Blank Check with Griffin & David

The 13th Warrior with David Lowery

<div>What if there was a 13th Warrior? What if there was a version of Beowulf so grounded in reality that the climactic battle with Grendel just kind of felt like a shrug? Wha...

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) with Amanda Dobbins

<div>A Fiji water bottle. “Sinnerman” by Nina Simone. That Magritte painting with the bowler hat. A SCINTILLATING, AGE-APPROPRIATE ROMANCE WITH TWO OF THE GREATEST HEIST SEQUE...

Die Hard with a Vengeance with Shea Serrano

<div>John McTiernan back with the Die Hard franchise after the spectacular flop of Last Action Hero. Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson back together after Pulp Fiction. Die Ha...

Last Action Hero with Paul Scheer & Jason Mantzoukas

<div>You either love this movie or you hate it, and guess what - we’re landing all over the LOST ACTION HERO spectrum this episode! Paul Scheer &amp; Jason Mantzoukas join us ...

Medicine Man with Jamie Lee

<div>Oh baby, this one’s a STINKER! Sean Connery finds the cure for cancer but then he loses it (??). Lorraine Bracco delivers all of her dialogue like someone making a commen...

The Hunt For Red October with Jamelle Bouie

<div>We love da submarinesh! Host of “Unclear and Present Danger” Jamelle Bouie joins us this week to talk about middle aged white guys, airport novels, and naval recruitment ...

The Ninth Annual Blank Check Awards with Joe Reid

<div>The pomp. The pageantry. The awkwardness of trying to shoehorn any of this year’s Oscar nominees into “Moon River” - that’s right, folks. The Blankies (and host Griffy Cr...

Die Hard with Kevin Smith

<div>Thirty-six floors. Thirteen (fake) terrorists. One perfect action movie. Kevin Smith - who was in a Die Hard movie AND directed Alan Rickman in DOGMA -  joins us again fo...

Predator with Jon Gabrus

<div>GET TO THE CHOPPA! Griffin attempts his best (actually, worst) Arnold voice this week as we head to the jungle with Jon Gabrus and some bic razors. For almost three hours...

Nomads

<div>Okay, action freaks! We’re kicking off our John McTiernan miniseries - POD HARD WITH A VENGECAST - with a film that is not at all indicative of the greatness to come. Nom...

The Mirror Has Two Faces with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber

<div>If Yentl was about connecting with her absent father, and The Prince of Tides was about forgiving her difficult mother, The Mirror Has Two Faces is just about BARBRA! Who...

The Prince of Tides with Katey Rich

<div>Can you hear the crawdads sing? Or is that just our Nick Nolte impression? Our favorite Carolinian Katey Rich joins us to chat about Streisand’s 1991 adaptation of Pat Co...

A Conversation with Amy Irving

<div>Surprise! In a first for Blank Check, we're dropping a bonus main-feed episode featuring a conversation with an Academy Award-nominated star of the film we just covered. ...

Yentl with Jordan Hoffman

<div>Podcast, can you hear me?” We certainly can, Barbra! The very menschy Jordan Hoffman joins us to chat about Streisand’s official directorial debut, a marvel of a film tha...

A Star Is Born (1976) with Rachel Zegler

<div>Hello Gorgeous! We’re kicking off our Barbra Streisand series (titled “Podcastl,” naturally) with a look at her version of the classic Hollywood cautionary tale - 1976’s ...

Ferrari with Bilge Ebiri

<div>Vroom vroom! Michael Mann is BACK. Bilge Ebiri is BACK. How do you say “we’re so back” in Italian? Join us as we talk about cars that go fast (Ferraris), hair that grows ...

Wonkquaman with Marie Bardi-Salinas

<div>We’re closing out 2023 with two words - Wet. Chocolate. Join us as we bid farewell to the DCEU, say “hello fennel” to Timothée Chalamet, and bring our craziest unhinged, ...

Maestro with Marie Bardi-Salinas

<div>The music! The makeup! The MAESTRO! We’re diving into Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic, the result of his post-A STAR IS BORN Blank Check, and we’re getting pers...

The Boy and the Heron with J.D. Amato

<div>It took seven years for Hayao Miyazaki and the artists at Studio Ghibli to make THE BOY AND THE HERON. What better way to honor that lengthy process than to invite JD Ama...

I Love You to Death

<div>Mamma mia! We’ve got-a some-a sleepy pasta for-a you to taste-a this-a week! In our latest, much-awaited installment of PORCH CLASSICS, we’re handing the reins to Produce...

The Killer with Marie Bardi

<div>We’re wrapping up our Fincher series with his latest release - a stripped-down, gig-economy hitman thriller - THE KILLER. Is Michael Fassbender’s unnamed hitman actually ...

Mank with Sean Fennessey

<div>Nerts! Are you folks ready to get MANK-PILLED? We advise that you start by “mankro-dosing” David Fincher’s 2020 exploration of the life and times of cantankerous screenwr...

Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman

<div>“Amazing Amy” meets “Awkwardly-Smiling Affleck” in Fincher’s darkly comic masterpiece - an instant classic from that first shot of Rosamund Pike’s pretty head. The deligh...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Fran Hoepfner

<div>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? More like The Girl Who Go On Computer! The Girl with the Fruit Tattoo - Fran Hoepfner - joins us as we dive into Fincher’s 2011 Nordic no...

The Social Network

<div>Let us take a walk down memory lane to when the Metaverse was but a twinkle in Zuck’s eye, to when Aaron Sorkin was just a much-respected writer and not yet a (groan) dir...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson

<div>2007’s THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is a film that dares to ask the question, “What if he baby but old?” Despite the meme-ification of David Fincher’s trip to the ...

Zodiac with Leslye Headland

<div>This is the Zodiac speaking. I have recorded this podcast episode with Griffin, David, and the genius Leslye Headland because I am tired of the tangents on every other ep...

Panic Room with Eva Anderson

<div>We’re scootin’ through some wild Manhattan real estate this week and locking ourselves into David Fincher’s PANIC ROOM with the wonderful Eva Anderson! Can you believe th...

Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry

<div>The first rule of Fight Club? Don’t talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club? DON’T TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB. For those of you who like following the rules, we h...

The Game with Brendan Hines

<div>Congratulations! If you are listening to this episode, it means you’ve discovered the key in the mouth of the wooden clown we placed in your driveway. Actor, musician, an...

Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger

<div>Who loves Da Finchman? These guys do! MTV Movie Award-losing duo Mitch and Nick of the Doughboys join us to talk about David Fincher’s breakthrough hit - the nasty noir S...

Alien³ with Matt Singer

<div>The time has come for us to talk about one of the most successful, most influential, most respected American filmmakers of the past 30 years. That’s right, we’re talking ...

Decision to Leave with Tatiana Maslany

<div>Decision to Leave? More like, decision to watch a good movie! EMMY AWARD WINNER (but more importantly, David Sims Best Supporting Actress Nominee of 2017) joins us to dis...

The Handmaiden with Emily Yoshida

<div>We couldn’t be more excited to talk about the film we consider to be Park’s masterpiece - the gorgeous, twisty, and ultimately moving THE HANDMAIDEN. “Mother of the Blank...

Stoker with Emily St. James

<div>Remember when the star of TV’s <em>Prison Break </em>(Wentworth Miller, “human map”) wrote a screenplay that landed on the Black List and ended up serving as the material...

Thirst with Hoai-Tran Bui

<div>Move over, Dracula. Eat your heart out Edward Cullen. A new sexy vampire is in town, and he just happens to be a PRIEST! Park Chan-Wook reunites with the wonderful Song K...

I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK with Karen Chee

<div>From the twisted mind of Park Chan-Wook, it’s…a surprisingly sensitive romance set in a mental hospital? Writer and Comedian Karen Chee joins us to chat about 2006’s I’M ...

Oppenheimer with Marie Bardi

<div>DA MOVIESH ARE BACK, BABY! Film Director Barbie joins the gang to chat about Christopher Nolan’s latest and an historic weekend at the multiplex. What’s the best format f...

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One with Marie Bardi

<div>It’s 2023. An all-powerful AI program named “the Entity” is sewing chaos and threatening the fragile equilibrium of the world as we know it. It is also throwing sick part...

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance with Karen Han

<div>Park Chan-Wook’s loosely-linked “Vengeance Trilogy” comes to a starkly satisfying end with 2005’s LADY VENGEANCE - a normal flick…that’s all we have to say! Just kidding ...

Oldboy with Alison Willmore

<div>What is an Oldboy? How do you feel about Greek Tragedies? How did Choi Min-Sik achieve that iconic (and insane) hairstyle? Was giving the 2004 Palme d’Or to FAHRENHEIT 9/...

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance with David Ehrlich

<div>Park Chan-Wook kicks off his famous “Vengeance” trilogy and we kick off another episode where we talk about Ted Danson’s late 90s sitcom BECKER! Critic, friend of the pod...

Joint Security Area

<div>Park Chan-Wook’s 2000 breakthrough and Korean box office juggernaut - JSA (Joint Security Area) - is the rare international murder-mystery that dares to ask the question…...

The Moon Is…the Sun's Dream / Trio

<div>It’s a brand new era for Blank Check - Griffin is in his “arriving early to work” era. Ben is in his “Bad Boy 2.0” era. And we’re all in our WORLD CINEMA era as we kick o...

The Cameraman / Spite Marriage

<div>Our Buster Keaton series comes to a conclusion as his period of creative independence does, with his first two features for MGM: THE CAMERAMAN and SPITE MARRIAGE. The for...

College / Steamboat Bill, Jr. with John Hodgman

<div>After his “blank check” for THE GENERAL bounced,  Buster Keaton found himself creatively and financially shackled. Thus, 1927’s COLLEGE lands on the lesser end of the qua...

Battling Butler / The General with Jamelle Bouie

<div>One of narrative cinema’s earliest training sequences, and one of cinema’s most famous trains - that’s right, we’re covering Buster Keaton’s 1926 films BATTLING BUTLER an...

Seven Chances / Go West with Jamie Loftus

<div>This week’s Keaton double feature sees our unflappable hero chased by two types of terrifying crowds: angry would-be brides, and a herd of cattle. How does he outrun them...

Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak

<div>Buster Keaton released two features in 1924 - “Sherlock Jr.”, a film that was considered a commercial disappointment at the time but has grown in stature over the past ce...

Three Ages / Our Hospitality with Dana Stevens

<div>The Great Stone Face…The Little Boy Who Couldn’t Be Damaged…whatever you call him, Buster Keaton is one of the most important figures in film history, and we couldn’t be ...

Yesterday with Zach Cherry

<div>Our Danny Boyle series comes to an end with a mind-bending movie that dares to ask the question, “What if The Beatles didn’t exist?” Severance’s Zach Cherry makes his lon...

T2 Trainspotting with Scott Aukerman & Shaun Diston

<div>First they were addicted to heroin, now they’re addicted to *nostalgia* (but also still heroin)! Danny Boyle returns to the squalid Scottish world of Renton, Sick Boy, Sp...

Steve Jobs with Olivia Craighead

<div>Calling all Sorkinistas - we’re walking, talking, and putting 1,000 songs in your pocket! Based on Walter Isaccson’s best-selling biography of the original Apple Genius, ...

Trance with Nia DaCosta

<div>Probably the only film in history to hinge on the shaving of pubic hair as crucial plot point, Danny Boyle’s 2013 film TRANCE is…certainly something! Filmmaker Nia DaCost...

127 Hours with Sean Clements

<div>Welcome to another installment in the “If This Happened to Ben Hosley, It Wouldn’t Have Gone Down Like That” series of films - it’s 127 HOURS! Hollywood Handbook’s Sean C...

Slumdog Millionaire with Siddhant Adlakha

<div>Danny Boyle is about to win the Oscar. How did he do it? A) He Cheated, B) He’s Lucky, C) He’s a Genius, D) IT IS WRITTEN. Critic Siddhant Adlakha joins us to dissect the...

Sunshine

<div>The time has come for us to board the Icarus II (awful name for a spaceship) and stare directly into the sun. First mentioned as a movie that rules way back when we were ...

Millions with Adam Kempenaar

<div>How did Danny Boyle choose to follow up the ultraviolence of 28 Days Later? With a winsome kid’s movie about morality and currency conversion, of course! Filmspotting’s A...

The Eighth Annual Blank Check Awards with Joe Reid

<div>Once again we gather together to celebrate excellence in the motion picture industry - but rest assured, we have our own Blankies Crisis Team standing by to avoid any cat...

28 Days Later with David Rees

<div>Fast zombies, a deserted London, and potato-quality digital cinematography - 28 DAYS LATER proved to be a genre-defining hit for Danny Boyle after the disappointment of T...

The Beach with Emily Yoshida

<div>Mother is back, and she’s taking us all to THE BEACH! Emily Yoshida makes her long-awaited return to the pod to speak about her experience in the writer’s room of the sti...

Knock at the Cabin with Marie Bardi

<div>Knock knock! Who’s there? M. Night Shyamalan, of course! We’re answering the door and ushering in the apocalypse with a look at Night’s latest offering. <br> <br> Join ou...

A Life Less Ordinary with Janet Varney

<div>After the smashing success of TRAINSPOTTING, Danny Boyle reteamed with star Ewan McGregor and writer John Hodge to…make a movie where Dan Hedaya plays the Archangel Gabri...

Trainspotting with Charles Rogers

<div>The UK’s answer to PULP FICTION, Danny Boyle’s TRAINSPOTTING exploded into theaters and became a global phenomenon, thanks to an iconic marketing campaign. Who *didn’t* h...

Shallow Grave

<div>UK house music, a *very* active camera, and Ewan McGregor looking like a SNACK…that’s right, folks - we’re covering Danny Boyle! With the England bit retired, we’re final...

Wendell & Wild

<div>Henry Selick waited thirteen years to make his follow-up to CORALINE, and it feels like we’ve been waiting even longer to hear David’s TIFF Airbnb story - a yarn that fin...

Coraline with J.D. Amato

<div>The ultimate connoisseur of context, the guru of camera gear - our friend JD Amato makes his triumphant return to the main feed to walk us through the magic and genius of...

Avatar: The Way of Water with Marie Bardi

<div>The gang went to see AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER and we all got soaking wet. Fully submerged. Drenched! We’re communing with space whales, chugging coffees with Edie Falco, ...

Monkeybone with Justin McElroy

<div>Just in time for Brendan Fraser’s big comeback, we’re taking a look back at his misguided collaboration with Henry Selick - 2001’s bizarro flop MONKEYBONE. Justin McElroy...

James and the Giant Peach with Emma Stefansky

<div>Bugs! So many bugs! And…Richard Dreyfuss?? The Bug Queen Emma Stefansky returns to the podcast to celebrate all the creepy crawlies in 1996’s JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. W...

The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda

<div>We’re wearing our Hot Topic sweatshirts and enunciating every dramatic syllable to pay tribute to one of the greatest animated films of all time - Tim Burton’s (but reall...

The Fabelmans

<div>For the first time in years, both Griffin and David are in agreement on a new Steven Spielberg film - what a picture! We’re playing both film critics and armchair psychol...

Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich

<div>Cruise. Kidman. Kubrick. Ehrlich. We’re concluding our Stanley Kubrick series with 1999’s EYES WIDE SHUT and a trip to cinema’s most famous masked orgy. Indiewire’s David...

Full Metal Jacket with Jon Gabrus

<div>Alright, maggots, listen up! We’ve got the Action Boy himself - Jon Gabrus - back on the podcast to talk about Kubrick’s bifurcated Vietnam War classic FULL METAL JACKET....

The Shining with Timothy Simons

<div>Just in time for Halloween, we’re checking into the Overlook Hotel - a haunted place not unlike the Beachwood, Ohio, Homewood Suites that Griffin and guest Timothy Simons...

Barry Lyndon with Karina Longworth

<div>NASA-quality lenses, a himbo canon-worthy performance from notoriously “chill and normal guy” Ryan O’Neal, and some flirty ribbon games all combine to make what we consid...

A Clockwork Orange with Alex Ross Perry

<div>Attention all droogs: grab your Nadsat dictionaries and your bowler hats, it’s time to drink some drug-milk! We’ve got our very own Alex - Ross Perry, that is - on the po...

2001: A Space Odyssey with Jordan Hoffman

<div>Open the pod cast doors, HAL - it’s time for us to talk about one of the most important movies in cinema history. Jordan Hoffman - the friend of the pod who best represen...

Dr. Strangelove... with Sean Fennessey

<div>Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, Sean Fennessey is finally on our podcast! The Big Picture Pod host joins Griffin and David to talk about Kubrick’s razor-sharp satire,...

The Woman King

<div>It certainly feels great to cover a good movie again! Our mini-run of new releases ends with Gina Prince-Bythewood’s crowd-pleaser - the African female warrior epic “The ...

Pinocchio (2022) with Podcast: The Ride

<div>The King of the Uncanny Valley - our boy Bob Zemeckis - is back with his spin on perhaps the most iconic un-real boy in cinema…it’s Pinocchio, baby! Our friends from Podc...

Three Thousand Years of Longing

<div>George Miller returns with a sweeping romantic fantasy and if we had a djinn, we’d wish that more people went to see this movie in theaters!  Plus - Ben wishes for infini...

Lolita with Fran Hoepfner

<div>How did they ever make a podcast of LOLITA? Let’s just say that it wasn’t easy, but thankfully our guest Fran Hoepfner is in her “brave era” and was more than up for the ...

Spartacus with Richard Lawson

<div>I am Spartacus! I am Spartacus! Heck, we’re *all* Spartacus today as we talk about the “sword-and-sandals” epic that solidified Stanley Kubrick’s hit-making potential…and...

Paths of Glory with Sarah Marshall

<div>Perhaps the most humanistic of Kubrick’s films, PATHS OF GLORY is a blistering study of injustice, middle-management, and anti-war sentiment. We’re down in the trenches t...

The Killing with Patton Oswalt

<div>If Stanley Kubrick’s previous two films were exercises in learning on the job, THE KILLING is where we start to see him put that knowledge into action. A thrilling noir, ...

Fear & Desire / Killer's Kiss

<div>He dominated the field in this year’s 20th Century March Madness competition, and now we’re celebrating with a parade and a big brass band…it’s time for our series on the...

Star 80 with Julie Klausner

<div>Oof - this is a tough one. Incredibly divisive, is “STAR 80” a darkly cynical triumph about the perils of Hollywood and the failings of men? Or is it a too-sympathetic “P...

All That Jazz with Lin-Manuel Miranda

<div>It’s SHOWTIME, folks - and boy, are we jazzed about this episode! Broadway icon and actual Blank Check listener Lin-Manuel Miranda joins us to talk about what many consid...

Lenny with Colin Quinn

<div>Sure, Bob Fosse’s “Lenny” has beautiful cinematography, but does it effectively communicate that Lenny Bruce was funny? Is the narrative of stand-ups as “tortured truth t...

Cabaret with Rachel Zegler

<div>Wilkommen and Bienvenue to our “Cabaret” episode! Literal Disney Princess and musical theater superstar Rachel Zegler joins us to gush over Fosse’s 1972 film - a game-cha...

Sweet Charity

<div>The minute you walked in the joint…I could see you were a man of distinction, A REAL PODCASTER! “Pod That Jazzcast” - our series on the films of Bob Fosse - kicks off wit...

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with Patrick Willems

<div>Our Sam Raimi series concludes with his most recent film - not to mention the first MCU film we’ve covered on the main feed - it’s time for Doctor Strange 2! Patrick Will...

Oz the Great and Powerful with Dana Schwartz

<div>Ah, yes - we’ve arrived at the reason why we held off on covering Sam Raimi for so long…because we didn’t want to end our series on such a dismal note! “Oz the Great and ...

Drag Me to Hell with Jamie Loftus & Caitlin Durante

<div>After the massive box office success of his Spider-Man movies, Sam Raimi went “back to basics” - returning to the gnarly demonic possession genre that he put his stamp on...

Spider-Man 3 with Jamelle Bouie

<div>If “Spider-Man 2” had the reputation of being the greatest superhero movie of all time, “Spider-Man 3” had the inverse - a bloated mess with too many villains, and a very...

Spider-Man 2 with Chris Gethard

<div>For a while, “Spider-Man 2” was considered the high water mark for superhero movies - but does it hold up 14 years deep into the MCU? We’ve got two words for you - ALFRED...

Spider-Man with Matt Singer

<div>Upside down kissing, Bonesaw McGraw, and a soundtrack featuring not just one, but TWO of Avril Lavigne’s ex-husbands…it’s SPIDER-MAN! Screen Crush’s Matt Singer (who lite...

The Gift with Starlee Kine

<div>Katie Holmes in a lazy southern accent asks, “What’s the matter? See somethin’ bad?” and we are immediately transported back to the year 2000 when the trailers for this m...

For Love of the Game with Olivia Craighead

<div>Is this not America? Is baseball not America’s favorite pastime? Is “For Love of the Game” a Sam Raimi movie? Technically speaking, sure! It’s about a guy who’s trying no...