The podcast corpus
12,078 claims and 5,127 fun items from 206 episodes, about 7,690 films and 5,411 people, with 657 personality sketches. Search reads claims and fun items (SQLite full-text search).
38 lines
Showing 1–38 of 38 lines.
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career (career arc):
A Few Good Men → Mission: Impossible.
Few Good Men shows the possibility and edge of Cruise that fades as he moves to Ethan Hunt.
“the edge of Tom Cruise characters kind of goes away as he moves towards Ethan Hunt.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:38:18 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Chris points out that Cruise whispers his questions to Jessup in a courtroom where a jury would never hear, which only makes sense because it is a movie, though the script was written for the stage.
“there's multiple moments where he just starts whispering questions at him.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:38:42 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Cruise goes quiet-loud-quiet-loud against Nicholson, like Smells Like Teen Spirit, priming Jessup to explode.
“It's like listening, it smells like teen spirit.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:39:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Amanda notes a tiny scene of timing where Kaffee says sit down to people already sitting and pauses for a second before moving on, without Sorkin-ing it.
“He doesn't oversell it.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:43:33 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them) -
verdict (ranking):
A Few Good Men → The Firm.
The hosts treat them as the two lawyer movies and only one can survive the final Hall of Fame cut; A Few Good Men wins.
“I didn't realize that this was a one lawyer only hall of fame.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:05:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
As a kid Amanda or Sean practiced Jessup's speech on a park basketball court shooting free throws.
“The Jack Nicholson speech from a few good men out loud while shooting free throws”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 0:41:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Among the most rewatched movies of a lifetime, alongside Network, Oz, Godfather, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction.
“It's in the conversation for the most rewatched movie of my lifetime.”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:19:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
programming (programming):
A Few Good Men → Network.
It is in the conversation for most rewatched movie of a lifetime, next to Network, Oz, Godfather, Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction.
“and a few good men is right there with it.”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:19:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
A Few Good Men → The Caine Mutiny.
It is a conventional military courtroom drama like The Caine Mutiny, yet has special energy due to Sorkin.
“some very good movies like the King Mutiny, some very mediocre movies like Rules of Engagement.”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:19:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
people (people):
A Few Good Men → Tom Cruise.
Cruise does Sorkin's rhythms well and the film is not iconic without Cruise and Nicholson.
“I don't know that a few good men is, you know, as iconic as it is without Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:21:16 · Amanda Dobbins (0.65 sure it was them) -
theme (theme):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → A Few Good Men.
Both are courtroom dramas of principled argument; Cruise's charisma is key and Chicago 7 needs scene-chewers too.
“You have to have people that want to gnaw on the scenery, that want to yell, that want to be in the center of the frame.”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:22:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them) -
theme (theme):
The Trial of the Chicago 7 → A Few Good Men.
Unlike A Few Good Men, Chicago 7 is full of obvious themes to dissect.
“There's all of these obvious themes”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:22:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Kids in Atlanta quoted 'you can't handle the truth' as an elementary school joke.
“I remember like you can't handle the truth being like an elementary school joke”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:23:22 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
The West Wing (TV series) → A Few Good Men.
Cruise and Nicholson are the best single Sorkin performances, but the West Wing ensemble is best because Sorkin could write for them.
“Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson are the best single Sorkin performances”
The Big Picture · Aaron Sorkin Top 5s and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ · 1:26:29 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them) -
programming (programming):
The Pelican Brief → A Few Good Men.
Disqualified: legal thriller, not courtroom drama, operating outside the courtroom.
“operates almost entirely outside of the courtroom”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:11:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them) -
programming (programming):
12 Angry Men → A Few Good Men.
12 Angry Men is a technicality: a morality play in a side room, not a courtroom drama.
“It's a morality play inside of a side room related to a courtroom”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:12:02 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them) -
programming (programming):
To Kill a Mockingbird → A Few Good Men.
Left off the list as more homework than pleasurable; the list favors twisty, speechifying, overacting movies.
“pleasurability factor of a lot of these movies”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:14:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Hosts quote the dialogue at each other; Sean has seen it more than any other film.
“I've seen it probably more than any other film, but I'll take any excuse”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:23:26 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Miracle on 34th Street → A Few Good Men.
Miracle is the starter kit: a fantasy kids courtroom drama, unlike the others, which are incomprehensible or inappropriate for children.
“Miracle on 34th Street is like, is kind of the starter kit”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:36:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them) -
theme (theme):
A Few Good Men → Miracle on 34th Street.
Wanting to believe the law upholds good is a theme across the list that doesn't always pay off, but does here.
“wanting to believe in the law and the ability of the court to uphold the side of good”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 0:37:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them) -
lineage (lineage):
A Few Good Men → The Verdict.
You cannot have A Few Good Men without The Verdict; everything on the courtroom checklist comes from it.
“you really, really cannot have a few good men without having the verdict”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:07:27 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
The Verdict → A Few Good Men.
Verdict's results hinge on integrity and decency, a counterpoint to being right or wrong.
“a lot of these movies which are about the vagaries of being right and wrong”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:09:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
My Cousin Vinny → A Few Good Men.
Vinny is a parody and a loving endorsement of all the pleasures of courtroom movies.
“a parody of these types of movies and a parody of the legal system”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:21:02 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Cruise wins the scene by going toe to toe with Nicholson.
“Cruz is thundering his way through the cross-examination”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:26:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
people (people):
A Few Good Men → Aaron Sorkin.
Sorkin's difficult lines; Cruise commands them.
“total command of the Sorkin lines”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:26:36 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them) -
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Where's my bat: Cruise thinks better with the bat.
“I think better with my bat”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:27:33 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them) -
lineage (lineage):
A Time to Kill → A Few Good Men.
A Time to Kill blends every earlier trope: country lawyer, big-shot prosecutor, cranky judge.
“puts them in a blender and it gives you every single thing”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:28:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them) -
people (people):
A Few Good Men → Rob Reiner.
Reiner is in the descending line of filmmakers.
“Oliver Stone, Rob Reiner”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:30:05 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them) -
career (career):
A Few Good Men → The Firm.
Tom Cruise's Firm period was important to Amanda; she ranks it the best Grisham movie.
“the firm is like the quote best movie”
The Big Picture · Objection! Top 10 Courtroom Dramas | The Big Picture · 1:31:01 · Amanda Dobbins (0.55 sure it was them) -
lineage (Sorkin legacy-sequel comparison):
A Few Good Men → Heat 2.
A hypothetical Sorkin A Few Good Men sequel is compared to Heat 2 as a legacy-sequel recast by its original creator.
“it's not Fincher doing the legacyquel with an entirely different cast, but it is Sorkin making his own legacy.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 1:36:10 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (TV lineage):
A Few Good Men → NCIS.
A Few Good Men's JAG lawyer role is linked to the JAG/NCIS rights tangle as the joke legacy sequel.
“As we all know, NCIS is based on JAG. is a spinoff. technically a spinoff of the TV show, Jack.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 1:37:25 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them) -
programming (programming):
A Few Good Men → Aaron Sorkin.
A Few Good Men and The American President get folded into a Sorkin series, not a Reiner one.
“Few good men in American president.”
Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:06:13 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
career (career):
Kevin Bacon → A Few Good Men.
Bacon chose to be a character actor, wanting a part like A Few Good Men over the Tom Cruise role.
“I want like, I want the fucking part in a few good men rather than being turned down for the Tom Cruise role.”
Blank Check — Patreon · In the Cut with Jourdain Searles (Ad-Free) · 0:59:38 · Griffin or David (unclear) (0.35 sure it was them) -
programming (programming):
Misery → A Few Good Men.
Misery sits in Reiner's incredible trio, all now Rewatchables.
“But when Harry Met Ali, Misery, Few Good Men, is really the best of all of these different great actors, right?”
The Rewatchables · ‘Misery’ With Bill Simmons and Brian Koppelman · 0:15:13 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
A Few Good Men → Misery.
A Few Good Men can be rolled into anywhere; Misery cannot be started midway.
“You could just kind of roll into a few good men, wherever it's it's a perfect rewatchable, right?”
The Rewatchables · ‘Misery’ With Bill Simmons and Brian Koppelman · 0:41:52 · Bill Simmons (0.65 sure it was them) -
what-if (casting what-if):
Demi Moore → A Few Good Men.
Pairing Cruise again with Demi Moore after A Few Good Men would have made a good Claire.
“ever since a few good men on cruise doing another movie with Demi Moore, and I thought she would make a good Clare.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:33:15 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (Hannibal Lecter part):
Jack Nicholson → A Few Good Men.
A role like Costello, like Jessup or Lecter, is a home-run part that should get a supporting actor nod.
“This was like the Hannibal Lecter, that even the Jessup and Fugon man.”
The Rewatchables · ‘The Departed’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan · 0:49:34 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them) -
people (same actor, different result):
The Departed → A Few Good Men.
Nicholson nailed every line of Sorkin's watertight script in A Few Good Men but is all over the place in The Departed.
“he nails every line of Sorkin dialogue. It's like watertight script.”
The Rewatchables · ‘The Departed’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan · 0:50:13 · Chris Ryan (0.60 sure it was them)