Blank Check with Griffin & David
Episodes
The Last Wave with BenDavid Grabinski
22 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Weir's follow up to Picnic at Hanging Rock - 1978's The Last Wave - deals with similar themes, with colonialism butting against the wild mystici...
Critical Darlings: The 2026 Oscars Ceremony with Griffin Newman
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Critical Darlings’ biggest morning! After a marathon season, we react to this year’s Academy Awards: the winners, losers, presenters, perfo...
Picnic at Hanging Rock with Jane Schoenbrun
15 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On St. Valentine's Day in 1900, a group of podcasters set out to record an episode about Peter Weir's Picnic At Hanging Rock. Some were never to retur...
Critical Darlings: One Battle After Another And Oscar Predictions with David Sims
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What time is it? It’s time to study the revolutionary texts with David “Rocketman” Sims! On our last episode before The Oscars, we’re talking ...
The Cars That Ate Paris
08 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Bonjour! Erm...we mean...G'day mates! Our Peter Weir series PODNIC AT HANGING CAST kicks off with Weir's 1974 feature debut The Cars That Ate Paris, a...
Critical Darlings: Sinners And The Academy’s Growing Genre Acceptance with Sam Sanders
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re joined by Sam Sanders of The Sam Sanders Show to discuss Sinners, the most nominated film in Academy Awards history. With sixtee...
The Eleventh Annual Blank Check Awards with Joe Reid
01 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Live from our windowless studio in Downtown Brooklyn, it's the 11th Annual Blankies! Joe Reid joins us once again to give out golden Wattos to our fav...
Critical Darlings: Sentimental Value and Belated Oscar Breakthroughs with Joe Reid
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re in hygge mode, uncovering traumas in our generational home with the host of This Had Oscar Buzz, Joe Reid! One of the breakout Osca...
Die My Love with Alison Willmore
22 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Our Lynne Ramsay series comes to a close with last year's Die My Love, which brings us to the realization - damn, have we really never talked about Je...
Critical Darlings: The Secret Agent And The Increasingly International Academy
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Viva Brazil! Today we discuss Best Picture nominee The Secret Agent, the simmering, colorful Brazilian thriller about a man on the run, starring the ...
You Were Never Really Here with Sean Clements
15 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018, Lynne Ramsay released You Were Never Really Here, a film about a completely implausible scenario...a townhouse on the East side of Manhattan ...
Frankenstein And The Craft Category Juggernauts
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re brooding, Victorian style, with Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri! Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a Best Picture nominee and is well...
We Need To Talk About Kevin with Jia Tolentino
08 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The time has come for us to talk about Kevin. The New Yorker's Jia Tolentino joins us to talk about Lynne Ramsay's depiction of every parent's worst n...
Critical Darlings: Bugonia And The (Oscar) Favourites with Marie Bardi-Salinas
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Honey, we’re buzzing about Bugonia with Marie Bardi-Salinas! The movie surprised us with its appeal to Oscar voters, but maybe it shouldn’t have...
Send Help
01 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 hav...
Critical Darlings: Train Dreams, And Netflix’s Quest For Best Picture
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On today’s show, Richard and Alison hop on a boxcar and stare wistfully as the 20th century passes them by with Best Picture nominee Train Dreams. T...
Morvern Callar with Emily Yoshida
25 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Mommy's back! Emily Yoshida joins the gang to talk about 2002's Morvern Callar, a surprisingly tender film about grief, starting over, and taking a Je...
Critical Darlings: F1 And The Oscar Nominations
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Hollywood’s biggest morning! Join Richard and Alison (plus a vacationing Producer Benjamin Frisch) as they pick apart the biggest snubs and s...
Ratcatcher
18 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We need to pod about Glasgow. We need to pod about the arresting inner lives of these complicated protagonists. We need to pod about every incredible ...
Critical Darlings: Hamnet And The History Of Oscar Villains with David Sims
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re joined by David Sims as we orbit the Golden Globes and their Best Drama winner, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. In the vibes-based reality...
No Other Choice
11 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Join Pulp Men (and Woman) of the Year Griffin, David, Ben, and Marie as they discuss Park Chan Wook’s latest offering, the silly and sublime No Othe...
Critical Darlings: Marty Supreme And The Precursor Circuit with Griffin Newman
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re only slightly hung over from last night’s New York Film Critics Circle Awards! Griffin Newman joins the pod to discuss the event,...
Is This Thing On?
04 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Testing, testing…does anybody know? Is this thing on? It depends on who you ask, frankly. The Blank Check team are divided on Bradley Cooper’s lat...
Introducing Critical Darlings
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Critical Darlings, a new podcast miniseries from Blank Check: A conversation about the awards season conversation, one contender at a time....
Avatar: Fire and Ash
21 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We went back to Pandora and we all fell in love with a very special lady. She’s a bit prickly. A bit unconventional. But boy, is she something! Join...
Ella McKay with Richard Lawson
14 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s pretty hard being the governor of an unnamed state when you’re a 34-year-old woman with a husband who’s the heir to a local pizza empire an...
Honey Don't with Mattie Lubchansky
07 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Honey Don’t? Honey probably shouldn’t have. But that’s okay, because Honey, we’re gonna talk about it anyway! Writer and illustrator Mattie Lu...
Drive Away Dolls with mxmtoon
30 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two gals and a briefcase full of dicks. What more could an 84 minute caper need? mxmtoon joins us to chat about Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s lesbia...
The Tragedy of Macbeth with Dana Schwartz
23 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You can’t say “Macbeth” in a theater, but you can certainly say it on a podcast! Dana Schwartz joins us (in her third Blank Check appearance on ...
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs with Paul Scheer & Jason Mantzoukas
16 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Six segments. Four legendary movie podcasters. Three and a half hours of keeping David Sims away from his family. Welcome to our Ballad of Buster Scru...
Hail, Caesar! with Shirley Li
09 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Would that it twere so simple to lasso that lazy ol’ moon! This week, we’re chatting about all the studio shenanigans in Hail, Caesar! with our pa...
Inside Llewyn Davis with Rachel Zegler
02 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
🎵🎶Puh-pa-please Mr. Kennedy (uhoh!) please won’t you listen to our puh-podcast🎶🎵This week we broadcast, not from a balcony, but from the...
A House of Dynamite
26 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kathryn Bigelow is back. But are WE so back? Not quite. The gang discusses the recent release A House of Dynamite, a film in which the president liste...
True Grit with Stavros Halkias
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We love to pull the cork. Comedian (and probably the biggest Greek-American entertainer of our time) Stavros Halkias joins us to chat about 2010’s T...
A Serious Man with Marc Maron
12 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The time has come for us to lock the gates. On the occasion of the end of WTF, Marc Maron joins us to talk about chaos, God, mathematics, and Jewish i...
Burn After Reading with Fran Hoepfner
05 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What did we learn, Palmer? That 2008’s Burn After Reading is pretty freakin’ hilarious, sir. Our Fran (Hoepfner, not McDormand) joins us this week...
No Country for Old Men with Leslye Headland
28 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Two Friendos, plus “Masterpiece” Leslye Headland and “I would have had no problems handling that bag of money” Ben Hosley take on one of t...
The Ladykillers with Connor Ratliff
21 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We must have waffles forthwith! We must also have Connor Ratliff on the pod to talk about Tom Hanks for the first time since the completion of his Dea...
Intolerable Cruelty with Katey Rich
14 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve been exposed. You’ve nailed our asses. Of course we’re going to defend this movie! 2004’s Intolerable Cruelty features George Clooney an...
The Man Who Wasn't There with Jordan Hoffman
07 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This one’s a real enigma - is The Man Who Wasn’t There a film about the alienation of a man who is deeply closeted and searching for connection in...
O Brother, Where Art Thou? with Emily St. James
31 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Those Soggy Bottom Boys really know how to carry a tune! Emily St. James joins us to talk about O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a wonderful film whose rep...
The Big Lebowski with Seth Rogen
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the episode you’ve all been waiting for - Seth Rogen joins us to talk about the Coens’ 1998 stoner classic The Big Lebowski. It should come...
Fargo with Zach Cregger
17 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did we get the director of Weapons, another “true story,” on our Fargo episode? You betcha. Zach Cregger joins the Blank Check crew to discuss the...
The Hudsucker Proxy with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(Gestures at a circle) You know, for kids! Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger of the Doughboys join us for a freewheeling, gut-busting episode about the tim...
Barton Fink with Chris Weitz
03 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is John Goodman the devil? Is the studio system good, actually? Is it better to be the director of a bomb than it is to be the director of a film that...
Miller's Crossing with Ari Aster
27 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a movie about hats, and a movie about giving folks the high hat. It’s also a movie about how Jon Polito is the greatest actor in the world. I...
Raising Arizona with John Hodgman
20 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jesus Cock, that’s a hot new episode! John Hodgman returns to Blank Check to chat about Raising Arizona, the Coen’s swerve of a follow-up to Blood...
Blood Simple with Ray Tintori & Jordan Fish
13 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gather round, folks - it’s time to embark upon a journey through one of the most sterling filmographies in American cinema. Our Coen Brothers series...
Vamps with Caroline Framke
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our Amy Heckerling series comes to an end with 2012’s Vamps, a film produced too late to have an appropriate budget, and too early to be a streaming...
I Could Never Be Your Woman with Karen Chee
29 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Amy Heckerling and Paul Rudd stars as ????? in a totally normal movie that might actually be a voodoo curse made against Am...
28 Years Later
22 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Blank Check is going back to the British Isles with Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, and one extraordinarily well-endowed zombie this week as they discuss 2...
Loser with Chandler Levack
15 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The song. The hat. The…casual date rape?!!? In what should have been Amy Heckerling’s “blank check” after the success of Clueless, 2000’s Lo...
Clueless with Heidi Gardner
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, so you’re probably going, “Is this like a Noxzema commercial or what?” But seriously, this is actually a way normal podcast about one of D...
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Griffin, David, Ben, and Marie accepted the mission. They live and pod in the shadows, for those they hold close, and for those they never meet. They ...
Look Who's Talking Too with Max Minghella
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Ubriacco family are back and - can you believe it? - they’re still talking! Actor and filmmaker Max Minghella joins us to talk about Look Who’...
Look Who's Talking with Hillary Busis
18 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In perhaps the spermiest film we’ve ever covered, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley hang out with a baby voiced by Bruce Willis and Amy Heckerling get...
National Lampoon's European Vacation with Jon Gabrus
11 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Congratulations! You’ve won an all-expenses-paid vacation with Griffin, David, Ben, and Jon Gabrus to Europe! Only downside is…well, you have to w...
Johnny Dangerously with Josh Gondelman
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
He’s the nicest bad guy in town. His last name is an adverb. And he’s got some pretty wacky bits! Sweetie pie comedian Josh Gondelman joins us to ...
Fast Times at Ridgemont High with Lola Kirke
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re grabbing our Vans slip ons and heading to the mall as we kick off our Amy Heckerling series - Pod Times at Ridgemont Cast - with Fast Times at...
Schindler's List with David Ehrlich
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our Early Spielberg series concludes with a movie that is a super fun time and not at all distressing to watch in our current political climate! David...
Jurassic Park with Sean Fennessey
13 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates Steven Spielberg. Steven Spielberg makes 1993’s Jurassic Park and changes movie history. ...
Hook with Lin-Manuel Miranda
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone knows Captain Hook got swallowed by the crocodile at the end of Peter Pan. But what this movie presupposes is…maybe he didn’t? Let us go ...
Always with Richard Lawson
30 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible for Steven Spielberg to make a movie that doesn’t exist? Well, he sure tried with 1989’s Always, a film where John Goodman plays Mo...
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with Chris Gethard
23 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if Indiana Jones had a dad who was a “grail scholar" but also his “eskimo brother" and he was played by James Bond and he had a funny little ...
Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri
16 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our Spielbergian journey takes us to new dramatic heights with 1987’s Empire of the Sun, the film that brought us Christian Bale (discovered by Amy ...
The Color Purple with Kenice Mobley
09 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After inventing the Hollywood blockbuster with Jaws, creating the world’s most loveable alien with E.T., and resurrecting the classic adventure seri...
Blank Check LIVE! at Town Hall (2025)
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
👑👑 A LIVE SHOW OF MAJESTIC PROPORTIONS 👑👑 Podcasters, cinephiles, and freaks—rejoice! Blank Check will be returning to Town Hall this ...
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with Olivia Craighead
02 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“Doom” isn’t just describing a Temple here, folks - it’s kind of the overarching vibe of this film! George Lucas is going through a bitter div...
The Tenth Annual Blank Check Awards with Joe Reid
23 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a wonderful night for Blankies! Join us and This Had Oscar Buzz’s Joe Reid as we survey the year that was 2024 in cinema. Not to spoil too mu...
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
16 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re putting out a bit of a throwback episode for the most iconic (literal) blankie in film history - this week’s E.T. episode is guestless, with...
Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis
09 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You’re a young movie fan. It’s 1981. STEVEN SPIELBERG is teaming up with FREAKING GEORGE LUCAS (!?!?!) to make a movie with HAN SOLO…can you ima...
1941 with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger
02 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
He invented the summer blockbuster. He inspired millions of people around the world to “watch the skies.” And now, he has sent Griffin Newman into...
Close Encounters of the Third Kind with J.D. Amato
26 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Five curious tones. A mountain of mashed potatoes. Bob Balaban with a beard speaking french. After the industry-changing success of JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUN...
Jaws with Timothy Simons
19 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dunnnh dun. Dunnnh dun. Never before had two notes provoked such terror as they did in JAWS, the 1975 classic that invented the summer blockbuster, ca...
The Sugarland Express with Esther Zuckerman
12 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Young whippersnapper Steven Spielberg continues his run of dusty, road-centric films with 1974’s THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS, and we’re along for the (s...
Duel
05 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
2025! Blank Check Year 10! Year of Miracles! In honor of our record 10th year of podcasting, we’re doing something we’ve never done before - going...
Twin Peaks: The Return (Episodes 14-18) with Jane Schoenbrun
22 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What year is it? Well, it’s 2024 - but not for long. It’s our last episode of the year! Director of this year’s I SAW THE TV GLOW Jane Schoenbru...
Twin Peaks: The Return (Episodes 9-13) with Fran Hoepfner
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dougie gets it on (or, more accurately, Naomi Watts gets HER Dougie on), guest Fran Hoepfner pitches her artisanal slime for adults (don’t steal the...
Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 8) with Connor Ratliff
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the podcast. These are the (two) friends. Drink full, and descend. The famous “Atomic Bomb” episode of The Return stands as one of David L...
Twin Peaks: The Return (Episodes 1-7)
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It is happening again - we’re covering TV! Or is it an 18-part movie? Much to ponder. We’re heading back to the Pacific Northwest (and Vegas…and...
Inland Empire with David Rees
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Only on Blank Check would an episode about David Lynch’s deeply destabilizing INLAND EMPIRE turn into a heartfelt celebration of creativity and the ...
Mulholland Drive with Leslye Headland
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Here
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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???? Wh...
The Straight Story with Dana Stevens
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 j...
Lost Highway with David Lowery
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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? I...
Joker: Hallie À Goodrich
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 h...
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me with Arkasha Stevenson
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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)...
Wild at Heart with Tatiana Maslany
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Twin Peaks (Season 1) with Eva Anderson
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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, primetim...
Blue Velvet with Jamie Loftus
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Dune with John Hodgman
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Lync...
The Elephant Man with Alex Ross Perry
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 class...
Eraserhead
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 le...
Trap
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Open Range with Chris Ryan
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 understate...
The Postman with Emily St. James
28 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s movie has everything - fake teeth on Giovanni Ribisi, a mule performing Shakespeare, Tom Petty, Kevin Costner’s irresistible sperm…y...
Dances with Wolves
21 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 director...
Gigli with Jen D'Angelo
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The first "G" in "Gigli" is pronounced like the "J" in “Jacques,” the second “G” is silent. Rhymes with "really." Now that that’s out of the...