Check Book: Day At The Museum

Dispatches from MoMI's Mission: Impossible Exhibit

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Jun 02, 2025

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IN THIS WEEK’S EDITION:

THE BARDI PARTY REPORT

As detailed on our Final Reckoning episode, we had the chance to tour the Museum of the Moving Image’s Mission: Impossible exhibit back in April. A compendium of props, costumes, and Tom Cruise-shaped mannequins, the exhibit emphasizes the importance of practical stunts and special effects in the franchise.

Some observations:

Griffin mentioned on the episode that he wondered if the Cruise mannequins were suspended in the air in order to hide how short he is. Maybe! But this decision also gave the exhibit a kinetic, almost dangerous effect. What if a Tom dropped on me? Would I die??

Speaking of dying - Ben had a lengthy conversation with the exhibit’s curator about the “Department of Aging and Dying” aka the wardrobe professionals who distress and age costumes for films. He then had to explain the whole “buried jeans” thing to this very erudite woman who smiled and nodded politely.

For each film, the exhibit displayed the briefing device, the object of each mission, and any significant prop that might elicit a squeal from superfans like yours truly.

For 1996’s Mission: Impossible, we had the “NOC List” and the very 1996 headset and glasses Tom wore in the Langley Vault sequence:

For M:I 2, we had THEEE exploding Oakleys, the Rade Šerbedžija facial disguise, and the prop department’s book of “vocal oscillator” stickers. I was very impressed by how well the latex for the face masks have held up over time.

I found myself unexpectedly moved once face to face with the Philip Seymour Hoffman disguise from M:I III. It felt like a physical manifestation of his absence, the hyperrealistic detailing of flesh and the blank styrofoam beneath acting as a surreal bridge between this world and the next.

Ghost Protocol’s magnetized gloves for scaling the Burj Khalifa! I regret not placing my hands on the glass to get a size comparison.

More masks! The Wolf Blitzer one got a real chuckle out of me. It seems like they have mo-cap dots on this particular latex mask but no other. Interesting! Also, peep how dead and droopy Simon Pegg’s life cast looks.

For comparison’s sake, here is the life cast of Tom Cruise - staring STRAIGHT AHEAD. Very intense. Very much ALIVE.

Folks, I was starstruck to discover that The Entity himself made an appearance at the exhibit. He looked great. Also the cruciform key is very shiny and impressive in person. Why have one big key when you can have two keys that fit together?!?!

Remember how fun the Spanish Steps Fiat setpiece was in Dead Reckoning? Displayed like this, you can tell that the stunt handcuffs were made out of rubber!

All in all, it was a magical experience, made all the more magical by the fact that at this time, none of us had seen Final Reckoning yet and were still wide-eyed and hopeful for the future of the franchise.

If you find yourself in New York this year, we highly recommend you travel to Astoria, Queens, and check it out! It’ll be up until December, and items from Final Reckoning have been added now that the film has been released. Perhaps the glowy 5D Optical Drive is now on display??! We gotta go back and see.

10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD SEE BLANK CHECK LIVE AT TOWN HALL THIS WEEK:

Last year, Marie and Ben were the only ones who dressed up. This year, we’ve all got costumes.
JJ will present the Dossier to us LIVE IN PERSON. As mentioned on the most recent episode - none of us have actually met JJ before. It’s going to be an emotional moment.
Speaking of the Dossier - JJ actually spoke to David S. Ward as part of his research. Guess we can’t fire him now!
It’s always a great time to honor John Goodman, but especially now as we’re about to begin our Coen Brothers series. Let’s kick off that context!
David Sims has given us permission to un-retire the England bit for one night only so we can pepper him with incredulous questions.
We haven’t done a Ben’s Choice Episode in a freakin’ minute. It’s time to porch it up on Broadway.
There will be a musical interlude befitting his royal highness.
No more director’s chairs on stage, folks. We’ve got thrones.
We’ve got a really fun pre-show with trivia, clips, and all kinds of nerdy shit that won’t exist outside of this context.
IT’S THE DECADE OF DREAMS, YOU FOOLS.

Buy tickets here - you won’t regret it.

For those unable to make the show in person…the filmed version will be available for rental. Details to come!

WHERE ELSE CAN YOU FIND TEAM BC THIS WEEK?

We’re in the New Yorker!

Griffin & David visited Planet Hollywood with the Doughboys

And Ben made an appearance on Drew McWeeney’s The Hip Pocket:

WHAT IS THE TEAM INTO THIS WEEK?

Griffin Newman, Host: “Least surprising Griff Pick of all time, but I’ve been recommending Matt Wolf’s PEE WEE AS HIMSELF to everyone I’ve spoken to over the last two weeks. For fellow connoisseurs of context it is a true treasure trove of new footage and insight into the historically private Reubens, and an absolute emotional wallop. Stream it now on Max! (Soon to be known as HBOMax, previously known as HBOMax)”

Ben Hosley, Producer: “I recommend The Memory Palace, a tremendously good storytelling podcast. Each episode the host, Nate DiMeo, tells a story about someone’s life from the past. Just a snapshot of a moment in time. But what makes TMP so unique is how it captures what it felt like to live in that history. It’s like looking at an old daguerreotype and experiencing a powerful human connection to this stranger who lived over a hundred years ago. Like Being John Malkovich but instead you’re in the mind of a worker building the Brooklyn Bridge. Listening has really affected how I think about history. The two most recent episodes “Oh, Herb Morrison” or “On Dexter Avenue” are both great entry points.”

Marie Bardi, Social Media: “I highly recommend Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster - the new documentary about OceanGate. There’s another doc coming out soon on Netflix, but the trailer for that one really makes it seem like a salacious true crime exercise. This doc is shocking in how horrifyingly straightforward and straightforwardly horrifying it is. The filmmakers were embedded with the Coast Guard’s investigative board and the doc has some never-before-seen footage from the investigation. It’s streaming on HBO Max, and is RIVETING.”

AJ McKeon, Editor: “I’ll recommend buying tickets to the live show. If for some reason the potential to see the main crew in person is not enough, the majority of the BCEU will be in attendance as well. If you have ever wanted to ask JJ an insane dossier question, he will be there. Have you ever wondered if Alan Smithee actually looks like that (Alex can you bring Groucho glasses?) you’ll be able to find out. And if you’ve wanted to complain to AJ about how episodes sound to you, I’ll be there too!”

JJ Bersch, Researcher: “Two recommendations from me this week, both for the Sports Fans out there. First up, I just read the Dutch writer Tim Krabbé’s 1978 novel The Rider, a short and very sick journey into the twisted mind of a competitive cycler: it ruled. (Credit to Defector’s Patrick Redford for the initial recommendation.) Second, I loved Julián Cordero and Sebastian Valbuena’s new video game despelote, a first-person, semi-autobiographical accounting of Cordero’s childhood memories and the Ecuador men’s national football team’s breakthrough journey to the 2002 World Cup. Its blend of documentary footage, non-actor performances, and hyper-stylized characters and landscapes made me feel so excited about the future of video games, art, and soccer! ::blows whistle:: THAT’S GAME.”

Alan Smithee, Pseudonymous Editor: “I recommend listening to Japanese math rock while you work. There are some great playlists on YouTube.”