Obsessive about Color of Money since childhood and fascinated by working vocabularies, hustles, and movie-star craft. Loves Newman's ease, Scorsese camera movement, Warren Zevon, and 80s-90s prestige crime. Is a sucker for the lost American third space of bars and pool halls and distrusts phone gambling.
Stances
Sports betting on phones is bad; real gambling is better
The Hustler is the best young Newman performance
Color of Money's first hour peaks and the back half is a comedown
Warren Zevon's second album is the greatest rock album of the 70s
Humor: Conversational and self-deprecating, with long riffing monologues and pop culture hot takes.
In their words
“I think similarly any movie that introduces its own vocabulary immediately has me leaning in.” (0:38:33)
“I know this is gonna sound really corny, but it is a celebration of a certain kind of American 3rd space that is disappearing.” (2:47:05)
A franchise and genre scholar who likes Jason, the early sequels, and Manhattan; attention to trivia, tropes and critic reception. Treats slashers as a canon with tiers.
Stances
Parts 1, 2, 4 and Manhattan are the good ones
The series finds its legs at 4
Humor: Dry, listing, comfortable with riffing on tropes.
In their words
“But I think it finds its legs at four.” (0:03:55)
Loves 1970s realism and the film's patience and craft; admires Daniel Pearl's cinematography and the era's location shooting. Likes reality-rooted horror over supernatural. Gets to the research and context.
Stances
The film is a perfect achievement with intention and accident both
1970s films feel real
Reality-based horror beats demons
Humor: Dry, deadpan riffs on the research and film-school asides.
Defends movies that are entertainingly bad and invests in actors' career trajectories (Vaughn, Travolta). Loves From Hell staples and a good scumbag name. Sucker for supporting-cast pops.
Stances
Vaughn's drama phase explains the movie
Travolta is giving 10 out of 10 for the first hour
The movie needed an R rating and more Buscemi
Humor: Deadpan observational jokes and absurd movie-logic nitpicks.
In their words
“I think Vacuum Vince Vaughn's not bad in this movie as like a villain.” (0:12:55)
Loves the 80s/90s crime and Michael Mann-style movies of CR month (To Live and Die in L.A.), and Eyes Wide Shut-style deep dives. Can't stand Fever Pitch and animated films. A sucker for category nitpicking and detailed lineage stuff.
Stances
Dislikes Fever Pitch as inauthentic
Wants the Cruise Eyes Wide Shut pod
Would sit out all animated movies
Proud of his Peter North pod
Humor: Dry, theatrical self-mockery about CR month and about being load-managed.
In their words
“Just like, uh, it's like attending my own funeral.” (0:00:58)
“I think it's excitement for the Wayne Jet category.” (0:05:14)
“Yeah, anything animated, you might as well put me on the bench.” (1:31:49)
Gets sold on craft, character introductions and star careers. Loves Kerry Condon's character and the opening scene; dislikes a weak villain turn. Sucker for pubs, big-pint scenes and Tony Scott-style filming.
Stances
Kosinski inherits Tony Scott's style
Pitt and Damon are close but Pitt is a bigger star
Weak link is JP's manager
Baja ending is too much
Humor: Runs on running bits (Ebert, hottest take) and teases with ironic asides.
In their words
“he really is an inheritor of some of like his Tony Scott's like stylistic revelations.” (0:10:32)
“Give that character something. Make him a little sinister.” (1:11:36)
Craft-minded movie nerd who loves directors (Weir, Linklater) and categories like the rack-focus movie and death at sea. Loves a character actor roll call. Can't stand a movie that overexplains.
Stances
Weir is an actor's director with no overbearing visual style
Hanks or De Palma would make a different film
Ordinary People beats the rest for death at sea
Humor: Dry movie-obsessive asides, like mock-pitching a Ryan Murphy series.
In their words
“I always love like the category of like the rack focus movie.” (0:26:04)
“The 1st director attached, this movie was Brian DePalma.” (1:05:34)
Loves Michael Madsen, Sizemore-versus-Madsen debates, and scientist-fiction. Cares about craft facts: cinematographers, editors, who wrote it. Sucker for a TV-series what-if.
Stances
Species should have been an HBO show in 1995
Madsen could have played Shooter and Basic Instinct parts
Film camp taught him the editor matters most
Humor: Reporting production trivia with a straight face, then goofy.
In their words
“I just think this should have been a TV show.” (1:06:22)
“The movie should have had more fucking.” (1:05:36)
Admires Rocky's craft and the supporting cast, especially Gazzo and Joe Spinell; digs the history details of the Steadicam and Oscars. Despises Rocky V and Paulie. Sucker for the movie's structure and franchise lore.
Stances
Wants two more Gazzo scenes and two fewer Paulie scenes
Rocky 2 is the least original; Rocky 1 is superior
Despises Rocky V but likes its final 30 minutes
Cruise over Hanks as the challenger
Humor: Dry, riffs on the movie's absurdities with quick asides.
In their words
“If we had 2 more gazo scenes and 2 less poly scenes.” (1:16:50)
“I despise five, but I will admit that the last, like, 30 minutes of five” (1:45:20)
Loves Tarantino's character work, bits of editing and sound, and the lived-in nostalgia of drinking and cheeseburgers. Is skeptical of Cruise as Vincent and of Tom Hanks. Cares about detail of the heroin scene and the McGuffin.
Stances
Cruise as Vincent doesn't work
Foot massage is an intimate act
The briefcase is best left a McGuffin
Humor: Dry sideline commentary and deadpan nitpicks, plus 'Junkie Chris' running gag about being the heroin purchaser.
In their words
“Where'd you stand on the foot massage argument, CR?” (0:10:25)
“I would not give my mom a foot massage.” (0:10:32)
He loves a tight 90s studio movie, directors and craftspeople like Jan de Bont, and character actors such as Hoffman and Paxton. He is a sucker for the lived-in world, with the Aunt Meg meal, the drive-in and the crew of weirdos. He cannot stand blockbusters with stars too pretty to be believable.
Stances
Jan de Bont is his guy and the chaotic production still looks seamless
Hoffman is the most fascinating part of the film long term
Paxton could have led Out of Sight
Twister is closer to Jurassic Park than to superhero movies
Humor: Cinephile deep cuts and film-bro bits, with the others joking that he would live in the drive-in town.
In their words
“I think it's more aesthetically closer to like Jurassic Park.” (0:05:47)
“I think he could have been the lead guy and out of sight instead of Clooney and out of sight.” (0:19:37)
Chris is the film scholar of the group, reaching for 70s dirty-cop touchstones and the story of how the film was cast and cut. He loves a methodical bit, like the murders-to-sex ratio. He is a sucker for an attractive villain and a story told in the middle of the movie.
Stances
Internal Affairs is a one-of-one
Dirty cops as popcorn entertainment ended after this era
Gere's elevator and burger-joint scenes are the peak
Humor: Dry, stats-driven bits such as the John Hollinger advanced analytics award.
In their words
“I have the elevator fight just because it's almost like a horror movie scene.” (0:43:31)
“I have the John Hollinger Advanced Analytics Award.” (1:04:10)
Chris is the host of this installment and a Michael Mann devotee who frames the film's craft and context: the Pacino and Crowe careers, Mann's formal progression, the end of broadcast news dominance. He likes the exposition scene, Plummer and Pacino together, and the wild formal choices. He tends to read films through the movie business and what they say about their era.
Stances
The Insider is Mann's most restrained film
Pacino's best, finely calibrated performance may be in The Insider
1999 is a last year of a kind of movie being made
Humor: Dry and hosting-minded, steering the discussion with sports riffs and deadpan film trivia.
In their words
“It's his most restrained film in a lot of ways.” (0:08:50)
“Pacino gets 3 decades to be Al Pacino.” (0:18:33)
Sentimental about the film as his mom's movie and the Motown soundtrack. Loves American Flyers and ensemble friendship movies. A sucker for needle drops and domestic details like Nick's Porsche.
Stances
It's an inherited rewatchable from his parents' generation
Wants a cycling month
Cast what-if bits
Humor: Deadpan ribbing and long riffs on fake sequels.
In their words
“I'm super happy because I fucking love American Fires.” (0:38:30)
“Maybe we should do cycling month on the rewatchable.” (0:38:39)
Prefers He Got Game; passionate about the Sopranos and about how Bronx Tale influenced it; likes De Niro's softer performance. Notes father-son themes across films. Likes the biker bar scene most.
Stances
Bronx Tale influenced the Sopranos more than any movie
Palminteri won the movie
Double feature with This Boy's Life
Sonny is Vito, not Sonny Corleone
Humor: Dry, riffing on his own image as a loved person who would be exposed in a tell-all.
In their words
“He got game is my favorite father-son movie.” (0:02:37)
“I actually have now you just can't leave.” (1:03:09)
Loves studio-era comedy craft and character actors; is a sucker for movies that play against type. Is bothered by plot logic like the murder charge being a weak link.
Stances
Courtroom movies are sports movies
The movie is 15-20 minutes too long but the last half hour is lights out
Humor: Deadpan nitpicks and long fond digressions.
In their words
“It's 15 minutes too long. And the last half hours lights out.” (0:09:17)
“You know, the murder charge is the weak link of the film.” (0:51:44)
Loves the Rogan-Apatow comedy era and the friendship dynamics; admires its screenwriting. Is over weed humor now. A sucker for Larry Sanders-style meta-comedy.
Stances
Weed culture has aged worst
Jonah Hill is underrated
The film is a pretty moral movie
Humor: Dry and deadpan, with nitpicky geography bits.
In their words
“I'm pretty over marijuana culture.” (0:46:30)
“It's like actually a pretty moral movie.” (0:19:35)
Appreciates the Tony Scott action-movie side of Cop II, Rosewood and Taggart, and big 80s excess, and hard-to-pull-off action comedies. Annoyed by the alphabet-killer logic holes and the cement truck edit. A sucker for what-if spinoffs like Rosewood and Taggart in Detroit.
Stances
Rosewood and Taggart are as funny as Eddie and deserve a spinoff
The alphabet crimes could have gone to J
Cop II is a showcase for Eddie bits
Cop III is an abomination
Humor: Builds long mock pitches and absurd hypotheticals and stacks them on Simmons's riffs.
In their words
“All of this movie is essentially built around, like, let Eddie Cook.” (0:05:38)
“Is an Amazonian blonde woman the best front man for those crimes.” (0:57:50)
Fan of Bruce Willis's blend of action and comedy and an affectionate watcher of that-guy character actors. Loves airport nostalgia and the chaos of Christmas travel; dislikes the callous plane crash. Sucker for Janine Turner and Die Hard with a Vengeance.
Stances
Die Hard 2 is a Christmas movie
Willis was uniquely good at both action and comedy
Die Hard with a Vengeance is a perfect movie
Die Hard 2 is more action-movie-ish than 1 and 3
Humor: Deadpan escalating riffs and nostalgia stories, quick to turn an observation into a bit.
In their words
“This captures the anxiety of traveling during Christmas.” (1:15:27)
“He was so good at both the, the, like the thriller action stunt stuff and also the one-liners” (0:07:08)
Gets excited by pure cinematic storytelling, Hitchcock-style filmmaking and compressed exposition; loves Leto's overacting and House of Gucci; sucker for bearer bonds as a heist device. Hates unrealistic plotting only in passing.
Stances
Panic Room is a thrilling rewatch of pure cinematic filmmaking
Leto in House of Gucci is great
Takes the propane scene as the best in the movie
Fincher wins the movie
Humor: Self-deprecating and absurdist: jokes about being childless and going Krav Maga on burglars.
In their words
“Yeah, and I also would say just like coming out of Fight Club, and it was like the star making performances for Ed Norton” (0:22:37)
“I'm going to take the propane tanks.” (0:56:30)
“I'm going to say Noah Pacino.” (1:17:27)
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.
The Rewatchables
Apex Mountain: The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits.
Who Won the Movie: The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off.
The Ebert review: Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show.
Casting what-ifs: Who was almost cast, or who should have been.
Most rewatchable scene: The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels.
Aged best / aged worst: What holds up and what does not.
Picking Nits: The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits.
Double feature: The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick.
Their claims
Showing 201–300 of 854 claims.
theme (theme):
Internal Affairs → Unfaithful.
Apex Mountain candidates for imagining a spouse with someone else: Unfaithful and Indecent Proposal.
“Unfaithful is a big one when gear after he kills the sculptor.”
lineage (lineage):
Internal Affairs → Deep Cover.
Deep Cover was conceived as a sequel to Internal Affairs; Michael Tolkin and Henry Bean got involved in writing it.
“Deep cover was conceived as a sequel to this movie.”
lineage (lineage):
The Last of the Mohicans → Heat.
Heat is described as the urban version of Last of the Mohicans, a step in Mann's progression toward The Insider.
“Then you've got heat, which in some ways is the urban version of Last of the Mohicans.”
craft (craft):
The Insider → The Last of the Mohicans.
The Insider is where Mann starts making wild formal decisions, after the romantic landscape painting of Mohicans and the urban Heat.
“And then Insider marks where man starts making all these really wild formal decisions.”
craft (craft):
Dante Spinotti → The Insider.
Spinotti shoots most of the film handheld from someone's collar to visualize the characters' life-changing decisions.
“He also shoots the insider, but they're essentially trying to visualize what it's like for people to make decisions.”
career (career):
Russell Crowe → Al Pacino.
Pacino gets three decades to be Al Pacino while Crowe gets five years, a statement about the movie business.
verdict (verdict):
Michael Caine → The Cider House Rules.
Caine won supporting actor for Cider House Rules after being passed over, a Susan Lucci situation.
craft (craft):
Marvin Gaye → The Big Chill.
'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' is a purposeful, perfect song choice for the moment everyone hears Alex has died.
“Like, it's a purposeful choice to use that song at that moment, you know, and like just those little details that he, make sure he gets right”
craft (craft):
Meg Kasdan → The Big Chill.
Meg Kasdan helped curate the soundtrack with Lawrence Kasdan, choosing songs that were popular to these characters in 1968-69.
“I guess Meg Kazden, Lawrence Kazden's wife, you know, helped curate the soundtrack and worked with him on it.”
theme (theme):
The Big Chill → Tootsie.
The Big Chill is part of a lost wave of 80s serious comedies like Tootsie, Lost in America, Baby Boom, Broadcast News.
“I also feel like this has aged well as one of the signature serious comedies of the 1980s.”
craft (craft):
John Bailey → The Big Chill.
Bailey's dissolve from the stitches on Alex's wrist into the rows of farmland outside the church.
“they were shooting the field outside the church where they see all the rows of like farmland and he's like, 0 my god, this matches perfectly with the stitches on Alex's wrist.”
craft (craft):
John Bailey → The Big Chill.
The camera in the one-house movie moves with purpose, subtle zooms and pans, because editor and cinematographer trust each other.
“But if you look at how the camera's moving, like very subtle zooms panning very purposefully around, like, it seems perfunctory, but if you pay close attention, it's really purposeful”
craft (craft):
The Band → The Big Chill.
'The Weight' playing over Meg at the dining table is singled out as a best needle drop.
“I just really like when like Meg's shattered and she's sitting at the dining room table smoking and like the shoe boxes are there and the wait's playing.”
theme (character echo):
A Bronx Tale → The Godfather.
Sonny is said to be more like Vito than Sonny Corleone: guns bring heat, so keep them out of the neighborhood.
“I think Sunny is more like Vito Corleone than he is like Sonny Corleone”
contrast (contrast):
A Bronx Tale → Goodfellas.
The Pauly-to-Jimmy shift in Goodfellas parallels the old-neighborhood-boss versus cocaine-and-silencers mafia, which this movie sits on the nostalgic side of.
“Pauly is like, we all sit around and and eat sausage and and like, we fix the neighborhood and keep it safe”
lineage (influence):
A Bronx Tale → The Sopranos.
Ryan argues A Bronx Tale influenced The Sopranos more than any other movie, with Sonny and Tony Soprano close in how they hold the neighborhood.
“I think Bronx Tale... influenced the Sopranos more than any other movie, but I don't think people think that.”
unmapped (betting on yourself):
Chazz Palminteri → Sylvester Stallone.
Palminteri's refusal to sell the one-man show without starring is compared to Stallone and Rocky.
unmapped (same year):
A Bronx Tale → This Boy's Life.
Both De Niro father-figure films came out in 1993; This Boy's Life is also chosen as the double-feature partner.
“It's amazing to think that this and this boy's life is the same year, you know?”
career (career):
Chazz Palminteri → Bullets Over Broadway.
His Oscar nomination for Bullets Over Broadway came the next year, so his Apex Mountain case is for that year.
“he gets nominated for Bolts over Broadway for an Academy.”
people (performance comparison):
A Bronx Tale → Stanley & Iris.
Asked if this was De Niro's only normal movie marriage, they cite Stanley and Iris with Jane Fonda as another functional one.
theme (motif):
A Bronx Tale → The Godfather.
The 'thunderbolt' moment of instant love appears in Michael and Apollonia, in Goodfellas, and in this film's Jane.
career (career):
Dale Launer → Ruthless People.
Launer wrote a cottage industry of adult comedies (Blind Date, Ruthless People, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) not made anymore.
“Dale Larner, had like a little bit of a cottage industry of adult comedies”
career (career):
Eastbound & Down → This Is the End.
Kenny Powers as a houseguest; the public's perception of McBride from Foot Fist Way and Eastbound.
“what if Kenny Powers was just like at our house, you know?”
theme (theme):
Neighbors → This Is the End.
Neighbors is the last gasp of the Apatow arc where the guy realizes he has to grow up, one last big blast.
“neighbors is kind of like the last gasp of that where it's like these people who have a kid who, like, haven't party in a while, but like they have one last big blast.”
theme (theme):
Knocked Up → This Is the End.
Rogen and Goldberg add heart: the pull of sacrifice for a friend runs from Superbad and Knocked Up into this film.
“sacrificing yourself for like the greater good was super bad with knocked up.”
career (career):
This Is the End → The Wolf of Wall Street.
Apex Mountain check: Jonah Hill, Wolf and This Is the End the same year, probably worth Moneyball.
“I mean, this is Wolf and this is the end, right?”
what-if (what-if):
This Is the End → Project X.
One crazy night party like Project X married to Night of the Living Dead; Project X offered as a double feature.
people (producer excess):
Beverly Hills Cop II → Don Simpson.
Ryan says he thinks of the sequel as directed by Simpson and Bruckheimer because of their 80s cocaine excess.
“I kind of think of this one as directed by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer because it has all of the 80s cocaine excess that I associate with them during this decade.”
theme (sports analogy):
Eddie Murphy → Luka Doncic.
Murphy-centered scenes are likened to a team built around one heliocentric player taking a fadeaway.
“It's like watching a team with one heliocentric good player.”
lineage (tone lineage):
Beverly Hills Cop → 1970s cop movies.
The first film feels like an extension of 70s cop movies, especially the Detroit material, while the sequel feels glossy and 80s.
“There's a world in which that almost feels like an extension of like 70s cop movies.”
unmapped (star power on set):
Beverly Hills Cop II → Fast & Furious (series).
Cop II is likened to the domino that taught stars they can be late, improvise, and force productions to scramble, as with Vin Diesel's approval of action sequences.
“You could be late. You can improvise and like they just have to scramble to make it work because you're the price of admission.”
unmapped (set behavior):
Beverly Hills Cop II → Cobra.
The Stallone Cobra stories about nobody being allowed to talk to him mirror the star-run chaos on Cop II.
“And we did Cobra a few months ago and there was the Stallone stories about nobody in the set was allowed to talk to them or interact with them and it just everybody had lost their mind at this point.”
unmapped (screaming comedy):
Another 48 Hrs. → Eddie Murphy.
Murphy's funny stuff there is mostly screaming, unlike his subtler early work selling the other actors.
“A lot of like his quote unquote funny stuff is just kind of him screaming.”
industry (franchise fatigue):
Roger Ebert → Die Hard 2.
Ebert in 1987 may have felt the way people feel now about Marvel: bloated 80s action sequels getting less funny.
“You see the way things are going and you're like, oh, like these 80s bloated action movies are just going to get less funny and more incoherent.”
theme (era shift):
Do the Right Thing → Eddie Murphy.
Do the Right Thing marks the shift at the end of the decade away from Murphy's sole mainstream prominence.
“Things like do the right thing come in and then it starts to shift.”
unmapped (Brigitte Nielsen / Tony Scott):
Beverly Hills Cop II → Cobra.
Nielsen wore a terrible wig in Cobra, a film the show covered, and had worked with Stallone and Schwarzenegger before this one.
“She's in Cobra with a terrible wig on, which we covered in the Cobra watchables than this.”
career (career path):
Brigitte Nielsen → Rocky IV.
Nielsen rose in Red Sonja and Rocky IV (Ludmilla Drago), then Cobra, then Cop II, which both say is her best part.
“I think this is the best part she's ever had, right?”
unmapped (missed star-maker):
Brigitte Nielsen → Steven Soderbergh.
Gina Carano got a Soderbergh movie; Nielsen never found her Soderbergh who would build something for her.
“She never found like her Soderberg, who just kind of stared at her up and down.”
unmapped (modern equivalent):
Brigitte Nielsen → Charlize Theron.
If Nielsen came along now she would be making Atomic Blonde and Furiosa type roles, as Charlize Theron does.
“if Brigitte Nielsen was around now, she would probably be making atomic blonde and like Furiosa and stuff.”