Kevin Smith

Thirty-six floors. Thirteen (fake) terrorists. One perfect action movie. Kevin Smith - who was in a Die Hard movie AND directed Alan Rickman in DOGMA - joins us again for a supersized episode on McTiernan’s signature film. We’re getting into Bruce's wine cooler commercials. We reveal the surprising Shakespeare play that influenced McTiernan’s direction of this story. We’re nerding out about the spatial and organizational PERFECTION that makes it such a classic. And we’re paying loving homage to two screen presences whose careers ended tragically too soon.  Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram!

$4.4 million, a murder of crows, and a cursed crashed plane…the ingredients for a real nail-biter of a fable! Filmmaker Kevin Smith (yep, THAT Kevin Smith) joins us to talk about one of his favorite films - 1998’s “A Simple Plan” - and to pay tribute to the late producer Jim Jacks, who shepherded several filmmakers (such as Raimi, the Coens, Richard Linklater, and Smith himself) as they made their transitions from scrappy indies to the big leagues. How successfully is Raimi able to meld his signature kinetic style with this film’s air of prestige? Was Billy Bob Thornton “the best actor alive between the years of 1998 and 2003,” per David? What would YOU do if you discovered all that money in the woods? Ben would buy an island, and there would be ...