What the corpus says about Spartacus (1960)

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 (20)

[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:03:34 · Richard Lawson (0.60)] Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read) · lineage · Richard, seeing Spartacus for the first time, says it is the main thing Gladiator riffs on. · "this is really the main thing the gladiators are riffing on."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 1:45:25 · David Sims (0.50)] Paths of Glory ↔ Spartacus · lineage · Kubrick makes Spartacus next partly because Paths of Glory made him no money. · "Which is one reason he's going to Spartacus because he really needs to make some money."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:08:18 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ↔ Cleopatra · theme · Cleopatra was the end of the epic era's escalation; it cost three times as much. · "Cleopatra was like the end of an error"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:09:25 · unknown (0.40)] Hail, Caesar! → Spartacus · theme · Hail, Caesar! mocks the self-important Hollywood epic that Spartacus belongs to. · "Hail Caesar, which is mocking that"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:21:58 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Paths of Glory ↔ Spartacus · craft · The speaker expected Paths of Glory to be a Spartacus-scale Kirk Douglas epic, as the poster implied. · "similar to Spartacus in terms of like scale"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Lolita · 0:11:47 · unknown (0.00)] Spartacus ↔ Lolita · career · Spartacus, Kubrick's biggest hit, is offered as one reason he got to make Lolita. · "So that's one reason he probably gets to make a lead."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:33:49 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read) · people · Gladiator, like Spartacus, is loaded with supporting actors who are thespian gems, which the speaker says Scott recognized. · "as Ridley Scott recognized about this movie, is like loaded up with supporting actors who are like just thespian gems."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 0:22:39 · unknown (0.40)] The Alamo ↔ Spartacus · industry · The Alamo, which John Wayne directed, got the Best Picture slot Spartacus missed. · "Um, because that's the one John Wayne directed."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 0:38:17 · unknown (0.30)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ↔ Spartacus · intermission · The third intermission movie covered that year, after Spartacus and Sweet Charity. · "this is now the 3rd movie we've covered with an intermission this year"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 0:21:39 · unknown (0.35)] Ben-Hur → Spartacus · response to · After losing Ben-Hur, speaker says Spartacus is drafting off Douglas's dark man. · "Yeah. This is drafting off of Kirk Douglas's dark man."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:14:49 · unknown (0.35)] Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read) · scene reused · The trident thrown into the stands in Spartacus is in Gladiator too, with Russell Crowe doing it. · "that's literally in Gladiator."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:33:00 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ↔ Gladiator · compared endings · Spartacus does not Hollywoodize its ending; Gladiator at least lets its hero go to heaven. · "Because, I mean, like Gladiator at least sort of lets him go to heaven."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:43:58 · Richard Lawson (0.60)] Spartacus ⇒ Clueless (the host's read) · reference · Richard knew Spartacus mostly through the Clueless clip (and Community jokes) before watching it. · "to have heard about this movie mostly through Clueless, but also just joked about in community for years"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:44:12 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ⇒ Airplane! (the host's read) · reference · The Spartacus bath-scene joke is the joke in Airplane and it still works. · "there's a reason that it's it's the fucking joke in airplane and that the joke still works so well."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:44:37 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ↔ 300 · shared audience appeal · 300 came out and overperformed with an underserved gay audience, like Spartacus decades earlier. · "when 300 came out and made so much fucking money."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:59:30 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ⇒ Dell Comics (the host's read) · lineage · Spartacus got a Dell Comics color adaptation, like a tie-in of its era. · "that this had a Dell comics color adaptation"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:14:15 · David Sims (0.40)] Sergei Prokofiev ↔ Spartacus · craft · Kubrick played a Prokofiev concerto on set to draw Strode's final close-up out of him. · "The music was a Prakofi of Concerto, a haunting passage."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:53:45 · unknown (0.40)] Jeanne Moreau ↔ Spartacus · what-if · Kubrick wanted Jeanne Moreau for Varinia. · "He wanted John Moreau to do it, which would have been fascinating."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 2:00:39 · unknown (0.40)] Anthony Hopkins ↔ Spartacus · voice replacement · Olivier was dead for the restoration, so Hopkins impersonated him for the recovered dialogue. · "Anthony Hopkins impersonated him."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 2:01:51 · unknown (0.40)] Steven Spielberg ⇒ Spartacus (the host's read) · led to restoration · Spielberg talked Kubrick into letting the film be restored and re-released. · "and Spielberg knew him then. and was like, well, they're, you know, the American cinema tech or whoever wants to do this."

Films put beside it more than once (2)

[pairs] Spartacus ↔ Gladiator · said 4 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Spartacus ↔ Paths of Glory · said 2 times in 1 episode

Fun items about it (5)

[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 0:47:55 · unknown (0.35)] Spartacus · fun · Douglas announced Spartacus in Variety to beat Yul Brynner's rival Gladiators project, one dollar-ish over the same budget. · "we are going ahead with the gladiators, starring Eul Brenner, a budget of 5.5 million dollars."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 0:59:41 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus · fun · The film cost $12 million, roughly $110 million today. · "It costs $12 million, which is like the equivalent of like $110 million now"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:44:12 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus · fun · The film is a Clueless cameo, a Community joke, and the Airplane punchline long before people see it. · "I mean, there's a reason that it's it's the fucking joke in airplane and that the joke still works so well."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 2:00:18 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus · fun · The restored bath scene's dialogue: Curtis rerecorded his in his 60s; Anthony Hopkins stood in for the dead Olivier. · "Tony Curtis rerecorded the dialogue, even though he was in his 60s."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 2:02:32 · unknown (0.35)] Spartacus · fun · The long-circulated Blu-ray was notoriously bad; the 4K fixes it. · "This looks like a VHS put on a disc."

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (27)

[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:06:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.80)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · lineage · The sequel is very similar in structure and story to the original. · "it's pretty well known that this movie is very similar in structure and story to the original."
[The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:32:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.70)] Paths of Glory ↔ Rashomon · programming · Bonus recommendations that are not strictly courtroom movies. · "Paths of Glory the other day, which I don't think is a great courtroom movie"
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 0:54:01 · unknown (0.30)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ↔ 2001: A Space Odyssey (novel) · programming · Film and Clarke's novel were developed side by side, each holding the other hostage. · "But the 2 of them were being done in tandem."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Marvel Nerdfest · 0:09:57 · Patrick Willems (0.60)] Derek Cianfrance ↔ 300 · craft · His baseball-ad continuous shots used speed ramping like 300. · "a sort of like a 300 style speed ramping"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Saturday Night Fever’ · 0:50:19 · Jimmy Kimmel (0.50)] Saturday Night Fever ⇒ Airplane! (the host's read) · lineage · Airplane! parodies this film's romance scene three years later with Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty. · "The airplane parody scene."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:15:52 · Mallory Rubin (0.60)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · lineage · The sequel's plot, structure, approach and pacing mirror the first, forcing a one-to-one comparison. · "it's just the movie is so similar to the 1st one in terms of plot, structure, approach, focus, pacing."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 1:46:21 · David Sims (0.75)] Paths of Glory ↔ The Bridge on the River Kwai · programming · Box office game: Kwai, the 1957 Best Picture winner, was number one the week Paths of Glory went wide. · "number one at the box office, the week, the paths of glory goes wide, is the best picture winner of 1957"
[Blank Check · Dune · 1:12:45 · unknown (0.40)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ Silent Running (the host's read) · lineage · 2001 spawned heady, serious, clean sci-fi like Silent Running. · "2001 leads to a spat of things like silent running, you know, these movies that are like very heady."
[The Rewatchables · A CR Month Mailbag! · 1:17:22 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Airplane! ↔ Leslie Nielsen · craft · Leslie Nielsen in Airplane is named for best line reading. · "Leslie Nielsen, an airplane."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:21:39 · Mallory Rubin (0.50)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · lineage · Because it mirrors the first film, outcomes for characters become predictable by inversion. · "I almost felt like it became impossible not to know what was going to happen to certain people"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:22:29 · David Sims (0.40)] Paths of Glory ↔ Dr. Strangelove · lineage · Strangelove is the nearest thing Kubrick made to Paths of Glory afterward, both being people talking through absurdity. · "the closest thing he's made to this since this is Strangelove, because Strangelove is also people talking through absurdity by and large"
[Blank Check · Dune · 2:54:20 · unknown (0.40)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read) · lineage · 2010 was made because the novel sequel existed, a movie made just because they had to. · "Because Arthur C. Clark had come out with a 2010 novel."
[The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:27:58 · Adam Nayman (0.85)] Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story ↔ Airplane! · craft · Walk Hard is modeled on Walk the Line the way Airplane! is modeled on Airport, then copies everything else. · "in the same way that airplane is modeled mostly after airport, and then it copies everything else."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:52:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · lineage · Lucius's hand in the grain is a callback to Maximus's hand in the wheat. · "And it's an obvious callback to Maximus walking through the kind of afterlife feeling the wheat."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:25:11 · unknown (0.30)] Paths of Glory ⇒ The Wire (the maker said so: David Simon cites it regularly) · lineage · David Simon reportedly cites Paths of Glory as the number one influence on The Wire: institutions chewing up the people on the ground. · "David Simon cites this regularly as the number one influence on the wire?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:02:34 · unknown (0.40)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read) · lineage · 2010 is the sequel to 2001; the speaker's reaction to the Kubrick film is the benchmark throughout. · "And I said, oh, you know, 2010, the sequel to 2001 and they were like, the what?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:13:26 · unknown (0.40)] Woody Strode → Gladiator · theme · Speaker imagines Ridley Scott deciding to keep the Draba-type character alive the whole movie. · "Ridley Scott was like, what if we keep him alive the whole movie?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:25:22 · unknown (0.30)] Paths of Glory ⇒ David Simon (the maker said so: David Simon cites it regularly) · lineage · The speaker calls Paths of Glory a Rosetta Stone for Simon's stories of institutions versus the people below. · "this is the sort of Rosetta Stone, if you will, for him."
[Blank Check — Patreon · A Clockwork Orange · 2:48:04 · unknown (0.40)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010 (the host's read) · lineage · Peter Hyams made a film sequel to 2001, following the books. · "But, like, he rolled up his sleeves and he was like, 2001?"
[Blank Check · As Good as It Gets · 1:05:43 · Chris Gethard (0.60)] Joaquin Phoenix ↔ Gladiator · craft · Chris likes Phoenix's Gladiator performance. · "I'll say, I really appreciated his performance in Gladiator."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:33:38 · David Sims (0.70)] Humphrey Cobb ⇒ Paths of Glory (the host's read) · lineage · Paths of Glory is based on Cobb's novel, which Kubrick read in high school and never forgot. · "Humphrey Cobb's novel pads of glory."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 0:11:43 · Jordan Hoffman (0.70)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read) · lineage · The film has a sequel, and Clarke wrote three sequel novels. · "Obviously, the sequel exists."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:06:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Gladiator II ↔ Gladiator · craft · Gladiator II brings back the original film's cinematographer, John Mathieson, as part of a returning crew. · "The cinematographer, John Matheson, is back."
[Blank Check — Patreon · A Clockwork Orange · 0:47:20 · Alex Ross Perry (0.60)] Paths of Glory ↔ Full Metal Jacket · theme · The firing squad of Paths of Glory is set against the sniper of Full Metal Jacket as the gun advances. · "Well, what's the difference between the firing squat, the end of paths of glory and the sniper at the end of Full Metal Jacket?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 0:42:56 · Jordan Hoffman (0.30)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2069: A Sex Odyssey (the host's read) · lineage · The porn parody is said to be very influenced by 2001. · "actually is actually very influenced by this film."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:53:58 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · craft · Lucius as Maximus's son is a classic retcon not in the first film's text. · "it is, is a classic case of reconning."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:04:22 · David Sims (0.50)] Blackadder (TV) ↔ Paths of Glory · theme · Growing up on Blackadder, the speaker finds some childlike charm in trench life and felt guilty thinking it during Paths of Glory. · "I was kind of thinking that while watching this, which immediately was a thought I felt very guilty for."

Who said it, by their latest sketch (3)

[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] 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] 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 Spartacus (1960) 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 Spartacus (1960) 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 · Spartacus · 1:03:34 · Richard Lawson (0.60)] Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read) · lineage · Richard, seeing Spartacus for the first time, says it is the main thing Gladiator riffs on. · "this is really the main thing the gladiators are riffing on."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 1:45:25 · David Sims (0.50)] Paths of Glory ↔ Spartacus · lineage · Kubrick makes Spartacus next partly because Paths of Glory made him no money. · "Which is one reason he's going to Spartacus because he really needs to make some money."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:08:18 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ↔ Cleopatra · theme · Cleopatra was the end of the epic era's escalation; it cost three times as much. · "Cleopatra was like the end of an error"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:09:25 · unknown (0.40)] Hail, Caesar! → Spartacus · theme · Hail, Caesar! mocks the self-important Hollywood epic that Spartacus belongs to. · "Hail Caesar, which is mocking that"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:21:58 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Paths of Glory ↔ Spartacus · craft · The speaker expected Paths of Glory to be a Spartacus-scale Kirk Douglas epic, as the poster implied. · "similar to Spartacus in terms of like scale"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Lolita · 0:11:47 · unknown (0.00)] Spartacus ↔ Lolita · career · Spartacus, Kubrick's biggest hit, is offered as one reason he got to make Lolita. · "So that's one reason he probably gets to make a lead."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:33:49 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read) · people · Gladiator, like Spartacus, is loaded with supporting actors who are thespian gems, which the speaker says Scott recognized. · "as Ridley Scott recognized about this movie, is like loaded up with supporting actors who are like just thespian gems."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 0:22:39 · unknown (0.40)] The Alamo ↔ Spartacus · industry · The Alamo, which John Wayne directed, got the Best Picture slot Spartacus missed. · "Um, because that's the one John Wayne directed."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 0:38:17 · unknown (0.30)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ↔ Spartacus · intermission · The third intermission movie covered that year, after Spartacus and Sweet Charity. · "this is now the 3rd movie we've covered with an intermission this year"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 0:21:39 · unknown (0.35)] Ben-Hur → Spartacus · response to · After losing Ben-Hur, speaker says Spartacus is drafting off Douglas's dark man. · "Yeah. This is drafting off of Kirk Douglas's dark man."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:14:49 · unknown (0.35)] Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read) · scene reused · The trident thrown into the stands in Spartacus is in Gladiator too, with Russell Crowe doing it. · "that's literally in Gladiator."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:33:00 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ↔ Gladiator · compared endings · Spartacus does not Hollywoodize its ending; Gladiator at least lets its hero go to heaven. · "Because, I mean, like Gladiator at least sort of lets him go to heaven."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:43:58 · Richard Lawson (0.60)] Spartacus ⇒ Clueless (the host's read) · reference · Richard knew Spartacus mostly through the Clueless clip (and Community jokes) before watching it. · "to have heard about this movie mostly through Clueless, but also just joked about in community for years"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:44:12 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ⇒ Airplane! (the host's read) · reference · The Spartacus bath-scene joke is the joke in Airplane and it still works. · "there's a reason that it's it's the fucking joke in airplane and that the joke still works so well."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:44:37 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ↔ 300 · shared audience appeal · 300 came out and overperformed with an underserved gay audience, like Spartacus decades earlier. · "when 300 came out and made so much fucking money."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:59:30 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus ⇒ Dell Comics (the host's read) · lineage · Spartacus got a Dell Comics color adaptation, like a tie-in of its era. · "that this had a Dell comics color adaptation"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:14:15 · David Sims (0.40)] Sergei Prokofiev ↔ Spartacus · craft · Kubrick played a Prokofiev concerto on set to draw Strode's final close-up out of him. · "The music was a Prakofi of Concerto, a haunting passage."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:53:45 · unknown (0.40)] Jeanne Moreau ↔ Spartacus · what-if · Kubrick wanted Jeanne Moreau for Varinia. · "He wanted John Moreau to do it, which would have been fascinating."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 2:00:39 · unknown (0.40)] Anthony Hopkins ↔ Spartacus · voice replacement · Olivier was dead for the restoration, so Hopkins impersonated him for the recovered dialogue. · "Anthony Hopkins impersonated him."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 2:01:51 · unknown (0.40)] Steven Spielberg ⇒ Spartacus (the host's read) · led to restoration · Spielberg talked Kubrick into letting the film be restored and re-released. · "and Spielberg knew him then. and was like, well, they're, you know, the American cinema tech or whoever wants to do this."
[pairs] Spartacus ↔ Gladiator · said 4 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Spartacus ↔ Paths of Glory · said 2 times in 1 episode
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 0:47:55 · unknown (0.35)] Spartacus · fun · Douglas announced Spartacus in Variety to beat Yul Brynner's rival Gladiators project, one dollar-ish over the same budget. · "we are going ahead with the gladiators, starring Eul Brenner, a budget of 5.5 million dollars."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 0:59:41 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus · fun · The film cost $12 million, roughly $110 million today. · "It costs $12 million, which is like the equivalent of like $110 million now"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:44:12 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus · fun · The film is a Clueless cameo, a Community joke, and the Airplane punchline long before people see it. · "I mean, there's a reason that it's it's the fucking joke in airplane and that the joke still works so well."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 2:00:18 · unknown (0.40)] Spartacus · fun · The restored bath scene's dialogue: Curtis rerecorded his in his 60s; Anthony Hopkins stood in for the dead Olivier. · "Tony Curtis rerecorded the dialogue, even though he was in his 60s."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 2:02:32 · unknown (0.35)] Spartacus · fun · The long-circulated Blu-ray was notoriously bad; the 4K fixes it. · "This looks like a VHS put on a disc."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:06:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.80)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · lineage · The sequel is very similar in structure and story to the original. · "it's pretty well known that this movie is very similar in structure and story to the original."
[The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:32:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.70)] Paths of Glory ↔ Rashomon · programming · Bonus recommendations that are not strictly courtroom movies. · "Paths of Glory the other day, which I don't think is a great courtroom movie"
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 0:54:01 · unknown (0.30)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ↔ 2001: A Space Odyssey (novel) · programming · Film and Clarke's novel were developed side by side, each holding the other hostage. · "But the 2 of them were being done in tandem."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Marvel Nerdfest · 0:09:57 · Patrick Willems (0.60)] Derek Cianfrance ↔ 300 · craft · His baseball-ad continuous shots used speed ramping like 300. · "a sort of like a 300 style speed ramping"
[The Rewatchables · ‘Saturday Night Fever’ · 0:50:19 · Jimmy Kimmel (0.50)] Saturday Night Fever ⇒ Airplane! (the host's read) · lineage · Airplane! parodies this film's romance scene three years later with Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty. · "The airplane parody scene."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:15:52 · Mallory Rubin (0.60)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · lineage · The sequel's plot, structure, approach and pacing mirror the first, forcing a one-to-one comparison. · "it's just the movie is so similar to the 1st one in terms of plot, structure, approach, focus, pacing."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 1:46:21 · David Sims (0.75)] Paths of Glory ↔ The Bridge on the River Kwai · programming · Box office game: Kwai, the 1957 Best Picture winner, was number one the week Paths of Glory went wide. · "number one at the box office, the week, the paths of glory goes wide, is the best picture winner of 1957"
[Blank Check · Dune · 1:12:45 · unknown (0.40)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ Silent Running (the host's read) · lineage · 2001 spawned heady, serious, clean sci-fi like Silent Running. · "2001 leads to a spat of things like silent running, you know, these movies that are like very heady."
[The Rewatchables · A CR Month Mailbag! · 1:17:22 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Airplane! ↔ Leslie Nielsen · craft · Leslie Nielsen in Airplane is named for best line reading. · "Leslie Nielsen, an airplane."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:21:39 · Mallory Rubin (0.50)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · lineage · Because it mirrors the first film, outcomes for characters become predictable by inversion. · "I almost felt like it became impossible not to know what was going to happen to certain people"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:22:29 · David Sims (0.40)] Paths of Glory ↔ Dr. Strangelove · lineage · Strangelove is the nearest thing Kubrick made to Paths of Glory afterward, both being people talking through absurdity. · "the closest thing he's made to this since this is Strangelove, because Strangelove is also people talking through absurdity by and large"
[Blank Check · Dune · 2:54:20 · unknown (0.40)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read) · lineage · 2010 was made because the novel sequel existed, a movie made just because they had to. · "Because Arthur C. Clark had come out with a 2010 novel."
[The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:27:58 · Adam Nayman (0.85)] Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story ↔ Airplane! · craft · Walk Hard is modeled on Walk the Line the way Airplane! is modeled on Airport, then copies everything else. · "in the same way that airplane is modeled mostly after airport, and then it copies everything else."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:52:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · lineage · Lucius's hand in the grain is a callback to Maximus's hand in the wheat. · "And it's an obvious callback to Maximus walking through the kind of afterlife feeling the wheat."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:25:11 · unknown (0.30)] Paths of Glory ⇒ The Wire (the maker said so: David Simon cites it regularly) · lineage · David Simon reportedly cites Paths of Glory as the number one influence on The Wire: institutions chewing up the people on the ground. · "David Simon cites this regularly as the number one influence on the wire?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2010: The Year We Make Contact · 0:02:34 · unknown (0.40)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read) · lineage · 2010 is the sequel to 2001; the speaker's reaction to the Kubrick film is the benchmark throughout. · "And I said, oh, you know, 2010, the sequel to 2001 and they were like, the what?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus · 1:13:26 · unknown (0.40)] Woody Strode → Gladiator · theme · Speaker imagines Ridley Scott deciding to keep the Draba-type character alive the whole movie. · "Ridley Scott was like, what if we keep him alive the whole movie?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:25:22 · unknown (0.30)] Paths of Glory ⇒ David Simon (the maker said so: David Simon cites it regularly) · lineage · The speaker calls Paths of Glory a Rosetta Stone for Simon's stories of institutions versus the people below. · "this is the sort of Rosetta Stone, if you will, for him."
[Blank Check — Patreon · A Clockwork Orange · 2:48:04 · unknown (0.40)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010 (the host's read) · lineage · Peter Hyams made a film sequel to 2001, following the books. · "But, like, he rolled up his sleeves and he was like, 2001?"
[Blank Check · As Good as It Gets · 1:05:43 · Chris Gethard (0.60)] Joaquin Phoenix ↔ Gladiator · craft · Chris likes Phoenix's Gladiator performance. · "I'll say, I really appreciated his performance in Gladiator."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:33:38 · David Sims (0.70)] Humphrey Cobb ⇒ Paths of Glory (the host's read) · lineage · Paths of Glory is based on Cobb's novel, which Kubrick read in high school and never forgot. · "Humphrey Cobb's novel pads of glory."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 0:11:43 · Jordan Hoffman (0.70)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the host's read) · lineage · The film has a sequel, and Clarke wrote three sequel novels. · "Obviously, the sequel exists."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:06:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.85)] Gladiator II ↔ Gladiator · craft · Gladiator II brings back the original film's cinematographer, John Mathieson, as part of a returning crew. · "The cinematographer, John Matheson, is back."
[Blank Check — Patreon · A Clockwork Orange · 0:47:20 · Alex Ross Perry (0.60)] Paths of Glory ↔ Full Metal Jacket · theme · The firing squad of Paths of Glory is set against the sniper of Full Metal Jacket as the gun advances. · "Well, what's the difference between the firing squat, the end of paths of glory and the sniper at the end of Full Metal Jacket?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2001: A Space Odyssey · 0:42:56 · Jordan Hoffman (0.30)] 2001: A Space Odyssey ⇒ 2069: A Sex Odyssey (the host's read) · lineage · The porn parody is said to be very influenced by 2001. · "actually is actually very influenced by this film."
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:53:58 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read) · craft · Lucius as Maximus's son is a classic retcon not in the first film's text. · "it is, is a classic case of reconning."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory · 0:04:22 · David Sims (0.50)] Blackadder (TV) ↔ Paths of Glory · theme · Growing up on Blackadder, the speaker finds some childlike charm in trench life and felt guilty thinking it during Paths of Glory. · "I was kind of thinking that while watching this, which immediately was a thought I felt very guilty for."
[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] 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] 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 Spartacus (1960); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend Spartacus (1960) 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.