The Big Picture - The Lawyer Movie Draft With Griffin Newman and David Sims of 'Blank Check’

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Sean, Amanda, and Chris are joined by David Sims and Griffin Newman of ‘Blank Check’ to draft their favorite lawyer movies—a broadening of the courtroom drama and legal thriller genre that gets contentious with two new guests involved in the draft. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guests: Chris Ryan, Griffin Newman, and David Sims Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What would you do if you got scammed? Would you suffer in silence, or would you do something about it? Well, I got scammed once, and this is the story of what I did. I'm Justin Sales, the host of The Wedding Scammer, a true crime podcast from The Ringer. And for seven episodes, we're hunting a con man. A guy with a lot of aliases. A guy who's ruined a lot of weddings. And with the help of some friends, I just might be able to catch him.

Listen to The Wedding Scammer on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about lawyers. CR is here. We are drafting again, and we have two very, very special guests back on the show, but drafting for the first time from the Blank Check podcast. It's Griffin Newman and David Sims.

What's up, boys? Hello, fellas. Oh, Griff's seating in our X-Bar, so it's me, David Sims, doing all the work for all of Blank Check. Griffin, we've been talking, vamping for 10 minutes, and then as soon as we started, you put food in your mouth. I swallowed. I had the remainder. I wanted to finish it. I need the energy. It was one I'd never had before. Honey granola peanut butter.

Oh, and it tasted like a carpet? Yeah. I don't know whether RX Bar is a sponsor of this podcast. Hopefully not. We're doing a very special draft today. It started out as a very special draft today. It's a... It started out as a legal thrillers draft.

You and I, Amanda, we discussed this months and months ago. And then, you know, I've been wanting to have David and Griffin on for a draft. And I thought about expanding the parameters

and expanded them we have. In fact, we expanded them almost in real time from the moment the guys jumped on to record. So now we have a lot of varied categories. We have the wide Hollywood history, the international cinema history of lawyers in movies, primarily legally oriented movies.

Chris, are you a lawyer? I'm not. I'm not. I did not pass the bar. Okay. Or attend law school. But I do practice the law, if you know what i mean i don't if you could explain what you mean by that is that a sexual metaphor no i i'm not a lawyer okay no

uh griffin are you a lawyer uh not not at this time not at this present moment david uh i watched uh one of my early favorite grown-up shows is alan mcbeal and uh from that when i was like 11 i was like i think i gotta be a lawyer this looks like a blast then I realized you have to like read a lot of books and go to school and stuff and I also realized that you can date people without being a lawyer you don't have to work at McBeal and

partners wherever she worked the only way to have romance in your life it was cage John Cage Peter McNichol's character was called John Cage I remember that great show Amanda you are or are not a lawyer. I'm not. I live with them everywhere in my life. So I feel like I am.

I don't know what you mean by that. I mean, well, I guess I don't technically at this time. I was raised by two lawyers. Most of my in-laws and step-parents are also lawyers i took the lsat did you really yeah i did pretty well you do i would never doubt it listen i smashed it but um that's fine but i think this score is expired so what does it matter why did you take it because i thought i was gonna go to law school i don't know really what else was i supposed to do become a classics professor okay well that seemed even harder than becoming a lawyer.

Also, at some point, when you have two lawyer parents, you have a lot of what are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? And if you take the LSAT, then they get off your back for a little bit while you keep doing your magazine job. Were you – what law school would you have applied to? Did you apply to a law school? I didn't. I never applied.

Okay. School of applied. Okay. School of Hard Knocks. What did you, what did you identify? I don't really think that I had identified. Harvard Law? I mean, I don't know whether I would have applied. I didn't want to go to Boston. Okay.

Were you inspired by Barack and Michelle Obama's love affair at Harvard Law? Yeah, that was it. How did you know? Okay. I'm not a lawyer either. Another person who thought they had to go to law school in order to find romance. That's right. And you know what?

It worked. The law is the only way. Congrats to them. Are you a lawyer, Sean? I'm not a lawyer. I was accused many times as a young boy. I was just discussing this with my wife because our young daughter is quite loquacious these days. And she's quite certain that she has the winning argument in every case

and it does it reminds me of the way I was talked about by adults when I was a kid and you know my argumentative side endures here in podcast form but I'm not a lawyer and I didn't know very many lawyers growing up not a lot of lawyers in my family but I love movies about lawyers and that's why we're doing this pod yeah it is a very special brand of movie. A brand that I think was quite resonant when all of us were coming of age. A little bit less so now. I wonder how many movies we'll draft from the last 15 years here on this podcast. Any guesses? What's the over under? Last 15 maybe not so much but I think during our lifetime is when we experienced the great law movie, lawyer movie sort of renaissance, you know?

Looking at my list, yeah, early 2000s is kind of when it died. Yeah. It looks like, yeah. Well, let's talk about why we love them and then try to figure out why they died. I've got some. You've got some from the... Yeah, just, you know.

Okay. I had to get creative. Okay, you will be selecting them or just on your long list? On my long list. Who can say, really? Okay. This could be a chaotic series of drafting. Why do we like these movies, CR?

Well, I mean, I think that if we're really into people talking, that's what lawyers do for a living. There's an exchange of ideas, but also power shifts that happen within scenes in lawyer, like courtroom dramas especially, but people who practice the law you know they basically like traffic in you know trading favors talking about ideas talking about morality talking about ethics in a way that's very much on front street so you don't have to like dig too deep for the subtext i mean legal thrillers lawyer movies are about what it means to be a person and like what it means to be guilty or innocent or intention and all those things that I think that you have to dig really deep

if you're doing a superhero movie for. David Griffin, in the long history of Blank Check, and feel free to explain to the listeners who maybe are not familiar with your show what Blank Check is, have you done very many lawyer movies? I feel like you haven't. No, right? Well, I tried to do an accounting.

I'm not going to list the titles here so as not to blow a strategy, but I tried to do an accounting. I'm not going to list the titles here so as not to blow a strategy, but I tried to do an accounting. I think there are six movies we have covered in doing the show for nine years. Almost ten years. Yeah. Nine years, sorry. I would qualify as legal movies. Not all of them are lawyer movies. Never, because it was not the blank check world, The Lawyer. It was the sort of workmanlike, sort of, you know, solid drama genre type things. Not the sort of like wild auteurs taking a big swing being like, let me make a courtroom movie. Pollock and Pakula are the two sort of like major kind of semi-auteurs filmmakers who made legal movies at a big level who we could potentially cover someday but both of them

are kind of the like just consummate A-class workman director that we don't necessarily go towards. And Sidney Lumet.

Who's always just been too wide-ranging a career for us to figure out how to cover. Because we go movie by movie on our podcast

and right, it makes some of those guys tough. But the guys you're mentioning here are guys who worked in, look, the best thing about lawyer movies, you guys, is character actors.

Like, you know, like big ensemble pieces with 40 character actors. Yeah. Everyone gets one fun scene. So it's always like the most joyous, like rewatchable genre to me

because you're like oh like you know uh robert prosky's big scene is coming up or whatever david has previously said to me those movies are like drugs to me correct about the legal subgenre to answer your original question i feel like i am perhaps the only person on this draft who would not cite legal movies as like a favorite subgenre of mine which is why i've been sweating bullets for the last two months you have been very anxious and i i just want to reassure you yeah um the the categories are malleable you're allowed to uh well you can make them you know you can at least present your case. You are allowed to draft according to your own interests. Don't let these guys psych you out.

This is very much the Dobbins doctor in your room right now. No, I appreciate it. I just don't want to let you know. I will flip a couple cards over. Sure. I've been in the last, like this summer, basically, I started, Big Picture jumped up to like number one in my podcast rotation. Thank you. I'd always listen to you guys intermittently,

jumped in depending on the topic and it's now become my favorite. So now I've like been listening along every time there's a draft episode with the intensity of someone who's like,

I could win Jeopardy if I was on this episode. Right? Sure, yeah. And so I'm excited when the prospect comes up of like, oh, Sean's inviting us

to do a draft. Right. And then landing on a genre where I don't immediately feel like I have a ton of options. And I went into this being like, there are five movies I know I love that would fall into this categorization. When we shifted from legal to lawyer,

I think it narrowed down from like eight to five, right? And so the last month, six weeks, I maybe watched like 20 lawyer movies for the first time or rewatch of things I hadn't seen in a long time that I thought I needed to reappraise. And I found that my list still basically comes down to the main five I originally thought of. I'm sure you'll get them all. We'll see. That's why I'm a little stressed out because I have backup options. I have a follow- out because I have backup options.

I have a follow-up question. So how did going from legal to lawyer shrink the pool for you? I'll say this right off the bat because I asked it in text. I don't need to hide this. Yeah. The big question is, if this was legal, 12 Angry Men would be my number one thing to try to get. And I think it's fundamentally not a lawyer movie because it's a jury movie. You barely see the court.

No courtroom, no lawyers. But I think that that is sort of, that's like the one most famous exception. Is it the exception that proves the rule? So when we, actually during the pandemic when Amanda and I

started kind of expanding what this podcast was in terms of thinking a little bit more about the past, making it a little bit more list-centric. We did do a courtroom episode, and we did not put 12 Angry Men on that list of the 10 best courtrooms.

Did you get any feedback about that? We did, actually. We got amazing lawyer emails. And by the way, the way that lawyers write emails, I know this from experience, does not have any finesse or you know emotional intelligence they're not like really trying to reach out to you and make a connection you should see the way that my mother texts i love her so much my mother's in a wonderful woman but it's like she has not

gotten past the notion that written communication is just to to make sure that your dotzer... Does she open every text with dear sir or madam? Yeah. To whom it may concern? No, there's no address. It's just like four words with very severe punctuation

because she thinks like her assistant's going to print it out for her or whatever and then mark it up. Yeah, we got some feedback from some lawyers. People were mad.

They were mad that we didn't include that movie, but for the exact reason that Griffin, I think, wisely identified, which is it is the most successful, beloved legal movie that features almost none of the hallmarks of almost every movie we'll talk about today. There is no scolding judge. There is no critical cross-examination. There is no wild moment when it feels like the defense is going to be, you know, torn aside. All of those things that we love.

No big showboating closing argument from a lawyer. Yes. No very powerful district attorney from out of town who comes in

to take over the case. Doesn't ever go all the way to City Hall. I'll throw out two more to chew on and two films that we have covered on Blank Check.

Lincoln, I would say, is a legal movie but not a lawyer movie even though Lincoln was a lawyer. I would say, is a legal movie but not a lawyer movie even though Lincoln was a lawyer. Young Mr. Lincoln is a lawyer movie. Wait, what was the second one?

Young Mr. Lincoln is about Lincoln practicing law. Lincoln is a movie about law passing but I would say it does not count as a lawyer movie.

That's a congressional movie and I do, I would like to do an episode about congressional movies. That's actually a movie and I do, I would like to do an episode about congressional movies. That's actually a pet fascination of mine. You know,

the advise and consent. And then you will launch your campaign for the speakership? Number one on iTunes. The big picture goes to Congress. That could be good.

Young Mr. Lincoln is definitively eligible. Do you guys think Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer is a lawyer? Well, this is the question.

If the character has ever been a lawyer or ever becomes a lawyer, does it then become a lawyer movie? Well, did he pass the bar before or after he killed vampires? Are they lawyering in the movie? Are they lawyering? Are they lawyering in the movie? Is there any lawyering in the movie? Wait, can I quickly reiterate what my qualification in my mind was for this draft? Which is, do you see anything depicted that could be categorized as a billable hour? in the movie. Wait, can I quickly reiterate what my qualification in my mind was for this draft, which is do

you see anything depicted that is could be categorized as a billable hour? That's smart. That's very good. Like that the lawyer would charge their

client for. Is there a scene of that? That makes a lot of sense. I kept on digging in trying to find lists of like best movie

lawyers to go like, is there something I'm forgetting about where the main character is a lawyer, but that isn't the whole thing yeah and one that came up last night was i don't know if i ever knew this gomez adams is a lawyer yeah i yeah he's yeah but like that does not count no no no he's just kind of he's a lawyer if you're picking the adams family i think you've you've maybe made some wrong choices in the draft.

I'm taking movies off the board right now. Hold on, because can we bring up the lawyer category? Yeah. Oh, sure. We can explain the categories. Why don't you explain the categories, and we can talk about that one. We tweaked the categories somewhat to fit the billing hours.

We have some classics here. We have drama. We have comedy. We tweaked the category somewhat to fit the billing hours. We have some classics here. We have drama. We have comedy. We have thriller. We have Oscar winner because we have the entire pool of movie history to pull from. We have movie lawyer. Now, this is the first time we've ever drafted a character. Now, you will be drafting a movie lawyer who you would want to defend you if your life were on the line. That's effectively the character that we are drafting. Oh, that's interesting. You didn't quite put it that way.

I think you just said you'd want to have defend you. To win your case. I didn't know that I was on the line. Your life is on the line? You're going to the chair. I didn't know that my life was on the line. And that's your last shot? Think of it like this.

You have murdered Andy Greenwald. Okay. Andy is dead. And it happened in the Watch Studio. You do not want to go to jail for life. Right. So then I wouldn't. Okay. Andy is dead. And you do not want to go to jail for life. Right. So then I wouldn't. Okay. Yeah. Like your life can be on the line in different ways. You also could be like the head of an agribusiness company, you know, it's like whatever, you know, however, I could just love baguettes. Um, so that now once you've drafted a movie lawyer,

the movie that the lawyer appears in is no longer eligible in any other category. That's a critical distinction that we have to make here and thins the pool. And then we had

a final category, a late-breaking addition that we just negotiated ahead of this conversation. No wild card this time. This time we are including John Grisham adaptation. Now, John Grisham

is the granddaddy of our generation's lawyer movie. He has written well over a dozen bestsellers. Is he among the five most successful fiction writers of the last three decades? Probably, right? Sure. I mean, him, James Patterson, Stephen King. It's a pretty short list of people who consistently put out bestsellers.

And I was just made aware of the fact that The Exchange, colon, after The Firm has just been released this week. This is the long-awaited sequel to the Mitch McDeer story. And The Firm, of course, one of his big breakthrough novels. The one that I think is the first one that got on my radar when I was a kid. I was allowed to read it at the age of like nine or ten. Yeah, I definitely read. Which is a choice. I want to say I read five John Grisham novels when I was a kid, which is a weird thing to be interested in. Yeah, I don't think I've ever read a Grisham. I reread The Pelican Brief

recently, picked it up at Bart's Books. Shout out Bart's Books. I wouldn't say that it's a literary achievement sentence to sentence, but I mean, is it one of the great premises for a book or movie of all time yes absolutely yeah and it's a heck of a film yeah and i would like them to remake it so i knew how to make a flight pass like no one else yeah so the other thing that is happening is that there are now three courtroom dramas in the movie world. I can't remember the last time. Three, I would say, pretty darn good courtroom movies in the world. The Burial, which is now available on Amazon, starring Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones.

The Kane Mutiny Court Martial, which is William Friedkin's final film that is now streaming on Paramount+, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke, a number of other people. And Anatomy of a Fall, which was just released in limited release in theaters in New York and Los Angeles and is, you know, widely tapped to be a, you know, Oscar contender and has been hailed out of Cannes and won the Palme d'Or. So that's pretty hallowed company for this. I, you know, I asked you guys if you could check out a couple of these movies, like show of hands, what out of everything you saw, what was your favorite?

Okay, Chris, what was your favorite of them? Oh, it definitely came Mutiny, Court Martial. Okay. Yeah. Amanda? Anatomy of a Fall. But I haven't seen Anatomy of a Fall. And then The Burial, which I learned about from a billboard.

Okay. Wow. Just in West LA while I was getting gas. That's Bezos' money talking. But I pointed that out more to say like i it was not on my radar otherwise okay and then i was like oh tommy lee jones and jamie foxx are in a film that i can watch on my computer at home what i mean amazing very entertaining david what's your favorite burial slaps uh a plus plus but i mean i think the Anatomy of the Fall is probably the best and densest and most interesting film.

But all three, I loved. And it really just demonstrated the like robustness of the genre to me. Like that you have these three pretty different viewing experiences

that are all like so satisfying. I would say that the Kane Mutiny is not for recreational use. No. It's pure, it's like core to core. It's pure, it's like court or court.

It's like just, it is literally like the action in almost 98% of it takes place in this courtroom and it is 10,

12, 15 minute scenes really like intense legal maneuvering. It's an updated adaptation of a novel which then became a play which then became a film starring Humphrey Bogart and has now been, I think, adapted twice more since.

I think Robert Altman did a version in the 80s. Griffin, what about you? Have you seen all three? I've seen all three. I basically would agree with David's assessment, which is like the burial is so much fun to watch. I really enjoyed Cain Marshall. Cain Marshall Mutiny. I'm always going to

jumble those four words up in the wrong order. I kind of prefer the Altman version just because I'm such an Altman nut where I maybe was unfairly holding that

against the Freed Camp. Dialogue wasn't overlapping. Although I did like it a lot. I like my dialogue sloppy. But I think Anatomy of the Fall is objectively kind of the most interesting one and the one that feels most unique.

Yeah, French court. I keep saying this. French court's crazy. French court's wild. It's like a town hall. It is quite unusual. You can be sarcastic. I think Amanda and I are going to do

a longer episode breaking down that movie if more people get a chance to see it but it is that aspect alone is fascinating riveting confusing infuriating all the things you want to feel when you're watching one of those movies and Adam Evenfall isn't quite an art house movie but it is attempting to do something

very different than what especially The Burial which is I felt the most in the mold of the bulk of the movies that we'll talk about is trying to do it is like riddled with cliches but they're cliches I love. And it is Jamie Foxx like unleashed in a way that he has just not been unleashed in a long time. Unbelievable in that movie. So fun.

He is so good. And that's, they're all worth viewing in my opinion. They're all like among the 50 best movies of the year. Really fun to watch. Very good farewell, I think, for Friedkin, who is always very focused on, like, tightly wound, intense conversations, characters who really

do not trust each other and don't want to have to work together. That's, like, a primary element of some of his best movies. It's all over that movie. It's a great send-off. So, I don't think

that trio of movies is necessarily going to revive this, but, you know. You like a peg. Oh, I love a peg. Yeah.

I mean, this is 15 years of magazine training. Sure, yeah. I need to peg. Should we determine the draft order? Is there anything else we want to say before we get in?

Man, I'm so nervous. So much is riding on Bobbie Lee. Yeah. Bobby, what do we, do we have the randomizer or the Scrabble tiles?

We have the randomizer. God damn it. Look, I have two people in the studio now with me to prove that I'm not cheating. Did you guys witness him clearing the cookies?

He didn't. He's just swinging it around now. Bobby, can you do a quick cookie clear? You should do the randomizer because you have no cookies to clear. That is true.

You're just always rejecting cookies. I deny that shit every time. And yet you acquire things from Instagram. Sean, we recorded an episode with you on Blank Check recently. And the hour before you came on, David and I were truly like yelling at the top of our lungs at each other

about what would qualify and what wouldn't. Our producer, Murray Barty, can attest to this. Yeah, for this draft. Was it recorded? Our producer, Murray, would be like,

sort of just randomly like, what would this count? And we were like, yes, of course it counts. Don't spoil it. Stop saying things. I thought that I wouldn't think about it.

You're blowing our strategy. I cleared the cookies. I have witnesses that I cleared the cookies. The cookies have been cleared. This is random.org, so take it up with them. If you don't like the results, I'm pressing randomize.

The order will be Griffin, Sean, David, Chris, and Amanda. And Amanda. At the turn. Wow. Okay. You haven't been at the turn in a while. I haven't. No, you're at the turn. I thought it was Chris, Amanda, Sean.

Oh, I thought you said my name second. No, Sean is second. One more time. Griffin, Sean, David, Chris, and then Amanda. Okay. Oof. Okay. Three is kind of a weird place to be.

Number two, huh? Yeah. Well, just for the listeners at home, we do these drafts in snake fashion. As I said, there are six categories. We will be drafting

30 total films in this. And then there will be a vote on X, which is a social media platform. A few votes

will get in there. There will not. There will be a vote on Twitter, I think, is what you meant. No, well, but there are five of us, so it actually won't be. It'll be on Google Docs. It'll be on draft on a vote on Twitter I think is what you meant No Well but there are five of us so it

it actually won't be it'll be on Google Docs It'll be on Google Forms Yeah and you could or Google Forms Sure and we can circulate that

on any platform And those Google Forms will be shared on you know the necessary Reddit boards Yeah Yes Such as

Blank Check Yeah the CR heads might take a walk Wall Street Bets bro put that on Wall Street bets for your homies Chris we welcome all voters in this particular

bit of drafting although I beg you to listen to the podcast before you vote but yeah but if you're on shower thoughts David is the guy

to vote for just FYI I quit Twitter so I look at Reddit a lot and it's pushing things on me I don't like it so many things I know and then if you look at one a lot, and it's pushing things on me. I know. Oh, my God. So many things.

I know. And then if you look at one random board once, it'll just be like, you obviously love The Grateful Dead. Yeah. Here's all this stuff. I definitely clicked on one that was like, our biology experiments,

and it was like, this is growing on my sock right now. Is this okay? It's just not really a good place. And then, of course, I have 30 posts like that. It's really unfortunate. Anyhow, Griffin, do you feel ready for the number one overall pick? Absolutely.

Absolutely. I'm so happy with how this shook out. Oh, good. Oh, it's good. Because sometimes people feel like crippling anxiety when they have to go first. I'm not. You know. He gets at least one of his little lists.

Exactly. Right. Yeah little lists. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. Are we ready to go? Yeah, we're ready. Do your thing. With my first pick, I take Michael Clayton in Thriller. Whoa.

Okay. I can sigh. I can exhale. Where do you go? That's a good one. Okay. I can calm down. It was the most important one I feel like for me to get in my mind,

especially because it could fall into basically, now that we've added Grisham, it couldn't. But anything but Grisham in comedy. So, it's a very strong pick

because we've added the Grisham category. And that thriller category has been in trouble. Shrunk. And I wonder, will there be a run on thrillers?

I don't know. Anybody want to say anything about Michael Clayton? We've already made two allusions to the film before it was named today. It is certainly among the three of us here in the top 10, 20 movies of the 2000s. It's one of our favorites. My thing as well,

I know David shares that opinion. I knew there was going to be a feeding frenzy for it. I think it is one of the most rewatchable movies. I watch it probably once a year. I think it's a slam dunk masterpiece. I also think it's like, that is a movie that is very specifically a lawyer movie more than it is a legal movie, even though the law is involved. And he is my favorite cinematic lawyer, even though you don't see him in court ever. You know, he's not a conventional movie lawyer,

but I think it embodies everything I want out of like the lawyer movie, which is I've realized that almost all of the films that I like are ones where someone basically feels like their soul is dead. They desperately are trying to claw back some sense of humanity, which means they're trying to get out of their job forever. Right. Their business. Right. And either they end the movie by throwing a lip match behind them or they're pulled deeper down to the depths of hell. And Michael Clayton has the ending where it feels like kind of neither happens to a certain degree.

In a way, both happen and neither happen. Yeah, he's escaping in a way, but, you know, it's the graduate ending. He's like, what now? He's in the car going, what now? Yes. You have Tilda Swinton making this movie an Oscar winner, giving, I think, one of the coolest Oscar-winning performances in the last 25 years. You could have taken it an Oscar winner.

I could have taken it in drama, Oscar winner, movie lawyer, or thriller. But I wanted to take it. Wait, which lawyer would you have selected? I think Michael Clayton. I don't know, man. Are you sure not Arthur? Yeah, I would take Arthur. Arthur. I don't want, man. Are you sure not Arthur? Yeah, I would take Arthur. Arthur.

I don't want to hang out with Arthur. I don't think if I'm hiring Michael Clayton as my lawyer, I must have done something so bad. I'm trying to assume the worst scenario. He's the janitor, you know? It's like, what's he going to do for you? You know, I love this movie, but he's not delivering the results that you want from a lawyer.

I think if I ran over a guy two miles from a state police barracks, I'd want Michael Clayton as my lawyer. But it would be like, maybe that's my situation. Imagine him doing a closing argument just like mumbling and looking like he wants to die. Like, you know, the whole jury just being out on this guy. That's my guy.

Part of this too, I mean, we'll get to our picks for movie lawyer. Part of that, my thinking in that is who do I want to hang out with A. who do I want to represent me and B. who do I want to be spending time with yeah Clayton was a bad hang

I think he's a good hang no he keeps talking about his restaurant failing or whatever I relate or is it a bar I forget

it was a restaurant because they had to they went there's like the fire sale of all the cutlery and plates. It's just an amazing detail. Should have put meatloaf on the menu and you're like, God, all right, I get it.

That's another thing. Sorry, Michael. That's another thing with Michael Clayton. It's a lawyer movie in which the lawyer is like fundamentally the interesting character. Whereas I think a lot of great movie lawyers are like a conduit for the larger story and people give great performances you know uh selling their lawyer in very hard it's it's a lawyer movie that's also about the legal world as opposed to like there are a lot of lawyer movies where it's about I mean I guess it is also about agribusiness but there are other movies where it's like the

the thing that you're uncovering is the rot in some other industry. And the thing they uncover in this is the rot in many industries, I suppose. The rot in industry, writ large. I'm completely torn on what to do here. Okay. Number two. Completely torn. There's one big zag that I like.

And then there's one or two, like, obvious. Practical, yeah, sure. Big boys. You gotta just do it. I think I gotta do a practical one. I may come to regret it, but an Oscar winner. No, in Movie Lawyer. Oh.

Wow. I'm taking Lieutenant Daniel Caffey. Are you really? You are, are you? I thought you were taking this movie. I was going Lieutenant Daniel Caffey. Are you really? You are. Are you? I thought you were taking this movie. I was going to take this movie, but I'll just say I feel that it's not as eligible in as many categories as you'd like.

And there are a lot of eligible films in the other category you could take it in. And Lieutenant Daniel Caffey saves the day. I mean, he is an exceptional lawyer. The fact that he wins this case. that you're putting this

in this category, I don't think that people are going to necessarily debate this aspect of it, but I don't know that you would get along with Daniel Caffey. Talk baseball.

Continue. Neither, well, I mean, neither do his clients. Neither do they, and it works out. But I'm just,

Dan Caffey fucking phones it in for they. And it worked out. It's true. But I'm just... Dan Caffey fucking phones it in for like five innings in that. I honestly thought about... If the rules of this were like you could take this meant that a few good men weren't off the board, I was like, is Kevin Bacon the better lawyer? Amanda, he's on my list. Jack Ross is on my list.

Can't take him now. That's not how I would use a few good men, you know? He was my fourth option on lawyer. I mean, listen, Daniel Caffey, hugely important to me. Yeah, yeah, to your awakening. Sure. I don't know whether I would pick him as my lawyer, but in many other instances. What he accomplishes in the act of lawyering, I think is superior to all of the other lawyers

I had on my list. Which is to say, getting on the stand Jack Nicholson's character to incriminate himself. That, and that is the centerpiece of the movie. This is the movie that I think

when they hear courtroom drama, if they are under the age of 50, this is probably the first movie they think of. It's a movie, obviously, here at The Ringer that we venerate. It is in my top two or three Cruise performances. I've said many times I think he won

this movie, that he beats Jack Nicholson in that scene, all of that stuff. I think he's... We might not be able to have a beer together. I actually think you probably would vibe more with Lieutenant Commander Joe Galloway. She's a little bit more

detail-oriented, as you are. I think I could be the Joe Galloway is the thing. That is my energy. Do you want to talk to someone who talks

in reams of Sorkin dialogue? Like, is that going to get exhausting? Dating you is like dating a Stairmaster. Well, if I... Instead of a different Sorkin character,

Do I also get to use Sorkin dialogue? That's the thing. If I'm in that role, have I been gifted with the Sorkinese? If I have. I think everyone

pushing back on your pick, Sean, is thinking about who he is for the first like half, two-thirds of the movie versus you want this guy

coming off of this case. Right. This guy's holding a hot hand. I think it's interesting that if you look at like phase one of movie star Tom Cruise's career, most Tom Cruise vehicles are this guy is so good at what he does. All the authority figures around him don't like his style. They try to tell him to stop being Tom Cruise and he pushes through and eventually proves everyone wrong.

This is like the anti, it's, it's the inverse of that where the first two thirds of the movie, he's like, please don't make me be Tom Cruise. I'm trying to just chill out. Don't make me be Tom Cruise. He just wants to play softball. Right.

He just wants to have dinner with his buddy Jack. Yeah. By the end of it, he's full Tom Cruise. He's going to do anything. He's, he's, he's gone clear.

I love that take of what he, where, cause we know he doesn't want to be in the Jag core forever. You know, he wants to go do anything. He's gone clear. I love that take of what he wears because we know he doesn't want to be in the JAG Corps forever. You know, he wants to go have a private practice. Counterpoint. And I say this as someone who loves Tom Cruise, Lieutenant Daniel Caffey, and a few good men

as much as like anything in the world. And I think probably if I'd had first pick, I would have taken a few good men. Like that is the luckiest thing that's ever happened in a courtroom. Oh, what? Like, he has, like, you don't know

that it's going to crumble that way. Like, respectfully, that's not guaranteed. No, no, no. When he visits him in Guantanamo, he identifies the character of the person that he will be cross-examining.

He sees the weak. I don't understand how screenwriting works. But that's his, that's his gift as a lawyer. This guy either hits homers or strikes out. We've only seen one case and he hit a grand slam on the bottom of the ninth. Right, but do they do that every time they're up to bat?

They don't have to hit a grand slam every time, but if you can do it, there's only 1% that can do it. That's a big risk to take in a legal setting with your life on the line. This is becoming the Siskel and Ebert Good Burger conversation. Yeah, my favorite movie review of all time. Right, in which Ebert

is like, well, they're good at what they do clearly because they save Good Burger. And Siskel is like, they're clearly idiots. What are you talking about?

They have to win. And Ebert's like, yeah, by transit of property, that means they are good. Okay, so Fugerman is off the board and Dana Taffy is your

representative. I don't know what to do. Okay. What category would you have taken the movie in? Okay, so Fugue Man is off the board and Daniel Taffy is your representative. I don't know what to do. Okay. I'm sorry. What category would you have taken the movie in? I don't feel comfortable sharing that at this juncture.

Are you working against me? No, there's five people here. I'm not working against you. I just liked that she didn't fall for that. Okay. David was going to be a decent human and share what he was going to say. I was going to take this in drama

were it available. I considered it. I feel like the list is very long in drama. Yes. That's why I've been afraid of taking something in drama, but this was such a juicy-ass apple

that I could not deny it. But I'm going to take in Grisham the firm. I'm taking the firm. In Grisham. Okay. I'm mildly disappointed that that just happened. I'm taking the firm in Grisham okay I'm mildly disappointed that that just happened I'm sorry

and if we had not broken out Grisham this wouldn't be happening but because Grisham's feel more precious now I thought about waiting for a different Grisham movie that I think is hugely underrated which we will probably talk about later or maybe not

but the firm is kind of the it's kind of the biggest boy in this like dirty genre it is the one yeah and i think i need it i i think there are two grishams that are very underrated okay i think there are okay i think i agree with you on those two three heavy hitters three heavy hitters there's three heavy hitters one beautiful piece of trash and two underrated gems and two nothings or something like that correct it sort of breaks down like that man um but yeah the firm is what it's approximately like eight to nine hours long every single scene is incredible it feels like it was written by someone who got hit in the head

with a bat yeah but then like you know some actor you didn't even know was in it who maybe isn't even credited will just come in and you know have five minutes of pure gold uh it's kind of the the the ur tom cruise as as the sort of lovable baby right like because even a few good men he's got a chip on his shoulder he's got a lot to prove. In The Firm, it's just like Tom Cruise is this freshly born Dewey boy. Like, still. It's pretty helpless

through much of the movie. Yeah. It's just, the Hackman, Brimley, I feel like there's a third. Oral and whatnot. Oral and whatnot.

Yeah. Like, you know, Hal Holbrook? Holbrook. Holbrook. Holbrook. Just maybe the deepest character actor bench available. Ed Harris. That is the number one thing.

Gary Busey. Ed Harris. Molly Hunter. David Strathairn. Insane roster. I mean, the number one thing. Busey. Busey.

David Strathairn. Tobin Bell. Tobin Bell is the Nordic man. I mean, and it's the rare- No one said Jeannie Triplehorn, so please respect- I love her. She's one said Jeannie Triplehorn, so please respect- She's good. Jeannie Triplehorn's great.

Yeah, she changed my life. Yeah. I saw the basic instinct. Every time I'm always like, I have all this Chinese food, candles lit, and Phoebe's like, I hate Chinese food. It's the rare, like, you know, the problem is not with a case. The problem is not with a murder. We're trying to solve the problem is with lawyering, with the firm.

There's something wrong at the firm. Why are there not more movies like this? There's one really good one that I'm not naming right now, but there's a lot more to be done here. I will say, embarrassing confession, I had never seen The Firm

before prepping for this. Whoa! Yeah. That's shocking. I had a lot of blind spots in this arena. Jerry Weintraub is in this movie. He is.

And he's good in it. He is. But I started watching The Firm, and 20 minutes in, I was like thinking to myself, did I not know that The Firm is a sci-fi movie? The first 20 minutes play so Stepford Wives-y of the kid doing backflips.

There's some reveal here that they're actually aliens or robots or they're like serving to hide the paper trail of Lord Xenu or whatever. But the reveal is male, Todd. Yes, but like impressively so that the stakes still feel high

for someone who thought there was going to be galactic stakes. I always thought, I love, Hackman is out of this world in this movie, especially in the last third

when he's trying to seduce Jean Triplehorn and everything. But I always thought that an Avery Tolar prequel would be a good, it was a good idea for a movie. It's actually interesting that he just did a sequel.

Like what happened there? But no more like how he got there. Oh, how he's gone from grace. Yeah, like he was a kind of Mitch McDeer type.

Yeah, like sort of a Better Call Saul type descent into darkness. I always thought that would be interesting because that's such a rich character. And it like he was a kind of Benjamin Deere type. Yeah, like sort of a Better Call Saul type descent into darkness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought that would be interesting because that's such a rich character.

And it would be amazing just to see 70s Tax Law depicted. Thanks for the question though. Who could possibly play that part? They just take and take.

He's ready to get de-aged. So you're deserved by that selection. No, I mean it was just it's a great pick. It's a great pick. Thank you. Do you have the next pick, Chris?

Yeah, and I'm going to go Grisham and I'm going to go Pelican Brief. Oh my God. Oh. I. Oh my God. Is there something wrong with Pelican Brief?

Because I did it again? No. You did it again. You did it again. What do you think? You didn't think that this was going to be a problem? I feel like I just saw

like a cat get hit by a car in the middle of the screen. You didn't know that that was going to be a problem for I feel like I just saw a cat get hit by a car in the middle of the screen. You didn't know that that was going to be a problem for you? Oh, God, no. For a second fucking time? Oh, my God. Amanda put her hands in her lap very quietly. You know what it is? Can I tell you something?

Can I tell you something? It was an outsized reaction, but it was devastating. You didn't know that was coming? I spent five minutes being like, I can't pick this different movie because she'll get so mad. So I picked pelican brief I was so concerned with you that I forgot I forgot what was coming up behind I'm really sorry they were fist bumping minutes ago going into this and I think I texted the blank

check thread this like Amanda and I's tastes overlap so much on this front especially that I was really worried I was going to piss Amanda off so I'm glad someone else has by taking there's a few movies where I feel like we have a lot of common ground and I was like

I just can't do it I can't get this started off on the wrong foot and then I was like oh okay I'll just well now I'm like fuck which one is that

that I have to pick because I don't it might be the movie I most associate with yes now I know that there are there are Nancy Meyers movies or Nora Ephron movies that you maybe love more yeah yeah yeah but It might be the movie I most associate with you. Yes. Now, I know that there are Nancy Meyers movies or Nora Ephron movies that you maybe love more. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it might be the movie I most associate with you. I love this movie. It is Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington. Why am I talking? It's his fucking movie. It's his fucking movie. Again. I come to this film more for Stanley Tucci, actually.

We come to this place for Tucci. It's an incredible depiction of cinema going. I don't know whether this will ever be a rewatchable, though apparently the number of times that Chris has drafted it suggested that he's in its corner. It was kicked around as a rewatchable at a very volatile moment for our Supreme Court, and it was just like, maybe this is a little touchy.

Anyway, they should make this into a 10-part Netflix series. They should just redo it. I know they should never do that, but all right. Amanda, should they set it in the modern day? Or should it be a period piece? Because it would be a little dicey to have it be modern day. Yeah, that is true. Period piece is good.

I'm open to that. The other thing that I was going to say is in terms of, I wouldn't have done this in like lawyers, you know, to represent me, but I did think a lot about Sam Shepard representing me. I think it would be a good one. You know, generally. You just never know when he'd show up like three bourbons to the wind. That's a bonus for you.

I'm just like, okay, it's going to be this kind of night. Fine. You mean more like he represents your aura. Yeah. I don't think that's what she means.

No, that's not what I mean. I think she means represent me in my boudoir. I mean, this is another one where you're like, Lithgow is like 10th build?

Like, how deep is this movie? It is the thing with this whole arena of films is that every opening credit sequence is, like, the Vince McMahon theme. It's pornography. We used to live

in a proper country where you're just, like, just 15 amazing heavy-duty actors getting single-card billing, actually given stuff to chew on, not showing up to deliver, like, 10 minutes of exposition to set up the next movie

in a franchise. Just gut check for everybody. Since these were the last two films that were drafted and I think as you pointed out earlier this could be the case for like the best filmmakers who have made a film

in this vein. I think Sidney Pollack versus Alan Pakula. Just do you have a preference? Pakula's highs are higher but Pollack's more consistent. I agree with that. I completely agree with that as well. Yeah.

Because Pakula has made some genuine stinkers. Yeah. And Pollack, I guess, he would make maybe a boring movie or two, but he was pretty consistent. Pollack also, obviously, the character actor career alone. That's a thing. Yeah. Pollack, as a character actor, is maybe my favorite actor of all time. Pollack has loomed large over this draft, actually, between Michael Clayton's the thing. Yeah. Pollock, as a character actor, is maybe my favorite actor

of all time. Pollock has loomed large over this draft, actually, between Michael Clayton and the firm. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

Bakula, though, I mean, I think you folks called this out recently, quietly a dang-ass freak in a way that endears me to him more. He's freakier. And to his work.

Yeah. Have you guys seen consenting adults no you know what i don't think i ever have that's it have you guys seen consenting it's a latter day no it's an it's a mid it's an early 90s that's the klein movie with kevin spacey and i believe mary elizabeth master antonio and kevin klein that's like a swinger movie then turns into a murder movie correct uh not necessarily a good film but a remnant of

a different time in our culture. Hollywood was very much like in the early 90s. They were like, if you stray outside your marriage, you will die. Yes. You'll get your head cut off for you, like Kevin Spacey. Okay. Amanda, you have two picks. I have two picks. I know what I'm going to do with the first one.

Speaking of Pakula in Thriller, I'm taking Presumed Innocent. Hell yeah. my real sadness here is that Raul Julia was high on my lawyer list okay oh yeah yeah I appreciate

that that classic thing where the lawyer knows what happened but like still has to go forward with the case you know what I mean like he has to

defend the person despite knowing what happened. Yeah. Um, do you want to speak on presumed innocent at all? Harrison Ford. Do you like that haircut? It's not my favorite. Okay.

I was thinking of getting that haircut. Really? Yeah. I was thinking about it. Rick Decker. Yeah. I was thinking of growing a beard, getting that haircut,

and then actually wearing glasses. We've talked about this. Getting that haircut and then actually wearing glasses. We've talked about this. Wait, what? Get the John book. I feel like I need a radical change. Why are you on the run from like Interpol? Why are you like,

I need to dress as the jackal now? That was my thinking. I was like, I just need to complete pivot away from whatever I've been doing for the last 15 years. Early 90s. I support it.

Harrison is stressed. You know what I mean? I think a lot of people have been talking about my mustache. So it's like, a lot of years. Early 90s. I support it. Harrison is stressed. You know what I mean? I think a lot of people have been talking about my mustache. So it's like, a lot of people. Primarily you. I literally had a conversation

with Chris three days ago, guys, where he was like, the thing is, is I grow my mustache, but because of the color of my hair, no one sees it. So they don't know I have a mustache. So he secrets into the world

his mustache by referencing it on pods. All the time. He's word of mouth. It's an interesting strategy. Presumed Innocent, terrific movie i re-watched it harrison ford hall of fame prep the kind of the other side of like the peak night like early 90s yeah well sleazy sleazy there is like i mean it's not quite erotic thriller but there is some There's some eroticism. Yeah, there's some stuff going on. Harrison Ford, obviously.

And Harrison Ford, like, not totally playing against type, but certainly, like, setting up a lot of... Non-heroic, for sure. Exactly, exactly. It's a good one. Okay, so that one was easy. That was on top of my thriller list. Yeah, mine too.

Mine for me too. Okay. You that one was easy. That was on top of my thriller list. Yeah. Mine too. Mine for me too. Okay. You feel stuck? Yeah, I do. We have five extremely loquacious people on the pod, so we can't allow for any quiet moments. Okay. While you think, I again want to shout out that like 87 to 94,

Harrison Ford is stressed out era is so good. Yeah. Like Harrison Ford, did he do something bad? Is the world bad? He's just always grumpy. He kind of ends it with Air Force One. Yeah. By Air Force One, it's like we elected that guy president. He's still grumpy. This grumpy guy.

Right. In Oscar winner, I will take Aaron Brockovich. God motherfucking me. Well, I know. That's what I thought. Maybe I will take Aaron Brockovich. God motherfucking. Well, I know. That's what I thought. That's what I thought you were referencing. Because I was like, maybe I'll take Aaron Brockovich in Oscar. And then I think I might get hit by a chair. You know.

Yeah. Well, it ticks a lot of boxes for me. Julia Roberts doing some lawyering. That's what I thought David was going to do. And what I thought he should do. I thought I could wait one round. That's all. Just one little round.

Amanda, your physical reaction to Chris taking Pelican brief was like Lily Tomlin at the concert in Nashville where it was like so subtly poignant. David's reaction over here was like Bill O'Reilly yelling, do it live. We'll do it live. He just completely lost it. His face is totally red now

yeah I have a problem with that I'm doing this were you gonna go Finney for movie lawyer no I was just gonna take it an Oscar winner although

yeah I mean I love Finney in that movie I don't know if he's my number one lawyer pick I love the guy but he seems stressed out what I like about all this

is that it has all of the hallmarks verging on cliches of the classic, like, early 90s legal thriller that we were all raised on. And then, but just like with the Soderbergh touch and elevation, just, you know, and the way that he's shooting it. And based on a true story.

Exactly. He gives Julia Roberts just like the exact right amount of room to cook. I was thinking how nice it was when, you know, people who we love just did their like, I'm going to win an Oscar role. And then they won the Oscar for it, you know, but it was also good that it doesn't happen anymore. Not only that, it was a blockbuster. Yeah. A million, a billion dollars.

Yeah. And it ruled and all of America agreed. Yeah. All agreed. In March. And then Julia Roberts, who deserves an Oscar, got billion dollars. Yeah. And it ruled and all of America agreed. Yeah. We all agreed. In March. And then Julia Roberts who deserves an Oscar got an Oscar. Right.

And wore a great dress. You know, that was nice. This was released the same year as Traffic. Yes. Yes. Which is incredible. Yeah.

It sure is. And both of those movies were big hits and Oscar winners. Yeah. It's almost more impressive that this film came out in March, was number one at the box office

for like four weeks, broke all March records, and then Julia Roberts remained the front runner for a year. She just parked. Yeah. She was just like,

I'm right here. And no one was tired of it. Everyone was like, finally, here the moment is. I think people got a little tired, but it was brief. And everyone was like, no, no, no.

Let it happen. Take the trophy. Sure. Yeah. I love this movie so much. It's wonderful. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. Aaron Eckhart doing great work.

Eckhart with a ponytail. Yeah. Just taking care of children. Who was Catherine Zeta-Jones' lawyer in Traffic? Is that Dennis Quaid? Yes, it's Quaid. He's doing the... That's right.

Yeah. I forget if he... Is that coming up next for you? No, it was just Soderbergh was just giving us lawyer lawyer gems you were always really into the Erica Christensen subplot in Traffic

as I recall that was your favorite part of the movie okay Amanda good picks those were good picks thank you is it back to Chris

I don't don't don't try don't try to be nice to you yeah you just you take a minute take a minute you sit over there

it's actually it worked this worked out well where you're ahead of Amanda and the picks and Griffin and David Yeah, you take a minute. You take a minute. You sit over there. It's actually... This worked out well, where you're ahead of Amanda in the pics and Griffin and David are beside one another in the pics. The Grisham genre maneuvering really did throw Thriller upside down in some ways. Yes. And...

God, I'm really divided right now. Do I think I can get it on the other way around? I'm going to take Primal Fear and Thriller. Interesting. On my list, but not at the top.

I enjoyed this rewatchables. Thank you. Thanks. This was a big one for me as a kid. This was a real heavy HBO rotation movie. This is also a very, very detail-oriented procedural.

When I rewatched it, I think you remember the last scene or whatever, but it's a lot of investigation and Martin Vale just throwing rope-a-dopes. Martin Vale was number four on my potential list of lawyers to defend me for my life. What do you think about that? I think that's pretty good. He's easily fooled, I will say, by a cheap accent

and, you know, a sob story. But weren't we all? Yeah, well, that was the joy of it. That is another movie where the 14th name that comes up

on the cast list, you're like, this is... Yeah, like Andre Browder is just like... Yeah, someone needs to step in. ...for 20 minutes. Yeah.

There should be like a 15th credit that just says don't worry we're all paid adequately. We had enough money for everybody. That's what I'll go with.

Primal Fear Thriller. Great pick. And I really hope I don't regret it. Okay. David is it you now? Yeah. I'm just going to take

my favorite movie. I'm taking The Verdict and Drama. I know it's a bad idea to take a drama. I almost did this. Well I almost did the same. So you and I really are on the same.

Confirmed my strategy. You were smart. Because I kept thinking, like, should I avoid drama? There's plenty of dramas. Like, you know, I can just wait, get a nice mid-tier guy there. No, I want The Verdict. That's my favorite movie in this class. That's the most courtroom movie ever made.

I want drunk, miserable. I want everything to be mahogany. I was going to say, perhaps the greatest Burnish Wood film in history. 100%. I want the stench of gin hanging in the air. I want one of America's great actors clawing maybe his best performance

in a storied career. It might be his best performance in a storied career, it might be his best performance. In a weird way also, in a similar sense to how Ratatouille feels like the best depiction of France even though it's animated and it's France isn't real, it's Paris isn't real, I feel like the verdict gets Boston so right for a movie that was filmed entirely in New York City. Yeah, it barely takes place outside.

Yeah. I want to acknowledge your Ratatouille take amongst these two heathens who don't watch animated films. Just want to say. Ratatouille's a masterpiece. I'm sorry.

I've seen Ratatouille. If you're going to watch an animated film, watch Ratatouille. It's a great film about you on podcasts. Who am I? You're the chef.

Anton Ego? That's rude. Okay. I have a pick, huh? My Cous cousin Vinny in comedy okay right

that was the one I kept thinking I should take very interesting it's the big boy in that genre it's always interesting when a double category

one which where are you going to put it you know yeah could have been for Tome I think this is the greatest

legal comedy of all time. Yeah. There are other movies I like. I'm sure you have a strong list. Do you like, is this your favorite legal comedy, Amanda? No. Okay.

Is it because it's I know what Amanda's favorite legal comedy is. What? This is the movie that, the feedback actually that we got after the courtroom drama episode that we did, I got from a couple

of different lawyers, was that this is the most accurate representation of legal proceedings that they've seen in a movie. That's what everyone says. That they teach it in law school, that obviously it's

a very funny movie, but the sort of points of order, the way that the case plays out is actually quite accurate, which is really interesting because it's a very silly movie, but extraordinary performance is so funny. Pesci and Tomei, there's nothing like them together.

Another movie with an absolutely bizarre murderers row of character actors popping up for one scene, for one testimony. One of my favorite movies. Recently featured on the rewatchables, My Cousin Vinny. Okay. Fred Gwynn, Lane Smith, who should maybe be required to be in every lawyer movie. Lane Smith is always good.

Yeah. Sitting at the other table across from the defense. Yeah. He's great. Reluctantly admiring what the defense has just pulled out of the hat.

he's like, all right, you got me, I'll fox me. You know, yeah, I love Lane Smith. And you're wearing

the red velvet tuxedo here today for the pod, Chris. Thank you for doing that. That's right. With two utes. Griffin, you you for doing that. That's right. With two Utes. Griffin, you got two picks.

I got two picks. I worry I'm about to incur the wrath of Amanda now on this next one. But with Vinny off the board, that was my backup option. I'm taking Legally Blonde and comedy.

That's okay. I got another. Okay. Yeah. You have another. I have another too. Good, good, good, good. Okay. I'm taking Legally Blonde in comedy. That's okay. I got another. Okay. Yeah. You have another. Okay. I have another too. Good. Good. Good. Good. Okay. I think... Do you feel under siege sometimes on this podcast? Only by you.

It's just admiration of your great taste, Amanda. Incredible taste. You always do. Yeah. Legally Blonde is my favorite, but that's... It's okay. You're so nervous that I feel like I don't know why I'm trying to comfort you. Be meaner to him. These two could learn something, which is like if they bring anxiety instead of aggression,

I'm going to try to cover that. I don't think I bring aggression. You're like the only person on earth that doesn't fear me, which is like, I know, that's literally why it works, but like you're the only, and that's okay. Are you afraid of me? I'm not on this show enough to to have to answer that question um i respect you yeah i respect you okay thank you they do i respect you i respect everyone on this podcast okay thanks so much uh legally blonde is wonderful thanks sean yeah why don't you talk about Why you like it It's a perfect movie

It's a perfect movie It also falls into the We used to be a proper country We don't make them like this anymore Absolutely Category I think like Reese Witherspoon is

Unbelievable in this film I contend that this is At least should have been Her first Oscar nomination If not win It is like an astonishing. If this was like 1987 I feel like weirdly

she would have had a better chance than when this movie came out. It's like the Private Benjamin nomination. Sure. Or Working Girl or whatever.

Absolutely. There's another legal comedy that also featured an Academy Award win from that era. That is true. But for whatever reason

at this time it was perceived as more frivolous. I think also maybe just like the some of the marketing that probably worked against it. Reese won an Oscar

five years later and it's a body of work Oscar. I do think it's an election legally blonde you know pleasant fill a couple other things. Right. I like Walk the Line.

Oh I actually thought it was Wild. Oh I like Walk the Line to be clear I like Walk the Line too and I honestly think she gives the best performance in it, which might be a hot take. But still, I think people are kind of like, wait, who won?

Reese won for Walk the Line? Dallas Roberts gives the best performance in Walk the Line. But Legally Blonde, I think much like Cousin Vinny, what's so fun about both of these films is that you get to gain an understanding of the law with the characters, right? Like most dramatic lawyer movies start with someone who's at the top of their game. Or even if it's like a The Firm type film where someone's straight out of law school, they're still like the hotshot student, right? And Legally Blonde and Cousin Vinny, you're dropping people into situations where they're in over their head.

And I think both movies, you fully buy that the person was able to pull off this win in the case. Legally Blonde obviously hinges on a very specific knowledge of hair care routines. But I do think

Restore the Spoon fully sells this. And I think this is the kind of movie that you almost feel like, um, almost 25 years later that it would play today a little bit retrograde. And it doesn't, the film feels a lot smarter in the integrity of its characters. Um,

but it's just, yeah, it's one of the most, uh, uh, purely enjoyable comedies of the 2000s. I've never seen the sequel. The sequel is weird.

Yeah. And it's weird. Yeah. And it's one of those sequels that makes you realize how good the first movie is. Where you're like, this is such a delicate balancing act that the second movie

completely gets wrong from the first step. The third movie has been on the coming soon calendar for a long time. A long, long time. Who wrote it? Mindy Kaling is apparently

writing it now. Yeah. Or, yeah. It's a weird, it's weird that that hasn't happened. Feels like Reese could use that. She's pretty busy. Yeah.

Not being on the same set as Jennifer Aniston throughout her extended. Is that true? It's a full good wife situation at this point on The Morning Show. There are several scenes. Are they not interacting at all

on The Morning Show? There are a couple scenes in the beginning where they're like in the same hallway. And it's like that was declared the neutral ground where they're like willing to be together. And otherwise they are not even like talking on the phone. You have a Charlie and Stuart McKenzie from So I Married an Axe Murderer situation.

It's really more like there are, they do coverage in scenes where you can tell like Billy Crudup is here on a Wednesday and Reese Witherspoon is there on a Friday and they get the lighting right and everything but you're just like there's no

sense that these two people are sharing a space how soon before we start recording that way can I throw out my hot take on why

Legally Blonde 3 hasn't happened and this is pure conjecture on my part I know what you're about to say with the second movie of Elle Woods Goes to Washington,

it feels like the only thing the third movie could be to properly heighten is her as president. President, yeah. And I think that's a really hard script to pull off. I think she could thread the needle.

I think Elle Woods would be a good president. No, good president. Elle Woods as a character, yes, yes. Certainly better than the clowns we got in the law for free.

I was going to say late 40s. Late, probably. Late 40s. So she could be the president. She could be the president. The 20 years past has actually helped her being able to sell that as a movie. Okay. So I have another pick now.

You have another pick. I am going to pick Philadelphia, an Oscar winner. Ooh. Good pick. Okay. Good movie. So this came up on our Denzel Washington movie draft. When we were kids, this was a ginormous movie.

This was one of the most acclaimed movies of the 90s. I do feel that it has slipped a bit out of the culture. Let's unslip it. Let's push it back uphill. Do you guys agree with that? I think you're right, yes. But I mean, we did Demi on our podcast. Yeah.

And this movie jumped in my estimation on rewatch for that. It's a really terrific film. My whole take when we covered it on Blank Check was that like,

I think this movie kind of got saddled with the notion of like, this feels like the ultimate Oscar bait movie. Even though when it came out, it was a huge hit and everyone loved it, and the Oscar wins were kind of like

consensus, you know, picks that everyone was in favor of. On paper, it looks like the kind of weepy film that everyone tries to make every year that often ends up being a little bit middling. And the craft in Philadelphia and the specificity of

the writing and the characterization, the humanity of it, is so much stronger where, like, if this is what Oscar Bate was every year, we'd be living in a perpetual golden age. I mean, Denzel is incredible in this movie, and he didn't even get, like, discussed as, like, an awards contender. No, it's, like, one of the five best

Denzel performances, in my estimation, which is maybe a hot take. But I think it is quietly unbelievable work from him. I think he's better in it than Hanks, not that it's a competition. Hanks obviously has the showier role. But also the fact that both of them are lawyers, that it's a movie about a lawsuit. A lawsuit about being employed as a lawyer. Right.

Yes, about being discriminated against as a lawyer. Yeah, it's like a double lawyer movie that's so entrenched in the legal system and the career of lawyering. Them in the library together. The old boys club of these old firms. I think it's an incredible film. And like the arc of

his sort of bigotry, Denzel's bigotry, the character getting in the way of him warming up to the guy but taking the case because he thinks he can win is sort of a fascinating inverse of a lot of legal movies or a lot of stories told about lawyers where someone represents someone they think is guilty but they want the salary

or they think they can win the case. This is a guy who actually struggles with compassion for the guy who is the compassionate figure. It's a good pick. I have a pick. I'm going to keep it an Oscar winner. I was thinking about this

for the second overall pick. I'm going with The Social Network. Oh, yeah. It hadn't occurred to me. So here's the thing. Yeah, sure. No, no, it's available for sure. with the social network okay oh yeah it hadn't occurred to me so here's the thing yeah sure it's not no no it's it's available yeah for sure it's i think the movie doesn't work if it's not this which is to say the entire framing device of the film is the deposition

and negotiation that recounts the story now i usually hate framing devices, as listeners of this show probably know. But this is the rare case where the Sorkin writing style makes sense because it is a movie about arguments. So you don't like how every single hour-long television show starts with a 10-minute scene and then goes seven years earlier? I don't know why that's happening. I have discussed that there are movies that are doing that often now, too. I guess it's just a crutch that is easy to frame things. But in this particular case, which is a story defined by very smart people speaking very quickly about complex ideas, there needs to be an orienting structure to get us into the story. And some of the best Eisenberg moments in the movie are him witheringly sitting across the table while being interrogated. I think it's like a really the most modern of legal stories because, of course, most cases like this never go to court.

They are negotiated and settled. And so that's like a practical reality of this world that is covered. And I think this is true in a number of other movies. Sorkin has returned to this realm over and over again. I can think of another one in my head that he wrote in the 90s that is like this.

He is the best at this particularly. He's not the best at writing about a young woman coming of age while running a poker game. That's not what he excels at. I don't know. He's pretty good at it. Are there guys better than him at it?

Maybe a few women better than him at it. I think, because that movie ultimately is about her dad, which is the weirdest thing about that movie. Played by Kevin Costner. That is, no, it's the most incredible thing. Last 20 minutes of Molly's Game is insane core. No, it's so amazing what a document. We should just do a Molly's Game episode. A re-podcast? Yeah. We do just a Molly's Game episode. A re-podcast?

Yeah. I think Molly's Game draft. I don't know if we saw it together, but we did an episode about Molly's Game during the pandemic. And all we did was talk about Kevin Costner on the bench.

Also, isn't that Molly's Game blog post on The Ringer still like the most popular post of all time? Yeah, it is. I'm not drafting Molly's Game. I'm drafting The Social Network.

But I love Sorkin even with all his faults. Obviously, he's returned to the courtroom since this movie was made to complicated middling results. But this is one of my

favorite films ever made. So I'm going with Social Network. Now, I just want to say when pre-draft we were talking about movies in my mind that I disqualified

when we shifted from legal to lawyer, this is one of them. Because there's no like lawyers in it. There are lawyers in it of them. Because there's no, like, lawyers in it. There are lawyers in it. John Glover's in it. There are lawyers in it. I just think there are.

Rashida Jones gives a very important speech about jury selection. She also was the critical figure at the final scene of the film. Just trying so hard to be an asshole. I'm not arguing that the pick is invalid. I'm just saying I think this is one that I was moving back and forth on in my mind. Well, maybe you're just waking up to the possibilities of the law in

film and in life around you, Griffin. Oh, John Goetz is that lawyer, right? John Goetz. I would love to see John Glover, actually, as one of the lawyers in the social network. Or Julian Glover. Bring all the Glovers in. They all would be great. Crispin. Crispin. Next pick is... Crispin would have played Mark zuckerberg in the david yes it's me god wait are john and glover julian glover and

john glover related in any way no all separate lovers that's really glover does any lover are they related yeah they're really they're all related to dating lovers through marriage in film yeah what's happening all of them are married to one of Danny Glover's daughters. Let's just talk about all the Glovers. I mean, we could do a Glover cast. I don't know. That can be... We can put that on the list.

Separate feed. New feed. Okay. I'm going to take... Hmm. Damn. I don't know what to do. There's a lot of possibilities here.

Dude, I haven't felt this tense since the... Why are you... Really? Because you want something? The test sequence in like possibilities here. Dude, I haven't felt this tense since the like Really? Oh, because you want something? The test sequence in Oppenheimer. Like I am Well, I feel like

David has taken a couple from you. Yeah. No, it's just this is crucial. I'm sorry, Chris. This is crucial? Fuck.

I'm going to take Atticus Finch in Lawyer. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to take Atticus Finch. That was number two on my list.

Yeah. Are we sure he's good? I'm glad that you did so that I didn't have to because I have, yeah. Now, I think that I'm talking about

Cinema Atticus Finch, so not the later book they made poor Harper Lee publish where it turns out Atticus Finch is bad. Oh, yeah.

What was that called? Bad Atticus? What was the name of that book? Atticus. Atticus gets milkshaked up. out Atticus Finch is bad. Oh, yeah. What was that called? Bad Atticus? What was the name of that book? Bad Atticus. What was it called? It was like A Songbird Sings. It's called Go Set a Watchman. Go Set a Watchman. And it's about

Scout goes to see Atticus and he's like, by the way, I'm a huge racist and I hate everything I did in the last book. She finds his Reddit account and posts a lot of weird subs. Really dope. Cancel culture came from that guy.

Are we sure Atticus Finch is good? I mean, I'm going to ask the question. You know, I'm taking him because I feel like he was for decades

American cinema's sort of model lawyer, right? Like the lawyer with the heart of gold who stands up for his principles and so on and so believes in like and yes now all of that feels like a cruel joke as our country crumbles

into dust around us and maybe i shouldn't be picking atticus finch but honestly the bench was getting thin and lawyer and it's a big one and so i'm gonna take gregory peck and look he's also a looker the guy's the guy's handsome Yeah. And I think I should be allowed to date my lawyer if I want. Yeah. And so that option is now available to me. Maybe we should have had a handsome category.

I mean, they're kind of all handsome categories. Not a lot of ugly lawyers. There's this cliche in European football about the idea of whether or not

like really technically gifted players would be able to do it on quote unquote a cold wet night in Stoke. Like, would you be able to do it on quote unquote, a cold, wet night in Stoke. Like, would you be able to go play in the North of England while it's raining? I want to transfer that logic to, would any of these lawyers be able to do it in an un-air conditioned courtroom in the South? Because you got Atticus, a couple other examples,

but can Caffey operate with no AC? Was there any legislation passed in Georgia to install air conditioners in our courtrooms? Like, what is going on here in all these courtrooms? It's just seersuckers. Just because I grew up in Atlanta, I'm in no way responsible for anything that John Grisham depicts.

When you go from the courtroom, that's all they are. When you pass the bar in the South, you get a seersucker suit that material breathes. Torto all they are. When you pass the bar in the South, you get a seersucker suit that material breathes. Yes. Okay. Tortoise shell glasses. Yep. Exactly.

That's all you need. All right. I took out a scissor finch. Whatever. That's a good pick. That was not what you would target, CR. Speaking of hot

motherfucking courtrooms, let's go JFK, Frost. Yeah. Wow. That's really good. That's really good. So, here's my question.

Yes. I do mostly focus on the Kevin Bacon part of this film. Maybe we should have had a Kevin Bacon category. That's true. He has a strong presence

here. Is it Mitch Garrison? Jim. Jim Garrison. I'm thinking of Mitch McDeer. Jim Garrison is a good lawyer? I think he's a dedicated attorney.

Yeah. I mean, he's really he's got conviction. He's on the line for this idea. Was he right? Was he wrong? I don't know.

But it's an incredible piece of performance. Like perhaps the greatest sustained on-screen like courtroom performance in cinema history is his sort of summation

and his back and to the left sort of like it takes like 40 minutes when you put those two together. But it's not a single shot, is it? No, I wasn't saying he was fucking old fools. I was just saying he does a good job. He's very convincing. Max Old Fool's JFK would be interesting. Especially for a performance that never veers into like he does a good job. He's very convincing. Max Ophuls

JFK would be interesting. Yeah. Especially for a performance that never veers into like this whole court is out of order. Like it's 40 minutes of just non-dramatic

focused lawyering. I had him on my long list for movie lawyer just because I was thinking if I'm in trouble I want someone who's going to be this thorough. He'll throw his body

into the case. But also crazed. Yes. Delusional. You're probably getting a couple 2am phone calls if he's your lawyer. You like how Costner comports himself in this film? As a woman of the south? I can't believe he's releasing those two movies.

I can't wait. It's going to be so good. If you fucking don't go see Horizon, don't ever listen to this podcast. Mail your passport back to the U.S. State Department. Fine if you want to continue listening to The Watch. I've got to say. Like and subscribe.

But if you don't watch Horizon opening weekend, get the fuck off this feed. I completely agree with Chris about that. That being said, I don't think I like any movies Kevin Costner directed what? I have no idea if this is going to be good you sick bastard

have you seen Open Range? Open Range is one of the great films Open Range rules? yes I would say I'm pretty mixed so you don't like Dances with Wolves I'm pretty mixed on it I think it is

really bloated and I'm now openly advocating for a two and possibly four part film western experience I was gonna ask

from 70 year old Kevin Costner how long is Horizon each film is nine hours there's a whole two hour segment where he just talks about Yellowstone like

the camera I would listen to that like why he was in the right yeah uh JFK is a great pick yeah we've selected so many good films yeah we have a long way to go though Dobbins is it you yeah it's me I have two picks I think I gotta get Grisham out of the way before things get really intense I'm curious where you go here. Yeah, I am too. And I'm going to be honest. I didn't revisit this film, but we did Grisham at the last minute. And Chris took Pelican Brief from me.

So I honestly haven't seen this movie in 20 years, but I seem to remember the client was good. It's fantastic. It's my favorite. Yeah. It's a blast. So I am going with the client. This is my favorite of all the Grisham movies to remember The Client was good. It's fantastic. It's my favorite. Yeah. It's a blast. So, I am going with The Client. This is my favorite of all the Grisham movies other than The Firm. Okay. Susan Sarandon, Brad Renfro,

like, you know, I remember this was a real thing. Okay. Another movie with an absolutely absurd supporting cast. Yes. Mary Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, Bradley Whitford, Will Patton Anthony Edwards

JT Walsh Anthony Heald Kim Coates Kimberly Scott Ozzie Davis William H. Macy this is insane how many people are in this movie

Macy's amazing in it yeah it's so this movie is very trashy in the best way possible Schumacher yelling at every actor you're so stressed out

and then rolling camera Sarandon's really great I fell in love with her in this movie I love this movie it's amazing that Schumacher had this pocket in the 90s

where he was just like Warner Brothers I'm in the stable and I'm just gonna flip back and forth between Batman and Grisham right and if Batman and Robin

had worked he was going to do a third Batman and Runaway Jury he had that set up oh interesting yeah he was going to do a third Batman and Runaway Jury. He had that set off. Oh, interesting. He was ready to just have like a trilogy of both. I mean, Runaway Jury definitely needed, you know, some gasoline and glitter.

And that's what Joel Schumacher had in spades. Yeah. It's just funny. Who directed it? Gary Fleeter. Blech. I didn't expect you to go there. Well, here I am. It's a good pick. And here you are there. Well, here I am.

It's a good pick. And here you are again. Yeah, here I am again. At this point, it's just... Maybe I'll be surprised by what you all bring to the table, but I think I'm just competing against myself at this point. What? You're always so relatable and normal when you draft people are always like god that amanda

yeah she's so regular it'd be great to have a beer with her humble easy going just a great gal you guys are rude um i think i'm just gonna do what i feel like doing which why stop now? I really think that you should get like a limit on the amount of those things that you specifically can say to me.

You should look like a little bit of like an electroshock at a certain point. But I've been batting against Clayton Kershaw for years and you're like

how about T-ball? And so I'm happy to just hit home runs every time. You're like I'm gonna do what I and so I'm happy to just hit home runs every time you're like I'm gonna do what I wanna do it's like you know

okay you teed it up yeah I did I think I will I honestly don't know what I wanna do in comedy yet so

in drama I'm gonna take Marriage Story oh great pick. Thank you very much. Good one. Which is the Noah Baumbach film about family law, among other things.

Divorce. Sure. Well, it is. I did think about Laura Dern as the lawyer. And that's how I got to Marriage Story, written large. But hiring Laura Dern sets off a lot of the unfortunate events of Marriage Story, which is what makes it a great drama. She's wonderful.

I don't know whether that's the right energy for me in my life and in my time of need. It's just like, well, you know, know the long scene are you preparing a divorce what's happening you know the first scene when she's like speak you know does her big speech to scar joe about how she deserves whatever and like scarlett johansson's just like kind of like in the corner looking confused for like 10 minutes and that's not realistic she's not happy with her lawyer and yet she forges ahead because she knows she's just she's got the shark from great you know right she's gonna eat adam for life i had i had norfansha on my list too as movie lawyer um she's good anyway this i this is a sometimes represented but less represented side of law in movies

but like a lot of this is in lawyers like conference rooms and everyone ordering lunch and being like why did you have to it's very similar to the social network

in that way exactly the sort of boring but mean side of it but affecting and also this movie just absolutely wrecked

me and Sean so CR now you can't take Ray Liotta in Marriage Story unfortunately for movie lawyer. Unfortunately, yeah. It's a tough one. You know why? What were you going to say?

It's like we're doing the tactic in Marriage Story. We're meeting with lawyers. And it's like, no, you can't meet with him. I met with him. Yeah, exactly. That's what we're doing in drafting. Okay, what's your point, Griff? Sims was pushing back last week

when I pitched this as a lawyer movie. And my counterpoint was, this is one of the very few instances of someone winning an Oscar for playing a lawyer. Yeah, it's true. There aren't a ton. Yeah. If you're looking in the Oscar-winning category,

most of those wins are in other categories. Or it's a performance of someone as a victim, a witness, something else. David took one of the, probably the most famous example of an actor winning for playing a lawyer. Mr. Peck. probably the most famous example of an actor winning for playing a lawyer. Mr. Peck.

Actually I was thinking of Paul. Wasn't that Paul Newman's? Was that not Paul Newman's Oscar? Newman didn't win an Oscar my friend.

Yeah because he doesn't win for The Verdict. He lost to Ben Kingsley. Exactly. I've been duped. And Mason also should have won for Verdict I would argue.

Mason's amazing in Verdict. Oh my god. Who is it up to now? It's me now. It's back to Chris. In comedy, I'm going to take Defending Your Life.

Good pick. And I was kind of tempted because I could think of no more delightful co-counsel than Lee Grant and Rip Torn. Like,

if you were just going to be like... Their chemistry is fantastic in the movie. But this is a film for anybody who doesn't know. It's a 1991 Albert Brooks movie with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep and Rip Torm and Lee Grant.

And it's about what happens in the afterlife. And in Albert Brooks' hilarious depiction of that, you go to a basically Disney World for adults where you can eat as much as you want and never feel sick and do anything you want and take little trams everywhere. But essentially, you have to go into these trials for whether or not

you've lived a fulfilling life and whether or not you've lived in fear or whether or not you all these things. And I just thought, I think I saw this when it kind of came out. So it was really one of my first introductions to the idea of what other people might have thought the afterlife were like besides heaven and hell. And I always kind of love this. It's a fantastic movie.

It's such a good movie. This is my third favorite Albert Brooks movie. I've asked Albert Brooks to come on this podcast probably six times. And every time I get a really nice note back that's like, Albert has strongly considered your request and he declines and uh i'd just like to say he's he's welcome anytime i think there there's a rob reiner directed a documentary about albert brooks's life

that is premiering at afi in like two weeks i've heard nothing about this movie not a single thing reiner is solid gold. The guy never misses these days. So you know it's going to be good. He's on a 15-year heater. Yeah. It's depressing. Defending Your Life is great.

And a very good lawyer movie. A movie very much oriented around defense. Okay. Amanda. No. David. Sorry. Wrong direction.

It's okay I'm swerving into Into a trashier World After those lovely Tony picks But I'm taking The Devil's Avenue No

Smart Yeah Smart Partly because Thriller is starting To look thin Especially with Grisham You know

Kind of sucking out From it Yeah Damn it David Maybe the best premise. This is an actual take I have. Thriller. Thriller.

I feel like I just had a stroke. I mean, it wasn't going in Oscar winner. I'll tell you that much. You could argue this film fits into comedy, drama, and thriller, though, in an interesting way. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you guys not think this is the best elevator pitch of a film ever?

Also, well, combined with the title? Yes. Like, exactly. I get, you know, Sidney Weintraub in an elevator and I'm like, listen, he's a young lawyer.

He's, Tom Cruise in the firm. He works at a new firm. Who is the managing partner? Satan himself. It's called The Devil's Advocate. The guy's handing me a briefcase with $5 million in it before we exit the elevator.

You could remove 400 words from the pitch you just had. It's guy works at law firm. His boss is literally the devil. It's called the devil's advocate. Done. $70 million budget green. Yep.

Great movie, right? I love this movie. Wow, everyone's so crushed. I just heard LA's feeling. I'm not crushed. I'm entertained, but I am a little... You're not going to do any of it?

The wind has been taken out of your sails. The look but don't touch? Yeah. Look but don't touch. Touch but don't taste. Taste but don't swallow. It's my favorite scene in any movie. He's laughing at us.

He's an absentee landlord. This is my favorite thing too If I sat down Pacino and Reeves And said The Devil's Advocate They might both say The movie I am most embarrassed by And yet still Two great performances

From great men That wouldn't take it away from me It's a great pick Not at all It was my number one thriller Guys I had I really really really wanted

John Milton and Kevin Lomax As my co-counsel When I was in court That's like the unbeatable John Milton and Kevin Lomax as my co-counsel when I was in court. That's like the unbeatable. John Milton is highly considering that. That would have been the greatest. I was actually weighing between picking Atticus Finch or Satan himself as my lawyer. And I went for Finch.

Who's more effective? I don't know. I don't know. I would argue Satan's won more cases. Satan wins a lot of cases. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like I'm inspired to create some chaos.

You don't think that somehow wrangling social network into this was chaotic? No, I feel proud of that. I, unfortunately, it didn't break my way. It didn't break my way to create the chaos that I would have wanted. Okay. You're looking directly at me. No, no. As your...

I'm just trying to figure out what's the right move here. I'll go with Grisham and I'll go with A Time to Kill. Okay. Yeah. It was sitting there. It is the fourth of the four.

There are some underrated gems left for Griffin and he can make his case for them when he selects them. I know what you're picking and it's a good movie. Yeah. I like the other ones left over. A Time to Kill there are some underrated gems left for Griffin and he can make his case for them when he selects them. I know what you're picking and it's a good movie. Um, yeah, I like the other ones left over a time to kill is a genuinely riveting,

authentic, uh, pop boiler. Just a really fun movie. Um, is it absurd? Yes. Is it, uh,

perhaps not aging? Well, yes, perhaps. Um, is it, was Joel not aging well yes perhaps is it was Joel Schumacher maybe not the right artist

to explore some of these themes the wrong things of this movie yeah I think potentially is Sandra Bullock a complete smoke show

in it a million percent hopping out of that Corvette what is that what kind of car is she driving is Oliver Platt

cooking in this movie he is does Sam Jackson give the definitive Sam Platt cooking in this movie? He is. Does Sam Jackson give the definitive Sam Jackson line reading in this movie? He does. What's Donald Sutherland up to in this movie? I'm not sure. I'm not really sure what he's on about. You can ask that question of a lot of movies.

Kiefer on a hot streak that he continues to this day of somewhat deplorable. Yeah. Troubling people involved in court cases. Yeah, if Kiefer's in a courtroom movie, he's not playing the greatest guy in the world. If I was Kiefer, I'd be angling for the Kevin Pollak

A Few Good Men role. Let me sit there. Yeah, can I just be the nicest assistant? Can people like me in this movie please like no is that not allowed cramming so many of these films in a short period of time it is interesting to see especially in the like 80s 90s early 2000s around which actors keep appearing in the genre jt walsh right and there are few guys who are as pigeonholed into one function as Kiefer that I'd argue even continues to K-Mutant.

Oh, for sure. Yeah. So, yeah, I'll go with the time to kill. Griffin, you're up. I will say this has gamed out perfectly for me. How many of your five have you gotten? I had, let's say, let's say I had six. And Verdict is the only one I've lost so far.

Okay. And I'm not left with a concession underrated pick in Grisham. I have gamed this out where I am getting my number one pick in Grisham, which is John Grisham's The Rainmaker. An incredible film. It is my favorite. I felt like I could sit this one out for a while because no one else was going to fight me for it. I was going to fight you for it,

but then I took the firm. So I gave up that chance. It is, as much as I said, I went into this basically with like five, watched 20 new movies and still landed on the same five. Rainmaker is the one first time watch that entered my top tier.

That was a discovery for me that I loved as kind of an embodiment of everything I want out of a lawyer movie, which is an idealistic person gets broken down and steps away before their soul dies. I realize in

finding the recurring themes, any movie that is this horrible company covered shit up and or something is making the people sick. Right. The Aaron Brockovich. Yeah. We discovered it weirdly in some like one sentence in a file that made us realize there's a larger conspiracy here that we can uncover.

And the David versus Goliath of did this actually accomplish anything? I love the whole movie. DeVito. DeVito. Rourke. A phenomenal Claire Danes performance. But I think the ending of this one in particular is like a total knockout for me. It's wildly underrated.

Francis Ford Coppola movie, obviously. Yeah. And just feels so classical. Man, I didn't get it. The 90s Coppola run is not the best. And it's obviously a decade that's defined by him continuing to try to just work off the remainder of his American Zoetrope debt. And I always assume like, oh, this is him doing for hire, like Sturdy Grisham. He's like doing his turn in a genre that was very financeable. And because this movie, I feel like was less of a hit

than most of the 90s Grishams which were so robust I always assumed people thought of it as like mid-tier in every sense

in every categorization and I think it feels like his heart's really in this one. There's something really funny about the list of directors for the core

Grisham movies being Francis Ford Coppola, Alan Pakula, Sidney Pollack, Robert Altman, and then twice Joel Schumacher. Clear out of the way, boys.

I'm taking another bite. Griffin, you've got one more, right? I got one more. This isn't strategic anymore. This is just what do I want to do. I am going to take, in the category of movie lawyer, I'm trying to use this category to pick a movie that I wouldn't otherwise think of as primarily a lawyer movie. That seems valid.

And for that reason, I'm taking Stanley Tucci in Spotlight. Oh. I had it on my long list for drama. Interesting. I do think that is lawyering. It is. It is. And he's an amazing,

he's an incredible lawyer. He's an amazing lawyer. Right. It's sort of the subplot, you know? Yeah. In a way. It's happening on the side of the major character.

Which is primarily a newspaper movie. But in a certain way, I'm just like, if I'm real world thinking about what I want in a lawyer, it's this guy. It's this guy

just fucking world weary, sitting on a bench, eating a sandwich. Mounting a boxes, you know, yeah. Just like, do the work. This is real,

like this is why you invite Blank Check on a pod moment here. This is a very good use of this category and movie also. Yeah. It was,

I was trying to, Hey, I had an under the radar pick too, okay? No one's ever heard of that. You guys are both great. Thank you. I was trying to

guess which categories were going to come into play and movie lawyer was such a swerve. It's a good one. That it shook me up into don't just use it as a bonus to pick your favorite

lead character in a lawyer movie. Right. Pick me up into don't just use it as a bonus to pick your favorite lead character in a lawyer movie. Pick a lawyer you love. Yeah. And I think this is Tucci's best performance. It might be. Yeah.

That's actually an interesting question. What is Tucci's best performance? He's really incredibly good in Julia versus Julia. It's Julia and Julia or this. Yeah. Or Devil Wears Prada. Yeah. No, he's great. The whole thing with him though. He gets Julia and Julia or this. Yeah. Or Devil Wears Prada. Yeah, no, he's great

but that's more supporting, you know, he gets... This is supporting in the spotlight. That's true. I should call it Mitchell Garabedian is the name of the character

so I don't credit it as Stanley Tucci although it does feel like he's playing the cultural idea of Stanley Tucci in this movie but I find him very

emotionally impactful in this film in the way that he can only pull off. He wears the case, like on his face. Like you can feel that he's been like steeped in this horrible material for years and like the frustration of like pulling the rock up the hill.

But he's the counterweight to the Ruffalo. They knew and they let it happen. You know, he is like very quietly crushed by it. I was so astonished that he didn't become the supporting actor representative for this movie. But Ruffalo has the big scene and the line that just kills me in Tucci's performance is his final line in the movie,

which I'd argue is the thesis of the whole film, where he just kind of like shrugs and taps Ruffalo on the shoulder and says, like, just keep doing the work. You know? And I think it's that combination

of like he is, as you said, he wears the case, he is so world-weary, he knows what he's up against. He is pretty cynical about what he thinks could possibly be accomplished and that he doesn't stop trying.

I think the best line reading in the movie is when Liev Schreiber goes like that. I have no recollection of that whatsoever. Liev Schreiber is amazing in the movie. Every line reading is only at a frequency dogs can hear or whatever. It's awesome. Okay. I've got two categories open at the moment drama and thriller i've had my i had my number one thriller taken from me so sorry i don't feel good about it

here's a here's a question is anatomy of a murder a thriller i think i think yes i i i do agree that it is a thriller i think there is like a weird noir crime element to it you don't think so i i guess it is formally yeah i think it is i think that's the 1950s version of a thriller i think our definition of a legal thriller changes a lot in the 90s yeah went back right i'm open to your there's like assassins in the 90s. My ruling, I think formally it is. My hesitance was like it's, I don't remember whether David or Griffin just said it is the 50s version of a thriller. You know, which is just like there is some suspense and there is some just like time that passes. But, you know, it's a great film and I think definitionally it counts.

More violence is incurred in Anatomy of a Murder than in The Firm. Yes or no? Yes. Yeah? Yes. Probably. Right? It's got murder in the title.

Yeah, but... Oh. Got me there. The Firm is... Sure. got me there the firm is sure the firm is about mail fraud but it's about mail fraud

covering up what we can only assume were some deaths at the hands of the you know among the other issues I don't know personally

that I would I did not consider Anatomy of a Murder as a thriller it never it never crossed my mind let me reframe it is the events

that transpire in Anatomy of a Murder better or worse than the events that transpire in Anatomy of a Murder better or worse than the events that transpire in JFK? Better? You mean? Better for the country.

Yeah. Yeah, better for the country. If it's allowed, I will take Anatomy of a Murder in Thriller. What? Now you're looking at me plaintively.

Because you're the person who's most likely to say no. It's not allowed. Because you haven't said hateful things. I've already been generous let's turn the tables

would you have said yes if I had said that uh yes but I don't think I would have questioned it it's a pause there

okay I don't think I would have questioned it okay I think the okay here's the thing the ending is what of the movie

and if people haven't seen Anatomy of a Murderer it's a 1959 Otto Preminger kind of courtroom movie slash exploration of Jimmy Stewart's interest in jazz slash a number of other things. Extensive. works for the courtroom movie, you know, for the lawyer kind of figuring out how to best navigate a complicated case about a very violent military man and an action that he takes potentially to protect his wife.

I think the movie has a lot of menace and it has an ending that is pretty upsetting and very cynical, very dark. And it feels like it is of a piece with frankly a lot of the John Grisham movies.

I just, I do wonder whether Anatomy of anatomy of a murder score is pretty menacing. Is anatomy of murder story that menacing? I'm, I w I would argue. Yes. I mean, I, I think because both a murder takes place and there are questions of domestic

violence and the prospect of what this man is capable of. Okay. I would say, you know, this isn't, um man is capable of. Okay. I would say, you know, this isn't, um, well, okay. Okay. How about this? Is the insider a

thriller? Uh, great question. And I thought about this movie. Yes, I think so. I think it's a thriller, but less of a lawyer movie

and anatomy of murder is more of a lawyer movie, but less of a thriller, but I would say both count. Okay. Insider is more of a lawyer movie. And Anatomy of Murder is more of a lawyer movie, but less of a thriller. But I would say both count. Insider is more of a journalism movie. Yeah. Let's walk me through the lawyering.

Well, there's an incredible courtroom scene in the Insider. Bruce McGill. The deposition scene or whatever. Bruce McGill. Bruce McGill and Ben Sandin. Thundering away. That's right. Okay.

That's like one of the best scenes in the movie. And they shut down that whole town and bring the and Vincent. That's right. That's like one of the best scenes in the movie. And they shut down that whole town and like bring the cars in. Okay. So and obviously the kind of the legal disputes are at the heart of the

story and the like legal relationship between a network trying to air something and a company and you know. Right. So it's in the it's in the zone.

Etc. Yeah. Mike. Yeah. Try Mr. Wallace. Right. That's the network's lawyer I think.

Okay. I think. I mean it's a good movie no it's that'd be cool if we just did the good movie draft good movie guys i'm taking kane it's off the board 48 hours how about that that guy went to jail so there was some court involved at one point. Wikipedia describes it as a courtroom drama. However, Criterion.com, a guiding light for this podcast, describes it as a gripping envelope pusher.

So it doesn't use the word thriller, but that's kind of like on the borderline. Take it in envelope pusher. Obviously. That's one of our categories. Is the envelope pushed in this movie? What if I zag again?

Just for the sake of content. Have any of you seen the film Fracture? Yes. Directed by Gregory Hoblet. Sean, don't take Fracture. I'm taking Fracture. I killed my wife. God damn it, dude.

Were you going for Fracture? Ryan Gosling was going to be my lawyer. Oh my God. Wow. We did it. Jesus. I should have just let you have fucking anatomy

of a murder these Gen Z's you get what you deserve you get what you deserve you needled me a little bit too much a little too much I will say

I made a giant letterboxd list of lawyer movies and then I sorted by popularity and Fracture was the highest one that I had not seen

so Fracture was high on my list I had not seen. So Fracture was high on my list of gotta watch. It's really good. Is that Gregory Hoblet? Gregory Hoblet. Gregory Hoblet has two films taken in this draft.

This is a 2007 movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. A real, a very twisty movie. Very entertaining. Excellent Ryan Gosling performance. Okay.

That's my thriller. That's funny that you're going to take Ryan Gosling. It was just going to be a bit. Yeah. God, I lost out on Satan and Ryan Gosling. It's really tough. Who is it? Is it me?

Yeah, it's me. I'm going to just take a fave at this point. In comedy, I'm taking Intolerable Cruelty. Wow. That's my backup option. Amanda cut legally. There are bigger comedies here that I thought about

that are important to me, but this is one of my favorite Coen Brothers movies, even though it is one of their least heralded, I think. And it is an incredibly funny satire of lawyering. Like, it is one of the most

lawyer-y movies we are taking. It is all about the skill of writing prenuptial agreements. Lawyering as a game. Yes. Like, using the law, gaming it out

to your advantage. I think it is one of Clooney's most unbelievably funny performances. And I always am shouting from the rooftops how good Intolerable Cruelty is.

So I'm taking it. I'll tell you, like, he's not good at his job, but in terms of my favorite performances of someone playing a lawyer. Paul Adelstein? Richard Jenkins. Oh, Jenkins is really good.

Yes, yes. Jenkins is really funny in that movie. There's one artifact of this movie that I love, which is Clooney's co-counsel in the film. Adelstein, Paul Adelstein. When he's sitting tennis court side He's, you know, co-counsel in the film. Adelstein. Paul Adelstein. Yeah. When he's sitting tennis court side and is wearing a t-shirt that says objection exclamation point. Which I would love to own that t-shirt.

Intangible cruelty is considered by most of the Coen bros heads as near the bottom of the list. Yeah, they can jump in a lake. They're wrong. Yes. There's a subset that think it is a masterpiece. Okay.

It's so good. So you guys both like it. Yeah, and it's become... I'm half taking it because I was worried Griffin was going to take it. But I guess you already took Legally Blonde.

Yeah. No, it was between those two for me. The only reason I took Legally Blonde over in Talbot Cruelty, even though I think Legally Blonde is probably better, is that I knew no one

would support that when it comes to the public vote. It's not going to be a popular pick. I've largely been appealing to the public, I think, a little bit, but I'm going to take Talbot Cruelty. But it is a movie I watch like once a year now, and it jumps up in estimation every time I re-watch it. I feel like it's the closest

the Coens ever came to doing a full Preston Sturgis movie. Absolutely. As much as that influence goes into other films of theirs. And it has the like classic screwball comedy thing

I love of basically the plot changes every 15 minutes. It runs out of conflict and just shifts into something different. Billy Bob Thornton. Amazing. To some people it's very frustrating. Cedric of conflict and just shifts into something different. Billy Bob Thornton. Amazing.

To some people, it's very frustrating. Cedric the Entertainer is so good in it. There's a great bit. Everyone's great in it. Great bit with an inhaler. Yes.

That pays off really well. Edward Herman. Edward Herman is a horny, train-obsessed billionaire. Train fetishist, I would almost say. Yeah. Great movie.

Okay. Chris, is it my turn? I believe so. All right. In drama, I'm going to go with one that I actually have watched, great movie okay Chris is it my turn I believe so alright in drama I'm gonna go with one that I actually have watched rewatched

relatively recently and the final courtroom scene is like as great as any cathartic it's almost like

the end of a sports film and it's in the name of the father I thought about this one this is a good movie when Emma Thompson is just like that's just like explain this shit and they can't and tom wilkinson's like oh no and then daniel day lewis just like walks over

the entire crowd to get outside start screaming about his dad it's just like that's heaven right there but it's like the it's i just wanted to also have a little bit of representation for my my my english people wearing the wigs doing the barristering yeah not enough not enough english courtroom uh dramas there's a big one out there that we haven't heard from yet and maybe we won't you mean sort of a classic heavyweight in this particular category sure barristers yeah uh oh yeah well maybe i'm thinking a different of a different one okay but it's also english we you know took some shots at the french court system but the british system is also yeah where would you rather be tried france or england i'd rather not be on the record about this just in case something terrible happens during my next European jaunt

they both seem to be sound they seem to be working very well as if the American legal system is working for anyone no it's true it's just

no it's we just got air conditioning yeah so I'll go in the name of the father for now okay great movie it's me and it's my last two picks

oh my goodness I know what are your categories comedy and lawyer oh and i have i have several options in both and i have to be honest i'm really proud of my list of of lawyers that i came up with i just i think they're all funny um and i like all my comedies too feel free to share as many as you as you like i think and david i think you'll appreciate this the comedy i'm not going to take but i could have happily drafted and and i 98 stand behind is uh two weeks notice

uh starring q grant and sandra bullock i thought about this. Yeah. And Sandra Bullock would be also on my list of possible lawyers. She's just, she's very task oriented. And I like her politics. And at the end of the day, they saved the community rec center, you know? Hugh Grant says Pokemon in this movie. There is one issue. Donald Trump has a cameo in this film. When I said I 90% stand behind it, the 2% is the Donald Trump cameo.

Did he write and direct this as well? Yes. It is a hammer blow in an otherwise perfect film. They have wonderful chemistry. It's very... Sandra Bullock gets diarrhea on the BQE. Hubert and Sandra Bullock.

You know, I would say that some of the workplace relationship politics aren't ideal, But that's... It was 2002. It's 2002. It's a romantic comedy. Sean, you're time to kill. You don't have to worry about it.

You don't have to apologize for workplace dynamics of two weeks. Does Donald Trump say, yes, they deserve to die and I hope they burn in hell in this film? No. On the stand. All right. So the comedy I am going to take is Miracle on 34th street the 1947 the original of course uh which is one of the funniest movies of all time it's about santa on trial it's a christmas comedy it counts i'm not no it's certainly not a drama yeah and it's it it is funny and yes, you know, Santa's real.

I love that movie. It was on our courtroom list. It was. Yeah, the last part of it. The OG version, you're saying. Yeah, the OG version. Come on. Absolutely.

The Attenborough version is pretty bad. Yeah, no, no, no. I'm not taking that. And then that leaves room. So here are some of the lawyers I didn't pick. I asked my father who is a lawyer for his favorite movie lawyers. Wait, are you,

I still have one more to go. Yeah, but I don't, I do too. Oh, so you haven't picked your lawyer yet. Yeah. Okay.

Sorry. And you know, so my dad, Atticus Finch was on his lens list. Paul Newman and the verdict was on his list. Paul Newman in The Verdict was on his list. Sure. And then, I guess I shouldn't. I guess.

Should I mention things that still haven't been picked? It's entirely up to you. I mean, I guess I don't really care. Crystal has to pick in this category. Okay. Because the only thing. Go ahead. So, my dad endorses Tom Hanks in Bridge of Spies.

Uh-huh. Oh, wow. Yeah. That was the first one on his list. And then he has a note here about how this is one of the only Steven Spielberg movies

he likes. So I just, I really. Also, you have to imagine that Tom Hanks in Bridge of Spies probably has a lot of room to grow because he has a cold

the entire movie. Yeah. Because you imagine how good he would be if he didn't have a cold. It's a great point. It he has a cold the entire movie. Yeah. Because you imagine how good he would be if he didn't have a cold. It's a great point. It's him practicing with batting weights. Yeah.

If we were taking guys having a cold in a movie, that is the first pick off the board. Yeah. He has the most profound cold in that movie. Yeah, it's like he committed to it early on and he was like, what if I had a cold this entire film? And Spielberg's like,

I don't give a shit. I'm just doing this over here. You know, like... I do need to circle back on your father's takes on Spielberg. Listen, it don't give a shit. I'm just doing this over here. You know, like. I do need to circle back on your father's takes on Spielberg. Listen, it's, he started it

the last time he was here and he, I think it was because he, when he was flying here from Atlanta to visit me, he started the Fablements and he did not respond to the first 10 minutes

of Fablements on the airplane and then walked into my house and was like, has Steven Spielberg ever made a good movie? And Zach and I were like, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

We did it. You don't need to put me on trial right now. I know. And then to my dad's credit, he was like, oh yeah, okay. And then just went off and did his thing. You could make the case it's been a tricky century for Steven.

I wouldn't make that case, but you could make the case. I liked The Fablemans. I told him as much. He tried watching it again on the way home and reported back that he did not enjoy The Fablemans. The Fablemans is fucking amazing. It's incredible. Yeah, your dad is a buffoon. I agree with you on this one.

But he knows he's wrong. You know what? My dad's really good at hot takes. Okay. That's true. So another, the first person that came to mind when you said this category, and I think like in real life, if I'm in any kind of trouble, probably the person I'm calling is Tanner Bolt, aka Tyler Perry in Gone Girl.

I do sort of functionally think like that's the best choice that's great wow that is such a good pick do not deviate well I mean

that's so good commit commit he seems like the most practical and is like taking on Ben Affleck who's in a lot of trouble

and I guess he doesn't really get him out of it but it works out he's at a minimum minimum captivating in that movie for 18 minutes. And he's a port in a storm. Yeah.

Is he a port in a storm in that movie? No, because she finally... She shows up. Yeah, she shows up. She reemerges. It's incredible cross promo because Blind Check is covering David Fincher right now. We sure are.

We're recording Gone Girl on Friday. We're covering Tyler Perry next. This is a good place to announce that. We will not be covering Tyler Perry's directorial career. That'll be a quick 40 weeks. I didn't think that Gone Girl was going to get taken off the board. Because that's, to Griffin's spotlight pick, that's one where that's actually not really a legal movie. This is the category to take it, if you're going to take it.

Some legal issues. It's some law enforcement for sure um but if that were gone somehow i thought also that it could be funny to draft ruth bader ginsburg from on the basis of sex yeah which i just you know that's important i i would love for you just for voting purposes to swap that in i want to be clear that on the basis of sex focuses on her trial work and not the political decisions at the end of her career. And also her marriage to Armie Hammer.

Well, alright, I forgot about that. But he's not really... Was Ruth Bader Ginsburg in real life married to Armie Hammer? Yes. Okay. That was one of her poor end of career decisions. I was just saying that I thought, you know,

in a pinch I could do that. So this is honestly Wait, did you pick your lawyer yet? I'm picking my lawyer now. Okay. I just wanted everyone Wait, you're not going

with Tanner Bold? Oh, that was a great call. I love that. The one I'm actually doing is also a good one. And it's like a little The wind up here is unbelievable.

It's a little cute, but I think that it's good. Amanda Bonner, Amanda Bonner, aka Katherine Hepburn from Adam's Rib. Oh, that's good. Which is good. And it's an iconic legal movie. Exactly, an iconic legal movie. And I also, I think that this is like a good practical lawyer choice.

Like her casework is good. And in fact, when we did our courtroom dramas, we didn't include this, I guess, because it's a romantic comedy or a comedy. Right. I heard from lawyers being like, no, actually, like, that is. Oh, interesting. She is. I haven't seen that in a long time. Yeah, because, I mean.

That's her against Spencer? Like, they're opposing counsel. They're married and they're opposing counsel. And she's defending the wife who shot her husband. Okay. Because he was having an affair and she turns it into this big hoopla spectacle, battle of the sexes type thing. But in terms of distraction and courtroom antics

and all the sorts of things that she does to eventually, spoiler alert, win the trial, she's a good lawyer. I had a take that Spencer Tracy is the king of the courtroom movie. Yeah. Between Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, Adam's Rib. He's got really the murderer's row.

Yeah. No, I was going to take that next. Oh, well, go ahead. No, it's okay. I mean, take whatever. Are you up next? Yeah, I am. Yeah, you are.

Yeah, I'll take. Well, I'll do co-counsel. Just what the hell. Okay. I'm going to take Clarence Darrow, both fictional Sparrow Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind and Orson Welles in Compulsion. Well, you got to choose.

Well, I'll do Spencer Tracy. You don't want Kevin Spacey in the film Darrow? He also played Clarence Darrow. Already a lot of Kevin Spacey representation here. Backbench that guy. Yeah, maybe he can sit in the gallery. Those are very different representationsareth Darrow. Gareth Darrow. Already a lot of Kevin Spacey representation here. Backbench that guy. Yeah, maybe he can sit in the gallery. Those are very different representations of Darrow.

Compulsion, which I just saw for the first time during the pandemic. I don't know if you guys have seen that. Yeah. That's the Leopold and Loeb trial. Yeah.

And, of course, Inherit the Wind. Yeah. The Oscopes Monkey trial. So I'll go with, I'll take, I'll take Spencer Tracy

in Inherit the Wind. That's just an amazing movie. Incredibly entertaining movie. That was also on my dad's list. So now you need to apologize to Steven Spielberg. Gene Kelly as the yellow journalist in that movie. Is that like an accurate representation? He's playing Mencken, isn't he?

No, I thought he's playing a journalist. He's playing a version of Mencken. Is he playing H.L. Mencken? Yeah. Okay. It's not Mencken. It's the same way. It's like William Jennings Bryant.

It's not him, but it is. It's Clarence Darrow, but it's not. It's Mencken, but it's not. Right, right, right. Oh, they're not actually playing the real people in the movie? I don't even remember that. It's like fictionalized. Henry Drummond patterned after Clarence Darrow, according to Wikipedia.

Good pick. I like that movie a lot. Should I also say some of the other lawyers that I was thinking of going with? Why not? Teddy from Jagged Edge. Yeah, I can't believe

it was on my list for Thriller. Because we would probably spark an affair, candidly. Yeah. You know? She seems enticed by my guilt. Yeah. And then also

would you fall into that trap if I was a rambunctious heir of a fortune running the San Francisco Chronicle as Jeff Bridges is in Jagged Ridge

I think I'd take a shot at it yeah and also I would go with Matthew McConaughey and the Lincoln lawyer that was my runner-up okay he is an amazing lawyer uh mick mick haller i believe is his name and just he knows the hell's angels

he like knows everybody i think more people should do their business from the backseat of their cars like ryan philippi basically immediately tells him, I am guilty. He still gets him off. Yeah. And then manages to get him in trouble anyway. He does it all, all from the back of a car. If we're listing off runner-ups in the lawyer category, I wasn't sure if this was kosher, but my backup pick was Vin Diesel in Find Me Guilty representing himself. That was in my comedy long list.

Incredible. It's a really good movie. I like that movie a lot. He's a gangster, not a gangster. It's an incredible film. How long does that case go on for? Isn't it like three years? It was the longest

running criminal trial in history, I think, was the stat about it. Yeah. Something like that. It's a fun movie. It's me. It's you, Sims.

Yeah, okay. I have Oscar winner and I'm torn between two. I'm going to take Chicago in Oscar winner. Interesting. Which I do think is an important lawyer and courtroom movie in that, again, it is having fun with the genre, singing songs about the razzle dazzle, and Richard Gere doing puppetry and things like that. I know it's also a crime movie and a journalism movie and a big brassy musical,

but it is about the courtroom. Like, that's what it's about, right? Like, about how you play the game inside and out the courtroom. Yes. And obviously, it's a major Oscar winner. I'm sort of sad I'm not taking another movie here, but I think Chicago is the broader play.

So I'm going to take it. I have not watched Chicago since it was released. Nor have I. Me neither. It's winning, guys. It's a charming film. Why are all of that filmmaker's other films absolutely dreadful? Because he...

Chicago, he shot on a soundstage like he... And made the choreography the star of the movie, which he's good at. And then every other movie, he either tries to do that again and it looks insane or he doesn't do that and it looks insane. He's the worst director.

Is that the... Nine. Yeah. Nine, which is a great musical. And he was like, I'm thinking it kind of looks like Chicago. And you're like,

no, buddy. You can't just do that again. It's like La Dolce Vita. What are you doing? Right. It might be both a case of someone who had one set of skills that applied... He had one idea. Right. It might be both a case of someone who had one set of skills.

He had one idea. Right. He had one idea that one time applied to the right material. I also think it's maybe a case of that guy winning best picture that early in his career broke him forever. Because the thing I will stand for is right before Chicago, he does an ABC TV remake of Annie that is rock solid. Is incredibly good. Arguably better than the Houston film.

But then I think once he was lauded as some sort of visionary, he never made a good decision as a director ever. He's the worst working director in Hollywood, but Chicago rules. I don't know what to tell you. He's gotten so many bites at the biggest apples. Well, his movies make money.

Yeah. Sort of. It sucks that they're all successful, even if they all cost absurd amounts of money. I mean, he immediately follows the incredible success of Chicago with Memoirs of a Geisha.

Yeah. That's tough, yeah. No one emerged a winner there. No. He then directs Nine, disaster. No. He then directs Nine, disaster. Bad. He then directs Pirates on Stranger Tides, bad. One of the worst films ever made.

He then directs Into the Woods, awful. I don't even want to talk about that. He then directs Mary Poppins Returns, terrible. So bad. And then he directed this year's The Little Mermaid, which is also terrible. What? I really think that this is a great bit for you is to go through someone's IMDb and be like, awful.

Terrible. I mean, it is my job. Movie jail. Put the jail on top of him. He seems like a nice man. I'm sure he's a great guy. Everyone likes working with him and for him. What if Rob Marshall was Amanda's dad?

The most damning thing you can say about him is he directed Daniel Day-Lewis' only bad performance. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. He is the only guy to get a bad, rotten performance out of Daniel Day-Lewis. People seem to really love him, and he attracts incredible casts,

and he consistently aligns with the biggest possible IP in the universe and then continues to degrade it even further than it already degraded us. Not a fan. Yeah, me neither. What's your pick? Yeah, what's your pick?

I'm going to take Anatomy for Murder, which is a movie I wanted to take before, but I'm going to take it in drama now. Great story. Well, you got it.

Very pleased to have gotten it. I already explained it. We can just keep it moving. Are you glad you grilled me on that and then I took Fracture from you? Worked out great. Would you have taken Fracture and Drama? No.

Well, that to me is a pure thriller. Fracture. Because you are on the edge of your seat. Like, what's going to happen here? Does Anthony Hopkins play like a Marvel game to be like, here's how I manipulate everybody? I think so. Yeah, that sounds right.

On the nose about it. And then we've got one final pick for Griffin here. I thought Amanda was about to take it off the board, but I'm pulling

Bridge of Spies and Drama. Okay. Okay. I don't even remember that being a movie about a lawyer. Well, he's a lawyer. He's being asked

to negotiate a prisoner exchange, but he is a lawyer and it's like everyone deserves a yes well this is what i love about it i think he's like everybody the bill of rights written by amanda yes he's he'll because what earlier he defends Mark Rylance's character right

because no one else will you are not putting the screws to him about Birds of Spies are you no no no I'm looking

I was trying to remember because Rylance obviously won the Oscar for this performance I just watched Sly the new Sylvester Stallone documentary

that is coming to Netflix in a couple of weeks lost to Rylance and he lost to Rylance for his performance in Creed and like obviously Mark Rylance is incredible but this performance is like kind of him like stitching buttons and like quietly twiddling his thumbs like it's a very quiet performance yes he's really good performances never win in this category no this is the shouting category so it's very strange that you know Rocky going full Rocky to support Adonis Creed

and he lost I don't know it's tough it's almost like maybe Sylvester Stallone was the most difficult man to work with in Hollywood for 20 years

can we sidebar this for a second sorry that is always my theory and it's my same feeling about Eddie Murphy losing the Oscar to everyone's surprise

is like they win all these precursors where the people voting for them are all contemporaries like co-stars who had probably better relations with him

or press critics and then you get to the category where everyone in every technical branch gets to vote. Yeah and they're like yeah I missed

like dinner with my kid for five weeks because that guy wouldn't come out of his trailer. These guys always lose when they get to the final vote. Yeah, the ultimate test. But I think Donovan is like the great idealistic movie lawyer of like a man who actually believes in the positive power of the law and feels the responsibility to wield that power

with morality. Also, does any lawyer go further? He goes all the way to Berlin? I'm not saying... He goes all the way to that bridge. The guy's on a bridge. He goes so hard for his clients. He really does.

I like this movie, and all I remember thinks of as a traitor in a way. I like this movie, and all I remember is the bridge and everything being a little gray. I believe Kevin Clark, many years ago on this pod, was like, that's the ultimate dad movie. Yes, it is. It is. Incredible dad energy. But it's very good. It rocks.

It rocks. I love it. It's like top-tier Spielberg for me. It's top-tier Hanks for me. We did an episode on it. You guys can listen to us. It's just us. It's maybe our rowdiest episode. We're just screaming the whole time about how good it is. Yes did an episode on it. You guys can listen to us. It's just us. It's maybe our rowdiest episode.

We're just screaming the whole time about how good it is. Yes. It rocks and rolls. We're like doing the opposite of its energy. Yeah. I just want to say I was thinking of taking

Reversal of Fortune and Oscar winner and I didn't because I feel like Alan Dershowitz has ruined that movie. I love Reversal of Fortune. Jeez. I thought of... So are we doing like what you thought about? Yeah. I'm in my what if. Jeez. I thought of, are we doing like what you thought about?

Yeah. I'm in my what if stage now. I thought about it. I thought about it. Yeah. The Dent Act was really good law because it made crime illegal.

Crime was banned. You know, only after the Dent Act was passed could you not commit crime. We've made this point before. I thought about Age of Ultron because the Sokovia Accords came out of Age of Ultron.

You have to save that for the legislative episode of this show. That's where that will come up. The Sokovia Accords definitely had some holes also. I don't know. I think there were

some problems there. What other honorable mentions do people want to cite? My backup in drama and I think I'm holding myself to the I don't think it's enough of a lawyer movie even though

in a post Sean Draft social network I think it would have been an okay pick. Margaret is my favorite film in the last 15 years. That is very much a legal movie. Is it? Yeah, because it's all about the settlement of the case of Allison Janney's death.

That would have been an incredible take if you had dropped that one in. I was close to doing it. I was close to doing it. And if Amanda had taken Donovan in Lawyer, I would have pulled that. It has lawyer characters in it. And it's mostly, it is the law from the point of view of civilian more than it is a lawyer movie but it is about a case and lawyers and how the whole system works i didn't want to take it really and maybe no one did but i'm sort of surprised kramer versus kramer went on take it

was my backup you know and well and i was going between it and marriage story and then marriage story just i don't know i saw it as a grown-up so i related to it more i guess a couple others to throw out uh a man for all seasons yeah is that the british one that you were referencing yeah i had two that it was that one and a fish called wanda were the two you know please plays a barrister yeah um paper chase i had it on my list too yeah you know i've never seen the paper a barrister in that movie Paper Chase I had it on my list too you know I've never seen the Paper Chase I should watch that movie

it's really good yeah and uh Civil Action uh yeah I love I love a Civil Action I only didn't take it

because I feel like no one remembers that movie but that is a prime you know it's shot by Conrad L. Hall it looks amazing Robert Duvall is just crushing it

as the opposite lawyer. Is that Tarot? Or who did the book for that? Who did the book? I don't know if I've seen this movie. Oh, it's Steven Zalian movie. I don't think I've ever seen this. It's basically like

Sirius Aaron Brockovich. The company poisoned the town. Jonathan Haar did the book. Okay. Did you like Dark Waters? I loved it. Dark Waters is amazing I think it's really really good

I think no one saw it so it's a little hard to track I saw it I didn't see it I saw it I think you would really like it

Chris Chris you would eat Dark Waters up with a knife maybe I'll fire Dark Waters up tonight it's not

they knew and they let it happen though like it's kind of the emotional inverse of that where it's like yeah it

it's the pile of boxes yeah there's a pile of boxes yeah there's a lot of legal review which I know troubled you in the early stages of Better Call Saul

so just keep that in mind I think that was more because I was methadoning off of the end of Breaking Bad and then they were like we're gonna put

post-its on the windows for a while and I was like you guys need to get some meth in the show now where is Gus?

Wait, what else did I have? The movie I'm astonished you didn't take is Matter of Life and Death. I just decided that was too niche. The Powell Pressburger movie.

Obviously, that has a trial in heaven. Yes. Very connected to Defending Your Life. Yes. And is one of my,

was on my sight and sound top ten. It's like one of my favorite movies ever. Legally, to me, Liar Liar. I was surprised Liar Liar didn't come up for you given the enthusiasm. Liar Liar was my other comedy.

Liar Liar has good courtroom stuff. Yeah. It's actually, the non-courtroom stuff is kind of boring and the courtroom stuff is all gold. Yeah. Jennifer Tilly, love that performance. I feel the need

to stump briefly because I think it caught some strays in the Denzel draft. Yeah. Roman J. Israel is a movie that David and I

both stumped for. We both like Roman J. Israel. That's a great movie. Is it a great movie, guys? Yeah. It's a really good movie. Yup. Yup.

It's a really good movie it's a really good movie I strongly encourage people to give another spin and I think in my canon of movies where someone gets out of the law right before they lose their soul it is a fascinating a guy who has

lived within the law to his own detriment for so long decides to try slipping morally for so long decides to try slipping morally for a second and it causes such damage

that he can never get out of it. It is like an incredibly dark film. Great movie. Yeah. Quite surreal though. I cannot deny.

It's a bizarre film. It's a little weird that I drafted Fracture but there's that like Witness for the Prosecution was not drafted. Witness for the Prosecution was not drafted

Witness for the Prosecution is the other British one I was thinking oh that's right yeah it was also on my list I don't know if that's a thriller that's more of a drama too

no more drama again kind of like an ur text for what we know the Bogart came there's a couple of classics the one the personal

favorite of mine that I haven't seen in a really long time but that I loved when I was a kid was The People vs of mine that I haven't seen in a really long time, but that I loved when I was a kid was The People vs. Larry Flynn. I also think it's a

really good courtroom movie, really good lawyer movie. And Norton in that movie would have been a good movie lawyer to draft. I like that movie.

It was on my long list. I watched Judgment at Nuremberg, which I'd never seen for this. And then I, that has just so many amazing testimony performances. Yeah. performances like you know like

montgomery clift and judy garland and all like those people just coming in for 10 minutes and being incredible on the stand and snagging an oscar nom it's a really really good movie that's a that was one of the first movies i ever watched where like i started it at 1 30 in the morning and i was like i gotta finish it and i just stayed up till 4 a.m um that movie i watched it and i was like this is what Oppenheimer is. Like making people talking incredibly compelling and having a cast of 50. About a world historical event.

Yeah, for sure. Guys, this was fun. Wait, I have one more question. I have to know. If I had picked the last duel, would that have been allowed? There's no lawyers. Not a lawyer.

It's a trial. It's a trial. They are lawyering though. their in their own defense even though their lawyering is like you definitely had an orgasm every time we had sex do you agree like things like that it's pretty upsetting lawyering it's like yes pre-legal system but yeah yeah yeah okay who was right in that one it's a hard pass what do you think was the right no okay i'm out did did damon was was he in the right did driver get railroaded what happened was adam driver in the last duel the original oj anybody want to weigh in did the chain mail fit okay whatever forget it this was very fun um

blank check one of my favorite podcasts, guys. Thanks so much for doing this. Should we recap what we picked? Long time coming. Yes, we should, actually. Thanks for reminding me, Chris. Chris, why don't you start? Why don't you tell us what you picked? Oh, okay.

In drama, I picked In the Name of the Father, Jim Sheridan movie. In comedy, Defending Your Life. In thriller, Primal Fear. In Oscar winner,

JFK. My movie lawyer is Henry Drummond from Inherit the Wind. And my John Grisham is Pelican Brief. Griffin, what'd you get? I got five of my big six that I came in aiming for. I got Michael Clayton in Thriller. Thank you.

Philadelphia in Oscar winner. Legally Blonde in Comedy. Rainmaker in Grisham. I took Stanley Tucci in Spotlight for my movie Lawyer and then Bridge of Spies in drama. Amanda? In drama, I took Marriage Story in comedy. I took the original Miracle on 34th Street. Thriller, I got Presumed Innocent.

Oscar winner, Erin Brockovich. Lawyer, Amanda Bonner, aka Catherine Hepburn from Adam's Rib. And Grisham, The Client. And in drama, I got Anatomy of a Murder. In comedy, I got My Cousin Vinny. In thriller, I got Fracture. In Oscar winner, I got The Social Network, which is definitely a lawyer movie.

In movie lawyer, I got Lieutenant Daniel Caffey and A Few Good Men. And for John Grisham adaptation, I got A Time to Kill, which is definitely a movie that is good and everyone agrees. With no issues. And everyone agrees with no issues. And everyone likes it and feels it's an adequate representation of life in the

South. Um, wait, that didn't do me. Wait, David, I'm sorry. It's fine.

Uh, drama. I got the verdict comedy. I took intolerable cruelty, uh, thriller. I had the devil's advocate Grisham. I had the Devil's Advocate Grisham I had The Firm

Oscar winner I had Chicago and lawyer I had Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird was this successful? yeah this is fun I feel pretty good

who won? I feel exhausted who won? it's like two months of stress that's finally left my body I kept expecting my Apple Watch to give me like a heartbeat alert

or whatever you know when it does that yeah I was on edge, but this was incredibly rewarding. This record had legal thriller energy

and the mounting tension solely from conversation. Yeah. A lot of points of order. A lot of manipulating of loopholes in the law. You didn't give me any.

I'm warning you, counselor. You're on thin ice. This better go somewhere. Guys, this was a lot of fun. Thank you for doing it. Thank you for having us.

Listen to Blank Check. Listen to the big picture. What are we doing next on this show? We're recording out of order so I don't, I didn't mean for that to be a pun.

Hey. What are we doing next? What's next? Five Nights at Freddy's app? Like, what are you doing? We're having another guest who will be in the studio in Brooklyn again.

Oh, that's exciting. Yeah, blank check legend Alex Ross Perry coming back on the show. Oh, well, great because that'll be a short one then. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out

I'm trying to figure out a way to more effectively gamify the Academy Awards race this year for Amanda and I. You guys are Oscar experts as well. Sure. Well, maybe we'll sidebar about it. I don't want to reveal too much.

I'm interested in whatever you're cooking up in your crazy lab. I'll say that. I assume ARP is coming on to do 20th anniversary look back at League of

Extraordinary Gentlemen. Yeah. He's been pitching it pretty hard and I've told him I've not seen that film and that's where it will stand.

He told me to pitch it to you as well. I can tell you've not seen that film because anyone who sees that film goes blind. It's so terrible. David Sims, Griffin Newman, thank you guys.

Thanks to our producer, Bobby Wagner, for his work on this episode. We'll see you later this week. you