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 Woman King”. We’ve got David’s exclusive report on the film’s world premiere at TIFF (humblebrag), a deep dive on the career of Viola Davis (did you know her early industry champions were Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney?), and some thoughts on how this film taps into Prince-Bythewood’s ongoing exploration of chosen families and personal identity.



Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck

Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram!

Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com or at teepublic.com/stores/blank-check


The Woman King

Not just another bad movie podcast, Blank Check reviews directors' complete filmographies episode to episode. Specifically, the auteurs whose early successes afforded them the rare ‘blank check’ from Hollywood to produce passion projects. Each new miniseries, hosts Griffin Newman and David Sims delve into the works of film’s most outsized personalities in painstakingly hilarious detail. Produced by Ben Hosley.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

TV & Film

Comedy

Film Reviews

They call them the Godfathers of Tokyo…and we call him the KING of TIKTOK (in an old man newscaster voice) - Reece Feldman joins us to chat about Satoshi Kon’s beautiful Christmas fable about a trio of unforgettable characters on the fringes of society. We talk about how animation is truly a medium and NOT a genre, as evidenced by this film. We talk about Ice Age (another animated movie where outsiders care for a baby). We talk about whether or not David might get roped into watching Ice Age a million times if his daughter finds out about it. And we talk about David’s pitch for a Cheaper by the Dozen spoof called “Cheaper by the Cousin”…?



Follow Reece on his socials: TikTok - Instagram



This episode is sponsored by:

AuraFrames.com (CODE: CHECK)

Burrow (Burrow.com/check)



Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! 

Tokyo Godfathers with Reece Feldman

Our Satoshi Kon series continues with his 2003 film Millennium Actress, a moving exploration of memory, history, and the magic of da moviesh. Writer Hoai-Tran Bui returns to the pod as we discuss the strange history of Dreamworks’ arthouse animation arm (Go Fish pictures), the luminous screen presence of Setsuko Hara, and the added poignancy this film takes on in light of Kon’s untimely passing. Plus, Griffin publicly addresses the Penny Marshall debacle, and the gang contemplates a version of “Millennium Actor” with Clint Eastwood.  



Read Hoai-Tran’s work



This episode is sponsored by:

Indochino.com (CODE: CHECK)

ExpressVPN (ExpressVPN.com/check)

RocketRx (CODE: CHECK)



Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! 

Millennium Actress with Hoai-Tran Bui

Welcome to the filmography of Satoshi Kon - a thrilling series of funhouse mirrors and puzzlebox narratives that proved what is possible in the animation form. The icon, the legend, the culturista himself Bowen Yang joins us to talk about Kon’s feature debut, the shocking and influential pop-idol thriller PERFECT BLUE. We’re talking about famous “bad girl” transitions in pop history. We’re talking about Digimon villains. We’re talking about obsessive fandoms. And, most crucially, we learn a new piece of Ben lore that involves a famous reality tv star.



Listen to Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang



This episode is sponsored by:

MUBI (mubi.com/blankcheck)

AuraFrames.com (CODE: CHECK)



Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram

Perfect Blue with Bowen Yang

Our McTiernan series concludes with 2003’s BASIC - a film that Griffin thinks should instead be titled “COMPLICATED” - get it? Because there are so many plot twists?? The great BenDavid Grabinski joins us to chat about John Travolta’s run of big, skeezy characters post-FACE/OFF, McTiernan’s ultimate Achilles heel (getting too confident in his ability to fix impossible movies), the screenwriting career of studio wunderkind James Vanderbilt, and the truly terrible acting of Giovanni Ribisi. Plus, the return of Journalist Eddie Brock, our pitches for different versions of CHANGING LANES (which they should remake every five years), and our final McT filmography rankings.


This episode is sponsored by:

AuraFrames.com (CODE: CHECK)

Burrow (Burrow.com/check)



Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! 

Basic with BenDavid Grabinski

Finally, we arrive at the film that helped put John McTiernan in both “director jail” and “jail jail” - the incoherent nu-metal fart that is 2002’s ROLLERBALL. Zach Cherry continues his trend of appearing on episodes covering movies that led to actual court cases, and we do our best to try to explain what happened (both on-screen and off). Why is this film set in Borat’s Kazakhstan? What was up with the extended nightvision scene? Is Griffin insane for being a Chris Kline apologist? Plus - Ben learns about the World Nomad Games of Central Asia!



This episode is sponsored by:

Zocdoc (zocdoc.com/check) 

FieldOfGreens.com (CODE: CHECK)

MUBI (mubi.com/blankcheck)



Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! 

The Woman King

Download our free app to listen on your phone