Blank Check with Griffin & David - The BFG

Episode Date: May 21, 2017

In the final episode of our mini series devoted to Spielberg’s DreamWorks years, Blank Check reviews 2016’s animated giant adventure, the BFG. But why is saying ‘BFG’ so satisfying? Does this film have a plot? What podcasts does the Queen listen to? Together hosts Griffin and David discuss Spielberg directing the farts, Melissa Mathison’s last screenplay, being ‘mum’ and announce their next mini series!

Why did you take me? Because I hears your lonely heart in all the secret whisperings of the podcast. Oh, so whimsical. Oh my God, what magic, what whimsy. Here we are. Hello, Fennell, and welcome to Blank Check with Griffin and David. I am Griffin. Welcome to the cave of dreams.

I'm Griffin. I'm David. Sims. We are hashtag the two friends Griffin Newman. And this is a podcast about filmographies. Directors with massive success early on in their career are given a series of blank checks that they can use to make crazy passion projects. Sometimes those checks clear.

Sometimes they bounce. But eee! And this is a main series on the films of Steven Spielberg. Yep. Parentheses. The DreamWorks years. And this is not DreamWorks on the films of Steven Spielberg. Yep. Parentheses, the DreamWorks years. And this is not DreamWorks, right? This is technically the first post-DreamWorks movie.

It's Disney, right? This is Disney and Amblin and Reliance. Okay. I'll back up in a second and explain the transition here. But this is the final film in our miniseries, Pod Me If You Cast. It is, to date, at the time of this recording, here, but this is the final film in our miniseries, Pod Me If You Cast. It is to date, at the time of this recording,

the most recent film Steven Spielberg has directed and released. And it is called The BFG! Yeah. It's a movie. BFG! Role doll book.

Classic role doll novel. BFG! I like the way she says BFG Roald Dahl book classic Roald Dahl novel BFG I like the way she says BFG you clearly do you came in here hot with your BFG impression when we had to test the levels my mic check was just me saying BFG at different levels don't you guys wish you could hear that BFG

this might also be the most expensive film Steven Spielberg has ever made 175 million dollars something like that it's also one of his least successful This might also be the most expensive film Steven Spielberg has ever made. $175 million? Something like that. Yeah. It's also one of his least successful films. It is. It's also one of his worst films, in my opinion.

Yep. Yeah. So we've talked about this ever since we had the idea for this podcast, where it's like, it's too bad Spielberg kind of just ends with like, eh. Like, I assume he's got more interesting stuff up his sleeve. Well, and we've been talking about this idea of doing this ladder period Spielberg for a while. Even before BFG came out, this was an idea that we were kicking around. And I remember hoping that BFG was going to be an interesting note to end on.

an interesting note to end on um i was hoping that it might be uh you know taking all that he's learned in this latter phase of his career where he's become more obsessed with the moral gray areas where he stopped dealing in absolutes and brought those qualities back to the magic and wonder of early spielberg and he did not it's you're right. This is down to the Melissa Matheson screenplay. Yeah. It feels like a movie he would have tried to make in the 80s. This feels. And I believe Melissa Matheson is no longer even with us. Right.

Just to really drive that point home. Yep. Yep. And I think that's one of. I mean she died pretty recently. Yeah. A couple of years ago. 2015.

Right. But I think that's one of two reasons. Maybe even earlier. No I think that you're right. I think that is one of two reasons, maybe even earlier. No, I think that you're right. I think that is one of two reasons this film got made. We'll get to that in a second. One, because he wanted to honor her memory with her final script that she'd written. She's the writer of E.T., we should note.

We'll get to that in a second. Okay. Okay, what are we on right now? We have to introduce someone else. Okay. Who's at the table with us today. Yeah. Because we have intern Will.

I said Intern Wow. Can you just do whatever you're doing? Intern Will is kindly monitoring the ones and zeros. So sitting with us at the table today. It's been a while. It's been a while. He's been at the table a few times. Yeah, but we haven't called it out, so I'm trying to make it.

I was going to lie and pretend he hasn't been at the table recently. Because remember, we used to make a big deal out of it. Yeah. I mean, do people long for those days when we would sort of specifically define where Ben was? I don't know. Isn't nostalgia big, these? That's true. Everyone loves nostalgia.

Well, not if you see the BFG's box office returns, let me tell you. Yeah. He's the producer of this podcast. Yeah. Yep. tell you. Yeah. He's the producer of this podcast. Yeah. Yep. Purdue or Ben, the Ben Ducer, the Poet Laureate, the Haas, Mr. Haas, Mr. Positive.

He's got some names. Hello Fennel, the Peeper, the Tiebreaker, Birthday Benny, Dirtbike Benny, Circomite Benny, the Meat Lover, the Fart Detective. If you see him in the sheets, call him the Fuckmaster. Sure. If you see him in the streets, do not call him Professor Crispy. Don't you dare. Do not.

Cheer up, babe. Dare. Oh, I'm cheery. I don't know. You came in. I was like, how you doing? He's like, I'm great. Like, with the affectation of, fuck you.

He's, of course, a close personal friend of Dan Lewis. I am. Absolutely. We go way back. Do you know Dan Brown? I don't. That's too bad. I did just re-watch, what's that thing where they're like finding the-

Da Vinci Code? Yeah. There's a couple of them. You re-watched the Da Vinci Code? Yeah, why did you re-watch the Da Vinci Code? Not a memorable film. No, I don't know why. I think it was just I needed something to check out with and that was perfect.

Okay. Yeah. He has, of course, graduated to certain titles over the course of different miniseries, such as Ben and John Mullen, Ben's Hate, Say Benny Thing, Ailey Ben's, with a dollar sign, producer Ben Kenobi, and Kylo Ben. I did them out of order. You did them out of order, that's fine. But the real question is, this is the final Spielberg episode.

What are we going to do? You had one idea. I can't remember what it was now. The Ben-friendly giant. Was that it? Catch Me If You Ban? Yeah, but we already, yeah. Ben D and a Ban? Catch me if you can. Yeah, but we already... Bandiana ban?

No. Wasn't that. Warhaz? Wait. That's it. Someone suggested that. I gotta... I'll look up the reddit

and I'll give credit. I was gonna say Crystalhaz, but that's not as good as Warhaz. Warhaz is not bad. Warhaz is not bad at all. At the end of the episode we'll go to the reddit

where people have been spitballing names and we'll pick one and give that person credit. But let's save it for the end of the episode, we'll go to the Reddit where people have been spitballing names, and we'll pick one and give that person credit. But let's save it for the end of the episode so there's some pomp and circumstance, because I don't think it's going to take long to get through this movie. But I'm glad to be here with you guys in the room. Oh, that's great. I'm not going to lie.

I'm sort of happy to be done with this miniseries. Yeah. I think we all are. This late period Spielberg was a little rough. You're an idiot. Bridge of Spies is a masterpiece. I like Bridge of Spies but I'm saying overall out of all the films. You're just mad about War Horse.

I'm mad about a lot of them. That's what you're mad about. You're mad about War Horse. I am mad about War Horse because there's no horse diving. True. I think if we go over, if you were to look at the list again you would realize that you like 90% of the movies at least.

Except for War Horse. You're especially angry about War Horse. He didn't like some of the ones that we like. It doesn't matter. We're not here to litigate Ben's taste. That's true. That is for the Ben's Choice episode. He's our finest film critic, of course.

We know that. I'm realizing that, I don't know, do you guys think that I am? Just want to be clear. Okay, cool, cool. I wasn't sure. You thought it was like a sarcastic title? Yeah, facetion. No, facetion. Facetion? That sounds like

some sort of underwater creature. A facetion. Facetion. Okay, okay. Esther Zuckerman texted me last night saying, Ben is the funniest part of your podcast, which it's not like that's news. No, everyone knows that. It's not like people

haven't said that to me before, but it is funny anytime someone sort of comes to that realization. Anyway, Esther, shout out to you. You texted me five months ago. Yeah, I mean, you and I are like the other cops in Beverly Hills cop. Do you know what I'm saying?

Who's Reinhold? I think I'm Reinhold and you're, what's it, Gamal? I don't know, man. I only know Reinhold. I know what the fuck your name is. The BFG. I'm getting you off of this. The point is, we occasionally hit a three-point shot,

but by and large, we're there to make Ben look funnier. It's true. Hey, you know what? I'm the producer. I just make sure that those episodes come out crystal clean. Yeah. College band. Crystal Skull. College band.

We call them college band. Oh, well, we're going to get to that later. We'll get to that later. Okay, so a couple things happen. One, DreamWorks is crumbling between their fingers, right? It's true. They had this deal. Reliance was financing them.

Disney was distributing their movies. Right. Who's Reliance again? They're an Indian company? Yeah, I think you's true. They had this deal. Reliance was financing them. Disney was distributing their movies. Right. Who's Reliance again? They're an Indian company? Yeah, I think you're right. Yes, they are an Indian company. A division of the Reliance, Anil, Dhirubhai, Ambani Group, an Indian conglomerate.

This is a big thing. Worth $13 billion. In our post-globalization world, in which the film industry is becoming much more international and box office grosses rely far more on overseas grosses. And you've been noticing it. You go to see your Vin Diesel movie and there's like three studio logos in front of it that you're like, what's this? This looks not American.

Because it's not like. It's a global world. It's a global world. And it's not like, oh, this is a production company. This is Spyglass Pictures. It's like this is H Brothers Media International. H Brothers. It's a global world. And it's not like, oh, this is a production company. This is Spyglass Pictures. It's like, this is H Brothers Media International. H Brothers. Don't mess with them.

You know? But it's all these sort of foreign companies who want to get into the American blockbuster business. Well, not only that, there's money to be made now. Yeah. Like, much more money to be made worldwide than there used to be. Right. Yeah. And also, studios want to put their own money into these films less and less.

Yeah. You know? So they'll go like, hey, hey, you're an Indian company. You want to be playing with the big boys in Hollywood. You get the international profits or half whatever. How do you like to invest in a Disney Spielberg movie? Sure. And on paper, that sounds like, oh, that's the most Hollywood thing in the world.

Spielberg had never made a Disney film before. He had bought the rights to BFG in the 80s. Yeah, 1991 actually. Book came out in the 80s. He bought the rights in 91. His plan was he wanted to make it with Robin Williams. He thought it was a perfect Robin Williams vehicle.

You know, I mean, Steven Spielberg loved Robin Williams. They were close friends. He famously, when he was making Schindler's List, he would call Robin Williams at the end of his work days a lot just to, you know, talk to someone funny and like cheer himself up because it was a bummer. And that's what inspired Robin Williams to make Jacob the Liar. The greatest film ever made.

And, you know, he made Hook with him, but I feel like he's always like, oh, this would be good for Robin, right? Like he's always trying to oh, this would be good for Robin, right? He's always trying to find more Robin vehicles. Right, because other than Dr. No in AI, Hook was the only real Roman. And we love Hook on this podcast, right? I mean, that's like one of our faves. Wouldn't you guys say it's probably one of the best movies?

That is not a fact. That is a fairy tale. Yeah, like, I mean, boy. Nostalgia? Can I read something quickly? best movies. Yeah, like, I mean, boy, nostalgia? Can I read something quickly? Can I read something quickly? You maybe. Hawk and Lindsay.

My former roommate. Oh, sure. Current neighbor. Husband of Sophie Faye. One of my best friends. He texted me. Okay. It's a long text. I'm not, yeah. One of my best friends. He texted me. Okay. It's a long text. I'm not going to let you read that all on air.

Hook is a good movie and I have seen it as an adult. Yeah, he's wrong. And I said, stop it, Hawken. And Hawken responded to me, no, you can't take this away from me. It's a witty postmodern take

on a classic story. No, it's not. It's definitely postmodern. The role of the patriarchal imperialist oppressor. No, it doesn't. Using the same manipulation and charm to take advantage of his daughter as he used on Wendy,

who he has taken to his... No, no, no. Don't read all of this on the air. I can't. No, no. I'm going to post it on Reddit. Hook's shitty. Yeah, you can make all kinds of fucking academic arguments about it if you want.

Rufio? Yeah, I got no beef with Rufio. Banger ring? Banger ring. That stuff's good. I got no beef with Rufio. I got beef with Rufio. Do you?

I think he's a dick. Looky, looky, I got hooky. Yeah, that's true, though. His last words. Well, no, I think he says some other things. But Spielberg himself is like, yeah, I whiffed on that one. Yeah, because it's a whiff. And he says he's like, yeah.

Wasn't I just talking about this where he's like, yay, like childhood. And everyone's like, no. You didn't do it on the mic, but you were talking about this yesterday. Oh, it wasn't on mic. Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah. It has been suggested to us by past future guest, friend of the show, Katie Rich. Yeah.

That we do Hook as our bonus episode. Yeah, and I'm all for it. And I'm against it because I think there's a very good chance we'll go back and do the first half of Spielberg. I don't think that's true. I think this whole Spielberg thing's been great, but a huge slog, and there's just no way we're going to go back and do the rest of it. I think we will someday. No.

I think we have to go back. No. You want to do a Color Purple episode? Yeah, it'll be 12 minutes long. If you thought our homicide episode was good. Yeah, exactly. You want to go back there? You want to go back to that pool? Yeah. But he, in interviews, when he does career retrospective interviews and they go through all his movies,

he goes like, yeah, I just feel like the opening section's good, and I feel like once I got to Neverland, I couldn't think of anything other than, I don't know, paint the trees pink. He himself admits he's just like, yeah, I just sort of look at it and it feels really forced and manufactured. The problem with Hook, too, is that it's like everything is too magical. Much better is that Ka-Mooney, Beck-Bennett Hook spoof. That thing's good. Have you seen that thing? It's great.

I do think the opening stretch of Hook is good. I think the stuff before he goes to Neverland's solid Spielberg like sugar rush. It's not bad. I think Hoffman's great. I think Hoskins is great. Hoskins is the best. When is he not? Was. When is he not? Was.

When was he not? When is he not in any of the films he was ever in? Never not. Never not. And I think there's fun to have with Hook. Sure. I think their exchanges are fascinating. It is weird what's going on there. And obviously Carrie Fisher wrote a lot of the dialogue in Hook. Sure. I think their exchanges are fascinating. Like, it is weird what's going on there.

And obviously, Carrie Fisher wrote a lot of the dialogue in Hook, and the dialogue is weirdly adult. Like, you know, especially the Hoffman Smee, you know, the Hook Smee stuff. There are elements of Hawk that are interesting. Then there's this goddamn nightmare shit, which is just basically like

when I became a dad, that was the greatest moment of my life. But like, over and over and over again. It's all about being a dad and being nice to your kids. This is what Peter Pan is about. It's about being scared of your dad. I also think it looks bad. I think it's like a shitty looking

movie. I find the design really uninteresting and Spielberg himself comps to that. Yeah, I think a lot of the design is bad. And I also don't know why the Lost Boys have, like, ramps. Yeah, I just think it's all... Why do they have ramps? It's all garish and kind of, like, extreme. And they have, like, colored mohawks.

There's only, like, a dozen Lost Boys and their children. It's not like... How'd they build all those ramps? Yeah. Hey, when you got a board and you just want to do some jumps, you make ramps. I'll say this. You're right. That is true. That is trues. I'll say this. You're right. That is true. That is true.

But I'll say this. It is better than Pan, I think. Oh, I haven't seen Pan. One day we might do Pan. Well, our listeners are going to love us shitting on Hook again. The BFG. Okay, so in that sort of time, right before Hook. That's true, right. He's thinking like this would be a great Robin Williams project.

Right. hook. That's true, right. He's thinking like this would be a great Robin Williams project. Right, and the big hurdle was how do I get the BFG and Sophie acting in the same frame? He said there are technologies you can use.

You can use green screen, you can use force perspective, you can use all this sort of shit. You know? While having a live action actor play the BFG but you're not going to be able to get them in the same frame actually reacting to each other you're gonna have to shoot the plates separately and he really wanted that it's not just that though do you not know about this what they did a famous read-through of the like whatever the first pass you know uh i think it was let me see i actually have robin swycord nicholas kazan okay like of a screenplay robin

williams was doing his Robin Williams thing. Yeah. And they were like, no, you can't do that because, like, the BFG is, like, really specific language. Sure. Like, he talks really deliberately as part of the joke. Yeah. And, like, he uses all these weird words. And, like, Robin Williams is probably just going like, oh, yeah, yeah, he's just doing it.

Mahatma Gandhi. Exactly. And, like, so they were were like this might actually be the worst project for robin williams like this this might not be a good idea at all terrible idea which is funny because of course robin williams totally has it in him like you see a movie like insomnia or whatever to give like an incredibly restrained performance he is um but i think when it's a kid's movie rob Robin Williams wants to be big. He wants to do his thing.

I remember seeing Robin Williams do Ascat at the UCB theater. You talked to me about that. He was a surprise guest. He was never on a Lloyd team, but he did do Ascat a couple times. Never on a Lloyd team. Ben's happy.

Anytime a joke came to him, he would interrupt the scene to make it. The Lloyd team. Yeah. Ben's happy. And he, any time a joke came to him, he would interrupt the scene to like make it. And not just like, oh, here's a one line, here's like a funny thing I could say, but he would be in a scene where it was like,

the, you know, Miriam Toland's playing a travel agent. He's there trying to book a vacation. And in the middle of it, he thinks of some funny fucking joke about Sarah Palin. Sure. And he just starts going on a Sarah Palin riff,

and then he transforms his scene partner into Sarah Palin, middle of the scene, shit like that. I think there's sometimes in certain zones where it's like, it's improv, or it's a kid's movie. He can't fucking lock it down. Right. Or rather, he couldn't lock it down. In 2011, DreamWorks gets the rights. I'm just you know dreamworks gets the rights i'm just i'm just uh

giving you some history here right in melissa matheson writes a script in 24 john madden is hired to direct the great john madden that's a great miss sloan's own yeah what else has he made i mean obviously shakespeare in love but like uh Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Madden 94. He made Madden 94 first. He did. Only Madden 94. And the great exotic, best exotic Marigold Hotel franchise. He made both of them? He made both.

Good job, Johnny. Yeah. Then Spielberg gets put on it in 2014. An upgrade from Madden, one might argue. I remember that was kind of exciting. I went, ooh, Spielberg hasn't made a pure children's film in a while. Kind of exciting. It sounds, and like the B hasn't made a pure children's film in a while. Kind of exciting. It sounds, and like the BFG is such a famous work of children's literature.

We've all read it. Yes. You know, we all grew up with all that big friendly giant. Right. And it almost seems too obvious, but hey, he hasn't made an obvious move like that in a while. Like you're saying, right? That's what was exciting. Was it like he hadn't done it in a while.

Here's a movie about a dude who literally makes dreams right correct he's got a little dream he's a dream brewer right and uh the other thing was that that roll doll is dark right definitely weird and can be very dark although i would say the bfg is one of the less dark roll dolls i agree like it's not like the witches or like the the twits or, you know, the really creepy Roald Dahls. I agree. But it's got some, you know. Yes. Some nasty giants.

Oh, it's still got some fucking nasty giants. It's got some nasty giants. It's got some nasty giants. It's got some nasty giants. It's got some nasty giants. It's got some nasty giants. It's got some nasty giants. It's got some nasty giants.

It's got some nasty giants in this movie. Big giants. Yeah, Ben must love this movie. That's true. This is a big movie. This is a huge movie. It's so good. All right.

All right. What do you want to say? If Spielberg was going to return to the children's well, the idea of doing it with a Roald Dahl film was kind of exciting because it was like, well, there is sort of fucking

moral morass. There's sort of fucking moral morass. Yeah, but less so in the BFG. The BFG is more of a fairy story. Disney was going to distribute through Touchstone. Then they come on board as a co-financier. Yeah. Not Touchstone Disney.

This is a Walt Disney production. That was a big deal. Spielberg had never done a capital D Disney movie before. And that was their whole selling point was like, it's Spielberg making Disney movies. DreamWorks still serves as copyright holder, but they lose their marquee status. Instead, Amblin gets put in front of the movie. And this is the shift where now Spielberg movies are Amblin movies. And Spielberg making Bridge of Spies says to Mark Rylance, you know what?

You should be the BFG. Like, I love this. I love you. And we're going to do a motion capture performance with you as the BFG. Right. And they have a great time. They go all over Britain. They find a little girl, Ruby Barnhill.

Is that her name? Adorable. Great pair of glasses. She's got some glasses. They get Bill Hader and Jermaine Clement and some other folks to do some mocap stuff. They get that Penelope Wilton in there to be the queen. Rafe Spall. Rafe Spall and Rebecca Hall to be two footmen who are fucking.

Spall and Hall, ballin' to the wall. Yeah. You know, I think that's it, right? I sort of covered all of it. Comes out to a collective shrug. Thank you all for listening. Remember to rate, review, subscribe. It comes out July 1st, so it's for that sort of July 4th weekend period, right?

Right. It used to be called Big Willie Weekend when Will Smith used to dominate 4th of July, and Disney was making play for it to be Big FGE Weekend. Right. And it didn't fly. It came out to a collective shrug. Yeah, we'll talk about the box office later, but not a hit. No, no.

So two things I think motivated Spielberg to kick this one up in his playlist, right? Make this next and also take the reins back after John Madden. From John Madden. One is... Melissa Matheson passes away. This was her last script. This was her last script. She wrote E.T. for him. It's a great screenplay.

Yes. She worked with him,. for him. It's a great screenplay. Yes. She worked with him, I guess, I don't know. I mean, she worked with him on Twilight Zone. She was married to Harrison Ford for a while. He and Harrison Ford are famously close. I think they were just very, very close as people. I think she worked on a lot of scripts that didn't get made. Yeah. You know, but they remained in touch.

She was always a Hollywood legend, basically. I think he wanted to honor her. Fair. Okay. Two is the post-Tintin mo-cap kick. Sure. He was like, oh, I had fun with this. He had fun with it.

He sees Mark Rylance and he's like, he's imagining dots on his face, you know? He could make it with some dots and spandex. It could be a dotty performance right here. And so it all kind of pieces together. He goes, here's my friend's final script. Yeah, no. Here's the technology to make it. We've said it.

Here's the guy. Let's make it. And I think those three things are good motivating factors. What wasn't a motivating factor is the material itself and the way it existed. Okay, look. I've got some things to say. Sure. One, I do think we should maybe have a five-year-old on this podcast for this episode.

Okay. Do you think a five-year-old would like this movie? That would be my question. Right. That's the thing. I would want to know because I see the movie. I saw it in, I saw it went to a screening. I reviewed it for The Atlantic.

Like, I saw it and I was like, am I just like too old for this? Like, this is not like the kind of movie where I can view it as a grown-up horror child. Like, you know, I'm'm like this is all childlike wonder. Would a kid like this? Is this just for kids? Can I argue my counterpoint to that? Well I have counterpoints but go ahead. There's my counterpoint. I'm a fucking child. Yeah you are a child.

You're a disgusting child. Yeah but do you know what I'm saying? Yes I do. If anyone was going to be able to buy into fucking childlike wonder who cares it's fun it would be me. Indeed. There are things in this movie I like, but I find the

anytime the movie's playing the Childlike Wonder hand, it feels like they're slamming the card down on the table and then driving a knife into the card and being like, this is wonderful! But also, here's the other thing a five-year-old would say

if I asked them what they thought of the BFG. I fell asleep 45 minutes in and it's a two-hour movie. Yep. It's two hours long. And here's the mission.

So I come out of there going like, I mean, we both know Spielberg can't make a short movie. Yep. But I was just like,

what the fuck is he thinking with this being two hours long? The BFG is not a long book. It's not like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's like a proper chapter book that's long. It's a short book. It's like a novella and it has almost no plot. It doesn't really have a plot.

Yeah. You could compress the events of this film into 15 minutes if you wanted to. I will confess when I saw this in theaters, I also fell asleep for like an eight minute stretch. I didn't fall asleep, but I definitely did that kind of like, you know, where you're sort of nodding and you're like maybe not totally focused anymore. I fell asleep for a section and when I woke up, I was like, I have no idea how much of this movie I missed. Like I could have fallen asleep for one minute or 25 minutes.

And then I rewatched it last night and I was like less than 10, like five or eight minutes I fell asleep. And there's visual effects. A lot. That are fine, but the movie thinks that you have never seen such wonder before. Because it has whole sequences that are just like, look at it making a dream or look at the tree of dreams. And it's just like, you know, like it cannot get over how awesome it thinks it is. And the visualization of the dream stuff feels to me like. It's like, you know, like it cannot get over how awesome it thinks it is. Well, and the visualization of the dream stuff feels to me like it feels like the like the hook Neverland design where it's just like real A to B thinking of just like what a dream look like.

And then first pass idea. And they're like, great, let's put that on screen. It's like, maybe let's push ourselves a little further to like come up with something that's actually kind of unique. It's just like, oh, bright colors and swirling spirits. That's all it is. Yep. But what was I going to say? I don't know.

I was going to say, this movie's about wonder. It's about dreams. It's about friendship. It's got a lot of fart jokes. I'm right in the pocket of someone who should like this movie. Okay, I want to be clear. I like the farting dogs. I do too. The farting dogs is good. The farts are good. I'm into the farts. Good bit. You like the farts. It's a good bit. Yeah. Everything else

I'm not that into. Come on, when the dogs fart and they like shoot all over their room. Yeah, I like the farting. I'm just saying. I like the farting. And I like that Rafe and Rebecca are fucking. I like that so much. I like the farting in this movie. All I'm trying to say is...

Farting in fucking A+. Usually any movie... Agreed. Usually any movie that has this much farting in it, where the farting is this well executed, that would grandfather me into liking the movie. Yeah, you've made your point, which is that you're an idiot child.

Okay, great. I feel like everyone's on board with that one. Point made. Yeah. Let's go through the here's the plot she's a little girl in an orphanage the bfg takes her for some reason why does he take her and even okay so even this opening section of the movie right with her in the orphanage and the voiceover and it's you know these pillars of light coming in, moonlight coming in through the window and all of that, and this really ricketed, side-winding street. I look at this, and I'm like,

this feels like a Spielberg fan film. It does a little bit. This feels like some Stranger Things bullshit. It does a little bit. Where it's like, look at this short film that recaptures the magic of Spielberg movies. I think there's some cool elements, as like i like his his horn thing like you know like but i'm even talking just about like the first three minutes before the bfg exists where it's just the little girl running around the orphanage and everyone's sleeping yeah everything

about it feels like a spielberg homage it feels like him doing like what's that thing i used to do like 25 years it's him doing the hits right and yeah it does yeah you're like come on do surf's up don't do surfing safari it's a deep beach boys reference oh i thought you were you were saying do surf's up the uh penguin surfing animated movie and oscar nominated i know i know never forget yeah That film came out on 9-11, right? Yeah. Yeah. He Will Not Divide Us. I love it. Isn't Shia LaBeouf in that movie? Yeah, that's the reason I'm making that joke. It's so funny to look at Shia's crassest, most commercial movies like that.

Did he screen Surf's Up in all my movies? He must have, right? I wonder if he counted the animated film. He's the lead in that. Yeah, he is. He's Cody the Penguin? Haven't seen Surf's Up. Know the name of the lead in that. Yeah, he is. He's Cody the Penguin. Haven't seen Surf's Out. Know the name of the lead penguin.

So, a little girl. She's lonely. She's walking around the orphanage while everyone else is sleeping. It's later established that the BFG hears the cries of loneliness or something. He hears the heart of a lonely child. And the story of the BFG kind of is that they're both lonely souls. She's a lonely orphan who sleeps

at weird hours or doesn't sleep. She's an insomniac. And he kidnapped a child like 150 years ago and then the kid died. What a weird movie. He kidnaps her. He takes her to giant countries. There's a lot of him running around Britain. You're really trucking through this

I want to stop for one second On what? Ben, what do you think about the size of this guy? Everyone's huge Let's just talk about the BFK first What, just like, how am I vibing with him? Well like, I just I don't want to talk about the other giants yet

I want to talk about like, here is a dude Walking down a fucking street right and he's the size of the buildings right and he's got this fucking musical instrument that looks like a lamp post like what are you thinking i'm thinking first of all dope yeah i'm thinking they're listening to me finally all right it's like i've said this from the start the culture is listening i've said this in the start i don't care about the little things, right? I'm talking about just big things, but what's nice

too is like, you get how big he is because he's next to the building. You know what I mean? It's like, you see his instrument and then a normal lamppost. I'm not into this. Okay. I love this. Here's the other question though. Yeah. You see the BFG. Big. Big. Big. But thenFG. B, big. Big.

But then you go to Giant Country. In Giant Country, there are bigger giants. Well, that's why I wanted to take this one step at a time. He's small. I want to take this one step at a time. Yeah, I know. So now how do you feel? You're conflicted because you've already formed an attachment to this guy who you think is huge.

Right. And now they're bigger guys, but these bigger guys, straight up dickheads. Totally. It's actually like a Ren and Stimpy episode. Yes. So yeah, I'm conflicted now. Because usually for you, bigger is better. But this time, bigger is meaner.

Yup. It's a conundrum. It really is. And it shook me to my core, David. Donald Trump tweeted some weird things. I'm mostly watching Twitter react to that. What did he tweet? You want me to find it? Yeah.

So we're recording this in February? Yeah. Is this coming out like Memorial Day? I actually, I literally don't know what this means. Okay. I literally don't know what it means. Let's try to decipher. Let's try to decipher.

Big increase in traffic. Big? Oh, interesting. Big increase in traffic into our country from certain areas. All right. So we know what he's talking about. The areas he's talking about are giant countries. Yep. Oh, man. Big increase in traffic into our country from certain areas. All right, so we know what he's talking about. The areas he's talking about are giant countries. Yep. Oh, man.

Wow. Okay, okay. It's like all meant to be. So far, no, seriously, guys. Literally, our president tweeted this. Yeah, we're being deadly serious. It's about fucking giant countries. Comma.

Big increase in traffic into our country from certain areas. Comma. While our people are far more vulnerable. Okay. Comma. As we wait for what should be, capital letters, EZD. What's EZD? I don't get it.

Defense, baby. I guess so. Maybe he must mean defense, but like, what the? It's just crazy, guys. When I hear D, I think of Dick, because people say like. Yeah, you want the D. I want to get the D this week. You want that sunny D.

Yeah. That's what I call it. So that's what I was talking, reading about while you guys were doing whatever it was you were doing about giants. We were doing serious film criticism. So these giants are bigger, but they're meaner. Right. But then counterpoint, counterpoint.

There's a part where the BFG tries to give Sophie a bath and they both get pretty wet. There's a lot of water. True. There's some water. This is not really a primarily wet film. Sure, sure. We're like, we're tipping toe in on some territory I'm not necessarily into. There's a bath scene that's okay. I like water.

Tengentially related to this. The giants are big, but what I like is that his tools are big. I like that. When he takes her to his home pretty much the first thing he does is chop up a cucumber, a snozzcumber or whatever, right? Yeah. And that's kind of the first set piece in a weird way is her getting

out of the way as he chops this thing. Yeah. I think it's cool. He's got a big chopper. I think the snozzcumber looks amazing. It looks cool. I think it's probably the best looking thing in this entire movie. At the start I was like this is going to be fun. It's going to be like, what if you were small in a big person's house? And all his stuff was big. Right.

Just because you skipped over it, I like the section where he's stealing her and he's hiding. He's got a camouflage. Yes, that is cool. That feels like Spielberg having fun. Yeah. And then all of him hiding and then bounding sort of across the British Isles. That's fun. Okay, we're cooking here. We're cooking.

He's chopping up the snozzcomber. It looks fucking great. Great visuals, but immediately I find this issue starts poking its head. What's your issue? The compositing in this movie is a nightmare. Go on.

So I think the BFG looks great. Looks very cool. Very cool. Use of Mark Rylance's expressive features, but in a way that also, you know, bonds it to a very famous design. Yes. Quentin Blake's illustrations. And like, it just works. It works great.

I think they threaded that needle well. So from a design standpoint. We'll talk about Rylance's performance. Design standpoint, I think that looks great. I think they thread that needle well. So from a design standpoint We'll talk about Rylance's performance. Design standpoint I think that looks good. I think his performance comes through. I think he looks realistic. I think it's a terrific performance. You buy him as something

the viscerality of his home all the objects when I was looking at that snozzcumber I was like man that dripping snozzcumber that looks real. Because this is like Dahl's like grossest book.

He likes everything to be like like dripping with like snot or farting or like yeah it's everything's yucky right um i think ruby barnhill is very good in the movie i think she's cute and i think there are moments where there's like you know they're doing shot reverse shot between her and the bfg and when they go to her shot it's clearly her on a set which is a giant desk surrounded by giant scenery made to look like the items of his house. And those things look great. But I think any time the two of them are in the same frame, I'm not wrong.

I mean, I'm not. You're not wrong. It looks so by association. You're not wrong either. True. And it's this thing we've talked about. We talked about maybe on the Crystal Skull episode. And I said I didn't remember who it was.

I think it's Ignity Vishnevetsky is the one who said that there's like this fucking ratio with Spielberg, which is like he's really good at compositing CGI elements into the movie if it's like 75% real, 25% like the T-Rex. But when you flip it and it's like 75% fake, 25% real. It's a challenge anyway. Yeah, and I just think he is known for being very sort of improvisatory, like on his feet with blocking out the shots and all of that. And in order to integrate elements

well, live action elements into a CGI environment, you have to really block out your things in advance and know your lighting and all that. And I think it goes against what he likes about motion capture, which is that, like, he can just pick up the camera and do whatever he wants. Sure. He's unencumbered. He doesn't have to light, you know? Here's the other problem. Yeah.

He brings her to his house. Yes. There's some business with him chopping up a cucumber. Yeah. Then there is no plot. Whatsoever. At all. Right. For, like, a lot of the movie. 20 minutes. 25 minutes, there's, like, absolutely nothing. The plot is just like, this is my house, and she's

like, literally, what is happening? And he's like, oh, I's absolutely nothing. The plot is just like, this is my house. And she's like, literally what is happening? And he's like, oh, I don't know. I'm the BFG. Gee, I've failed that grunt. Grunt snobbles eaten. And you're having fun listening to this. To Rylance just have so much fun with this weird language. He's killing it.

But it's not like a fast-paced movie. No, it becomes an episode of Cribs where there's only one segment. Like one of the things, like Cribs, it was like, oh, you're going to get four Cribs in an episode. Right. And this is just like one 30-minute episode of Cribs

where he's like, right here, this is my Whiz Papa collection. He does drink some Whiz Papa, I guess, so he farts. Yeah, I mean, fun, but it's just like... There's the whole thing with the ship. Yeah, she sleeps on a ship, and he gives her the bath, which, I mean, you know, once again, congrats to Steven Spielberg on doing a bath scene that doesn't feel creepy.

Yeah, that's fine. It's a giant, like, that's just a tough thing to do. A giant old man giving a little girl a bath doesn't feel creepy right the other giants describe it it does yeah the other giant so i'm just gonna move past the other giants stop by and so you get the antagonism i guess and then he's the runt and they just leave and they leave it's like okay cool no immediate danger um and then he's like try some new clothes here and she puts on the red jacket and he immediately is like oh fuck and she's like what

never mind I'll tell you about 30 minutes from now in the plot it's gonna be important later this plots his points is important 45 minutes more like

um then you learn that he's a a dream guy dream weaver he's a dream weaver I mean it's like but he's also like he's like dream guy. Dream weaver. He's a dream weaver. I mean, it's like, but he's also like, he's like that Walter White. Like, it's like all the other giants need his sweet, sweet dreams, like to go to sleep, right?

Right. And so he, and that's why they leave him alone. Because it's like he gives him the dreams. He's got the hookup. But then he also. And he takes the dreams from children. Right. Or he gives it to children.

He gives them to children. As well. So he it to children as well. So he's doing that as well. Because it's almost like he's almost like the Tom Shoes or Warby Parkers of dreams where it's like for every dream I give to a giant, I'll give one to a child in need. Perfect. Like Casper Matches. He's like the Tom Shoes of dream. Right.

Or Warby Parkers of dreams. And the dreams come shipped in a box the size of a mini fridge, dude. That's all true. And then eventually the Giants figure out I'm not listening. Figure out that we're not getting paid by Casper

that she's there because they find her blanket or whatever. And so then he kicks her out. Because there's that scene where they're bowling each other with cars and buses this thing is so stupid and it takes forever but this is the thing this is why i'd want to talk to a five-year-old and be like did you like that shit maybe they'd be like that was great you crazy that feels like some real lost boys shit to me doesn't it feel like that's some bangerang bullshit bangerang but at least in the lost

boys it's like it's partly the drama is partly that that Peter Pan is now an old, like, a middle-aged guy who's like, you kids shouldn't be doing this, you know, these hijinks. And he's got to learn that hijinks are okay again. Well, and it's like, in all this shit, it's like, there's a mild sense of danger, but it never really feels like Sophie's that close to being discovered. Right. So it's just like, oh, it's just watching them do some... And weirdly, the big giants are just not that threatening. No. Even though they are hostile, stupid, and big.

Yeah. They are big. They're bullies, though, and I don't like... You know what? I don't like bullies. They're the bully-friendly giants. The bully farthead giants.

Yeah. So I might like things big, but I don't like bullies. Hey, good stance. That's right. Here's things big, but I don't like bullies. Hey, good stance. That's right. Here's a question. I've seen this film twice now.

Me too. Minus eight minutes the first time I saw it when I fell asleep. Whatever. Is there any moment watching this movie where you know which giant is played

by Bill Hader? No. Isn't that weird? You know which one is Jermaine Clement. 100%. But apart from that, like not really. Jermaine Clement's the main one who's like bone cruncher or whatever, right? Flesh which one is Jermaine Clement. 100%. But apart from that, like not really.

Jermaine Clement's the main one who's like bone cruncher or whatever, right? Flesh lump eater. Flesh lump eater. And he talks a lot. He's our primary antagonist. And it's clearly Jermaine, right? Yes. And then there are like many other giants.

Right. There are several. One of them is played by Bill Hader. I believe it's the blood bottler. But you don't get that in... I mean, collectively, all the other giants have less than 10 lines, right? I'd say there are five or six other giants, and together... Maybe Hader only had a few days.

But here's the thing. I think he must have been there all the time, because those giants were on screen a lot. I remember him talking a lot about making this movie. And I think his impetus for making this movie was very clear, which was, I want to be in a Spielberg movie. Of course. That's the impetus everybody has for it to be in these movies. But Hader specifically is a huge movie nerd, loves filmmaking. Get your dick out of his mouth.

My God. It's so warm in there. No, I like Bill Hader a lot. He's great. There's that thing. It's like, I was like, okay, so I guess this is like Jonah Hill. Wait, other way. Get his dick out of your mouth.

Whatever. It doesn't have to be her. Sorry. It could go both ways. It's true. It could. It's like Jonah Hill in Hail Caesar or Django where it was clearly like, he just wanted to work with those five.

Yeah, why not? Yeah, exactly. But the difference is that his face is on screen. I can't tell you how hard he worked on this movie, but you're claiming that he worked hard. I remember hearing him talk a lot about it. If so, the effort was not well earned. I'm sorry.

Or like it wasn't worth it. It just feels weird if you're Spielberg and you have Hader there to not be like, you know what, I should give him one scene where he really has something to do. Right, or Hader gets to do a... Just because the guy's fucking good. Comedy bit, essentially.

Right, give him like a joke. But then again, this movie's two hours long. So it's not like I want more things. Yeah. It's a long movie. It's a long fucking movie. He talked about making, he did a lot of press for it. Like, I remember him going on the late night circuit and being like,

BFG is in theaters this weekend. And it's like, I saw it. I don't know where you fucking are in the movie. I know you're one of these. Well, also, but wait a second. Those late night shows will book Bill Hader the job I had anyway, because he's an easy guest. Yeah, you know, he's going to have fun.

Adam Godley. Is that his name? Adam Godley who's a great British stage actor. He is the man hugger. You would know Adam Godley quite possibly if you saw him. He's got a very distinctive face. Very distinctive face. He's been in some movies but he's a British stage actor first of all. He played Mike TV's dad in

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's been in a lot of films. He has been on Broadway a lot. He's tall and skinny. You definitely Factory. He's been in a lot of films. He has been on Broadway a lot. He's tall and skinny. You definitely know. He's got big ears, Dumbo ears. Sorry, big ears, yeah. He's a good character actor. The beginning of the movie when Sophie's in her orphanage looking out the window,

there's a group of drunken louts, and she yells at them. Oh, and I see. And that's them, right? That's them. That's that little joke where it's like, those are the giants. Right. It's like the Wizard of Oz thing where it's like, oh, and then they become the whatever, right? But Bill Hader's not in that group.

And I, knowing that Adam, who Adam Godley is, I was like, oh, he must be one of the giants, right? Sure. The big unfriendly giants in this movie. Manhugger. Uh, so then when we get introduced to the rest of the group, there's one dude who looks like Adam Godley. Right.

There's one CGI giant who Mark Rylance style has big ears, the same features. I think I'm going to have to cut you off because this is getting boring. It just feels weird that they didn't do fucking anything with him. I agree. Okay. Okay. So then this and that, and then she loses her blanket,

and they're like, fuck, fuck, fuck. Well, the BFGs. Oh, well, you mean the Giants as well. Fuck wiggles. Fuzz and stickers. Here's the thing that doesn't make any goddamn sense. They want to eat a child so bad. They like human beings.

Just go to England and just eat some children, right? Yeah, right. And what's one? There's like nine of them. What, one child between them? She's tiny. But haven't some of them been, because later they talk about kids being kidnapped. Right.

I guess they've been. It's pretty fucked up. But I mean, that is Roald Dahl, I guess. Right. This movie skirts by the issue of how many children exactly are being eaten. Yes. A day. Right. All you know is that the BFG had a child that they ate back in the day.

BFJ. She's all right. You're a little too high on her. I'm not doing that because I think she's the best. I think that's alright. You're a little too high on her. I'm not doing that because I think she's the best. I think that's funny. I think her audition probably was just her having to say BFG ten different ways. Because there's that one scene where she's trying to get his attention.

And I keep on going like, BFG! And I was like, she can't come up with another reading of this. And then she just keeps on coming up with slight variations. BFG! I think she's cute. She's cute! It's interesting that This is the only

Female protagonist In a Spielberg movie Ever Is that true? Ever Oh my god That's actually huge That's awful

No wait What about Sugarland Express? Goldie Hawn Oh fair point Yeah His first movie Fair point Now I'm thinking

It's his first one since And we're talking about movies Where it's at least You're at least, you're at least one of the two leads is a female protagonist, right? Oh, well, color purple, color purple. Color purple, of course. And then Always doesn't really count, right?

Not Always is a weird movie. You know what? Holly Hunter is the protagonist of Always, kind of. But no, Richard Dreyfuss is more the protagonist. Right. Yeah. He's just a ghost, so it's kind of all ways, kind of. But no, Richard Dreyfuss is more the protagonist. Right. Yeah. He's just a ghost, so it's kind of like. So like three.

I'm just running down the list just to be sure. I mean, yeah, basically. I mean, inarguably, this is his first female-led film since the 80s. I think so. Yeah. I mean, well, as we noted on War Horse, Emily Watson is top build. Top build! Yeah, but Joey's the lead, though. I know. Well, as we noted on War Horse, Emily Watson is top build. Top build! Yeah, but Joey's the lead, though. I know.

Well, yeah. This is a War Horse, isn't it? This horse here. Yeah, it's actually War Horse. This has a lot of the same shitty problems as War Horse. I don't think Spielberg should be making movies about Britain, because I think he thinks Britain is, like, eternally stuck in, like, 1910. Everyone's a farmer.

War Horse! Like, you know, there's nuance to our country. Come on, Steven. People have like professional chimney cleanings. All right. They don't hire orphans. Oh, boy. So the BFG is like, look, they got your fucking blanket.

Or he's like, oh, they got a fucking blanket. They're going to eat you. I got to bring you back home. So he brings her back home, and she's like, This is not fair. We are friends. Friends don't do this.

And he's like, Remember like 30 minutes ago when I told you I was going to tell you about that jacket? Here's the deal with the jacket. Last boy I took, we were really good friends. We were like, hashtag the two friends,

the original two friends, and the Giants ate him. So that fucking sucks. Haven't gotten over that. Don't want that to happen to you. And she's like, I'm strong. I can defend myself.

BFG. And he's like, Fuzz Winkles, I know what you're talking about. We should, honestly, the only way this episode would be good is if we did it all as him.

Because he is, just him talking is the only good thing. Honestly, I just want to have Griffin do all the parts and just watch him. B-F-G, B-F-G. Back his fumbles, took his herb and bugs his fillers. We are forgetting the 25 minutes of him being like, here's the tree where the dreams are. And it's like you jump through the water. And it's just like endlessly slow. It's so boring.

This movie goes from a half-hour episode of Cribs to a half-hour episode of whatchamacallit, how it's made. Yeah, definitely. It's like, we bring you here to the dream factory. This here is the dream tree. You must catch a dream sprite. It's not far off from a movie like Pan where they're like, did you know that in Neverland there's, you know, fairy dust is mined in the fairy mines? And we're like, we never cared about the fairy dust. And if there's one lesson we've learned time and time again from the last 20 years of big studio filmmaking, it's that we love it when magic is explained in detail.

It's that we love it when magic is explained in detail. Now, in the BFG, I mean, a lot of this is in the book, and obviously that is inherent to the point of the BFG, is that he's a... He's a... Ben? Dream Weaver. Yeah. Dream Weaver!

It's a great joke. The fuzz wimples! It's a great joke in Wayne's World. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Great. A great drop in Wayne's world. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Great. A great drop.

Great drop. Great movie. Ba-da-da-da-da-da-da. Yeah. Dream! But I just don't care. It's so boring. And like, I get so mad about it.

I get so mad about how long this movie is. It's so long. And like, whether I would subject my child to it if I had one. I don't think I would. I think, I mean, it would be the last. If I was trying to show them every Roald Dahl adaptation, it would be the last one I showed them. Yeah. Oh, I don't know if I'd show my kid The Witches.

That movie fucked me up when I was a kid. It's good, though. It is good. It's alarming. Hey, I didn't see The James and the Giant Peach. It's great. Is it great? Oh, it's great.

Because I loved, loved that book. That's a good movie. It's stop motion, you know. It's cool. Cool. It looks cool. Oh, boy. I. Because I loved, loved that book. That's a good movie. It's stop motion. You know, it's cool. Cool. It looks cool. Oh, boy. I would love to do a Henry Selick miniseries.

Well, it's just three movies, right? It's four movies. Oh, right. That's true. And that is, Monkey Moan is the real blank check there. Yeah. And also his, I don't know if you followed it all, but his post-Coraline fallout has been really fascinating. Yeah, it's weird.

It's a weird story. He's kind of a hostile dude. Yep. Yeah. It's a weird story. Maybe we'll do Henry. He's kind of a hostile dude. Yup. Yeah. It all comes into play. Interesting story. Great filmmaker. His own worst enemy.

Yeah. He was, but he was kind of his own worst enemy on the night before Christmas too. Right? Like there was a lot of fighting over like just what the script was essentially. Historically. Yeah. But a great filmmaker.

He is. I'd like him to make another movie. I don't know if it'll ever happen. Yeah. Maybe we'll talk about it someday on this one. Those things are expensive. That'd be a nice little

tight four episode miniseries, don't you think? Yeah, sure. Sometimes we need just maybe like a little tight four episode. What about Brad Bird, though? Yeah, Brad Bird, though. He's five, but...

Yeah. So... BFG. BFG! Look, we're stalling to get to the good part. There's one part of the BFG that's good, and we're just like... Okay, so this is what I was going to say.

He leaves her. She's upset, right? And then she's like, fuck this. And she jumps out a window, and the BFG catches her. And the strings swell, right? John Williams. The triumphant, oh, friendship saves the day.

But it doesn't fucking mean anything because you only left 45 seconds ago. It's true. They treat it like it's Han Solo coming back in the Lane Falcon and being like, Luke, I got you. You know? Oh my God, I didn't think the BFG would come back.

It's like he's fucking friendly. I knew he'd come back. What's he gonna do? Go eat schnozmipples or whatever? Yada, yada, yada. Look. Okay, so now- She finally goes to the sanctuary of the little boy that was eaten.

This is the crucial part. Yes. And sees a portrait of Queen Victoria. Puts it all together. Puts it all together. It's so obvious. How didn't she think of it sooner? Why don't we just ask the queen for help?

Why don't we plant the queen with a dream? Why don't we pull an inception? Now, it is funny that it is. It's literally the plot of Inception. It's the exact same idea. They even break it down with a scientist where he explains all the ways it works.

Remember that guy? Dillaprow? Yeah, Dillaprow, man. He was in three hot movies and then we never heard from him again. He crushes that exposition though. He had... Not bad at the exposition. His first two movies were Avatar and Inception. He was on an episode of How Did This Get Made recently.

It's really interesting. Really? Oh, actually I got a list of that. It's really interesting. But yeah, it's bizarre how strongly he came out of the gate. But then that's it. Yeah. And then he did Drag Me to Hell, too.

That's before. Those were all within nine months of each other. Yeah, that's the same year as Avatar. He worked with Sam Raimi, James Cameron. That's what I'm saying, man. And Christopher Nolan. Okay, so they go to the chemist. They get the dream potion.

They infect the queen. And then this chunk of the movie. Literally, they infect the queen, and then this chunk of the movie... Literally, they infect the queen. They infect the queen. Yeah. This chunk of the movie is fun. It's charming. It's charming.

This part's pretty good. For one, and I remember in the book too, it is so, when you're a kid, so delightful, that idea of like, the queen would fucking fix everything.

She's a nice old lady like your mom, but she's also in charge of the country. And also like why wouldn't this just take an extreme left turn. It's not like this has been plot based up until now. It can be fucking whatever it wants to be. So the queen just wakes up

and she's like all right summon my staff. I've got some news for you. Giants are real. Yeah. They exist in the like far like countryside. They are plotting to eat our children.

Well I don't know. So I went to Toronto a couple weeks ago to visit friends, right? And the second we crossed the border, my friend, past and future guest, Sam Rugal. Past guest. He's not allowed back on. He's allowed back on. No. No, we already talked about this.

He's allowed back on. No, his opinion is bad. We talked about it. I'm going to fight you. No. He said, congratulations, we're officially in a country where Donald Trump isn't president. Right. And immediately, my anxiety was cut by like 25%.

Okay. Like, I felt like my shoulders go down. The palpable fear I'm living with on a day-to-day basis, and it was like, it's weird how instantly that goes out the window. The second we cut to the queen and suddenly we're in a real set with real actors. Yeah, I get you. The movie has that effect. You're just like, oh, good, right.

Oh, it's a movie again. And some pros are here. Yeah. We talked about them. Rafe. Becca. Hall. Balls to the wall.

It's great. And Penelope Walton. Penelope Walton is the queen. Your brother Joey tweeted when this movie came out in July, it's embarrassing that we're going to have to go through nine months of Oscar season bullshit when Penelope Walton's obviously just going to win Best Supporting Actress for the VFG.

I'm paraphrasing his tweet, but I thought that was so funny. It's a good tweet. And she is really fucking good at this. She's extremely good. I mean, she's a pro. Right.

She's a pro. But she wakes up and she goes, we had this dream. We had this dream that giants were real. And she does great and there's a good Spielberg blocking here and

wreckahall's her assistant and rave spall is the fucking walkie talkie man and then she tells the dream she's kind of a nerve bite and she goes what do you mind closing the blinds but there's a really good spielberg moment where she like finishes the dream and then she looks right towards the camera for a long time you're like what's wrong and then she goes like, would you mind closing the blinds? It's like, oh, she's now afraid that her dream is real. When they go to close the blinds, who's there? Sophie.

And she goes, queen. Uh-huh. She goes, I'm here with the BFG. She goes, why are you here? And she goes, you remember, don't you? And she goes, I do remember. And he goes, where's the BFG? He goes, he's right here.

And she starts calling for the BFG and they're like, oh, remember. And he goes, where's the BFG? He goes, he's right here. And she starts calling for the BFG, and they're like, oh, fuck. This is some crazy girl who happens to match perfectly with the dream I just had, except for the BFG, that's not there. And then she has to give him the courage to come out, and he comes out, and now he's the BFG, and he's talking to the queen.

One note, Amazon, I watched this film on Amazon, they're subtitling, every time they refer to the queen, they call her mom. No, it's M-A-A-M. That's just how it sounds. Oh, it is? Yeah.

Yeah. Well, that's what Amazon said in the subtitling. I thought it was mom. No. Don't they call the queen mother? No. You can call the queen two things.

Okay. You can call her her royal majesty. Okay. Or you can call her what the Americans would say is ma'am. Right. But in Britain,

you say that like mom. I always thought it was M-U-M. You are wrong. Oh, wow. You can call any member of the royal family by two things. If it's a lady, mom, and if it's a man, sir. Okay. You can only call the queen or king your majesty.

Everyone else is your highness. Yeah. Everyone needs to fucking remember that. As long as you don't call them late for dinner. Exactly. What's the dutch and the duchess? What do they do long as you don't call them late for dinner. Exactly. What's the Dutch and the Duchess? What do they do? You would probably just call them, like, sir and mom.

Like, you probably would, like, I mean, you could call them, like, but your highness is always fine, but stick with them. Stick with them. Sir and mom. It's easy. You know, because if you live in Britain and you do something nice, like, say, run a charity or do community service, like do nice things, right?

You'll get invited to a garden party, maybe with a duchess or like the Duke of York or something, but maybe with the queen. She hosts like many a year and then the queen comes and talks to you for 10 minutes. Do you think we'll ever get invited

to a garden party? I think it's like 50-50 right now. I mean, we just, you know. You have dual citizenship, right? I do. So she probably listens to this. I wouldn't assume she listens to all of her subjects podcasts. But I've just heard from the people I know who've met the queen, I'm always told like

she is the boss of small talk. Like she is just, she's been doing it her whole life. She comes in and you're just like, you just feel completely at ease and she's like asking you about your shit. It's like chit chat. And then she leaves and you just feel like, you just feel completely at ease. And she's like asking you about your shit. It's like chit chat. And then she leaves and you just feel like, I just talked to a pro. Like that was the best. She knows exactly what she's doing.

So it's the opposite of being mom. Exactly. Ben, 15,000 comedy points. That's a lot of comedy points. That was such a good joke. And Ben is now dancing in the studio. He is dancing. He's pumping his fists.

He's dancing like a happy little boy. So they hold a little banquet, a little lunchtime banquet tea. This shit's pretty good. Yeah. Where they're trying to figure out how to feed the BFG. Yeah. I like this stuff. And once again, the fucking ratio's flipped, and it's like 75% real shit.

Now you just have the BFG to worry about. And it's good. Now it's good. Her corgis are there? Because I feel like a lot of the earlier scenes it looks like Sophie's like a colorful. No, I know what you mean. Like just taped on top

of the image. Also, there's just a lot of corgis running around. Yeah, and suddenly the dogs start farting. I mean, everyone's having the whiz bangers or the fuzz popples

or whatever. Well, right, the queen farts. Queen farts. And now. Spielberg treats that like JFK getting assassinated or whatever where it kind of cuts to like an obscure angle.

Like, yeah, they don't want to show it to you full force. There's something really fun just about imagining Spielberg directing the farts. Yes. Being at ILM or Weta Digital and being like, I feel like the fart has to be bigger. How do we...

God, can we go 10% more plumage on this? These are like big, green farts. They're very green farts like they're very visual farts sorry I'm tweeting at someone who tweeted me saying he didn't

like the Lego movie had to correct that right away uh that's a dumb opinion yeah it's a dumb opinion that's a real dumb

opinion dumb ass opinion hey you know what I'm not looking forward to what Warner Brothers running that Lego

thing into the ground boy are they gonna it's so annoying. It's actually, and you know, but we both knew this, that the minute the Lego movie made the money, it did. Yes. It's like, uh-oh, like, they're not going to treat this with the sort of caution it deserves. Well, no, the head of Warner Brothers film production is, came from fucking Six Flags. He didn't work in movies part of this.

We've talked about it. And he's just a branding expert and he has said like, we have silos. We're like Disney, we have silos. There's the Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling silo. It's why Warner Brothers

seems so fucking bad. There's the DC silo and there's the Lego silo. They were like, those are our three big brands. And hey, the J.K. Rowling and the DC ones aren't working.

I mean, the J.K. Rowling one is, I would say working in terms of like, that movie made decent money. It made less than Suicide Squad. It made a huge amount internationally. And they also have amusement parks and fucking merch and all this shit. I mean, all those things are making money for them, but when's the bloom going to come off the rose? Like, when are you going to run through the goodwill in the franchise?

Well, to me, it's no. To me, it's more Trumpy, where it's like, the bloom was never on the roses. Like, for example, for the DC movie. Sure. Like, literally, they made Man of Steel and people were like,

no bloom on this rose. And they were like, we got more! Like, you know, they didn't take any of it to heart. They're like, great, you liked it, right? And people are like, not really. And they're like,

we're gonna do lots! But that's because people like the original characters. Like, they want to see because people like the original characters. They want to see good movies based off those characters. And Fantastic Beasts was running off the residual fumes of like... Fantastic Beasts made more than Suicide Squad. It did? Yes.

It made so much internationally. You know why? Why? It had Fantastic Beasts in it. Yeah. That little guy. Remember the little guy? I don't know.

The Niffler. Yeah, the Niffler was all right. That movie drives me crazy. A weird movie. Yeah. That little guy. Remember the little guy? I don't actually remember. Yeah, the Niffler was all right. Yeah. That movie drives me crazy. A weird movie. Yeah. You know Ezra Miller is in the sequel? Yeah.

And they had to like delay the Flash because of it? I mean, also because they keep firing everyone in the Flash. Because no one wants to direct it. Well, whatever. But like when I heard that, I was like, they were like, oh, and you know, now the Flash has to get delayed because Ezra Miller has to be in Fantastic Beasts 2. And I was like, he has to be in it? You're sure about that? Like the people over there were like, they were like, oh, and you know, now the Flash has to get delayed because Ezra Miller has to be in Fantastic Beasts 2. And I was like, he has to be in it? You're sure about that? Like the people over there were like, yeah, we got to have him in that.

Yeah. I don't know what they're planning. What a hot character he was. Remember? Yeah. He's a big cloud of goo. The Lego thing bums me out just because it's like that came from like such low expectations, right? It was like just Lord and Miller worked their magic and made in something great.

Of course the low expectations helped. And then they were like, oh, let's reverse engineer this as a brand. And they, look, haven't made a bad Lego movie yet, but it's gonna fucking happen if they keep on making them. It might well happen. I was about to say, at least they're two for two for decent movies. Maybe Ninjago would be great.

I mean, the trailer looks fine. There's a Ninjago trailer? Yeah. Oh, I haven't seen it. At the time of our recording it came out today. Oh, okay. It looks fun, but it's like... This is on the record. You're doing it on the record segment. It looks fun, but it's like, okay, I get it. Like, I'm already starting to like, fucking note the

earmarks of like, okay, they've reverse engineered, like, these are the types of jokes. These are, you know, what have you. Anyway. So, what happens is they eat breakfast, these are the types of jokes. These are, you know, what have you. Anyway. So what happens is they eat breakfast. They tell the queen to deploy her soldiers to giant country. They fart like crazy. There's a lot of farting. The soldiers go to giant country.

They're like, we're going to make a trap. They infect the giants with nightmares. It's all a little, yeah, you shouldn't think about it too much. They have, like, dangerous and terrifying power. There's this moment where the BFG. Like, why doesn't the BFG solve world peace? Why doesn't he blow a dream into the fucking Israeli presidency here to

broker peace in the Middle East? You want him to pull an arrival. Exactly. Why doesn't he cure us all of our citizenship? We're just members of Earth. And he's like, no, just this one girl. And they're like, what about everybody? You could save everybody. And he's like, no, just this one girl. And they're like, what about everybody? You could save

everybody. And he's like, just me, Sophie, and her blanket. There's this moment when they're sitting on the hill, and they're watching the sunrise. And they're just having a nice friend conversation. Yes, that is a nice moment. It's a nice moment, and I remember

watching it in the theater and going like, wait, is this movie great? Yeah, but I remember coming out of it being like, I mean, Spielberg, though. That's sort of like what you kind of give that movie. Right, and watching that moment, I was like, this feels like a moment that is the payoff of a great movie that's earned this, right? But it's actually kind of working for me, i think it's because ryan lance is really fucking goodness so good really fantastic and we talked about in our blank check words episode which we recorded yesterday but now was months ago yes it's a phenomenal performance right um

and look hard to sell that language, right? And to make it sound naturalistic. But I think the one thing this movie does do well is like it does sell you on like this is a nice friendship between two people. These two people are nice friends. Sure. And so I think that one moment I'm just kind of like, no, this isn't a great movie. But like I am invested in that one idea of just just a big thing and a little thing, being friends. Sure.

You know? Crossing the aisle, meeting in the middle. Right. Then the sun rises, they catch all the giants. Hooray, hooray. But the BFG has to stay there. And she'll think of him when she's lonely and rebecca hall adopts i don't care i do i think that's kind of oh no i think it's nice that rebecca at all but i mean i

it's like it's almost going for that monsters inc mojo you know the real like we had this wonderful experience and now we can't be together yeah like that was my magical childhood but like you know oh it's like like, such a lingering... But, like, I'm like, yeah, whatever. That's the thing. They feel like nice friends, but the thing with Monsters, Inc. is that felt like

this is, like, a familial relationship. This isn't like, oh, they like hanging out with each other. Yeah. This is, like, they're deeply tied to each other. Like, Sully has, like, father instincts towards her.

You know? Towards Boo. Birds. Anytime you say Sully has like father instincts towards her. You know? Towards Boo. Birds. Anytime you say Sully. Was a forced water landing. Birds. Birds. Forced?

Birds. I'm telling you, I felt it. I felt that engine go. There was no thrust. What a great movie. Sully's American masterpiece. Now, if only the BFG was the movie Sully. I'm sorry, who?

We were talking about it today. BFG! BFG! We got no energy for this one. And you know what? It's fine. We saw it coming five months ago, right? We always do.

There'd be no energy for this one. Yeah. So, great. Everyone's nice friends. The movie comes out. No one sees it. It gets middling reviews. I mean, I think it's his biggest flop, certainly in terms of

Look at the top email. The new Lego Ninjago movie slash new trailer download links plus poster. Is that a press email? Great. When did it get released? July 4th weekend. Oh, so, yeah, I mean, summer release. We're gonna play the box office game.

People thought it was gonna be big. Why not? Always been on Spielberg, right? Always. Especially with something like this. Return to form. July 1st, 2016. The BFG opens number four, $22 million. It grosses 55 total domestic, 183 worldwide, which pretty much covers its budget.

It's a bomb. But including marketing, I believe Disney has said they lost, they took a $75 million write-off on this movie. Sounds about right. It doesn't matter because Disney had literally the most insane year in the history of movie studios that year. They had four of the 20 highest-grossing movies of all time. Correct.

And so, you know, that's fine. But nonetheless, a disappointment. What is number one at the box office? Okay, July 4th weekend. Put it this way, it's a. Yeah. But nonetheless, a disappointment. Sure. What is number one at the box office? Okay, July 4th weekend. Put it this way, it's a Disney movie. It's a Disney movie, and that movie is? It's been number one for three weeks now. Finding Dory?

Yes. Okay. Finding Dory, the movie everyone remembers and enjoyed and talks about all the time that made gazillions of dollars. The eighth highest grossing movie in history. Finding Dory. Tell me one thing that happens in Finding Dory. Well, I remember it.

That's the thing. A fish gets lost. He's got it. This joke works for anyone else, but you know I could actually recount the entire plot of Finding Dory in detail. Can you really? Yeah. You kidding me?

Could you do it in the BFG's voice? Yeah. So he opens with little blue fish ears. It's right there with the parents Big eyes puzzles it has Alright we're back Number two It's a new film

Legend of Tarzan I mean this is reason enough that Griffin might just know Legend of Tarzan a hit Yeah no one talks about that People did not think it was going to be a hit Perfectly good hit $380 million. Once again, cost too much

to make. Whatever. But like, that's that movie. That's a movie where you might think like, oh, they're going to lose a lot of money. Like, this was a mistake. I thought so. I remember tweeting, is it possible that literally zero people go see The Legend of Tarzan? Sure. Like, I remember just feeling no excitement for it. And then it outgrossed like, Independence Day 2.

It outgrossed, also, The Looking Glass. Like, these are bad movies, but it outgrossed like Independence Day 2. It outgrossed also The Looking Glass. Like these are bad movies, but it outgrossed sequels to huge movies. Good job, Skarsgård. Nice job, Samuel L. Jackson. Yeah. Number three, also a new movie. The third in a strange little franchise,

horror franchise, that has become popular in the summers recently. Oh, The Purge Election Year. Correct. Keep America Great. The second best? Third. Oh, you're saying, oh, the second best. Yes. I mean, the first one's the worst. The first one is terrible and the second one is pretty

good and this one is kind of in the middle of those two, I would say. Yeah, I think it's Anarchy Election than the original. Yeah. Number four. 36 mil it makes opening weekend and it ends up at like 90 right it ends up at 79 118 worldwide which is jesus nobody wants to see that movie except in america but okay and those movies cost like nothing yeah you know you like the purge i saw the second one pretty good right yeah i mean it it's like the kind of horror movie i like which is just like really contained, small, like

happens in a house. Survival, yeah. It's great. Number four is the BFG and number five is a movie you already mentioned. Just now when you were comparing Tarzan to it. Oh, Independence Day? Independence Day, Resurgence. 2016 had some

had some poops. That was a big poop. Yeah. That was a big poop. Yeah, that was a big poop. That's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I need to see it still. Have you never seen it? No, I would love it, right? No. I mean, what do you mean?

Will Smith isn't in it. He's not in it. And is our boy in it? Jeff Goldblum? Yeah. Yeah, I think Jeff Goldblum's... This is better. In the movie.

That's actually good Full circle That was okay That was good yeah Cause you know First episode Last episode If I remember correctly Okay

Now it's getting to Barack Obama Yep Yeah The difference is You'll see That when Pirates of the Caribbean Breaks down

It does not Eat people That's not that good. Wait a second. No, my joke was that was Obama doing Jeff Goldblum quotes. Oh, I see. I see. That was my joke. I am evolving into a fly. Gina Davis,

please try to help. Central Intelligence. Another big hit. Another big hit. Big hit. The Shallows, which is a nice little movie Nice little movie Free State of Jones Which uh Not a nice little movie

Nice Bad long movie Yeah Bad mid movie Yeah Conjuring 2 Swiss Army Man's in there Yeah

Don't make any money That one Uh So there you go Uh BFG gets zero Oscar nominations Doesn't even get the Profunctory John Williams

Tip of the hat um no which is a bit rude and it didn't get visual effects which you know is fine but it's a bit rude a little bit rude and that's the end of Steven Spielberg's run now it leaves us in a weird

space because coming up what does Spielberg have in the hopper two movies one of which sounds like exactly what he should be doing and one of which sounds like exactly what he shouldn't be doing so the one you think you shouldn't be doing is ready player one yeah and the one he should be doing is pope baby drama rylance oscar isaac what's going on here yeah right right uh morals is is dark and gray more your things is confusing the movie right life makes no sense politics Politics behind closed doors. The movie. And then the other one's an adaptation of a book

about a virtual reality world. A book that people didn't really like. No, they were like good concept bad execution. Right. Maybe it'll be good. It's like Spielberg's Tron. But with like, but also like a Roger Rabbit where you mash up all the pop culture elements of the movies that Spielberg produced. Yeah.

Which I think is weird. I don't know how he's going to deal with it. Apparently it's a lot of motion capture. I like Tintin as you know. I like the freedom it gives him in the camera. I'm a little excited to see him exist in a fully motion capture realm but I'm a little worried about that movie. Here's some Reddit suggestions

for Ben's names. Okay. Warhawks. I think that's the one we're going. The BFH. Big Friendly Hawks. I like Ben's names. Okay. Warhawks. I think that's the one we're going. The BFH. Big Friendly Hawks. I like Ben Friendly. I haven't learned that one. Beniander Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Hawks.

It's a bit long. Ben likes it, though. I mean. Ben likes it. The, the Crohasian. What is that? I don't get it.

Oh, let me see it. K-R-A-H-O-S-S-I-N. Fuck. I looked at it and I understood what it meant. And I'm trying to remember. Let me see it. It's just hard to turn.

Yeah. Krahozian. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I know what it is. What is it? It's the Krahozian. It's making fun of Krakozio. Oh, Krakozio.

Okay, that's no good. That's too bad. Sorry, user Alex blah, blah, blah. Catch me if you bend. it's making fun of Cracogio oh Cracogio okay that's no good that's too sorry user Alex blah blah blah catch me if you Ben Amistaz

which is funny yeah but do we wanna let's also not poke fun at that movie and that's something artificial Ben-telligence

Ben of Spies Ben-Arty Report Private Ribon which we talked about Gigolo Ben Ben Deanna Jones, Ben Cruncher. This just makes me want to see all these movies. And finally, Mutt Williams. That's just Shia LaBeouf's name.

I think it would be hilarious if the two friends called Ben Mutt Williams every episode. I mean, that is funny. Steve Ben Spielberg is the final suggestion. All those things are funny, but I do think Warhaz is still by a nose. I think that's the winner. Yeah, I like it too. Let's give credit.

Who came up with Warhaz? Oh, shit. Sorry. I closed it. I'll find it. I'll find it. One second. Okay, no worries.

But yeah, Steven Spielberg, shrug. I don't know what your future awaits. Yes, I agree. Can I ask you guys a question? Anything. So you framed this miniseries around DreamWorks years of Spielberg. And he's the first director, right, to ever get that much control over a studio. When you think about it, DreamWorks, it is rude that BFG didn't even have the DreamWorks logo.

It's literally about a DreamWorker. He works in dreams. Yes. Yes. It's a bit rude. Yeah. Carry on. I guess my question is, do you think that a filmmaker will ever get to that point again?

Do you think that's too much control? Do you think it's the mistake of like sort of Lucas comes to mind of like people not saying no to you sort of thing? And like you then start making poor choices because you have so much control? What do you think? I think he's a weird example because I think he's a guy where he works big, right?

And Spielberg knows how to use money and put it up on the screen. And you even look at stuff like Lincoln and Munich, which are two of his least expensive movies ever made and there's a scope and a scale to those movies in terms of like oh wow here's a street corner in a wide shot where they're able

to dress this entire world and put this many characters in and all of this and so it has a real feeling of place and of time rather than just like fuck we got five million dollars to shoot a period piece let's shoot around it you know and so I think he he earns in that way and it feels like he i think this is what this ends up being about okay i think it ends up being about self-discipline uh-huh i think that's

the case study in steven spielberg here is that like lot of the people we've covered once everyone gives them what they want their instincts are bad. That they need other people to rein them in. Sometimes. Not the Wachowskis. I don't think Spielberg needs people to rein him in. No, because he hasn't been reined in for decades.

Pre-Dreamworks he wasn't being reined in. Right, and it never feels excessive and you're never like, what the fuck was he thinking? You're always like, I know what he was thinking and it was dumb. When it doesn't work, you're like, I see it, but it was... As we've said, he's good at acknowledging it too. Yes, 100%. Unlike someone like Amit Shyamalan.

Right, but I think the problem comes from when he's making something because it's clearly energizing him, you know? Sure, to when he's making something where he's like, well, I should be good at this, right? Yeah, like this is my kind of thing, isn't it? And I when he's making something where he's like, well, I should be good at this, right? Yeah. Like, this is my kind of thing, isn't it? And I think the thing that unifies all of those this should be my kind of thing movies

is that they're on paper the more commercially Spielberg movies. And that's where the conflict of him being the studio head comes in. Right. Because he's not just trying to make movies, but he's trying to keep an entire studio afloat and he's the biggest asset they have is his films. Well, we're also going to, in a

future miniseries, talk about his efforts as a studio head, I would think. Well, let's talk about that. His partnering with other directors. Let's talk about that in one second. Okay. I just want to say, I've been living in a perpetual fear these days, right? Oh my god, what's this? No, no, no. Both in the outer world and the inner world, right?

I wake up every morning, I check the news. It's never good. The world's terrible. And so every day is dispiriting. You just go like, what the fuck am I going to do? How do we exist? But there's this thing that's, you know, it motivates a lot of people, incentivizes a lot of people to take action, to speak out, you know?

We're fighting harder than we have in a long time because the threat's real, right? You're a bit coming. No, no, no, no. I'm not going to stretch this out for too long. Please. In my inner life Ben's looking onto an imaginary horizon. Is he coming? In my inner life I'm terrified

because at the time of this recording. So he's going to go make the tick. Right. And this is the biggest thing I've ever done and I like you know in my heart of hearts like trust like I think I know how to do this but it also just is scary and I find that exciting because I feel like

you know we've been friends for a couple years and for those couple of years there are a lot of times I was like I think I'm done with acting I just hate it. A few times there was one time in particular which was after Kid Cudi beat you out for Entourage. Where I was like I'm done. Yeah. And I would work on stuff and you'd be like how was it and I'd be like I just I'm fucking irritated with all this and it was like I'm doing the same thing they asked me to do where I drop a cup of coffee or I'm done. Yeah. And I would work on stuff, and you'd be like, how was it? And I'd be like, I just, I'm fucking irritated with all this.

And it was like, I'm doing the same thing they asked me to do, where I drop a cup of coffee, or I'm a nerd, or fucking this. And it's not good, and I just feel like I'm doing a bad job. You were society's intern. You were Hollywood's intern. Right? But it was also just like, I felt like I was experiencing no growth whatsoever. I wasn't being given the chance to do anything beyond what I could do. I'm wrapping you up here.

And what's exciting to me now is how scared I feel about this. given the chance to do anything beyond what I could do. And what's exciting to me now is how scared I feel about this because it makes me think like there's no way I'm going to give anything less than 100% because I'm too scared of failure. And I think Spielberg is someone

who is capable of extreme artistic growth and evolution, right? Yes. But he has to be diligent about not letting himself rest on his laurels and do something he could do before. He can make lateral moves. It doesn't always have to be bigger. It doesn't always have to be deeper. So you're saying that Spielberg, for a while,

he was an intern. Some of these movies, he's dropping coffee cups. Look, I also, I think you're right, but I actually think Spielberg is someone who often backs into his own progress. Like, he doesn't, like, he doesn't quite realize what a leap forward he's made

until he's made a couple of these movies. I was just asking. He takes on these ambitious projects and that's often when you're kind of like, I don't mean ambitious like AI, I mean ambitious like the BFG. Often that's when you're like, oh, you're kind of just being proficient here.

And it's more interesting when he's wrestling with a story that doesn't quite fit him. The proficiency is what scares me because even if it's a complicated movie on a technical level, you know, or like, oh, this is a weird narrative to wrestle down because the book is so like, sort of like incidental, you

know? It doesn't feel like there's anything he would look at in the material and be like, I have no idea how to do this. You know? And I think he needs to be self-disciplining when he like looks at material because he's because he has this great power and when he chooses to make something it matters

you know he gets budgets that other people don't get he's recently decried the death of the adult drama he and Lucas came out and were like he and famous adult dramatic filmmaker George Lucas right and they're like we can't even get our passion projects made and it's like no but you can you can so you have to use that responsibility wisely.

And also, like, yeah, like, don't phone it in. Right, like, if maybe you need to scrape or, like, sort of fudge a little more to get one of these things made, then do it. And doesn't mean that you can't. Don't just be like, eh, fuck it. Doesn't mean you can't have fun. Like, I love Tintin, obviously, but Tintin was scary because it was him working in a totally new mode. Uh-huh. All I'm saying is I think artists got to be scared.

I think in one way or another, artists got to be scared. It's a nice little manifesto. Thank you. Yeah. Well, that was our miniseries on Steven Spielberg. We did it. Probably if you cast, here's my prediction. Griffey on the record?

Yeah. I think Steven Spielberg is going to make some more great films and some more bad films. Probably true. Yeah. I think he's going to. Honestly, but I think he's going to learn his lessons from the bad ones. How old do you think he is? 72.

Checking. 70. He's got plenty of time. He's got time. That guy's going to live. Are you excited for Brad Pitt to make a sci-fi movie with James Gray? They just announced that? He's circling this movie.

In which he'd play an autistic space engineer. I love that. He was supposed to do Lost City of Z, right? He executive produced it, yes. He was supposed to start it. I like James Gray a lot. I just like the idea of James Gray getting movies made. I just like the idea, we've talked about it a lot,

of everyone does their sci-fi movie, right? James Gray's like, time for my sci-fi movie. So let's announce our next miniseries. I don't know. Look, we're still figuring it out because we're recording this stuff in advance. We might do something in between. We're sure this is our next miniseries? Yeah, because there might be something in between.

How about this? We'll say it, but it might change and I'll insert something else. Fair enough. Fair enough. Right? Of course. We have months to change this. We're going to do, and then it'll be like me just like, bird.

So we've got that as a backup. Just bird. Producer Ben here with an official announcement. Our next miniseries will be on the films of Christopher Nolan, starting in mid-June on the 19th. Leading up to that, we'll have a few one-off episodes. Next week, we have a Ben's Choice on the film Clifford, starring Martin Short and Charles Grodin, so not the big red dog movie.

Then a Mailbag episode where we respond to listeners' emails, followed by a Wonder Woman episode. I will also go on the record today and say that followed by Nolan, we will be covering director Catherine Bigelow as our next miniseries. Thanks. Back to the show.

So, that's our miniseries. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe. Thanks as always for listening. Stay tuned for whatever we just explained was going to happen in whatever order we just explained it was going to happen in. Yep we just explained it was going to happen in yep guys you can always tweet

at us at blank check pod or like the facebook page guys please for god's sake like the facebook page I wish you would I think it'd be a nice thing to do I think it'd be okay like Mark Rylance you're out there give us a like yes

there's all kinds of original content. Most definitely. And as always, I was listening to the best Farts, farts, fartsmiths. I was listening to the best of of the Phantom Menace fan podcast episodes. Sure. You know what joke we didn't hit hard enough? What?

We only did once. What? That Phantom Menace is ripping off space balls. Yeah, I didn't like that joke. I thought that was a funny bit. I thought it was a good bit. You were the one who came up with that. I thought that was too obvious.

We did it once. It was fine. It was great. I thought it was too obvious. We did it once. It was fine. It was great. I thought it was really funny. I mean, we could do it right now. We're all idiots. What's the name of the person who came up with Warhawks? Did you get that? Got it. Deleted it again.

Wait. I've got it. His name is Apathy Monger. That's his Reddit name. Flare. Is that what it's his Reddit name. Yeah. And his like. Flare. Yeah. Is that what it's called? It's called Flare. What a dumb website.

David, come on. Is number one fan of Jupiter's moon Europa. Hey. Oh. Good cut. Shots fired. I wanted to get that out there. Good cut.

Apathy Monger, I think maybe was the one who started the Reddit, is one of the major posters. So shout out Apathy Monger. Hey, check out that Reddit. Reddit slash R slash Blinkies. Fun place where fun things happen.

Reddit's great. Nothing bad's ever happened on Reddit. No one's ever had to ban a Reddit sub-community for any reason at all. Absolutely not Pizzagate though.

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