Blank Check with Griffin & David
Episode: "A House of Dynamite"
Date: October 26, 2025
Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims
Guests/Producers: Ben Hosley, Marie Barty Salinas
Overview
In this episode, Griffin, David, Ben, and Marie dive deep into A House of Dynamite, the highly anticipated new film from Kathryn Bigelow—her first feature in eight years. The hosts unpack expectations, the film’s tense premise, its oddly noncommittal politics, Bigelow’s career moves, and their very mixed reactions to both the movie’s creative choices and its underwhelming ending. The episode also meanders (in signature Blank Check fashion) into recent festival buzz, contemporary Oscar season speculation, the landscape of Netflix original films, and some unmissable tangents about directors, supporting performances, and even animated toy samurai.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Origin of the Episode Title and the Film's Premise
- [00:15] The hosts relay how Marie first alerted everyone to the fact that A House of Dynamite’s title comes directly from a character’s monologue—one that literally references podcasts.
- Memorable quote:
“For the first time, we have a quote with podcast in it. Is it funny to overdo the bit?” — Griffin [04:13]
- Memorable quote:
- The phrase “house full of dynamite” appears several times in the movie, and the hosts marvel at hearing “podcast” spoken aloud by the President of the United States (played by Idris Elba) in a Bigelow film.
2. The Strangeness of Movie Presidents & Accents
- [01:30] The crew has a good time picking apart Idris Elba’s accent work, likening his performance to “95% perfect American accent” and drifting ambiguously between regional and international vowels.
- Marie, the first to spot Idris as the President, notes,
“Sometimes he sounds a little trumpy. Sometimes he sounds like Cuomo. There’s definitely, like, a New York accent. There was just, like, too much going on.” — Marie [02:23]
3. Kathryn Bigelow’s Career and Hollywood’s Blank Checks
- [08:06–13:27] Detailed reflection on Bigelow’s hiatus since Detroit (2017), her flirtations with tentpoles (Tomb Raider, Planet of the Apes), and offers to direct Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible movies.
- The consensus: Bigelow is drawn to “serious, right now” material rather than pure action spectacle.
- David:
“She wants to do really serious stuff. It seems to be what interests her.” [12:58]
- There’s some lamenting the lack of a mid-tier “just-okay” Bigelow filmic output over the last decade.
4. A House of Dynamite: Structure, Script, and Execution
- [13:27–20:55] The hosts break down the film’s unusual format:
- Three acts show the same 18 minutes from overlapping perspectives between government, military, and the executive branch in the moments leading up to (maybe) a nuclear disaster.
- Minimal explicit explanation of who attacked; focus is the human cost of leadership indecision and procedural stress.
- Griffin:
“This is like kind of a gentleman six to me. It has high highs. It's got some really dumb moments... I didn’t find it not enjoyable to watch.” [15:15]
The Script and Writing Issues
- David and Marie critique Noah Oppenheim’s screenplay as feeling like a first draft, loaded with research but lacking character richness.
- David:
“I find the writing incredibly clunky. I find the efforts to like crowbar in character stuff... so, so root one.” [61:19]
5. The Film’s Ending: Audience Reaction & Critical Response
- [26:23–31:07] Universal bewilderment at the “cut-to-black, then 15 seconds of random images” finale.
- In Marie’s screening, audiences groaned, booed, and laughed when the credits rolled.
- Griffin:
“The ending feels like an actual admission of defeat...The movie is actually better if when it cuts to black at the end, the credits come up there. It’s worse to even give us 15 seconds of something else.” [30:57]
- Suggestions fly: melt the film, pull a Gremlins 2 metatextual gag, at least add an info-dump text wall.
6. Performances: Standouts and Duds
- [42:39–47:02] The gang debates MVPs:
- Rebecca Ferguson and Tracy Letts cited as reliably good (“can do this in their sleep”).
- Gabriel Basso (“JD Mac”) praised as the surprise “heart” of the film—“fresh enough and passionate enough...he’s kind of the sharpest tool in the drawer” [45:54].
- Discussion of actors with little to do—e.g., Moses Ingram's FEMA subplot called a “big wet fart.”
- Moments of earned praise for Caitlin Dever, G. Akinagbe, Greta Lee, and a desire for more focus on side characters.
7. The Movie’s Thematic (and Political) Flatness
- [20:39–21:21] The film’s deliberate refusal to assign blame or make the event political is discussed:
- “It is more saying, we live in a world where at any moment this could be activated. We’re sitting in a house full of dynamite.”
- David notes the movie’s “take” is essentially: “That would be hard. That’s it.” [20:55]
8. Tangents and Signature Blank Check Bits
- Podcast banter about podcasts in movies: “Any time a podcast comes up in any movie, I immediately knock it a star” — Griffin [05:19].
- Extended riffs on Dragonheart sequels, animated toy collectibles, Oscar acting races, and the structural oddities of Gabby’s Dollhouse, Tron: Aries, and Roofman.
- Playful discussion about merchandising, Japanese exclusives, and actor “blank check” trajectories.
9. Box Office, Awards Buzz, and Contemporary Film Talk
- [101:13–108:04] Oscar best picture predictions, animated film nominations, and the meaning of streaming platforms’ festival strategies.
- Running through recent box office hits and flops, insider takes on the Oscar field, and studio (mis)handling of promising mid-budget pictures.
- Ample discussion of Netflix’s approach to prestige, e.g., J. Kelly, Frankenstein, and whether A House of Dynamite can ride its festival debut to a nomination.
10. Closing: Blankie Business and Future Plans
- The episode closes with business—Marie receives a custom “head” for the guest desk, reflecting her new semi-regular status.
- Teases of upcoming miniseries, planned Patreon coverage, and the gang’s anticipation for a Coen Brothers classic on the next episode.
Notable Quotes & Moments
On the movie’s structure:
“This movie, right, as you mentioned, does the same thing three times. It's showing you 18 minutes... from three perspectives. You do not know who launched the nuke and you don’t know what happens when it hits.” — David [19:35]
On Bigelow’s direction:
“I want her to make Tomb Raider. Because I'm like, Katherine, high-octane action—you used to be the queen of this. Let's do this again!” — David [11:32]
On Hollywood’s “blank checks”:
“You can’t go and make probably an original giant scale action movie with ease. You can do Tomb Raider and try and, you know, have fun with that.” — David [12:05]
“What happened in that time? ... Triple Frontier, hot script, Bigelow attached, three big names, budget disagreement. She drops off. Another year goes by without a Bigelow.” — Griffin [09:15]
On the “podcast” meta moment:
“Any time a podcast comes up in any movie, I immediately knock it a star. Maybe it’s self-loathing. Thank God for podcasts—they saved our lives, right? But the second movies give any weight to podcasts, I’m like, this movie’s done.” — Griffin [05:19]
On the ending:
“Every person in the theater had to go through all three stages of grieving, which is laughing, booing, and scoffing.” — Griffin [25:36]
“The ending of the movie feels like, I don’t know, I got nothing.” — Griffin [29:50]
On character work:
“It does feel like it's lacking even some of the bracks, like, hard details of a Zero Dark Thirty.” — Griffin [29:09]
On performance MVPs:
“I think Gabriel Basso's really good in this movie. He's totally solid but I thought he was kind of the heart of this.” — Griffin [44:10]
“Rebecca Ferguson and Tracy Letts could do this in their sleep.” — Marie [42:51]
Oscar season sidebar:
“What would your ten be right now on October 15th?” — Griffin [101:37]
“Hamnet. Sinners. Marty. Supreme.” — David [101:49-101:55]
Podcast rules:
“If you put the word podcast in your movie, you’re immediately getting knocked down half a star.” — Griffin (closing note) [154:20]
Timestamps for Important Segments
- Opening banter and the meaning of the title: 00:15–05:00
- Idris Elba President and accent riffing: 01:24–03:44, 21:21–22:01, 22:58–23:44, 84:23–87:23
- Kathryn Bigelow’s post-Detroit stagnation / alternate career moves: 08:06–13:27
- Analysis of film structure: 19:35–20:39
- Script/writing criticism: 18:44–19:15, 61:19–62:06
- Audience reaction to ending: 25:36–31:07
- Performance MVP debate: 42:39–47:02
- Oscar race/Oscar ballots discussion: 101:13–108:04
- Box office talk and current movie landscape: 119:05–134:22
- Marie gets her guest desk “head”: 146:13–147:12
- Closing thoughts and future episodes: 152:00–154:20
Tone & Style
- The episode is conversational, irreverent, heavily steeped in inside-baseball film humor, and marked by the kind of affectionate, self-deprecating meta-commentary the Blank Check hosts are known for.
- The language is sardonic, thoughtful, and fueled by the hosts’ encyclopedic film knowledge and a fondness for tangents.
Summary Takeaways
- A House of Dynamite is regarded by the panel as a “gentleman’s 6”—competent, at times tense, but ultimately undercooked and hampered by a clunky script, its refusal to take political sides, and a letdown of an ending.
- The hosts lament the lost era of mid-budget, risk-taking studio thrillers—and Bigelow’s drift away from her action bonafides.
- The show packs its usual mix of film criticism, industry gossip, idle speculation, and trademark in-jokes.
- Major through-line: if you're going to put podcasts or podcast references in a serious film, expect a penalty from self-respecting podcasters.