Loves Killer's Kiss and 1950s noir and studio-era trivia, and is happy to run the box office game from deep knowledge. Dislikes padded plotless first films, and is quick to point out what a first film is missing.
Stances
Killer's Kiss is a blast and more romantic than expected
Fear and Desire reads like a poem not a story
50s box office lists are full of forgotten programmers
Humor: Dry, British-inflected asides and fake-outraged bits.
David prefers Burton's Batman Returns and Batman Begins as his top live-action Batmans, and is more lukewarm than Griffin on Lego Batman, finding the middle stretch with other IP monotonous. He loves Lego as a kid (Ice Planet) and now covets expert-level Star Wars sets. He enjoys comedy-world gossip about Ellie Kemper and Michael Cera.
Stances
Not his favorite Batman movie because of the invading IP stuff
The middle stretch with the other villains is boring
Returns and Begins are his two favorite live-action Batmans
Humor: Dry teasing of Griffin and Ben, and self-aware dad jokes about buying Lego for his baby.
In their words
“Which have always been my 2 favorite live action Batman movies.” (0:00:55)
“So I think we just got through the stretch of the movie that I think is a little boring.” (1:14:42)
David asks the commonsense questions the film refuses to answer and loves a deadpan Occam's razor defense. He is a dad, a sports-box-office guy, and a sucker for a movie-history comparison, but he draws the line at being asked to like this.
Stances
Why would they not just skip the deal
Wants simple explanations (Occam's razor)
Calls Old Dogs a bad movie but finds it fascinating
Humor: Dry logic questions and quick film-reference comparisons.
Admires the film's production value and its comedic precision, and is the one reading box office data and quizzing. Can't stand the self-serious trend in Batman movies; a sucker for 60s epics and trivia about directors and casts.
Stances
Batman movies have raced toward self-serious credibility
Burton and Schumacher inherited the West show's tone and branding
Humor: Dry factual one-liners and pop-culture deflation.
In their words
“I think this is the the oldest film we've ever covered on this podcast.” (0:00:48)
“It's been this race to self-serious credibility.” (1:04:50)
Wanted to do Lean personally and expected Welles to win. Mild about Mel Brooks, worried about repetitiveness, but admires his cultural importance. Loves Planet of the Apes.
Stances
Fears Brooks may get repetitive
Pro-Lean
Humor: Dry and teasing with the Chip bit.
In their words
“I also would love to do lean personally.” (0:11:11)
A longtime defender who saw In the Cut at 17 and was 'well known for being the In the Cut is good person'. Loves Unfaithful, Addicted to Love and Kevin Bacon-style character work, and sweats the details of box-office history. (Speaker labels are inferred; the transcript has none.)
Stances
He has always been an In the Cut fan
2003 was a great year for commercial and art cinema alike
Humor: Rattles off box-office lists and trivia and teases Griffin about his taste.
In their words
“I was well known for being the in the cut is good person.” (0:09:26)
“Okay, fine. I love that movie.” (0:13:04)
“I was watching on Netflix out of convenience.” (0:52:44)
Likes campy, genre-aware Twilight and enjoyed New Moon for its challenges; likes old-timey vampire vs werewolf action and well-made lore. Hates inert scenes and kissing-free tension, and gets irritated by clutter/poor casting. A sucker for actors with dirtbag charisma and trivia on actors' careers. Attribution partly inferred; many lines unattributed.
Stances
New Moon is better
Casting of Riley/Victoria is the problem
Condon will lean into camp
Humor: Quick one-liners and pop-culture trivia.
In their words
“I will say, I am enjoying this old timey vampire versus werewolf action.” (0:45:48)
“Because I gotta tell you, this one, this one was a big knot.” (2:21:34)
A critic who has seen Covenant at a press screening and on 4K; likes Prometheus and Scott's ambition. Pays attention to who composed and wrote, and to the Alien franchise's lineage. Likes the film's double-Fassbender conceit and the stranger parts.
Stances
Scott hates humans and rich people
The two androids are the film's best part
Covenant is half Prometheus sequel, half studio-requested Alien
Humor: Sarcastic asides and escalating bits about David and the fake franchises.
In their words
“I have rewatched this like once since theaters.” (1:23:01)
Knows the production history cold (Danny Boyle, Whedon, Jeunet) and loves practical effects, animatronics, big industrial sets and character actors like Brad Dourif and Ron Perlman. Has a lifelong crush on Winona Ryder. Cannot stand when a movie stops to talk, or generic villains like Michael Wincott's.
Stances
Whedon and Jeunet were a terrible match
The first hour is fun, the talky middle is weak
The newborn alien is a big swing worth admiring
All the Alien movies are worth defending
Humor: Dry film-nerd with deadpan joke elaboration, especially mock Deadline headlines.
In their words
“I mean, I guess I have such an incredible weakness for Winona Rider, as you know, Griffin.” (0:37:58)
“I think alien movies need to be gnarly.” (0:23:09)
Defends Alien 3 as moody and Fincher-flavored but admits it is unrelentingly bleak. Loves the mythos of the Weyland-Yutani company and Sigourney Weaver. Cares about box-office history.
Stances
Alien 3 makes a defensible creative choice with a prison setting
The movie is flawed by a missing thesis about the prison
A box-office run-down belongs in every episode
Humor: Dry delivery; sets up bits with straight-faced trivia and plays the straight man to Griffin.
In their words
“I love the mythos of alien.” (1:53:27)
“Uh, yeah, it fell off 65% in its 2nd weekend.” (2:09:50)
Admires Fallout and McQuarrie's craft, loves Hitchcock-style set pieces and tight villains. Dislikes bloated plot mechanics and has strong feelings about Alec Baldwin's career.
Stances
Fallout may top Rogue Nation on rewatch
Rogue Nation's opera sequence is the series high point
Humor: Dry asides, comedy-point awards and speaking about England from lived experience.
In their words
“I did grow up in Britain, and this is the place where I grew up.” (1:35:19)
A native Upper West Sider (also raised partly in England) who knows the neighborhood the film is set in. Loves Meg Ryan's weirder rom-coms (Addicted to Love, Practical Magic) and award-season history. Likes to run quizzes and box-office games.
Stances
The Upper West Side is the film's real subject
Meg Ryan has more range than Hanks
Awards-season trivia reveals how rom-coms are dismissed
Humor: Trivia ambusher; pairs deadpan facts with pop-culture gossip.
In their words
“So I grew up on 89th and Amsterdam.” (0:24:20)
“David has many times tried to sell me on the idea of doing a Griffin Dunn miniseries because he so badly wants to cover her to love.” (1:21:31)
“So can you tell me the 5 nominees for best performance by an actor in a comedy or musical at the 1998 Golden Globes?” (1:42:56)
Runs the box office quiz and tracks the stars' careers across the 1990s (Matthau, Lemmon, Kudrow, Ryan). Likes the Ephron sensibility but finds this film lacking structure; loves Pitch Black context and sci-fi bargains. Cannot stand sentimental farewells like Tuesdays with Morrie.
Stances
The film needs a romantic subplot or tighter structure
Matthau's performance is the best thing in the movie
Tuesdays with Morrie is the worst film ever made
Humor: Dry, exasperated riffs on Hollywood economics and casting; sparring with Griffin over box office guesses.
In their words
“Okay, it's the worst film ever made.” (0:44:25)
“You can't fake rich LA, right?” (1:09:10)
“Anyway, the number one movie at the box office this weekend was the whole 9 yards.” (1:18:31)
Prefers the practical, performed experience over the movie and calls the film like eating mayonnaise from the jar. A sucker for shaggy gags and ironic Oscar talk.
Stances
The experience was better than the movie
Universal's rental model will work on desperate parents
Humor: Deadpan put-downs and analogies, such as the Olive Garden review.
In their words
“I think I tapped out at a certain point.” (0:45:34)
Defends the movie's big set pieces (speeder bike chase, the Emperor and Luke scenes) while admitting the structure is sloppy; loves Akbar and Harrison Ford's career lore. Hates the Emperor's flat conception and the late sibling reveal. Likes box office trivia and games.
Stances
Jedi has the weakest finish of the three
The Emperor is uncompelling as a character
Ewoks are fine; the problem is what Han and Leia do
Was a kid who thought Jedi was the best until a rewatch
Humor: Dry, tired asides and playful teasing of Griffin and Ben, getting punchier as the beers accumulate.
In their words
“Griffin thought that way until he was like 27 years old.” (1:49:51)
“I think that's the other major difference.” (1:00:53)
Critic-ish and enthusiastic: Portrait of a Lady on Fire is his movie of the year; loves Ashes Is Purest White, Dark Waters, Ad Astra, Knives Out. Values movie-star performances and gets visibly fond of overlooked films like Peterloo and Triple Frontier.
Stances
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the year's best
Dark Waters will be re-evaluated; the film is underrated
Prefers Toy Story 4 more than expected
Humor: Dry; plays straight man and throws in lines like 'Absolute 0 Popes' reactions and the Becker running joke.
In their words
“That has been the movie for me all year.” (1:09:50)
Champion of Infinity War: loves how Thanos is the real protagonist and how the movie argues for caring about every character. Hates the idea that deaths must be final to matter, and loves actors' craft and box-office trivia. Nervous flyer who loves a road trip to Toronto.
Stances
Thanos is the protagonist and the film is about every character mattering
Killing characters is uninteresting; the loss is what counts
The MCU's crossover structure is a cinematic accomplishment
Humor: Deadpan overshare and cheerful self-roast, especially about his fear of flying.
In their words
“I'm a very nervous flyer.” (0:00:52)
“I think killing characters is uninteresting and usually, like, I just don't care for it.” (2:26:40)
Loves rules, systems and well-set-up action (Infinity Stone rules, Gamora's type-A bossiness, clear action goals); a box-office and Marvel-billing obsessive who makes spreadsheets. Respects Lee Pace's operatic villain and Drax. Dislikes Marvel's post-production sheen and the 'house style' gray. Speaker attribution is inferred from the room's teasing and is uncertain.
Stances
Lee Pace's Ronan is a great, underrated Marvel villain
Marvel's color grading is bad but the art direction is good
Humor in Guardians works as a storytelling aid
Humor: Gets teased as a bossy rules-loving spreadsheet guy and plays along with deadpan.
In their words
“I like type A tightwad characters.” (0:27:52)
“I like the Infinity Stone stuff because I like rules.” (1:10:54)
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 201–300 of 1,091 claims.
industry (oscar competition):
Wendell and Wild → Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro).
Netflix has two stop-motion films in one category; Pinocchio has the Oscar heat and likely cannibalized Wendell & Wild.
“I get them not wanting to cannibalize against Pinocchio, that they have like 2 movies in this one category in the same medium”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
2:10:31 ·
David Sims
(0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (makeup detail):
Brendan Fraser → Monkeybone.
In Monkeybone's end sequence Fraser is styled to look more monkey-like while fighting Chris Kattan holding balloon strings.
“they start styling Frasier to look more like a monkey.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
2:14:27 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
theme (scene echo):
Star 80 → Boogie Nights.
Star 80 produces the same turn-it-off discomfort as the firecracker scene in Boogie Nights.
“Combined with the firework, the firecracker scene in boogie nights.”
unmapped (advocacy):
Eric Roberts → Mickey Rourke.
Rourke repeatedly urged Hollywood to give Roberts another chance in awards speeches, which got Stallone to hire him.
“Mickey Rourke, when he was winning all his fucking wrestler awards, kept on being like, do you remember this in all of his speeches”
career (career pivot):
Mariel Hemingway → Personal Best.
After Star 80 and Manhattan she pivoted to roles outside male obsession, becoming an LGBT icon via Personal Best.
“it's like one of the 1st Hollywood movies to have a lesbian relationship in it.”
people (collaborator parallel):
Bob Fosse → Polly Platt.
Young 70s film geniuses (Bogdanovich/Platt, Lucas/Marcia) lost their creative edge after divorce as with Fosse and Verdon.
“Get divorced and never fucking get back in the groove again, ever again.”
unmapped (sister films):
An Angel at My Table → Bright Star.
Both are Campion biopics about writers made many years apart; Dana nearly picked Bright Star for the episode.
craft (structure):
An Angel at My Table → Moonlight.
Three-actor, three-part handoff with continuity of performance; Moonlight also made on a compressed schedule.
“there's a similar sort of handoff quality to it and a continuity of performance”
career (career sequencing):
An Angel at My Table → Sweetie.
Frame approved the adaptation before Sweetie was made; Campion used early festival heat for a weird small comedy first.
“she gets the approval from frame to make this before sweetie's been made.”
people (returning actor):
Kerry Fox → Bright Star.
Fox, the lead here, returns in Bright Star as Fanny's mother, which feels deliberate and twins the two films.
“it does feel like she brought Carrie Fox back in that for a reason.”
what-if (body-swap lineage):
Switch → All of Me.
Body-swap comedies were a recurring well: All of Me, 17 Again, Vice Versa, Like Father Like Son, Big, Freaky Friday.
what-if (body-swap lineage):
Switch → Freaky Friday.
Freaky Friday (70s, a 90s TV version, and 2003 Lohan) is cited as evidence the genre always returns.
unmapped (competing script):
Starman → Night Skies.
Columbia ran focus groups on the two friendly-alien scripts at script stage and Starman won hands down.
industry (studio rivalry / shadow):
Starman → E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Columbia chose Starman over Night Skies, which Universal turned into E.T., so Starman carried the stigma of the one that got away and then looked like a ripoff.
“Uh, so they let go of night skies and let Universal acquire and turnaround.”
people (permanent producer credit):
Michael Douglas → Face/Off.
Douglas keeps a producer credit on Face/Off because he was once going to do it with Harrison Ford.
craft (tone / structure):
Starman → Something Wild.
The people met along the road each get a world of their own, as in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild.
“I, the thing about it happened when Eddie was thinking about some Jonathan Demi. Something wild? Yes.”
people (performance lineage):
Starman → Forrest Gump.
Bridges' hat, check shirt, strange speech and not-quite-a-person quality read as a proto-Forrest Gump.
“there's like a proto-Forrest Gump vibe in this performance in the hat and in the check shirt”
unmapped (tentpole hope):
Dune → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
Dune was meant to be the new Star Wars franchise, Lynch writing the sequel, coloring books on shelves.
craft (craft):
David Bowie → Starman.
A host half-expected Bowie's song 'Starman' to play over the film's credits, though it is not that kind of movie.
“Part of me was waiting for it, like, the Starman song to be in the credits.”
lineage (sequel ownership):
Jason Reitman → Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Sarcastically, Reitman gives Ghostbusters back to the fans with a sequel set apart from the 2016 film.
“And look at the larger political issue, which is that Jason Reitman has given Ghostbusters back to the fans.”
unmapped (mediocre entry):
Stephen Frears → Florence Foster Jenkins.
Frears occasionally makes an Oscar-nominated piece of mediocrity like Florence Foster Jenkins.
craft (craft):
Declan Quinn → Ricki and the Flash.
The host, after naming Quinn as cinematographer, finds the photography of Ricki weirdly flat and shiny, a disservice to hiring Demme.
“this movie is weirdly flat and I don't know what's up with the photography at all.”
industry (studio interference):
Tom Rothman → Ricki and the Flash.
Rothman's micromanaging explains the too-big sets and too-bright scenes that smother Demme.
“Tom Rothman, who is notoriously very controlling at Fox, very domineering and sort of micromanaging of everything, even just to the visual scheme of the movie.”
career (career stepping stone):
Christopher Nolan → Insomnia.
Insomnia proved Nolan was a professional who could handle personalities, earning Warner's trust to make Batman.
“Not because insomnia is like Batman, but because I think within Warner Brothers, they were like, this seems like a pretty solid bet”
unmapped (real-world analog):
Britney Spears → Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
Britney, AOC, Rihanna and Natalie Portman are offered as modern Nausicaä figures, saviors onto whom culture projects hopes.
“I mean, in many ways, she is like our heroine, Nausicaa.”
career (career sequence):
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind → The Castle of Cagliostro.
Cagliostro was poorly received by fans of the series, then Miyazaki struggled to get another film made, which led to the manga and then this film.
“which is not well received, despite being a fucking awesome movie, because the fans thought it was too much of a departure from the series.”
industry (franchise backlash):
The Castle of Cagliostro → Lupin III.
Making an unpopular entry in a popular franchise is compared to The Last Jedi, which split Lupin III fans.
“where like some people were like, this is a masterpiece and other people were like, no, my lupin.”
contrast (inversion):
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind → Starship Troopers.
Starship Troopers ends with bug-hatred propaganda, whereas Nausicaä realizes the bugs are just trying to survive and approaches them with empathy.
“reading the mind of the bug and cheering the fact that they're afraid because it's all about propaganda.”
unmapped (ending):
The Farewell → Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
Both reject Western catharsis; the hero is someone who comes to accept and understand a situation rather than fix it.
“stories of people learning to accept what has been the case.”
craft (mutilated edit):
Warriors of the Wind → Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
The 95 minute American cut dropped the environmental themes, renamed Nausicaä as Princess Zandra and turned the Ohmu into plain enemies.
“the film basically turns into an action adventure movie where like the environmentalist themes are kind of gone.”
what-if (dub/recut contrast):
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind → Princess Mononoke.
Unlike Nausicaä, Mononoke has no real villain, so it is hard to strip the Miyazaki out; Nausicaä can be recut into heroes versus villains.
“his other films, it's harder to strip the Miyazaki out of it.”
theme (thematic):
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind → Dune.
Blasted world with creatures the people cannot understand, and Nausicaä as a feminine Fremen-like figure who learns to coexist with the land, versus industrial nations running roughshod.
“Nausicaa is sort of like the feminine, you know, like the feminine Dunehurst sort of like they can work the land.”
theme (plot motif):
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind → Dune.
The promise that you can grow plants in a place everyone says you cannot is central to Dune and to Nausicaä's ending.
“And everyone's like, you can't grow anything on Dune.”
theme (creepy-press analogy):
Frozen → The Incredibles.
Asking Frozen's director about Elsa's appearance is compared to Anthony Lane's creepiness about Mrs. Incredible.
“Anthony Lane wouldn't stop talking about his boners for Mrs. Incredible.”
industry (box office peer):
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum → The Farewell.
Both are named as the only films that did not underperform in 2019, with John Wick as the highest-grossing non-Disney release.
“one of the only films to not underperform at the box office, along with the farewell.”
lineage (remake):
The Hustle → Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
The Hustle is a gender-flipped remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels that barely admits it in its advertising.
“we've remade Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with women, but we're not really going to talk about that in their advertising.”
contrast (contrast):
Miami Vice - Pilot (Brother's Keeper) → Miami Vice.
The pilot did what Mann's film could have done for it, but the film drops viewers into the middle of the partnership instead of an origin story.
“Instead of doing an origin story kind of like, here's how these 2 cops get together.”
craft (craft):
Hieronymus Bosch → Paul Verhoeven.
Bosch's paintings are the classical-art version of Verhoeven's maximalist cinema.
“they kind of are the like classical art version of what Verhoeven is doing in cinema.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:16:25 ·
David Sims
(0.50 sure it was them)
career (career):
RoboCop → Total Recall.
RoboCop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct let him have cake and eat it: deconstructions that also work as straight entertainment.
“What I've called before, movies where he gets to have his cake needed too.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:19:25 ·
David Sims
(0.45 sure it was them)
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:25:45 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry):
Paul Verhoeven → Von Trier.
Auteur-and-star pairs like Verhoeven/Hauer, von Trier/Skarsgard and Almodovar/Banderas often split once both get big.
“Sure, but I think in a similar way to like Von Trier and Scarsgard.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:36:00 ·
David Sims
(0.50 sure it was them)
people (people):
Almodovar → Antonio Banderas.
Another auteur-star pair that got big on different tracks.
“Almodovar and Fanderas.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:36:27 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
people (people):
Kinski → Herzog.
Kinski and Herzog could bottle their tension, unlike Hauer and Verhoeven.
“Kinski and fucking Herzog were able to like bottle that that tension.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:38:37 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
career (career):
Rutger Hauer → Blade Runner.
Hauer's Blade Runner villain made him fear typecasting.
“I love him in Blade Runner so much.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:39:09 ·
David Sims
(0.45 sure it was them)
“The movie that this is aesthetically most similar to weirdly is Monty Python, the Holy Grail.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:44:18 ·
David Sims
(0.45 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast):
Flesh and Blood → Lincoln.
Flesh+Blood's opening is a swooping tracking shot, unlike Lincoln's quick-cut mud-fight opening.
“you compare this to the opening of Lincoln, which is like, here are these men in the mud and you see them stomping each other”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:45:11 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
people (people):
Fat City → Susan Tyrrell.
Tyrrell was Oscar-nominated in Fat City, playing a modern-day version of her Flesh+Blood role.
“Susan Terrell is fucking amazing in it playing like the modern day version of this character.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:46:09 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast):
Flesh and Blood → The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Speaker says the movie is like Texas Chainsaw in having no one to root for, though someone corrects that you root for someone there.
“it's like the fucking Texas Chainsaw Massacre or something.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:49:45 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast):
Flesh and Blood → Straw Dogs.
Unlike Straw Dogs, the assault scene implies the woman is taking power, not enjoying it.
“Something like Straw Dogs, where you're seeing an assault, and then he is sort of inferring that she's enjoying it, is very different than something like this”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
1:04:11 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Force Awakens press screening:
David missed the Force Awakens critics' screening while at the Atlantic Wire, after a year of weekly Star Wars podcasting.
“I didn't get in to that screening, I was still working at the Atlantic Wire.”
fun, about
Rebecca Ferguson in Doctor Sleep:
Plays the most evil force in the world like a middle-aged woman at the Litchfield Jazz Fest, Tanglewooding out of control.
“Her decision to play the most evil force in the world, like a middle-aged woman at the Litchfield Jazz Fest.”
fun, about
Richard Schiff and Joe Pantoliano:
'The 2 benchmarks I'm setting for the next 30 years of my career': Schiff in Clemency and Pantoliano in Bad Boys for Life; Pantoliano has a 'guess the horse' scene.
“Those are the 2 benchmarks I'm setting for the next 30 years of my career.”
fun, about
Avengers: Infinity War:
Look at the chip shop in the Edinburgh scene: a sign says they will deep fry your kebab, which leads to Scottish deep-frying and a prank-call album bit.
“there's just a sign in the chip shop that just says, we will deep fry your kebab”
fun, about
Avengers: Infinity War:
Kevin Smith screamed 'no' at the press screening the second Tony was stabbed, and posted a tearful selfie; later he cried again at Cap shaving his beard in Endgame.
“And that person was Kevin Smith, who was in our audience”
fun, about
Thor: The Dark World:
The climactic portal fight, set up as a gimmick for forty-five minutes: characters zap between Greenwich, Vanaheim and Frostland; a Frost Beast turns up; Thor throws a car at Malekith.
fun, about
Max Landis:
The sun-sets-multiple-times 'one day' fight: host argues Christmas is a season.
“This was the movie I got in the fight with Max Landis.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Iron Man 3 ·
2:13:18 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
The Avengers:
Paramount still has its logo on a film Disney bought; they joke Paramount staked its territory and Disney got the last laugh by earning more.
“Paramount made so much money for selling these movies, but Disney got the last laugh because they made even more money buying these movies.”
fun, about
The Avengers:
Whedon's addition that was not in the Penn draft: the heroes must fight each other first; see the Thor/Iron Man/Cap forest fight at 0:47-0:50 and Cap's shield versus Mjolnir.
fun, about
Jeremy Renner:
Renner's defense of Hawkeye: he's there to tranquilize the Hulk; they find that depressing. Also Renner complained about being brainwashed for ~1:50.
“he's got the arrow so they can tranquilize Hulk.”
fun, about
Harry Dean Stanton:
See the scene (1:32) where Harry Dean Stanton talks Banner round: shot as a nine-page conversation, trimmed hard; the full version is on the DVD.
“So there's like a very long version of this on the DVD”
fun, about
Robert Downey Jr.:
Downey asked to pick the magnetic bracelets in the final suit-up and ad-libbed the Gallagher-at-the-computer riff that became a real shot.
fun, about
Grand Central / New York:
They scanned every building from 34th to 45th Street for the battle and 'make sure it doesn't get bigger than this' keeps the geography clear; the worm goes through Grand Central at 1:58.
“they scanned every fucking building in this area and just rebuilt like a perfect, like, grid of like 34th to like 45th.”
fun, about
Ashley Johnson:
Cap's original introduction was a cafe scene with a waitress (Johnson) flirting; the cut payoff is her looking up at the Avengers.
“So it's supposed to be payoff for that, but it still works”
fun, about
Marvel studio:
The Chitauri were minor aliens invented for this movie; Thanos reveal in the credits left a Paris friend asking who the purple guy was.
fun, about
The Avengers:
Opening weekend box office: $207 million (May 4), then Think Like a Man, The Hunger Games, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Lucky One in the top five.
“Avengers breaks the box office record makes 207.”
fun, about
Bucky death:
The classic comic Bucky death is on a rocket Cap can't disarm; the film instead has Bucky fall from the train. David calls the movie's version lamer.
“The classic Bucky death is so good, which they're on the rocket.”
fun, about
Dum Dum Dugan:
See the scene where Neal McDonough walks on in a bowler hat and mutton chops; the hosts cheered because the film embraced the silly comic look rather than toning it down.
fun, about
Bucky (comics maxim):
Old comics maxim: Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy, Jesus and Bucky are the characters who would never be brought back; Bucky stayed dead about 64 years.
“Spider-Man's Uncle Ben. Spider-Man's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. And Jesus. And Bucky.”
fun, about
Peggy Carter red dress:
At the Times Square opening night, when Peggy walks in wearing the red dress amid drab fatigues, the whole audience yelled holy shit in unison.
“she comes in with this burst of color and the whole audience went, holy shit.”
fun, about
Captain America (title):
Marvel feared the name Captain America would hurt overseas in 2011 and retitled the film The First Avenger; almost every territory passed on that and only about one country released it under the alternate title.
“Captain America won't be in the title, and almost every territory passed on that.”
fun, about
Thor:
The hosts open on how every cut in the lab scene swings the camera 45 degrees the opposite way, a literal seesaw; Branagh's one idea is the tilted world, and they keep returning to the Dutch angles throughout.
“Isn't this crazy, though, that every time they cut, the camera is 45 degrees in the opposite angle of the previous...”
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Thor ·
0:03:17 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Chris Hemsworth:
Casting lore: Hemsworth beat Hiddleston, who thought he was ripped but looked narrower beside him, because he absorbed muscle better and looked broader on camera.
“Hemsworth is just broader shoulder.”
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Thor ·
0:11:50 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
Hemsworth's dyed eyebrows in Thor are Kevin Feige's biggest regret in the whole MCU; watch Thor in Asgard where he almost looks to have none.
“Do you know that Kevin Feige said his, what his number one biggest regret in the entire Marvel cinematic universe is?”
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Thor ·
0:14:42 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
Loki's hand turns blue on touching the Frost Giant king's forearm in the Jotunheim fight; the hosts note the film forgets it and later reveals he is a Frost Giant.
“one of the blue guys, the king, touched Loki's forearm, and then Loki's hand turned blue, and they don't know why.”
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Thor ·
0:24:56 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
Thor's development hell: Raimi, a UPN TV show, Sony and Goyer, Paramount, Vaughn, del Toro, DJ Caruso, Daniel Craig offered it before Hemsworth took it.
“Then, as we all know, DJ Caruso is hired.”
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Thor ·
0:26:36 ·
David Sims
(0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
Mjolnir is cast as Excalibur: the lifting-the-sword-from-the-stone scene is the hammer in the New Mexico crater that nobody is worthy to move.
“So, you know, the hammer becomes like Excalibur.”
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Thor ·
0:37:54 ·
David Sims
(0.35 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor: The Dark World:
After the nudity-search tangent, they recall Skarsgard is naked in Dark World but the film blurs it out.
“I forgot he's naked in Dark World, but they blur it out.”
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Thor ·
1:06:47 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
See the scene where Thor finally gets Mjolnir back: the hosts shout over the Patrick Doyle score and say the transformation is the film's biggest success.
“I will say, I think that is the biggest success of this movie is they do sell you on the importance of the hammer.”
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Thor ·
1:29:29 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
See the scene where Thor flies by holding on to the thrown hammer; the speaker loves that the hammer does the flying and Thor grabs on.
“I like how Thor flies with his... The hammer is what's flying.”
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Thor ·
1:34:42 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
Loki's illusion trick works in the Frost Giants fight; the hosts see the fake Loki, praise it, and grumble it plays worse in green screen CGI goopland.
“I think that type of effect doesn't play as well when they're in just like green screen CGI Goopland.”
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Thor ·
1:39:38 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
Thor smashes the Bifrost to cut off the Frost Giants; the hosts say the comics have a literal rainbow while the film makes a prismatic Tron light-cycle runway.
“they just try to make it like a weird, like, sort of glassy Tron light cycle runway that's a little prismatic”
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Thor ·
1:41:33 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Thor:
Watch the end-credits stinger: Selvig with Fury and the Tesseract, a scene Whedon wrote and directed; Branagh reportedly claimed not to have seen it.
“Right, because Bran was like, I haven't seen this scene.”
Blank Check — Patreon ·
Thor ·
1:55:57 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Ang Lee:
Grosses compared: this grossed 128 domestic vs Hulk 132 and Life of Pi 124; worldwide Life of Pi 609, this 213, Hulk 245.
fun, about
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:
The four leads speak different accents on camera; Yeoh learned her Mandarin lines phonetically and took a year of no other work.
“Right. One of them is one of them is essentially speaking lines phonetically.”
fun, about
Michelle Yeoh:
Debilitating knee surgery at the start of filming; she flew back and forth for surgery, action pushed to the end.
“Right. And she had to keep on flying back to the States for surgery and then she'd fly back to set, do dialogue scenes while she was recovering, fly back to the States for further surgery.”
fun, about
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:
Bar fight trivia: the stuntman who falls off the banister is the same man later holding an abacus because he broke his arm.
“how the guy who does that immortal fall off the banister is the same guy who has the abacus”
fun, about
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:
Nominations: Gladiator got 12, CTHD 10; CTHD won score, art direction, cinematography, foreign language film.
“Best art direction, best cinematography, and foreign language film.”
fun, about
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:
Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker realized they'd crossed $100M when two kids at a mall raved about the cool subtitles.
“they were like, man, the fucking subtitles were so cool.”
fun, about
How the Grinch Stole Christmas:
The number one movie the weekend CTHD opened; top five: Grinch, Vertical Limit, Proof of Life, Unbreakable, Dungeons & Dragons.
“It's the number one movie of 2000, and it is called Dr. Seuss is How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
fun, about
Kevin Kline:
Kline's story: he saw Joan Allen intensely preparing on location and went to the craft service table.
“Kevin Klein tells this story on like one of the retrospective criterion documentaries where he walked by Joan Allen and she was sitting somewhere around location”
fun, about
Blue Steel:
Opened number five with 2.8 million dollars and made 8.2 on a roughly 16 million budget; debuted at Sundance and came out through MGM after Vestron went bankrupt.
“It opens number five at the box office with 2.8 million dollars.”