blankcheck posts
Posts: 991
Files: 2506
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
BC:SF wraps up its Ghostbusters commentary series with the recent Ghostbusters: Afterlife! Topics include: “giving it back to the fans”, how the character named Podcast got his nickname, counting eggs, and more!Movie starts at…0:51
In the Cut with Jourdain Searles
Want to hear us talk about how hot Mark Ruffalo is for two hours? Oooh boy, do we have a treat for you! Wikipedia-cited “In The Cut” stan Jourdain Searles joins us to unpack Jane Campion’s unjustly maligned erotic thriller. What happens to actresses once they turn 40? Would this movie have far...
Holy Smoke! with Kyle Buchanan
Is it nobler to try to pee on camera and fail than it is to not try at all? Does Harvey Keitel’s performance in this film only work when he puts on a dress? What the hell is going on in this movie?! David’s Fest Friend Forever Kyle Buchanan (author of the forthcoming “Blood, Sweat & Chrome: Th...
Top of the Lake with Sonia Saraiya
Vanity Fair writer and friend of the show, Sonia Saraiya, joins BC:SF to discuss season one of the Jane Campion tv series Top of the Lake. Topics include: David Wenham's performance, storage containers, GJ joining the MCU, True Detective thoughts, Popeye news, the world's top lakes and more!
The Portrait of a Lady with Marie Bardi
This lady might not be “on fire” but she IS wearing a 19 inch corset! Social media maven Marie Bardi joins the boys to dissect Campion’s tepidly received follow-up to “The Piano” - the emotionally claustrophobic 1996 Henry James adaptation “The Portrait of a Lady”. If “The Piano” g...
Ghostbusters: Answer the Call
Griffin, David, and Ben continue the Ghostbusters commentary with 2016's Answer the Call (Extended Edition)! Topics include: dunking on Edward Begley Jr, Bill Murray's death, the lack of NYC authenticity, this entry's legacy in the franchise and more!Movie starts at...28:40
The Piano with Esther Zuckerman
Just imagine…it’s 1993. Bill Clinton is in the White House, Seinfeld is on TV, and America has PIANO FEVER! Newly-minted member of the Five Timers Club Esther Zuckerman joins us to unpack Campion’s Oscar-Winning erotic drama (possibly the first prestige pic to feature mild butt play). We’re ...
An Angel at My Table with Dana Stevens
Dana Stevens (Slate.com / Her new Buster Keaton biography “Cameraman”) returns to the pod to *literally* wax poetic about the literary coming-of-age story “An Angel At My Table”. The film is an intimate, often heartbreaking saga of a woman discovering her own creative voice…and yes, the wo...
Ghostbusters II
Our Ghostbusters commentary continues with the long anticipated 1989 follow up! Topics include: alternate plots, the main cast's standing in the industry coming into the sequel, the improbabilityof leaving a baby at 8 months, the urban legends of Bill Murray and more!Movie starts at...9:40
Sweetie with Sarah-Violet Bliss
We’ve climbed up in our childhood treehouse and we’re not coming down! Sarah Violet Bliss (Search Party) joins us to talk about “Sweetie” - Jane Campion’s off-kilter meditation on suburbia and sibling rivalry. Revelations within the episode include the fact that David was part of the “Ne...
The Sixth Blank Check Mailbag
Griff, David, and Ben once again open up the ol' mailbag and discuss questions submitted by you–the Checkmates! Topics include: top Matt Damon supporting performances, SteelBook collecting, the premise to The Boss Baby: Family Business, potential new 007s, and so much more!Special thanks to Mi...
Two Friends
We’re kicking off our Jane Campion miniseries with her feature-length debut, auspiciously titled “Two Friends” - perhaps she has a competitive advantage? The backwards-structured script (the OG temporal pincer movement) leads the crew to reflect on their own adolescence…did you know David wa...
The Matrix Resurrections
Happy New Year! We’re going back to the Matrix - which we last covered in 2016 (!!) - and we’re feeling pretty good about it! Seraph was a login screen, sure…but is “Tiffany” a .TIFF? Is Agent Smith just a virus? Are we taking crazy pills for liking this movie so much? Jack in and let’s ...
Ghostbusters
3…2…1…BUSTIN’ MAKES ME FEEL GOOD!BC:SF is kicking off 2022 with a new Ghostbusters commentary series starting with the 1984 original. Topics include: everyone’s personal history with the franchise, the Tribeca firehouse, the landmark special effects, Bill Murray’s career, and more!Movie ...
MAILBAG 2022 - Ask Us Anything!
Hello Blankies, Checkmates, and Patrons of the Pod:Happy Hozlidays!As we step into the new year, we wanted to kick things off with a very special Patreon episode - it's the return of the MAILBAG SHOW!From now until NOON EASTERN TIME TOMORROW (12/27), please submit your burning questions in the c...
The Santa Clause 3
Season greetings Checkmates! The final commentary of 2021 is here. Griffin, David, and Ben discuss The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. Topics include: Tim Allen’s Twitter, having “BCE”, Santa’s brother, the next franchise for 2022 and more!Movie starts at...10:39Remastered by AJ McKeon (2...
West Side Story (2021)
They said it couldn’t be done. Remaking possibly the most revered movie musical of all time?! A fool’s errand! But folks, we’ve learned a very important lesson…NEVER DOUBT STEVEN SPIELBERG. Especially when he’s teaming up with Tony “Dank” Kushner! David pinpoints the exact moments he w...
Benedetta with Marie Bardi
Alert the horny police, because we’re taking ourselves to a nunnery with the Dirty Dutch Daddy himself - Paul Verhoeven! The gang goes bonkers for “Benedetta'', and Producer Ben-edetta reveals that he has an almost-saint in his family - one more miracle, and Ben gets to go to the Vatican...
Talking the Walk 2021: Ranking the Walks with J.D. Amato
J.D. Amato returns for Blank Check's annual Talking the Walk ep! For our 2021 edition, the gang is ranking the best walks in film history. What cinematic walks come to mind? Which characters had the coolest walks? What are the best walking movies? Join this 3 hour marathon and find out what make...
The Ward with Drew McWeeny
We’ve spent four months in the Mouth of Madness with the Horror Master, and we’ve reached the end point of Carpenter’s directorial career...for now. A man who has *actually collaborated with John Carpenter* - Drew McWeeny (writer of Carpenter’s installments in the Masters of Horror series) -...
The Santa Clause 2
BC:SF is back with more Santa Clause commentary to kick off the holiday season. Topics include: #CoalGate, stanning Molly Shannon, alternate international titles, the Council of Legendary Figures and more!Movie starts at...12:41Remastered by AJ McKeon (2022)
Ghosts of Mars with Dave Schilling & Jonah Ray
Contrary to popular belief (and Wikipedia), this film was NOT supposed to be another installment in the Snake Plissken series - John Carpenter just thought it would be cool to make a movie about Mars “because it’s red.” Galaxy Brain’s Dave Schilling and Jonah Ray join us to dissect Carpenter...
The Santa Clause
Ho Ho Ho! There's a present under the tree and its a new shiny franchise! BC:SF is discussing the Santa Clause Trilogy starting with 1994’s The Santa Clause. Topics include: accidental Santa homicide, Tim Allen's career, Joey Sims being traumatized by the movie as a kid, getting coal, Sant...
John Carpenter’s Vampires with David Ehrlich
They’re not just Vampires, they’re John Carpenter’s Vampires! “Closer in patina” to a classic Howard Hawks western than anything Carpenter’s ever done, this film is nasty, gruesome, and devoid of any of the “teenyboppers” and romanticism that had become hallmarks of the slasher and v...
Escape from L.A. with Matt Gourley & Paul Rust
Less of a sequel and more of a “next gen video game re-skin,” Snake Plissken is back in “Escape from LA” and this time he’s got a surfboard! The “Gourley and Rust” guys join us to ponder whether or not a big budget is actually *bad* for John Carpenter. On the one hand, we get a Carp, K...
The Scorpion King (and NOT Body Bags)
After winning our recent listener poll, this month’s b-b-b-bonus episode of BC:SF is about The Scorpion King. The prequel franchise of the sequel to the remake of the original The Mummy! It is NOT about John Carpenter’s horror anthology series Body Bags! Topics include: presenting a Nickelodeon ...
Village of the Damned with Amy Nicholson
It’s not “Children of the Damned” nor “Children of the Corn” nor “Corn of the Damned” - it’s John Carpenter’s “Village of the Damned,” goddamnit! Creepy blonde kids with laser eyes! Our guest Amy Nicholson’s (“Unspooled”) boyfriend thinks she looks like one of them. Griff...
The Mummy (2017)
BC:SF is kicking off November with the 2017 Mummy reboot, the first (and probably last tbh) release in Dark Universe franchise. Topics include: Tom Cruise hanging on to being a leading man, favorite celebrity kids, good sirens, the Jekyll and Hyde Club and more!Movie starts at…22:50
In the Mouth of Madness with Angelica Jade Bastién
Just in time for Halloween - it’s the conclusion of Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy” and one of the best Lovecraftian horrors ever to grace the silver screen! Vulture’s Angelica Jade Bastién joins us to chat “In the Mouth of Madness,” and we wonder - is Sam Neill a “dang ass freak...
Memoirs of an Invisible Man with Alan Sepinwall
In which we try to find the John Carpenter in what is overwhelmingly a Chevy Chase vanity project. The legendary Alan Sepinwall (Rolling Stone) joins us to make sense of this befuddling genre mishmash. What are the invisibility rules of this movie? Who is the silver-voiced British man named “Richa...
