What the corpus says about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

The 60 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 — 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."
[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 · 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 · 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 · 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."
[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."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:57:01 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Forrest Gump ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · contrast · Fincher read the similarity to Roth's earlier film as the reverse: an extraordinary man in ordinary circumstances. · "I thought of Benjamin as an extraordinary man in ordinary circumstances"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:26:15 · unknown (0.30)] Forrest Gump ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · contrast · Per Fincher, the hummingbird is the opposite of Gump's feather. · "And he's like, the hummingbird is the exact opposite of the feather."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 2:30:10 · unknown (0.30)] The Social Network ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · contrast · Next week's film is called an anti-Benjamin Button. · "Kind of an anti-Benjamin button?"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) · 0:43:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.55)] Panic Room ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · career · After Panic Room, Fincher's films from Zodiac on are less about gotchas and more about ideas. · "Benjamin Button, all of these movies are less about like, boom, gotcha, and more about thinking about the ideas at the center of the movie."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:05:36 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ⇒ House of Cards (TV series) (the host's read) · career · Fincher moved Mahershala Ali from Button into House of Cards. · "But I mean, look, Fincher puts him from this into House of Cards, which is one of the things that definitely levels him up."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer · 1:09:29 · unknown (host) (0.30)] The Killer ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Tilda Swinton was described as plain as paper in Button and is the anonymous-looking killer here. · "Tilda Swinton is described as plain as paper in that movie."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:02:46 · unknown (0.30)] Sling Blade ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Pitt is only the second actor nominated for a Sling Blade style performance, after Thornton. · "I was just going to ask if Brad Pitt is the only actor, other than Thornton, obviously, to be nominated for doing a slingblade, slingblade."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:40:57 · unknown (0.30)] Being John Malkovich ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Spike Jonze came aboard Button straight off Malkovich. · "It's like after Malkovich, they're Jones like, what do you want?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:43:08 · unknown (0.30)] Forrest Gump ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · The same screenwriter, Eric Roth, wrote both, and Roth poured his own grief into Button instead of repeating himself. · "If anyone's going to be able to crack this, have the Gump guy crack it"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:57:31 · Richard Lawson (0.50)] Meet Joe Black ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Pitt's present-tense performances in both are blank and curious. · "like in the present tense of the movie, like kind of blank, curious, but a cold"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:20:13 · unknown (0.30)] The Whale ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · industry · Both campaigns withheld the star's transformed look. · "The Benjamin button film was even more withholding, you know, and it really worked until it kind of doesn't because you eventually do have to see the thing."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 2:08:29 · unknown (0.30)] Slumdog Millionaire ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · industry · Slumdog beat Button for Best Picture, which the speakers think Button might otherwise have won. · "I think this would have won."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 2:12:28 · unknown (0.30)] Marley & Me ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · industry · Marley & Me, also about death, won the Christmas 2008 weekend over Button. · "Also about death."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:36:20 · unknown (0.30)] Clifford → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · what-if · The speaker guesses Martin Short did Clifford after the Oz version fell apart. · "Maybe when Benjamin Button fell apart, Short was like, but I couldn't remember something like that."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Mank · 1:45:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ Mank · self-portrait · The speaker reads Fincher as both the scumbag who made Seven and the sincere artist who made Benjamin Button, which is Mank. · "he made Ben Benjamin Button, you know, like that he is, he's Mank"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo · 0:12:26 · unknown (0.30)] The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · blank check compared · Button, not Dragon Tattoo, is probably Fincher's biggest blank check. · "I think Benjamin Button ended up being the bigger one, but this was such a like..."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:05:04 · unknown (0.30)] Clifford ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · joke · The Martin Short version is called basically a Clifford sequel. · "It's basically a Clifford sequel."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:10:05 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Forrest Gump ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · attempt at a Gump · The speaker says the cultural narrative is that Benjamin Button is Fincher trying to do Gump. · "but I do think this is like the cultural narrative of this movie is he's trying to do Gump, right?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:10:46 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ⇒ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (the host's read) · parody · The speaker says Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, as if to say Button got the Gump wrong. · "And Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, almost as if to say, they fucked up."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:18:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] The Social Network ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · trailer reception · Both teasers played with a tone so different that the audience went silent. · "2 great fucking teasers that have such a different tone than everything else that was playing that the audience just went pin drop silent."

Films put beside it more than once (5)

[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ Forrest Gump · said 5 times in 1 episode
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ The Killer · said 2 times in 2 episodes
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ The Social Network · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ Clifford · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ Meet Joe Black · said 2 times in 1 episode

Fun items about it (6)

[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:04:50 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · The first properly set-up version was Frank Oz directing a Martin Short vehicle. · "the 1st version of this movie to like properly be set up was Frank Oz directing as a Martin Short vehicle."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:16:05 · Richard Lawson (0.40)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · A friend's summary of the plot, mid-Katrina, sounds insane when typed out. · "it's sort of related to his, you know, long lost love in a diary while Hurricane Katrina bears down on him."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:18:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · The teaser made the audience go silent at Crystal Skull; the speakers say the trailer is a better version of what the movie does. · "2 great fucking teasers that have such a different tone than everything else that was playing that the audience just went pin drop silent."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:32:43 · Griffin Newman (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · The film's clock prologue tested badly until the film grain and crackles were added late in post, after which audiences accepted it as a story being told. · "we added all the filters of the film grain and the pops and the crackles and the distortion and whatever."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:40:35 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · Charlie Kaufman reportedly rewrote the script at one point, during the stretch Spike Jonze was attached. · "Charlie Kaufman supposedly rewrote the script at one point."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:42:11 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · Roth named Daisy as a tribute to Gatsby, and the film otherwise resembles the story in name only. · "He calls the love interest daisy as a tribute to the Great Gatsby."

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (17)

[The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:44:07 · Brian Raftery (0.90)] earlier Vietnam films ⇒ Forrest Gump (the host's read) · lineage · Gump's Vietnam section riffs on the earlier Vietnam films: music, combat, drill instructor. · "A journey that riffs on all the Vietnam films that came before."
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:30 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] The Killer ↔ Fight Club · programming · Both are very funny first-person-narrated films about sociopaths who rationalize brutal violence as a personal mission. · "This movie would make a neat pairing with Fight Club. Two very funny films about sociopaths whose inner monologues rationalize brutal violence as expressions of a personal mission."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) · 0:40:17 · Bill Simmons (0.70)] Panic Room ↔ The Social Network · programming · Fincher movies are rewatchable and date-movie friendly, with the exception of Se7en; Social Network is the perfect date movie. · "Like social network, perfect date movie."
[The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:38:01 · Adam Nayman (0.75)] Elvis ↔ Forrest Gump · lineage · Forrest Gump already did the bit where Elvis took his moves from a kid in leg braces. · "How could they ever improve on the Bitten Forest Gump where you find that Elvis didn't actually get his moves or style some black music?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer · 0:16:54 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Killer ↔ Steven Soderbergh · programming · A friend of the podcast says it is Fincher and Soderbergh land: a stripped-down genre exercise. · "it's Fincher and Sodaberg land."
[The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:56:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.80)] The Social Network ⇒ Steve Jobs (the host's read) · lineage · Steve Jobs is called a worthy sequel to The Social Network on big tech and innovation. · "I think this is in many ways a worthy sequel to the social network"
[The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:47:14 · Brian Raftery (0.90)] Forrest Gump ↔ The 1960s · theme · Raftery's old take: Gump as a happy reboot letting boomers wave away the 60s. · "Forrest Gump sometimes feels like a happy reboot of the Vietnam era"
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:17:53 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] The Killer ↔ Gone Girl · lineage · It is the closest Fincher has come to a pure thriller since Gone Girl, maybe Dragon Tattoo. · "he hasn't made a movie quite like this, I guess, since Gone Girl, but even, I mean, you could maybe even going back further to Dragon Tattoo is maybe a little closer to this kind of a pure thriller."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network · 0:11:24 · David Sims (0.50)] The Social Network ↔ Blackberry · lineage · Blackberry is named as the only movie to come close to The Social Network in the 13 years since. · "I think Blackberry is the only thing that has come close and then now 13 years since this movie came out."
[The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:39:25 · Adam Nayman (0.85)] Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story ↔ Forrest Gump · theme · Dewey is the Forrest Gump of American popular music, inhabiting every style. · "he's almost kind of the forest gump of American popular music because he inhabits all of them."
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:20:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.70)] Rear Window ⇒ The Killer (the host's read) · lineage · The Paris hit sequence is a clear homage built on watching rooms across the street. · "it is a kind of rear window monkey. You know, it is like an attempt to recreate the across the street path, vision of what is happening in rooms in another building, and clear homage to that film."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network · 0:11:44 · David Sims (0.60)] The Social Network ⇒ The Big Short (the host's read) · lineage · David says The Big Short is the most obvious movie ripping off The Social Network, and that people do not make the connection enough. · "I think the big short, which is not a movie I love, is the most obvious movie that's ripping off the social network, even though people maybe don't make that connection enough."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 1:34:14 · unknown (0.30)] Forrest Gump ↔ 2001: A Space Odyssey · craft · Forrest Gump's leg-removal effects and the 2001 pen shot both keep the audience guessing how it was done. · "And the pen shot is just like, even for such an early point, they're doing that"
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:52 · Adam Nayman (0.70)] The Cable Guy ⇒ The Killer (the host's read) · lineage · The TV-character aliases gag was already a joke in The Cable Guy (50s characters there, 70s and 80s here). · "that was a joke of the cable guy just to give credit where it's to."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network · 0:15:37 · David Sims (0.50)] The Accidental Billionaires (Ben Mezrich book) ↔ The Social Network · lineage · The film is technically an adapted screenplay but the speakers say Sorkin was working from the same research and the book proposal, not using the book as a template. · "But it's basically like this movie is using the same research that the book has called rather than Aaron Sorkin reading this book and using it as a template if that makes sense."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer · 0:12:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Killer (graphic novel) ⇒ The Killer (the host's read) · lineage · The film takes almost everything from the first 200-odd pages of the comic; the series ran on to 2018. · "it feels like everything from the movie is basically taken from the 1st 200 some odd pages"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network · 0:26:04 · unknown (0.35)] The Accidental Billionaires (Ben Mezrich book) ↔ The Social Network · lineage · Sorkin had no finished book and worked from notes and a general structure, with little to do with the book that exists. · "but he doesn't really have much to do with the actual book that exists."

Who said it, by their latest sketch (4)

[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] Richard Lawson · latest sketch, Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · Loves Forrest Gump and had snarked at Button as a young Gawker writer; had never seen the film before preparing. Came around on it on rewatch, valuing the sentimental tone and Daisy's regret. · stances: Button deserves reevaluation; Pitt's casting works because of the special effects reveal; the logic of the aging is not the point
[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] Adam Nayman · latest sketch, The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ · Self-described slasher fan who likes a movie that plays with tropes intelligently; admires Miasma's playfulness and sincerity but dislikes its showbiz satire. Soft spot for Texas Chain Saw, wrestling and Toronto sports. Wary of the idea that references alone make a movie smart. · stances: Miasma is academic but playfully so; Better filmmakers deserve less intention-guessing; Don't need to love slashers to love Miasma

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] 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 Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 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 Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 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 · 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."
[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 · 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 · 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 · 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."
[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."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:57:01 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Forrest Gump ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · contrast · Fincher read the similarity to Roth's earlier film as the reverse: an extraordinary man in ordinary circumstances. · "I thought of Benjamin as an extraordinary man in ordinary circumstances"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:26:15 · unknown (0.30)] Forrest Gump ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · contrast · Per Fincher, the hummingbird is the opposite of Gump's feather. · "And he's like, the hummingbird is the exact opposite of the feather."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 2:30:10 · unknown (0.30)] The Social Network ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · contrast · Next week's film is called an anti-Benjamin Button. · "Kind of an anti-Benjamin button?"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) · 0:43:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.55)] Panic Room ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · career · After Panic Room, Fincher's films from Zodiac on are less about gotchas and more about ideas. · "Benjamin Button, all of these movies are less about like, boom, gotcha, and more about thinking about the ideas at the center of the movie."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:05:36 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ⇒ House of Cards (TV series) (the host's read) · career · Fincher moved Mahershala Ali from Button into House of Cards. · "But I mean, look, Fincher puts him from this into House of Cards, which is one of the things that definitely levels him up."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer · 1:09:29 · unknown (host) (0.30)] The Killer ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Tilda Swinton was described as plain as paper in Button and is the anonymous-looking killer here. · "Tilda Swinton is described as plain as paper in that movie."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:02:46 · unknown (0.30)] Sling Blade ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Pitt is only the second actor nominated for a Sling Blade style performance, after Thornton. · "I was just going to ask if Brad Pitt is the only actor, other than Thornton, obviously, to be nominated for doing a slingblade, slingblade."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:40:57 · unknown (0.30)] Being John Malkovich ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Spike Jonze came aboard Button straight off Malkovich. · "It's like after Malkovich, they're Jones like, what do you want?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:43:08 · unknown (0.30)] Forrest Gump ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · The same screenwriter, Eric Roth, wrote both, and Roth poured his own grief into Button instead of repeating himself. · "If anyone's going to be able to crack this, have the Gump guy crack it"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 1:57:31 · Richard Lawson (0.50)] Meet Joe Black ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · people · Pitt's present-tense performances in both are blank and curious. · "like in the present tense of the movie, like kind of blank, curious, but a cold"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:20:13 · unknown (0.30)] The Whale ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · industry · Both campaigns withheld the star's transformed look. · "The Benjamin button film was even more withholding, you know, and it really worked until it kind of doesn't because you eventually do have to see the thing."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 2:08:29 · unknown (0.30)] Slumdog Millionaire ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · industry · Slumdog beat Button for Best Picture, which the speakers think Button might otherwise have won. · "I think this would have won."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 2:12:28 · unknown (0.30)] Marley & Me ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · industry · Marley & Me, also about death, won the Christmas 2008 weekend over Button. · "Also about death."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:36:20 · unknown (0.30)] Clifford → The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · what-if · The speaker guesses Martin Short did Clifford after the Oz version fell apart. · "Maybe when Benjamin Button fell apart, Short was like, but I couldn't remember something like that."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Mank · 1:45:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ Mank · self-portrait · The speaker reads Fincher as both the scumbag who made Seven and the sincere artist who made Benjamin Button, which is Mank. · "he made Ben Benjamin Button, you know, like that he is, he's Mank"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo · 0:12:26 · unknown (0.30)] The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · blank check compared · Button, not Dragon Tattoo, is probably Fincher's biggest blank check. · "I think Benjamin Button ended up being the bigger one, but this was such a like..."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:05:04 · unknown (0.30)] Clifford ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · joke · The Martin Short version is called basically a Clifford sequel. · "It's basically a Clifford sequel."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:10:05 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Forrest Gump ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read) · attempt at a Gump · The speaker says the cultural narrative is that Benjamin Button is Fincher trying to do Gump. · "but I do think this is like the cultural narrative of this movie is he's trying to do Gump, right?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:10:46 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ⇒ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (the host's read) · parody · The speaker says Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, as if to say Button got the Gump wrong. · "And Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, almost as if to say, they fucked up."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:18:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] The Social Network ↔ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · trailer reception · Both teasers played with a tone so different that the audience went silent. · "2 great fucking teasers that have such a different tone than everything else that was playing that the audience just went pin drop silent."
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ Forrest Gump · said 5 times in 1 episode
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ The Killer · said 2 times in 2 episodes
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ The Social Network · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ Clifford · said 2 times in 1 episode
[pairs] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ↔ Meet Joe Black · said 2 times in 1 episode
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:04:50 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · The first properly set-up version was Frank Oz directing a Martin Short vehicle. · "the 1st version of this movie to like properly be set up was Frank Oz directing as a Martin Short vehicle."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:16:05 · Richard Lawson (0.40)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · A friend's summary of the plot, mid-Katrina, sounds insane when typed out. · "it's sort of related to his, you know, long lost love in a diary while Hurricane Katrina bears down on him."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:18:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · The teaser made the audience go silent at Crystal Skull; the speakers say the trailer is a better version of what the movie does. · "2 great fucking teasers that have such a different tone than everything else that was playing that the audience just went pin drop silent."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:32:43 · Griffin Newman (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · The film's clock prologue tested badly until the film grain and crackles were added late in post, after which audiences accepted it as a story being told. · "we added all the filters of the film grain and the pops and the crackles and the distortion and whatever."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:40:35 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · Charlie Kaufman reportedly rewrote the script at one point, during the stretch Spike Jonze was attached. · "Charlie Kaufman supposedly rewrote the script at one point."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · 0:42:11 · unknown (0.30)] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · fun · Roth named Daisy as a tribute to Gatsby, and the film otherwise resembles the story in name only. · "He calls the love interest daisy as a tribute to the Great Gatsby."
[The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:44:07 · Brian Raftery (0.90)] earlier Vietnam films ⇒ Forrest Gump (the host's read) · lineage · Gump's Vietnam section riffs on the earlier Vietnam films: music, combat, drill instructor. · "A journey that riffs on all the Vietnam films that came before."
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:30 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] The Killer ↔ Fight Club · programming · Both are very funny first-person-narrated films about sociopaths who rationalize brutal violence as a personal mission. · "This movie would make a neat pairing with Fight Club. Two very funny films about sociopaths whose inner monologues rationalize brutal violence as expressions of a personal mission."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) · 0:40:17 · Bill Simmons (0.70)] Panic Room ↔ The Social Network · programming · Fincher movies are rewatchable and date-movie friendly, with the exception of Se7en; Social Network is the perfect date movie. · "Like social network, perfect date movie."
[The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:38:01 · Adam Nayman (0.75)] Elvis ↔ Forrest Gump · lineage · Forrest Gump already did the bit where Elvis took his moves from a kid in leg braces. · "How could they ever improve on the Bitten Forest Gump where you find that Elvis didn't actually get his moves or style some black music?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer · 0:16:54 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Killer ↔ Steven Soderbergh · programming · A friend of the podcast says it is Fincher and Soderbergh land: a stripped-down genre exercise. · "it's Fincher and Sodaberg land."
[The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:56:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.80)] The Social Network ⇒ Steve Jobs (the host's read) · lineage · Steve Jobs is called a worthy sequel to The Social Network on big tech and innovation. · "I think this is in many ways a worthy sequel to the social network"
[The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:47:14 · Brian Raftery (0.90)] Forrest Gump ↔ The 1960s · theme · Raftery's old take: Gump as a happy reboot letting boomers wave away the 60s. · "Forrest Gump sometimes feels like a happy reboot of the Vietnam era"
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:17:53 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60)] The Killer ↔ Gone Girl · lineage · It is the closest Fincher has come to a pure thriller since Gone Girl, maybe Dragon Tattoo. · "he hasn't made a movie quite like this, I guess, since Gone Girl, but even, I mean, you could maybe even going back further to Dragon Tattoo is maybe a little closer to this kind of a pure thriller."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network · 0:11:24 · David Sims (0.50)] The Social Network ↔ Blackberry · lineage · Blackberry is named as the only movie to come close to The Social Network in the 13 years since. · "I think Blackberry is the only thing that has come close and then now 13 years since this movie came out."
[The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:39:25 · Adam Nayman (0.85)] Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story ↔ Forrest Gump · theme · Dewey is the Forrest Gump of American popular music, inhabiting every style. · "he's almost kind of the forest gump of American popular music because he inhabits all of them."
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 0:20:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.70)] Rear Window ⇒ The Killer (the host's read) · lineage · The Paris hit sequence is a clear homage built on watching rooms across the street. · "it is a kind of rear window monkey. You know, it is like an attempt to recreate the across the street path, vision of what is happening in rooms in another building, and clear homage to that film."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network · 0:11:44 · David Sims (0.60)] The Social Network ⇒ The Big Short (the host's read) · lineage · David says The Big Short is the most obvious movie ripping off The Social Network, and that people do not make the connection enough. · "I think the big short, which is not a movie I love, is the most obvious movie that's ripping off the social network, even though people maybe don't make that connection enough."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 1:34:14 · unknown (0.30)] Forrest Gump ↔ 2001: A Space Odyssey · craft · Forrest Gump's leg-removal effects and the 2001 pen shot both keep the audience guessing how it was done. · "And the pen shot is just like, even for such an early point, they're doing that"
[The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:52 · Adam Nayman (0.70)] The Cable Guy ⇒ The Killer (the host's read) · lineage · The TV-character aliases gag was already a joke in The Cable Guy (50s characters there, 70s and 80s here). · "that was a joke of the cable guy just to give credit where it's to."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network · 0:15:37 · David Sims (0.50)] The Accidental Billionaires (Ben Mezrich book) ↔ The Social Network · lineage · The film is technically an adapted screenplay but the speakers say Sorkin was working from the same research and the book proposal, not using the book as a template. · "But it's basically like this movie is using the same research that the book has called rather than Aaron Sorkin reading this book and using it as a template if that makes sense."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer · 0:12:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Killer (graphic novel) ⇒ The Killer (the host's read) · lineage · The film takes almost everything from the first 200-odd pages of the comic; the series ran on to 2018. · "it feels like everything from the movie is basically taken from the 1st 200 some odd pages"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Social Network · 0:26:04 · unknown (0.35)] The Accidental Billionaires (Ben Mezrich book) ↔ The Social Network · lineage · Sorkin had no finished book and worked from notes and a general structure, with little to do with the book that exists. · "but he doesn't really have much to do with the actual book that exists."
[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] Richard Lawson · latest sketch, Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button · Loves Forrest Gump and had snarked at Button as a young Gawker writer; had never seen the film before preparing. Came around on it on rewatch, valuing the sentimental tone and Daisy's regret. · stances: Button deserves reevaluation; Pitt's casting works because of the special effects reveal; the logic of the aging is not the point
[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] Adam Nayman · latest sketch, The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ · Self-described slasher fan who likes a movie that plays with tropes intelligently; admires Miasma's playfulness and sincerity but dislikes its showbiz satire. Soft spot for Texas Chain Saw, wrestling and Toronto sports. Wary of the idea that references alone make a movie smart. · stances: Miasma is academic but playfully so; Better filmmakers deserve less intention-guessing; Don't need to love slashers to love Miasma
[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] 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 Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 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.