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
Humor: Riffs and character bits on the Willem de ___ names and ongoing running gags.
In their words
“I find the ending so incredibly movie.” (0:19:45)
Loves quirky or deep-cut cinema and playful franchise lore (Muppets, Species, Pink Panther sequels), and enjoys the abjectly stressful pool-hall world. Is a sucker for movie-star mannerisms and for fan trivia. Cannot stand Cars 2 or Zemeckis's Pinocchio.
Stances
Color of Money is a stabilizer, not a pure paycheck gig
Cars is bad and indefensible; Cars 2 is worse
Wants Lorraine Bracco redeemed via a Goodfellas episode
Adds stabilizer to the Blank Check lexicon
Humor: Rapid pop-culture riffing and running bits, playing unpredictably with franchise absurdities and mock-serious proposals.
In their words
“But stabilizer is a term we haven't used before. And you're right. Let's add it to the lexicon” (0:19:50)
“Cars is Doc Hollywood basically beat for beat.” (0:07:08)
Treats After Hours as a personal vibe movie and loves oddball details, Scorsese lore and downtown New York. Fond of Pee-wee and Griffin Dunn, plays bits about being named after Dunn. Cannot stand wasteful nostalgia and hates auto-flush toilets.
Stances
After Hours is a downtown, very Griffin movie
Modern remakes fail because phones and piled-up incident ruin it
Wicked 2 killed Wicked
Humor: Deadpan bits that run on, mock outrage, and wordplay about the Griffin theme.
In their words
“This movie also, let's just say, is very much reflective of my temperament.” (0:07:22)
A film completist who loves the weird 1980 corners of the box office and the Scorsese-De Niro dynamic. Cannot stand Jimmy Doyle as a date and worries about Hollywood executives. A sucker for obscure titles and good trivia and for Casavetes.
Stances
Raging Bull is a funny tragedy
Studio decisions based on metrics are ruining movies
Scorsese uses comedy to implicate the audience
Humor: Playful, riffing, bit-prone, with running gags like Hollywood 3.0.
In their words
“We've coined Hollywood 3.0 today for to describe just like the fucking nonsense that goes on day to day.” (0:13:41)
“The problem is those people who make the decisions now are like, it's like saber metrics.” (1:35:40)
He came to the film bored at 14 (no monsters or puppets) and now respects it without it being his kind of movie; he adores Peter Weir's craft, Pirates of the Caribbean-era trivia and Oscar and career-arc analysis. He is a sucker for genre-bending Weir details and franchise history.
Stances
Revisited the film and understands its value though it is not innately his kind
Pirates of the Caribbean hurt this movie
Insists on playing the box office game
Weir is a patient director
Humor: Self-deprecating, quick riffs, bits about his own childhood tastes.
In their words
“It is innately not my kind of film, but I was not disengaged from it in the way I was as a 14 year old.” (0:36:16)
Loves physical media, 4K steelbooks, and calling unlikely films masterpieces. Prone to over-planning and lateness. An anxious flyer who relies on Klonopin and researches crashes. Has a blind spot for studio comedies he has not seen.
Stances
Fearless is excellent but not a three-hour oil-drilling episode
movies are great again
Small Soldiers and Sliver defended as masterpieces by friends
Humor: Rapid-fire riffs, self-roasts, and elaborate hypothetical bits.
In their words
“They announce they announce small soldiers 4K steel book. and I go, obviously, inarguable masterpiece.” (1:00:59)
A heavy researcher who comes with a 'dossier' of production history, interview quotes and box-office data, and loves Coens details, McDormand and Macy's performances, and deep-cut trivia. He is a sucker for the Mike Yanagita scene and the film's tonal balance, and delights in the weekly box-office game.
Stances
Fargo is the best encapsulation of the Coens, the way Blue Velvet is of Lynch
Macy should have been nominated for lead
Searches for essays-worthy meaning in the editing choices
Defends Jurassic Park III
Humor: Dry, bit-driven, and loves a running gag about podcast mechanics and Ben.
In their words
“I'm going to open the dossier now” (0:40:11)
“directing is about tone management.” (0:32:35)
“Okay, now I need to sidebar here for a 2nd because David and I are both Jurassic Park 3 defenders” (1:19:12)
Loves puppet-baby and in-utero comedy, rewatching movies on Letterboxd, and weird Blu-ray ephemera. He is a Shelley Long Cheers loyalist who was cool on Kirstie Alley until this movie, and has a parent's eye on infant safety. He prefers movies that feel made by one person.
Stances
The in-utero Mikey is peak comedy and the infant middle is lazy
Authorship is the show's central criterion for a director
Rebecca-era Cheers was a shadow of the show
Humor: Escalating riffs and tangents (Rugrats connections, Renaissance prequel pitch) delivered in dry mock-formal register.
In their words
“I think this is both such a good movie star performance from him and such a great example of what I would call a movie star movie” (0:37:06)
“everything about this feels like it was made by one person.” (1:49:39)
Passionate about Spielberg's autobiographical psychology and Oscar-race history; loves Lincoln, Catch Me If You Can, ensemble casts, and Malkovich as a flavor. Cannot stand Always and Spielberg's pure comedies; a sucker for deep-dive trivia and dossier research.
Stances
Empire is a very good movie where Spielberg starts subverting his own style
Fabelmans explains Spielberg's trauma
1941 and Always are weak spots
Spielberg suffers from being compared to his own canon
Humor: Self-aware riffs, callbacks, and long absurd comparisons (sun-dried tomatoes on a sandwich), plus bits about Ben's resolutions.
In their words
“I think this movie's excellent.” (0:38:38)
“He's sun dried tomatoes on a sandwich.” (0:01:21)
“I do not have a single happy memory of my childhood.” (1:52:20)
Came to Indiana Jones late, via box sets before Crystal Skull, and prefers Last Crusade for its silent-comedy streak, with reservations about Temple of Doom. Fascinated by how movies were made and by fandom history; a sucker for Spielberg staging, action craft and comics-era nostalgia.
Stances
Raiders is a lightning-in-a-bottle movie the sequels cannot recapture
Modern action imitators reverse-engineer surface elements
Treats Crystal Skull as half working
Humor: Does self-aware impressions and cranky-David riffs, mixes film nerd rigor with asides.
In their words
“Whereas I think, you know, David and I always felt like weird kids were we were paying attention to this at a time when like people were not.” (0:17:08)
He is the first-time Return viewer on this episode, so his taste shows in reactions: he loves Lynch's plainness, simple low-tech tricks and the sense that reality is ripping apart. He wants spoiler-free viewing, the proper Criterion/box-set version, and cannot stand being told to read recaps. A sucker for bits and for a gift-worthy game of ratings guessing.
Stances
Wants to be unspoiled and refuses to read recaps or the behind-the-scenes documentary yet
Treats Part 8 as hypnotic and nearly unsummarizable until the others explain it
Believes in extended bits (Wonka 2, Gethard cut) over discussion
Humor: He builds long running bits and follows riffs to absurd conclusions, sometimes holding straight faces.
In their words
“I'm going to ask dumb questions because you guys have been thinking on these things for years, if not decades, and I'm new to all of this, right?” (1:09:38)
“I felt like I, as a viewer, had like lost control of my point of view watching.” (0:52:12)
Reads the show's research dossier aloud and loves film-history trivia, particularly how directors get hired and what the studios did to them. Identified from lines addressed to him and dossier reads; many individual attributions with David are uncertain. Enjoys the Dune film as a design and sound object.
Stances
Dune '84 is fascinating as the one bounce that redirected Lynch's career
Respects the dossier's production details over speculation
Humor: Dry riffing and callbacks, running bits with Ben and the dossier-researcher JJ.
In their words
“So in the dossier, David.” (1:05:21)
“JJ, while we were recording, texted David and I hope the Dune dossier still made sense once you reach the deeper pages, LOL.” (2:29:32)
Loves plot-driven noir, weird procedural details (chain mail gloves, pockets, eyedrops) and Park's stranger visual gags. He prepares the director-biography research and box-office game. Is a sucker for bits that run for minutes, like the sand-beach and Wheel of Fortune riffs.
Stances
Park's best scenes are the quietly bizarre ones, ten per film
Decision to Leave works because the hero cannot see her directly
Likes long-running meta bits more than the ad-reads
Humor: Absurdist escalation and puns, running a single detail (chain mail, sand beach) into the ground.
In their words
“Okay, so yeah, let's talk about the plot of the movie. Guy falls off a mountain.” (0:54:04)
“Oh, can I just Shout out to she, young Kim.” (1:34:01)
Treats Sherlock Jr. as a perfect film and loves seeing silent comedy in a theater, where he says it transformed him at CalArts. Prefers Chaplin's One A.M. to his features, and is a sucker for meta jokes about film language and for Cabin Boy-style references. He sours on The Navigator's cannibal-island finale for its racism.
Stances
Sherlock Jr. is one of the best movies ever made and a contender for best film covered on the show
Certain films must be seen in a theater with an audience
Short runtimes of 40 to 50 minutes suit these comedies best
The Navigator is Keaton in play-the-hits mode and the racist finale kills it
Humor: Riffs on running bits and pop-culture parallels, then happily trips himself up in his own jokes.
In their words
“which, for my money, is still the best thing Chaplain ever did, over his features.” (0:58:42)
“you can watch rear window at home and appreciate it.” (1:00:20)
“Chris Elliott and Adam Resnick's cabin boy is such a Buster Keaton setup.” (1:51:04)
Loves Selick's visual inventiveness and thinks Wendell & Wild eventually satisfies despite its density; steeped in film-business history and trivia. Defends big sci-fi blockbusters with heavy exposition like Inception and Avatar. Rankings: Nightmare 1, Coraline 2, Peach 3, Wendell & Wild 4, Monkeybone 5.
Stances
Wendell & Wild works in spite of itself
Netflix botched the release
Nightmare edges Coraline on the ranking
Monkeybone is an odd, likable bad object
Humor: Riffs on streaming-era absurdity and takes self-aware swipes at the show's own running gags.
In their words
“I do think it is cohesive by the end of the movie.” (1:54:06)
“I would say it works in spite of itself.” (1:53:03)
Respects the craft of Fosse and defends Star 80 as powerful and aware of its own evil, while admitting it nearly unbearable. Loves the structural play of Fosse's films and Alan Ladd-era filmmaker faith. Cannot endorse or recommend Star 80, hates the soundtrack and dwells on true-crime and victim culture.
Stances
Star 80 is great but almost unwatchable and not recommendable
Fosse is underrated as a filmmaker
Fosse hates himself and does not seek forgiveness
Ranks Cabaret first with All That Jazz a close second
Humor: Self-deprecating, dark and quick, with pop-culture riffs and jokes about his own podcast.
In their words
“I think this movie is like staring into the sun.” (0:04:19)
“He, I do think, is incredibly underrated as a as a filmmaker.” (0:05:55)
Loves the film's elusive, memory-like childhood section and its refusal to explain itself; is invested in Campion's research quotes and festival lore. Can't stand the bedsheet-to-armpits sex scene and heavy-handed biopic cliches. A sucker for oddball 90s trivia like FX2 and Brian Bosworth.
Stances
The film should be a movie, not a three-part TV series
Likes biopics that focus on one slice of life
Wants to protect young Janet and root for her
Collects odd details and quotes from Campion interviews
Humor: Self-deprecating and digressive, jokes about his own obsessions and failures.
In their words
“I was so like moonlight pilled watching this movie” (0:20:22)
“I just wanted to protect her in this sort of 1st half of the movie.” (0:51:46)
Loves classic-Hollywood trivia, obsessive research dossiers, practical effects and the unfussy craft of Bridges' performance. Worships Dean Cundy and wishes he had shot Starman. Cannot stand overstuffed jukebox movies like the Amazon Cinderella. A sucker for Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet and Oscar-clip nostalgia.
Stances
Starman is a good dorky movie; the poster and home-video art are bad
Cundy would have made it better
Carpenter's unsentimental filmmaking helped it age well
Coppola should make Megalopolis now
Humor: Riffs on voices, absurd imagined scenes and dad jokes, then goes deep on obscure Hollywood trivia.
In their words
“I love a road trip movie.” (1:33:30)
“I'm trying to do Jeff Bridges in this movie” (0:04:43)
Loves a good character-driven film with specificity and is a sucker for franchise action (Mission: Impossible) and spirited bad-movie obsessions. Can't stand Joy and Jason Reitman's tone-deaf fan-service sequels, and gets wary when a movie loses its human focus.
Stances
Ricki and the Flash is a good premise executed poorly
Defends Tully until its twist
Blames some Demme decisions for Ricki's flatness
Humor: Quick pop-culture riffs, fake-announcer bits and absurd puns, often at his own expense.
In their words
“Jason Reitman has given Ghostbusters back to the fans.” (0:02:48)
“I was like, we need to ban children from films forever.” (0:05:16)
Loves practical movie-making and visible seams, and gets emotionally floored by sincere pictures like The Farewell and Spirited Away. Cannot stand dense plotting without a map, gun fetishism, and 'Western catharsis'. A sucker for John Wick, Keanu Reeves, heroic dogs, and a perfect sandwich.
Stances
Nausicaä is busy and he would like it better in sequence after Lupin, Cagliostro and Sky
John Wick: Chapter 3 is the best Wick and one of the year's best
Practical animation cheats are charming, not a flaw
Dubs are fine and he regrets not using the dub for the plot
Humor: Self-deprecating, tangential, and bit-driven, he tends to run an absurd joke (the Disney Store greeter, Galactus-sized puppeteer) until the others stop him.
In their words
“I love practical shit. I love the seams of movie making, you know?” (0:55:15)
“this movie doesn't understand that this is fucked up now.” (1:37:12)
“I think it's maybe the best work of Keanu's entire career.” (1:50:14)
Their shows' recurring bits
Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.
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.
Blank Check with Griffin & David
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.
Their claims
Showing 901–1,000 of 1,162 claims.
career (career):
Brad Dourif → Deadwood (TV).
Dourif was Emmy-nominated on Deadwood and had a recurring Star Trek Voyager part.
career (career):
Ron Perlman → Guillermo del Toro.
Perlman says his American career was saved by Jeunet and Del Toro, who cast him in Cronos and City of Lost Children.
“my American career was entirely saved by Gene and Del Toro.”
contrast (contrast):
Alien Resurrection → Terminator: Dark Fate.
Studios kept trying to make Terminator something different, unlike Alien's willingness to hire dark people.
“Versus, I feel like 3 Terminator movies in a row where they were like, I don't know, can we make it into something different?”
career (career):
Sigourney Weaver → Political Animals (TV).
Weaver played a Hillary Clinton-like figure on the miniseries Political Animals, which Griffin was on.
what-if (what-if):
Alien → Neill Blomkamp.
A Neill Blomkamp-type director might some day talk the studio into an Earth-set Alien sequel; Disney will do something.
“I live in fear of the sort of Neil Blonde camp-esque director”
industry (industry):
Alien Resurrection → The Jackal.
Number five was The Jackal, a remake of The Day of the Jackal with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere.
unmapped (merchandise):
Aliens (toy line) → Alien 3.
The animal-aliens toy line sold under the Aliens brand around Alien 3, and the idea of multiple infected animals was once a story premise.
“But there was a point where the premise was that you were going to have multiple face huggers infecting different animals”
career (career):
Greg Kinnear → As Good as It Gets.
Ephron and Delia wanted the actor after his As Good as It Gets notices and he was about to blow up.
“Uh, it's Delia Nora Efron, go see as good as it gets.”
industry (industry):
Greg Kinnear → You've Got Mail.
Kinnear agreed to take the part on condition that his character's exit be the softer restaurant scene.
“Kinnear said, I'll do the movie if this is how my character line ends.”
industry (industry):
Nora Ephron → Amy Pascal.
Ephron's films usually began with a powerful woman producer or executive: Pascal, Obst, here Schuler Donner.
“So like so much of her career is like Amy Pascal and Linda Opst, and this one is Lauren Schuler Donner.”
lineage (lineage):
You've Got Mail → The Shop Around the Corner.
Warner Brothers inherited the Turner library and the producer picked The Shop Around the Corner to remake.
“Lauren Schuler Donner looks at the library and goes, huh, shop around the corner.”
contrast (contrast):
You've Got Mail → The Shop Around the Corner.
In every earlier version the rivals are coworkers whose jobs are at stake; here they run rival businesses and she is not poor.
“So so much of the rivalry between the 2 characters is they're fighting for who becomes the most valuable employee of this store because if one of them nudges out the other, their entire life might be ruined.”
lineage (lineage):
You've Got Mail → Ninotchka.
Ephron borrowed the idea of rivals who are two sides of one coin from a Lubitsch picture.
“I mean she's pulling from like a different Lubich movie, which is here are 2 people who are opposite sides of the coin, don't realize they get along that way.”
craft (craft):
You've Got Mail → The Shop Around the Corner.
Three scenes appear almost verbatim in all three screen versions, including the friend's line about her coloring.
“3 scenes that exist almost verbatim in all 3 movie versions, which are the scene with the friend, the Dave Chappelle scene where he takes a look at her.”
what-if (what-if):
Nicolas Cage → Michael.
Swap Cage and Travolta: Cage in Michael, Travolta in City of Angels, since Cage is weirder and Travolta the better romantic lead.
“I think Nicholas Cage should have played Michael and John Travolta should have been in City of Angels with Meg Ryan.”
theme (theme):
Hanging Up → Mixed Nuts.
Like a movie a guest watched alone as a child, Hanging Up is a household movie in the speaker's sibling relationship.
“movies that are like, this is a household movie.”
craft (craft):
Diane Keaton → Hanging Up.
Keaton says she leaves actors alone, yet the film's big choices came in the editing room with gauzy crossfades.
“her biggest decisions are being made in the editing room at this movie.”
craft (craft):
Hanging Up → Elizabeth.
The score comes from the composer of Elizabeth and Shine and is more conventional or weighty than expected.
“the score from this movie is done by the man who did the score, his 2 previous, like, big scores before this, his 2 Oscar nominations were Elizabeth, and Shine.”
industry (industry):
Tracee Ellis Ross → Hanging Up.
Tracee Ellis Ross in a thankless assistant role is offered as an example of women of color in service roles in 90s rom-coms.
“you see a lot of like women of color showing up in thankless roles either as like service workers or personal assistants”
contrast (contrast):
Hanging Up → Sleepless in Seattle.
Ephron made chemistry between leads who never share a room in Sleepless; Hanging Up's phone-separated sisters lack it.
“Nora Efron made a fucking movie, Sleepless in Seattle, where your 2 leads have chemistry together, despite not actually speaking until the last 10 minutes of the movie.”
industry (industry):
Hanging Up → Funny People.
Rich-person movies cost more because the locations must be rented and filled, as Apatow said of Funny People.
“it costs a lot of money to make a movie about a rich person.”
contrast (contrast):
Hanging Up → You've Got Mail.
You've Got Mail still holds up because it understood email's psychology; Hanging Up's phone premise has aged out.
“you've got mail and you're like, they understood the psychological and sociological impact of email, even if the technology changed.”
programming (programming):
The Tigger Movie → Walt Disney Company.
Disney was releasing Pooh movies meant for direct-to-video in theaters outside its summer and holiday windows.
“the only movies they weren't dropping in summer or holiday season were those poo movies”
people (people):
Terry Windell → The Tick.
Griffin says Windell was special effects supervisor on every episode of The Tick and mourns his sudden death after wrapping.
“he was the special effects supervisor on every episode of the tech.”
contrast (contrast):
Chris Gethard → Shane Gillis.
Recurring joke: Gethard doesn't like Shane Gillis; the original Blankies host plan fell through when Gillis got in trouble.
contrast (contrast):
Florence Pugh → Candice Bergen.
Griffin dubs Pugh the new Candice Bergen, who is the new LeBron James, because all three 'get buckets' and are great on Instagram.
“Because Florence Pugh is the new Candace Bergen, who is the new LeBron James because she gets fucking buckets.”
contrast (contrast):
Doctor Sleep → Roman J. Israel, Esq..
A film Griffin half-liked whose director's cut may turn out to be amazing, like Roman J. Israel (named as a past analog).
“That's the Roman J Israel this year where I'm like, that movie that I kind of liked but had problems with might be amazing.”
verdict (verdict):
Judi Dench → Cats.
Fifth supporting-actress nominee: Dench's pure presence and commitment to something ridiculous is the hardest, most impressive performance of the year.
“that is the hardest and most impressive performance of the year.”
contrast (contrast):
Judi Dench → Ian McKellen.
Everyone praises McKellen in Cats, but Dench's performance is mostly others talking about how important she is while it cuts back to her.
“And so much of Judy's performance is literally just other people talking about how she's the most important creature in the world and them cutting back to her.”
career (career):
Annette Bening → 20th Century Women.
The 20th Century Women snub was 'about as bad as the election of Donald Trump'; Bening snubbed twice running.
“Well, the 20th century woman snub is about as bad as like the election of Donald Trump.”
verdict (verdict):
Jamie Bell → Rocketman.
Bell is the heart of Rocketman; his David Oyelowo award for the hardest job, playing a decent, uncomplicated person.
“It is my David Oyello award for the thing that's toughest to do, which is just to play a decent on complicated person.”
contrast (contrast):
Sophie Okonedo → Ricky and the Flash.
Like the Audra McDonald scene in Ricky and the Flash, Okonedo's role has layers from racial dynamics that make it unclear whether script or casting supplied them.
“That the Audra McDonald scene, where there are all these interesting layers added because of the racial dynamics of it”
verdict (verdict):
Sophie Okonedo → Wild Rose.
Late shout-out: Okonedo plays the nuance of a 'white savior'-sounding story with flipped dynamics in every moment.
“Sophie Akinado plays the sort of nuance of that in every moment, is incredibly compelling and impressive to me.”
contrast (contrast):
Toy Story 4 → Frozen 2.
Toy Story 4 is lumped with Frozen 2 and Rise of Skywalker as films that threw out the entire screenplay and started over.
“Toy Story 4 falls into this weird thing of like Frozen 2 and Rise of Skywalker”
industry (industry):
Stephanie Folsom → Toy Story 4.
Final credit is Folsom and Stanton; earlier drafts from other writers over many failed attempts were 'insulting and disastrous'.
“The final credit is Stephanie Folsom and Andrew Stanton.”
verdict (verdict):
Antonio Banderas → Pain and Glory.
Banderas is Griffin's best actor winner; he saw an early screening and cats trailer dropped the same day.
“Banderas, I will always have close to my heart because I saw pain and glory.”
unmapped (anecdote):
Pain and Glory → Cats.
Griffin first saw the Cats trailer on his phone in the hallway outside the Pain and Glory screening, so the two are wrapped together in his head.
“And so like that and pain and glory have been like wrapped up in my head.”
verdict (verdict):
K Callan → Knives Out.
Putters and Murmurs shout-out; who played 'Mock Kent' on Lewis and Clark: the Adventures of Superman (as transcribed).
“But K. Callan, who played Mock Kent on Lewis and Clark the Adventures of Superman.”
verdict (verdict):
Robert De Niro → The Irishman.
De Niro wins the 'Mark Wahlberg Award': will a movie into existence, produce it, play the lead well, and let everyone else get nominated.
“De Niro wins the Mark Wahlberg Award for the year”
contrast (contrast):
Robert De Niro → Mark Wahlberg.
De Niro wins the 'Mark Wahlberg Award' of the year, like Wahlberg's The Fighter: a quiet-hero producer-star who gets only a picture nomination.
fun, about
Willem Dafoe:
Opening bit: the podcast says 'If I was a woodcutter, I'd cut' (the Norman Osborn line), prompting an old-Willem versus young-Willem riff.
fun, about
Pontius Pilate (David Bowie):
Bowie plays Pilate as an exasperated, tired bureaucrat taking one side-room meeting; it reframed the villain for a churchgoing viewer.
fun, about
Martin Scorsese:
Scorsese storyboarded every shot and timed how long each could take, a Corman discipline, because the budget left no room to fail.
“he drew out every single storyboard, every shot of this movie”
fun, about
The Last Temptation of Christ:
Jesus' trick of raising a cup became a meme; the water-into-wine scene shifts into Scorsese's Mean Streets rhythm of two guys needling each other.
“It is so funny that it's the one scene where Marty goes into like Shinebox rhythm, right?”
fun, about
Paul Newman / Cars:
Griffin explains Cars as Doc Hollywood beat for beat, with the reveal that the grumpy old man in town used to be the best racer, and jokes Doc Hudson invented drifting.
“Cars is Doc Hollywood basically beat for beat. But the reveal is that the grumpy old man in town who's like, I force you to community service is like, actually, I used to be the best racer in the world.”
fun, about
Nobody's Fool:
Griffin recounts being rounded up with kids from PS 87 to audition for Nobody's Fool in 1994, his only audition, part of New York's flyers-in-every-school casting.
“They came to PS 87 and they just talked to a bunch of kids.”
fun, about
Jackie Gleason / Nothing in Common:
Griffin and David's friendship origin: Videology trivia night where Griffin could picture the poster of Gleason and Tom Hanks but couldn't name Nothing in Common until looking at teammate Kamen.
“I looked at one of our teammates whose name is K-A-M-E-N. And I went common.”
fun, about
Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend:
A licensed Sega Genesis and Saturn game shares the book character's name while using some other fat guy on the box, with full motion video.
“We're not going to pay the Jackie Gleason likeness rights, but can we just get the name of the character from the book and put some other fat guy on the card?”
fun, about
Blank Check lexicon:
Adding stabilizer to the show lexicon: a hit that guarantees future blank checks, distinct from a comeback; Color of Money is Scorsese's stabilizer.
“But stabilizer is a term we haven't used before. And you're right. Let's add it to the lexicon”
fun, about
Martin Scorsese:
A story from Vinyl set: Scorsese says Ovitz told him at a party, there is a way to make money doing this, the line that lured him into Color of Money, and that he never made a film just for money.
fun, about
Pool and snooker:
Chris Ryan's British upbringing: snooker was prime-time TV, with a pro-Brexit celebrity hosting a snooker game show called Big Break; darts is the funniest televised sport.
“All I know is I used to watch when I was a kid, the game show, the big break hosted by Jim Davidson”
fun, about
Blake Edwards:
Blake Edwards was only in Blank Check's Oscar-winners vs. Razzie-winners bracket because they could not fill it otherwise; he made three more Pink Panther films after Peter Sellers died.
“Because it truly we could not fill out the bracket unless Blake Edwards was in there.”
fun, about
Griffin Newman:
Newman's parents had incompatible name lists (Gaelic names vs Rufus and Tyrone); Griffin was the compromise, and they'd tell people he was named for Griffin Dunn.
“My parents would joke that I was named after Griffin Dunn.”
fun, about
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World:
Griffin saw it at 14 in theaters with his oldest friend, was bored, and only later was converted; Derek has now seen it 20 times.
“The movie starts, and like 3 minutes in, I was like, oh, right, I don't like this kind of movie.”
fun, about
Peter Stormare:
Stormare thought 'where's pancakes house' was a script typo and changed it to 'pancake house' on take one. Joel came over to say the script said what it said.
“And he changed it on take one. He goes, where's the pancake house?”
fun, about
William H. Macy:
Macy's ad-lib was calling the car 'Siena burnt umber' (not in the script), and the doodles Jerry makes were Macy's own between setups.
“he kept calling the Siena burnt umber, which was not in the script, but the Cohens were amused and let that in.”
fun, about
Fargo (NBC pilot):
An unaired NBC pilot directed by Kathy Bates with Edie Falco as a pregnant Marge existed, with no Coen involvement; the hosts joke about a Bates feud.
“There was like an NBC pilot directed by Kathy Bates with Edie Falco playing Marge Gunderson.”
fun, about
Frances McDormand / Mike Yanagita scene:
The Yanagita scene was reportedly added at McDormand's request for a scene showing Marge relating to someone besides husband or case; she also refused to make Marge too saintly.
“I want to avoid the temptation of letting this character be too saintly”
fun, about
Ethan Coen:
Ethan said he never consciously directed an actor, and that directing is about tone management, which Griffin sees as Fargo's essence.
fun, about
William H. Macy:
Macy read for a deputy, was told to try Jerry, then flew back from the West to read again for fear someone else would be hired, 'jolly Lutheran ass on an airplane.'
“I got my jolly Lutheran ass on an airplane and walked in and said, I want to read again”
fun, about
Roger Deakins:
The Coens first told Deakins they wanted only fixed shots; the opening credits shot was among the last filmed after snow failed to appear and they had to go to North Dakota.
“Deacon said the opening credits shot is one of the last things they shot.”
fun, about
Fargo true-story card:
Macy reportedly learned mid-production that Fargo wasn't a true story, protested, and the Coens just said they could.
“And he goes up to the cones, he's like, you guys, this is not true.”
fun, about
William H. Macy / Finding Nemo:
Macy was reportedly the original Marlin in Finding Nemo, but test audiences hated him as too much of a loser.
fun, about
John Carroll Lynch:
Lynch's only direction from Joel: he was paying too much attention to what Marge and Lou said; 'you don't care, just finish your meal.'
fun, about
Steve Park:
Park wrote an op-ed about racism on a Friends guest arc and says he was soft-blackballed for years, despite the Fargo scene; credits dried up until the mid-2010s.
“says that he was like soft blackballed from the industry for a number of years.”
fun, about
Fargo wood chipper:
The VHS release came with a promotional wood chipper snow globe with red snow, which yellowed; Griffin keeps a reproduction with white snow on his desk.
“this was the promotional novelty snow globe they made of the woodchipper that came with the VHS”
fun, about
Fargo ending:
The three-cent stamp ending is read as a metaphor: Marge is a three-cent stamp, a small contribution against ugliness that still matters when prices go up.
fun, about
Carter Burwell:
Burwell had never thought of scoring; to learn he rented Hitchcock, picked The Birds by chance, and learned from its lack of score that sometimes you zag.
fun, about
Fargo release:
Fargo opened March 8, 1996, on 36 screens, peaked near 700, behind The Birdcage, Homeward Bound 2, and Up Close & Personal; Griffin runs the weekend box-office game.
fun, about
Ben Hosley:
Griffin says Ben is a lifelong David S. Ward completist who loves Down Periscope and King Ralph (a live show on King Ralph was planned), and was offended by a Malibu's Most Wanted joke.
“Ben quietly realized that he is a David S. Ward, a tourist over the course of doing this podcast”
fun, about
Spielberg face:
Griffin: Empire subverts the Spielberg face, shooting Bale from below looking up at the plane so we are on the ground, not sharing the wonder.
“You are on the ground looking at a kid, look up at something unseen ominously, and it's like, fuck, he's figuring it out.”
fun, about
Cannes press conference:
Laszlo Nemes asked at a Cannes press conference whether he gave Dolan the Grand Prix because Dolan had been on his jury; Griffin riffs it as a denial.
fun, about
David Lean / Nostromo:
Lean had Spielberg ask about Ballard rights, lost interest; Spielberg offered to produce Nostromo and sent notes on the screenplay and was told off.
“And Lean was like, fuck you, you don't give me notes.”
fun, about
Bilge Ebiri:
Griffin resolution for 2025 is to become a produced playwright; riff on Ben's past big resolutions (Guggenheim, horse, fashion brand).
fun, about
Christian Bale:
Spielberg auditioned 4000 kids; Bale, recommended by Amy Irving, was the one exception to Griffin's theory that Spielberg fails at breaking male stars.
fun, about
Tropic Thunder:
Ben Stiller, in a small role, watched actors on the Empire set seeking suffering while having trailers and craft services; it became Tropic Thunder 20 years later.
fun, about
Spielberg's childhood:
Griffin recounts a 60 Minutes interview where Spielberg said he had no happy childhood memories, and ties it to Fabelmans and his collecting of arcade machines and Casper rights.
“I do not have a single happy memory of my childhood.”
fun, about
Pauline Kael / critics:
Contemporary reviews: Sarris loved it, Hoberman hated it and called it The Sorrow and the Pity remade as Oliver; Kael-style line was majestically made but unclear what it is about.
“Hoberman called it the sorrow and the pity remade is Oliver, which is pretty funny.”
fun, about
Heartbeeps:
Griffin's childhood obsession with the Andy Kaufman robot movie turned out not to work when he finally saw it, with a hated cigar-smoking robot.
“Catskills is the least funny character in the history of movies, the cigar smoking robot.”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Park's gentleman-cop concept: a detective who carries wet wipes and eyedrops rather than a gun, a walking vending machine of a man.
“his concept is a police officer who doesn't carry a gun, but it says, carries instead carries wet wipes”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Park spoke for 90 minutes pitching the whole film to Park Hae-il, who needed to pee halfway but was too immersed to interrupt.
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Park's ending: he had wanted to end a movie with a person burying herself for about 30 years; he considered an epilogue but cut it.
“I have been trying to put that as the end of a movie first. So for like 30 years.”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
On the opening mountain climb, two cops go up horizontally on a winch, one strapped to the other; Griffin says the moment he fell in love with the movie and that Park does one bizarre scene like it ten times per film.
“And it will happen 10 times in each of his films.”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Griffin's research: Park wanted an old-fashioned, restrained approach with vintage lenses and fixed setups, and had actors run with camera body mounts for the chases.
“vintage lenses, fixed camera setups, natural lighting.”
fun, about
David Fincher:
Next miniseries: Fincher, with The Curious Cast of Benjamin Buttcast as the title; a Reddit user had guessed it a day before.
“And then someone yesterday on Reddit fucking said they're probably going to call it the curious pot of Benjamin Butt cast, right?”
fun, about
Alien 3:
Next week is Alien 3; the Patreon covers Brosnan Bond and then the two Alien vs. Predator films, one fun and one the worst movie in the world.
“One of them is really fun and one of them is the worst fucking movie in the world.”
fun, about
Sherlock, Jr.:
In the Sherlock Jr. jump through the old woman's suitcase, a disguised Gillette is the old lady, a vaudeville magic bit that startled a 1990s Film Forum audience.
“that really is a what the fuck moment when you see it with an audience.”
fun, about
Sherlock, Jr.:
In the gag where Gillette falls off the motorbike, it is really Keaton doing the stunt for the actor, and the handlebar ride mixes real shots and process shots.
“So Keaton did the stunt for the actor who played Gillette.”
fun, about
The Navigator:
Breakfast gag: she puts unground coffee beans in a kettle, he drinks it, silently leaves to vomit and returns miming a phone call.
“he makes a gesture saying, I had to make a phone call.”
fun, about
The Navigator:
Studio gave Crisp the dramatic scenes; they reportedly told him the film was done and then shot the deep-sea-diving sequence without him.
“Apparently they literally told him the film was done and then filmed the deep sea diving sequence”
fun, about
Claydream:
The Will Vinton documentary is called phenomenal supplemental viewing: depositions, the Nike takeover, and Vinton once being offered Pixar shares that Steve Jobs eventually took.
fun, about
The Shadow King:
Pitch: nine-year-old New York orphan Hap with long fingers makes shadow hands fight a monster that wants to eat New York; Selick wanted to blend stop motion with cut-out and shadow animation.
“a deliciously magical tale about a nine-year-old New York orphan named Hap, who hides his weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world.”
fun, about
Henry Selick / The Shadow King:
Disney shut down his Pixar-campus stop-motion film a year into production with 40 percent animated, took a $50 million write-down, then handed him the rights; nobody bought it.
“Disney took a $50000000 write down on the Shadow King.”
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / Key and Peele:
Selick was channel-surfing, saw Key and Peele's sketch with 3D-printed guns and insane wigs on the plane, and decided Wendell and Wild were a comedy duo vehicle.
“He likes the, um, the sketch prepared for Terry's, which is like the guys getting on the plane with the 3D printed guns”
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / Phil Knight:
Selick kept the replacement-face seam lines because he is free of Nike's Phil Knight, who reportedly hated them.
“Phil Knight, apparently, really hated the seam lines is one thing Selak said.”
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / Pablo Lobato:
Selick chose a flat, cutout caricature style almost perversely, then told the team to figure out how to build it in 3D.
“here are Pablo's flat drawings, figure out how to build this.”
fun, about
Wendell and Wild:
Griffin says a Republican version of the council skeleton gag is that they could consult dead founders to learn exactly what they intended.
“We now know exactly what our founding forefathers intended because we brought them back to right here.”
fun, about
Danny Boyle:
Next miniseries announced: Danny Boyle, the first proper English director; first up is Shallow Grave. Griffin was going to joke he was Irish.
fun, about
Bob Fosse:
Fosse expected All That Jazz to be his last act; his planned follow-up was nothing, and he turned down Chicago because he could not get it up for old material.
fun, about
Paddy Chayefsky:
At Chayefsky's funeral Fosse kept a promise to dance publicly, doing it for about 30 seconds, and E.L. Doctorow called it the most touching moment.
fun, about
Bob Fosse:
Late projects: Chicago, Dreamgirls, a Vampire Lestat musical with Bowie and Jagger, interest in Good Morning Vietnam, and a Winchell film with De Niro.
fun, about
Mariel Hemingway:
She campaigned for the Stratton role; Fosse said she was not voluptuous and she famously got a boob job, which she says was not for the movie.
fun, about
Mariel Hemingway:
Fosse asked Hemingway to seduce De Niro into the role; she refused, and she said Fosse took De Niro's rejection very hard.
“He asks Hemingway to try and like seduce Robert De Niro to like convince him of the role.”
fun, about
Hugh Hefner:
Sam Shepard was first choice and Fosse wanted Harry Dean Stanton; Hefner vetoed Stanton by threatening to deny Playboy archive access, so Cliff Robertson played him.
fun, about
Star 80:
Roger Ebert liked it and called Roberts's performance the year's best; Hefner hated the intercutting of the photo sessions with the murder.
“Hugh Hefner thought it was disgusting the way it linked sex to violence.”
fun, about
Robert Wuhl:
Griffin's friends bought him a Robert Wuhl cameo after surgery; Wuhl told a story of Glenn Frey vowing to live so well after a heart attack, a counterpoint to Fosse's reaction after his.