Blank Check with Griffin & David - Witness with Amanda Dobbins

Episode Date: April 12, 2026

Strap in, DobMob...we're going to Amish Country! The Big Picture's Amanda Dobbins joins us to talk about Peter Weir's Witness, perhaps the zenith of Harrison Ford's hotness, and the film that garnered him his sole Oscar nomination. We're talking Rumspringa, birds and birdhouses (Amanda is not a fan), Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, and young Viggo (which naturally lends itself to LOTR discussion). Listen up, or else you'll be shunned from the Blankie community! Listen to Griffin and Ben on The Daily Zeitgeist⁠ ⁠Check out the Kyle Chandler Men's Health Cover mentioned ⁠ ⁠Watch Tracy Letts talk shit about Star Wars⁠ ⁠Read Roger Ebert's Review⁠ ⁠Listen to The Big Picture⁠ ⁠Listen to Jam Session⁠ Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If we'd podcasted last night, I'd have to stay or you'd have to leave. That is the line of the movie for me. It's maybe a low energy way to start the podcast. It's the line of the movie. It's the tagline. You should have just done the tagline. Well, let me do the tech line now as an alternate. Let me do the tagline now as an alternate.

I just really want to do that line. Go ahead. Mm-hmm. Do it. Harrison Ford is John Book, period. That's the biggest font. Exactly. Okay?

Yeah. And then right down underneath it, almost like, small print on the back of a fucking aspirin bottle. A big city cop. A small country boy. They have nothing in common but a podcast. Exactly. That's why it's perfect.

Do you think putting Harrison Ford is John Book that big was them being like, we need to fucking Indiana Jones this thing? We need to sell. It's a good question. He's playing another iconic character. Can we gabbo them into thinking, I'm supposed to know who John Book is? I would like to talk about the name John Book. It's one of the great name.

Incredible names, so maybe they're just so proud of the name. And it does feel like they picked the name John Book for that, like, franchise ability, right? The Indiana Jones of it all. It's Mr. Book or just Book, you know, as Samuel calls him throughout the thing. Yes. So I do, yes, I think that it's sort of like a big bold Madlib's attempt, right? You know, we have Harrison Ford. We have John Book.

Yeah. A name you know, a name you're going to know. Yeah. And the guy had had a track. record at this point of already creating two fucking beyond iconic franchise characters. Right. What were you going to say, David?

I'd like to know. I'd love to, you know, sit in on whatever meeting this was back when. Because it's like, yeah, how do you automatically sell this? Right? You know, like it's not, this is not, oh, we know what to do. It's about an Amish boy who witnesses a crime at a train station and then of course the cop

has to hide it. You know, like, you can't do that. Giant. You can't set that up in a poster. Beautiful painting of Harrison Ford's face. And if you look closely, you're like, is that an Amish boy? But even the tagline... It's just a little... Yeah, it looks like children of the corn. Like, if you just look at the boy. But it's dark... In darkness. So it's like, it's a little abstracted. Look, he had just been to the Temple of Doom. And before that, he had returned with the Jedi. He'd run with the blades. He'd raided the Lost Ark. Right. So, like, it's one of those things where it's like, this is Harrison

Ford. Right. And he's playing another guy. Exactly. And I guess that really is just the overriding thing of like, you like it. Yes. When Harrison Ford plays a person with a name. I just think that Blade Runner had bombed. Yeah, Blade Runner had bombed. The others had not.

Yeah. And Indiana Jones is sold on. Adventure has a name, right? Indiana Jones. That if they're trying to do the like, okay, what worked what didn't think, they were like, will people go see a Harrison Ford movie if they feel like we're introducing him to his next guy? I think that's...

Yes. I think you're totally right. Right? But you can't enumerate what the guy does because it milks a cow, you know, like fixes a car. Dances. Sam Cooke. Yeah. We'll talk about it.

There's no way to explain it. And even the poster is saying like city cop country boy. Right. Right. Which is that's good. It's not a lie. No. I would hate for them to lie.

But if you were to ask anyone now to describe witness, you'd be like the Amish movie. Sure. Of course. No. No. No. No. No, no, no, you'd be Sam Cuck and the Bar.

No, here's what witness is. If you said the Amish, people would be like, the witness people. You're right. For 20 years. It defines them. I think at this point, that's not true anymore. Yeah. But I think in the 80s and 90s, the Amish, oh, from witness.

Yes. The guys from witness. Right. This movie almost had like a rainman autism effect. If you live in Pennsylvania, you're not like that. But if you live in Switzerland, you're like, yeah, I know the Amish from witness. From witness. They might well be made up to me.

Like, maybe were they made up for that movie? Is that a real thing or not? I don't even know. Who knows? No one knows. I'll be astonished if JJ has a definitive answer. If in his research, he found out for certain whether or not the Amish exists. It's an unanswerable question.

We pay a researcher, it's just beyond his ability this week. You ever been to Amish country? I haven't. You're married to a Pennsylvania. Well, yes. So I have been to 30th Street Station. Of course. Which is where the inciting incident.

And I'm here in New York with you guys, which is so lovely. And I've been sitting with my sister-in-law, Ruthie, also a native Philadelphia. And she was telling me, both she and Zach, my husband, said, yes, this movie was shown to us as a Philadelphia movie. Wow. It is. We were sat down at a young age and we were like, Philadelphia. My friend who lives in Philadelphia, I texted her right away. I'm watching a Philly movie, baby.

And yes, it's like only 20 minutes worth. Sure. But then what Ruthie told me that my husband had not told me, and maybe doesn't really, recall is that my husband was then terrified to go to the bathroom at the 30th Street station for many years. Does the bathroom look like that or is it a set? Like does it, I mean, I assume now it does not have wooden salooned. Well, I actually haven't been in the men's bathroom at 30th Street station. Do your research next time you come to my podcast? I honestly don't know if I've been in the women's bathroom either, but I think, you know, I do think that it's on the outside. You know, it looks

the same and that's that's enough for him to say I don't want to do it. This also ties into the fact that I believe my father-in-law was showing them movies a little bit sooner than perhaps they were emotionally ready, which is like what we did in the 80s, right? Look, I don't know, you're a mother, you're a parent to kids. You're constantly like, is this the moment for this? Or are we not ready for this? I'm not really. I'm just like, here is the first hour of Top Gun Maverick because you like airplanes. And, and on Also, I have found that there's my older son is three and a half now. Yeah.

But for a while, he didn't understand the concept of scary. No, they don't. They don't know until for a while. Right. He didn't know to be scared. And he wasn't engaging with the emotional stuff. And then that appears like. Yeah.

So there was like a lot of stuff at age two and a half that he could be into. And now he's like, I can tell that everyone is like is very tense. And I don't like this. Well, it's like that thing when a kid falls. and they can't decide whether or not to cry. Yes, totally. Right. Totally.

And you go like, you're okay. You're okay. And they go like, okay. But also Halloween decorations, he's still, like everything that's supposed to be gory and gross, he just toddles right up and it's like, hey, look at these likes. He likes the design. You know, like, because he doesn't know that it's supposed to be grown.

He hasn't, it's learned behavior, I guess. My, my 10-year-old little cousin, who I take to movies a lot, his dad when I was growing up was the one who took me to movies I shouldn't see him and slid me Guns and Roses albums and whatever. Awesome. And I dropped him off after a movie and he and his wife, we're not arguing, but we're like,

we want your opinion on this because we've been going back and forth. And for years it had been like, hey, don't show George this. He might be too young. I was very respectful, but they seemed very cautious about what was being fed to him. And they were like, am I crazy in thinking that in our side of the family, the tradition is everyone sees everything too young.

Yeah. And I was like a little bit of it. There were certainly things my parents banned, but then like R-rated comedies, this and that. And he was like, and none of us turned out fucked up, right? And I'm like, I don't know. We can debate this. And then between that conversation and the next time I saw George,

he had seen every R-rated movie on the planet. Well, that's how we did it in our generation, right? And I just seems to be doing well. Even the- Nothing's wrong. Don't make that face, David. You're not hanging out with George. We're all fucked up is all I want to say.

fucked up. Of course I'm fucked up. But we have incredible taste. We do. You know? We're professional. Podcasters. And we're like things for grownups. And now there was either even even the stuff for kids in the 80s. Very different. That's the real. That's the big problem. Is that the problem? Is that the problem? Or that was the that was the tenor of yes, exactly. Children's Entertainment. And now everything is for eight year olds, whether you're three, eight or 42. It's interesting. I saw Tron. Which I'm not yet, by the way. Congratulations, by the way.

I know. And of course, this is posting six months after. Sure. But, you know, that's a film for teenagers. I mean, and for grown, important mature men like me, but mostly for teenagers. And it has imagery in it of, like, people kind of disintegrating because they're digital creatures. Whatever.

You know, all the tron shit. De-reszing. Yeah. That, like, I was like, objectively, this is quite nightmarish. This is, like, a person crumbling into ash. That's also like every amblin movie had that. And then I was kind of like, I guess that's just sort of baked into, right, like action, kids' adventure shit.

It's also, yes. But now, like, the tech is so good that it's like, this is like, I just watch Jody Turner Smith's beautiful person. Spoilers. Wow. They're always, they de-res like four billion. Everyone in that movie is de-resing and re-resing and re-resing. It's just funny that you like come into the realization, I guess Tron Aries is ostensibly for teenagers. Right.

Three times in a row. The real question with Tron. Tron X is always like, is this for anybody? This is a movie for teenagers. And every time teenagers bat it the fuck down. And then like 20 years later, they're like, okay, I think we've identified who it's actually for. Teenagers. What's our podcast?

Our podcast is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. And who's our guest? Well, first, what's the podcast about? There's a way this podcast goes. Yeah. It's a podcast about phomography, is director to a massive success early on in their careers and are given a serious. is a blank cheques to make whatever crazy passion projects they want.

Sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce. Baby. Yes. Here's a man who had an arc one, act one success. And then this is his turning point into act two. Well, this is his Hollywood. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, this is his leap to Hollywood.

Nothing bounced yet, but it was just... No, not at all, right. The credit was mounting in Australia. Yes. And he makes the leap now and does it. with flying colors. We're talking about Peter Weir. We are.

We are. It's a mini series called Podnik at hanging cast. That's right. Because David thinks that Podnick is the funniest thing anyone's ever said. I think Podnick is really funny. Podnick is funny. I want to give credit to JJ who pitched Podnick at Hanging Cast. And is fired.

Now, I wanted to do Podster and Castmander, the Pod side of the cast. Because I was like, this is a rare opportunity to get two pods and two casts into one title. It didn't move me. It's long. And I was like, and I, I feel like being a podcaster and more of a visual than an audio learner. So I was like really hanging on there. Visually it was going to be tough. Visually it was going to be tough.

Yeah. Our guest today, return to the show. Yeah. For only the second time. And look, this is on me. I should never look at the Reddit. But I happened to check last night. Why did you look at the Reddit?

I don't want to know. I mean, I guess you've been trying to blowing in the wrong direction. Uh-huh. And the Reddit thread was, how has Amanda Dobbins only been? on once and Sean Fennesse has been on three times. All caps, you slash Travis Bickle. Well, and I didn't lay him, but I just want to be here. In your defense, I think you guys, you do like to do it in person, which I like as well. Sean has been here more. I was on parental leave for a while. Exactly. You had child.

Yeah, I'm back in the mix. I think I was pregnant for Thomas Crown Affair and not telling anyone. So that's hard of it. Wait, so you were lying to me? I think it was. It was a sin of omission. Thank you so much. Yes. So, you know, and listen, our society is structured, you know, unequally when it comes to women having it all and having access to being in person for podcast studios. Women only get 33.3% of the podcast appearances that men get.

It's true. But I'm back. You're back. I'm done. Amanda Dobbins. Not going to happen again. You're done. I am at.

Oh, U-T. No, this is what I want to talk about. Of having children, not of blimp-check. No, no, no, no. This is the beginning. This, like, you know. Amanda and I are just connecting on this moment because it is second time. I'm just declaring it in many places as possible.

No, no, no, no, much like Peter Weir. Yeah. That was my Australian, New Wave Face. Here I am. Hollywood baby. Right now. Harrison Ford is John Book. Yes.

Is me. Harrison Ford is John Book. No, here's the other part of it. Yeah. This, now your second appearance. Yeah. I feel like these are two of the three movies I hear you cite the most as feeling like the most impactful on your development as like a movie fan and a movie watch. Absolutely.

It has now created a standard, which isn't to say we can't have you on for something else. But it feels like in both of these cases. Oh, that's true. It's put on the schedule. Formative. Right. We left on the director and I say to David Dobbins and we just text you and you immediately text back all caps. Absolutely.

It was just an obvious slam dunk. So these are also films that were successful at the time but are not canonized. They're a little forgotten. In the general letterboxed film nerd. Yes. I guess that's a good way to put it. But they were important to my cinematic development. And I've got a whole lot more of those.

Have you guys done Ron Howard yet? No, Apollo 13. Just book it right now. The other one I was John Book it. The other one I was going to say. I feel like in that trilogy is Working Girl. I feel like Working Girl Witness and Thomas Crown to Five thousand. Yes.

Are the three I always hear. And I have one more for you. Okay. Even though I'm pretty sure. Well, first of all, like, have you done Rob Reiner? No. Okay. Because here's the whole issue with Rob Reiner.

I know. It falls off a cliff. It falls off a cliff. But that's fine. We could do pre-Cliff Riner. Okay. First of all, I hosted what I believe was my 10th, maybe 11th birthday, party at the movie theater to see North.

Wow. But that's not my pick. A movie that is a stealth witness sequel? Sure, but it's also, but it's off the cliff. Yes. North is the beginning. It's the cliff. Right. Sure. But American president. Oh, yes. You know, it's like is another one. American president is after North, I believe, in his filmography. And so that's when he pulls the parachute and it deploys. Yeah. Yeah. American president. And he's like,

I still got it. The parachute starts to catch on fire. The parachute works. He just happens to land inside of a volcano. Yeah. It's tough. American president, I know, is a big one for you. Right.

I would love to do that movie. But so, you know, there is a whole. There's others. There's others. It just feels like we've gotten two huge ones. But, you know, in Apollo 13 American president and Thomas Crown Affair, that's, and we're similar ages. Like, that's, you're, you know, becoming, like, a teenager.

Like, these are movies from the mid-90s that we watched. Same for me. Witness is from the 80s. Yeah. And Witness, maybe for you, it was for me, was a home video. Oh, absolutely. I think you're kind of ready for this movie because this is like a, you know, you know, there's, in a perfect world, this would be rated, I guess, like, well,

in sort of the British rating, like, this is kind of a rated 15 movie, right? Where it's like, it's got a little violence. Yeah. It has a one pair of tits. It has a hint of nudity. It's got a single pair of tits. But like, by and large, it's not too intense. And it's, it's adult, but it's sort of like, you know, you can engage with it.

It is a teenager. It also falls into the category of if you're interested in watching this, you're old enough to watch this, right? Right. Like, no, like, dumb. Hey, this movie has zero lasers. Yeah, well, I don't know. You're going to have to really lock in to get to the boobs.

And the boobs are going to make you a little emotionally confused. Right. Yeah. And, right, it's a movie about the Amish. No exciting violence. Oh, is it about how the Amish are super weird? No, it's kind of engaging with them as a community in a mature way. It is the mildest kind of culture shock comedy.

Right. In how like... The gentlest comedy, though. Definitely it is underplayed. Right. Yeah. I mean, there is one stabbing at the beginning. There is.

Yeah. Or like throat slashing, I guess. It's a pretty tame. There's a shootout at the end. Like, you know, there's... Someone drowns in corn. Dramatic corn. If you showed this to a 10-year-old, they would go over their head.

As, you know, I live with two young men who are. Sure. So there's that aspect of it. Maybe I should just show them the barn scene. Barn Racing. They might like it. That's a great one. The barn raising is one.

things where you're like, this is real? Like, you know, when you're a young person, right? Even still. I mean, and I... Well, so also, I grew up, speaking of the 80s, in like the first wave of American Girl doll situations. And so I had a Kirsten. Okay.

And she's from, like, Minnesota? She's Midwestern. And it's like, but she's like a Scandinavian immigrants. Swedish girl from 1845. Yeah. And like, and they came with a set of books. you know, and there was one that was like, how did this person,

how is this person, the introductory one, there's like a birthday one, a Christmas one, I'm sure, like a school one probably. Yeah. And like, anyway,

the, like a party one, I don't know, there was one about a barn raising. Oh, and they, like, had a barn raising and then, like, a party in the barn. And this,

so witness was, like, really important to me in terms of visually realizing this event that I had only read about in the context. So the doll predates. The original six box set.

Yes. Kirsten American Girl Doll series. Talk about how messy the American Girl Doll canon has gotten. I can't keep up. Because it used to be tight. It's not the Normies can't find an entry point. You got to do homework just to pick up one doll. And there's like a 2000s one, what she likes Chumba Wamba?

Like, what is this? But also apparently they just introduced that Samantha, another of the original. A classic one. You know, the original three, there was, it was a pretty singular demographic. Sure. You know, which was, you know, white ladies with means. So it's good that they expanded the bounds. Right.

But apparently, Samantha, one of the originals, now has a great granddaughter who you can buy. Yeah, they're like trying to do. Oh, let's not do this. I don't know what she's up to. But the Samantha doll isn't like 80 now, right? You're like dealing with Samantha. She's dead. Always frozen in time.

But that's what I'm saying. The idea of like dealing with two child dolls in different temporalities as if it's fucking frequency. You know what I'm just I this is how disease my brain is. But just right now I was thinking about like the poshmark market for American girls doll stuff must be like Valhalla. It must be the most incredible thing because I had that catalog. I was just thinking about Samantha's T-Sat and the little like. iced cupcakes or glazes

or like maybe it's ice cream because her thing is she makes ice cream you know they make dolls for the dolls I'm well aware it's a it's a is your daughter now getting into it not yet but I mean those are on cold storage

like those are awaiting because you know my wife I think had a couple and then her sister had a couple yeah yeah this is a family of girls and they're all just you know locked away my daughter's still I think too young to fully engage with them.

Totally. And she's obviously also just all the way in on Spider-Man and mostly cares about what Green Goblin is up to, not what Kidridge was up to. That is healthier. You know? I guess so, but they're coming. Yeah, they're coming. And then maybe one day I'll be on Poshmark.

But the T-Set was like little wicker chairs and it had all the accoutrema. It was so beautiful. And I'm just like, I, their resale market must be amazing. Like, I think I feel right now the way that Sean feels when talking about physical media. I'm just like, I can't imagine the possibilities. But my question for you is, do you have yours? Are they in a box? And like now that you had two sons, not to be

binary, is it possible, right? That these will not be in use. I would absolutely bring it home if they wanted to. My mom bless her, did her downsizing on her own a couple years ago. And she didn't, first of all, she gave away all my babysitters clubs

like 15 years ago. And I had like a full set. I mean, I wasn't like, You know, I wasn't up to date, but it was originals like one through one, 25, like first edition. That's tough. That's tough. I wonder what happened to my goosebumps. And then she didn't check in about the American Girl dolls. So I don't know about that.

We do, the boys do have my cabbage patch Clifton. Sure. There you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that seemed, because I think my mom thought that was a little more gender neutral. So then you're getting into generational. Right. Then you're dealing with the grandparents' opinions on what dolls should be played with by what children.

Just to clarify, when your mom down. Did she move into leisure land? Yeah. Is that a downsizing reference? David, because we're coming up on Halloween, I just have one question. Are you going to allow your daughter to the throw pumpkins? Oh, because she's Green Goblin? Oh, yeah.

Well, but she's like... And I don't say we should light them on fire. But she might be confused. She might be confused if she sees a little pumpkin. Yeah. There's a lot of little pumpkins around. She loves little pumpkins and every... Yeah, you know also.

Goppy. Yeah, but she knows of Green Goblin again is like a sort of of gentle mischief maker, not a homicidal maniac that he is when he's going to kill a girl. Like, I don't think she's going to like meeting Willem Defoe. Like, whenever that day comes for her when she's like nine years old. You always think your kid's not going to like meeting Willem Defoe. And yet when you get there, it's just in time. Like, this to me seems like the only downside of the spidey and his amazing friends that like later

when I'm like, so here's Green Goblin. She's like, that's not my Green Goblin. He is not ruining Mother's Day. Like, he is. Do you know about the show, Amanda? I do. Are your sons affected with this? No, they don't.

So what happened? So my children go to a Montessori school, so no characters allowed at school. No character. Wow. Your kid can't show up with like a snoopy stuff here. No, no branding. Yeah, yeah. So that has sort of like delayed things a little.

But he did come home the other day and or a couple weeks ago. And he was like, Dad, I want to watch Batman. Sure. And my husband instinctively was like, I don't know what that is. And he's like, I've never heard of this. And then my three-year-old son Was that protocol for everything, basically? Was like, Dad, it's a beautiful film.

I want to see it. And my dad, and Zach was like, well, we don't have that here, you know? I guess, like, you know, I don't know. Maybe I'll look into it, but we can't watch it right now. And for now, that was acceptable to him. Yeah, but he does also think Tom Cruise is coming to his birthday party. So I don't really know. Like from, from, like, he thinks Maverick will show up.

No, no, no, because now he's really into like parachutes and stuff. So now I, like, show him Tom. I show him the making of featureettes. Right, yeah. But here's the thing, because he's so young. And he's, the featureettes are much better because they show Tom Cruise practicing. Yeah. And then they show like all the safety measures.

Right. And it is every time right before they go to the final stunt, he whispers to me, I'm going to like this rate. And I'm like, you will like it because he can do it. And, you know, I keep saying like, look how safe he is. look how they're practicing. But so no, he now understands Tom Cruise as Tom Cruise. And he, so he does think he's coming to his birthday party. I don't know what to do about that.

Sure. But we haven't gotten to Spidey and friends yet. They'll, you know, they'll be there for you whenever you need because they're heroes. I've thrown this out to Sims. I don't think we've said this on Mike, but I'm really curious if there's going to be a thing 15 years from now or the entire generation who grew up on the show. Yeah. Because basically everyone I know with a kid under eight is like, my life is infected with Spitey and his amazing friends. If the movies are going to have to adjust to that canon in the way that David is joking.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right where they're like, well, my version of Spider-Man is constantly vexed by Green Goblin stealing his lunch. Okay. And I need to see that in the movies. I've been waiting my entire life to see it in live action. I mean, they're tiptoeing that way. It's all gonna happen. I guess it's true.

What happened? Like, people die in the last one. That's sad. Yeah. Rip. Yeah. Marissa Tomey blown into a wall or whatever. I was really sad about that.

And she looked so good, too. She looked so good. She was honestly killed for the crime of hotness. Yeah. That anime was just too hot. Well, culture came from. Look, I will say this. Just connect threads here, right?

Yeah. Instagram threads. Yeah. Ben Hosley and I, producer Ben. That's up. We're on Daily Zykeyes podcast. Yeah. Is that an L.A. or New York podcast?

L.A. podcast. Okay, okay. And Jack asked us, he was sort of speed rounding, like, movie conversation talking points that he was like, I listen to show and I want to have these discussions with you guys. And he was like, the whole thing of like movies becoming sexless, right? Sure. And like, what is perpetuating this? And is this a younger generation that is skittish about it? Is it about the studios?

Is it about movies translating overseas or whatever? We litigated this whole thing, right? The thing I really locked into was I think what is less discussed isn't like in the 80s, Michael Douglas used to fuck everyone against a wall and now there's no sex and anything. What I feel like is underdiscust as the witness thing of like every movie used to just have this level of sexual tension in it. Oh, I thought you were going to say every movie used to have just like one pair of tits. And it like wasn't a big deal. I think that was part of it.

I do think that is a little. I mean, look, film still. They'll have nudity. Yeah. But like not in the, but it's, if they do, it's like a, ooh, like come see so-and-so's, you know. And come to see someone's dick now because the men will also be full frontal. There are many more dicks. Yeah. I can't deny that.

It's more common to see a dick. But this is sort of just like a European, like, oh, okay. Well, like, there they are. I think there were some of that. It's the human body. Look, there were also many movies in the 80s and 90s that were built entirely on. Look at how many tits you're going to see it. and they were not presented in a European way.

But I do, I kept while watching this movie again last night, thinking about the Marvel, like, everyone is beautiful and nobody fucks thing. Where you're like, this is the exact inverse of that. And that, like, here you have, I feel like you've said many times I'm inclined to agree, Harrison Ford, the best he has ever looked on screen. Well, it's this and working girl, right?

Which are back to back. They are. So this is like his ideal phase of life. Yes. I would agree. I mean, how old would he? he have been, he would have been like since 14. He's like 43.

He's like 43. No, I know. And hey, that's fine. All power to him. But this, I feel like even more so than Working Girl because Working Girl has the like movie sheen on it. Uh-huh. Like, for how much he is genetically blessed.

Sure. And was taking great care of himself. Harrison Ford does look like a real person in this movie. Oh, 100%. It is that amazing thing where you can see someone who has like movie star fucking like, you know, glow. And yet the movie doesn't make

them like perfectly groomed and hairless Yeah, but let me let me. Poorless what. I got to stop you here. It's not just what you're talking about. This is the first time he plays a guy in today. In the world. In a movie. Basically, I mean, excluding, you know, as a leading man as a little movies that he did early on. But like, since he has become a star, sure. And done like, you know, the run of like Star Wars.

Apocalypse Now briefly, obviously, Frisco Kid, Emperor Strikes Back, Raiders, Blade Runner, Return of the Jedi, Temple of Day. Yeah, but that's, that's pretty, you know. But, like, no, I'm saying, like, this is, like, Harrison Ford is in our world. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Working girl is 88. I forgot.

Yes. So it's a little later. This is 84. Is 85. Wow. 85. Wow. But, like, this is the first time that we have seen him wearing regular clothes.

Yeah. Yeah. Drink in a cup. Well, sort of. Hot Joe. Hot Joe. Well, he does, of course, then go plane. Right.

Mm-hmm. He goes plane mode. Plain mode. Sure. Plain on main. The cut of those pants is very contemporary, though, in a funny way. It is true. It is very late millennial, except he is wearing socks.

But yes, the high cut and then obviously the crop, you know, showing some ankle. I was just watching all the special features on, not to tempt you, Matt, but this lovely premium witness. I know. Tracy Letts gave out two copies, and neither was to me. I texted him after the. I mean, you weren't even present. for that virginity convention. You know, I'm saying this is a good object.

This doesn't look like a game stop. That's a good object. It's, I mean, that's true. You hear the knock of this? Not plastic. So one thing, as you're sitting there, and I'm in the same room with you as you knock on it. A lot of things on my desk. There is, like, we've gotten the plastic.

That's not plastic. And you guys talk a lot about steel books. You got the metal ones. We love the steel books. But the symmetry of it, it still just is a box, you know? And it's just like, they're like, They're like rows of boxes, you know, and it all just kind of looks like boxes. So that's another thing that you should work on.

That's, but that's my feedback. I know this is Sean's case, but when you have something like this, Sean's argument, I should say rather, for this type of case. Yes. Like a hard back slip, right? Hard box slip is that then it starts to look more like a book. But you're not buying that. John book. But they're still all, like, it's the aesthetics of when they're lined up.

Interesting. And they're all like flat and the edges are rounded and they just, you know. You dislike that. Yeah. I don't. I think that you need more texture. You need more variety for it to look. It starts to look a little, it looks flat.

I agree. And where's the steel? I true. I also, I mean, I keep hearing about the steel books. Don't know if I've ever seen one. I or I see no shine. I see no texture. I see no metal.

Yeah. But it's like, think about a bookcase where, you know, okay, oh, we're holding a steel book. Okay, now I'm holding a steel buck. Oh, it's master and commander's steelbook. Okay. So I. What if it was wearing a hat? Ben, I would agree with you that, first of all, I don't know how to open this. But it's a little tug there. Yeah, it might be a little tight in that center. This isn't like the steel that built the American railroads, you know? It's a steel railroads. When you open it up, it's plastic. guts, but it's a steel wrapping. You can't drive a train down them discs. It's true. I think if it was American railroad steel, everyone's shelves would be collapsing all the time. But like, think about a bookcase that looks good to you. Yes. You know? It is almost never all of the same size binding color all like all in a row. Like the sets look weird. And you can tell when someone does not have a book collection and they have a large bookcase and they buy one of like

the old gaudy sets and you're just like oh that looks kind of like fake and unused. I love that we're having this conversation. There's like a symmetry to what's going on with the display of physical media

is that I find aesthetically offensive. Now let me say this, Amanda. Yes. Your podcast co-host, Sean Fantasy. Yes. The king of the symmetrical stack, right? Yeah. The photos are everything

has to be lined up perfectly, right? Yeah. Not on his shelves, but when he's posting, doing my Spike Lee research. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Perfect stack. Yeah.

A lot of physical media, media collectors like ourselves, want the perfect symmetry on the shelf. They want everything the same. And in fact, it will drive them crazy if a movie is released in a different form factor that's not going to line up. I do know that. I don't feel this way. I'm with you where I like, I wouldn't say a messy shelf, but I like the variety.

I like the idea of like peaks and valleys and different shapes and, like, criteria will do this sometimes, so they'll be like, we tried something different with the packaging. And people, people go ballistic. They put out train spotting in a, like a package that they were like, this is a reference to 90s, like, British promotional CDs and it was thinner and taller. Yeah. And people lost their fucking minds. And I'm like, good, give it to me. Make it all look different. But I do think that some of it, it's just people have different tastes and people have different aesthetics. And Sean is. Yeah.

Bless him a neat freak and a quote unquote minimalist and his house is clean lines. I was about to say right. And he doesn't like things out. And I live in a sea of books and if I could have 18 different prints and patterns in one room, you know. This is how I live in like. Embrace the chaos. I would like the Marie Antoinette set designer to come to my house next, you know. so so it's it is it is purely at some point like like I prefer this color to this color yeah I prefer this look to this look but it's the I I find the symmetry unnerving and it does not

soothe me with you I don't freaks me out look at this big chunky picnic at hanging rock look at this no plastic here you know what I'm gonna open the docks I got the novel in here the book is in the set I'm sorry I am here as a chaos monster I'm not helping you know I'm not Be a chaos monster, please. I didn't even bring my laptop. You know the kind of guests we have sometimes? I know, but I just... You're no monster.

You know, Sean usually keeps me... Like, I try sometimes to stay on the tracks, but here I'm just like, let's talk about... We're pulling the rip for. Let's talk about steel books. That's why we like to be in person. Yeah.