Send Help

Almost four years ago, Producer Ben Hosley watched Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" and proclaimed that if he'd been in that scenario, everything would have worked out perfectly. With the gleefully satisfying "Send Help," Raimi gives Ben the ending he's always wanted. Join Ben, Griffin, David, and Marie as they chat about the endless likability of Rachel McAdams, the heel turn of Dylan O'Brien, and how the various employees of Blank Check Productions would fare on a deserted island. Read "Dylan O’Brien Is Ready to Talk About That Accident" https://www.vulture.com/2017/09/dylan-obrien-is-back-from-the-brink.html Sign up for Check Book https://blankcheckpod.substack.com/welcome, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. http://www.patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter https://x.com/blankcheckpod?lang=en, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/blankcheckpod/?hl=en, Threads https://www.threads.net/@blankcheckpod?xmt=AQGzctAh4mbWTwYzCV1pzNT6AMV9o99EOfymi8TLR5mTde0 and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/blankcheckpodcast/! Buy some real nerdy merch https://kinshipgoods.com/blankcheck Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/blankies/s/gpcOkQr8Sv or Discord https://discord.gg/Q6YGSR3JrA For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com https://www.blankcheckpod.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Griffin Newman?

  David.

• 0:03David Sims?

  Yep.

• 0:03Griffin Newman?

  We did a live show.

• 0:04David Sims?

  Yeah, remember?

• 0:05Griffin Newman?

  Ranking Scorsese at the Bell House in Brooklyn. We did the definitive power ranking of Martin Scorsese things.

• 0:12David Sims?

  Uh, it was so fun. Uh, it was very silly.

• 0:15Griffin Newman?

  Ben and Marie were with us and they're with us right now.

• 0:18David Sims?

  Yeah, hey.

• 0:18Speaker 02

  Hey, everyone, or should I say, oh?

• 0:20David Sims?

  Oh.

• 0:22Griffin 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.

• 0:31Speaker 03

  So just a few more days.

• 0:33David Sims?

  Yes.

• 0:33Speaker 03

  You can get it at dynasty.tv.

• 0:36David Sims?

  Dynasty.tv.

• 0:37Speaker 03

  It's $20. We had a blast and the Spreadmaster really got to work.

• 0:43David Sims?

  Oh, yeah. I was moving things around.

• 0:45Griffin Newman?

  Laptop was on.

• 0:46Speaker 02

  I don't know if I'd have seen you that happy.

• 0:48Griffin Newman?

  You were thrilled. You were like a pick and share.

• 0:50David Sims?

  I was locked in.

• 0:51Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, very locked in and you were funny.

• 0:53David Sims?

  Thank you. You were funny. You were also funny.

• 0:56Griffin Newman?

  Oh, thank you.

• 0:57David Sims?

  And if you want to see like, you know, Griffin's shine box on camera, it's the only way to see it.

• 1:02Griffin Newman?

  You might see me shine Marie's shoes.

• 1:04David Sims?

  Exactly.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, if you're into that sort of content.

• 1:07Griffin Newman?

  If that gets you off.

• 1:09Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:10Speaker 03

  So once again, that's at dynasty.tv.

• 1:39Griffin Newman?

  Meet Linda Little. She's from strategy and podcasting.

• 1:42David Sims?

  See, that's what he wanted to do, guys. That's all. That was his passions right there.

• 1:46Griffin Newman?

  David's been waging a war on the opening of this show.

• 1:50David Sims?

  No, I have been trying to make this show open. This is what happens. I'm like, stay the line.

• 1:56Griffin Newman?

  I'm not saying today's episode.

• 1:57David Sims?

  I'm talking in general.

• 1:58Griffin Newman?

  This is a multi-month war.

• 2:01David Sims?

  Because you take too long.

• 2:02Griffin Newman?

  To try to get it right.

• 2:04David Sims?

  Everyone's with me. Everyone, everyone, everyone's with me.

• 2:07Griffin Newman?

  Who is this everyone? Is this everyone in the room with you right now?

• 2:10David Sims?

  Ben Hosley, he's taking a drink to avoid being on mic. Marie Barty, she swore a vow of silence.

• 2:16Griffin Newman?

  Maria, Maria was saying, what about this line? What about this line? It's collaborative project.

• 2:21David Sims?

  We're all creative collaborators.

• 2:22Griffin Newman?

  We're creative collaborators. This is a space for art above all else.

• 2:27Speaker 02

  I just want to say, if you want to talk about us as creative collaborators, cool, but I think something needs to be acknowledged.

• 2:34Griffin Newman?

  What's that?

• 2:35Speaker 02

  Like David and Griffin, you guys are, you're my boss.

• 2:38Griffin Newman?

  Sure.

• 2:38Speaker 02

  Bosses.

• 2:39David Sims?

  That's true.

• 2:39Speaker 02

  So that's kind of an imbalanced dynamic.

• 2:41Griffin Newman?

  Well, and also my dad did promise you that you were next in line for VP at BCP. He does not have the power to promise such a thing. In fact, he has no relationship to this business whatsoever, but I do know that's hanging over this episode.

• 2:54David Sims?

  It does sound like the kind of thing your dad might do offhandedly.

• 2:57Griffin Newman?

  Unfortunately.

• 2:58David Sims?

  Just be like, I think you're next in line. Like just kind of like making conversation.

• 3:02Griffin Newman?

  For VP.

• 3:03Speaker 02

  I mean, I feel like, I feel like Peter and I, we have a good relationship on social media.

• 3:07Griffin Newman?

  Absolutely.

• 3:09Speaker 02

  I'm always getting those, you know, raise the roof emojis.

• 3:12Griffin Newman?

  He likes the hands raised.

• 3:13Speaker 02

  He likes the hands raised.

• 3:14David Sims?

  I stopped getting the hand raises from him. What's up, Pistol Pete?

• 3:18Speaker 02

  Wow, because I'm next.

• 3:20David Sims?

  I think I stopped favoring every single hand raise. Maybe he took the hint.

• 3:23Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 3:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, which means that I'm next in line.

• 3:26David Sims?

  For, for, for, for hands?

• 3:29Speaker 02

  Yeah. Well, no, for, for running all of this.

• 3:32Griffin Newman?

  He, I feel like it was for Father's Day last year, you did a happy Father's Day to Peter Newman, the most supportive Instagrammer. And you did a collage of all the times. My father, for people who don't pay attention.

• 3:42David Sims?

  He loves to hit people with this.

• 3:44Griffin Newman?

  Any single post, almost anyone on Instagram.

• 3:47David Sims?

  The prayer hands.

• 3:48Griffin Newman?

  The top comment is 17 raised prayer hands, right? With no tax.

• 3:53David Sims?

  It's a great bit. I love it.

• 3:54Griffin Newman?

  It's a great bit. And you posted that and I showed it to him and he immediately went, what is this, making fun of me?

• 3:59David Sims?

  No. Pistol.

• 4:01Griffin Newman?

  He got very defensive and paranoid. And I was like, we're celebrating you. And he was like, okay, but where, where did those come from? And I was like, you posted them. She just saved them.

• 4:10David Sims?

  Does he have like a sort of virus in his phone that's just doing?

• 4:14Griffin Newman?

  I don't know.

• 4:14David Sims?

  Replying to every story.

• 4:16Griffin Newman?

  And then he went like, well, okay, if you promised me it was meant as, as a term of endearment, I think Marie should be next in line for VP.

• 4:24Speaker 02

  Yes. And it was meant as a term of endearment.

• 4:26David Sims?

  Oh, your dad's not really a Bruce Campbell, though, I will say.

• 4:30Griffin Newman?

  No.

• 4:30David Sims?

  No, not really, not really the guy who would play your dad.

• 4:33Griffin Newman?

  No, my dad's got fake shemp vibes. It's a deep Raimi joke. Marie?

• 4:37Speaker 02

  I did the Leo point at the screen meme.

• 4:40David Sims?

  When you saw the portrait.

• 4:42Griffin Newman?

  I did as well.

• 4:44David Sims?

  Yeah, I mean, a nice touch.

• 4:46Griffin Newman?

  I saw this movie with friends of the podcast Ben David Grabinsky, soon to be returning guest, and Mel Smith, and I did just, I didn't do it frantically. I very calmly extended my hand because I wanted to watch them notice it, you know?

• 5:00David Sims?

  And you were in 4DX.

• 5:01Griffin Newman?

  And I just saw their eyes scan and then land on it and we all just started laughing. God, the 4DX in this movie. Are you, would you be surprised to hear that a Sam Raimi movie in 4DX feels like the closest we've gotten to William Castle in my lifetime?

• 5:17David Sims?

  Sure.

• 5:17Speaker 02

  That doesn't surprise me at all.

• 5:18David Sims?

  He is, right, he's a showman of another era. It's true.

• 5:21Griffin Newman?

  And I've been digging into this, but it seems like the Raimi team might have been a little more hands-on in the 4DX than a lot of filmmakers.

• 5:29David Sims?

  Listen, dig it in.

• 5:30Griffin Newman?

  I've been trying to get answers.

• 5:31David Sims?

  Tom Cruise over here.

• 5:32Griffin Newman?

  But even if.

• 5:34Speaker 02

  We got a Digger, folks.

• 5:37David Sims?

  Ben doesn't get it.

• 5:38Griffin Newman?

  What's the song in the trailer again? Is it Spoon or some?

• 5:41David Sims?

  I don't know.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  Then I don't know.

• 5:43Griffin Newman?

  What's the song in the Digger trailer?

• 5:44David Sims?

  It is Oh, Green World by Gorillaz.

• 5:47Speaker 02

  Do you know about Digger?

• 5:49Speaker 03

  I know it's the Tom Cruise comedy movie.

• 5:52David Sims?

  Yes, ostensibly it's funny what we've been told.

• 5:55Speaker 02

  He plays a, he plays a Digger.

• 5:57Speaker 03

  Right.

• 5:58Griffin Newman?

  Who has to save the world.

• 5:59Speaker 03

  A shovel man.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  A shovel man.

• 6:00Griffin Newman?

  He's a shovel man.

• 6:01David Sims?

  Which we do like. We like that.

• 6:03Speaker 02

  Apparently he's in full prosthetics or something.

• 6:05David Sims?

  He's in makeup. He's in.

• 6:07Griffin Newman?

  If you look at his silhouette, in that trailer, there's facial transformations.

• 6:11Speaker 02

  What if he, what if he, what if this is like a stealth Ben Hosley biopic? And we don't know about it.

• 6:17Griffin Newman?

  You're saying he's.

• 6:18David Sims?

  I mean. I mean, the pro doer, I would be on. I just don't know how long, like, I don't dig that much. That you could make a whole feature out of it.

• 6:31Speaker 02

  But digging, digging could be a metaphor, you know?

• 6:33Griffin Newman?

  Right. Life's a hole. Dig it. That's one of your favorite metaphors.

• 6:37David Sims?

  It is.

• 6:38Griffin Newman?

  You say that all the time.

• 6:39David Sims?

  All the time. You know, you know who's third billed in that movie?

• 6:43Griffin Newman?

  In Digger? Uh, well, John Goodman is second billed.

• 6:46David Sims?

  No, it's Goodman. Sandra Huler is second billed, but Goodman. Could we get, could we dig up a nom for Goodman this year, maybe?

• 6:53Griffin Newman?

  Would you remember?

• 6:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, we were gonna, we were trying to get Goodman for our King Ralph show and he was like, sorry, you know?

• 6:58David Sims?

  Right. I'm, I'm deep in, in the hole.

• 7:00Griffin Newman?

  No, but also his heart is significant enough, yes, that he broke his knee while filming and they shut down all the production for like a month.

• 7:08David Sims?

  You do a cruise movie, you're, you're, you're gonna hurt a limb somehow.

• 7:12Griffin Newman?

  What I'm saying, if John Goodman was the guy behind the desk, giving him the mission in three scenes across the movie.

• 7:18Speaker 02

  Broken a knee.

• 7:19Griffin Newman?

  And also they would have gone like, great, we'll shoot around you for the next month until you're better. Filming shut down because.

• 7:25David Sims?

  It is Goodman's first on-screen appearance in a film since Captive State.

• 7:30Griffin Newman?

  Yep.

• 7:31Speaker 02

  What is Captive State?

• 7:32David Sims?

  It's, it's a bit of a forgotten movie, not, not a terrible one.

• 7:35Griffin Newman?

  2019?

• 7:36David Sims?

  Sci-fi, action, sort of low budgety. Yeah, 2019.

• 7:39Griffin Newman?

  It's Rupert Wyatt.

• 7:41David Sims?

  Mm-hmm. The guy who made Rise.

• 7:43Speaker 02

  Yeah. And one of the ape guys.

• 7:45Griffin Newman?

  Why am I blanking on his name for Moonlight? Ashton Sanders?

• 7:48Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 7:49David Sims?

  Ashton Sanders.

• 7:49Griffin Newman?

  Was kind of the lead in it?

• 7:50David Sims?

  Yes. Goodman's sort of, sort of a villain, sort of a. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 7:56Griffin Newman?

  As, as the sort of bureaucrat. And then who's the female lead of that movie?

• 8:00David Sims?

  Uh, Vera Farmiga's in it?

• 8:02Griffin Newman?

  Right, right.

• 8:02David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 8:04Griffin Newman?

  It's, it's, it's like.

• 8:05David Sims?

  And Machine Gun Kelly, Pete Davidson's first guest on his hit new podcast, which is so good that we're gonna pack it up today. So this is the last episode.

• 8:13Speaker 02

  David walked into the studio today, just be like, guys, that Pete Davidson video podcast, that non-union talk show is, it's incredible.

• 8:21Griffin Newman?

  What is, what is this non-union talk show? Marie, they clearly communicated it's a podcast. It's a podcast that is 36 minutes long, only exists on the Netflix streaming service, is video. And has no

• 8:33Speaker 02

  RSS feed, yeah.

• 8:34Griffin Newman?

  whatsoever. They figured it out. We've been doing it all wrong this whole time. We look so foolish.

• 8:40Speaker 02

  What does his garage look like?

• 8:42David Sims?

  It looks like an empty room with like some soundproofing shit set up and a couple of chairs.

• 8:46Speaker 02

  So it doesn't really look like a garage.

• 8:48David Sims?

  It's not like the Maron vibe of like, ah, there's a billion things on the wall and like, no, it's just like an empty room.

• 8:53Griffin Newman?

  Do you buy that it's his actual garage or do you think they built this up or rented the house?

• 8:56David Sims?

  I think it's his actual garage and I think part of the reason it's being fucking filmed there is they smoked like four billion cigarettes over 36 minutes. So like, what, uh, Elsie Hewitt or whoever Pete's, uh, you know, partner is probably like, take that shit out of the house.

• 9:10Griffin Newman?

  He's got a newborn child.

• 9:11David Sims?

  Exactly. Come on, man. Uh, yeah, I don't know.

• 9:16Griffin Newman?

  John Goodman, since 2019, was going back and forth ping ponging between the Connors and the Righteous Gemstones.

• 9:22David Sims?

  Right. Doing the TV shows he's doing. It's not like he's been absent from our screens.

• 9:25Griffin Newman?

  But Connors would do like a gentleman's 20 plus episodes a season and Righteous Gemstones was doing 10.

• 9:31David Sims?

  Sure.

• 9:32Griffin Newman?

  He was doing like 30 episodes of television a year as the patriarch.

• 9:36David Sims?

  Connors did seven whole seasons.

• 9:38Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, it did, brother. I was there, front row, mixing it up with that crazy crew. Um, but it is wild that he's.

• 9:45David Sims?

  Season seven was just six episodes long. So I guess it was a real, it was a little, a little shake.

• 9:51Griffin Newman?

  Can I share a story that I think is endearing that I heard? Cause it's a, it's a done matter now that after season six, they wanted to end the Connors. They were just like, we think we've like the, we've hit the end.

• 10:02David Sims?

  The moment's passed, right?

• 10:03Griffin Newman?

  No, just we told all the stories we can tell, whatever. And they broke the news to John Goodman and he broke down crying and was like, I just love working on the show so much and I miss these people. And they were so affected by John Goodman's emotion that like, a child that you're like trying to get out of the house. They were like, John, John, what about, what, six more? How about we just do six more? That sounds good, right? Does that make you happy? But they basically renewed it for a mini series because they felt so guilty about making John Goodman sick.

• 10:32David Sims?

  I mean, good for them.

• 10:33Griffin Newman?

  Great for them.

• 10:35David Sims?

  Good for goodness. Good for John.

• 10:36Griffin Newman?

  Good for John. But yes, he has been, after decades of being one of our warmest and most welcome screen presences at the movie theater.

• 10:44David Sims?

  At the movie theater?

• 10:46Griffin Newman?

  Seven years without a Goodman.

• 10:49David Sims?

  What's this podcast?

• 10:50Griffin Newman?

  This podcast.

• 10:51Speaker 02

  This Cod Past.

• 10:52Griffin Newman?

  This Cod Past.

• 10:53David Sims?

  This call.

• 10:54Griffin Newman?

  Which last year was a lot about John Goodman.

• 10:56David Sims?

  Yeah, we had a little, because he had the Coens.

• 10:58Griffin Newman?

  This year, so far, zero Goodman on the spreadsheet.

• 11:02David Sims?

  Disaster. Terrible news.

• 11:04Griffin Newman?

  It's a Cod Past about filmographies. Directors who have massive success early on in their career and have given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion products they want. And sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce, baby. I forgot the opening line. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin.

• 11:22David Sims?

  I'm David.

• 11:23Speaker 02

  That's Ben. I'm Woman.

• 11:24Speaker 03

  Oh, sorry. I'm, I was looking up, I'm pretty sure that one of the fake sponsors I, I came up with on a past March Madness was Cod Past.

• 11:33Griffin Newman?

  Oh, good.

• 11:33Speaker 02

  Oh, really?

• 11:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:34David Sims?

  Was it?

• 11:34Griffin Newman?

  So that's what I'm referencing.

• 11:35Speaker 03

  Pretty sure. Okay. So I was checking on that. But yes, hey, it's Ben Hosley. What's up?

• 11:40Speaker 02

  Oh, hey, it's Marie.

• 11:42Griffin Newman?

  AKA Woman, AKA Mayor.

• 11:44Speaker 03

  I don't like the, we gotta drop the woman nickname.

• 11:47Speaker 02

  No, I love the woman thing.

• 11:48Speaker 03

  You love the woman?

• 11:49Speaker 02

  Reese Feldman texted me yesterday, listening to the No Other Choice episode. Love the woman bit. And I was like, you're the king of TikTok. I'm the woman of Blank Check.

• 11:58Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, Ben, it's not a great look that you're publicly.

• 12:00Speaker 02

  Why do you hate women?

• 12:01Speaker 03

  I don't like the woman. No, I don't like that you're being like reduced to just the woman. But fine, we'll, we'll keep going with it.

• 12:12Speaker 02

  No, I, you know, thank you. I, I agree much more than just woman. However, I do think my identity as woman is important.

• 12:22Griffin Newman?

  It's very important.

• 12:23David Sims?

  I think you're so important.

• 12:24Griffin Newman?

  And, and we could argue today's movie is about that.

• 12:27Speaker 02

  It's about, it's about underestimating woman.

• 12:30Griffin Newman?

  It is. It is.

• 12:32Speaker 02

  It is.

• 12:33Griffin Newman?

  In 2021, normal year.

• 12:37Griffin Newman?

  We covered the films of Sam Raimi.

• 12:41Speaker 02

  That was 2021.

• 12:42David Sims?

  Okay, wow.

• 12:43Griffin Newman?

  Right? Or was it 22?

• 12:45Speaker 02

  No, because I started working on the podcast in 2021.

• 12:47Griffin Newman?

  So then it was two.

• 12:48David Sims?

  Yeah, so Podcast Me to Hell, our Sam Raimi series was, yeah, March 2022 to June 2022. We covered his films, talked about Spider-Man and, you know, fucking, yeah, Evil Dead and Simple Plans.

• 13:05Griffin Newman?

  One of my favorite filmmakers.

• 13:06David Sims?

  It was kind of a like, yeah, we love, I mean, yeah.

• 13:10Griffin Newman?

  He was a classic, when he finally makes a new movie, we gotta cover him. And they announced that he's doing Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, a normal movie that came out in a normal way, a normal amount of time and was released in 2022. And we did a mini series to commemorate it. And it had been a long gap. He had slowed way down post in the 20th.

• 13:34Speaker 02

  They had the quibi.

• 13:36David Sims?

  He did have a quibi.

• 13:37Speaker 02

  He had the quibi thing.

• 13:38David Sims?

  When you make something as good as Oz the Great and Powerful, you can't just rush into your next project.

• 13:43Speaker 02

  I forgot, I was think, you know, I was thinking about the, the Raimi series and like, I did, I, I wasn't super familiar with his work outside of Evil Dead and Spider-Man. So it was like.

• 13:54David Sims?

  You enjoyed the, the Simple Plans and the.

• 13:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, I really like, I hadn't seen, uh, The Quick and the Dead was great, hadn't seen Drag Me to Hell because I think, you know, I've only maybe within the past 10 years gotten, uh, less squeamish.

• 14:09Griffin Newman?

  Used to hide in your coat.

• 14:10Speaker 02

  I did, I did used to hide in my coat and, uh, didn't, uh, no longer do that.

• 14:14Griffin Newman?

  Such as woman.

• 14:15Speaker 02

  But, uh, I will say I was remembering, Ben shaking his head, I was remembering how I could not finish For Love of the Game. And now I'm just remembering I also could not finish Oz the Great and Powerful.

• 14:29David Sims?

  I, I would say those are two flawed films.

• 14:33David Sims?

  For the love of the game. Honestly, I mean, a movie that's ever good. Also, you can watch an hour and be kind of like, I got it.

• 14:41Speaker 02

  I recall I remember about that movie is that he fixes a tire.

• 14:46Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, absolutely. So that's their me cute.

• 14:48David Sims?

  I basically remember I like the baseball stuff more than the romance stuff.

• 14:52Griffin Newman?

  The baseball stuff is so beautifully shot, but Ozzy Graham Powerful is dire and it also

• 14:56David Sims?

  Ozzy Graham Powerful is just a tough watch.

• 14:58Griffin Newman?

  sucks that you zoom out and you're like, we got one Sam Raimi movie.

• 15:01David Sims?

  In the whole decade.

• 15:02Griffin Newman?

  The whole decade. And we've, we've gotten two in the 2020s, which already means we're way ahead. And the fact that one of them is such a kind of like pure blast of peak Raimi return to form, in my opinion, is thrilling. Today we're talking about Send Help, the new 20th Studios. I always forget what the new name is.

• 15:23Speaker 02

  20th Century Studios.

• 15:25Griffin Newman?

  20th Century Studios.

• 15:26David Sims?

  20th Century Studios.

• 15:29Griffin Newman?

  Send Help, a Sam Raimi film that it is my great pleasure to announce to our listeners, fucking rules.

• 15:36David Sims?

  You were very, you're very happy about this movie.

• 15:39Griffin Newman?

  You know who else was?

• 15:40Speaker 02

  Oh, I mean.

• 15:41Speaker 03

  Fucking love this shit.

• 15:43Griffin Newman?

  Bing mung, bing mung.

• 15:44David Sims?

  Ben sent, really, our producer Ben.

• 15:46Griffin Newman?

  Let's just.

• 15:47David Sims?

  Who we love.

• 15:47Griffin Newman?

  Let Ben say it. Cause I.

• 15:49David Sims?

  A great text.

• 15:49Griffin Newman?

  Marie, Ben and I all see it at separate showings, at separate theaters.

• 15:53Speaker 03

  That's true, you guys all, we all scattered to the winds.

• 15:56Griffin Newman?

  But around the same time, so we get out of the theater and we're all kind of sharing notes in the text. And before I even turned my phone on, I had the thought that then is greeted by Ben already having gotten there a couple of minutes earlier.

• 16:09Speaker 03

  Yes. So I text, I love Linda, our main character. And then I, in all caps, send, everything works out.

• 16:18Speaker 02

  It is the rare movie where Ben wouldn't have done anything better.

• 16:22Speaker 03

  No, I, I, I was with Linda the whole time.

• 16:26David Sims?

  Couple decision she makes where you're like, okay, Linda, maybe. Oh, okay, okay.

• 16:31Speaker 03

  I might've talked the, the fiancee, uh, like out of, you know, searching the island, send her off, maybe.

• 16:39David Sims?

  Sure. Yeah. Other ways to handle that, I suppose.

• 16:41Speaker 03

  Versus murdering her and her accomplice.

• 16:44Griffin Newman?

  Any movie.

• 16:44Speaker 03

  That poor guy.

• 16:45Griffin Newman?

  I know.

• 16:46Speaker 03

  He did not deserve to take a hit.

• 16:48Griffin Newman?

  He's fresh fruit on the boat.

• 16:49Speaker 03

  I know.

• 16:50Griffin Newman?

  Uh, we're gonna get deep into spoilers here. Any movie.

• 16:54David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 16:54Griffin Newman?

  Any movie where uh something goes horribly awry after people make like a big move, right? A big play Ben always defaults to, if it had been me, this would have ended with me owning an island. It all would have worked out.

• 17:10David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 17:10Griffin Newman?

  Do we remember on which episode that bit originated?

• 17:13David Sims?

  Simple plan, right?

• 17:14Griffin Newman?

  Simple plan. It's full fucking circle.

• 17:17David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 17:18Griffin Newman?

  If I had found that bag of money, the movie would have ended with me owning an island. No fucking moral struggles, no inner searching of who am I?

• 17:28David Sims?

  Well thought out.

• 17:29Griffin Newman?

  Disillusion of marriage.

• 17:31David Sims?

  Yeah, yeah. Wait, what is uh, what is her department, Linda?

• 17:35Griffin Newman?

  Strategies and planning.

• 17:36David Sims?

  That's what I'm all about, baby. Strategy and planning and it would have, yeah, it would have worked out for me. Absolutely.

• 17:43Griffin Newman?

  David, you saw this like two weeks ago.

• 17:45David Sims?

  I saw it. Yeah, it was a, it was screening for me at the Disney headquarters.

• 17:49Griffin Newman?

  Very nice of Mickey to spool it up for you.

• 17:52David Sims?

  They have a new uh screening room in their new uh, they have like a building.

• 17:57Speaker 02

  I feel like Ella McKay would do well in a send help scenario.

• 18:01David Sims?

  Ella McKay would do very well. She's got, yeah, she's an alpha, like, I mean, a secret alpha. You know what I mean?

• 18:06Speaker 02

  She's a secret alpha.

• 18:06Griffin Newman?

  Also Ella McKay gets everything done in like three days for better or worse. So like maybe her tenure as Senator was short.

• 18:13David Sims?

  Well, also like.

• 18:14Griffin Newman?

  But she'd get off the island in like 72 hours.

• 18:16David Sims?

  Ella's big problem is like, she's not a great people for like, she struggles in with the interpersonal. But like, once you're on the island, that's all that's done with like now, it's like, now it's time to just get things done.

• 18:27Griffin Newman?

  As long as she was wearing the sex scarf when the plane went down, she would have been great. You saw this like two weeks ago and you were like, it's good.

• 18:35David Sims?

  Yes, I didn't want to call her any opinion.

• 18:37Griffin Newman?

  Okay.

• 18:37David Sims?

  I said, send help fun good.

• 18:39Griffin Newman?

  Cause the three of us walked out hooting and.

• 18:41David Sims?

  But I don't like to, I truly do not like to overhype people like or to, I, I get very, very concerned. It's a trauma going all the way back to my teenage years and I'm sure you have it too.

• 18:51Griffin Newman?

  Let's unpack that.

• 18:52David Sims?

  Of saying to your friends like, oh, this movie rocks, you know, some movie I, and then they're like.

• 18:58David Sims?

  Not that good.

• 18:59Griffin Newman?

  Well, that's my Ang Lee Hulk experience.

• 19:01David Sims?

  That's you with Hulk, you with Tron, you had that experience with Tron.

• 19:04Griffin Newman?

  Sure.

• 19:05David Sims?

  You talked to school, you've told me that, talk to class.

• 19:07Griffin Newman?

  That's a more complicated nuanced story, but sure.

• 19:10David Sims?

  Oh, yes, of course. Much like Tron.

• 19:12Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 19:12David Sims?

  So complicated and nuanced.

• 19:14Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 19:15Speaker 03

  I kind of felt that way with my most recent Ben's Choice about the pizza pie, man.

• 19:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, I love you to death.

• 19:21Griffin Newman?

  Yeah. No, I think we all were thrilled by that choice. David.

• 19:26Speaker 02

  I mean, at least that movie's interesting. Like, there are so many people. It's weird.

• 19:29Speaker 03

  We got to talk about Tracy Ullman.

• 19:31Griffin Newman?

  We had a great time.

• 19:31Speaker 03

  Who has a great legacy. There's no problems there.

• 19:34Griffin Newman?

  No mistakes have been made. David, are we hotter on this movie than you are, or were you just playing it close to the vest?

• 19:41David Sims?

  I'm a big fan of this movie. I had a great time. I don't know. You are very hot in it.

• 19:46Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 19:46David Sims?

  I don't know that I could be hotter.

• 19:49Griffin Newman?

  I had an unbelievable time and part of it is just like, I think a thing that makes Sam Raimi unique, and I believe I said this at the time, but like, Drag Me to Hell feels like one of the only movies where a filmmaker who had just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, scaled down and went to their starting point, and it didn't feel like they were forcing themselves to fight with an arm behind their back. Right? Like, the frustration for us so often is with guys like Peter Jackson.

• 20:18David Sims?

  Right. Okay, Jackson's a good example.

• 20:20Griffin Newman?

  Ang Lee has fallen into a similar thing where I'm like, my God, you can't just like make a character drama again?

• 20:25David Sims?

  I was trying to think about this for my review because I mean, I thought about Tarantino first and foremost, but who's, you know, everyone's always talking about him. So I felt almost stupid invoking him, but you cannot deny that like, it's impossible to imagine Tarantino being like, you know what? I'm gonna make like, kind of like a little gritty movie. You know what? I can do that. I used to do it. Like, it's like, no, he's done doing stuff like that.

• 20:47Griffin Newman?

  For the listener at home, David literally rolled up his sleeves. He was locked in on the performance.

• 20:51Speaker 02

  And then he's also doing the weird arm thing.

• 20:53Griffin Newman?

  Now he's doing the weird arm thing, which of course QT can do as well.

• 20:55David Sims?

  I'm double jointed.

• 20:57Griffin Newman?

  No, but you're right. If he was like, my final film is Five Guys with Guns in a Warehouse, people would be like, the fuck are you talking about?

• 21:02David Sims?

  They, it would, people would maybe be excited, but I just, you know, he's probably not gonna do that. And I was trying to think of other like, cause I'm like, Raimi actually is happy, it seems to be like, well, I just made multiverse of madness. That doesn't mean that I require another gigantic scale movie to follow it up. I am happy to slum it with a silly script. I'm happy to have it come out in January. Now, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Sam Raimi is miserable about this, but I'm not getting that vibe. He seems like he's having a good time.

• 21:33Griffin Newman?

  And I also think Drag Me to Hell is the previous time he's done this.

• 21:36David Sims?

  Exactly.

• 21:37Griffin Newman?

  Twice.

• 21:37David Sims?

  He's shaken off like the dust a little bit from a blockbuster, you know, which is like a completely different kind of thing to make.

• 21:44Speaker 02

  I think there was, I saw a thing somewhere where they were like, Sam Raimi is like the only guy who like wants to keep making superhero movies and doesn't get to.

• 21:54David Sims?

  On Reddit, someone asked him like, what's your biggest regret about superhero movies? And he replied, that I can't, that I'm not getting offered more of them. Like he is like, let me add them. I love superheroes.

• 22:03Speaker 02

  But he's like, definitely the opposite of what we expect where it's like, oh, you're slumming it doing those kinds of movies. And you want to be making.

• 22:10David Sims?

  I've done all I can. Yeah. What else could I say? He's like, no, I have more to say. Please.

• 22:14Griffin Newman?

  There's also another aspect, which is like, there's the part you're talking about psychologically, that guys don't know how to go scale back down or don't want to anymore. Right? I also think there's a thing that like, when people get $200 million budgets, it sometimes seems to break their brain.

• 22:30Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 22:30Griffin Newman?

  In a way that's equivalent to like going to the moon and then not knowing how to exist on earth anymore.

• 22:34David Sims?

  Right. Yeah, totally.

• 22:35Griffin Newman?

  You feel sometimes people going like, hey, maybe strategically I should make a smaller one. Maybe I should go back to my roots.

• 22:41David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 22:42Griffin Newman?

  And you're like, they can't relocate the thing anymore.

• 22:44David Sims?

  To me, that's Zemeckis making here.

• 22:46Griffin Newman?

  Exactly.

• 22:47David Sims?

  Where he's like, I'll make an intimate tiny movie. And I'm like, but this is like the most complicated way for you to do that.

• 22:52Griffin Newman?

  Zemeckis doesn't know how to uncomplicate things anymore.

• 22:55David Sims?

  I think so. I mean, like.

• 22:57Griffin Newman?

  Like the later movies, he doesn't know how to.

• 22:59David Sims?

  Like, cause Allied is a similar thing where he's like, no, no, I can make like, and I'm like, right. But it's like a really expensive one. Like in a really like, like tough to mount one.

• 23:07Griffin Newman?

  And Raimi is a guy where you're like, you'd watch this movie and could easily believe this was directed by a 35 year old with the biggest budget they've ever been.

• 23:17David Sims?

  Exactly. Where they're like, I finally, I'm going to cut loose, get a little, you know, more CGI with it, blah, blah, blah. Like, yes.

• 23:25Griffin Newman?

  When they announce, um, Drag Me to Hell after Spider-Man three.

• 23:30Griffin Newman?

  And it was like, his next move is, he wants to go back. And he's gonna routine with his brothers and he's gonna make a nasty little horror movie at a lower budget. That was really exciting, but many people fall into that trap. And it's more depressing to see these guys not being able to locate their kind of core self anymore. But that was the thing he birthed from the ground up. This is like, just a script.

• 23:53David Sims?

  It's a script from-

• 23:54Griffin Newman?

  That he took on.

• 23:55David Sims?

  Mark Swift and Damien Shannon, who, I, I say this with all due respect, because I enjoyed this movie. Mostly right dog shit. Just utter dog shit.

• 24:04Griffin Newman?

  Give me the other credits.

• 24:05David Sims?

  Freddy versus Jason, which I enjoy, but I assume they were, you know, they were not probably the only people. They're the only credited writers on it, but I assume many passes-

• 24:12Griffin Newman?

  The movie's got a pretty pure vision.

• 24:16Griffin Newman?

  Unfiltered.

• 24:17David Sims?

  Shark Tale, which I think they are one of many credited people on.

• 24:21Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, a film I do not like.

• 24:22David Sims?

  No, not very good.

• 24:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, I've never seen it.

• 24:24Griffin Newman?

  All respect to Scott Alkerman.

• 24:26Speaker 02

  Is that his favorite movie?

• 24:28David Sims?

  He worked on it.

• 24:29Griffin Newman?

  He worked on it.

• 24:29Speaker 02

  Wait, what did he do on it?

• 24:30Griffin Newman?

  Lot of writing, uncredited.

• 24:32Speaker 02

  Oh, okay.

• 24:33David Sims?

  The Friday the 13th remake, uh, which means I suppose they wrote the line, "Your tits are just fucking just so juicy, dude."

• 24:42Griffin Newman?

  Yes, we- They wrote your favorite line of dialogue ever.

• 24:45David Sims?

  My favorite line, there's an insane sex scene in Friday the 13th remake, which is like a pretty solid, it's sort of like a forgettable, but okay remake.

• 24:53Speaker 02

  I don't even know, like, I forgot, like, I know that they did one for Elm Street with Jackie Earle Haley.

• 24:59David Sims?

  It was, it was, it was in that vein, it was, what's the Platinum Dunes?

• 25:02Griffin Newman?

  Platinum Dunes.

• 25:02David Sims?

  It's like, they did a Texas Chainsaw, they did a Friday the 13th.

• 25:06Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 25:06Speaker 02

  So who's in Friday the 13th?

• 25:08David Sims?

  Kind of nobody. I mean, again, I don't-

• 25:09Griffin Newman?

  Juliana Gill, the woman with like-

• 25:11Speaker 02

  Don't know who that is.

• 25:11Griffin Newman?

  Juicy tits.

• 25:12Speaker 02

  She's got the juiciest tits, okay, cool.

• 25:13David Sims?

  Jared Padalecki and Danielle, uh, Pana Baker and Amanda Righetti, you know, it's a lot of like CW actors.

• 25:20Speaker 02

  Wow, okay.

• 25:21Griffin Newman?

  But it was before Nightmare on Elm Street and it's a movie that has, they released it on-

• 25:26David Sims?

  An actual Friday the 13th. They did, I think, which was, it seemed to be like 50% or more of the reason for doing it.

• 25:32Griffin Newman?

  Marie, it is one of those movies, as a box office nerd, that I'm obsessed with because it made like 50% of its final- Gross on opening day.

• 25:41David Sims?

  It was an open picking, you know, it actually did fine.

• 25:44Griffin Newman?

  But it was the thing where it was like, opening day was like 20, opening weekend was like 40, final total was like 60 or under.

• 25:52David Sims?

  Sounds about right. Anyway, there is a sex scene in which the character who's having the boy says, "Your tits are fucking just so juicy, dude."

• 26:02Griffin Newman?

  Wow.

• 26:03David Sims?

  To a nude woman who says, "You really know how to give a compliment," which is funny, but I have just never forgotten it. And I assume they wrote that line, or maybe it was improv, who knows?

• 26:12Griffin Newman?

  Just like so juicy, dude.

• 26:14David Sims?

  I would just, and then just to finish their credits, Baywatch.

• 26:18Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 26:18David Sims?

  Not great.

• 26:19Griffin Newman?

  Not great.

• 26:20David Sims?

  Bob.

• 26:20Griffin Newman?

  Not great.

• 26:21David Sims?

  These are not movies where I'm like, can't wait to see what those guys are cooking up now. Now, I know when you judge a writing team like this, they're called Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, you know, buy their credits.

• 26:32Speaker 02

  I feel like they probably listen to this podcast.

• 26:33David Sims?

  These are all movies that, these are all movies that had a million people work on them. They ended up with the credit, that's great.

• 26:39Griffin Newman?

  And, and the inverse of this, and it's a thing we can't talk about because these things aren't known, or when they're known, you're not supposed to say them, is like, very often, the things someone is credited with, the lion's share of work was done by someone else, and the movies in which they did the most positive work, they didn't get credit on. That's the case with a lot of like, top level studio working screenwriters. It's why like the fucking Christina Hudson conversation is meaningless.

• 27:06David Sims?

  Of course, everyone's mad at her because she wrote The Flash or whatever.

• 27:09Griffin Newman?

  And she was announced as the new writer of Batman, The Brave and the Bold, a movie that is absolutely going to happen.

• 27:15David Sims?

  En route, a movie that is speeding towards us.

• 27:19Griffin Newman?

  Now, I'm, I'm pinging this for a specific reason.

• 27:22Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 27:23Griffin Newman?

  Sam Raimi says, "I wish they offered me more superhero movies." James Gunn is like, "Andy Machete is a little busy right now. I don't know if he's still making our Batman movie." That's definitely happening. Post-it, "Welcome to Derry," he's got a lot of offers, right? It feels like Gunn is laying the track for. In other interviews Raimi has done where they're asking him, well, what other superheroes would you want to do? He immediately says Batman. I wanted to make Batman in the eighties.

• 27:49David Sims?

  Wow. I mean, he made Dark Man, which is sort of like.

• 27:52Griffin Newman?

  Dark Man is him not getting to make Batman and not getting to make The Shadow and all the sort of pulp early nineties movies he wanted to make and couldn't get approved of. If I'm James Gunn and I hear same Raimi say that in an interview and there's potentially an opening director's chair and you're looking for a way to make the next Batman movie distinct? In an era where Batman's been rebooted too many times and we already have the Matt Reeves universe over here.

• 28:17Speaker 02

  I was going to ask about that. I still don't understand.

• 28:20David Sims?

  Nobody does.

• 28:21Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 28:22David Sims?

  No, no, no one understands the strategy here and no one will admit to knowing this.

• 28:29Griffin Newman?

  My belief I predicted in another episode that I think will come out in some weeks is that they will just be super fucking molasses slow with development on this other Batman movie. Wait until the Matt Reeves saga is over to then have a script that's ready to go that they can film within a year, but they will let that resolve itself.

• 28:46Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 28:46Griffin Newman?

  That's my prediction.

• 28:49David Sims?

  It's a fine prediction. I mean, I, Lord knows, I was just thinking about this. This is a horrible, you know, I sometimes I wake up at night because one of my kids makes a noise, you know, this happened to me last night.

• 28:59Griffin Newman?

  Well, they're trying to get on Dropout, right? I think they have a game show called Make Some Noise.

• 29:03David Sims?

  I can't say I watched Dropout. I'm sorry. Um, and I had this horrible thought where I was like, the James Gunn DC experiment, uh, not experiment, uh, project can go well and do like 10 years of movies, right?

• 29:15Griffin Newman?

  Right.

• 29:16David Sims?

  And kind of, you know, come to an end as these things seem to do, right? And then it's going to happen. Someone's going to be like, it's time to bring Zack Snyder back, Ben Affleck back and do The Dark Knight Returns, like Frank Miller's The Dark Knight. Affleck will be old enough and the drumbeat will begin. I predict this now.

• 29:33Speaker 02

  I thought Affleck was already old enough before and that's why they cast him.

• 29:37David Sims?

  He'll be older and like, and, and they kind of hinted at it, like the design of him is a little inspired by it and all that, but now they will fully, they will, people will start to demand.

• 29:46Griffin Newman?

  Dark Knight Returns, which is the big title, Marie, and the one that Snyder. Was always kind of pulling from but never directly adapting in that Batman is like unforgiving.

• 29:56David Sims?

  He's supposed to be Clint Eastwood essentially.

• 29:58Griffin Newman?

  And and him casting.

• 29:59David Sims?

  Gray haired guy.

• 29:59Griffin Newman?

  Affleck and having him be a little more beaten down and a little more chunky was trying to like bridge the gap for that. But the thing you could do, and by the way, even if James Gunn stays, I think that's a very smart observation. I think even if James Gunn stays in charge for 10 plus years.

• 30:17David Sims?

  Maybe, right.

• 30:18Griffin Newman?

  It would not be a bad decision to just go, hey, guys, Zack Snyder, Elseworlds, Dark Knight Returns, one off.

• 30:26David Sims?

  I mean, this is all silly because of course, what's actually going to happen in 10 years is Zack Snyder will be president of America.

• 30:30Griffin Newman?

  He'll be president of America.

• 30:31David Sims?

  And they'll be fine.

• 30:32Griffin Newman?

  And everyone will be calm. But you say, Marie, I don't get what's going on there. Can you explain this to me? If they announce tomorrow, Sam Raimi is directing a Batman movie with Robin in it. As a movie person, your brain immediately goes, I understand how that would be different from what Matt Reeves and Pattinson are doing.

• 30:49David Sims?

  Right. Very different, big auteur with a totally different energy.

• 30:52Griffin Newman?

  And different from what the last 15, 20 years of live action Batman have been immediately?

• 30:57David Sims?

  I love it. I mean, I have no idea what I love, but I can tell you that in 2021, oh, no, 2019. This is crazy. This project was announced in 2019.

• 31:08Griffin Newman?

  With Raimi attached?

• 31:09David Sims?

  Yes. Sam Raimi is going on an island getaway. The director is reteaming with his Spider-Man Studio Columbia Pictures. So I don't know how it fucking moved from Columbia to Disney to Fox, you know, but Michael Swift, Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, who wrote the reboot is Friday the 13th. And interesting, the Hollywood Reporter says in brackets, you know, the movie where they say juicy tits. It's interesting. We'll pen the script based on their original idea. So this is less than, less them being told like, hey, can you do a Friday the 13th? Hey, can you work on the Baywatch movie? This is like them being like, no, no, no, we have a, you know, an actual little cute script we want to do. And Raimi took a liking to it.

• 31:46Griffin Newman?

  They pitched the idea, right, but they will pen. It's like they pitched the idea to him as a producer and he says, that sounds good. Write it. I want to make this happen.

• 31:53David Sims?

  Now I'm trying to figure out.

• 31:55Griffin Newman?

  Was Ghost House the name of his shingle at Sony?

• 31:58David Sims?

  Uh.

• 31:59Griffin Newman?

  He had his production company. Cause this was another thing in the 2000s and 2010s when he slows down. He's producing like a lot of dumpuary.

• 32:07David Sims?

  But just those Raimi productions.

• 32:09Griffin Newman?

  Okay.

• 32:09David Sims?

  I'm not sure.

• 32:10Griffin Newman?

  There was a Raimi Tapper production company that did like the messengers and things like that. Where he was pumping out a lot of screen gems.

• 32:18David Sims?

  No, he's definitely produced a surprising amount of stuff over the years.

• 32:23Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, and, and it wasn't like the 2010s where Raimi coming down with a case of the attaches. Because he just kinda wasn't making anything.

• 32:32David Sims?

  But I think it's how he would get it in the mix with like these younger screenwriters. He would see their stuff.

• 32:37Griffin Newman?

  And like, once a year, there would be a Raimi is circling and then it just would never come to fruition. It just felt like he couldn't get stuff off the ground. He was producing a lot of things for younger filmmakers, but that's interesting that he, right.

• 32:49David Sims?

  I, I.

• 32:50Speaker 02

  Do you guys remember this coming up in our series at all?

• 32:54David Sims?

  No, but I don't remember jack shit about that time in my life. Sorry. Like, I don't. Uh, I can tell you that in Deadline has it on 2024, so five years later, that he has closed a deal to direct and produce Send Help for 20th Century Studios. So it took that long for this thing to kinda, you know, bubble.

• 33:17Griffin Newman?

  After the major success of.

• 33:20David Sims?

  Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which made almost a billion dollars.

• 33:23Griffin Newman?

  And I mean, Astaghfirullah powerful ends up at 700 worldwide.

• 33:27David Sims?

  It made a lot of money, although quite a long time ago.

• 33:30Griffin Newman?

  Yes, but it is like, it's interesting that he made a movie that was completely a financial success and yet feels like such a failure as an experiment. That he's back on ice for like a decade before Disney lets him make another giant budget movie. And that one makes a ton of money.

• 33:44David Sims?

  The other thing is that of course, Raimi has constantly been attached to a remake of the ventriloquist dummy movie, Magic.

• 33:51Griffin Newman?

  We've kept hearing like that's happening.

• 33:53David Sims?

  Being written by these guys.

• 33:54Griffin Newman?

  Oh, interesting.

• 33:55David Sims?

  So clearly he's, you know, into these guys.

• 33:57Griffin Newman?

  Yeah. But I feel like when we were doing the Raimi series, we were hearing from multiple people.

• 34:04David Sims?

  That was what he was most interested in.

• 34:06Griffin Newman?

  Like it's really happening and it's happening soon.

• 34:08David Sims?

  But maybe they were just talking about magic like in the world.

• 34:11Griffin Newman?

  Something magical is happening. Ferries are going to be, disclosure day is coming and it's not about aliens. It's about fairies.

• 34:19Speaker 02

  That would be so crazy.

• 34:22Griffin Newman?

  If fairies were real?

• 34:23Speaker 02

  No, if that was just, if it's like, guess what, guys? It's not aliens, it's fairies.

• 34:28Griffin Newman?

  The whole time it's been fairies.

• 34:29David Sims?

  Well, it would also be so crazy. I think the ultimate stunt would be disclosure day comes out with the simultaneous actual acknowledgement from governments that aliens exist. And Spielberg is like, thank you for like, you know, like the corporate synergy.

• 34:42Griffin Newman?

  Perfect tie in.

• 34:43David Sims?

  Right. Do you agree, Ben?

• 34:45Speaker 03

  Well, then they already kind of do that.

• 34:47David Sims?

  The, the funniest shit they ever did. They just dropped some videos being like, by the way, here's some like UFOs. We don't really know what's going on with them.

• 34:53Speaker 02

  I bet.

• 34:54David Sims?

  Almost like.

• 34:56Speaker 03

  That is the crazy thing to me is that everyone really did just be like, okay.

• 35:00David Sims?

  I think everyone just were like, uh, call me when it's a saucer landing and a guy comes out.

• 35:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:05David Sims?

  Everyone was just kind of like, okay, it's like a blob. I don't know.

• 35:08Speaker 02

  Do we think that Tom Delange was like consulted?

• 35:12Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 35:12Speaker 02

  On this, on the Spielberg movie?

• 35:14Griffin Newman?

  Oh, no.

• 35:14David Sims?

  Cause he said aliens.

• 35:16Griffin Newman?

  I thought you were asking if the government consulted.

• 35:18David Sims?

  Yes.

• 35:19Griffin Newman?

  No, I, the government, I was going to say a hundred percent. Spielberg, zero percent.

• 35:23Speaker 02

  Hey, I don't know. I'm, when I think of like disclosure, as it relates to aliens, like he's the number one guy.

• 35:29Griffin Newman?

  Marie, you're forgetting that Steven Spielberg has a much closer and older friend who's been banging that drum for longer than Tom Delange. If Spielberg's asking anyone, it's Dan Aykroyd.

• 35:42Speaker 02

  Wait, I didn't know that Dan Aykroyd's an alien guy.

• 35:44Griffin Newman?

  Dan Aykroyd.

• 35:45David Sims?

  Dan Aykroyd is like the ultimate.

• 35:46Griffin Newman?

  There's a 10 hour DVD series of him just straight into camera, chain smoking cigarettes, explaining aliens.

• 35:53Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 35:54Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 35:54Speaker 02

  This is the kind of stuff I miss out on by like not ever being into Dan Aykroyd.

• 35:59David Sims?

  Who has like sex and normal human relationships with people?

• 36:03Griffin Newman?

  Marie, it sounds like it's time for you to crack a skull.

• 36:06Speaker 02

  I know about his vodka.

• 36:07Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 36:08Speaker 02

  I do know about the Dan Aykroyd vodka.

• 36:09Griffin Newman?

  Why do you think it's in a crystal skull? Because it's a powerful totem provided to us by the UFOs many millennia ago.

• 36:16Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 36:18Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, no, Dan Aykroyd is absolutely, if Spielberg was like, who's the craziest alien person I know?

• 36:23Speaker 02

  But like, I don't think Dan Aykroyd has an in with like, current military people. Tom DeLance has been building those relationships recently.

• 36:31David Sims?

  I'm sorry, why, why has he been doing that?

• 36:33Speaker 02

  I don't know, this is like his, oh, I'm not in Blink 182 anymore, I'm just gonna go all in to aliens.

• 36:39David Sims?

  Do you guys like Blink 182?

• 36:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, of course.

• 36:42Griffin Newman?

  Talk about classic. I don't remember anything that happened on this show before. Blink 182 was like, my biggest band for years. We've definitely talked about them.

• 36:49David Sims?

  I'm sure we have.

• 36:50Griffin Newman?

  Yeah. That was, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket was seminal.

• 36:55Speaker 02

  A motto for you.

• 36:56David Sims?

  Don't be saying that in Walmart or anything, though, okay? Remember they had to call it Take Off Your Jacket and Pants in certain places?

• 37:04Griffin Newman?

  Enema of the state. Even the title is saucy. I remember pointing out the CD to my dad and saying, I want that, and him looking at it going, you're not, you're not getting that.

• 37:13David Sims?

  I mean, it does have a nurse, a sexy nurse lady going like this.

• 37:17Speaker 02

  Putting her glove on.

• 37:19David Sims?

  Speaking of, uh...

• 37:20Speaker 03

  That's about the time they...

• 37:22Griffin Newman?

  Ray for me. Nobody likes you when you're 23.

• 37:30Speaker 02

  What the hell is ADD, my friend?

• 37:31Griffin Newman?

  What's my age again? What's my age again? Forty, sigh.

• 37:38David Sims?

  Forty in two months.

• 37:40Griffin Newman?

  Uh, Ghost House Pictures...

• 37:41Speaker 02

  You're turning 40 this year?

• 37:42Griffin Newman?

  Mm-hmm.

• 37:43Speaker 02

  Oh, David.

• 37:45David Sims?

  Don't be too bad.

• 37:46Speaker 02

  I just turned 37. You're turning 37 soon.

• 37:49Griffin Newman?

  Well, our birthdays are very close together, we're very close.

• 37:51Speaker 02

  We're very close.

• 37:51Griffin Newman?

  We're very close.

• 37:53Speaker 02

  But, uh, yeah, 37 felt way worse to me than other years in my 30s.

• 37:58David Sims?

  That's interesting to me, I don't really, that's not one that really registered with me.

• 38:02Speaker 02

  37 feels firmly late 30s.

• 38:05David Sims?

  I mean...

• 38:06Speaker 02

  Whereas otherwise, I can just be like, oh, I'm mid 30s, I'm early 30, no, 37.

• 38:11David Sims?

  That's why I'm excited to be 40, baby. Early 40s.

• 38:13Speaker 03

  Can I tell you what it's like?

• 38:15David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 38:15Speaker 03

  Sucks. Fuck.

• 38:17Griffin Newman?

  Fuck. For your birthday this year, I assume you're just gonna do Edward Forty Hands?

• 38:24Speaker 02

  David is.

• 38:25Griffin Newman?

  It's perfect object.

• 38:26Speaker 02

  Mimicking Edward Forty Hands.

• 38:28Griffin Newman?

  Forty's being duct taped to his hand.

• 38:30David Sims?

  I definitely, Pilot definitely did that, like, back when I.

• 38:33Griffin Newman?

  The great Pilot.

• 38:34David Sims?

  Would hang out with Pilot all the time.

• 38:36Griffin Newman?

  Would, would do Edward Forty Hands.

• 38:37David Sims?

  That was like a thing where I'd be like, what are you doing tonight? Well, someone's doing Edward Forty Hands. Like, if you want to come by, be it me or one of my friends.

• 38:45Griffin Newman?

  Do you want to watch?

• 38:46David Sims?

  Yeah, kind of, you know, that was sort of the, that was sort of the vibe. If you were gonna, you know, ask Pilot, oh, what are the, what are the Friday plans?

• 38:54Speaker 02

  I never, I never got into forties.

• 38:56David Sims?

  No, they.

• 38:57Speaker 02

  Cause they really, they tasted different from regular beer. I was like, this is worse. And there's more of it.

• 39:01Griffin Newman?

  Mal liquor, yeah.

• 39:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, thank you.

• 39:04Speaker 03

  I have news. I, of course, was really into forty.

• 39:07David Sims?

  What?

• 39:08Speaker 03

  In high school.

• 39:09David Sims?

  We have.

• 39:09Speaker 03

  In England, that stuff doesn't exist. We had cider, we had white lightning.

• 39:12Griffin Newman?

  We have it here in the office. The, the porch is forty.

• 39:16David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 39:16Griffin Newman?

  The customized porch is.

• 39:18Speaker 02

  That is true.

• 39:20Speaker 03

  Pooch of all time.

• 39:21David Sims?

  Shout out to my UK listeners, if y'all ever drank white lightning, respect. I used to drink white lightning in the park.

• 39:27Griffin Newman?

  Would they call it a forty? Cause it was a different, you know, the measurement. What would the number be?

• 39:30David Sims?

  I don't know. We didn't.

• 39:31Speaker 02

  Something random like a.

• 39:32David Sims?

  We called it white lightning.

• 39:33Speaker 02

  Fifty-two.

• 39:34Griffin Newman?

  A two pence.

• 39:36David Sims?

  Tuppence, I think.

• 39:37Griffin Newman?

  No, I was saying two pence. It was a different term.

• 39:40Speaker 03

  Big fan, though, of drinking down to the label, throwing in some OJ. Brass Monkey Baby.

• 39:45David Sims?

  That sounds.

• 39:46Speaker 02

  Disgusting.

• 39:47David Sims?

  So vile. Jesus Christ.

• 39:49Griffin Newman?

  It's a good way to puke.

• 39:50Speaker 03

  It's kind of like a take on a mimosa.

• 39:54Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 39:55David Sims?

  Like a sort of take on a mimosa by someone who's been like stunned as a child.

• 39:59Speaker 02

  Had you heard of toilet?

• 40:00Speaker 03

  I heard it on, you know, the Beastie Boys.

• 40:03Speaker 02

  That funky monkey. Had you heard of toilet wine before this movie?

• 40:07David Sims?

  Yeah, of course. It's like prison movie.

• 40:08Griffin Newman?

  This was new to you?

• 40:09Speaker 02

  Toilet wine was new to me.

• 40:11Griffin Newman?

  Wow. You clearly have never seen Let's Go to Prison.

• 40:14Speaker 02

  I've never seen Let's Go to Prison, although recently, just speaking about like prison stuff, I was like, should I watch Oz?

• 40:22David Sims?

  You know.

• 40:23Speaker 02

  What if I got really into Oz?

• 40:25David Sims?

  Another sign of, are you depressed, Marie? How we doing? What's going on?

• 40:29Speaker 02

  Playing the Sims, watching Oz.

• 40:32David Sims?

  That's also regressing to like the year 2000 in a very specific sort of a way.

• 40:37Griffin Newman?

  Feel like shit, miss them, wish I was back.

• 40:40David Sims?

  I mean, Oz is one of those shows I have not seen it in a long time. Where I think you're kind of like, this is interesting. I'm seeing the germs of like a new kind of television. But you're not like, this is an unseen masterpiece. You're like, oh.

• 40:55Speaker 02

  All I know about Oz was that there were like white supremacists and buttfucking. That's like all I know about Oz. Also, Rita Moreno was in there.

• 41:04Griffin Newman?

  Rita Moreno was on Oz?

• 41:06David Sims?

  It has an unbelievable cast. Yes, yes. Cause it was back in the day when like it was the only interesting TV show. You know what I mean? Like it was like the only challenging TV show that existed because it's a couple of years before like the HBO revolution really begins.

• 41:31Griffin Newman?

  David?

• 41:32David Sims?

  Yes.

• 41:35David Sims?

  Is that the C S cow? Haven't heard from her in a while.

• 41:39Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, she's reactivated because she's horny for chicken fingers.

• 41:44David Sims?

  Okay.

• 41:45Griffin Newman?

  She's excited for the streaming debut of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

• 41:49David Sims?

  Wow.

• 41:50Griffin Newman?

  The cow likes chicken.

• 41:52David Sims?

  Remember cow and chicken? Let's look it up. While you tell the great listeners about the great stuff on movie.

• 41:59Griffin Newman?

  Well, 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, one of my favorite movies of the year.

• 42:12David Sims?

  Absolutely.

• 42:13Griffin Newman?

  You can feel the rush now at home. There's a hole at the bottom of the lake where the movies come from.

• 42:19David Sims?

  That is a line in the movie.

• 42:20Griffin Newman?

  In the new movie from Jane Schomburg, Past and Future Guest.

• 42:23David Sims?

  Past and Future Guest, a great filmmaker, a great podcast guest, a great friend.

• 42:28Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 42:29David Sims?

  This movie rocks. It's got, of course, it stars Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. Legends and I tip my cap, but Zach Cherry.

• 42:37Griffin Newman?

  Friend of the show.

• 42:38David Sims?

  Friend of the show Zach Cherry. Also in it.

• 42:41Griffin Newman?

  This is true.

• 42:42David Sims?

  Such a cool movie. One that queer Paul McCann, 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.

• 42:52Griffin Newman?

  Hannah Einbinder plays the filmmaker attempting to reboot the Camp Miasma franchise, trying to track down the original final girl from the first movie to, to make some sort of legacy sequel, who's played by Gillian Anderson, who lives at the summer camp.

• 43:07David Sims?

  Yes. And you know, and then they hang out and it's regular.

• 43:11Griffin Newman?

  What happens? It's, 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.

• 43:23David Sims?

  It's now streaming exclusively on movie and you can try movie free for 30 days at movie.com slash blank check. That's M U B I dot com slash blank check for a whole month of great cinema for free.

• 43:35Griffin Newman?

  They got so many great movies on there to watch, but worth it for 30 days for Miasma.

• 43:40David Sims?

  Damn right.

• 43:46Griffin Newman?

  David.

• 43:47David Sims?

  Hmm.

• 43:47Griffin Newman?

  It's not cuffing season for me. It's hosi season for me. And this year that meant finally upgrading my new mattress from Lisa.

• 43:55David Sims?

  Lisa.

• 43:56Griffin Newman?

  It's supportive, comfortable and just what my body needs after a long day. It makes crawling into bed on a chilly fall night feel like luxury.

• 44:03David Sims?

  Yeah. I have a Lisa too. Uh, they've got a lineup of beautifully crafted mattresses tailored to how you sleep.

• 44:09Griffin Newman?

  Mm hmm.

• 44:10David Sims?

  Each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind. They've got eco-friendly materials.

• 44:16Griffin Newman?

  Maybe you hear eco-friendly and you go, oh, but I'm going to sacrifice comfort.

• 44:20David Sims?

  No.

• 44:21Griffin Newman?

  Nope.

• 44:21David Sims?

  They've been awarded best hybrid and best memory foam mattresses by New York Times's Wirecutter. They're featured by West Elm as their go-to mattress partner and they work with local nonprofits across the U S to donate thousands of mattresses each year to families in needs. Over 43,000 mattresses donated to date. Go to lisa.com for up to 30% off mattresses. Plus get an extra $50 off with promo code blank check. Exclusive for our listeners. That's L E E S A dot com promo code blank check for up to 30% off mattresses plus an extra $50 off. Let them know we sent you in the survey after checkout. Lisa.com promo code blank check.

• 45:09Griffin Newman?

  David!

• 45:09David Sims?

  Yes?

• 45:10Griffin Newman?

  Shop.com is giving away $1 million in Shop Cash.

• 45:14David Sims?

  Wow. Shop has all the stores you love and lets you track every order in one spot.

• 45:19Griffin Newman?

  I love that. It's very convenient.

• 45:20David Sims?

  And now, 1,000 shoppers are each gonna win $1,000 in Shop Cash, just in time for the holidays.

• 45:28Griffin 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.

• 45:36David Sims?

  Uh, got stocking stuffers, maybe. The sickest luxury items. Cookware, to kicks, toys to high-tech, even tinsel and tree toppers. Type in what you're looking for to instantly search every shop at once, okay? That's shop.com. You can just go, click around, find brands you love, search across all the stores, track every order in one spot.

• 46:00Griffin Newman?

  From cult favorites to the world's biggest brands, score suite deals, and checkout fast, all at shop.com. Enter to win the $1 million Shop Cash giveaway from now until November 1st. Just go to shop.com. There are so many ways to win. That's shop.com. Shopping designed around you. No purchase necessary. Restrictions apply. Official rules available at shop.com.

• 46:33David Sims?

  Alright, so Send Help.

• 46:34Speaker 02

  Send Help.

• 46:34David Sims?

  Is a film directed by Sam Raimi, written by those guys we talked about.

• 46:38Speaker 02

  Who probably listen to this podcast.

• 46:39David Sims?

  Sure. It start, you know what? Great job, guys. Like, I really enjoyed the movie. Um, Rachel McAdams is the star, of course. She worked with Sam on Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. He spoke very highly of her.

• 46:51Griffin Newman?

  Took to her immediately, was like, "You're a perfect actor for me. I gotta find something where we can do more together."

• 46:56David Sims?

  I saw some interview where he was like, just, he was like, you know, "I'm describing like a stunt to her. Like, you're gonna get pulled back. You're gonna, like, you know, whatever, right? You know, for an action scene." If for Doctor Strange and she was like, rather than being like, okay, Jesus. She was like, what angle do you want my head to be at when I hit? And he was like, you and I are friends forever.

• 47:15Griffin Newman?

  He knows when he finds his people. Look, Raimi is a very technical filmmaker. He designs movies like fucking EC Comics and he needs actors to hit very specific marks, but also like high emotions, comedic instincts. When he finds someone who works, it makes sense that he just grabs on.

• 47:32David Sims?

  The other thing with Rachel McAdams is you would have to be a fucking idiot to not know that she's like an incredibly versatile and talented actor. Everyone knows that, right? And yet Hollywood treats her with mild disrespect.

• 47:44Speaker 02

  I mean, this is also a movie about how Rachel McAdams is.

• 47:48David Sims?

  A little bit.

• 47:48Speaker 02

  A little bit underestimated.

• 47:49David Sims?

  She's been with us for 20 years. She's always good. She's done a million kinds of tones and stuff like she's nailed them all. She is, let me just say it, a fox and you know.

• 48:01Griffin Newman?

  This movie plays with that in an interesting way.

• 48:03David Sims?

  Really clever ways.

• 48:04Speaker 02

  I, that, um, okay, we can get into it.

• 48:06David Sims?

  You think Rachel McAdams is busted?

• 48:08Speaker 02

  No, I think she's too, I, I think the movie would have been, I think she's wonderful and she's really good in the movie, but I think the movie, it would have been a little more interesting if she was less attractive.

• 48:19Griffin Newman?

  I think the movie is very pointedly presenting an actress over 40 and saying, remember this person was presented as Julia Roberts and the industry is now telling you that this person is undesirable? That, that she has crossed the line and now she is disgusting.

• 48:38Speaker 02

  She's undesirable, Rachel McAdams.

• 48:40David Sims?

  You want me to run through her recent credits?

• 48:42Speaker 02

  I mean, she's in our, she plays a mom and are you there God, it's me, Margaret, but she's not like an, she's like pretty, pretty attractive in that movie.

• 48:51Griffin Newman?

  I agree.

• 48:51Speaker 02

  So I, yeah.

• 48:53David Sims?

  Honestly, her recent credits are 2025, zero movies, 2024, zero movies, 2023, are you there God, 22, Doctor Strange, which is like, God bless, I love that she was in it, but she's not a central part of it.

• 49:07Griffin Newman?

  And I do love that Sam Raimi was sort of like handed all these pieces of contractual obligations, actors left over from other Marvel. Marvel movies.

• 49:15David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 49:15Griffin Newman?

  And the threads from the first Doctor Strange and was immediately like, I gotta build something better for you. Our relationship shouldn't just be you being like, oh, Stephen.

• 49:25David Sims?

  2021, zero movies. 2020, Eurovision, which she rocks in.

• 49:28Speaker 02

  Oh, she's great.

• 49:29David Sims?

  2019, zero movies. 2018, Game Night.

• 49:32Speaker 02

  And is she doing, she's incredible in Game Night. Is she doing TV?

• 49:36David Sims?

  That's the whole thing. You're like, oh, well, she must not have.

• 49:38Speaker 02

  Well, she did like one season of True Detective, right?

• 49:40David Sims?

  2015.

• 49:42Speaker 02

  Well, what the hell is she doing?

• 49:43David Sims?

  The only thing she's done that I'm not mentioning is she did theater. She did Mary Jane on Broadway.

• 49:49Speaker 02

  Broadway.

• 49:50David Sims?

  Which she, you know, got a Tony nomination for and got very good reviews for. But look, maybe Rachel McAdams isn't working much because she doesn't want to. Like, I don't know. Like, I don't know what's up with Rachel McAdams. And if she wants to tell me, she can call me and my number is 12345678910. But like.

• 50:08Speaker 03

  Interesting.

• 50:08David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 50:12David Sims?

  But like, to me, it feels like Holly was just like, oh, yeah, well, we know you're over there and you're always good.

• 50:18Griffin Newman?

  It is an assumption on my part that she is probably turning down a tremendous amount of stuff.

• 50:23David Sims?

  Crappy dumb stuff.

• 50:24Griffin Newman?

  Like disrespectful.

• 50:26David Sims?

  Like, the last movie she was presented to us, I think, is like, like a really, like, you know, you know, a hot person that you want to, right? Like, when's the last time?

• 50:39Griffin Newman?

  The vow.

• 50:40David Sims?

  Yes.

• 50:41Griffin Newman?

  You're saying like, the last time she was presented as sort of like.

• 50:43David Sims?

  I guess about time, but obviously that's like a sweet movie.

• 50:46Speaker 02

  I don't know. Maybe they just have, because I'm a woman, I have like different perspective on this. But like, I don't, I'm always like, oh, yeah, Rachel McAdams, she's hot and I love her whenever she shows up.

• 50:57David Sims?

  Agree with that, but when like, in Aloha, it's like, don't you want to be rid of Rachel McAdams so you can get with that hot Asian Emma Stone?

• 51:05Griffin Newman?

  Your reading of Aloha is wrong. I.

• 51:07David Sims?

  No, but she's less of the object of desire in Aloha, right? It's been a while since I saw.

• 51:13Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, you gotta rewatch Aloha.

• 51:14David Sims?

  I know that.

• 51:14Griffin Newman?

  I'd say that's not the benefit of.

• 51:16David Sims?

  Let's relax. Let's relax about, I've got.

• 51:18Griffin Newman?

  It's time for you to take another lap. Go to the beach, lie down and bathe in aloha. No, aloha is, was mis marketed as a love triangle movie is instead him trying to process what he got wrong in his previous most important relationship to figure out how to be a better man.

• 51:36David Sims?

  But nonetheless.

• 51:38Griffin Newman?

  Really tension within the movie about them getting back together.

• 51:41David Sims?

  But this, but nonetheless, she is not the romantic lead of that film.

• 51:45Griffin Newman?

  It's that she was in.

• 51:47David Sims?

  And then like disobedience, sure, she's hot stuff. They're all spitting in each other's mouths, but they're all the cynics. You know, they're all fucking, you know, religious.

• 51:56Griffin Newman?

  The point to me, Marie, is that, and how old is she now?

• 52:00David Sims?

  Forty seven.

• 52:01Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 52:01Speaker 02

  She's all, wow.

• 52:02Griffin Newman?

  Because the whole thing in Mean Girls.

• 52:04David Sims?

  Mean Girls, she was 24.

• 52:06Griffin Newman?

  I thought she was even older in Mean Girls.

• 52:07David Sims?

  Well, do the math, 25, like, I mean, it was, Mean Girls is 23 years ago.

• 52:12Griffin Newman?

  That's the whole thing, cause Lindsay's actually like 17 in that movie and she's 25. Yeah. Uh, had been just doing, uh, work in Canada up until that point, but, uh, 2004 is the, um, is 2004, no.

• 52:27David Sims?

  Mean Girls and The Notebook.

• 52:28Griffin Newman?

  And then 2005 is Wedding Crashers, Red Eye and Family Stone.

• 52:33Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 52:33Griffin Newman?

  And those.

• 52:34Speaker 02

  What a run.

• 52:35David Sims?

  What a run.

• 52:35Griffin Newman?

  Two years Hollywood goes, we've done it.

• 52:37David Sims?

  We found Julia.

• 52:38Griffin Newman?

  Yep. It was truly like we've been searching. For the alternative energy source. She has done five movies across two years in every genre. She's played supporting, she's played romantic lead, she's done comedy. It's here and she basically, and she's talked about in the last couple of years, got really freaked out by the pressure that was placed on her. And just like, I'm not thinking of this.

• 53:00David Sims?

  Especially the notebook thing, the Ryan Gosling thing, you know, all that.

• 53:04Speaker 02

  Remember when they recreated that kiss on stage at the MTV.

• 53:07Griffin Newman?

  Wearing the Darfur shirt?

• 53:09Speaker 02

  Oh my God, talk about 2024.

• 53:11David Sims?

  I was about to say, talk about like, right, just a moment.

• 53:14Griffin Newman?

  Nothing is.

• 53:15Speaker 02

  2004, not 2024.

• 53:16Griffin Newman?

  Nothing is more 2004.

• 53:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:18Griffin Newman?

  But she was just like, I like acting. I don't, this presidential fame-

• 53:23David Sims?

  Right, this star thing.

• 53:24Griffin Newman?

  Presidential campaign level of you're running for A-list queen of Hollywood shit freaked her out. And machinery, she slows way down. Her next two movies are The Lucky Ones and Married Life?

• 53:34David Sims?

  Uh, yeah, but I think, uh-

• 53:37Speaker 02

  I, those aren't, I'm not-

• 53:39Griffin Newman?

  Exactly.

• 53:40David Sims?

  Married Life is oh seven, The Lucky Ones is oh eight, neither of those, you know, they were not seen. And then in oh nine-

• 53:46Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 53:47David Sims?

  She has the sort of comeback year, but it's State of Play where she's, you know, kind of the third lead. Sherlock Holmes, where she's like, kind of the third lead, obviously. Sherlock Holmes is the main character of that one, just FYI. And then Time Traveler's Wife, which was like much delayed.

• 54:02Griffin Newman?

  But was it, was it a hit?

• 54:03Speaker 02

  That's funny that she's in Time Traveler's Wife and About Time.

• 54:06David Sims?

  She's good in Time Traveler's Wife.

• 54:08Griffin Newman?

  It's-

• 54:08David Sims?

  It's a bad movie.

• 54:10Griffin Newman?

  Cause there's also Midnight in Paris. She's in-

• 54:12Speaker 02

  Oh, you're right.

• 54:13Griffin Newman?

  Three movies where she falls in love with a guy-

• 54:15David Sims?

  Who is time traveling.

• 54:16Griffin Newman?

  Who's time traveling.

• 54:17David Sims?

  Yeah. And she's like, what's up?

• 54:18Griffin Newman?

  Men will literally time travel to avoid staying engaged in their relationship.

• 54:22Speaker 02

  When are we going to put Rachel McAdams' time traveling wife trilogy on Patreon?

• 54:27Griffin Newman?

  I'd love nothing more.

• 54:28David Sims?

  That's, yeah. And hey, what, what, what the world needs now is us talking Midnight in Paris.

• 54:34Griffin Newman?

  Everyone wants to hear me say that.

• 54:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:37Griffin Newman?

  She just, it was an interesting kind of swerve from her and it feels like she reemerged and like Sherlock Holmes was the real like, I guess I gotta pay a mortgage and like make a movie where my face is on a billboard, but what's the strategic one that feels like will be the most fun and is the least weight on my shoulders? There's a lot of stuff she infamously turned down, like Batman Begins and-

• 54:58David Sims?

  She would've been great in that.

• 54:58Griffin Newman?

  Rachel! I, I think it was-

• 55:00David Sims?

  That was Christopher Nolan, uh, trying to hire her.

• 55:02Griffin Newman?

  Rachel! I believe there was the holy trinity of Batman Begins, Iron Man and Superman Returns that she all turned down.

• 55:10David Sims?

  She, obviously, I mean, the way Kate Bosworth is like styled in Superman Returns is basically like, fuck, we planned on-

• 55:16Speaker 02

  They dyed her hair and everything, yeah.

• 55:18David Sims?

  Uh, Iron Man, uh, what, she would've been Pepper Potts.

• 55:21Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 55:21David Sims?

  She would've been good at that too.

• 55:22Griffin Newman?

  But Paltrow crushes that.

• 55:24David Sims?

  Yeah, Paltrow.

• 55:24Griffin Newman?

  The other two are miscast and you see how, if McAdams had been in them, both movies would have like-

• 55:30David Sims?

  Yeah, I mean,

• 55:31Griffin Newman?

  Really benefited.

• 55:31David Sims?

  Obviously, Rachel Dawes is the kind of character that if I'm Rachel McAdams and maybe I'm not like foreseeing a Christopher Nolan, you know, boom about to start, I'm kind of like, why do I want to be the fucking DA who talks to Batman? Like boring. And Lois Lane is more exciting, but you know, it's a big old production. Maybe you don't want to do it.

• 55:52Griffin Newman?

  Beyond even jerk off motion boring, I think she was like, I don't want more attention right now.

• 55:57David Sims?

  Maybe, yeah, maybe she just wasn't into it.

• 55:59Griffin Newman?

  And has just like, had a very interesting career of feeling like she works when she wants to work. And she can always every couple of years be like romantic drama, romantic comedy, this or that, you know, when Morning Glory comes out, people were sort of like, this is the one we've been waiting for. It took her like, you know, eight years past the moment where we anointed her for her to like, find her working girl, her Julia movie. And that movie didn't really go, but it was like, this is the vehicle we wanted and the audience isn't here for us. I think it, what I think is interesting about this movie is it is less that like, they're taking Rachel McAdams and making her Selena Kyle at the beginning of Batman Returns. A performance I love, but one where Michelle Pfeiffer is

• 56:44Griffin Newman?

  going like, big with how small and broken and sad and maladjusted the character is. This is more about like, to a guy like Dylan O'Brien, Rachel McAdams has no value. That he's looking at one of still the most luminous actresses we have working in Hollywood and going like, who's this fucking 46 year old eating tuna fish sandwiches?

• 57:06David Sims?

  Right. She's swagless. You know, she's got lipstick on her teeth. She's eating tuna.

• 57:10Speaker 03

  She's got a bad necklace.

• 57:11David Sims?

  She's too obsessed with Survivor, which is a red flag.

• 57:14Griffin Newman?

  I love.

• 57:15Speaker 02

  The Survivor thing really, cause like.

• 57:18David Sims?

  It's a good option. Obviously, it's Christopher the movie.

• 57:20Speaker 02

  I mean, David, you and I both have like coworkers.

• 57:23David Sims?

  We sure do.

• 57:24Speaker 02

  Like, I don't consider you guys, I mean, I joked about you guys.

• 57:27Speaker 03

  No, no, we're talking about.

• 57:28Griffin Newman?

  You guys are our coworkers.

• 57:29Speaker 02

  No, we're talking about like, but we're also friends and we all have the same interests.

• 57:33Griffin Newman?

  Marie, remember, I'm your boss.

• 57:35Speaker 02

  That's true. You are my boss.

• 57:37David Sims?

  You're in trouble.

• 57:38Griffin Newman?

  Ben's your boss, David's your boss.

• 57:39Speaker 02

  You guys are all my boss.

• 57:40David Sims?

  Oh, Jesus.

• 57:41Griffin Newman?

  You're in line for VP.

• 57:42Speaker 02

  But like, you know, like a desk, like a desk job where you have coworkers who all you have in common with them is that you go to the same job every day.

• 57:51David Sims?

  I'm sitting at a desk.

• 57:52Griffin Newman?

  Ben and I show up here all the time.

• 57:54David Sims?

  You guys are really derailing Marie's point right now. What is your point, Marie?

• 57:58Speaker 02

  Well, I have. Normal people coworkers who are obsessed with Survivor.

• 58:04David Sims?

  Yeah, where you're like, okay.

• 58:05Griffin Newman?

  Survivor's still huge.

• 58:07David Sims?

  50th season this year, I believe, correct?

• 58:09Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 58:09David Sims?

  Yes.

• 58:11Speaker 02

  I like didn't, I, Survivor.

• 58:13David Sims?

  I've never seen one minute of it.

• 58:15Speaker 02

  Oh, I, I watched the first three seasons.

• 58:17Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 58:17Speaker 02

  You know, they were very big. My whole family watched them together.

• 58:20Griffin Newman?

  Same.

• 58:20Speaker 02

  Do you remember, like, you're, you know, there's a snake and the rat.

• 58:23Griffin Newman?

  Yeah. Oh, God, Sue.

• 58:25Speaker 02

  Sue, Sue. She was like a truck driver, wasn't she?

• 58:28Griffin Newman?

  Yes, she was. I think so.

• 58:28Speaker 03

  Wasn't there that naked guy?

• 58:30Griffin Newman?

  Richard Hatch.

• 58:30Speaker 02

  Richard Hatch, who won.

• 58:32David Sims?

  He was, I remember, I remember hearing about that one.

• 58:34Speaker 02

  Snake and Kelly was the rat?

• 58:36Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 58:37Speaker 02

  Oh, God. I mean, talk about just iconic moments in television.

• 58:40Griffin Newman?

  Rudy.

• 58:41Speaker 02

  Old man Rudy.

• 58:42Griffin Newman?

  Colleen Haskell, America's sweetheart.

• 58:44Speaker 02

  She was so pretty.

• 58:45Griffin Newman?

  The Rachel McAdams of her time.

• 58:47Speaker 02

  There was like Gervais, like the cool black guy.

• 58:49Griffin Newman?

  Gervais.

• 58:50Speaker 02

  They played, so at the, at the Nighthawk pre-show, they played like scenes from Survivor: Bourne O.

• 58:55David Sims?

  Oh, that's clever.

• 58:56Speaker 02

  Which was fun. But anyway, Survivor, like after I stopped watching Survivor in like season four, like I didn't, like, I forgot about it until I got a like normal person day job. And then I'm like, oh, wow, this is coworker shit.

• 59:12Griffin Newman?

  This movie, yes, it, it lets Rachel McAdams.

• 59:15David Sims?

  To be clear, I have no problem with Survivor. And the whole thing with, with reality TV is just like, I don't have time for that. So I don't know what's going on. So I don't have that as a touch point with other, other fans.

• 59:23Griffin Newman?

  I mean, that was the last time I was engaged in a reality TV phenomenon and I got off the train.

• 59:28David Sims?

  Now I know they're on an island and they have to survive and all that.

• 59:30Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, which is, I mean, just a very smart hook for this movie. The, the point I'm trying to make about Rachel McAdams, I guess, is I appreciated how much, yes, she's got lipstick on her teeth. She, she doesn't know she's got tuna fish on the side of her mouth, right?

• 59:43David Sims?

  She does have the tuna.

• 59:45Griffin Newman?

  There's, there's stuff like that. It's not like the movie is not making any efforts to have the character embarrass herself. But it just feels more like this woman is a little bit like uncalibrated to the workplace environment.

• 59:59David Sims?

  She just doesn't give a shit. She's good at her job and she doesn't care about, you know, uh.

• 1:00:04Speaker 03

  Playing the game.

• 1:00:05Griffin Newman?

  And she's still objectively beautiful at the beginning of the movie and for this guy to be like. This fucking woman actually grosses me out, says a lot about the core dynamics of the film, and also lays the track for her to have this glow up across the movie, which what I love about it is the glow up is like 90% performance. The glow up is not that much about a physical transformation. And in fact, her physical transformation just feels like her getting kind of like settled and earthier.

• 1:00:33Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, she she comes into her own.

• 1:00:36Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 1:00:36Speaker 02

  On the island. Yeah. Can I ask a question about Survivor real quick before we move on?

• 1:00:40Griffin Newman?

  Sure. This is maybe our least focused episode in a long time.

• 1:00:44Speaker 02

  This is my husband and I had this conversation as we exited the theater. Yes, I am married to a man named David.

• 1:00:52Speaker 02

  Which of us, the four of us, would do like, how would it shake out?

• 1:00:58David Sims?

  The four of us? So we're on the island.

• 1:01:01Speaker 02

  So my my prediction, Griffin and I die immediately.

• 1:01:05Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, the answer is Ben.

• 1:01:06Speaker 02

  Ben does well. David thinks he's gonna do well, but ultimately dies. And then Ben is the one that.

• 1:01:14David Sims?

  You guys, guys, I'm I'm very capable in some ways. I'm not a capable nature guy. I would not be like rolling up my sleeves, being like, these berries are the right berries. I think I would be very conservative. I would die. I do. I don't think I would do well.

• 1:01:29Griffin Newman?

  I think I think you and I die. I think David's voted off first, and I think Ben wins.

• 1:01:34David Sims?

  So what was what's now? Now there's voting? Are we doing send help for Survivor?

• 1:01:37Griffin Newman?

  There's voting. It's been the whole time, the whole time.

• 1:01:39Speaker 02

  I mean, it was less about like Survivor, the show, more about like we're we're in this real life scenario.

• 1:01:45Griffin Newman?

  Oh, then all three of us die and Ben also still wins Survivor.

• 1:01:50David Sims?

  I just, I mean, are you're not you're not outdoorsy at all, Marie? That's not really a Marie thing. No, no, no, right? No.

• 1:01:59Speaker 02

  I'm like giving you a blank stare.

• 1:02:00Speaker 03

  We were talking about Digger before, right? Famously, I asked on this podcast, have you two ever dug a hole before? And I think David was like, maybe.

• 1:02:12David Sims?

  Yeah, I am more in the maybe category.

• 1:02:14Speaker 03

  Marie, have you ever dug a hole?

• 1:02:16Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:02:17Speaker 03

  Okay, I love that. See, at least you're somewhat outdoorsy if you've done that.

• 1:02:21Speaker 02

  Well, my my parents were into gardening.

• 1:02:25Speaker 02

  Like I wasn't like, I'm not like

• 1:02:27David Sims?

  You're talking about a trowel? I'm talking about a shovel, man.

• 1:02:30Speaker 02

  I'm like digging stuff to like put a seed in there, not like, you know.

• 1:02:35Griffin Newman?

  Almost anything where you could pose the question, Griffin, have you ever even done that? The answer is yes, one time only on camera.

• 1:02:44David Sims?

  Oh, sure, sure. Right. You did it pretend for, right?

• 1:02:46Griffin Newman?

  No, I did it for real, but I have dug a hole on camera one time.

• 1:02:49David Sims?

  In what project?

• 1:02:51Griffin Newman?

  Uh, it was a short film.

• 1:02:53David Sims?

  Okay.

• 1:02:54Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:54David Sims?

  We'll never find it.

• 1:02:55Griffin Newman?

  Yep.

• 1:02:56Speaker 02

  I, I have like that, I'm like really allergic to mosquito bites. Sometimes they call it skeeter syndrome, where they like have a very strong reaction. They blow up real big and they're worse than they are for.

• 1:03:09David Sims?

  You're actually responding to the anesthetic they inject you with.

• 1:03:12Speaker 02

  Yeah. So I mean, first, the bugs would get me. So I don't know if that would be my cause of death.

• 1:03:18David Sims?

  I don't think it would kill you, but it, it wears you down. I would not be happy about whatever fucking Thai bugs are getting me in that island. That is for sure. I'm a strong swimmer. I'm a very strong swimmer.

• 1:03:29Speaker 02

  Can't swim again.

• 1:03:30David Sims?

  Okay. Well, Marie, you're definitely in trouble. I, I definitely don't take any private flights over the Gulf of Thailand anytime soon, man.

• 1:03:40Speaker 03

  Or just wear your floaties.

• 1:03:41Speaker 02

  Well, I will wear, hey, I always pay attention to the, the flight attendant's safety briefing at the beginning of every flight.

• 1:03:49David Sims?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:03:50Speaker 02

  Cause I'm

• 1:03:50David Sims?

  Stay buckled in.

• 1:03:51Speaker 02

  I'm getting out of there.

• 1:03:52Griffin Newman?

  Yeah. It's important to pay attention because they changed it a lot.

• 1:03:55Speaker 02

  Every plane's different.

• 1:03:56Griffin Newman?

  This is true.

• 1:03:57Speaker 02

  Every country has different regulations. Anyway.

• 1:04:00Griffin Newman?

  Can we talk about the movie Send Help, a film that I love?

• 1:04:02David Sims?

  So we haven't talked about, well, so, okay, the setup of Send Help is Linda's this, you know, slightly dorky employee at a company, uh, whatever.

• 1:04:11Speaker 02

  She does, she does all the work, gets no, none of the credit.

• 1:04:15David Sims?

  It's a scenario we can understand in five minutes or, you know, Dylan O'Brien.

• 1:04:19Griffin Newman?

  She's in a cubicle bank with the secretaries. They put her in the same area of the office with the secretary.

• 1:04:24David Sims?

  She's near the CEO, but you're right. She's right. She doesn't really have any special treatment.

• 1:04:29Griffin Newman?

  I, I almost kind of took it that she was perhaps the CEO's secretary for a long time.

• 1:04:36David Sims?

  Right. And proved her worth.

• 1:04:37Griffin Newman?

  Got a kind of mini promotion to a title that, you know, isn't really.

• 1:04:42David Sims?

  This is the whole, she's like this intangible glue person where everyone's like, I know she seems silly, but like she knows everything. She knows how to fucking fix, you know, contracts and documents.

• 1:04:54Griffin Newman?

  Dead CEO is Bruce Campbell depicted in a painting. Dennis Hasbert, kind of his right-hand man, who's now ushering in the transition.

• 1:05:01David Sims?

  Just brings in one bucket of gravel and shovels it out. He's doing a great job. Just a little bit of gravel.

• 1:05:06Griffin Newman?

  Perfect. And Dylan O'Brien is the like fucking frat boy.

• 1:05:11David Sims?

  Evil nepo.

• 1:05:12Speaker 02

  He wears loafers without, like those kind of, not even loafers. They're like those like little slipper things.

• 1:05:17David Sims?

  Like Ferragamo.

• 1:05:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, like suede, yeah, no socks.

• 1:05:21David Sims?

  Who is this guy? This guy sucks.

• 1:05:24Griffin Newman?

  Well, the movie does a really good job.

• 1:05:26Speaker 02

  The other guy has suspenders, which is another like immediate flag that this guy.

• 1:05:30David Sims?

  The other guy is kind of, he's kind of like styled like what Dylan O'Brien would be styled like if this movie were the nineties, right? You know what I mean?

• 1:05:37Griffin Newman?

  I was gonna say, he's dressed like Gordon Gekko. He's dressed like Patrick Bateman. Yeah. But yes, Rachel McAdams had been promised for a long time that she was next in line for a VP promotion.

• 1:05:47David Sims?

  You're gonna get the big promotion.

• 1:05:49Griffin Newman?

  She got promoted from being a secretary, but got stuck like one step above it for a very long time. And as you said, it's like, here's the woman who actually holds all the guys together.

• 1:05:59David Sims?

  Right, right.

• 1:05:59Griffin Newman?

  The company needs her. But she's also kind of take it for granted because she'll put up with it.

• 1:06:04David Sims?

  Like she puts together all this documentation for like a quarterly report. She figures out. And this spender ass guy basically just takes it from her and claims credit.

• 1:06:14Griffin Newman?

  Right. And, and, and.

• 1:06:15David Sims?

  And are you getting mad? Are you getting mad watching this? Okay. That fucker, that I'm so glad when he gets his comeuppance. He's Xavier Samuel.

• 1:06:25Griffin Newman?

  Who was the villain in Twilight Eclipse?

• 1:06:27David Sims?

  Yeah, he's Riley.

• 1:06:28Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:29David Sims?

  I can't say I remember him.

• 1:06:30Griffin Newman?

  He's an Australian pretty boy.

• 1:06:32David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:33Griffin Newman?

  Um, but yes, no, right off the bat. I mean, it's just like, it's, it's rainy shit where it's just like, I brought up EC Comics earlier, but I had this thought a lot watching this movie of like, he does have the language of like pre-code horror comics in his DNA. Not just in how hyper visual he is, but you would read these like, there was a code imposed on the comic books industry that comics were perverting the youth of America. And horror comics got like kicked out of society, basically. And that led to the creation of Mad Magazine and superhero comics, basically, to fill the void of how does the comics industry stay afloat without touching on seen as objectionable material?

• 1:07:16Griffin Newman?

  And you look at those horror comics, they're the types of things that inspired Tales From the Crypt, Two Fisted Heroes and all this sort of stuff, war comics. They're like very bold, expressionistic, really like broad strokes storytelling. You leaf through the pages and you're like, oh my God, this fucking imagery. Every single panel has an entire story of emotion in it. And then you try to read it from front to back and it is almost incomprehensible. They're all like slop expressed in the most vibrant way with so much feeling. And I was even talking to like, Fantagraphics has been putting out a lot of these EC Comics things. You see them at a store, these hardcover reproductions, you're like, holy shit, I should buy this. You bring it home, two pages in, you're like, oh, this is gobbledygook.

• 1:07:59David Sims?

  A lot of tiny little print, you know.

• 1:08:01Griffin Newman?

  And it's just kind of like, really kind of like bland melodrama, you know, or the same kind of like horror gimmicks repeated over and over again. Sometimes there's a kernel of a good idea not expressed well. It feels like Raimi's visual language is very tied to that, but figuring out how to actually tell good coherent stories within that. And he just is like, what's the quickest way to communicate this? Within three minutes, you kind of know everything about the setup of this movie.

• 1:08:28Speaker 03

  Even down to her having a bird. There's something about that that says so much about the character.

• 1:08:33Griffin Newman?

  But like the power structure of all 10 characters and how they see everything and how everything feels. So yes, she's sort of on the outside looking in. Dylan O'Brien comes in on his first day and immediately just de-hates her.

• 1:08:46David Sims?

  Should we talk about Dylan O'Brien at all? The performer who plays the character called Bradley Preston.

• 1:08:56Griffin Newman?

  I think this is an impressively contemptible performance.

• 1:08:59Speaker 02

  I think he is a good, young actor.

• 1:09:02David Sims?

  So I said in my review, you know, like that I consider him a somewhat untapped resource, right? Like, I'm like, it's a good showcase for this guy who like Hollywood has never quite used well enough. And my editor, Allegra, was like, agree with you, but like, examples, please. And so, you know, like, obviously. He's best known for The Maze Runners and The Teen Wolf Show, right? Like, that was where he came out of.

• 1:09:23Griffin Newman?

  He was the best friend character on Teen Wolf, which ran for many years.

• 1:09:27David Sims?

  Kind of the fun character, I assume. I never really watched it.

• 1:09:30Griffin Newman?

  Styles, I believe.

• 1:09:31Speaker 03

  The fuck is Maze Runner?

• 1:09:32David Sims?

  There were three Maze Runner movies, Ben. First, we ran the maze.

• 1:09:35Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:36David Sims?

  Then we endured the Scorch Trials. Then we found the Death Cure.

• 1:09:40Speaker 02

  It was like a Hunger, it was like a Hunger Games.

• 1:09:43Griffin Newman?

  It's a post. Divergent Maze Runner, Hunger Games.

• 1:09:46Speaker 02

  But the cra- the most important thing about the, the Maze Runner movies was that he got ser- was he the one that got seriously injured?

• 1:09:54David Sims?

  Yup, yup. Making the third one.

• 1:09:56Speaker 02

  He had a, he got seriously injured on set where like they had to like reconstruct his face.

• 1:10:01Griffin Newman?

  There was.

• 1:10:01Speaker 02

  Which you can't tell, because he looked, you know, he's a handsome guy.

• 1:10:04Griffin Newman?

  He was, you know, he was a teen actor, right? He was in a lot of stuff. He was more kind of comedy skewing.

• 1:10:09David Sims?

  Sure, he was kind of fun.

• 1:10:10Griffin Newman?

  There was a period of time in the late 2000s, early 2010s, when I was auditioning a lot, where very often it would come down to me, Dylan O'Brien and Will Poulter.

• 1:10:22Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:10:23David Sims?

  Three good actors.

• 1:10:23Griffin Newman?

  And those two guys really were kind of starting comedy forward. Oh, these guys can improvise.

• 1:10:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, because Will Poulter was in We're the Millers or whatever, right?

• 1:10:31Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, and had come from Son of Rambo.

• 1:10:33Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:10:34Griffin Newman?

  And Dylan O'Brien had done a lot of comedy stuff. Um, and was like.

• 1:10:38David Sims?

  Or at least like Teen Wolf, I never really watched it, but like Teen Wolf had a lot of comedy in it, right? Like, it's like, it was fun. It was MTV.

• 1:10:44Griffin Newman?

  But there's like, he's in, uh, what's Dylan O'Brien in? He's in the.

• 1:10:47David Sims?

  Well, this is what I wanted to talk about. He's in The Internship. I can't say that I saw that one.

• 1:10:51Griffin Newman?

  There was a movie that Matt Walsh directed that I want to say he was the lead in that was improv based, High Road. It was his first real movie.

• 1:10:57David Sims?

  I remember High Road.

• 1:10:58Griffin Newman?

  The first time, which is, uh, the other Kasdan son, Jonathan Kasdan, who co-wrote Solo, that's kind of like a teen when Harry met Sally. Yes, who was his longtime girlfriend. They met on that and were together for like 10 years.

• 1:11:12David Sims?

  He was in, um, Deepwater Horizon. He got oil all over him, just like everyone else. Uh, he was in, uh, then he had the, the sort of the accident on Death Cure set him back, it seemed. And, uh, he was sort of gone for a minute. He was in that thing, Love and Monsters, which that was like a movie Joey, my brother texts me about, because Joey fucking loves Dylan O'Brien.

• 1:11:35David Sims?

  Being like, that one's pretty good. And I was like, yeah, cool story, bro. Don't care. Uh, he was in Infinite, which I did see.

• 1:11:41Griffin Newman?

  Never seen.

• 1:11:42David Sims?

  Not, not a movie that popped for me huge. And so it started to be like, you know, what, what, what did we do here? Like this guy was pretty good. Like, we kind of lost the track here.

• 1:11:53Griffin Newman?

  But like, no need to get.

• 1:11:55David Sims?

  Pops a little bit in the outfit. I know. Yes. But there's some personal stuff with him.

• 1:11:58Griffin Newman?

  No, no, all I just want to say, just because Ben didn't know this, right? The Maze Runner incident was like insane. It was one of those things where like, it goes up as a deadline story. And it was like, is this guy about to die? It was like a, a car scene gone wrong. And he's like dragged. And there was this whole thing of like, the physical scale of this is insane. Everyone's waiting to hear if he's in stable condition. Once he was in stable condition, it was like, what's he going to look like? Even when they were like miracle, we think there's been a successful facial reconstruction. People were like, is this guy ever going to?

• 1:12:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean.

• 1:12:35Griffin Newman?

  Appear in public again.

• 1:12:37Speaker 02

  It's like the Montgomery Clift thing where like, he comes back from facial reconstruction.

• 1:12:41David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:41Griffin Newman?

  Like all. But beyond that, the trauma of the incident, like how extreme it was, there was a lot of reporting of like, he's backed away, like he, he might not be able to get through this, right? And so there was this kind of like slow reemergence. They finally finished Death Cure, but that was like, is that his final movie? Those movies all made kind of like automatic hundred million dollars, 200 worldwide. So it felt like he was on that runway to, is this guy kind of like a steady studio hand to be the lead of mid budget movies? And it's like a slow reemergence, American Assassin, a movie you weirdly bring up a lot for how much it sucks.

• 1:13:20David Sims?

  That's the one with.

• 1:13:21Griffin Newman?

  The Michael Keaton one. He's the guy that Keaton's training.

• 1:13:24Speaker 03

  Oh, my God, that movie is insane.

• 1:13:25Griffin Newman?

  And that was his big.

• 1:13:26Speaker 03

  Forgot about that.

• 1:13:27Griffin Newman?

  That's his big post injury, like reintroduction movie.

• 1:13:31David Sims?

  That's so weird. Before Death Cure, because Death Cure took so long to finish, I will point.

• 1:13:35Speaker 03

  Because that movie is so just about like, hurt me is the vibe.

• 1:13:40Griffin Newman?

  There was a really interesting article. I will see if I can find it. We can post it in the episode description about his process of deciding he wants to return to set and acting and how he connected to that material as like a guy who needs to rebuild himself. And like what he was going through while he was making that movie, but he's been in an odd place and he's like swinging between a lot of things. Uh, he's bizarrely good as the aforementioned Dan Aykroyd in Saturday Night.

• 1:14:08Speaker 02

  Oh, I forgot.

• 1:14:09Griffin Newman?

  That I think is contemptible. And I think he

• 1:14:11David Sims?

  He's good in it.

• 1:14:12Griffin Newman?

  Does the best of all the original cast members.

• 1:14:15Speaker 02

  No, Chevy's the best.

• 1:14:17Griffin Newman?

  I'm sorry. There are three that I think are good. It's, it's him. It's, uh, Lamorne Morris is fucking on fire.

• 1:14:23Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah. He's really good in it.

• 1:14:24David Sims?

  But I, I just remember Dylan, Dan Aykroyd, kind of the most thankless of those parts. Just doing like good yeoman's work in that movie.

• 1:14:31Griffin Newman?

  It's the one where he has to do the most of an impression and that character has no arc versus Chevy and Garrett Morris.

• 1:14:37David Sims?

  And like an Aykroyd impression is a little harder for a modern audience anyway. Like that's not a guy that young Aykroyd, people remember as well and all that.

• 1:14:45Griffin Newman?

  The thing I was kind of astonished he got right in that performance is the weird swing between Aykroyd seeming like the coolest guy in the room and the lamest.

• 1:14:57David Sims?

  Right. Yeah. No, I, I mean, look, the thing people loved him in was Twinless last year, my favorite movie of 2025. Marie's laughing at me.

• 1:15:05Speaker 02

  Because you, you, you, you really didn't like that movie.

• 1:15:08David Sims?

  No, I didn't.

• 1:15:09Speaker 02

  In a way that I think is interesting.

• 1:15:10David Sims?

  I posted a dismissive review of it on Letterboxd and people were not happy with me because a lot of people liked that movie.

• 1:15:17Speaker 02

  I think he is really good in that movie.

• 1:15:20David Sims?

  I think he gave an excellent performance in that movie. There was another actor in the movie I had a little more trouble with. I mean, it's, it's a kind of movie I really struggle with, which is the movie where you know the lie very early, but the lie is not revealed until very late. And so you're just sitting with a movie that is spinning its wheels and I'm like,

• 1:15:40Griffin Newman?

  The Twilight's no problem.

• 1:15:42David Sims?

  Sure. Right. Um, but I thought he was good in it. And again, had that feeling of like, you know, what happened here? Like, you know, why, why is there not more Dylan? Like, you know, like Hollywood, like, take a look.

• 1:15:57Griffin Newman?

  He's an interesting case.

• 1:15:58David Sims?

  And I know people love him like, cause people responded to Twinless with being like, we love Dylan. Like, you know?

• 1:16:02Speaker 02

  I think he's, I think he's aging, like he's in more stuff. He's in more adult stuff. I think he's aging well.

• 1:16:08Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:09Speaker 02

  You know, like I think, I think I see good, good things in his future.

• 1:16:12David Sims?

  This is the kind of thing he's really good.

• 1:16:14Griffin Newman?

  Really good at.

• 1:16:24Griffin Newman?

  David?

• 1:16:24David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:24Griffin Newman?

  This episode is brought to you by XYZ Films and the acclaimed new documentary, Capturing Bigfoot.

• 1:16:30David Sims?

  Hmm.

• 1:16:30Griffin Newman?

  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?

• 1:16:41David Sims?

  It is an iconic video.

• 1:16:43Griffin Newman?

  Footage that became the most analyzed and debated in history. 59 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.

• 1:17:05David 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.

• 1:17:17Griffin 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.

• 1:17:26David Sims?

  I feel like we've all seen that footage as like grainy.

• 1:17:29Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 1:17:29David 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.

• 1:17:36Griffin 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.

• 1:17:50David Sims?

  I'm something of an expert in cryptozoology.

• 1:17:52Griffin Newman?

  Well, of course, yes, but that's more of a hobby.

• 1:17:55David 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.

• 1:18:10Griffin Newman?

  Uh, Capturing Bigfoot is now available to rent or own on Amazon Prime Video. Learn more about Capturing Bigfoot at capturingbigfoot.com.

• 1:18:27Griffin Newman?

  David?

• 1:18:28David Sims?

  Yes?

• 1:18:28Griffin Newman?

  Nobody likes bank fees. Why would you like them?

• 1:18:32David Sims?

  When I was younger, I really would have benefited from a bank that did not charge me fees anytime I did anything, basically, which is, I feel like, what I was always dealing with.

• 1:18:42Griffin Newman?

  Chime, that's where Chime comes in. Chime.

• 1:18:46David Sims?

  They're changing the way people bank. They're not like traditional banks who charge fees and get keep perks and rewards. They offer the most rewarding fee-free banking, all with no overdraft fees, no monthly fees, and no minimum balance fees, okay?

• 1:18:59Griffin Newman?

  We love being fee-free. We love it.

• 1:19:01David Sims?

  You're gonna get 5% cash back on a Chime card in a category of your choice, like gas or groceries.

• 1:19:06Griffin Newman?

  My two favorite things.

• 1:19:07David Sims?

  All while building credit through regular, everyday spending with no credit check, and you can grow your money faster with a savings rate that's nine times the national average. And if you're ever in a pinch, SpotMe lets you overdraft up to $200 fee-free.

• 1:19:21Griffin Newman?

  Fee-free?

• 1:19:22David Sims?

  So, join the millions who are already banking fee-free with America's number-one choice for banking. Head to chime.com/blankcheck. That is chime.com/blankcheck. Sign up now. It only takes a few minutes.

• 1:19:37Speaker 04

  Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services and Chime card provided by Chime's bank partners. Qualifying direct deposits required. Terms and limits apply. Go to chime.com/disclosures for details.

• 1:19:58Griffin Newman?

  David?

• 1:19:59David Sims?

  Yes?

• 1:20:00Griffin Newman?

  People cut the cord. Means the death of the repeat, the rerun. But where do repeats still exist? In your closet.

• 1:20:08David Sims?

  Ah, the sweater that goes with everything, Griffin. The tee you somehow always reach for first?

• 1:20:13Griffin Newman?

  It's, we know the feeling.

• 1:20:15David Sims?

  Those are the pieces that make getting dressed easy. That's what Quince does best.

• 1:20:19Griffin Newman?

  Quince.

• 1:20:19David Sims?

  This is true for me. I will say I go to Quince. I buy a thing like a polo shirt, a sweater, whatever. And I'm like, oh, I like that. Guess I'll get a bunch more because now that's what I'm gonna put on.

• 1:20:30Griffin Newman?

  Quince focuses on high quality wardrobe staples made with premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton and merino wool. The styles are timeless, versatile and designed to become the dependable pieces you reach for day after day.

• 1:20:44David Sims?

  Love it. They got those 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters. Those start at just $60.

• 1:20:49Griffin Newman?

  I love those.

• 1:20:49David Sims?

  Giving you the softness and quality you'd expect from a luxury brand without that luxury price tag. And look, it's starting to get chillier. You're gonna need layers, right? How about you just do Quince for every layer, huh?

• 1:21:02Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:03David Sims?

  Jacket, sweater, shirt.

• 1:21:04Griffin Newman?

  David, you know what I love?

• 1:21:05David Sims?

  What?

• 1:21:06Griffin Newman?

  The ultimate commuter pants.

• 1:21:07David Sims?

  Oh.

• 1:21:08Griffin Newman?

  Cause I'm commuting constantly.

• 1:21:10David Sims?

  Beep beep.

• 1:21:11Griffin Newman?

  Yep, that's me. David, I like these. They're just clean. They're comfortable. They got the right amount of pockets.

• 1:21:17David Sims?

  Wow. Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was blank check. It's the best way to support the show.

• 1:21:46Griffin Newman?

  But I just wanna catch myself in saying like, sometimes I do this, what happened? Where did this person go? And as times gone on, I've like reflected on a little bit of like, well, I'm a person who just at a certain point went like, I don't know if I wanna fucking act anymore. I wasn't walking away from a career at the level that Dylan O'Brien had, but I've become like a lot more reticent to do anything. And I, I get now more why certain people are like, eh, am I one foot in and one foot out?

• 1:22:12Speaker 02

  Are you Rachel McAdams in 2024?

• 1:22:15Griffin Newman?

  Sure. My experience is closer to that without having anywhere near any level of success. Um, but Dylan O'Brien has this like huge traumatic incident and it's always. Felt like, is he gonna lean into it or is he gonna try to work past it or whatever? This weirdly to me feels like the one movie that kind of harnesses the innate darkness of the, the near death experience in a weird way, not a meta textual way. I feel like he's activating something in this performance that feels like it is coming from the, the darkest experiences in his soul. I also think this movie is like using both his comedic and dramatic instincts in an interesting way, because there's nothing Raimi loves more than a self-aware handsome guy who's willing to play

• 1:23:00Griffin Newman?

  the idiot, the asshole, right? The cad, the blowhard. And this is, this is a modern type of that guy that Raimi has not really had the chance to tackle yet.

• 1:23:11David Sims?

  Well, this is a good, so he's good at the, obviously, you know, he's had great blowhards in the past. It's funny because right, because Rachel is almost the Toby, right? Like the kind of the sweet, uh, well, actually she's not sweet though, because she's, she does some crazy shit. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:23:28Griffin Newman?

  It's, it's the line I love, I, I cite all the time about Raimi's approach to the Spider-Man movies, where he said, in my mind, the joke of the Spider-Man movies is that no one else knows that Peter Parker is the star of the picture.

• 1:23:41David Sims?

  Right, right, right, right.

• 1:23:43Griffin Newman?

  That the movie around him treats him like shit.

• 1:23:45David Sims?

  Anytime he shows up, people are like, oh, hi, Peter. Like, you're here too.

• 1:23:48Griffin Newman?

  And I think Raimi likes two different types of protagonists. There's guy who the universe is treating like shit because he kind of deserves it.

• 1:23:55David Sims?

  Is Ash that?

• 1:23:56Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:57David Sims?

  Cause Ash is kind of like a bit of an arrogant.

• 1:23:59Griffin Newman?

  I think Evil Dead one, Ash is closer to Peter Parker.

• 1:24:03David Sims?

  And then two and three, it's a little bit more like this, it's fun taking this guy down a peg. Or it's fun how high in himself he is and then we throw some shit at him.

• 1:24:12Griffin Newman?

  And Raimi movies usually feel like, I think I said this during our series, but like these movies about these almost biblical tests of like, don't open the book, don't open the bag. A person makes one decision that they can't undo. And their life just like descends into chaos. You know, you take a bite of the apple. But then the other kind of character he likes is someone where it's sort of like, they, they are the nerd getting kicked in the face with sand at the beach. And the universe won't give him respect and they're fighting to try to get a little bit of respect. And sometimes that can be someone like Peter Parker, who is like, as close as I think Raimi can come to. Portraying what he thinks is like the empirical good of the universe.

• 1:24:52David Sims?

  Why he was so suited to that movie.

• 1:24:54Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:55David Sims?

  And why I sort of, I guess the Batman take would be something completely different.

• 1:24:59Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, which he has in him.

• 1:25:01David Sims?

  He's got everything in him. He's got so much in him. I mean, he found a sweetness to Doctor Strange. A guy I wasn't, you know, like expecting that from.

• 1:25:11Griffin Newman?

  Well, no, what you're expecting is quality healthcare.

• 1:25:15Griffin Newman?

  Good bedside manner. Literally. I, I just think the modern kind of tech bro, finance bro, CAD is something because Rami's output has slowed way down over the last 20 years. He has not yet gotten to tackle this guy not being six foot five, you know, this guy being a little soft. There's something about Dylan O'Brien. He's, he's a built guy, but he's also this era of leading man.

• 1:25:44David Sims?

  He's in good shape.

• 1:25:45Griffin Newman?

  They all feel kind of like perpetual 15 year olds.

• 1:25:48Speaker 02

  He's a little twinkie.

• 1:25:49David Sims?

  He's boyish. Yeah. And I think will always be a little boyish, which is, which is great. Like it's, it's all, he's owning his lane very well. And he works here because it just adds to his kind of like shit kicker arrogance thing where you're just like, who do you think you are, buddy? But he thinks he's like, you know, risen to the top on merit alone or what? I don't know. Whatever.

• 1:26:12Speaker 02

  So Linda finds out she's not getting the promotion.

• 1:26:14Griffin Newman?

  She has this bad encounter trying to make a first impression on him or a second impression.

• 1:26:19Speaker 02

  And he's like, we need to like re, uh, we need to relocate her or replace her within the company.

• 1:26:26Griffin Newman?

  A, I already promised this position to my frat buddy, Mr. Suspenders. B, she disgusts me.

• 1:26:34David Sims?

  Yeah, it's even if, right. Even if he didn't have the buddy.

• 1:26:37Griffin Newman?

  She smells bad. She's gross. She dresses poorly. Cruel.

• 1:26:40David Sims?

  Yeah. He plays it really well. Like I really felt his discomfort being even near her. But then I like the little moments, like when she barges into his office to be insane. Like, you know, before the plane crash, right? Where she just barges in.

• 1:26:55Griffin Newman?

  I think he plays that genuine.

• 1:26:56David Sims?

  They both played that really well because her doing that, you're like, well, that's not gonna work. You know, like you do, and that's that we're getting a little hint on how, you know, this woman is actually a little over the edge sometimes.

• 1:27:07Griffin Newman?

  He's impressed that she has a little psycho energy.

• 1:27:10David Sims?

  I can't believe you did that. Right? I guess you get to ride on the plane now because that was something.

• 1:27:14Griffin Newman?

  I might have underestimated you.

• 1:27:16David Sims?

  You still know he's gonna fuck her over, but.

• 1:27:19Speaker 02

  They have her on, they have her on this business trip where she's the only one, like, doing the work for them for this big meeting they're going to have in Thailand or whatever.

• 1:27:27Griffin Newman?

  And we have the scene in between where she's talking to her bird at home while prepping her lunch and we see bookshelves just full of survival books, which at first I was like, look, if Raimi just wants to do shorthand and get us there, whatever, for whatever reason, this woman is a survival, like, prepper. But then you get to the Survivor reveal where I was like, this is such an ingenious premise. This is the perfect way to win, like, two images and two lines of dialogue, make the audience understand there's a reason this woman's gonna survive on this island that is completely believable. As you said, someone you work with in an office who just watches this show, reads these books and is like, if I landed there, I could probably win.

• 1:28:06David Sims?

  It also, it's perfect because it explains everything, as you just said, and it's a great pathetic thing that they can make fun of her for.

• 1:28:15Griffin Newman?

  It tells you everything about the character.

• 1:28:16David Sims?

  Button of cruelty where they're all laughing at the video.

• 1:28:19Speaker 02

  They find her audition video for Survivor.

• 1:28:21Griffin Newman?

  They're laughing on the plane.

• 1:28:22David Sims?

  And it means like when the plane crashes, you're like, tear these people apart. Like, I want them to die.

• 1:28:28Griffin Newman?

  It's the Raimi thing I love where you're just like, he makes you eager for blood.

• 1:28:36Speaker 03

  Yeah. It's, it's just, and I want to pop up really quickly in that I just, I find the way that he's captured the privilege of this type of guy.

• 1:28:47Griffin Newman?

  Give me your seat.

• 1:28:48Speaker 03

  And they're like, they're like, since they went to private school, to college, to the workplace, they've always been told they're gonna be on top and they're not even good at their jobs. And it is actually the way that the world works and it drives me fucking crazy.

• 1:29:04Griffin Newman?

  Like, here's what happens very, very concisely within this scene. I'm not being concise in my description. The scene is concise, right? She's doing all of the fucking work.

• 1:29:14Speaker 03

  Literally.

• 1:29:14Griffin Newman?

  Typing it up. She sees that they are in the corner laughing at her audition tape. Dylan O'Brien, when all the guys preparing to sit around him to watch the tape, it was like, you're gonna use fucking seatbelt, you fucking pussy? Like makes it into a masculinity contest, right? Oh, what, you're worried the plane's gonna go down? Of course, he buckles his seatbelt and they don't, right? She sees they're laughing, she presses, don't save on the document. Fine, you guys are fucking on your own. You see in her the kind of resolution of like, fuck it, let them fire me. I quit, whatever, I don't wanna be with these people anymore. Then the plane hits turbulence, immediately we're in Sam Raimi plane crash.

• 1:29:56David Sims?

  We are, I mean, and we've all been, I feel like we've all been rubbing our hands being like, what are the like, three things Sam can think of?

• 1:30:03Griffin Newman?

  Right.

• 1:30:03David Sims?

  That'll, cause like, we've all seen playing, we're like, he's gonna have a couple of cool little ideas.

• 1:30:08Griffin Newman?

  He's gonna have new.

• 1:30:08David Sims?

  Twists on the, you know, carnage.

• 1:30:11Griffin Newman?

  He's not gonna do his Amecus plane crash where what strikes you is the realism of, oh, bit by bit. Like, it's gonna be, plane is now crashing, crazy shit happens. Xavier Samuels is like crawling towards her, demanding she give him her seat. It's not a please, it's not a save me, it is a, I am above you in the totem pole, give me your seat. She has the wherewithal to see all the silverware sliding down the aisle of the plane. Yes, yes, he's choking her for the seat to try to kill her so he can buckle himself in. She stabs his hand with a fork. He goes flying out the side of the plane, which is now ripped open. You see his tie is still hanging like on the shred of jagged metal.

• 1:30:55Griffin Newman?

  And you assume, oh, that's the one remnant of this guy. And then the camera pans over and you're like, no, he's being choked by the tie, which is lodged into the jagged metal. He's right outside his, her window dying.

• 1:31:09David Sims?

  And she puts the shade down. And it plays for laughs and it's like, but it's triumphant and it's also so nasty. It's what he's so good at. I mean, and he's just so good at that, like extra detail. And he, of course, the bore later on is when you feel it again, where you're like, I thought we were done. And he's like, I have like one more dessert for you in this like kill or whatever. And you're like, whoa, right? Like, that's what he wants to get out of everyone and he delights in it and you gotta.

• 1:31:42Griffin Newman?

  Did you see the tip your cap, stuff the cap? Did you see one of his interviews for this movie? Someone asked him about the best recipe for fake blood.

• 1:31:52David Sims?

  Yes, I did see that and he immediately had a formula.

• 1:31:54Griffin Newman?

  He listed it off as if it was asking Gordon Ramsay, how would you recommend I make a burger?

• 1:31:59David Sims?

  A good thook, a good thick mix of.

• 1:32:04Griffin Newman?

  But it was very calm. He was like, yeah, absolutely. Here you go.

• 1:32:06David Sims?

  Uh, come on. A good thick mix of caramel syrup, red food coloring, a little blue to give it that un-ariated look. And a bit of coffee to make it dark. I don't mean to brag, but hello, I'm here. I know how to throw blood.

• 1:32:19Speaker 02

  I know how to throw blood.

• 1:32:21Griffin Newman?

  He knows how to throw blood.

• 1:32:23Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:32:25David Sims?

  There you go.

• 1:32:25Speaker 02

  That rules.

• 1:32:26Griffin Newman?

  And I love that he's still like boots on the ground in that way.

• 1:32:31David Sims?

  Yes, well, you know, he was like, I was on the Evil Dead set with my friends, making this movie, right? You know, like I've been doing this from the beginning, mixing, mixing bloods in my, you know, water bottles or whatever.

• 1:32:42Griffin Newman?

  I'm sure we shared this story at the time, but Ben and I ran into someone who worked on the crew of Spider-Man 3 at a bar when we were doing that series.

• 1:32:51David Sims?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:32:51Griffin Newman?

  And he told us about a scene where they needed smoke effects and Sam Raimi had a giant like tube and a grip standing at the other end of it, chain smoking and blowing the cigarettes into the tube.

• 1:33:03David Sims?

  We def, I remember.

• 1:33:04Griffin Newman?

  That was the highest budgeted film in history at time of release.

• 1:33:09Speaker 02

  That sounds like an OSHA violation.

• 1:33:11Griffin Newman?

  But he's also like, just have a guy smoke cigarettes into a tube. That's what we need.

• 1:33:15David Sims?

  So the plane crashes. They land on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand somewhere.

• 1:33:22Speaker 03

  How did that go for you?

• 1:33:24David Sims?

  Oh, I don't mind. It is fake.

• 1:33:25Griffin Newman?

  This is, this couldn't be more fake.

• 1:33:27Speaker 03

  It felt really heightened, yeah.

• 1:33:29David Sims?

  That shit doesn't bother me because it's not a jumbo jet. I'm not going to be on a private plane.

• 1:33:33Speaker 03

  You know, like PJ?

• 1:33:35David Sims?

  What was that?

• 1:33:36Griffin Newman?

  Never gonna PJ?

• 1:33:37David Sims?

  I don't think so.

• 1:33:38Griffin Newman?

  So I'm allowed to sign out the BCPJ this weekend?

• 1:33:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was about to say.

• 1:33:41David Sims?

  You guys take the lock keys.

• 1:33:42Speaker 02

  Has a jet.

• 1:33:45David Sims?

  Yeah, I'm just, I mean, like, I'm just, and also, it's very fake. Like, in a totally fine way.

• 1:33:50Speaker 02

  Planes don't crash from turbulence.

• 1:33:52David Sims?

  Well, I mean, like, that's, I also, I appreciate that, but like, they're like, I don't know, there's a storm. Don't worry about it. The plane crashed.

• 1:33:58Griffin Newman?

  This movie has a very consistent tone and reality from the beginning. Like, Raimi is better than anyone at just being like, here is the exact pitch this movie exists at. I'm going to introduce it to you and I'm establishing it at a place that will allow me to execute all of the moves I want in this film without straining, you know, credibility.

• 1:34:21David Sims?

  Totally. And it works.

• 1:34:23Griffin Newman?

  Dylan O'Brien, leg fucked up.

• 1:34:25David Sims?

  Right, he is essentially in beach traction.

• 1:34:29Griffin Newman?

  Rachel McCombs actively saves him, could have left him for dead.

• 1:34:32David Sims?

  True.

• 1:34:33Griffin Newman?

  The other guys are like DOA before the plane even hits water.

• 1:34:36David Sims?

  Yeah, and I appreciate it doesn't really come up again. We, again, we're seeing a little sign of her ruthlessness, her like, secret ruthlessness. But it's not like she admits later, like, oh, by the way, I fucking, you know, kind of was every man for myself. Yeah.

• 1:34:49Griffin Newman?

  And yeah, he wakes up and now he, they're not in the office anymore.

• 1:34:53David Sims?

  It's triangle of sadness. I mean, it's like the

• 1:34:55Speaker 02

  I kept thinking about that.

• 1:34:57David Sims?

  You know, it's like, okay, now, sure, it's a completely different thing, but you know, like, the same idea of like, right, like, all of our capitalist, like, ladder shit is gone.

• 1:35:07Speaker 02

  The hierarchy has, has changed in the, what is it? What's the line from Black Adam?

• 1:35:12David Sims?

  The hierarchy of parents changed in the, in the Centel.

• 1:35:15Griffin Newman?

  If Black Adam was on this island, shit would have gone down differently.

• 1:35:20Griffin Newman?

  I think this movie is kind of asking, what do men even do anymore?

• 1:35:27David Sims?

  Totally.

• 1:35:28Griffin Newman?

  And I think it's part of, like, the Dylan O'Brien character being a little bit twinkie, right? Is that it's like, you're not having this movie be, and it could have been Chris Hemsworth as a finance bro who crashes on this island. And you got a guy who's built like an obvious

• 1:35:42Speaker 02

  I would see Chris Hemsworth and be like, he knows what to do.

• 1:35:44Griffin Newman?

  Exactly. Exactly.

• 1:35:46Speaker 03

  Or at least wants to prove his masculinity through strength.

• 1:35:50David Sims?

  Older. O'Brien reads like a young guy.

• 1:35:52Griffin Newman?

  It helps that he is young, that he is younger than her and he reads even younger than he is. And it also helps that this movie starts and you're like, I don't think this guy's ever done his own laundry. This guy does nothing. And like, the world of business has become such that the actual skill any of these people have is like beyond obfuscated. You're like, could any of these guys explain to me what the business they run is? We're constantly being introduced to these like fucking 35 year old CEOs.

• 1:36:22Speaker 03

  They're good in a room.

• 1:36:23Griffin Newman?

  Who have raised 800 million dollars. And then these exposes come out and they're like, they didn't know what the technology was. It never existed. Or someone else made it and they could never explain it, you know? And it's like, these guys are truly just good at performing the role of being disruptors of leaders.

• 1:36:41Speaker 02

  There was like a really fun throwaway line. Uh, maybe when he's in the office with Dennis Haysbert where it's like, we hired a consulting firm to tell us what to do, but they're a consulting firm?

• 1:36:52Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 1:36:53Speaker 02

  So it's like.

• 1:36:55David Sims?

  Hey, man.

• 1:36:55Speaker 02

  This is just.

• 1:36:56David Sims?

  It's all, we're all in the fucking eternal cycle.

• 1:36:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:37:00Griffin Newman?

  I make this joke all the time, that my continued existence is proof that we have evolved past survival of the fittest, right?

• 1:37:06David Sims?

  Then, then the minute push comes to shove, you're out.

• 1:37:09Griffin Newman?

  That we've created a world coddled enough that I, I'm making it to 37, right? When I should have been eaten by a saber tooth tiger on day two, right?

• 1:37:17Speaker 03

  Sure have.

• 1:37:18Griffin Newman?

  And we've like evolved past all these things. And then this is an extreme, like, here is a guy who is an alpha male, who has been the lead, the action star of other movies, who you just immediately like, this guy doesn't fucking know shit. And he's still trying to use the psychological warfare of like, the workplace on her, that he thinks while his

• 1:37:42Griffin Newman?

  Leg is fucked up while he while he is unable to stand up. He can insult her to her face. She has saved his life. He is dependent on her and he's like, fuck you.

• 1:37:54David Sims?

  But here is where the movie made it. The one choice that I was I initially was sort of bumping on, which is he's mean to her. She up and leaves, right?

• 1:38:04Griffin Newman?

  And and he's also disgusted. I can't believe I'm fucking here. I'm here with you. I'm next to your shoes.

• 1:38:10David Sims?

  Right? And and you're like, right, here we go. The paradigm is shifted and she's being intense about it. She's gone.

• 1:38:16Griffin Newman?

  She leaves him alone for like five days to teach him a lesson.

• 1:38:19David Sims?

  But that doesn't happen. That's a fantasy sequence.

• 1:38:23Griffin Newman?

  That's a fantasy?

• 1:38:24Speaker 02

  What?

• 1:38:24Griffin Newman?

  No, because he gets totally sunburnt.

• 1:38:26David Sims?

  But I I did not know.

• 1:38:28Speaker 03

  I don't think it's five days. I think it's just one day.

• 1:38:31David Sims?

  Maybe it's not long.

• 1:38:32Griffin Newman?

  She leaves him there, though.

• 1:38:33Speaker 02

  She does leave him, yeah.

• 1:38:34David Sims?

  Does she?

• 1:38:35Griffin Newman?

  You see him.

• 1:38:36David Sims?

  That's what I couldn't track.

• 1:38:37Griffin Newman?

  She does. She does.

• 1:38:38David Sims?

  Because there's a but there's a hard cut to her coming back.

• 1:38:43Speaker 03

  I think he wakes up the next day, basically.

• 1:38:44David Sims?

  Yeah, it's like, okay, I need to rewatch it.

• 1:38:46Speaker 03

  Latter half of the day, it's like it's sunsets. It's dark.

• 1:38:50David Sims?

  I know, I understand what happens, but then the way they hard cut to her coming back, it felt like 20 minutes had passed and the joke was he was obsessing.

• 1:38:59Griffin Newman?

  No.

• 1:39:00David Sims?

  So bad.

• 1:39:00Griffin Newman?

  He gets immensely sunburnt and when he wakes up in that hard cut, he is still that sunburnt.

• 1:39:05Speaker 02

  He's got like crusty stuff on his lips.

• 1:39:07Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:07Speaker 02

  He's like.

• 1:39:08David Sims?

  I need to watch it again, clearly, because that was where I was just like, okay, how much am I to trust? Reality versus fantasy?

• 1:39:14Griffin Newman?

  The joke might be that it felt like it was five days to him and it was five hours to him, but she has left him there and she has proven her point and he begrudgingly is kind of like, I get it, I can't do this without you.

• 1:39:25David Sims?

  Because then, of course, right, she's she's in charge. Everything's nice, like no one's being mean to each other at this point.

• 1:39:33Griffin Newman?

  But he still feels a little bit.

• 1:39:36David Sims?

  He's a little grouchy.

• 1:39:37Griffin Newman?

  And and he hates that he's in this situation, obviously. And it feels like the most generous he will be is kind of like a concession of, I guess when we're rescued, I have to give her a promotion. Like, there's this kind of like. I guess I gotta like, he's still thinking about the office.

• 1:39:56David Sims?

  Well, he, and he has this mindset of like, this is an irritating thing that is happening to me, but we will, I assume be picked up soon.

• 1:40:04Griffin Newman?

  Right.

• 1:40:04David Sims?

  Right. Like a kind of like, by the way, shouldn't you just like make a fucking bonfire or a sign or something so we can get picked up faster?

• 1:40:11Griffin Newman?

  Note her on what she should be doing.

• 1:40:14Speaker 03

  And yet she's mommy. She's feeding him fish and he's like, that's like such a funny moment of him like truly like becoming like a seven year old boy again, who doesn't want to eat his vegetables.

• 1:40:26Griffin Newman?

  We should also mention, he has a like statuesque fiance with this giant sparkling diamond engagement ring. I saw this movie in 4DX. The 3D is fucking awesome, especially for those Raimi special shots.

• 1:40:41David Sims?

  But like, I mean, there were shots I noticed.

• 1:40:43Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:43David Sims?

  Cause there's like a moment where she kind of like flicks her finger at the screen to like, there were things I noticed where I was like, this feels like 3D.

• 1:40:49Griffin Newman?

  Boar fight. Like this is a movie that even though I'm trying to get confirmation on this, was not shot in 3D, but was intended for 3D from the beginning by Raimi.

• 1:40:58David Sims?

  Is anything shot in 3D anymore apart from Avatar? Like, does anything else use that like process anymore?

• 1:41:04Griffin Newman?

  I don't know, but it feels intentionally designed and was like unbelievably well executed.

• 1:41:10David Sims?

  Totally.

• 1:41:10Griffin Newman?

  And anytime the ring shows up, it's like the most 3D can push out of the screen. Like he knows what he's doing. Uh, but this character is basically just defined by the shorthand of if you see the sparkle, the glint of the light off of her ring. But yes, he's stuck here with her. And there's this sort of like initial power dynamic imbalance thing of like, he'll kind of concede to her, then she'll do something that pushes him a step too far.

• 1:41:40David Sims?

  And then he'll be like, you know what? I'll make my own camp. And then you watch him fail at that for a day, you know? And as she's just sort of like,

• 1:41:47Griffin Newman?

  Mm hmm. Or he'll make a kind of barbed comment and she'll sort of call out like, you don't have the status to do that anymore.

• 1:41:53Speaker 03

  And then each time he breaks off, he comes back and she's like made a hat or made a backpack. She starts like, continue to like heighten and thrive.

• 1:42:02Griffin Newman?

  Like she's like made her own moisturizer. We should talk about it.

• 1:42:06David Sims?

  What are your favorite McAdams accessory, like nature accessories? Cause yes, the, the cup with the, with the straw.

• 1:42:14Speaker 02

  With Linda written on it is very.

• 1:42:16Griffin Newman?

  Is very funny.

• 1:42:16Griffin Newman?

  That's the mug, but she also has the big one with the straw.

• 1:42:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, that does feel like a Stanley.

• 1:42:22David Sims?

  Like it's like a analogy.

• 1:42:22Griffin Newman?

  That is, I, I want that as like movie promo swag. Like I wish Disney had been sending those out to people. That's my favorite.

• 1:42:32David Sims?

  The hat is really, really good.

• 1:42:33Speaker 02

  I like that the hat, like it's kind of, it's just like a vi- like it's a

• 1:42:37Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 1:42:38Speaker 02

  Full visor where it's missing like the crown of the head.

• 1:42:41Griffin Newman?

  Right. Like deeply woven leaves. Uh, her backpack is great.

• 1:42:46Speaker 02

  I love that every time they, they like make a point of serving a meal. It's like on one of those like sushi boat things.

• 1:42:54Griffin Newman?

  It's plated.

• 1:42:55Speaker 02

  It's beautifully plated.

• 1:42:56David Sims?

  Like a bed of seaweed.

• 1:42:58Griffin Newman?

  Right. Like she starts living the kind of like bespoke luxury island resort life.

• 1:43:05David Sims?

  And well, obviously, you know, the twist is incoming on that front. I don't, we kind of know when she makes that discovery, right? Because it's, it's coupled with her seeing the boat, right?

• 1:43:18Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 1:43:19David Sims?

  In the flashbacks, it puts that, those two events.

• 1:43:21Griffin Newman?

  When he's still immobile, he, she goes off, she finds like a spring where she takes a shower.

• 1:43:26David Sims?

  This is the mo- wait, has the boar happened already?

• 1:43:29Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, boar happens early.

• 1:43:30David Sims?

  So the boar is the first moment, right? Where you're like, hmm, Linda's a little, little freaky.

• 1:43:36Griffin Newman?

  Yeah. She says, I think there's a boar.

• 1:43:37David Sims?

  I'm gonna go hunt the boar.

• 1:43:38Griffin Newman?

  I'm gonna go hunt it.

• 1:43:39David Sims?

  She makes a spear. She hunts the boar. The boar is scary and large.

• 1:43:42Griffin Newman?

  The boar is.

• 1:43:43David Sims?

  Is more than she can handle.

• 1:43:45Griffin Newman?

  It's like a full CGI stylized, like the horror, it's like a Troma boar.

• 1:43:50David Sims?

  Right. It's an absurdly large.

• 1:43:52Speaker 02

  It's not dying.

• 1:43:53Griffin Newman?

  No.

• 1:43:53David Sims?

  And spraying.

• 1:43:55Griffin Newman?

  And 4DX were getting like snot, spittle, blood, like they're squirting water at you to represent every single fluid. As I said to you guys, it was like William Castle shit. But yeah, she's in this intense fight with the boar that goes on so much longer than you think. As you said, David, she like spears the boar like through its neck and you're like, that's the end of that sequence. The boar's alive for another two minutes.

• 1:44:17David Sims?

  That's what I just, right. Where the audience is like, we're done. We're not done. Like, you know, that's, that's good Raimi stuff. And the eye gouging out and, you know, all that. So, and then the cut to her covered in blood, dropping the head at his, you know, feet being like, I'm, you know, I kind of dug that.

• 1:44:33Griffin Newman?

  And dropping the head viscera side facing him.

• 1:44:36David Sims?

  All over him.

• 1:44:37Griffin Newman?

  It's like he's just seeing the guts of a, of a boar neck.

• 1:44:42David Sims?

  But then that, you know what looked good?

• 1:44:43Griffin Newman?

  What?

• 1:44:44David Sims?

  That bore me.

• 1:44:44Griffin Newman?

  It did.

• 1:44:45Speaker 02

  It did look good.

• 1:44:45Griffin Newman?

  And he says this is literally the best meat I've ever had. Yeah.

• 1:44:48David Sims?

  Pretty good.

• 1:44:49Griffin Newman?

  Um, so that, yeah, she goes to take the shower, sees a rescue boat off in the distance and you see the panic in her eyes of, am I ready to go back yet?

• 1:44:58David Sims?

  This is where the movie went from a thing I was enjoying to something a little juicier. You know what I mean? Like where I was like, good. Cause the whole time I'm watching the movie now, I'm basically like, all right, but what's your ending? Like, is it just them getting rescued? Is it them killing each other? Is it them fucking? Like what? You know, where I'm like, I don't love any of these endings that I'm, you know, these kind of boring endings I'm imagining.

• 1:45:18Griffin Newman?

  Well, and I, I was in on the premise of the movie, but the trailer made me think, is this movie gonna kind of be like island misery? Does it dissolve into?

• 1:45:25David Sims?

  Which it has some of that.

• 1:45:27Griffin Newman?

  Right. But I was like, at a certain point, does the movie just become her torturing her? Which I'm not saying I-

• 1:45:31David Sims?

  To him, yeah. To her being like, we're not, you're not allowed to leave and I'm in charge of you.

• 1:45:35Griffin Newman?

  Right. Which I probably would enjoy watching.

• 1:45:38David Sims?

  And again, it has-

• 1:45:38Griffin Newman?

  Raimi execute this past.

• 1:45:40David Sims?

  Yes.

• 1:45:40Griffin Newman?

  But that's not the bigger story he's telling here.

• 1:45:42David Sims?

  Uh, right. So she sees a boat, uh, you know, with like a tie flag, like a rescue boat essentially, a potential rescue boat. I mean, that's not what it is, but like she could flag it down.

• 1:45:53Speaker 02

  A boat with other humans on it.

• 1:45:55Griffin Newman?

  We hard cut away.

• 1:45:56David Sims?

  She almost goes, help. You see her-

• 1:45:58Griffin Newman?

  Ha!

• 1:45:59David Sims?

  And then she goes, not yet.

• 1:46:00Speaker 02

  She goes, I'm not- Ready.

• 1:46:01Griffin Newman?

  Yes. And we, we cut back and all you know is that clearly she didn't get them to rescue her.

• 1:46:07David Sims?

  And then not long after she has a knife, like a really nice knife and she's like.

• 1:46:12Speaker 02

  That washed up on the shore.

• 1:46:13David Sims?

  Right.

• 1:46:14Griffin Newman?

  Yeah. And it's like, you'll never, you wouldn't believe the kind of stuff that washes up on shore.

• 1:46:18David Sims?

  Now, I will say, I immediately was like, all right, this is triangle of sadness that there is enough, there's a fucking, right?

• 1:46:23Speaker 02

  I, I thought there was gonna be a hotel.

• 1:46:25David Sims?

  Yeah, I figured there's something civilized on the island she found.

• 1:46:27Speaker 03

  I didn't think that at all. I really, I believed it.

• 1:46:30David Sims?

  I didn't know. The combo of that and then her saying to him like, oh, and don't go to that party.

• 1:46:33Speaker 02

  Don't go over there and we don't see her.

• 1:46:35Speaker 03

  See, I assumed that that was just where the boat was, was seen.

• 1:46:39David Sims?

  But I was like, no, she, she found something.

• 1:46:42Griffin Newman?

  There's the big rock X. It looks like a fucking matte painting for Disney's Peter Pan. Like, I love all the cliff stuff, how kind of beautifully artificial it is. You know, a lot of this movie was shot in a real island. Where did they shoot this? Do we know?

• 1:46:55David Sims?

  Oh, good question. I think they shot it in Thailand. I will find out.

• 1:46:57Speaker 03

  I read Thailand and Australia.

• 1:46:59Griffin Newman?

  Okay. Cause there are a fair deal of Australian.

• 1:47:02David Sims?

  Sydney and Thailand. So yes, like and.

• 1:47:05Griffin Newman?

  But when they go to this cliff side, it's always like, it, it looks like a Johnny Werthmuller Tarzan set. And the background is like beautifully digital, like stylized painterly, of course not. And there's this big rock formation X that she's like, don't go past there. She takes him on a walk.

• 1:47:21David Sims?

  It's all thorny. You'll get hurt. Like, just don't go there.

• 1:47:23Griffin Newman?

  Leg is strong enough and you kind of pre-established like this is the tough spot where someone could slip. This is, you don't go past that point. The knife definitely did raise for me, something is up and I'm curious to see how it's gonna manifest and I'm not eager to try to guess ahead of the movie.

• 1:47:39David Sims?

  I wasn't trying to guess too hard, but I certainly was like, okay, like there are twists built in here.

• 1:47:44Griffin Newman?

  At the very least, she has a stockpile of modern devices.

• 1:47:49David Sims?

  Right. Right. She's sort of building up.

• 1:47:51Speaker 02

  Yeah. They keep, uh, so their, their relationship continues to evolve. She kind of.

• 1:47:57David Sims?

  Well, she makes, the next thing is she makes the, the booze and they have the, the drunken bonfire dinner.

• 1:48:04Griffin Newman?

  Well, the scene where he's, um, she has the full sushi spread and he basically comes to her begging, gets on his knees. You know, she's treating him like he's entered her corner office asking for a promotion.

• 1:48:16Speaker 02

  And then she's like, he's like, I will do anything. And she was like, well, yeah, you're gonna have to. Do some favors and he starts to like undress himself.

• 1:48:25Griffin Newman?

  Hammer pans down to his belt. He lifts his shirt up. He starts undoing it. She goes like, please, I'm not like you.

• 1:48:31David Sims?

  Right.

• 1:48:31Griffin Newman?

  Like the immediate call out of, I don't, I would never.

• 1:48:34David Sims?

  I wouldn't say immediate. She's playing with him a little bit. She lets him do it for a second.

• 1:48:39Griffin Newman?

  But it's part of the tension of this movie because she has the scene at the beginning where she's talking to the bird. And she's like, he's coming in and I actually met him at the holiday party.

• 1:48:46Speaker 02

  And he flirted with me a bit.

• 1:48:48Griffin Newman?

  And he was pretty handsome and he flirted with me. There's a feeling of, does she want this guy to desire her?

• 1:48:53David Sims?

  That's a big tension in the movie, I would say.

• 1:48:55Griffin Newman?

  How much is that her?

• 1:48:56Speaker 02

  She looks amazing when they're on the island. She's in her like, her bra and underwear.

• 1:49:02Griffin Newman?

  They, they each have one.

• 1:49:03David Sims?

  Very sensible bra and underwear.

• 1:49:05Griffin Newman?

  One outfit in this movie that they are reworking in different layers and combinations, but.

• 1:49:09David Sims?

  If I'm an actor making this movie, I would be every day putting on the same fucking clothes. I would get so annoyed.

• 1:49:15Griffin Newman?

  That, that, what are they called? Dying and, and weathering, uh, the thing you learned about.

• 1:49:20Speaker 02

  Aging and Department of Aging and dying.

• 1:49:21Griffin Newman?

  Aging and dying that you learned about at the Mission Impossible exhibit? This is like a prime example of that movie where you're like, okay, so each character has basically one outfit for 90% of the running time. And there need to be like a hundred variations.

• 1:49:35David Sims?

  We have to be like, this is exactly, this is a hundred days.

• 1:49:38Griffin Newman?

  But also like blood from boar fight, cleaned up post blood fight, you know? And you can't have one of each stage. You need multiples in case things go wrong. Like this must've been, the, the costume department had work cut out for them. But I, I once again would like to argue that her glow up is 90% performance.

• 1:49:56David Sims?

  Oh, it is. Yeah. She's not like, uh, you know, mega babe at any point. She's very like utilitarian in her.

• 1:50:02Speaker 03

  She loses a little bit of weight noticeably, but not like in a crazy way.

• 1:50:06Griffin Newman?

  I think a lot of it is how she's holding tension in her face.

• 1:50:10Speaker 02

  She gets, she gets an island glow.

• 1:50:12Griffin Newman?

  She does.

• 1:50:12David Sims?

  She does. She's got that little tan. She got that, you're right.

• 1:50:14Speaker 02

  I love that she figured out she's using those like coconuts for moisture. She's so moisturized.

• 1:50:19Griffin Newman?

  Look, Rachel McAdams looks great. She was able to play.

• 1:50:22Speaker 02

  Beach waves.

• 1:50:23Griffin Newman?

  A teenager at 26 because she has always looked young for her age. She does not look 46 or 47 now, but she is a rare actress who you can put her on screen and I go, that looks like a real person. At her level of career, she is extraordinarily beautiful, but I'm not watching her face move and going.

• 1:50:43David Sims?

  In my review, I mean, it's the thing with her in Spotlight where you're like.

• 1:50:47Speaker 02

  They put her in khakis, but she still looks good.

• 1:50:49David Sims?

  She looks good, but she doesn't look like, you know, Sydney Sweeney in Spotlight being like, I'm just the reporter from Boston, where you're like, no, you're not like, I don't buy it.

• 1:50:57Griffin Newman?

  It doesn't look like her pores have been lasered off. It doesn't look like her face has been like Brazil stretched in a thousand different directions. And it's just like a thing I miss of like, yeah, movies always star beautiful people. That's why we fucking go to the movies.

• 1:51:11David Sims?

  Is it not good to just see a big face?

• 1:51:14Griffin Newman?

  But increasingly beautiful people are like, so you want me to not look human anymore? And it limits how many types of roles you can be believable in. Uh, and I just think she is someone who has like maintained throughout her career, looking like a person while also being, as we have admitted, a goddamn fox.

• 1:51:33Speaker 02

  So at this Toilet Wine bonfire, they, uh,

• 1:51:38David Sims?

  Well acted scene by both of them here.

• 1:51:40Speaker 02

  She talks about the fact that she was married previously.

• 1:51:44Griffin Newman?

  This is such a good scene.

• 1:51:45Speaker 02

  She did not get divorced. She is a widow.

• 1:51:47Griffin Newman?

  She.

• 1:51:48David Sims?

  He wasn't very nice to her.

• 1:51:50Speaker 02

  He was not.

• 1:51:51Griffin Newman?

  There's a great performance moment where she was like, I was divorced. I bet you didn't know that 10 years and.

• 1:51:57Speaker 02

  Well, she's, I was married, not.

• 1:51:59Griffin Newman?

  Sorry, sorry. I was married 10 years, bet you didn't know that. And he goes, wow. And she goes like, don't act so surprised. And he says something like, why did you guys split up? And she responds like, um, he died. Like she doesn't take an emotional beat. It's stated very matter of factly.

• 1:52:16Speaker 02

  And he's like, oh, I'm so sorry. That's okay. He was, he wasn't nice to me.

• 1:52:20David Sims?

  I mean, you know, and else she said a great line reading about somebody dying.

• 1:52:24Griffin Newman?

  What?

• 1:52:25David Sims?

  Oh, no.

• 1:52:26Griffin Newman?

  Oh, no, he died.

• 1:52:27Speaker 02

  He died.

• 1:52:28David Sims?

  It's, it remains one of the funniest things ever committed to film.

• 1:52:33Griffin Newman?

  But her.

• 1:52:33David Sims?

  Yes. Oh, no, he died.

• 1:52:36Griffin Newman?

  Her line is something like, I, I think he actually wasn't capable of love.

• 1:52:41David Sims?

  Yeah, no, is she really, this monologue that she does.

• 1:52:45Speaker 02

  She would hide the keys.

• 1:52:46David Sims?

  Is unbelievable.

• 1:52:46Speaker 02

  It's actually, she didn't hide the keys.

• 1:52:48David Sims?

  Right. Well, she, she took the keys out of her, out of her fucking purse when he was being insane. Just being like, you know what? Drive off. Let's see what happens.

• 1:52:55Speaker 03

  Alludes to some kind of sexual abuse, I think, too.

• 1:52:59David Sims?

  Bad, something bad.

• 1:53:00Speaker 03

  Like he crossed the line.

• 1:53:01David Sims?

  Right. He did something even worse.

• 1:53:03Griffin Newman?

  He was worse than he's, than he already had been up until that point. It, it just, it is, I think it is a deceptively complex scene, both in terms of performance and in writing.

• 1:53:15Griffin Newman?

  It communicates a lot of complicated murky ideas and, and sort of like contrasts. And it eludes things in an interesting way where you're coming out of that scene feeling like Dylan O'Brien, not sure what to make of this woman anymore. You know, are you impressed that she's got more grit in her than you thought? Are you a little scared because this feels like the soft pedaling story of something that she did that was perhaps even more-

• 1:53:41David Sims?

  Right. You are trying to parse like, is she almost right?

• 1:53:44Griffin Newman?

  Does it make her more tragic? Like, what is the, yeah.

• 1:53:47Speaker 03

  She hasn't ever said it to anyone before. She's been holding it in.

• 1:53:51David Sims?

  Hey, she's on an island, baby.

• 1:53:52Speaker 03

  Like all of a sudden, like some new part of her is coming out and it is.

• 1:53:56Griffin Newman?

  And he admits that he was physically assaulted, abused originally as a child by his mother who had anger issues. Who had a bad father, you know? Don't feel bad for me. It's a cycle of abuse thing. And he says this, she says this, you know, monsters aren't born, they're made. And he starts laughing of like, I am a monster. You fucking kind of got me there. It feels like the first moment that this guy is completely surrendering his like young master of the universe act. And being like, yeah, that, that whole fucking persona sucks, right? I guess I am kind of like a psychopath. And this moment of true bonding for them.

• 1:54:31David Sims?

  Yes. Yeah, for sure. It's their nice moment, but then he follows it up, of course, by being like, okay, well, let me make you dinner. And then like, and I do think it's really funny, you know, he poisons her. She starts collapsing and he goes, fuck you, Linda. And gets this shitty raft out.

• 1:54:49Speaker 02

  Oh, God, a shitty little raft.

• 1:54:52Griffin Newman?

  He also says that their camp washed away and they'd have to build a new camp together. And she's like, I guess it was stupid of me to put it so close to the water.

• 1:54:58Speaker 02

  There's that moment where they have to like undress and like hold each other for body heat.

• 1:55:02Griffin Newman?

  Yes. But their raft, his raft is made out of their camp. It includes her mug with her name on it.

• 1:55:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:55:09Griffin Newman?

  Like he's taking things vindictively, stuff he doesn't need for the structure of the raft, just to be like, fuck you. I left you there without your stupid mug.

• 1:55:17David Sims?

  I just think fuck you, Linda is really funny.

• 1:55:19Griffin Newman?

  He's just immediately hit by the biggest fucking wave.

• 1:55:21Speaker 03

  He can't make it over the bar.

• 1:55:23Speaker 02

  But it is, you know, it's, you think from her perspective, she is like opening up to him and like does, does start to develop like a feelings for him. And then you think that maybe he is too. And then it's like, no.

• 1:55:38Speaker 03

  He undresses at one point and she's like kind of oogling him, ogling him.

• 1:55:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, we see his butt and she's like, ooh.

• 1:55:44Griffin Newman?

  But this is the greatest moment, moment, the greatest Raimi moment.

• 1:55:48Speaker 03

  My goodness.

• 1:55:49Griffin Newman?

  It is the greatest Raimi moment in the movie and it's, it's the moment where I'm just like, oh God, Sam, I've missed you so much. I am so happy you are back. He's drowning in the effects of this wave. She's been poisoned. She's lying on the beach. I'm genuinely doing the math of how does he survive this? He sees a projection of his fiancee coming to him in the water to save him and then she starts puking on him and we cut to reality and McAdams has like, sort of like, come to her senses just enough while poisoned to go into the water and rescue him, but she cannot stop vomiting and she is performing CPR on him, trying to save his

• 1:56:30Griffin Newman?

  life and every 20 seconds she like Exorcist style projectile vomits right into his face again.

• 1:56:36Speaker 02

  This movie is really great to see in a full theater because my theater was, was shrieking.

• 1:56:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, even my theater was shrieking.

• 1:56:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, I know, they were loving it.

• 1:56:45Speaker 03

  They're like, this fucking guy.

• 1:56:47Griffin Newman?

  It's also like, she does it once and he's still not awake and you're like, it's gonna keep happening. I know.

• 1:56:53David Sims?

  It's canonical that she is barfing every 20 seconds.

• 1:56:56Griffin Newman?

  He's gonna do it eight times and he's coming to and with half wherewithal, he's like, what's this on my face? And then she vomits again. He's still not conscious enough to be able to sit up and you see him go like, fuck, she's gonna keep vomiting, isn't she?

• 1:57:10Speaker 03

  He gave her the poison berries. I mean, he was asking for it.

• 1:57:13Griffin Newman?

  And she just calls out like, you idiot, that's not enough to like, kill me.

• 1:57:17David Sims?

  Right, right, right.

• 1:57:18Speaker 03

  It's such a childish, insane thing. Cause also, he could just be like, I wanna leave and she probably would have helped him build the raft properly.

• 1:57:26Griffin Newman?

  Correct. But a guy like this doesn't wanna give someone like her any power over him. And that's conceding that he needs her, let alone that he respects her, is more power than he's willing to give. And he, and he once again, resents, I'm stuck on an island with a woman with shitty shoes.

• 1:57:45Griffin Newman?

  How is this my fucking life? They keep going back to the shoes, you know, him waking up.

• 1:57:50David Sims?

  He doesn't.

• 1:57:50Griffin Newman?

  She's wandering there.

• 1:57:51David Sims?

  She's got her like trusty shoes.

• 1:57:53Griffin Newman?

  Orthopedic. Yeah, right.

• 1:57:55David Sims?

  There's something about his giant Rolex. You keep seeing it. He never takes it off.

• 1:58:00Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, like it's like it matters.

• 1:58:02David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 1:58:03Speaker 02

  The Rolex thing always gets to me because they're all like supposed to be for like deep sea diving.

• 1:58:08Griffin Newman?

  Right, right. They have all these features that these types of guys are never gonna fucking activate.

• 1:58:13David Sims?

  It's crazy.

• 1:58:14Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, it's, it's so funny, but um, he wakes up. He's like, we, we cut to him in the morning like crying to her in an apology.

• 1:58:23David Sims?

  Yes, yes, he is. He's defeated at this point. I mean, he, he, he, he played his hand and he lost. Like he came at the king and he missed.

• 1:58:31Griffin Newman?

  You're tight on his face. And I thought, oh, Remy's gonna pull back and reveal that he's like tied up, right? Instead, he's free. He's just sitting on the beach and he's like a shell of a man. And she's very calmly like, fucking idiot. I can't believe you did this to me. You didn't even do it well enough, you know, I had to save your ass again. Just don't fucking do that again. We're not in the office anymore. This shit doesn't fucking matter. Right? Like just treating him like a dumb little baby. But like, I'm not gonna sink to your level. And then hands him a kebab of like little squid and vegetables. And you're like, oh, she's like choosing to respond.

• 1:59:08David Sims?

  Oh, I was like, don't eat the squid.

• 1:59:10Griffin Newman?

  Oh, of course.

• 1:59:10Speaker 02

  Oh, no, I, I was like, oh, that looks really good.

• 1:59:13David Sims?

  Well, I do love a squid, but.

• 1:59:15Speaker 02

  I love grilled squid.

• 1:59:16David Sims?

  In that moment, I would not be accepting food from her that I hadn't really inspected. You know what I mean?

• 1:59:22Griffin Newman?

  It's part of this guy being such a dumb fucking donkey.

• 1:59:25David Sims?

  I thought that he would eat the.

• 1:59:27Speaker 02

  I would, I would have eaten this. I would have.

• 1:59:29Griffin Newman?

  He takes the one bite. Dylan Brand starts doing a lot of face acting and she's like, yeah, there's like a toxin in there. It's a numbness. You're not gonna feel pain. You're incapacitated for the next like whatever minutes, which is good because you're not gonna wanna feel this. And she takes out her knife and promises to castrate him.

• 1:59:46Speaker 02

  She's gonna cut. I thought she was gonna do it.

• 1:59:48David Sims?

  Yeah, so you bought like when the blood spurted cuz she she cuts a mouse rat's head off or whatever.

• 1:59:53Griffin Newman?

  You think it's a psychological like just a fucking mind trick thing and then you hear the sound effects of the knife clearly cutting into flesh and gooey shit and blood spurting.

• 2:00:03David Sims?

  She's like, oh, we got a bleeder.

• 2:00:04Speaker 02

  And then it cuts to his face and it's like tears are streaming. He like can't he's contorting, but he can't really.

• 2:00:10Griffin Newman?

  It's a great moment.

• 2:00:11Speaker 02

  Show any reaction.

• 2:00:13Griffin Newman?

  He's like Nikki and Paulo style frozen. And all he can communicate with is his eyes without flexing any muscles.

• 2:00:20David Sims?

  I do not say this to besmirch Sam Raimi cuz I know Sam Raimi is a dang ass freak. I was like, no, there is no dick cutting allowed in this movie.

• 2:00:29Speaker 02

  David Salinas husband also was like, cuz I was like.

• 2:00:33David Sims?

  It'll lose the audience and it's.

• 2:00:34Speaker 02

  Squirming in my seat. He's like, she's not gonna cut.

• 2:00:36Griffin Newman?

  I felt the same way, but I also was like,

• 2:00:40Griffin Newman?

  it feels like he's going there. I thought he was gonna bail out on this 30 seconds ago.

• 2:00:45David Sims?

  I agree with you.

• 2:00:46Griffin Newman?

  Going this far.

• 2:00:46David Sims?

  But it was it's the same to me as the the classic thing from Misery of in the book she saws his legs off. And in the movie, obviously, she just breaks his legs with a hammer.

• 2:00:55Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, much nicer.

• 2:00:56David Sims?

  William Goldman wrote the script and wrote in the sawing and Reiner, rest in peace, the great Rob Reiner, was like, oh, she can't do that. And Goldman, it's in his book. It was like, you're fucking with this great book that I, you know, I'm adapting and this great script that I wrote. How dare you?

• 2:01:12Griffin Newman?

  The audience won't recover.

• 2:01:13David Sims?

  And Ryan was like, no, if she saws his legs off, the audience will lose the movie. And then Goldman sees the movie. He's like, hey, he's absolutely right. What am I being sane? Like, she can't just cut someone's legs off. You can't see that.

• 2:01:23Griffin Newman?

  Yes. McAdams lifts up a rat.

• 2:01:25David Sims?

  Yeah, she she beheaded a rat to freak him out.

• 2:01:28Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, she like gutted it. Um, I'm trying to remember the exact order of events, but then I feel like there's a section of the movie where it actually feels like they have both been leveled off. That for a brief section, it's like they're actually working together. And the like power games have maybe been wiped off the board.

• 2:01:46Speaker 02

  Mm hmm. And then she takes a takes a walk.

• 2:01:50Griffin Newman?

  She takes a little walk.

• 2:01:52Speaker 02

  And

• 2:01:53Griffin Newman?

  What does she see off in the horizon?

• 2:01:54Speaker 02

  She sees another, well, she sees, she sees the glint of a large diamond ring.

• 2:01:59Griffin Newman?

  It's my favorite shit in the world. If a movie can just establish a little bit of visual language so cleanly at the beginning that you can like communicate through a lens flare, a plot point an hour later, right? The audience sees glint and everyone knows what's happening.

• 2:02:16David Sims?

  Yep. You're right. He made that, that visual clear to us. Uh, who plays the, the fiance?

• 2:02:24Speaker 02

  She doesn't have a Wikipedia.

• 2:02:26David Sims?

  Oh yeah. Edil Ismail is her name. Yeah.

• 2:02:29Speaker 02

  She said that they-

• 2:02:30David Sims?

  She's gorgeous. She's Australian.

• 2:02:31Speaker 02

  They'd called the search and rescue operation off, but she never lost hope. So she independently funded her own little boat.

• 2:02:39David Sims?

  Right. And she's got this kind of like Thai, you know, guide who's clearly helping her out.

• 2:02:44Speaker 02

  Wikipedia right now then?

• 2:02:45Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, his Wikipedia is incredible.

• 2:02:46David Sims?

  So his name is, and I, you know-

• 2:02:48Speaker 02

  Taneth Warakulnukro?

• 2:02:51Griffin Newman?

  He's like a Thai music legend.

• 2:02:53Speaker 02

  He's a veteran, this is what Wikipedia says. He is a veteran Thai singer songwriter, record, record producer, DJ and actor. He was also a founder and owner of Music Bugs Company, a record label through which many Thai bands, including Body Slam, Big Ass, La Banoon and Friday, released their first albums. Do we have to start getting into the Thai rock band Big Ass?

• 2:03:20Griffin Newman?

  Ben does.

• 2:03:21Speaker 03

  I'm interested.

• 2:03:22David Sims?

  I would, I would throw on a Big Ass record maybe. Why not? Let's see what some of their records are called. Not Bad, XL, My World? Yeah, let's do it.

• 2:03:32Speaker 02

  Um, origins of the name. This is a section on their Wikipedia. The name of your band is, it's a direct quote from Student Weekly publication. The name of your band is a bit naughty. How did you come up with the name Big Ass? Dax, the guy, the lead singer, I guess his name is Dax. Actually, when we were students, we used so many different names to book studio time that the owner would get confused if we were the same band. So we wanted to find a unique name to represent our band.

• 2:03:56David Sims?

  Thank you, Big Ass.

• 2:03:57Speaker 02

  And we didn't want just a normal ass, so we named the band Big Ass.

• 2:04:02David Sims?

  Now, did you guys think she was gonna kill these people?

• 2:04:05Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 2:04:05Griffin Newman?

  I thought immediately, basically, she has to. The movie has put her in a position where there's.

• 2:04:10David Sims?

  Cause we're getting near the end of the movie and I'm, I'm beginning to wonder, there's no other choice.

• 2:04:14Speaker 02

  This is a really good companion with no other choice, by the way.

• 2:04:17Griffin Newman?

  I mean.

• 2:04:18David Sims?

  Yeah, sort of corporate satires of different flavors.

• 2:04:21Griffin Newman?

  I think these movies are, there's, there's a lot of glib, kind of eat the rich cinema made by very wealthy people and big studios, right? Very successful people that feels like it is trying to respond to a moment, but doing so in a facile way. I think we've been a little plagued with that for the last like eight or nine years where I'm like, I agree with the sentiment, but it almost feels like a movie arguing, hey, I'm one of the good ones.

• 2:04:50David Sims?

  I'm cool.

• 2:04:51Griffin Newman?

  Right. I get it. I hate the rich people too. I'm only worth $50 million, not 500 billion. These movies feel like No Other Choice and Send Help are like actually kind of anthropologically pulling apart. What is the rot?

• 2:05:07David Sims?

  Right, right, right. Yes.

• 2:05:08Griffin Newman?

  Like, how is the whole culture fed to this moment and these empowered these people and all of that? Zuri just immediately clocks her, like Linda remembers her name. Obviously, I'm sure she's been hearing the news.

• 2:05:19David Sims?

  No, but you're right. She's nice.

• 2:05:21Griffin Newman?

  I'm so happy you made it.

• 2:05:22Speaker 02

  I'm so happy to see you.

• 2:05:23David Sims?

  Right, it's like. Cause they don't automatically know who survived. I mean, maybe they've recovered bodies, but probably not if they, yeah.

• 2:05:29Griffin Newman?

  But that's what's so great about this moment is McAdams is like, fuck when she sees a boat. Then she sees the glint. Fuck, this is twice as bad.

• 2:05:36David Sims?

  Right.

• 2:05:37Griffin Newman?

  Then Zuri's happy to see her. And McAdams is kind of going into like, oh no, he died mode, where you see her doing the math on, I don't know if there's any way out of this other than to kill them.

• 2:05:49David Sims?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:05:50Griffin Newman?

  And I don't want to have to do it. And the nicer they are, the worse it gets. And the, and Mr. Body Slam, Mr. Bug's music is like, why are you still picking up that fruit? We got tons of fruit on the boat. You don't need to do this. And she's like, well, I just, I like finishing a task. And he's like, leave your backpack there. Who gives a shit? You're being rescued. And she just immediately swings to, uh, yeah, no, I'll take, he's actually, he's not here. He's this other way. It's a bit of a hike. I'll bring you over to him and takes them over to the cliff where Dylan O'Brien almost fell to his death. And you basically-

• 2:06:24Speaker 03

  No, she almost fell to her death.

• 2:06:24Griffin Newman?

  Oh, yes, and he saved her. Sorry.

• 2:06:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:06:26Griffin Newman?

  Um, but it takes them to the spot, pretends she has to tie her shoe, lets them sort of fall. You see her not saving them and then it hard cuts to her just walking back.

• 2:06:36David Sims?

  But you kind of know.

• 2:06:38Speaker 02

  And she just-

• 2:06:38Griffin Newman?

  They're not there.

• 2:06:39Speaker 03

  Something fucked up happened.

• 2:06:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, she looks like so traumatized.

• 2:06:42David Sims?

  Well, she takes a day off, right?

• 2:06:44Speaker 02

  She takes a sick day. I'm taking a sick day.

• 2:06:45David Sims?

  I'm done, yeah.

• 2:06:46Griffin Newman?

  Not doing this camp shit.

• 2:06:48David Sims?

  Yeah, yeah. But at this point, like, everything is broken. Like, obviously, the two of them can't trust each other anymore. She's a heartless murderer. And it's sort of like, I am starting to feel, I'm like, what does Linda want? Right? Like, in this, like, you know, now what Linda achieves is everything. And I really liked that.

• 2:07:06Speaker 02

  Ben's pointing.

• 2:07:07David Sims?

  Because I was, I was sort of starting to be like, I don't, like, I wonder how, like, she can even kind of get out of this.

• 2:07:12Griffin Newman?

  It's actually the only way for this movie to end. And I applaud this film for having the courage to run straight towards it.

• 2:07:17David Sims?

  And it's sort of the Drag Me to Hell thing of like, this is actually about all kinds of reprehensible people. Because Drag Me to Hell, you're like, well, my hero is Alison Loman. And then as you watch the movie, you're like, but she also kind of deserves what's, you know, like, she's not entirely sympathetic. That's interesting, you know?

• 2:07:34Griffin Newman?

  That's the whole brilliance of that movie to me.

• 2:07:36David Sims?

  And it's sort of the same with Linda where I'm like, Linda is sympathetic. And I'm like, but she's also somewhat monstrous and she's in search of what? Like, what does she want? Like, I understand that she wants to be the alpha with him, but what is her longer term goal?

• 2:07:52Speaker 02

  Well, she has always wanted to-

• 2:07:52David Sims?

  When someone shows up to rescue her, you know what I mean?

• 2:07:55Speaker 02

  She, like, has always wanted to go and survive her. I feel like she's just really- She's really just enjoying island life.

• 2:08:02Speaker 03

  I think she's thriving for maybe the first time in a long time.

• 2:08:05David Sims?

  If I get on that boat, I, you know, it's all over.

• 2:08:08Speaker 03

  I'm back to my Kathy ass life.

• 2:08:11David Sims?

  Right.

• 2:08:11Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 2:08:12David Sims?

  Kathy ass is a very good way to describe it.

• 2:08:14Speaker 03

  Worried about her birds?

• 2:08:16David Sims?

  Who's checking on her bird?

• 2:08:18Griffin Newman?

  And the bird's called Sweetie. Sweetie. Right.

• 2:08:21David Sims?

  Is someone feeding the bird? I did have the thought of like, I hope someone.

• 2:08:25Speaker 03

  She's taking care of Sweetie. I'm, I'm certain.

• 2:08:28Griffin Newman?

  Yeah. I think what she wants ultimately is to feel like she has value. I think Linda's character struggle is she cannot figure out the pathway to that feeling. Right? She certainly knows, I do all this work at this company. And I lived for years off of the kind of quiet acknowledgement of, hey, this whole place would fall apart if it wasn't for you, Linda. Even if she's not paid commensurate to that, even if she's not given the respect and the status within the office, she'll, she'll eat and survive off the crumbs that presumably Bruce Campbell gave her. And Survivor is, man, if I could be on camera showing people how pragmatic I am, I can

• 2:09:12Griffin Newman?

  do things, I can start a fire, I keep this together. She wants some sort of sense of like, permanent acknowledgement of having value. But she also doesn't want to fucking play the games that everyone plays.

• 2:09:26David Sims?

  She's not good at those.

• 2:09:27Griffin Newman?

  Certainly in real life.

• 2:09:28David Sims?

  It's her forte.

• 2:09:28Griffin Newman?

  She's down to do Survivor, which is literally a game. Right? But she doesn't want to play these games and dress up and do the things to try to like, make the relationships. She wants to just believe you can keep your head down and you can do the thing and you can get there. And when Dylan O'Brien is handed the company, it forces her immediately, basically to start to reexamine like, those actually aren't the rules of the universe anymore. The, the people who get power.

• 2:09:54David Sims?

  Dog.

• 2:09:55Griffin Newman?

  Right. They, they seize it in a hostile manner and they do anything they can to protect it. And I think, without making too much of a political statement, a thing that I think this movie is getting at, that I find interesting is like, the, the hell of the last decade of like, the girl boss era that went down in flames, is there was this feeling of, is progress letting women be as awful as the men who used to run companies? Right? That you had all these companies where it was like, here's the new CEO and. She's cool and she does things differently and it's a different workplace culture. And anytime one of these companies started getting applauded, you were like T minus 18 months till expose of this person being a maniac.

• 2:10:39Griffin Newman?

  And you're like, there is a system set up.

• 2:10:41David Sims?

  Women can be maniac.

• 2:10:42Griffin Newman?

  Totally. Where it was like, the way to succeed was seen as.

• 2:10:46Speaker 02

  Nothing.

• 2:10:47Griffin Newman?

  I'm sorry, woman can be maniac.

• 2:10:51Griffin Newman?

  The system of is, is success and power replicating the same broken shit that you used to be the victim of.

• 2:10:59Speaker 02

  Sorry, this, I stopped thinking about women and I'm just thinking about Blank Check Productions. And I'm just thinking about like, who would, I'm just imagining JJ like getting revenge on you guys for firing him all the time.

• 2:11:12David Sims?

  He doesn't have the guts and I encourage him to try.

• 2:11:15Griffin Newman?

  I will say JJ's daughter has been promising to give us what for.

• 2:11:21David Sims?

  Oh, is that right?

• 2:11:22Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 2:11:22Speaker 02

  So it's gonna be like a Kill Bill 2 scenario or whatever.

• 2:11:26Griffin Newman?

  JJ has communicated to us.

• 2:11:28Speaker 02

  Free.

• 2:11:29Griffin Newman?

  That his young daughter has caught wind of the frequent public firings her father is subjected to. And she feels the need to stand up for his honor.

• 2:11:37David Sims?

  I feel really bad.

• 2:11:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's actually really sad. Does she really?

• 2:11:41David Sims?

  I'm canceling the JJ fired bit and canceling it.

• 2:11:44Griffin Newman?

  No.

• 2:11:44David Sims?

  Bums me out.

• 2:11:45Griffin Newman?

  In a bit way, like hands on hips, like I'm gonna give these guys a piece of my.

• 2:11:48Speaker 02

  Dad, he's gonna be homeless and like, I'm like.

• 2:11:50David Sims?

  And we're also, we're gonna be on his home turf.

• 2:11:53Griffin Newman?

  This is the thing.

• 2:11:54David Sims?

  Not me though.

• 2:11:54Griffin Newman?

  Marie, Ben and I are going to visit.

• 2:11:56Speaker 02

  We're going to visit JJ.

• 2:11:57David Sims?

  All right.

• 2:11:58Griffin Newman?

  I'm just saying his daughter.

• 2:11:59David Sims?

  Let's be on guard.

• 2:11:59Griffin Newman?

  His daughter's gonna give us a little, I think wag the finger.

• 2:12:02Speaker 02

  Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna let her, you know, I hope she knows that I, I am like JJ. We are both employees of scary bosses.

• 2:12:10Griffin Newman?

  We're promoting your CEO.

• 2:12:12Speaker 02

  David.

• 2:12:14Speaker 02

  I've never been a girl boss.

• 2:12:17Speaker 03

  Bosses suck.

• 2:12:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, bosses suck. Sorry. I mean, I love you guys.

• 2:12:22David Sims?

  I'm not a boss.

• 2:12:23Speaker 02

  You're my boss. You sign my check.

• 2:12:27David Sims?

  I mean, I don't physically sign a check. That'd be very old fashioned. I approve of.

• 2:12:32Speaker 02

  I want everyone to think that like every month you are just handing me a giant like Ed McMahon.

• 2:12:37David Sims?

  Green visor and I'm like, you know, balancing the books.

• 2:12:40Speaker 03

  What were those about?

• 2:12:42David Sims?

  The green visors?

• 2:12:42Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:12:43David Sims?

  I think it's because the lights were quite intense and overhead, you know?

• 2:12:47Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 2:12:47David Sims?

  Yeah. I'm not, I'm not totally sure. I will admit.

• 2:12:50Griffin Newman?

  I think Linda is doing quick math. It isn't just, I can't go back to my previous life. It's also recognizing the guys who succeed and run the world back on mainland are the people who aren't afraid to do things like this. And very often it's not literally sending someone to their death, but also all those guys on the plane were ready to let her die.

• 2:13:10David Sims?

  No, totally. I think, look, what I was bumping on when I, before I saw the ending of the movie, because I am like, how's this gonna end? Is I was like, this better not be, she wants to be with him.

• 2:13:21Griffin Newman?

  Right? Which the movie wrong foots you.

• 2:13:23David Sims?

  Right, right. That's the fear is that she's like, no, no, only I can sit. Cause I'm like, if I'm her, I'm kind of like, honestly, Bradley is a pain in the ass.

• 2:13:31Speaker 02

  I would have killed him right away.

• 2:13:32David Sims?

  Tried to poison me. He sucks. He's not very nice. Like maybe it is time for at least him to get rescued. You know what I mean?

• 2:13:39Griffin Newman?

  There's also a running bit in this movie as referenced in the tagline that he keeps calling her little Linda from accounting.

• 2:13:45David Sims?

  Yes. And she's like, it's strategy planning.

• 2:13:46Griffin Newman?

  Right. You're the fucking boss and you don't even know, you know, he, when he's trying to lay her off at the beginning of the movie or tell her that she's not going to get the promotion. He's like, look, I've just, I poured over your resume. I've looked at everything. We're just trying to find the redundancies and weaknesses in this company. And he reveals that he doesn't even fucking know what she does.

• 2:14:03David Sims?

  Now.

• 2:14:03Griffin Newman?

  Which is the ultimate offense to her.

• 2:14:05David Sims?

  He does, right. He's not thinking about anything except he doesn't want to deal with her anymore.

• 2:14:09Griffin Newman?

  But like symphonic last 15 or 20 minutes of this movie. He, he takes a walk on her sick day.

• 2:14:16David Sims?

  When does she have the fantasy of the beach zombie? Because that rocks. Because like, I do like that she is not a psycho. She is very guilty that she killed people.

• 2:14:26Speaker 02

  It's during, it's during her sick day. It's when she's laying down.

• 2:14:28David Sims?

  She imagines like finding the corpse and then, you know, you, the Raimi thing where you're like, oh, is it gonna be a corpse? And he's like, no, it's not a corpse. And then she like pops up behind her.

• 2:14:37Speaker 02

  She imagines her, her like crawling out of the water alive. And then it cuts to zombie.

• 2:14:43David Sims?

  Why did you kill me?

• 2:14:45Speaker 02

  Guy sitting in front of me at the theater was like, oh, hell no. When the.

• 2:14:48David Sims?

  Oh, hell no, indeed.

• 2:14:49Griffin Newman?

  Next, next day, Dylan O'Brien takes a walk, sees the hand perfectly posed coming out of the sand.

• 2:14:55Speaker 02

  So funny.

• 2:14:56David Sims?

  Great image.

• 2:14:56Griffin Newman?

  Diamond first.

• 2:14:57Speaker 02

  So funny.

• 2:14:58David Sims?

  No denying it now. Like he can put it all together.

• 2:15:01Griffin Newman?

  It's all out on the table. And they basically start a they live style fight.

• 2:15:05David Sims?

  Yep. Yep. In like multiple locales.

• 2:15:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:15:09David Sims?

  Right? You know, on the beach, then in the jungle, then at the reveal to be luxury home.

• 2:15:14Speaker 02

  Not only does he discover his fiance's hand sticking out of sand, he discovers that there is a modernist mansion on the island.

• 2:15:22Griffin Newman?

  No, doesn't that happen next?

• 2:15:24David Sims?

  It happens well during the fight.

• 2:15:25Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 2:15:26David Sims?

  Yes.

• 2:15:26Griffin Newman?

  Well, right. I mean, the first stage is just like knock down, drag out, fight, ripping pieces of her scalp out. He like sticks.

• 2:15:33Speaker 02

  Oh, right. And then he.

• 2:15:34David Sims?

  He has gauze her eye.

• 2:15:36Speaker 02

  That was nasty when he took the scalp off.

• 2:15:39David Sims?

  Really impressive.

• 2:15:40Griffin Newman?

  And he like tries to drown her in the mud.

• 2:15:43Speaker 02

  You're right.

• 2:15:43Griffin Newman?

  By the end of this sequence, her face is like half kicked in mud. The other side of her face is like, has blood tears. Like they've been like stabbing each other, right? He took the knife when she was sleeping. You're sort of like, is this gonna end with one of them dying? Is this the final fight to prove who's the victor? And they both run off. And he runs after her and finds the mansion, that there's like an incredible tropical paradise.

• 2:16:11David Sims?

  Well, no, it's more he's running away from her towards the part of the island that she always warned him against. And then that's the reveal.

• 2:16:18Griffin Newman?

  He thinks he's like discovering something, gets in there. It's just empty, but it's like well maintained.

• 2:16:26Griffin Newman?

  Looks through the cutlery. All the knives are missing. All the other cutlery has the same style as the knife she's been using the whole movie. There's all this incredible fruit that she's been preparing. You immediately see like the pieces that she's been bringing back to base camp. And using to be like, I'm just handy. I'm crafty. I know how to survive. Right? And then you hear her voice over the intercom. She's been on top of this house for however long it's been that they've been here. Months?

• 2:16:54Speaker 03

  It's a little unclear, but a while.

• 2:16:56Griffin Newman?

  But like, she's been showering. This has been her paradise. She's rigged up the security system. She's been using a real toilet. She's been getting real sleep presumably at certain times in a real bed, like all this fucking.

• 2:17:10Speaker 03

  Air fucking conditioning.

• 2:17:11Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 2:17:12Speaker 03

  Right?

• 2:17:12Griffin Newman?

  And now she's doing kind of like mind games. Like I have eyes in the sky. I can see you in all the security cameras. You can hear me, but you don't know where I am. And then finally comes down to this like face off in the study. Where he breaks down crying and they have this like, it's been about love the entire time. Right? We had to fight this hard to get to.

• 2:17:33Speaker 03

  It's so sleazy. I don't believe him for a second.

• 2:17:37David Sims?

  I, I didn't either. I do think the movie wants you to maybe fall for it for a second. I don't know.

• 2:17:44Griffin Newman?

  I, I think what the movie succeeds in doing is pushing the scene in a way Rami loves to do. So far past the point that you expect that you start to go, am I wrong? Am I supposed to take this seriously?

• 2:17:56David Sims?

  It's right. It's a minute longer. And so you do start to get fooled.

• 2:18:00Griffin Newman?

  Whether or not I'm buying it, does the movie want me to buy it? Is it actually, is the movie failing to sell me on this?

• 2:18:07David Sims?

  He just has his, uh, he has the statue horn behind his back.

• 2:18:12Griffin Newman?

  Right. And she's been holding him at gunpoint with a shotgun the whole time. He used it to attack her, gets the shotgun, is ready to shoot in the face. You're so fucking stupid. I can't think, I can't believe you ever thought this. Shotgun empty. I can't believe I was beaten by Linda, the accountant, strategies and planning. The whole thing. She fucking, she was 87 steps ahead of him the entire.

• 2:18:31Speaker 02

  Strategy and planning.

• 2:18:32Griffin Newman?

  She, that's how she beat him.

• 2:18:34Speaker 03

  And then she golf club his ass to death.

• 2:18:37Griffin Newman?

  The thing that she doesn't do, he wants a VP.

• 2:18:40Speaker 02

  Who can golf?

• 2:18:41Griffin Newman?

  Who can golf? And she fucking kills his ass with a golf club. Ben, what are we hard cut to?

• 2:18:46Speaker 03

  She's at a golf tournament?

• 2:18:48Griffin Newman?

  A celebrity golf tournament.

• 2:18:50Speaker 03

  Yes, and even though the famous CEO who survived or whatever.

• 2:18:54Speaker 02

  It looks completely different. It looks so bright and cheery now. She's got an amazing voluminous ponytail.

• 2:19:01Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 2:19:01Griffin Newman?

  Tight, great pony.

• 2:19:03Speaker 03

  Golf like.

• 2:19:05Griffin Newman?

  As Craig Zoller would be jealous. And yes, she's on TV. She's a celebrity.

• 2:19:10Speaker 03

  Yep, she's being interviewed.

• 2:19:12Speaker 02

  America loves her.

• 2:19:13Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 2:19:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:19:14Griffin Newman?

  She's the great story.

• 2:19:15Speaker 03

  It's been maybe a year and then since that time, yeah, she's made the rounds going on daytime TV shows. She has a book out. She's just like beloved now and put a damn smile on my face.

• 2:19:29Griffin Newman?

  I remember what her final line is she says to this interviewer. Yeah.

• 2:19:32Speaker 02

  Well, she wants to, she's gonna start writing a send help book.

• 2:19:35Griffin Newman?

  Oh, yes. Right. You can't ask, it's a self-help book.

• 2:19:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:19:38Griffin Newman?

  You, you can't wait for someone else to help you. You gotta help yourself.

• 2:19:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, you have to say, no one's gonna come and save you. You're gonna have to save yourself.

• 2:19:45Speaker 03

  And even though she did some really fucked up shit and I, at times I was like, not necessarily on Linda's side. In the end, the people, the other characters in this world are so despicable. It's just a reminder of how unfair the world is. You love to see someone like Linda have everything fucking work out. And then she drives off into the sunset in a fucking convertible with sweetie in the car, riding shotgun, baby.

• 2:20:12Griffin Newman?

  McAdams do?

• 2:20:13Speaker 03

  Oh, she puts on like eighties. I forget what eighties song.

• 2:20:16Griffin Newman?

  It opens with Blondie, it ends with Blondie.

• 2:20:18Speaker 02

  She's looking at the camera. She's smiling.

• 2:20:21Speaker 03

  And she's like, I did it.

• 2:20:22Speaker 02

  I did it.

• 2:20:35David Sims?

  She did do it, and I think audiences will walk out happy about that.

• 2:20:39Griffin Newman?

  There's another winter storm coming this weekend. However, the next two weekends are really bleak in the theatrical marketplace.

• 2:20:46David Sims?

  I also, I think the winter storm that's coming this weekend looks like it's not going to actually be too bad.

• 2:20:50Griffin Newman?

  Okay.

• 2:20:50Speaker 02

  It better not be. I got a haircut scheduled.

• 2:20:53Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 2:20:54David Sims?

  So, yeah.

• 2:20:54Griffin Newman?

  They're projecting this around 15. I think the closer it gets to 20, the happier they are. If it's above 20, this movie scene is like a total success. I also think our buddy Fantasy.

• 2:21:05David Sims?

  Over 20 would be great. I think 15, they'll be, they'll be fine. Hopefully it does not have the bone temple kind of under 15, which is annoying.

• 2:21:12Griffin Newman?

  A major bummer. Uh, our buddy Sean Fantasy, who, you know, has the burden of hosting a twice weekly topical movie podcast was spiraling out to us over text last night.

• 2:21:21David Sims?

  What do I even talk about?

• 2:21:22Griffin Newman?

  Guys, help me. What do I build episodes around? The next two weeks are bad.

• 2:21:27Speaker 02

  I mean, they still have years left to draft from, don't they?

• 2:21:31David Sims?

  I mean, they can start dipping into the 70s and 60s or whatever.

• 2:21:34Griffin Newman?

  Some of those years we've called dibs on.

• 2:21:37David Sims?

  I've earmarked one of those years.

• 2:21:39Griffin Newman?

  But I.

• 2:21:39David Sims?

  Year marked more like.

• 2:21:40Griffin Newman?

  This movie is in a position with good word of mouth to hang in there for a couple of weeks. It's opening against Iron Lung, which is a very bizarre, modern phenomenon in theatrical movie going, a self-financed, self-produced YouTuber adaptation of an independent video game that is now coming out on like 3,000 screens because of like a call-in campaign of people demanding their local chains play it. And it already has $7 million in pre-sales.

• 2:22:10David Sims?

  You're not talking, I, I, I thought you were talking about Melania for a second, which I'm running a calling.

• 2:22:14Griffin Newman?

  Very similar stories.

• 2:22:15David Sims?

  Right.

• 2:22:16Speaker 02

  Are you gonna have to see it?

• 2:22:17David Sims?

  No. Luckily, Sophie, my colleague, drew that, drew that a little, but I did have to watch the Pete Davidson podcast. Okay. So we all have our burdens.

• 2:22:25Griffin Newman?

  Oh, they made you watch that?

• 2:22:27David Sims?

  It was for work. I didn't watch it for fun.

• 2:22:29Griffin Newman?

  The important clarification, this whole time I've just thought I was working with a maniac.

• 2:22:33David Sims?

  Oh, no, no, I, I, I.

• 2:22:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, I thought you did that for fun.

• 2:22:36David Sims?

  No, I had the great experience, though, of firing it up, being like, gosh, I guess I have to wash it. And then seeing that it was 36 minutes and being like, well, at least I'll clear this quick.

• 2:22:44Griffin Newman?

  They had the Melania bucket at the Regal when I went last night, and I have to say.

• 2:22:48David Sims?

  Wait, there's really, I thought that was a joke.

• 2:22:50Speaker 02

  No, there's really a Melania bucket.

• 2:22:51David Sims?

  Is it like her hat or something?

• 2:22:53Speaker 02

  No, it's just a bucket with a picture of Melania on it.

• 2:22:56Griffin Newman?

  It's the worst bucket I've ever seen. It is a bucket that just on one side has her in the chair and the other side has like Melania 20 days to history. Unfilmed DeBrett Ratner or whatever. But structurally, it is like, it has less physical integrity than a solo cup. It is the smallest bucket I have ever seen.

• 2:23:16Speaker 02

  Oh, so you like, you touched it, you felt it.

• 2:23:18Griffin Newman?

  It's flimsy, it's like a ripoff. It gives you less popcorn than a large bag would give you.

• 2:23:25Speaker 02

  Wow, that actually makes sense.

• 2:23:27David Sims?

  Yeah, I was gonna say, this all feels thematic.

• 2:23:29Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, almost always the bucket is an upcharge from getting like the Regal, you know, or whatever, super size paper bucket.

• 2:23:36David Sims?

  Yeah.

• 2:23:37Griffin Newman?

  Plus, plastic bullshit. This gives you less popcorn than that. Uh, anyway, yes, Melania, Iron Lung.

• 2:23:43David Sims?

  I'm sorry to report that Iron Lung, I just looked up the synopsis and it's looks just fucking stupid enough that I actually.

• 2:23:51Speaker 02

  It's like, there's like, they're on a moon, but there's like a blood ocean.

• 2:23:55David Sims?

  Convict is on a moon in a blood ocean, driving a submarine. I want to see Iron Lung.

• 2:24:01Griffin Newman?

  I'm curious.

• 2:24:01David Sims?

  Here's my only thing I'm bumping on.

• 2:24:03Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 2:24:03David Sims?

  Runtime 127 minutes.

• 2:24:06Griffin Newman?

  How long is send help?

• 2:24:07David Sims?

  Well, it's about 110 minutes.

• 2:24:10Griffin Newman?

  Okay.

• 2:24:10David Sims?

  Like, right, it's under two hours.

• 2:24:11Griffin Newman?

  Under two.

• 2:24:12David Sims?

  Uh, it's, uh, 113 minutes.

• 2:24:14Griffin Newman?

  Okay, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, weird, weird January. I mean, I'm just like. Send help and Bone Temple alone.

• 2:24:24David Sims?

  I've, I've seen, yeah, you're right.

• 2:24:25Griffin Newman?

  Is this the fucking best dumpuary ever?

• 2:24:28David Sims?

  It's a strong dumpuary.

• 2:24:29Griffin Newman?

  These aren't like, great movies that a studio was afraid of.

• 2:24:33David Sims?

  Nirvana, the band, the show and a Gorverbinski movie. You have Wuthering Heights, which I'm seeing next week and I

• 2:24:39Griffin Newman?

  Yes.

• 2:24:39David Sims?

  Confess, I'm excited.

• 2:24:41Griffin Newman?

  I'm a little excited.

• 2:24:42David Sims?

  Like, just for some fun.

• 2:24:44Griffin Newman?

  Judgment, I'm a little excited.

• 2:24:45David Sims?

  Just for, give me some fun.

• 2:24:46Griffin Newman?

  There's some good stuff happening. And Send Help and Bone Temple both are deeply January movies.

• 2:24:54David Sims?

  Sean ignored me, but I was like, I think it's time for you to blow the whistle.

• 2:24:57Griffin Newman?

  He's got to blow the whistle.

• 2:24:57David Sims?

  There's a horror movie called Whistle about like, there's a whistle you shouldn't blow. I'm in. Now, I've heard that it's the worst horror movie ever made or from a random tweet that I saw. But I'm just kind of like, I love the idea of like, what's that haunted whistle? What happens if you blow up bad things? It's like, hmm, kind of want to blow it.

• 2:25:15Griffin Newman?

  David?

• 2:25:16David Sims?

  What?

• 2:25:17Griffin Newman?

  But this movie is also a ripoff of, I'm going to accuse it of plagiarism. We all remember that in the motion picture Ghostbusters: Colder and Afterlife, our favorite character, Podcast, has an Aztec death whistle that looks like a skull that he wears on his belt, that he says never to blow because it would conjure spirits.

• 2:25:37Speaker 02

  We all know this.

• 2:25:38Griffin Newman?

  And of course, that movie, tight as a drum, obeying Chekhov's law, never has a character blow the whistle. That is the only time it is acknowledged.

• 2:25:46David Sims?

  I must say, I forgot about that.

• 2:25:49Griffin Newman?

  But it does feel like someone went, why wouldn't this movie blow the fucking whistle? Let's make a whole movie out of the whistle.

• 2:25:54David Sims?

  Whistle.

• 2:25:55Griffin Newman?

  Whistle. I'm hoping this movie does well.

• 2:25:57David Sims?

  I hope it does solid.

• 2:25:58Griffin Newman?

  It holds well, but it's got a low bar to clear for success.

• 2:26:01Speaker 02

  My coworkers are all very interested. They asked, they asked me to report if it was like, you know, scary. And I was like, I really, it's not scary. It's more, I think it's more of a comedy than it is like a straight up horror.

• 2:26:13David Sims?

  But it has jumps and gore. So if those are things you bump on, I suppose.

• 2:26:18Speaker 02

  There's like one, there's like one jump.

• 2:26:19David Sims?

  Yeah, there's not, yeah, you're right.

• 2:26:20Griffin Newman?

  It's not so much fun.

• 2:26:23David Sims?

  It's a lot of fun.

• 2:26:24Griffin Newman?

  It's a pleaser.

• 2:26:25David Sims?

  You'll walk out feeling loose and silly.

• 2:26:27Speaker 02

  My audience clapped at the end.

• 2:26:30Griffin Newman?

  It's so good. And, you know, we were, David, you and I were doing a little Monday morning quarterbacking on the Bone Temple box office and it really feels like it is just a statement about people not really liking 28 years later. Stupid people.

• 2:26:43David Sims?

  I do think, right, it's a bit of a hangover from that movie confounding people a little bit.

• 2:26:48Griffin Newman?

  But the movie is so good and everyone who sees it likes it so much that I think there was the hope that the word of mouth would kind of help boost it past its underwhelming opening day, opening weekend, and it's just really like a complete two years from now, if not less, people are going to discover this on Netflix and go like, oh, this fucking rules. And we're going to just be angry that everyone was late to the party at the time where they could have voted with their dollars. Send help has less pressure on it. It's a lower budget.

• 2:27:18Speaker 02

  It's getting good reviews. I think it'll find an audience. I hope it finds an audience.

• 2:27:22Griffin Newman?

  More than anything, I want Raimi like knocking one of these out every three years.

• 2:27:26David Sims?

  That I really want to hear. I want to hear Sam Raimi say, and by the way, I've already got my next project going and it's this. And if it is Doctor Strange and the, you know, the, the, the Clea's adventures, then okay, but if it is like-

• 2:27:40Griffin Newman?

  Batman, if there's another $200 million thing he wants to do, fine. But the thing I don't want is him spending 10 years stuck in development hell on shit that doesn't get off the runway. And if he just wants to start directing more of the type of movie he spent most of the 2000s producing, that's great to me. Thumbs up.

• 2:28:00David Sims?

  I hope the microphone is picking up my thumb.

• 2:28:02Griffin Newman?

  Do you know where you would place this in your Raimi rankings?

• 2:28:05David Sims?

  I have it, I can tell you, because I put it right there. I have it 10th. That sounds worse than you'd think.

• 2:28:12Griffin Newman?

  Raimi's got a strong 10.

• 2:28:13David Sims?

  He's got a, you know, I had Spider-Man 2, Evil Dead 2, Simple Plan, Evil Dead, Dark Man, Quick in the Dead, Spider-Man, like, you know, so that's your seven where I'm like, you know, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. And then I have it in the sort of Drag Me to Hell, Army of Darkness, Send Help. Like, that's a sort of little range for me. I have it below Drag Me to Hell and Army of Darkness.

• 2:28:31Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 2:28:32David Sims?

  That's where I put it.

• 2:28:33Griffin Newman?

  Yeah.

• 2:28:33David Sims?

  I have it above Doctor Strange 2, The Gift, Spider-Man 3, you know, the much more flawed-

• 2:28:39Griffin Newman?

  It's firmly above all of that stuff.

• 2:28:40David Sims?

  Right, you know, Crime Wave, Love of the Game.

• 2:28:43Griffin Newman?

  Yeah, I'm trying to find my Raimi list now.

• 2:28:45Speaker 02

  Oh, wow. I actually did one.

• 2:28:47Griffin Newman?

  You did a Raimi list?

• 2:28:48Speaker 02

  But I don't know where I'd put, I mean, my top five are Spider-Man 1, Simple Plan, Spider-Man 2, Drag Me to Hell, Evil Dead.

• 2:28:58Griffin Newman?

  I found mine, Evil Dead 2, number one, then Spider-Man 2, then A Simple Plan, then Evil Dead, then Spider-Man, then Quick in the Dead, Drag Me to Hell, Army of Darkness, Darkman. My question is just where does Send Help go in that mix? It's definitely below Quick in the Dead. I can't decide where it is. Quick in the Dead rules, it owns. I can't decide where it goes amongst Drag Me to Hell, Army of Darkness, and Darkman. But those are three movies I love. And Raimi has delivered another one of those. It also gives him like, a kind of unimpeachable 10, in my opinion.

• 2:29:38David Sims?

  Like, I had- It's a very strong, sure.

• 2:29:39Griffin Newman?

  I had Spider-Man 3 in my number 10 position. And that's a flawed movie that I defend.

• 2:29:44David Sims?

  Right, totally.

• 2:29:45Griffin Newman?

  With Send Help in the top 10, I'm like, there are 10 Sam Raimi movies where I just give two thumbs up. I hope folks, uh, go out to see this movie.

• 2:29:54Speaker 02

  There's a lot going on right now.

• 2:29:56Griffin Newman?

  In the world.

• 2:29:56Speaker 02

  In the world.

• 2:29:57Griffin Newman?

  It's quite bad.

• 2:29:58Speaker 02

  It's quite bad.

• 2:29:59David Sims?

  Everyone go out and have fun. And also, you know, resist the terrible things that are happening in the world in any way that you can.

• 2:30:05Griffin Newman?

  Or help your neighbors. Resist, show kindness.

• 2:30:08Speaker 02

  Help your neighbors, show kindness.

• 2:30:09David Sims?

  Fuck ice.

• 2:30:10Speaker 03

  Try to donate to any kind of cause to help out.

• 2:30:15Griffin Newman?

  Absolutely.

• 2:30:15Speaker 03

  All of the fucked up shit that's been going on specifically in Minnesota.

• 2:30:20Griffin Newman?

  Look, it's often, uh, a sort of silver lining of the crazy, uh, production schedule, uh, methods and scheduling, uh, we have employed on this podcast.

• 2:30:32David Sims?

  Sure, we're rarely, uh, record, recording current-ish.

• 2:30:35Griffin Newman?

  I, you know, I get it, like, I will listen to podcasts that are new release, or I, podcasts that I know have been recorded the same week that I'm listening to them. And sometimes, even though I'm looking for a podcast to just give me an escape from reality, the hellscape that we live in, it feels weird if they're not addressing the elephant in the room. And very often, we don't have to confront this issue because you're listening to an episode that was recorded.

• 2:30:56Griffin Newman?

  Recorded fucking five years ago. Get ready for April 2026, a month on blank check that was recorded almost entirely in October 2025.

• 2:31:06David Sims?

  That's true, but you know what? We predict everything perfectly. No, I feel like we are mostly talking about whatever the issues of that moment are.

• 2:31:13Speaker 02

  So Hawk to a comes back.

• 2:31:15Griffin Newman?

  A lot.

• 2:31:16David Sims?

  Becker.

• 2:31:16Griffin Newman?

  A lot.

• 2:31:17David Sims?

  You know?

• 2:31:19Griffin Newman?

  A good month of podcasting, to be clear.

• 2:31:21David Sims?

  Yeah, no, great.

• 2:31:22Griffin Newman?

  Hopefully with no productions that make us look like idiots, but we had to do some last minute rescheduling to account for a couple of things and pull Send Help up to have this episode come out opening weekend. Hopefully maybe it incentivizes people who are not at risk either from government bullshit or the weather to be able to go out and see this movie opening weekend. But yeah, knowing that we're recording this in the same chunk of time that you're listening, it's it's tough out there and things are bad.

• 2:31:55David Sims?

  Love your neighbor, guys.

• 2:31:56Griffin Newman?

  Neighbor.

• 2:31:57David Sims?

  Get out there.

• 2:31:58Griffin Newman?

  What if your neighbor is Mr. Wilson, though?

• 2:32:00David Sims?

  Is that, who's that again? That is that?

• 2:32:02Speaker 02

  From Home Improvement?

• 2:32:03Griffin Newman?

  Dennis the Man is fucks with Mr. Wilson.

• 2:32:05David Sims?

  See, like, I feel like, you know, there's too many Wilsons out there.

• 2:32:08Griffin Newman?

  You knew what I was saying, right?

• 2:32:09Speaker 03

  No, I thought it was the neighbor from Home Improvement, too.

• 2:32:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, what's his name?

• 2:32:13Griffin Newman?

  Okay, if your neighbor is Wilson first name from Home Improvement, please show him kindness.

• 2:32:20David Sims?

  Please take us out, Griffin.

• 2:32:21Griffin Newman?

  Thank you all for listening. Hopefully a fun, silly Sam Raimi movie can be a bomb in these difficult times. And thankfully, next week, we will give you a respite from the awful world we live in as we talk about, we need to talk about Kevin. Why is David hiding his face in his hands? Easy movie, easy discussion.

• 2:32:41David Sims?

  Boy, and then at least things brighten up with the next two episodes. I'm like, way easier stuff.

• 2:32:47Speaker 03

  Like I said on the Rat Catcher episode, get yourself some ice cream and have it at the ready after you watch the movie.

• 2:32:54Griffin Newman?

  Treat yourself.

• 2:32:54Speaker 03

  Treat yourself.

• 2:32:55Griffin Newman?

  $2.2 million in previews for Send Help, $3.5 for Iron Lung.

• 2:33:01David Sims?

  Hey, man. Look, if Iron Lung wants to help save cinemas, that's fine.

• 2:33:05Griffin Newman?

  If both of these movies open over $15 million, we're in a great position. And the lower Melania opens, the better the position is. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe. As David said, "Love your neighbor." As Marie said, "Stay safe. Resist." And as always, please, please, please do not go see Melania. And whatever you do, don't buy that fucking piece of shit bucket.

• 2:33:39Speaker 03

  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 Bardis 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, Ali 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.

• 2:34:24Speaker 03

  Follow us on social @BlankCheckPod. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Checkbook, on Substack. This podcast is created and produced by Blank Check Productions.