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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).

44 lines

Showing 1–44 of 44 lines.

  1. unmapped (host-passion-episode): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → RoboCop. Like RoboCop, this is an episode where a movie means so much to one host the question was whether a guest was needed at all.
    “Sometimes there is a movie like Robocop, you know, where it's just like, this means so much to one of us.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:08:03 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. craft (visual gag comparison): Decision to Leave → RoboCop. The husband's cartoon fall off the mountain is compared to the Dick Jones stop-motion fall at the end of Robocop.
    “He does like a like a end of Robocop Dick Jones fall, basically.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Decision to Leave with Tatiana Maslany · 1:14:03 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. contrast (contrast): Flesh and Blood → RoboCop. Unlike Flesh+Blood, RoboCop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct have an arc and some resolution.
    “Whereas in Robocop, in total recall, in basic instinct, even, like, right, he's, you know, these are movies with more of an arc for a character.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:19:12 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. career (career): RoboCop → Total Recall. RoboCop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct let him have cake and eat it: deconstructions that also work as straight entertainment.
    “What I've called before, movies where he gets to have his cake needed too.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:19:25 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
  5. career (career): RoboCop → Starship Troopers. Starship Troopers is the most extreme form of the deconstruction-as-entertainment approach.
    “Starship Troopers is sort of the most extreme version of it where they're like, we won.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:19:38 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. theme (theme): RoboCop → Jesus Christ. RoboCop is described as American Jesus, reflecting Verhoeven's Jesus fascination.
    “like, RoboCops about American Jesus.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:36:39 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. career (career): Flesh and Blood → RoboCop. Flesh+Blood is the failure that led Verhoeven to Hollywood and RoboCop, where he built entertainment around his interests.
    “from this film on, he figures out how to take everything he's interested in and put it into the body of a conventionally entertaining Hollywood movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Flesh+Blood · 0:49:14 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. programming (programming): Darren Aronofsky → RoboCop. Aronofsky was first choice, stayed three years, then left because MGM could not fund the film, the start of his flirtations with franchises.
    “Yes, Darren Aronovsky is the 1st choice.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:11:50 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  9. contrast (contrast): RoboCop → RoboCop. In the original, Murphy loses his identity and must rediscover it; here he never does, and the host calls that stupid.
    “he never loses his identity.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:18:05 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  10. theme (theme): RoboCop → RoboCop. The OCP change to OmniCorp is read as a change made because the original seems corny today.
    “the differentiations they make feel driven by like, well, if you watch the original now, it's kind of corny.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:22:35 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  11. contrast (contrast): RoboCop → RoboCop. A remake that pushes seriousness and cuts the humor, though the humor is what people remember about the original.
    “you're like, huh, because the humor's the stuff that people remember.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:30:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  12. craft (craft): RoboCop → RoboCop. The original's way of showing the conversion was good, but the remake skips the time lapse and wakes him already built.
    “the way they did it was really a good way to do it.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:33:17 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  13. craft (craft): RoboCop → Venom. Keeping his face visible is a studio note, like Topher Grace in Venom, so the visor keeps swinging up and down.
    “So in this, it's like Topher Grace Venom where they're like, well, his visor comes up anytime he speaks.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:33:41 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  14. craft (craft): Legacy Effects → RoboCop. After the first suit photos went over badly, the production gave Legacy Effects about two weeks to build a second suit closer to the 1987 look, per what the shop told the speaker.
    “the production panicked when the 1st photos came out and the response was so bad and we were given like 2 weeks to make a new suit that looked more like the 80s movie”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:34:47 · Griffin Newman (0.70 sure it was them)
  15. contrast (contrast): RoboCop → RoboCop. The remake keeps the hand as a clever Easter egg that inverts Bob Morton's order to junk the hand.
    “in this one they keep the hand.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:35:42 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  16. lineage (lineage): RoboCop → Avatar. The robot-waking sequence is beat for beat the first act of Avatar, down to testing the new body's powers.
    “It is crazy actually how much this sequence is like beat for beat, the Avatar, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:38:34 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  17. craft (craft): RoboCop → The Wizard of Oz. The training-sequence song joke riffs on the Tin Man and If I Only Had a Heart.
    “If I only had a heart is what it's.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:46:51 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)
  18. craft (craft): RoboCop → Focus. The training sequence plays Focus's 'Hocus Pocus' as the Tin Man 'If I Only Had a Heart' joke.
    “Hocus pocus by focus.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:46:51 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  19. lineage (lineage): RoboCop → Batman Begins. The remake is part of the grounded-and-serious wave that followed Nolan; the speakers say this film marks the end of it.
    “The Batman begins effect.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:47:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  20. lineage (lineage): RoboCop → Terminator Salvation. Non-Nolan grim-and-grounded reboots like this one end up self-serious but made by a dumb person and noted to death.
    “you get Terminator salvation, you get these movies that are just like self-serious but made by a dumb person”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:47:57 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  21. contrast (contrast): RoboCop → RoboCop. The remake's Easter eggs, like the hand and the I'd buy that for a dollar line, feel dismissive of the original.
    “Like all the jokes they make feel dismissive of the original film.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:48:26 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  22. lineage (lineage): RoboCop → Casino Royale. Filmmakers sell the remake as the Casino Royale or Batman Begins of RoboCop while the Easter eggs sneer at the original.
    “It's like the Casino Royale.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:48:47 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  23. craft (craft): RoboCop → Batman Begins. The black rubber suit and the motorcycle read as Nolan's Batman, not as a robot.
    “And then the suit looks very Nolan Batman.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:52:38 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  24. craft (craft): RoboCop → Batman: Arkham Asylum. The scanning and target-tagging scenes feel video-gamey, specifically like the Arkham games.
    “Like this is like Arkham Asylum.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:54:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  25. industry (industry): RoboCop → Iron Man. The remake arrives six years after Iron Man nailed the cool-guy-in-a-robot-suit idea and gets nowhere close.
    “Iron Man has nailed what they're trying to do and they're coming to the party 6 years late and not getting anywhere close, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:56:30 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  26. career (career): Joel Kinnaman → RoboCop. Kinnaman's mixed accent, English with his dad and Swedish with his mom, gives Murphy an odd rhythm that stands in for the monotone.
    “that gives him a version of the kind of weird Robocop monotonous voice, you know?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 0:57:59 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  27. contrast (contrast): RoboCop → Robocop 2. The speakers say RoboCop 2's satire goes big where this film does not.
    “The fun of Robocop 2 is how big they can go with the satire.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:04:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  28. industry (industry): John Carpenter → RoboCop. Carpenter got better at accepting executive-producer money on remakes of his ideas, while Verhoeven gets no checks.
    “I will happily be a nominal, stupid executive producer or whatever if you pay me.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:07:21 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  29. career (career): RoboCop → Chi-Raq (transcribed 'Shyraq'). Jackson's direct-address monologues here recall Chi-Raq, where he has fun as a meta narrator; here he is muzzled.
    “Samuel Jackson has a character who similarly is doing like direct address to the camera monologues, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:09:17 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  30. contrast (contrast): RoboCop → RoboCop. Keaton's villain stays the same until a rooftop face-off; the speakers imagine Ronny Cox's version in his place.
    “if Michael Keaton is fucking Ronnie Cox, you know. The movie like doesn't have a villain.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:19:44 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  31. contrast (contrast): RoboCop → RoboCop. The original's villains were iconic and specific; this one has a gangster, corruption, and a businessman, but no physical antagonist.
    “He has no physical antagonist.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:19:58 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  32. industry (industry): RoboCop → The Avengers. The film is pre-Marvel franchise filmmaking that landed two years after The Avengers and feels out of touch with trends.
    “this movie comes out 2 years after the Avengers.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:21:08 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  33. verdict (verdict): RoboCop → Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ranked against another 2014 one-star Patreon pick, the host likes this less than either it or Ouija.
    “I think I like this less than either.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:22:17 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  34. verdict (verdict): RoboCop → Ouija. One-star Patreon-feed comparison: the hosts rate this film worse than Ouija.
    “I think this is worse than Ouija.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:22:26 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  35. verdict (verdict): RoboCop → RoboCop 3. They rank the sequels against each other: 2 is better than 3, though both beat this film.
    “Robocop 3 is like Lunchables Pizza?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:29:39 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  36. theme (theme): RoboCop → The Mandalorian and Grogu. A stoic armored parent who secretly cares is called basically RoboCop 3.
    “It's basically RoboCop 3.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:34:19 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)
  37. lineage (lineage): RoboCop → Total Recall. The Wiseman remake of Total Recall is cited as an equally boring office-building finale, a remake sibling to this film.
    “This is so similar to the Wiseman Total Recall.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · RoboCop (2014) · 1:43:43 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  38. programming (programming): Edge of Tomorrow → RoboCop. The hosts recorded a RoboCop commentary in the slot where Edge was originally scheduled, and the opening news montage reminds them of RoboCop's.
    “I mean, we just saw it with like Robocop.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Edge of Tomorrow · 1:05:18 · Ben Hosley (0.40 sure it was them)
  39. programming (programming): RoboCop → Psycho. Robocop has one good covered movie and three bad; Psycho offers more to discuss.
    “it is one good movie we have covered and 3 bad, whereas Psycho, it's like, there's a lot of interesting shit there.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 1:04:32 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  40. verdict (verdict): RoboCop → Peter Weller. Griffin's recurring gripe that RoboCop 2 should not put the mask back on Weller.
    “Robocop 2 should never put the mask back on Peter Weller.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 1:04:44 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  41. theme (theme): RoboCop → Total Recall. The RoboCop remake and Total Recall remake are emblematic of peak shitty 2010 remakes.
    “That era kind of total recall robocop.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 1:05:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  42. theme (thematic): Alien 3 → RoboCop. Both franchises have a looming company willing to feed people into the grinder.
    “Like, like, alien and Robocop as franchises both have these like big looming companies that are willing to throw like any human beings into the grinder.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Alien 3 · 1:54:13 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
  43. career (career): Miguel Ferrer → RoboCop. Ferrer is the ultimate 80s asshole and a classic Shane Black type, pointed to via RoboCop.
    “He's like the like ultimate 80s asshole.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 3 · 1:17:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  44. career (career): Ronny Cox → RoboCop. Cox's 'that guy' run includes Vision Quest, Cop and Cop 2, RoboCop and Total Recall.
    “he ripped off Vision Quest, cop and cop two, Robocop, total recall”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:04:09 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)