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 1,101–1,162 of 1,162 claims.
theme (theme):
Chris Evans → Paddington.
Steve Rogers is rooted for because he is a scrappier Paddington who believes the best of people and only dislikes Nazis.
“he's just like a scrappier version of Paddington.”
lineage (lineage):
Thor → Masters of the Universe.
Thor is described as essentially a remake of the live-action Masters of the Universe.
“It's mostly just a remake of the live action masters of the universe movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:03:54 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.65 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage):
Thor → Masters of the Universe.
Both banish a hero from his heightened mythic world into a mundane Earth town and play it for fish-out-of-water jokes.
“And you place the one character who belongs in this heightened sci-fi world in the middle of like, you know, the Southwest.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:04:40 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.60 sure it was them)
career (career):
Chris Hemsworth → Sean Connery.
Doubts that Hemsworth is just a big stuntman echo Fleming dismissing Connery as an overblown stuntman when cast as Bond.
“Ian Fleming publicly was like, he's not an actor.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:24:38 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage):
Thor → Masters of the Universe.
Skeletor banishing He-Man to California mirrors Odin banishing Thor, down to the cartoon-to-film design translation and the large Coke gag.
“They banish him to California, and then like, it's Courtney Cox and some other Californian teenager take them in.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:37:32 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.60 sure it was them)
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:42:42 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.60 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage):
Thor → Masters of the Universe.
Thor's coffee-mug throwing scene is likened to Gwildor failing to understand fried chicken in He-Man.
“It's like the scene in He-Man where Gueldor doesn't get fried chicken.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:44:06 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.60 sure it was them)
industry (industry):
Thor → Black Panther.
Thor shot on a real New Mexico location; later Marvel films like Black Panther are made in Atlanta lots for tax rebates and secrecy, hurting how they look.
“a lot of it looks ugly because they were so committed to filming it in like a fucking Atlanta parking lot.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:45:46 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast):
Thor → Black Panther.
Black Panther gives every ensemble member an inner life and a plot function; Thor's side characters like Volstagg and Sif do little.
“every single character has their own personality, their own internal conflict, but has like a very important plot function as well.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:47:38 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.40 sure it was them)
career (career):
Stellan Skarsgard → Nymphomaniac.
American films use Skarsgard as a goofy side dish while in Sweden and Europe he is the transgressive art-house king and Lars von Trier's regular.
“in Sweden, he's like the most like transgressive, like penis wagging, hyper violent sexual actor.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:49:33 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.50 sure it was them)
career (career):
Stellan Skarsgard → Insomnia.
Skarsgard plays the Pacino part in the Norwegian original of Insomnia.
“he plays the Pacino part in the original insomnia.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:50:03 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.40 sure it was them)
career (career):
Natalie Portman → Garden State.
A riff on Garden State turns into proposing Ben replace Zach Braff over the whole film as a Kuleshov-effect experiment.
“Can we just shoot Ben in front of a green screen and like superimpose him over Zach Raff and keep the rest of the movie the same?”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
0:54:33 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.50 sure it was them)
programming (programming):
Thor → The Avengers.
The Hawkeye cameo, with no interaction, made the speaker doubt the Avengers team-up would work.
“The thing you want to see is how they talk and interact with each other.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:02:12 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.35 sure it was them)
industry (industry):
Justice League → The Avengers.
Marvel spent five setup films; DC's Justice League tried eight characters off two movies.
“the Justice League is like, we have like 8 characters and we did 2 movies.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:02:49 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.35 sure it was them)
theme (theme):
Thor → Ghost Rider.
Marvel heroes outside Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four lack good villains; Thor has Loki, Ghost Rider's foes are Satan-adjacent like Thor's mythology ones.
“the thing with the Ghost Rider is it like sort of uses like satanic mythology in the same way that this uses Greek mythology.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:21:53 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.35 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict):
Joss Whedon → The Avengers.
Whedon kills the sweetest character to prove a point in everything, though he did it well in Avengers.
“Whedon, who, um, loves to fucking kill the innocent to prove a dramatic point.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:24:39 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft):
Patrick Doyle → Thor.
Doyle's score is judged serviceable big orchestral work but not a strong score.
“I also think that the music, little anonymous, Patrick Doyle, but you know, Doyle will give you a serviceable sort of big orchestral stuff.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:47:28 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft):
Thor → Foo Fighters.
Branagh dropped in the Foo Fighters song Walk at the last minute because its lyrics were about learning to walk again, like Thor.
“Brana thought the lyrics were appropriate because it's about learning to walk again, much like Thor is learning to be a superhero.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:49:38 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.35 sure it was them)
industry (industry):
Rio → Newt (cancelled Pixar film).
Rio's trailer revealed the same last-of-their-species-must-mate premise, causing Pixar to cancel Newt.
“Rio caused the only Pixar movie to be canceled?”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:53:14 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.40 sure it was them)
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:54:58 ·
Griffin Newman
(0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage):
Gary Shandling → Robocop 2.
The Shandling scene of failing military machines is likened to Robocop 2's footage of machines not working.
“Shanley is weirdly like Robocop 2, which I've just seen for the 1st time now where they show all these machines not working.”
what-if (what-if):
Beverly Hills Cop → Mickey Rourke.
After Stallone dropped out of Beverly Hills Cop, Rourke was offered the part, then Eddie Murphy came in and the film was rebuilt around his riffing.
contrast (contrast):
Iron Man 2 → Beverly Hills Cop II.
Iron Man 1 was a straight movie subverted from within by a loose lead, like Beverly Hills Cop; the sequel was written as comedy from the start, like Beverly Hills Cop II, so nothing is subversive.
“The problem with this movie is they tried to write it from as a comedy from the get go.”
career (career):
Beverly Hills Cop III → Eddie Murphy.
Murphy wanted serious roles like Denzel and Snipes, so on the Landis-directed third film he refused to tell jokes.
“So they hire John Landis to make a funny movie. And then Eddie Murphy's like, I will not tell jokes in this.”
lineage (lineage):
Iron Man 2 → Robocop 2.
Both feature an opening gag of malfunctioning machines, and a plot about the military trying to make another one.
“this is very similar to Robocob 2 where they're like, the plot is kind of just like, how do we make another one of these?”
craft (craft):
Rick Baker → Mickey Rourke.
The speaker jokes that makeup artist Rick Baker was handed an Academy Award for Rourke's look, when Rourke simply showed up on set that way.
“Rick Baker, an Academy Award for Mickey Rourke in this movie.”
craft (craft):
Nancy Meyers → National Treasure.
Griffin ties Jon Voight's soufflé line about National Treasure to Meyers: light, airy films that collapse if one element is wrong.
career (career):
Sense and Sensibility → The Ice Storm.
After the Sense and Sensibility hit, Lee made the most depressing movie ever made, which got no Oscar nominations.
“But before he made that decision, he was like, what if I make like the most depressing movie ever made?”
unmapped (parody):
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon → Scary Movie.
Wire-work parody in pop culture (Scary Movie that year) made it hard for a young Griffin to take the genre seriously.
career (career):
Chow Yun-fat → Daniel Day-Lewis.
Li Mu Bai is in a Daniel Day-Lewis retirement mode: the best at something that no longer satisfies him.
“I think he's in like Daniel De-Louis retirement mode.”
verdict (verdict):
Martin Campbell → Vertical Limit.
Martin Campbell is only good at making James Bond movies; Vertical Limit is a good first scene only.
“It's a great example of Martin Campbell only being good at making masterpiece James Bond movies”
craft (craft):
The Ice Storm → Do the Right Thing.
The Ice Storm gets cold weather as right as Do the Right Thing gets hot weather, trading rage for malaise.
“I think this movie gets cold weather as right as do the right thing gets hot weather.”
lineage (lineage):
The Ice Storm → Freaks and Geeks.
Recognizing the Ice Storm as a 40-something's nostalgia piece led to the same realization with Freaks and Geeks.
“the next thing I remember thinking that about and having that realization about was, uh, was freaks and geeks.”
theme (theme):
The Ice Storm → Fantastic Four.
The Ice Storm's families map onto the Fantastic Four, with Joan Allen as Invisible Woman and Kevin Kline as Mr. Fantastic.
“No, yeah, no, Joan Allen is Invisible Woman, and Kevin Klein is fucking Mr. Fate Desk.”
fun, about
David Fincher:
Told by the Paramount president that nobody would give him $400,000 for a first picture, Fincher answered with a joke about a 40-minute movie.
fun, about
Brian Glover:
The warden actor was a professional wrestler (the Red Devil, then Leon Arras the man from Paris) and the crew adored him on set.
fun, about
David Fincher:
In a behind-the-scenes clip on the Panic Room DVD, Fincher gives notes over the previs in real time, never waiting for it to finish.
“he is nonstop just going like, that needs to be 2 inches lower.”
fun, about
Joel Schumacher:
After Fincher showed him the cut, Schumacher said aiming high means disappointment, and that caring puts you at the mercy of people who don't.
“you put yourself in a position where they have more power than you because you care and they don't.”
fun, about
Alien 3:
A pricey makeup bald cap cost about $20 grand because re-cutting Weaver's hair would have cost about $40 grand; when they needed it again, they found it in a pile.
“So instead, they paid like 20 grand to make the world's most advanced makeup bald cap.”
fun, about
The Nightmare Before Christmas:
Hot Topic reclaimed the weird Disney movie: Disney did not want it, released it under Touchstone, and now Hot Topic mostly sells Disney merchandise.
fun, about
Michael McDowell:
Per a Caroline Thompson interview, McDowell delivered only the Elfman lyrics reformatted as a screenplay; she said he had 'snorted his salary'.
“She put it, quote, that he had snorted his salary”
fun, about
The Nightmare Before Christmas:
Development was backwards: Burton's poem, Elfman writing songs from story beats, then Thompson writing a script to fill the gaps; animation started before a script.
“But they are animating this movie before they have a script.”
fun, about
The Nightmare Before Christmas:
Title card shot with candy corn letters before Burton's name was added late; Selick says he understands it and will rue it until he dies.
“I understand it, and I will rue it until the day I die.”
fun, about
Chris Sarandon:
The speaking Jack may be the most enunciated performance in movie history; Elfman sings, Sarandon speaks, causing a lasting rift.
“this like caused a rift between Selleck and Elfman that like lasted for forever.”
fun, about
Vincent Price:
Vincent Price was recorded as Santa but had just lost his wife and it didn't work; Don Ameche was 'insanely grouchy'; James Earl Jones shouted 'you don't know me'.
fun, about
The Nightmare Before Christmas:
Griffin's mom would not let him see it in theaters, so he got toys first; a lighting-fixture store near his school sold only lamps and Nightmare toys.
“the only thing they sold aside from lamps was a nightmare before Christmas toys.”
fun, about
Mike Flanagan:
Flanagan wrote the bar scene before the script and sent it to King as proof of concept; a host jokes he slipped a $20 in the pages.
fun, about
Jacob Tremblay:
Flanagan quote read aloud: after the harrowing scene Tremblay hopped up, high-fived his dad and got a candy bar from craft services.
“And then Jacob just hopped up, brushed himself off, high-fived his dad, went and got a candy bar from craft services, and the rest of us couldn't even blink.”
fun, about
Full Metal Jacket:
The 3000 open video auditions produced a viral clip of a man at a Sears with a ladder saying hello Mr. Kubrick.
“This was an early case of letting people submit auditions through videotape, like having a pretty open audition because they needed young people and they got 3000 submissions.”
fun, about
R. Lee Ermey:
Legend: Kubrick saw a video of Ermey rattling off insults while being pelted with tennis balls and oranges, never breaking.
“There's like this legend that there's this video of Arli Ermy that Kubrick saw of him rattling off all these like insults and scream while being like pelted with tennis balls and oranges and never and never breaking.”
fun, about
Matthew Modine:
Modine's joke to Kubrick: Spielberg meets a bearded man in heaven who thinks he is Kubrick but is God, and Kubrick liked it.
fun, about
Stanley Kubrick:
Kubrick had his secretary bring him stacks of bestselling horror novels and she heard a book hit the wall every ten minutes until the day she heard nothing for two hours.
“every 10 minutes she'd hear a book hit the wall.”
fun, about
Stanley Kubrick:
On the phone, Kubrick told King the idea of a ghost is optimistic because it presupposes an afterlife, and answered King's question about hell with a flat denial.
fun, about
2001: A Space Odyssey:
Nolan's IMAX re-release was deliberately demastered to look yellowed and imperfect, how he remembered seeing it as a child.
fun, about
Stanley Kubrick:
Kubrick on why he did not want drugs to be the source of the film, as read from the dossier.
“I think that the illusion of oneness with the universe and absorption with the significance of every object in your environment and the pervasive aura of peace and contentment is not the ideal state for an artist.”
fun, about
Dr. Strangelove:
AFI's 100 Years 100 Laughs ranked Strangelove third, behind Tootsie and Some Like It Hot, and Blockbuster displayed the tapes together.
“I watched this because AFI in the year 2000 did their 100 years, 100 laughs”
fun, about
Saving Private Ryan:
Griffin avoided it his whole life, took six hours to finish for the podcast, loved it, owns it on steelbook, will never rewatch.
fun, about
The Killing:
A working title for the film was Bed of Fear, which sets Patton off on his Deathbed routine.
“But one of the titles, one of the working titles that apparently was close to happening for this movie, I don't know if you know this, was bed of fear.”
fun, about
Die Hard:
Sinatra's Detective rights gave him first refusal on follow-ups, so Fox had to offer Die Hard to him first; the speaker pictures the call.
“I just like imagining whoever the Fox exec was who was like, hey, Frank, I'm just calling so you can tell me to fuck off.”
fun, about
Timothy Carey:
His image from The Killing turns up on the Sgt. Pepper outtake photos behind George Harrison, though the speaker concedes it may not be the final cover.
“Sag had no cause projection, but apparently he's also in his image from the killing is on the Sergeant Pepper cover behind George Harrison.”
fun, about
The Killing:
Ben texts that if he were in a heist movie where people fuck it up, he would have pulled it off and ended on a tropical island.
“Anytime Ben watches a heist movie in which people fuck it up.”
fun, about
The Lego Batman Movie:
Griffin's thesis: the best narrative ever built around Batman, with the most complete understanding of him as a character.
“I think this is the best narrative that has ever been constructed around Batman”
fun, about
The Lego Batman Movie:
The villains list: Conan O'Brien as the Riddler, Mantzoukas as Scarecrow, Garfunkel and Oats as Poison Ivy and Clayface, Doug Benson as Bane.
fun, about
The Lego Batman Movie:
Watch the scene where Batman microwaves lobster Thermidor, types 20 minutes, and corrects himself; the hosts also like the lighting of the microwave.
“And then he types 20 and then he goes, not 20 minutes stupid.”