American Sniper / Rebel 10-Year Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey

0:00 In 2014, director Clint Eastwood and star Bradley Cooper gave the world a brutal introspection into the eternal cost of war. In 2024, Brad, we get to try our favorite brand once again. A very expensive version of it the film is American Sniper. The whiskey is Rebel Single Barrel 10 year bourbon. And we'll review them both. This is. The Film and Whiskey podcast Welcome to the Film and Whiskey podcast, where each week we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob Book.

0:55 I'm Brad G. And this week we are in 2014 to look at the highest grossing film of that year, Clint Eastwood's American Sniper. Bob, Clint Eastwood is just the wildest of directors 'cause I don't know if we have many directors who have a starred in a bunch of movies, starred in television shows, became a director, directed. Probably. He's probably directed like 40 films and like 32 of them are average to bad. And eight of them are like, I don't know, is this going to be a best picture for the year? Yeah, I mean, listen, he's batting 250. Like, that's a that's an acceptable batting average in the Major League. 100% man.

1:41 And I like, dare I say it, I think American Sniper might be my favorite of his films that we've watched. I've been interested to hear what's going to come out of this episode, Brad. So let me give a little bit of context. About a year ago, we were in one of our director based seasons where we were watching four to five films from a director to try to get a sense of who they are, what they thematically like to make movies about. And Clint Eastwood was one of those directors. And at the time we looked at Unforgiven, Mystic River, we revisited $1,000,000 Baby for our patrons. What else did we watch from Clint Eastwood at the time, Brad? Oh man, I honestly I can't remember right now. We've watched a lot of Clint Eastwood films, Bob. Yeah, we sure have.

2:27 And Eastwood's an interesting director because in our very charged political times, I think people have really started, especially people on the left have really started to criticize Clint Eastwood. And I think in a really reductionistic way, they see him as a conservative director, even though his films don't always follow suit with that. Gran Torino was one of the films we watched, Brad. And I think if any movie is ever going to label Clint Eastwood as like, a black and white, sort of, you know, conservative, it would be Gran Torino. And I think it's unfair to Eastwood, though, to suggest that he's not dealing with much murkier waters and that he's not implicating both sides of the aisle in a lot of his films. And this is no exception.

3:09 And I think this movie, I wanted to wait until we got to this season to talk about American Sniper because it it deserves its own conversation. As Eastwood got older and people started lobbing these really easy to throw. You are conservative, so therefore you are bad takes. I think this movie really became the victim of that. And that's not really what this movie's a about at all. And BI think it's a really bad faith reading of the movie to assume the portrayal of what happened to 1 soldier therefore is A what Clint Eastwood thinks about war or B is an endorsement of war for the sake of war. Like, it's just a really, really awful reading of this movie and I wanted to get it out of the way now because I I frankly think it's a waste of time to debate it. I just reject that premise altogether. This is a much more complicated and nuanced movie than that. And while it is a flawed movie, I think there are better conversations to have than that one. 100% I think that any time you walk into something that someone has produced and created and you've heard that they are X and your Y, therefore I'm going to find the worst possible reading of this film. Like, that's just boring.

4:30 Like, I, I don't know, man. Like, sure, people can do that if they want. It's America. This is a free country. I, I would rather have a conversation about how Clint has created here. What I would say is a very nuanced understanding of what it means to be an American at war in the 21st century. I think there's going to be a lot of comparison films brought up today, Brad, because as I was watching this movie and I'm thinking of films we've done on the show that I want to draw comparisons too. But before we get into all that, let me set the stage here. So if you're new to the show, welcome into film and whiskey. The premise is right there in the title. We talk about movies, we drink whiskey this season. What we're doing is we're looking at the highest grossing films of each calendar year from 1988 to 2019. American Sniper was perhaps among the biggest box office surprises of any film we're going to be talking about this season.

5:29 It is far and away the most financially successful Clint Eastwood film it and it it's kind of a weird asterisk year for us, Brad, because this movie, while a quote, UN quote 2014 film, it premiered in four theaters in 2014 and it didn't go nationwide until mid January of 2015. So when I was looking at like the highest grossing in calendar year releases, it was actually like one of The Hunger Games movies. And then it said like, well, by March of 2015, American Sniper had overtaken it. And it's like, yeah, but it made all of its money in a completely different year. So like I I just I hate how Hollywood does that. Please know I understand film and Whiskey Nation that you probably saw this movie in 2015, but you know, too bad we're talking about it today.

6:19 Yeah, and I'm really glad we are, Bob, because this is an excellent movie that is worth talking about. I do think that the fact that this movie made half a billion dollars is kind of staggering. It's Wildman. It's the highest grossing war film of all time. Adjusted for inflation, I think it's the second highest grossing war movie of all time, Is one of the seven I think movies at the time that was an R rated film to earn $500 million worldwide. And I already said it's it's Eastwood's most successful movie. And because of that, you know, people were expecting, OK, maybe this movie, it came out on MLK weekend. It was a long weekend in January where no one usually goes to the movies. Maybe with the star power of Bradley Cooper and the excellent marketing campaign, this'll earn a couple 100 million bucks.

7:05 And it went freaking bananas, dude. I remember it was the year we moved to Kentucky. I went to the movie theater that weekend to see something else, and I walked into the lobby and they had set up one of those like velvet rope, like snake things because they're the the line inside the lobby to buy tickets was so long and everybody was going to see American Sniper. It was freaking nuts. I'd never seen anything like it before. This movie was an absolute phenomenon in the worst months of the year, usually for movies. Yeah. So did you end up seeing it? I waited a week, 'cause I didn't want to deal with crowds. I'm just like, I'm not that guy right now. Like, but yeah, I saw it in the theater.

7:46 It's, you know, and I remember even in the build up to it, it had one of the best trailers for a movie that I had seen in years. It was basically just that scene of him up on the roof looking at the mom and kid who have the grenade. And they just play it out like a full 3 minutes of just an uninterrupted scene basically. And that's the trailer for the movie. It was suspenseful as hell and it worked like crazy because it got people in the theaters. Man, the moment I know we're not, we haven't even done, Brad explains. But the moment when he's back in the barracks and his buddies are trying to like, be like, hey, man, it's no big deal. Like, you popped your cherry, it's OK. Like, doesn't matter how? And they zoom in on Bradley Cooper's face and he, I don't remember the exact line, but he essentially goes like, I didn't think it would be like this.

8:35 I I already liked Bradley Cooper as an actor. That was the moment for me where I was like, oh, damn, yeah. Like Bradley Cooper's got some chops. Well, we're going to talk about that in detail because this is his movie through and through. But before we get there, let's go to our first segment of the day, which we call Brad explains. Brad's going to give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds ticking on the clock, so let's go ahead and hear your take with this little segment that we call, Brad explains. Brad Explains is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has has just seen, often for the first time. Brad, how many times have you seen American Sniper?

9:17 1. Oh, this is the first time. Wow. OK, this is the first timer for me. Yeah, It's one of those movies that, like, my brother was in the military in the late 2000s, never went to Iraq, but it always kind of hung over us if he would go or not. And I remember him seeing it and being a big fan of it. And I, I, he gave me the book. I, I never got around to reading it. And so it's always been kind of on the radar. But you know, life happens and it's 10 years later and I, I finally sat down to watch this film. All right, man. Well, I think you just wrapped up watching it a couple hours ago too, so your thoughts are pretty fresh. Let's dive right in, Brad.

9:59 You have 60 seconds on the clock to break down the plot of the film with full spoilers. So folks, if you haven't seen American Sniper and you don't want it spoiled for you, hit pause here. Go watch the movie and then come back and join us again, Brad, One minute and go. American Sniper is a biopic film about the Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who was a sniper during the Iraq War of the late 2000s. He that follows him as he joins the SEALS, goes through training, falls in love with his wife Taya and eventually goes to Iraq 4 separate times, has two children and kills a lot of people. It it pits him against a Syrian sniper who is killing U.S. troops and ends with him back in the US and trying to care for other veterans and find his own peace in the midst of that and ends up being killed by one of the veterans who has mental trauma.

11:05 All right, there it is, American Sniper. Now, Brad, this is, as with most military films that are set in the modern day, there's just some difficulty inherently folded into it when you want to critique a film because, again, we live in politically charged times, but we also live in a time where, you know, the mantra is we need to support our troops. And you and I have have kind of discussed this already in a lot of our episodes, Like, what does it mean to support the troops? Does it mean inherently, you know, automatically approving of everything that they do? That's. I don't think that's the case, and I don't think you do either. But I think this movie unfairly suffered for Eastwood, honestly, portraying both the acts of heroism that Chris Kyle did and he doesn't very matter of a matter of factly. And frankly, like, if there is no big celebration of him and all throughout the movie, he's like, oh, yeah, I do. I have that many kills.

12:02 All right, cool. And it's so frank and so matter of fact that I think it rubbed some people the wrong way. Again, I think there's there's unfairness in how it's treated, but Eastwood basically just portraying Chris Kyle as a guy who does his job garnered a lot of criticism. And I guess I just want to start today by asking you like when you think about the other movies that we've talked about that fall into this camp. And I think the the main one would be Saving Private Ryan, where we talked a lot about Spielberg getting accused of being jingoistic and you know, that rah rah patriotism. And I don't, I've never seen that film that way. I think that he just says, like, these are guys that were there to do a job.

12:45 They did a job. And if nothing else, we need to appreciate the fact that they did what they were asked to do. And I think that's kind of what's going on here with Eastwood. But I think Eastwood, honestly, probably what's the word not investigates, interrogates Chris Kyle's motives more than Spielberg interrogates the motives in Saving Private Ryan. And yet he gets even less credit for doing that. So, you know, I'm, I'm wondering Brad, like taken as a whole, what do you think Eastwood's trying to say with this movie? I think that as I as the movie ended and and I'll I'll be honest with you, Bob, I did not know that he passed away. I I had like the ending was truly A twist for me. I mean, the moment you know, she looked the the wife looks at him, Taya and like you see her, you're just kind of like, well, crap.

13:42 Yep, this isn't good, but it kind of hit me like a like a freaking freight train man. And, and I think the the thought that popped into my head was that Clint seems to have this deep and abiding respect for the US military in one hand. And in the other hand, he holds the belief that war and violence will cost you everything. And, and he holds those two things in tension where he recognizes that there's evil in the world and we have to fight it.

14:23 And in the act of fighting it, you will lose everything up to and including your life. And I like that is one of the most brutal tensions that I don't think many of us are willing to face. And I think that that's exactly man, we, I think we could just end the episode. I think you you summarize it perfectly. And Eastwood to his credit, leaves you in that tension. And so your reaction to this movie, in my opinion, is totally based on what side of that camp you fall on in regards to that tension, because Eastwood doesn't take a side. And so I think that the criticism, both the criticisms of this film and the celebrations of this film say a lot more about the people watching the movie than the people that made the movie. You said that he holds a respect for the military in one hand and the belief that that violence and war will cost you everything.

15:19 I think that is a perfect summary, Brad, because it does cost Kyle everything and it reminds me so much of Unforgiven. I think if there's a movie that I'm going to compare this to throughout the day, it's going to be Unforgiven because that's the one where he's really interrogating something to the same extent that he does here in that movie. It's much more about the the mythos of the Old West and the idea of the quote UN quote being a legend and what that does to a person. And that kind of happens here. Like they call him the legend all through the movie, but whereas Unforgiven is about this legendary outlaw and having to embrace this moniker of being like the Angel of Death, this one is much more about the the same sort of burden, but on the opposite side of the coin.

16:07 What does it mean to deal with being a hero? What does it mean when someone comes up to you and says you saved my life? How do you handle that burden? How can you ever live up to that legend? But also, when you are considered a hero, you're looked at as if you've got it all together, and this guy clearly does not for the entire film. And I think that's the most interesting part of this movie is that it's not shipping on what he did, but it's asking honest, true questions about the guy that is considered the biggest hero is the guy no one checks in on throughout the movie. Yep. And I think if it's interrogating anything, it's interrogating the people around him. It's interrogating himself and why he why his coping mechanism is just to go do more heroic things to kind of paper over what is really going on inside.

17:00 I I found this movie incredibly fascinating. I don't think that it's critical of Kyle's actions on the battlefield, but it's also it doesn't get enough credit for investigating and interrogating what's going on in his mind. And frankly, Brad, like a lot of biopics that are made by people on the political left about their heroes, don't go this far into questioning motives. And I think Eastwood really deserves more credit than he gets for that. Well, and, and in the midst of that, there, there's no commentary on whether or not they should be at war. Like, like throughout the movie, The people who are depicted as evil are depicted as evil for their actions in the midst of war. And continually Kyle is portrayed as somebody who defends his men.

17:53 And he's given that that motivation of like, I don't get jazzed about killing people. I get jazzed about defending people. And I, I think that there is an element of importance to that. And at and at the end of the film, it's kind of it leaves you with this question of was it all worth it? And and that like that for me is, is a question that all of us should be facing. Like in the midst of war, in the midst of home life. Kyle continually had this element of like, I want to defend my family and his family extended to veterans who have come back from the war and he cared for them and and tried to help them deal with their own things.

18:41 And I, I think in the midst of that, you, you see Eastwood struggling with this reality of war and violence and brokenness and, and how it affects the human soul and, and it, it interrogates Kyle to say, Hey, like, was it all worth it? And when, you know, when somebody dies early, I, I just love the moment where she looks at him and says, like, I'm so proud of you. You've done so much to become the man that I've always known that you are, and the brutality of the ending then just it forces you to reckon with like the journey. Yeah, I do think that if there is a part of the movie that I I want to focus on for an extended period of time, it is that ending.

19:29 So if if it's OK with you, let's set the ending aside for just a little bit because I think we'll come back to it and discuss it more in depth. One of the things I love about the both the script and the way Eastwood portrays this character of of Kyle is that it has a very like 1970s character study vibe to it. You know, we used to get movies about characters that were big flawed people and there wasn't often comment on if their flaws are supposed to be interpreted as good or bad. They just were. There were people who just were and you would go to the movies and be presented with complex people. I think about movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, right? Like Jack Nicholson in that movie is the guy who I think is. Being sent to the, you know, what do you call it? The I almost said loony bin.

20:18 That's incredibly offensive, but there you go. Because because of I think he's a rapist in that movie. Like your protagonist is a guy who's convicted of rape. And in this movie, you get Chris Kyle and I, I don't want to draw the comparison between those actions, but what I'm saying is we're in an era of movie making now where audiences on both side of the political divide need to be spoon fed like this guy is bad, this guy is good. And we're going to tell you out loud, this is good and this is bad. This movie's not interested in that. And I appreciate that so much more. Whether that leads to some bad faith readings or not, I'd rather have it this way than the other way. But what I love about the portrayal of Chris Kyle is that from the get go, he is not a perfect person.

21:03 Like he clearly has no capability of discussing his emotions. You know, you get a flashback to this pivotal moment where his dad kind of gives him his mantra. And I think that you can interpret that scene as like, oh, that him up for life or like that implanted a seed of heroic behavior or both. You know what I mean? Like, I think it's kind of both happening. I love the fact that the first time he gets an idea to join the military, what's he doing? He he got dumped by his girlfriend or he dumped his girlfriend and he has gotten absolutely hammered sitting and watching TV with his brother. And he's angry about what happened with his girlfriend. And he's drunk. And in that moment, he decides to join the military.

21:46 Like, Eastwood is not, you know, blinking a red alert sign that like, this is not the state of mind he should be in to join the military. But it's presented as this is how it happened. Interpret it for yourself. And I appreciate that because it is possible for a person to both do really good things and to have severe character flaws. And Chris Kyle seems like that kind of person who, you know, I don't want to say that like, his work with veterans was was in any way a character flaw. But he clearly also had some stuff going on psychologically that he needed to deal with. That is presented just as frankly throughout this film. I I guess what I'm saying in a really long winded way, Brad, is I like that Eastwood is not using kid gloves here.

22:29 And then like a lot of it is just laid out as kind of like unstructured data and you piece it together to make meaning out of it as you see fit. Viewer of this film. Yeah, And even in the way that the girlfriend treats him at the start of the film, like there's a, there's a layered nuance to that where what she accuses him of is true. And that doesn't excuse her actions. But he reckons with the fact that like, you know, she's right. Like I like, I treat her like garbage. I leave her at home. I go do all these things, like, who does that make me as a person? And I, I think that that's kind of where the military catches a lot of their recruits is in young people who are asking themselves, who am I and what am I about? Do I have a purpose in this life? And, and the military provides that with so many people. And I, I think that's why this movie is so successful in that it portrays the entire arc of I don't know who I am. The military gave me I an identity. Who am I if the military is not my identity? And, and it follows that entire arc. And I think for the first time I've watched a Clint Eastwood movie and said, like, I think Clint actually has some nuance in his bones cause like that.

23:54 Like what is our one critique of, of, of Eastwood constantly, Bob. Like, I mean, it's not even just that he has no nuance, it's that he finds actors who have no nuance too. Like just to double down on. Like, do you get what I'm trying to say about poor people in Million Dollar Baby? Yep, exactly. Yeah. And, and so I think that here you finally have multiple actors and characters as they are written that have a depth of character and nuance to who they are. And, you know, even the even the side characters, the guy in the tire shop who who tells the kid, hey, your dad's a hero like that.

24:36 Like there doesn't need to be any nuance there. He's just a character for one minute in the film, but there's a depth to that little C tier performance that felt authentic and real and it allowed Cooper to play off of it. And and it gave Cooper a chance to shine it and to flex his acting muscles in acting awkward and uncomfortable and like, OK, yeah, thanks, man. I yeah, cool. I'll just go pay the lady now. Like, that was one of my favorite scenes of the film. And it's not because he was being honored, it's because you can feel the discomfort of like, what is going on in Cooper's soul.

25:18 So that actor, that scene is actually Jonathan Groff, who just recently won his first Tony. He's a very esteemed theatre actor who has also done quite a few films and television shows. And we just talked about him last week because he was the voice of Kristoff in Frozen. Oh my goodness, showing up again. And. I. Think that's actually really good segue into finding something redemptive about the movie Frozen because we spent a long time talking about that song Let It Go last week and how it is severely misinterpreted and misused due to its placement in that movie. Because Elsa gets really messed up by her parents, she has some really unhealthy coping mechanisms wherein she sings Let It Go.

26:02 And then the end of the movie essentially undoes that mindset of let it go where she actually experiences healthy community and and processing through her trauma. And I think this movie actually follows a pretty similar pattern to that Brad. Like I don't think that Eastwood is 100% endorsing the way that Chris Kyle continually returns to Iraq as a way of papering over. And I think, again, that's where people continue to misinterpret this movie. But on the comparative front, if there's another movie that this is obviously a a comparison point to, it's The Hurt Locker. It's a movie we talked about a lot last year, Brad. I thought you were going to say frozen. That's why let's make it embarrassments aren't obvious with the Hurt Locker.

26:49 It's a movie that seems to get the benefit of the doubt, and I actually might scorching hot take is that I think this is a better movie than the Hurt locker and I always yes, I just think it's a it's a much better produced movie. I think it actually communicates its point just as well with more nuance than The Hurt Locker, and I also think Bradley Cooper's a better actor than Jeremy Renner, so there you go. But it's funny to me that with The Hurt Locker, which follows almost the exact same pattern as this film, that movie seems to get the benefit of the doubt and this movie does not. Especially when you have Chris Kyle following that sort of Elsa Let It Go arc here. If there's one thing I didn't expect coming into this episode, it was that we would be comparing Chris Kyle to Elsa from Frozen.

27:34 I mean, look, they both shoot people in the heart like this is the comparisons are never ending, Brad. Look at that. I mean, Elsa doesn't shoot children in the heart, so. She, well, she shot her child sister in the head. That's true. Headshot, headshots, dude. She's more more vicious than Chris Kyle. OK. Listen, we're in a spot right now where we have not really talked about the film. We've talked about what the film means. I think that we need to take a break. Let's talk about the performance of Bradley Cooper after the break. Let's talk about what we actually liked in the film making itself. But before that, I'm really, really anxious. Not anxious. I'm really, really antsy to get to try this Rebel 10.

28:16 Brad, let's let's get to whiskey, if that's OK with you. I am so ready, Bob. Let's get to it. All right. Today we are checking out Rebel 10 Years Single Barrel Bourbon. This is the new release from Lux Rd. Distillers. I think this is like our third or fourth week in a row, Brad, of doing new release whiskeys on film and whiskey. It's a wild time. Yeah, I've been. I've been enjoying it. Now, as Brad said, this is one of their more expensive offerings. It's because it's a single barrel and it's 10 years old. You know, we've, we've established the principle of $10 per year of aging that our friend Wes tells us about all the time. This is $100 at 10 years.

29:04 So it seems like at least in terms of the market, this is priced right where it should be. Again, this is a weeded bourbon. We've talked about Rebel a ton. Rebel Distillers Collection is one of our favourites. Rebel 100 is one of our favorite budget bourbons. This one is bottled at 100 proof, Brad. So we're talking about a 10 year single barrel version of that Rebel 100. I'm freaking pumped, man. And I have to ask you, have you, have you had it already? Are you drinking it live? Oh dude I I cracked this bad boy open immediately. I was so, so excited about this and not to spoil all my takes, but I'm I'm excited to review with you, Bob.

29:44 I'm drinking it live. I've been holding on to the bottle for a little over a week now, so you can understand why I'm so excited. Brad, I've just poured it out. I'm going to get into my nosing here as you give your notes. So why don't you lead us off? I think this is a really solid nose. The there's caramel right off the bat. There is a really nice soft oakiness to this, which is making me excited. There is some nuttiness. It's very peanutty in my mind. And, and the longer I sat with it, the more I got some interesting kind of fruity notes that I, I finally labeled as pineapple. But I, I, I don't know, there's this. It's not quite citrusy.

30:29 It's not quite appley there, there's just some sort of really nice sweet fruity notes that I'm enjoying. I give it an 8 1/2 out of 10 here. I think I'm going to be almost in the exact same place score wise as you. Caramel dominates on the nose and you know they have tasting notes printed in their little press release. I I disagree with them frankly. Like I don't get as much vanilla as they said I was going to get. It really is like almost caramel cheesecake at first. Those fruit notes start to come out. Brad, they came out a little bit more like Peach for me than they did pineapple. But it does remind me of sort of like an upside down cake. Like there's that sort of caramelized drizzle on top. There's a little bit of breadiness. I don't know if they make Peach upside down cakes but that's what I'm going with here as.

31:15 It's Sat. And it's been sitting in my glass for a little over 10 minutes now. There's a note that I'm glad you didn't pick up on because I think it would have lowered your your nosing score once those all dissipated. It is like straight black licorice to me and almost like a powdery sort of black licorice. Like it's a good and plenty or something. And I love good and plenty's and I like black licorice so I'm on board. Dude, I'm giving it an 8 1/2 on the nose. Do I need to pour? Some more because I did not get any anise on this and and like I said I'm. Very glad you didn't. You know what's a a whiskey that I actually got black licorice notes on after drinking it for a while. And I I used to really love it and I still like it.

31:58 I still think it's a good one. The Sexton. Oh, interesting. Yeah, I after. Drinking it for a while, I was like, man, this just has black licorice notes on the nose, not on the palate, not on the finish anyways. The the palate here, it turns into a really nice dark cherry for me. There's oakiness all throughout. There's a burnt caramel vibe, a bit of like a sauteed butter. Vanilla is coming through on the palate, much more so than the nose. I think that this is a really solid expression of Rebel I I'm going to add an 8 out of 10 on the palate. Yeah, I think solid is the. Word here, Brad.

32:39 It's a little bit thin on the mouthfeel, which I wasn't expecting. Definitely still packs a punch like that. 100 proof is coming out, but it it almost has like a pepper spice to it. There's the burn from the ethanol as well as almost like some cayenne pepper on the back of my palate here. Oak definitely dominates. You're absolutely right there. It's oak and wheat and there's not a lot of nuance to it, which is unfortunate 'cause I think like the Rebel Distillers collection has quite a few more waves of like sweet notes and things going on. In my mind, I'm kind of comparing this Brad to a bottle that we bought at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival last year, that Lux Roe 4 grain, which I think it's probably a little bit better than this. I think there's definitely more nuance and complexity to that whiskey.

33:25 This one's just kind of like a very above average notes of anise wheat and oak flavored bourbon. So it's going to be a 7 1/2 for me on the taste and I'm curious to hear if it improved or kind of fell off for you on the finish. I actually liked it. On the finish, a little more than the palate, the cherry stuck through strong to the end, the vanilla really rounded out the experience for me, and the the the nice dusty peanut vibe just stuck around for the finish. I was at an 8 1/2 here and I think overall this is a pretty well balanced whiskey. It's an 8 out of 10 for me.

34:08 On balance. It has just enough complexity to move it into that upper echelon the the 8 out of 10 area. I I just wish there's a little more going on here that it could hang its hat on. Yeah, I'm going to give it A7. And a half on the finish, I think. I think you're pretty much right. The vanilla comes back and it's really appreciated. I'll give it an 8. On balance, I was kind of waffling between a 7 1/2 and an 8, but overall this is a well above average whiskey and there weren't any like significant dips, so I'll give it an 8. When it comes to value again, we're talking about a $100 bottle of whiskey. This might be the first time that I think a bottle of Rebel is overpriced based on the whiskey itself.

34:48 I do think it's a fair market value here if you're, if you're a fan of the Rebel line like I am, I would still probably give it like between a 6 1/2 and a 7 out of 10 on value. I don't really see myself personally going back and buying another bottle of this one, Brad, especially when I can still get distillers collection for like half the price. So I'll give it a 6.5 here. Yeah, I am. Literally at a 6.5 on value, Like I think this is a good whiskey that gives a pretty solid experience. It's just a little bit on the expensive side. All right, Brad. That's bringing me out to a 38 out of 50. What are you coming out to just under? 40 I'm at a 39.5 All right, so that takes us to a. 38.75 once again, I mean, it's approaching 40 and 40 is where we consider things like a no brainer recommendation between 35 and 40 is is like a less enthusiastic thumbs up, but still definitely a thumbs up.

35:49 I would recommend this whiskey. It's good. It's just that like, if you want to get a pour of it at the bar, this is going to cost you probably, what, 20 bucks for a poor Yeah at. Least like 15 to 18. Yeah, you're just kind of starting to. Get into some territory where it's like. For the price I think. We could probably find things we like a little bit better than this one. Yeah, 100. Percent man, and I'm I'm not sitting here saying it's not a good whiskey. It is absolutely delicious. It's just the price here. The the value is not quite right. But once again, Bob, we have drink. A rebel whiskey. That just tastes delicious and I I will never stop singing the praises of Rebel now, I think.

36:33 We do need to add the caveat to our score here. This is a single barrel. They could just be the barrel that we got that it's not quite hitting those extra decadent sweet Rebel notes that we like. They do make a Rebel 10 year. That is a a batch. You know, that's a blended version, and I think that I'd really like to try that one on the show, Brad, because I think that will be a little bit more in the sort of general flavor zone that we're used to. So folks, if you're a fan of single barrels, I think this is like, you're not going to go wrong picking up a bottle of this. But in our specific case, it just felt a little bit too far outside of the general Rebel vibe for me. Yeah. I think I'll recommend this. I I think that you're getting yourself a solid whiskey, especially if you want to split it with a buddy. Pay 50 bucks each.

37:22 I think this is a good purchase. All right, man. We have drank our whiskey. Let's get back into talking about American Sniper. What do you say? Let's get to it. All right, everybody. That was Rebel 10 year single barrel, a whiskey that we are fans of. Just wish it cost a little less. Just how Bob feels about war. Big fan. You know, I just, I got to give it a three on the value score. Yeah. All right, man. It is time for us to get into our next segment, which we call 2 facts and a falsehood. Brad.

38:04 Is going to try to stump your ball 2 All right and what is wrong? 2 facts and a falsehood. 2 Facts and a falsehood. Is the part of the show where Brad presents me with three items about the making of this movie, all of them presented as fact, one of which is completely made-up by him. Brad on the season, I believe I am at 15 and 11 right now. I am I'm slowly slipping back towards 500 and I do not like it. Oh, I'm. Definitely with you really don't like it. I I just want to see you succeed, Bob. I'm sure you do. Brad, that's always been your motivation. All right man, hit me with your. Two facts and a falsehood fact #1. Fact #1 pre fact, the IMDb page for American Sniper is very strange 'cause there's a lot of facts on there that are just kind of like weird things about Chris Kyle's life. So I'm just going to let you know, Bob, this was a hard, a difficult week, not to write the falsehood, but to find, like, decent facts about the making.

39:15 Yeah. So I, I did my best. We'll, we'll see how it goes. Fact number one, the clothes worn by Bradley Cooper whenever he was at home were Chris Kyle's actual clothes loaned to the studio by the by his family. The family was so grateful for Cooper's portrayal of Kyle that they gave him several items of clothing as a gift after the shooting was complete. Fact #2 Chris. Kyle met the star. Well, the how would you say it? I'll just read it as is and then you'll understand my confusion. Chris Kyle met lone survivor from 2013's Marcus Luttrell during their BUDS SEAL training and became close friends with him. Although they graduated with different classes, kept in contact often, and they remained friends for the remainder of Kyle's life, specifically saying that Marcus Luttrell was the biopic subject.

40:09 Subject. Thank you. Of Lone Survivor fact #3 Bradley Cooper used Chris Kyle's workout playlist as music to to which to listen to while working out for the role. He also pinned a picture of Chris Kyle to his wall of his gym to always have his goal in front of him. These are pretty good, Brad. I'm not. Going to lie, you did did a good job rounding these up. I'm going to go ahead and assume that number two is true. You've been getting better at tricking me with these, so I could be completely wrong, but for the sake of argument, I'm going to say that one or three is the falsehood. So it's really a question of like, did they give the studio his clothes and or does Bradley Cooper work out facing a picture of Chris Kyle?

40:58 Which one do you? Feel worse about not being true. I want #1 to be. True, I think that's kind of cool. So I'll go ahead and. Say #1 is true and say #3 is false, with the caveat that I have absolutely no confidence in this one. And you were? Right to not have confidence, Bob, because you were wrong. What was the falsehood? The number one was the falsehood. Was it OK? Yeah, yeah. Thanks. A lot they. Didn't even give him any clothes. Come on man, the guy exclusively wore T-shirts. You couldn't give him one T-shirt that that is.

41:38 That's true, man. They, they could have. All right, man, Let's talk. About the Bradley Cooper of it all. Cooper's a really interesting figure in Hollywood, especially in the 10 years since this movie has come out. So, you know, he was a, a member of the Actor's Studio. He kind of made his bones in comedies. Like I think one of the first times I remember seeing him outside of TV was in Wedding Crashers as the like huge douchebag boyfriend of Rachel McAdams. Then he does The Hangover and really blows up. But even in that movie, he's playing the douchebag of the group. Like he's he's just a self-centered prick. He has the sort of face that says I am a self-centered prick. And he makes, you know, a couple movies with David O Russell.

42:20 He gets nominated for an Oscar, I believe for American Hustle. And then he goes into this movie and he puts on like 40 lbs of muscle and he takes on a completely different persona and demeanor for this film. And I have to say, man, of all of the Bradley Cooper performances and I I really like Bradley Cooper and I think he's a very good actor. He Hey, Bob, go. Ahead, can you give me your favorite line of the 2000s that Bradley Cooper said. Oh. It would be. Do you ladies like peanut butter sandwiches? I'm pissed off he didn't say it in this movie. I know it's it's a. Very. He should have said it right before he shot. Mustafa like it should have been like an Arnold Schwarzenegger one liner he liked. These peanut butter sandwiches bop you like peanut? Butter sandwiches.

43:08 Poo poo poo poo. OK, he actually shoots off 4 rounds all through the eyes. Man that is impressive with the 50 Cal this. Is his best performance in a movie. He is unbelievable in this film. Brad, Bob, I've been waiting. All day to talk about the fact that Bradley Cooper is a freaking revelation in this movie. Unbelievable. I like, I don't know if there is a better war portrayal character ever done by an actor. He has so much nuance in being able to portray the exhilaration of war, the brokenness of what it asks you to do, and the level of PTSD and interiorness of a soldier who has come back from the war.

44:04 I It's just stunning how he juggles all of those different aspects of the role and and it all comes across so clearly on the screen. He does a believable Southern accent. He really put on the weight for the movie. I mean, like, so the physical things he's doing, yes. It never seems showy and it never seems to be begging for an Oscar. And I think the worst Bradley Cooper performances, including this past year in Maestro are like so nakedly begging for attention that it it kind of seems embarrassing for him. And and this is like the complete opposite of that. And I think maybe that's why this seems like such a revelation to me upon revisit is like the last time I've seen Bradley Cooper was as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro.

44:52 And this character couldn't be farther from that. But he's so perfectly embodies. I, you know, I don't want to just call him the strong, silent type, but like, he has a laid backness to him that really does reflect the culture of the South. But there's also the woundedness, the guardedness, what he's able to do with like a grunt or like a small little tick when someone finally gets to him. It says so much. It's a really restrained performance. And I think that Cooper, when he's criticized, it's because he's going too far in the other direction. And I'd like to see him do more of this because this is just, it's really nuanced stuff, man. Yeah. 100% I am.

45:38 This might sound weird, but like I'm thankful that we got to see Bradley Cooper do this because in my mind it, it puts him into an upper echelon of actors. And I, I just think that it's incredible. And, you know, a few, a few years back, we were doing our director series and we would rate the directors at like, man, I wish that this had been on the list for Eastwood because I I think that the way he handles Cooper as an actor is really impressive here. I do kind of wonder. Like, you know, Eastwood is famous for doing like the first take is the take I use. I just wonder if maybe Bradley Cooper needs to be directed like that more often. Like, I I think when he's directing himself like he did in Maestro, I think he he micromanages himself to death a little bit.

46:26 Like he wants to be perfect so bad that he ends up kind of getting lost in the sauce a little bit. Oh, is that a? Reference to burnt OH. Oh no, it's not. I've never seen that movie. Is that good? Yes. I liked it. It's not perfect there. There's a lot of issues. It's like a 7 1/2 to an 8. But literally everything you just said is the entire character he plays in burnt like obsessed with perfection, gets lost in the sauce, doesn't know how to connect with other humans. That's that's great. My favorite? Critique of a Bradley Cooper movie is in the office in the episode where they're all going to Gettysburg and they're watching movies on the tour bus and someone says after this I'm going to turn on Limitless.

47:10 And Phyllis goes, is that the one where the guy becomes limitless? Oh, man. OK, So Bradley Cooper, what? We've gotten him out of the way. I do want to say this was an absolutely crazy year for actor performances at the Academy Awards because this is the year that Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne were duking it out at the Oscars for the for Birdman and The Theory of Everything right, respectively. And it just makes me even more mad that Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar. I think his performance in that movie is very good. As Stephen Hawking, Michael Keaton gives one of my favorite performances of the century in Birdman.

47:52 And it's unfair to Bradley Cooper because I I do think I like Keaton just a little bit better in Birdman. But in any other year, I think both Michael Keaton and Bradley Cooper would be winning Oscars for those two performances. And it's just crazy to me that like, now, now Eddie Redmayne is the Oscar winner of the three. What Bob? What do you have against Eddie Redmayne? What? Why do you hate the beloved soft spoken British actor so much? You know what's really funny is. I I don't. And he actually came under fire this past couple weeks because he gave a performance at the Tony Awards that Twitter just loved to make fun of. He's he's starring in the musical Cabaret right now.

48:33 And man, my guy got raked over the coals and I don't understand why people hate him so much. I just think that he's made really bad career choices ever since he won his Oscar. Like maybe he won it too young. And it's like, how do I follow this up? And so he's just, he's done some bad work and he's been in some bad films. He seems like a good guy and I like, I think he's got the chops, but because he's never rebounded from winning that Oscar, I think the Oscar win is starting to look worse and worse as the years go on. Bob, do you want to know? A personal embarrassing story about me, always. About. Halfway halfway through college, I nearly joined. I auditioned for and received the role in a like community stage performance of Cabaret.

49:25 Oh, interesting. And I was set up to be like one of the male dancers who had like 10 lines in the whole show. And I didn't do it. But I came close. Why is that? Embarrassing I. Male dancer in a in a stage production are are we embarrassed? Because you can't dance. No, I can dance pretty solidly. Bob, we've you and I have both cut it up on the wedding dance floor a few times. Yes, we have. We have done quite. A two step together. I think it's it's not the. Idea of a man dancing. It was more of the male strip club cabaret dance. Got it. That was slightly embarrassing. Well, as you know, I've been.

50:06 Trying to talk you into doing that on camera for an exclusive Patreon tier that we're going to introduce $25.00 a month for Brad's Only Fans channel. So now I just have more fuel to add to that fire. I'm going to. Move on from that room. American Sniper. Yeah. American Sniper Everybody I. Want to talk about Eastwood? Here, because it's pretty rare that we get Eastwood in action movie mode, and I don't think that he has the action chops of somebody like a Spielberg, where you, like, completely understand the geography of every space you're in. I was attached to direct this. Film he was. I just, I don't know that that's necessarily Eastwood's intent either. The chaos of these hollowed out cities is kind of the point.

50:49 And within, you know, I don't understand where we are inside this building. But from shot to shot, he's not breaking the rules of like the 180�� line. It's solid filmmaking. And I think when you couple it with the fact that Eastwood was like 82 when this movie came out, like the energy my guy was working with in creating this film, it's an impressive movie. Just on that front. I think it captures. The the fog of war element of fighting in Iraq from what we understand it to have been like incredibly well. I think that that's what I've started to really appreciate about war films is how they shoot the action. And I always come back to like a sicario as one of the few examples of a, you know, quote UN quote war film. It's technically like the CIA killing people, but it captures the precision of the American military industrial complex really well.

51:49 And yet here in American Sniper, I think you do capture the chaos of door to door fighting so incredibly well. Along with one thing I appreciated is that he captures the boredom of being a sniper really well too. Like there's this, there's this element of like the guys walk up to tell him like, hey, you're good to come down now. And they're like, Oh my God, it reeks up here. Like you clearly have been peeing in the corner and also you covered our asses and got us out, got so many of us out of there alive. And once again, it's this tension between like the grossness of war and the honor of war. All right man, where do?

52:34 You want to go from here? We've got just a few minutes left before we get into our our last couple segments. Is there anything else about the film making that you think we should touch on? He used Ennio. Morconi at the end and. I freaking loved it. Man, it was so good. It comes on and I'm like, oh wow, they're playing, Oh no, Oh no, they're not playing taps, they're playing the funeral. And I, it just, I didn't know that they were going to use that. And I, I think it might be the best use of that song in the film. And I say that knowing it was written for a film, you know, 40 years before. I want to talk about the. Ending briefly and briefly because I don't know if I can actually articulate my feelings about it without sounding like callous, like this is a real person who really died in a very tragic way.

53:24 But every time I see this movie, there there's two things that kind of strike me about the ending. It's a really abrupt ending and. Because of its abruptness. I always assumed that Chris Kyle died like during the production of the movie because the, the ending feels so tacked on. Like it's he comes back from Iraq and he's readjusting, and then all of a sudden the movie's just like, boom, you know, he died that day. And I think that, A, it's really abrupt, B, it's a very respectful ending. Obviously, Eastwood has the tact and the class to not show this man be murdered at the end of the movie.

54:05 But I do think that it just ends in such a way that's like fade out. He died that day. And and then you get a shot of the funeral, which is real footage of his funeral procession. But I was expecting like, maybe more words to come up on the screen, maybe Eastwood to let us sit with those images for a couple minutes. But it literally fades up on the funeral procession. It says directed by Clint Eastwood. There is really no epilogue or epitaph or epigraph on this movie. It's just like he died, directed by Clint Eastwood. And I think that if he drops the ball anywhere, it's in that department. Because while I respect how much respect he gave to his subject, you do kind of have a responsibility as a filmmaker to really land the plane at the end of the movie. And I know you said you were very emotional at the end of the film.

54:54 I felt like frankly, he should have, he should have milked it just a little bit more or a little bit longer with the images of the funeral before going to end credits, or he should have put some more words up on the screen. Like something, something just feels missing from this ending for me. And for a movie that has not pulled any punches throughout the film in terms of implicating Kyle and interrogating Kyle's own psyche and his unwillingness to to work on his trauma, that to just end that way, it puts a finality on it without really grappling with the implications of that. And, and I just, I don't know, man, I don't know how to how to phrase it.

55:36 It's, it's too, I don't want to even call it stoic. It's just too much of A bow to put on a movie where it feels like he hadn't finished tying the bow yet. You know what I mean? Yes, I, I. Think every single thing you are saying is 100% true and I think that is representative of the life of Chris Kyle. Like like to me. That's the point of the ending. Like we didn't get to experience who Chris Kyle could have become. To me, it really brings you to a place of where his family must have been to say, we're proud of you, you're making progress, you're getting better, you're helping others. And yet.

56:20 It feels so. Disconcerting and discomforting and just broken To think that this upward trajectory, this this beautiful life in the making just completely is gone out of nowhere. And, and I, I've sat with enough families who have lost loved ones suddenly to know that that that feeling that you're feeling is real when when you experience the loss of somebody before their time. This movie wins at an. Oscar for sound editing or sound mixing. I don't know what they were calling it at the time, and I think that it is absolutely deserved. But what I really found fascinating were some of those moments where Eastwood's using both sound effects and the score to have this kind of eerie, discordant sound. The last time you get it in the movie is when the camera's on Sienna Miller's face at the end as she's closing the door because she understands, like, there's something off about this guy that my husband's going off with. And I found that like a really interesting addition because it's not only saying like she feels unease because that's this is the musical cue for unease that we've used throughout the film.

57:34 But it's almost like this idea of, you know, throughout the movie, he's been on edge. He's constantly checking like the rearview mirror every time that they're driving to, to scope things out for threats. Whenever the dog is playing with his kid and he thinks the dog is a threat, these moments come up. And now it's not him who's feeling it. Like he's finally let go of that feeling. And the last time anyone in the movie experiences that feeling, it's her. And I found that to be to really under score the message of the movie, which is to your point, Brad, the toll this takes on families in America because it's almost like this. This infectious. Disease, kind of like the the sense of distrust and unease has almost passed from him to her at the end of the movie.

58:21 And then you get the tragic kind of confirmation of that, that that feeling of unease that she had proved to be true because her husband gets killed. I just think, go ahead, sorry. I think that. The military throughout the entire film represents Chris Kyle's only blind spot. It's the only thing that he doesn't question, that he always believes in that. You know, it's always the mission. It's always my brothers. It's always the people I need to save. And she is the one who always questions it, who says, hey, like I, I'm all about, you know, country and, and all that. But like, your family is here. And so he never sees the military for the threat that it is to his family.

59:06 And she does. And I think that's kind of the element you get there at the end I, you know. IA 100% agree with you. I think both things are happening there. Honestly, you're right. Like it does portray the military as his blind spot. And again, I've I've been trying to under score this the whole episode. Eastwood does a really good job of holding these things in tension, and I think that people on both sides of the aisle have really failed to grasp that tension when it comes to this movie. I think a lot of people went to this movie and supported it as the sort of rah rah patriotic movie that it was accused of being. And that's obviously a bad faith reading of the movie. I think on the other side of things, the people that dismissed this movie as just, you know, America, yeah, kind of movie are also 100% wrong.

59:54 This is a movie that's much more interested in the toll that war takes on one life, and I think it tells that story more powerfully than The Hurt Locker, especially since this is ostensibly a true story. Brad, I think I'm ready to get into. Let's make it a double if you are. We're near the end of. The episodes. Oh, thanks. Listening to the film and Whiskey Show. Let's pair another film with this one, even if it's struggling. It's a final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. Yeah. I'm 100% ready, man, this movie is great and everybody should watch it. And I think I'm, I've been really struggling with finding a movie that captures the psychological nuance of war quite in this way, 'cause like, you could, you could pair it with an Apocalypse Now, but I don't, I don't know that that's just vibes so much differently than this. I think I'm actually going to pair it with Saving Private Ryan 'cause I think that that movie A deserves to be watched. B is incredibly made, similar to what I think American Sniper is incredibly made.

1:00:59 And CI think it dives into the mentality of the troops of their respective wars in a way that matters and helps us think about war as a whole. I have a. Million different directions I could go. I just watched a new movie that came out a couple weeks ago called The Bike Riders, and that movie is freaking fantastic. It's one of my favorite films of the year. But it's also about like people who do dangerous, violent things as a way of covering up, like the fact that they don't want to feel things. And so that's been on my mind a lot. I don't think I'm going to pair it with that, but I need a movie that kind of fits that mold. And I think for me, Brad, you mentioned how well this movie captures the boredom of being a sniper.

1:01:44 And it threw me back to a movie that I haven't seen in almost 20 years. It's a movie by the director, Sam Mendes, and it's called Jarhead. It has Jake Gyllenhaal in it as a guy who is training to become a Marine sniper. And it is all about the psychological toll that it takes on a person to have to wait months and months and months to take one shot and what happens to you if you don't make that shot. I have no idea how that movie holds up. Like I said, I haven't seen it in 20 years. I might go ahead and make it a double tonight, Brad, just watch Jarhead to see how that thing holds up. But I think you can do it a lot worse. You talked. Earlier about American Sniper having a great trailer, I just I have vivid memories of Jarhead.

1:02:28 I don't even know the name of the song that plays in the trailer. Jesus walks by Kanye. I remember that trailer, dude. Yep dude. Tell me that's. Not just one of the greatest needle drops in the trailer ever. It was such a good trailer. That I was actively pissed off at the movie for not I don't think it uses the song in the movie and I was like, God bless it. Like I came here for that song. Yeah, 100% maybe that's. My let's make it a. Double Maybe I just want to pair this movie with Jesus Walks by Kanye. Yeah, that's the. Move 100%. All right. Dude, let's get into some. Final scores here. I'd like for you to go first. Brad, I've been talking a lot today and it sounds like you might be even higher on this movie than I am. Dude, I I. Think this is one of the best war movies we have watched on this podcast and we've watched quite a few, like all the way back from like paths of glory up through I mean, American Sniper might be the most modern war movie as far as made the latest and you know, a war that is the most recent. I think I'm going to give this A9. And a half.

1:03:27 Wow. Like that. There are issues. The not all the acting is perfect. There are, especially early in the movie, there's stuff that feels a little rushed and sloppy. But I think he lands the plane and from about maybe 30 to 40 minutes into the end, you know, and this is a what, two hour and 15 minute movie? Yeah, somewhere in there. Like. For solid almost two hours. This is incredible filmmaking, investigating the psyche of an American soldier. And I, I think it's great. Now I think I'm actually going to come out. Significantly lower than you then, Brad. I think this movie is like for 80% of its runtime. It's like an 8 1/2 to a nine for me. It's really, really good like you said, but the two bookends on either side of the movie are like everything when Chris Kyle is a kid is horrifically bad acting. Like truly awful, awful movie making and acting. And then I think the way this movie ends it, it both loses a lot of steam and it feels like an anti climax. And I understand to your point that that's probably part of the movie making that his life felt anti climactic because it was ripped away from him.

1:04:41 I just think Eastwood has to do a little bit more there to earn an emotional pay off for what we've been watching for two hours and 15 minutes. I've been waffling between an 8 and an 8 1/2 on this movie. I think I'll give it an 8 and a. Half, Brad, but that's probably just because I, I am happy that you like it so much and I don't want to hurt your feelings by giving it an 8. So I'm, I'll give it an 8 1/2. That brings us out to a nine out of 10 on average. This is one of our highest rated movies of the year now, Brad really at a nine. Out of 10, man, it's almost like we've had a lot of. Sevens and eights this year, yeah, but really? Fun sevens and eights. Yeah, and this is a nine. And it's probably the least fun movie we've done all season. Oh yeah, I, I.

1:05:26 Will maybe watch this movie once or twice more in my life. It was so hard to watch dude. Looking ahead at the next few weeks, we've got three Star Wars movies and two MCU movies to end the season. I I want to put an. Asterisk 3 Disney produced Star Wars movies. All that to say. Maybe this does deserve an 8 1/2 just for being the last real movie we're going to watch for the rest of the season. Thank you. So it's a nine out of. 10 from us on American Sniper. But we'd like to know what you think. Reach out to us on social media. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube at Film Whiskey, or you can join the. Discord.

1:06:09 We are on there every single day talking to you guys, fans of the Film and Whiskey podcast. So if you'd like to join the conversation, you can find a link at the end of every single one of our show notes next week. We're kicking off the Disney Star Wars Renaissance, Brad, with The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams. Absolute turd of a film that I can't wait to watch again. All right, we'll see you next week for Force Awakens. But until then, I'm Bob Buck. I'm Brad G. And we'll see you next time.