In heaven (and in podcasting), everything is fine. Welcome to TWIN PODS: FIRE CAST WITH ME, a series on the films of David Lynch - former Eagle Scout and totally normal human man. With his 1977 debut feature ERASERHEAD, Lynch burst on to the scene somewhat fully formed as an artist, confused by normal social interactions and motivated by a seething hatred of Philadelphia. The last part of that sentence is only partially a joke. Join us as we discuss where Eraserhead fits in the pantheon of first features we’ve covered on Blank Check, where this film ranks in the “Dang Ass Freak” canon, whether we first watched this movie in a basement or on a “night porch,” the stress of parenthood, the origin story of McDonald’s mascot Grimace, and much more. Oh, and obviously - the Lady in the Radiator makes an appearance. You are not hallucinating, she is really there.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welp, our Kevin Costner series ends not with a bang, but a whimper. With the pulling of Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2 from theaters, we are left to only speculate what the future holds for Costner’s self-funded crazy passion project. What we can tell you is that Chapter 1 doesn’t really feel like its own self-contained movie. Plotlines are established, characters are introduced, and then…Giovanni Ribisi shows up.   

Watch Kev on The Rich Eisen Show 

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know the Butcher? That freakin' nutjob that goes around just chopping people up? Well, we’re about to spend nearly three hours talking about him! Join us as we unpack TRAP - the devilishly entertaining new thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, with special insights from our own David Sims, who spent much of this year interviewing Night at his compound in Philadelphia. We’re talking about a bunch of things - dads, serial killers, how much we don’t like going to concerts, the sexy elephant mascot of the New York Liberty, Josh Hartnett’s career arc - when we’re not excusing ourselves to go to the bathroom to uh…check on some apps.

Read David’s Profile of M. Night

Read Esther’s Article on The Shyamalans

Check out the Saleka merch

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Free-grazers and CR-heads - this is your week. The icon, the legend, the Ringer’s own Chris Ryan joins us to talk about Kevin Costner’s understated 2003 western OPEN RANGE. We’re finally doing a deep-dive on the Taylor Sheridan empire (aka Chris tells us what Mayor of Kingstown is actually about) as we set up the later part of Costner’s career in the run-up to Horizon. We spend a good amount of time lauding the consistent greatness of Robert Duvall and Annette Bening. You can practically hear the relief in our voices when we talk about how this movie is actually quite good! It may or may not be racist against the Irish, but - hey. How great is that chocolate scene?! 

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s movie has everything - fake teeth on Giovanni Ribisi, a mule performing Shakespeare, Tom Petty, Kevin Costner’s irresistible sperm…you read that correctly. This film has a major plot line that revolves around Kevin Costner’s sperm. Our beloved Emily St. James joins us to talk about Kevin Costner’s colossal 1997 flop, the post-apocalyptic ode to the US Postal Service - THE POSTMAN. There are parts of this movie that are truly moving. There are other parts of this movie where Kevin Costner and Will Patton wrestle in slow motion. It’s a fascinating text.

Buy Emily’s Book about Lost: LOST: Back to the Island: The Complete Critical Companion to The Classic TV Series

Be on the lookout for Emily’s Novel “Woodworking” out April 2025 - Read more HERE

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a first for Blank Check, we’re covering a filmmaker who has acted alongside our own Griffin Newman! In our premiere episode covering the directorial career of Draft Day co-star Kevin Costner, we’re unpacking his 1990 Best Picture winner, DANCES WITH WOLVES. Costner as personal mythmaker, Costner as “movie sports guy,” Costner as “hot guy who women all want to sleep with (?)”, Costner as man who decided - at a crucial (and early!) point in his career - to take a huge risk by making a 3-hour epic in an old-fashioned genre. He’s a fascinating figure. Come west with us, listeners, as we discover the frontiers within ourselves and within Lieutenant John Dunbar.

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first "G" in "Gigli" is pronounced like the "J" in “Jacques,” the second “G” is silent. Rhymes with "really." Now that that’s out of the way - we conclude our Martin Brest series with the turkey of all turkeys. The Bennifer original sin, the project that should have gotten Justin Bartha put in prison. That’s right, folks. We’re talking about one of the canonical “Worst Movies Ever Made” - 2003’s GIGLI. Screenwriter Jen D’Angelo joins us to talk about this fascinating cultural object, and makes a case that Ben Affleck is “good in this movie, actually.” Griffin and David disagree. We’re going to Baywatch!

Read the Variety Article referenced in the episode

Watch Martin Brest’s First Interview in 20 Years 

Follow Jen on Instagram

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He’s hot. He’s got frosted tips. He loves peanut butter. His lil swimmers may or may not look like skulls. He’s death, baby! And we’re meeting him this week! Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson returns to the pod to chat about 1998’s three hour long “symphonic metaphysical romance” MEET JOE BLACK. How does this film play in a post-Succession, “eat the rich” context? How do we feel about the infamous Jamaican patois scenes? What are our memories of the weekend the Phantom Menace trailer came out in theaters? All that and more awaits you on the other side of the bridge.

Read Chad Hartigan’s article on Meet Joe Black 

Read Richard’s work at Vanity Fair

Listen to Little Gold Men

Listen to Still Watching

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warning - this episode contains an ungodly amount of Pacino impressions. Listener discretion is advised.

“Actor’s actor” and local boy from Queens David Krumholtz becomes the second cast member of Oppenheimer and first person immortalized in Griffin’s beloved Disney Emoji Blitz to guest on our Martin Brest series as we talk about 1992’s dire SCENT OF A WOMAN. Would this movie be less terrible if it were at least 40 minutes shorter? What if the original first choice for Lt. Col. Frank Slade - Jack Nicholson - had done this film instead of Pacino? What if we swapped Philip Seymour Hoffman for the charisma vacuum that is Chris O’Donnell? Sadly, we can only imagine these scenarios. Join us for lots of candid Krumholtz anecdotes, a scorching hot take regarding the diner scene in Heat, and more!

Check out David in Lousy Carter 

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a first for Blank Check, Ben Hosley produces an entire episode while handcuffed and under threat of legal action. What else would you expect from a MIDNIGHT RUN episode? The great Alan Sepinwall returns to the pod to talk about Martin Brest’s fantastic cross-country buddy caper, a film that proved that DeNiro could do comedy and that Charles Grodin might be the funniest man alive. We’re talking about the unofficial Larry the Cable Guy sequel (?), the famous casting what-ifs (Cher!), and the magic that went into making this movie so breezy, effortless, and fun. We didn’t how good we had it back in 1988, did we?l

Pre-order Alan’s book, “Saul Goodman V. Jimmy McGill: The Complete Critical Companion to Better Call Saul” 

Subscribe to What's Alan Watching

Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X!

Buy some real nerdy merch.

Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord

For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices