For a while, “Spider-Man 2” was considered the high water mark for superhero movies - but does it hold up 14 years deep into the MCU? We’ve got two words for you - ALFRED MOLINA. Self-professed “Blank Check rabble rouser” Chris Gethard returns to the pod (and apologizes to the Blankie Community) as we trace the history and legacy of this iconic Spidey sequel. We love this movie so much, David doesn’t even care that the subway sequence isn’t accurate to New York! Other topics covered - why Aunt May should always be elderly and fragile, Tobey’s near-firing from the franchise, Mr Ditkovich Memes, our comic book villain rankings, and more!

Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram!
Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com

Spider - Man 2 With Chris Gethard

If “Spider-Man 2” had the reputation of being the greatest superhero movie of all time, “Spider-Man 3” had the inverse - a bloated mess with too many villains, and a very goofy Peter Parker going to the darkside, if by “darkside” you mean a trip to Men’s Warehouse and Hot Topic. But is that reputation justified? We’re gonna air on the side of…not REALLY. Notable Spidey 3 defender Jamelle Bouie (The New York Times, his podcast “Clear and Present Danger”) returns to Blank Check to praise this film’s focus on interpersonal relationships and quiet character moments. What else do we like? Griffin likes the “Editor’s Cut” (on Amazon Prime!). Ben *obviously* loves The Sandman. We all can agree that the much-memed sidewalk strut and jazz club sequences are a ton of fun. What doesn’t work? Let’s just say we have some issues with a lil guy named VENOM.

Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram!
Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com

Spider - Man 3 With Jamelle Bouie

It certainly feels great to cover a good movie again! Our mini-run of new releases ends with Gina Prince-Bythewood’s crowd-pleaser - the African female warrior epic “The Woman King”. We’ve got David’s exclusive report on the film’s world premiere at TIFF (humblebrag), a deep dive on the career of Viola Davis (did you know her early industry champions were Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney?), and some thoughts on how this film taps into Prince-Bythewood’s ongoing exploration of chosen families and personal identity.

Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram!
Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com or at teepublic.com/stores/blank-check

The Woman King

Open the pod cast doors, HAL - it’s time for us to talk about one of the most important movies in cinema history. Jordan Hoffman - the friend of the pod who best represents both the “diamond-hard Sci Fi” and psychedelic head-trip factions of 2001 fandom - returns to Blank Check, and we’re doling out the knowledge *and* the giggles. When is the ideal moment to “partake” in order to get the trippiest experience from 2001? Is Griffin starting to change his mind about Kubrick not being funny? Do Arthur C. Clark and Dr. Evil buy their jackets from the same tailor? Is this movie actually all about dick jokes? 

Check out Jordan’s writing on Thrillist

Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram!
Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com or at teepublic.com/stores/blank-check

2001: A Space Odyssey With Jordan Hoffman

Disquiet Junto Project 0575: On Ice
The Assignment: Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something with it.

I always wanted to do the ice project, but year for year I missed it because of … reasons. Last year I even build a diy hydrophone (see here https://www.instagram.com/p/CXoJtm5tR_w/ ) for this project (and missed it again). Now I tried to melt the ice with the frozen contact mic inside, and record it 'from inside'.

I made some videos: In the “red part” of the video I hoped to create (and record) a crack in the ice, in the “ice inside a glass” part you may even see the bubbles of noises you will hear in my track (not in the video, it's meta only): https://www.instagram.com/p/CnFbiOiNIV3/

The results were … unspectacular. By whatsoever reason the ice didn't click or make interesting noises and because I had to amplify the signal from the contact mic of the hydrophone, there was a lot of noise and hum in the Zoom H5 recording. 

I used a 1 minute sample from the recordings, reduced the noises and the hum and tried to isolate the sound of the slowly melting ice, which was a sound between cooking water, eating popcorn, burning wood. It didn't work well, because the noise frequencies were mostly on the same range. But you can hear them in the background noise floor, which I doubled time-displaced for having stereo. I added some Supermassive FX, because it worked.

I could have lived with that alone, but decided to add some bass. Fortunately there was the f…ing 50Hz AC humming in the recording, which I had filtered for the melting ice noise tracks – and which I amplified for the bass track. Maybe not the most interesting bass lick, but I liked it for its endurance. 

I used another, unfiltered version of the sample to add rhythmic elements with the help of Audiomoderns Stepfilter and Gatelab plugins, which are always nice for something like that, and here I used two instances with different speeds (1/4, 1/8T) for creating some unexpectedness.

I think I clearly failed recording "ice in a glass". Next try next new years eve … but I really like the resulting track, because all is made with a single noisy humming 1 minute recording sample. If someone wants to add some solo or remix it – be my guest ;-) 

---

More on this 575th weekly Disquiet Junto project — On Ice (The Assignment: Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something with it) — at: https://disquiet.com/0575/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0575-on-ice/

Krakenkraft On Ice [disquiet0575]

A pelican, living as a fresco on the facade of a house, far from its natural habitat. He dreams of getting away from the traffic, into nature.

This track has a meaning and a raison d'être of its own - but is intended as first part of an asynchronous trio as proposed by the Disquiet Junto Project 0591:



More on this 591st weekly Disquiet Junto project, The Loneliest Number (The Assignment: Record the first third of a trio), at: https://disquiet.com/0591/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/ 1

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co 1: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0591-the-loneliest-number/

The Loneliest Pelican (Disquiet0591)

More on this 593rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, The Charm (The Assignment: Complete an asynchronous trio begun by two other musicians), at: https://disquiet.com/0593/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0593-the-charm/

HalF Feedback (disquiet0593) With Campos And Half Unusual

Jacamars

Rachel Sanders (Buzzfeed) joins Griffin and David to discuss James Cameron’s 1984 game changing action sci-fi, The Terminator. But why did this movie become a model for major studios for the next 30+ years? How has the special effects aged? What happened to Pugsley the iguana and did he continue to work in Hollywood? Together they examine the outstanding performances of Hamilton, Schwarzenegger and Biehn, the weird sex scene, Cameron’s many marriages and O.J. Simpson rumored as a potential Terminator.

Blank Check with Griffin & David

The Terminator with Rachel Sanders

Griffin and David this week discuss the second film in Nolan’s Batman Trilogy, The Dark Knight. How was Michael Mann’s Heat an influence on this movie? What does Commissioner Gordon mean by “playing it close to the vest?” Also, why so serious? Together they examine the electrifying performance of Heath Ledger, Nolan’s love for temporalities, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes and why the Academy Award for Best Picture category changes after this movie comes out.

The Dark Knight

In the final days of 2020, Blank Check enters Zemeckis' motion capture technology period with The Polar Express. Joey Sims joins as we discuss the nuance of the Train Conductor character, North Pole logic and delve into everyone's personal relationship to the holiday season and Christmas.

Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck
Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram!
Buy some real nerdy merch @ shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com

The Polar Express With Joey Sims

Not just another bad movie podcast, Blank Check reviews directors' complete filmographies episode to episode. Specifically, the auteurs whose early successes afforded them the rare ‘blank check’ from Hollywood to produce passion projects. Each new miniseries, hosts Griffin Newman and David Sims delve into the works of film’s most outsized personalities in painstakingly hilarious detail. Produced by Ben Hosley.

The Terminator with Rachel Sanders

Blank Check Podcast

Related tracks