Reads the Wikipedia tidbits and Fincher lore, loves Madonna and Fincher's glamorous Vogue-era work, and is a Dirty Dancing evangelist. Is the Brit in the room and a soft touch for pop. Sour on Justin Timberlake as a performer.
Stances
Vogue and Freedom 90 are the top two videos
Dirty Dancing is a masterpiece
Annoyed by Timberlake's visible effort
Humor: Dry insults and bossy-Brit bits.
In their words
“I think Dirty Dancing is a masterpiece.” (0:45:37)
“I just don't want to be German, okay?” (1:55:47)
“This, to me, is peak annoying Justin Timberlake.” (2:15:04)
Fincher fan from a 16-year-old Empire-reading start in England; loves Clint Eastwood late-career oddities and reads the dossier. Thinks Panic Room is deeper than a B-programmer.
Stances
Panic Room is a great director showcase movie
Fincher's craft is the point
Humor: Dry, dropping reads and recommendations mid-riff.
In their words
“I was a big 16-year-old film Empire magazine reading film nerd.” (0:27:35)
Loves the film's ending and admires the look; finds the last hour tiring and the philosophy trite on rewatch. Loves Limp Bizkit without irony, worked in video stores, and defends Fincher's craft.
Stances
The last hour sags but the ending is great
Gen X angst reads as stupid on rewatch
Fincher's later digital coldness is not all bad
Humor: Dry, exasperated reactions and unashamed pop taste.
In their words
“I love Limp Bizkit.” (3:03:38)
“the ending of this movie is so effective” (1:07:45)
Loves The Game (watches it yearly, loves the Criterion), is a Fincher interviewer, and gets the research in hand. A sucker for Douglas movie-star energy and the Christmas Carol reading.
Stances
The Game is better than Se7en
Fincher's 'Christmas Carol' reading is the key
Douglas is America's dark id of the 90s
Humor: Dry, precise, and ready with a quote from the dossier.
In their words
“I think this is better.” (0:07:49)
“I think it fucking rules.” (1:56:37)
“I think I said he was America's dark id for the 90s.” (0:25:42)
A critic who champions Fincher and wants the series done on the show; prefers the later half of Fincher's career. Grew up partly in England, where his dad described Se7en to him.
Stances
Pitched Fincher for the show
Se7en is great but not top-tier Fincher
Interested in the Spacey career arc
Humor: Dry, brittle one-liners and film-critic digressions.
In their words
“Sims, I have a question in the in the UK cut of seven.” (0:24:36)
Admires Goldenthal's 90s scores, Henriksen, and Fincher's control; fond of the Ridley Scott sequels. Uneasy with studios that sand a director down. Attribution is inferred.
Stances
Dutton's performance is in the conversation for the best non-Ripley Alien role
Ripley's shaved head is an incredible move
Humor: Dry asides and character-actor deep cuts.
In their words
“I love his Joel Schumacher Batman scores.” (2:00:04)
“Not only just visually striking, like it gives the whole Joan of Arc thing to the movie.” (1:30:33)
Loves tight genre moves, big visual invention, and box-office trivia; skeptical of Burton's recent output and studio notes culture. A sucker for Demolition Man and the Disney Renaissance era.
Stances
Selick is a more consistent stubborn experimentalist than late Burton
This is Elfman's masterpiece
Santa Claus is right to be mad too
Humor: Dry bluster and mock-outrage, with a taste for tangents.
In their words
“Oogie Boogie is the only person who seems to get pleasure out of torturing other people.” (2:05:58)
Loves Eyes Wide Shut and Barry Lyndon and is a proud texter. Likes Sidney Pollack as an actor and wants to age into him. Can't stand the idea of the film being dismissed as hermetic.
Stances
The film is open and inviting, not closed off
Pollack's performance is the film's engine
Humor: Dry riffs on pop culture and his son Asa's texting.
In their words
“Sims prides himself on being a top tier texter.” (1:32:51)
A critic who gave Doctor Sleep a positive-but-mixed review, then reversed within two weeks and now rates it highly, in the director's cut especially. Likes Ewan McGregor and, by his own account, enjoys Stephen King but is not a deep reader of him.
Stances
the theatrical cut was slow, the director's cut improves it
the conditions you see a film in shape your opinion
he reversed on the movie
Humor: Dry, cutting asides about celebrities and trailers, plus a weakness for a long filmography rundown.
In their words
“And my review is positive.” (0:03:21)
“I'm sort of like, I like praise the craft of it.” (0:03:28)
Film-historian type who places the film in the late-80s Vietnam cycle and the Oscar race, and reads Herr and Hasford material aloud. Likes the film's structure and its dark comic cuts.
Stances
Full Metal Jacket belongs to the late-80s Vietnam film cycle
Kubrick's humor lands in tension cutters
Humor: Dry, sets up pop-culture parallels and lets Jon escalate them.
In their words
“Well, I was just going to talk about like, it's, this is the time when Vietnam movies are suddenly everywhere.” (0:26:06)
“But it's the thing that like Woman King goes into a lot as well of like, how much you have to break your brain to survive an environment like this, right?” (0:56:40)
Rates movies by kills and gives The Shining a high grade; fond of Nicholson and Pacino performance analysis. Says he is less of a Kubrick guy than most, but this is top tier for him. Will go along with the weird bit and then defend it.
Stances
The Shining is a top-tier Kubrick film
Nicholson's performance is big but grounded
Skeletons at the end are slightly weak
Humor: Dry jabs and pop-culture trivia answers.
In their words
“I rate movies by many deaths?” (0:05:31)
“I feel like I'm less of a Cooper guy than most, but this is at the very top tier for me, even still.” (2:33:07)
Finds slow, adult, conversation-heavy pre-2000 sci-fi and mid-grade legal thrillers deeply relaxing. Holds a grudge against Don't Worry Darling and likes the movie's seriousness. A sucker for starry, grown-up casts.
Stances
2010 is a comfort-food movie
the plot is more confusing than 2001, which answers no questions
strong anti-Don't Worry Darling position
Humor: Deadpan nitpicks and fully committed rants on plot logic.
Plays the show's running Brit, leaning into a bit that he grew up in England and is the only one who can speak to the film's culture. Brings the research dossier and keeps trying to steer back to the movie. Jokes that he sympathizes with the authority figures like Mr. Deltoid. Is the target of the hip hop Sims joke.
Stances
Is wary of the long tangents and wants to keep to the movie
Sides comically with the authority figures against Alex
Reads the dossier aloud to anchor claims
Humor: Deadpan exasperation and mock-pedantry as the foil to Griffin and Alex.
Reads the film as a perfect alignment of hard sci-fi, psychedelia and Apollo timing. Respects but is cool on The Graduate, likes the box-office history, and enjoys the production design. Evidence for his lines is low confidence since the transcript has no speaker labels.
Stances
The film's design still holds up
Respects The Graduate more than loves it
Interested in how the film was marketed and received
Humor: Dry, quick riffs on the guest and cultural references.
In their words
“Like it's one of those movies I never revisited.” (0:34:25)
Reads the dossier and brings box-office lists, Oscar-year trivia and a spreadsheet of retroactive winners. Draws links to comedy lineage (the Zuckers) and to Fincher's collaborators.
Stances
Strangelove was a big influence on the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker style
Kubrick was a real collaborator at his best
Frankenheimer's 1962 to 1966 run is underrated
Humor: Plays the pedant with a straight face, running the research like a game show.
In their words
“So George C. Scott is my winner in 1964 on my beloved spreadsheet.” (0:43:30)
“I did finally have the breakthrough watching this of how much of an influence this movie must have been on the Zucker Brothers and John Abrahams.” (0:53:55)
“And it really does remind me of Fincher.” (1:07:10)
A critic's frame of reference: star systems, box-office history and old reviews. Grew up in England and is tired of the British comedy canon. Likes the Sellers work in Strangelove more than in Lolita.
Stances
The film suffers from the Hays Code and cannot match the book
Sellers creeps him out here
Box-office trivia is part of the Lolita picture
Humor: Dry and self-aware, including deadpan wedding-speech bits.
In their words
“And I think that really has turned me against all the great British comic figures” (1:50:24)
“He creeps me out in this movie.” (1:51:04)
“I think Strange Love is a masterpiece and he's so funny in it.” (1:50:57)
Reads the dossier quotes aloud and defends Spartacus as a great movie despite Kubrick's own verdict; loves epics and Gladiator. (Speaker attribution inferred; moderate confidence.)
Stances
Spartacus is a great film, whatever Stan the Man thought
The Hollywood epics are a real era worth respecting
Humor: Dry readings of dossier quotes and quick pop-culture riffs.
Film-critic host who loves a legal drama and Practical Magic, knows the production dossier and the box-office lists. More drawn to war films than Griffin; fond of character actors and trivia about old Hollywood.
Stances
Practical Magic is a fantastic movie
Paths of Glory sits very close to Strangelove
Kubrick cared about commercial success more than critics
Humor: Dry, deadpan, quick with a pop-culture analogy.
In their words
“Practical Magic is a fantastic movie.” (0:15:30)
“I can give you some context, Griff, or do we want to talk about the plot?” (0:32:05)
Film nerd with deep catalog knowledge: Sinatra rights, Oscar oddities, the 1956 box office. Fond of noirs like I Wake Up Screaming and relishes obscure trivia; not a fan of Victor Mature or The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Stances
Hollywood in 1956 is bloated by epics
Kubrick wins on lens and style but fights Ballard
The movie is a psychologically lofty B movie
Humor: Sets up trivia as a bit and plays along with the jokes about his own name in Crime Wave.
In their words
“Oh, shout out to me.” (0:17:08)
“I just, I need to film nerd correct you.” (0:14:27)
“it is like a psychologically lofty, uh, uh, B movie.” (1:21:30)
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 501–600 of 1,091 claims.
unmapped (same fetish):
You're the Worst (TV) → The Game.
The only other depiction of findom the speaker has seen is You're the Worst.
“The only time I've ever seen that depicted is you're the worst has a big findom plot.”
industry (release strategy):
Seven → Kiss the Girls.
Se7en was a September release sold as a nasty genre movie, like Kiss the Girls and later Freeman thrillers.
“in the same vein in terms of its release strategy is like, Kiss the girls.”
industry (studio hiring pattern):
Jean-Pierre Jeunet → Vincent Ward.
Fox later hired Jeunet for Resurrection the same way it hired Ward: a unique artistic vision, just have a meeting.
“which is clearly what they did with Jhene later too, where they're just sort of like, well, this guy has a unique artistic vision.”
unmapped (concept merged in):
Vincent Ward → Alien 3.
The film is built from Ward's monk concept pushed together with the prison planet; his only surviving credit is story.
“they mishing up the monks with the prison planet, they turn the monks into prisoners, but they're kind of religious.”
people (composer comparison):
Elliot Goldenthal → Danny Elfman.
In the 90s Goldenthal was becoming an unconventional blockbuster composer, Elfman style.
“becoming sort of Alfman style, an unconventional blockbuster composer”
people (composer brief):
Elliot Goldenthal → David Fincher.
Goldenthal says Fincher wanted the audience to feel completely fucked within five minutes with no hope.
“Fincher told him he wanted him, you to feel, you the audience, to feel you were completely fucked within 5 minutes and that there is no hope completely.”
career (career):
Henry Selick → Tim Burton.
Burton said Selick was the only CalArts student who moved between the experimental and character-animation camps.
“Burton said that Selleck was the only guy in his time who actually coexisted between the 2 camps.”
industry (industry):
The Fox and the Hound → Don Bluth.
Fox and the Hound is the fulcrum of American animation: Bluth's walkout and the CalArts generation's disillusion.
“that movie is the real fulcum point of American animation in its own weird way”
contrast (contrast):
Henry Selick → Richard Williams.
Selick's insistence on live-action camera moves is like Williams hand-drawing his camera movement.
“much like Richard Williams being like, I'll fucking hand draw the camera movement”
contrast (contrast):
The Nightmare Before Christmas → Aladdin.
Disney princess films open with an I-want song; Jack's opening is a triumph followed by unexplained ennui.
“the Disney princess movies of this time have the big, I want song, right?”
industry (industry):
The Nightmare Before Christmas → Aardman.
Aardman is the one studio working consistently in stop motion with a different tone from Nightmare's creepiness.
“Ardaman is the only studio that's been able to work consistently at a high level and stop motion and do something totally different tonally.”
theme (King-like author character):
Mike Flanagan → The Haunting of Hill House.
Hill House has a character who becomes a paperback author very similar to King.
“one of the characters becomes like a, like, an author of, like, paperback, like, novels very similar to King.”
unmapped (Netflix hit gave Flanagan the job):
The Haunting of Hill House → Doctor Sleep.
The speakers guess the hit Netflix King adaptation and Hill House, after Oculus and Ouija, are why Flanagan got Doctor Sleep.
“And then I think it really is the Geralds game thing.”
unmapped (restored ending):
The Shining (King's novel) → Doctor Sleep.
Flanagan pitched going back to the Overlook as a means to restore the burn-down ending of King's book, which won King over.
“he said, I'm going to go back to the Overlook, but as means to an end to restore your ending.”
unmapped (King's disavowal):
Doctor Sleep (King's novel) → The Shining.
King's sequel book, speakers say, goes out of its way to say Kubrick's movie did not happen.
“it feels like he's even, you know, trying in the book to be like, and that movie didn't happen, FYI”
craft (visual echo):
Doctor Sleep → The Shining.
The hospice office is composed like the Overlook interview scene, reversed so the boss helps instead of dooms.
“It's composed like the exact same way as that 1st interview sequence in the original film.”
lineage (legacy sequel (contrast)):
Ghostbusters: Afterlife → Doctor Sleep.
Afterlife is eager to relive the first movie for no reason; Doctor Sleep avoids the original for as long as it can, so its return is earned.
“Ghostbusters Afterlife is a perfect example of the movie is so eager to relive the 1st movie”
lineage (ripoff):
Black Adam → Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
The Black Adam kid is called a straight John Connor ripoff, down to the skateboard and the catchphrase coaching.
unmapped (subversion):
Full Metal Jacket → Major Payne.
The answer to how to subvert the drill-sergeant movie is to do it with children, as in Major Payne.
career (unmade project taken up):
Stanley Kubrick → Steven Spielberg.
Kubrick could not make A.I. because technology was not ready; Spielberg eventually did.
“which obviously Steven Spielberg eventually makes.”
people (co-writer carried over):
Michael Herr → Full Metal Jacket.
Kubrick kept Herr, the writer from one piece of material, to help adapt a different one.
“Yeah, so he sort of absorbs the writer from one piece of material to help them adapt a different piece of material.”
programming (thematic pairing):
The Woman King → Full Metal Jacket.
Both films are about how much you have to break your brain to survive training for war.
“But it's the thing that like Woman King goes into a lot as well of like, how much you have to break your brain to survive an environment like this, right?”
theme (same location instruction):
Stanley Kubrick → Ken Adam.
Kubrick told Ken Adam to find every location within 20 miles of his home, as on Barry Lyndon.
“Which was basically the same thing he told him for Barry Lyndon”
industry (Oscar attention):
A Clockwork Orange → Full Metal Jacket.
Clockwork Orange got Oscar attention, but The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut were ignored.
“obviously, the shining full metal jacket and eyes wide shut are all basically ignored by the Oscars.”
people (same actor, opposite bodies):
Full Metal Jacket → Adventures in Babysitting.
D'Onofrio is Pyle and a Thor-lookalike beefcake in two films opening the same summer.
“Dino Frio is on, you know, different screens in your multiplex in completely different bodies.”
people (unrealized collaboration):
Paddy Chayefsky → Stanley Kubrick.
Kubrick was one of only three people who met to direct Network, but he and Chayefsky never clicked.
“Kubrick was like one of only 3 people who even met to direct that movie.”
fun, about
The Last Temptation of Christ:
Jesus building a crude cross opens the film; hosts riff on the chair-inventing scene in Gibson's film and the invention of chairs.
fun, about
The Last Temptation of Christ:
Watched the film then the Criterion vintage commentary, intercut among Cox, Schrader, Scorsese and Defoe, recorded as multiple interviews edited together.
“And it's intercutting between Cox, Schrader, Scorsese, and Defoe.”
fun, about
The Last Temptation of Christ:
Novel history: Kazantzakis published 1955, Orthodox Church tried to excommunicate him; Scorsese first heard of it as an NYU student and only read it around 1972-79.
“The novel, presented Deeply Human Christ, contemplating a normal life spent with Mary Magdalene”
fun, about
Paul Schrader:
Schrader's first draft had Jesus taking his heart out and a literal Last Supper of eating flesh; his big contribution was outlining 300-400 scenes from the book.
“Paul's 1st version, apparently, he has Jesus taking his heart out.”
fun, about
Casting Jesus:
Candidates for Jesus included Aidan Quinn, Eric Roberts, De Niro (who said he can't wear a robe) and Walken; Sting was to be Pilate in the first Paramount attempt.
“De Niro's response was, I don't think I can wear a robe.”
fun, about
Martin Scorsese:
After Scarface flopped with Hollywood audiences, De Palma asked Scorsese if they would become teachers; Scorsese says he couldn't do anything else.
fun, about
Willem Dafoe:
Dafoe first declined; at a second meeting Scorsese's explanation within minutes convinced him he was the only person who could play Jesus.
fun, about
Harvey Keitel:
Keitel's Brooklyn-accented, red-haired Judas earned a Razzie nomination, which hosts defend; Scorsese wanted him to embody violence and anger.
fun, about
The Last Temptation of Christ:
With only five centurions, Scorsese whip-panned among them to suggest twenty-five without ever showing them in one frame.
“And he reuses 5 centurions to make them 25 centurions.”
fun, about
Irvin Kershner:
Empire Strikes Back director plays Zebedee; hosts digress to the Magic Roundabout's Zebedee and spot the call-out of 'Judith' from the background.
“Yes, is Irving Kirschner, director of Empire Strikes Back.”
fun, about
Star Trek TNG 'The Inner Light':
Picard living fifty years in a village in minutes is the lens for Jesus' long dream life, ending with the creepy-girl Satan reveal.
“The whole episode is him living an entire episode.”
fun, about
The Last Temptation of Christ:
The final crucifixion film burn: a cameraman exposed the magazine too early, ruining film in the final shot, and the flashing light damage was kept.
fun, about
Peter Gabriel:
Gabriel did the score nearly free, mixing voices from around the world; it was released as Passion and is credited as breakthrough for world music in America.
fun, about
The Last Temptation of Christ:
Box office: opened August 12, 1988, number 13, about $8M domestic and around $30M worldwide; one Oscar nomination (Scorsese for director), Hershey and score got Globe nods.
fun, about
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World:
David states it is one of his ten favorites and Griffin says he texted it was the best movie ever made; David jokes he should have put it on his Sight and Sound ballot.
“I think I should just, like, next time I do sight and sound, stop being like, moo, I love, you know, some important movie, so just fucking put this on there.”
fun, about
Tom Rothman:
Rothman was a studio exec who had long wanted to make the Aubrey books; he handed Weir a captain's sword, saying take command of the HMS Surprise, and Weir asked to keep the sword.
“is take command of the HMS surprise. And Peter Weir is like, can I keep the sword?”
fun, about
Peter Weir:
Weir's directing patience: he rewrote the property into a friendship story, using the 10th book (The Far Side of the World) for the subtitle instead of the first book.
“I want it to be on the friendship of Aubrey Maturin.”
fun, about
Paul Bettany:
Bettany refused the boot-camp costume T-shirt with his character's name so Maturin would feel apart from everyone; he trained in amputations and fish-cutting instead of sailing.
fun, about
Sound design:
At the Academy Museum, Weir's featurette says the rough impressionistic sound pass beat the version where every sound was justified, which was cacophonous.
“when it became too justified and you were trying to account for everything, it was cacophonous and it didn't work.”
fun, about
United Flight 232:
The author was inspired by this crash, where a freak mechanical failure still left 180 survivors; simulations never match the result.
“And then he, in 89, reads about the notorious United Flight 232 crash.”
fun, about
Fearless casting:
Weir's first call was Mel Gibson, who was busy directing The Man Without a Face and, when told Bridges was second choice, said he wanted Bridges for his own film.
“And Weir says Jeff Bridges and Mel was like, fuck.”
fun, about
Winona Ryder / Jeff Bridges:
The studio wanted Ryder and a screen-test kiss; Bridges refused in front of the executives, saying he was way too old.
fun, about
Rosie Perez:
On the WTF podcast she said that crew asked if she was okay after takes because the emotion looked extreme, and that she only began processing her childhood after the film.
“And that it was Fearless was one of the things where everyone was just like, are you okay during the scenes?”
fun, about
Fargo / critics:
Halliwell's Film Guide (stingy with stars) gave Fargo four; Siskel and Ebert both rapturous, and Ebert's review ends with 'Films like Fargo are why I love the movies.'
“Films like Fargo are why I love the movies is how his review ends.”
fun, about
Bolt:
Travolta's second-highest worldwide grosser is Disney's Bolt, which was the rewritten, normalized version of Chris Sanders's weirder road-trip animal movie.
“It is Disney's Bolt, which made 328 million dollars worldwide.”
fun, about
Dune:
See the cat-and-rat milking scene: Thufir must milk a cat taped to a rat for the antidote; pure Lynch, not in the book, and Thufir is never seen again.
“Inside a space cat carrier, and you're going to have to milk this cat for the antidote to the poison.”
fun, about
Decision to Leave:
Chain mail glove: the detective puts on a chain mail glove in a rooftop chase against a man with a knife; the hosts note both men are too winded to move fast so he has time. David pulls up Amazon listings.
“The perp pulling the knife is him kind of saying like, so just give me like 90 seconds to catch up.”
fun, about
Tang Wei:
The hosts' joke pitch: a TV show where Tang Wei returns every season with a new husband who dies, like Sideshow Bob trying to kill Bart.
fun, about
Sherlock, Jr.:
Gillette's title card plays on razor brands (Gillette, Ever-Ready, Gem); the studio's name on screen, Veronal, was a sleeping drug.
fun, about
Sherlock, Jr.:
Walking into the movie screen looks like a miracle: it is a second set built behind the proscenium and lit differently so it reads as a flat projected image.
“And he just steps casually into the screen, and it feels like a miracle”
fun, about
Sherlock, Jr.:
Keaton matched his body position across cuts to wildly different locations, shots made hours or weeks apart, by overlaying the earlier film.
“they had an initial shot of him and then they like put the film over the film.”
fun, about
Sherlock, Jr.:
Keaton's baby-gag reading: every other movie cue he can copy in real time, but he cannot produce twin babies; contributors read it as a joke about movies skipping the 9 months.
fun, about
The Navigator:
A title card says going on a honeymoon without a bride is like singing 'Kiss Me Again' to the tune of 'Alice, Where Art Thou' (a fast waltz versus a slow plaintive song).
“going on a honeymoon without a bride is like singing in the words of Kiss Me Again to the music of Alice, where art thou?”
fun, about
The Navigator:
The last 20 minutes (island of cannibals) are old-school white panic racism, where Keaton's timelessness 'falls to the ground'.
“It's 20 minutes of old school white panic racism.”
fun, about
The Navigator:
A cut gag sent a starfish with a badge directing fish traffic; previews showed the audience was caught up in the story and it cost 10 grand.
“apparently they'd spent 10 grand on that gag and they had to cut it.”
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / David Sims:
David saw the film at a TIFF 9 AM press screening after a night of fire alarms and an accidentally armed security system in a Toronto Airbnb; he says it healed him.
“I'm gonna put my clothes on, and I'm gonna walk my ass over to the light box and just watch Wendolyn Wild, because at least there won't be a fire alarm.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
0:26:55 ·
David Sims
(0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about
Comedy Central / Review:
Comedy Central refused to license to streaming after Broad City boomed on Hulu, so shows like Review were stuck on a bad app.
“We are never licensing any of our shows to a streaming service ever again.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
0:55:45 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / Jordan Peele:
Originally the nun Sister Helley was the protagonist; Peele's note was to make teen Kat the lead so kids can identify. Selick: it took a while to convince him.
“It's the easiest note in the world, Henry Selling.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
1:02:20 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Wendell and Wild:
A hellmaiden's cold open: the car crash, the punk boombox with a bloodshot eye, and X-Ray Spex on the radio ground the first seven minutes.
“She's listening to x-ray specs on the radio.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
1:24:46 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Wendell & Wild soundtrack:
The punk and new-wave soundtrack includes X-Ray Spex, Fishbone, The Specials, TV on the Radio for the finale, and Special Interests.
“Their song, Young, Gifted Black and Leather fucking rules.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
1:30:04 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Wendell & Wild / Buffalo Belzer:
The giant puppet heads were built so the faces are articulated; Belzer's hand is built to scale, about 15 feet tall, and you can see it in the credits.
“The hand is like 15 feet tall.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
1:35:06 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Wendell and Wild:
The undead city council members are skeletons from past centuries, which David finds a clever, laugh-out-loud idea.
“Like, what if you brought back New York's city council from like the 18th century”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
1:40:33 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Wendell and Wild:
The trans character Raul's identity is handled quietly through context clues, which they praise over self-congratulatory progressive films.
“It's basically like stated only through context clues, you know?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
1:55:14 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Black Adam:
Hosts mock a leaked-documents campaign to prove Black Adam profited, noting half the profit is Warner paying itself through HBO Max and billboards.
“Half of that profit is the amount of money that Warner Brothers pays itself through HBO Max.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
2:02:36 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Monkeybone:
Bit about Monkeybone's final sequence: it looks like rear projection, and Brendan Fraser is made up more monkeylike with a unibrow, bigger teeth and organs falling out.
“It looks like deliberately artificially like they're just in front of a screen kind of shit.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Wendell & Wild ·
2:14:22 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Bob Fosse:
After near-death experiences Fosse would try to live healthier for a month and then go back to chain smoking and squeezing nurses.
“smoking cigarettes until they're burning in his mouth and squeezing every nurse's ass”
fun, about
Fosse ranking:
Griffin: Cabaret, All That Jazz, Lenny, Star 80, Sweet Charity; David: Cabaret, All That Jazz, Sweet Charity, Lenny, Star 80; Julie argues Sweet Charity above Star 80.
fun, about
An Angel at My Table:
Made for TV as three episodes, but it conquered Venice: crowds chanted for the film for ten minutes, though it only won the runner-up prize.
“people were shouting angel, angel for 10 minutes”
fun, about
Janet Frame:
Days or hours from a lobotomy, Frame was spared when she won a literary prize, and the film tosses it off as the halfway point.
“It's completely bananas that she was like days or hours from a lobotomy.”
fun, about
Annie:
David says Annie is famously the first movie he ever saw; Dana saw original Broadway Annie at 12 and decided then to live in New York.
“I think it was, it's famously the 1st movie I ever saw.”
fun, about
John Carpenter:
Drew McWeeny's story: asked his favorite Carpenter movie, McWeeny said Starman and Carpenter said 'ah, a romantic'; Carpenter tests fans for being softies.
fun, about
Starman script:
Original script ended with Starman blowing up the government with his ray gun; Dean Reisner's rewrite humanized it; he got no credit but the film is dedicated to him.
fun, about
Jeff Bridges:
Oscar story: Pfeiffer recalled Bridges had broken capillaries painted on his nose for Baker Boys; 'doesn't read on camera' - 'yeah, but it helps me'.
fun, about
Ricki and the Flash:
A theory that the film would have worked better if cheaper and quieter, as a Meryl who agreed to be in a Demme movie, rather than Meryl hiring Demme.
“and it was Meryl agreeing to be in a Jonathan Demi movie rather than Meryl hiring Jonathan Demi.”
fun, about
Nausicaä's origin:
Miyazaki could not sell a new film after Cagliostro, so a manga publisher offered a life raft; after a couple of years of manga he finally pitched it as a movie, though he had never intended one.
“The publisher of the manga reaches out to him and says, I liked Castle of Cagliostro, would you want to try to do something in print?”
fun, about
King Kong (Broadway):
Both hosts say the Broadway King Kong musical is bad except for the enormous puppet, which they enjoyed more than anything else they did not like.
“the puppet is so fucking strong that I did not care that I did not care about the rest of it.”
fun, about
Warriors of the Wind:
The 95 minute US cut has no listed cast, a heavy metal style poster where Nausicaä is the smallest figure, and renames her Princess Zandra.
fun, about
Nausicaä's long action sequence:
David timed it: roughly 35 straight minutes of action, ending in the Ohmu stampede with the missile-pierced baby, and wonders what a kid gets from it.
“there's just this sort of bananas, like 35 minutes of action.”
fun, about
The Hustle:
The Hustle, the gender-flipped Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, was almost titled Nasty Women, which David thinks would have been the correct title.
fun, about
John Wick: Chapter 3:
The hosts argue Chapter 3 is the best Wick because Keanu is so natural in a heightened world and the scenes are choreographed with minimal cuts; a Twitter pile-on about 'not concluding a trilogy' followed.
“Barry Bosswick is the waspiest actor of all time.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:39:53 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Flesh and Blood:
Movie wasn't released wide and went quickly to HBO, where it became cult.
“It became like a somewhat well-known cult movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:43:09 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Susan Tyrrell:
Griffin did not know she was in the film, was glad.
“She's amazing in this movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
0:46:09 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Flesh and Blood:
The film sets a dog-meat plague scene and a flaming halo shot.
“I mean, there's also that incredible shot of later in the movie where he's got the burning wheel behind his head.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
1:08:41 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Bruno Kirby:
A mousy character actor in the film, always in film history by being in five beloved movies.
“he's been in like 5 of the most beloved movies of all time.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
1:27:03 ·
David Sims
(0.35 sure it was them)
fun, about
American Ninja:
What if we took ninjas, but made them more American; $3.2M opening.
“Well, it made, what if we took ninjas, but made them more American?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
1:29:55 ·
David Sims
(0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about
Robert Altman:
Griffin would do Altman 1970 to 1980, not Buffalo Bill and the Indians.
“My pitch would be 1970 to 1980.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David ·
Flesh+Blood ·
1:39:16 ·
David Sims
(0.35 sure it was them)
fun, about
Michael Shannon:
David saw Michael Shannon eating a burger with a bunch of kids at Moo Burger, the first entry in the new Burger Report segment; Griffin followed with seeing Chivo Lubezki at Apple Pan.
“Oscar nominee, Michael Shannon, eating with a bunch of kids and a couple of adults eating his own bird.”
fun, about
Christopher Doyle:
Doyle is quoted as saying you cannot make a movie unless you've slept with a black woman and spent a night in jail; the hosts riff on it as the reason the party scene is illegible.
“a man who has said that you cannot make a movie unless you've slept with a black woman and spent a night in jail.”
fun, about
Lady in the Water:
Opened to 18 million, number three behind Pirates of the Caribbean and Monster House, and finished with 42 million domestic, 72 worldwide.
“It ended up with a grand total of $42 million, 72 worldwide.”
fun, about
Robert Downey Jr.:
On Inside the Actors Studio, Downey called Home for the Holidays the most relaxed performance in film history because of the heroin, and said Jodie Foster once confronted him.
“Yeah, home for holidays, which on that episode of Inside the Actor Studio, he refers to as the most relaxed performance in the history of film because of how much heroin he was on.”