Blank Check with Griffin & David

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 parties. Meanwhile, over at Blank Check HQ, the BENTITY has a few tricks up his sleeve to surprise Griffin, David, and Marie with a mission of their own as they break down Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie’s latest big-screen extravaganza.

Special thanks to IMF team members Teo Rapp-Olsson and Patrick Willems. Support their work!

Patrick Willems: https://www.youtube.com/@patrickhwillems

Teo Rapp-Olsson: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6231691/

Mission: Impoddible theme composed by Alex Barron

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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 - we have LOTS to say about this one, with its stacked cast of lady convicts and grief-stricken parents. Our beloved Karen Han returns to the pod to correct our terrible Korean pronunciations and to tell us about “Jump Like A Witch” - a Korean reality series wherein famous female celebrities attempt to form a basketball team. Plus - it should surprise no one that this episode contains plenty of Pirates of the Caribbean discussion.

Guest Links: 

Get Karen’s Book “BONG JOON HO DISSIDENT CINEMA”

Follow Karen on Twitter

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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 9/11 over this film one of the greatest mistakes in the history of arts and culture? All those questions answered and more as critic Alison Willmore joins us to talk about OLDBOY, the first major Korean breakthrough in the American filmbro canon. 

Guest Links: 

Read Alison's writing at New York Magazine

Especially “Theory: Top Gun: Maverick Is (Mostly) a Death Dream” if you haven’t already

Follow Alison’s dog on Instagram

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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, and Crystal Skull-apologist David Ehrlich joins us to chat about Park’s “Sympathy for Mister Vengeance” - a film that shows that revenge is not a dish best served cold, but is actually kind of sad and futile. Come for Ehrlich’s story about his teen trip to Seoul (when he had lunch with Director Park!), stay for the throwback memories of ordering imported DVDs from YesAsia-dot-com and the often misleading branding of the Tartan Asian EXTREME label.

Guest Links:

Read Ehrlich’s writing at IndieWire

Listen to Fighting in The War Room

Watch Ehrlich’s Best of Videos

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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…”what if the real smoking gun was FRIENDSHIP??” Join us as we unpack this poignant and twisty thriller, and maybe some of you can unpack on your own time why Griffin chooses to bring up THE LITTLE RASCALS when talking about Korean geopolitics.

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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 off our series on South Korean master (and March Madness champion!) Park Chan-Wook. Join us as we offer a brief overview of the evolution of Korean cinema - from 1960’s landmark THE HOUSEMAID up through decades of government censorship - and introduce the career of one of our finest filmmakers. However - we’re gonna be real with you all. Park’s first two movies are NOT GOOD. He has actively tried to erase them from the cultural consciousness. So - do things get really silly as we dance around talking about how bad these movies are? YES. Do we use this episode as an excuse to catch up with several series worth of Ben Nicknames? ABSOLUTELY.

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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 former? Debatably a meta-masterpiece, with a Chinatown setpiece for the ages and one very adorable monkey. The latter? Well, you can see the downward spiral start to take shape. In this episode, we fill in the later years of Buster’s life and career, give our final Keaton rankings, and attempt to cheer Ben up after a very demoralizing restaurant experience.

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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 quality spectrum (not to mention a very difficult watch with Buster putting on blackface for a scene - yikes). But, his follow-up STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. features some of the most memorable and dangerous stunts of Keaton’s career, and acts as a beautiful send-off to his period as a self-sufficient filmmaker. The wonderful John Hodgman joins us to chat about both films and his life-long love of Buster. Plus - as always with a Hodgman episode - we go down several delightful rabbit holes: Doctor Who, beans, Goofy’s “George Geef” period, large pants, and more!

Guest Links: 

Get Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches now in Paperback

Check out Up Here on Hulu 

Watch Dicktown on Hulu

Listen to the Judge John Hodgman Podcast

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

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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 and THE GENERAL. Gentleman, scholar, and action movie aficionado Jamelle Bouie joins us to unpack this week’s double feature, providing some essential historical context for THE GENERAL’s unfortunate Civil War  setting. Plus, Ben starts researching how one buys a train.

Guest Links: 

Read Jamelle’s writing at The New York Times

Listen to Unclear and Present Danger 

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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 both? Jamie Loftus joins us to chat about Buster Keaton’s tremendous on-screen running (up there with Tom Cruise), his enduring sex appeal (we love a hot tired guy), and his compassion for animals (giving the bovine star of GO WEST a week off to have sex). Plus, because Jamie is THE Hot Dog Queen, we get into a very involved, very long tangent about the world of competitive Hot Dog Eating.

Guest Links: 

Get Jamie's book Raw Dog (The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs) out 5/23

Listen to The Bechdel Cast

Subscribe to The Bechdel Cast Matreon 

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