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 1,001–1,100 of 1,162 claims.
verdict (verdict):
Tommy Lee Jones → Ad Astra.
A 'sweater and a fretter': in space fretting while wearing a good sweater.
programming (programming):
Black Panther → Avengers: Infinity War.
Griffin loved Black Panther just before, then felt Infinity War was one Marvel movie too big.
“Having, you know, loved Black Panther, which came out right before this.”
verdict (verdict):
Avengers: Infinity War → Avengers: Endgame.
Griffin's frustration with Infinity War in theaters came from dreading what Endgame would do; having since loved Endgame he likes this film more on rewatch.
“I feel like a lot of my frustrations with this movie when I saw it were also based on me anticipating what I thought they were going to do with Endgame”
contrast (contrast):
Doctor Strange → Avengers: Infinity War.
Doctor Strange has the worst joke writing in any Marvel film, while the Avengers films do his comedy better.
“I think Doctor Strange also suffers from the worst joke writing in any Marvel film.”
lineage (lineage):
Jack Kirby → Avengers: Infinity War.
Kirby's cosmic creations at Marvel, Galactus and the Silver Surfer, are the ancestors of this material.
“he creates galactus and silver surf and all these parrots”
what-if (what-if):
Avengers: Infinity War → Avengers: Endgame.
Mantis proves Thanos can be mentally manipulated, so Endgame should have used Wanda against him.
“you have a very powerful mental manipulator in Wanda, and she doesn't do it.”
what-if (what-if):
Avengers: Infinity War → Avengers: Endgame.
Would have preferred Wanda going into Thanos's head in Endgame, a Mysterio-style nightmare sequence.
“I would have enjoyed her more going into his head”
contrast (contrast):
Avengers: Infinity War → Cobweb.
The movie is a glove thriller the way The Cobweb is a drape drama: a huge story about accessories.
“So they were filming this movie at the same time in Cleveland, Ohio, and the suburbs outside of Cleveland that we were filming a motion picture called Draft Day.”
what-if (what-if):
Thor: The Dark World → Patty Jenkins.
The film fired original director Patty Jenkins and replaced her with Game of Thrones TV director Alan Taylor.
contrast (contrast):
Thor: Ragnarok → Thor: The Dark World.
Ragnarok flushes nearly all the mythos out of Thor other than Thor and Loki, which the speakers dislike.
“And they flush almost everything out of the mythos other than Thorn Loke.”
craft (craft):
Michael Giacchino → Thor: The Dark World.
The speakers ask whether The Dark World is the first Marvel film to open with the Giacchino Marvel Studios fanfare.
craft (craft):
Thor: The Dark World → Thor.
The Dark World goes further in both directions on design (older looks plus more tech) while Branagh's Thor split the difference in a murky middle.
“I think, like, Branagh is splitting the difference too hard and staying in a weird murky middle ground.”
lineage (lineage):
Thor: The Dark World → The Avengers.
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.”
theme (theme):
Thor: The Dark World → Crazy Rich Asians.
The fish-out-of-water romance with a world of high society and Frigga as the mother echoes Crazy Rich Asians.
“Well, because this is also her kind of crazy rich Asians where it's like, this is a world that I don't know.”
what-if (what-if):
Thor: The Dark World → Patty Jenkins.
What Jenkins wanted to make was a romance first and foremost, and the romantic comedy half of the finished film is read as that movie surviving.
“She kept on saying she really wants to make a romance 1st and foremost.”
career (career):
Stellan Skarsgard → Thor: The Dark World.
Skarsgard is naked in more movies than clothed; he must have negotiated a nude scene in his Marvel deal.
“Scott Scarsgard is naked in more movies than he's clothed.”
career (career):
Alan Taylor → Boardwalk Empire.
Taylor has long been a top HBO director (Boardwalk, Sopranos, Game of Thrones) before moving to blockbusters, and was tapped for the Sopranos prequel.
“Because he's sort of been a top HBO director for a long time.”
industry (industry):
Thor: The Dark World → Idris Elba.
Heimdall is where it shows Elba is too famous for the role; the franchise gives him an action scene to keep him.
“Idris Elba is officially too famous for this role.”
what-if (what-if):
Black Panther → Idris Elba.
Elba, stuck as Heimdall, could have played the Forest Whitaker part or the Daniel Kaluuya part in Black Panther.
career (career):
Idris Elba → The Wire.
Elba got very famous through The Wire's late-arriving HBO Go audience, so he is now too big for Heimdall's small part.
“The wire got really big around this time because of HBO Go.”
craft (craft):
Thor: The Dark World → Doctor Strange.
Doctor Strange does tactile magic well, with sparks, whereas Thor's magic read as CGI doodles elsewhere; the Dark World's has texture.
“I think Doctor Strange does really well, but they make magic look tactile, which is hard to do.”
contrast (contrast):
Thor: The Dark World → Black Panther.
Black Panther does Thor-style city-under-attack better than Asgard, which never reads as a city or a planet.
“You never really understand if Asgard is a city or a planet.”
industry (industry):
Christopher Eccleston → The Story of G.I. Joe.
Eccleston jumped in at the last second here as he did for G.I. Joe's Destro, replacing the originally cast Mads Mikkelsen.
“This was supposed to be Mads, and then it became Eccleston.”
industry (industry):
Joshua Dallas → Once Upon a Time.
Joshua Dallas played Fandral in Thor but could not return because Once Upon a Time was renewed, bringing Levi back.
“Then they hire Joshua Dallas. Then he can't come back for this because once upon a time gets renewed.”
people (people):
Jason X → David Cronenberg.
Cronenberg is claimed to appear in Jason X and is recommended as an actor in the Canadian film Last Night.
industry (industry):
Your Name → Marc Webb.
Marc Webb is directing an American Your Name remake about Native American culture; the speakers say it's a bad idea.
“Mark Webb is directing an American remake of your name.”
verdict (verdict):
Thor: The Dark World → Doctor Strange.
Doctor Strange fails on comedy, trying too hard to make Strange like Tony Stark; they should have owned being po-faced like this earnest film.
“That movie conclusively fails on the comedy front.”
people (people):
Thor: The Dark World → Don Payne.
Don Payne wrote the original draft, his last script; the portal-fight gimmick likely came from his comedy and Simpsons background.
“I wouldn't be surprised if this was a thing that Don Payne brought in.”
craft (craft):
Thor: The Dark World → The Fate of the Furious.
The London flat where Thor and Jane land looks like the penthouse where the Fast & Furious gang drinks Budweisers at the end of Fate.
“It sort of looks like the flat where they Fast and Furious gang gathers at the end of fate.”
what-if (what-if):
Benicio del Toro → Avengers: Endgame.
They hope Endgame has Benicio del Toro's Collector and Jeff Goldblum's Grandmaster together as the Space Brothers.
“If Endgame doesn't have Space Necio and Jeff Spaceblum together as the Space Brothers.”
people (people):
Ender's Game → Harrison Ford.
The box office game answer is Ender's Game with Harrison Ford in a supporting role and Gavin Hood directing.
career (career):
Joss Whedon → Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Speaker's Buffy/Firefly fandom is why Whedon's exposition and Fury's crackling lines register as his signature.
“I'm still like a big Buffy fan, a big old-fashioned Wii. I love Firefly, right?”
people (people):
Robert Downey Jr. → Joss Whedon.
Downey pushed to be the star of the team movie in his first meeting with Whedon, then admitted he was wrong.
“I know you think you're making a team movie, but I'm the big star.”
career (career):
Mark Ruffalo → 13 Going on 30.
After his illness he went for rom-com leads and got stuck as the nice pushover, the Bill Pullman of rom-coms.
“At this point, it's like he's becoming like the Bill Pullman of rom-coms.”
career (career):
Mark Ruffalo → Sympathy for Delicious.
His directorial debut, a low point (hosts disagree on degree) when he claimed he might quit acting.
career (career):
Mark Ruffalo → The Kids Are All Right.
A role of under 5 working days brought his first Oscar nomination and the comeback, then Shutter Island with Scorsese.
“I believe he worked less than 5 days on that film.”
people (people):
Samuel L. Jackson → Kong: Skull Island.
Jackson holding court about director Jordan Vogt-Roberts as an amateur, illustrating Jackson's professionalism standard.
“he was loudly holding court over what a fucking disaster Jordan Vote Roberts was on Kong Skull Island.”
career (career):
Samuel L. Jackson → Jungle Fever.
Jackson used his real crack addiction in Jungle Fever, which made his career and earned a first-ever supporting prize at Cannes.
“Right, which is the 1st time that the con film festival is ever given out a supporting award.”
programming (programming):
Kevin Feige → Inhumans (announced film).
Feige's Phase 3 keynote, staged like an Apple unveiling, announced Captain Marvel, Boseman, and a joke 'Inhumans movie with Vin Diesel'.
“Feige doing that weird keynote address where he was doing like his Steve Jobs impression and announcing the phase 3 films.”
programming (programming):
The Avengers → Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Coulson was brought back for the TV show but kept out of the movies, signaling the TV show is only loosely connected.
“you can be in the TV show, like, because we need, you know, a star for the show”
craft (craft):
The Avengers → Idiocracy.
Black Widow's origin tangent: Tony's rushed Iron Man 2 pitch reminded Griffin of the endless slides gag in Idiocracy.
“Do you know what one of my favorite jokes in the history of movies is?”
fun, about
Vanilla Sky:
Griffin's casting story: a casting director warned him not to joke about 'can you hear me now?' when the Verizon actor wrote and directed a film.
“the writer and director of this film, who's going to be in the audition is the can you hear me now, guy?”
fun, about
Vanilla Sky:
The recording was spread over years because the hosts kept leaving the country, so references to a breakup will be five weeks stale on release.
“Having to re-listen to me make references to how sad I am right now 5 weeks from now when this episode's released.”