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Mulholland Drive with Leslye Headland

Is it a dream? Is it about a dream? Is it a TV pilot? Is it the greatest film of the 21st century? In any case, Leslye Headland returns to the podcast to talk about David Lynch’s endlessly fascinating 2001 masterpiece MULHOLLAND DR. We may not have all the answers, but we do have a lot of thoughts about Hollywood, about Billy Ray Cyrus, about actors being shoved down audiences’ throats, about diners, about Patrick Fischler’s eyebrows, about the diner owned by Patrick Fischler�...

Oops! All Burger Reports: The Return

🍔🍔🍔📰📰📰In 2022 we visited a seemingly forgotten place. A place that had been left to fend for itself for 4 long years. A place that only those with special knowledge could find their way to. A place known only as Burgerlopolis. Now only 16 months later… WE RETURN to Burgerlopolis to see what other fame-Os have been spotted chowing down…. or up in the air, or in a tub… on some Burgers. 📰📰📰🍔🍔🍔

Returning by popular demand???, BC:SF checks in on the ...

Here

We apologize in advance if you had a profound emotional experience with the new Robert Zemeckis joint - HERE felt like more of a “Here?? What???? Why?” to us. Dinosaurs, Benjamin Franklin’s cuck son, a man dying from laughter, a horny couple who invent the LA-Z Boy, airplane man (who does NOT die from airplane), and the double whammy of the Black Lives Matter movement and Covid all come together to create a strange boomer diorama that misses much of the quotidian beauty of Richard McGui...

The Straight Story with Dana Stevens

Walt Disney Pictures Presents A Film By David Lynch. And what a beautiful, expectation-defying, G-rated, cold-glass-of-beer film it is. Dana Stevens joins us to talk about 1999’s The Straight Story, a film that showcases Lynch’s fascination with Americana and his deep empathy for characters on the margins. Join us on a journey through the Midwest (Griffin can’t drive, but he’s a great passenger), where we talk about braunschweiger, cheese castles, bundles of sticks, Chicago theater ac...

Jesus Christ Superstar

✝️🌟 BLA-ANK CHECK 🎶 SPECIAL FEATURES 🎶 WATCH A-LONG, AS WE WATCH A-L-DUB 🎶 (To the tune of the chorus of Jesus Christ Superstar, you know how it goes) 🌟✝️

We’re kicking off our Sir Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber stage-to-screen-adaptation commentary series with Norman Jewison’s 1973 film Jesus Christ Superstar.

Topics include: The perfect connection between Blank Check on Broadway and Jesus Christ Superstar, 90’s SNL Movies, is Ben allowed in a church?, new ...

Lost Highway with David Lowery

1997’s Lost Highway - is it (as David Sims wrote on Letterboxd), “a movie about headache”? Is it David Lynch’s most visually beautiful film? Is it a dry run for Mulholland Dr? A radical reimagining of Bill Pullman’s screen presence? A psychogenic fugue? Lynch’s commentary on the OJ Simpson trial? An excuse for David Sims to go off on the concept of “free jazz”?? Folks - we are pleased to tell you that it is all of the above and more. The great David Lowery joins us to talk abo...

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

🎲🏰🐉 To wrap up our Tabletop Games series, we are discussing the Blank-Check-beloved 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 🎲🏰🐉

Topics include: Pining for Pine, the saga of eOne, Gummy-Griff, David baby scolding, piggyback companions, the perfect billing pitch and more. 

Movie starts at 1:39

Joker: Hallie À Goodrich

What if they made a sequel to the Joker movie that was pretty much the finale of Seinfeld but it’s also a half-assed jukebox musical, and EVERYONE hated it? What if Michael Keaton had a 35-year-old pregnant daughter, but he also had precocious 9-year-old twins and a Los Angeles art gallery on the verge of financial collapse? Both scenarios lay the groundwork for two of the most “they don’t make ‘em like this” films of the year, and BOTH conclude with the same Daniel Johnston song. Y...

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me with Arkasha Stevenson

One of the more harrowing films we’ve covered on the podcast (and the second film we’ve covered in 2024 with a memorable “gobble gobble” line), 1992’s TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME was not the quirky, enjoyable plotline wrap-up fans of Twin Peaks wanted. David Lynch instead challenged the audience to identify with Laura Palmer’s humanity and pain, making her a real person - not just a girl wrapped in plastic. THE FIRST OMEN director Arkasha Stevenson joins us to talk about how thi...

Twin Peaks (Season 2) with Connor Ratliff

It’s Been…… One Month?? (In Twin Peaks)!!! For our Lynch bonus ep Griffin, David, Ben and Twin Peaks Expert Connor Ratliff discuss Twin Peaks Season 2 in its entirety. 

Topics include: Season 2 Comps, Lots of Lost discussion, Who can Skip Town?, Who The F*¢k is Bob?, Twin Peaks’ Mrs. Doubtfire / Karl Havoc, preview of our Diane Keaton series  and much more. 

2024-10-11 04:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Wild at Heart with Tatiana Maslany

If we told you this was the first time we’d covered a Nicolas Cage movie on the podcast - would you believe us? Well, baby - it’s true. And what a movie it is! The luminous Tatiana Maslany returns to talk about David Lynch’s smokin’ hot outlaw romance WILD AT HEART - a film that won the Palme d’Or and took Lynch away from the set of Twin Peaks. Get ready for lots of Cage career discussion (a favorite topic of Griffin Newman), a bunch of actor speak, and multiple “hey, did you know...

Ouija: Origin of Evil

🕯️🕯️🕯️ Unsuccessful in using the Ouija board to contact Stiles White and figure out what he was doing with Ouija, BC:SF tap into the board’s powers once more to figure out where the evil came from as they discuss Mike Mike Flanagan’s 2016 film Ouija: Origin of Evil. 🕯️🕯️🕯️

Topics include: Conversation Pits, Wha...

Twin Peaks (Season 1) with Eva Anderson

For a brief shining moment, Middle America went crazy for the surreal soap opera stylings of David Lynch and Mark Frost. We’re talking ABC, primetime, airing against “Cheers”-level mainstream. And then it all came crashing down. Listen as we take our first step into the intoxicating world of Twin Peaks - one of the most influential television series of all time and the project that would come to define Lynch for the rest of his career. Eva Anderson - who literally grew up in the town Tw...

Blue Velvet with Jamie Loftus

Lend us your (severed) ears! This week, we’re jumping back into our Lynch series with a trip to Lumberton, USA, as our beloved Jamie Loftus joins us to chat about 1986’s BLUE VELVET. We’re going deep on the star persona of Kyle MacLachlan, David Sims’ obsession with Dean Stockwell, and David Lynch’s unironic obsession with Americana. How does a movie that deals with such deeply disturbing themes end up being so watchable? That’s that Lynchian magic, baby!

2024-09-22 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Ouija

🕯️🕯️🕯️ BC:SF attempts to contact the other side, or at least the ghost of Stiles White’s directorial career as we discuss 2014’s Ouija. 🕯️🕯️🕯️

Topics include: Pronunciation, the “McG Parasite”, recounting the Blumhouse run of the time, another Ben movie pitch in the Night Swimaverse, what kind of Oui...

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

We’re taking a break from David Lynch to answer one of the year’s biggest questions - Is Burton Back, Baby? Ummmm…kind of! Grab your “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” commemorative popcorn tin and join us as we attempt to untangle the very messy BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE. Which sequences wowed us with their sparkling ingenuity? Which plotlines would we excise from the script? What song would you possess people to lipsync to and why is it Bloodhound Gang’s “The Bad Touch”...

Short Films + The Music of David Lynch

For our September bonus ep we are discussing the short films of David Lynch. And then Beavis and Buttheads return!! Get ready because we have a selection of David Lynch-directed music videos for your enjoyment! TP for my bunghole?! more like Twin Peaks for my bunghole. Topics include: TODAY’S NUMBER!!! Museum seating options, Ben’s parenting tips, timely July 4th release / box office content, CooCoo Cotillard Corner, and more! 

Films and Videos Discussed 

Dune with John Hodgman

The sleeper must awaken. The filmography must contain a flop. We’ve arrived at the Planet Arrakis aka the Desert Planet aka DUNE (1984) - David Lynch’s attempt at wrangling Frank Herbert’s space epic into a single studio blockbuster. Did it work? Not really. Do we have fun talking about it? Hell yeah, we do! John Hodgman joins us to talk about all things “spice” - including the infamous glossary of Dune terms handed out in theaters, and a wild anecdote about Peter Berg reading Dune ...

Battleship

 🛳🚢🛥 ⛴🛳 Man your battle stations as BC:SF boards the USS Hosley and attempt to make it through Peter Berg’s 2012 film Battleship  🛳🚢🛥 ⛴🛳 

Topics include: Title drop timing, “The Rihanna Story” (AGAIN), Ben being LOCKED IN, Turtle! And chaotic board game movie pitches!

Movie Begins at 10:24

The Elephant Man with Alex Ross Perry

We’re getting in touch with our emotions this week, as Alex Ross Perry joins us to talk about Lynch’s deeply-felt, sensitively-rendered 1980 classic THE ELEPHANT MAN. Is this the most “normal” movie in Lynch’s filmography? What does “normal” mean, anyway? As with all Alex episodes, questions are posed and hotly debated, such as: What filmmakers, aside from David Lynch, made their most important work in the later part of their careers? What is the Lynch film that young people vib...

Eraserhead

In heaven (and in podcasting), everything is fine. Welcome to TWIN PODS: FIRE CAST WITH ME, a series on the films of David Lynch - former Eagle Scout and totally normal human man. With his 1977 debut feature ERASERHEAD, Lynch burst on to the scene somewhat fully formed as an artist, confused by normal social interactions and motivated by a seething hatred of Philadelphia. The last part of that sentence is only partially a joke. Join us as we discuss where Eraserhead fits in the pantheon of fi...

Dungeons & Dragons

🎲🏰🐉 This is your Dungeon Master speaking! BC: SF rolls for initiative to see if they have what it takes to make it through 2000s Dungeons & Dragons: “The best movie we’ve ever covered” 🎲🏰🐉

Topics include: The dawn of the Slinky, Paul brothers discourse, has the crew (besides David of course) ever played D&D, the definition of “Adult Film”, David defines the D&D classes, Kingdom of the Planet of the Clements, and more.

Movie starts at ...

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

Welp, our Kevin Costner series ends not with a bang, but a whimper. With the pulling of Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2 from theaters, we are left to only speculate what the future holds for Costner’s self-funded crazy passion project. What we can tell you is that Chapter 1 doesn’t really feel like its own self-contained movie. Plotlines are established, characters are introduced, and then…Giovanni Ribisi shows up.   

2024-08-18 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Waterworld with Joe Kwaczala

It’s time to get WET!!! For our Costner bonus ep Griffin, David, Ben and Comedian Joe Kwaczala discuss “The most famous expensive move ever made”, “Fishtar”, “Kevin’s Gate”….. 1995’s Westwo….shit…..Waterworld. 

Topics include: Griff’s Planet , a long discussion of The Love Guru (Again), a good 120 minutes pinned for the Ulysses cut, possibly the most fired up David has ever been, major fanfare context and more!!! 

Buy Joe’s Album - 2024-08-11 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Trap

You know the Butcher? That freakin' nutjob that goes around just chopping people up? Well, we’re about to spend nearly three hours talking about him! Join us as we unpack TRAP - the devilishly entertaining new thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, with special insights from our own David Sims, who spent much of this year interviewing Night at his compound in Philadelphia. We’re talking about a bunch of things - dads, serial killers, how much we don’t like going to concerts, the sexy elephan...

Open Range with Chris Ryan

Free-grazers and CR-heads - this is your week. The icon, the legend, the Ringer’s own Chris Ryan joins us to talk about Kevin Costner’s understated 2003 western OPEN RANGE. We’re finally doing a deep-dive on the Taylor Sheridan empire (aka Chris tells us what Mayor of Kingstown is actually about) as we set up the later part of Costner’s career in the run-up to Horizon. We spend a good amount of time lauding the consistent greatness of Robert Duvall and Annette Bening. You can practica...

Clue

?🟣?⚪️?🟢?🔵?🔴?🟡? I’t s a BC:SF Whodunit? And Whattheydunit With??? And a Friggin’ Murder Mystery. Try and figure it out with us a we kick off our Tabletop Game commentary series with 1985’s Clue ?🟣?⚪️?🟢?🔵?🔴?🟡?

Topics include: Clue vs Cluedo, Griffin’s parent-teacher conferences, David’s first film, lots of woke Clue discussion, a LOT of super timely Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire discussion, a ...

The Postman with Emily St. James

This week’s movie has everything - fake teeth on Giovanni Ribisi, a mule performing Shakespeare, Tom Petty, Kevin Costner’s irresistible sperm…you read that correctly. This film has a major plot line that revolves around Kevin Costner’s sperm. Our beloved Emily St. James joins us to talk about Kevin Costner’s colossal 1997 flop, the post-apocalyptic ode to the US Postal Service - THE POSTMAN. There are parts of this movie that are truly moving. There are other parts of this movie wh...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

 🐢🍕We have reached the end of our Turtle Trip as we discuss 2023’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 🐢 🍕

Topics include: pillow purchases, multiple homages to Out of the Shadows, when should David bring up the infamous line from Friday The 13th, Ben’s 2025 goal and more.

Movie starts at: 2:04

Dances with Wolves

In a first for Blank Check, we’re covering a filmmaker who has acted alongside our own Griffin Newman! In our premiere episode covering the directorial career of Draft Day co-star Kevin Costner, we’re unpacking his 1990 Best Picture winner, DANCES WITH WOLVES. Costner as personal mythmaker, Costner as “movie sports guy,” Costner as “hot guy who women all want to sleep with (?)”, Costner as man who decided - at a crucial (and early!) point in his career - to take a huge risk by mak...