What the corpus says about The Lord of the Rings (1978)

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 (15)

[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:17:10 · David Sims (0.40)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ The Lord of the Rings · lineage · The Dark Elf war prologue and design is Lord of the Rings style ancient-story fantasy. · "This is some sort of like Lord of the Rings stuff where it's sort of like, you know, this is an ancient story."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eclipse · 1:27:57 · unknown (0.40)] The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ↔ The Lord of the Rings · theme · Cullens don't sleep, like elves in Lord of the Rings. · "They are, they are like elves in Lord of the Rings or whatever."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:38:46 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · New Zealand locations can't replicate what Peter Jackson did with it in Lord of the Rings, but still look like a newer earth. · "you can never replicate the total stunning magic trick of Peter Jackson, like deploying it in Lord of the Rings"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 1:09:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · The ether lodging in Jane and slowly corrupting her is like the One Ring and Frodo. · "It's sort of almost the like the ring for Frodo-esque."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 1:32:25 · David Lowery (0.65)] The 13th Warrior ↔ The Lord of the Rings · contrast · Lord of the Rings a few years later has the same content (monsters attacking a wooden fort, a cave of skulls) but with new digital tools. · "even Lord of the Rings a few years later, which has a lot of the same scenes"
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:11:26 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Gladiator ↔ The Lord of the Rings · industry · Gladiator came right before Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Spider-Man changed summer blockbusters. · "And it's right before Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Spider-Man."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 0:58:16 · David Sims (0.35)] Thor ↔ The Lord of the Rings · industry · Studios expected a Thor movie would have to be a serious sub-Lord of the Rings; post-LOTR C-list fantasy launches had been failing. · "anytime Post-Lord of the Rings, anyone was trying to launch a C-list, B-list, Lord of the Rings style fantasy thing."
[Blank Check · An Angel at My Table · 1:10:46 · Dana Stevens (0.40)] The Power of the Dog ↔ The Lord of the Rings · landscape · New Zealand standing in for Montana looks, if like anything, like Lord of the Rings. · "if it looks like anywhere, it looks like Lord of the Rings landscapes, right?"
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:51:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ The Lord of the Rings · IP recreation · The verbatim echoing of the original is compared to how a future remake of Lord of the Rings would recycle its shtick. · "when we see a Lord of the Rings movie, you know, 10 years from now, when they're just like doing the same shtick, like it's kind of like IP recreation in a way."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ · 0:44:47 · unknown (0.30)] Sean Astin ↔ The Lord of the Rings · career · Seeing Sean Astin as Josh, a speaker can only say Samwise Gamgee now; another thought of Toy Soldiers. · "To me, I'm now always forever going to say Sanwise Gamge."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:21:14 · David Sims (0.60)] Brad Dourif ↔ The Lord of the Rings · career · Dourif pops into big franchises like Alien and Lord of the Rings yet stays anonymous. · "The fact that he's in Lord of the Rings."
[Blank Check · After Hours · 2:03:46 · unknown host (0.35)] Howard Shore ↔ The Lord of the Rings · people · Shore went from atonal Cronenberg/Scorsese music to scoring Lord of the Rings. · "Like before he became the Lord of the Rings guy. I mean, he was the weird, you know, atonal music guy."
[Blank Check · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World · 1:25:03 · David Sims (0.40)] Billy Boyd ↔ The Lord of the Rings · people · Dominic Monaghan said that while Billy Boyd was off on this ship of the line, his own career stalled after the LOTR films, then flipped. · "I have this like double act with Boyd. We make these 3 movies together. And then I couldn't book a gig for 2 years."
[Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:38:08 · David Sims (0.30)] Ian McKellen ↔ The Lord of the Rings · what-if · The hosts imagine a new Lord of the Rings film about hunting for Gollum, with McKellen and Wood back and Kate Winslet leading. · "Kate Winslet is obviously leading that heart."
[Blank Check · An Angel at My Table · 1:10:51 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Peter Jackson ↔ The Lord of the Rings · production lore · Jackson pitched multiple films on the strength of unfilmed New Zealand locations and a ready industry. · "I got like 80 locations in my back pocket that no one has ever filmed before"

Films put beside it more than once (1)

[pairs] The Lord of the Rings ↔ Thor: The Dark World · said 2 times in 1 episode

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (35)

[Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:00:57 · unknown (0.30)] Benicio del Toro ↔ Thor: The Dark World · programming · Del Toro's Collector first appears in the Dark World post-credits and has been used little since. · "How much is he in dark world?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:04:43 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Blade Runner 2049 · programming · Both came out in 2017, by two generations of sci-fi. · "This is the same year as Blade Runner 2049."
[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 · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:52:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · lineage · The new film reuses the original's iconic lines and jokes nearly verbatim, which Sean found a little flat because no joke lands when you know it is coming. · "they really do it verbatim, like, and so that's weird with a joke."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 0:41:55 · unknown (0.40)] The 13th Warrior ↔ Timeline · programming · Timeline and The 13th Warrior called a brutal Crichton double feature. · "Man, Timeline and the 13th Warrior would be a brutal double feature."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Captain America: The Winter Soldier · 0:14:14 · unknown (0.35)] Captain America: The Winter Soldier ↔ Thor: The Dark World · programming · Dark World is the high-fantasy entry in the same one-genre-per-film scheme. · "Dark World is like high fantasy."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 2:04:21 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 · programming · Covenant's weekend opened behind Guardians Vol. 2, #1 for the second weekend. · "Oh, it's Gardens of Galaxy volume two."
[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."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ Transformers · lineage · Since the host does not give Transformers and Spider-Man grief for echoing earlier versions, he will not give it to Mean Girls. · "I guess if I'm not going to give Transformers and Spider-Man shit about that."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 1:49:16 · unknown (0.35)] The 13th Warrior ↔ The Sixth Sense · programming · The Sixth Sense was Disney's own mega-hit, number one the weekend The 13th Warrior opened, covering their loss. · "Disney's basically covered their losses from this movie"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:50:31 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] The Nutcracker and the Four Realms ↔ Thor: The Dark World · programming · Joking that a 'four realms' film from the director of Captain America should have had nine realms. · "He won't settle for four."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:06:57 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Prometheus ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · lineage · Covenant is half the Prometheus sequel Scott wanted and half a concession to a more normal Alien movie. · "this is half, like Ridley Scott doing the Prometheus sequel he wanted to do and half"
[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"
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Mean Girls ↔ A Star Is Born · lineage · The speaker is fine with a new auteur remaking a beloved thing every 20 years, as with Star Is Born / Star Wars-style retellings, here giving the social-media generation its own Mean Girls. · "every 20 years another Otour comes along and is like, I've got a take on this."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 0:19:51 · David Lowery (0.85)] Michael Crichton ⇒ The 13th Warrior (the host's read) · lineage · Lowery read the Crichton novel and found the film is the book almost scene for scene. · "reading the book, I was like, this is pretty much just scene for scene exactly what's on screen."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 1:59:51 · David Sims (0.30)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ Guardians of the Galaxy · programming · The Collector mid-credits scene already shows the Guardians' comic space weirdness; the speaker thinks James Gunn directed it. · "I think gun directed this. It's 100% difficult."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:38 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · lineage · Each Alien film has a different workforce; the original had blue-collar miners. · "Like that's, you know, blue collar minors."
[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."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · craft · The musical sands the edges off the Plastics and replaces bite with empowerment, a generational update on the original's Tina Fey punchline comedy. · "the edges are sanded off the plastics. And most of the jokes don't have the same bite."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 0:25:39 · unknown (0.50)] Beowulf adaptations ⇒ The 13th Warrior (the host's read) · lineage · The film is the Beowulf story told as Crichton's 'what was the real thing they were fighting' version. · "Even going back to Crichton's original concept of like, what's the real story behind Beowulf?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:20:47 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Avengers ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read) · lineage · The Dark World is the correction to Joss Whedon cracking Loki: he becomes co-lead, Thor 1A to Loki 1B. · "This is the correction to Joss Whedon cracking Loki, where they're like, we get it now."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:41 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Aliens · lineage · Aliens had Marines. · "Aliens, you got Marines."
[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 · The 13th Warrior · 0:31:02 · David Lowery (0.80)] The 13th Warrior ↔ The Northman · lineage · The Northman is the modern take on Viking storytelling; Lowery rewatched its funeral scene because it echoes this film's incantation. · "the same, the same incantation, like the low, I see my father, low, I see my mother"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:30:50 · David Sims (0.40)] The Avengers ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read) · lineage · Avengers ends with the team scattering, which is why the Phase 2 sequels can stand alone. · "And also, Joss Wheaton's like master stroke at the end of Avengers is like, we're not a team."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:45 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien 3 · lineage · Alien 3 had convicts. · "Alien 3 convicts."
[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 · The 13th Warrior · 1:34:34 · unknown (0.40)] The 13th Warrior ↔ Flesh and Blood · lineage · Verhoeven's Flesh and Blood feels like being there; it's the better film, and both put medieval art on screen. · "Flesh and blood is a better film."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 2:02:06 · David Sims (0.40)] Doctor Who ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read) · lineage · Marvel in general is indebted to Doctor Who's tone of lightness, comedy, hope and teamwork, especially the Russell T Davies era. · "I think Marvel in general is very kind of indebted to Doctor Who with the same tone of like lightness and comedy and hope and team teamwork."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:48 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien Resurrection · lineage · The fourth film had pirates. · "Alien four, I guess."
[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 · The 13th Warrior · 0:28:42 · David Lowery (0.85)] The 13th Warrior ↔ Heat · theme · The scene of a mortal sitting to die while another watches reminded Lowery of De Niro watching Pacino in Heat. · "It reminded me of Robert De Niro dying in heat."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:18:22 · David Sims (0.30)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ Crazy Rich Asians · theme · Like Crazy Rich Asians, the real romance is the lead and the mother figure; Thor's love is figurehead-level. · "Crazy Rich Asians is really the romance between her and the mother"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:59 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · lineage · Prometheus had pioneering scientists; Covenant has crunchy colonists. · "Prometheus, you know, where we're in, where it's full on like pioneering scientist types."
[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."

Who said it, by their latest sketch (6)

[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] 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] 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] Dana Stevens · latest sketch, Blank Check · An Angel at My Table · Loves Campion's evocative, elusive style and the film as a coming-of-age story about an artist; says she maybe loves Bright Star slightly more. Distrusts crude biopic cliches and Cuckoo's Nest. Dislikes the piano score's imposing clang. A sucker for production design, performance continuity, and mystery. · stances: Angel is one of the best coming-of-age movies about an artist; Angel and Bright Star are two of the best literary biopics; Criticized The Piano's score; Prefers mysteries that remain unexplained
[speaker] David Lowery · latest sketch, Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · Loves myth-making, peeling back legend, scenes about language and communication, and quiet deaths between peers. Prefers the analog 90s look and despises ADR. A sucker for Vikings, Beowulf and a mortal passing into legend. · stances: The language-learning scene is the one great scene; A capped-budget Green Knight style version is the one he would want; Signature style can be a crutch; problem-solving is better
[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

The shows' running bits (3)

[bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
[bits] Blank Check: The box office game (Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against); The sung theme ("Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it)
[bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

The whole prompt

As the model gets it, from app/Ai/Prompts/CorpusAsk.md

You are a clerk at Video Culture, a video store. A customer just finished The Lord of the Rings (1978) 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 Lord of the Rings (1978) 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 · Thor: The Dark World · 0:17:10 · David Sims (0.40)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ The Lord of the Rings · lineage · The Dark Elf war prologue and design is Lord of the Rings style ancient-story fantasy. · "This is some sort of like Lord of the Rings stuff where it's sort of like, you know, this is an ancient story."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Eclipse · 1:27:57 · unknown (0.40)] The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ↔ The Lord of the Rings · theme · Cullens don't sleep, like elves in Lord of the Rings. · "They are, they are like elves in Lord of the Rings or whatever."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:38:46 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · New Zealand locations can't replicate what Peter Jackson did with it in Lord of the Rings, but still look like a newer earth. · "you can never replicate the total stunning magic trick of Peter Jackson, like deploying it in Lord of the Rings"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 1:09:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · The ether lodging in Jane and slowly corrupting her is like the One Ring and Frodo. · "It's sort of almost the like the ring for Frodo-esque."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 1:32:25 · David Lowery (0.65)] The 13th Warrior ↔ The Lord of the Rings · contrast · Lord of the Rings a few years later has the same content (monsters attacking a wooden fort, a cave of skulls) but with new digital tools. · "even Lord of the Rings a few years later, which has a lot of the same scenes"
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:11:26 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Gladiator ↔ The Lord of the Rings · industry · Gladiator came right before Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Spider-Man changed summer blockbusters. · "And it's right before Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Spider-Man."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor · 0:58:16 · David Sims (0.35)] Thor ↔ The Lord of the Rings · industry · Studios expected a Thor movie would have to be a serious sub-Lord of the Rings; post-LOTR C-list fantasy launches had been failing. · "anytime Post-Lord of the Rings, anyone was trying to launch a C-list, B-list, Lord of the Rings style fantasy thing."
[Blank Check · An Angel at My Table · 1:10:46 · Dana Stevens (0.40)] The Power of the Dog ↔ The Lord of the Rings · landscape · New Zealand standing in for Montana looks, if like anything, like Lord of the Rings. · "if it looks like anywhere, it looks like Lord of the Rings landscapes, right?"
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:51:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ The Lord of the Rings · IP recreation · The verbatim echoing of the original is compared to how a future remake of Lord of the Rings would recycle its shtick. · "when we see a Lord of the Rings movie, you know, 10 years from now, when they're just like doing the same shtick, like it's kind of like IP recreation in a way."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The War of the Roses’ · 0:44:47 · unknown (0.30)] Sean Astin ↔ The Lord of the Rings · career · Seeing Sean Astin as Josh, a speaker can only say Samwise Gamgee now; another thought of Toy Soldiers. · "To me, I'm now always forever going to say Sanwise Gamge."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:21:14 · David Sims (0.60)] Brad Dourif ↔ The Lord of the Rings · career · Dourif pops into big franchises like Alien and Lord of the Rings yet stays anonymous. · "The fact that he's in Lord of the Rings."
[Blank Check · After Hours · 2:03:46 · unknown host (0.35)] Howard Shore ↔ The Lord of the Rings · people · Shore went from atonal Cronenberg/Scorsese music to scoring Lord of the Rings. · "Like before he became the Lord of the Rings guy. I mean, he was the weird, you know, atonal music guy."
[Blank Check · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World · 1:25:03 · David Sims (0.40)] Billy Boyd ↔ The Lord of the Rings · people · Dominic Monaghan said that while Billy Boyd was off on this ship of the line, his own career stalled after the LOTR films, then flipped. · "I have this like double act with Boyd. We make these 3 movies together. And then I couldn't book a gig for 2 years."
[Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:38:08 · David Sims (0.30)] Ian McKellen ↔ The Lord of the Rings · what-if · The hosts imagine a new Lord of the Rings film about hunting for Gollum, with McKellen and Wood back and Kate Winslet leading. · "Kate Winslet is obviously leading that heart."
[Blank Check · An Angel at My Table · 1:10:51 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Peter Jackson ↔ The Lord of the Rings · production lore · Jackson pitched multiple films on the strength of unfilmed New Zealand locations and a ready industry. · "I got like 80 locations in my back pocket that no one has ever filmed before"
[pairs] The Lord of the Rings ↔ Thor: The Dark World · said 2 times in 1 episode
[Blank Check — Patreon · Guardians of the Galaxy · 1:00:57 · unknown (0.30)] Benicio del Toro ↔ Thor: The Dark World · programming · Del Toro's Collector first appears in the Dark World post-credits and has been used little since. · "How much is he in dark world?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:04:43 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Blade Runner 2049 · programming · Both came out in 2017, by two generations of sci-fi. · "This is the same year as Blade Runner 2049."
[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 · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:52:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · lineage · The new film reuses the original's iconic lines and jokes nearly verbatim, which Sean found a little flat because no joke lands when you know it is coming. · "they really do it verbatim, like, and so that's weird with a joke."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 0:41:55 · unknown (0.40)] The 13th Warrior ↔ Timeline · programming · Timeline and The 13th Warrior called a brutal Crichton double feature. · "Man, Timeline and the 13th Warrior would be a brutal double feature."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Captain America: The Winter Soldier · 0:14:14 · unknown (0.35)] Captain America: The Winter Soldier ↔ Thor: The Dark World · programming · Dark World is the high-fantasy entry in the same one-genre-per-film scheme. · "Dark World is like high fantasy."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 2:04:21 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 · programming · Covenant's weekend opened behind Guardians Vol. 2, #1 for the second weekend. · "Oh, it's Gardens of Galaxy volume two."
[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."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] Mean Girls ↔ Transformers · lineage · Since the host does not give Transformers and Spider-Man grief for echoing earlier versions, he will not give it to Mean Girls. · "I guess if I'm not going to give Transformers and Spider-Man shit about that."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 1:49:16 · unknown (0.35)] The 13th Warrior ↔ The Sixth Sense · programming · The Sixth Sense was Disney's own mega-hit, number one the weekend The 13th Warrior opened, covering their loss. · "Disney's basically covered their losses from this movie"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:50:31 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] The Nutcracker and the Four Realms ↔ Thor: The Dark World · programming · Joking that a 'four realms' film from the director of Captain America should have had nine realms. · "He won't settle for four."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:06:57 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Prometheus ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · lineage · Covenant is half the Prometheus sequel Scott wanted and half a concession to a more normal Alien movie. · "this is half, like Ridley Scott doing the Prometheus sequel he wanted to do and half"
[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"
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Mean Girls ↔ A Star Is Born · lineage · The speaker is fine with a new auteur remaking a beloved thing every 20 years, as with Star Is Born / Star Wars-style retellings, here giving the social-media generation its own Mean Girls. · "every 20 years another Otour comes along and is like, I've got a take on this."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 0:19:51 · David Lowery (0.85)] Michael Crichton ⇒ The 13th Warrior (the host's read) · lineage · Lowery read the Crichton novel and found the film is the book almost scene for scene. · "reading the book, I was like, this is pretty much just scene for scene exactly what's on screen."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 1:59:51 · David Sims (0.30)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ Guardians of the Galaxy · programming · The Collector mid-credits scene already shows the Guardians' comic space weirdness; the speaker thinks James Gunn directed it. · "I think gun directed this. It's 100% difficult."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:38 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · lineage · Each Alien film has a different workforce; the original had blue-collar miners. · "Like that's, you know, blue collar minors."
[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."
[The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ · 0:54:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50)] Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read) · craft · The musical sands the edges off the Plastics and replaces bite with empowerment, a generational update on the original's Tina Fey punchline comedy. · "the edges are sanded off the plastics. And most of the jokes don't have the same bite."
[Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · 0:25:39 · unknown (0.50)] Beowulf adaptations ⇒ The 13th Warrior (the host's read) · lineage · The film is the Beowulf story told as Crichton's 'what was the real thing they were fighting' version. · "Even going back to Crichton's original concept of like, what's the real story behind Beowulf?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:20:47 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] The Avengers ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read) · lineage · The Dark World is the correction to Joss Whedon cracking Loki: he becomes co-lead, Thor 1A to Loki 1B. · "This is the correction to Joss Whedon cracking Loki, where they're like, we get it now."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:41 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Aliens · lineage · Aliens had Marines. · "Aliens, you got Marines."
[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 · The 13th Warrior · 0:31:02 · David Lowery (0.80)] The 13th Warrior ↔ The Northman · lineage · The Northman is the modern take on Viking storytelling; Lowery rewatched its funeral scene because it echoes this film's incantation. · "the same, the same incantation, like the low, I see my father, low, I see my mother"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:30:50 · David Sims (0.40)] The Avengers ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read) · lineage · Avengers ends with the team scattering, which is why the Phase 2 sequels can stand alone. · "And also, Joss Wheaton's like master stroke at the end of Avengers is like, we're not a team."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:45 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien 3 · lineage · Alien 3 had convicts. · "Alien 3 convicts."
[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 · The 13th Warrior · 1:34:34 · unknown (0.40)] The 13th Warrior ↔ Flesh and Blood · lineage · Verhoeven's Flesh and Blood feels like being there; it's the better film, and both put medieval art on screen. · "Flesh and blood is a better film."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 2:02:06 · David Sims (0.40)] Doctor Who ⇒ Thor: The Dark World (the host's read) · lineage · Marvel in general is indebted to Doctor Who's tone of lightness, comedy, hope and teamwork, especially the Russell T Davies era. · "I think Marvel in general is very kind of indebted to Doctor Who with the same tone of like lightness and comedy and hope and team teamwork."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:48 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien Resurrection · lineage · The fourth film had pirates. · "Alien four, I guess."
[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 · The 13th Warrior · 0:28:42 · David Lowery (0.85)] The 13th Warrior ↔ Heat · theme · The scene of a mortal sitting to die while another watches reminded Lowery of De Niro watching Pacino in Heat. · "It reminded me of Robert De Niro dying in heat."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:18:22 · David Sims (0.30)] Thor: The Dark World ↔ Crazy Rich Asians · theme · Like Crazy Rich Asians, the real romance is the lead and the mother figure; Thor's love is figurehead-level. · "Crazy Rich Asians is really the romance between her and the mother"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:59 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · lineage · Prometheus had pioneering scientists; Covenant has crunchy colonists. · "Prometheus, you know, where we're in, where it's full on like pioneering scientist types."
[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."
[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] 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] 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] Dana Stevens · latest sketch, Blank Check · An Angel at My Table · Loves Campion's evocative, elusive style and the film as a coming-of-age story about an artist; says she maybe loves Bright Star slightly more. Distrusts crude biopic cliches and Cuckoo's Nest. Dislikes the piano score's imposing clang. A sucker for production design, performance continuity, and mystery. · stances: Angel is one of the best coming-of-age movies about an artist; Angel and Bright Star are two of the best literary biopics; Criticized The Piano's score; Prefers mysteries that remain unexplained
[speaker] David Lowery · latest sketch, Blank Check — Patreon · The 13th Warrior · Loves myth-making, peeling back legend, scenes about language and communication, and quiet deaths between peers. Prefers the analog 90s look and despises ADR. A sucker for Vikings, Beowulf and a mortal passing into legend. · stances: The language-learning scene is the one great scene; A capped-budget Green Knight style version is the one he would want; Signature style can be a crutch; problem-solving is better
[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
[bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
[bits] Blank Check: The box office game (Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against); The sung theme ("Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it)
[bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

Recommend three to six films, and only films that appear in these lines. A series, a TV film, or a franchise counts too when a line recommends it or pairs it with The Lord of the Rings (1978); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend The Lord of the Rings (1978) 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.