Pod Insights Blank Check with Griffin & David The Eleventh Annual Blank Check Awards with Joe Reid About this episode Live from our windowless studio in Downtown Brooklyn, it's the 11th Annual Blankies! Joe Reid joins us once again to give out golden Wattos to our favorite films, performances, and craftspeople of the year. Some of our picks are certainly part of the greater award season conversation. Others are Materialists. Join us as we honor the best Putters and Murmurs, the Wettest flicks of the year, and as Griffin debuts his latest Billy Crystal opening showtune.
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Transcript 38,005 words · 10 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:02 Griffin Newman? David?
0:03 Speaker 01 Yep.
0:03 Griffin Newman? We did a live show.
0:04 Speaker 01 Yeah, remember?
0:05 Griffin Newman? Ranking Scorsese at the Bell House in Brooklyn. We did the definitive power ranking of Martin Scorsese things.
0:12 Speaker 01 It was so fun. It was very silly.
0:15 Griffin Newman? Ben and Marie were with us and they're with us right now.
0:18 Speaker 01 Yeah, hey.
0:18 Speaker 02 Hey, everyone, or should I say, oh? Oh.
0:22 Griffin Newman? And thanks to our friends at Dynasty Typewriter. It was livestreamed for the first time ever. But also, the replay is still up there, but only until October 30th.
0:31 Speaker 01 So just a few more days.
0:33 Griffin Newman? Yes.
0:33 Speaker 01 You can get it at dynasty.tv.
0:36 Griffin Newman? Dynasty.tv.
0:38 Speaker 01 It's $20. We had a blast and the Spread Master really got to work.
0:43 Griffin Newman? Oh, yeah. I was moving things around. Laptop was on.
0:46 Speaker 02 I don't know if I'd have seen you that happy.
0:48 Griffin Newman? You were thrilled. You were like a pick and share.
0:50 Speaker 01 I was locked in.
0:51 Griffin Newman? Yeah, very locked in and you were funny.
0:53 Speaker 01 Thank you. You were funny. You were also funny.
0:56 Griffin Newman? Oh, thank you.
0:57 Speaker 01 And if you want to see like, you know, Griffin's shine box on camera, it's the only way to see it.
1:02 Griffin Newman? You might see me shine Marie's shoes.
1:04 Speaker 01 Exactly.
1:05 Speaker 02 Yeah, if you're into that sort of content.
1:07 Griffin Newman? If that gets you off.
1:09 Speaker 02 Okay.
1:10 Speaker 01 So once again, that's at dynasty.tv.
1:25 Speaker 03 Live from a windowless studio in Brooklyn, New York, it's the 11th Annual Blankies.
1:48 Speaker 03 All the stars are out tonight. Oh, is that Ella McKay's deadbeat pizza husband I see on the red carpet?
1:56 Speaker 04 Extra cheese and you're Hawaiian? Hawaiian.
2:00 Speaker 03 Just entering the red carpet, it's Balls from Is This Thing On? Oh, looks like he spilled a gallon of milk.
2:08 Speaker 05 It's been a lot for me to carry around.
2:11 Speaker 03 Greta Lee wishes she could be here with us tonight. However, she's at Gettysburg watching a Civil War reenactment.
2:18 Speaker 02 But I'm gonna help you find this man.
2:20 Speaker 03 The paparazzi is loving our latest arrival on the red carpet. It's Varang, wearing a stunning ash dress.
2:29 Speaker 06 I am the fire!
2:34 Speaker 03 Oh my goodness. Samson the Alpha, from 28 years later, just arrived with his date. His giant penis. Oh my god, it's even bigger than I thought.
2:48 Speaker 03 And now your host for this evening. Song and dance man, Griffin Newman.
2:55 Griffin Newman? What a wonderful night for blankies, blankies, blankies. Who will win? And possible nominees, based on... Mostly just the things that have been nominated ever since. Particularly the Oscars, who knows where we're gonna swing?
3:13 Speaker 05 Their taste is not...
3:17 Speaker 07 When you were young, and your wife still had her hark.
3:22 Speaker 07 You used to say, "Let Hamnet live." You know you did, you know you did, you know you did. But if this ever-growing plague would make your son sick,
3:34 Speaker 07 that plague might make your wife cry. Dun-dun-dun. So let Hamnet die.
3:43 David Sims? Oh, okay.
3:45 Speaker 07 Boom!
3:45 Griffin Newman? I had some pitch problems on that one.
3:47 David Sims? Sure, I was just, you know, there's a lot of buildup and I was finding my way into it, that's all.
3:52 Speaker 04 He is the creature. He's got good features, he is hot, hot, hot.
3:57 David Sims? Oh, Frankenstein.
3:58 Speaker 05 Frankenstein.
3:58 Speaker 04 Frankenstein made him. But now he hates him 'cause he's hot, hot, hot.
4:02 David Sims? That's true.
4:04 Griffin Newman? Thank you.
4:06 Speaker 04 You're selling shoes for Uncle, he won't give you cash!
4:13 Speaker 04 You're cuckin' Mr. Wonderful, he paddles your ass!
4:20 Speaker 04 Doing circus tricks on Globetrotters!
4:26 Speaker 04 You're absolutely sure that kid's not yours!
4:31 Speaker 04 You gotta fight!
4:33 David Sims? Panic!
4:33 Speaker 04 For your right!
4:34 David Sims? Panic!
4:35 Speaker 04 To Marty!
4:38 Speaker 07 Supreme.
4:39 David Sims? Honestly, you didn't even need it.
4:42 Speaker 07 I heard it said That the new Wicked would be nommed. Reward both films now. Return of the King was the comp. But then it came out And it fucking sucked so hard. Because for good sucked. Wicked for good sucked. They nominate F1.
5:08 David Sims? F1 made it. I was wondering. I was wondering if F1 was gonna make it.
5:29 Speaker 04 Begonia!
5:32 David Sims? I wonder if Begonia's getting any noms today. What do you think?
5:35 Speaker 04 I'm a sinner.
5:36 David Sims? Okay.
5:37 Speaker 04 I'm a twinner. I drink blood for dinner. I can't be exposed to the sun. I'm a smoker. I'm a stacker. I'm a neck blood snacker. I'm eating pussy in the club.
5:56 David Sims? That's all true.
5:57 Speaker 07 It's actually correct. Stalin's scars guard. Why won't you come to your senses? You've been so damn pretentious To your daughters so long. Got a project? Elle Fanning says she's attached. But you're... I don't know, I ran out of lyrics on that one.
6:20 David Sims? Whatever.
6:21 Speaker 07 It's good.
6:22 Speaker 04 Secret agent film. Secret agent film.
6:26 David Sims? Root one, but good.
6:27 Speaker 04 You disappeared your loved ones And they severed someone's leg.
6:34 Griffin Newman? Blue moon, Abu di Abu die. Abu di Abu die. He's a really short guy. Abu di Abu die. Abu di Abu die. Blue moon, he will die. Abu di Abu die.
6:45 Speaker 04 A little romping up there.
6:46 David Sims? The coal, I feel like, is running low.
6:48 Speaker 01 He's performing these in the order that he wrote them down.
6:52 Griffin Newman? Wrong, wrong, wrong.
6:53 Speaker 01 And, and you can feel the kind of steam running out.
6:57 David Sims? That's what I'm saying, like, the train is starting to slow down.
6:59 Griffin Newman? Well, I guess you guys are forcing me off the stage and I can't perform the one battle after another song. I definitely cracked, so moving on.
7:06 Speaker 01 No, we need to hear it.
7:08 Griffin Newman? No, we just have to know that I definitely had one.
7:11 David Sims? Right, it was in, it was locked, and now he's putting it in the attic.
7:16 Griffin Newman? There weren't ten different drafts that didn't work.
7:19 Speaker 05 One is the loneliest battle, never made it to the.
7:20 Griffin Newman? We tried a lot of things. I gotta thank the war room, the self-dubbed war room.
7:26 David Sims? The war room?
7:27 Griffin Newman? Nicholas Frank, Tiger Weiger.
7:28 David Sims? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:29 Griffin Newman? And Sean Clemens.
7:30 David Sims? Yeah, like, the, the, the jingle.
7:32 Griffin Newman? Bernice turning to midnight.
7:33 Speaker 05 Churning out, churning out jingles.
7:35 Griffin Newman? Come with a good slate.
7:35 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:36 Griffin Newman? We had one battle or, or, or another, like, one way or another, that was that.
7:41 Speaker 05 Oh, sure.
7:42 Griffin Newman? Doing one jump ahead from Aladdin.
7:43 Speaker 05 Mmm.
7:44 Griffin Newman? And then it was, it was tough, every, every one of these, I hit a wall after, like, two lines.
7:48 Speaker 05 One jump ahead would have been a little, like, really delving inward to the, like, the real, real heads are gonna get this.
7:54 Griffin Newman? Totally.
7:55 Speaker 05 Yeah.
7:55 Griffin Newman? But I, you know, they can't all be, dunna, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na. Begonia!
8:00 Speaker 05 Spent that entire setup being like, where is this going? Panahi, I couldn't quite, but like.
8:05 Griffin Newman? That's the juice.
8:05 Speaker 05 Yeah.
8:06 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
8:07 David Sims? Panahi!
8:08 Speaker 05 Yeah.
8:09 David Sims? I don't know. You know, F1 is nominated for Best Picture.
8:11 Griffin Newman? It is.
8:12 Speaker 05 Sure is.
8:12 David Sims? You made your list.
8:13 Speaker 05 Yeah.
8:13 David Sims? It was the 14th highest grossing domestic release of 2025.
8:16 Griffin Newman? Don't say it made my list, it made the medal.
8:18 David Sims? That's what I'm saying, I mean, that's what I'm saying. It snuck in.
8:20 Griffin Newman? It's just hitting the topic a little.
8:21 David Sims? So Sinners made more money than it.
8:23 Griffin Newman? Yeah, yeah.
8:24 David Sims? So like, if you're, you know, if you're wringing your hands over, like, oh, we needed a blockbuster, that's like, well, well, Sinners.
8:28 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
8:29 David Sims? So, and I'm not, I'm not mad, I'm just saying, I was just sort of looking, being like, was there another blockbuster they could have nominated?
8:36 Griffin Newman? What were the, what were the final totals on them?
8:39 David Sims? On which? On Sinners and F1?
8:41 Griffin Newman? Sinners versus F1.
8:41 David Sims? It's domestic, so not worldwide.
8:43 Griffin Newman? No, I know, but worldwide, did F1 beat Sinners?
8:46 David Sims? Oh, I think definitely.
8:47 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
8:47 David Sims? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
8:47 Griffin Newman? That was my question.
8:48 Speaker 05 Sure, oh yeah, I mean, that was the rationale, too.
8:50 David Sims? F1 made 633 worldwide.
8:53 Speaker 05 The International Academy members.
8:54 David Sims? And Sinners made 369.
8:56 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
8:56 David Sims? But domestic, Sinners is 279 to F1's 189. That's all.
9:00 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
9:01 David Sims? I just, you know, they could have nominated Superman, I don't know, or Avatar. There's not really a lot else.
9:07 Speaker 05 There's not really, particularly when the juice for both Avatar and Wicked kind of ran out at the same time.
9:15 Griffin Newman? That was the real thing. It did feel like a lot of people were mentally holding a slot.
9:20 Speaker 05 Yes.
9:20 Griffin Newman? For one, if not both.
9:22 Speaker 05 Yeah.
9:22 Griffin Newman? And then when Wicked fell through, they were like, well, obviously the slot is Avatar's.
9:25 Speaker 05 Yeah.
9:26 David Sims? Yeah, a little bit.
9:27 Speaker 05 I remember, because I covered for my colleague-
9:29 David Sims? Post Thanksgiving, it was like, it'll be Avatars, and then post Christmas, it was like, I hear a car rumbling.
9:33 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah.
9:34 Griffin Newman? But also, a bunch of male, married Oscar voters.
9:37 Speaker 05 Mm-hmm.
9:38 Griffin Newman? Were, were at their ballot, right? Licking the quill.
9:43 Speaker 05 As they do.
9:44 Griffin Newman? The inkwell, right?
9:45 Speaker 05 Right.
9:45 Griffin Newman? About to write in Avatar Fire and Ash, and then they hear the old battle axe wife with a rolling pin.
9:51 Speaker 05 As she does.
9:52 Griffin Newman? Ah, you better not be voting for the Vrang! Don't you vote for the Vrang!
9:57 David Sims? I'm sorry.
9:58 Speaker 05 You vote for-
9:58 David Sims? I'm sorry. Oscar voters are married to Italian nonas with rolling pins?
10:05 Speaker 05 That's what all the cast members from the nonas went and did.
10:08 Griffin Newman? I give you forty children, I worship your socks, you better not vote for the Vrang!
10:11 David Sims? Wait, no wonder they're all like, having affairs or whatever, like, if the wife at home is like, streaganona, like, I can, you know?
10:17 Griffin Newman? And the husband goes, "I work all day mixing the sound, I work my fingers to the bone, I vote to the Vrang, if I want to vote in the Vrang!"
10:25 David Sims? Okay, uh, welcome to our 2020-25 Blankies episode.
10:30 Speaker 05 That's right.
10:31 David Sims? Of Blank Checks.
10:31 Griffin Newman? Well, this is the 2026 ceremony for the films of 2025.
10:35 David Sims? That's right.
10:35 Griffin Newman? Which makes this the 11th?
10:37 Speaker 05 The 11th.
10:38 David Sims? Is that right?
10:38 Speaker 05 Yeah. I erroneously texted you a few, uh, several weeks ago and thought this would be the 10th, but, uh, last
10:44 Griffin Newman? Last year was
10:45 Speaker 05 Cause the 2015
10:46 Griffin Newman? Yep.
10:46 Speaker 05 Movie year was the first one I remember doing.
10:48 Griffin Newman? Correct, correct. Yeah.
10:49 David Sims? Yeah, I know. So this is the 11th.
10:51 Speaker 05 Yeah.
10:51 David Sims? Uh, blankies. Uh, who are you?
10:54 Griffin Newman? I'm Griffin Newman.
10:55 David Sims? I'm David Sims, and who's that?
10:56 Speaker 05 It's Joe Reid.
10:57 Griffin Newman? AKA Reading Rain Joe.
10:59 Speaker 05 Reading Rain Joe. The only person in my life who calls me that is Griffin Newman, and I look forward to it.
11:03 Griffin Newman? Just only once a year.
11:04 Speaker 05 Yeah.
11:04 David Sims? Yeah, I mean, it's not a, you've done it other times.
11:07 Griffin Newman? Yeah, but mostly in the ramp up or the wind down from this time, once a year.
11:10 Speaker 05 Yeah.
11:11 David Sims? Now they're rebooting Reading Rainbow. Have you heard this?
11:13 Griffin Newman? With whom?
11:14 David Sims? Uh, uh, someone called Michael Threets.
11:18 Griffin Newman? Oh, of course.
11:19 Speaker 05 The great Michael Threets.
11:20 David Sims? 24-episode pick-up.
11:21 Griffin Newman? Where?
11:22 David Sims? PBS.
11:23 Griffin Newman? Okay.
11:24 Speaker 05 Well, that's good.
11:25 Griffin Newman? I like that part of it.
11:25 Speaker 05 I was really bracing for Netflix.
11:27 David Sims? Fucking, yeah, Paramount Plus?
11:29 Speaker 05 Yeah.
11:29 David Sims? Reading you like Barry Weiss's book. Like, what do you, what do you want from me?
11:32 Griffin Newman? Uh, brother. Producer Ben is here.
11:37 Speaker 05 What?
11:38 Griffin Newman? Uh, I gifted him today a vintage, uh, McFarlane toys, AKA T-Dog Mac Violator Action Figure from the first series of Spawn, uh, toys, and he has wrapped it around his mic arm, and he's looking at it so lovingly.
11:53 Speaker 05 The room was feeling a little empty, so I, I, I'm glad that, uh, there was some
11:57 Griffin Newman? Just had to put something in there.
11:58 Speaker 05 Personality brought into the space.
12:00 David Sims? Yeah, that's true. There's just nothing. We needed a little something.
12:04 Speaker 05 Yeah.
12:04 David Sims? Uh, yeah, colorful or, uh, sort of eye-popping in our office today.
12:08 Speaker 05 Perhaps a tchotchke.
12:09 Griffin Newman? To absorb the sound.
12:10 Speaker 05 You know, think, consider a tchotchke once in a while. Yeah.
12:13 Griffin Newman? It's, it's all sound absorption.
12:15 David Sims? And I've got my, I've got my baby Joey here.
12:17 Griffin Newman? You got your baby Joey.
12:18 Speaker 05 Oh, nice.
12:18 David Sims? But it's greatly appreciated. Thank you.
12:20 Griffin Newman? Of course. Anytime, buddy.
12:21 Speaker 05 I'm apparently staring at a photo of Austin Powers suspended in, uh, cryostasis.
12:26 David Sims? That maybe doesn't have to be there forever.
12:28 Speaker 05 It's a hell of a thing for your guests to
12:29 David Sims? Yeah, it does seem a little aggro for the guests.
12:32 Griffin Newman? Uh, of course, when we, uh, covered the Austin Powers, uh, trilogy on Patreon.
12:37 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
12:37 Griffin Newman? Uh, Marie Barde, Selena's, AKA Woman, uh, would not stop talking about how cut, quote.
12:45 Speaker 05 Oh, I remember that one.
12:46 David Sims? You have never let this go.
12:48 Speaker 05 That was quite the opinion that was advanced. Yeah.
12:51 David Sims? You really, it really got to you.
12:52 Griffin Newman? So that lives on that desk for when Marie's, uh, uh, joining us as fourth chair on an episode. Also, on the back of it, there's some notes written that I think were rat-liff, trying to jot some things down during a Ladykillers episode.
13:05 David Sims? Connor, chicken scratching.
13:07 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
13:07 David Sims? All right, let's see.
13:08 Griffin Newman? Here's the thing I like about The Blankies and the movies.
13:13 David Sims? Okay.
13:14 Griffin Newman? Uh, we were just doing the count of like, this is year 11, right? We, we start off The Blankies, the award ceremony, as a franchise in our second year, but our first year as Blank Check.
13:28 David Sims? Right, we, we were like, were we like, three months into being Blank Check?
13:32 Griffin Newman? And we already were like, you know what we should do?
13:34 David Sims? I do vaguely remember that being the vibe where we were just kinda like, let's just do like an Oscar-y episode.
13:39 Griffin Newman? But also, let's plant our flag. This is like,
13:42 Speaker 05 Oh, yeah.
13:42 Griffin Newman? This is who we are now, but it made me realize, last year, we were all like, fucking celebrating the decade of dreams. Everyone was running down the streets, blowing like, vuvuzvelas and shouting about the decade of dreams.
13:54 Speaker 05 They were definitely doing that.
13:55 Griffin Newman? But from a certain point of view, this year is when we celebrate the decade of Blank Check, because last year was celebrating nine years of Blank Check and one year of Griffin and David Present.
14:05 David Sims? That's a good, okay, so you, are you trying to bring decades of dreams?
14:09 Griffin Newman? It hit me the other day.
14:10 David Sims? Into a second, like, we're sort of like doing the faded, sad, like a sequel to Decade of Dreams.
14:15 Griffin Newman? It's a more honest decade of dreams, so it's not actually diminishing returns, it's, it's, it's better.
14:21 David Sims? And then next year, you'll be like, and really, you don't start with counting the first year.
14:26 Speaker 05 The millennium didn't begin until 2001.
14:28 Griffin Newman? I was just gonna say, cruising altitude till Noel.
14:30 David Sims? This is the real decade of dreams.
14:32 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
14:32 Speaker 05 You weren't kidding about chicken scratches. I'm getting Spock, perhaps?
14:36 Griffin Newman? Uh huh.
14:36 Speaker 05 Two words that look like bacon melt, but they can't possibly be bacon melt, and then burn before reading is the thing that I can make out.
14:43 David Sims? Well, that's, that sounds like a good bit that he didn't get to do.
14:45 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
14:46 Speaker 05 So these were notes? Oh, I see.
14:47 David Sims? I would assume.
14:48 Speaker 05 Is this IP that I've just, uh, released into the universe?
14:51 Griffin Newman? It's what I like about having it on the guest desk, is first, we get to do a little Kinsey test of how you feel about Mike Myers and his cut body.
14:59 Speaker 05 No, yeah, yeah, that's fair.
15:00 Griffin Newman? And then, uh, you can see how far you can get trying to decipher Connor Ratliff's handwriting.
15:06 Speaker 05 Sure, sure, sure.
15:07 David Sims? Right.
15:07 Griffin Newman? This is the Blanky Awards where we pick our winners.
15:11 David Sims? I, you know, you're right, I never thought about it that we just kind of did it like six episodes into our M Night Shyamalan series or whatever. Just being like, this is the thing we want to do. I also remember the break, there was no, we were basically like, let's do awards episode.
15:25 Speaker 05 Yeah.
15:25 David Sims? Joe, you want to do it? And you were like, yeah, sure. And then like, you know, day before it was like, what is it by the way? It was like, I don't know, your Oscar ballot.
15:31 Speaker 05 Yeah.
15:31 David Sims? Like, I mean, it was not like we were like, all right.
15:33 Speaker 05 We didn't have a planning session.
15:35 David Sims? I'm super prepared, like.
15:37 Speaker 01 Wait, you're saying that, was it organized?
15:42 Speaker 05 It was also recorded in the hottest little closet I've ever been in.
15:46 David Sims? It was a little bar in the air, I'm not gonna deny.
15:48 Speaker 01 And now look at us.
15:49 Speaker 05 Now look at us.
15:50 Speaker 01 A larger windowless room.
15:52 Speaker 05 Yes, but like, ceilings that are, you know, that are higher.
15:56 Griffin Newman? Why did I feel confident just being like, we should do an awards episode, let's ask, let's ask Joe and do no further planning? Because I fucking know that all three of us.
16:05 David Sims? Yes.
16:05 Speaker 05 Keep nerd spreadsheets and lists and whatnot?
16:07 David Sims? It was not gonna be a lot of work for us.
16:09 Griffin Newman? Right, the work's done.
16:10 Speaker 05 Somebody asked me that the other day, like, how do you prepare for the blankies? And I'm like, well, I keep lists throughout the year.
16:16 Griffin Newman? Right.
16:16 Speaker 05 Like, this is not like, I have to like, cram session at the end.
16:19 David Sims? Do you know what the episode before it is? Signs, we barely started the Shyamalan series.
16:24 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
16:25 David Sims? It was four episodes deep.
16:26 Speaker 05 That's amazing.
16:27 David Sims? And then we were like, let's do blankies, let's fucking do it.
16:29 Griffin Newman? Yeah, we nailed it.
16:30 David Sims? I mean, you know what?
16:32 Speaker 05 Honestly, yes.
16:34 Griffin Newman? Can I say?
16:34 Speaker 05 You know who was our consensus pick for best actor that year?
16:37 Griffin Newman? Michael B. Jordan for Fred.
16:38 David Sims? Yeah.
16:39 Griffin Newman? Is that?
16:40 Speaker 05 Come around again.
16:40 Griffin Newman? Only time we've all lined up on an acting.
16:44 David Sims? I don't have those kinds of stats.
16:46 Speaker 05 I'm leaning towards no, but like, yeah.
16:48 David Sims? I imagine it's maybe happened once or twice, it's rare.
16:50 Speaker 05 There's a wiki out there that, that folks can consult if they want to take a look at that.
16:54 Griffin Newman? I know there's been a couple, like, two out of three.
16:57 Speaker 05 Yeah.
16:57 Griffin Newman? Both you guys picked Jennifer Lopez for Hustlers, I picked Florence, LeBron, James Buckets Pew.
17:04 David Sims? What's she up to? Oh, she did Thunderballs.
17:06 Speaker 05 I tend to consult that wiki a lot for my own picks because as I, I, I often on the fly, go a different way in the moment. And so, I'm like, what, what, where did the wind breeze me to that day?
17:20 Griffin Newman? This is an interesting thing. Now that we're doing this for the 11th time.
17:24 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
17:24 Griffin Newman? Do you guys find yourself at all getting into the psychological game of? Well, I snubbed that person of the win.
17:33 David Sims? Oh, I do that. Of course.
17:35 Griffin Newman? Like, when these were private spreadsheets for myself, I didn't worry about such things. And now I'm like, do I owe this person? Or would it look shitty if I gave them a second award?
17:44 Speaker 05 I, or I might.
17:45 David Sims? I privately do that. I privately, I'm like, well, I gave Leo his David for Wolf of Wall Street. Like, I do that to myself all the time.
17:52 Speaker 05 I made a switch to one of my lists this morning, and I literally had the thought of like, they're gonna be so disappointed that they didn't give him this.
17:59 David Sims? Yeah, right. They'll be, they'll really, they'll be sad to have missed out.
18:03 Speaker 05 Yeah.
18:03 David Sims? You know, Pew's in that MCU quagmire right now. I need her to do some more stuff. And I know she did a lot and maybe worried about doing too much.
18:13 Griffin Newman? What else is going on?
18:14 David Sims? I mean, next year, she's in Avengers: Doomsday and Dune 3. And like-
18:18 Speaker 05 And she seems to be one of those people who like, they have plans for that character seemingly, because a lot of the people they're bringing back for that are being brought back allegedly to like-
18:28 David Sims? Let's pump the brakes on they have plans.
18:30 Speaker 05 Well, okay, fair enough.
18:31 David Sims? Because at this point, I don't know how firm any of the plans-
18:34 Griffin Newman? I think they have a clear plan. There are sirens going off everywhere, and they're like, hold on to that fucking legitimate movie star-
18:42 Speaker 05 Yeah.
18:43 Griffin Newman? -who we have on a five-picture contract, like your life depends on.
18:46 Speaker 05 The day of the chairs, right? You could tell like a good two-thirds of those chairs are like coming back so that they can get kind of rushed off into the sunset.
18:54 David Sims? Mostly, it's a vamoo-sing. Yes, they're not, Ian McKellen is not gonna do eight more Magneto's.
18:59 Speaker 05 Right, right.
19:00 David Sims? It is so funny that McKellen went on Colbert and was like, I think I destroyed New Jersey? And Cora was like, is that a spoiler? And he was like, oh, I don't know, I guess so. Just destroys New Jersey.
19:09 Griffin Newman? I saw, I got the algorithm-
19:10 David Sims? He gets like a bad sub or something, and he just fucking, sorry, Ben.
19:14 Griffin Newman? All these guys over 70, if you put them in a Marvel movie, they spill everything.
19:19 Speaker 05 Well, McKellen's been spilling tea on big franchises since the Lord of the Rings days, and he like outed everybody in the Hobbit movies.
19:25 Griffin Newman? Yes.
19:26 David Sims? Who'd he out?
19:27 Speaker 05 Um, uh-
19:28 David Sims? Uh, right, no, Lee Pace.
19:30 Speaker 05 No, but also the, the main troll-
19:31 David Sims? Richard Armitage?
19:32 Speaker 05 Richard Armitage, yeah.
19:33 David Sims? He was a dwarf.
19:34 Speaker 05 I don't think he said anybody by name, but I think he was just like, oh, everybody in that cast is gay.
19:39 David Sims? It is my, look, I said this already, but like, I think it's why he's mad about Hamlet.
19:43 Speaker 05 Oh, I didn't know he was mad about Hamlet.
19:45 David Sims? Well, he threw some shade at Hamlet recently. I can't remember where. Uh, he was like, I'm not on the chat show.
19:51 Speaker 05 Oh, cause it didn't address Shakespeare being gay?
19:54 David Sims? He was basically like, I don't think it's very interesting to try and assign, you know, this wonderful, his works, which are so important and interesting, this kind of like, simple emotional narrative.
20:04 Speaker 05 That's specific of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:04 David Sims? And like, that was a perfectly valid point for him to make, and he made it well. But I, there, to me, there is an, McKellen's also like, who cares about Shakespeare's wife? Shakespeare was, you know, he was not the straightest arrow.
20:15 Speaker 05 Getting dick all over London. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:17 David Sims? Uh, I don't know if he actually feels that way. I shouldn't put words in Ian McKellen's mouth.
20:21 Speaker 05 Getting dick all over London is the title of the spinoff movie for Hamlet.
20:24 David Sims? He was getting dick all over Britain, dude. They were traveling.
20:27 Speaker 05 The Northlands, I imagine, were just teeming with, uh, I don't know.
20:31 Griffin Newman? Kelsey Grammer did some interview where he was just like, uh, they were like, I'm sure you can't say anything about, uh, Doomsday. And he was like-
20:37 Speaker 05 Oh, right. He's gonna be in that.
20:39 Griffin Newman? A great time filming with Pedro Pascal. And like, he just listed all the actors he had been in scenes with, so then people were making the grid of being like-
20:46 David Sims? Right, like, what is he doing in it?
20:48 Griffin Newman? So the Fantastic Four is gonna go into the pocket X-Men universe.
20:51 Speaker 05 Uh huh, uh huh.
20:52 Griffin Newman? And then I saw him on some other show where they were like, now, I know you've gotten in trouble before for like, admitting. And he goes, yes, I shouldn't have said I'd worked with Pedro. I shouldn't have said that.
21:02 David Sims? Shinder said that I choked the life out of the Human Torch in one scene.
21:06 Griffin Newman? Oh, you know what? This was some conservative show, because they were specifically saying like-
21:10 Speaker 05 What would Kelsey Grammer be doing on a conservative show?
21:12 David Sims? Zorran is a disaster, and I can exclusively reveal that Doctor Doom fucks Invisible Woman.
21:18 Speaker 05 Sorry.
21:19 Griffin Newman? He was like, uh-
21:20 David Sims? Just imagining.
21:21 Griffin Newman? Whatever conservative fuck was like-
21:23 Speaker 05 Right.
21:23 Griffin Newman? Uh, you said you had worked with Pedro Pascal. What was it like sharing a set with him? You guys hold pretty different political opinions.
21:30 David Sims? Oh, sure, sure, sure.
21:31 Griffin Newman? And he goes, Pedro, I loved him. He's a, he's a terrific guy. And you know what's interesting? We only really had one real conversation, and it was him saying that he thought me too was a failure. Okay. And I was like, this feels like.
21:45 Speaker 05 I love that in your conception of Kelsey Grammer, that he's just Sam the Eagle.
21:48 David Sims? I also love the idea of someone being like, hey, Kelsey, was it tough for you working with a left-wing guy? I'm like, he's Kelsey, he was in like La Caja.
21:55 Speaker 05 Right, right.
21:56 David Sims? I think he's encountered a liberal in his life.
21:58 Speaker 05 Right, yes. He worked with David Hyde, Pearson, and Deedee Newer his entire career.
22:01 David Sims? I think he's figured out how to navigate that in his life.
22:05 Speaker 05 Yeah.
22:05 David Sims? People act like he just like only does Red Tube movies or whatever.
22:09 Griffin Newman? Right, right. No, he's like the old-school Hollywood conservative.
22:12 David Sims? Right.
22:13 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
22:13 David Sims? He's like, look, I want my taxes lower and my cigars cheap or whatever.
22:17 Speaker 05 Years upon years of him and Bo Derek just going to the RNC every year and being like, we got two of them.
22:21 Griffin Newman? Right, right, exactly.
22:23 David Sims? All right, guys, we're gonna do the blankies. We gotta do the blankies.
22:25 Griffin Newman? Okay, right. Guys, we're gonna do the blankies. We gotta do the blankies.
22:28 David Sims? We gotta, come on. Let's do our, so what we're doing here on the Blank Check Awards, just for, for new listeners who this is their first episode, and I'm sure that's going really well for them, is we, we say our, essentially our Oscar ballots for the, the big categories, uh, that the year, right, Griffin?
22:43 Griffin Newman? Yes, that's what we do. That's what we do here.
22:45 David Sims? And what, what category do you all want to start with? Cause I don't really care. I'm, I'm up for anything.
22:49 Speaker 05 We're traditionalists. I feel like we usually start with one of the supporting.
22:52 David Sims? We always do. Is there, do you?
22:53 Speaker 05 We could start with the screenplays if we wanted to get really crazy.
22:56 Griffin Newman? No, I want to start with the supporting.
22:57 Speaker 05 Okay.
22:58 David Sims? We want to start with supporting. Categories that are fairly wide open at the Oscars this year.
23:01 Speaker 05 They are, yeah, interesting.
23:03 David Sims? In a sort of a fun twist.
23:05 Speaker 05 Yeah.
23:05 Griffin Newman? I'm gonna say this is an anti-disclaimer disclaimer.
23:07 Speaker 05 Okay.
23:08 David Sims? Anti-disclaimer disclaimer.
23:10 Griffin Newman? This is the year that I've finally just gone like, it has become prohibitive to shadow ban movies made by people who have been on the show.
23:19 Speaker 05 Yeah.
23:19 David Sims? Oh, totally.
23:20 Speaker 05 Oh, interesting.
23:21 David Sims? Well, cause we're getting too, your reach is too far.
23:23 Griffin Newman? It's, it's a true humble brag.
23:25 David Sims? Cracker, you're, you're in. Nia DeCosta, I'm trying to think like who, who, uh, made movies this year that has been on the show. Ari.
23:34 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
23:34 David Sims? You know, welcome in, buddy. You're in the ballots.
23:37 Griffin Newman? Yeah, Alex Ross Perry made two movies, one of which I'm in.
23:40 David Sims? That crazy fucker, you're in it.
23:41 Griffin Newman? That crazy motherfucker.
23:44 Griffin Newman? Uh, but I was like, we had, we had some of it last year with, uh, I saw the TV Glow, which was one of my favorite movies, and we had had Jane on the show. And it'd always been this thing of like, well, there's high level working people we've had on the show who are, I wouldn't really say I'm like friends with, but to the listener, does it seem like there's the same level of familiarity and is there implied by us?
24:03 David Sims? So don't even, right, trip yourself up.
24:05 Griffin Newman? Or sometimes, I would get into the other thing of, is it more fair to just put all of them to the side so that I can't offend anyone by snubbing them?
24:11 David Sims? Yeah.
24:12 Griffin Newman? With the equal part of it? Now it's just impossible.
24:14 Speaker 05 Well, now, there's enough of them where now they sort of like battle it out in this imaginary ballad of.
24:18 David Sims? I, last year I did not nominate the film that I made, Amelia Paris.
24:23 Griffin Newman? Of course.
24:23 David Sims? Cause I didn't want, I, I made that film.
24:25 Speaker 05 That's, that's.
24:26 David Sims? I played every part.
24:27 Speaker 05 Yes.
24:27 David Sims? I wrote all the songs.
24:29 Speaker 05 You did all the, uh.
24:29 David Sims? I did all the tweets.
24:30 Speaker 05 You did, yeah, I was gonna say, you did all the tweets, you did all the interviews after the fact.
24:34 Griffin Newman? But also, you didn't give the worst yourself because you were so tired of winning. You were winning so much.
24:38 David Sims? Right. This year, um, my best friend Cynthia Revo, I decided to not include her, cause we are best friends.
24:45 Speaker 05 Sure.
24:46 David Sims? And I also can't actually attend our ceremony if we do one, because I will be tw- playing 27 parts in a one man Dracula show.
24:54 Griffin Newman? Perfect. And that's, I heard that was the same thing the Oscars said.
24:58 David Sims? Yes.
24:59 Griffin Newman? That they would have nominated Wicked for Good in every category.
25:01 David Sims? But they're, but they're best friends with her, so they couldn't do it.
25:03 Griffin Newman? It's conflict interest.
25:03 David Sims? Right, the statue is her best friend.
25:05 Griffin Newman? They're best friends. They hold her one finger. Supporting actor.
25:12 Speaker 02 Best Supporting Actor.
25:15 David Sims? Okay, great, so Griffin.
25:17 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
25:17 David Sims? Your Supporting Actress winner last year, presenting this award.
25:21 Griffin Newman? Okay.
25:21 David Sims? Was Renata Reinspa.
25:24 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
25:24 David Sims? For a different man.
25:25 Speaker 05 For a different man, yeah. That's a good choice.
25:26 David Sims? Joe, yours was, and mine, both of ours, was Michelle Austin for Hard Truth, so she's back too.
25:32 Griffin Newman? She's back too.
25:33 David Sims? So, uh, yeah, Griffin, whatever, you know, give me your Supporting Actors.
25:37 Griffin Newman? Look, I tried not to overthink these this year, it was what came to me, and I'll be doing some last second cuts in the categories where I have six people jotted down, mostly to see who's not being covered by you guys.
25:48 David Sims? Got it.
25:48 Griffin Newman? But Supporting Actor, I had a pretty clean five.
25:50 David Sims? Hmm.
25:51 Griffin Newman? Benicio del Toro, in a picture called One Battle After Another, and boy, if you heard the song I wrote for that, you'd, you'd still be laughing.
25:59 David Sims? Tears down her face.
25:59 Speaker 05 Toes would still be tapping.
26:00 Griffin Newman? Big, strong guys.
26:01 Speaker 05 Yeah.
26:01 Griffin Newman? Tears in their eyes. Michael Cera, The Phoenician Scheme.
26:07 Griffin Newman? Delroy Lindo in Sinners, a performance I am pleasantly surprised to be aligned with the Oscars on. Yeah.
26:14 David Sims? It was one of my punch the air moments.
26:16 Griffin Newman? Absolutely, absolutely. Rafe Fiennes in 28 Years Later.
26:22 David Sims? He's there.
26:23 Griffin Newman? And Billy Crudup in J. Kelly. Nice.
26:28 David Sims? It's very good. He's got the one scene. I mean, I know it's a couple scenes, but it's that one big scene.
26:32 Griffin Newman? The one big knockout, yeah. I would say, I might put an additional title on this of, is this the thermostat performance of the year?
26:39 David Sims? Yeah, a little bit.
26:40 Griffin Newman? Oh.
26:41 David Sims? Except to some people, J. Kelly went from like 67 degrees to 68 degrees. Like, no one got hot watching it. I, you and I liked that movie a lot.
26:49 Griffin Newman? I liked that movie.
26:50 David Sims? But you know what I mean? Like generally, there was.
26:52 Griffin Newman? But I also, I'll say this. I had a, I had a different thought of an honorific while watching this performance. And I, at once, at one point, I was like, do I just put it to the side and not put in proper best supporting actor? My thought was, is this the black box performance of the year? Where you go, why don't they build the whole movie out of this thing? Sure, got it, got it, yes. I think there's a juice to that, like, eight-minute chunk of the movie. That as much as I like the film, I'm like, this is the fucking potent thing. If I'm bomb back, whatever I think I'm writing. Yeah. I get to that scene, even on paper, before you cast Crudup and he knocks it out of the fucking park. I go, maybe this is the movie. Yeah. Maybe these guys spend the whole night together and that's the film.
27:34 David Sims? I can see it.
27:35 Griffin Newman? J. Kelly versus whatever that guy's name is. Yeah.
27:38 David Sims? Well, the point is, we don't know his name.
27:40 Griffin Newman? That's what proving the point right here.
27:41 David Sims? Fucking.
27:42 Griffin Newman? Fucking Kelly. I'm J. Kelly, you're J. Kelly, you're up here, you're down here? That movie, here's another award I'll throw out, worst trailer of the year. Oh, boy.
27:52 David Sims? You hated the trailer. You were always saying how, like, almost poisoned you against the movie.
27:56 Griffin Newman? You saw an early screening of the movie.
27:57 David Sims? I did, they showed it to me.
27:58 Griffin Newman? You were like, it's really excellent. I was like, this thing looks like dog shit. It was a bad trailer. The fuck is Sim smoking? I saw the trailer.
28:04 David Sims? I was smoking that dank weed.
28:05 Griffin Newman? I saw the trailer before, like, everything. It kept playing at the Angelica and the Paris when I was seeing a lot of things at those two theaters. Yes. And I was just like, it is impossible, this movie will do anything to me other than leave me with an overwhelming desire to eat glass. And then the movie started and I was just like, the trailer makes it look like fucking Cinema Paradiso IV.
28:28 Speaker 05 Sure, yeah.
28:30 David Sims? Is Cinema Paradiso, there's a real, like, genre of foreign film that is bad, that was loved. You know what I mean? Like Cinema Paradiso, Life is Beautiful, Il Piscino, huh?
28:42 Griffin Newman? Cola? Was that that movie?
28:43 David Sims? Col- Colia is a great example.
28:45 Speaker 05 Yeah, foreign language winner.
28:45 David Sims? Which is like, and when I say bad, it's not bad. It's like a sort of seven out of 10, like, sweet movie. But like, where you're like, oh, this is, you know, this is kind of dumb.
28:54 Speaker 05 All I remember is the director, like, carrying the kid on his shoulder up to the stage.
28:58 Griffin Newman? And that was the poster, and the kid was covering his eyes.
29:00 David Sims? I saw that film in theaters. I remember it being very sweet.
29:03 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Look, we're not doing the happy birthday sign thing, credit to Mulaney, and the two of you are going to go as your best supporting actor categories. But I do want to say, it's a shift that people don't know.
29:13 David Sims? But 10 minutes on Colia. No, you're right, that like, foreign film used to be the treacle-y shit, and now it's not so much. Is that what you're saying?
29:19 Griffin Newman? And the biggest change was, it used to be, to vote in that category, you had to go to a marathon screening.
29:25 David Sims? You had to go to so many screenings.
29:26 Griffin Newman? No, but you specifically, I think, when the five films were nominated.
29:29 David Sims? Oh, sure, sure.
29:30 Griffin Newman? You had to go to a full day marathon of all of them.
29:33 David Sims? That's crazy.
29:34 Griffin Newman? And so the only people who would do that.
29:36 David Sims? Were the oldest people in the world.
29:38 Griffin Newman? Well, right.
29:38 David Sims? Was always the true.
29:39 Griffin Newman? Who are, like, ready for the treacle-y layoffs. The kind of sweetest movie always won.
29:42 David Sims? Or is it about the Holocaust, or like the war, or something like that?
29:46 Griffin Newman? You know, maybe it was the opposite, but I, I know certainly for the nomination process, that was part of it.
29:51 David Sims? It was the, I think it was more the nominations.
29:53 Griffin Newman? You had to see every single one.
29:55 David Sims? It was only retirees, because no one else had the time.
29:57 Speaker 05 But that's always been the double-edged sword of the Oscars, which is, ideally, you would like all the people voting on the Oscars to have seen all of the movies that they're voting on. And the realistic thing is, the only people who do that are 80-year-old people who have nothing else to do with it.
30:12 Griffin Newman? And Kirsten Dunst.
30:14 Speaker 05 And Kirsten Dunst, she has said she sees all the movies.
30:16 Griffin Newman? Joe?
30:17 Speaker 05 That's why she's our hero.
30:18 Griffin Newman? Who are your nominees for best supporting actor?
30:20 Speaker 05 Best supporting actor, I have Austin Abrams in Weapons.
30:24 Griffin Newman? Oh, yeah.
30:25 Speaker 05 Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.
30:27 David Sims? Two noms for this guy.
30:28 Speaker 05 So good. Billy Crudup in J. Kelly.
30:31 Griffin Newman? Hell, yes!
30:31 David Sims? Stacking.
30:32 Speaker 05 William H. Macy in Train Dreams.
30:34 Griffin Newman? Okay.
30:35 Speaker 05 And Dylan O'Brien in Twinless.
30:38 David Sims? Is he supporting?
30:39 Speaker 05 I fudged it maybe.
30:40 Griffin Newman? It's a tweener.
30:41 Speaker 05 Best actor's tough.
30:42 Griffin Newman? It's a tweener in a tweener.
30:43 Speaker 05 Best actor's tough.
30:44 David Sims? Very good performance by Dylan. I guess he is, I mean, the other one, the one I wanted to, to say bye bye to. Upon meeting.
30:52 Speaker 05 You and my podcast co-host Chris File are of the same opinion on that guy.
30:56 David Sims? Uh, what's his name again? The guy who wrote it?
30:57 Speaker 05 James Sweeney.
30:58 Griffin Newman? And directed it?
30:59 Speaker 05 And directed it.
30:59 David Sims? I believe so.
31:00 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
31:01 David Sims? Uh, okay, so you got two shared noms of their credit.
31:04 Griffin Newman? Fascinating.
31:04 David Sims? And, uh, what was the other one? I already forgot. Oh, Sarah.
31:07 Griffin Newman? Michael Sarah.
31:07 David Sims? You're so good. I mean, you're so good.
31:10 David Sims? Okay, okay, I'll do mine. All right, and then we can discuss. I have Benicio del Toro for one battle after another. I have Delroy Lindo for Sinners, so I have that.
31:17 Griffin Newman? Wow.
31:17 David Sims? I am going to just say that, like, Rafe Fiennes is a very obvious candidate for me. I'm gonna hold him out just to have a little fun.
31:23 Speaker 05 I'm doing the same thing. I'm sticking a pin in Rafe.
31:25 David Sims? And obviously also, his Bone Temple nom is, is inscribed in stone.
31:29 Griffin Newman? That's the thing, and you're like, next year, he's in lead, arguably?
31:32 David Sims? I think sort of. I was sort of thinking about that.
31:35 Speaker 05 I would say, I would put him in lead.
31:37 Griffin Newman? I just, I was so.
31:38 David Sims? He's more the lead.
31:39 Griffin Newman? I was so conscious.
31:40 David Sims? The kid is the lead of the first one, and maybe kind of Aaron Johnson.
31:44 Griffin Newman? I was so conscious of my Adam Driver fuck-up in Blankie's Awards Pass.
31:50 David Sims? Oh, sure.
31:50 Griffin Newman? Where in The Force Awakens and Last Jedi years, Adam Driver was my sixth, and I cut him on air.
31:57 David Sims? Right, right.
31:58 Griffin Newman? And I was like, cause I'll give him the award.
31:59 Speaker 05 Surely even the third one, it'll be, yeah.
32:01 David Sims? He'll crush it.
32:01 Griffin Newman? For Rise of Skywalker, I'll come back around and give him the trophy.
32:05 David Sims? He did his best in Rise of Skywalker. Adam Driver is not the issue, like, not the glaring issue in that movie.
32:10 Griffin Newman? No, but I couldn't be like, and best actor goes to Adam Driver for Rise of Skywalker.
32:17 Speaker 05 The difference here is we've seen Bone Temple. Bone Temple does not pull a Rise of Skywalker.
32:21 David Sims? So, all right, so sorry. So I have Del Toro and Lindo.
32:23 Speaker 05 Yeah.
32:24 David Sims? Then I have Alexander Skarsgård in Pillion.
32:26 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
32:27 David Sims? Nicholas Holt in Superman.
32:29 Speaker 05 So good.
32:29 Griffin Newman? I considered it.
32:30 David Sims? And Matthew Penchion, I'm not sure how to say his name, in Nouvelle Vague.
32:36 Speaker 05 Nouvelle Vague.
32:37 David Sims? Who plays Raoul Cotard.
32:38 Griffin Newman? Okay.
32:38 David Sims? Where I was like, did Richard Linklater fucking open a time tunnel? How did she find a guy who looks like Raoul Cotard 1, like, so much? And 2, get the coolest performance I've ever seen of a guy, Godard is just annoying at him for 5 minutes, and he goes like... Okay. And I was just like, cannot take my eyes off this guy.
33:00 Griffin Newman? It is, I still have not seen that movie because it doesn't exist, but.
33:04 David Sims? It exists, but it's tough to watch it on Netflix.
33:07 Griffin Newman? Yeah. I just, it is crazy from the trailers and the images I've seen, how well he has physically matched every single.
33:14 Speaker 05 Sure.
33:15 Griffin Newman? Famous French new wave behind the camera.
33:18 David Sims? Yes, this is the, like, I think all the performances in that movie are, are fine. But that's right, you're just like, it's a magic trick. How do you get them all to look like this?
33:26 Griffin Newman? And you look them up and almost all of them have zero previous credits.
33:28 David Sims? Yes.
33:29 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
33:29 David Sims? You just like went around Paris going like, and the people just like showed up. I don't know.
33:34 Griffin Newman? He lit a cigarette and they all ran towards him.
33:37 David Sims? A performance I really loved.
33:38 Griffin Newman? Hmm.
33:39 David Sims? My winner is Benicio Del Toro.
33:41 Griffin Newman? My winner is also Benicio Del Toro.
33:44 Speaker 05 Benicio, I should say, was a close six on mine. I think all of the Oscar nominees are really good this year. So like, it was tough leaving all of them off, but Benicio was my number six. My winner is, and I mean, I'm falling into the Oscar voter trap of category fraud, I suppose, but my winner is Dylan O'Brien.
33:59 David Sims? I, yeah, I just don't like that movie.
34:01 Speaker 05 Yeah, I, I saw your third box, I'm like, I'm gonna be.
34:03 David Sims? People are some out of me about that. But, uh, but, uh, I thought Dylan was really good in that movie.
34:07 Speaker 05 Yeah.
34:07 Griffin Newman? And he's fucking excellent in Send Help.
34:09 Speaker 05 I still haven't seen Send Help. It bothers me so much. I know.
34:12 David Sims? Fuck you, Karen.
34:13 Speaker 05 I've been watching all the goddamn.
34:15 Griffin Newman? Yeah, yeah, you, you've had your work cut out for you.
34:17 Speaker 05 Excuse, yeah.
34:18 Griffin Newman? Um, uh, Del Toro, it, for me, nudged over the edge by having Phoenician Scheme as well this year.
34:25 Speaker 05 Yep, yep, he's great in that.
34:26 David Sims? It's a valid point.
34:27 Griffin Newman? There's a real like range of, oh, right, this guy is.
34:30 Speaker 05 Yeah.
34:30 Griffin Newman? One of the most powerful screen actors ever.
34:32 David Sims? People have started to swing against him, not like in a mega negative way, but I've seen a little bit of a like, all right, everyone, he doesn't need to win. Like, I don't.
34:40 Speaker 05 The arc on that performance has been interesting because when the movie first.
34:45 David Sims? Insane will be remembered for a hundred years performance to me.
34:47 Speaker 05 When people first started seeing the movie and Penn seemed like such the obvious.
34:51 Griffin Newman? Yes.
34:52 Speaker 05 Jump off, like, for supporting actor.
34:54 David Sims? Sean Penn is so funny and weird.
34:55 Speaker 05 And so the Del Toro thing started like this underground, like, am I crazy or is Del Toro the best performance in this movie?
35:02 Griffin Newman? Do you know what it kind of reminded me of?
35:03 Speaker 05 What?
35:04 Griffin Newman? Uh, Departed, where it's like, well, this is fucking Oscar play if I've ever seen it for Jack Nicholson working with Scorsese the first time. And then everyone starts being like. Is Wahlberg secretly like the best performance in that movie?
35:15 Speaker 05 Yeah, I don't like Wahlberg in that movie, but like that was the arc of that.
35:19 Griffin Newman? Yeah, you know, but it was a similar thing where everyone was like Penn, obviously, obviously, but like
35:23 Speaker 05 Yeah.
35:23 Griffin Newman? Del Toro's kind of incredible in this.
35:25 David Sims? Right, like those are the best parts of the movie. It sings the most when he's there.
35:29 Griffin Newman? And then he becomes fucking king of memes.
35:31 Speaker 05 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
35:33 Griffin Newman? You know, and then it feels like, oh, I guess he's gonna get in. Holy shit, he's winning all the critics awards. Is he like cakewalking his way to a win? And then it felt like there was some pushback on like, what, we're gonna give him a second Oscar because we like small beers?
35:50 Speaker 05 Oh, that's, yes, yeah, give it to the meme guy or whatever, which like I find so annoying.
35:55 Griffin Newman? He won one time 25 years ago.
35:58 David Sims? It's true, and he's like a Titanic actor who's
36:03 Speaker 05 Yeah, it's not even like an Adrian Brody thing.
36:05 David Sims? Oscar nom's total, like, you know, he should have more probably, like.
36:08 Griffin Newman? It's been over 20 years since he was nominated last.
36:11 Speaker 05 Was it 21 grand was his last nomination? Wow, yeah.
36:14 David Sims? But she's so good at it.
36:15 Griffin Newman? It's not like a comeback Brody, you were in the wilderness narrative, but it's more of a like, you know what? This guy has continued to be good, has continued to be great for another quarter century since he got an Oscar.
36:26 David Sims? Sicario was the crazy miss for him.
36:28 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
36:28 David Sims? Cause he did have major Oscar buzz that year.
36:30 Speaker 05 And that movie had a lot of Oscar attention. It got a nomination. The thing about Del Toro too is like, I think without him, that movie fails in a way that you can't say about, I think, any other actor in that movie.
36:42 Griffin Newman? It's the two reasons I give him the win. It's A, because he also had Phoenician scheme, right? And it's like, this feels like a year to fucking call it out.
36:51 Speaker 05 Yeah.
36:51 Griffin Newman? And B, you hear every story about how much he created for that character.
36:57 Speaker 05 Yeah.
36:58 Griffin Newman? Not just in like the look and whatever, but like actual core story themes and beats that then had ripple effects across the entire script.
37:06 Speaker 05 Yes.
37:07 Griffin Newman? It's not just if you pull that performance out, the movie's not as good. It's like the effect he had on the movie at large and the entire creative ecosystem.
37:15 Speaker 05 And his energy, his energy is so different than most of the other characters, and I think it like, it draws you in closer, right?
37:22 Griffin Newman? It's what I love. It's a great old master performance where you're like, this guy has like. Cleaned his craft down to the bone. You know, everything is so simple and unshowy with him.
37:34 Speaker 05 Yeah.
37:34 Griffin Newman? And he's always classically been one of those, who the fuck is this guy? This guy's just interesting to watch on screen.
37:39 Speaker 05 Yeah.
37:39 Griffin Newman? But sometimes he can do a lot.
37:40 Speaker 05 Yeah.
37:41 Griffin Newman? Sometimes he can be big. And even when he was giving more naturalistic performances when he was younger, he was leading on a lot of sort of like.
37:48 Speaker 05 Oh, yeah.
37:48 Griffin Newman? Neo James Dean affectations.
37:50 Speaker 05 Yeah.
37:50 Griffin Newman? Which he did super well.
37:52 Speaker 05 Mumbling his way through Usual Suspects and like that kind of stuff.
37:54 Griffin Newman? And you're like, this guy has just like gotten to like zen master phase.
37:57 Speaker 05 Yeah.
37:58 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
37:58 Speaker 05 I agree.
37:59 Griffin Newman? Yeah, he's great.
37:59 Speaker 05 Perfectly cast.
38:00 Griffin Newman? Dylan O'Brien, you want to speak on him for a moment?
38:02 Speaker 05 Yeah, so he plays two characters in Twinless. And Twinless is a movie that you start off, you sort of think you've got a handle on what's going on. This guy, you know, meets, gay guy meets a straight guy in a grief support group. And there's an infatuation going on. And you understand that like something's up. Something's up with the, with the James Sweeney character and whatever. And then it hits a point where you suddenly jump to this flashback and you see Dylan O'Brien as his deceased twin brother, who is the gay one. And not to be like, this straight actor really against us.
38:45 Speaker 05 But like, it's just an incredibly, it's not only, I think, in a really authentic feeling performance, but it also is a blast of like energy in a very different vein. And again, it's a kind of thing where like, that movie really needs this guy to sell you on, in the span of one night, he kind of like broke this guy's brain, the James Sweeney's guy's brain. And I just think it's really incredible. And then you go back to the other character and he just goes through this very.
39:20 Speaker 05 I don't know, this emotional journey that I find really, really good. And there's a degree of like Dylan O'Brien, little Teen Wolf guy, you know what I mean? Like making good. And I really like that aspect to it. And yeah, I just think it's, it's, that was a movie that stuck with me from when I saw it earlier in the season. Yeah, I was, I was not able to watch it Sundance because some busybodies decided to pirate it and got it removed from.
39:47 Griffin Newman? Busybodies.
39:47 David Sims? They were, they were screenshotting butts.
39:49 Speaker 05 Yeah, they sure were.
39:50 David Sims? They got in trouble.
39:51 Speaker 05 They sure were. So I wasn't able to see it until later in the year, but I really liked it. I could have, I almost went with Bill Macy in Train Dreams, which that movie turned out to be a lot more divisive than I thought it was gonna be when I saw it.
40:04 David Sims? I liked that movie just fine when I saw it at Sundance. I, I thought it was very good. I thought it was nice. I thought Willie Mitch Macy was nice. I did not anticipate it becoming, right, the cinephile civil war movie of the year.
40:17 Speaker 05 I was really, really thrown by that. Apparently people who read books have opinions about things.
40:21 David Sims? Well, that's, well, it changes the book, but like that, that doesn't bother me because whatever, change, change whatever you want. But Griffin, you were kind ofwhelmed by it, I feel like. You were not, you were not like anti.
40:32 Griffin Newman? I could not click into it. I might give another shot someday. I just need to call this out.
40:38 David Sims? Call it out.
40:39 Griffin Newman? And I'm glad you put it here.
40:40 David Sims? The putters and murmurs thing.
40:41 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
40:41 David Sims? Okay. Cause we've gotten a lot of messages about this.
40:43 Griffin Newman? This thing screens at Sundance and immediately people are blowing up. It's a lock, right?
40:48 David Sims? Passing us notes, being like Macy and Train Dreams.
40:51 Griffin Newman? It was equivalent to running down the mountain and saying J.K. Simmons is gonna win best supporting actor next year.
40:57 Speaker 05 Sure.
40:57 Griffin Newman? Out of the Whiplash screening.
40:58 Speaker 05 Right.
40:58 Griffin Newman? People just saying, it's done, it's a lock.
41:00 Speaker 05 Mark it down.
41:01 Griffin Newman? You know, possibly this put a burden on the movie that it was hard for it to cross.
41:04 Speaker 05 Sure.
41:05 Griffin Newman? But he comes on screen and I immediately go, the fuck are these people talking about?
41:09 Speaker 05 He's so eloquent in that movie.
41:10 Griffin Newman? Old timey vernacular does not make a putter or murmurer.
41:15 David Sims? I would agree.
41:16 Griffin Newman? He is speaking clearly in an old style of language.
41:19 David Sims? It's just, he's got a corn cob pipe. I think it's just kind of throwing people.
41:23 Speaker 05 It is.
41:23 David Sims? And like a big white beard and all that.
41:25 Speaker 05 I get it, but he's got a cootremonst, but like the vocal is not.
41:28 David Sims? He's got a coot.
41:29 Speaker 05 Oh.
41:30 Griffin Newman? This is true. Yeah, that's good. Every year, we have to redefine what putters and murmurs is because I think it couldn't be more clear and yet it's constantly misinterpreted. There was an iron lock, putters and murmurs performance for me. Someone turn the camera on. I saw it early in the first half of the year.
41:44 David Sims? Turn the TikTok camera on, Kyle. Yeah.
41:46 Griffin Newman? Clifton Collins Jr. in Eddington, this is why putters and murmurs exist.
41:50 David Sims? That's an interesting, I had not, I have not thought too hard about Clifton Collins.
41:53 Griffin Newman? The fuck are we talking about?
41:55 David Sims? Well, I don't, I don't know, Griffin, what are we talking about? All right, wait, no, wait, well, shall we, should we put a payment?
42:00 Griffin Newman? This is what we're talking about here. Magic. No, that's the winner, I'm just letting people know. Clifton Collins Jr. is the winner.
42:05 David Sims? No, come on, is there no one else?
42:07 Griffin Newman? I guess we could get back around. Yeah, we'll have that conversation. Yeah.
42:10 David Sims? Okay, we can get back to that, okay.
42:11 Griffin Newman? Is there anyone else you want to call out in your category?
42:13 Speaker 05 I really loved Austin Abrams in Weapons, much as I love Amy Madigan.
42:17 Griffin Newman? Excellent actor, great actor.
42:18 Speaker 05 I don't know if Austin Abrams owns the middle of that movie to the degree that Amy Madigan owns the last third of that movie, but he holds the center portion of that movie.
42:27 David Sims? He picks up the torch with a plum.
42:29 Speaker 05 So well.
42:29 Griffin Newman? Yep.
42:30 Speaker 05 And I really, he's so entertaining, I love, obviously, you know I love Alden Ehrenreich, former blankie winner of mine for Hail Caesar.
42:37 Griffin Newman? Yes.
42:38 Speaker 05 But I was just like, this, you assume that it's just my, all right, this tweaker is gonna be cannon fodder for, you know, whatever monsters are happening in this movie, and he becomes so, like, affecting, weirdly, and you really end up feeling for this guy, and it really works.
42:56 Griffin Newman? It is a performance that is, like, beautifully lacking in judgment.
42:59 Speaker 05 Yeah.
43:00 Griffin Newman? In a way that I feel like a lot of actors would play that character condescendingly.
43:04 Speaker 05 Yeah.
43:04 Griffin Newman? While also successfully finding all the humor where it needs to be.
43:09 Speaker 05 Yeah.
43:09 Griffin Newman? Yeah, he's a really good actor.
43:11 Speaker 05 And then we had Michael Cera.
43:12 Griffin Newman? Michael Cera.
43:13 Speaker 05 High five.
43:14 Griffin Newman? High five.
43:15 David Sims? He's so funny.
43:16 Griffin Newman? You also add in how good he is in The Running Man.
43:19 Speaker 05 I haven't seen it yet, but I, I believe you.
43:22 David Sims? He is the best part of that movie.
43:23 Speaker 05 Yeah.
43:23 Griffin Newman? Not only that, you get to his scene.
43:26 David Sims? Oh, but you know who else is good in Running Man? Willie Mays Macey.
43:29 Griffin Newman? He is.
43:29 Speaker 05 Yeah.
43:30 Griffin Newman? With weirdly high billing, considering the size of his role, similar to Train Dreams.
43:33 David Sims? Good agent.
43:34 Griffin Newman? Good agent, really good agent.
43:35 David Sims? And also, not a lot of big guys in the movie, I guess.
43:38 Griffin Newman? No.
43:40 Griffin Newman? Michael Sarah shows up for like one extended sequence, like a 10 minute chunk of Running Man. And immediately you're like, huh, does this whole movie work better if Michael Sarah is in the Glenn Powell role?
43:52 David Sims? Definitely. Do most movies work better if Michael Sarah's in the lead role?
43:55 Speaker 05 We really, I really feel like we as a culture have, or at least as like a cinephile culture, have turned on Glenn Powell in a way in the last couple of years.
44:03 Griffin Newman? I'm still rooting for the guy 100%.
44:05 Speaker 05 I am too, but like.
44:06 Griffin Newman? I don't think Running Man is his fault. I think people have been a little quick to throw him under the bus and be like, oh, so that was a nothing burger.
44:12 Speaker 05 But like the days of, uh, what was the, oh, Hitman, the days of Hitman are sort of, seem like they're far behind.
44:17 David Sims? There's a lot of automatic hostility to the type of guy he's like, you know, the type of star role he plays.
44:24 Speaker 05 Sure.
44:24 David Sims? Right now.
44:25 Speaker 05 Yeah.
44:26 Griffin Newman? Uh huh.
44:26 David Sims? And so it's sort of like tougher for him to win people over. And then, yeah, he made a couple of kind of meh movies and people are like, all right, buddy. I knew you were reheated nachos. Get out of here.
44:34 Speaker 05 Short leash, yeah.
44:35 Griffin Newman? I think we had like a 15 year stretch of like studios really pushing your, your headlands and your hunums and your kitches.
44:44 David Sims? Yep.
44:44 Griffin Newman? And all these guys who never quite.
44:46 Speaker 05 Many of whom I'm a fan of, but yes.
44:48 Griffin Newman? Yes. And I think there is still some residual kind of knee jerk resistance to.
44:54 Speaker 05 What are they pushing this guy on us for?
44:55 Griffin Newman? Right. And I think Powell works really hard to be like, I am not a psyop.
45:00 Speaker 05 Right.
45:01 Griffin Newman? I care. But then the second he makes one movie that doesn't work, people are like, I fucking knew it.
45:05 Speaker 05 I knew it. I called it. Um, I was never fooled.
45:08 Griffin Newman? But Sarah's really fucking good in Running Man and you watch it and the performance he's giving is very different than I'd say anything he's ever done before on screen. Uh, it's a really interesting like hostile performance.
45:19 Speaker 05 Yeah.
45:19 Griffin Newman? But you watch it and you're like, oh, right. On top of everything else, this guy did fucking like 18 months of Kung Fu training with Edgar Wright. Like he also can do fucking fight scenes and shit. Uh, and Phoenician Scheme, I'm watching it in the first half. I'm like, yeah, yeah, all the memes, of course. How have they not done a film together yet? Wes Anderson and Michael Sarah. He's doing it really well. It's a good fit. He's making funny choices. I like that he's playing like a fucking European Eddie Bracken role.
45:47 Speaker 05 Sure.
45:48 Griffin Newman? Whatever. This is good, but like. There's part of me going, is this all Wes Anderson's gonna use him for?
45:53 Speaker 05 Sure, sure.
45:54 Griffin Newman? And it is part of like, the argument for why Wes Anderson's not fucking stuck in a rut.
45:59 Speaker 05 Yeah.
45:59 David Sims? Whoever thinks that is.
46:00 Griffin Newman? Without ruining any of the twists of the movie, like halfway through, he just throws an entirely different assignment at Michael Sarah. And it's like, right, this guy gets
46:09 Speaker 05 Yeah.
46:09 Griffin Newman? that we pigeonhole Sarah into doing like two things well.
46:12 Speaker 05 Turns out Wes Anderson has seen both Twin Peaks, The Return and Molly's Game.
46:16 Griffin Newman? And gives him the holes in all of it.
46:18 Speaker 05 Right, everyone likes to say this guy only plays himself. Yeah.
46:21 Griffin Newman? But like, there is a pretty astonishing range within the tapestry of Michael Sarah's particular frequency.
46:27 Speaker 05 Michael Sarah only plays himself is really funny because I don't know if I could give you a real good sense of who I think Michael Sarah is as a person.
46:32 Griffin Newman? Well, I also, that's my problem with ever people have that criticism, where it's like, you're saying blank only plays themself.
46:38 Speaker 05 Yeah.
46:38 Griffin Newman? So what you're saying is, their performances remind you of how they act in interviews, which also might be an act.
46:44 Speaker 05 Right.
46:44 Griffin Newman? You don't know who they fucking are.
46:46 Speaker 05 Right, right.
46:47 Griffin Newman? Anyway.
46:48 David Sims? Wow.
46:49 Griffin Newman? That was my little stump speech.
46:50 David Sims? Little rant mode there.
46:53 Speaker 05 Alright, turn the TikTok camera off, that was good.
46:55 David Sims? Yeah, I don't know. I just, you know, Holt, that's a performance I adore.
47:00 Speaker 05 Oh, Holt in Superman is so fucking good.
47:03 David Sims? We've showered praise on Delroy Lindo on these episodes over the years.
47:07 Speaker 05 I'm crossing my fingers that he could come out of nowhere and win.
47:10 Griffin Newman? It really feels like any one of the five could win.
47:12 Speaker 05 Sorry JJ, sorry JJ's Twitter rant, or Blue Sky rant last night.
47:16 Griffin Newman? What's JJ fucking ranting about?
47:17 Speaker 05 It was a reasonable, reasonable point.
47:19 David Sims? I'll just start composing email now.
47:22 Griffin Newman? File the paperwork.
47:23 Speaker 05 I'm normally the one being like, you guys are too mean to JJ, but this one I was just like, it was a decent point of just like, Delroy Lindo should have had 12 Oscar nominations by now. It would be weird if he wins for this, for this particular.
47:34 Griffin Newman? I don't disagree with him.
47:35 Speaker 05 I don't disagree with that either.
47:36 Griffin Newman? Who gives a shit?
47:37 Speaker 05 I, that's also my thing.
47:39 Griffin Newman? If we give him an Oscar for this now, I'm not gonna be like, that one? Like, he's excellent in this.
47:45 Speaker 05 Yes.
47:45 Griffin Newman? And after, you know, I, I, I think the Five Blood snub is the most egregious of this decade, in my opinion.
47:51 Speaker 05 It is.
47:52 Griffin Newman? You know, it's that, Mary Ann, John Daphne, so the two.
47:54 Speaker 05 We all might have agreed on that.
47:55 Griffin Newman? But with him, he's got the ultimate like, how has he never been nominated and they served him this performance on a platter?
48:01 Speaker 05 Yeah.
48:01 Griffin Newman? And I see Sinners a year ago. And he pops up on screen and I'm like, oh, fuck, Delroy's in the pocket in this.
48:07 David Sims? Yeah.
48:07 Griffin Newman? This movie's a hit.
48:08 David Sims? Yeah.
48:09 Griffin Newman? There's a year to go, but could this possibly be an Oscar contender? He gets his big monologue, he gets to like run throughout basically the whole picture, but be like just perfect supporting like juice. And it, it made me so happy that he has like stuck in the whole time and has been a legitimate contender.
48:25 David Sims? Who do you think will win the Oscar?
48:28 Griffin Newman? Right now, my inclination is Stellan Skarsgård.
48:31 Speaker 05 Well, I talked about this, Griffin was, Griffin was there lurking behind me when I recorded.
48:35 Griffin Newman? Excuse me, it's called producing.
48:37 Speaker 05 Critical Darlings yesterday. Um, and I mentioned that like, uh, our, uh, our friend Kyle Buchanan's stone cold certainty, uh, throughout this season that once the industry awards happen, that Sean Penn is gonna run the table.
48:49 David Sims? Kyle has, has been banging that drum.
48:50 Speaker 05 And that has, the BAFTA's sort of leaned into that, so.
48:54 David Sims? I don't see it.
48:55 Speaker 05 I'm, I'm hoping that that's not the case, not because I don't like that performance, because I do.
49:00 David Sims? He's, um, he's unbelievable in that movie, but he has two Oscars.
49:04 Speaker 05 He has two Oscars already, and that category.
49:06 Griffin Newman? Which is so weird if that thing fucking stuck to Benicio, we need to give him a second one and then Penn wins a third.
49:11 Speaker 05 Penn wins a third. I think that category is so wide open that it would be really, it would just be really fun if Delroy Lindo could, because sometimes my thing with awards is, sometimes when somebody gets nominated without a ton of precursors, it's like, where did that come from?
49:25 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
49:25 Speaker 05 You're like, well, clearly, they must've really liked that, you know, they must've really liked that performance.
49:31 Griffin Newman? Sure.
49:31 Speaker 05 Because they sort of disregarded the, you know, pencil sketch outline of the nominees and put him in instead.
49:38 Griffin Newman? We were also talking about this, or, or you were talking about this on Critical Darlings yesterday, but like, sometimes people get a career boost from the snub.
49:46 Speaker 05 Yes.
49:46 Griffin Newman? Like, as angry as everyone was that he didn't get the Five Bloods nomination in the worst Oscar year.
49:51 Speaker 05 Yes.
49:51 Griffin Newman? It led to like several years of discourse of being like, remember when the fucking Academy didn't?
49:56 David Sims? It can help, it can help for sure.
49:58 Griffin Newman? Heads, I think, a little bit in a way that boosted him in this, but this also feels like, when, when you got to his monologue in the car, I was like, Ryan Coogler kinda knows what he's doing.
50:07 Speaker 05 Yeah.
50:07 Griffin Newman? Ryan Coogler sat down and was like. Someone needs to fucking figure out how to get Delroy Lindo nominated.
50:12 David Sims? Maybe.
50:13 Griffin Newman? I'm gonna give him like a combo platter character where he gets to do everything.
50:17 David Sims? Yeah. I think Skarsgård will win because I think the Oscars really like that movie and that's where they can award it.
50:23 Griffin Newman? That's my feeling as well, combined with him.
50:26 David Sims? And he's another like, sort of just major guy.
50:29 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
50:29 David Sims? Who's never gotten an Oscar nomination.
50:31 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
50:31 David Sims? And it's a quasi lead role and it's a sad dad and it's just a lot of stuff that they tend to vibe with.
50:37 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
50:37 David Sims? But I don't know.
50:38 Griffin Newman? I don't know. Who knows?
50:42 Speaker 02 Back to the blankies after these messages.
50:53 Griffin Newman? David?
50:54 David Sims? Yes. Mmm. Is that the Cineas cow?
50:59 Griffin Newman? The Cineas cow is back.
51:00 David Sims? Haven't heard from her in a while.
51:01 Griffin Newman? Yeah, she's reactivated because she's horny for chicken fingers.
51:06 David Sims? Okay.
51:07 Griffin Newman? And she's excited for the streaming debut of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.
51:11 David Sims? Wow.
51:12 Griffin Newman? The cow likes chicken.
51:14 David Sims? Remember cow and chicken? Let's look it up. While you tell the great listeners about the great stuff on movie.
51:21 Griffin Newman? What movie is a global film company bringing great cinema to the world and to you? Curating and elevating visionary filmmaking, all handpicked, always. That's what movie does. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.
51:32 David Sims? Yes.
51:33 Griffin Newman? One of my favorite movies of the year.
51:34 David Sims? Absolutely.
51:35 Griffin Newman? You can feel the rush now at home. There's a hole at the bottom of the lake where the movies come from.
51:41 David Sims? That is a line in the movie.
51:42 Griffin Newman? In the new movie from Jane Schomburn, Past and Future Guest.
51:45 David Sims? Past and Future Guest, a great filmmaker, a great podcast guest.
51:48 Griffin Newman? Yes.
51:49 David Sims? Great friend.
51:49 Griffin Newman? Yes.
51:50 David Sims? Um, this movie rocks. It's got, of course, it stars Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson.
51:55 Griffin Newman? Uh huh.
51:56 David Sims? Legends and I tip my cap, but Zach Cherry.
51:58 Griffin Newman? Performances, friend of the show.
52:00 David Sims? Friend of the show Zach Cherry.
52:01 Griffin Newman? Zach Cherry.
52:02 David Sims? Also in it.
52:03 Griffin Newman? This is true.
52:04 David Sims? Such a cool movie. Won the Queer Palmitan. If you haven't heard about this movie, I don't know what's going on with you, but like, it obviously has, it was out in theaters this summer and now it's on movie.
52:14 Griffin Newman? Hannah Einbinder plays a filmmaker attempting to reboot the Camp Miasma franchise, trying to track down the original final girl from the first movie to make some sort of legacy sequel, who's played by Gillian Anderson, who lives at the summer camp.
52:28 David Sims? At Camp Miasma, yes. And you know, and then they hang out and it's regular.
52:33 Griffin Newman? What happens?
52:35 Griffin Newman? It's one of those Hollywood's out of ideas. No, it's very much a movie about Hollywood being out of ideas while being an example of there still being new stories to tell.
52:45 David Sims? It's now streaming exclusively on MUBI and you can try MUBI free for 30 days at MUBI.com/blankcheck. That's M U B I dot com slash blank check for a whole month of great cinema for free.
52:57 Griffin Newman? They got so many great movies on there to watch, but worth it. The 30 days for me as my.
53:02 David Sims? Damn right.
53:08 Griffin Newman? David.
53:09 David Sims? Yes.
53:09 Griffin Newman? Shop.com is giving away $1 million in Shop Cash.
53:13 David Sims? Wow. Shop has all the stores you love and lets you track every order in one spot.
53:19 Griffin Newman? I love that. It's very convenient.
53:20 David Sims? And now 1,000 shoppers are each going to win $1,000 in Shop Cash just in time for the holidays.
53:28 Griffin Newman? You get gifts for everyone on your list or get yourself something a little merry and bright. Find exactly what you're looking for at shop.com.
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54:31 Griffin Newman? David.
54:31 David Sims? Hmm.
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54:39 David Sims? Lisa.
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54:54 Griffin Newman? Mm hmm.
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55:57 Speaker 02 Best Supporting Actress.
56:00 David Sims? Supporting Actress. Let's do Supporting Actress. Okay, so our winners last year for Supporting Actor were for Griffin, the twink from Minora, Mark, Edel, Edie. Mark Islestyle. Yeah. For me, to my surprise, Edward Norton.
56:15 David Sims? And for you, Joe, the brutalist, Mr. Guy Pearce himself.
56:18 Griffin Newman? Sure.
56:20 David Sims? Who I'm sure will be super normal presenting this award. I will do mine first, I guess, just to just to switch it up. My nominees are. Tiana Taylor for One Battle After Another and Regina Hall for One Battle After Another. Amy Madigan for Weapons. Miriam Afshari for It Was Just An Accident and Una Chaplin for Avatar: Fire and Ash.
56:40 Speaker 05 There you go.
56:41 David Sims? Normal five. Wow.
56:42 Speaker 05 Deeply.
56:43 David Sims? Yeah, okay. That's, that, those are my guys. I, I was fairly chalked though.
56:47 Speaker 05 Yeah.
56:48 David Sims? That they, I, the One Battle Girls have to be there.
56:51 Speaker 05 Um, I went with Miriam Afshari for It Was Just An Accident. Nina Haas for Hedda.
56:57 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
56:57 Speaker 05 Yom Hiron, apologies if I did not pronounce that correctly, for No Other Choice. Amy Madigan for Weapons and Wonmi Masaku for Sinners.
57:06 David Sims? Love her. Love that nom.
57:09 Griffin Newman? I do too. I have to make one tough cut here.
57:12 Speaker 05 All right.
57:13 David Sims? Well, you.
57:13 Speaker 05 An annual tradition. Griffin making.
57:15 David Sims? My tough cut was Gwyneth, who I just love.
57:18 Speaker 05 My tough cut, I mean, Gwyneth too, my tough cut was obviously Tiana Taylor. I think Tiana Taylor is incredible.
57:22 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
57:23 Speaker 05 She's doing all right without me.
57:24 Griffin Newman? I, I love the Regina Hall performance and I'm sort of cheating it by giving it my Sergeant Shroom Award, which is a performance where, like, I, I wish I could nominate it.
57:35 David Sims? Sergeant Shroom, just for people who don't remember, is Vin Diesel's character in Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.
57:41 Speaker 05 Got it. Got it. Got it.
57:42 Griffin Newman? Um, love Regina Hall.
57:44 David Sims? I know everyone remembers that.
57:45 Griffin Newman? I think she's incredible in that movie.
57:46 David Sims? Yeah.
57:47 Griffin Newman? I think it is to the credit of the movie and the performance that it could so easily have the explosive Oscar moment that would have made it an undeniable contender.
57:56 Speaker 05 Much like Vin Diesel in Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk, uh, when that movie, when that casting got announced, people were like, Oscar nominated.
58:03 Griffin Newman? That's why, of course, we call it the Sergeant Shroom Award.
58:05 Speaker 05 Of course, yeah.
58:05 Griffin Newman? But, um, it, it's, the, that character is so defined by the quiet and what isn't said and the in-between spaces. She's incredible in that. I'm using that as a cheat to not give her one of my five. I have, to some great surprise, wait a second, Please Drop Your Rolling Pins, Una Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash, Marisa Bella in Black Bag.
58:27 Speaker 05 Sure.
58:27 David Sims? Hot.
58:28 Griffin Newman? Kirsten Dunst in Roof Man.
58:31 David Sims? Yep. She's so good in that movie.
58:32 Speaker 05 Yep.
58:34 Griffin Newman? I'm, I'm, Win Me Masako, I, I will say, I think is an incredible performance and was my vote for SAG this year.
58:44 Speaker 05 Nice.
58:44 Griffin Newman? I'm dropping her for my five only because she's being represented by the Oscars and I want to get my five weird people in.
58:49 Speaker 05 Yep.
58:50 Griffin Newman? Emma Stone in Eddington.
58:54 Griffin Newman? Incredible performance.
58:55 David Sims? Not a performance I like, but carry on.
58:57 Griffin Newman? I think an incredible performance.
58:59 Speaker 05 Sure, sure.
59:00 Griffin Newman? And Nina Hoss in Hedda.
59:02 David Sims? Yeah, her, she was a tough cut for me too because she's really good in that movie.
59:04 Speaker 05 She rules in that movie.
59:06 David Sims? And the only problem I have with that performance is that it's almost too easy. Where I'm like, well, yeah, of course Nina Hoss playing like the person who you can't get over, who's so powerful. She ruined your life, walking around in that dress or that outfit, you know. Yeah, yeah, of course that's gonna work on screen. Good thinking, Nina.
59:23 Griffin Newman? Well, people talk so much about like, oh, if you just like flip the gender of that character, the whole text transforms like so rapidly. And it's like, no, but also if you just put Nina Hoss in that role.
59:34 David Sims? She's very good.
59:35 Griffin Newman? Someone who also has played Hedda Gabler before.
59:38 David Sims? Yeah.
59:38 Griffin Newman? Has been on both sides of this situation.
59:41 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
59:41 Griffin Newman? Who are your winners, gentlemen?
59:44 David Sims? Joe, who's your winner?
59:45 Speaker 05 Um.
59:47 Speaker 05 I'm, here I'm going on the fly. I'm gonna go with Miriam Afshari for It Was Just an Accident.
59:52 David Sims? She's so good in that movie. Uh, my winner is Amy Madigan.
59:57 Speaker 05 That was my, almost, yeah.
59:58 David Sims? Who I thought was gonna win the Oscar, but now I guess I feel like she might not.
1:00:01 Griffin Newman? But it also might happen.
1:00:02 David Sims? It could.
1:00:03 Speaker 05 It's still good. I think that category's pretty up in the air.
1:00:05 Griffin Newman? That feels like a three-way race.
1:00:07 Speaker 05 Tiana, Win Me and, and Amy.
1:00:09 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:00:09 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:00:10 Griffin Newman? Yeah, I think the sentimental value, women cancel each other out.
1:00:13 Speaker 05 I agree. Yep.
1:00:13 Griffin Newman? Uh, but like that feels like an even three-way.
1:00:17 Speaker 05 If I had.
1:00:17 Griffin Newman? Supporting actor feels like a five-way.
1:00:19 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:00:19 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:00:19 Speaker 05 If I had a, a crisp hundred dollar bill, I'd put it on Tiana, but you know.
1:00:24 David Sims? I would too.
1:00:25 Speaker 05 But only slightly.
1:00:26 Griffin Newman? I, I wonder if, uh...
1:00:30 Speaker 05 By the way, Griffin, you owe me a Chris Punderdollar bill. I gotta, I gotta do something with it.
1:00:33 Griffin Newman? Oh, sure.
1:00:33 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:00:35 Griffin Newman? I, I feel like Amy Madigan might pull it out at the end.
1:00:38 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:00:38 Griffin Newman? For similar reasons to Sol Skarsgård of like, the Hollywood firmament being like, you know what? Yeah. Thank you for all your service.
1:00:45 Speaker 05 Did you see somebody finally asked her in an interview about the, uh, her and Ed Harris refusing to clap?
1:00:49 Griffin Newman? And her answer was pretty fucking perfect.
1:00:51 Speaker 05 And I was just like, go with that.
1:00:52 Griffin Newman? It was, it was pretty excellent. I think every interview she's done has been on fire.
1:00:57 Speaker 05 Wearing all those suits?
1:00:58 Griffin Newman? My, my supporting actress winner is Nina Hoss, which is like my performance of the year.
1:01:02 Speaker 05 Yeah, she's so good.
1:01:03 Griffin Newman? Uh, and I, I, getting to the earlier point we were making, I was like, oh, but do I give it to her? Cause I gave her best actress for Phoenix, didn't I? And then I looked back and Phoenix was the year before we started doing it. So I was like, that's my private spreadsheet. I put her in my best of the decade, uh, best actress lineup.
1:01:20 Speaker 05 Yep, yep, yep.
1:01:21 Griffin Newman? But because I haven't given her an award on mic before, I'm, I'm going Nina Hoss.
1:01:25 Speaker 05 Best of the decade, the podcast episode that caused COVID?
1:01:27 Griffin Newman? Yeah, the last one.
1:01:28 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:01:29 David Sims? Uh, yeah.
1:01:29 Griffin Newman? We left that recording. I was like, guys, I'm gonna go to a rowdy screening of Cats and then live forever.
1:01:35 David Sims? Still, we're, we're doing great. We're doing great.
1:01:37 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:01:38 David Sims? Um, uh, Verang is mad at you though, and she is going to set you on fire.
1:01:42 Griffin Newman? I, look, I, I just...
1:01:44 Speaker 05 It's Alco's.
1:01:44 Griffin Newman? We'll have a separate conversation off mic.
1:01:48 Speaker 05 Um, David, you and I agreed on, uh, Miriam Afshari though, um...
1:01:53 David Sims? I mean, I think she's never been in a movie before, as far as I know.
1:01:56 Speaker 05 The scene by the tree with the taillight, the taillight illumination was, I mean, there's some really good scenes in a lot of good movies this year, but like, that was up there for me. I really thought for as much as I love the ending of that movie, and that's kind of what everybody talked about, but like, for me, the scene of that movie is that one right there.
1:02:11 David Sims? Yeah, been in one other movie before.
1:02:12 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:02:12 David Sims? Yeah. No, she, yes, then that movie is one of my favorites of the years. Uh, yeah, Tiana and Regina, it's very obvious. Amy Madigan just, you know... Did you clock her when you saw the movie? Like, were you like, this is Amy Madigan? Like, when the character appeared? Because I was not really like-
1:02:28 Griffin Newman? I definitely did it in the trailer.
1:02:29 David Sims? I was so in the movie, right? Like, so I'm like, and like, obviously Gladys's first appearance is when she's, apart from the little glimpses, is when she's in full wig mode.
1:02:38 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:02:39 David Sims? And I was just like, it's kind of like the Don't Look Now thing, where I'm like, did he just like find someone from another dimension? Like, I don't get it. What is this? Who is this?
1:02:49 Griffin Newman? My, my problem-
1:02:51 David Sims? And then when you see her with the wig off, I was kind of like, okay, no, no, no. This is, who is this? This is an actress I know. Anyway, Carrie, your problem-
1:02:56 Griffin Newman? No, my problem is that the release of that film basically directly coincided with the worst of my No Other Choice-esque dental nightmares.
1:03:06 David Sims? Oh, gosh. Yeah, I remember that. Right, right, right, right. You took a while to see it.
1:03:09 Griffin Newman? I couldn't see the movie for like a week.
1:03:11 David Sims? Yeah.
1:03:11 Griffin Newman? Because I was, uh, sick and vomiting, uh, from a dental infection. So, I, by like-
1:03:18 David Sims? Dental infection?
1:03:19 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Ben, I had a lot of food going on.
1:03:21 David Sims? His gums got all fucked up.
1:03:22 Griffin Newman? Remember? My mouth was bleeding!
1:03:24 David Sims? Tooth stuff. Yes. Right.
1:03:27 Griffin Newman? My mouth was bleeding, Bert! Um, I, within three days, people were already doing the like, can Amy Madigan get a supporting actress nomination?
1:03:37 David Sims? Yeah, yeah, right, right. Like, just as a cheat.
1:03:39 Griffin Newman? I went in knowing she was a thing.
1:03:42 David Sims? Right, right, yeah, totally, totally. Uh, you loved Emma Stone in Eddington? That's not a performance I like.
1:03:47 Griffin Newman? Yeah, I liked Eddington a lot.
1:03:48 David Sims? Me too.
1:03:49 Griffin Newman? That sort of sits on the, maybe-
1:03:51 David Sims? It was my least favorite part of it.
1:03:52 Griffin Newman? I don't dislike her Yorgos performances, but-
1:03:56 David Sims? I don't either.
1:03:56 Griffin Newman? This was my favorite performance she has given in many years. I thought it was the most different thing I have seen her done, do in a long time. I think she's capturing something really interesting for me, which is the, you know, in a movie that is all about, like, everyone's living in separate realities, right?
1:04:15 David Sims? Yeah.
1:04:15 Griffin Newman? That, for me, so accurately captures, uh, the chaos of what it feels to be alive right now and that no one can agree on the ground we're standing on.
1:04:25 David Sims? Right, right.
1:04:26 Griffin Newman? This very tricky thing of like, uh, people who have experienced, uh, extreme trauma, can be disconnected from reality in a way that is a coping mechanism.
1:04:38 David Sims? Sure.
1:04:38 Griffin Newman? Where you don't know-
1:04:40 David Sims? Yeah.
1:04:40 Griffin Newman? Whether to believe them or not.
1:04:42 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:04:43 Griffin Newman? Uh, even when you have endless sympathy for the understanding of what caused this disconnect.
1:04:48 David Sims? Happened to.
1:04:48 Speaker 05 Well, and then you have Deirdre O'Connell in the other room, breaking stick figures and, and, and casting spells.
1:04:54 Griffin Newman? Right. And I, I think like, I think Emma Stone gets the kind of weird husk of that really right. It, it really worked for me. I, I found it. I found it very good. Yeah.
1:05:05 Speaker 05 Um, I also just want to shout out, uh, Yom Hiron for uh, No Other Choice, who plays the wife of the, of the guy that the main character is trying to knock off and is so funny.
1:05:18 Griffin Newman? Yes. Oh, yes, yes.
1:05:19 David Sims? She's very funny.
1:05:20 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:05:20 Speaker 05 One of those, one, a, a great running performance. Every time she runs somewhere in that movie, I think it's very funny. Um.
1:05:27 David Sims? Your winner's Miriam?
1:05:28 Speaker 05 My winner is Miriam.
1:05:29 David Sims? Griffin, who's your winner?
1:05:30 Griffin Newman? Nina Haas.
1:05:31 David Sims? Right. Of course. Right.
1:05:31 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:05:32 David Sims? Okay, great. I'm gonna read you the blankies. Supporting performance winners.
1:05:36 Speaker 05 Okay.
1:05:37 David Sims? Or I'll go from 10 to 1.
1:05:38 Griffin Newman? Okay.
1:05:38 David Sims? 10 Miles, Katniss and Sinners, a great, great find. Great performance. 9, Odessa, Zion and Marty Supreme.
1:05:45 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
1:05:45 David Sims? 8, Stall and Skarsgård in Sentimental Value.
1:05:48 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
1:05:48 David Sims? 7, Delroy Lindo. 6, Inga, Eve's Daughter, Lilias. Is that how you say it? It's Sentimental Value.
1:05:55 Griffin Newman? Quite a discovery.
1:05:55 David Sims? Yeah, she's great. Uh, Tiana Taylor is number 5. Amy Madigan, number 4. Sean Penn, number 3. Ralph Fiennes, our beautiful Dr. Kelson, number 2. And Ray Benicio is their winner.
1:06:05 Speaker 05 Yeah, that makes sense.
1:06:06 David Sims? It all makes, it all makes.
1:06:07 Speaker 05 It all falls into place.
1:06:08 David Sims? As the lightning seeds once said, let's do our screenplays, maybe?
1:06:11 Speaker 05 Let's do it.
1:06:12 David Sims? Uh, I'm trying to think. Yeah, that's what we did last time. Okay, yeah, let's do our screenplays. Okay. Okay. All right.
1:06:18 Griffin Newman? Okay.
1:06:18 David Sims? Original or adapted?
1:06:22 Griffin Newman? Uh, let's go original first.
1:06:25 Speaker 02 Best original screenplay.
1:06:28 David Sims? Okay, I got, It Was Just an Accident.
1:06:31 Griffin Newman? Hmm.
1:06:31 David Sims? Written by Jafar Panahi. Secret Agent, written by Kleber. Kleber Philho. Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler. If I Had Legs, I'd Kick Ya by Mary Bronstein and Robert Capela's Blue Moon script were my 5.
1:06:44 Griffin Newman? Interesting.
1:06:45 David Sims? Is that interesting? Didn't seem that interesting.
1:06:49 Speaker 05 Uh, mine are Blue Moon, written by Robert Kaplow. Griffin in Summer, written by Nicholas Collier.
1:06:55 Griffin Newman? Got my ears are burning.
1:06:57 Speaker 05 Love that movie. Uh, It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi. Lurker, written by Alex Russell, and Twinless, written by James Sweeney.
1:07:04 Griffin Newman? My original screenplay nominations are If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You.
1:07:11 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:07:11 Griffin Newman? Sinners, Weapons, Eddington, and of course, David, say it with me. Uh, materialists.
1:07:20 David Sims? I, I just want to point out, you sort of were getting a little Bob Dooka-y there. Sinners, what happened?
1:07:27 Speaker 05 Parker Posey box.
1:07:31 David Sims? Lucy Lou Flo.
1:07:35 David Sims? My winner is It Was Just an Accident, uh, which I think is, uh, great in every way. But, uh, is a, a quiet, like, crucial screenplay, crucial story construction kind of movie.
1:07:48 David Sims? But those are all good winners.
1:07:49 Griffin Newman? Did thankfully give that.
1:07:52 David Sims? Right, that's, that got a nom.
1:07:54 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:07:54 David Sims? Right, yeah, it didn't get Best Picture, but it got the screener. Right, the Oscars, right, they, they went pretty, yeah, they have sentimental value in there, they have Martin Supreme in there, but they, right, yeah, I, I,
1:08:04 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:08:04 David Sims? I assume, I still assume Coogler is winning there.
1:08:07 Griffin Newman? I do too.
1:08:08 David Sims? Because of the Oscar trend of awarding black directors screenplay awards.
1:08:13 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:08:14 David Sims? Rather than giving them director.
1:08:15 Griffin Newman? It's funny.
1:08:16 David Sims? Spike Lee, Jordan Peele, like, they're like, well, we got a screenplay award for you. Jerry Jenkins.
1:08:19 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:08:20 Speaker 05 Plus, it also just feels like it's a very tidy split between, uh, one battle after another in Sinners.
1:08:27 David Sims? Yes, of course.
1:08:27 Speaker 05 Where they give one to one and one to the other.
1:08:28 David Sims? And I think Sinners is a kind of a brilliant, like, brilliant, brilliant idea. And a, like, well-written movie. I'm not, it's just funny, like, it's just like such a visual fucking feast. And, you know, like, yeah, anyway, I hope he wins, I want him to win.
1:08:42 Griffin Newman? Look, there was always the thing of, like, original screenplay, that's the cool category.
1:08:45 David Sims? Yeah, yeah.
1:08:46 Griffin Newman? That's the coolest movie that the Academy has recognized, but it's a little too edgier, out there, or new, to win Best Picture. It's the Pulp Fiction. It has sort of just become, we will let black filmmakers get this close.
1:09:00 David Sims? Right.
1:09:00 Griffin Newman? Right.
1:09:00 David Sims? Or Nick Valanga.
1:09:02 Griffin Newman? Of course.
1:09:02 Speaker 05 Or Nick.
1:09:03 Griffin Newman? Well, we salute.
1:09:04 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:09:05 Griffin Newman? Um, no, but even, you know, those are, I'm about to name two films that were not written by their directors, but John Ridley winning for 12 years a slave.
1:09:12 Speaker 05 Yep, yep.
1:09:13 Griffin Newman? And, uh, what's his name, Jeffrey Cheshire for Precious?
1:09:16 Speaker 05 I believe that's correct, yes.
1:09:17 Griffin Newman? Like, there has been a last 15 years, like, this is the exact ceiling, and then...
1:09:22 Speaker 05 Really good point.
1:09:23 Griffin Newman? Right.
1:09:23 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:09:23 Griffin Newman? Uh, Moonlight, of course, just the weirdest Oscar shakedown of all time. Uh, Shake Out, I mean, rather. Um, who are your guys' winners? Uh, it was just an accident for me.
1:09:34 Speaker 05 Uh, also for me, it was just an accident.
1:09:36 Griffin Newman? Wow. Who are you going for? It's a really good question. Dooka.
1:09:43 Griffin Newman? Uh, Purple Nerville. Um, are you gonna murder me if I pick Materialist? I'm not gonna murder you.
1:09:50 Speaker 05 No, but I wanna hear it. I wanna hear you talk about it, because I was sort of, I did not like that movie, but I was fascinated by it, so...
1:09:56 Griffin Newman? Yeah. I, I think that movie is, like, the, um, it is exploding the subtext in all, uh, kind of Hollywood romantic comedies, uh, into a, like, examination of how, uh, dating has basically just become, or rather, partners have become another form of currency in our, like, insane, late-stage capitalism hellscape.
1:10:26 Speaker 05 Sure.
1:10:27 Griffin Newman? That, the whole movie is about that we have basically reduced this to, like, a sense of belonging in your, like, it's, it's another thing you own in your brand portfolio.
1:10:37 Speaker 05 Sure. Sure, certainly for, particularly for a character like Dakota Johnson's character.
1:10:41 Griffin Newman? Yes, and how much we've, like, gamified dating through apps and...
1:10:45 Speaker 05 That's, yes.
1:10:46 Griffin Newman? Right, and then, you know, the people with the money to afford it bypass the apps by getting the bespoke throwback-y experience.
1:10:54 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:10:54 Griffin Newman? Uh, and that all of this doesn't actually consider what makes you want to be with someone, what makes a relationship work, you know, the intellect, the intellectualization of the kind of person you want to be with versus who you were emotionally drawn to, and I just think it's like an incredible movie about people lying to themselves.
1:11:15 Speaker 05 That is definitely true. I... Two things, and neither one of this is to sort of discount your choice. One of which is, I recently, I have made the somewhat bonkers decision to, um, for the 25th anniversary of the movies of 2001, to watch the movies of 2001 throughout the year as they are released, as they were released back then. So I watched The Wedding Planner.
1:11:36 Griffin Newman? Oh, sure.
1:11:36 David Sims? Yeah.
1:11:37 Speaker 05 That movie scans onto materialists so well in a way that I think doesn't do materialists any favors, because it's like, we were kind of doing a lot of these beats 25 years ago.
1:11:48 David Sims? I would say.
1:11:49 Speaker 05 Where, like, you know, a matchmaker and a wedding planner, the, you know, they, why do they even want to be together? Like, is, are they, is this just a status symbol, yada, yada? The other thing is, I like Pedro Pascal in some things.
1:12:02 David Sims? I, I'm very with whatever this is.
1:12:04 Speaker 05 He really does not meet the moment in that movie. He comes across as such a TV actor in that movie.
1:12:11 Griffin Newman? I firmly disagree with this. I think he's so good.
1:12:14 Speaker 05 If you liked the movie, you would almost have to.
1:12:16 Griffin Newman? And, and like, I admit, my, perhaps my single greatest movie frustration, frustration of 2025 is how badly he fumbled Reed Richards. It drives me crazy.
1:12:27 David Sims? He did fumble it.
1:12:28 Griffin Newman? But I think it, I think it speaks to, from, in my opinion, why he works in materialists. I know all my defenses of materialists are, this is a feature, not a bug.
1:12:38 Speaker 05 Sure.
1:12:39 Griffin Newman? But I feel very strongly about this.
1:12:40 Speaker 05 But like, that's how you end up liking movies against consensus. You end up liking the thing that everybody didn't like.
1:12:46 Griffin Newman? Right. I think, and I feel like there are other performances in the past I've referred to this way, and I'm struggling to recall another one now, but I think Pedro Pascal has given a great fake movie star performance in materialists. I think it is about his limitations.
1:12:59 Speaker 05 Sure.
1:12:59 Griffin Newman? You know, and, and how like, it's like, right, this guy should be like a giant movie star. Why isn't this working? You know?
1:13:05 David Sims? Yes, I think that's what he's trying to do. I agree.
1:13:07 Griffin Newman? Right, and I.
1:13:08 David Sims? That's the take.
1:13:09 Speaker 05 And all of this, what you're saying is saying to me, I'm really not surprised this movie did not do well.
1:13:15 David Sims? It did well, I mean, it made money.
1:13:17 Speaker 05 Well, that's actually true. It did make more money than it.
1:13:19 Griffin Newman? It made a hundred million dollars worldwide. This is the crux of my, like, whole take on this movie is, I understand why it drove everyone insane, because the marketing was, hey, guys, we're bringing it back.
1:13:29 David Sims? I was not baffled by the marketing of this movie. I understand what you're saying in terms of like a commercial response, but like, I was not like expecting anything out of the marketing of this movie.
1:13:39 Griffin Newman? I just feel like every critic friend of mine who saw this movie early was like, the tone of this is so bizarre, it's not a comedy, it's not funny.
1:13:45 David Sims? I did, I did agree that it could not pick a tone, yes, but, um, like, the sexual assault plotline especially landed like so thuddingly for me, especially the way she reacts to it was just like not, I did not track a human onto that behavior.
1:14:01 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:14:01 David Sims? But my problem with Pascal was like, I was like, I think he's trying to come off as a little stiff, and he's coming off as someone with head and a switch. And I just like, the whole time was just like, I don't understand who this person is.
1:14:13 Speaker 05 And the movie doesn't really...
1:14:15 David Sims? And like, she's, yes, she's a little blinded by her, her stats and figures and his wealth, but like, I'm like, how, she, she can't have sex with this person, because he's crazy.
1:14:25 Speaker 05 Well, the movie is also fairly eager to like move on from him, to the point that like...
1:14:29 David Sims? That's also true. The movie gives him nothing, yes.
1:14:32 Griffin Newman? We should put maybe a spoiler alert around this section of the conversation, because this is a danger we get into every year at the Blankies, where we start, uh, just throwing out random...
1:14:41 David Sims? That's true, people get crumpy on the Blankies episode specifically, right? This movie came out a long time.
1:14:46 Griffin Newman? For me, it all works in the fucking kitchen scene, where she like confronts him, and he just like unravels and is like, why is this not working? I'm everything on paper.
1:14:55 David Sims? Yeah, I see that, yeah.
1:14:57 Griffin Newman? I think his vulnerability in that scene totally makes it work for me. There is like a desperate, eager, just sort of like kind of pathetic quality that feels very honest, which I also think is, look, part of the Pedro Pascal thing of, who is this guy really?
1:15:10 Speaker 05 Right. Well, I mean, that's sort of a lot of his essential...
1:15:14 Griffin Newman? Totally.
1:15:14 Speaker 05 Thing.
1:15:14 Griffin Newman? Totally.
1:15:15 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:15:17 Griffin Newman? Yeah, I, I, I think there is, there is one choice in relation to the, the sexual assault plotline in the movie that I, uh, think is a fatal mistake.
1:15:28 David Sims? Uh huh.
1:15:29 Griffin Newman? Which is, uh, having the following scene take place in real time on their doorstep, where, uh, Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans profess their love to each other. I think that cannot happen continuous with what she has just been doing.
1:15:44 David Sims? It just contributed to the feeling of like, I don't, these don't feel like people to me in the slightest.
1:15:49 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:15:49 David Sims? Like, I just had that problem with it throughout.
1:15:52 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:15:52 David Sims? But like, I really was just like, this is not human behavior. And satire or not, I've lost any grip on this movie because they're just not behaving like humans, at all.
1:16:01 Griffin Newman? Yeah, see, I, it just, it totally clicked for me, and part of it is also that maybe I have dated three different Dakota Johnsons in my life. Anyway, next category.
1:16:08 Speaker 05 Isn't your screenplay winner?
1:16:09 Griffin Newman? That was my screenplay winner.
1:16:10 Speaker 05 That is your screenplay.
1:16:11 Griffin Newman? Yeah, cuz I'm realizing this is the one place I can sort of mount my case for.
1:16:14 Speaker 05 Plant your flag.
1:16:15 David Sims? Plant your flag. Um.
1:16:17 Griffin Newman? I mean, it's, it, it, yeah, it's that.
1:16:21 David Sims? Or what? I mean, you have five nominees.
1:16:23 Griffin Newman? I know.
1:16:24 David Sims? The other four are probably better. I M O, can't remember.
1:16:29 Griffin Newman? Yeah, If I Had Legs I'd Kick, You Centered Weapons, Eddington, Materialist.
1:16:32 David Sims? Yeah, those are all really, those are, those are good ones.
1:16:35 Griffin Newman? Okay.
1:16:35 David Sims? Eddington was, I mean, one of your favorite movies of the year.
1:16:37 Griffin Newman? Yeah, well, we'll get to that.
1:16:38 David Sims? Yeah, right, right.
1:16:39 Griffin Newman? You know what? I've made my case for Materialist, I'm gonna give it to If I Had Legs I'd Kick.
1:16:42 David Sims? A great movie.
1:16:43 Griffin Newman? Yeah, because I thought I was gonna give Actress to Rose Byrne, but I think I'm gonna swing on that.
1:16:46 Speaker 05 Just Miss is my thought.
1:16:48 Griffin Newman? Yeah, that's strategizing in real time.
1:16:49 David Sims? The Blankies winners are, for original screenplay, uh, I'll just go one to five. Just go one to five. Sinners was their winner, and then Marty Supreme, Weapons, Sentimental Value, It Was Just An Accident, and then Adapted, One Battle was their winner. Uh, oh, well, we're about to do one.
1:17:03 Speaker 05 Yeah, we haven't done Adapted yet.
1:17:08 Speaker 02 Best adapted screenplay.
1:17:11 David Sims? But I'll tell you, anyway, One Battle was their winner, then No Other Choice, 28 Years Later, Begonia, and Wake Up Dead Man.
1:17:17 Griffin Newman? Da, na, na, na, na.
1:17:17 David Sims? My adapted screenplays, let me see, one battle after another, 28 years later.
1:17:22 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
1:17:23 David Sims? Peter Hojar's Day, Hedda.
1:17:25 Speaker 05 All right.
1:17:27 David Sims? And Superman.
1:17:28 Speaker 05 I'm glad you, I'm glad you had Peter Hoogers Day.
1:17:30 David Sims? Those are my five.
1:17:32 Speaker 05 Mine are Hamlet, Chloe Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell, Hedda, Nia de Costa, One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson, Peter Hoogers Day, Ira Sacks, Wake Up Dead Man, Ryan Johnson. I was worried that Peter Hoogers Day is just so much a, oh, we have these transcripts.
1:17:52 David Sims? No, but I mean, it's, it's all precisely constructed.
1:17:55 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yes.
1:17:58 Griffin Newman? Trying to, what is my number five going to be?
1:18:05 Speaker 05 I also realized I fell into one of the bullshittier Oscar things, which is, it's, you're adapted if you have characters from previous movies, which, yeah, I think spiritually I disagree with, but in this case, I wanted to nominate Wake Up Dead Man.
1:18:19 David Sims? Yeah, I mean, to me, right, saying Wake Up Dead Man is adapted is bizarre.
1:18:23 Speaker 05 Yes, it is.
1:18:24 David Sims? But, I mean, but he's there.
1:18:26 Speaker 05 Otherwise, otherwise y'all were getting Song Song Blue and I would have stood by it, but.
1:18:32 David Sims? Well, I'm glad it all worked out.
1:18:34 Speaker 05 Ah, stay tuned.
1:18:37 Griffin Newman? I'm struggling with my number five here, weirdly.
1:18:39 David Sims? Well, give us your four.
1:18:41 Griffin Newman? Yeah, cuz I'm just trying to remind myself on what qualifies as what a little bit.
1:18:47 Griffin Newman? My four definitely, uh, No Other Choice, One Battle After Another, Wake Up Dead Man, A Knives Out Mystery, uh, Final Destination: Bloodlines.
1:18:58 Speaker 05 Good movie.
1:18:59 Griffin Newman? Is Roof Man adapted?
1:19:02 David Sims? Uh, I don't actually think it is cuz it's not like based on an article. So it's not, you don't wanna nominate, I don't know, yeah, what, 28 Years Later, Hedda.
1:19:12 Speaker 05 Die My Love?
1:19:12 Griffin Newman? Oh, I'll nominate 20 Years Later, correct, thank you, sorry, yes, yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing.
1:19:17 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:19:17 Griffin Newman? Uh, so I'm, I, three sequels sneaking in there.
1:19:20 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:19:23 Griffin Newman? Twenty years later is a, yeah, just a fucking fantastic.
1:19:27 David Sims? It's a great screenplay. Yeah, absolutely.
1:19:29 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:19:30 David Sims? Yeah, it's my nominee for me. Yeah, I mean, I'm giving the win to One Battle. Like, sorry, guys, like, One Battle's winning a lot of my awards.
1:19:37 Speaker 05 We're not breaking anybody's brains by saying One Battle, but it's, it's the best. It is the best.
1:19:41 David Sims? And it's also a very interesting feat of adaptation. It's like, it's like taking the guts of a book and, you know, messing it around in all kinds of ways.
1:19:50 Speaker 05 I take everybody's word for that because there's no way I, uh...
1:19:53 David Sims? You don't want to crack open the vinyl.
1:19:54 Speaker 05 I can't read, so, um, I, it would be pointless.
1:19:58 Griffin Newman? Uh, I'm, I'm giving it to No Other Choice.
1:20:02 David Sims? Yeah.
1:20:02 Griffin Newman? Uh, other than Benicio, One Battle is like, coming in like, second for me in almost every category. Yeah.
1:20:10 David Sims? Uh, Park Chan Wook and Don McCallere and Lee Kyung Mi and Lee Ja Hee.
1:20:16 Speaker 05 And that is based on a novel?
1:20:17 Griffin Newman? The Axe. The Axe by Donald Wesley. Yes. Uh, thank you to everyone who sent me the, um, the Costas Gavris, uh, film.
1:20:26 David Sims? Oh, right, because it was hard to find, yes, the prior adaptation.
1:20:29 Griffin Newman? Uh, and if anyone wants a link, I now have forty-seven of them, so I have many ways to watch the movie.
1:20:34 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:20:34 Griffin Newman? I can just goon it. I can surround myself.
1:20:37 Speaker 05 I could just goon it. We're gonna, we're gonna clip that, uh, as well.
1:20:41 David Sims? You don't need to goon it. Okay, so...
1:20:42 Griffin Newman? Anytime I, I invoke gooning on the show, listeners go, "Does he just think it's having a lot of screens?" I know what the other stuff is. I'm just don't, I don't want to talk about it.
1:20:50 Speaker 05 He gets it.
1:20:51 David Sims? Oh, you don't want to talk about it?
1:20:52 Griffin Newman? I don't want to talk about it.
1:20:53 David Sims? What are your animated?
1:20:53 Griffin Newman? It's a family show.
1:20:54 David Sims? Yeah, it's so true.
1:20:57 Speaker 03 Best animated feature.
1:21:01 David Sims? What are your animated films, Griff?
1:21:03 Griffin Newman? Um...
1:21:03 David Sims? Give me your five.
1:21:05 Griffin Newman? This is actually a tough year for this. And I will say, I have not, I, I have some big blind spots. Um... I really like-
1:21:15 David Sims? You haven't met Little Amelie yet, I bet.
1:21:17 Griffin Newman? Yeah, I mean, this is the problem, is like, I'd be putting in some stuff I like okay, just to fill out the five. Sure.
1:21:25 Speaker 05 That's the kind of year it's been.
1:21:26 David Sims? So give me a three.
1:21:26 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:21:27 Griffin Newman? Uh, I mean, like, The Day the Earth Blew Up.
1:21:32 David Sims? Oh, yeah, sure.
1:21:33 Griffin Newman? K-Pop Demon Hunters.
1:21:34 David Sims? Yeah.
1:21:35 Griffin Newman? And I'm like, what else do I even, like, I admittedly haven't seen Arco yet.
1:21:39 David Sims? Oh, sure.
1:21:39 Griffin Newman? I haven't seen Little Amelie yet.
1:21:41 David Sims? Yeah.
1:21:41 Griffin Newman? I was not crazy about Zootopia 2. Um-
1:21:45 David Sims? What about Eleo?
1:21:46 Griffin Newman? I was not crazy about Eleo.
1:21:47 David Sims? What about Fixed?
1:21:48 Griffin Newman? Uh, I really was not crazy about that one.
1:21:51 Speaker 05 Which one is fixed?
1:21:51 David Sims? It's a Jenny Tartutovsky movie about a horny dog.
1:21:53 Griffin Newman? Oh, right.
1:21:54 Speaker 05 Got to cut his balls off. Was that, I, see, for some reason, I thought that movie turned out to not actually, like, I know the joke haha doesn't exist, but like, I thought-
1:22:02 David Sims? No, it exists.
1:22:02 Speaker 05 It was a Jenny Tartutovsky movie.
1:22:04 Griffin Newman? There was a, there was a real threat of it being a Zazlav, and then it, it escaped containment, and of course, we devoted a full episode to it.
1:22:11 David Sims? Of course.
1:22:11 Griffin Newman? Um, no, I don't even know what my, like, number three would-
1:22:16 David Sims? Wow.
1:22:16 Griffin Newman? -be. I have some, yeah. What about you guys?
1:22:20 David Sims? Yeah, I have, yeah, it's boring.
1:22:21 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:22:22 David Sims? Like, it's Zootopia 2 and Arco and K-Pop Demon Hunters, and then, yeah, I have to be like, I guess Eleo.
1:22:27 Speaker 05 I basically abstained, yeah, I can't-
1:22:29 David Sims? Yeah, it's a weak year. I haven't seen Little Amelie, which got the Oscar nom.
1:22:33 Speaker 05 Little Amelie and Arco, I think, are in the same bucket for me, which is just like-
1:22:35 David Sims? I did not really care for Arco.
1:22:37 Speaker 05 I thought Arco was fine, I thought Little Amelie was fine, I thought Eleo was not bad, which felt like a radical opinion to me, because I think Eleo got a lot of shit for some reason.
1:22:47 Griffin Newman? Yeah, I think Eleo's solid.
1:22:47 Speaker 05 But like, Eleo left my brain.
1:22:49 David Sims? Yeah.
1:22:50 Speaker 05 Before it was over.
1:22:51 David Sims? Eleo, I barely remember, and like-
1:22:53 Griffin Newman? If I'm doing three-
1:22:54 David Sims? I didn't like despise it.
1:22:55 Griffin Newman? I'm putting Eleo and Zootopia in.
1:22:56 Speaker 05 I thought Zootopia 2 was fine.
1:22:58 David Sims? I really, I, I very much enjoyed Zootopia 2.
1:23:01 Speaker 05 I enjoyed myself with Zootopia 2, and K-Pop Demon Hunters is kind of my number one with a bullet, even though I think that movie is mostly a good time-
1:23:08 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
1:23:09 David Sims? Yeah.
1:23:09 Speaker 05 That is grafted onto a decent movie.
1:23:12 David Sims? I'm glad everyone is having fun.
1:23:14 Speaker 05 Me too, I had a good time.
1:23:15 David Sims? I was a little bit like, I might put this, the songs are now encoded in my brain.
1:23:19 Speaker 05 Sure.
1:23:19 Griffin Newman? I haven't seen Predator Killer of Killers, which I, I've heard is excellent.
1:23:24 David Sims? Our blankies put that in there.
1:23:26 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:23:26 David Sims? Along with Arco, Davey or Blue up and Chainsaw Man. Ben's favorite movie of the year was number two for them and then K-pop Demon Hunters.
1:23:33 Griffin Newman? Uh, I continue to struggle with the uh, Nezha films. I cannot make sense of them.
1:23:38 David Sims? Yeah, a little impenetrable.
1:23:39 Griffin Newman? Bad Guys two kinda did nothing for me. Uh, The King of Kings and David, obviously my two favorite movies of the year.
1:23:45 Speaker 05 Did you see the Chainsaw one too?
1:23:47 Griffin Newman? That's Ben's favorite. I did not see that.
1:23:49 Speaker 05 I did not. I missed that one.
1:23:50 David Sims? Oh, Joe.
1:23:52 Speaker 05 Yeah, worth it?
1:23:53 David Sims? It's fun.
1:23:53 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:23:53 Speaker 05 All right.
1:23:54 Griffin Newman? Uh, Sneaks is one of the worst films I saw all year. That's a
1:23:56 David Sims? Sneaker movie.
1:23:57 Griffin Newman? Movie about talking sneakers.
1:23:58 Speaker 05 No, it's not.
1:23:59 Griffin Newman? Yeah, it is. Starring Anthony Mackie.
1:24:02 Speaker 05 Tony.
1:24:02 Griffin Newman? Uh, it's starring um, Martin Lawrence, who this is, it kinda, there was an interesting technical breakthrough. If I can just animation nerd out for a second on the movie Sneaks. That is the first voiceover performance recorded entirely while someone is fully asleep.
1:24:18 David Sims? Just kinda put a mic by the bed there.
1:24:20 Speaker 05 We're doing a lot with sleep technology. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:24:23 Griffin Newman? That's what it sounds like the whole time.
1:24:24 Speaker 05 He was getting tested for sleep apnea and they thought while, while we were doing that, while we got him hooked up to machines, why not we also uh, record a voice? Yeah.
1:24:31 Griffin Newman? Yeah, yeah.
1:24:33 David Sims? Uh, any uh, vocal performances we wanna shout out this year? Honestly, no. I'm moving us on from
1:24:39 Speaker 05 Yeah, it's surprising.
1:24:40 David Sims? You know what? We're all struggling here.
1:24:42 Griffin Newman? Well, look, we talked about
1:24:43 David Sims? You know what? David Strathairn and Andy Samberg did a great job in uh, Sutopia two.
1:24:46 Griffin Newman? The whole Sutopia cast was great.
1:24:48 Speaker 05 Yeah, I thought, I thought Samberg was really good.
1:24:50 David Sims? Yeah.
1:24:50 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:24:50 Speaker 05 I agree with you.
1:24:51 Griffin Newman? Uh, uh, Marin in uh, uh, The Bad Guys two.
1:24:54 David Sims? I haven't seen that one yet. I really just wanna talk about Goat, which is 2026.
1:24:58 Griffin Newman? Oh, you're all about Goat.
1:24:59 Speaker 05 Goat rocks.
1:25:00 Griffin Newman? I still haven't seen Goat yet.
1:25:01 Speaker 05 Okay.
1:25:01 David Sims? That's good.
1:25:01 Speaker 05 It's the number one movie in America.
1:25:03 David Sims? It is. And I got it there, baby.
1:25:05 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:25:06 Griffin Newman? Joe, what you're witnessing is a very interesting inflection point in the narrative of Blank Check.
1:25:12 David Sims? Right, right, right, right.
1:25:13 Griffin Newman? Which is, I'm getting nonplussed about all animated films.
1:25:16 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
1:25:16 Griffin Newman? And David is going to see them with his daughter and being like, this thing fucking rules.
1:25:20 David Sims? I, I, it's kind of a, I'm now in the, I think if there's an animated film, she's old enough where it's like, if there's a cartoon, we're gonna go see it. Like, we're going to Hoppers, we're going to Mario Galaxy, right? Like, whatever the ones coming down the pike are.
1:25:32 Speaker 05 Hoppers, do you mean Meryl Streep's Grand Return to Your films. After like five years away.
1:25:36 Griffin Newman? Hoppers, the first time Meryl Streep has played an insect queen in an animated film in 20 years.
1:25:42 Speaker 05 I mean, after the Empoli, is that what we're talking about?
1:25:44 Griffin Newman? Correct. One of the greatest Cinematrix plays.
1:25:47 Speaker 05 I literally was like, the only reason I'm pulling that is because I've been in the Cinematrix matches.
1:25:51 David Sims? All right, what else should we do here?
1:25:53 Speaker 05 Have you guys, did you guys do nominations for casting? Cause that's the inaugural Oscar category.
1:25:58 David Sims? I don't do a casting.
1:25:59 Speaker 05 Mine was kinda chalk, except for I wanted to throw in Griffin in summer, which I was like, if you cast really awesome kid characters.
1:26:06 Griffin Newman? Can I just haul dibs on the other three seasons?
1:26:09 Speaker 05 Oh, Griffin in spring, Griffin in autumn.
1:26:11 Griffin Newman? I will cede summer to him as long as I still have the other three.
1:26:16 David Sims? You're doing a Romer? Like, I wanna complete the season's quadrilogy?
1:26:20 Griffin Newman? I just don't like that this uppity little movie.
1:26:22 David Sims? Have you seen it?
1:26:23 Griffin Newman? No, I've heard it's great.
1:26:24 David Sims? I think you'd really enjoy that.
1:26:25 Griffin Newman? I've heard you're a real winner.
1:26:27 David Sims? It is a real winner.
1:26:28 Griffin Newman? Love it.
1:26:29 David Sims? The whole thing with it, you know what?
1:26:31 Griffin Newman? Everyone's got a new Griffin they love.
1:26:32 David Sims? Pin in Griffin in summer.
1:26:34 Speaker 05 Okay, all right.
1:26:35 David Sims? But cinematography.
1:26:41 Speaker 03 Best cinematography.
1:26:47 Speaker 05 Cinematography, mine are Darius Kanji for Marty Supreme, Michael Baumann for One Battle After Another, Alex Ash for Peter Hojar's Day.
1:26:58 David Sims? Yeah, gorgeous.
1:26:59 Speaker 05 Mauro Hurst for Serat and Adolfo Veloso for Train Dreams.
1:27:05 David Sims? Pretty movie.
1:27:06 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:27:06 David Sims? Probably gonna win the Oscar. Or no, actually.
1:27:08 Speaker 05 I think it's gonna be One Battle because of the.
1:27:11 David Sims? Yeah, fucking rock.
1:27:12 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:27:13 David Sims? Yeah, I have One Battle and Marty Supreme. I have Twenty Eight Years Later, which is my winner.
1:27:17 Speaker 05 So that's such a good pick. Yeah.
1:27:19 David Sims? I have Phoenician Scheme, because of course, like, every West movie basically deserves every tech nom that can.
1:27:24 Speaker 05 And never gets them except for one movie that's the weirdest Oscar narrative. Like, breaks my brain all the time.
1:27:31 Griffin Newman? Yeah, this is the first live-action movie he's done with anyone other than Bob Yeoman.
1:27:36 David Sims? Yes, this is.
1:27:37 Griffin Newman? Which is also really interesting.
1:27:38 David Sims? I can't remember why. I don't know if there's a reason.
1:27:40 Griffin Newman? I don't either, but.
1:27:41 David Sims? Maybe he and Yeoman got in a fight over like craft services.
1:27:43 Griffin Newman? But Yeoman goes all the way back to Bottle Rocket, right?
1:27:45 David Sims? He goes way back. And then No Other Choice is my fifth.
1:27:49 Griffin Newman? Yeah, mine are Twenty Eight Years Later, Die My Love.
1:27:54 David Sims? Oh, yeah.
1:27:55 Griffin Newman? No Other Choice, One Battle After Another, and Phoenician Scheme.
1:28:00 Speaker 05 Nice.
1:28:00 David Sims? He does go all the way back to Balorokha. Yeah, what the fuck happened?
1:28:03 Griffin Newman? I don't know. I don't know.
1:28:05 David Sims? I mean, Delvin L is a king. I mean, he's one of my favorite DPs.
1:28:08 Griffin Newman? But you're right, Joe. I will never stop yelling about this. It makes no sense to me. Even when they don't like the movie, he should be getting like young Victoria style nominations.
1:28:17 David Sims? I think that's why they don't do it.
1:28:18 Speaker 05 Gets a screenplay nomination, so clearly you saw it, clearly you liked it, and yet like, no production design.
1:28:24 Griffin Newman? Right, and you could go, okay, so was that movie too edgy at that point in time for the Academy?
1:28:29 David Sims? But now it should be agreed on.
1:28:30 Griffin Newman? Right, and it's like, it feels like what happened last year with Ray Fiennes.
1:28:34 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:28:35 Griffin Newman? Not winning for Conclave, where people were like, but he already has one, right?
1:28:39 David Sims? This is another Griffin Buck there.
1:28:41 Griffin Newman? Right, where it feels like people are like, but hasn't Wes Anderson, like, haven't his movies won like, 20 craft awards?
1:28:47 Speaker 05 You will hear that from people being like, oh, another, you know, play for craft nominations from Wes Anderson. It's like, no, actually, kind of never.
1:28:56 Griffin Newman? Desplat won for Grand Budapest. And did Grand Budapest win, it won makeup and hairstyling?
1:29:03 Speaker 05 It won like three or four awards, I feel like.
1:29:05 David Sims? It was a tech winner.
1:29:07 Griffin Newman? Cause like, obviously, Chivo beats it for cinematography.
1:29:11 David Sims? Yeah, it won for costumes, makeup, score, and production design. So Stockhausen, it's like, Stockhausen has his Oscar. Maybe that's how they feel, but I don't know. I don't know, and I don't like it.
1:29:22 Griffin Newman? Yeah, it's bad.
1:29:23 David Sims? Uh, the blankies winners here are our listeners were One Battle, and then Sinners, 20 Years Later, Train Dreams, and No Other Choice. So, you know, good looking movies.
1:29:33 Speaker 05 Good looking movies.
1:29:34 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm, yeah.
1:29:35 David Sims? Um, score?
1:29:43 Speaker 03 Best score.
1:29:49 Speaker 05 I've got some score nominees.
1:29:50 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
1:29:51 Speaker 05 Kinda chalky, One Battle. Sinners, Serat, Testament of Anle, and Train.
1:29:57 David Sims? Testament of Anle is a good shout. Yeah, if nothing else.
1:30:01 Speaker 05 And I've kind of been like, in many group texts, I've been the sort of holdout on Testament of Anle. But like, there are elements of that movie that like, are really fantastic.
1:30:10 David Sims? I was left quite cold by that film, but it's quite impressive.
1:30:14 Speaker 05 You're one of the very few people who I've heard that from, and I'm glad to have at least some company. For some reason, that became the like, gay guy cause celeb this year. And I was like, folks, there's some like, actual movies with like, gay characters. I mean, I know that whatever, Louis Pullman in that movie and whatever, but like, I don't know. Everybody was just on the cipher train, and she's great. I love cipher.
1:30:37 Griffin Newman? Adore that movie. I'll talk about it in a little bit.
1:30:41 Speaker 05 All right.
1:30:41 Griffin Newman? I did, I forgot to post this on Letterboxd when I saw it. But saw the film, was very moved by it, was very affected by it. Immediately came out with like, a couple of really good pitches for if I had to write for the Spirit Awards.
1:30:55 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
1:30:56 Griffin Newman? Testament of Stanley.
1:30:58 Speaker 05 I mean, it's right there.
1:30:59 David Sims? There you go.
1:31:00 Griffin Newman? Tim Robinson Share Company parody, where he shows up at the Shakers. And he's like, what's going on here? And they just keep singing.
1:31:08 David Sims? That would be fun.
1:31:09 Griffin Newman? That would be funny, right?
1:31:10 David Sims? Chairs, because they made all those great chairs.
1:31:12 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:31:12 David Sims? I just wanted the whole movie to be about furniture.
1:31:14 Griffin Newman? Right, and then my-
1:31:15 David Sims? And it's like, it's like, it gets like, one line.
1:31:17 Griffin Newman? And then my third Spirit Awards-
1:31:18 David Sims? Also, we make good furniture.
1:31:19 Griffin Newman? My third Spirit Awards pitch was Shake It Off. They do like, a Daniel Blumberg style performance of Taylor Swift, Shake It Off.
1:31:27 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:31:28 Griffin Newman? Banging their chest. I thought there was like, three good pitches right off the dome.
1:31:31 David Sims? You seem just like, seething with rage that the spirits did not take you up on this. Did they even acknowledge Anle? I feel like Indie Spirits were kind of so odd.
1:31:41 Griffin Newman? Editing, because I drafted it in our other secret movie league we're part of.
1:31:46 Speaker 05 What?
1:31:47 Griffin Newman? And I got it for $1, and I was like, I'm gonna fucking reap the riches with this. I'm the only one who has it on their slate, and that is the only major award it got all year.
1:31:56 Speaker 05 Indie Spirits were weird this year in that like, the nominations were so pleasantly like, off the map.
1:32:02 David Sims? Yeah, because they do the weird juries.
1:32:03 Speaker 05 And in that like, really classic Indie Spirit way of like, oh, this used to like, give me- Twenty ideas for movies that I hadn't seen.
1:32:10 David Sims? Right, yeah.
1:32:10 Speaker 05 And then because of that, the like, it was so much more stark that like, oh, there's one per category that's like an Oscar nominee crossover. And so of course, those ones were the ones that won.
1:32:21 David Sims? Did Train Dreams win?
1:32:22 Speaker 05 Train Dreams won Sorry Baby, which is not an Oscar nominee, but was also like, everybody's pick for best first feature this year. So like that one, a few of them and like Roseburn won, very well deserved, but like is an Oscar nominee.
1:32:34 David Sims? My nominees for score were One Battle, Marty Supreme, Twenty Eight Years Later, Young Fathers.
1:32:38 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:32:38 David Sims? Sinners and Tron Ares.
1:32:41 Speaker 05 I did not see Tron Ares. I was waiting to have to see it because it's an Oscar nominee. I believe it. I mean, yeah.
1:32:47 Griffin Newman? Yeah, I'm now like wondering if I have the exact same five.
1:32:50 David Sims? You might.
1:32:51 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:32:51 David Sims? I mean, there's other good scores this year, though. What have I been listening to? What have I been bumping?
1:32:55 Griffin Newman? Black Bag score is great. The Weapon score is great.
1:32:58 David Sims? Weapon score is really cool.
1:32:59 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:33:00 David Sims? Uh, not as much one to bump because it's so dis- you know, disorienting, but good. Uh, what are some other good? Yeah, the Superman score, the weird sort of hodgepodgey nature of it, uh, notwithstanding, but it's good. Uh, and Lee for sure. I don't know. I don't know, mate.
1:33:19 Griffin Newman? Okay. Thank you, mate. What? I gave what?
1:33:22 David Sims? Final Destination screenplay now. I'm just remembering that.
1:33:24 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:33:24 David Sims? It's a lovely little numb for you.
1:33:26 Griffin Newman? Yeah, thank you. I think that is a perfectly structured screenplay.
1:33:30 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:33:31 Griffin Newman? I think that movie is so smart. I give it so much credit for like, after six, right? No, no, this is the sixth entry. There were five previous.
1:33:41 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:33:41 Griffin Newman? Final Destinations.
1:33:42 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:33:43 Griffin Newman? Uh, showing up and just being like, this is clearly what all of these movies should have been all along. Like just finding the perfect narrative structure and emotional like underpinning for one of these films.
1:33:55 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:33:55 Griffin Newman? I also think that movie does some of the smartest Legacy sequel shit I have ever seen.
1:34:00 David Sims? Agree.
1:34:00 Griffin Newman? It is the opposite of the stuff that makes my teeth hurt, where there is a-
1:34:05 Speaker 05 Well, they essentially were like David Gordon Green's Halloween, but like, what if it wasn't stupid?
1:34:10 Griffin Newman? Well, because the movie, basically, there is a reading of it that is not necessary for you to enjoy the film.
1:34:18 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:34:18 Griffin Newman? That this is the starting point of the entire franchise.
1:34:21 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:34:22 Griffin Newman? That everything that has happened in the five previous films, which have their own Fast and Furious style jumbled timeline where things keep on getting-
1:34:28 Speaker 05 Right.
1:34:28 Griffin Newman? Rearranged are all the trickle effects of this one incident-
1:34:33 Speaker 05 That happened.
1:34:33 Griffin Newman? That is the cold open that is so good.
1:34:35 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:34:36 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:34:36 Speaker 05 Yeah, I really liked it. I thought it was really creative. I think I go to those movies because like, I'm not normally this much of a sadist, but I'm like, I need creative kills. I need, you know what I mean? Like, all I become like a, a real chud.
1:34:48 David Sims? It's a hard movie. You're allowed to be a little, you know, sort of demanding of these things.
1:34:53 Griffin Newman? Incredibly good, and I, I just think the Tony Todd scene is like excellent. Is another perfect example of just like retroactively applying all this meaning to previous movies that are like,
1:35:04 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:35:05 Griffin Newman? I find that entire franchise very fun, but a lot of times through a lot of wonkiness.
1:35:09 Speaker 05 Oh, totally.
1:35:10 Griffin Newman? Like, the power of the ideas pushed through a lot of, uh, conceptual, like, sort of inconsistencies.
1:35:16 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:35:17 Griffin Newman? But, yeah, and, and a lot of it's like a masterclass of directing, but also, and I've said this so many times, any movie that can get an entire audience to cheer when a child dies.
1:35:29 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:35:29 Griffin Newman? Is doing some sort of like-
1:35:30 Speaker 05 I completely agree.
1:35:31 Griffin Newman? Super sophisticated, Raimi-esque. It was the way I felt watching Send Help, where I'm like, these are filmmakers who know how to play the audience like a drum.
1:35:40 Speaker 05 That's a movie I wish I hadn't seen the trailer, because the one trailer gives away so much of the backyard scene with the lawnmower and whatnot, that I was like,
1:35:49 Griffin Newman? But that scene has so much wrong footing and so many Mr. X.
1:35:53 Speaker 05 Oh, that's true, but it's just like, I, I just wanted, I wanted that to, I understand why. It's the same thing with the Running Man trailer, where they give away so much of the one action scene in the hallway, or the elevator, or whatever they're doing.
1:36:04 Griffin Newman? I liked that the first Bloodlines teaser was the piercing tattoo shop.
1:36:10 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:36:11 Griffin Newman? Which is the ultimate fake out.
1:36:12 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:36:13 Griffin Newman? Exactly. So I was like, oh, this is a good sequence, and they're ruining it to do the marketing, and then you see it in the context of the movie, and you're like, no, this was the exact thing for them to spoil.
1:36:20 Speaker 05 It's not even that character's best.
1:36:21 Griffin Newman? Because in context, it's totally different. Yeah.
1:36:23 Speaker 05 Yeah, it's great.
1:36:24 Griffin Newman? Uh, can I give out a, a special honorific award?
1:36:27 Speaker 05 Sure. Can I do one right after you?
1:36:28 Griffin Newman? Yeah, of course. Uh, the, uh, the first ever Iowa debris.
1:36:36 Griffin Newman? Memorial couldn't be more seated award. I say memorial because her time as a guest on the show is probably it.
1:36:44 David Sims? Look, once in a while, I talked to Io largely about my kids. But once in a while, Io will be like, gotta come back on BC someday. And I'm like, hey, man, door's open.
1:36:56 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:36:56 David Sims? She is about to do Proof on Broadway.
1:36:58 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:36:58 David Sims? That's in New York.
1:36:59 Griffin Newman? She's here. Oh, shit. Yeah.
1:37:01 David Sims? She will also be fairly busy doing what is, having seen, you know, the original production, one of the more demanding theater roles I'm aware of existing.
1:37:09 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:37:10 David Sims? I wonder how that's gonna go.
1:37:11 Griffin Newman? I feel like we threw Spielberg to her and she said, I only want to do Columbo main feed.
1:37:15 David Sims? She didn't say, I only want to, but she did say, I really want to do that. And, you know, again, it's what it is. But you are honoring, of course, her iconic, I'm so seated.
1:37:26 Griffin Newman? I couldn't be more seated.
1:37:27 David Sims? I couldn't be more seated. They're telling me it's not coming out for months, but I remaining seated.
1:37:30 Griffin Newman? Right.
1:37:31 David Sims? You know, her tweet.
1:37:32 Griffin Newman? So this is my award for the best performance with zero standing up.
1:37:39 David Sims? Okay.
1:37:39 Griffin Newman? Now, I think it's important that the performance cannot texturally be a character who lacks the ability to stand.
1:37:45 David Sims? I understand.
1:37:45 Griffin Newman? It needs to feel like the actor is overriding any demands. Going, I got an idea. What if I'm just a little, what if I'm sort of in this chair here?
1:37:54 David Sims? What if I have an emotional connection to this chair? I really shouldn't leave it. Yeah.
1:37:58 Griffin Newman? And this award was inspired, and I think this is much like Putters and Murbers, something that would be easy to fill every year. But it was inspired by seeing a performance this year that was, in my memory, three or four different scenes in a couple of different locations.
1:38:11 David Sims? All seated.
1:38:12 Griffin Newman? And every time I cut back to this actor in a chair, I was just going, oh, I hope he doesn't fuck up the streak. I hope he never stands up. Al Pacino in Dead Man's Wire.
1:38:21 David Sims? Oh, sure. Yeah, I have not seen, but I've heard that his performance is a smidgen of energy.
1:38:26 Griffin Newman? Four different chairs by my count. Four different chairs. I believe I read that he shot the entire performance in one day.
1:38:34 Speaker 05 I also believe that.
1:38:35 Griffin Newman? The movie takes place over like, I think, seventy-two hours, but he goes from like a country club to like
1:38:40 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:38:40 Griffin Newman? A couple of different rooms in his home.
1:38:43 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:38:43 Griffin Newman? Different chairs, but this man-
1:38:44 Speaker 05 Offscreen, he's moving and wheeling and dealing, but we never see it.
1:38:47 Griffin Newman? And he's doing a lot, but he could not be more seated, and it's a clear choice by Big Al.
1:38:53 Speaker 05 I thought you were gonna go for like Tracy Lutzen, House of Dynamite, or something like that, but-
1:38:56 Griffin Newman? But he's leaning and standing.
1:38:58 Speaker 05 He is. Does he stand? Okay.
1:38:59 David Sims? Yeah, and he's going like-
1:39:01 Speaker 05 Okay.
1:39:01 Griffin Newman? Joe, it's there in the name. They could not be more seated. There have to be zero qualifiers in this performance.
1:39:07 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:39:07 David Sims? Nuremberg, I've pointed out already, but Crowe, I mean, he does do like some pushups in one scene, but you know, Crowe is largely either lying down or sitting.
1:39:15 Speaker 05 Crowe is a spiritually seated actor.
1:39:18 David Sims? I mean, he did a whole fucking serial killer movie where he's in the car the whole time.
1:39:21 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
1:39:22 David Sims? You know what I mean? Where they were like, you have to play like a crazy guy, just like, can I sit in the car? Not get out.
1:39:27 Speaker 05 And another one where it's just like, what if I was sitting on this Vespa for most of this?
1:39:31 David Sims? Oh.
1:39:32 Griffin Newman? The Pope's Exorcist?
1:39:33 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:39:34 Griffin Newman? Different than, what was the other one he did? He did another movie called The Something Exorcist?
1:39:39 David Sims? The Exorcism.
1:39:40 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:39:40 Speaker 05 Oh, right.
1:39:41 David Sims? That almost felt like they were like, we just, we sort of CGI'd a little, a different haircut on you from like deleted scenes from the other Exorcist movie.
1:39:48 Griffin Newman? But isn't that one about like, he's a guy who played an exorcist or something?
1:39:52 David Sims? A troubled actor begins to exhibit disruptive behavior. I don't see how Russell Crowe would vibe with that character.
1:39:57 Speaker 05 Am I not wrong?
1:39:58 David Sims? While shooting a horror film.
1:39:59 Speaker 05 Is in some sort of middle space between like, real movies.
1:40:03 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:40:03 Speaker 05 And like Bruce Willis depressing red box, like slop.
1:40:08 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:40:08 Speaker 05 You know, kind of stuff.
1:40:09 Griffin Newman? They're more legitimate than that.
1:40:12 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:40:13 Griffin Newman? It's, it's an interesting zone he's in, but once again, this category, which exists and is open to you gentlemen for all years going forward.
1:40:19 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:40:19 Griffin Newman? Is not for the spiritually seated.
1:40:21 Speaker 05 No.
1:40:22 Griffin Newman? And if Russell Crowe is getting up and doing pushups in one scene, then unfortunately, I have a note, there is a way that you could be more seated. It's simply not doing the pushups.
1:40:30 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:40:30 Griffin Newman? It has to be someone who does not get up from the chair. Once.
1:40:33 Speaker 05 The rigorousness of your parameters really like dissuades me from like picking something on the fly. I will have to punt until next year, but next year I'll come locked and loaded.
1:40:42 Griffin Newman? Yeah, just think about it.
1:40:42 Speaker 05 All right.
1:40:43 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:40:43 Speaker 05 All right. Mine is so on my podcast, this had Oscar buzz on our Patreon. We have been taken to doing what we call superlatives awards, which is all the weird detritus movie awards from various places, the NBR, whatever tribute to integrity and, you know, filmmaking or whatever.
1:41:08 Griffin Newman? Yeah, of course.
1:41:09 Speaker 05 Best kiss from the MTV Movie Awards, the canned palm dog, things like that. And sometimes we make up our own category. And as soon as we were done, I texted Chris and I said, I forgot the one category I wanted to do, which is best wife on phone. Because the trope of the wife on phone.
1:41:26 David Sims? Catherine Keener in Sully.
1:41:27 Speaker 05 Catherine Keener in Sully is me. Absolutely.
1:41:30 David Sims? No, she's in Captain Phillips.
1:41:31 Griffin Newman? Correct.
1:41:31 David Sims? Okay.
1:41:32 Speaker 05 That's what it is.
1:41:32 David Sims? Sorry, I knew.
1:41:33 Griffin Newman? It's more than a wife on phone in Sully.
1:41:35 Speaker 05 But the two, yeah, those are your twin pillars of like exactly what I'm talking about.
1:41:38 David Sims? I hope no pirates get you today, honey. All right, I'll see you later.
1:41:41 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:41:42 Griffin Newman? Diane Lane in The Perfect Storm?
1:41:44 David Sims? Diane Lane in The Perfect Storm is on the CB radio.
1:41:46 Speaker 05 Yes, she's, she's wife on CB. They're all in the war.
1:41:49 David Sims? I can't remember if she ever gets in a boat.
1:41:50 Griffin Newman? But Mary Elizabeth Master Antonio is in a boat.
1:41:53 David Sims? Yeah, I was, right.
1:41:53 Speaker 05 No, she's, she's in the war room.
1:41:55 Griffin Newman? She's in the war?
1:41:56 Speaker 05 Like, she's the one on the horn, I think, like barking out instructions.
1:41:59 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:42:00 David Sims? You know who's in the war room is Tracy Letts.
1:42:01 Griffin Newman? This is true.
1:42:02 Speaker 05 It's true, yes.
1:42:03 Griffin Newman? Now, he could be more seated. Joe?
1:42:05 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:42:06 Griffin Newman? Who is your nominee this year?
1:42:07 Speaker 05 My nominees are.
1:42:08 Griffin Newman? Okay, you have a full five.
1:42:10 Speaker 05 I did.
1:42:11 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:42:11 Speaker 05 With some creative accounting.
1:42:12 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:42:12 Speaker 05 Renee Elise Goldsberry in House of Dynamite, who is a floatus on phone, wearing full Brian Fellow's safari getup.
1:42:21 David Sims? Obviously.
1:42:22 Speaker 05 The funniest cut in that movie.
1:42:24 David Sims? I swear to God.
1:42:25 Griffin Newman? She's gonna be tough to beat this year.
1:42:26 Speaker 05 So funny.
1:42:27 Griffin Newman? She's gonna be tough to beat. This might be a Jesse Buckley run.
1:42:30 Speaker 05 It's so funny.
1:42:30 Griffin Newman? Renee Elise Goldberry.
1:42:32 Speaker 05 Greta Gerwig in Jay Kelly, who has multiple wife on phone scenes with Adam Sandler.
1:42:38 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:42:39 Speaker 05 Melanie Diaz in Roof Man.
1:42:42 David Sims? I, an actress I was so happy to see.
1:42:44 Griffin Newman? Same.
1:42:45 David Sims? But she didn't have a ton to do.
1:42:46 Speaker 05 That character kinda gets like, I don't know if that character gets done wrong and that's such a, but like, the movie doesn't not make the claim of like, and he was much happier when he wasn't saddled with this family.
1:42:57 Griffin Newman? I, okay. Can I just say this quickly now?
1:43:00 Speaker 05 Yes, yes, yes.
1:43:01 Griffin Newman? Not to interrupt your category.
1:43:02 Speaker 05 No, we'll put a pin.
1:43:03 Griffin Newman? But I was pumping Roof Man really hard.
1:43:06 Speaker 05 I like Roof Man, yeah.
1:43:07 Griffin Newman? And I saw some blankies be like, I don't get it.
1:43:12 Speaker 05 Really?
1:43:13 Griffin Newman? Well, in specifically saying, I think this character is kind of a bad guy and the movie wants me to root for him and is trying to turn it into like a charming romantic comedy. And once again, I'm like, I think the movie is a portrait of a complicated man.
1:43:28 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:43:28 Griffin Newman? I think what it is digging with is that this guy abandoned his daughters and now is like
1:43:33 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:43:34 Griffin Newman? over like parenting.
1:43:36 Speaker 05 Right.
1:43:36 Griffin Newman? Right, he's being too present for these surrogate daughters.
1:43:39 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:43:40 Griffin Newman? But you know that it's like, he's gonna fucking do this again. And that like, the ending of the film is not some like, their love was true kind of thing.
1:43:48 Speaker 05 Right.
1:43:48 Griffin Newman? It's like speaking to, this guy's feelings are genuine and yet he can't stop fucking this up and hurting people.
1:43:54 Speaker 05 This is a thing I talked about a bunch with my Vulture colleague, Roxanna Hadadi, who is a huge Derek C. and France fan. We're like the two most enthusiastic Place Beyond the Pines people that I know.
1:44:04 Griffin Newman? Uh huh.
1:44:04 Speaker 05 And there is a degree to which we're like, we're not gonna tell you, you have to see another movie before you see Roof Man. But like, knowing the whole Derek C. and France thing really helps you get more out of Roof Man. Because like, it is the bad dad thing. It is the sort of like, the terminal fuck up kind of a guy and it really plays into that.
1:44:20 Griffin Newman? And because it's at a more comedic pitch, I think people, and I think some of this is a training from decade, a decade plus of very kind of, um, uh, how would I put this? Didactic characterization, especially from TV but from a lot of studio films.
1:44:39 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah.
1:44:40 Griffin Newman? Of just like, characters are really clean cut.
1:44:43 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:44:43 Griffin Newman? Good or bad.
1:44:44 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:44:44 Griffin Newman? And if you're wrestling with someone who is complicated, that has to be a heavy dramatic movie.
1:44:50 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:44:50 Griffin Newman? And to see a comedy in which a character is complicated and like, can do things that are both.
1:44:56 Speaker 05 A like, it felt like a seventies comedy. It felt like now Alice doesn't live here anymore, kind of.
1:45:01 Griffin Newman? It feels like a seventies.
1:45:02 Speaker 05 Yeah, like drama.
1:45:03 Griffin Newman? Five easy pieces, like this guy is equally captivating and nauseating.
1:45:07 Speaker 05 My thing was, if the Golden Globe comedy categories weren't so crowded with. Fake comedies this year?
1:45:13 David Sims? Great comedies, rip roaring comedies.
1:45:15 Speaker 05 Then Channing Tatum would have been an ideal nomination.
1:45:19 David Sims? Don't you think Derek C. in France looks like an AI of Ryan Gosling that kind of went wrong? You know what I mean?
1:45:24 Speaker 05 It's Ryan Gosling and Clark Gregg.
1:45:27 David Sims? Yeah, right, right.
1:45:28 Speaker 05 They sort of melded the two of them.
1:45:29 Griffin Newman? But like in Blue Valentine, where Gosling shaved the hairline back. And he had the big aviator sunglasses. And I was like, this is a cool look for Gosling. And then I saw my first interview with Derek C. in France. And I was like, oh, okay.
1:45:41 David Sims? He just took a picture.
1:45:42 Speaker 05 I got it.
1:45:42 Griffin Newman? Got it.
1:45:43 Speaker 05 So, okay, two more wives on phone. I had Renee Lee Sculdsberry, Greta Gerwig, Melanie Diaz, Christian Slater. And if I had Lex, I'd kick you.
1:45:52 David Sims? Yeah.
1:45:52 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Mild spoiler, but god, the fucking reveal there.
1:45:55 David Sims? The reveal was very strong.
1:45:56 Speaker 05 The classic, I know this voice, I know this voice, I know this voice.
1:46:00 Griffin Newman? But he's not playing into his go to so hard.
1:46:03 Speaker 05 He's not doing the fake Jack Nicholson thing.
1:46:04 Griffin Newman? That you're like, well, obviously. And the reveal of that's who it is and the way he's dressed and what you now understand about the character and his profession.
1:46:11 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:46:12 Griffin Newman? I will not spoil for people, but it is incredibly fine.
1:46:14 Speaker 05 So my winner is Grace Gummer in Springsteen, who plays Jeremy Strong's wife, who somebody, somebody said this.
1:46:23 David Sims? I fucking forgot about that.
1:46:25 Griffin Newman? She must have a real easy time. She's married to.
1:46:27 Speaker 05 Yeah, Jeremy Strong. But somebody said this, and I can't for the life of me remember it. And if you're out there and I've been quoting you all award season, please let me know. Described it as a wife on phone performance where the wife is in the room with the guy. Because it like, it very much is just like, she's serving that function.
1:46:44 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:46:45 Speaker 05 Classically, but like, she's not on the phone. She's right there in person.
1:46:48 Griffin Newman? I mean, that's what's also interesting about Gerwig is that like, a good chunk of her performance is husband on phone, wife standing next to husband, being like, talk to me.
1:46:57 Speaker 05 Yes, yes. In a, in a different movie, she's dealing, juggling the kids or whatever, and he's husband, he's Christian Slater, yeah.
1:47:04 Griffin Newman? It is interesting that we had a robust slate of new releases between September and January. Where we're like, more of a scheduling hassle than it's ever been before.
1:47:14 David Sims? Yeah, yeah, right. For movies that didn't.
1:47:16 Griffin Newman? Almost all of them blanked.
1:47:17 David Sims? Yeah.
1:47:18 Speaker 05 They're all coming to my podcast.
1:47:19 Griffin Newman? Avatar got two noms, right? But otherwise, no other choices, zero noms.
1:47:23 David Sims? Bit rude.
1:47:24 Griffin Newman? House of Dynamite, zero noms.
1:47:25 David Sims? Not rude.
1:47:26 Griffin Newman? Ella Mackay, zero noms. That's right, being.
1:47:28 David Sims? I'm told that it's re-eligible for next year, and they're gonna keep making it eligible until it gets a nom.
1:47:34 Griffin Newman? It's during only played in theaters for five days.
1:47:37 Speaker 05 J. Kelly, Rental Family, um, uh, like, all of these ones that, like,
1:47:41 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:47:42 Speaker 05 Coming into the festivals.
1:47:43 David Sims? Is Ellen McKay the first movie to lose money on Hulu? They're like, I don't, it's somehow gross, negative dollars. I don't know what happened to you.
1:47:50 Griffin Newman? Uh, is this thing on?
1:47:52 David Sims? Yeah.
1:47:52 Griffin Newman? Zero noms?
1:47:53 David Sims? Yeah.
1:47:53 Griffin Newman? And is there one other one I'm forgetting?
1:47:55 David Sims? Uh, that might be it. I mean, there's plenty, uh, you know, the, the three in a row for us was The Avatar, Is This Thing On? And No Other Choice.
1:48:02 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
1:48:03 David Sims? Uh, I think that was it.
1:48:04 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:48:05 Speaker 05 Oh, you're, oh, especially like for your purposes.
1:48:07 David Sims? Oh, Die My Love.
1:48:08 Speaker 05 Sorry.
1:48:08 David Sims? Uh, sort of counts.
1:48:09 Griffin Newman? Yes, yes.
1:48:10 David Sims? You know, cause, uh, we did Ramsey.
1:48:11 Griffin Newman? Admittedly, I, I, the big strategy behind doing Die My Love and doing it at the top of 2026 was like, oh, can we do like a Campion thing?
1:48:20 Speaker 05 Right.
1:48:20 Griffin Newman? Because these are lesser known films, but it, like, had such a big, like,
1:48:24 Speaker 05 Yes.
1:48:24 Griffin Newman? explosion at Cannes, and movies putting so much money behind it, can we line up a series to what presumably will be the first Lynn Ramsey movie to break through at the Oscars? And then, like, zero noms.
1:48:33 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:48:34 David Sims? And you know what? We did a Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Did that get a visual effects nom?
1:48:39 Speaker 05 It got.
1:48:39 David Sims? Did that sneak into somewhere?
1:48:40 Speaker 05 It didn't, no. Mission Impossible did not.
1:48:42 Griffin Newman? It's in?
1:48:42 Speaker 05 It's not on my ranking.
1:48:44 David Sims? Yeah, it's not. And then, um, and then we did, of course, do a Honey Don't episode. And weirdly, I think that only got like six or seven noms.
1:48:50 Griffin Newman? Superman did not get a nom, or did it get a visual effects?
1:48:53 David Sims? Did it get a visual effects?
1:48:54 Griffin Newman? Didn't.
1:48:54 David Sims? It's crazy.
1:48:54 Speaker 05 Jurassic World sure did.
1:48:56 David Sims? They ki- they kind of just don't give the superhero movies VFX noms ever anymore. I think they've just decided, like, you, that's too easy.
1:49:04 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:49:04 David Sims? Weirdly, the dynos slipped through. I mean, that movie, the Jurassic movie, the VFX were good.
1:49:09 Speaker 05 The VFX were a lot better than I anticipated. The story was much, much worse.
1:49:14 Griffin Newman? I mean, I don't know, guys, there was a, there's a shot in that movie in which a camera that feels vaguely handheld struggles to pan up and down a large creature being illuminated only by a red flare gun.
1:49:31 Speaker 05 Uh-huh.
1:49:32 Griffin Newman? I've never seen Gareth Edwards come up with such an image before.
1:49:37 Speaker 05 Fair. That's fair. Um.
1:49:40 Griffin Newman? Uh, yeah, no, we just, our, our slate of new releases was almost entirely this had Oscar buzz.
1:49:45 Speaker 05 Yes, yeah, yeah. Well, we're, give us a year and we'll get to all of them, so.
1:50:04 Griffin Newman? David?
1:50:04 David Sims? Yeah.
1:50:04 Griffin Newman? This episode is brought to you by XYZ Films and the acclaimed new documentary Capturing Bigfoot. On October 20th, 1967, Roger Patterson captured 59 seconds of film showing a creature walking through the Northern California woods. I wonder if you can log that on Letterboxd?
1:50:21 David Sims? It is an iconic video.
1:50:23 Griffin Newman? Footage that became the most analyzed and debated in history. Fifty-nine years later, a reel of 16-millimeter film discovered in a safe changes everything. Capturing Bigfoot reveals the untold story behind the world's greatest mystery, told for the first time by Patterson's own son and the people who were there. This is a story about family legacy, broken friendships, and how far people will go to protect a secret.
1:50:45 David Sims? Of course, you got the classic, what they call Patterson Gimlin film everyone knows, of Bigfoot out in the woods, like the famous Bigfoot picture. This has other stuff shot by him that no one's ever seen. That's what makes this movie different.
1:50:57 Griffin Newman? But we're also talking brand-new 4K scans of the original film taken from the Patterson family archives that some historians have called "the best rendering of the footage ever seen."
1:51:06 David Sims? I feel like we've all seen that footage as like grainy.
1:51:09 Griffin Newman? Yes.
1:51:09 David Sims? You know, that you see, you know, whatever, you see it in a documentary for two seconds. But this is restoring it and making it look much more clear.
1:51:16 Griffin Newman? There's also a companion podcast, the Capturing Bigfoot Podcast, which goes deeper into the legend and lore of Bigfoot and the Patterson Gimlin film, featuring weekly episodes with experts in cryptozoology, urban legends, and filmmaking.
1:51:30 David Sims? I'm something of an expert in cryptozoology.
1:51:32 Griffin Newman? Well, of course, yes, but that's more of a hobby.
1:51:35 David Sims? Yeah, this podcast, Capturing Bigfoot Podcast, is hosted by the director of the film, Mark Evans, and it's available for free on YouTube and Spotify with exclusive episodes and content available on Patreon to members of the Capturing Bigfoot Society.
1:51:51 Griffin Newman? Capturing Bigfoot is now available to rent or own on Amazon Prime Video. Learn more about Capturing Bigfoot at capturingbigfoot.com.
1:52:06 Griffin Newman? David?
1:52:07 David Sims? Yes?
1:52:07 Griffin Newman? He lurks in shadow. He slips into dreams. He casts no reflection. Audible presents Bram Stoker's Dracula, a new full cast audio thriller starring Ella Purnell as Mina Harker, Jonathan Bailey as Dracula, and an A-list cast, including Maggie Gyllenhaal as Van Helsing, Amy Lou Wood as Lucy, David Johnson as Dr. Seward, and many more. That is an all-star cast.
1:52:28 David Sims? Yeah, this new full cast thriller locks Mina Harker in a battle of minds with the Count. When Mina's fiance, Jonathan Harker, Louis Partridge, vanishes in Transylvania, Mina pieces together letters, diary entries, and chilling testimony to hunt the predator stalking those she loves, only to discover Dracula's already hunting her.
1:52:48 Griffin Newman? Joined by the enigmatic Van Helsing, Mina and a small fearless band race against time to stop this ancient terror. Using her intellect, her resolve, and a gift for drawing the unseen lines between clues, Mina may just hold the key to bring down the Count if he hasn't already found his way inside her mind.
1:53:04 David Sims? Featuring a haunting original score by Elon Eschery and a spatial dolby Atmos sound design, Audible's Dracula invites you to welcome literature's most shadowy figure into your home, feel the terror of being hunted, and the thrill of the hunt. Don't miss this year's best new audio thriller, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Audible's new full cast original adaptation. Written by Robin Ahern, now on Audible. Listen to the darkness. Go to audible.com/listen to Dracula.
1:53:39 Griffin Newman? David?
1:53:39 David Sims? Yes?
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1:55:12 Speaker 02 We're back, baby. It's the Blankies.
1:55:19 Speaker 05 Want to do putters and murmurs now?
1:55:21 Griffin Newman? I mean, it's, it's.
1:55:22 Speaker 05 I think it's, I think it's time to putter. Yeah, okay, but aren't there any other contenders?
1:55:26 Griffin Newman? Give me some others. Yeah.
1:55:28 Speaker 05 So, uh, before I get to the proper putters and murmurs.
1:55:31 Griffin Newman? Mm hmm.
1:55:32 Speaker 05 Um.
1:55:33 Griffin Newman? Oh yeah, you like to throw on a couple others.
1:55:35 Speaker 05 Lakeith Stanfield and dime I love, smolders and sexers.
1:55:38 Griffin Newman? Uh huh.
1:55:39 Speaker 05 Not a whole lot of talking. He's just sort of, you know.
1:55:41 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:55:42 Speaker 05 He's leering. Um, Rebecca Hall and Peter Hujars Day murmurs, but no putters.
1:55:46 Griffin Newman? Yeah, yeah.
1:55:48 Speaker 05 Her, she's, she's digging into that accent. It's really wonderful to listen to.
1:55:51 David Sims? A close miss for me.
1:55:52 Speaker 05 She's incredible.
1:55:54 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:55:56 Speaker 05 Emery Cohen in Roofman, Chunkers and Shamers. Uh huh.
1:55:59 David Sims? And fucking Marty Supreme.
1:56:01 Speaker 05 Yeah, Marty Supreme. I love him in Roofman though, because he is the moral center of that movie.
1:56:05 David Sims? Yes.
1:56:07 Speaker 05 He gets, he gets the shaft for it. The kid's parents in Weapons, I thought.
1:56:12 David Sims? I, you beat me to that one.
1:56:13 Speaker 05 It's not a lot of Pudding because they're mostly just stock still.
1:56:16 Griffin Newman? They murk the actress's name.
1:56:17 Speaker 05 But, uh, the one who's not Marin Ireland, but certainly, I don't think at least, but resembles. Maybe it is Marin.
1:56:26 Griffin Newman? In Weapons, I will look it up.
1:56:28 Speaker 05 Tom Waits in Father, Mother, Sister, Brother.
1:56:30 David Sims? A movie I have not seen.
1:56:32 Griffin Newman? Same, A Blind Side.
1:56:32 David Sims? I did not care for it. And I figured.
1:56:35 Speaker 05 I wanted to like that movie going in and, I don't know, like.
1:56:37 Griffin Newman? Uh, Calli Shatara.
1:56:39 Speaker 05 Thank you.
1:56:39 Griffin Newman? And Whitmer Thomas, or the Alex's mom.
1:56:41 David Sims? Whitmer, I remember.
1:56:42 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:56:42 Speaker 05 Former winner Timothy Spall in Goodbye June.
1:56:45 David Sims? Timothy Spall, man. I haven't seen Goodbye June on account of I'd rather not.
1:56:48 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:56:49 David Sims? I don't want to be doing that.
1:56:50 Griffin Newman? Is that a movie about something incredibly depressing?
1:56:52 David Sims? No, it's Kate Winslet directorial debut, straight to Netflix. It's just one of those things where I'm like.
1:56:56 Speaker 05 Like, their mom is dying, like, it's about their mom.
1:56:59 David Sims? I know it's also like grim, it's grim in Britain kind of shit, but like that I can handle. It just seemed like a bit of a nothing.
1:57:04 Griffin Newman? Look, I.
1:57:05 Speaker 05 I mean, nobody saw it. I'm like the only person who saw it.
1:57:07 Griffin Newman? I often think it is not a productive discourse, even if the sentiments behind it are valid.
1:57:12 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:57:12 Griffin Newman? But Kate Winslet coming out in defense of her children, saying, I really don't like this nepo label. My children had to work hard for what they've gotten in this industry. I'm like, your daughter was cast in a Wes Anderson movie that you were not in.
1:57:25 Speaker 05 Catherine.
1:57:26 Griffin Newman? Your son slipped you a screenplay and you said, I'll direct this and call my friends to star in it.
1:57:32 David Sims? The, the second.
1:57:32 Griffin Newman? You have to admit, there's a pipeline.
1:57:34 David Sims? I think her daughter is, clearly has some talent and is very good in Phoenician Scheme.
1:57:38 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah.
1:57:39 David Sims? The, my son slipped me a screenplay. There's, no, come on now.
1:57:42 Speaker 05 Right.
1:57:42 David Sims? Like, just this, that's family business stuff, just cop to it.
1:57:45 Speaker 05 That's the thing.
1:57:46 David Sims? It's fine.
1:57:46 Speaker 05 Just fucking cop to it. It's fine.
1:57:47 David Sims? It's what's always happened.
1:57:48 Speaker 05 It's fine.
1:57:49 David Sims? In this industry. Yeah, right.
1:57:50 Griffin Newman? But while promoting that movie that she directed, she was saying, look, he got here on his own. And I'm like, you can say that you think his script is legitimately very good.
1:57:59 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:57:59 Griffin Newman? But you then decided to direct it.
1:58:02 David Sims? I just.
1:58:02 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:58:03 David Sims? I can't get drawn into it because I am always just like, look. You know, it's, it's just how it works. It's always worked that way. It's, there's things about it that are so unfair. Obviously, there's real talent that emerges who are nepotistic that grew up in the business. It's not surprising.
1:58:16 Speaker 05 It is also, it's just like, it is just kind of human nature.
1:58:19 David Sims? Right. This is true in a lot of industries or whatever.
1:58:22 Griffin Newman? Like barrier for access issue that has to do with the wealth and class and social strata.
1:58:29 David Sims? Since fucking ancient Greece, if you were rich, you could be a poet. You know what I mean?
1:58:33 Speaker 05 Has anybody made the like case of like, you know, whatever butchers, children used to follow their parents?
1:58:39 Griffin Newman? Everyone makes that case. But, but I also, I.
1:58:41 David Sims? You know what? Yeah. I'm sick of these butcher nepo babies, actually. Get them the fuck out of here. Arthur and Sons?
1:58:47 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah.
1:58:48 David Sims? Maybe? No, no.
1:58:50 Speaker 05 Russ and John.
1:58:51 David Sims? My whole thing is I'm like, right, let's not do a debate, guys. You're, you're, you don't want to invite the debate.
1:58:56 Speaker 05 It's not, yes. You want to tip, you want to tip the cap, acknowledge it and move to hell.
1:59:01 Griffin Newman? Absolutely. And it's, there is a degree to which it does feel like these things course correct. If the person is not good and the public does not like the thing they do.
1:59:09 Speaker 05 Right, right.
1:59:10 Griffin Newman? Like this industry is so fucking sociopathic.
1:59:13 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:59:14 Griffin Newman? That like whatever connections and favors exist only goes so long. They will kick you to the fucking curb if you don't make them money.
1:59:22 Speaker 05 On a completely different topic.
1:59:23 Griffin Newman? Anyway, yeah.
1:59:24 Speaker 05 Frank Delane in Urchin, who, the character sort of moves into different modes, but some of those modes have puttering and murmuring. Not a, not an ideal choice.
1:59:32 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:59:33 Speaker 05 Um, Yudus Elba in House of Dynamite, just for doing fuck all, I feel like is, uh, the, it's, it's.
1:59:39 David Sims? He's murmuring.
1:59:40 Speaker 05 Relatively murmuring and puttering because like.
1:59:43 Griffin Newman? Murmuring about podcasts, yeah.
1:59:44 Speaker 05 Yeah. Um, everyone in Ephesus.
1:59:46 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:59:47 Speaker 05 Who putter and murmur their way through an entire baseball career.
1:59:49 David Sims? Movie.
1:59:50 Speaker 05 And then my number one choice was Benicio, who.
1:59:53 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
1:59:53 Speaker 05 Does a lot of puttering and a lot of murmuring, has his, his wants.
1:59:56 Griffin Newman? Yes, yes.
1:59:57 Speaker 05 In, uh, one battle.
1:59:58 Griffin Newman? He's never been one to enunciate.
2:00:00 David Sims? We are missing Josh O'Connor in The Mastermind.
2:00:02 Griffin Newman? Well.
2:00:03 David Sims? And just that movie. Just like.
2:00:05 Griffin Newman? Look.
2:00:06 David Sims? I'm, I'm sure, but I mean, but in putters and murmurs.
2:00:08 Speaker 05 John Magaro is kind of a lifetime achievement, uh, murmurer at the very least.
2:00:13 Griffin Newman? Yeah. And Mastermind is kind of like an original Kings of Comedy of.
2:00:17 David Sims? Exactly. This is what I'm saying.
2:00:18 Griffin Newman? Our best young. Rising putter murmurs.
2:00:22 Speaker 05 Sure, yeah.
2:00:23 David Sims? Um, let me think if there are any others. I'm sort of scanning around like, uh, that we haven't brought up, but I mean, it's a fairly solid list. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah.
2:00:34 Griffin Newman? I, I just think like, uh, Eddington is a movie that A uses the Clifton Colas junior character as like a puttering and murmuring Greek chorus.
2:00:46 Speaker 05 Remind me where he emerges in that movie. It has been such a long time since I've seen it.
2:00:48 Griffin Newman? The movie opens with him wandering in the desert, desert.
2:00:53 Speaker 05 Right.
2:00:54 Griffin Newman? Puttering and murmuring to himself.
2:00:56 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:00:56 Griffin Newman? And you're like, who is this man? Is he insane? Or does he see everything clearly? Or is it a mix of both?
2:01:03 Speaker 05 Right.
2:01:03 Griffin Newman? And the whole film, he's like puttering murmuring.
2:01:04 Speaker 05 Muvitich or Prophet?
2:01:06 Griffin Newman? Under his breath, yes, yes. But he runs throughout the entire film. He's kind of like an emotional spine of the movie. Uh, most of the third act kind of like, plot hinges on him.
2:01:19 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:01:20 Griffin Newman? Um, and, and he's also, he's a great actor who, this is not his standard mode. I think he can speak very clearly when he wants to. He's a character actor with great, uh,
2:01:30 Speaker 05 I do love him.
2:01:31 Griffin Newman? Sort of versatility, uh, but.
2:01:34 Speaker 05 So underrated in Capote, I thought.
2:01:36 Griffin Newman? I agree.
2:01:37 David Sims? Anemone, an anemone.
2:01:40 Speaker 05 Oh, I never saw it.
2:01:40 David Sims? That one. That's heavy on the list.
2:01:42 Speaker 05 The New York Film Festival did me dirty and I never saw Anemone.
2:01:45 David Sims? Oh boy, does it exist. All right. I, I saw every existing movie in it. Okay. Uh, whatever. Uh, I'm moving us on to, I guess, the big stuff. Is there anything else?
2:01:55 Speaker 05 The big four?
2:01:56 David Sims? Before the big four? No. Right?
2:01:58 Speaker 05 I don't think so.
2:01:59 Griffin Newman? No.
2:01:59 David Sims? Uh, yeah, I mean, I can tell you the blankies thought that One Battle had the best editing of the year and Marty Supreme, the best production design. Like, that's fine.
2:02:08 Speaker 05 That's great.
2:02:08 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:02:09 David Sims? You guys, are you guys mad about that?
2:02:11 Speaker 05 I'm not.
2:02:12 David Sims? Best actress or best actor? Come on. Who do you want to do?
2:02:14 Griffin Newman? I want to do best actor first because I've already said that Josh O'Connor, mastermind.
2:02:18 David Sims? Well, there you go. You know what? Kick us off.
2:02:24 Speaker 02 Best Actor.
2:02:27 David Sims? You've got Josh O'Connor in The Mastermind. I had a dream last night, Griffin, that I became good friends with him.
2:02:32 Griffin Newman? Lucky.
2:02:32 Speaker 05 It was a good dream.
2:02:33 David Sims? Weird dream because it was quite mundane.
2:02:36 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:02:36 David Sims? It was basically like I had to interview him or something and then we just became friends and were hanging out all day. And then I woke up and I was like, I've never met him. Where did that come from?
2:02:45 Speaker 05 I had a stress dream.
2:02:46 David Sims? I haven't even seen him in a movie recently.
2:02:47 Speaker 05 I had a stress dream recently that I was supposed to do a Q and A with John Lithgow and Brian Cox. And I was thoroughly unprepared for it.
2:02:54 David Sims? Sounds like a choke Q and A.
2:02:54 Speaker 05 Ah! And like, and they sent a car for me.
2:02:57 Griffin Newman? Hello!
2:02:58 Speaker 05 With Lithgow in the car being like, where have you been?
2:03:02 David Sims? Oh, yeah.
2:03:03 Speaker 05 God, it was so stressful.
2:03:03 Griffin Newman? Do you guys, maybe I'm just far deeper in the, the, the pool of mental illness, but do you guys ever have the thing where you wake up from a dream and it takes like four hours into your day to be like, right, I don't know Josh O'Connor?
2:03:16 Speaker 05 Right. And, well, I famously, I had a dream one time, many, many, many years ago.
2:03:21 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:03:21 Speaker 05 That the dream itself spanned like 10 years and I like had like full like fictional character like relationship or whatever. That took me the better part of a day.
2:03:31 Griffin Newman? When they backfill like that and also when they're kind of mundane where you're like, oh, right. Yeah. Right. Okay. When I got to text Josh back.
2:03:38 Speaker 05 I barely remember my dreams.
2:03:40 Griffin Newman? Uh, Josh O'Connor in The Mastermind.
2:03:42 David Sims? Yes.
2:03:43 Griffin Newman? Had a fucking unbelievable year. This is the guy right now, in my opinion.
2:03:47 David Sims? Totally. I mean, down to that he's in a Spielberg movie this year.
2:03:51 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:03:51 David Sims? It's like a guy trophy.
2:03:53 Griffin Newman? Uh, I'm so into all the Disclosure Day trailers, posters, everything.
2:03:58 Speaker 05 Are you being facetious or are you being like genuine?
2:04:00 Griffin Newman? Genuine.
2:04:01 Speaker 05 Okay, me too.
2:04:02 Griffin Newman? I, I'm like.
2:04:02 Speaker 05 I was worried that it was like, are we, do we not like?
2:04:04 Griffin Newman? No, I feel like people are being a little like, I don't know. And I'm like, this looks awesome to me.
2:04:09 Speaker 05 I think people, there was a reaction to Emily Blunt's face that has been a thing.
2:04:15 Griffin Newman? Here's what I would say to that. When the trailer cuts to her doing the weather.
2:04:22 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:04:24 Griffin Newman? I was like, oh, her face makes sense for this character. She is a television weather person.
2:04:29 Speaker 05 And then the Devil Wears Prostitute trailer happened right after that?
2:04:31 Griffin Newman? Sure. Yeah, it also makes sense.
2:04:34 David Sims? I, the Devil Wears Prostitute trailer is one of those things where I'm like, look.
2:04:37 Speaker 05 I'm so nervous.
2:04:38 David Sims? It's plausible that yes, of course, this haughty character who employed Anne Hathaway for six months might not really remember her like we all remember her because we watched the movie.
2:04:47 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:04:47 David Sims? But you cannot release a trailer where everyone's reaction is, does Meryl Streep's character have a brain injury? Is she demented? What's going on? Why doesn't she know anyone?
2:04:56 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:04:56 David Sims? That was just everyone's reaction to that trailer.
2:04:58 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:04:59 David Sims? Yes.
2:04:59 Speaker 05 Somebody made the case to me that it was, and this is, I know the reactions it's gonna get, but it's an allusion to Milton because in Paradise Regained or whatever, one of the things, that one of the things about the devil is that the devil never remembers anything that's ever happened.
2:05:15 Griffin Newman? I, I hope that is explicitly what the movie is doing.
2:05:18 Speaker 05 I do kind of hope it is, but I could not be more not certain about a movie than I am like, I'm, I do think it's, could be very, very.
2:05:28 Griffin Newman? Does that not almost feel like Avengers Endgame though, where you're like, they don't even need to release a trailer?
2:05:33 Speaker 05 Right. Well, no, the original movie, their trailer was just like Meryl walking into the building, gird your loins. It's so good.
2:05:39 David Sims? It is. It's a good one.
2:05:40 Griffin Newman? These trailers are nothing but confusing and yet it doesn't fucking matter. This movie's gonna make so much goddamn money.
2:05:46 David Sims? Yeah, no, the movie could just be Meryl Streep looking at the camera being like, I endorse Donald Trump. And people are like, well, see it. I'm not sure.
2:05:52 Griffin Newman? Even De Niro's like, she raises some points.
2:05:55 David Sims? Maybe it's time for us to take another look. Okay, you've named one of your best actors. We kept interrupting you.
2:06:00 Griffin Newman? Josh O'Connor for the mastermind.
2:06:01 Speaker 05 Got it.
2:06:02 Griffin Newman? Uh, it's fascinating because I, I love Kelly Riker. I love her movies so much.
2:06:06 Speaker 05 Oh.
2:06:06 Griffin Newman? This is the closest.
2:06:07 Speaker 05 A star of Kelly Riker movies.
2:06:08 Griffin Newman? Well, I would, I would not say star, but uh, it's, when I do my Kelly Riker rankings, I just uh, forget to include that movie because I disqualify because I'm in it. I'm not even consciously doing it.
2:06:19 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
2:06:20 Griffin Newman? I'm just like, oh, right. And then there's that one she made that doesn't count because I uh, muddied the waters.
2:06:24 David Sims? No, that one's not bad.
2:06:25 Griffin Newman? But I think when she works with movie stars, she is usually asking them to just like strip everything back.
2:06:30 Speaker 05 Sure.
2:06:31 Griffin Newman? And come to her as just.
2:06:32 David Sims? My, my friend Ellen's like. Letterboxd review of The Mastermind, I just want to shout it out. I love a movie where everyone looks like a Guess Who card. That is, that is exactly the, the patters and murmurs ensemble thing.
2:06:43 Griffin Newman? Yep, yep. I just think like, you know, Michelle Williams wants to work with her because it's just like, reduce me to just raw clay, right? Strip it back. Josh O'Connor is the most I've seen someone bring their movie star energy into a Kelly Riker film and have it harmonize.
2:06:59 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:07:00 Griffin Newman? And you're just like, oh, right. In theory, someone who's this kind of like off kilter and innately interesting should be vibrating too hard for a Riker film. It should throw it off its balance.
2:07:13 Speaker 05 Right.
2:07:14 Griffin Newman? And yet the movie is just so locked into like, it is just fascinating to watch this guy do anything.
2:07:19 Speaker 05 Yeah. You put him in any shade of like, uh, beige, brown, or like, uh, off white, like put him in a linen thing? Or like a, uh, an old, uh, cream colored button down?
2:07:35 Griffin Newman? It's just also smart because the guy's got the juice so hard and the title leads you to believe, oh, this is gonna be a movie about.
2:07:43 Speaker 05 It's a heist movie.
2:07:44 Griffin Newman? Right.
2:07:44 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:07:44 Griffin Newman? And it like wrong foots you in its casting of, this guy surely must know what he's doing.
2:07:49 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:07:50 Griffin Newman? Uh, Lee Byung-khan in No Other Choice.
2:07:53 David Sims? Yes.
2:07:54 Griffin Newman? Channing Tatum in Roofman, more like charming Tatum in Raise the Roofman. An incredible movie star performance. Like it just feels like the perfect, here's the whole Channing Tatum thing.
2:08:07 Speaker 05 Oh, and like after a little bit of a wilderness for him, right? Where it just felt like it's.
2:08:14 Griffin Newman? He's always in and out. It's fascinating. He like has a comeback every four years.
2:08:19 Speaker 05 This is true.
2:08:19 Griffin Newman? Uh, and I thought this should have been like, you know, a career high for him instead it got kind of, uh, slept on. Liam Neeson in The Naked Gun.
2:08:27 David Sims? Yep, yeah, very good call.
2:08:29 Griffin Newman? And.
2:08:30 Speaker 05 And for a general politics and statements and.
2:08:33 Griffin Newman? Everything.
2:08:33 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah.
2:08:34 Griffin Newman? Yeah, especially in the sixties and seventies. And my fifth nominee, the one I think they're gonna fucking look back on and actually be embarrassed with themselves. Dwayne Johnson and the Smashing Machine.
2:08:48 David Sims? I couldn't agree more.
2:08:49 Speaker 05 This is.
2:08:50 Griffin Newman? He is unbelievable.
2:08:52 Speaker 05 Coming out fighting.
2:08:52 Griffin Newman? In that.
2:08:53 David Sims? It's a, it's a great performance.
2:08:55 Griffin Newman? It is, is an incredible performance. I think that movie so suffered from them trying to market it as a more conventional film.
2:09:05 David Sims? It did suffer from that. I think it also just suffers from being a not very pleasant movie to watch.
2:09:09 Griffin Newman? It's not.
2:09:10 David Sims? Like, so it's just a tough festival watch, a tough, you know, whatever.
2:09:13 Griffin Newman? It eludes any.
2:09:14 David Sims? It's not a big winning movie.
2:09:16 Griffin Newman? No, I mean, the biggest thing I tell people about the movie, which I just feel like most people didn't even bother to engage with, is like, his entire kind of recovery from addiction basically happens in between edits.
2:09:28 David Sims? Yeah.
2:09:28 Griffin Newman? I think the trailers made people believe this was gonna be a movie that's 60%.
2:09:32 Speaker 05 Triumph of the human spirit.
2:09:33 Griffin Newman? Totally.
2:09:34 Speaker 05 Sports movie. It's like, it's a sports movie that does not structure itself along the sports movie.
2:09:39 David Sims? It's a sports movie in which, as I said, I think my piece about it or whatever, like, his major triumph is the first thing we see.
2:09:46 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:09:46 David Sims? And it's all downhill from there. And it's about him accepting that he does not have it anymore and the industry is leaving it behind.
2:09:52 Griffin Newman? So this is why I think the performance is so extraordinary is there is a specificity to it that just actually could not be achieved unless Dwayne Johnson has actually come to extreme realizations in the dark night of his soul. You know, like, he is finally, like, popping the balloon of all the shit that's been driving me crazy about him for like 10 or 15 years.
2:10:13 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:10:13 Griffin Newman? I worry that him jumping straight into fucking Jumanji 5 and whatever.
2:10:17 Speaker 05 Yeah, it's not.
2:10:18 Griffin Newman? That he's just now gonna like zag back into like his safe zone. But this is the movie where it's all about like. The scene where they ask him, are you worried at all about losing and breaking your streak? And he like starts short circuiting and he can't answer the question?
2:10:34 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:10:34 Griffin Newman? Is him leaking the fucking financial documents on Black Adam? Being like, I just refuse to let anything be framed as a failure.
2:10:41 Speaker 05 Sure.
2:10:42 Griffin Newman? I, I, I cannot let this happen. And even like his biggest dramatic scene plays out with him covering his face with his hands the entire time. He is like avoiding all the obvious showy moves and he really is clearly like interrogating himself.
2:10:57 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:10:57 Griffin Newman? And there was a thing that Benny Safdie said during the press that I thought was really interesting where he was like, you know, Dwayne like loves being famous and he loves, you know, like what he's been able to accomplish. Now he's been able to help other people.
2:11:08 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:11:09 Griffin Newman? But what I connected with him on when we started talking about this project is just how exhausting it has been to maintain that for 30 years. That he has just had to be on and be this guy for everyone for 30 years.
2:11:19 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:11:19 Griffin Newman? And clearly it was getting to a point where it was driving him fucking insane. And he had become like a hollow husk of a human being pissing into Voss bottles on the set of Red One. And this performance just feels like him like laying everything bare.
2:11:32 David Sims? Everything I know about how Benny made that movie, uh, cause I, I put a profile of Benny like is that they were very into like, let's talk about ourselves, about our feelings, like talk about the worst shit we've been through, like let's all lay it out together.
2:11:44 Griffin Newman? That is not a performance that a director can trick an actor into giving. You have to give him full credit for that. And I, you know.
2:11:51 David Sims? But whatever, nobody liked it.
2:11:53 Speaker 05 My question is like, isn't MMA supposed to be this like the, the crypto biggest sport in America? That nobody wants to acknowledge. It's the thing that all real Americans like, whatever.
2:12:05 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:12:06 Speaker 05 Where were they for this movie?
2:12:07 David Sims? Well, but the whole thing with him was he pinned people down and beat their heads.
2:12:12 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:12:12 David Sims? And the people who ran MMA were like, this is horrible television.
2:12:15 Griffin Newman? Right.
2:12:16 David Sims? And so they basically banned the thing he was good at, which is what happens to him in the movie. Cause he was just really good at like getting on top of people and just going like this to them. And people were like, well, okay, he did get them out, but that's boring.
2:12:28 Griffin Newman? This sucks.
2:12:29 David Sims? So like, he can't do that. So that's illegal now.
2:12:32 Speaker 05 So has MMA kind of like disavowed this guy?
2:12:34 David Sims? He's MMA, I don't think MMA has a good relationship with a lot of people who've done MMA, because it's not very good for you.
2:12:41 Griffin Newman? He was part of the trial and error of figuring out the version of it that everyone would like. And his thing of being like, you know what, I need to like be okay losing, I need to step away, I need to be done with this, happens right before they crack the code and it becomes the biggest thing, or starts its journey, right? And like, to get in the vague spoiler territory, it is just fascinating the sort of like dialogue between Marty Supreme and The Smashing Machine. And one movie is about a guy at the inflection point, right before the sport that he's at the absolute earliest stages of breaks free, and he needs to accept that he needs to walk away. And the other one is the guy fucking convinced that his thing's about to explode and that he's gonna be the champion and he's willing to ruin everything in order to prove that
2:13:26 Griffin Newman? point. And he like ruins his life by refusing to lose. And then you're like, for what? It's ping pong, it's not going anywhere. This is, he's hit the ceiling on it.
2:13:36 Speaker 05 It's also big guy, little guy.
2:13:37 Griffin Newman? Yeah, big guy, little guy.
2:13:39 Speaker 05 Big guy, little guy.
2:13:39 David Sims? All right, my nominee, so come on, I gotta do mine. You did yours, right?
2:13:43 Griffin Newman? I did my. You did your five. Channing Tatum, Josh O'Connor, Liam Neeson, Dwayne Johnson.
2:13:48 David Sims? All right, Joe, you do yours.
2:13:49 Speaker 05 Okay. Uh, Timothy Chalamet, Marty Supreme.
2:13:53 David Sims? That's very good.
2:13:54 Speaker 05 Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon. Michael B. Jordan in Sinners. Josh O'Connor in Wake Up Dead Man. And Theodore Pellerin in Lurker.
2:14:04 David Sims? Oh, Lurker, I liked that movie. That movie's pretty good.
2:14:08 Speaker 05 It was really good. I really liked it.
2:14:10 David Sims? He's a, oh yeah, he's creepy.
2:14:12 Speaker 05 Yeah, he is.
2:14:13 David Sims? Yeah.
2:14:14 Speaker 05 Quite, quite good.
2:14:15 David Sims? Look out for him.
2:14:16 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:14:17 David Sims? Um, cool, you got three of the Oscar nominees there?
2:14:20 Speaker 05 Three of the Oscar nominees, yes. Um, I flirted with maybe, you know, having a couple of them on the bench so I could move up somebody like Everett Blunk in Griffin in Summer.
2:14:29 David Sims? Right, well, well.
2:14:30 Speaker 05 Oh, all right.
2:14:31 David Sims? Don't worry, because I'll do mine. Leonardo DiCaprio won Battle. Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine, Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon, Everett Blunk in Griffin in Summer, and Ben Whishaw in Peter Hojar's Day.
2:14:42 Speaker 05 That's a good pick.
2:14:43 David Sims? And Everett Blunk. Is one of those things when you see Griffin in Summer where you're like, well, maybe they just found this kid who's this like swishy little hilarious child.
2:14:52 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:14:52 David Sims? And then you see the plague.
2:14:53 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:14:53 David Sims? And you're like, oh, this is just a very talented.
2:14:55 Speaker 05 He's a very talented kid.
2:14:56 David Sims? Who just did two crazy good performances in completely different tones like.
2:15:01 Speaker 05 Yep.
2:15:02 David Sims? But Griffin in Summer is just one of those movies where the first scene, obviously, is him freaking out about Virginia Woolf or whatever.
2:15:09 Speaker 05 He's doing the like monologue from his play.
2:15:11 David Sims? But like where he's like, you know.
2:15:12 Speaker 05 Oh, yes.
2:15:13 David Sims? And I was just like, yeah, this is, this is great. I get it. I get this right away.
2:15:17 Speaker 05 And like, the kid has good comedic instincts too in that movie.
2:15:20 David Sims? But like, that's a really sweet movie that, and I like how, you know, how it is not just about a silly guy.
2:15:27 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:15:27 David Sims? It is about, you know, this kid needing to recognize what a poisonous creature he is.
2:15:33 Speaker 05 Yes, yes, yes.
2:15:34 David Sims? Oh, God.
2:15:35 Speaker 05 And they have him sort of latch on to this like straight guy who's this, you know, wannabe.
2:15:41 David Sims? Very funny.
2:15:42 Speaker 05 Artistic type, Owen Teague.
2:15:43 David Sims? Yes.
2:15:44 Speaker 05 And yet, right, yes, the kid is still the poisonous one in that relationship.
2:15:47 David Sims? I know. I mean, he's an idiot, but like.
2:15:49 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:15:50 David Sims? You really would enjoy it.
2:15:51 Griffin Newman? I'm sure it would hit me too hard. It's like middle school Roughmore.
2:15:54 David Sims? Sort of, but like, but like.
2:15:55 Griffin Newman? Not to be.
2:15:56 David Sims? But if he was a theater gay.
2:15:57 Speaker 05 But if he was, yes, if he was a theater gay more so than just like a megalomaniac like
2:16:03 Griffin Newman? But it's obviously why Roughmore is one of the most important movies in my lifetime to me is that it's all about this guy being like, oh, I'm fucking insufferable.
2:16:10 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
2:16:11 Griffin Newman? I'm a nightmare.
2:16:13 Speaker 05 Abbey Rider Fortson also showed out is very good in that movie from, uh, from Are You There God? And Catherine Newton, who is an actress I've been resistant to, has like one or two scenes where she just like knocks it out of the park.
2:16:24 David Sims? Yeah.
2:16:24 Speaker 05 It's so funny.
2:16:24 David Sims? It's just really funny that, um, both Catherine Newton and Abbey Rider Fortson are in it because they are the two Cassie Langs.
2:16:33 Griffin Newman? Oh, you're right.
2:16:34 David Sims? Yes.
2:16:34 Speaker 05 Oh, wait, when is Abbey Rider Fortson Cassie Lang?
2:16:36 David Sims? She's Cassie Lang in the original Ant-Man.
2:16:38 Speaker 05 No shit.
2:16:39 Griffin Newman? She's little girl Cassie in the first two movies.
2:16:42 Speaker 05 Never caught on to that.
2:16:42 Griffin Newman? Then in Endgame, there's the weird middle actress.
2:16:44 David Sims? Right, who's just gives her a hug.
2:16:46 Griffin Newman? Only the adult one.
2:16:46 David Sims? Gives him a hug or whatever.
2:16:47 Speaker 05 Right, that's right, yes.
2:16:48 Griffin Newman? Who comes, he comes back home too and then Catherine.
2:16:50 David Sims? In Quantumania, Catherine Newton shows up and is like, of course, I'm famously your daughter. All know me and it's one of those things like when they put Willa Holland in for Shaleen Woodley in the O C.
2:16:59 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:17:00 David Sims? Where they're like, yeah, Shaleen's just not glam enough. We're gonna sub her out and then it's Shaleen just goes on to have a career.
2:17:05 Speaker 05 Yes, yes, yes.
2:17:06 David Sims? And like Abby Ryber Fortson's like, I don't know why you fired me. I'm doing great over here.
2:17:10 Speaker 05 I'm killing it. Yeah, she's great.
2:17:12 David Sims? Uh, I know they they had a time jump or whatever was their excuse.
2:17:15 Griffin Newman? Uh, wait, did you get all five out?
2:17:16 David Sims? I did. I got them out. I got them out there.
2:17:18 Griffin Newman? Did Joe get all five out?
2:17:19 David Sims? He did. He did.
2:17:20 Griffin Newman? We're good. Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry. Who are your winners?
2:17:23 David Sims? Ethan Hawke, I'm sorry.
2:17:24 Griffin Newman? Ethan Hawke, you're sorry.
2:17:25 David Sims? I love him so much in that movie.
2:17:27 Speaker 05 He's so good. He's so fucking good.
2:17:28 Griffin Newman? I think about what our buddy, uh, ho- host of Critical Darlings, Richard Lawson, uh, said, uh, when when he was talking to me about that film in August, we met up for drinks. It was to talk about the idea of Critical Darlings for the first time.
2:17:43 Speaker 05 When you were Griffin in summer.
2:17:45 Griffin Newman? It was when I still could lay claim to that title.
2:17:47 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:17:47 Griffin Newman? Uh, and he was like, it's a shame that Ethan Hawke isn't gonna get nominated. If he gave this performance on Broadway, they would hand him the Tony before the curtain.
2:17:57 Speaker 05 Before the curtain call. Yeah, yes.
2:17:58 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:17:59 David Sims? Marco Colly would come on stage with the Tony, being like, by the way, they got this.
2:18:02 Griffin Newman? They give him another trophy every night.
2:18:04 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah.
2:18:05 Griffin Newman? And it's so nice that that performance like punched through. It's incredible. It's astonishing.
2:18:10 Speaker 05 I filled in for my colleague Nate Jones for our Gold Rush column, uh, while he was on paternity leave this year for, uh, a few months. And I put Ethan Hawke in my best actor predictions almost as a defiant, like, come on, like shame the devil kind of a thing.
2:18:25 Griffin Newman? Right.
2:18:26 Speaker 05 It so sucks that this isn't gonna happen, but like, whatever. Like, I'm just gonna put it out there. And the fact that like, that ended up happening. I'm like, what a weird like miracle that like, now that it's happened, we're just like, well, Ethan Hawke, yeah, he got nominated. But like, think about that when I first saw Blue Moon. It was like a pipe dream that that would have been nominated.
2:18:43 David Sims? It just felt like a niche movie. Like, I know it's like, I know it's so many pictures classics, like it's not like.
2:18:47 Speaker 05 Like Link's later had another movie that seemed like it was more of an Oscar bait kind of a thing.
2:18:50 Griffin Newman? Yeah, but also like I, it's my, the most fascinating thing about the season to me.
2:18:54 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:18:55 Griffin Newman? Was going in, it was like, man, fucking best actor is going to be a bloodbath, right? Everyone was correct about DiCaprio and Chalamet.
2:19:03 Speaker 05 Yeah, that's why Moscow. Hightailed it to supporting actor.
2:19:05 Griffin Newman? Absolutely.
2:19:06 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:19:07 Griffin Newman? But from a distance, it was like, okay, but we have Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen.
2:19:12 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:19:12 Griffin Newman? Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine.
2:19:14 Speaker 05 Brendan Fraser in Rental Family.
2:19:15 David Sims? Right.
2:19:15 Griffin Newman? George Clooney and Jay Kelly.
2:19:17 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:19:17 Griffin Newman? Like, you were like, this is like, the cup overfloweth.
2:19:21 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:19:21 Griffin Newman? Our, our biggest movie stars, our rising stars, past winners, people who are overdue. What fucking chances Ethan Hawke have? Like, almost everyone wiped out.
2:19:30 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:19:30 Griffin Newman? If you look at the predictions, like, eight of the 10 that people were predicting in August just died.
2:19:36 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:19:37 Griffin Newman? On the vine.
2:19:37 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:19:38 Griffin Newman? It's fascinating.
2:19:38 Speaker 05 Yeah, it is. I agree.
2:19:39 Griffin Newman? Yeah. And it, we ended up with like, a perfect five, arguably.
2:19:42 David Sims? The, the, the, cause I had some people being like-
2:19:45 Speaker 05 Excellent lineup.
2:19:45 Griffin Newman? Incredible lineup.
2:19:46 Speaker 05 It's an excellent lineup, one of the best ones ever.
2:19:48 David Sims? It's like, someone was like, I really wanted Joel Edgerton to get in there. And I'm like, I hear you, but for, like, for who? Like, that's a really, really tough five to crack.
2:19:55 Speaker 05 As much as anybody loves Train Dreams, and I love Edgerton, and he's maybe in my top 10 for actor this year? Because it's such a good, like, leaving Wagner Mora off of my list is stupid, and yet, like-
2:20:06 David Sims? Yeah, me too. That's a performance that I think is insanely good.
2:20:09 Speaker 05 Yeah, so good.
2:20:10 David Sims? Uh, and he was so hot at the New York Film Critics Circle.
2:20:13 Speaker 05 Oh, I believe it.
2:20:14 David Sims? Oh, my god.
2:20:14 Speaker 05 I believe it.
2:20:16 David Sims? Uh, and I think Michael B. Jordan is fantastic, and I love that he got the nom.
2:20:20 Speaker 05 I still think of the Nikki B. Jerkin joke from Golden Globes. It's so fucking good. It's so good.
2:20:25 Griffin Newman? It's really good. Yeah.
2:20:27 Speaker 05 Um, no, yeah, like, I normally wouldn't wanna put, like, three Oscar nominees in my blankie lineup because I'm like, that's boring. But like, what am I gonna do? Like, not nominate Chalamet? Like, he's, he's my winner, by the way.
2:20:36 David Sims? He's great.
2:20:37 Speaker 05 Um, that New York Film Festival performance, and I know Festival Fever, whatever, there was no better venue to see that movie than that moment and that time. But like, I love that performance so much. It's so perfectly both tailored to him, and yet, the way that, like, Josh Softy's like, what if we make him- Pockmarked and gawky and like it's great.
2:20:59 Griffin Newman? I want to throw that out. That's a best makeup.
2:21:02 Speaker 05 Underrated best makeup snub, yes.
2:21:05 Griffin Newman? And it it happens in like multiple areas of the film. It's some of the most subtle work I have seen. I really.
2:21:12 David Sims? Nom's this year are are fine, although I don't know anything about the ugly stepsister.
2:21:17 Speaker 05 Ugly stepsister is good and gnarly and it's like, I like that gnarly things get nominated for makeup.
2:21:23 David Sims? Cinderella had people like cutting people's noses off.
2:21:25 Speaker 05 It was like Cinderella, but with like, yeah, but with um, uh, botched surgery of like the old timing.
2:21:30 David Sims? Girl boss.
2:21:31 Speaker 05 Oh gosh.
2:21:32 Griffin Newman? I I was watching Marty Supreme and thinking, oh, have they just been putting makeup on Shalameh this whole time? And he had like Miles Teller-esque scars that never.
2:21:42 Speaker 05 Awful skin.
2:21:42 Griffin Newman? Truly, it's so realistically done and it's so subtle and even like Mr. Wonderful's hairpiece.
2:21:49 Speaker 05 Uh, yeah.
2:21:49 Griffin Newman? Which is like, oh, what if this guy's like 20% less balding than he really is?
2:21:54 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:21:54 Griffin Newman? You know, these things that are like really hard to dial in. I also thought that Ann Lee had some of the best aging makeup I'd ever seen.
2:22:00 David Sims? Ann Lee is just one of those, again, things where I'm just like, the craft given the scale of the production is very impressive.
2:22:07 Griffin Newman? Yeah, but also just like really subtle things where I'm just like, oh, they dialed in the difference of like five years around the eyes.
2:22:16 Speaker 05 Also, it seems more obvious, but I mentioned this to, I was, I said this to Katie Rich on our text chain. Weapons as a makeup nominee.
2:22:24 Griffin Newman? Kind of crazy.
2:22:25 Speaker 05 It's kind of crazy that that didn't get nominated.
2:22:27 David Sims? They they sort of snubbed weapons at the end of the day.
2:22:29 Speaker 05 And it's not just Aunt Gladys, but like there's a lot of, you know, different venues.
2:22:34 David Sims? The fucking Benedict Wong job is so memorable, like, you know, yeah.
2:22:37 Griffin Newman? Uh, well, and also the the parents.
2:22:40 David Sims? Yeah, the parents.
2:22:41 Griffin Newman? The multiple stages of their.
2:22:42 Speaker 05 Oh, my God.
2:22:43 Griffin Newman? Am I wrong in thinking that it was left off the hair and makeup shortlist, but it was on the casting shortlist?
2:22:48 Speaker 05 You know, I just don't know. It definitely, I believe it was on the casting shortlist and I think you're right that it was not on the makeup.
2:22:54 Griffin Newman? But it ended up only getting the Madigan performance.
2:22:56 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:22:56 David Sims? Should have gotten that.
2:22:57 Speaker 05 Yep.
2:22:58 David Sims? Screenplay or a picture. I don't know.
2:23:00 Griffin Newman? It was interesting. I was I was double checking yesterday because of the critical.
2:23:04 David Sims? Casting and nothing else.
2:23:05 Griffin Newman? Yeah, critical darling is a conversation, but PGA this year was nine out of 10 overlapping with the best picture lineup.
2:23:11 David Sims? And was weapons.
2:23:12 Griffin Newman? It was weapons in over secret agent.
2:23:15 David Sims? Right, which, you know.
2:23:16 Griffin Newman? And I think. By the week of the nominations, people were starting to think that Weapons was going to stay in and that Secret Agent would sub in for F1.
2:23:25 Speaker 05 Yeah, I was gonna say that.
2:23:26 Griffin Newman? I'm saying F1 was in the PGA lineup.
2:23:28 Speaker 05 Right, right.
2:23:29 Griffin Newman? So people were like, F1's the kind of thing that the PGA puts in.
2:23:32 Speaker 05 Is it Weapons? Is it F1? Is it... It was just an accident? Like, yeah.
2:23:35 Griffin Newman? Uh, anyway. My winner is... My winner is Dwayne The Rock Johnson.
2:23:40 David Sims? There you go. We love him.
2:23:41 Speaker 05 What an evolution for you.
2:23:43 Griffin Newman? Truly, it's like...
2:23:44 David Sims? To make up a word for Black Adam, just admit it.
2:23:46 Griffin Newman? It is. It's another, like, I would have given him Best Supporting Actor for, um, that year, which was prior to us doing these on mic awards, so I haven't had to hand him an award since then. That's when I was like, this guy has, like, fully come into his power. And then part of why I've been so hard on him for the last 10 years is because I'm just like, dude, you have so much power.
2:24:09 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:24:10 Griffin Newman? Why aren't you applying it to anything interesting? Also, you don't seem happy.
2:24:14 David Sims? I know.
2:24:15 Griffin Newman? To what extent?
2:24:15 David Sims? I was hearing, uh, I'll say off mic, but I was hearing some stories about him, uh, that of what a sweetie pie he can be, uh, and how he's very good at like knowing everyone's name and like, you know, blah, blah, blah. In that kind of slightly politician-y way. Yes, right, right. But still, basically, like, you know, very positive reviews. Maybe he enjoyed that one more.
2:24:36 Speaker 05 As far as I know, he had like a good reputation in WWE, too. He wasn't like... I feel like if he was a shit in WWE, that would have gotten out.
2:24:42 David Sims? It was the boss bottles.
2:24:43 Griffin Newman? I've only heard the best, right? But I... It's what I was saying earlier, that like, Benny was like, he was telling me how tired he was of having to do that all the time. Not because he wasn't actually a nice guy, but it was tough. The self-imposed responsibility to be that version of himself all the time. And this is this rare case of a performance that is like silencing the haters by also admitting that they were correct.
2:25:06 Speaker 05 I'll just say-
2:25:07 Griffin Newman? Like, you can only, like, shut me up by being like, you were right about me up until now, and I'm gonna give the performance about that.
2:25:14 Speaker 05 When my ranking for all of the Oscar nominees publishes, just like skip past the first 10 or whatever, then you'll be fine.
2:25:19 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:25:20 David Sims? Uh, I will also, I need to point out that these awards are being handed out by Marianne John Baptiste.
2:25:24 Griffin Newman? Of course.
2:25:24 David Sims? Marianne John Baptiste.
2:25:25 Griffin Newman? Of course.
2:25:26 Speaker 05 And Demi Moore. Oh, and I didn't pick Demi Moore. Sentimental choice, yes.
2:25:29 David Sims? Uh, sentimental choice.
2:25:32 Griffin Newman? Who you're, uh, you say your winner?
2:25:35 David Sims? Ethan Hawke.
2:25:35 Griffin Newman? Ethan Hawke. Yep, there we go.
2:25:43 Speaker 02 Best Actress.
2:25:48 David Sims? Uh, my best actresses are Jennifer Lawrence for Die My Love. Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. Kiki Palmer for One of Them Days.
2:25:56 Griffin Newman? Great call.
2:25:56 David Sims? Xiao Tao for Caught by the Tides. One of my favorite actors, obviously. Love her. Julia Roberts for After the Hunt.
2:26:04 Speaker 05 I almost put Juliet on.
2:26:06 Griffin Newman? She made it for me.
2:26:07 Speaker 05 She is quite good in that film.
2:26:09 David Sims? It's a movie that I had a lot of problems with. It didn't really connect for me.
2:26:12 Speaker 05 This had Oscar buzz movie that six months into the year, people were putting that on.
2:26:16 Griffin Newman? Absolutely.
2:26:17 David Sims? Uh, and I just think she really brings the thunder in it. And I truly wish, uh, you know, everything had worked to support that performance better or whatever. You know, like, but I think she's so fucking good.
2:26:28 Griffin Newman? It came up in some other.
2:26:29 David Sims? The scene where she chews the kid out in the, in the, in the.
2:26:32 Speaker 05 Her tar scene. Her big tar scene.
2:26:35 David Sims? One of those things where like, the movie had basically lost me by that point. I wasn't really invested in what was gonna happen, but then I was just like, God, she's crushing this.
2:26:42 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:26:43 Griffin Newman? Joe.
2:26:44 Speaker 05 I also thought the scene with her and Garfield towards the end when they're in this.
2:26:47 David Sims? That's great.
2:26:48 Speaker 05 In the secret apartment. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:26:50 David Sims? Garfield's just so subtle and nuanced in that film.
2:26:52 Griffin Newman? Beautifully shot, but you know, I think she's great in that scene.
2:26:55 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:26:55 Griffin Newman? Uh, it's a very frustrating movie.
2:26:57 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:26:57 Griffin Newman? Uh, we have this conversation in some already recorded episode that will come out in the next couple of months that I can't remember what prompted this, but I just want to throw it to you quickly.
2:27:06 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:27:06 Griffin Newman? Because you're a bit of an expert in this field.
2:27:08 Speaker 05 Sure.
2:27:09 Griffin Newman? We were discussing how bad Julia Roberts' last 20 years have been.
2:27:15 David Sims? It's tough.
2:27:15 Griffin Newman? Considering that on paper, almost all of the choices are commendable. And within that run, she has had quite a few genuine box office hits and has another Oscar nomination. And yet you're like, has she not made a good movie in 20 years?
2:27:33 Speaker 05 I am a Ben is back defender.
2:27:35 David Sims? Cause we did go deep on this. We are a defender of which?
2:27:38 Speaker 05 Ben is back.
2:27:39 David Sims? Oh, no.
2:27:39 Speaker 05 A great performance.
2:27:40 David Sims? I won't be going there with you.
2:27:42 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:27:42 Griffin Newman? No, I like that.
2:27:43 David Sims? She's good in it, though.
2:27:44 Griffin Newman? This is what I want to throw to you. I want to see if there was one you would defend.
2:27:46 Speaker 05 That's the one. Um, Augustosage County is a, is just a quagmire that would take a longer time to...
2:27:53 Griffin Newman? But you're like, she got an Oscar nomination for that.
2:27:55 Speaker 05 In for a lead role in supporting, so that was somewhat irksome.
2:27:57 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:27:58 Speaker 05 Um, that was also the year of the selfie, which is a haunted photograph that has, um, had its tentacles throughout history since then.
2:28:06 Griffin Newman? Yeah, yeah.
2:28:07 Speaker 05 Uh, but, yeah. Money Monster, not a good movie. A lot of talent there. Yeah. Wonder is a success.
2:28:13 David Sims? Big hit. Made money.
2:28:14 Speaker 05 Big hit. Ticket to Paradise, we shall never speak of it again.
2:28:18 David Sims? Some money, but let's not speak of it.
2:28:19 Griffin Newman? It's the most frustrating, how is this not a Gentleman Six movie?
2:28:22 Speaker 05 Right. Leave the World Behind, I think is watchable junk. A lot of people just lop off the watchable. And, um, Secret in Their Eyes, a movie I have actually seen. I maybe, one of the, we did it for our podcast and...
2:28:34 David Sims? That is a crazy boring movie. It's so fucking bad.
2:28:37 Speaker 05 It really is.
2:28:38 Griffin Newman? But this is the other crazy thing we were saying.
2:28:40 David Sims? That movie's a sleeping pill.
2:28:41 Griffin Newman? Is, she is really good in almost all of these.
2:28:44 David Sims? Yes, she is never the problem and she's often the strongest asset.
2:28:48 Griffin Newman? And you're just like, why can't she fucking catch a break?
2:28:51 Speaker 05 She's sticking with Sam.
2:28:52 David Sims? I know, Julia Roberts, you know, she just can't catch a break.
2:28:54 Griffin Newman? She was one gonna give her a moment.
2:28:55 Speaker 05 Really good on the Sam Smell TV show, uh, Homecoming?
2:28:59 David Sims? Yeah, let's not, let's not, come on now.
2:29:01 Speaker 05 But, but I say this because her next movie is a Sam Smell.
2:29:03 David Sims? I know, she loves the guy.
2:29:04 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:29:05 David Sims? Yeah, which is fine. I mean, I, I, someone's got it.
2:29:08 Griffin Newman? We threw out, so, yes, can Wes Anderson please get his hands on...
2:29:12 David Sims? I would love nothing more.
2:29:14 Speaker 05 Oh, what an idea.
2:29:15 Griffin Newman? Right?
2:29:16 David Sims? But the problem with that is, there's probably like a list of 20 actors where I'm like, Wes, could you do this guy a favor? And Wes Anderson's like, you know, I don't just like randomly come up with shit. I take a while generating these projects.
2:29:28 Speaker 05 Also, everybody who works with me...
2:29:30 David Sims? Now, come on, write a Julia vehicle, quickly, quickly.
2:29:32 Speaker 05 Well, and everybody who works with him, he retains.
2:29:34 David Sims? He loves, and they love the experience.
2:29:36 Speaker 05 Yeah, so it's tougher to get new people in there.
2:29:38 Griffin Newman? But he also says, he's been saying that he's like, five plus times written a role explicitly for and offered it to Jodie Foster, who keeps turning him down.
2:29:47 Speaker 05 Oh, she would be great in that, too.
2:29:49 Griffin Newman? Fill in some of the gaps of like, oh, did Tilda start to get some of those roles?
2:29:52 David Sims? Yeah, sure.
2:29:52 Griffin Newman? Like, which are the ones that were written for Jodie Foster? I feel like Julia has gotten into a Jodie Foster adjacent spiky territory.
2:29:59 David Sims? I am ready for it.
2:30:00 Speaker 05 I wonder if Mia Rappleton could get her mom into one of those movies on a connections basis.
2:30:05 David Sims? Oh, a sort of reverse nepo situation?
2:30:06 Griffin Newman? Excuse me, she's gonna have to work hard and get the role.
2:30:08 David Sims? She's gonna have to read for it? Audition for Wes?
2:30:11 Speaker 05 Yeah, that's how it goes.
2:30:12 David Sims? Okay, come on, Bob. Give me your best actresses. Joe Reid.
2:30:15 Speaker 05 All right, Jessie Buckley in Hamnet.
2:30:17 David Sims? Heard of it.
2:30:17 Speaker 05 Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. Susan Sharty in I'm Becoming a Guinea Fowl.
2:30:22 David Sims? I love that movie.
2:30:23 Speaker 05 Kate Hudson in Song Song Blue.
2:30:25 Griffin Newman? Wait, Joe, I think you, that doesn't sound like the kind of thing you would do.
2:30:28 Speaker 05 Not a thing I would have.
2:30:29 David Sims? Kind of performance you'd vibe with.
2:30:31 Speaker 05 Guaranteed, uh, four months ago, yeah. Um, and Amanda Seyfried in Testament of Am.
2:30:36 David Sims? Who's very, very, very.
2:30:36 Griffin Newman? I, I texted you nomination morning, congrats, and you texted back.
2:30:40 Speaker 05 I was so wary. I was like, are you making fun of me?
2:30:42 Griffin Newman? I did it, and then you in parentheses said like, is this about Kate Hudson? I, I've seen a lot of people, mostly in relation to the perceived, uh, Amanda Seyfried snub.
2:30:55 Speaker 05 Oh, blaming Kate? Yes, I have.
2:30:56 Griffin Newman? And I'm like, that's not the performance I would knock out of the five.
2:30:59 Speaker 05 I would knock out Emma Stone.
2:31:01 Griffin Newman? I would not get Emma Stone.
2:31:02 David Sims? Buggy?
2:31:03 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:31:03 David Sims? Little buggy?
2:31:04 Speaker 05 I don't dislike Emma Stone, and I just don't, I have problems with Begonia, but I don't hate it.
2:31:08 David Sims? She's fine in Begonia. It's, and it's like sort of a demanding performance, I guess.
2:31:13 Griffin Newman? I think Kate Hudson is legitimately pretty phenomenal in Song Song Blue. She, I, the only reason I cut her is because I knew you were gonna put her in.
2:31:20 Speaker 05 No, I understand.
2:31:21 Griffin Newman? She's a bubble six for me.
2:31:22 David Sims? It is, it's also, uh, she worked her tail off to get that nom and all that, blah, blah, blah.
2:31:26 Speaker 05 It's a bonkers movie that I find to be better than a lot of people get it credit for, but like, on that level, it's still a fucking bonkers movie.
2:31:33 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:31:33 Speaker 05 Um, Jackman is not up to her level. Um, I think she, I genuinely think she really kills it in there.
2:31:40 Griffin Newman? I, I agree. I agree. No, I agree.
2:31:42 Speaker 05 And I love her, of course. She was my supporting actress winner for Glass Onion.
2:31:44 Griffin Newman? Of course, we all remember.
2:31:46 Speaker 05 She's my favorite.
2:31:46 Griffin Newman? It, it felt like a real, uh, we did it true moment. I was, I was like genuinely happy for you.
2:31:52 Speaker 05 I was so wary. I was like, Griffin's making.
2:31:54 Griffin Newman? No, I wasn't.
2:31:54 David Sims? I just, you know, it's one of those things where Kate Hudson, I know you like her.
2:31:57 Griffin Newman? Yes.
2:31:58 David Sims? So I'm being nice here.
2:32:00 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:32:00 David Sims? Where Letterboxd, you know, sees her on the red carpet and they're like, can you name your favorite movie? Like, you know, what, what, what's your top favorite movie on Letterboxd? And she's like, Almost Famous. I'm like, yeah.
2:32:10 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:32:10 David Sims? And then, and then she's like, I don't know what else. And she's sort of like, I mean, some people like Skeleton Key. You can see her being like, cause I don't really know what would even.
2:32:19 Griffin Newman? Not a great rocket, right?
2:32:21 David Sims? Like, I think she's like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Skeleton Key. And then she, even she starts to run out of ideas.
2:32:26 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:32:26 David Sims? Yes.
2:32:27 Griffin Newman? Can I ask?
2:32:28 David Sims? She was like, some people like Something Borrowed. And I wanted to say like, yeah, some people do.
2:32:31 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Didn't you, did you nominate that? I know Lawson.
2:32:33 David Sims? No, Ray Lawson's.
2:32:35 Speaker 05 I like that movie, but that's Richard's.
2:32:36 Griffin Newman? She's really excellent.
2:32:37 Speaker 05 Also, every gay guy loves her in Nine. Loves her specifically.
2:32:42 David Sims? I find that performance to be disgraceful.
2:32:45 Speaker 05 I don't know if disgraceful, but my.
2:32:46 Griffin Newman? She loves Cinematic Alianza.
2:32:48 Speaker 05 My secret, my secret is great in Nine person is Fergie. That makes everybody crazy, but like, I think Fergie's scene in Nine is the one good scene in Nine. I think everything about that movie is bad.
2:32:57 David Sims? I find that movie unspeakable.
2:32:58 Speaker 05 It's really bad. It's really bad, but I like, but if I'm at a gay bar music, musicals night or whatever, and I'm requesting something from the, the TV guy, I'm like, put on Fergie in Nine.
2:33:11 Griffin Newman? I believe I tapped out on Nine after 45 minutes because I did not wish to die in seven days.
2:33:15 David Sims? You tapped out around four.
2:33:17 Griffin Newman? Right. I saw the girl coming out of the well and I was like, I need to get out of this curse before it sticks to me.
2:33:22 Speaker 05 So the Rob Marshall mini-series is still not happening?
2:33:24 Griffin Newman? Not happening.
2:33:25 David Sims? That is, that is, that's our, we're driving the cliff. Over the cliff, Elman Louie.
2:33:29 Speaker 05 That's your two's a series.
2:33:30 David Sims? Let's see Rob Marshall. I guess Trump's about to block us up.
2:33:33 Griffin Newman? My best actress lineup.
2:33:34 David Sims? Yes, please.
2:33:35 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:33:35 Griffin Newman? Sally Hawkins in Bring Her Back.
2:33:37 David Sims? Yes, she's really good in that movie.
2:33:39 Griffin Newman? Amanda Seyfried, Seyfried?
2:33:41 David Sims? Who knows?
2:33:41 Griffin Newman? I feel like I'm told I'm always getting it wrong. No way of knowing.
2:33:44 David Sims? I think it's Seyfried.
2:33:45 Griffin Newman? Uh, in The Testament of Antalya, but let's also acknowledge she fucking rules in The Housemaid.
2:33:49 David Sims? Yeah.
2:33:50 Speaker 05 Oh, I still have to, that's another one I still have to see.
2:33:52 Griffin Newman? A lot of my people this year had a double performance thing going on.
2:33:56 David Sims? A fun one on the side.
2:33:57 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I mean, Josh O'Connor just narrowly.
2:34:01 David Sims? Yeah, mastermind, wake up. Yeah.
2:34:03 Griffin Newman? Beaten out by. By Dwayne in that category for me. Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You.
2:34:08 David Sims? Yeah, it's a good performance.
2:34:08 Griffin Newman? Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love. And Sung Yee Jin in No Other Choice.
2:34:13 David Sims? Yeah, she's really good.
2:34:14 Griffin Newman? And because of my last minute rejiggering to spread the wealth and giving screenplay to If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, I cleared the path to give my award to Amanda Seyfried in Testament of Andes.
2:34:27 David Sims? Right.
2:34:28 Griffin Newman? Which also feels like the place to honor that movie.
2:34:30 David Sims? She's the powerhouse, for sure. I love her. Rose Byrne's my winner, certainly.
2:34:35 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:34:35 David Sims? That performance stuck with me all year.
2:34:37 Speaker 05 Rose Byrne is another one.
2:34:38 Griffin Newman? Rose Byrne's a very close number two.
2:34:39 David Sims? And it's also another one, kind of like the Ethan Hawke thing, where when I saw it, I'd be like, yeah. A world where she sneaks a nom for this, like, really hostile movie would, is a real, like, nice world to imagine. And now it's kind of like, she's the runner up, like, you know, like.
2:34:53 Speaker 05 That was another one where, that was a Sundance premiere that didn't screen online, so I didn't see it until TIFF. And then when I saw it on TIFF, I was like, well, first of all, everybody at Sundance kind of undersold how great she is in this movie. You know how great, I really love the movie too. But it was another one of those, I was like, boy, it'd be really good if, you know, she could maybe sneak in an Oscar nomination.
2:35:12 David Sims? Right.
2:35:12 Speaker 05 It seemed for a while that she and Seyfried were sort of like jostling for like what would have been a fifth slot. And then all of a sudden, it's like, oh no, Rose is just winning every single critics award and rightly so.
2:35:23 Griffin Newman? I, yeah, I, I, I thought it could maybe be a bit of an upset, but it does feel like Buckley's the most locked.
2:35:30 David Sims? Buckley is just also the classic thing of like, we've noticed you, you've been bubbling along, we gave you an earlier nom.
2:35:35 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:35:36 David Sims? And you screamed and cried and were very impressive. And I don't think it's a bad performance, like.
2:35:41 Speaker 05 I think she's really good, even before the screaming and crying.
2:35:44 David Sims? Yeah, she's good.
2:35:45 Speaker 05 I think she's just like really good throughout.
2:35:46 David Sims? I love Jessie Buckley.
2:35:47 Griffin Newman? I disproportionately like the first half more than the second half, which I think you bodied me by saying, what a surprise you like the movie about a sad boy falling in love with a witchy woman in the woods. But I was like, the second they have a kid, I'm, I'm out on that movie. It just lost me, not in any like intellectual way.
2:36:03 David Sims? It's also just when the movie begins to be kind of like piled up suffering, like, you know, sort of different phases of suffering.
2:36:09 Griffin Newman? I think it's also, there's, there's, there's a sense of inevitability. Right, suddenly you're on the rails and you're like, we know what this is heading towards and this is just gonna be an endless series of body blow.
2:36:19 Speaker 05 Hamnet is my materialist and that everything that people don't like about Hamnet, I'm like, that worked for me. Like, that really worked for me.
2:36:25 Griffin Newman? I did not dislike it.
2:36:26 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:36:26 Griffin Newman? But it definitely, I don't know, it lost me somewhere in there and I thought, well, everyone says the ending is such an undeniable knock out, it'll win me back.
2:36:35 Speaker 05 I see.
2:36:36 Griffin Newman? And it just didn't do it for me.
2:36:37 Speaker 05 Yeah. Well, and that's, if that doesn't do it for you, then you're dead.
2:36:41 Griffin Newman? Yeah, it was, I don't have anything intellectually against that movie. I love Jessie Buckley.
2:36:45 David Sims? It'd be weird if you had something. No, I'm kidding. I got you, I got you. I love her too.
2:36:49 Speaker 05 For the last 18 months, I've been telling people about I'm Becoming a Guinea Fowl. That was a movie that screened.
2:36:55 Griffin Newman? Another embarrassing blind spot for me.
2:36:56 David Sims? It's on HBO, I think. It's very viewable.
2:36:58 Speaker 05 Festivals last year and 824 for some reason did that bullshity qualify it and then push it to March or whatever thing.
2:37:07 David Sims? No, they didn't qualify it.
2:37:08 Speaker 05 No, they, right.
2:37:09 Griffin Newman? Oh, they didn't?
2:37:09 David Sims? They just, they put it in the main slot.
2:37:11 Speaker 05 They were, they were slow playing it, thinking that it would be submitted for international feature consideration and then no country kind of claimed it.
2:37:21 David Sims? But the problem, I think, is it's a, like, it's sort of a Zambian movie, but the Zambian.
2:37:26 Speaker 05 It's a Zambian movie that had UK financing, I think, was the thing.
2:37:29 David Sims? Yeah, but it's quite critical of, like, the sort of patriarchal cultures or, I don't know, like, yes.
2:37:35 Speaker 05 Anybody listening to this, like, if that movie is new to you, hearing about it, like, go check it out. It rules. It's so good.
2:37:42 Griffin Newman? Uh, we all said our winners, right?
2:37:44 David Sims? Yeah, who's your winner?
2:37:45 Speaker 05 Uh, Burn.
2:37:46 David Sims? Uh, I'll just give you the 10 blankie lead performance.
2:37:48 Griffin Newman? You said your winner.
2:37:50 David Sims? Rosemary.
2:37:50 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Uh, no, this feels like the space to honor Testament Van Lee for me, but I also think it's, it's like, it's an astonishing performance.
2:37:59 Speaker 05 Oh, I also didn't, sorry to derail us for like half a second. I put O'Connor for Wake Up Dead Man for, you had mentioned in Materialists.
2:38:06 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:38:06 Speaker 05 Um, or not Materialists, Mastermind, so many M-movies. Um.
2:38:11 Speaker 05 He's doing something so different in, in Wake Up Dead Man.
2:38:15 David Sims? So fucking good.
2:38:16 Speaker 05 And he's so, he's like, you know, the almost like Nebbishy quality he has to that character, I think is incredibly funny. He's so locked in in that movie. And then you hit the Bridget Everett scene.
2:38:26 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:38:27 Speaker 05 And it's like.
2:38:29 David Sims? That scene is like a masterpiece of craft.
2:38:31 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:38:32 David Sims? The way that he makes the sun set during it, even though you're inside.
2:38:36 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:38:36 David Sims? I love that scene.
2:38:37 Griffin Newman? When he chooses.
2:38:38 Speaker 05 One of the best scenes in the entire.
2:38:39 David Sims? Yeah. So when he's like, right, this is what I do.
2:38:41 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:38:42 David Sims? Like.
2:38:42 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Yeah, no, I, I think, I remember when they announced that he was gonna be in the, the new Benoit Blanc.
2:38:51 Speaker 05 The new Benoit Blanc.
2:38:52 Griffin Newman? And it was like, he's going to play a priest. And people were like, is he gonna be a guy pretending to be a priest? Like, is the whole thing with Josh O'Connor, the scuzzy? And if it's not a guy pretending to be a priest, then are they gonna clean him up? And isn't that what we don't want from him?
2:39:06 Speaker 05 Right.
2:39:06 Griffin Newman? And then you were like, no, the idea is.
2:39:08 Speaker 05 Hyper earnest.
2:39:09 Griffin Newman? Josh O'Connor type is a priest.
2:39:12 Speaker 05 Yes, yes, yes.
2:39:13 Griffin Newman? Right. Which is such an interesting.
2:39:14 Speaker 05 It's the first time anybody's taken the movie away from Daniel Craig. I think Craig sort of most definitely sits in the backseat in that movie.
2:39:22 Griffin Newman? Someone did a screen.
2:39:23 David Sims? I adore Craig in that movie.
2:39:24 Speaker 05 I do too, but I feel like, I think, I think O'Connor is much the more main character.
2:39:28 David Sims? He is, but I think Craig gets it.
2:39:30 Griffin Newman? I think it's the best of his Benoit Blanc performances.
2:39:33 Speaker 05 He's great.
2:39:33 Griffin Newman? But I also saw that someone did a screen time clock and it's like 35 minutes.
2:39:38 David Sims? Sure.
2:39:38 Speaker 05 Oh, yeah.
2:39:39 David Sims? In a long movie.
2:39:39 Speaker 05 Hannibal Lecter-esque.
2:39:40 David Sims? Well, because he takes a while to show up and stuff.
2:39:42 Griffin Newman? But it's really Josh O'Connor's film.
2:39:44 David Sims? Him and Josh O'Connor like being like silly guys together.
2:39:47 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:39:47 David Sims? Just really funny.
2:39:48 Speaker 05 That's great.
2:39:49 David Sims? The blankies, I'll just give you their 10 to 1. We're not a Reinsper, who we all love.
2:39:54 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:39:54 David Sims? None of us know me, but we all love.
2:39:55 Speaker 05 Watching that movie a second time, as I said on Critical Darling, really, she really emerged for me. I thought she was so good.
2:40:01 Griffin Newman? You know, my thing with that performance is, I, I think that it's borderline.
2:40:08 Griffin Newman? I kind of feel like all three women have about the same real estate in the story.
2:40:15 Speaker 05 I think Stellan and Renata are your leads.
2:40:18 Griffin Newman? I think so too.
2:40:19 David Sims? Stellan is not in as much as you think.
2:40:21 Griffin Newman? And putting Stellan in supporting makes her being the only lead feel disconnected.
2:40:27 Speaker 05 It makes it feel in balance, but like, yeah, yeah.
2:40:28 David Sims? It's still her.
2:40:29 Griffin Newman? She's excellent. Her, her opening scene is like unbelievable. Yeah.
2:40:32 David Sims? All right. So Renata, 10, Jesse Plemons, nine, another performance I really like.
2:40:36 Speaker 05 Good.
2:40:37 David Sims? Jesse Buckley, eight, Lee Byung-hung, seven, Ethan Hawke, six, Chase Infinity from One Battle, five, Michael B. Jordan, four, Rose Byrne, three, Leo, two, Timmy, one. That was their, that was their list.
2:40:54 Speaker 02 Best director.
2:40:56 David Sims? My best directors are.
2:40:58 Griffin Newman? Give them to me.
2:40:58 David Sims? Paul Thomas Anderson, Jafar Panahi, Zach Craig, Ja Janku for Caught by the Tides and Ryan Coogler.
2:41:04 Speaker 05 I gotta see Caught by the Tides. I didn't see it before.
2:41:07 David Sims? I mean, it's, it's, it's for the, the Ja boys. Cause it's literally like him assembling stuff he's been filming for 25 years.
2:41:14 Speaker 05 Avengers Endgame for Ja Janku, yeah.
2:41:16 Griffin Newman? Uh, my best director lineup is Ari Aster, Mona Fastfold, Park Chan Wook, Mary Bronstein, and Paul Thomas Anderson.
2:41:25 David Sims? There you go.
2:41:26 Speaker 05 Mine are.
2:41:27 Griffin Newman? Thank you.
2:41:28 Speaker 05 Good five. Paul Thomas Anderson, one battle after another. Mary Bronstein, If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. Ryan Coogler, Sinners. Kleber, Mendonka, Filho for The Secret Agent.
2:41:38 David Sims? Beauty.
2:41:38 Speaker 05 And Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident.
2:41:42 Griffin Newman? Who's your winner, guys?
2:41:43 David Sims? Paul Thomas Anderson.
2:41:44 Speaker 05 Paul Thomas Anderson.
2:41:45 Griffin Newman? Yeah, I'm giving it to Paul.
2:41:46 Speaker 05 I mean.
2:41:46 David Sims? Did a good job.
2:41:47 Griffin Newman? Yeah. He did, he did in fact do a good job of directing a movie.
2:41:50 Speaker 05 And I've been an annoying sort of fly in the open for a lot of Paul Thomas Anderson.
2:41:55 David Sims? Josh Hartnett and Justice Smith. Wow. Forgot to mention that. Sorry, carry on.
2:41:58 Griffin Newman? Oh, okay.
2:41:58 Speaker 05 Justice Smith was mine, I imagine. Yeah.
2:42:00 David Sims? Yeah, I was, um, I was Hartnett.
2:42:02 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:42:02 Griffin Newman? And I was, I was Coleman Domingo for Sing Sing. Yeah.
2:42:08 Griffin Newman? Yeah, no, I, I, I might be very wrong about this. But I, I just really feel like there's a director-picture split coming this year. I, I, I feel like Snitcher is-
2:42:20 David Sims? Snitchers, those Snitchers.
2:42:22 Griffin Newman? I was gonna say, I feel like Sinners is gonna snatch it.
2:42:24 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
2:42:25 Griffin Newman? But Snatchers might also sin it.
2:42:26 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:42:27 Griffin Newman? Um, but the Paul Thomas Anderson, the best director feels like, uh, Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain style. Nothing is like veering this off course.
2:42:36 Speaker 05 Picture is, is very much up in the air, but director seems solid.
2:42:40 Griffin Newman? Yeah, you, you can't argue with it.
2:42:41 Speaker 05 Yeah. Which is interesting, because genuine, generally lately-
2:42:45 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:42:45 Speaker 05 When there's a director-picture split, director tends to go to the movie that is also going to clean up in the craft awards, which I think is gonna be Sinners.
2:42:54 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:42:54 Speaker 05 With a few exceptions, I think One Battle will probably win editing and cinematography.
2:42:58 David Sims? I mean, look, I'm ready to be wrong, but I, no, I think One Battle is, is winning. I think it's just one of those-
2:43:03 Speaker 05 It's winning picture.
2:43:04 David Sims? Yeah.
2:43:04 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:43:05 David Sims? It's just one of those rare years, kinda like the Oppenheimer year, where everyone's just like, we're not gonna fuck around. Like, like, these movies don't come along that often, like, you know?
2:43:14 Speaker 05 And I also think, like, a lot of the-
2:43:16 David Sims? No Country, it feels like No Country as well. Their views hit September and everyone's just kinda like, I think this is the movie everyone's gonna remember.
2:43:22 Griffin Newman? My question, though, is like, if in the No Country year, uh, There Will Be Blood had made like six times as much at the box office?
2:43:31 David Sims? That's a fair point, the, the, but I just don't know if they care anymore.
2:43:34 Griffin Newman? Cause it does feel similar to those two movies in that year.
2:43:37 Speaker 05 But One Battle, like, the imbalance is there, but it's not like One Battle is like a Moonlight style, like-
2:43:44 Griffin Newman? No, it's not.
2:43:44 Speaker 05 Twelve million dollars over there.
2:43:46 David Sims? I think it's like Sinners is gonna win elsewhere and they'll just be like, yeah, we checked the boxes.
2:43:50 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:43:50 David Sims? But I mean, PGA, this is, not to go all big picture Nate Jones, but PGA will, will show, because that's the preferential ballot.
2:43:56 Griffin Newman? And I think it'll probably win SAG as well, right? Although-
2:43:59 David Sims? No, I think, I think Sinners is winning SAG.
2:44:01 Griffin Newman? No, I'm sorry, that's what I mean. I, I thought you were saying-
2:44:04 David Sims? Oh, I think One Battle's gonna win PGA, everyone will be like, right, it wins the preferential ballot, which is what matters when it comes to Best Picture.
2:44:10 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Yeah.
2:44:11 David Sims? Cause I just think most people like One Battle. Like-
2:44:14 Speaker 05 I will say though, at every, at every turn, Sinners is proving to be more broadly popular. I mean, obviously, like, it made so much money, but like, I think within like, uh, industry circles and within like, people like, there's just like- Nobody seems to be like tripping up on the genre thing of it, or the sort of, you know.
2:44:32 Griffin Newman? No, and it's such a triumph and it's like, you know, it's, it's a real like throwing of the gauntlet for like, no, fuck, this still matters. We can make big movies that the people give a shit about.
2:44:45 Speaker 05 I love how bold it is. If I, if I have a snag on that movie, it's a little bit like, I think it, it sets up a lot of vampire movie stuff and then it's just sort of like, and then the vampire stuff happens. But I think there's so much else that's great about the movie that like it, it mostly levels up for me.
2:45:03 Griffin Newman? Or Critical Dark Alliance, we did a Oscar villain episode on Hamlet and then I saw people going like, right. Well, like going into the season, it was seen as that's the villain, but it's clearly become Sinners versus One Battle.
2:45:18 David Sims? Sinners not a villain.
2:45:19 Speaker 05 And Hamlet is an actress. In very, in very online circles.
2:45:21 Griffin Newman? But that's, that's what's interesting is you're like, it's a year where we kind of don't have a villain and it.
2:45:26 Speaker 05 We don't have to create a villain just because it's binary.
2:45:29 Griffin Newman? 2007 feels like the last time where you're like, there were just two different tastes of.
2:45:33 David Sims? But also Hamlet is a villain because it's like, the Oscar narrative, it would, it could have been a villain. I just think Hamlet's probably out of the, you know, out of the top three or whatever, but like, the Oscar narrative of like, they like arty movies about making art, you know, like versus like big, you know, popular stuff and Chloe Show has an Oscar.
2:45:54 Speaker 05 Chloe Show has an Oscar. Not to be like the Hamlet defender, but like, there is a perception, I think, a little bit, that's a little bit overblown of this idea that like Shakespeare stuff always wins Oscars, costume dramas only win Oscars. Like Big Picture was on that train, I think. And I'm like, that's actually just not the case. Like it just like not lately, not in the last 25 years.
2:46:14 David Sims? Not so much lately, but when we're talking about Oscar villains, what we're really talking about is Harvey Weinstein.
2:46:18 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:46:19 David Sims? And like, we're talking about the machine he created and that's what people remember the most. And the thing where you look back where you're like, why did Chuck La, why did Cider House rules, I don't understand.
2:46:27 Griffin Newman? It is.
2:46:27 David Sims? Why did all these movies that don't exist like?
2:46:29 Griffin Newman? I was thinking about this the other day.
2:46:30 David Sims? I mean, that's what that fucking movie, I swear.
2:46:33 Griffin Newman? Yes.
2:46:33 David Sims? Which just set Britain back a thousand years culturally by mistake is like one of those Weinstein movies.
2:46:40 Griffin Newman? Yes.
2:46:40 David Sims? Like, I know it. To be clear, not to impugn this movie.
2:46:44 Griffin Newman? I haven't seen it, yeah.
2:46:45 David Sims? You know, it's not this movie's fault, really. But it has the vibe of those Weinstein movies of like, let's convene a congressional hearing on Tourette's after you saw this small indie movie. You know, like it's like pushing a, yes.
2:46:56 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:46:56 David Sims? Pushing a sort of a discussion. It's, it's a.
2:46:59 Griffin Newman? Three million Epstein file documents get released. One million of them are about the campaigns for different Weinstein company. Best picture contenders.
2:47:10 Speaker 05 Right, right.
2:47:11 Griffin Newman? Including Peggy Siegel saying, I don't care how many members I have to fuck. I'll whatever it takes to go to vote for the King's Speech.
2:47:18 David Sims? Peggy, relax. Yeah, King's Speech is being a pretty good. But God, the I swear thing. It's like, it's one of those things where it's like, I've said this to you, haven't I? You're like, it's genuinely upsetting that that happened. And it's very bad. It's also like a faulty Towers-esque fucking insane sitcom incident of like them being like, okay, the BAFTAs who have the horrible track record on a race have finally, finally given sinners lots of acknowledgement. Who's gonna be winning? It's gonna go great. Now, where have we sat there? I swear, guy, he's, where, where are we putting him? Oh, why is he in the seat labeled microphone? I don't understand. You know, like, where it's like, it just sounds like something you made up.
2:47:53 Griffin Newman? What, this update, BBC put all of the volume up as hard as it could go? Like, what's?
2:47:58 David Sims? It's just, it's so fucking like British, like in this like dumb BAFTA way.
2:48:04 Griffin Newman? You know, this movie had this kind of like miracle underdog run in the UK and had a release there and was a hit. And then was sort of overperforming at every step. And like, whatever the wind up to this. And then the, the lead actor beats Timmy.
2:48:16 David Sims? Yes.
2:48:17 Griffin Newman? And the like, you know, the terminally online, like Oscar stat brain people are like, fuck, does this mean that this is immediately now the frontrunner for next year's best act campaign?
2:48:27 Speaker 05 Oh, that, yeah, no.
2:48:28 Griffin Newman? And I'm like.
2:48:28 Speaker 05 Certainly not now.
2:48:29 Griffin Newman? Well, I was like, this is like the inverse of the King Richard thing.
2:48:32 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:48:33 Griffin Newman? Where the first moment we're becoming aware of this performance is inextricably tied.
2:48:38 David Sims? To a, a national disgrace for a country and an academy of film.
2:48:42 Griffin Newman? What, they're just gonna put this movie in theaters in four months? And people are gonna be like, nice movie.
2:48:46 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:48:46 Griffin Newman? Without thinking about.
2:48:47 David Sims? Certainly what they were hoping to do. And what they're still hoping to do.
2:48:50 Griffin Newman? Anyway, yes, yes.
2:48:51 David Sims? Sorry. I don't mean to beat up on I swear.
2:48:54 Griffin Newman? Yeah. I, I just think like, almost every season. Us and our friends and everyone we follow and talk to is sort of going like, I'm gonna be so fucking angry if X.
2:49:06 Speaker 05 X, Y, Z. Yeah.
2:49:07 Griffin Newman? Right? And then you have people who are like, I kinda like 1917. But you're saying it embarrassed because you know.
2:49:14 Speaker 05 Right.
2:49:15 Griffin Newman? And this year, it's just like, if Sinners beats one battle, no one's like, fuck.
2:49:20 Speaker 05 I, I guess. But I think if one battle, if one battle beats Sinners, I think a lot of people will be like, fuck. Like, I think that's, I, but, but in very online circle. You know what I mean? Like, I think, like, I don't think, I really don't think that, that stuff penetrates as, as widely as some people are.
2:49:38 Griffin Newman? Quite possibly.
2:49:39 David Sims? I can, I can tell you that the Blankie director nominees are PTA number one, Ryan Coogler, Park Chenwick, Josh Safdie, Danny Boyle. Those are their five.
2:49:47 Speaker 05 Wonderful.
2:49:48 Griffin Newman? Wonderful.
2:49:51 Speaker 02 Back to the Blankies after these messages.
2:50:09 Speaker 02 Best picture.
2:50:12 David Sims? All right. My top 10 of the year is, right now at least. It's always changing. One battle after another, number one, It Was Just An Accident, number two, Weapons, number three, Sinners, number four, Caught By The Tides, five, Secret Agent, six, Marty Supreme, seventh, 28 Years Later, eighth, Blue Moon, ninth, Eddington, tenth. I'm already looking at it and being like, I wanna mess with that a little bit. But that's my 10.
2:50:34 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Yeah. I, I, yeah. I got like a
2:50:37 David Sims? Weird year.
2:50:38 Griffin Newman? A 15 or 20 that I'm pretty strong about. And I, I just made like seven changes to my 10. But what I have, I'm gonna count up. I'm throwing it in here at 10. I, I swapped this in the last second because I didn't call it out in any other area.
2:50:52 Speaker 05 Also just swapped in my 10 at the last second.
2:50:53 Griffin Newman? The Shroud's at number 10. A movie I
2:50:55 Speaker 05 I still haven't seen it. I heard interesting things.
2:50:57 Griffin Newman? I mean, just peak, whatever you call it, late stage.
2:51:00 David Sims? Was there a putters and murmurs case there? No one's really puttering and murmuring, I guess. Even though it's sort of that tone.
2:51:06 Speaker 05 Shrouders and obscures?
2:51:08 Griffin Newman? Possibly, uh, but I think, I think an excellent movie. Uh, Phoenician Scheme, number nine. People are just gonna be embarrassed like thirty years from now on how many Wes movies got slept on. And were seen as like, eh, not one of his best. And then like, six months later, people are like, fuck, was that maybe his best?
2:51:24 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:51:25 Griffin Newman? Uh, Materialist, of course, at number eight, Sinners at seven, Weapons at six. My top five, uh, lined up with my best director, but the order is Testament of Annulie at five, If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You at four, No Other Choice at three, One Battle After Another at two, and my number one movie of the year is Eddington.
2:51:41 Speaker 05 Yes. That's been your favorite for such a long time. I thought I was alone on Eddington. I'm glad to hear. I always like coming to blankies and seeing I'm not alone. Eddington's got its fans out there. A lot of them are on this website, X.com. Interesting.
2:51:53 Griffin Newman? It's, look, it's very-
2:51:55 Speaker 05 Turning point? What the fuck?
2:51:57 Griffin Newman? People talked about, this is a year where it does feel like there were like two dominant thematic strains-
2:52:03 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
2:52:04 Griffin Newman? That ran through most of the high level movies.
2:52:07 Speaker 05 Right.
2:52:07 Griffin Newman? And it was like, uh, uh, Bad Parents-
2:52:11 Speaker 05 Uh huh.
2:52:12 Griffin Newman? And is reality collapsing?
2:52:13 Speaker 05 And 2020 broke our, broke our brains, yeah.
2:52:16 Griffin Newman? Right, right. Are, are things broken? Can we fix them? Is it all over? How did things break? Kind of shit.
2:52:22 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:52:22 Griffin Newman? Um, and yeah, I don't know. It, it probably just speaks a little more to my worldview that, that Eddington has-
2:52:29 Speaker 05 Totally.
2:52:30 Griffin Newman? Stuck in my craw, uh, in a way, uh, beyond One Battle-
2:52:35 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:52:35 Griffin Newman? Which I think is excellent and love. And even like-
2:52:37 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:52:38 Griffin Newman? Seeing it the third time in theaters when it started, I was like, fuck, the opening like three seconds of this movie already feel iconic.
2:52:46 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:52:46 Griffin Newman? And then everything that happens after this point already feels iconic.
2:52:50 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:52:50 Griffin Newman? It already feels like a movie we've been studying for fifty years.
2:52:55 Speaker 05 Yeah, it's a text.
2:52:56 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:52:57 Speaker 05 Uh, my list, I'll start also from the bottom. Number ten, Blue Moon. Number nine, Eddington. Number eight, Sinners. Number seven, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. Number six, Hamlet. Number five, Lurker. Number four, Train Dreams. Number three, Marty Supreme. Number two, One Battle After Another. And my number one movie is It Was Just an Accident. It was. It was in fact, just an accident. That movie fucking rocks.
2:53:20 Griffin Newman? Yeah. Me and the, the, the can jury, you know.
2:53:24 David Sims? Uh, the top, the top 10 from the blankies, I'll just do in order. One battle, sinners, Marty Supreme, 28 years later, weapons, no other choice, sentimental value, it's just an accident, secret agent, Eddington. And now, I'd like to turn it to Ben. You got anything here?
2:53:39 Griffin Newman? What we're all here for.
2:53:40 Speaker 01 Well, yes, of course.
2:53:42 David Sims? I just feel we must.
2:53:44 Speaker 01 We've, we've reached that part of the episode.
2:53:45 Griffin Newman? Yes.
2:53:46 Speaker 01 Before I do my original categories, I need to do kind of a in memory.
2:53:53 Griffin Newman? Absolutely.
2:53:54 Speaker 01 In memorandum.
2:53:55 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
2:53:57 Speaker 01 What do they call it?
2:53:57 David Sims? Memoriam.
2:53:59 Griffin Newman? But in memorandum is the good Ben version of this.
2:54:01 David Sims? Which is fine, right.
2:54:02 Griffin Newman? I like this, yeah.
2:54:03 Speaker 01 Um, but sadly, my beloved cat pig.
2:54:07 David Sims? Yes.
2:54:08 Griffin Newman? Yes.
2:54:08 Speaker 01 Who we all love. Who, yeah, I had for 17 years.
2:54:11 Griffin Newman? The great app.
2:54:12 Speaker 01 Was the best cat there was and will ever be. She was a pig in the city.
2:54:18 Griffin Newman? She ran the city.
2:54:19 Speaker 01 Um, and so, yeah, I'm gonna miss her a lot, but, um.
2:54:23 Griffin Newman? She passed away recently.
2:54:24 Speaker 01 Oh, yes, yes. She passed away recently. And so, yeah, I don't know.
2:54:29 Griffin Newman? Very, very recently, uh, you're in a raw state, Ben. This is the first time we've recorded since.
2:54:34 Speaker 01 Yeah.
2:54:35 Griffin Newman? Um, uh, about half an hour into our episode, Ben texted BC group text Max Plus, which is the kind of all hands on deck group text. And, uh, he just wrote, guys, I'm sad and we're recording blankies right now and I need to think of wet movies.
2:54:53 Griffin Newman? So I just wanna know that whenever you're about.
2:54:55 David Sims? Ben's been on grief island and he hasn't been thinking about.
2:54:58 Griffin Newman? Sure, sure.
2:54:58 David Sims? A T or T and if you have to choose now or any of his other great, you know.
2:55:03 Speaker 01 So, yeah, I think also I wanted to start there just.
2:55:06 Griffin Newman? Well, that's why we went extra long is because we gotta give Ben enough time to think of wet movies. That's also why I bought Ben a violator who's got bendy arms and legs and is now wrapped around Ben's microphone arm.
2:55:18 David Sims? Yeah, there he is.
2:55:19 Griffin Newman? Love to see it.
2:55:19 David Sims? That's where he belongs.
2:55:20 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:55:21 Speaker 01 So anyway, wanted to give that context, cause I am, yes, sad, feeling a little bum, but still, let's, let's have some fun here, folks.
2:55:29 David Sims? Have a little fun.
2:55:30 Speaker 01 Okay, so, here we go.
2:55:32 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
2:55:33 Speaker 01 The wettes.
2:55:34 David Sims? Wettes, okay. Few.
2:55:36 Speaker 01 The golden mop.
2:55:37 David Sims? Right, right.
2:55:38 Speaker 01 The slickest flicks of the year, the movies that soak through.
2:55:41 Griffin Newman? Yep.
2:55:42 Speaker 01 What splished, what splashed.
2:55:44 Griffin Newman? We're so lucky to have you, Ben.
2:55:47 Speaker 01 Okay, number one, Frankenstein.
2:55:49 Speaker 05 Hmm.
2:55:50 Speaker 01 Old timey dampness.
2:55:51 David Sims? Yeah.
2:55:51 Speaker 05 Yes.
2:55:52 Griffin Newman? It is actually.
2:55:53 David Sims? Some wet labs.
2:55:53 Griffin Newman? You're right, it's a wet movie, the big.
2:55:55 David Sims? Rain, a lot of rain.
2:55:57 Speaker 05 There's a perma moistness to the creature, I feel like.
2:56:00 Griffin Newman? A lot of ice, which we should acknowledge.
2:56:02 Speaker 05 Yes, which is frozen water.
2:56:03 Griffin Newman? The hardest water of all.
2:56:04 Speaker 01 Yeah, indeed. Number two, Sinners, blood soaked.
2:56:09 Griffin Newman? Uh huh.
2:56:09 David Sims? Yeah, and also a big fight in the, in the lake or whatever, at the end there.
2:56:13 Speaker 05 Sweaty, a lot of sweat, a lot of slick bodies.
2:56:16 Speaker 01 Very sweaty.
2:56:17 Griffin Newman? Spit.
2:56:17 Speaker 01 Spit.
2:56:18 Speaker 05 Yeah.
2:56:19 Griffin Newman? Bodily fluids.
2:56:20 Speaker 05 Other bodily fluids, yeah.
2:56:21 David Sims? Liquor.
2:56:23 Speaker 01 Sure.
2:56:23 Griffin Newman? How would you spell that?
2:56:24 David Sims? Lika.
2:56:27 David Sims? I'm like K A H?
2:56:28 Speaker 05 The likest flicks of the year.
2:56:30 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:56:30 Speaker 01 And can I say it, Mike makes me horny, baby.
2:56:34 David Sims? Oh, interesting, okay.
2:56:35 Speaker 01 So I'm getting a little wet down there.
2:56:37 Speaker 05 Sure, sure, sure, sure.
2:56:38 Griffin Newman? Oh, Mike will be Jordan, I thought we were going back to Mike Myers.
2:56:41 Speaker 01 Mm mm.
2:56:42 Griffin Newman? And his cut body in The Austin Powers, the religion.
2:56:44 David Sims? I know him as Mike, and you're getting wet. Okay, well, you know what, let's just keep going.
2:56:47 Speaker 01 Yeah. Number three, Last Breath.
2:56:50 David Sims? Yeah, I told you, I turned you onto this one.
2:56:52 Speaker 01 Suggested by Sims.
2:56:53 David Sims? It's a movie that's set underwater.
2:56:54 Speaker 01 It's set underwater, or as I like to call it, underwater.
2:56:57 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:56:58 David Sims? It is a deep wet movie, it's about the people whose job is to go all the way down there.
2:57:02 Speaker 01 Mm hmm, yep. Yep. Number four, Magellan, suggested by JJ.
2:57:06 David Sims? Nice.
2:57:07 Speaker 01 Set entirely at sea, or as I like to call it, the sea.
2:57:11 Griffin Newman? Yeah, that is what you like to call it.
2:57:12 Speaker 01 Yeah. And number five.
2:57:14 David Sims? It's wet land.
2:57:16 Speaker 01 I, okay, yeah.
2:57:18 Speaker 05 It's the wettest version of land.
2:57:19 Speaker 01 That's a good alt.
2:57:20 David Sims? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:57:21 Griffin Newman? Mm hmm.
2:57:21 Speaker 01 Number five, Sorry Baby. For all the tears ejected from my face.
2:57:27 David Sims? Also, there's a bathtub scene in that one.
2:57:29 Griffin Newman? That's true.
2:57:30 Speaker 01 I adored that movie, but um, what really got me was when the lead character adopts the kitten.
2:57:37 David Sims? Yes, well, from the poster.
2:57:38 Speaker 01 Yes.
2:57:39 David Sims? Yeah.
2:57:39 Speaker 01 And I guess I kinda knew that was coming from the poster, but. Because when I first got Pig, it was a very similar moment in my life. Of like a close friend passing away, I was very depressed. And a kitten will really make your life a lot better.
2:58:02 Griffin Newman? Uh, Ben, uh, sorry if I can just interject briefly.
2:58:06 Speaker 01 Yes.
2:58:06 Griffin Newman? Uh, you reminded me a category that I forgot.
2:58:09 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
2:58:09 Griffin Newman? If I can just throw it out quickly.
2:58:10 Speaker 01 Please, yes.
2:58:11 Griffin Newman? Uh, truly one I've been working on all year.
2:58:13 Speaker 01 Yes.
2:58:13 Griffin Newman? Um, and I, I hope that this is not a one-off trend this year. And this is a category that can sustain and fill out three nominees for every year to come.
2:58:23 Speaker 01 Okay.
2:58:24 Griffin Newman? It's the Babe Award for Best Fake Hog.
2:58:29 David Sims? Oh, yeah, sure. There were a lot of them this year.
2:58:31 Speaker 01 This is a trend that is trending, yes, increasingly.
2:58:34 Griffin Newman? Yes.
2:58:35 Speaker 01 I'm now distrustful of all cinematic penises because I do feel like that so many of them are fake.
2:58:40 Griffin Newman? Alexander Sarsgaard in Pillion?
2:58:42 David Sims? Yep.
2:58:43 Griffin Newman? Uh.
2:58:44 David Sims? Prince Albert.
2:58:44 Griffin Newman? I'm forgetting which guy it is in Splitsville.
2:58:47 David Sims? Uh, one of them.
2:58:48 Griffin Newman? Kyle Marvin?
2:58:48 Speaker 01 Oh, right. One of the guys.
2:58:50 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:58:50 Speaker 01 The one who comes out of the shower and is really hanging it.
2:58:53 Griffin Newman? Big fake hog.
2:58:53 Speaker 01 Yeah.
2:58:54 Griffin Newman? Obviously, the first, the inaugural winner of the Babe Award.
2:58:58 David Sims? Twenty-eight years.
2:58:59 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Samson.
2:59:01 Griffin Newman? Samson. Biggest fakest hog I've ever seen.
2:59:04 Speaker 01 Yeah, for sure.
2:59:05 Griffin Newman? Uh, sorry, Ben, just had to get that out.
2:59:07 Speaker 01 Grass stains on it from walking.
2:59:08 David Sims? Uh, another wet movie that I did suggest to you, uh, was, uh, Dangerous Waters, the movie in which Jack Courtney feeds people to sharks.
2:59:16 Griffin Newman? Right.
2:59:16 David Sims? A pretty fun movie.
2:59:17 Speaker 01 All right.
2:59:17 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:59:18 Speaker 01 Quite a bit of shark stuff this year, too.
2:59:20 Griffin Newman? Sure.
2:59:21 Speaker 01 Seems like.
2:59:21 Griffin Newman? Sure.
2:59:22 Speaker 01 Uh, Dangerous Animals.
2:59:23 Griffin Newman? Sharks.
2:59:24 Speaker 01 Yeah, Into the Deep. My nephew would love. Secret Agent. Yeah. All shark stuff.
2:59:29 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
2:59:30 David Sims? Yes.
2:59:31 Speaker 01 Okay, moving on, next category, the, um, no thank yous.
2:59:36 Griffin Newman? We love to hear it.
2:59:38 Speaker 01 Number one, Blue Moon. A movie absolutely packed with references that I don't care about.
2:59:45 David Sims? What, mid 50s theater? Okay, okay.
2:59:48 Speaker 05 Slash Stuart Little apocrypha?
2:59:50 Speaker 01 E.B. White, I'm not a fan of his style.
2:59:53 David Sims? No?
2:59:54 Speaker 01 I gotta say.
2:59:54 Griffin Newman? Ben, I'm surprised to hear that because if you cracked open Stuart Little, like, today, the moment we finished recording, you would be texting us in 30 minutes, "Guys, I'm rooting so hard for Stuart."
3:00:05 David Sims? It is also-
3:00:06 Griffin Newman? He's just a little mouse trying to make it in the city.
3:00:07 David Sims? It is about a movie being obnoxious at a bar, and I feel like that does kind of strike you. But no, I see what you're saying, you know, like, you don't really care about Oscar and Hammerstein and all that.
3:00:17 Speaker 01 No, that's just, yeah, not my jam. Okay, number two, War of the Worlds. I would rather spend that half an hour, hour and a half, rather, with Stephen Miller.
3:00:28 Griffin Newman? Oh, shits.
3:00:29 Speaker 01 Than watch that film.
3:00:30 Griffin Newman? Have either of you-
3:00:30 Speaker 05 It's a tough choice.
3:00:31 Griffin Newman? Have either of you seen Mercy?
3:00:32 Speaker 01 No.
3:00:34 Speaker 05 Oh, no.
3:00:35 Speaker 01 No, I missed that one.
3:00:35 Speaker 05 Oh, AI Justice? No.
3:00:36 Griffin Newman? Spoilers, first 90% of that movie, Chris Pratt felt like he was angling for that Iowa Debris Award, and then he fucks it up.
3:00:43 Speaker 05 Oh, Chris, I must defer.
3:00:46 Speaker 01 Number three, Deliver Me From Nowhere. I'm good.
3:00:51 David Sims? Yeah.
3:00:52 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:00:52 David Sims? Just fight your Jersey-ness.
3:00:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, send me somewhere else, anywhere else.
3:00:56 Griffin Newman? Ben, that was a great impression of humanity at large.
3:01:00 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, that decision was made.
3:01:02 Griffin Newman? Global viewing public.
3:01:03 Speaker 05 It's true.
3:01:05 Griffin Newman? Spot on impression.
3:01:06 David Sims? They were like, "Fuck, we need to call this movie Springsteen Delivery," and the audiences are like, "No, it doesn't matter, that's not gonna work."
3:01:12 Speaker 05 That's not, doesn't help.
3:01:13 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:01:14 Speaker 01 Uh, number four, How to Train Your Dragon. I was able to return to skipping this one in live action.
3:01:20 David Sims? Okay, wow, a rebound skip.
3:01:22 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
3:01:23 David Sims? There you go.
3:01:23 Griffin Newman? Yeah, but Ben, would you be excited to hear that they're now making a sequel to the live-action remake, which is a remake of the animated sequel, in which they are now recasting another actor who had voiced the character in the animated films to now play their live-action equivalent as well?
3:01:38 Speaker 01 What a nightmare.
3:01:39 Speaker 05 Now I'm the fantastic Mr. Fox character with the spiral eyes after you-
3:01:42 Griffin Newman? Yeah, yes.
3:01:43 Speaker 05 Yep.
3:01:43 Speaker 01 God. Uh, number five, Jurassic World Rebirth. Ass is right there in the title.
3:01:50 David Sims? There you go.
3:01:50 Griffin Newman? There we go. Our finest film critic.
3:01:52 Speaker 01 Do we really need to be reborn, though? Let the dinosaurs rest.
3:01:56 Griffin Newman? Yup. Ben, great take.
3:01:58 David Sims? And yet, I think they're being reborn again as we speak.
3:02:02 Speaker 05 There is a moment in that movie where a very tired dinosaur, uh, has wandered out of Cobble Hill Park.
3:02:09 David Sims? That's right.
3:02:10 Griffin Newman? Is taking a nap.
3:02:10 Speaker 05 And it's just sort of like chilling by the bridge. It's just like, oh, man.
3:02:14 Griffin Newman? Yeah. The one good idea the movie has and it's like, we should get this out of the plot.
3:02:18 Speaker 05 Let's get as far away from this as possible. Yeah.
3:02:21 Speaker 01 Some honorable mentions.
3:02:23 Griffin Newman? Please.
3:02:24 Speaker 01 The Bone Temple for Achievement in Bone Temples.
3:02:26 Speaker 05 I mean.
3:02:27 David Sims? Bone Temple.
3:02:27 Griffin Newman? And you know what? It might have this category locked up next year.
3:02:30 Speaker 05 Where was that production design nomination? Like, they milked the whole Bone Temple.
3:02:34 Griffin Newman? I, we really, the, the, this is why we can't have nice things with those two movies.
3:02:39 Speaker 05 I know.
3:02:40 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:02:41 Speaker 01 Violator Achievement Award goes to Tessa Thompson as Heda for being a delightfully evil little stinker.
3:02:46 Griffin Newman? This is a great take.
3:02:47 David Sims? Yeah, very good stinker movie.
3:02:49 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:02:49 Speaker 05 Yeah.
3:02:49 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:02:50 Speaker 05 We have, one of our superlatives categories is, um, homophobic enemy. And, um, despite the fact that she is queer in that movie, that character, uh, she is a homophobic enemy because she makes a lot of trouble for queer people in that movie.
3:03:02 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:03:05 Speaker 01 Weapons.
3:03:06 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
3:03:06 Speaker 01 For its great stick work. Not often are sticks showcased in cinema.
3:03:11 Griffin Newman? What are we talking about here?
3:03:12 Speaker 01 Sticks.
3:03:13 Griffin Newman? Sticks?
3:03:13 Speaker 05 She's snapping those sticks.
3:03:14 Griffin Newman? Snapping the sticks.
3:03:15 Speaker 05 She's snapping that stick, baby.
3:03:16 Griffin Newman? She's snapping the stick.
3:03:17 Speaker 01 You know.
3:03:18 Speaker 05 She's snapping the stick. She's snapping the stick. We're going, yeah.
3:03:21 Speaker 01 Branches are, you know, are.
3:03:23 Speaker 05 You stop looking at a picture of her, and I snap with a stick over your head.
3:03:27 Speaker 01 Branches are so often seen. Leaves are plenty.
3:03:31 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:03:32 Speaker 01 Give sticks their due.
3:03:33 Griffin Newman? Give sticks a chance.
3:03:34 Speaker 01 Yeah. And lastly, Pavements.
3:03:38 Griffin Newman? Mm-hmm.
3:03:39 Speaker 01 For Achievement and featuring Griffin Newman on screen.
3:03:41 Griffin Newman? This is true.
3:03:43 David Sims? Only, if not enough movies dare to do it.
3:03:45 Speaker 01 I know. I want to see it more.
3:03:47 Griffin Newman? Turn me on?
3:03:47 Speaker 01 It was nice to see it.
3:03:48 David Sims? Did Turn Me On?
3:03:49 Griffin Newman? Technically?
3:03:49 David Sims? Does this qualify as this year's last year?
3:03:51 Griffin Newman? Was it 2025?
3:03:52 David Sims? I gotta see Turn Me On.
3:03:54 Griffin Newman? Yeah, I recommend it to people. Uh, Michael Daburski film, Belle Pauley, Nick Robinson, Julia Shiplitt, Esther Cooper, Justin, and myself.
3:04:01 David Sims? I think he was saying it hit the internet in 2024. In what month?
3:04:06 Griffin Newman? September.
3:04:07 David Sims? So that was Griffin and Autumn?
3:04:09 Speaker 05 Griffin and Autumn.
3:04:09 Griffin Newman? I, hmm, let me double track that. I think it did not go on to VOD and then it got a, uh, an illegal hidden theatrical release.
3:04:19 Speaker 05 The best kind of theatrical release.
3:04:21 Griffin Newman? I think it was not until January, but I, I count it as a 2025 release.
3:04:24 David Sims? Fair enough.
3:04:25 Griffin Newman? Uh, and then there was a movie that I think, uh, it would be very difficult to cut me out of on the schedule for 2026.
3:04:32 Speaker 05 Damn right, baby.
3:04:33 David Sims? Hell, yeah.
3:04:33 Griffin Newman? What will be my final film role?
3:04:36 Speaker 05 Oh, come on.
3:04:36 Griffin Newman? I'm retiring again!
3:04:37 Speaker 05 No.
3:04:38 Griffin Newman? It's over!
3:04:39 David Sims? As long as you're doing this, you know, you're, you're, you're in the money forever, baby. Until people get sick of us, which could be tomorrow.
3:04:45 Griffin Newman? Yeah, it could be yesterday.
3:04:46 Speaker 05 Right.
3:04:48 Griffin Newman? I just-
3:04:48 Speaker 05 No, I've got an in with Mia Threppleton. She can get you in another movie.
3:04:51 Griffin Newman? I'll just say, look, I, there's, there's a curse upon me being optimistic about anything in my career outside of this podcast, but, uh, but I, you know, I shot this thing in December and I was like, this thing's got a guaranteed theatrical release.
3:05:05 Speaker 05 That's true. Can I also tell you-
3:05:06 Griffin Newman? And it would cost millions of dollars to cut me out of it at this point, not because of my contract, because continuity.
3:05:14 Speaker 05 The buzz that whipped around my circles at the sight of you in a Muppet audience, by the way, was significant. So, uh, the juice is still there.
3:05:22 Griffin Newman? It was, well, that was, that was, uh, just Seth Rogen being a real mensch.
3:05:26 Speaker 05 Yeah.
3:05:27 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:05:27 Speaker 05 Pretty great.
3:05:29 David Sims? But yeah, that, that's it for me.
3:05:31 Griffin Newman? Wow. What a year.
3:05:33 Speaker 05 Good job, buddy.
3:05:33 David Sims? What a year. Thanks.
3:05:34 Speaker 05 What a year. Well, it was, well done, Ben.
3:05:35 Griffin Newman? Looks like we made it.
3:05:36 David Sims? Yeah.
3:05:36 Griffin Newman? Um, Joe, this had Oscar buzz.
3:05:39 Speaker 05 Yes.
3:05:40 Griffin Newman? I have not been on-
3:05:41 Speaker 05 We've been around for a while. I know, I know.
3:05:43 Griffin Newman? In many years because of my overwhelming, uh, allergies-
3:05:47 David Sims? Zoom phobia?
3:05:48 Griffin Newman? Uh, to Zoom.
3:05:49 David Sims? I struggled with Zoom.
3:05:49 Griffin Newman? I, I did recently reach out to you and say, we've, we've gotten to a place of just enough healing that I think it's time. Can we say what the movie is?
3:05:57 Speaker 05 Uh, yes, we can. If that's, if that's the movie you want to do, that is the movie I have wanted you to do.
3:06:01 Griffin Newman? I've had the pin in it for so long. Igby Goes Down.
3:06:03 Speaker 05 Igby Goes Down.
3:06:04 David Sims? Oh, very good.
3:06:04 Speaker 05 Yes.
3:06:05 Griffin Newman? Would you believe-
3:06:06 David Sims? I, I already know.
3:06:08 Griffin Newman? That movie meant a lot to one 13-year-old-
3:06:11 Speaker 05 I'm so excited.
3:06:12 David Sims? I don't understand.
3:06:13 Speaker 05 We've been holding that one in stasis for you.
3:06:14 David Sims? The family in that movie is so functional, so I don't really see-
3:06:16 Griffin Newman? I, I have been too terrified to watch that movie for at least 15 years.
3:06:20 David Sims? I haven't seen it in a while.
3:06:21 Griffin Newman? We'll see. Yeah.
3:06:21 Speaker 05 Yeah, I'm very excited. Very excited to have you back. David will have to have you back as well. You were around for our 70s mini-series a couple of years ago.
3:06:28 David Sims? What did I do?
3:06:29 Speaker 05 You did Don't Look Now.
3:06:31 David Sims? I love that movie.
3:06:32 Speaker 05 Yeah. Yeah.
3:06:33 Griffin Newman? Uh.
3:06:33 David Sims? But what should I do?
3:06:35 Speaker 05 Oh.
3:06:35 David Sims? Did Alexander.
3:06:37 Speaker 05 Yes, that was your, that was very early.
3:06:39 Griffin Newman? Uh, you just did sentimental value episode on, uh.
3:06:41 Speaker 05 On critical darlings. I'm finally, I am critical darling.
3:06:44 Griffin Newman? Yes.
3:06:45 Speaker 05 At long last.
3:06:45 Griffin Newman? Uh, thank you for doing that.
3:06:46 Speaker 05 Yeah.
3:06:47 Griffin Newman? Great. Unsurprisingly.
3:06:48 Speaker 05 Great co-hosts you got there.
3:06:49 Griffin Newman? Hey.
3:06:50 Speaker 05 Richard and Allison, my friends.
3:06:51 Griffin Newman? Proud of these kids. I think these kids got a big future.
3:06:53 David Sims? Yeah, I think we really did a good job hiring, uh, two very established.
3:06:57 Speaker 05 Samey smart.
3:06:58 David Sims? Film critics who are good on mic.
3:07:00 Speaker 05 Yeah.
3:07:00 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:07:01 David Sims? Um, yeah, I'm gonna go see Project Hail Mary.
3:07:04 Griffin Newman? I'm going to the same screening.
3:07:05 David Sims? Well then.
3:07:06 Speaker 05 I'm very excited for the both of you.
3:07:08 David Sims? Yeah, but then I got fucking invited to Project Hail Mary.
3:07:10 Griffin Newman? Well, well, well. What a twist.
3:07:11 Speaker 05 I'm going to Moynihan train station.
3:07:13 Griffin Newman? You did bring your luggage here. Thank you for, uh, being flexible with your.
3:07:17 Speaker 05 Did I tell you also, uh, uh, the, yes, uh, two days ago when I came here and of course I slipped on, uh, ice and fell and, uh, hurt my knee. And then.
3:07:25 Griffin Newman? David hurt his butt.
3:07:26 Speaker 05 And did you also fall?
3:07:28 David Sims? On ice, yeah, but two weeks.
3:07:29 Speaker 05 And then on the cab right here.
3:07:30 David Sims? Fuck ice.
3:07:31 Speaker 05 Because I wanted to be in a cab because my knee hurts. Yes.
3:07:34 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:07:35 Speaker 05 Um, the cabbie had to stop short and I lurched forward and banged my knee into the back of the seat in front of me. So it's been a couple of days, but, uh, we're doing all right.
3:07:44 Griffin Newman? Let me also just clarify, David didn't hurt his butt slipping on ice. He hurt his butt because his wife whacked him with a rolling pin because he was looking at a picture of the ring.
3:07:53 Speaker 05 I snapped a stick. She snapped a stick on his tush. You want to stop and looking at the picture of ring? Look at the thirty babies. Are you looking at the picture of the ring? We're gonna get some kind of anti-defamation league on our ass about this one, but you know what, uh? We're going, we're going.
3:08:10 Griffin Newman? Men do be looking at pictures of ring.
3:08:13 Speaker 05 So if I, if I are no men, I know they looking at pictures of a ring. If I are no, I, I can see you no baby.
3:08:20 Griffin Newman? I know I joke and I whack with the stick, but I know men and the men, uh, they look at the picture of the ring.
3:08:29 Speaker 05 You know, you know why you be looking at a picture of a ring?
3:08:31 Griffin Newman? You know.
3:08:36 Speaker 05 I don't tell this to everybody, but between you and me, I be looking at the picture of a ring.
3:08:40 Griffin Newman? Men, they are the simple. All they want is to look at a picture of the ring.
3:08:48 Griffin Newman? Ben, we love you.
3:08:49 Speaker 05 So proud to come on this podcast every year. I love it. Yes.
3:08:52 Griffin Newman? Yeah.
3:08:52 Speaker 05 Yeah. To be to Pig.
3:08:54 Griffin Newman? Yes, who's been such an important part of this podcast across all the years. Yeah. We recorded in her home for two years. Close to, yeah. Yeah. Yep. Um, so she's, she's been a, she was a silent participant in so many episodes. Yeah. And we miss her dearly and our thoughts are with you. Thanks so much. And your wife. Uh, thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe. Next week, crack of the bat, start of a new mini series. That's right, Peter Weir. Peter.
3:09:23 Speaker 05 Very exciting.
3:09:24 Griffin Newman? We're making it weir. Cars Today Paris. Enjoy. Yeah. Duh.
3:09:27 Speaker 05 Ah, what a great mini series.
3:09:28 Griffin Newman? Cars Today Paris, guestless. Yeah, no guest. Yeah. Uh, we got it. We got, it's, I think it's a good mini series. Majority in the camp. Almost all. We got some great returning guests and people who haven't been on in too long. Yeah. We have a couple, exciting first timers. New faces. We got some new faces. Um.
3:09:46 Speaker 05 I'll have to rewatch Fearless before you do your episode on that. I haven't seen that one since the 90s.
3:09:51 Griffin Newman? Fucks.
3:09:52 Speaker 05 It's, that movie is on, I want to say Isabella Rossellini's known for. Is that not something?
3:09:57 Griffin Newman? No spoilers, but that movie made David buy new sunglasses. Yes, it did. That's right. Um.
3:10:04 Griffin Newman? That's all.
3:10:04 Speaker 05 Go listen to this head Oscar buzz, folks. It's a good podcast.
3:10:07 Griffin Newman? Uh, Igby episode coming soon. And as always,
3:10:13 Griffin Newman? R I P Pig. We stand a legend. We love you, Pig.
3:10:15 Speaker 05 All right.
3:10:16 Griffin Newman? Love you, Pig.
3:10:26 Speaker 06 Blank Check with Griffin and David is hosted by Griffin Newman and David Sims. Our executive producer is me, Ben Hosley. Our creative producer is Marie Bardi Salinas. And our associate producer is A.J. McKeon. This show is mixed and edited by A.J. McKeon and Alan Smithy. Research by J.J. Birch. Our theme song is by L.A. Montgomery and the Great American Novel, with additional music by Alex Mitchell. Artwork by Joe Bowen, Holly Moss and Pat Reynolds. Our production assistant is Minnick. Special thanks to David Cho, Jordan Fish and Nate Patterson for their production help. Head over to blankcheckpod.com for links to all of the real nerdy shit. Join our Patreon Blank Check Special Features for exclusive franchise commentaries and bonus episodes.
3:11:11 Speaker 06 Follow us on social at Blank Check Pot. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Checkbook, on Substack. This podcast is created and produced by Blank Check Productions.
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