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).
61 lines
Showing 1–61 of 61 lines.
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programming (paired double feature):
The Killer → Fight Club.
Both are very funny first-person-narrated films about sociopaths who rationalize brutal violence as a personal mission.
“This movie would make a neat pairing with Fight Club. Two very funny films about sociopaths whose inner monologues rationalize brutal violence as expressions of a personal mission.”
The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:30 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them) -
unmapped (narration):
The Killer → Fight Club.
They are the two Fincher films driven by complicit first-person narration, though Fight Club uses it for a reality-bending twist and The Killer stays objective.
“They're the 2 Fincher movies that are driven by 1st person narration, and a 1st person narration where the tone is, you're with me.”
The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:20:45 · Adam Nayman (0.85 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
The Killer → Fight Club.
Fight Club is about societal and male-psyche breakdown; The Killer is about a functioning guy who messed up at work.
“Fight Club is about the breakdown of society and the male psyche. The killer is about a guy who's like, shit, I fucked up at work”
The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Fight Club:
The Killer is 'a guy who's like, shit, I fucked up at work', 20 years after Fight Club's society collapse.
“that's amazing to come like 20 years later and land there”
The Big Picture · ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More · 1:22:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them) -
theme (narration comparison):
The Killer (graphic novel) → Fight Club.
The comic's killer has an inner monologue closer to the Fight Club narrator.
“it's more that like this guy's inner monologue is closer to Edward Norton Fight Club.”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:41:40 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them) -
theme (recurring motif):
Andrew Kevin Walker → Fight Club.
Walker brought a similar modern-tech angle (name tags) to Fight Club.
“I think he had some of that in fight club too”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Killer with Marie Bardi (Ad-Free) · 0:48:38 · unknown (host) (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (unreliable voiceover):
Fight Club → Gone Girl.
Fight Club, Gone Girl and The Killer share voiceover that turns out to be lying.
“But like, Fight Club, Gone, Girl, and the killer are all very unreliable voice.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 2:06:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (generational datedness):
Easy Rider → Fight Club.
Younger viewers may see Fight Club the way the speakers see Easy Rider.
“younger people now watching that film would be like us watching Easy Rider.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:24:48 · Leslye Headland (0.70 sure it was them) -
unmapped (satire that holds up):
Fight Club → Dr. Strangelove.
Leslye calls Fight Club a Strangelove-style satire that lasts because male toxicity is evergreen.
“But to me, Fight Club is Doctor Strangelove.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:25:13 · Leslye Headland (0.85 sure it was them) -
unmapped (response to):
Fight Club → Panic Room.
A host says Panic Room is a conscious response to Fight Club, which flopped and tried to be about everything.
“Yes. And I feel like it's a very conscious response to fight club.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:24:52 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
people (shared lead actor):
Panic Room → Fight Club.
Fincher put Jared Leto through physical abuse in both Fight Club and Panic Room.
“Because in the fight club as well, he gets a shipping down.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 1:15:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
craft (camera operator):
Conrad W. Hall → Fight Club.
The replacement DP had been a camera operator on Seven and Fight Club.
“He been a camera operator on uh 7 in Fight Club.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 1:33:04 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
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.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:06:04 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them) -
theme (shared theme):
Jackass → Fight Club.
A speaker says the urge Fight Club is getting at reaches its peak form in Jackass.
“I do find like the expression of what this movie is sort of getting at for me reaches its peak form in jackass.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:46:32 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (brought the book):
Joshua Donen → Fight Club.
Donen recorded a reading of the novel and sent it to Fox 2000.
“loves the twist of the book, the iconic twist at the end,”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:50:36 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (champion):
Raymond Bongiovanni → Fight Club.
A Fox executive's obituary said bringing Fight Club to the screen was his dying wish.
“his his obituary claimed that bringing Fight Club to the screen was his dying wish.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:52:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (passed on directing):
David O. Russell → Fight Club.
Fox first handed the book to David O. Russell, who says he did not understand it.
“David O. Russell says he did not understand the book.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:53:32 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
theme (comparison (Fincher's own)):
The Graduate → Fight Club.
Reading the dossier, the speaker says Fincher's big comparison for Fight Club was The Graduate: coming of age, but in your 30s.
“His big comparison, which I do think is very interesting, is he's like, this is the graduate, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:55:00 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
industry (studio history):
Alien 3 → Fight Club.
Fincher's bad time at Fox on Alien 3 is why he did not want Fox to have Fight Club.
“he had obviously had a terrible experience with Fox, doing Alien three.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:55:13 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Seven → Fight Club.
Seven was fucked up in a way entirely different from Fight Club, yet studios treated Fincher as the fucked-up guy.
“it's fucked up in a way that's entirely different from this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 0:58:26 · Alex Ross Perry (0.45 sure it was them) -
unmapped (generational time capsule):
Easy Rider → Fight Club.
Alex says a young viewer today would find Fight Club the way he found Easy Rider: he can see what it meant but it does not connect.
“this is like kids watching this now, I think, would be like when I watched Easy Rider.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:02:47 · Alex Ross Perry (0.60 sure it was them) -
unmapped (declined to write):
Buck Henry → Fight Club.
Fincher approached Buck Henry to write, who found nothing funny in it.
“but Buck Henry's response was, I don't think there's anything funny about it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:12:41 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
lineage (adaptation):
Chuck Palahniuk → Fight Club.
The film adapts Palahniuk's novel; the speaker says the screenplay cribs straight from the book.
“obviously the movie is, the book is very, he's cribbing right from the book.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:13:14 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (script polish):
Andrew Kevin Walker → Fight Club.
Walker polished the script, as he did with The Game.
“Andrew Kevin Walker, polish.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:14:16 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Fight Club:
The three detectives are named for the polish writer Andrew Kevin Walker, split across scenes.
“The 3 detectives in this movie are named Detective Andrew, Detective Kevin Deveca Walker.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:14:33 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (script advice):
Cameron Crowe → Fight Club.
Fincher asked Crowe about Tyler Durden and was told to make him more unknowable.
“make him more inscrutable.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:16:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
people (casting):
The People vs. Larry Flynt → Fight Club.
Fincher cast Norton off his work in Larry Flynt, which had the same vibe.
“But Fincher casts him in this off of people versus Larry Flynn, which is very much the same vibe.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:17:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
theme (mirror image):
The Matrix → Fight Club.
Norton's cubicle drone is called the mirror image of Keanu's in The Matrix.
“He is the mirror image of Keanu in the Matrix, the same mirror, the, you know, the cubicle guy with the fucking, you know, ill-fitting white shirt”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:31:01 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (business trade):
The Italian Job → Fight Club.
Paramount let Norton do Fight Club on condition he do The Italian Job.
“He gets permission to appear in this movie with Italian job as the price,”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:37:50 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Fight Club:
Fox gave Fincher about $750,000 and six more weeks, which also moved the release to fall.
“they gave him like $750,000, another 6 weeks to refine it and push it back because of that.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:39:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
industry (release context):
The Matrix → Fight Club.
The Matrix got tagged with the Columbine fallout because the two films opened so close together.
“The Matrix has gotten tagged so much with the columbine shit because they were so close together.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:39:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
industry (marketing parallel):
Eyes Wide Shut → Fight Club.
Entertainment Tonight did an exclusive trailer premiere for both Eyes Wide Shut and Fight Club.
“do the exclusive premiere of the trailer, which they also did for Eyes Wide Shut”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:56:25 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
unmapped (joke template):
Fight Club → Deadpool 2.
A joke that Fight Club is the template Deadpool perfected.
“I walked so that Deadpool could run.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:59:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
lineage (literary lineage):
Douglas Coupland → Fight Club.
The speaker says the early car-recall section is right out of Coupland and Gen X writing.
“It's right out of like Douglas Copeland or whatever, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:59:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Fight Club:
In China the release added a tacked-on text ending where the police stop everything.
“It ends with a note to viewers that says, through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals successfully preventing the bomb from exploding.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:01:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
programming (twist pairing):
The Sixth Sense → Fight Club.
Two big twist movies, ten weeks apart, with the same fake-person reveal.
“That's the same twist twice, 10 weeks apart.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:08:56 · Alex Ross Perry (0.40 sure it was them) -
people (performance contrast):
12 Monkeys → Fight Club.
Pitt in 12 Monkeys now looks like trying too hard compared with his ease in Fight Club.
“I watch that movie, that performance now, and I'm like, he's trying so hard.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:09:50 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
craft (declined score):
Thom Yorke → Fight Club.
Yorke was Fincher's first choice to score Fight Club and says he regrets saying no.
“His 1st choice to score this film was Tom York.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:22:13 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
people (composer):
Dust Brothers → Fight Club.
After the first choice declined, Fincher gave the score to the Dust Brothers.
“So instead he throws it to the Dust Brothers.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:22:32 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Fight Club:
Timing the Dust Brothers-adjacent song MMMBop to the car crash scene.
“If you actually, if you time Mbop with that scene in Fight Club, it works out perfectly.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:23:25 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Fight Club:
The key father-talk scene was reshot on a playground under a rusty swing after Fincher thought it sucked.
“They shot that scene on like a children's playground underneath like a rusty swing.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:32:22 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
programming (generational pairing):
A Clockwork Orange → Fight Club.
Fight Club is called the Clockwork Orange of another generation, an Edge Lord pick.
“This is kind of the clockwork Orange for another generation.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:43:02 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them) -
unmapped (misread satire):
American Psycho → Fight Club.
Both films are satire that fans take at face value.
“If you take this at face value, you are a fool and you are missing the point.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:44:58 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them) -
theme (thematic echo):
Feels Good Man → Fight Club.
A documentary on Pepe the Frog is cited for how online nihilism turned political.
“Feels good, man, which I think is an excellent documentary about the whole weird life cycle of Pepe the Frog,”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:53:18 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
programming (generational pairing):
Slacker → Fight Club.
Klosterman, as read, names Slacker or Fight Club as the decade's most generationally defining film.
“either slacker or fight club, could justifiably be called the decade's most generationally defining.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:57:12 · Alex Ross Perry (0.45 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Bonnie and Clyde → Fight Club.
Fight Club was not the first film of its decade the way Bonnie and Clyde was for the 70s.
“It's not like, oh, funny and Clyde, 1st movie of the 70s.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 2:58:36 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Fight Club:
At the Venice premiere the film was booed while Pitt grinned.
“Brad Pitt turns to him with like a huge smile on his face being like, this is the best movie I've ever been in.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 3:08:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them) -
career (career lever):
Seven → Fight Club.
Se7en's success is what let Fincher make the seemingly impossible Fight Club.
“But the fight club is him more being like, okay, guys, I know this seems impossible, but I made seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:05:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them) -
unmapped (critic's verdict):
Fight Club → Alien 3.
In his Fight Club review Ebert called Alien 3 one of the best looking bad movies.
“So Fight Club is when he said Alien 3 is one of the best looking bad movies I've ever seen.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ with Matt Singer (Ad-Free) · 1:12:27 · Matt Singer (0.40 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Fight Club → The Incredible Hulk.
Norton's live-wire narrator in Fight Club was a blueprint for a Banner performance, yet he is boring in this.
“the narrator in Fight Club kind of feels like a perfect show reel for a Bruce Banner performance, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · The Incredible Hulk · 0:16:06 · Griffin or David (0.30 sure it was them) -
fun, about
Fight Club:
Listener pictures Ed Norton's narrator looking at Bill praising new top boy Craig.
“I feel like destroying something beautiful.”
The Rewatchables · A CR Month Mailbag! · 0:12:18 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Panic Room → Fight Club.
Fincher assumed a one-location film would be easier than Fight Club's 400 scenes in 100 locations; it was harder.
“He does Fight Club and it's an insane movie to make, I think he said, Fight Club at 400 scenes in 100 locations.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:15:25 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them) -
career (career):
Panic Room → Fight Club.
Panic Room read as a small antidote to the response to Fight Club.
“This seemed like a little bit of an antidote to that because what's panic room about.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:19:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them) -
career (career):
Jared Leto → Fight Club.
Fight Club made the cast stars (Norton, Pitt) and Bill expected Panic Room to do the same for Leto.
“I think I kind of expected that to happen for Jared Leto in this movie when it 1st came out.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:22:49 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Panic Room → Fight Club.
Panic Room is one of the first Fincher films where the audience is with the characters the whole time.
“And panic room is this real-time experience.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:42:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Panic Room → Fight Club.
The inside-the-house camera moves Fincher started in Fight Club are fully developed in Panic Room.
“And there's a lot of like stuff that he had started to do a little bit with Fight Club is like really like fleshed out in panic room”
The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:20:53 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them) -
craft (craft):
Seven → Fight Club.
Fincher's cigarette burn shot in Fight Club is compared to the half-second Gwyneth shot in Se7en.
“I always think of Gwyneth as like a cigarette burn a little bit.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:08:28 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them) -
contrast (contrast):
Seven → Fight Club.
Fight Club feels more optimistic and is a love story, whereas Se7en says do not care about anything.
“Fight club's a love story.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:27:08 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them) -
career (career):
Seven → Fight Club.
Without Se7en's power Fincher does not get to do The Game and Fight Club his way.
“I think without this movie, he doesn't go on this run”
The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:27:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them) -
unmapped (fan theory):
Ferris Bueller's Day Off → Fight Club.
The online theory that Ferris is a figment of Cameron's imagination is likened to Fight Club.
“this is Cameron's fight club, you know, that Ferris is a figment of Cameron's imagination”
The Rewatchables · ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:02:36 · Chris Ryan (0.70 sure it was them) -
craft (joke structure):
Old School → Fight Club.
The Godfather secret in front of Pompeo works like a Fight Club rule about not talking about it outside.
“It's a great, like, fight club joke.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Old School’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:05:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)