feel like they sort of cut through to me on a deeper level, where I feel genuine warmth and affection for them."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:07:20 · Andy Greenwald (0.60)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Pulp Fiction · lineage · Both are 'emptying the cupboard' of their makers' influences and obsessions, introducing a whole cinematic world through soundtrack, look and talk. · "it's like pulp fiction or Grand Royal magazine, where it's just like the emptying of the cupboard of influences and obsessions."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:36:27 · David Sims (0.40)] Edge of Tomorrow ↔ Mission: Impossible – Fallout · craft · Fallout has the same ending as Edge: cut on Cruise's smile with a weird pop-song needle drop. · "Fallout kind of have the same ending."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:42:01 · unknown (0.30)] F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · By the time Roth finished, the film resembles the story in name only. · "By the time he's done with it, the movie has no resemblance to Benjamin Button apart from, it's called Benjamin Button."
[The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 0:24:49 · unknown (0.30)] Eyes Wide Shut ⇒ Babygirl (the host's read) · lineage · The stoned late-night bedroom lecture after the rave echoes Eyes Wide Shut. · "Nice callback to eyes wide shut and lecturing Tom Cruise in the bedroom while stoned out of their minds."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:31:25 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Royal Tenenbaums ↔ Franny and Zooey · lineage · The movie is a Salinger pastiche; Anderson would need a Salinger adaptation as IP cover today. · "he would have to make Franny and Zooey. Like he would have to make an adaptation of a Salinger novel"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:30:40 · unknown (0.30)] Christopher McQuarrie ↔ Mission: Impossible – Fallout · craft · McQuarrie brings in new tech people and a new cinematographer each time so each film feels like a different director's. · "Like, he always, right, he's, like, brings in a new, uh, new, like, tech people, new, new, new cinematographer."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:43:40 · unknown (0.30)] Joan Didion → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · lineage · A line in the film was something Roth's mother said in the hospital, tied by the speaker to Didion's Year of Magical Thinking. · "Joan Didian's book, the year of magical thinking."
[The Big Picture · Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman Channel Rejection and Anxiety to Make ‘Lemon’ | The Big Picture · 0:04:44 · Alison Herman (0.85)] Eyes Wide Shut ⇒ Juneteenth (Atlanta episode) (the host's read) · lineage · Donald Glover's character describes the party as a Spike-directed reboot of Eyes Wide Shut. · "this is like a spikely directed reboot of eyes wide shut"
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:53:10 · Andy Greenwald (0.50)] Jean-Luc Godard ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the maker said so: Matt Zoller Seitz's book on the movie) · lineage · The mosaic of book covers was inspired by a Godard movie doing something similar. · "he was inspired by, I think it was a Godard movie that did something similar, of course."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 1:58:58 · David Sims (0.35)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ Mission: Impossible – Fallout · craft · Credits that run least to most important, with the star last, as in Fallout, parallel the cast roll here. · "I like it that in the Mission Impossible Fallout, they save Tom for last."
[Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:59:12 · unknown (0.30)] Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video) ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · lineage · A host guesses the Stones' giant-scale effects helped Fincher on Benjamin Button. · "Well, and I bet this helped for Benjamin Button eventually."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 0:33:04 · unknown (0.30)] Kirk Douglas ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the maker said so) · lineage · Kirk Douglas claims he handed Kubrick the novella during their Paths of Glory or Spartacus fights. · "Kirk Douglas claims he gave it to him during one of their like shared therapy sessions"
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 1:15:51 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Louis Malle ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the host's read) · lineage · French New Wave directors listed among its influences. · "some of the influences on this movie include films by Louis Maule. Um, uh, Francois Truffaux, Sholu Qadar, the French New Wave."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 3 · 2:18:18 · unknown (0.30)] Iron Man 3 ↔ Mission: Impossible – Fallout · craft · Speaker's anecdote of staying for the curtain call credits applies to Iron Man 3 end credits. · "we can't leave before they give Tom his curtain call."
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:05:56 · Adam Nayman (0.90)] The Killer ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The lonely dinner with Tilda Swinton in a hollow restaurant echoes Benjamin Button's end-of-the-world connection scene, here without sentimental shtick. · "the stuff with Tilda Swinton is very interestingly evocative of Benjamin Button, like this lonely dinner in this big hollow restaurant that feels like it's at the end of the world"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 0:33:21 · unknown (0.30)] Ruth Sobotka → Eyes Wide Shut · lineage · Others guess Kubrick's Austrian second wife may have given him the Austrian novel. · "Maybe she gave it to him."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 1:15:59 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Francois Truffaut ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the host's read) · lineage · French New Wave influence. · "Francois Truffaux, Sholu Qadar, the French New Wave."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:26:08 · Richard Lawson (0.60)] Meet Joe Black ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · Meet Joe Black is Brad Pitt's other epic about death; the speaker rewatched it right after Button. · "Brad Pitt's other somewhat misbegotten epic about death, meet Joe Black."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 0:33:31 · unknown (0.30)] Arthur Schnitzler ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read) · lineage · The speaker says the novel is very close to the film, so close that its plot beats are nearly one to one. · "And it is very similar to eyes wide shut."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 1:16:15 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Magnificent Ambersons ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the host's read) · lineage · Named as a huge influence; rewatching Ambersons shows how much of it is in Tenenbaums. · "it's wild how much, uh, ten bombs or how much Amberson's is in ten bombs."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:35:21 · unknown (0.30)] Being There ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · theme · The speaker likens people projecting wisdom onto Benjamin's silence to Chauncey Gardner. · "There's a bit of a Chauncey Gardner where they're like projecting onto his silence."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut · 0:37:01 · unknown (0.30)] Dream Story (Traumnovelle, the Schnitzler novella) ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read) · lineage · The speakers note the film's credit says inspired by, not adapted from, Schnitzler's novella. · "It's not adapted from Schnitzler."
[The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 12 - 'The Royal Tenenbaums’ · 0:05:35 · unknown (0.40)] The Catcher in the Rye / Franny and Zooey ⇒ The Royal Tenenbaums (the host's read) · lineage · Salinger's Glass-family stories are the key literary influence. · "Zoe is like the key influence on this film"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Captain America: The First Avenger · 0:17:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Captain America: The First Avenger ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · craft · The skinny-Steve effect arrived only a couple of years after Benjamin Button, which did the head-swap effectively. · "And this is only a couple years after Benjamin Button when they did that so effectively."
[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
[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] 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] Amanda Dobbins · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · Loves The Strangers' withholding craft and a good tense horror film without gore, but likes fun, communal movies like Mamma Mia. She dislikes supernatural or gory horror, which irritates her more than it scares her. She is a sucker for stars and for Googling a movie mid-recording. · stances: The Strangers is scary because of what it doesn't show or explain; Ending explanation weakens it; no answer would be better; Prefers 'withholding' filmmaking; Defends Mamma Mia as joyful and intentional
[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] 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
[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 Magnolia (1999); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend Magnolia (1999) 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.