We need to pod about Glasgow. We need to pod about the arresting inner lives of these complicated protagonists. We need to pod about every incredible project Lynne Ramsay has been attached to over the past 25 years that never actually happened. So yeah, WE NEED TO POD ABOUT CASTVIN! Join us as we discuss Ramsay’s debut film Ratcatcher, a striking study of a young boy on the precipice of adolescence in the slums of 1970s Glasgow. Ben discovers that he adores this movie. Griffin discovers that he can make “Lin Manuel Ramsey” a bit. And everyone discovers that Scottish accents are not that easy to imitate.

Watch the Characters Welcome Sketch from Tristan Griffin

Watch Timmy on Fallon

Check out Meshes of the Afternoon

Watch The Mother Project

Check out Notes on the Cinematograph

Watch Barry Jenkins in the Criterion Closet

Listen to the Top 21 Sports movies of the 21st century episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast

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This week, we’re joined by David Sims as we orbit the Golden Globes and their Best Drama winner, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. In the vibes-based reality of awards season predictions, Hamnet has emerged as a potential spoiler to the season’s other favorites, including Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. But what, exactly, makes something an Oscar villain? We also get into the film itself, the historical Shakespeare, why people are weird about Chloé Zhao, and our predictions for next week's Oscar nominations. 
Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, Premiere Party, and read Alison's work at Vulture.

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Join Pulp Men (and Woman) of the Year Griffin, David, Ben, and Marie as they discuss Park Chan Wook’s latest offering, the silly and sublime No Other Choice. We’re talking about paper, AI-proof jobs, the handsomeness of Lee Byung-hun, the possibility that Director Park is the Michael Jordan of dissolves, and the fact that this is likely Griffin’s favorite film of 2025. Plus, David breaks down over the finale of Stranger Things, and we all apologize for a bunch of stuff.

Read the Chevy Chase New York Times profile.

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This week, we’re only slightly hung over from last night’s New York Film Critics Circle Awards! Griffin Newman joins the pod to discuss the event, where, among dry-run Oscar speeches from Amy Madigan, Rose Byrne, and Wagner Moura, we saw Ethan Hawke fall into a fountain beneath a towering Buddhist deity.

Then we turn to the precursor circuit, where Marty Supreme’s momentum has cemented Timothée Chalamet as a frontrunner for Best Actor. We get into how he’s played the campaign circuit so far, and why Timmy and Marty are well positioned for the Oscars, despite not resembling the usual Oscar fare. Finally, we dive into Marty Supreme spoilers, before closing out with both an award and an in memoriam for the week.

Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, Premiere Party, and read Alison's work at Vulture.

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

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Testing, testing…does anybody know? Is this thing on? It depends on who you ask, frankly. The Blank Check team are divided on Bradley Cooper’s latest offering, the divorce dramedy Is This Thing On? Can you just walk in off the street to do an open mic at the Comedy Cellar? No. Is Peyton Manning one of our finest athlete actors? Yes. Is Griffin’s opinion of this film possibly strained by his anxiety over the New York City mayoral election? Probably. Join us for an episode that we hope is funnier than Will Arnett’s sad sack stand-up, but also probably not as brilliant as Bradley Cooper’s performance as a guy named “Balls.”

Read the Cybertruck article

Listen to Cannes I Kick It

Watch the Vic Mensa ft. Wyclef Jean performance on Colbert

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

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Welcome to Critical Darlings, a new podcast miniseries from Blank Check: A conversation about the awards season conversation, one contender at a time. 

On Critical Darlings, critics and Blank Check alumni Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore guide you through the state of the Oscars race, from the precursors, to the campaigns, to the nominees themselves. To get things started, we begin with a discussion of the festival circuit and the curious state of this year's race; where many promising films have floundered upon their public release. Sidebars include the host's Oscar history, watching festival features on no sleep, Brazilian film Twitter, The Oscars on Youtube, Leonardo DiCaprio at Cannes, and Allison's shocking Il Postino experiment. 

Critical Darlings is crashing the Blank Check feed every Thursday through the end of Oscar season. Starting next week we'll have video clips to share produced by our friends at Vulture, stay tuned.  

Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, Premiere Party, and read Alison's work at Vulture.

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We went back to Pandora and we all fell in love with a very special lady. She’s a bit prickly. A bit unconventional. But boy, is she something! Join us as we chat Avatar: Fire and Ash, aka VARANG: THE AWAKENING, the third installment in Big Jim’s Sully family saga. Yes, this movie’s a bit messier than the previous ones. Yes, it repeats many of the same beats as The Way of Water. No, we do not care. We are too distracted by our new Na’vi queen.

Listen to Big Jim drop Big Lore on The Town with Matt Belloni (Part 1 - Part 2)

If you're in the area check out Nitehawk Trivia 

Watch the Anaconda Trailer to have 3 Bad Minutes

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It’s pretty hard being the governor of an unnamed state when you’re a 34-year-old woman with a husband who’s the heir to a local pizza empire and you’ve got a brother who has agoraphobia and your sleazy dad keeps leaving you weird voicemails and Julie Kavner is narrating your entire life story! Wooo, that was a lot. James L. Brooks’ Ella McCay is A LOT. Richard Lawson joins us to chat about this very strange movie that feels like a real outlier at contemporary multiplexes. If anything, Ella McCay is a refreshing throwback. Kind of. Minus a few glaring, mind-boggling missteps. Anyway, join us for a fun conversation about this latest Brooksian offering, and stick around for a very exciting announcement about the expansion of Blank Check Productions! 

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Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

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Honey Don’t? Honey probably shouldn’t have. But that’s okay, because Honey, we’re gonna talk about it anyway! Writer and illustrator Mattie Lubchansky joins us to close out our Coens series with Ethan and Tricia’s latest offering from earlier this year. How do we feel about Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza as performers? How do we feel about Chris Evans’ “year of trying stuff”? How do we feel about the threatened third film in this Lesbian B-Movie trilogy, “Go Beavers!”? Well, honey, you’ll just have to listen to find out.

Plus - stay tuned after this episode to hear our introduction to The Hudsucker Proxy from our screening at Friend of the Fest at the American Cinematheque!

⁠Read Mattie's books⁠

⁠Check out Mattie's Wife Jaya's writing⁠

⁠Check out Slow Xmas 5

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

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Two gals and a briefcase full of dicks. What more could an 84 minute caper need? mxmtoon joins us to chat about Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s lesbian road trip movie Drive Away Dolls, and brings with her the fascinating perspective of someone whose first Coen movie was…Drive Away Dolls! We’re chatting about Ethan and Tricia’s unconventional relationship, the legacy of Cynthia PlasterCaster, and the unlikely leading man trajectory of Pedro Pascal. Plus, we’re mourning the dearth of lesbian bars and Geraldine Viswanathan vehicles in our current cultural climate.

Check out mxmtoon’s YouTube Channel

Read Ethan’s Collection of short stories 

Support The Lipstick Lounge if you are in Nashville Or  Sugar and Spice Bar, The Cattyshack, The Cubby Hole, Gingers  

Check out Demon Slayer

Follow mxmtoon on Twitch

Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on.

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Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com 

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