Remember when the star of TV’s Prison Break (Wentworth Miller, “human map”) wrote a screenplay that landed on the Black List and ended up serving as the material for Park Chan-Wook’s only English film to date? What a time to be alive! Mia Wasikowska superfan Emily St. James returns to Blank Check to offer her take on 2013’s
Move over, Dracula. Eat your heart out Edward Cullen. A new sexy vampire is in town, and he just happens to be a PRIEST! Park Chan-Wook reunites with the wonderful Song Kang-ho to put his own stamp on the popular genre with 2009’s THIRST. Inverse’s Hoi-Tran Boi joins us to chat about this darkly funny (and devilishly sound-designed) film, an...
2023-08-13 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostFor our Park Chan-wook bonus ep Griffin, David and Ben are joined by writer and reporter Whitney McIntosh to discuss Director Park’s 2018 thriller TV series “The Little Drummer Girl”. Topics include: Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård career trajectories, plenty of Big Chicago talk and a massive Ben earring update.
Guest: Whitney...
2023-08-11 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
From the twisted mind of Park Chan-Wook, it’s…a surprisingly sensitive romance set in a mental hospital? Writer and Comedian Karen Chee joins us to chat about 2006’s I’M A CYBORG, BUT THAT’S OKAY - a real outlier in Park’s career, and a commercial disappointment after the global success of his Vengeance Trilogy. Would it surprise you...
2023-08-06 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostBlank Check will be presenting a very special live event on Wednesday, September 13th at 8pm at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY.
The exclusive presale starts on Saturday, August 5th at 12pm ET
2023-08-05 14:16:10 +0000 UTC View PostGrab your passport because in this third installment of the Ocean’s commentary series—BC:SF is going European! Together, Griffin, David, and Ben discuss the despised 2004 sequel film, Ocean’s Twelve. Topics include: why Soderbergh’s challenge to himself proved unsuccessful, gentleman thievery, flashbacks within flashbacks, the word ‘ch...
2023-08-01 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
DA MOVIESH ARE BACK, BABY! Film Director Barbie joins the gang to chat about Christopher Nolan’s latest and an historic weekend at the multiplex. What’s the best format for seeing OPPENHEIMER? Which of the many character actors in this film makes the biggest impression? Will David make his sexy Christopher Nolan voice a new recurring bit? Pl...
2023-07-30 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s 2023. An all-powerful AI program named “the Entity” is sewing chaos and threatening the fragile equilibrium of the world as we know it. It is also throwing sick parties. Meanwhile, over at Blank Check HQ, the BENTITY has a few tricks up his sleeve to surprise Griffin, David, and Marie with a mission of their own as they break down Tom...
2023-07-23 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostBum bum bum-bum-bum start spreading the news because its time for the second installment in our Ocean’s commentary series! This time on BC:SF the gang discusses Ocean’s Eleven (2001). Topics include: the star-packed casts' different career trajectories leading up to this film, the filmmaking touchstones of director Steven Soderbergh, heist l...
2023-07-21 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
You voted for it, and now the winning Blank Check Pictures Logo tee is available for pre-order!
Patreon subscribers - use the code FANFARE at checkout for a special discount.
2023-07-20 18:16:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Park Chan-Wook’s loosely-linked “Vengeance Trilogy” comes to a starkly satisfying end with 2005’s LADY VENGEANCE - a normal flick…that’s all we have to say! Just kidding - we have LOTS to say about this one, with its stacked cast of lady convicts and grief-stricken parents. Our beloved Karen Han returns to the pod to correct our terr...
2023-07-16 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostNote this version of the episode does NOT include eating on mic
This different cut of July’s bonus ep is also a special one! Checkmates you finally get a glimpse into David’s master spreadsheet with all of his personal nominees for the Academy Awards in every category going back to the 1940’s. Using a random Oscar’s genera...
2023-07-11 04:11:36 +0000 UTC View PostWarning this version of the episode includes eating on mic
July’s bonus ep is a special one! Checkmates you finally get a glimpse into David’s master spreadsheet with all of his personal nominees for the Academy Awards in every category going back to the 1940’s. Using a random Oscar’s generator, Griffin and David jump thro...
2023-07-11 04:10:41 +0000 UTC View Post
What is an Oldboy? How do you feel about Greek Tragedies? How did Choi Min-Sik achieve that iconic (and insane) hairstyle? Was giving the 2004 Palme d’Or to FAHRENHEIT 9/11 over this film one of the greatest mistakes in the history of arts and culture? All those questions answered and more as critic Alison Willmore joins us to talk about OLDBO...
2023-07-09 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Park Chan-Wook kicks off his famous “Vengeance” trilogy and we kick off another episode where we talk about Ted Danson’s late 90s sitcom BECKER! Critic, friend of the pod, and Crystal Skull-apologist David Ehrlich joins us to chat about Park’s “Sympathy for Mister Vengeance” - a film that shows that revenge is not a dish best served ...
2023-07-02 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostRing a ding ding! BC:SF kicks off a new commentary series with the winner of the March Madness 2023 tournament: the Ocean's franchise. Leading off is the original 1960 film starring the Rat Pack, Ocean's 11. So grab your best fedora and add a few cubes to that glass of scotch cause you're gonna need it baby! Topics include: whether Elizabeth Tay...
2023-07-01 04:01:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Park Chan-Wook’s 2000 breakthrough and Korean box office juggernaut - JSA (Joint Security Area) - is the rare international murder-mystery that dares to ask the question…”what if the real smoking gun was FRIENDSHIP??” Join us as we unpack this poignant and twisty thriller, and maybe some of you can unpack on your own time why Griffin cho...
2023-06-25 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostBC:SF has reached the final film in the original Planet of the Apes series! Join along with Griffin, David, and Ben for the theatrical cut of 1973's Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Topics include: noticeable budget limitations, the songwriting of Paul Williams, club random, the looming influence of this franchise, and more!
Movi...
2023-06-21 04:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s a brand new era for Blank Check - Griffin is in his “arriving early to work” era. Ben is in his “Bad Boy 2.0” era. And we’re all in our WORLD CINEMA era as we kick off our series on South Korean master (and March Madness champion!) Park Chan-Wook. Join us as we offer a brief overview of the evolution of Korean cinema - from 1960...
2023-06-18 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostHello Friends!
If we were to release a piece of merch based off of one of Teddy Blanks' insane logo designs for BLANK CHECK PICTURES (as shown in our Fanfare Live! show), which would you want?
1930s:
1970s:
2023-06-15 18:02:53 +0000 UTC
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🎵 Let’s all go to the…. Brooklyn Opera House 🎵 for Blank Check Live! Recorded on Thursday March 23, 2023 to mark the 8th Anniversary of Blank Check; Griffin, David, Ben and Marie are joined by special guests (J.D. Amato and Fran Hoepfner) and phantoms?!?! (John Hodgman) to share and discuss their favorite movie theater promos and ...
2023-06-11 04:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Our Buster Keaton series comes to a conclusion as his period of creative independence does, with his first two features for MGM: THE CAMERAMAN and SPITE MARRIAGE. The former? Debatably a meta-masterpiece, with a Chinatown setpiece for the ages and one very adorable monkey. The latter? Well, you can see the downward spiral start to take shape. In...
2023-06-11 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
After his “blank check” for THE GENERAL bounced, Buster Keaton found himself creatively and financially shackled. Thus, 1927’s COLLEGE lands on the lesser end of the quality spectrum (not to mention a very difficult watch with Buster putting on blackface for a scene - yikes). But, his follow-up STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. features some of th...
2023-06-04 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostJune kicks off with the fourth installment of the OG Planet of the Apes series. Join Griffin, David, and Ben for the Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.
Movie starts at…6:30
2023-06-01 04:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
One of narrative cinema’s earliest training sequences, and one of cinema’s most famous trains - that’s right, we’re covering Buster Keaton’s 1926 films BATTLING BUTLER and THE GENERAL. Gentleman, scholar, and action movie aficionado Jamelle Bouie joins us to unpack this week’s double feature, providing some essential historical conte...
2023-05-28 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostWe've reached the third installment in our OG Planet of the Apes series! Join Griffin, David, and Ben for the Escape from the Planet of the Apes!
Movie starts at...11:02
2023-05-21 04:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
This week’s Keaton double feature sees our unflappable hero chased by two types of terrifying crowds: angry would-be brides, and a herd of cattle. How does he outrun them both? Jamie Loftus joins us to chat about Buster Keaton’s tremendous on-screen running (up there with Tom Cruise), his enduring sex appeal (we love a hot tired guy), and hi...
2023-05-21 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Buster Keaton released two features in 1924 - “Sherlock Jr.”, a film that was considered a commercial disappointment at the time but has grown in stature over the past century, and “The Navigator'', a colossal box office hit that hasn’t aged nearly as well. Actor and lover of old-timey things James Urbaniak makes his long-awaited debut o...
2023-05-14 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostFor our Keaton bonus episode Dana Stevens rejoins Griffin, David and Ben to provide important context for Buster Keaton’s theatrical features by highlighting some of his best shorts. Shorts discussed include: The Cook (25:02), The High Sign (41:22), One Week (52:11), The Playhouse (1:12:57), Cops (1:22:43) and The Balloonatic (1:38:46). <...
2023-05-11 04:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
The Great Stone Face…The Little Boy Who Couldn’t Be Damaged…whatever you call him, Buster Keaton is one of the most important figures in film history, and we couldn’t be happier to be spotlight him in our latest series PODCAST JR. Our beloved Dana Stevens - writer of the fantastic Keaton tome “Camera Man” - joins us to set the table ...
2023-05-07 04:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post