Press-screening veteran who found Winter Soldier merely fine at release; likes political-thriller texture and Redford's calm, character acting. Dislikes Marvel villains who justify genocide with logic. Loves Samuel L. Jackson, spy-game lineage and the Russos' TV pilots.
Stances
Looks up facts (the computer guy)
Winter Soldier was a nonplus at release but improves on rewatch
Redford's underplaying is the movie's best asset
Regrets Civil War stops being a Captain America film
Humor: Dry deadpan asides, mock-serious pedantry and a willingness to play along with Griffin's bits.
In their words
“This is the 1st Marvel movie I started press screening.” (0:02:54)
Loves Sif, mythology, the practical-looking gold Asgard and the sibling story between Thor and Loki. Hates the first Thor and likes Dark World far more than Ragnarok. A sucker for spaceships and gap-toothed actors.
Stances
Dark World was the movie where Feige took over
Doctor Strange fails on comedy
Spaceships make any movie better
Humor: Deadpan escalation and gross-out one-liners, throwing a pillow to steer the room.
Also calls Iron Man 3 his favorite MCU film; a critic who tracks box office, awards ballots, contracts and Hollywood history. Likes character actors, Shane Black wit and clean action stakes. Sucker for ensemble casts and set-up/payoff.
Stances
Iron Man 3 is the best-structured sequel because it answers the previous film
The one flaw is the rushed Killian monologue and the sidelined Maya
Tony Stark should have ended here
Marvel's Atlanta wet-cement look is a problem
Humor: Dry, dead-pan and confidently over-informed, then deflates himself with a dumb aside.
In their words
“This is how you do a sequel.” (0:41:23)
“It's a really good 3rd movie.” (2:10:08)
“Anyone who dares criticize it, you know, is my enemy and I will meet them on the field of glory.” (0:56:30)
Treats Avengers as a model for plotted ensemble blockbusters; loves Samuel L. Jackson and Hulk, wants Marvel's cinematic conveyor belt held up to Justice League. Knows Hollywood trivia, box-office figures. Dislikes Man of Steel's destruction and Age of Ultron's continuity.
Stances
This is one of the best-structured blockbusters
The film looks cheap while being expensive
Age of Ultron can't be a sequel to this one
Jackson is undervalued
Humor: Dry, ironic, quick with box-office game-show bits and wry commentary on his own travel plans.
In their words
“I think this movie looks kind of cheap while being very expensive.” (0:03:02)
“Avengers 2 can't be a sequel to Avengers one. It has to be a sequel to 5 other moments.” (1:39:42)
He loves Marvel comics lore, the Golden and Silver Age versions of the characters, and period production design. He is a sucker for ensemble character actors like Neal McDonough and Tommy Lee Jones. He is dismissive of the movie's generic last third and of unearned endings.
Stances
The first third is perfect, the second solid, the third perfunctory
The ending teaser for Avengers cheapens the movie
The classic Bucky death was better than the film's
Humor: Dry deadpan asides and physical bits like rocking the couch for Tommy Lee Jones.
In their words
“The 1st 3rd is perfect.” (0:51:45)
“I think the 3rd 3rd is, you know, a little perfunctory.” (0:51:48)
The comics and film-history reader: knows Thor lore (Straczynski, Simonson), casting and development history, and Marvel's behind-the-scenes politics. Loves Hopkins at ease, Branagh as ham, the hammer-return sequence and the Patrick Doyle score. Dislikes chaos cinema and the Marvel pipeline's flat look.
Stances
Branagh is a hammy director he likes, but weak at action
Marvel's side-character sprawl hurts unfocused ensemble movies
Dark World is a better brother movie
Whedon over-kills characters
Humor: Deadpan fact-drops and interruptions that deflate Griffin's bits.
In their words
“I'm a big fan of Kenneth Bran as a director.” (0:18:10)
Film-history minded and well versed in studio politics (Feige, Perlmutter); likes Wes Anderson books but not Isle of Dogs. Dislikes hollow universe-building. Loves Galaxy Quest and Rickman.
Stances
Nick Fury's cameo derails the movie
Favreau lost The Avengers by making this film
Universe-building should serve story
Humor: Dry, mocking asides with pop-culture comparisons.
A Marvel and Hulk comics reader (Rick Jones, Peter David, Greg Pak) who loves Ang Lee's Hulk and trusts Tim Roth as the only good performance; hates bad CGI and generic Europa Corp action.
Stances
This film is the worst early MCU entry
Marvel quality control is fast food
Unleashed is the best Europa Corp film
Humor: Blunt put-downs and long, detailed story retellings, such as the Electro origin.
In their words
“Rick, you know, man, you got to read your 60s Marvel.” (0:17:51)
“Unleashed is my favorite of the Europa.” (0:11:09)
Pro-Iron Man, loves Downey's improvisational energy, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges' performances, and the Marvel comics of the 60s; dislikes Terrence Howard and generic Marvel scores. Cares about industry business details.
Stances
Iron Man is the best of the early Marvel films
Bridges is underrated as a Marvel villain
Hulk and later Marvel films feel generic
Humor: Self-deprecating New York landlord and apartment bits, deadpan Bill Maher mock-defense.
Attributions to David are low confidence because the transcript has no speaker labels. He argues about Nicholson's box office record, tracks the Oscar races of the era, and has a Transformers opinion (3 is a masterpiece, per a speaker who may be him). He is skeptical of Haunted Mansion.
Stances
Nicholson was not guaranteed money in the bank before this film (speaker uncertain)
Early-2000s Oscar races were set pieces worth remembering (speaker uncertain)
Humor: Dry corrections and numbers, plus a playful challenge to the guest's choices.
In their words
“Well, I'm going to dispute you on Jack being money in the bank.” (0:03:28)
“it did open to 16000000 and finished at 124” (1:52:03)
Box-office and awards nerd; loves Michelle Yeoh and the craft of fight choreography; is dismissive of Rush Hour as a boring sweaty cop movie and of Gladiator winning. A sucker for trivia and Oscar-night lore.
Stances
CTHD's release was a careful balancing of global audiences
Oscar race lore matters
Gladiator winning was weird
Humor: Dry, precise, and deadpan fact-bombs that undercut sillier riffs.
In their words
“Rush hour 2 is still the 4th biggest opening in August.” (0:46:50)
“Rush Hour is kind of a boring, sweaty cop movie.” (0:47:12)
Defends Hulk, owns Ice Storm on DVD and Criterion, and likes facts, production history and box-office context. Skeptical of easy characterization such as Weaver's.
Stances
Ice Storm gets cold weather as Do the Right Thing gets hot weather
Weaver's role feels easy; Lee's film is not about a craze
Reads out box-office top five in the closing game
Humor: Deadpan quiz-master and wry riffs on casting and careers.
In their words
“I think this movie gets cold weather as right as do the right thing gets hot weather.” (0:10:53)
“I mean, this podcast is just an excuse for me to buy Blu-rays.” (0:36:45)
Adores Richard Jenkins and critic-style takes; reads Blue Steel as a Bigelow B-picture that unifies her style. Loves a good box-office trivia quiz. Sucker for actor-career arcs.
Stances
Blue Steel is better than Point Break
Jenkins's entrance shifts the film into a representational register
Went in with the Spanish original in his head and thinks Vanilla Sky is essentially a remake of it with American excess added. Likes the genre-inflected last act more than the first half but rates the whole C plus. Sucker for British film magazine nostalgia.
Stances
The film is a remake of Abre los ojos with added Crowe preciousness
C plus, three out of five
Wants the sci-fi explained earlier
Humor: Dry, nitpicky, pushes catchphrase bits like 'island woman' and 'blowjob lady'.
In their words
“Yeah, C plus.” (1:55:12)
“I was a dedicated empire magazine reader.” (0:27:30)
“I think this movie's problem is it doesn't introduce it earlier enough.” (1:37:39)
Attribution is low-confidence. One host insists films should stand on their own merits, hates behind-the-scenes theorizing and complaining nerds, and is a fan of Admiral Piett. Likes the first 40 minutes at Jabba's palace; critical of Leia's handling and the Yoda deathbed scene.
Stances
Films should stand on their own merits
Don't read behind-the-scenes lore into the movie
The Jabba sequence is the best part; the Ewoks overstay
Humor: Dry deflation of the other host's rants and Empire workplace-comedy pitches.
In their words
“I think films should stand on their own merits.” (0:32:22)
“I hate nerds and they're always complaining.” (0:30:51)
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 401–500 of 1,091 claims.
lineage (lineage):
Eraserhead → The Meteors.
The Meteors are named among the bands who covered the Eraserhead song.
career (career):
Jack Fisk → Killers of the Flower Moon.
Fisk's latest Oscar nomination was for building a town for Flower Moon, but he lost to Poor Things.
career (career):
Frederick Elmes → Blue Velvet.
Elmes replaced the first cinematographer on Eraserhead and later shot Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and worked with Ang Lee.
“shot blue velvety, shot wild at heart, works with Ang Li.”
craft (craft):
Pleasantville → Randy Newman.
Pleasantville is described with a tree catching fire under the swelling strings of Randy Newman, who scored it.
“It teaches his mom how to masturbate and then a tree catches on fire to the swelling strings of Randy Newman.”
lineage (lineage):
H.R. Giger → Eraserhead.
Giger called Eraserhead one of his big eye-opening moments, and Lynch later accused him of stealing his ideas.
“H.R. Gigger, loves this movie, says it's one of his, like, you know, big eye-opening moments in his life”
industry (industry):
Ben Barenholtz → Pink Flamingos.
Barenholtz of Libra Films, a midnight-movie distributor, had already handled Pink Flamingos before he bought Eraserhead.
“He had distributed like pink flamingos, the John Waters movie.”
industry (industry):
Ben Barenholtz → Eraserhead.
Barenholtz phoned to buy the film halfway through a screening and it played 15 to 20 cities by word of mouth.
“Halfway through the screening, he gets on the phone and is like, by this movie.”
craft (craft):
The 13th Warrior → Tom Savini.
McTiernan's R-rated reshoots bolted on gore effects in the vein of Tom Savini, though there are not many of them.
“just doing like Tom Savini gags, which, yeah, there aren't even that many.”
people (people):
Michael Crichton → Jerry Goldsmith.
Crichton, who took control of the cut, replaced Graeme Revell's score with one from Jerry Goldsmith, whom he called his guy.
“We're getting Jerry Goldsmith, who's like my guy and we'll give you swelling orchestral medieval music”
people (casting origin):
Prometheus → The Killer.
Fincher said at the Q&A that seeing Prometheus made him note Fassbender as a good sociopath for later.
“I go to see Prometheus and I go, hmm, sociopath.”
people (casting-director crush):
Arliss Howard → Men Don't Leave.
Laray Mayfield told David she has had a crush on Arliss Howard since Men Don't Leave.
“She cited this movie that he's in as like a romantic lead, I think.”
unmapped (documentary then drama):
The Battle Over Citizen Kane → RKO 281.
David says the documentary was then remade, and he watched both; he means RKO 281.
“Battle over Citizen Kane is also the excellent documentary that then was remake.”
unmapped (history as Shakespeare):
The Social Network → Mank.
Sorkin's Social Network uses Zuckerberg like Shakespeare riffs on kings, as the Mank makers use film history.
“I think, like, uh, the Finchers and Eric Roth and old men are all doing the same thing here”
people (same writer-director question):
Mank → The Social Network.
Griffin says Mank is a talkie without the entertaining dialogue of The Social Network.
“It's a talkie movie, but a talking movie without having the kind of like wildly entertaining dialogue of a social network.”
unmapped (Netflix black and white):
Mank → Roma.
Netflix is where you go for a script nobody else wants and for a black and white movie: Roma, Mank, Blonde, Maestro.
“Not only is Netflix the place you go to for your script that nobody else wants to buy, but it's where you go and you want to make your black and white movie.”
unmapped (black and white):
Mank → Nebraska.
Studios' old resistance to black and white (TV, VHS, foreign sales) shown by Nebraska's regrade for Paramount.
“Especially when so much of Studios opposition to black and white movies was it doesn't play on TV.”
craft (score pastiche):
Max Steiner → Trent Reznor.
Reznor and Ross's score is called a self-conscious recreation of 1940s scoring, as if doing Max Steiner or Miklos Rozsa.
“It's obviously like a self-conscious recreation of something, but to just be like, yeah, I'm doing Max Steiner.”
unmapped (rosebud theory):
RKO 281 → Mank.
David asks whether Mank's denial of the Rosebud explanation answers RKO 281; Sean says it is a really popular theory instead.
“Do you think that's just directly responding to a 20-year-old HBO TV movie”
unmapped (drunk movies):
The Lost Weekend → Leaving Las Vegas.
Speakers list drunk-protagonist films: Leaving Las Vegas, The Way Back, the Hangover trilogy.
“There aren't enough movies these days about guys who get hammered drunk.”
unmapped (gaffer to DP):
Erik Messerschmidt → Ferrari.
Gone Girl's gaffer is now the director of photography on Ferrari (and Mindhunter, Mank, The Killer).
unmapped (hired a lighting mind):
Michael Mann → Erik Messerschmidt.
Mann told the speaker he likes Messerschmidt because he was a gaffer and cinematography is lighting.
“And he was like, you know why I like that guy because he was a gaffer. And to me, cinematography is all lighting and no one understands lighting anymore.”
theme (attitude / genre):
The Social Network → Dumb Money.
Dumb Money has no pretension of being the next Social Network but its attitude is that of the earlier film; the speakers say the film became a genre.
“there's nothing about that movie's attitude that's like, this is the next social network, but the attitude of that movie is like social network.”
lineage (closest descendant):
The Social Network → Blackberry.
Blackberry is named as the only movie to come close to The Social Network in the 13 years since.
“I think Blackberry is the only thing that has come close and then now 13 years since this movie came out.”
people (shared writer):
The Social Network → Moneyball.
Moneyball is set aside as a Sorkin script written after The Social Network, so it does not count as a successor.
“Don't count those, right? Because those are Sorkin scripts.”
people (shared writer):
The Social Network → Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs is set aside as a Sorkin script written after The Social Network, so it does not count as a successor.
“Don't count those, right? Because those are Sorkin scripts.”
lineage (ripped off):
The Social Network → The Big Short.
David says The Big Short is the most obvious movie ripping off The Social Network, and that people do not make the connection enough.
“I think the big short, which is not a movie I love, is the most obvious movie that's ripping off the social network, even though people maybe don't make that connection enough.”
lineage (loose adaptation):
The Accidental Billionaires (Ben Mezrich book) → The Social Network.
The film is technically an adapted screenplay but the speakers say Sorkin was working from the same research and the book proposal, not using the book as a template.
“But it's basically like this movie is using the same research that the book has called rather than Aaron Sorkin reading this book and using it as a template if that makes sense.”
“One point Fincher was attached to a movie called Seared, which later becomes a television show called Kitchen Confidential, because it is based on Anthony Bourdain's writing.”
unmapped (obsessive detail):
The Social Network → Zodiac.
Fincher's Bex for the beer in The Social Network is linked to his stickler's hunt for the pen Graysmith would have used in Zodiac.
“I remember reading some piece about zodiac when it came out and they talked about him being a stickler about like, what is the actual pen that Robert Graysmith would have used at his desk.”
unmapped (many takes):
David Fincher → Stanley Kubrick.
Fincher's 100 takes are compared to Kubrick as a search for something that surprises the director, not a fixed target.
“It's sort of, much like we talked about, Kubrick, where it's like, he's not doing 100 takes looking for them to achieve a thing he's waiting for.”
people (first-choice director):
Michael Mann → Shame (The Motels video).
Martha Davis first wanted Michael Mann (after The Keep); he was unavailable and her agent suggested Fincher.
“originally expressed interest in working with Michael Mann after seeing his 1983 film The Keep.”
lineage (visual homage):
All That Jazz → Cold Hearted (Paula Abdul video).
A host reads that Cold Hearted was inspired by All That Jazz, and another says it directly references it.
“this film was uh, inspired by all that jazz, her belly button's exposed.”
unmapped (carried-over injury):
Moulin Rouge! → Panic Room.
Kidman's knee was injured on Moulin Rouge and not healed, and she reinjured it on Panic Room.
“The whole thing with her knee was that she had actually injured at making Milan Rouge and not known.”
theme (comparison (Fincher's words)):
Nicole Kidman → Grace Kelly.
Fincher compares Kidman to Grace Kelly, glamour and physicality, versus Foster, who is about her eyes.
“as Fincher puts it, you know, your, you know, Nicole Kidman, Grace Kelly.”
unmapped (formative pick):
Alex Ross Perry → Fight Club.
Perry's last three picks are called the building blocks of his entire personality, Fight Club among them.
“It's a new trilogy of movies that basically are the building blocks of your entire personality.”
theme (dismissed comparison):
The Game → The Most Dangerous Game.
Fincher first wondered if the script was a Most Dangerous Game thing, and was relieved it wasn't.
“oh, is it like a most dangerous game kind of thing?”
unmapped (template):
The Game → A Christmas Carol.
Fincher's own framing, as quoted in the dossier, is that The Game is A Christmas Carol and Nick is Scrooge.
fun, about
Doctor Sleep (title):
The title comes from Danny's humane way of easing people dying in a hospice, a minor thread; some say it should have been Shining 2.
“It's funny that the title of the movie comes from like his very humane way of helping people be at ease before they die, a very sort of minor plot thread.”
fun, about
A Clockwork Orange:
Kubrick pulled the film from Britain a year after release and it stayed out until his death; it was banned in Ireland until 1999.
fun, about
A Clockwork Orange:
McDowell scratched his cornea during the eyedrop scenes and the numbing wore off in the car; a speed bump felt like a razor blade.
fun, about
Dr. Strangelove:
The release was delayed by the Kennedy assassination; a speaker also notes the President is the last reasonable president in an American satire, because Kennedy was in office.
“this movie was delayed because of the assassination of Kennedy.”
fun, about
Terry Southern:
Sellers gave Kubrick The Magic Christian, which brought Southern in; the dossier read is that Kubrick wrote it, George inspired it, and Southern made it funny.
“JJ's read on the screenplay, though, is that it's Dubrick wrote it.”
fun, about
Dr. Strangelove:
The first page of the screenplay says the story will be played for realistic comedy and the acting will never be so-called comedy acting.
“The 1st page of the screenplay says, the story will be played for realistic comedy”
fun, about
Gene Kelly:
The original plan for Jack D. Ripper was Gene Kelly. Kubrick then cast George C. Scott, who asked to play Turgidson instead, and brought in Sterling Hayden.
“You know who the original plan was to cast for Jack D. Ripper, the Sterling Hayden Row?”
fun, about
James Earl Jones:
Jones had a big role questioning the mission; Kubrick decided he did not want the protesting crew member to be a Black actor and cut it. Jones told him he took the part for the cut material.
“eventually Kubrick decided he didn't want the guy protesting to be a black guy and cuts everything out.”
fun, about
Dr. Strangelove:
Kubrick wrote down about thirty alternate titles, including Wonderful Bomb, Dr. Doomsday, and Dr. Strangelove's Secret Uses of Uranus.
“The weird one is Dr. Strangelove's secret uses of Uranus.”
fun, about
Kirk Douglas:
In Munich the rewritten script had a happy ending; Douglas threatened to walk. Kubrick calmly said he wanted a commercial hit.
fun, about
Kola Kwariani (Nick the Wrestler):
A former wrestler Kubrick met through chess circles, he died at 77 after fighting five teenagers outside his chess club.
“He was 76 years old and he was leaving his regular chess club where he played and he was jumped by 5 teenagers”
fun, about
Fear and Desire:
The poster sells a 'half animal girl' with an illustration of a kissed neck, making the war movie look supernatural.
“An illustration of, uh, Paul Mizurski kissing her neck that makes it look consensual, and says, fear and desire, trapped for desperate man, and a strange half animal girl.”
fun, about
Alien: Covenant:
Originally titled Alien: Paradise Lost; Damon Lindelof was going to write it before bailing, then John Logan, with a first script by the Transcendence writer and a Michael Green rewrite.
“Initially, it was going to be called Alien Paradise Lost.”
fun, about
Ridley Scott:
Scott gave interviews saying there would be no aliens or xenomorphs, then reversed; the hosts wonder if it was him or the studio telling him to put aliens in.
“initially Scott was giving these interviews where he was like, there won't be aliens”
fun, about
Alien: Covenant:
The online prologue with James Franco and Noomi Rapace is not in the film; the initial cut ran about 2.5 hours and Scott trimmed the franchise stuff.
“it was this thing with James Franco, who is not in this movie, although you see him in like photos.”
fun, about
Ron Perlman:
The basketball shot: Weaver actually sank it over her shoulder on a quick take and Perlman's reaction is real; no visual effects.
fun, about
Sigourney Weaver:
Weaver would not let toys be made with guns for years; Resurrection was the only time, and no collector figure for 15 years after.
“one of the key reasons was because she didn't want her action figures coming with guns.”
fun, about
You've Got Mail:
The box office for December 18, 1998: You've Got Mail at number one, ahead of Prince of Egypt, A Bug's Life, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Jack Frost.
“So number one, though, it's you've got mail, $18 million.”
fun, about
Jack Frost:
The animatronic Jack Frost snowman was built from the likeness of George Clooney, who dropped out late; Michael Keaton replaced him.
“But they built it off of the likeness of the actor who was supposed to play the title role who dropped out very late.”