Loves Marvel's cosmic, ragtag-team side and the animated Rocket/Groot heart; affectionate about the sillier comic characters. Dislikes humorless gray franchise filmmaking and bad needle drops. A sucker for a ragtag group, a Trek-style space comedy, and a Han Solo type inside an ensemble. Speaker attribution in this transcript is uncertain.
Stances
Gunn is a real filmmaker who won his arguments with Marvel
Quill is the best Han Solo since Han Solo
Rocket and Groot are one of the best big/small duos
Humor: Talks in self-aware bits (the countdown clock, chronic lateness) and makes dirty-minded pile-ons with the room.
In their words
“I just don't get how, like, people saw this movie who had not seen every Marvel movie for sure.” (0:24:45)
“That's the other big thing is that gun was a troma guy.” (0:36:18)
Marvel completist who loves the series' smaller character beats (Agent Carter, Peggy, Falcon, Sam Jackson's Fury) and defends Infinity War. Loves action built from hand-to-hand fights and movie-star dialogue scenes. Allergic to bad-faith villain motives and to the cheap CGI leaps. Suckers for old tech, spy-bureaucracy aesthetic and New Hollywood stars.
Stances
Winter Soldier is great until the final Helicarrier act
Prefers small-scale hand-to-hand action to CGI set pieces
Loves Agent Carter and wants it back
Mild on Bucky/Winter Soldier himself
Humor: Rapid riffs, character voices, self-deprecating anecdotes and overlong running bits that derail the commentary.
In their words
“I just love this sequence” (0:08:33)
“I think this movie's basically terrific until the final seppies” (0:12:41)
Loves lore-heavy, dorky, earnest sci-fi fantasy with real sets, tactile design and a spaceship in it; likes the Thor mythos and Sif. Dislikes things that mock their own source material (Ragnarok) and thinks the first Thor is too clean. A sucker for spectacle that dumps lore on a simple hero's journey.
Stances
Dark World is the most underappreciated Marvel film
Ragnarok disrespects the mythos
Practical, tactile design beats cartoony CGI
Humor: Rapid riffing wordplay and long running bits (Tony Lip as pizza), eagerly undercutting his own sincerity.
In their words
“I'm defenseless before any dizzyingly silly sci-fi epic that downloads gigabytes of lore into the viewer's brain by means of a simple hero's journey narrative.” (1:38:17)
Loves Iron Man 3 as his favorite MCU film for its character study and how it turns superhero loneliness into anxiety and panic. Collects $20 off-the-shelf action figures and Hot Toys Robocop, and cherishes buddy-cop 80s action and well-built set pieces. Dislikes suits that are just mush CGI and wet-cement final fights.
Stances
Iron Man 3 is a masterpiece and anyone who dislikes it is wrong
Tony should be out of the suit; the film works because he is not Iron Man for most of it
Marvel should have let the Rebecca Hall villain stand
Loves Whedon-era dialogue, Buffy and Firefly, Kenneth Lonergan, and character-driven ensemble action; sucker for actors having fun and clever setups paid off. Dislikes homogenized Marvel visuals, rock-song tags, and Grindelwald's Crimes. Allergic to a Christmas tree and moose.
Stances
Whedon's script is the star; the film is not visually distinguished
Ruffalo is the movie's best performance
Costume detail (neckcloth) bothers him
Grindelwald should be as fun as Loki
Humor: Spends bits on celebrity impressions (Downey, Timberlake, Tom Waits) and mock-pompous asides.
In their words
“I'm still like a big Buffy fan, a big old-fashioned Wii. I love Firefly, right?” (0:04:21)
“This is what I want Grindewald to be like...” (0:40:51)
He loves heightened-but-not-kitschy design, period movies, Peggy Carter, and actors who underplay. He is a sucker for old-fashioned adventure and a Fantastic Four fan. He doesn't like the reasonable-Nazi Zola or the digital-video look of early-2010s effects.
Stances
The film feels like it ends in the middle
Bucky does not work as an emotional anchor
Actors' behavior in food scenes reveals pros from novices
Humor: Self-deprecating personal stories, about being 90 pounds and eating four cheeseburgers at his Disney store job.
In their words
“I was so grossly underweight and I felt like it was a hindrance to my career because I looked skeleton.” (0:18:15)
A Masters of the Universe devotee who reaches for He-Man as the template for Thor, loves the hammer payoff, and is a sucker for Cat Dennings and Sif. Dislikes the desaturated palette and the cheap-looking Jotunheim. Has the clearest pop-culture and actor-career recall, with skits and personal anecdotes.
Stances
Thor is a remake of Masters of the Universe
The movie looks ugly and desaturated
Hemsworth's performance and chemistry work
Not yet sold on Thor as a character until Avengers and Dark World
Humor: Escalating bits that run for minutes, like the Skarsgard-nudity search and buried jeans.
In their words
“It's mostly just a remake of the live action masters of the universe movie.” (0:03:54)
“I'm searching Stellen Starsgard full frontal nudity.” (1:12:14)
Loves comic-book lore (Crimson Dynamo, Demon in a Bottle) and Iron Man 3, Galaxy Quest, Garry Shandling. Cannot stand a movie that pads out its middle with self-impressed banter. A sucker for Tartakovsky action.
Stances
Iron Man 3 is the great Iron Man movie
Iron Man 2 mistakes riffing for story
Dark World is a joke best American film
Humor: Riffs and impressions, pumps up bits like the Expo is an element.
In their words
“Iron Man 3 is the greatest movie ever made.” (0:25:19)
“I love Larry Sanders too, but it's Gary Shandling show is like my favorite.” (1:30:55)
Loves Ang Lee's Hulk and is quick to defend Iron Man 2's ambitions; hates bad CGI faces and generic action presets; a sucker for chain restaurants, pizza and Marvel lore.
Stances
Ang Lee's Hulk is good and this one is a corrective with no point
Edward Norton is miscast and unengaged
Iron Man 2 fails more interestingly
Humor: Absurdist riffing, sung bits, and escalating food and chain-restaurant tangents.
Loves Marvel comics deeply (Ultimate line, Ms. Marvel, Franklin Richards), actor-driven performances, and looseness; hates a studio-polished formula and a reporter sleeping with the subject trope. A sucker for comic-book film process scenes, the Comic-Con trailer era, and the Tick.
Stances
Iron Man is solid but not beloved; the post-credits Fury scene blew his mind
Prefers Iron Man's visible machinery to nanobite suits
Thinks Infinity War is a triumph, others disagree
Humor: Riffs and bits about his own history (Times Square apartment, 99-cent pizza, Avatar audition).
In their words
“I remember liking this movie. I didn't love it, but I remember feeling... Oh, I fucking loved this movie.” (1:13:42)
Obsessive about National Treasure and the minutiae of movie culture, and a Nancy Meyers admirer who frames her as a souffle filmmaker. Cares about Oscar-season lore and montages. Likes that Nicholson is vulnerable and unvain in this film.
Stances
Nancy Meyers is a souffle filmmaker whose perfectionism serves a fantasy for the audience (attributed at moderate confidence)
The film is a deconstruction of Nicholson's persona and aged better than It's Complicated (speaker uncertain)
Humor: Fast riffing and bits (Keanu impression, Transformers totems), plus running gags about Brenton Thwaites and National Treasure 3.
In their words
“Interesting bringing that up because I'm going to actually draw a big national treasure parallel in this episode to something that's got to give.” (0:11:12)
“And I feel like Nancy is like a souffle filmmaker” (1:33:22)
Loves high-concept, big-swing filmmaking and sees deep emotion in the fights of CTHD; adores sword-and-flight spectacle, dumb-sweet characters like Inspector Tsai, and Lady Bird comparisons. Can't stand Brett Ratner and tired-looking Marvel fights; a sucker for bit-heavy tangents.
Stances
CTHD's fights carry story and character
US action movies are bad because they lack talent and time
Disliked CTHD at 11, later realized it is great
Humor: Escalating riffs and callbacks, crude and silly puns, voices.
In their words
“I was so literal minded where I was like, but they don't explain why they can fly.” (0:17:40)
“11 year old Griffin was laughing and like 29 year old Griffin was crying.” (1:00:34)
Loves The Ice Storm and defends Hulk-era Ang Lee; treats it as a sad Fantastic Four movie. Hates the see-the-ending-first structure in general. A sucker for Elliott Gould and comic-book metaphors.
Stances
Ice Storm is a masterpiece and the best Lee film not starring a Marvel hero
Fantastic Four deserves a sad, isolated, family movie
Dislikes in-media-res openings but accepts this one
Humor: Dry riffing, running bits, and confessional anecdotes about his own near-misses.
In their words
“He put his hand on my shoulder and he went, you're family.” (0:29:17)
“this movie does make me wish that he gotten the chance to make a sad, fantastic four movie.” (1:34:30)
Loves Bigelow's tension and iconography, and Curtis's grounded, empathetic underplaying. Dislikes Mother!'s lack of an anchor. A sucker for character actors and the way a movie's scenes hold the whole thing in micro.
Stances
Blue Steel is top-tier Bigelow and a rediscovery candidate
The movie is about gender and tension, and every scene plays differently if she were a man
Humor: Riffs on nicknames and bits, running gags like 'David and I' variations.
In their words
“My father's a professor at NYU, and he needed guest speakers, and so we talked about podcasting to his class.” (0:26:44)
Loves the film's loneliness and the hardcore Crowe-ness; he's a defender of this movie after rewatching, gives it A minus or B plus. Can't stand the way Cruz is shoved into a romance with no chemistry. A sucker for Kurt Russell, Jason Lee and a good bit.
Stances
Vanilla Sky is the loneliest movie ever made
Defends the movie after first seeing it two years ago on Netflix
Is going through a breakup and keeps working it into the episode
Humor: Self-lacerating, prop comedy and long running bits (sunglasses, catchphrases).
In their words
“It's the loneliest movie ever made.” (0:34:00)
“I'm going through a psychological free fall.” (0:00:55)
Attribution to Griffin versus David is low-confidence (no labels). One host loves Muppets and puppetry and rewatched this on video as a child; the same side loses patience over CGI special-edition changes and the Marcia Lucas theory. Likes conclusions and wrapped-up stories; can't stand Lucas's digital embellishments.
Stances
Special-edition CGI additions hurt Jedi most
Puppets and practical creatures are the movie's strength
Lucas is a sympathetic, wounded figure
Humor: Escalating comic fury, bits about the Empire as a workplace comedy and Santa-hat table dressing.
In their words
“I fucking love Muppets, as you know.” (0:09:53)
“I think the puppetry's so good.” (0:57:07)
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.
unmapped (production method):
The Last Temptation of Christ → Boxcar Bertha.
Scorsese's Corman-style Boxcar Bertha experience let him storyboard and time every shot to make Last Temptation cheaply.
“I never would have been able to make this movie if I didn't have my Corman background and experience a boxcar Bertha specifically”
craft (structural):
The Last Temptation of Christ → New York, New York.
Both run long stretches of repeated set pieces around a central pairing, then a final act turning inward, ending in a tragic blow; Last Temptation reads as a corrective.
“I think this movie is fascinatingly, structurally so similar to New York, New York.”
unmapped (language debate):
The Last Temptation of Christ → The Odyssey.
Modern vernacular dialogue in antiquity draws the same complaints as it did for Nolan's Odyssey.
“Nolan had this happen this year with the Odyssey where people are like, well, I don't understand.”
theme (creepy-child trope):
The Last Temptation of Christ → X2.
Judas recognizing the child angel as Satan is jokingly tied to creepy-girl villains in Resident Evil and X2's White Queen.
craft (craft):
The Last Temptation of Christ → Stan Brakhage.
A cameraman exposing the magazine too early burned the crucifixion-ending image into abstract flashing light, which a host likens to Brakhage.
“And that was because, and a cameraman exposed the magazine too early. Oh yeah. And it fucked up, you know, the film. But it's like Stan Brackett shit almost.”
industry (Oscar oddity):
The Last Temptation of Christ → Blue Velvet.
Like Blue Velvet, it got just a director nomination and no picture nomination; list also includes Mulholland Drive and Short Cuts.
career (Tom Cruise career):
Cocktail → The Color of Money.
Cruise should do a Color of Money legacy sequel instead of Days of Thunder or more racing movies.
“Do fucking color of money with a Kaylee Spainey or some shit.”
unmapped (early old-Newman voice):
The Color of Money → Absence of Malice.
Absence of Malice marks the earliest time Newman plays an old man in the grave voice, with Color of Money as the later full version.
“Absence of malice feels to me like the earliest I can identify. He is playing old man.”
career (late-career persona):
The Hudsucker Proxy → Paul Newman.
In Hudsucker Newman plays the old man as comedic evil, a heightened version of the elder-statesman role.
“Which Hudsucker, he's obviously doing full on old man, but also full on evil.”
theme (thematic lesson):
Cars → The Color of Money.
The lesson of Cars and Color of Money is that excellence is in how you use it, not raw skill, and the hosts tie the tagline line to the film.
“And I would say the lesson of cars and the lesson of, uh, the color of money is, uh, it's in the way that you use it.”
unmapped (final film):
Jackie Gleason → Nothing in Common.
Gleason's last film is Nothing in Common with Tom Hanks, the film that cemented the Videology trivia-night origin of Griffin and David's friendship.
“His final film is nothing in common, which is the Gary Marshall, Tom Hanks. Bad dad comedy.”
contrast (baton-passing contrast):
Top Gun: Maverick → The Color of Money.
Cruise keeps making baton-pass movies where he refuses to pass the baton; Maverick saves Teller instead of elevating him.
“Also, the fact that Cruz keeps making baton pass movies where he refuses to pass the baton.”
lineage (Sorkin legacy-sequel comparison):
A Few Good Men → Heat 2.
A hypothetical Sorkin A Few Good Men sequel is compared to Heat 2 as a legacy-sequel recast by its original creator.
“it's not Fincher doing the legacyquel with an entirely different cast, but it is Sorkin making his own legacy.”
unmapped (world-sharing):
The Color of Money → Tron.
The Tron arcade cabinet in Vincent's game room makes the film feel set in the Tron world; both Disney.
“obviously the Tron cabinet was like real and was more successful than the movie and stayed in arcades for years, but it does make it feel like this is a movie that takes place in the world of Tron.”
people (poor castings):
Lorraine Bracco → Medicine Man.
Blank Check has only covered Bracco's worst performances, Medicine Man and Zemeckis's Pinocchio, with Goodfellas as the promised redemption.
“this podcast has been so damaging to Lorraine Brocco, where we have only covered her worst performances ever.”
unmapped (rebound):
Tim Burton → Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
Burton stepped aside for Scorsese and immediately rebounded onto Pee-wee, which came out the same year.
“And then he just like immediately rebounds onto Pee Wee, which comes out the same year or the year after this.”
career (career):
Martin Scorsese → Thelma Schoonmaker.
Raging Bull is the reunion of Scorsese and editor Schoonmaker, who then cut nearly all his later films.
“this is the reunion of Marty and Thelma Skumaker, who will edit all the rest of his films, basically.”
craft (craft):
Thelma Schoonmaker → Martin Scorsese.
Schoonmaker said her editing Oscar felt like Scorsese's because he designed the fight sequences she cut.
“I felt like I was winning for the fight sequences, and those fight weekend sequences were designed by him.”
unmapped (host-passion-episode):
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → RoboCop.
Like RoboCop, this is an episode where a movie means so much to one host the question was whether a guest was needed at all.
“Sometimes there is a movie like Robocop, you know, where it's just like, this means so much to one of us.”
unmapped (authenticity-of-vessel-life):
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Sunshine.
Both films make the viewer feel they know what living on a vessel (spaceship or sailing ship) is like, despite having no firsthand knowledge.
“This is what it feels like to live in a spaceship for a couple years.”
unmapped (dinner-scene):
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Mouse Hunt.
Asked what other movie has a dinner scene like this, the hosts offer My Dinner with Andre and Mouse Hunt (a chef, a cockroach dinner), then Green Card with Bebe Neuwirth.
“Wait a second. Mouse Hunt actually has, because he's a chef.”
“another serious, sober work of seafaring that I look to off in Muppet Treasure Island, in which they are on the ship for so long, they catch cabin fever”
contrast (war-depiction contrast):
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Gallipoli.
Asked how its depiction of war compares to Gallipoli, they say Gallipoli is about doomed innocence in a pointless WWI battle while this film is romantic about naval empire.
“I don't find that with master and commander at all. No, not at all.”
theme (comparison):
Peter Weir → Ang Lee.
Ang Lee looked like a chameleon but had through lines; Weir may be the same, though more consciously different.
“Then you watch the movies and you're like, there are very obvious themes and through lines.”
unmapped (look):
Witness → Fearless.
After the Witness episode, Bridges' Fearless look is judged possibly the top screen look ever, more attainable than Ford's.
“I'm like, this might actually be the number one look a guy has ever had on screen.”
contrast (contrast):
Fearless → Henryk Gorecki.
An original score could not have matched the borrowed Gorecki and U2 pieces cut to the crash, for how the music syncs and for the recognition of what is playing.
“you couldn't actually write an original piece of score for this that would work as well as both the way the music syncs up and like the power you gain from the recognition of what's playing.”
unmapped (commercial track record):
Fargo → Raising Arizona.
Raising Arizona (about $5M cost, about $30M worldwide) is argued to be the Coens' first clear hit; Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing and Hudsucker lost money.
“Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, Hudsucker all made less than they cost.”
career (career summation):
Fargo → Blue Velvet.
Fargo is the ultimate Coen film the way Blue Velvet is the best encapsulation of Lynch, not necessarily the favorite.
“this does feel like the ultimate Cohen's film in the same way we were saying in our blue velvet episode, like, that's not my favorite Lynch movie”
career (career context):
Fargo → The Hudsucker Proxy.
Fargo came after the Hudsucker flop but was not a reaction to it; the script was already being written.
“this movie was not a conscious reaction to that. They had already been writing it before they shot Hudsucker.”
unmapped (return to roots):
Fargo → Blood Simple.
Fargo is the Coens' most Blood Simple-like script, contemporary and simple, going back to what they tried there with more knowledge.
“It feels like them sort of going back to what they were trying to do in that movie with the knowledge they've gained over the...”
unmapped (false true story):
Fargo → Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter.
Kumiko is a movie about someone who believed Fargo's 'based on a true story' card and went looking for the money.
“is a movie based on an Irvin legend about someone believing that Fargo was true and looking for the bag of money.”
contrast (genre contrast):
Blood Simple → Fargo.
The Coens see Blood Simple as a James M. Cain-type noir; Fargo they wanted drier and less hard-boiled.
“They consider blood simple to be more like a James M. Kane type, you know, noir thriller, right?”
industry (studio patience):
Fargo → Bottle Rocket.
Alex Ross Perry's point: studios once kept investing in talented directors after a commercial flop like Bottle Rocket, as with the Coens.
“Wes Anderson makes bottle rocket for like $5000000 at Colombia and it bombs, but it gets good reviews.”
unmapped (darkness and cops):
Fargo → Manhunter.
Contrasts Marge's coping with Manhunter's Will Graham, who has spent so long in the darkness he can't come out.
“Manhunter is always the one I think about, where that for me is a movie about a guy who's just like spent enough time in the darkness that he's actually never going to come out now.”
people (cast as motor mouth):
Steve Buscemi → Miller's Crossing.
Buscemi was hired in Miller's Crossing as someone who can read dialogue fast, and the Coens wrote Fargo's Carl for him.
“Miller's Crossing is literally hired because they need a motor mouth.”
lineage (character origin):
Harve Presnell → Blood Simple.
The Coens wrote Presnell's character from Texas businessmen they met raising money for Blood Simple.
“they wrote that character, basically, when they were raising money for Blood Simple, they met lots of like Texas businessmen”
unmapped (documentary approach):
Roger Deakins → Fargo.
Deakins's documentary background shapes simple, in-the-conversation setups: the best camera place to capture the actors.
theme (character echo):
Peter Stormare → No Country for Old Men.
Gaear caring about Jerry's cruelty is compared to Tommy Lee Jones's sheriff not knowing whether he belongs in this world.
“This is like his Tommy Lee Jones in no country sort of like conundrum where he's like, I don't even know if I belong in this world.”
unmapped (off-screen violence):
Fargo → No Country for Old Men.
Fargo's off-screen disintegration (Jean's death) is likened to the way No Country hides its violence.
“much like in the move they pull in no country. of just like you can figure it out.”
unmapped (introduced):
Skip Lievsay → Carter Burwell.
Skip Lievsay (said 'Skip Luse') recommended Burwell as a film composer and brought him to the Coens.
“Skip Luse, say, was the one who brought Cutter Burwell in.”
unmapped (scoring lesson):
Carter Burwell → The Birds.
Burwell's first study film for learning scoring was The Birds, which has no conventional score, teaching him that sometimes the move is not to underscore.
“And he watched the birds. And then only at the end of watching the birds, did he realize, oh, this movie has no conventional score.”
unmapped (creative conflict):
Bolt → Chris Sanders.
Sanders's weird American Dog idea was killed when Lasseter took over Disney and demanded Bolt be Buzz Lightyear as a dog.
“Lassiter takes over Disney and immediately is like, this is too weird, fires him”
unmapped (autobiographical):
Look Who's Talking → Harold Ramis.
The speakers say the film is Heckerling's personal grievance about Ramis, who fathered her daughter Molly while Neil Israel believed the child was his.
“The child that Neil Israel thought was his own was actually the byproduct of a years-long affair that she had had with Harold Ramos.”
unmapped (dog-talks hook):
Look Who's Talking Now → Rugrats Go Wild.
Both use talking dogs as a hook, and Bruce Willis voices the dog in Rugrats Go Wild.
“The new hook, much like look who's talking now, is for the 1st time we can hear the dog talk.”
unmapped (authorship):
Look Who's Talking → Amy Heckerling.
Griffin ties the show's criterion that a director's movies reflect one person to this film, which feels personal despite studio calculation.
“everything about this feels like it was made by one person.”
people (casting):
John Malkovich → In the Line of Fire.
Malkovich is the sun-dried tomato on the sandwich; in Empire it is his best use as an American Fagin.
“In the line of fire, is someone making you a ham and cheese sandwich and then like putting one sun-dried tomato on it”
career (career timing):
In the Line of Fire → Unforgiven.
Released the year after Unforgiven, with Eastwood in the same vibe of asking whether to hang it up.
“In the line of fire is the same vibe of like Clint being like, should I hang it up?”
unmapped (late-period Eastwood):
True Crime → Absolute Power.
Bilge and Griffin riff on Clint Eastwood's late-period films and reviews harping on his age.
“specifically should be a plot point in 2 movies a year.”
unmapped (comedy attempts):
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade → 1941.
Last Crusade is his one fully successful comedy; his clean comedies like 1941 and The Terminal are among his worst.
“basically, all of his worst movies are his cleanest attempts at comedies, like, 1941, the terminal, arguably all these.”
verdict (pivot / better version):
Hook → Jurassic Park.
Hook is where Spielberg turns parent, and Jurassic Park is the better telling of the same father story.
“Jurassic Park is the much better version of what the story that Huck is trying to do.”
unmapped (dry run):
Empire of the Sun → Schindler's List.
Schindler's List is the more successful grown-up film that erased Empire of the Sun from memory; it was seen as the dry run.
“Look back as this was the dry run before he totally cracked it on Shell.”
contrast (method contrast):
Schindler's List → Empire of the Sun.
On Schindler Spielberg refused to storyboard, almost as a reaction to criticism of the puppet-show control in Empire.
“Schindler, the infamous thing, is that he was like, I won't storyboard this.”
craft (aesthetic shift):
Empire of the Sun → The Color Purple.
Both are death-of-childhood movies; Empire is where Spielberg starts bending his shiny style so it does not make everything feel magical.
“This feels like the 1st movie where he successfully, to your point of what you're getting at, figures out how to shift his aesthetic a little bit”
contrast (technique contrast):
Empire of the Sun → 1941.
After 1941's show-off scale, Empire is the first time Spielberg orchestrates huge long takes without them feeling like playing with toys.
“it is the 1st time in his career, he can orchestrate something like that and not make it feel like he's playing with toys”
industry (same-year rival):
Empire of the Sun → The Last Emperor.
Two epics shot in China in 1987, both sold as firsts for China, about the same era; Bilge alternated seeing them in theaters.
“it is very strange that the last emperor and Empire of the Sun, these 2 movies that are like both kind of being sold with the like, no one's ever filmed in China before”
fun, about
The Power of Grayskull (documentary):
A good documentary on how the He-Man toy line was made, home of the viral clip about painting the cat green.
“Power of Grayskull, which is a really good documentary about how the toy line was made”
fun, about
Orko / Griffin Newman:
Griffin voiced Orko on a Kevin Smith-run He-Man show after a writer called to pick his brain in 2019 and then pitched him for the part; he calls it his hardest-won scale job.
“I ended up voicing Orco on a He-Man cartoon show, showrun by Kevin Smith”
fun, about
Big:
Rewatching Big, the fortune-teller machine arrives within ten minutes with zero backstory, the model for how fantasy used to skip setup.
“And he gets to the fortune teller machine within less than 10 minutes.”
fun, about
The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy:
Richard Williams's nightmarish toy musical, watchable on YouTube; skip to the number 'Blue,' sung by a camel with four legs, for astonishing animation.
“There is a musical sequence in this uh, called Blue, uh, sung by a camel, uh, with 4 legs”
fun, about
RoboCop (2014) - the mirror scene:
The one scene the host likes: Murphy is stripped down to his lungs, brain and one hand and made to look in a mirror, called the Cronenberg moment.
“And then this is like the Cronenberg moment of this film.”
fun, about
Griffin's bootleg RoboCop toy:
Griffin pulls out a true bootleg RoboCop toy from his shelves, blue and silver with misapplied paint, which still looks better than the movie.
“But somehow still looks better than what we're watching, right?”
fun, about
Pizza analogy:
The hosts rank the RoboCops as pizza: the original is the best pizza ever, 2 is cafeteria pizza, 3 is Lunchables pizza, and this one is a picture of pizza stomped on.
“Robocop one is like the best pizza you've ever had.”
fun, about
RoboCop (2014) - budget and box office:
Budget estimated between $100 and $130 million; opened third at $21 million, made $58 million domestic, $242 million worldwide.
fun, about
Tom Cruise:
Cruise is the 'guy pretending to be Tom Cruise' for the first ten minutes: the movie strips the persona and makes him earn trust back.
fun, about
Mr. & Mrs. Smith:
On Mr. & Mrs. Smith the agency heads were cast three times; none of the actors ended up in the film, only Angela Bassett's voice.
fun, about
Edge of Tomorrow:
The title fight: announced as All You Need Is Kill, retitled with 'Live Die Repeat' as a tagline on a badly laid out poster; on home video they flipped them.
“they flipped them because their takeaway from the confusion was”
fun, about
Noah Taylor:
Taylor and Brendan Gleeson never leave their one set, avoid the suits and stunts, and get mini arcs; the hosts call it a princess part, a theater term for one big featured number.
fun, about
Doug Liman:
Hosts call the Liman method 'Limania': chaos production that sometimes comes out masterful, compared to a watchmaker tied upside-down in a crashing plane.
fun, about
Edge of Tomorrow:
The practical exosuits weighed 80 to 100 pounds; Liman called making them practical the stupidest thing they did, yet they look great.
“the stupidest thing we ever did was make those practical”
fun, about
Emily Blunt:
Blunt's Smartlist story: she cried the first time in the suit and Cruise said 'come on, stop being a pussy'; it was a joke and went viral.
fun, about
Pat Kiernan:
The New York One anchor in the opening news montage has a huge film-credit list; the hosts joke he must get a check every month.
“Pat Kieran's got like 40 of the biggest film credits of all time.”
fun, about
Griffin Newman:
Origin story of his comedy: after rollerblade camp bullying, he Photoshopped meme flyers and posted them in the locker room.
fun, about
Eraserhead:
The chicken-carving scene: the host says the movie heightens ordinary dinner discomfort by 10 percent; Griffin is not an egg fan.
fun, about
David Fincher:
Griffin's Letterboxd one-liner: the film is Fincher's nightmare of being allowed only one take, and the missed shot is the nightmare.
“a psychological horror film about David Fincher imagining a reality where he's only allowed one take.”
fun, about
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:
On the commentary, Fincher tells how the bottle-catch and the cat landing in frame was a perfect take, and he did two more anyway, a self-parody of his many takes.
fun, about
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:
Fincher wanted a blockbuster as dark as Empire Strikes Back; Disney would only greenlight it with Brad Pitt or a peer.
“I wanted to see if there was a way to make a blockbuster that's that dark.”
fun, about
John Getz:
The cold open riffs on John Getz, the Blood Simple lead, spending decades in movies looking exasperated at a Zuckerberg who is not there.
“For 20, 30 years, he was in movies looking at Mark Zuckerberg exasperated and people said, John, this doesn't read.”
fun, about
The Social Network:
Auditions were other Sorkin scenes, because Fincher needed to see if people could do the pace; Eisenberg's self-tape was the first time he said under two hours.
“I pointedly remember that the they sent the script out, but for the auditions, it was just other Sorkin scenes.”
fun, about
David Fincher:
Why a hundred takes: Fincher says the surprising little things only come out after the lines are routine; the Erica line appeared in a single take.
“And Fincher's like, that's like the kind of fucking moment I'm looking for, which he only does on one take.”
fun, about
The Social Network:
The title card shot over Boston is about fifteen separate shots tiled together, each lit individually, because Harvard would not cooperate.
“But like that shot's basically constructed of like 15 shots that they visually all tiled together and had to be lit individually, not by the cart.”
fun, about
The Social Network:
A mime carrying the lights kept cops busy: they will stop a crew guy at once but not a mime.
“If it's a truck, if it's a crew guy, they'll stop without like any hesitation. If it's a mine, they're going to be so confused about what's going on.”
fun, about
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
The teaser made the audience go silent at Crystal Skull; the speakers say the trailer is a better version of what the movie does.
“2 great fucking teasers that have such a different tone than everything else that was playing that the audience just went pin drop silent.”
fun, about
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
The film's clock prologue tested badly until the film grain and crackles were added late in post, after which audiences accepted it as a story being told.
“we added all the filters of the film grain and the pops and the crackles and the distortion and whatever.”
fun, about
Lords of Dogtown:
Fincher's budget ask for Lords of Dogtown was fifteen million to rebuild the pier at full scale, which got him pushed off.
fun, about
Zodiac:
Graysmith claimed the killer could mount a flashlight on his gun; Fincher went to a flashlight museum, learned no 1969 bulb could do it, and so the film shows no such beam.
fun, about
Jake Gyllenhaal:
Zodiac shot through the Brokeback Mountain awards season, and Fincher would not release him for events; Fincher says he was distracted.
fun, about
Jake Gyllenhaal:
On the making-of, Gyllenhaal asks Fincher to confirm he is good at inserts after dozens of takes of his hands scribbling; Fincher teases, then agrees.
fun, about
Robert Downey Jr.:
Downey's Oppenheimer press-tour story: after 60 takes, Fincher made him watch the footage on the monitor and Downey had to admit it was not right.
“And he made him watch all the takes on the monitor.”
fun, about
Robert Graysmith:
A friend's ink review from an art store sounded too specific to be anyone but Graysmith; Griffin reads it at the very end.
“too weirdly specific to not be written by the real Robert Graysmith.”
fun, about
Janie's Got a Gun (Aerosmith video):
Steven Tyler flashed the shocker on his forehead in Disney's Rock and Roller Coaster pre-show until Disney digitally painted the finger out.
“And they digitally paint it in the remaining finger.”
fun, about
Earl (dog):
Earl, Brendan Hines's dog, is the first in-studio dog guest in Blank Check history, and it is his seventh birthday. Brendan says Earl came to set every day on The Tick and never ruined a take.
“The 1st ever in studio, dog, guest, in the history of blank check.”
fun, about
Charles Martinet:
The father in the opening home-movie footage is Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario. He once taught typing as Mario at a 1994 tech convention.
fun, about
The Game:
The original ending had Nick shoot the waitress and then kill himself; Fincher said he would feel remorse for shooting someone who tricked him, so he changed it.
“So what I had read was that the original ending was the same thing, but he shoots Deborah Carra Unger.”
fun, about
The Game:
The Criterion disc includes a one-take alternate ending, from the clapboard to Fincher saying cut, where he looks both ways and walks off without a cab.
fun, about
Alien 3:
The alien-sucks-down-a-Pepsi commercial aired a full year before the movie; the suit was built for the film, and Fox was pushing Alien toward a kids' franchise (cartoon, toys, games).
“That commercial came out a full year before this movie came out.”
fun, about
Sigourney Weaver:
She was eight months pregnant when the Newt dummy was made, so they measured only her head and shoulders; she made the film six months after her first child was born.
“When they made the dummy, Sigourney was like 8 months pregnant.”