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.   

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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.

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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?! 

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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

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An indelible synth theme by Harold Faltermeyer. A scene-stealing turn from Bronson Pinchot. A banana in a tailpipe. EDDIE FREAKING MURPHY. It’s no wonder that Martin Brest’s Beverly Hills Cop is one of the most beloved action comedies (and still the highest-grossing R-rated film adjusted for inflation). We couldn’t be more thrilled to have two of the hottest action directors in Hollywood - Bad Boys: Ride or Die’s Adil & Bilall - join us to talk about Brest’s blockbuster second feature, bringing all the expertise from their years spent developing Beverly Hills Cop 4. We’re getting into the Stallone of it all, the Simpson/Bruckheimer of it all, the Judge Reinhold of it all - while also taking some time to unpack the specific nuances that Brest brings as a director (as opposed to Tony Scott’s take on the sequel). And….yes. We talk about BATGIRL.

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